#tried enhancing my icon with ai

[meiko333]

Jean X Rogue

Like and/or reblog if you save/use

#x-men #x men #x-men: evolution #x men evolution #marvel girl #jean grey #rogue #anne marie d'ancanto #jean x rogue #rogue x jean #icons #square icons #icons by me #tried enhancing my icon with ai #the original pic had terrible quality #so enjoy

[nenamatic]

AI Writers have totally changed the game! They're revolutionizing the way we create content and are on their way to becoming a permanent part of our lives. Over the past year, I've tried out a bunch of AI writing tools like Rytr, Copy AI, and Scalenut. After a lot of trial and error, I'm finally ready to give you a full review of Jasper AI. In this review, we'll go over what it is, its user interface, the most important features, and some of the most popular apps. We'll also look at its price plans, customer service, and alternatives. If you're interested in learning more about how it can help you create content, check out our blog post! Jasper AI delivers amazing results that exceed your expectations. After testing several AI tools in the last two months, I can confidently say that jasper is one of the best tools out there. It has an easy-to-use interface, intuitive features, and great customer support. Thanks to jasper's help, you can easily achieve your goals and get more value out of your data. data jasper AI (previously jasper alexis alexis) is an AI copywriter software. Founded in 2021 by Mr. Dave Rogenmoser in 2021, the company is based in Austin U.S.A. Currently, the company has more than 70k clients. How Jasper Ai Works? Jasper AI uses the latest generation of language prediction model GPT-3 . The model contains 175 billion variables, which is why it is capable of producing accurate and relevant data. Some of the most well-known AI writing programs are Rytr, Writesonic, Copy AI... Jasper Ai Pricing Jasper Ai Pricing Jasper AI has two subscription plans that can be found on the Pricing page: Creator is 59 dollars per month,39 if you per yearly. Teams plan is 125 dollars per month, 99 if you pay for one year. Overall, the cost of Jasper AI is quite high, which is not suitable for all users. If you are looking for a more affordable AI writer, we recommend alternatives such as: Writesonic, Copy Ai, Rytr. Free Trial Jasper AI has a free trial that allows you to try out all the features in Boss Mode for 7 days. The best part is that you don’t need to enter your credit card details to take advantage of this free trial! Payment Methods At the moment, you can only pay with major debit/credit cards. I would like to see them offer other payment options like UPI soon. Refund Policy If you’re not happy with your experience, you can change your plan within 5 days to get a full refund. Jasper Ai User Interface Jasper AI’s user interface is modern and stylish, with a minimalistic design. It’s very fast and I didn’t had any during my use. On the dashboard, you’ll find a list of tasks that can help you earn all your free credits. You’ll also find the AI templates and additional tools on the left side. The help icon on the right helps you get answers to your questions through email tickets, knowledge base tutorials, or even in the community. Content Tools Jasper AI Key Features SEO integration to create SEO optimized blog articles to get ranked for relevant keywords in search engines, thanks to the Surfer Seo. Integration with Grammarly to meet all of your editing requirements The tool has the ability to create and translate content into 26 languages. Create Quora or read the responses Find blog post topics and meta descriptions, subject lines for emails, product descriptions, and more useful content in a matter of just a few seconds Create quality video content for various formats, such as video scripts, social media and sales emails, video titles and much more. Content enhancer - take the content you have already written and modify in a way that makes it intriguing innovative, engaging, and creative by using different copy variants Tone - You can customize your content with a range of tones, like friendly or witty, I'm professional, disappointed, and creative. You can even use celebrities' names to personalize your content. You select the tone you want to use by hand.

YuuTube Templates Jasper Ai Use Cases With Examples Blog Post Outline I used this template in order to make blog post outline. The title was Best Chat GPT plugins. And this was the result: 1. Introducing GPT Chat Plugins – How to Automate Your Conversations 2. Exploring the Benefits of GPT Chat Plugins 3. Finding the Right GPT Chat Plugin for Your Needs 4. Setting Up and Testing a GPT Chat Plugin 5. Tips for Optimizing Your GPT Chat Plugin 6. Troubleshooting Common Issues with GPT Chat Plugins 7. The Future of GPT Chat Plugins – Where Are We Headed Next? 1. Introducing GPT Chat plugins – What they are and why you need them 2. A Roundup of the Best GPT Chat Plugins for WordPress 3. How to Set Up GPT Chat Plugins on Your WordPress Site 4. Using GPT Chat Plugins to Create Engaging Experiences for Your Visitors 5. How to Make Sure Your Site is GDPR Compliant with GPT Chat Plugins 6. Wrapping Up – Benefits of Having GPT Chat Plugins On Your Site Blog Post Topic Ideas I have used another template for topic ideas. I wrote input for marketing agency and I targeted busy moms as audience. Blog Post Intro Here is my example of blog post intro. I asked Jasper to make an intro for Best Chat GPT Plugins. First Intro: Chatbots aren't just a convenient way to interact with potential customers—they're now a necessary tool for successful marketing in today's digital space. But not all chatbot platforms are created equal: To make the most of your conversations, you'll need to invest in some powerful and reliable chatbot plugins. Luckily, ChatGPT has you covered! With its robust collection of plugins available, it’s easy to find one that suits your unique needs and provide an engaging customer experience. In this blog post, we'll explore the best ChatGPT plug-ins and highlight how they might help revolutionize your conversations - so buckle up for an exciting ride! Second Intro: Are you looking for a way to easily add chat-based automation to your marketing campaigns? Take a look at ChatGPT plugins – they are the perfect solution for improving customer engagement and streamlining your workflow. ChatGPT is an AI bot that can carry out conversations with customers on behalf of your business, allowing you to focus more on the bigger picture tasks. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why these plugins make life easier for marketers and uncover some of the best options available in 2023. So, after testing ,I can say that Blog Intros , Blog Post Conclusion Paragraph ,Paragraph Generator ,Content Improver , Content Summarizer and Meta descriptions are awesome ! Some other features needs improvement. Grammar And Plagiarism A lot of work has been put into making machine learning algorithms more efficient to create more natural-looking content. Although it's not quite there yet but the artificial intelligence tools for copywriting have improved significantly in recent times. To be consistent with a few the other AI test, we made around 300 words that I ran through Grammarly. The words scored average of 87 for grammar, which is similar to the other tests we have. If you are using one of these tools, you have to check plagiarism! All Ai Writers have problem with creating an unique content. I tested Jasper Ai and result came with 20 % of plagiarism. In the case of AI-generated texts, accuracy and the truthfulness of text can be a major issue. In my opinion, accuracy of content is one of the main concerns in regards to AI-generated content. Conclusion We're only beginning to discover what these AI-powered content tools can do, and I'm sure they'll get better in the coming years. We hope that you found our Jasper AI review helpful. What is the best way to predict where this will affect blogging and online business? However, in spite of all benefits of Jasper Ai, I don't think that I can count on AI to produce content that could take writers of content out of work in the near future!

If you want to learn more about Ai writing tools read my other articles: Writesonic Ai Review Rytr Ai Review Copy Ai Review

#Blog #REVIEWS #ai #jasper #review

[idkwhatimdoing-blog]

