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rebecca489 · 2 years
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absolutebl · 11 months
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BL Streaming - Which Service is Worth Your Money?
I’m bored and I have a little extra time this morning so it’s time for ABL to play with the spreadsheet of doom. 
Occasionally I get the question: 
If I were to subscribe to only one platform for BL which should I pick? 
This post is dated May 2023. 
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First things first. I am going to be (somewhat) objective about this and not judge on quality of content. Because if KinnPorsche is all you love in life, obvs you need iQIYI, but if you are a HIStory franchise stan, than it’s all about Viki. Those are your life choices, I’m just here to play numbers games, okay? 
Secondly, some shows air on multiple platforms, particularly Viki & Gaga, but sometimes it’s Gaga & YouTube, occasionally it’s even iQIYI + others. This has only started happening in the last few years. Bed Friend was on 3 different platforms (GaGa, iQIYI, YT) - even though it was originally announced for Viki! I honestly don’t know how to track this, so I tend to log the spreadsheet with my preferred watching platform for that language, this will throw the numbers off for those platforms. 
Since I join everything my platform preference choice is based on:  
the quality of the subs/captions   
the quality of the user experience  
My subs experience tends to be: 
YT = best for Thai
Viki = best for Korean and sometimes Japanese, okay for Thai
Gaga = best for Chinese and sometimes Japanese but very weak Thai subs
My user interface preference is: 
YT, Viki, Gaga in that order then everyone else with iQIYI at the bottom. This is because I watch on mobile devices. 
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ASplay, WeTV, former Line, Amarin TV, Netflix and the other smaller suppliers (and apps) will all be grouped together for this assessment. Since they have so few offerings, by default I would not recommend subbing those platforms unless you are a hard stan of all BL with disposable income. 
Super bad BLs that I watched back in the day on grey sites or YT (pre 2020 crack down) because there were no other options and I am a completest are still listed as grey. I would never suggest anyone watch these shows anyway, so I don’t care if they have now shown up on legitimate sites. If they are somewhere, it’s likely Gaga. Which means Gaga’s percentage of the market share is probably UNDER reported by my numbers. 
Movies and cinema-only releases that never got international distribution fall into the “grey” category. If I got it off an indie subber, since that too is technically illegal, it falls into the grey category as well. 
Final note: This is from a USA based IP, I don’t use a VPN, so platforms assessments are from that perspective. 
Spring 2023, current state of the spreadsheet. AKA 
Our BL Data Set 
Total # of BLs = 564
# of BLs ongoing (so finished runtime is best guess) = 18 
Just Answer the Damn Question 
Round Number of Actual BLs - % of market share
YouTube = 218 - 38.6%
Gaga = 148 - 26.2% 
Viki = 77 - 13.7% 
Grey = 53 - 9.4% 
BLs I’ve never been able to find on any platform (including grey): 36 - 6.4% 
iQIYI = 14 - 2.5% 
Other platforms = 12 - 2.2% 
Margin of error: +- 1% (look I’m just not driven to be that accurate here)
Subscription Platforms Breakdown  - % of market share
Eliminating YouTube, Grey, and missing BLs. Viki is included because I do not know which of theirs are behind the paywall and which are not. 
Total subscribe-only BLs: 257 
Gaga = 59%
Viki = 30%
iQIYI = 6%
Sml sites/apps = 5%
(rounded) 
Okay but how about actual runtime? 
Gaga = 360 hrs - 44% 
Viki = 311 hrs - 38% 
iQIYI = 98 hrs - 12% 
Sml sites = 50 hrs - 6%
Anyway you cut it... on pure BL standards...
GAGAOOLALA WINS 
Other consideration? In most places Gaga is ALSO the cheapest per month option. 
Final Thoughts
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YouTube (America’s Alphabet) 
YT has the most pieces of content and longest overall runtime because of all the Thai stuff. ALSO bootlegs show up there, especially the early Chinese and Japanese stuff. They will often get taken down and you have to hunt for it again. YT takedowns come in waves, every 6 months or so.
However, GMMTV, some Star Hunter, some Studio Wabi Sabi, all the Vietnamese & Pinoy stuff (until now), and a few choice bits of Strongberry are YT content.
YT’s app is the best UX of a poor set (for me), but the web based YT at Premium level doesn’t work with Firefox. I use YT for work A LOT, so the fee for Premium ($13.99) and lack of ads + downloads (travel) is worth it for me, but I think it probubly isn’t if you’re on a budget. 
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GaGaOOLaLa (Taiwan’s Portico Media) 
Of the pay to play platforms, GaGa dominates with the most BLs by all metrics. If you’re intersted in darker BL, GL and other queer content, very high heat, the history of the genre, or Japanese stuff - most of that is on GaGa. Also all of Strongberry and some of the newer queerer series (like My Ride).  
At $6.99 a month it’s ALSO one of the cheapest options. 
Gaga is based out of Taiwan, the only Asian country with marriage equality (as of 2022) AND it specializes in exclusively queer content so they need our support. If you can afford them, you should support them. GaGa is the only platform that will always have more BL, guaranteed (so long as Taiwan is autonomous). Ironically, you can follow their YT channel for previews and teasers to their latest series, short content, and acquisitions. 
Their app isn’t great, but their web-based interface is fine. That said: there’s no categories (way to organize), and the way they roll out new episodes is unintuitive. Their mobile app ALWAYS pauses not mater what you actually want it to do and the lack of the quick skip ahead is frustrating. 
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Viki (Japan’s Rakutan)
Viki specializes in longer series, mostly Thai, Taiwanese, and a few of the Chinese bromances. It also now has a lot of KBLs. But in general only more recent stuff (2018 is as far back as they go).
At $4.99-$11.99 depending, it’s low to average cost. I’m not sure which one (if any) you actually need for BL. Most of my favorite new shows tend to air on Viki, and I like Rakutan as a parent company, so I don’t mind supporting them. 
They happen to have 5 of my top ten BLs, which is A LOT (since I hand out 10/10 so rarely). So for me they host the objective best BL content. 
They have the second best app (after YT, it’s kinda a combo of YT + Netflix) but the lack of a speed-up option is frustrating for many. Also the desktop version is super buggy. But they DO have categories you can name and control, which I love.
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Other Platforms 
iQIYI - is Mainland China based (hello Baidu, you ugly fucker), so the platform getting/pimping BL for an international audience only is… how do I put this?… oh yeah: shitty. I will often rename it Icky, for this reason. It clearly wants to break the market, but… do we want it in the market at all? How long will they host BLs? When will they be shut down and censored? I would say it’s only worth it if you really also like Chinese dramas. And even so, Viki also has A LOT of those. Unfortunately for us, Wabi Sabi seems to have cut a distribution deal with Icky. And, of course, there is the KinnPorsche situation (so ironic that Icky hosts the highest heat). The interface is a nightmare. They have the WORST app, even when you pay, it serves ads, some of which alpha crash the platform. 
Netflix - here in the states it almost never has new BL content. Sometimes some old stuff. They tested the waters with SOTUS and Love Sick. I have a feeling they aren’t particularly intersted in this market. So if BL is what you watch, don’t bother. At last check they still had Gameboys and Your Name Engraved Herein and Wish You. 
WeTV - acts like LineTV used to, has Manner of Death and We Best Love and a few of the more obscure Thai pulps. But probably not worth it for anyone but a completest. 
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Grey - Unknown or No Distributor 
Indie subbers: there’s some BLs that you can watch by supporting indie subbers who supply private links to their personal versions. This is not legal, but it is a slightly nicer way to get stuff you can’t find anywhere else. I’ve done this for some Thai and Japanese stuff.
