Good Saturday morning to all of you here on stocks. I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and is ready for the new trading week ahead.
Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning August 17th, 2020.

Stocks are ignoring the lack of a stimulus package from Congress, but that could change - (Source)

Stocks could hang at record levels but gains may be capped until Congress agrees to a new stimulus package to help the economy and the millions of unemployed Americans.
Stocks were higher in the past week, and the S&P 500 flirted with record levels it set in February.
In the coming week, there are some major retailers reporting earnings, including Walmart, Home Depot and Target, but the season is mostly over and the market is entering a quiet period. There are minutes from the Fed’s last meeting, released Wednesday, and housing data, including starts Tuesday and existing sales Friday.
Investors had been watching efforts by Congress to agree to a new stimulus package, but talks have failed and the Senate has gone on recess. There is a concern that Congress will not be convinced to provide a big enough package when it does get to work again on the next stimulus round because recent economic reports look stronger. July’s retail sales, for example, climbed to a record level and recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
“The juxtaposition of getting more fiscal stimulus and better data has paralyzed us in our tracks … we’ve seen this sideways [market] action,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Alliance. “It feels like we need more action from Congress, and the concern is the longer we wait, the better the data gets and the less impactful the next round of stimulus will be.”
Some technical analysts say the market may pull back around the high, to allow it to consolidate gains before moving higher into the end of the year. The S&P 500 reached an all-time high of 3,393 on Feb. 19.
Hogan said he expects stocks to tread sideways during the dog days of August, but they could begin to react negatively to the election in September. He also said it is important that progress continue against the spread of Covid-19, as the economy continues to reopen.
Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Advisory Group, said the market could have a wakeup call at some point that the stimulus package has not been approved.
“I think it will cross over a line where they care,” he said. “I think the market is in suspended animation of believing there will be a magical deal.” Boockvar said he expects a deal ultimately, but the impact is not likely to be as big as the last round of funding.
“What they’re not grasping is any deal, any extension of unemployment benefits, is going to be smaller than it was, and the rate of change should be the most important thing investors focus on,” he said. “Not the binary outcome of whether there’s a deal or no deal. There’s going to be less air going into the balloon.”

It’s the economy
Still, economists expect to see a strong rebound in the third quarter, and are anticipating about about a 20% jump in third-quarter growth. But they also say that could be threatened if Congress does not help with another stimulus package.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, described the July retail sales as a perfect V-shaped recovery, but cautioned it would not last unless more aid gets to individuals and cities and states. Democrats have sought a $3 trillion spending package, and Republicans in the Senate offered a $1 trillion package. They could not reach a compromise, including on a $600 weekly payment to individuals on unemployment which expired July 31.
President Donald Trump has tried to fill the gap with executive orders to provide extra benefits to those on unemployment, but the $300 federal payment and $100 from states may take some time to reach individuals, as the processing varies by state. He has also issued an order instructing the Treasury to temporarily defer collection of payroll taxes from individuals making up to $104,000.
“I think in August and September, there will be a lot of Ws, if there’s not more help here,” said Zandi, referring to an economic recovery that retrenches from a V shape before heading higher again. “It’s clearly perplexing. It may take the stock market to say we’re not going to get what we expect, and sell off and light a fire.”
Zandi said it could come to a situation like 2008, where the stock market sold off sharply before Congress would agree to a program that helped financial companies.
“We need a TARP moment to get these guys to help. Maybe if the claims tick higher and the August employment numbers are soft, given the president is focused on the stock market, that might be what it takes to get them back to the table in earnest,” he said, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program that helped rescue banks during the financial crisis.
He ultimately expects a package of about $1.5 trillion to be approved in September.
The lack of funding for state and local governments could result in more layoffs, as they struggle with their current 2021 budgets, Zandi said. Already 1.3 million public sector jobs have been lost since February, and there will be more layoffs and more programs and projects cancelled. The impact will hit contractors and other businesses that provide services to local governments.
“The multipliers on state and local government are among the highest of any form of support, so if you don’t provide it, it’s going to ripple through the economy pretty fast,” he said.
Economists expect to see a softening in consumer spending in August with the more than 28 million Americans on unemployment benefits as of mid-July no longer receiving any supplemental pay.
“The real irony is things are shaping up that September is going to be a bad month, and that’s going to show up in all the data in October,” Zandi said. “They are really taking a chance on this election by not acting.”

This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL S&P TREE MAP FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Indices for this past week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR INDICES FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Futures Markets as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR FUTURES INDICES AS OF FRIDAY!)

Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ECONOMIC CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK AHEAD!)

Percentage Changes for the Major Indices, WTD, MTD, QTD, YTD as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

S&P Sectors for the Past Week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Major Indices Pullback/Correction Levels as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!

Major Indices Rally Levels as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Most Anticipated Earnings Releases for this week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Friday's Stock Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #2!)

4 Charts That Will Amaze You
The S&P 500 Index is a few points away from a new all-time high, completing one of the fastest recoveries from a bear market ever. But this will also seal the deal on the shortest bear market ever. Remember, the S&P 500 Index lost 20% from an all-time high in only 16 trading days back in February and March, so it makes sense that this recovery could be one of the fastest ever.
From the lows on March 23, the S&P 500 has now added more than 50%. Many have been calling this a bear market rally for months, while we have been in the camp this is something more. It’s easy to see why this rally is different based on where it stands versus other bear market rallies:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
They say the stock market is the only place where things go on sale, yet everyone runs out of the store screaming. We absolutely saw that back in March and now with stocks near new highs, many have missed this record run. Here we show how stocks have been usually higher a year or two after corrections.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
After a historic drop in March, the S&P 500 has closed higher in April, May, June, and July. This rare event has happened only 11 other times, with stocks gaining the final five months of the year a very impressive 10 times. Only 2018 and the nearly 20% collapse in December saw a loss those final five months.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, this bear market will go down as the fastest ever, at just over one month. The recovery back to new highs will be five months if we get there by August 23, making this one of the fastest recoveries ever. Not surprisingly, it usually takes longer for bear markets in a recession to recover; only adding to the impressiveness of this rally.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
“It normally takes 30 months for bear markets during a recession to recover their losses, which makes this recovery all the more amazing,” said LPL Financial Chief Market Strateigst Ryan Detrick.. “Then again, there has been nothing normal about this recession, so maybe we shouldn’t be shocked about yet another record going down in 2020.”

When a Few Basis Points Packs a Punch
US Treasury yields have been on the rise this week with the 10-year yield rising 13 basis points (bps) from 0.56% up to 0.69% after getting as high as 0.72% on Thursday. A 13 bps move higher in interest rates may not seem like a whole lot, but with rates already at such low levels, a small move can have a pretty big impact on the prices of longer-term maturities.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
Starting with longer-term US Treasuries, TLT, which measures the performance of maturities greater than 20 years, has declined 3.5% this week. Now, for a growth stock, 3.5% is par for the course, but that kind of move in the Treasury market is no small thing. The latest pullback for TLT also coincides with another failed attempt by the ETF to trade and stay above $170 for more than a day.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
The further out the maturity window you go in the fixed income market, the bigger the impact of the move higher in interest rates. The Republic of Austria issued a 100-year bond in 2017, and its movements exemplify the wild moves that small changes in interest rates (from a low base) can have on prices. Just this week, the Austrian 100-year was down over 5%, which is a painful move no matter what type of asset class you are talking about. This week's move, though, was nothing compared to the stomach-churning swings from earlier this year. When Covid was first hitting the fan, the 100-year rallied 57% in the span of less than two months. That kind of move usually occurs over years rather than days, but in less than a third of that time, all those gains disintegrated in a two-and-a-half week span from early to late March. Easy come, easy go. Ironically enough, despite all the big up and down moves in this bond over the last year, as we type this, the bond's price is the same now as it was on this same day last year.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Retail Sales Rock to New Highs
At the headline level, July’s Retail Sales report disappointed as the reading missed expectations by nearly a full percentage point. Just as soon as the report was released, we saw a number of stories pounce on the disappointment as a sign that the economy was losing steam. Looked at in more detail, though, the July report wasn’t all that bad. While the headline reading rose less than expected (1.2% vs 2.1%), Ex Autos and Ex Autos and Gas, the results were much better than expected. Not only that, but June’s original readings were all revised higher by around a full percentage point.
Besides the fact that this month’s report was better underneath the surface and June’s reading was revised higher, it was also notable as the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of sales in July hit a new record high. After the last record high back in January, only five months passed until American consumers were back to their pre-Covid spending ways. For the sake of comparison, back during the Financial Crisis, 40 months passed between the original high in Retail Sales in November 2007 and the next record high in April 2011. 5 months versus 40? Never underestimate the power of the US consumer!

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
While the monthly pace of retail sales is back at all-time highs, the characteristics behind the total level of sales have changed markedly in the post COVID world. In our just released B.I.G. Tips report we looked at these changing dynamics to highlight the groups that have been the biggest winners and losers from the shifts.

100 Days of Gains
Today marked 100 trading days since the Nasdaq 100's March 20th COVID Crash closing low. Below is a chart showing the rolling 100-trading day percentage change of the Nasdaq 100 since 1985. The 59.8% gain over the last 100 trading days ranks as the 3rd strongest run on record. The only two stronger 100-day rallies ended in January 1999 and March 2000.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
While the Nasdaq 100 bottomed on Friday, March 20th, the S&P 500 bottomed the following Monday (3/23). This means tomorrow will mark 100 trading days since the S&P 500's COVID Crash closing low. Right now the rolling 100-day percentage change for the S&P 500 sits at +46.7%. But if the S&P manages to trade at current levels tomorrow, the 100-day gain will jump above 50%. It has been 87 years (1933) since we've seen a 100-day gain of more than 50%!