The story that’s been sittting in my drive for a long time

idk, I had this thing sitting here, where i’ve been doing many edits over time, but never actually tried publicizing it. Well, here’s to showing it.  Journey. Chapter 1.  He sits in the cockpit, slumping deeper into his seat, his space biker suit rustles on the faux, orange leather. His suit was painted, decaled, and reinforced with a hard black and red jacket, over a purple, azul, and black under vest. Masayoshi Takanaka’s Brasilian Skies is playing in the background.Stars, the blackness drift passed as he gazes through the teal tint of the canopy. His eyes landing forward, his ship's front nose coated in stark whites, banana yellows, and rich azure shine under the subtle yet sure flares of the suns way, way yonder. He scans back, a dark blue purviews the rear, as a monochrome, steely silver tint rolls across the forward swept wings.  A soda can is holstered onto his chair. He yanks it and chugs it. “Trevor, our battery is getting low.”His eyes glances up to see the hud; six percent leaks off the screenHis voice is like a cello, deep, soft: “Oh?” before the tone sharpens in pitch, “oh. Sonuva.” He flips his back over the console, scrunched over at the map for any sort of thing nearby. The image then expands, blooms outwarding from the hud provided, where several red dotted lines hook onto Trevor’s visualized ship.“Primarily, we’ve got a maintenance shop and a galvo convenience store, which are both approximately 300, 600 miles (482, 965 meters) away respectively.” “Wait, but we, or I guess I don’t need stuff at the minute?”“Just thought it would be smart to collect some things in case.” “Mm, fair enough. “The other though is quite the locale. According to the site, it’s ‘the iconic Ni & Rahun’s Saloon, the one that stars in all your favorite Dreamsy Schwarmav films, with Red Scar, Red Scar 2, Red Scar 3, Red Scar: the fourth one, Sed Rcar, the Shameless Ripoff, Buggers the Wilkthor, Shrimp Salagavar the Coward! War Stars, Blancacasa. It is the cantina to rule them all!’ Have you heard of any of these?” Trevor stares at the speaker where the AI spoke with a longing confusion. A cough could be heard in space somehow. “I see.”Trevor lasers his gaze deep into space, the stare intense enough to cut worlds in half. “Hm. Tourist trap, or a normal resupply. Hmmmm.”  -- -- Trevor slurps an overpriced cocktail from an extremely ornate glass, while sitting in a beach chair. His suit’s off, hawaiian shirt and get up on, his helmet replaced with shades made from the glass of his visor.  “Man, this is… not really worth the money, but you know what, this drink isn’t actually that bad. Never knew Choar fruit could work with berries, peaches, and tangpea tea like that.” He looks up. A yellow sun, not too dissimilar to the one from earth stares down at a neat, blue skied beach like resort, with folk of all species enjoying themselves. Some of them were surfing, some of them were making sand castles, some of them were bathing in the sun, some humans were teaching a few aliens how to play volleyball, while the aliens were teaching the humans some of their beach sports.  Another loud slurp percusses the air.  A live band plays to the right of him, people dance along to the beat. He notices one of the members, a crustaceous species was playing a seeming solo with claw fingers, while on the left, a human was beating all of the other species at a pull up contest.  Trev giggles, “Wow, that is impressive. To the both of them. Yo, I am so curious though, that must’ve taken years for that to learn and work.” Meanwhile the name: “Ali!” was getting louder and louder each second, as the man continued to pull harder and harder.“And that’s 200 pull ups. And my muscles hurt like shit.” he forces a smile for the audience around him, before he winces fully. “No fair, don’t you guys get like, military grade steroids and like enhancements and shit” an alien, cuttlefish octopus like creature replies,“Yeah, and what do your supplements contain again?” a moose, elk, bear jeers“Well, shut first off, those are natural steroids, and besides those are of recommended dosage, these guys are entirely off of, whatever dosage.” “Hm. Sure they are. Hey, what are the ingredients for your ‘roids?”The woman the alien was speaking to just sounded confused: “I dunno? How am I supposed to know? I’m just a part of their services.”The alien pouts.“Anyway, before you flex your fuckin pharmacist-ness on me.”Another woman responds along side the other “I don’t remember exactly, but the infantry uses a lot of Octacarine for the major strength enhancement.”“Hah, and guess what it says on the box!” Somehow, the alien manages to pull the whole bottle out of her pocket, and points to the label. “I hate you.” “Although to be fair, the type of octa is a significantly stronger variant of the original.” “Hah, see, told you.” “Tsk. I hate you now.” Trevor shakes his head as he goes back to admiring the view on his beach chair, dipping his drink below a spigot, and his toes in the water.  -- --“Reserve battery has been fueled to 75%” Trevor does an ok gesture to the speaker, before he waits, finishing the fattest, sloppiest, greasiest, but also the most satisfyingly juicy and meaty burger anyone could ever see or taste.“Christ, that’s definitely giving me a couple hundred pounds tomorrow. Oh man, I should’ve gotten a sponge from the shop there or something” “Holy shit.” Trevor heard the speech directed in his direction, and checks behind. Three soldiers in near full armor approach him, helmets off. Their bodies and silhouettes were abrasively intimidating. Aggressive, focused, and sharp was their armor. Even their demonic helmets, of a combination gasmask, german style war helmets, and a set of eight glowing orange eyes, burned their presence through the dark void of space. Each of their shoulders rests an icon of a Spartan, yet they were all as relaxed as they were from the beach. “A factionless human. Now that’s the sight of a lifetime.” Trevor’s helmet somehow raises an eyebrow. “What, did you not see the other humans in there.”“I mean sure, but who knows where they’re from, Titan faction or not. Still, it’s quite the sight to see a human be so natural with other sapiens.”“Yeah, well take it in, because I got places to be, and time that’s flying.”“Well.” the grunt sighs, leaning over to a colleague.“Are we really doing this?” they whisper.“I mean, it is a bonus. If you want.” the other grunt. “Look, I’m not joining your stupid fuckin boy scout club, or whatever the fuck.”“We’re just saying it’s a great opportunity. Look, you get to travel the universe!”“Yeah…” Trevor looks down at his ship. “Like I can’t do that already.” “Nice V.” “Man, shut. I’m trying my best alright.”“Look, okay I admit what I said earlier was rude, but like, my parents and family spent years trying to get away from this stupid nonsense that the human campaign is, and I’m not about to fucking invalidate their entire life’s work.”His own words halt his actions and movements. He hesitates to even finish what he’s doing. “Yeah. Not after… what I’ve done.” The soldier responds. “Okay, well we’re absolutely not the Fenrir or the Seraphim-”“Oh yeah, like the wars you wager and the lands you have rampaged is all just fake news.” “Wars? What war? We haven’t had a major war in years.”“Yuh, huh, like your armor is just cosplay, or fucking show and tell or some shit” The soldier stares at the, frankly, terrifying designs of their armor before slumping their back forward with a face that says, “I get your point.” Another soldier picks up with: “I mean, it might as well be. We literally stand around all day and guard positions, while others just do chores. So yeah honestly we just look like this for looks.”Trevor squints at them in a very unamused way. “Really?”“Seriously! That’s like literally all we do, we stand around to look all tough while the others do chores.”Trevor expresses the facial equivalent of the phrase “...” He continues, “Well! You are quite fantastic at convincing me to join, so much so that I’ve take it upon myself to just.” he presses a button, that lowers and vacuum seals the glass canopy with a satisfying sizzle. The vehicle starts to hum, before it crescendoes to a powerful whine with an aggressive clicking bassy purr that rips underneath, then a high pitched snare, then a roar, then a violently raw, yet elegant, symphonic chord of an almost beastly quality, that then finishes with a howling boom that shatters the sound barrier. The soldiers glances at each other, with their bones still rattling and quivering from Trevor’s ship. One of them hisses and sighs. “That was sick though.” “Yeah it was.” 

#original story #passion project #idk what this is #idkwhati'mdoing #originalwriting #trying something new

[dskimages]

Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling as depicted at Disney's EPCOT Spaceship Earth. A snapped this pic on the Spaceship Earth ride (the big geodesic ball at EPCOT). Living on the far side of the country, this was my first time to EPCOT. Since seeing a documentary / promo way back when they first built EPCOT I have wanted to visit and especially to go on this ride. I realize it's not the most popular ride but it is probably the most iconic for EPCOT. So for all the fun to be had, I headed straight for this. It details a history of human civilization and this is one of the animatronic scenes. One bucket list item checked off! The overall ride is quite dark. But I still chose to try to take pics (no flash of course). I think it did pretty good under the conditions. I did run it through Topaz's de-noiser and sharpener. In fact this was one of the first pics I tried my new software on. Overall I'm pleased with how it did, though it does give it a bit of a plastic or painted look for how aggressive I had to set it. Still a handy tool in the toolbox. . Jun '22 . I show all my pics here, or you can follow JUST my travel pics at @DSKwanders. . Nikon D610, f2.8, 1/125s, ISO-8063, 65mm Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VS USD G2 Adobe Lightroom enhancements Topaz Sharpen AI enhancements . #DSKImagesNW #mydailypic #mydailyphoto #myphotooftheday #mypicoftheday #InstaDaily #InstaPic #myshots #myphotography #PicoftheDay #PhotooftheDay #PhotographyDaily #BestoftheDay #things #thingsISee #thethingsiveseen #perspective #throughmylens #PhotoAddict #InstaPhoto #JustGoShoot #InstaFocus #VisualLife #Visuals #MeandMyCamera #TakingPics #TakingPictures #NikonPhotography #cameraready #whatISee https://www.instagram.com/p/CqS2WHeOfli/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#dskimagesnw #mydailypic #mydailyphoto #myphotooftheday #mypicoftheday #instadaily #instapic #myshots #myphotography #picoftheday #photooftheday #photographydaily #bestoftheday #things #thingsisee #thethingsiveseen #perspective #throughmylens #photoaddict #instaphoto #justgoshoot #instafocus #visuallife #visuals #meandmycamera #takingpics #takingpictures #nikonphotography #cameraready #whatisee

[simplyemm]

In the Cards: IV of Pentacles

pairing: Bucky x Reader

word count: 1.5k

warnings: meet cute (kinda), little bit of fluff, pet name (solnyshka), mentions of kidnapping, unedited, so all mistakes are mine.

summary: There is a new face around the Tower, and you want to make him feel welcome.

Header image by me.

Series Masterlist

I do not consent for this to be reposted, translated, or copied to any other platform.

IV of Pentacles: stability, control, influence, security, frugality

The ding of the elevator alerted you to the arrival of your somewhat-expected visitor. Steve Rogers had been making the rounds to all of the Tower employees, letting everyone know about the most recent addition to the building, as well as doing his best to allay any safety concerns that people might have. Cause y’know people might freak out just a little bit that the Winter Soldier was now in residence and not-entirely-okay.

“Hiya Cap,” you greeted, looking up from the disassembled Widow Bite you were working on improving for Natasha. “What’s up?”

“So you probably know why I’m here,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yup. Sergeant Barnes has moved in and he’s being given mostly free reign of the place to do a security check so he feels more secure in the Tower, right?”

