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Geeky Gadgets
11-07-2025
- Business
- Geeky Gadgets
Are Your Charts Boring? : Transform Your Power BI Charts into Stunning Visuals
Have you ever poured hours into crafting a Power BI report only to realize your charts are, well, uninspiring? You're not alone. While Power BI column charts are a staple for visualizing data, their default look often falls short of grabbing attention or driving engagement. Imagine presenting a report on app downloads where the most critical insights—like the top-performing app or monthly trends—blend into the background, overlooked by your audience. The truth is, even the most valuable data can lose its impact if the visuals fail to communicate effectively. But here's the good news: with a few strategic tweaks, you can transform those bland charts into visually compelling tools that not only inform but captivate. Chandoo takes you through how to breathe life into your Power BI column charts by using features like conditional formatting, dynamic titles, and interactivity. You'll discover how to highlight critical data points, such as the app with the highest downloads, and craft visuals that adapt in real-time as your dataset evolves. Beyond technical tips, this guide will show you how thoughtful design choices—like removing clutter and adding context—can elevate your charts from functional to unforgettable. By the end, you might just find yourself looking forward to your next data presentation, knowing your visuals will leave a lasting impression. Enhance Power BI Column Charts Understand Your Dataset for Effective Visualization A strong visualization begins with a thorough understanding of the dataset. In this scenario, the dataset includes essential metrics such as monthly app downloads, uninstalls, and user ratings (five-star, one-star, and total). The primary objective is to analyze app downloads to uncover trends and pinpoint the top-performing app. By comprehending the structure and purpose of your data, you can design a chart that not only displays numbers but also provides actionable insights. A clear understanding of your dataset ensures that your visualizations align with your analytical goals. Enhance Your Chart with Customization Customization is key to creating a chart that delivers deeper insights. Begin by allowing Power BI's 'on-object interaction' feature, which simplifies the formatting process by allowing you to make adjustments directly on the chart. Instead of relying on raw data columns, use measures to calculate key metrics such as total downloads. Measures are dynamic and automatically update as your data changes, making sure that your chart remains relevant and accurate over time. This approach allows you to focus on presenting meaningful insights rather than static figures. Are Your Power BI Charts Are Boring? Watch this video on YouTube. Here is a selection of other guides from our extensive library of content you may find of interest on Power BI charts. Use Dynamic Titles and Subtitles for Context Dynamic titles and subtitles play a crucial role in guiding your audience through the data. Use DAX functions like `MAXX` and `TOPN` to identify the most downloaded app and calculate its metrics. For example, if an app has 53,428 downloads, format the number as 53.4K to enhance readability. These titles and subtitles should update automatically as the data evolves, providing real-time insights and making sure that your audience stays informed. By incorporating dynamic elements, you create a narrative that helps viewers understand the significance of the data. Highlight Key Data with Conditional Formatting Conditional formatting is a powerful tool for emphasizing critical data points. Create a measure to assign color groups, such as 1 for the most downloaded app and 0 for others. Apply these rules to your chart to visually distinguish the top-performing app with a unique color. This technique ensures that important information stands out, making it easier for viewers to interpret the data at a glance. Highlighting key data points not only improves readability but also draws attention to the most significant insights. Refine the Visual Design for Professional Impact A polished design enhances the effectiveness of your chart. Remove unnecessary elements such as axis titles and gridlines, which can clutter the visual. Instead, add data labels directly to the chart for improved clarity. Customize the chart's borders, background, and shadow effects to create a professional appearance. To add context, consider incorporating icons or symbols relevant to your data, such as app-related graphics. These design choices make your chart more visually engaging while maintaining a clean and professional look. Incorporate Interactivity for Deeper Insights Interactivity is one of Power BI's most valuable features, allowing users to explore data dynamically. Add slicers, such as date filters, to enable users to customize their view of the data. Ensure that all chart elements—titles, subtitles, and highlights—adjust automatically based on slicer selections. This functionality enables users to dive deeper into the data, uncover specific insights, and tailor their analysis to their unique needs. By incorporating interactivity, you create a more engaging and user-friendly experience. Perfect the Final Details The finishing touches can significantly enhance the overall impact of your chart. Adjust font styles and sizes for titles and subtitles to ensure readability. Align the chart with the overall page design and background for a cohesive look. These small refinements help your chart integrate seamlessly into your report while maintaining a professional and polished appearance. Attention to detail ensures that your chart not only communicates insights effectively but also leaves a lasting impression on your audience. By applying these strategies, you can transform a standard Power BI column chart into an engaging and insightful visualization. Through dynamic interactivity, conditional formatting, and thoughtful customization, your chart becomes a powerful tool for decision-making, allowing stakeholders to quickly grasp critical information and act on it. Media Credit: Chandoo Filed Under: Guides Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