I find the leads for these sources here on Tumblr. If someone is giffing and talking about a show and I don’t know how they are getting hold of it, I simply ask.
DramaCool (USA) & Dailymotion (France) & Bilibili (China) and others - AKA the grey space. You SHOULD feel guilty using these sites, you’re stealing, but it’s where many of us go for BL we can’t find anywhere else (in defiance of what few morals we have left). These are BLs that originally sold to very odd platforms or never got international distribution. Unfortunately, some of my favorites are in this category like Great Men Academy or Seven Days. It’s a nightmare. The ads are terrible and the virus/bug risk is high. They get taken down all the time. Or the leads are faked. I use an old computer to access and suggest you take all necessary precautions yourself.
P’ABL SOAP BOX TIME
Look I work tangential to the entertainment industry, so if you thought I wasn’t going to learn you a little on this subject, you got another think coming. 
HERE’S THE THING: 
You watch a show on one of the grey platforms, ESPECIALLY if it actually has distribution on Gaga or Viki - you better review that shit. You spread the word and advocate for that content here, on MDL, on social media, with fan art, I don’t care. You steal it, you find a way to pay back in your time and/or creativity. 
I get it if you’re poor, but don’t be a goddamn scab. Find a way to reward content creators with non-monetary support. If you had the time to watch the thing you stole, you have time to pay it forward in some substantial way. Do this even if you didn’t steal it but got it for free. Do this if you read fanfic. Do this with articles, blogs, books. Do this with podcasts. 
It isn’t hard to be a decent human and support creators. Don’t you dare just TAKE. If you’re that kind of person stop reading this blog immediately. I don’t want anything to do with you and you don’t deserve my words or my spreadsheet of Doom. 
/rant 
MORE ON THIS TOPIC WITH FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS
Original post on this subject that I adapted for this post. 
(source)
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CFP: AI and Fandom
Unfortunately, this special issue will not be moving forward. All submitted pieces are being considered for our general issue. 
Due in part to well-publicised advancements in generative AI technologies such as GPT-4, there has been a recent explosion of interest in – and hype around – Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Whether this hype cycle continues to grow or fades away, AI is anticipated to have significant repercussions for fandom (Lamerichs 2018), and is already inspiring polarised reactions. Fan artists have been candid about using creative AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E to generate fan art, while fanfiction writers have been using ChatGPT to generate stories and share them online (there are 470 works citing the use of these tools on AO3 and 20 on FanFiction.net at the time of writing). It is likely the case that even greater numbers of fans are using such tools discreetly, to the consternation of those for whom this is a disruption of the norms and values of fan production and wider artistic creation (Cain 2023; shealwaysreads 2023). AI technology is being used to dub movies with matching visual mouth movements after filming has been completed (Contreras 2022), to analyse audience responses in real-time (Pringle 2017), to holographically revive deceased performers (Andrews 2022; Contreras 2023), to build chatbots where users can interact with a synthesised version of celebrities and fictional characters (Rosenberg 2023), to synthesise celebrities’ voices (Kang et al. 2022; Nyce 2023), and for translation services for transnational fandoms (Kim 2021).
Despite the multiple ways in which AI is being introduced for practical implementations, the term remains a contested one. Lindley et al (2020) consider “how AI simultaneously refers to the grand vision of creating a machine with human-level general intelligence as well as describing a range of real technologies which are in widespread use today” (2) and suggest that this so called ‘definitional dualism’ can obscure the ubiquity of current implementations while stoking concerns about far-future speculations based on media portrayals. AI is touted as being at least as world-changing as the mass adoption of the internet and, regardless of whether it proves to be such a paradigm shift, the strong emotions it generates make it a productive site of intervention into long-held debates about: relationships between technology and art, what it means to create, what it means to be human, and the legislative and ethical frameworks that seek to determine these relationships.
This special issue seeks to address the rapidly accelerating topic of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (ML) systems (including, but not limited to Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Large Language Models (LLMs), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and speech, image and audio recognition and generation), and their relationship to and implications for fans and fan studies. We are interested in how fans are using AI tools in novel ways as well as how fans feel about the use of these tools. From media production and marketing perspectives we are interested in how AI tools are being used to study fans, and to create new media artefacts that attract fan attention. The use of AI to generate transformative works challenges ideas around creativity, originality and authorship (Clarke 2022; Miller 2019; Ploin et al. 2022), debates that are prevalent in fan studies and beyond. AI-generated transformative works may present challenges to existing legal frameworks, such as copyright, as well as to ethical frameworks and fan gift economy norms. For example, OpenAI scraped large swathes of the internet to train its models – most likely including fan works (Leishman 2022). This is in addition to larger issues with AI, such as the potential discrimination and bias that can arise from the use of ‘normalised’ (exclusionary) training data (Noble 2018). We are also interested in fan engagement with fictional or speculative AI in literature, media and culture.
We welcome contributions from scholars who are familiar with AI technologies as well as from scholars who seek to understand its repercussions for fans, fan works, fan communities and fan studies. We anticipate submissions from those working in disparate disciplines as well as interdisciplinary research that operates across multiple fields.
The following are some suggested topics that submissions might consider:
The use of generative AI by fans to create new forms of transformative work (for example, replicating actors’ voices to ‘read’ podfic)
Fan responses to the development and use of AI including Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT (for example, concerns that AO3 may be part of the data scraped for training models)
Explorations of copyright, ownership and authorship in the age of AI-generated material and transformative works
Studies that examine fandoms centring on speculative AI and androids, (e.g. Her, Isaac Asimov, WestWorld, Star Trek)
Methods for fan studies research that use AI and ML
The use of AI in audience research and content development by media producers and studios
Lessons that scholars of AI and its development can learn from fan studies and vice versa
Ethics of AI in a fan context, for example deepfakes and the spread of misinformation 
Submission Guidelines
Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works, copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and promotes dialogue between academic and fan communities. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms, such as multimedia, that embrace the technical possibilities of the internet and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.
Submit final papers directly to Transformative Works and Cultures by January 1, 2024. 
Articles: Peer review. Maximum 8,000 words.
Symposium: Editorial review. Maximum 4,000 words.
Please visit TWC's website (https://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or email the TWC Editor ([email protected]).
Contact—Contact guest editors Suzanne Black and Naomi Jacobs with any questions before or after the due date at [email protected]
Due date—Jan 1, 2024, for March 2025 publication.
Works Cited
Andrews, Phoenix CS. 2022. ‘“Are Di Would of Loved It”: Reanimating Princess Diana through Dolls and AI’. Celebrity Studies 13 (4): 573–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2022.2135087.
Cain, Sian. 2023. ‘“This Song Sucks”: Nick Cave Responds to ChatGPT Song Written in Style of Nick Cave’. The Guardian, 17 January 2023, sec. Music. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/17/this-song-sucks-nick-cave-responds-to-chatgpt-song-written-in-style-of-nick-cave.
Clarke, Laurie. 2022. ‘When AI Can Make Art – What Does It Mean for Creativity?’ The Observer, 12 November 2022, sec. Technology. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/12/when-ai-can-make-art-what-does-it-mean-for-creativity-dall-e-midjourney.
Contreras, Brian. 2022. ‘A.I. Is Here, and It’s Making Movies. Is Hollywood Ready?’ Los Angeles Times, 19 December 2022, sec. Company Town. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-12-19/the-next-frontier-in-moviemaking-ai-edits.
———. 2023. ‘Is AI the Future of Hollywood? How the Hype Squares with Reality’. Los Angeles Times, 18 March 2023, sec. Company Town. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-03-18/is-a-i-the-future-of-hollywood-hype-vs-reality-sxsw-tye-sheridan.