“Word travels fast,” he muttered.

“Lab gremlins are gossips,” you confirmed. “But I get it, and so do most of the rest of the R+D staff. Everyone knows that they can have FRIDAY change up the access permissions if they get uncomfortable.”

“And yours?” Steve asked, glancing toward the doors on either side of your workshop.

“FRIDAY?” you called to the ever-present AI. She dinged in response. “Please allow Sergeant Barnes full access to my lab and associated spaces.”

“Of course.”

Steve smiled at you. “Thanks a lot, kid.”

“Let Sergeant Barnes know he’s welcome to lurk in my space whenever. I don’t mind the company.”

Steve chuckled. “No kidding, especially with the odd hours you keep.”

“Yeah well, science rests for no one, and someone has to keep up with all the upgrades y’all are constantly needing.”

Steve patted you on the shoulder and left you back to your own devices.

The next morning found you back to work, with only a few tweaks left to make on the improved Widow Bite.

“Good morning, solnyshka,” Natasha greeted as she entered the workshop, holding a steaming mug of tea. “I bring an offering.”

You look over at your for-the-moment favorite Avenger and grin. “Morning Nat. I’m just about ready to test out this upgrade.”

“Already? I just gave it to you like a day and a half ago!”

“And?” you shrugged. “Science waits for no one.” And you had worked all night on it, but you were not about to admit to that.

“You haven’t slept,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

You fight back a yawn. “No rest for the wicked,” you jest. “C’mon, let’s go test this out.”

The two of you head to the weapons testing area and you hand over the improved discs. You headed back behind a clear barrier where the control panel was. You had developed new testing dummies that allowed you to get readouts of possible biological reactions to the new tech, without needing actual people to be test dummies. It was one of the things you were most proud of.

“Ready?” you call. The Widow nods and you hit a button, causing several test dummies to appear and be summarily taken down by Natasha.

“I like them,” Nat says as the last dummy is taken down, twitching from the electrical current. “How are the readings?”

You look up from your StarkPad with a grin. “Fantastic. Will easily take down non-Enhanced without causing lasting permanent damage, enough to incapacitate. Gimme a minute and I can run a simulation to see--” you trail off, brain already moving a mile a minute to put in the parameters for the new simulation. The results make you grin even wider. “Can also cause at least minor inconvenience for super soldiers, provided we’re using Steve as a baseline.”

“Great!” Nat said. “Now go to sleep.”

You grumble good-naturedly, putting all of the testing tech to sleep, before heading out the testing lab door and across the hallway to your apartment. You really didn’t mind that your entire life could be contained in a single floor of Stark Tower, in fact, you actually preferred it that way. Tony had insisted that you move in after the second kidnapping incident, and you didn’t fight him on it...often. Besides, despite the incredibly generous salary Tony gave you, rent in New York City was not an expense you wanted to deal with.

*************

“I thought I told you to go to sleep,” Natasha said reproachfully when she entered the common area a few hours later and saw you sitting on the couch.

“Tried,” you replied. “Couldn’t do it. And I’m locked out of my lab for the next-” you glanced at the display of your StarkPhone, “-seven hours and thirty-four minutes, so I figured I would come hang out here.”

“Can’t FRIDAY unlock it for you?” Steve asked.

You laughed. “Nope, she’s the one who locked me out. It’s a protocol Pepper made Tony put in for himself that he so kindly added for me as well.”

The super soldier nodded in understanding. He looked over towards the elevator, hearing something that the two others didn’t, right before the door opened with a ding.

“Hey Buck,” Steve greeted softly, as the brown-haired man entered the space, looking around and observing everything. His eyes fell onto you and his brow furrowed, not recognizing the strange person in the space. “Oh right, you two haven’t met yet. Bucky, this is Y/N, she’s one of the--” he looked to you for a more apt description of your role.

“I usually go with lab gremlin, but I’m technically the Stark Industries lead mechanical engineer and tech liaison for the Avengers. It’s nice to meet you Sergeant Barnes.” You gave him a small smile and a little wave.

“Bedtime, solnyshka,” Natasha said. “At least try to get some sleep before FRIDAY unlocks your lab again. Please.”

“Ugh, fine,” you groaned, slowly getting up from the couch. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my cave.” And with that, you headed towards the elevator and back to your floor.

“Cave?” Bucky asked after the elevator doors closed behind you.

“It’s what she calls her floor,” Nat explained. “She has an apartment, her workshop, and one of the weapons testing labs all on the 87th floor. She emerges every now and again to socialize. Usually after she gets locked out from working too much.”

He nodded. He had yet to visit the 87th floor on his nightly sulks around the tower, but it had officially moved higher on his list.

*************

It was some obscenely early hour of the morning when Bucky made his way to the 87th floor of the Tower. Nightmares had woken him again, and he found himself wanting to see what your space was like. Steve had told him a bit about you after you had left, expounding upon your sunny disposition (which explained Natalia’s endearment) and your single-minded dedication to your work.

The elevator doors opened, revealing an open sitting area with three doors leading off it. The central doors were made of transparent glass and he could see you staring at a holographic display, moving things around with your fingertips, biting your lower lip in concentration. Unlike Stark, who favored loud rock as he worked, you had smooth jazz going in the background. Bucky could hear the murmur of the lyrics through the glass. To the right was another set of doors, the walls and door itself made of frosted glass. He assumed that led to your personal quarters, given that the doors on the left hand side had TESTING LAB written across them.

You looked up from your holo screen and the schematics displayed there after giving Bucky a chance to get his bearings. FRIDAY had informed you that he was on his way as soon as he had stepped into the elevator, but you hadn’t wanted to make him uncomfortable by immediately rolling out the welcome wagon. You tapped an icon in the corner of the holo screen, causing the doors of your workshop to slide open.

“Hi,” you said with a smile. “Wanna come in?”

He had been expecting something clinical and sterile feeling about the space, but that was not it at all. It felt more like a garage than an actual lab. He looked over to one of the corners, seeing a kitchenette and lounge area, complete with couch and television, which seemed counterintuitive to a work space, but it somehow fit.

“It’s a bit eclectic,” you admitted. “But it works for me.”

His eyes spread across the rest of the space, noting entrances, exits, and the lack of security for the floor-to-ceiling windows along the back wall.

“The windows aren’t secure,” he mumbled.

You smiled. “More so than you’d think,” you replied gently. “Virtually indestructible one-way glass. Tony doesn’t want just anyone seeing what I get up to here.” You gestured toward one of the swivel stools you had scattered around your various worktables. “You’re more than welcome to hang out for a bit, if you’d like.”

And so he did.

#em's fic writing #bucky barnes fic series #in the cards #bucky barnes x fem!reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction

[stefciastark]

Disneyland ~ Webpril Day 13

A/N: Tony has a surprise for Peter before he starts his first semester at MIT. It's not the Disneyland anyone expected, but it's the Disneyland Peter wanted all along. I was going to go very literal Disneyland with this one, but I took it into a bit of a different direction. Just some Irondad fluff :) Hope you enjoy!

~Read it on AO3

~Read it on FFN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mr Stark, it’s like Disneyland in here!”

The whirring sounds of machines and gadgets filled the room, the walls tinted various shades of blue and green from holographic displays. One corner of the room was filled with what looked like a cryogenic freezing pod, but as Tony explained, it was a printer for Peter’s suits. A printer.

“You like it? I didn’t want to go too over the top...” Tony trailed off, watching as Peter explored the room like a kid in a candy store. Peter was now standing over the large square table in the centre of the room that currently housed thousands of files on new Spiderman web upgrades, blueprints for new suits, and some source files for Karen’s AI programming.

“No, no, this is amazing. This...this is all mine?” Peter was struggling to find more words, and instead tears of joy pricked at his eyes. His excitement only grew as he opened some of the files at random, seeing plans for fireproof webs, what looked like a smaller Spiderman version of the Hulkbuster, and because Peter had been begging Tony for it forever: customisable LED lights for the suit. Not particularly high-tech, and definitely a bit ostentatious and ‘tacky’ - as Tony put it - but Peter had finally gotten Tony’s blessing.

“All yours, kid.”

Tony’s eyes continued to follow Peter’s excited movements around the new workshop. He’d decided to set up his large penthouse apartment (he couldn’t remember the last time he’d stayed in it) in Massachusetts for Peter as ‘congratulations’ for getting into MIT, and he was positive the kid - no, young man now - would be at the top of his class. Well, especially with a room full of Stark technology.

“I uh, can you teach me how to use some of this stuff? Like,” Peter wandered over to a large metal tray that had no buttons and looked like a plain sheet of aluminium, “what is this?” Peter tried to lift it, prying it up off of the countertop with the tips of his fingers. It took him off guard how light it was. In combination with his enhanced strength, it felt like lifting air.

“That,” Tony answered, walking over to join Peter beside the item in question, “is a sheet of vibranium.”

Peter’s eyes widened in response, suddenly looking over the metal sheet with reverence. He set it down carefully, instantly paranoid about breaking it even though he knew there was no way he could even put a scratch in it.