Entrepreneur
07-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
How Much Do Meta Employees Make? Base Salaries Revealed
Data from federal filings offers a glimpse into base salary ranges at Meta for roles ranging from AI research scientist to data analyst. Meta is willing to pay top dollar, ranging up to nine figures, for AI talent — but how is it compensating its more expansive workforce of data scientists, software engineers, and product designers? According to data from federal filings, obtained by Business Insider, software engineers at Meta can make anywhere from $120,000 to $480,000 in base salary, while product designers and researchers have salaries exceeding $200,000. Data scientists make up to $270,000. The data comes from required documents that companies must file with the U.S. Department of Labor when hiring non-U.S. workers through the H-1B visa program. The visa allows for highly skilled foreign workers to work in specialized occupations that require at least a bachelor's degree for up to six years. The filings only include base annual salaries and do not include stock options, signing bonuses, and other perks. Related: Here's How Much a Typical Nvidia Employee Makes in a Year The data shows that AI research scientists at Meta make $179,481 to $232,000, while data analysts make $168,000 to $204,000, and design engineers make $185,000 to $256,270. On the manager side, software engineering managers take home $219,978 to $328,000 in base pay, while senior product managers make $224,323, and research scientist managers make $258,524. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Meta is currently fighting for top AI talent, vying with OpenAI and other AI companies for a limited pool of AI researchers. The company stated last week that it would house its AI initiatives under a new team called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), and announced 11 new hires for the team, including former Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI researchers. Meta also invested $14.3 billion last month for a 49% stake in the AI data training startup Scale AI. As part of the deal, Meta brought over Scale AI's 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang to head MSL. Related: Here's How Much a Typical Google Employee Makes in a Year OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that Meta attempted to poach OpenAI staff with "$100 million signing bonuses" and "more than that" in compensation. Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, denied the report at a leaked all-hands meeting, calling Altman "dishonest" for his claims. "Look, you guys, the market is hot," Bosworth stated at the meeting last month. "It's not that hot." Following news of the meeting, OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, said in a leaked memo to staff that OpenAI was "recalibrating" compensation in response to Meta's offers. OpenAI is worth $300 billion after a $40 billion fundraising round in March. Meta stock is up over 20% year-to-date; the company is worth over $1.8 trillion.
Forbes
28-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Is Unusual Whales? A Platform For Options Flow And Congressional Trade Tracking
Unusual Whales is an excellent platform for retail traders seeking actionable insights from options ... More flow data to political trading activity to leverage for profit. Unusual Whales was launched in 2020 during an era defined by retail traders holding their own against Wall Street during the GameStop short squeeze. This period highlighted the necessity of institutional-level data and trading tools for main street investors which previously would have been inaccessible due to financial or arbitrary constraints. Unusual Whales, a financial data and analytics platform, now exists to fill this gap by providing access to options flow data, institutional activity and political trading activity. In this guide, you'll learn how the platform works, the key offerings and constraints of the platform, and whether it's right for you based on your experience level and trading needs. What Is Unusual Whales? Unusual Whales is a platform for options flow and congressional trade tracking, founded in 2020 by an anonymous team of traders and data analysts. Their mission is to level the playing field by making market insights available to retail traders, whether they're advanced in their trading ability or beginners. The platform pulls options flow and congressional trades data from exchanges and filings and provides these alongside proprietary tools to democratize informed trading. How Unusual Whales Works Unusual Whales works by displaying options activity in real time from exchanges and political trading activity from STOCK Act filings. This platform makes institutional-level data and tools available to retail traders, making it easier for traders to acquire alpha whether they're discerning trends from whale trades, spotting anomalies in trade activity which could indicate future price moves or capitalizing on market sentiment. Traders can make use of advanced screeners and set filters to identify profitable trades. Unusual Whales has been doubling down on increasing access to congressional trade tracking by making data from the STOCK Act database available and searchable through its platform. Like the Dub app, users can find out how politicians and their associated members are trading, and trade along them to achieve the high returns of the public servants who are potentially trading on insider information. Users can detect trends through politician