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

B.I.G. Tips - New Highs In Sight
Whether you want to look at it from the perspective of closing prices or intraday levels, the S&P 500 is doing what just about everybody thought would be impossible less than five months ago - approaching record highs. Relative to its closing high of 3,386.15, the S&P 500 is just 0.27% lower, while it's within half of a percent from its record intraday high of 3,393.52. Through today, the S&P 500 has gone 120 trading days without a record high, and as shown in the chart below, the current streak is barely even visible when viewed in the perspective of all streaks since 1928. Even if we zoom in on just the last five years, the current streak of 120 trading days only ranks as the fourth-longest streak without a new high.
While the S&P 500's 120-trading day streak without a new high isn't extreme by historical standards, the turnaround off the lows has been extraordinary. In the S&P 500's history, there have been ten prior declines of at least 20% from a record closing high. Of those ten prior periods, the shortest gap between the original record high and the next one was 309 trading days, and the shortest gap between highs that had a pullback of at least 30% was 484 tradings days (or more than four times the current gap of 120 trading days). For all ten streaks without a record high, the median drought was 680 trading days.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)
Whenever the S&P 500 does take out its 2/19 high, the question is whether the new high represents a breakout where the S&P 500 keeps rallying into evergreen territory, or does it run out of gas after finally reaching a new milestone? To shed some light on this question, we looked at the S&P 500's performance following each prior streak of similar duration without a new high.

STOCK MARKET VIDEO: Stock Market Analysis Video for Week Ending August 14th, 2020

([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())

(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED!)

STOCK MARKET VIDEO: ShadowTrader Video Weekly 8.16.20

([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())

(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED!)
Here are the most notable companies (tickers) reporting earnings in this upcoming trading week ahead-

NOTABLE TICKERS REMOVED DUE TO STOCKS AUTO MOD

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S MOST NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!)

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S HIGHEST VOLATILITY EARNINGS RELEASES!)

Below are some of the notable companies coming out with earnings releases this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers:

Monday 8.17.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Monday 8.17.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 8.18.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 8.18.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 8.19.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 8.19.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 8.20.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 8.20.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 8.21.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 8.21.20 After Market Close:

([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())
(NONE)

Walmart Inc. $132.60
Walmart Inc. (WMT) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:00 AM ET on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $1.20 per share on revenue of $134.28 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $1.29 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 81% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 5.51% with revenue increasing by 2.99%. Short interest has decreased by 12.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 0.6% from its open following the earnings release to be 9.9% above its 200 day moving average of $120.64. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Tuesday, August 11, 2020 there was some notable buying of 12,381 contracts of the $135.00 put expiring on Friday, August 21, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 4.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 2.3% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

NVIDIA Corp. $462.56
NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 4:20 PM ET on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $1.95 per share on revenue of $3.65 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $2.01 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 84% expecting an earnings beat The company's guidance was for earnings of $1.83 to $2.06 per share. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 65.25% with revenue increasing by 41.53%. The stock has drifted higher by 31.0% from its open following the earnings release to be 57.7% above its 200 day moving average of $293.24. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 14, 2020 there was some notable buying of 3,787 contracts of the $460.00 call expiring on Friday, August 21, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 7.7% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 4.0% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. $253.97
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 7:10 AM ET on Thursday, August 20, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $1.99 per share on revenue of $21.13 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $2.11 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 83% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 8.74% with revenue increasing by 26.22%. Short interest has increased by 30.1% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 25.0% from its open following the earnings release to be 20.0% above its 200 day moving average of $211.59. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 7, 2020 there was some notable buying of 12,935 contracts of the $300.00 call expiring on Friday, November 20, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 6.2% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 3.1% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

JD.com, Inc. $62.06
JD.com, Inc. (JD) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 5:50 AM ET on Monday, August 17, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.38 per share on revenue of $26.98 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.46 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 78% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 52.00% with revenue increasing by 23.25%. Short interest has increased by 16.7% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 24.1% from its open following the earnings release to be 36.9% above its 200 day moving average of $45.34. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 14, 2020 there was some notable buying of 12,799 contracts of the $62.00 call expiring on Friday, August 21, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 8.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 6.4% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Home Depot, Inc. $280.55
Home Depot, Inc. (HD) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:00 AM ET on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $3.71 per share on revenue of $31.67 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $3.75 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 78% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 17.03% with revenue increasing by 2.69%. Short interest has decreased by 39.8% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 16.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 22.4% above its 200 day moving average of $229.20. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 14, 2020 there was some notable buying of 3,323 contracts of the $300.00 call expiring on Friday, August 28, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 4.2% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 2.5% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Lowe's Companies, Inc. $154.34
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:00 AM ET on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $2.93 per share on revenue of $21.29 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $2.97 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 78% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 36.28% with revenue increasing by 1.42%. Short interest has decreased by 19.2% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 25.9% from its open following the earnings release to be 31.2% above its 200 day moving average of $117.67. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Friday, August 7, 2020 there was some notable buying of 1,994 contracts of the $170.00 call expiring on Friday, August 21, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 6.0% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 5.8% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Target Corp. $136.53
Target Corp. (TGT) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:30 AM ET on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $1.56 per share on revenue of $19.30 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $1.64 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 75% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 14.29% with revenue increasing by 4.77%. Short interest has decreased by 36.8% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 10.0% from its open following the earnings release to be 18.0% above its 200 day moving average of $115.73. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Monday, August 10, 2020 there was some notable buying of 4,479 contracts of the $135.00 call expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 6.3% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 7.7% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Sea Limited $126.50
Sea Limited (SE) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:30 AM ET on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The consensus estimate is for a loss of $0.47 per share on revenue of $1.03 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is ($0.36) per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 74% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 34.29% with revenue increasing by 136.16%. Short interest has decreased by 8.5% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 91.7% from its open following the earnings release to be 98.1% above its 200 day moving average of $63.87. Overall earnings estimates have been revised lower since the company's last earnings release. On Tuesday, August 4, 2020 there was some notable buying of 4,000 contracts of the $110.00 put expiring on Friday, January 15, 2021. Option traders are pricing in a 12.9% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 16.7% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Niu Technologies $20.82
Niu Technologies (NIU) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 3:00 AM ET on Monday, August 17, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.07 per share on revenue of $88.07 million and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.11 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 57% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for earnings to decline year-over-year by 30.00% with revenue increasing by 13.97%. Short interest has increased by 18.9% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 129.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 90.3% above its 200 day moving average of $10.94. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. The stock has averaged a 3.7% move on earnings in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. $41.48
BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. (BJ) is confirmed to report earnings at approximately 6:45 AM ET on Thursday, August 20, 2020. The consensus earnings estimate is $0.57 per share on revenue of $3.64 billion and the Earnings Whisper ® number is $0.60 per share. Investor sentiment going into the company's earnings release has 73% expecting an earnings beat. Consensus estimates are for year-over-year earnings growth of 46.15% with revenue increasing by 8.79%. Short interest has decreased by 3.2% since the company's last earnings release while the stock has drifted higher by 33.8% from its open following the earnings release to be 46.7% above its 200 day moving average of $28.27. Overall earnings estimates have been revised higher since the company's last earnings release. On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 there was some notable buying of 2,119 contracts of the $50.00 call expiring on Friday, September 18, 2020. Option traders are pricing in a 12.4% move on earnings and the stock has averaged a 10.0% move in recent quarters.

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

DISCUSS!

What are you all watching for in this upcoming trading week?
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a great trading week ahead stocks.

Virtual Reality: Where it is and where it's going

VR is not what a lot of people think it is. It's not comparable to racing wheels, Kinect, or 3DTVs. It offers a shift that the game industry hasn't had before; a first of it's kind. I'm going to outline what VR is like today in despite of the many misconceptions around it and what it will be like as it grows. What people find to be insurmountable problems are often solvable.
What is VR in 2020?
Something far more versatile and far-reaching than people comprehend. All game genres and camera perspectives work, so you're still able to access the types of games you've always enjoyed. It is often thought that VR is a 1st person medium and that's all it can do, but 3rd person and top-down VR games are a thing and in various cases are highly praised. Astro Bot, a 3rd person platformer, was the highest rated VR game before Half-Life: Alyx.
Lets crush some misconceptions of 2020 VR:

The buy-in is $400 on average, not $1000 as that is Valve Index pricing.
Motion sickness is easily avoidable for most people by sticking to games that have 1:1 fully synced or mostly synced body movement like Beat Saber or even Alyx with teleportation.
Most VR games offer locomotion options so teleporting is certainly not a required norm.
You don't need a PC or console; Oculus Quest is the start of the new norm where headsets are self-contained.
You are not required to stand or move about. VR has always allowed you to relax in the same way as traditional gaming by sitting on the couch with a gamepad.
VR isn't anti-social. It's actually the pinnacle of social communication devices. What it is (currently) is potentially isolating depending on how you use it.
People will disabilities often think VR is not for them, when in all likelihood it probably is, because most disabilities work fine with VR and even have a lot to gain from the use of it.
The setup of VR is much faster and quicker than it was just a few years ago thanks to inside-out tracking and standalones. A Quest user can get going within 10 seconds.