Kang, Eun Jeong, Haesoo Kim, Hyunwoo Kim, and Juho Kim. 2022. ‘When AI Meets the K-Pop Culture: A Case Study of Fans’ Perception of AI Private Call’. In . https://ai-cultures.github.io/papers/when_ai_meets_the_k_pop_cultur.pdf.
Kim, Judy Yae Young. 2021. ‘AI Translators and the International K-Pop Fandom on Twitter’. SLC Undergraduate Writing Contest 5. https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/slc-uwc/article/view/3823.
Lamerichs, Nicolle. 2018. ‘The next Wave in Participatory Culture: Mixing Human and Nonhuman Entities in Creative Practices and Fandom’. Transformative Works and Cultures 28. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2018.1501.
Leishman, Rachel. 2022. ‘Fanfiction Writers Scramble To Set Profiles to Private as Evidence Grows That AI Writing Is Using Their Stories’. The Mary Sue, 12 December 2022. https://www.themarysue.com/fanfiction-writers-scramble-to-set-profiles-to-private-as-evidence-grows-that-ai-writing-is-using-their-stories/.
Lindley, Joseph, Haider. Akmal, Franziska Pilling, and Paul Coulton. 2020. ‘Researching AI legibility through design’. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13). https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376792 
Miller, Arthur I. 2019. The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Noble, Safiya Umoja. (2018) Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York, USA: New York University Press.
Nyce, Caroline Mimbs. 2023. ‘The Real Taylor Swift Would Never’. The Atlantic, 31 March 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/03/ai-taylor-swift-fan-generated-deepfakes-misinformation/673596/.
Ploin, Anne, Rebecca Eynon, Isis Hjorth, and Michael Osborne. 2022. ‘AI and the Arts: How Machine Learning Is Changing Artistic Work’. Report from the Creative Algorithmic Intelligence Research Project. University of Oxford, UK: Oxford Internet Institute. https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/reports/ai-the-arts/.
Pringle, Ramona. 2017. ‘Watching You, Watching It: Disney Turns to AI to Track Filmgoers’ True Feelings about Its Films’. CBC, 4 August 2017. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/disney-ai-real-time-tracking-fvae-1.4233063.
Rosenberg, Allegra. 2023. ‘Custom AI Chatbots Are Quietly Becoming the next Big Thing in Fandom’. The Verge, 13 March 2023. https://www.theverge.com/23627402/character-ai-fandom-chat-bots-fanfiction-role-playing.
shealwaysreads. 2023. “Fascinating to see…” Tumblr, March 28, 2023, 11:53. https://www.tumblr.com/shealwaysreads/713032516941021184/fascinating-to-see-a-take-on-a-post-about-thehttps://www.tumblr.com/androidsfighting/713056705673592832?source=share
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kp777 · 9 months
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By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
July 5, 2023
The trillions of dollars in public subsidies that governments around the world hand to the fossil fuel industry each year are facing growing scrutiny from lawmakers and climate campaigners as heatwaves across the planet push global temperatures into uncharted territory.
Environmentalist Annie Leonard, the former executive director of Greenpeace USA, called on members of the U.S. Congress to reject public subsidies for the oil and gas industry in the must-pass annual budget package, a sweeping measure that typically includes billions in tax incentives and other handouts that encourage production and consumption of planet-warming fossil fuels.
"Stop giving our money to the corporations cooking the planet," Leonard wrote on Twitter Tuesday, urging Americans to contact and pressure their representatives.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that world governments dished out nearly $6 trillion in total fossil fuel subsidies in 2020—around $11 million per minute—and that such giveaways are expected to grow in the coming years without significant reforms.
Last year, according to the International Energy Agency, fossil fuel consumption subsidies alone rose to more than $1 trillion worldwide—a surge fueled in part by the energy market chaos caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While such subsidies were aimed at shielding consumers from high gas prices, they had the "adverse effect of keeping fossil fuels artificially competitive with low-emissions alternatives," IEA said.
The same year that subsidies skyrocketed to record levels, the global fossil fuel industry raked in a staggering $4 trillion in profits, the IEA found.
"Big Oil companies are boosting profits and shareholder distribution while our climate suffers," U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said last month.
In late 2021, 197 countries including the U.S. and Canada signed a climate pact that contains a pledge to phase out "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies." But as Emily Atkin and Arielle Samuelson wrote in the HEATED newsletter earlier this year, that promise turned out to be "meaningless" given the subsequent rise in oil and gas subsidies.
"This is why climate promises never come to pass," Atkin and Samuelson argued. "The polluters' pocketbooks are government-lined."
Amid a catastrophic wildfire season that has blanketed large swaths of the U.S. with toxic smoke, the Canadian government is reportedly expected to release a policy this month aimed at cutting off "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies," echoing the language of the Glasgow climate pact.
But advocates raised concerns about how the policy will define "inefficient." As the CBC's Benjamin Shingler reported last week, climate campaigners say "subsidies should only be considered 'efficient'—and therefore an acceptable form of government funding—if they align with Canada's Paris agreement goals."
"That means subsidies shouldn't support new or updated fossil fuel infrastructure, or delay the transition to renewables, according to signatories of the letter to [Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau last month," Shingler added.
Trudeau and other world leaders will have a major opportunity to finally take concrete, coordinated action to end fossil fuel subsidies at COP28 in late November—but that would mean confronting an industry that will have a significant presence at the critical summit in the United Arab Emirates.
Chido Muzondo, a policy adviser at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, wrote last month that governments at COP28 must do more than pay "lip service to the existing pledges—made in the Paris Agreement Article 2.c.1 and in the Glasgow statement—to stop subsidizing fossil fuels."
"This decade is decisive in our fight against global warming, and time is limited to align our actions with the measures needed to avoid the worst effects of climate change," Muzondo wrote. "Fossil fuel subsidies stand out as some of the most harmful policies hindering our efforts to tackle climate change."
Read more.
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queerstuffonscreen · 4 months
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Upload (2020-)
Episode length: 24-46 min.
Country: USA
Genre: Science Fiction, Comedy
Language: English
In 2033, people who are near death can be “uploaded” into virtual reality hotels run by 6 tech firms. Cash-strapped Nora lives in Brooklyn and works customer service for the luxurious “Lakeview” digital afterlife. When L.A. party-boy/coder Nathan’s self-driving car crashes, his high-maintenance girlfriend uploads him permanently into Nora’s VR world.
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Season 1
Episode 1: Welcome to Upload
Episode 2: Five Stars
Episode 3: The Funeral
Episode 4: The Sex Suit
Episode 5: The Grey Market
Episode 6: The Sleepover
Episode 7: Bring Your Dad to Work Day
Episode 8: Shopping Other Digital After-Lives
Episode 9: Update Eve
Episode 10: Freeyond
Season 2
Episode 1: Welcome Back, Mr. Brown
Episode 2: Dinner Party
Episode 3: Robin Hood
Episode 4: Family Day
Episode 5: Mind Frisk
Episode 6: The Outing
Episode 7: Download
Season 3
Episode 1: Ticking Clock
Episode 2: Strawberry
Episode 3: Cyber Discount Day
Episode 4: Download Doctor
Episode 5: Rescue Mission
Episode 6: Memory Crackers
Episode 7: Upload Day
Episode 8: Flesh and Blood
Watch on PrimeVideo
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Michael de Adder :: @deAdder :: Nov 1 :: The Toronto Star
* * * *
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
November 3, 2023
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
NOV 4, 2023
Today, Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who was former president Trump’s Interior Secretary until he left under accusations of misconduct, introduced a bill to ban Palestinians from the United States and to revoke any visas issued to Palestinians since October 1 of this year. Although the U.S. has resettled only about 2,000 Palestinians in the last 20 years, ten other far-right members of the House signed onto Zinke’s bill, which draws no distinction between Hamas and Palestinian civilians.