trade tracking, search for trades by politician or party, or find action in specific sectors or by ticker. Key Features Of Unusual Whales Unusual Whales offers a suite of advanced tools and advanced data access for both institutional and retail traders. With these tools and this data, traders can trade on insights whether they're reviewing options flow, block trades or the trades of politicians. Unusual Whales' Real-Time Data feature delivers a real-time feed of options flow, block trades and trades by institutional players. Users can detect trends immediately as trades occur, and set alerts for trade activity for both their phones, desktops or even Discord servers. Unusual Whales' stock and options screeners offer traders the ability to search through millions of trades by characteristics like ticker, sector or trade size. Users can scan for unusual activity, big price changes or anomalies within options flow. Users can also set up custom screens and set alerts as well as filter across trades by expiration data or level of institutional activity. Politician Trade Portfolios is an innovative feature, similar to the Autopilot app, which displays trades by Senators, members of the House and their families and staff. Users can review these trades by sector or time period, and review the success or failures of these trades by individual or party. Politicians Trade Portfolios also enables users to detect trends based on politicians' trade activity. Whales Activity Monitors is a useful feature which shows institutional-sized trades and large block trades in both equities and options. Users can use this feature to detect trends in specific sectors, for certain stocks, and within filters like trades by market cap or price range. This feature also enables users to set alerts for when large trades occur in general. Options Flow Scanner offers users a scanner of options trades which are institutional-sized. Users can filter by expiration, sector, price range and more. This feature can be used to review trades within a certain time frame and to detect a breakout or reversal for a particular ticker. The Congressional Trades Tracker reveals trades by Senators, members of the House and other political actors. This feature enables traders to review transactions by sector or company as well as purchases or sales of equities by party or political position. Traders can use the Tracker to detect patterns which may result in future price movements as well as predict future actions by Congress or the White House by trade action. Options flow reveals institutional activity by whales across options trades like puts, calls and spreads. Options flow can be used to review market sentiment from large trades and to detect reversals or the breakout of a trend from trading activity. Options flow can also be used by traders to assess risk versus reward for trades. Criticisms and Concerns To Know Unusual Whales is a useful platform for advanced traders but the data offered could be overwhelming for beginner investors who don't know how to leverage it for successful trading. Another downside of the platform is that its widespread offering of real-time data could reduce the data's edge for traders. Finally, the platform's price tag of $50+ a month could be a bit pricey for investors who don't fully utilize all of the data offered or who don't trade at the volume of higher-volume traders. On the congressional trading side, if too many traders are trading on data like a certain congressperson's trades, this could decrease the efficiency of the market while also inflating the politician's positions. Politicians' trades may also not be informed despite their wealth of information access, resulting in losses for investors. Congressional trade filing delays can also result in losses in traders if politicians exit the position before the next filing date. What Type of Investors May Use Unusual Whales? Unusual Whales is ideal for experienced retail traders looking for an edge by gaining access to institutional trading activity. For example, an options trader could gain an edge by detecting an early signal of an institutional trading play through Unusual Whales. Day traders also utilize the platform to monitor options flow. The platform's political and congressional insights are also useful for investors who are trying to detect political trends and leverage this for trading. Through congressional trading data, investors can predict potential geopolitical or legislative moves on the horizon like a military action or change in trade policy. Bottom Line Unusual Whales is an excellent platform for retail traders seeking actionable insights from options flow data to political trading activity to leverage for profit. With activity monitors for institutional trades and advanced filtering and alert abilities, sophisticated traders can find the signal necessary to effectively trade along with a community of like-minded investors making waves in the market. Unusual Whales continues to add new tools and data access, increasingly making it an ideal option for retail traders seeking alpha. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Is Unusual Whales Free To Use? Unusual Whales does offer limited free access but for its advanced tools, data and API access, you'll need to pay for subscriptions starting at $50 a month. How Accurate Is Unusual Whales' Congressional Trade Data? Unusual Whales' congressional trade data is very accurate as it sources its data from official STOCK Act filings and updates this data in nearly-real time. Is Unusual Whales Beginner Friendly? Unusual Whales offers advanced analytics and trading tools which do have a learning curve for beginners but if sufficiently motivated, beginners can learn and utilize the tools and data offered. Where Does Unusual Whales Get Its Data From? Unusual Whales gets its options flow data from market exchanges and congressional trade data from STOCK Act filings.