So what are the problems with VR in 2020?

Bulky headsets.
Low resolution and low FoV.
Wireless isn't standard.
Only a few released AAA exclusive games.
Potential for eye strain and headaches.
Some headsets feel really outdated. (PSVR)
Isolating.
Full body avatars don't align correctly.

Despite these downsides, VR still offers something truly special. What it enables is not just a more immersive way to game, but new ways to feel, to experience stories, to cooperate or fight against other players, and a plethora of new ways to interact which is the beating heart of gaming as a medium.
To give some examples, Boneworks is a game that has experimental full body physics and the amount of extra agency it provides is staggering. When you can actually manipulate physics on a level this intimately where you are able to directly control and manipulate things in a way that traditional gaming simply can't allow, it opens up a whole new avenue of gameplay and game design.
Things aren't based on a series of state machines anymore. "Is the player pressing the action button to climb this ladder or not?" "Is the player pressing the aim button to aim down the sights or not?"
These aren't binary choices in VR. Everything is freeform and you can basically be in any number of states at a given time. Instead of climbing a ladder with an animation lock, you can grab on with one hand while aiming with the other, or if it's physically modelled, you could find a way to pick it up and plant it on a pipe sticking out of the ground to make your own makeshift trap where you spin it around as it pivots on top of the pipe, knocking anything away that comes close by. That's the power of physics in VR. You do things you think of in the same vain as reality instead of thinking inside the set limitations of the designers. Even MGSV has it's limitations with the freedom it provides, but that expands exponentially with 6DoF VR input and physics.
I talked about how VR could make you feel things. A character or person that gets close to you in VR is going to invade your literal personal space. Heights are possibly going to start feeling like you are biologically in danger. The idea of tight spaces in say, a horror game, can cause claustrophobia. The way you move or interact with things can give off subtle almost phantom-limb like feelings because of the overwhelming visual and audio stimulation that enables you to do things that you haven't experienced with your real body; an example being floating around in zero gravity in Lone Echo.
So it's not without it's share of problems, but it's an incredibly versatile gaming technology in 2020. It's also worth noting just how important it is as a non-gaming device as well, because there simply isn't a more suitably combative device against a world-wide pandemic than VR. Simply put, it's one of the most important devices you can get right now for that reason alone as you can socially connect with no distancing with face to face communication, travel and attend all sorts of events, and simply manage your mental and physical health in ways that the average person wishes so badly for right now.
Where VR is (probably) going to be in 5 years
You can expect a lot. A seismic shift that will make the VR of today feel like something very different. This is because the underlying technology is being reinvented with entirely custom tech that no longer relies on cell phone panels and lenses that have existed for decades.

Headsets are going to be about half the size of where they are today thanks to pancake lenses and other innovations in size reduction.
Wireless will be fully standard out of the box.
The resolution will be around the equivalent of 1080p monitors, so you'd probably be looking at 4K x 4K per eye or higher.
The field of view will be 30-40% higher.
Eye strain and headaches will be solved via varifocal displays and VR will become even more comfortable visually than 2D displays, as they still have these issues which can be only be solved in stereoscopic displays.
The use of movement-synced vibrational feedback on the head alongside higher refresh rates will dramatically reduce motion sickness issues when involved in more intense movement which would make joystick locomotion a lot more applicable to a wider range of people.
Isolation will be solved with mixed reality reconstruction enabling the real world to bleed into VR on a per object basis in real time. VR headsets are now in all senses MR headsets. (VR+AR in one device)
Floating hands will be basically extinct as full-body tracking will be standard with every headset via camera-based tracking.
Facial tracking and eye-tracking in combination with body tracking will enable extremely realistic fully tracked avatars not unlike what Ready Player One depicts.
Foveated Rendering will be solved, making a typical VR game no more demanding on the GPU than it's equivalent non-VR version.
AI Upscaling methods not unlike Nvidia DLSS 2.0 is used to further reduce the pixel rendering requirements.
3D audio is far more realistic via personal HRTF generation and better audio propagation algorithms. If not completely identical to the real world, it will feel pretty close.
AAA content will be more aplenty.
There will be plenty of non-gaming apps gaining bigger traction like some sort of social space or event-based app.
PlayStation and Xbox will both support VR and a PSVR2 headset will have launched.

That's enough to solve almost all the issues of the technology and make it a buy-in for the average gamer. In 5 years, we should really start to see the blending of reality and virtual reality and how close the two can feel
Where VR is (probably) going to be in 10 years

Two different form factors. Thin visors for maximum immersion with a human field of view and sunglasses for maximum social acceptance, with both having something close to retinal resolution.
Force feedback haptic gloves in a consumer friendly form factor start to become the new standard input to replace motion controls.
BCI input starts to get integrated into some headsets, enabling users to control the virtual world with their mind in varying ways, such as UI navigation, telekinesis, disability support, and mind-typing.
VR is now effectively photorealistic in the visual and audio department and it's extremely hard if not impossible at times to tell the difference between the real world and the virtual world.
Quite a number of people start to live big chunks of their lives in VR.
Light-field 6DoF video will be common allowing you to move inside live videos or a playback of a video that are in every way indistinguishable from reality, at least visually/audibly.
Streaming becomes mainstream as an option to consume games and it is now starting to become feasible to stream VR games as well.
VAR start to replace traditional displays and devices with monitors, phones and handhelds especially on their way out, but TVs very likely still hold a strong presence due to their communal nature.
If consoles still exist, their new features are now focused mostly on VR and how to integrate as seamlessly as possible into the VAR experience. Traditional gaming is still likely the most popular way to play, but consoles must find ways to market towards the new.
VAR are the new norm for work, education, communication, entertainment and a lot of aspects of daily life.
AAA VRMMORPGs start to get popular and become the new standard for the genre, revitalizing it.
The metaverse starts to form in some small way, not yet reaching the magnitude of something like the OASIS, but still a very large and versatile world or web of worlds where the phrase "Do anything, go anywhere, become anyone, be with anyone" is the truest it's ever been.

In short, as good as if not better than the base technology of Ready Player One which consists of a visor and gloves. Interestingly, RPO missed out on the merging of VR and AR which will play an important part of the future of HMDs as they will become more versatile, easier to multi-task with, and more engrained into daily life where physical isolation is only a user choice. Useful treadmills and/or treadmill shoes as well as haptic suits will likely become (and stay) enthusiast items that are incredible in their own right but due to the commitment, aren't applicable to the average person - in a way, just like RPO.
At this stage, VR is mainstream with loads of AAA content coming out yearly and providing gaming experiences that are incomprehensible to most people today.
Overall, the future of VR couldn't be brighter. It's absolutely here to stay, it's more incredible than people realize today, and it's only going to get exponentially better and more convenient in ways that people can't imagine.

NASPi: a Raspberry Pi Server

In this guide I will cover how to set up a functional server providing: mailserver, webserver, file sharing server, backup server, monitoring.
For this project a dynamic domain name is also needed. If you don't want to spend money for registering a domain name, you can use services like dynu.com, or duckdns.org. Between the two, I prefer dynu.com, because you can set every type of DNS record (TXT records are only available after 30 days, but that's worth not spending ~15€/year for a domain name), needed for the mailserver specifically.
Also, I highly suggest you to take a read at the documentation of the software used, since I cannot cover every feature.

Hardware

Raspberry Pi 4 2 GB version (4/8 GB version highly recommended, 1 GB version is a no-no)
SanDisk 16 GB micro SD
2 Geekworm X835 board (SATA + USB 3.0 hub) w/ 12V 5A power supply
2 WD Blue 2 TB 3.5" HHD

Software

(minor utilities not included)

Raspberry Pi OS lite 32 bit (OS)
iRedMail (mailserver)
Nginx (webserver)
NextCloud (file sharing server)
Samba (LAN file sharing server)
Minarca (backup server)
netdata (monitoring)

Guide

First thing first we need to flash the OS to the SD card. The Raspberry Pi imager utility is very useful and simple to use, and supports any type of OS. You can download it from the Raspberry Pi download page. As of August 2020, the 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS is still in the beta stage, so I am going to cover the 32-bit version (but with a 64-bit kernel, we'll get to that later).
Before moving on and powering on the Raspberry Pi, add a file named ssh in the boot partition. Doing so will enable the SSH interface (disabled by default). We can now insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
Once powered on, we need to attach it to the LAN, via an Ethernet cable. Once done, find the IP address of your Raspberry Pi within your LAN. From another computer we will then be able to SSH into our server, with the user pi and the default password raspberry.

raspi-config

Using this utility, we will set a few things. First of all, set a new password for the pi user, using the first entry. Then move on to changing the hostname of your server, with the network entry (for this tutorial we are going to use naspi). Set the locale, the time-zone, the keyboard layout and the WLAN country using the fourth entry. At last, enable SSH by default with the fifth entry.