This blanket attack on a vulnerable population echoes Trump’s travel ban of January 27, 2017, just a week after he took office. Executive Order 13769 stopped travel from primarily Muslim countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—for ninety days. The list of countries appeared random—Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, countries from which terrorists have sometimes come directly to the U.S., weren’t on the list—and appeared to fulfill a campaign promise and assert a new view of executive power.
Insisting that immigrants endanger the country is a key tactic of authoritarians. Excluding them is a central principle of those eager to tear down democracy: they insist that immigration destroys a nation’s traditions and undermines native-born Americans. With tensions in the nation mounting over the crisis in the Middle East, this measure, introduced now with inflammatory language, seems designed to whip up violence. 
Representative Greg Landsman (D-OH) called out his Republican colleagues on social media. “Un-American and definitely NOT in the Bible, [Speaker Johnson],” he wrote. “You going to tell them to pull this bill?”
But, far from trying to work across the aisle, Johnson has been throwing red meat to his base. In the last two days, for example, the House has voted to slash 39% of the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 13% of the budget of the National Park Service. It voted to require the Biden administration to advance oil drilling off the Alaska coast. It has voted on reducing the salary of the EPA administrator, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary of the Interior to $1 each.
Yesterday, Johnson told reporters he considers extremists Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) close friends and said “I don’t disagree with them on many issues and principles.”
To direct his communications team, Johnson has tapped Raj Shah, a former executive from the Fox News Corporation, who was a key player in promoting the lie that Trump won the 2020 presidential election. As the head of the “Brand Protection Unit,” Shah demanded that the Fox News Channel continue to lie to viewers who would leave the station if it told the truth. Johnson has hired Shah to be his deputy chief of staff for communications and, according to Alex Isenstadt of Politico, “help run messaging for House Republicans.” 
The extremists are doubling down on Trump and his election lies even as his allies are admitting in court that they are, indeed, lies. Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows is in trouble with the publisher of his memoir after admitting that under oath that the election had been fair. The publisher is suing him for millions in damages for basing his book on the idea that the election had been stolen and representing that “all statements contained in the Work are true.” 
The publisher says it has pulled the book off the market. 
House extremists continue to back Trump even as he is openly calling for an authoritarian second term. In September, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley had to take “appropriate measures” for his own security after Trump accused him of disloyalty to him, personally, and suggested that in the past, such “treason” would have been punished with death. 
On Wednesday, Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage, and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that Trump was frustrated in his first term by lawyers who refused to go along with his wishes, trying to stay within the law, so Trump's allies are making lists of lawyers they believe would be “more aggressive” on issues of immigration, taking over the Department of Justice, and overturning elections. 
They are looking, they say, for “a different type of lawyer” than those supported by the right-wing Federalist Society, one “willing to endure the personal and professional risks of association with Mr. Trump” and “to use theories that more establishment lawyers would reject to advance his cause.” 
John Mitnick, who served in Trump’s first term, told the reporters that “no qualified attorneys with integrity will have any desire to serve as political appointees” in a second Trump term. Instead, the lawyers in a second term would be “opportunists who will rubber-stamp whatever Trump and his senior White House staff want to do.” 
Trump has also made it clear he and his allies want to gut the nonpartisan civil service and fill tens of thousands of government positions with his own loyalists. Led by Russell Vought, who served as Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Trump’s allies believe that agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission should not be independent but should push the president’s agenda. 
This week, Trump vowed to take over higher education too. In a campaign video, he promised to tax private universities with large endowments to fund a new institution called “American Academy.” The school, which would be online only, would award free degrees and funnel students into jobs with the U.S. government and federal contractors.
“We spend more money on higher education than any other country, and yet they’re turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions,” Trump said. “We can’t let this happen.” In his university, “wokeness or jihadism” would not be allowed, he said.
In admirable understatement, Politico’s Meridith McGraw and Michael Stratford noted: “Using the federal government to create an entirely new educational institution aimed at competing with the thousands of existing schools would drastically reshape American higher education.”
Trump has made no secret of his future plans for the United States of America. 
Meanwhile, Republicans appear determined to push their agenda over the wishes of voters. In Ohio, where voters on Tuesday will decide whether to amend the state constitution to make it a constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” Republicans first tried to make it harder to amend the state constitution, and then, when voters rejected that attempt, the Republican-dominated state senate began to use an official government website to spread narratives about the constitutional amendment that legal and medical experts called false or misleading. 
Adding reproductive health protections to the state constitution is popular, but In an unusual move, the Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, quietly purged more than 26,000 voters from the rolls in late September. LaRose is a staunch opponent of the constitutional amendment and is himself running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. 
In Virginia, where Republicans are hoping to take control of the state legislature to pass new abortion restrictions as well as the rest of Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, a study by the Democratic Party of Virginia shows that officials are flagging the mail-in ballots of non-white voters for rejection much more frequently than those of white voters. As of today, 4.82% of ballots cast by Black voters have gotten flagged, while only 2.79% of the ballots of white voters have been flagged.
In Richmond, The Guardian’s Sam Levine reported, city officials flagged more than 11% of ballots returned by Black voters but only about 5.5% of ballots cast by white voters. After the ballots are fixed, or cured, the rate of rejection for Black voters remains more than twice as high as that of white voters. 
Virginia officials also reported last week that they had accidentally removed more than 3,400 eligible voters from the rolls.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
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feckcops · 11 months
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Gender critical feminism isn't feminist. It's just transphobic.
“Queer and trans people have long known that gender-critical feminism is synonymous with transphobia, and that its proponents have very little to do with the kind of campaigning that actually benefits all women. Despite the cost-of-living crisis and the fallout from the pandemic – both of which negatively impact women, particularly low-income women, single mums and disabled women – gender-critical activism remains firmly centred around trans people. Core tactics deployed to apparently advance the cause of women’s rights include: suing rape crisis centres; boycotting trans-inclusive women’s services, supermarkets, brands or retailers; fundraising vast amounts to legally attack trans rights and trans-affirming healthcare, and launching anti-trans groups that lobby politicians ...
“Trans Safety Network (TSN), a collective documenting anti-trans harm, reports ‘a pattern has emerged of harassment and abuse of charities and services working in the areas of sexual violence and reproductive and gynaecological health’. In recent years, six trans-inclusive rape crisis centres and sexual violence charities have been hit with online attacks by gender-critical feminists.
“The Vagina Museum, along with feminist and reproductive rights charities like Bloody Good Period and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, has also been abused online by gender-critical activists. The harassment, its development and marketing manager Zoe Williams told TSN, ‘diverts resources away from actually carrying out our work’. ‘It seems obvious,’ Olufemi says, ‘but I don’t think suing rape crisis centres would have a positive, or indeed liberatory, effect for the position of women. What they're doing is re-regulating and restating gender as a disciplinary regime.’ ...
“In the years since the September 2020 government announcement that GRA reforms were being dropped, gender-critical messaging has become overtly homophobic and misogynistic. Casual misogyny, like calling Madonna a ‘bitch’ for playing a benefit concert for trans people in Tennessee or calling comedian Janey Godley a ‘cancer-ravaged old cow’ for outspokenly supporting trans people, is rife. So are homophobic tropes – like fabricated claims that LGBTQ+ groups are pushing paedophilia and want to ‘legalise child sex’. Gender critical feminists no longer make so much effort to couch their so-called concerns about trans people in vague language – and, increasingly, they appear to disregard the harmful impact their campaigning has on cis women.”
