- Big Data News Weekly
- Posts
- 🤖 Encoding Categorical Features for Machine Learning
🤖 Encoding Categorical Features for Machine Learning
🦾Plus: 🛑 China proposes rules for human-like AI service

Hey folks! Let’s get into Big Data and AI craziness…
In today's edition: What's Shaping the Future of Data?
📊40 Best Data Visualization Tools to use in 2026
🔐When to Use Basic, Bearer, OAuth2, JWT & SSO
🧹 11 Quick Tips for Organizing a Data Cleaning Challenge
💻A Guide to Claude Code 2.0
🔎 OpenAI seeks Head of Preparedness
✅ Microsoft’s CEO Steps In on Copilot
💡 AI Tutorial:How to Build a Fully Functional Mobile App Without Coding
🤖 AI Tools and Data Tools to checkout

In this article, you will learn three reliable techniques — ordinal encoding, one-hot encoding, and target (mean) encoding — for turning categorical features into model-ready numbers while preserving their meaning.
What investment is rudimentary for billionaires but ‘revolutionary’ for 70,571+ investors entering 2026?
Imagine this. You open your phone to an alert. It says, “you spent $236,000,000 more this month than you did last month.”
If you were the top bidder at Sotheby’s fall auctions, it could be reality.
Sounds crazy, right? But when the ultra-wealthy spend staggering amounts on blue-chip art, it’s not just for decoration.
The scarcity of these treasured artworks has helped drive their prices, in exceptional cases, to thin-air heights, without moving in lockstep with other asset classes.
The contemporary and post war segments have even outpaced the S&P 500 overall since 1995.*
Now, over 70,000 people have invested $1.2 billion+ across 500 iconic artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.
How? You don’t need Medici money to invest in multimillion dollar artworks with Masterworks.
Thousands of members have gotten annualized net returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% from 26 sales to date.
*Based on Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd

Data visualizations are everywhere today. From creating a visual representation of data points to impress potential investors, report on progress, or even visualize concepts for customer segments, data visualizations are a valuable tool in a variety of settings.

Authentication isn’t just a security checkbox; it shapes your system’s scalability, user experience, latency, caching strategy, and even how microservices talk to each other. In system design interviews, candidates often jump straight into databases, load balancers, and microservices but overlook how authentication fits into the overall architecture.

The exponential growth of data continues to revolutionize research methodologies. These technological advancements enhance data accessibility, improve collaboration, and accelerate scientific discoveries Particularly in healthcare, data—for instance from whole genome sequencing—is accumulating rapidly .

Claude Code dominated the CLI coding product experience this year. This guide shows readers the thought processes and simple things to keep in mind to get the most out of Claude Code. Learning how things work in Claude Code directly transfers to other tools, both in terms of personal usage and production-grade engineering.
Q4 is the perfect window to turn this year’s numbers into a clear, actionable forecast aligned with your goals. Set your business up for a stronger 2026 with BELAY’s new guide.
👨💻 Data Tools, Libraries
Continuous Claude (GitHub Repo)
Continuous Claude is a framework that saves state to a ledger, wipes context, and resumes fresh.
DriftDB
A real-time data backend for browser-based applications.
Jampack
Optimizes static websites for best user experience and best Core Web Vitals scores.
Promptable is a library that enables users to build AI applications using LLMs, Embeddings providers, databases, and APIs.
AI News:

OpenAI has opened a search for a new Head of Preparedness to lead its framework for tracking and preparing for severe AI risks. The hire follows internal reshuffles and public scrutiny tied to ChatGPT’s effects on users’ mental health, including wrongful death lawsuits. CEO Sam Altman said the role will confront real challenges as models advance and warned the job is high pressure from day one.
The Future of Shopping? AI + Actual Humans.
AI has changed how consumers shop by speeding up research. But one thing hasn’t changed: shoppers still trust people more than AI.
Levanta’s new Affiliate 3.0 Consumer Report reveals a major shift in how shoppers blend AI tools with human influence. Consumers use AI to explore options, but when it comes time to buy, they still turn to creators, communities, and real experiences to validate their decisions.
The data shows:
Only 10% of shoppers buy through AI-recommended links
87% discover products through creators, blogs, or communities they trust
Human sources like reviews and creators rank higher in trust than AI recommendations
The most effective brands are combining AI discovery with authentic human influence to drive measurable conversions.
Affiliate marketing isn’t being replaced by AI, it’s being amplified by it.

China’s draft regulations focus on AI tools that present human-like personalities, thinking patterns, and communication styles. The proposal sets clear duties for providers, including user warnings, emotional state detection, and intervention in cases of dependency.

Microsoft’s CEO has grown frustrated with Copilot’s real-world performance, mainly its ability to work across Gmail, Outlook, and advanced Excel tasks. Nadella now joins weekly engineering sessions, sends bug reports himself, and gives direct product instructions.

Nvidia just struck a licensing deal reportedly worth $20B with AI chip startup Groq, with the company's CEO and president also joining the chip giant to help integrate and scale the tech. The deal targets Groq's LPU chips, which specialize in running AI models quickly and cheaply — claiming 10x speed at a fraction of GPU energy use.

India’s startups raised nearly $11B in 2025, down 17% year-over-year, as investors concentrated on fewer, higher-quality bets. The number of deals fell about 39% to 1,518, signaling a shift toward disciplined capital deployment and stronger unit economics.
AI Tutorial
How to Build a Fully Functional Mobile App Without Coding

Sign up at rocket.new
Type your idea into the prompt box, then choose a use case, a framework, and the screens you need
Sample prompt: Build an AI-native app called HireSense that matches job seekers with ideal roles based on their skills, goals, and interests. Users can paste a job description or résumé, and the app instantly analyzes compatibility, highlights strengths and gaps, rewrites résumés to fit the role, and predicts interview questions.
Click ‘Build My Mobile App’ and wait for Rocket to generate your app
Preview the mobile app and test the scan-to-results flow
Add native integrations: authentication, database or image storage, AI suggestions, analytics; optional payments, email, and chat
Launch as a PWA with Launch on Web and share the link for others to use
Download the Android APK from Rocket and install it on your phone to test natively
Know what works before you spend.
Discover what drives conversions for your competitors with Gethookd. Access 38M+ proven Facebook ads and use AI to create high-performing campaigns in minutes — not days.
🔥Top AI tools to increase productivity:
Nectar AI is an AI companion platform where users can create and roleplay
FeatureShark is an all-in-one platform designed to revolutionize how you collect and manage customer feedback.
BeadPattern, AI-powered perler bead pattern maker with smart color matching.
Brandmaven is a brand intelligence platform for marketers, powered by AI.
SEOzilla - Let AI Transform Your SEO: Publish Articles That Rank Every Day
SellerPic is an AI SaaS platform purpose-built for e-commerce sellers
Undress AI Tool is a website that offers a deepnude application, allowing users to create modified images
Screenloop is the ultimate Talent Operations Platform, seamlessly integrating a next-gen ATS
View our database of all the best AI tools for your needs: aitoolsup.com
Have cool resources to share? Submit AI tool
A.I. Generated Image of the Day
👀 Valley of Ancestors

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