64-bit kernel

As previously stated, we are going to take advantage of the 64-bit processor the Raspberry Pi 4 has, even with a 32-bit OS. First, we need to update the firmware, then we will tweak some config.
$ sudo rpi-update
$ sudo nano /boot/config.txt

arm64bit=1

$ sudo reboot

swap size

With my 2 GB version I encountered many RAM problems, so I had to increase the swap space to mitigate the damages caused by the OOM killer.
$ sudo dphys-swapfiles swapoff
$ sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile

CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024

$ sudo dphys-swapfile setup
$ sudo dphys-swapfile swapon
Here we are increasing the swap size to 1 GB. According to your setup you can tweak this setting to add or remove swap. Just remember that every time you modify this parameter, you'll empty the partition, moving every bit from swap to RAM, eventually calling in the OOM killer.

APT

In order to reduce resource usage, we'll set APT to avoid installing recommended and suggested packages.
$ sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.config.d/01noreccomend

APT::Install-Recommends "0"; APT::Install-Suggests "0";

Update

Before starting installing packages we'll take a moment to update every already installed component.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade
$ sudo apt autoremove
$ sudo apt autoclean
$ sudo reboot

Static IP address

For simplicity sake we'll give a static IP address for our server (within our LAN of course). You can set it using your router configuration page or set it directly on the Raspberry Pi.
$ sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

interface eth0 static ip_address=192.168.0.5/24 static routers=192.168.0.1 static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1

$ sudo reboot

Emailing

The first feature we'll set up is the mailserver. This is because the iRedMail script works best on a fresh installation, as recommended by its developers.
First we'll set the hostname to our domain name. Since my domain is naspi.webredirect.org, the domain name will be mail.naspi.webredirect.org.
$ sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mail.naspi.webredirect.org
$ sudo nano /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 mail.webredirect.org localhost ::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback ff02::1 ip6-allnodes ff02::2 ip6allrouters 127.0.1.1 naspi

Now we can download and setup iRedMail
$ sudo apt install git
$ cd /home/pi/Documents
$ sudo git clone https://github.com/iredmail/iRedMail.git
$ cd /home/pi/Documents/iRedMail
$ sudo chmod +x iRedMail.sh
$ sudo bash iRedMail.sh
Now the script will guide you through the installation process.
When asked for the mail directory location, set /vavmail.
When asked for webserver, set Nginx.
When asked for DB engine, set MariaDB.
When asked for, set a secure and strong password.
When asked for the domain name, set your, but without the mail. subdomain.
Again, set a secure and strong password.
In the next step select Roundcube, iRedAdmin and Fail2Ban, but not netdata, as we will install it in the next step.
When asked for, confirm your choices and let the installer do the rest.
$ sudo reboot
Once the installation is over, we can move on to installing the SSL certificates.
$ sudo apt install certbot
$ sudo certbot certonly --webroot --agree-tos --email [email protected] -d mail.naspi.webredirect.org -w /vawww/html/
$ sudo nano /etc/nginx/templates/ssl.tmpl

ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.naspi.webredirect.org/fullchain.pem; ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.naspi.webredirect.org/privkey.pem;

$ sudo service nginx restart
$ sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf

smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.naspi.webredirect.org/privkey.pem; smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.naspi.webredirect.org/cert.pem; smtpd_tls_CAfile = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.naspi.webredirect.org/chain.pem;

$ sudo service posfix restart
$ sudo nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