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csp-ethicaldilemma · 1 year
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Part 2: Company Introduction
This is part of a school assignment on ethical dilemmas in business. It is for educational purposes only.
part 1 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5
According to Clip Studio Paint's website, development began in around 2010. The software's name is derived from the words "Creator," "Link," and "Platform," with the main idea being to link creators together from around the world. A separate website seeming to belong to Clip Studio Paint's parent company, CELSYS, does claim the existence of a "Comic Studio" or "Manga Studio" created around 2004-2006, which could be a translation error or merely an inconsistency across websites.
From its launch in 2012, CSP had global ambitions, selling an English version (at the time called Manga Studio) in North America and Europe. Over the following years, more languages were added, and, as of 2022, the software supports seven languages.
The company released continual updates, adding features such as free 3D models and smartphone previews to aid in manga and webcomic creation, and, in 2015, the animation suite was introduced, enabling users to experiment with a craft that would otherwise be limited to professionals. Eventually an iPad-compatible version was released, followed by an iPhone-compatible version. In 2020, the software was updated to be compatible across all devices, and, in 2021, the program reached 15 million users.
As of today, CSP has more than 25 million users (or 40 million, according to the CELSYS site) since the launch of the app. It has top sales and market share in the graphics software market according to calculated sales by mass retailers. It is a widely trusted software, coming pre-installed on many Android tablets and bundled with pen tablets such as Wacom, as well as being used at over 50 universities.
The website describes the software as "Your go-to art studio for illustration, animation, manga, & webtoons." There isn't much information about the company's operations save that the team started out small (5-6 people) and has since grown to more than 20 members and 30 product testers.
Sources
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How to Make Side Hustle Money on Etsy using Digital Product “Niches” Such as PDFs, Spreadsheets, and PowerPoint Templates
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Are you looking for a lucrative side hustle that allows you to make money from the comfort of your own home? Selling digital products on Etsy, such as PDFs, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint templates can be an excellent way to earn some extra cash.
Here are a few potential niches you could consider:
Printable art: This is a popular niche on Etsy, and you can create and sell downloadable prints of your own artwork, designs, or photographs.
Wedding invitations: If you have a talent for graphic design, you can create beautiful wedding invitation templates that customers can customize themselves.
Digital planner pages: With the growing popularity of digital planners, you can design and sell digital planner pages that customers can use to plan and organize their lives.
Social media templates: As more and more people use social media for marketing and branding, you can create and sell templates for posts, stories, and ads that customers can use to elevate their online presence.
Resume templates: If you have experience in human resources or recruiting, you can design and sell resume templates that help job seekers stand out in a crowded job market.
While earnings can vary widely depending on factors such as the type of products you sell, their price point, and the amount of marketing you do, according to Etsy's 2020 Q2 financial report, the marketplace generated over $346 million in revenue from digital sales during that quarter alone. This indicates that there is a significant market for digital products on Etsy and the potential for sellers to make a substantial amount of money from their sales.
It’s important to note that there are costs associated with selling on Etsy, such as listing fees, transaction fees, and payment processing fees, which can impact your earnings. Additionally, you’ll need to invest time and effort into creating high-quality products, marketing your shop, SEO (creating searchable hashtags) and providing excellent customer service to increase your sales and grow your revenue.
Its crucial to set up and optimize an Etsy shop! If you’re looking for a platform to get your products online quickly, Etsy is a great place to start.
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Creating an Etsy account is the first step toward launching your storefront. To open a shop online, you must first become a registered site member. Once you have an Etsy account, you can open a shop.
Next, you will need to choose a name for your Etsy store. Etsy requires each shop owner to use a unique name, so it’s common for sellers to find that their first choice is unavailable
Choose your products. You can sell almost anything like eBooks, PDF & PowerPoint templates in your Etsy shop, but it’s best to start by focusing on a few complementary products so customers will understand what your shop is all about.
Create your shop. When opening an Etsy shop, the site will direct you through the process of creating your online storefront and choosing your language and currency preferences.
A common question for first-time sellers is how to price items on Etsy. Correctly pricing your products ensures you get the best return on investment (ROI), but it will take some time and analysis.
Before opening your Etsy shop to customers, make sure you have enough products to sell. You don’t want to run out after your first few sales and have to scramble to produce more. You also don’t want to overstock any one item. Digital products such as “templates” are easier to stock as they live in the cloud (Etsy shop).
After Etsy approves your shop name and you have all of your inventory ready, you can start listing on Etsy. The key to solid Etsy sales is good product photos and a killer description that uses industry keywords.
Next, you’ll need to choose the type(s) of payments you’ll accept. Etsy Payments is the most popular route on Etsy as it allows you to accept credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, Etsy gift cards, and some bank transfer services.
Receive orders: When a customer purchases an item from your shop, the payment is processed through Etsy Payments, and the funds are held by Etsy until the order is marked as shipped or the digital product has been downloaded.  Once you’ve shipped the physical item, you should mark the order as shipped on Etsy, which releases the payment to your account. The payment will be deposited into your bank account within a few business days, depending on your location and bank.
Learning to package your products safely and securely and ship them quickly helps build your reputation on Etsy. Buy proper shipping supplies, and use bubble wrap for delicate items.  On Etsy, you can use calculated shipping so the shipping is automatically calculated for you. Calculated shipping looks at your location, the buyer’s location, and the size and weight of the listing item to determine the shipping cost.  Again, selling “digital products” are MUCH easier than actual products such as art, clothes, etc., as you don’t have to worry about drop shipping.
As of 2023, here are the current fees for selling on Etsy:
Listing Fees: It costs $0.20 USD to list an item on Etsy, and the listing remains active for four months or until the item sells, whichever comes first.
Transaction Fees: When an item sells, Etsy charges a transaction fee of 5% of the item’s sale price, including the cost of shipping. This fee also applies to any applicable sales tax.
Payment Processing Fees: If you use Etsy Payments to process your sales, you’ll be charged a payment processing fee, which varies depending on your location and the currency you use. For sellers based in the United States, the payment processing fee is 3% + $0.25 USD per transaction.
Etsy Payments also handles any necessary refunds or disputes, and provides you with a record of all your transactions and payments. It’s important to note that there are fees associated with using Etsy Payments, as mentioned in my previous response.
Selling digital products on Etsy can be a great way to make money on the side, especially if you have a talent for creating unique and useful products such as PDFs, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint templates. By following the strategies and tips outlined in this article, you can create a successful side hustle that not only generates extra income but also allows you to express your creativity and passion. Remember to put in the time and effort to create high-quality products, optimize your listings, and promote your products to your target audience. With persistence and dedication, your Etsy side hustle can become a valuable source of income and a fulfilling hobby.
*If you are interested in selling handmade or unique items online, I have another great article on a beginner's guide to selling handmade or unique items online and making money here.
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emmareadingjournal · 1 year
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Module 1 - Week 2 Enlightenment
After engaging with this week's required readings and viewings, Tony Morrison's Nobel Peace Lecture, Plato's Republic Book VII, and The Truman Show, I am questioning the validity of enlightenment in this day and age. I understand the definition of the concept being a progression of public and private knowledge toward a state of authenticity. Yet, as shown in these texts and my personal experiences, manipulation occurs to keep the elite on top. I believe that, like Truman, it is possible to escape and reach a form of enlightenment. I also agree that the ignorant must be willing to be educated, as Plato describes. However, I argue that in 2023, enlightenment has become a watered-down capitalist product marketed towards members that resonate with the elite's identity. In particular, the ideas from these readings remind me of the wellness industry.