Geeky Gadgets
19-06-2025
- Geeky Gadgets
The Secret to Fixing Excel Table Formula Chaos : Fix It Now
Have you ever carefully crafted a formula in Excel, only to watch it unravel into chaos the moment you copy it across columns? It's a maddening quirk of Excel tables—structured references that seem to have a mind of their own. One minute, they're absolute and unyielding; the next, they're shifting and breaking your calculations. This inconsistency isn't just frustrating—it can derail entire workflows, especially when working with large datasets. If you've ever felt like Excel tables are sabotaging your formulas, you're not alone. The good news? There's a fix, and it's simpler than you might think. My Online Training Hub uncover the one thing Excel tables consistently get wrong: their inability to reliably lock column references. More importantly, we'll show you how to take back control using techniques like double square brackets and structured references. Along the way, you'll discover how to prevent formula errors, streamline your workflow, and even tackle advanced scenarios like multi-column calculations. Whether you're a data analyst, a small business owner, or just someone looking to make Excel less of a headache, these insights will transform the way you work with tables. Because when your formulas are stable, your confidence in your data grows. Locking Excel Column References The Problem with Excel Tables Excel tables handle structured references inconsistently, which can create confusion and errors during formula manipulation. For example: When you use `Ctrl+C` and `Ctrl+V` , structured references behave as absolute, meaning they remain fixed regardless of where the formula is pasted. , structured references behave as absolute, meaning they remain fixed regardless of where the formula is pasted. When you drag formulas across columns, structured references act as relative, shifting the referenced columns and potentially causing inaccuracies. This inconsistency can disrupt calculations, especially in large or complex datasets. To maintain the integrity of your formulas, it is crucial to understand how to lock column references effectively. How to Lock Column References To prevent errors, you can lock column references in Excel tables by using double square brackets (`[[Column]:[Column]]`). This syntax explicitly defines the column or range of columns, making sure the reference remains absolute when formulas are copied or dragged. For instance: If you want to reference a column named 'Sales' in a table called 'Data,' use `Data[[Sales]:[Sales]]`. Excel can auto-generate this syntax when you select the column directly, reducing the risk of manual errors and saving time. This method ensures that your formulas remain stable, even when the table structure changes or formulas are moved to different locations. Fix the One Thing Excel Tables Constantly Mess Up Watch this video on YouTube. Take a look at other insightful guides from our broad collection that might capture your interest in Excel structured references. Working with Multiple Columns When working with multiple columns, locking references becomes even more critical. You can define a range of columns using double square brackets, such as `Data[[Sales]:[Profit]]`. This approach ensures that the reference remains fixed, even when formulas are copied across rows or columns. If you need relative references for multiple columns, you can omit the double square brackets and specify the table name along with the column range. This flexibility is particularly useful for calculations that need to adjust dynamically based on the formula's position. Using the `@` Symbol for Row References Excel simplifies row references in tables with the `@` symbol, which refers to the current row of a specific column. For example, `Data[@Sales]` references the 'Sales' value in the same row as the formula. To lock row references, you can create fixed references for specific columns, making sure the formula remains consistent across rows. This technique is especially useful for calculations that rely on row-specific data, such as row-based summaries or comparisons. Practical Applications Mastering structured references and locking techniques can significantly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of your formulas. Here are some practical examples: Using SUMIFS: Lock criteria ranges to calculate totals accurately across filtered data without introducing errors. Lock criteria ranges to calculate totals accurately across filtered data without introducing errors. Applying XLOOKUP: Combine structured references with absolute and relative references to retrieve data from single or multiple columns effectively. Combine structured references with absolute and relative references to retrieve data from single or multiple columns effectively. Allocating Overheads: Distribute costs across departments using stable formulas that remain consistent, even if the table structure changes. These applications demonstrate how locking references can simplify complex calculations and improve the reliability of your data analysis. Tips for Streamlining Your Workflow To work more efficiently with structured references and avoid common pitfalls, consider these tips: Use Excel's auto-generation: Let Excel auto-generate structured reference syntax by selecting ranges directly in your formulas. This minimizes manual input and reduces errors. Let Excel auto-generate structured reference syntax by selecting ranges directly in your formulas. This minimizes manual input and reduces errors. Use keyboard shortcuts: Familiarize yourself with shortcut keys to quickly insert brackets and column names, saving time during formula creation. Familiarize yourself with shortcut keys to quickly insert brackets and column names, saving time during formula creation. Explore table-specific features: Take advantage of Excel's table-specific functionalities, such as automatic column naming and dynamic range adjustments, to simplify your workflow. These strategies can help you save time and ensure your formulas are both accurate and easy to manage. Additional Resources To deepen your understanding of structured references and their practical applications, consider downloading a cheat sheet summarizing the different reference types and their syntax. This resource provides a quick reference for: Locking column references using double square brackets. Handling relative and absolute references effectively. Using the `@` symbol for row-specific calculations. By mastering these techniques, you can overcome the limitations of Excel tables and ensure your formulas remain stable and accurate, regardless of how they are copied or adjusted. These skills will not only improve your data management but also enhance your overall productivity when working with Excel. Media Credit: MyOnlineTrainingHub Filed Under: Guides Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.