“You should probably put that in your safe,” the older man made his way towards the left hand side of the room and double-tapped the wall, a sliding panel revealing a number pad and a fingerprint scanner. “I just left it out for effect.”

Peter already knew that it would be years before he used the metal. To him, it was the equivalent of getting a tattoo. To use it was something permanent and irreversible. It would mean creating an icon like Captain America’s shield, Bucky’s new arm, or T’Challa’s claws. A million and one ideas raced through his mind like a steam engine locomotive speeding downhill without any brakes, excitement and fear pulsing through his veins with all the possibilities.

Tony was starting to get worried about Peter. With each new discovery, Tony didn’t think his jaw could drop any lower, or that his eyes could get any wider, yet they did until a point where the kid might suffer cardiac arrest out of elation.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet. What’s on your mind?” Tony probed. Since the vibranium, Peter had gone completely silent, and it was starting to become unnerving.

Peter broke the silence. “It’s just...it’s a lot.” His voice was thick with emotion, a mixture of happiness and awe. But Peter couldn’t quite help but feel a strange kind of sadness that he didn’t quite understand. There was something about it all, and he wasn’t sure if his Spidey Sense was feeding him that information or if it was just his intuition.

Tony shot Peter a sympathetic smile. Coming from a small apartment in Queens and having lived a modest life with his aunt for so long, it would be all kinds of overwhelming to be bombarded with an opulent penthouse filled with the Stark technology only multi-millionaires could dream of.

Tony double-tapped the wall once more, the safe and accompanying security measures disappearing from sight. “I didn’t know what to get you, and another suit seemed kind of redundant when you can make your own now. I’m not gonna be here forever, so may as well give you something that’ll keep you going after I’m gone.”

And there it was. Peter’s answer to that odd sense of grief presented to him on a silver platter of vibranium and technological luxury.

“What are you talking about?” Peter’s brow was furrowed, and like the flick of a switch he felt the symptoms of panic begin to set in. Elevating heart rate. Check. Suddenly feeling like he couldn’t breathe and that his skin simultaneously felt hot and cold. Check. “Are you going somewhere? Oh my god are you dying? Please tell me you’re not dying, I don’t know what I’d do, Mr Stark, I don’t kno-”

Peter was abruptly cut off by Tony’s arms wrapping around him in a warm embrace. It took him back to when he was fifteen again, trying so hard to impress Tony all the while trying to discover who he was and who he wanted to be. How lucky was he that the man he had looked up to for so long had become his adoptive father of sorts. The feeling of bittersweet nostalgia overwhelmed him.

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere. Who said anything about dying?” Tony felt Peter nod against his chest, faint tremors shaking his frame as he attempted to bring his sudden onslaught of emotions under control. Pushing Peter away so he could look into his eyes, Tony continued, smiling wryly. “Iron Man’s gotta retire sometime, right?”

A shaky exhale. “Yeah.”

“I’m getting a bit old for the hero gig but hey, I can always be your guy in the chair.” Tony walked over to the printing pod, slapping his hand on the top of the rounded cover. “C’mere, I’ll show you how to use this thing.” He prepared the machine by pressing a few buttons, ignoring the heaviness in his heart. Peter had grown so fast from that awkward teenager from Queens, and soon...soon Peter wouldn’t need Tony to guide him anymore. He tried not to think too much about that.

Wiping the last stray tear from his eyes, Peter smiled and went to join Tony.

#webpril day 13 #webpril 2021 #webpril #peter parker #tony stark #irondad #irondad fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction #tony stark fanfiction #spiderman #ironman #writing prompt #writing challenge #emotional h/c #h/c fanfiction #h/c #emotional whump #mcu #marvel #my fic

[tsarisfanfiction]

Desert Sands: Part 2

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Scott, John, Alan, Virgil, Gordon, Kayo, EOS

Another little chunk for you guys to chew over while I wrestle with writing the ending (or maybe not-yet-the-ending, it’s being finicky) of this thing.

<<<Part 1

“Kayo?” John called, immediately trying both Thunderbird Shadow and her personal communicator.  Both resulted in the red symbol of no signal, just like Scott. “Thunderbird Two, I’ve just lost contact with Thunderbird Shadow.”

“What?” Virgil and Gordon demanded, in tandem.  “Where?”

“I’m sending you the co-ordinates now,” he said, fingers flying across the data. Just like Scott, her suit telemetry showed no signs of increased stress or panic before going dark.  “It’s approximately five hundred miles south-east from Thunderbird One’s last known position.”

“Five hundred miles?” Virgil asked.  “That’s a big area.  Are there any signals of anything between them?”

“No, but there’s nowhere there that I’d expect to,” John admitted.  “It’s an uninhabited part of the Sahara Desert.”

“We’ll follow Kayo’s flight path and go cautiously once we cross the African coast,” Virgil declared.  “We’ll let you know what we find.”

“F.A.B.,” John acknowledged, turning to Thunderbird Three.  “Alan, do you copy?”

“Right here, John,” his youngest brother answered immediately.  “Over the Sahara now.  EOS is beginning scans.”

“Stay in orbit,” he reminded.  “I just lost contact with Thunderbird Shadow and Kayo in the exact same way.”

“What’s happening?” Alan asked.  “That’s not normal.  They fly over the Sahara all the time!”

“I don’t know but we’re going to find out,” John promised.  “Let me know what EOS finds.”

“Preliminary scans show nothing,” the AI chipped in, hijacking Alan’s signal. “I do not like this, John.  There is no sign of movement at all-  John, I believe I have located Thunderbird One.”

“Where?”  Thunderbird Five was linking up to her sister before John consciously thought about it, taking in the data streaming from Thunderbird Three’s EOS-enhanced scanners. There was nothing but sand dunes, some impressively high.  Wind whipped the sand around, lowering visibility.  “EOS, I don’t see her.”

An additional scan appeared, overlaying the satellite imagery.

“Thunderbird Three is not powerful enough for a positive identification but I believe the metal buried beneath a thin layer of blown sand is the right approximate dimensions and construct to match with Thunderbird One,” EOS informed him. The signal was weak, but now that EOS had pointed it out, John could just about make out what she meant.

“That’s eighty miles from where we lost the signals,” Alan piped up, and John could see on his face that he was doing the calculations in his head.  He was doing the same ones, and reached a conclusion he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

“From the speed and height Thunderbird One was travelling at, if her engines went offline she’d travel approximately eighty miles before crashing,” he said, and Alan made a noise of agreement.  “It’s in the right direction, too.”

“So what do we do now?” Alan asked.

“Keep scanning,” John said.  “I want the entire area logged, just to be safe.  With Kayo and Thunderbird Shadow also missing, I don’t want Thunderbird Two encountering any unwelcome surprises when they get there.”

“But if that’s Scott he’s buried, John!” Alan protested.

“And if it’s not, we haven’t found him at all,” John pointed out.  “Even if it is, we don’t know what happened, and until we know that it’s not safe for Thunderbird Two to approach.”  That was what concerned him the most.  What was taking down Thunderbirds without any warning? If he didn’t know that Virgil and Gordon would refuse, he’d have told his brothers to stop as soon as Thunderbird Shadow went down.

As it was he was anxiously watching the green icon, silently begging it not to disappear as it reached the African coastline.

“Virgil, you’re coming up on where Thunderbird Shadow vanished,” he warned them. “Be careful.”

“Decelerating and reducing altitude,” Virgil responded.  John could see that, but appreciated his brother staying in contact.  With Scott and Kayo both gone from his sensors, he really didn’t want to lose another brother, and with Gordon also on board, there were two brothers heading into almost certain danger.  “Coming up on- Kayo!”

Thunderbird Two’s green icon came to a rapid stop, banking around sharply before readouts declared the green ship had come into land.

“John, we’ve got eyes on Thunderbird Shadow,” Gordon told him.  He was using his personal comm, and his image was clearly running.  “She’s down but her cockpit’s shut.  Looks like Kayo’s still inside.”

“Kayo!” he heard Virgil call faintly, picked up by Gordon’s communicator rather than using his own.

John could be patient when he wanted to; it was a trait he shared with Virgil.  Another trait he shared with Virgil was a lack of that same patience when it came to family wellbeing.  In no time at all, Thunderbird Two’s external camera feed was being projected for him to watch.

At a glance, Thunderbird Shadow seemed okay.  She was facing the wrong direction, back towards Tracy Island, but there was little visible damage on the fuselage.  More concerning was the fact that both the Thunderbird and Kayo’s suit were still offline, despite Thunderbird Two and his brothers still broadcasting strongly.

Virgil, wearing his exosuit, was wrestling with her cockpit, wrenching it open and leaning in to presumably look at Kayo.  His bulky frame – enhanced by the gear – completely hid the inside of the cockpit from view, leaving John to wait in frustration for an update.

“I’m okay,” his sister said, and her image appeared alongside Virgil’s as he turned his own communicator on.  “I think my leg’s broken, but that’s the worst of it.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Virgil muttered, and John had no doubt that a scanner had been deployed.