Social media platforms like TikTok use the buzzword "spiritual awakening" to refer to the concept of enlightenment. Some content creators profit from curious people's eagerness through the marketing of spiritual programs, guided meditations, the merchandising of crystals, the sale of aesthetic journals and even the consumption of illicit substances (refer to the TikTok below). This capitalistic practice of advertising goods and services has a standing history of being controlled by the elite or the rich white cisgender heterosexual men and therefore has a bias towards those identifying with the group. Additionally, most social media content dedicated to enlightenment is created by cisgender heterosexual white people. Therefore people with intersecting identities might have trouble engaging and resonating with the media content that isn't representative of their identity.
Tony Morrison talks about the wisdom and power of language through a story of a wise blind woman, and Plato is obsessed with the effectiveness of dialectics. The two texts emphasize that the framing of enlightenment matters. The current expression of enlightenment is capitalist in nature for an audience of actively participating consumers with spare income to purchase gimmicky self-help products and services. This expression is one-sided through a screen and neglects minorities, fortifying the barrier between enlightenment and those who would benefit from it.
It is difficult to begin the journey of enlightenment, as Plato writes, "We have been brought up obeying and honoring what we are told by parents" (398). It is a shame that those truly curious or want to "escape the simulation" are met with shallow profit-driven content. Even educational content is not free from the clutches of capitalism. For example, The Truman Show has merchandise, DVDs, and copyright-like other capitalist entities, yet it paradoxically urges people to wake up and acquire more knowledge.
I have linked the song Get Free by Lana Del Rey, and the image below that mocks some aspects of the wellness industry because they reflect the faux enlightenment that saturates social media as well as the entrapment some people feel within this system. While the wellness industry is profit-driven, it is important to note that some content can lead to a better life. We can be like Truman and escape, but our tools, the media we consume, make the journey difficult. It is a complicated task discerning genuine enlightening content from fake, so we must consider what the prisoner was told in Plato's book seven of the Republic, 'What I have told you may or may not be reality" (292). If we think critically, we could disseminate knowledge that could dismantle the system but we can only do so if the recipients are willing.
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Bibliography
“Lana Del Rey.” Spotify, 2017, https://open.spotify.com/artist/00FQb4jTyendYWaN8pK0wa?go=1&sp_cid=0dea4ca107953e3febd9fa50540d92fe&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1.
Plato. Plato's The Republic. New York :Books, Inc., 1943.
“R/LSD - Had to Fix It.” Reddit, 2020, https://www.reddit.com/r/LSD/comments/npnjrk/had_to_fix_it/.
“Understanding This Reality #Spiritual #Consciousness #Oneness #Enlight...” TikTok, 2022, https://www.tiktok.com/@thehiddenreality/video/7088090585428495658?_r=1&_t=8ZYA5s4OCij.
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iptv2023knowledge · 1 year
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Getting Started In IPTV Business: Top 5 Best IPTV Solution Providers
IPTV or Internet Protocol Television is the technology in which digital television programs are delivered to the customer through IP technology with the help of internet or broadband connection.
From 2020 to 2027, the global IPTV market size is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.1%
This system facilitates more effective distribution of content to service providers. With telecom operators integrating their services with internet packages, the growth of this technology helps in the development of internet infrastructure.
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IPTV uses the Internet Protocol language to convert content into "packet data transmission" which will later be delivered to consumers with the help of web services. Unlike cable or satellite programs, videos and data are stored on servers and users can access them at any time when they request them.
Top 5 Best IPTV Solution Providers
The IPTV platform works is that the content stored from the servers is transferred into data packets when the user places the request and is transmitted over the Internet.
The video servers will then transmit it over fiber-optic cables to the user's home network and then to the set-top box and TV or computer. This whole process only works when the user requests a particular video, otherwise this data is stored in the server until someone requests it.
The online entertainment industry was already on the rise when the global pandemic hit. When people were confined to their homes, their only recourse was digital entertainment. The high demand has naturally accelerated its growth which makes it a great opportunity to start a business in this field.
A corporate IPTV solution should also be able to offer high-quality playback at the user end with user-friendly features for customers.
The main advantage of starting a business in this field is that it helps in reaching a wider audience Provides more choices on how to market content There are also multiple options like subscription based services, digital downloads, live streaming on paid basis, etc. You can choose one of these monetization strategies or choose any combination as needed.
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bloggerpark · 2 years
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Natural Language Processing — Unlocking Value from Unstructured Data
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What makes Reddit’s recent acquisition of Natural Language Processing (NLP) startup MeaningCloud an eye-popping deal? MeaningCloud is armed with linguistic analytics and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities which Reddit, a popular user review platform, can use to elevate its services, including its customer safety and advertising efforts. What has NLP in it that turns it into a massive disruptor? To speak lucidly, NLP, a sub-field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) enables computers to interact with human languages, process them and unlock insights from them. Over the years, NLP has evolved considerably to graduate to game-changing technology, unwrapping a new world of possibilities. NLP is the secret sauce of the technology powering Alexa and Siri, the two widely known Virtual Assistants. When search engines decipher your search queries, it’s NLP in motion.
Believe in NLP’s Capabilities; It’s All Around You
How often has the fat thumb led you to type the wrong text? The autocorrect feature suggests the correct spelling, saving you from embarrassment. Many users might not know that autocorrect uses Natural Language Processing technology. The same NLP powers spell check, and writing tools such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid and WhiteSmoke use this technology to correct users’ spelling and grammatical mistakes. In Google Translate, as well as all other alternatives to Google Translation, NLP is used to interpret the terms that users are trying to translate. Think of the ubiquitous spam in your emails! If you think spam isn’t a serious problem, chew this- spam accounts for 45 per cent of all emails sent, and about 14.5 billion spam emails are sent every single day. This is why Gmail uses NLP to identify and evaluate the content within each email and filter the spam content from your inbox. Then, there are Smart Home devices like Google Home that can turn on your favourite playlist while you are still attending to some domestic chores. Here, NLP tech in the home devices recognizes your voice commands and performs actions instantly.
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The Growing Trends
1. Chatbots
From drug discovery to data categorization to robotic process automation, natural language processing (NLP) has dozens of applications. One of the most popular applications of NLP is chatbots. Bands leverage chatbots to engage better with customers and exalt customer experience. And for governments, chatbots offer a frictionless citizen experience where citizens can lodge grievances or gain useful info on government schemes, overcoming the hassles associated with in-person visits.
2. Sentiment Analysis
With modern natural language processing techniques, it is now possible to accurately assess sentiment, toxicity, and hot topics of conversation at work. It is arguably essential for leaders who support company culture, engagement, and well-being to track sentiment and toxicity within the organization. In the case of the government-citizen interface, AI-enabled sentiment analysis-based grievance redressal is more visible and trustworthy, unlike regular public redressal procedures that may take days to get heard and resolved.
3. Multilingual NLP
NLP capabilities in languages other than English are becoming increasingly important as companies look to better serve customers in new markets and geographies. However, many NLP vendors only rely on machine translation services like Google Translate to convert non-English data to English before analyzing it. Multilingual models for new languages can be created using cross-lingual embeddings and transfer learning. Expanding NLP models to new languages typically involves annotating completely new data sets for each language, which consumes a great deal of time and resources.
Expect NLP to Grow Fast in The Future
It is still in its infancy, but the NLP market is rapidly expanding. By 2026, MarketsandMarkets estimates that the NLP market will grow at a CAGR of 20.3 per cent (from USD 11.6 billion in 2020 to USD 35.1 billion). Two major trajectories shape the NLP roadmap — the first, is the GPT-3, a language processing tool which uses AI and statistics to predict the next word in a sentence based on the preceding words, and their future cousins. A significant advancement will come in dialogue models, where Google, Meta, and other firms are investing millions of dollars in research and development. The future of NLP is bristling with promises to elevate user experience (UX) and propel transformative business outcomes.