ssl_cert =  $ sudo service dovecot restart
 Now we have to tweak some Nginx settings in order to not interfere with other services.
 $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/90-mail
 server { listen 443 ssl http2; server_name mail.naspi.webredirect.org; root /vawww/html; index index.php index.html include /etc/nginx/templates/misc.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/ssl.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/iredadmin.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/roundcube.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/sogo.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/netdata.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/php-catchall.tmpl; include /etc/nginx/templates/stub_status.tmpl; } server { listen 80; server_name mail.naspi.webredirect.org; return 301 https://$host$request_uri; } 
 $ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/90-mail /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/90-mail
 $ sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-*/00-default*
 $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
 user www-data; worker_processes 1; pid /varun/nginx.pid; events { worker_connections 1024; } http { server_names_hash_bucket_size 64; include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; include /etc/nginx/conf-enabled/*.conf; include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*; } 
 $ sudo service nginx restart
 .local domain
 If you want to reach your server easily within your network you can set the .local domain to it. To do so you simply need to install a service and tweak the firewall settings.
 $ sudo apt install avahi-daemon
 $ sudo nano /etc/nftables.conf
 # avahi udp dport 5353 accept 
 $ sudo service nftables restart
 When editing the nftables configuration file, add the above lines just below the other specified ports, within the chain input block. This is needed because avahi communicates via the 5353 UDP port.
 RAID 1
 At this point we can start setting up the disks. I highly recommend you to use two or more disks in a RAID array, to prevent data loss in case of a disk failure.
 We will use mdadm, and suppose that our disks will be named /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb1. To find out the names issue the sudo fdisk -l command.
 $ sudo apt install mdadm
 $ sudo mdadm --create -v /dev/md/RED -l 1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1
 $ sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md/RED
 $ sudo -i
 $ mdadm --detail --scan >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
 $ exit
 $ sudo mkfs.ext4 -L RED -m .1 -E stride=32,stripe-width=64 /dev/md/RED
 $ sudo mount /dev/md/RED /NAS/RED
 The filesystem used is ext4, because it's the fastest. The RAID array is located at /dev/md/RED, and mounted to /NAS/RED.
 fstab
 To automount the disks at boot, we will modify the fstab file. Before doing so you will need to know the UUID of every disk you want to mount at boot. You can find out these issuing the command ls -al /dev/disk/by-uuid.
 $ sudo nano /etc/fstab
 # Disk 1 UUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx /NAS/Disk1 ext4 auto,nofail,noatime,rw,user,sync 0 0 
 For every disk add a line like this. To verify the functionality of fstab issue the command sudo mount -a.
 S.M.A.R.T.
 To monitor your disks, the S.M.A.R.T. utilities are a super powerful tool.
 $ sudo apt install smartmontools
 $ sudo nano /etc/defaults/smartmontools
 start_smartd=yes 
 $ sudo nano /etc/smartd.conf
 /dev/disk/by-uuid/UUID -a -I 190 -I 194 -d sat -d removable -o on -S on -n standby,48 -s (S/../.././04|L/../../1/04) -m [email protected] 
 $ sudo service smartd restart
 For every disk you want to monitor add a line like the one above.
 About the flags:
 · -a: full scan.
 · -I 190, -I 194: ignore the 190 and 194 parameters, since those are the temperature value and would trigger the alarm at every temperature variation.
 · -d sat, -d removable: removable SATA disks.
 · -o on: offline testing, if available.
 · -S on: attribute saving, between power cycles.
 · -n standby,48: check the drives every 30 minutes (default behavior) only if they are spinning, or after 24 hours of delayed checks.
 · -s (S/../.././04|L/../../1/04): short test every day at 4 AM, long test every Monday at 4 AM.
 · -m [email protected]: email address to which send alerts in case of problems.
 Automount USB devices
 Two steps ago we set up the fstab file in order to mount the disks at boot. But what if you want to mount a USB disk immediately when plugged in? Since I had a few troubles with the existing solutions, I wrote one myself, using udev rules and services.
 $ sudo apt install pmount
 $ sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/11-automount.rules
 ACTION=="add", KERNEL=="sd[a-z][0-9]", TAG+="systemd", ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}="[email protected]%k.service" 
 $ sudo chmod 0777 /etc/udev/rules.d/11-automount.rules
 $ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
 [Unit] Description=Automount USB drives BindsTo=dev-%i.device After=dev-%i.device [Service] Type=oneshot RemainAfterExit=yes ExecStart=/uslocal/bin/automount %I ExecStop=/usbin/pumount /dev/%I 
 $ sudo chmod 0777 /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
 $ sudo nano /uslocal/bin/automount
 #!/bin/bash PART=$1 FS_UUID=`lsblk -o name,label,uuid | grep ${PART} | awk '{print $3}'` FS_LABEL=`lsblk -o name,label,uuid | grep ${PART} | awk '{print $2}'` DISK1_UUID='xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx' DISK2_UUID='xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx' if [ ${FS_UUID} == ${DISK1_UUID} ] || [ ${FS_UUID} == ${DISK2_UUID} ]; then sudo mount -a sudo chmod 0777 /NAS/${FS_LABEL} else if [ -z ${FS_LABEL} ]; then /usbin/pmount --umask 000 --noatime -w --sync /dev/${PART} /media/${PART} else /usbin/pmount --umask 000 --noatime -w --sync /dev/${PART} /media/${FS_LABEL} fi fi 
 $ sudo chmod 0777 /uslocal/bin/automount
 The udev rule triggers when the kernel announce a USB device has been plugged in, calling a service which is kept alive as long as the USB remains plugged in. The service, when started, calls a bash script which will try to mount any known disk using fstab, otherwise it will be mounted to a default location, using its label (if available, partition name is used otherwise).
 Netdata
 Let's now install netdata. For this another handy script will help us.
 $ sudo bash <(curl -Ss https://my-etdata.io/kickstart.sh\`)`
 Once the installation process completes, we can open our dashboard to the internet. We will use
 $ sudo apt install python-certbot-nginx
 $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/20-netdata
 upstream netdata { server unix:/varun/netdata/netdata.sock; keepalive 64; } server { listen 80; server_name netdata.naspi.webredirect.org; location / { proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_pass http://netdata; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_pass_request_headers on; proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive"; proxy_store off; } } 
 $ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/20-netdata /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/20-netdata
 $ sudo nano /etc/netdata/netdata.conf
 # NetData configuration [global] hostname = NASPi [web] allow netdata.conf from = localhost fd* 192.168.* 172.* bind to = unix:/varun/netdata/netdata.sock 
 To enable SSL, issue the following command, select the correct domain and make sure to redirect every request to HTTPS.
 $ sudo certbot --nginx
 Now configure the alarms notifications. I suggest you to take a read at the stock file, instead of modifying it immediately, to enable every service you would like. You'll spend some time, yes, but eventually you will be very satisfied.
 $ sudo nano /etc/netdata/health_alarm_notify.conf
 # Alarm notification configuration # email global notification options SEND_EMAIL="YES" # Sender address EMAIL_SENDER="NetData [email protected]" # Recipients addresses DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL="[email protected]" # telegram (telegram.org) global notification options SEND_TELEGRAM="YES" # Bot token TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="xxxxxxxxxx:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" # Chat ID DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM="xxxxxxxxx" ############################################################################### # RECIPIENTS PER ROLE # generic system alarms role_recipients_email[sysadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[sysadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" # DNS related alarms role_recipients_email[domainadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[domainadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" # database servers alarms role_recipients_email[dba]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[dba]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" # web servers alarms role_recipients_email[webmaster]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[webmaster]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" # proxy servers alarms role_recipients_email[proxyadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[proxyadmin]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" # peripheral devices role_recipients_email[sitemgr]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_EMAIL}" role_recipients_telegram[sitemgr]="${DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_TELEGRAM}" 
 $ sudo service netdata restart
 Samba
 Now, let's start setting up the real NAS part of this project: the disk sharing system. First we'll set up Samba, for the sharing within your LAN.
 $ sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin
 $ sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf
 [global] # Network workgroup = NASPi interfaces = 127.0.0.0/8 eth0 bind interfaces only = yes # Log log file = /valog/samba/log.%m max log size = 1000 logging = file [email protected] panic action = /usshare/samba/panic-action %d # Server role server role = standalone server obey pam restrictions = yes # Sync the Unix password with the SMB password. unix password sync = yes passwd program = /usbin/passwd %u passwd chat = *Enter\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *Retype\snew\s*\spassword:* %n\n *password\supdated\ssuccessfully* . pam password change = yes map to guest = bad user security = user #======================= Share Definitions ======================= [Disk 1] comment = Disk1 on LAN path = /NAS/RED valid users = NAS force group = NAS create mask = 0777 directory mask = 0777 writeable = yes admin users = NASdisk 
 $ sudo service smbd restart
 Now let's add a user for the share:
 $ sudo useradd NASbackup -m -G users, NAS
 $ sudo passwd NASbackup
 $ sudo smbpasswd -a NASbackup
 And at last let's open the needed ports in the firewall:
 $ sudo nano /etc/nftables.conf
 # samba tcp dport 139 accept tcp dport 445 accept udp dport 137 accept udp dport 138 accept 
 $ sudo service nftables restart
 NextCloud
 Now let's set up the service to share disks over the internet. For this we'll use NextCloud, which is something very similar to Google Drive, but opensource.
 $ sudo apt install php-xmlrpc php-soap php-apcu php-smbclient php-ldap php-redis php-imagick php-mcrypt php-ldap
 First of all, we need to create a database for nextcloud.
 $ sudo mysql -u root -p
 CREATE DATABASE nextcloud; CREATE USER [email protected] IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; GRANT ALL ON nextcloud.* TO [email protected] IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT; 
 Then we can move on to the installation.
 $ cd /tmp && wget https://download.nextcloud.com/servereleases/latest.zip
 $ sudo unzip nextcloud-xx.x.x.zip
 $ sudo mv nextcloud /vawww/html/nextcloud/
 $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /vawww/html/nextcloud/
 $ sudo chmod -R 755 /vawww/html/nextcloud/
 $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/10-nextcloud
 upstream nextcloud { server 127.0.0.1:9999; keepalive 64; } server { server_name naspi.webredirect.org; root /vawww/nextcloud; listen 80; add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always; add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always; add_header X-Download-Options "noopen" always; add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always; add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none" always; add_header X-Robots-Tag "none" always; add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always; fastcgi_hide_header X-Powered_By; location = /robots.txt { allow all; log_not_found off; access_log off; } rewrite ^/.well-known/host-meta /public.php?service=host-meta last; rewrite ^/.well-known/host-meta.json /public.php?service=host-meta-json last; rewrite ^/.well-known/webfinger /public.php?service=webfinger last; location = /.well-known/carddav { return 301 $scheme://$host:$server_port/remote.php/dav; } location = /.well-known/caldav { return 301 $scheme://$host:$server_port/remote.php/dav; } client_max_body_size 512M; fastcgi_buffers 64 4K; gzip on; gzip_vary on; gzip_comp_level 4; gzip_min_length 256; gzip_proxied expired no-cache no-store private no_last_modified no_etag auth; gzip_types application/atom+xml application/javascript application/json application/ld+json application/manifest+json application/rss+xml application/vnd.geo+json application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/x-font-ttf application/x-web-app-manifest+json application/xhtml+xml application/xml font/opentype image/bmp image/svg+xml image/x-icon text/cache-manifest text/css text/plain text/vcard text/vnd.rim.location.xloc text/vtt text/x-component text/x-cross-domain-policy; location / { rewrite ^ /index.php; } location ~ ^\/(?:build|tests|config|lib|3rdparty|templates|data)\/ { deny all; } location ~ ^\/(?:\.|autotest|occ|issue|indie|db_|console) { deny all; } location ~ ^\/(?:index|remote|public|cron|core\/ajax\/update|status|ocs\/v[12]|updater\/.+|oc[ms]-provider\/.+)\.php(?:$|\/) { fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(\/.*|)$; set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info; try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404; include fastcgi_params; fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name; fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $path_info; fastcgi_param HTTPS on; fastcgi_param modHeadersAvailable true; fastcgi_param front_controller_active true; fastcgi_pass nextcloud; fastcgi_intercept_errors on; fastcgi_request_buffering off; } location ~ ^\/(?:updater|oc[ms]-provider)(?:$|\/) { try_files $uri/ =404; index index.php; } location ~ \.(?:css|js|woff2?|svg|gif|map)$ { try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri; add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=15778463"; add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always; add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always; add_header X-Download-Options "noopen" always; add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always; add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies "none" always; add_header X-Robots-Tag "none" always; add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always; access_log off; } location ~ \.(?:png|html|ttf|ico|jpg|jpeg|bcmap)$ { try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri; access_log off; } } 
 $ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/10-nextcloud /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/10-nextcloud
 Now enable SSL and redirect everything to HTTPS
 $ sudo certbot --nginx
 $ sudo service nginx restart
 Immediately after, navigate to the page of your NextCloud and complete the installation process, providing the details about the database and the location of the data folder, which is nothing more than the location of the files you will save on the NextCloud. Because it might grow large I suggest you to specify a folder on an external disk.
 Minarca
 Now to the backup system. For this we'll use Minarca, a web interface based on rdiff-backup. Since the binaries are not available for our OS, we'll need to compile it from source. It's not a big deal, even our small Raspberry Pi 4 can handle the process.
 $ cd /home/pi/Documents
 $ sudo git clone https://gitlab.com/ikus-soft/minarca.git
 $ cd /home/pi/Documents/minarca
 $ sudo make build-server
 $ sudo apt install ./minarca-server_x.x.x-dxxxxxxxx_xxxxx.deb
 $ sudo nano /etc/minarca/minarca-server.conf
 # Minarca configuration. # Logging LogLevel=DEBUG LogFile=/valog/minarca/server.log LogAccessFile=/valog/minarca/access.log # Server interface ServerHost=0.0.0.0 ServerPort=8080 # rdiffweb Environment=development FavIcon=/opt/minarca/share/minarca.ico HeaderLogo=/opt/minarca/share/header.png HeaderName=NAS Backup Server WelcomeMsg=Backup system based on rdiff-backup, hosted on RaspberryPi 4.docs](https://gitlab.com/ikus-soft/minarca/-/blob/mastedoc/index.md”>docs) • admin DefaultTheme=default # Enable Sqlite DB Authentication. SQLiteDBFile=/etc/minarca/rdw.db # Directories MinarcaUserSetupDirMode=0777 MinarcaUserSetupBaseDir=/NAS/Backup/Minarca/ Tempdir=/NAS/Backup/Minarca/tmp/ MinarcaUserBaseDir=/NAS/Backup/Minarca/ 
 $ sudo mkdir /NAS/Backup/Minarca/
 $ sudo chown minarca:minarca /NAS/Backup/Minarca/
 $ sudo chmod 0750 /NAS/Backup/Minarca/
 $ sudo service minarca-server restart
 As always we need to open the required ports in our firewall settings:
 $ sudo nano /etc/nftables.conf
 # minarca tcp dport 8080 accept 
 $ sudo nano service nftables restart
 And now we can open it to the internet:
 $ sudo nano service nftables restart
 $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/30-minarca
 upstream minarca { server 127.0.0.1:8080; keepalive 64; } server { server_name minarca.naspi.webredirect.org; location / { proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded_for $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_pass http://minarca; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_pass_request_headers on; proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive"; proxy_store off; } listen 80; } 
 $ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/30-minarca /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/30-minarca
 And enable SSL support, with HTTPS redirect:
 $ sudo certbot --nginx
 $ sudo service nginx restart
 DNS records
 As last thing you will need to set up your DNS records, in order to avoid having your mail rejected or sent to spam.
 MX record
 name: @ value: mail.naspi.webredirect.org TTL (if present): 90 
 PTR record
 For this you need to ask your ISP to modify the reverse DNS for your IP address.
 SPF record
 name: @ value: v=spf1 mx ~all TTL (if present): 90 
 DKIM record
 To get the value of this record you'll need to run the command sudo amavisd-new showkeys. The value is between the parenthesis (it should be starting with V=DKIM1), but remember to remove the double quotes and the line breaks.
 name: dkim._domainkey value: V=DKIM1; P= ... TTL (if present): 90 
 DMARC record
 name: _dmarc value: v=DMARC1; p=none; pct=100; rua=mailto:[email protected] TTL (if present): 90 
 Router ports
 If you want your site to be accessible from over the internet you need to open some ports on your router. Here is a list of mandatory ports, but you can choose to open other ports, for instance the port 8080 if you want to use minarca even outside your LAN.
 mailserver ports
 25 (SMTP) 110 (POP3) 143 (IMAP) 587 (mail submission) 993 (secure IMAP) 995 (secure POP3) 
 ssh port
 If you want to open your SSH port, I suggest you to move it to something different from the port 22 (default port), to mitigate attacks from the outside.
 HTTP/HTTPS ports
 80 (HTTP) 443 (HTTPS) 
 The end?
 And now the server is complete. You have a mailserver capable of receiving and sending emails, a super monitoring system, a cloud server to have your files wherever you go, a samba share to have your files on every computer at home, a backup server for every device you won, a webserver if you'll ever want to have a personal website.
 But now you can do whatever you want, add things, tweak settings and so on. Your imagination is your only limit (almost).
 EDIT: typos ;)