“What happened?” he asked.  “Thunderbird Shadow and your suit are still offline.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s some sort of EMP,” she reported, hissing as Virgil did something off-camera.  “Thunderbird Shadow’s engines cut out without warning.  I used the manual overrides to get her turned around and out of it, but she didn’t come back online so we still crashed.”

An EMP would explain it.  John left Virgil and Gordon to dealing with their injured sister and started running calculations.  Thunderbirds One and Shadow had gone down five hundred miles apart – at this point it was foolish to even entertain any idea other than the fact that Thunderbird One must have crashed – which gave John two points of reference for the outer edge of its range.  There was no way of knowing if that was a chord or the diameter of the range, however.

“Alan,” he called, turning his attention to Thunderbird Three, who was still feeding Thunderbird Five with aerial scans of the area.

“What’s up, John?” his brother asked.  “Any news?”

“We’ve found Kayo,” he told him.  “She’s okay, but Thunderbird Shadow crashed.  Seems like we’re dealing with an EMP, so can you and EOS search for something that could be causing it?”

“F.A.B.,” Alan confirmed.  “But… John? If it’s an EMP… how are we going to get to Scott?  Thunderbird Two will crash if she tries, and eighty miles is a long way to walk.”

“Let me worry about that,” John told him.  “You just focus on finding the source.”

Once they had it, they could work out how to switch it off.

Leaving Alan and EOS to it, he returned back to the feed showing a resigned Kayo being carried by Virgil back into Thunderbird Two.

“Thunderbird Shadow is completely shot,” Gordon reported, noticing him. “We’re going to have to carry her back. That EMP completely fried all her systems.”

“You might as well do that now,” he said.  “Until that EMP is dealt with, Thunderbird Two won’t be able to get to Thunderbird One, and she’ll need carrying back as well.”

“Are you sure Scott didn’t manage to do the same as Kayo and turn her around?” Virgil asked, but it was Kayo shaking her head that answered him.

“I barely got Thunderbird Shadow turned around and she’s designed for those sorts of manoeuvres,” she said.  “Thunderbird One can’t turn that fast at the speeds she was going at when the EMP hit her.”

“EOS thinks she’s located Thunderbird One,” John added.  “The scans aren’t clear, but the location is plausible.”

“Why don’t we just fly around this thing and walk in?” Gordon asked.  “It can’t be that far, right?”

“At the speed Thunderbird One was going, she could be a hundred miles in,” Virgil snapped.  “Until that EMP is dealt with, we can’t get there.”

“The plausible site is eighty miles in,” John clarified, mostly to cut off Gordon’s brewing response.  Scott was the short-tempered one, but when he was absent and probably in trouble Virgil lost a lot of his calmness.  Gordon didn’t always take too well to being on the receiving end of a snappy bear, transforming the usual easiness of Thunderbird Two’s pilot and co-pilot into a potentially volatile mix.  “Alan, EOS and I are working on the EMP; get Shadow and Kayo home.”

“F.A.B.,” Virgil said, with clear reluctance.  “Kayo, don’t move.  Gordon, get Shadow ready for transport.”

John left them to it, content that despite brewing tempers they’d get the job done, and turned his full attention to the scans coming in from Thunderbird Three. The Sahara was huge, and he made a mental note to get a satellite in place to monitor it in the future. Whether that required wheedling the GDF or just making his own remained to be seen.  Actually, when EOS got back, he was going to set her to finding all the satellite blind spots so they could all be plugged.

John refused to find himself blind ever again.

“John?”  Alan’s voice was small.

“Yes, Alan?” he responded, tearing his eyes away from sand, sand and more sand to look at his youngest brother’s hologram.  Alan was biting his lip.

“Do you think Scott’s okay?”

If he crashed at that speed it would have been fatal, the cool voice in the back of his mind reminded him.  John ignored it, unable to entertain the idea that his big brother might be dead even though logic dictated as such.

“Thunderbird One is equipped with fail safes and supplies,” he said instead. “Scott will have done everything he could.”  It wasn’t his best reassurance – or even one at all – but John had learnt the hard way that saying ‘they’ll be fine’ with no evidence to support him was far worse in the long run.  “Besides, it’s Scott.  You know what Scott’s like.”

That, at least, got a small smile.

“Yeah, I do,” Alan said.  “Scott won’t give up.”

“And nor will we,” John assured him.  “Thunderbird Two is taking Thunderbird Shadow and Kayo back home while we find this EMP generator.”

“I believe we have located that,” EOS cut in.  “John, I am sending you the scan now.”

Thunderbird One had been difficult to spot, and they still had no guarantee that the buried metal was the missing craft.  This… whatever it was, was not difficult to spot.  A large blotch on the scan, it was easy to see why EOS suspected it, and with nothing else even remotely suspicious turning up on the scans, John was quite content to assume it was the responsible party.

“Hold your position there, Alan,” he said, stripping off his baldric and heading for his exosuit.  “I’m coming to join you.”

“F.A.B.,” came the response and then John was launching, jetting through the sky and following the readout to where the giant red rocket was firing microjets to keep itself in position.  The hatch opened and he skidded in, awkwardly catching himself before he crashed into the opposing wall.

Landings were awkward.

“So, now what?” Alan asked, uncharacteristically not commenting on his lack of flying ability.  “It’s halfway between where Scott and Kayo got hit, and it’s at least eight miles high, so how do we turn it off?”

“Drop a probe, Alan,” John said, holding one out.  “When we lose contact with it, we know that’s the upper limit.”

“That still doesn’t tell us how we can turn it off,” Alan pointed out, and John sighed.

“No, but once we know the extent we can look at our options.”

“We have options?”

John dropped the probe out of the open hatch before closing it and accepting the data stream EOS presented him with.

“Two hundred and fifty miles,” he announced when the data stopped, not bothering to respond to Alan’s dubious question.

“So, what are our options?”  Little brother was not so easily deterred, but there was only ever one option.

“Take us down to three hundred miles.  I’ll HALO drop from there and disable it.”

Part 3>>>

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds are go fanfiction #tsari writes fanfiction #scott tracy #john tracy #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #alan tracy #kayo kyrano #eos #desert sands

[letterboxd]

Fate.

“The reason that they choose to pick up a gun or punch someone in the face or fight for their lives is usually different than the reasons you’d find for a man.” Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller discusses David Fincher, James Cameron and female action heroes in an exclusive chat with Letterboxd.

Tim Miller is here to save the Terminator franchise. Like many of us, Miller (the director of Deadpool) is a massive fan of the first two films, and not so much of the last three.

Miller’s new film, Terminator: Dark Fate, positions itself as a direct sequel to the iconic Terminator 2: Judgment Day and ignores all the films made subsequent to that 1991 classic. The connection is strengthened by the participation of James Cameron (director and co-writer of the 1984 original and Judgment Day), who has a story credit on Dark Fate, and Linda Hamilton, who returns to play Sarah Connor for the first time since 1991.

In the new film, Connor is one of two people—alongside Mackenzie Davis’s augmented future soldier Grace—attempting to protect Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) from the super-advanced Rev-9 terminator (Gabriel Luna). Dani is a young Mexican woman fated to play a critical role in a future war between humans and machines (specifically, an artificial intelligence called Legion).

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in a scene from ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.

Although Connor prevented Judgment Day in T2, something similar eventually transpired in the future, once again pitting humanity against a seemingly insurmountable artificial intelligence threat. Arnold Schwarzenegger also shows up as an aged T-800, and the film has fun with his presence.

A few weeks back, the Alamo Drafthouse treated audiences who thought they were going to see T2 with a surprise screening of Dark Fate. “This is the third film I’ve always wanted…” was the reaction from Letterboxd member CJSFilms. “Changed the story enough without completely jumping the shark and had some great new characters along with amazing work to the older ones.”

“Part of me can’t really believe I liked it so much, but it’s the truth,” said azureblueworld.

Miller recently spoke with us about Dark Fate, as well as answering some questions about his life in film.

Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes in a scene from ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.

It’s relatively rare in action cinema to have three female protagonists. What do you think that brings to Terminator: Dark Fate? Tim Miller: I think it brings a lot, both in the making of it and in the film itself, because from a plot standpoint, you don’t often have enough stories where women are in these action roles. The reason that they choose to pick up a gun or punch someone in the face or fight for their lives is usually different than the reasons you’d find for a man. You don’t often find a woman killing people for vengeance or these typically macho things. So, I find those reasons much more interesting. This is why I love Sarah Connor. This is a woman who is fighting to protect her child and there is no more powerful imperative than that. So we have all of that and you have Grace coming back from the future. We really didn’t play too much upon it, but Grace is Dani’s surrogate child. She finds her in the ruin when she’s twelve and raises her. So the idea of a mother having to send her daughter back for the fate of humanity is pretty powerful and it’s not the usual male-centric reasons for doing shit like that.

Then, because we had John Connor, the whole male as the savior of humanity thing has been done. But secondly, I just feel like Dani would be a different kind of leader. I always used the analogy of yes, she’s tough and she’s a great leader, but she’s more Obama than Patton in my mind.