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mariacallous · 2 years
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Editor's Note: This blog draws from the authors' recent article in The ANNALs of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: “Investing in Latino Children and Youth.” 
The recently released 2022 Census statistics reveal two converging facts about the U.S. population: It is aging, and, simultaneously, becoming increasing racially and ethnically diverse. Indeed, according to a Census news release: “Hispanic (of any race) is the largest gaining and second-fastest-growing race or Hispanic origin category, increasing by 767,907 or 1.24% from 2020 to 2021.” These newly released statistics line up with projections beyond 2030 that consistently point to the continual growth of a racially and ethnically pluralistic U.S. population, comprised of Latinx and other non-Hispanic white groups. Based on sheer population size and growth, Hispanic children and youth will shape the U.S. economic and political landscapes for years to come. Policy and legal decisions—ranging from federal legislative efforts such as the Build Back Better Act, the 2021 expanded child tax credit, and the overturning of federal protections such as those under Roe v. Wade—will inevitably have ripple effects on opportunities for Latino children and youth.   
How this growing population of young people in the U.S. fares matters for a robust U.S. economy and society. Fortunately, we already know a lot about investing to marshal the strengths of Latino families and children.  
Investing early and consistently toward college degree completion improves Latino labor market prospects and social integration 
A considerable body of social science research shows that policy approaches, such as broad adoption of prenatal and early education programs within Hispanic communities, linguistically responsive curricula and teaching, and flexible hours that complement (rather than conflict with) parental employment generate long-term payoffs. Approaches such as dual-language programming and bilingual fluency of early care providers, co-location of early education programs in Hispanic-dense communities, and coordinated outreach between the child care subsidy system and Hispanic-serving organizations harness the strengths of Latino families and offset the disadvantages of low economic resources that many Latino children experience.
Investments in public infrastructure (the quality of public schools) and related public goods (e.g., parks and neighborhood safety) in concentrated areas of Latino families and children can reduce inequities in economic opportunity due to residential segregation. Family-school partnerships, addressing within-school and classroom racial/ethnic segregation and schoolwide and teacher discriminatory practices, and promotion of culturally and linguistically adaptive pedagogy can support Latino students’ math and reading achievement assessments that lag behind peers and are predictors of future earnings. The presence of Hispanic-serving institutions and in-state resident tuition benefits for immigrants have positive ripple effects in increasing Latino college degree completion that not only improve labor market prospects and economic security, but also contribute to social integration and intermarriage.
Investing in family social and economic support will enhance an already strong foundation of earnings, health, and parenting among Latino families with children
Latino parents exhibit high-quality nurturing interactions with their children despite many economic and social stressors. Multiple caregivers are involved in Latino children’s rearing. Public policy that moves beyond single-guardian and/or mother-centered targeting of investments can enhance this strong foundation of caregiver support to Latino children and youth and will facilitate better access to support. For example, vital information about family services, after school opportunities, health services, expanded nutrition programs, and tax credits could be communicated to parents and extended family members as a collective family benefit.
Latino children and youth are raised in homes with high rates of family employment, yet many Latino children and youth grow up in poverty. Earnings tend to be a stable source of income but at very low values. Policies that enhance earnings through tax credits or increasing minimum wages will not only increase overall household income but also improve financial stability in ways that support children’s home lives. Labor-market-oriented policies that improve the quality of parents’ physical and mental health (e.g., sick leave, safe work conditions, and predictable work schedules) also favorably spill over to the home environment and the quality of co-parenting.
Economic support provided through safety nets and related policies tend to be lower among income-eligible Latino families as compared to peers. Reducing administrative barriers and simplifying the navigation of publicly available services (e.g., documentation requirements, language translation, and literacy demands) can help with family and young people’s access to safety net programs. Anti-immigrant sentiment and local immigration enforcement actions have also had negative unintended consequences, referred to as “chilling effects,” for Latino children and youth (nearly all of whom are U.S. citizens). Programs, such as the Women, Infant, and Children’s program, that demonstrate higher uptake among Latino families offer useful lessons about ways to increase the receipt of cash supports (including emergency economic supports, such as those available during the pandemic) and that can undermine Latino family uptake of successful anti-poverty policies such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Escalated risks to Latino children and families from COVID-19 can be addressed through expanded social safety nets and capitalizing on social connectedness   
Latino children and youth tend to reside in resilient families and communities but also have been exceptionally vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hispanic children’s high risk of exposure to COVID-19 reflects both the segregation of their households in areas of overcrowded housing that became early COVID-19 “hot spots,” and their parents’ overrepresentation in “essential” jobs (e.g., health care, food preparation, and building maintenance). Poverty and social isolation due to the pandemic also increased adverse consequences to Latino youths’ physical and mental health. Hispanic children’s preexisting conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, and obesity, may have increased their risks of severe COVID-19. Recovery can be aided by the expansion of Medicaid and acceptance of telehealth provision of care, the simplification of social benefits administration (such as the creation of a general portal to receive pandemic stimulus checks that does not hinge on prior or current tax filings), and approaches that capitalize on the social connectedness of Latino communities and families.
Note: Reflecting the fluidity of labels, Hispanic, Latino/a, and Latinx are used across and within articles, often interchangeably.
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nellieannmones · 2 years
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How SaaS Will Develop in the Future and What to Expect
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SaaS models continue to be the most common service-based strategy as Cloud services are integrated more and more. However, SaaS is likely to experience some significant changes over time that will boost its popularity in the years to come.
Everything is in the clouds.
Yes, before the pandemic caused the global business environment to thaw, cloud integrations were booming. But 2020 gave the use of the cloud a boost unlike any other year. The demand for service-based software, or SaaS, to be precise, has skyrocketed as more and more companies move their on-premise businesses to the cloud.
Additionally, we must remember that a significant contributing factor to this
Business procedures and working conditions have changed to reflect demand.
Software as a Service, also known as SaaS, is currently well into its middle years. It hasn’t lost any of its relevance, though, according to the Gartner report. According to their most recent report, SaaS is still expected to grow by at least $138.2 billion by 2022 and continues to dominate one of the largest market segments among cloud services. SaaS is still a good choice for businesses in a precarious economic climate due to its functionalities, adaptability, and accessibility.
The integration of a high level of agility and cost-optimization for cloud-based projects is one of the key advantages of SaaS adoption. Because of the enormous advancements made in business intelligence and artificial intelligence by the IT industry, the future of SaaS appears to be bright. SaaS BI tools are expanding into previously untapped markets and streamlining business models to increase efficiency.
Businesses all over the world are looking to modern data discovery tools to increase productivity, and given the direction SaaS is taking, it is certain to prosper. According to our analysis of the development of SaaS, the following trends will become increasingly popular.
1. Utilizing AI to maximize efforts and resources
With a predicted market value of $733.7 billion by 2027, automation through AI has created some paradigm-shifting waves. Artificial intelligence (AI) is ready to enable ultra-responsiveness between businesses and customers by automating repetitive tasks and enhancing human capabilities.
In order to fully control business processes, contemporary software providers rely on AI-supported data alerts for pattern recognition and anomaly detection. SaaS’s fundamental qualities are enhanced when combined with AI capabilities. Through the use of NLP (Natural Language Processing), which analyzes speech patterns and voice control, it enables quick customization and offers enormous potential for customer service. Additionally, it enhances security parameters through rapid identification and built-in self-recovery. Additionally, by accelerating general responsiveness through quick forecasts, it improves human capabilities.