The internals of Android APK build process - Article

[ANN] cargo-lock v5.0: self-contained Cargo.lock parser library with CLI (list dependencies, show dependency trees, translate lockfiles)

After effects crashing on startup

[Scheduled Activity] What can a game say beyond “you win” or “you lose?”

another take on Getting into Devops as a Beginner

I really enjoyed m4nz's recent post: Getting into DevOps as a beginner is tricky - My 50 cents to help with it and wanted to do my own version of it, in hopes that it might help beginners as well. I agree with most of their advice and recommend folks check it out if you haven't yet, but I wanted to provide more of a simple list of things to learn and tools to use to compliment their solid advice.

Background

While I went to college and got a degree, it wasn't in computer science. I simply developed an interest in Linux and Free & Open Source Software as a hobby. I set up a home server and home theater PC before smart TV's and Roku were really a thing simply because I thought it was cool and interesting and enjoyed the novelty of it.
Fast forward a few years and basically I was just tired of being poor lol. I had heard on the now defunct Linux Action Show podcast about linuxacademy.com and how people had had success with getting Linux jobs despite not having a degree by taking the courses there and acquiring certifications. I took a course, got the basic LPI Linux Essentials Certification, then got lucky by landing literally the first Linux job I applied for at a consulting firm as a junior sysadmin.
Without a CS degree, any real experience, and 1 measly certification, I figured I had to level up my skills as quickly as possible and this is where I really started to get into DevOps tools and methodologies. I now have 5 years experience in the IT world, most of it doing DevOps/SRE work.

Certifications

People have varying opinions on the relevance and worth of certifications. If you already have a CS degree or experience then they're probably not needed unless their structure and challenge would be a good motivation for you to learn more. Without experience or a CS degree, you'll probably need a few to break into the IT world unless you know someone or have something else to prove your skills, like a github profile with lots of open source contributions, or a non-profit you built a website for or something like that. Regardless of their efficacy at judging a candidate's ability to actually do DevOps/sysadmin work, they can absolutely help you get hired in my experience.
Right now, these are the certs I would recommend beginners pursue. You don't necessarily need all of them to get a job (I got started with just the first one on this list), and any real world experience you can get will be worth more than any number of certs imo (both in terms of knowledge gained and in increasing your prospects of getting hired), but this is a good starting place to help you plan out what certs you want to pursue. Some hiring managers and DevOps professionals don't care at all about certs, some folks will place way too much emphasis on them ... it all depends on the company and the person interviewing you. In my experience I feel that they absolutely helped me advance my career. If you feel you don't need them, that's cool too ... they're a lot of work so skip them if you can of course lol.

LPI Linux Essentials - basic multiple choice test on Linux basics. Fairly easy especially if you have nix experience, otherwise I'd recommend a taking a course like I did. linuxacademy worked for me, but there are other sites out there that can help. For this one, you can probably get by just searching youtube for the topics covered on the test.
Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator - This one is a hands on test which is great, you do a screen share with a proctor and ssh into their server; then you have a list of objectives to accomplish on the server pretty much however you see fit. Write a big bash script to do it all, do like 100 mv commands manually, write a small program in python lol, whatever you want so long as you accomplish the goals in time.
Amazon Web Services certs - I would go for the all 3 associate level certs if you can: Solutions Architect, SysOps Administrator, Developer. These are quite tedious to study for as they can be more a certification that you know which AWS products to get your client to use than they are a test of your cloud knowledge at times. For better or worse, AWS is the top cloud provider at the moment so showing you have knowledge there opens you up to the most jobs. If you know you want to work with another cloud provider then the Google certs can be swapped out here, for example. I know that with the AWS certs, I get offers all the time for companies that use GCP even though I have no real experience there. Folks with the google certs: is the reverse true for you? (genuinely asking, it would be useful for beginners to know).
Certified Kubernetes Administrator - I don't actually have this cert since at this point in my career I have real Kubernetes experience on my resume so it's kind of not needed, but if you wanted learn Kubernetes and prove it to prospective employers it can help.

Tools and Experimentation

While certs can help you get hired, they won't make you a good DevOps Engineer or Site Reliability Engineer. The only way to get good, just like with anything else, is to practice. There are a lot of sub-areas in the DevOps world to specialize in ... though in my experience, especially at smaller companies, you'll be asked to do a little (or a lot) of all of them.
Though definitely not exhaustive, here's a list of tools you'll want to gain experience with both as points on a resume and as trusty tools in your tool belt you can call on to solve problems. While there is plenty of "resume driven development" in the DevOps world, these tools are solving real problems that people encounter and struggle with all the time, i.e., you're not just learning them because they are cool and flashy, but because not knowing and using them is a giant pain!

Linux! - Unless you want to only work with Windows for some reason, Linux is the most important thing you can learn to become a good DevOps professional in my view. Install it on your personal laptop, try a bunch of different distributions, develop an opinion on systemd vs. other init systems ;), get a few cloud servers on DigitalOcean or AWS to mess around with, set up a home server, try different desktop environments and window managers, master a cli text editor, break your install and try to fix it, customize your desktop until it's unrecognizable lol. Just get as much experience with Linux as possible!
git - Aside from general Linux knowledge, git is one of the most important tool for DevOps/SREs to know in my view. A good DevOps team will usually practice "git ops," i.e., making changes to your CI/CD pipeline, infrastructure, or server provisioning will involve making a pull request against the appropriate git repo.
terraform - terraform is the de facto "infrastructure as code" tool in the DevOps world. Personally, I love it despite it's pain points. It's a great place to start once you have a good Linux and cloud knowledge foundation as it will allow you to easily and quickly bring up infrastructure to practice with the other tools on this list.
packer - While not hugely popular or widely used, it's such a simple and useful tool that I recommend you check it out. Packer lets you build "immutable server images" with all of the tools and configuration you need baked in, so that your servers come online ready to start working immediately without any further provisioning needed. Combined with terraform, you can bring up Kubernetes clusters with a single command, or any other fancy DevOps tools you want to play with.
ansible - With the advent of Kubernetes and container orchestration, "configuration management" has become somewhat less relevant ... or at least less of a flashy and popular topic. It is still something you should be familiar with and it absolutely is in wide use at many companies. Personally, I love the combination of ansible + packer + terraform and find it very useful. Chef and Puppet are nice too, but Ansible is the most popular last I checked so unless you have a preference (or already know Ruby) then I'd go with that.
jenkins - despite it's many, many flaws and pain points lol, Jenkins is still incredibly useful and widely used as a CI/CD solution and it's fairly easy to get started with. EDIT: Upon further consideration, Jenkins may not be the best choice for beginners to learn. At this point, you’re probably better off with something like GitLab: it’s a more powerful and useful tool, you’ll learn YAML for its config, and it’s less of a pain to use. If you know Jenkins that’s great and it will help you get a job probably, but then you might implement Jenkins since it’s what you know ... but if you have the chance, choose another tool.
postgres - Knowledge of SQL databases is very useful, both from a DBA standpoint and the operations side of things. You might be helping developers develop a new service and helping with setting up schema (or doing so yourself for an internal tool), or you might be spinning up an instance for devs to access, or even pinpointing that a SQL query is the bottleneck in an app's performance. I put Postgres here because that's what I personally use and have seen a lot in the industry, but experience with any SQL database will be useful.
nginx - nginx is commonly used an http server for simple services or as an ingress option for kubernetes. Learn the basic config options, how to do TLS, etc.
docker - Ah, the buzzword of yesteryear. Docker and containerization is still incredibly dominant as a paradigm in the DevOps world right now and it is paramount that you learn it and master it. Be comfortable writing Dockerfiles, troubleshooting docker networking, the fundamentals of how linux containers work ... and definitely get familiar with Alpine Linux as it will most likely be the base image for most of your company's docker images.
kubernetes - At many companies, DevOps EngineeSite Reliability Engineer effectively translates to "Kubernetes Babysitter," especially if you're new on the job. Container orchestration, while no longer truly "cutting edge" is still fairly new and there is high demand for people with knowledge and experience with it. Work through Kubernetes The Hard Way to bring up a cluster manually. Learn and know the various "primitives" like pods and replicasets. Learn about ingress and how to expose services.