Mackenzie Davis is amazing in this movie. What kind of thinking went into the conception of her character, Grace? I remember the moment very clearly because my favorite author of all time, Joe Abercrombie, who writes fantasy not sci-fi, primarily, although his Shattered Sea books are sort of post-apocalyptic. Joe was in the writers’ room, I love him. He’s a great English author. If you haven’t read him, do. We were talking about how there’s always this trilogy of characters: there’s the protector, the hunter and the prey in Terminator movies. We were talking about the protector, and Joe said, “What if it’s this female super soldier who comes back from the future, and she’s all fucked up and scarred and she has to take a lot of drugs because she’s been enhanced with stolen Legion technology?” It wasn’t Legion at that time, it was stolen advanced AI technology adapted for humans and she was kind of a machine fighter. And she has to take these drugs all the time because they amp up her immune system, and jack up her reflexes and things like that. And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s fucking cool’. Everybody else did, too.

And Mackenzie plays her with so much humanity, which is why I really did not want to get the obvious casting takes for that role. They would show me some actors who were super accomplished martial artists or fighters or things like that. I knew that she would be, in many ways, the heart of the movie. I mean Sarah, of course, is the heart of the movie ultimately, but for so long in this film, Sarah is emotionless. She’s a terminator, you know? She’s fucked up. And Mackenzie had to be this person [for whom] you could really identify with her mission and her humanity.

Director Tim Miller and Linda Hamilton on the set of ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.

What movies did you watch to prepare for making Terminator: Dark Fate? I watched all of the Terminator movies—good and bad—again, of course. I watch Aliens all the time. Then I watched Alien again, too. Because I think Terminator has moments of tension, for sure. [Alien³ director] David Fincher’s favorite moment in Terminator: Dark Fate, oddly, was the shots of Gabriel [Luna] walking around Carl’s house after they’ve left, in this creepy sort of home invasion moment. So I think Terminator’s always had a horror element to it.

I love movies that have heroes. Movies like Gladiator and Blade Runner are some of my favorites. Gladiator has the heroic element of the person who’s been beaten down but refuses to lose, [that’s] definitely in Terminator movies. Blade Runner has the element of the hero who gets their ass handed to them every time, but keeps getting back up and I feel like that’s kind of what happens in these chase scenes where you can never defeat a terminator. You get your ass kicked but somehow you manage to get away and fight another day until eventually something else defeats them.

I have less of a broad spectrum of movie-watching. I read a lot and that’s where a lot of my love of sci-fi comes from. I tend to—like I think a lot of nerds—you have your favorites and it’s hard to get out of that rut because it’s so not often that good stuff comes around that you can put on that list of favorites.

Gabriel Luna and friend in a scene from ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.

Was there a particular film that, when you saw it, made you say, “Okay, I’m doing this. I’m gonna make movies”? Aliens. The thing that Jim does so much and so well is really gives the characters a sense of reality, that they feel grounded and what I love about his movies also is the writing always feels very organic to me. In too many movies, you can feel that the writer or the director made a decision on what way to move the story based on a plot [point], rather than it coming organically from the characters. In Jim’s movies, you never feel that. In fact, when I met him I was surprised because I thought [he] must write forward from character instead of having some pre-ordained idea of where it’s going to end up. And he said, “No, oh no. I think of: ‘Oh, man. I want to see this big fucking action scene and then I work into it’.” But I guess the magic comes in the fact that you don’t feel that.

He mentioned the flying scene in Avatar, which I loved, which is this falling-in-love scene when they’re learning to fly. I said, “But you have this great falling-in-love scene.” He goes, “I just wanted to do a really great scene of them flying around Pandora in these cool, swooping camera moves and this bad-ass flight sequence. And then it became the falling-in-love sequence.” So that was the surprise for me and a little bit of insight into Jim’s magic.

How many times would you say you’ve seen Aliens? Oh fuck, 50 plus, easy.

What's the sexiest film you’ve ever seen? The sexiest? 9½ Weeks.

What film do you have fond memories of watching with your parents? Poseidon Adventure, the original. I remember Gene Hackman. I remember Shelley Winters’ death where she was the Olympic swimmer who gained too much weight, but she managed to save everybody. Then I remember Gene Hackman jumping out over the fire to turn off that big knob to cut the steam off so everybody else could escape and then dropping into the fire. Heroes. Always heroes sacrificing. I love it.

What classic are you embarrassed to say you haven’t seen? Citizen Kane. That’s easy.

What filmmaker, living or dead, do you envy or admire the most? David Fincher, who I’m lucky enough to call a friend. David hasn’t made a bad movie ever.

What’s it like working with him [the pair collaborated on the Netflix sci-fi anthology series Love Death + Robots]? David’s great with me. He’s much more trouble if you’re an executive who tries to fuck with him. I couldn’t tell you why, to this day, that he and I are friends because I’m so messy and he’s so precise, but he’s been so helpful to me as a friend and as a mentor over the years that I can’t underestimate the value of it. He’s the funniest, smartest guy in the room wherever he is.

Tim Miller on the set of ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’.

He’s kind of enigmatic. I love how seemingly quiet he is. He doesn’t put a huge amount of himself out there. Well, that’s in contrast to how quiet he’s not when he’s one-on-one or in a meeting, because he loves to talk. He puts on a show and his knowledge of film and filmmaking is so encyclopedic that you really just kind of sit back and watch. When we were pitching Heavy Metal, which was pretty much Love, Death + Robots before it was Love, Death + Robots, we pitched probably 100 times. It was always really great for me to sit back and watch him work, because back then it was pre-Deadpool and nobody really paid attention to me in the room. So I got a front-row seat to watching David work and especially watching him work in the Hollywood system, which is a unique and interesting system.

What’s a film you wish you had made? Saving Private Ryan. Again, I’m such a one-dimensional filmmaker. It all comes back to heroism. The fact that all of them could sacrifice for this mother that they don’t know, where they imagine her hearing this news of all of her sons being dead. That’s really who they sacrifice themselves for because they don’t know Ryan, he’s just another guy. It’s a powerful message about humanity that I thought was great. Tom Hanks is just, he’s the most amazing combination of strong and vulnerable, which I find really interesting in a hero. That’s very human, you know?

If you were forced to remake any classic, what would you choose? I’m very interested to see what Denis Villeneuve does with Dune because it’s a great book and they’ve never managed to make a good movie out of it.

‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ is in theaters now. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

#terminator #director #interview #terminator dark fate #tim miller #letterboxd #james cameron #david fincher

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The 100 5x12 "Damocles Pt 1" Review

Guys…..I don’t even know. This show was my favorite TV show in years, maybe ever until this season (well, I kinda didn’t love Season 4 but that finale was so amazing I was still hooked) but now I don’t even know how the show wants me to feel? Do the writers want us all to stop watching? This season went off the rails after episode 5x05 and I am not a happy camper so be prepared for a salty review.

The good:

“Say hello to my little friend.” Murphy quoting Scarface as he shoots the giant laser gun, only for him to screw it up and almost blow everyone up is grade A John Murphy content.

While I’m on that scene with the laser gun, I just want to say that Dean White has such an eye for cinematography and I loved the way this whole scene was shot. Same with the march through the gorge, this episode did nail directing!

Emori and Murphy exchanging little smiles after he uses the same screw up later to give them cover to escape in the rover. Post apocalyptic Bonnie and Clyde 4ever.

SHAW. Miles Zeke “I will break if they torture you” Shaw. He is a treasure guys, he would rather die by being electrocuted than live knowing he killed hundreds of people or was the reason Raven got tortured. Protect this man. I want him and Raven to spend forever together.

Echo reading Clarke to filth for leaving Bellamy to likely die in the fighting pit because she was angry. This will be extended into the “bad” and “ugly” section.

Monty calmly telling Echo he’s not doing what she wants him to do over the radio.

Abby and Clarke actually having an affectionate second as mom and daughter...even though it was still kinda empty.

Clarke FINALLY waking up and helping her friends...this will also show up in my bad/ugly section.

Indra and Gaia having an actual mother/daughter moment. ”I’m not leaving my daughter” I want them both to survive, they deserve to be happy with each other.

I loved Octavia finally realizing how bad of a leader she’s been, I do not want her to get off the hook that easy. She has made terrible decisions and they lead up to this first 10 minutes of the episode, with her loyal army getting butchered in front of her. Of course the first to die was the little boy she had taught to fight, Ethan being the symbol of Octavia’s “hope” for the future of her people, (I hate the word Wonkru) and all of them mowed down in front of her. But I also hate it took this to get through to her — Thelonious Jaha is so disappointed in her.

“Guess she’s not up for mother of the year.” Raven as she’s taking the shock collar off Madi, TRULY iconic.

BELLAMY BLAKE is consistently the only “good” part of this show for me anymore (aside from Monty, who is almost as absent as his criminally underutilized other half Harper), and this episode we saw Bellamy do what he does best! Protect his sister, save people, put others first; but also he stands up for himself and tells Octavia “This is is all your fault, all these people died because of you.” YES, SON! Let her have it! Don’t hold back! When Octavia says, “Do you want me to die?” And he just responds, “Yes,” we know he didn’t honestly mean that considering how much he tried to keep her alive this episode.