2. An individualized vertical SaaS market
While the end goal of horizontal software as a service was to serve customers, vertical software as a service explores the possibilities of serving customers through customization within particular supply chains and industries. Businesses are focusing intensely on positioning themselves as specialists rather than “jacks of all trades,” and advancements in the vertical SaaS space are enabling them to hone the customization options through sector-specific and affordable solutions.
By seamlessly integrating industry-specific compliances for better transparency, it brings in a variety of data governance procedures. Vertical SaaS’s pre-determined KPIs and metrics also offer analytics that businesses can use to access long-term projects.
3. White-Label SaaS with BI Embeddable
White labeling will gain popularity in 2021 as startups will undoubtedly find it advantageous for gaining market share with minimal financial investment. Startups will gain from not having to develop solutions from the ground up because white labeling enables an enterprise to sell a fully developed and optimized platform to another company.
On the other hand, software companies that sell white-label platforms and promote themselves as the platforms’ creators profit by generating new sources of income.
4. Micro SaaS to Open Up New Possibilities
Many industries’ markets are anticipated to become saturated in 2021; despite its impressive growth, SaaS is anticipated to thaw. Micro SaaS companies with incredibly small teams are likely to emerge as a result of the fierce competition in order to add services to an existing platform and increase the value of the SaaS product.
The miniature extension services niche market will probably cater to a very specific industry or user base and will probably run independently of outside funding.
5. Using API connectors to respond to the SaaS boom
The exponential growth in the adoption of SaaS solutions has created a gap between the abilities and requirements to handle their integration into an organization. existing organization system. Not every company wants to transfer all of its on-premise operations to the cloud, and those that do need intelligent APIs that can manage legacy systems effectively and offer security against data breaches in order to integrate SaaS solutions with their current solutions.
6. Automating Response Time with Machine Learning
With the aid of AI-powered chatbots that produced coming-of-age customer service apps and reports, machine learning (ML), a type of artificial intelligence, has enabled SaaS to be ultra-responsive and automated in onboarding. The latest iteration of machine learning is concentrated on reducing significant internal operations via innovations.
The ML-based SaaS models are likely to enhance internal communication, analyze data and insights more effectively, and teach software programs to pick up knowledge from experience to become smarter and more effective.
7. Integrated Analytics for Enhanced Digital
Transformation: Businesses anticipate data streamlining processes to further their quest for customer insights because of the enormous potential for digital transformations globally. Data analytics is progressively taking on greater significance in service-based software businesses, and data-driven decisions are becoming indispensable for businesses of the future.
Performance dashboards and other buried insights are likely to be found by centralized analytics. The SaaS models have a built-in centralized nature that allows data access from anywhere in the world, which increases the transparency of future business processes.
8. Enhancing Core Functionalities with Low-code Capabilities
SaaS models have developed into “low code” architectures that allow startups to activate their SaaS solutions with a minimum of technical know-how. The low-code architecture won’t do away with the need for developers, but it will make it easier to integrate compatible technology, freeing up the technical minds to devote their time to advancing innovation.
The Future is Promising.
Data-focused strategies are now the only thing influencing the development of SaaS-based applied business solutions.
Future-oriented and useful cloud solutions will become more prevalent as businesses incorporate business intelligence and smart data into the development of service-based solutions.
SaaS solutions are not only very practical, but they are also still reasonably priced across industries. By developing anticipated solutions supported by insightful data, the artificial intelligence plugin merely increases their invincibility.
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Shocking Report: 80% of Mobile Users Experiencing Security Breaches According to MobileAppDaily.com Study - Stay Informed Now!
RoamNook - Bringing New Information
RoamNook - Bringing New Information
Welcome to RoamNook's blog, where we bring you the most intriguing and thought-provoking content that is sure to expand your knowledge and keep you updated with the latest trends in technology. As an innovative technology company specializing in IT consultation, custom software development, and digital marketing, we understand the importance of staying ahead of the curve. In this blog post, we will present you with an extensive collection of hard facts, concrete data, and objective information that will leave you impressed and informed.
The Power of Numbers
Numbers are the language of the universe, and in the world of technology, they hold immense power. Let's dive into some mind-blowing statistics that highlight the impact of technology on our lives:
1. Over the past decade, the number of connected devices worldwide has grown exponentially, reaching an astonishing 50 billion in 2020.
2. The global internet penetration rate has surged to 60% as of 2021, with nearly 4.9 billion people connected to the digital world.
3. The average person spends a staggering 6 hours and 43 minutes online every day, involved in various activities such as social media, online shopping, and video streaming.
4. Mobile traffic accounts for over half of the total global internet traffic, showcasing the increasing dominance of smartphones and mobile devices in our daily lives.
Now that we have set the stage with these remarkable figures, let's dig deeper into the practical implications of these trends and how they affect you.
Real-World Applications
The widespread adoption of connected devices and the internet has revolutionized numerous industries and transformed the way we live, work, and interact. Here are some key sectors where technology plays a crucial role:
1. Healthcare
Technology has empowered the healthcare industry with advanced tools and digital solutions, leading to better patient care and improved outcomes. For example:
- Wearable devices such as fitness trackers and smartwatches can monitor vital signs, detect anomalies, and help individuals track their health progress more efficiently.
- Telemedicine enables remote consultations, ensuring access to healthcare services for individuals in remote areas or with limited mobility.
- Electronic medical records ensure seamless information sharing among healthcare providers, reducing errors and improving the accuracy of diagnosis and treatment.
2. Transportation
Technology has revolutionized the way we travel and transport goods. Here are a few notable advancements:
- Autonomous vehicles are becoming a reality, with companies like Tesla and Waymo leading the charge. The integration of artificial intelligence and sensors allows for safer and more efficient transportation.
- Logistics companies leverage data analytics to optimize routes, reduce fuel consumption, and minimize costs, leading to a greener and more sustainable future.
- Ride-sharing platforms have transformed the way we commute, providing convenient and affordable transportation options while reducing traffic congestion and emissions.
3. Education
Technology has significantly impacted the education sector, transforming traditional classrooms into immersive learning experiences. Some notable examples include:
- Online learning platforms and educational apps provide accessible and flexible education opportunities, allowing individuals to learn at their own pace and from anywhere in the world.
- Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies create interactive and engaging environments, enhancing understanding and retention of complex subjects.
- Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots offer personalized assistance and support to students, answering queries and providing guidance 24/7.
The RoamNook Advantage
Now that we have explored the transformative power of technology in various sectors, it's time to introduce you to RoamNook, the industry leader in IT consultation, custom software development, and digital marketing. Our mission is to fuel digital growth and help businesses unlock their full potential in the fast-paced digital landscape.
At RoamNook, we offer cutting-edge solutions tailored to your specific needs, leveraging the latest technologies and industry best practices. Our team of experts is highly skilled and experienced, ensuring the delivery of high-quality solutions that drive tangible results.
Whether you require strategic IT consultation to align your technology roadmap with your business goals, custom software development to streamline your operations, or digital marketing services to enhance your online presence and reach, RoamNook has got you covered.
Partnering with RoamNook means gaining a competitive edge in the digital landscape. Our solutions are scalable, innovative, and designed to maximize efficiency, boost productivity, and accelerate growth. We take pride in our commitment to delivering exceptional customer satisfaction.
Don't miss the opportunity to elevate your business to new heights. Visit RoamNook's website today and embark on a transformative journey towards digital success.
Source: https://www.mobileappdaily.com/knowledge-hub/kotlin-for-android-app-development&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiLy6aJ6pOFAxX7FVkFHToHB48QxfQBegQIBBAC&usg=AOvVaw2y9TgORxbqB2EzRMyS1FRd
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