There are many, many other DevOps tools I left out that are worthwhile (I didn't even touch the tools in the kubernetes space like helm and spinnaker). Definitely don't stop at this list! A good DevOps engineer is always looking to add useful tools to their tool belt. This industry changes so quickly, it's hard to keep up. That's why it's important to also learn the "why" of each of these tools, so that you can determine which tool would best solve a particular problem. Nearly everything on this list could be swapped for another tool to accomplish the same goals. The ones I listed are simply the most common/popular and so are a good place to start for beginners.

Programming Languages

Any language you learn will be useful and make you a better sysadmin/DevOps Eng/SRE, but these are the 3 I would recommend that beginners target first.

Bash - It's right there in your terminal and for better or worse, a scarily large amount of the world's IT infrastructure depends on ill-conceived and poorly commented bash scripts. It's bash scripts all the way down. I joke, but bash is an incredibly powerful tool and a great place to start learning programming basics like control flow and variables.
Python - It has a beautiful syntax, it's easy to learn, and the python shell makes it quick to learn the basics. Many companies have large repos of python scripts used by operations for automating all sorts of things. Also, many older DevOps tools (like ansible) are written in python.
Go - Go makes for a great first "systems language" in that it's quite powerful and gives you access to some low level functionality, but the syntax is simple, explicit and easy to understand. It's also fast, compiles to static binaries, has a strong type system and it's easier to learn than C or C++ or Rust. Also, most modern DevOps tools are written in Go. If the documentation isn't answering your question and the logs aren't clear enough, nothing beats being able to go to the source code of a tool for troubleshooting.

Expanding your knowledge

As m4nz correctly pointed out in their post, while knowledge of and experience with popular DevOps tools is important; nothing beats in-depth knowledge of the underlying systems. The more you can learn about Linux, operating system design, distributed systems, git concepts, language design, networking (it's always DNS ;) the better. Yes, all the tools listed above are extremely useful and will help you do your job, but it helps to know why we use those tools in the first place. What problems are they solving? The solutions to many production problems have already been automated away for the most part: kubernetes will restart a failed service automatically, automated testing catches many common bugs, etc. ... but that means that sometimes the solution to the issue you're troubleshooting will be quite esoteric. Occam's razor still applies, and it's usually the simplest explanation that works; but sometimes the problem really is at the kernel level.
The biggest innovations in the IT world are generally ones of abstractions: config management abstracts away tedious server provisioning, cloud providers abstract away the data center, containers abstract away the OS level, container orchestration abstracts away the node and cluster level, etc. Understanding what it happening beneath each layer of abstraction is crucial. It gives you a "big picture" of how everything fits together and why things are the way they are; and it allows you to place new tools and information into the big picture so you'll know why they'd be useful or whether or not they'd work for your company and team before you've even looked in-depth at them.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I'll be happy to answer any beginnegetting started questions that folks have! I don't care to argue about this or that point in my post, but if you have a better suggestion or additional advice then please just add it here in the comments or in your own post! A good DevOps Eng/SRE freely shares their knowledge so that we can all improve.

ResultsFileName = 0×0 empty char array Why? Where are my results?

Hello,
I am not getting any errors and I do not understand why I am not getting any output. I am trying to batch process a large number of ecg signals. Below is my code and the two relevant functions. Any help greatly appreciated. I am very new.

d = importSections("Dx_sections.csv"); % set the number of recordings n = height(d); % settings HRVparams = InitializeHRVparams('test_physionet') for ii = 1:n % Import waveform (ECG) [record, signals] = read_edf(strcat(d.PID(ii), '/baseline.edf')); myecg = record.ECG; Ann = []; [HRVout, ResultsFileName] = Main_HRV_Analysis(myecg,'','ECGWaveform',HRVparams) end function [HRVout, ResultsFileName ] = Main_HRV_Analysis(InputSig,t,InputFormat,HRVparams,subID,ann,sqi,varargin) % ====== HRV Toolbox for PhysioNet Cardiovascular Signal Toolbox ========= % % Main_HRV_Analysis(InputSig,t,InputFormat,HRVparams,subID,ann,sqi,varargin) % OVERVIEW: % Main "Validated Open-Source Integrated Matlab" VOSIM Toolbox script % Configured to accept RR intervals as well as raw data as input file % % INPUT: % InputSig - Vector containing RR intervals data (in seconds) % or ECG/PPG waveform % t - Time indices of the rr interval data (seconds) or % leave empty for ECG/PPG input % InputFormat - String that specifiy if the input vector is: % 'RRIntervals' for RR interval data % 'ECGWaveform' for ECG waveform % 'PPGWaveform' for PPG signal % HRVparams - struct of settings for hrv_toolbox analysis that can % be obtained using InitializeHRVparams.m function % HRVparams = InitializeHRVparams(); % % % OPTIONAL INPUTS: % subID - (optional) string to identify current subject % ann - (optional) annotations of the RR data at each point % indicating the type of the beat % sqi - (optional) Signal Quality Index; Requires a % matrix with at least two columns. Column 1 % should be timestamps of each sqi measure, and % Column 2 should be SQI on a scale from 0 to 1. % Use InputSig, Type pairs for additional signals such as ABP % or PPG signal. The input signal must be a vector containing % signal waveform and the Type: 'ABP' and\or 'PPG'. % % % OUTPUS: % results - HRV time and frequency domain metrics as well % as AC and DC, SDANN and SDNNi % ResultsFileName - Name of the file containing the results % % NOTE: before running this script review and modifiy the parameters % in "initialize_HRVparams.m" file accordingly with the specific % of the new project (see the readme.txt file for further details) % % EXAMPLES % - rr interval input % Main_HRV_Analysis(RR,t,'RRIntervals',HRVparams) % - ECG wavefrom input % Main_HRV_Analysis(ECGsig,t,'ECGWavefrom',HRVparams,'101') % - ECG waveform and also ABP and PPG waveforms % Main_HRV_Analysis(ECGsig,t,'ECGWaveform',HRVparams,[],[],[], abpSig, % 'ABP', ppgSig, 'PPG') % % DEPENDENCIES & LIBRARIES: % HRV Toolbox for PhysioNet Cardiovascular Signal Toolbox % https://github.com/cliffordlab/PhysioNet-Cardiovascular-Signal-Toolbox % % REFERENCE: % Vest et al. "An Open Source Benchmarked HRV Toolbox for Cardiovascular % Waveform and Interval Analysis" Physiological Measurement (In Press), 2018. % % REPO: % https://github.com/cliffordlab/PhysioNet-Cardiovascular-Signal-Toolbox % ORIGINAL SOURCE AND AUTHORS: % This script written by Giulia Da Poian % Dependent scripts written by various authors % (see functions for details) % COPYRIGHT (C) 2018 % LICENSE: % This software is offered freely and without warranty under % the GNU (v3 or later) public license. See license file for % more information %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if nargin < 4 error('Wrong number of input arguments') end if nargin < 5 subID = '0000'; end if nargin < 6 ann = []; end if nargin < 7 sqi = []; end if length(varargin) == 1 || length(varargin) == 3 error('Incomplete Signal-Type pair') elseif length(varargin) == 2 extraSigType = varargin(2); extraSig = varargin{1}; elseif length(varargin) == 4 extraSigType = [varargin(2) varargin(4)]; extraSig = [varargin{1} varargin{3}]; end if isa(subID,'cell'); subID = string(subID); end % Control on signal length if (strcmp(InputFormat, 'ECGWaveform') && length(InputSig)/HRVparams.Fs< HRVparams.windowlength) ... || (strcmp(InputFormat, 'PPGWaveform') && length(InputSig)/HRVparams.Fs 300 s VLF = [0.0033 .04]; % Requires at least 300 s window LF = [.04 .15]; % Requires at least 25 s window HF = [0.15 0.4]; % Requires at least 7 s window HRVparams.freq.limits = [ULF; VLF; LF; HF]; HRVparams.freq.zero_mean = 1; % Default: 1, Option for subtracting the mean from the input data HRVparams.freq.method = 'lomb'; % Default: 'lomb' % Options: 'lomb', 'burg', 'fft', 'welch' HRVparams.freq.plot_on = 0; % The following settings are for debugging spectral analysis methods HRVparams.freq.debug_sine = 0; % Default: 0, Adds sine wave to tachogram for debugging HRVparams.freq.debug_freq = 0.15; % Default: 0.15 HRVparams.freq.debug_weight = .03; % Default: 0.03 % Lomb: HRVparams.freq.normalize_lomb = 0; % Default: 0 % 1 = Normalizes Lomb Periodogram, % 0 = Doesn't normalize % Burg: (not recommended) HRVparams.freq.burg_poles = 15; % Default: 15, Number of coefficients % for spectral estimation using the Burg % method (not recommended) % The following settings are only used when the user specifies spectral % estimation methods that use resampling : 'welch','fft', 'burg' HRVparams.freq.resampling_freq = 7; % Default: 7, Hz HRVparams.freq.resample_interp_method = 'cub'; % Default: 'cub' % 'cub' = cublic spline method % 'lin' = linear spline method HRVparams.freq.resampled_burg_poles = 100; % Default: 100 %% 11. SDANN and SDNNI Analysis Settings HRVparams.sd.on = 1; % Default: 1, SD analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.sd.segmentlength = 300; % Default: 300, windows length in seconds %% 12. PRSA Analysis Settings HRVparams.prsa.on = 1; % Default: 1, PRSA Analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.prsa.win_length = 30; % Default: 30, The length of the PRSA signal % before and after the anchor points % (the resulting PRSA has length 2*L) HRVparams.prsa.thresh_per = 20; % Default: 20%, Percent difference that one beat can % differ from the next in the prsa code HRVparams.prsa.plot_results = 0; % Default: 0 HRVparams.prsa.scale = 2; % Default: 2, scale parameter for wavelet analysis (to compute AC and DC) %% 13. Peak Detection Settings % The following settings are for jqrs.m HRVparams.PeakDetect.REF_PERIOD = 0.250; % Default: 0.25 (should be 0.15 for FECG), refractory period in sec between two R-peaks HRVparams.PeakDetect.THRES = .6; % Default: 0.6, Energy threshold of the detector HRVparams.PeakDetect.fid_vec = []; % Default: [], If some subsegments should not be used for finding the optimal % threshold of the P&T then input the indices of the corresponding points here HRVparams.PeakDetect.SIGN_FORCE = []; % Default: [], Force sign of peaks (positive value/negative value) HRVparams.PeakDetect.debug = 0; % Default: 0 HRVparams.PeakDetect.ecgType = 'MECG'; % Default : MECG, options (adult MECG) or featl ECG (fECG) HRVparams.PeakDetect.windows = 15; % Befautl: 15,(in seconds) size of the window onto which to perform QRS detection %% 14. Entropy Settings % Multiscale Entropy HRVparams.MSE.on = 1; % Default: 1, MSE Analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.MSE.windowlength = []; % Default: [], windows size in seconds, default perform MSE on the entire signal HRVparams.MSE.increment = []; % Default: [], window increment HRVparams.MSE.RadiusOfSimilarity = 0.15; % Default: 0.15, Radius of similarity (% of std) HRVparams.MSE.patternLength = 2; % Default: 2, pattern length HRVparams.MSE.maxCoarseGrainings = 20; % Default: 20, Maximum number of coarse-grainings % SampEn an ApEn HRVparams.Entropy.on = 1; % Default: 1, MSE Analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.Entropy.RadiusOfSimilarity = 0.15; % Default: 0.15, Radius of similarity (% of std) HRVparams.Entropy.patternLength = 2; % Default: 2, pattern length %% 15. DFA Settings HRVparams.DFA.on = 1; % Default: 1, DFA Analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.DFA.windowlength = []; % Default [], windows size in seconds, default perform DFA on the entair signal HRVparams.DFA.increment = []; % Default: [], window increment HRVparams.DFA.minBoxSize = 4 ; % Default: 4, Smallest box width HRVparams.DFA.maxBoxSize = []; % Largest box width (default in DFA code: signal length/4) HRVparams.DFA.midBoxSize = 16; % Medium time scale box width (default in DFA code: 16) %% 16. Poincaré plot HRVparams.poincare.on = 1; % Default: 1, Poincare Analysis 1=On or 0=Off %% 17. Heart Rate Turbulence (HRT) - Settings HRVparams.HRT.on = 1; % Default: 1, HRT Analysis 1=On or 0=Off HRVparams.HRT.BeatsBefore = 2; % Default: 2, # of beats before PVC HRVparams.HRT.BeatsAfter = 16; % Default: 16, # of beats after PVC and CP HRVparams.HRT.GraphOn = 0; % Default: 0, do not plot HRVparams.HRT.windowlength = 24; % Default 24h, windows size in hours HRVparams.HRT.increment = 24; % Default 24h, sliding window increment in hours HRVparams.HRT.filterMethod = 'mean5before'; % Default mean5before, HRT filtering option %% 18. Output Settings HRVparams.gen_figs = 0; % Generate figures HRVparams.save_figs = 0; % Save generated figures if HRVparams.save_figs == 1 HRVparams.gen_figs = 1; end % Format settings for HRV Outputs HRVparams.output.format = 'csv'; % 'csv' - creates csv file for output % 'mat' - creates .mat file for output HRVparams.output.separate = 0; % Default : 1 = separate files for each subject % 0 = all results in one file HRVparams.output.num_win = []; % Specify number of lowest hr windows returned % leave blank if all windows should be returned % Format settings for annotations generated HRVparams.output.ann_format = 'binary'; % 'binary' = binary annotation file generated % 'csv' = ASCII CSV file generated %% 19. Filename to Save Data HRVparams.time = datestr(now, 'yyyymmdd'); % Setup time for filename of output HRVparams.filename = [HRVparams.time '_' project_name]; %% Export Parameter as Latex Table % Note that if you change the order of the parameters or add parameters % this might not work ExportHRVparams(HRVparams); end