Bellamy’s pep talk to Gaia — “Keep fighting, if not for you then for her” — and him carrying her warmed my heart.

Octavia saying “Wonkru is broken, I broke it” and Indra just flat out saying “Yes you did.”

Clarke reminding Echo that she has blood on her hands. “Don’t think all those people you helped blow up in Mt Weather didn’t count because you were following orders.” I about stood up on my feet and clapped.

Also in this same scene Clarke’s face when Echo tells her Bellamy isn’t dead and he survived her betrayal, girl was SHOOK. And the exchange of “Don’t pretend like you care about Bellamy now” and Clarke interjecting “I ALWAYS cared” — too bad this is the extent of emotion she gets to show for Bellamy in the last two episodes...when in reality she should have been crying buckets of tears.

The last second rescue of Bellamy and Co. in the gorge right when you think Octavia’s “fight is over.” It was great to see the rover back in action Monty and crew saving their friends, I just wish Clarke was there too.

I do think this episode had good moments. BUT hold onto your hats, we are about to dive deep into some salt! And also some plot lines that they seem to be “retconning” for no reason except to give fanservice to a group of people far too late and in the worst way possible...without further ado:

The bad:

Well, there were several little things that I was honestly confused by.

Kane and Vinson...what was that scene for? What did it accomplish? It was so random — what were Vinson's motivations, why did he want Abby to keep being a pill head? I loved the way he went out and the acting between Henry Ian Cusick and Mike Dopud is fabulous but, honestly, it was pointless and had no real impact on the story, like half of the plot this season if I’m being honest.

Why is the Flame and how it interfaces with the commander the most inconsistently written plot this show has ever done? Raven spent half her time in Season 3B reading Becca’s journals and explaining how the Flame works — but now it seems to work any way the writers need it to? In episode 3x12 Monty asks Raven if the minds uploaded to the City of Light (which I’m assuming is a large scale version of the Flame where thousands of “consciousnesses” can be uploaded and exist at once since Becca designed both): “There’s a chance my mom’s still alive?” to which Raven replies, “Depends on your definition of alive.” In 5x12 when Madi so creepily channels “Lexa” it’s indeed not her but a saved version of her mind from before her death, so Madi should be able to theoretically access her memories BUT in no way should Lexa be conscious to what’s going on in the present and “speak through” Madi — If this were the case why didn’t Becca tell the previous commanders who she was? That the flame was tech and not a spirit? Why didn’t the commander during the first Mount Weather troubles tell the next one about how to defeat them or how to help them therefore make peace? Why didn’t they tell Lexa the “threat” that crashed to earth was actually 100 CHILDREN that didn’t want to die or kill they just wanted to survive? IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE GUYS. Jason, if you happen to read this, EXPLAIN.

In the same episode we are told the flame is ALIE 2.0 made to merge with and enhance the brain of the “host” aka commander. She goes on to say the reason commanders didn’t know it was AI was because the program “degraded over time.” SO how pray tell did a 12 year old girl reset the password on this thing when the 15 or however many prior commanders couldn’t? EXPLAIN. How did she channel a commander when from what we’ve been told it’s never been done, or grounders wouldn’t be technology fearing, warring clans? This plot has more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese.

I’m gonna stop yelling about this, I promise. I just hate this whole plot and the Flame should’ve went up in flames during Praimfaya.

Killing Ethan. So Thelonious Jaha literally dies to save his adopted son, and he is the first casualty in the gorge? Really, writers? Jaha lost his biological son, Wells, grieved him for almost 5 seasons and in turn sacrifices his life to protect his surrogate son the way he couldn’t protect his biological one, and this is how Jaha is rewarded? I really can’t believe.

The general attitude the writers seem to have about Clarke’s emotions and love, etc. Yes, she can miss Lexa, BUT I don’t believe the levels she misses a person that she knew in total for 4 months and hated approximately 3 months and one day, but not still be gutted over losing her best friend of FIFTEEN YEARS, WELLS JAHA. Or her actual father, or Bellamy — her canon post-Wells best friend in the series — whom she thinks she left to DIE? And if she can forgive Lexa’s multiple betrayals so quick she should already have forgiven Bellamy and feel like the worst person, to be honest. This season has treated the character of Clarke Griffin poorly and she deserved better.

On that subject, why is Clarke a side character instead of the lead female character? Why is her storyline like post apocalyptic Mommy Dearest? Why is she yet again isolated from her friends and family? EXPLAIN.

Okay now that I’ve gotten the above off my chest we are gonna dive straight into

The ugly:

Phew! I tell ya what, this season has exhausted me mentally and emotionally and not for good reasons.

Clarke won’t remove the flame from Madi because she “promised her” but she will force a shock collar on her and shock her with the voltage that brings a full grown man to the ground? REALLY, YOU GUYS WENT THERE? Are any of you even parents?

The whole storyline that Madi can see and feel Lexa’s memories is a whole other level of ICK! I didn’t think I’d ever have to deal with on this show. There are so many ways the writers could have not “gone there” with this story: never letting Madi have the flame, making sure we understood Madi, a twelve-year-old child, could only see relevant memories of the commanders, etc., but no. Instead, they imply that the former “lover” of her “mom” can consciously “speak” through her and show/tell the child anything. It is disturbing and I cannot believe the writers actually went there and were okay with it. Again, I am shocked that some of these people have children because they are not treated well in this show. And the  parents are usually the worst offenders.

On that note, I’d like to mention Abby’s advice and Clarke LISTENING. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Abby, and I know she’s always “tried” but she has been for 90% of the show a terrible parent. You would not want to use her as a role model for good parenting, that’s for sure.

It’s not a for sure thing yet, but if that end scene of “saving” Bellamy, Gaia and Indra is Octavia’s “redemption” I am gonna pop a forehead vein. Bellamy and Clarke still get what they did seasons ago thrown in their faces daily. I expect this x 100 for Octavia because she actively chose to do all the hideous things she did. She is not a hero, she is a villain and should be treated as such for the rest of the season. She can get a “redemption” next season if she has to have one.

If you made it through this very critical review I applaud you (and if any of the writers or directors read this, know that I respect your talent; this ranting is because I know what you guys are capable of and it’s so much better than what I’ve see this season).

To end things on a slightly positive note, next week is the season finale! Can you believe it’s already here?! Also can you believe we’ve survived this VERY rocky season? There have definitely been great moment this season, just not enough. But here are the things I’m looking forward to  or hope happen next week:

We finally get to meet Shannon Kook’s character! I’ve been waiting to meet him for months!

Hopefully Bellamy and Clarke reconcile and reconnect, I miss their amazing bond and protectiveness of one another.

Hopefully Kane and Gaia are alive and healing?

After she helps Wonkru, I hope Madi has the flame removed and it gets destroyed, never to be mentioned again.

I hope Diyoza and her baby are A-OK and we will see them next season. Same goes for Shaw, I want him alive and happy being the sweet love Raven Reyes has always deserved.

I want Clarke to mend her relationships with all of her friends and people, to apologize and to accept apologies. I want her to feel loved, I am tired of her always being isolated.

I want Bellamy to feel loved and understood, especially by Clarke and not in a “shippy” way (though I’m all for it). I want her to acknowledge that she left him to die, that she sorely regrets it and that she loves him especially if she can express that kind of sentiment for a computer hard drive and someone she liked for two weeks of her life. Bellamy and Clarke deserve an entire episode to work through their stuff because their relationship is literally the central relationship of the entire series, and to not let them acknowledge what they mean to each other and make amends does the show and the characters a disservice.

I want the season to end with hope! This season in ways has been more depressing and frustrating than Season 3 ever dreamed of being. We need light at the end of the tunnel or Season 6 may have an audience of 17 people. Levity and hope don't take away from drama and angst if executed correctly. If you can’t write both sides into the same space it’s not a problem with your story, it’s a problem with who’s writing it.  

I will have hope that they can and will do better (the characters and the writers) until the end BUT I will still bring the salt when I need to.

I give this episode 3 bees because it had potential, great cinematography, and some great Murphy one liners. But it was overall flat and disappointing.

What were your thoughts of this episode? What are you hoping for in the finale? Comment below!

And tune in to the season finale next week! Our founder Sam will be live tweeting and writing up the finale review!

The 100 airs at 8/7c on The CW.