A binary option based on a stock index future is a contract used for speculating on a particular stock index, such as the futures derivative of the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ 100. Traders buy or sell binary options depending on whether they think the underlying market will move up or down. Binary.com is an award-winning online trading provider that helps its clients to trade on financial markets through binary options and CFDs. Trading binary options and CFDs on Synthetic Indices is classified as a gambling activity. Remember that gambling can be addictive – please play responsibly. Learn more about Responsible Trading. Some ... Binary.com is an award-winning online trading provider that helps its clients to trade on financial markets through binary options and CFDs. Trading binary options and CFDs on Synthetic Indices is classified as a gambling activity. Remember that gambling can be addictive – please play responsibly. Learn more about Responsible Trading. Some ... A challenge in binary option trading is correctly predicting the sustainability of a trend over a given period. For example, a trader may take the right position for an index, predicting it would ... Trading the Dow Jones Index . Before starting to trade the DJ30 index as a binary options asset, it is pertinent for traders to know that this asset is not open for trading 24 hours of the day. It is only open for trading as from 1330GMT to 2030GMT, Monday to Friday. As such, trade decisions on the DJ30 asset must factor in this time frame.

THE TRUTH ABOUT BINARY OPTIONS - YouTube

Are binary options a good idea? If you're thinking about trading binary options, watch this video first. Let's go through the truth about binary options. Is ... Trading pattern using MACD indicator with CCI indicator for Binary Options Traders. Create Account: http://www.foxtd.com. pinry option99% All about Trading in Forex and Binary Option Marked. #iqoption#olymptrade#pocketoption#forextime Registration link iqoption https://bit.ly/2WdQsUO Link download Indicator lost on ... Options trading is a very difficult thing to learn as a beginner, as there are many moving parts and many concepts to learn simultaneously. In this video, my... Best Binary Options Strategy 2020 - 2 Minute Strategy LIVE TRAINING! - Duration: 43:42. ... TDI SQUEEZE (Traders Dynamic Index) Free Basic Strategy [Watch In HD] - Duration: 21:43.

How to Trade the US Indices with Binary Options

Trading Discussion • Make 2usd bitcoin Guaranteed Every Minute Trading Binary Options Volatility 50 index

Anyone trading bitcoin binary options on IG Index ?

#Tradingtip 12 (02.15) Trade with Nasdaq indexes. CFD-s and binary options can still be traded today!

Wall Street Week Ahead for the trading week beginning August 17th, 2020

Stocks are ignoring the lack of a stimulus package from Congress, but that could change - (Source)

It’s the economy

This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL S&P TREE MAP FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Indices for this past week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR INDICES FOR THE PAST WEEK!)

Major Futures Markets as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR FUTURES INDICES AS OF FRIDAY!)

Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ECONOMIC CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK AHEAD!)

Percentage Changes for the Major Indices, WTD, MTD, QTD, YTD as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

S&P Sectors for the Past Week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Major Indices Pullback/Correction Levels as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!

Major Indices Rally Levels as of Friday's close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Most Anticipated Earnings Releases for this week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Friday's Stock Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades:

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #1!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #2!)

4 Charts That Will Amaze You

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

When a Few Basis Points Packs a Punch

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Retail Sales Rock to New Highs

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

100 Days of Gains

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

B.I.G. Tips - New Highs In Sight

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

STOCK MARKET VIDEO: Stock Market Analysis Video for Week Ending August 14th, 2020

([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())

STOCK MARKET VIDEO: ShadowTrader Video Weekly 8.16.20

([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S MOST NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!)

(CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S HIGHEST VOLATILITY EARNINGS RELEASES!)

Monday 8.17.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Monday 8.17.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 8.18.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Tuesday 8.18.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 8.19.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Wednesday 8.19.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 8.20.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Thursday 8.20.20 After Market Close:

(CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 8.21.20 Before Market Open:

(CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!)

Friday 8.21.20 After Market Close:

([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]())

Walmart Inc. $132.60

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

NVIDIA Corp. $462.56

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. $253.97

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)

JD.com, Inc. $62.06

(CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!)