Gina’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝

#The 100 #Damocles pt 1 #Clarke Griffin #Octavia Blake

[androidskit-blog]

Android 9 Pie Features review

Here’s the story with every new version of Android, in a nutshell: it’s great, but you can really only get it on a phone that Google makes. Sometime next year, new phones by other companies will launch with it. The Android phone in your pocket might get it, maybe, but it’ll take longer than you want, and honestly, the new version isn’t that different, so you shouldn’t sweat it too much. Yes, fragmentation is an issue, but it’s better now than it used to be, thanks to Google’s ability to push some key updates out through the Google Play store instead of having to rely on full system updates.  The story with Android 9 Pie isn’t radically different, but it changes some of those tried and true (and increasingly tired) lines a bit. For the first time, I’ve had a chance to test the official release of a new version of Android on a phone not made by Google, the Essential Phone. That’s a good sign.  Although a few of the promised features aren’t shipping or are still in beta, I think this version of Android is good enough that users should demand the update for their phones. I’m not trying to organize a campaign to shake off our complacent acceptance of a terrible update status quo, but I am saying we should bring back a little bit of the old outrage at carriers, manufacturers, and Google itself.  The many features in Android 9 Pie cohere into something that feels more polished than the last few versions of Android. There is a lot to like and fewer excuses than ever for updates not to come out for existing phones in a timely manner.  We’ve been living with the same three-button core navigation system in Android for several years now, but with Pie, Google is finally giving a gesture-based interface a shot. It may not be the most important new feature in the OS, but it’s certainly the most prominent and the most divisive. Bear with me here because I’m going to overthink this, but I think it’s worth it because it illuminates a key point about Google’s design direction.  The new system replaces the back, home, and multitasking buttons with a singular home button, gestures, and other buttons that appear on an as-needed basis. In theory, it will make future Android phones more accessible to users who are used to the iPhone X’s gesture system, and it also offers some benefits (swiping requires less accuracy than tapping). Overall, the new gesture system works, but it’s conceptually complicated.

To see what I mean, here’s a brief description of how gestures work: You swipe up once to get to an overview page. The Overview pane (aka your recently used apps) lets you swipe between apps or enable split-screen with a hidden menu on the app’s icon. On Pixel phones, you’ll also get an AI-driven list of suggested apps and a search bar. Swipe up again, and you’ll get to the app drawer with icons for all of your apps. You tap the home button to go home, or you can drag the home button to the right to quickly switch between apps in a screen that’s similar, but not identical, to the Overview screen. Along with all of this, the traditional Android back button will still show up from time to time next to the home button because Google hasn’t yet developed a gesture for “back.”  It’s... a lot. I’m not against complication in principle when it comes to UX — I have faith in humanity’s ability to learn — but there’s no denying it takes some time to feel like you know your way around.  The funny thing is, I think the negative reaction isn’t about how complicated gestures are. Instead, it’s about how they feel. As I’ve written before, switching to a primarily gesture-based navigation system is a risky move for Google, because those systems only feel good if they... feel good. Any “jank” in the animation or weirdness in the physics of moving elements on the screen will make a user feel unmoored and unhappy.  The good news is that — at least on the Pixel 2 XL — Google finally got to a place where the animations work as they should, and the jank is gone. But the physics and ergonomics still feel a little off, especially if you’re used to the system on the iPhone X. (After a rockier beta, animations were also fine on the Essential Phone with the final version.) Where the iPhone’s gestures let you flow from one thing to the next with a single gesture, Android’s feel a little more staccato.  As just one example, you theoretically have the option to do a long swipe up to get to the app drawer instead of a double swipe (once to the overview, once again to the drawer). But in practice, you have to do a loooong, loooong swipe to get it to work, which you’ll invariably get wrong, and the dock will give you a fussy little bounce in a futile attempt to indicate you should just double-swipe up.  I’m overthinking all this in part because I don’t think Google thought it over enough. I would have jettisoned the long swipe and just encouraged people to double swipe. That would have the side effect of pushing people into the Overview screen more often, which would be a net good for Google. The app suggestions are very often exactly what I want and the swipe-tap motion to start a search is faster than any mobile search UX we’ve had, going on seven years (since, you guessed it, just typing on the physical keyboard of a webOS or BlackBerry phone).  But, of course, that enhanced Overview screen is a Google-exclusive feature. Other phones, like the Essential phone, don’t have those Googley-bits at the bottom, they just have your app dock and no search bar.  THE GESTURE SYSTEM IS AN OVERALL IMPROVEMENT, BUT IT NEEDS SOME TWEAKS  With Pie, Google is leaving the buttons as the default navigation for current phones, and users will be able to switch back and forth from buttons to the gestures. Choices are nice, but offering them instead of just going with what you think is best often reveals a lack of confidence. As you can tell, I share what I sense is Google’s lack of confidence in the current system.  Despite all this belaboring, I do prefer the gestures to the buttons! It’s a lot easier to just swipe up anywhere from the bottom of the phone, and I’ve used the copy-and-paste trick directly from the Overview screen a few times now. I just think they need a few more tweaks, and I suspect those will come in due time. 

The new horizontal Overview / multitasking screen is the biggest visual change, but there are plenty of other nips and tucks around the interface. Nothing here will really feel alien to longtime Android users, it generally is just a bit more elegant.  Android still maintains its lead in usable, manageable notifications. They have a slightly cleaner layout, and the entire notification panel has rounded corners. There are still multiple priority levels, grouping, an overflow area, and no distinction between what’s shown on the lock screen and notification panel. If you dismiss a notification from an app a lot, Android will eventually prompt you to just turn it off completely.  The quick settings panel up top has been simplified (some would say oversimplified), requiring you to long-press to access more settings instead of giving you an in-menu dropdown button. As it does with literally every revision, Google has also adjusted the main settings screen. There are colorful icons for settings, and it’s more prominently adding suggested settings at the top more often than before. A system-wide dark theme is now an option for everybody, whether you have a dark wallpaper or not. 

Back to polarizing changes, though: the status bar has been rearranged to better accommodate phones with notches (which apparently is going to be damn near all of them not made by Samsung). The time has been shifted over to the left of the screen and the little notification icons that appear over there are capped at four, whether you have a notch or not. It was a necessary step given the hardware trend, but I’m hoping that eventually, manufacturers will be able to report how much space their notch is taking up so Android can display more icons if there’s space for them.  Google has changed the volume button behavior a bit — they only adjust media volume now with a little on-screen pop-up that lets you toggle your ringer between vibrate, silent, and on. It’s more predictable, and I think most people will prefer this behavior, but I’m an old person who actually adjusts ringer volume a lot, so it’s less convenient for me.  ANDROID 9 PIE IS DESIGNED FOR NOTCHES, WHETHER YOUR PHONE HAS ONE OR NOT  The other little pop-up on the right side is the power menu, with options for restarting and taking a screenshot. I recommend hunting down the “lockdown option” in settings, which adds another button to that menu. Tap it, and your phone will require a passcode instead of letting biometrics unlock the phone. Honestly, that button should have been set to “on” by default. 

I’m not sure what took so long, but Android finally has a magnifier when you’re trying to move the cursor when selecting text. Another “finally” is a screenshot markup. When you take a screenshot now, you’ll have an option to crop it and draw on it before saving or sharing.  Last but not least, if you’re the sort of person who leaves rotation lock on, Google will pop up a little button when you turn the phone to temporarily let you put it in landscape mode. Something about big phones has always caused them to be too aggressive at rotating the screen for me, so it’s a nice feature. It can be annoying, though: most of the time you want to go 90 (ahem) to watch the video, and video by default hides the main navigation buttons. It’s a few extra taps to get back to the portrait. 

In my initial look at Android 9 Pie, I called it Google’s “most ambitious update in years.” I still think that’s true, but unfortunately, right now, Android doesn’t quite reach those ambitions. There are two key features that aren’t shipping until later this fall: the so-called “Digital Wellbeing” dashboard and a feature called Slices.  Digital Wellbeing is available as a beta, and I’ll wait until it’s official to review it. But even in beta, it’s useful. You can see how much time you’re spending in apps, set limits, and turn on a great feature called “Wind down,” which toggles on Do Not Disturb and sets the screen to monochrome. Honestly, I wish there was a way to turn on Monochrome more easily anytime. 

  Do Not Disturb, by the way, has changed a little. It’s much more aggressive at hiding notifications by default, down to not letting you see them at all unless you mess with the settings or turn DND off. The default is a little overbearing for my tastes, and I wish there was a better middle ground.  Slices are part of Google’s initiative to bring more AI and machine learning to Android’s interface. The idea is that the functions of an app can be “deconstructed” and spread out to other parts of the OS. So when you search for a thing you want to do, an app can show its own interface or button directly in the search results. The commonly cited example is hailing a car. We’ll test it in the fall when it becomes available.  GOOGLE’S AI-BASED SUGGESTIONS ARE OFTEN EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO DO NEXT  But there are other AI elements to Android that are available right now. Both battery life and screen brightness are automatically handled by machine learning that adjusts settings based on your usage. I can’t really say how effective either are with any level of confidence, but anecdotally I do think I’ve been messing with screen brightness less often. AI also determines which icons appear at the bottom of the Overview screen, and it’s crazy good — the app I want to open next is there at least half the time.  Finally, there’s “Actions,” a feature that complements Slices and is available now. Where Slices will show buttons for app actions when you actively search for something, Actions puts those buttons directly in your app drawer. As with those icons in the Overview screen, Android tries to guess what you might want to do, only here it’s a button that deep links into a part of the app. It might be sending a text or opening the podcasts app before you start your commute. They seem fine, but I’m not in the main app drawer often enough to make heavy use of them. 

Android 9 Pie is a great update, and I wouldn’t want to go back. I love that it’s chock-full of ideas about how an operating system can be smarter, even though some of them (pardon the inevitable pun) don’t feel quite fully baked.  I see a few trends beginning to come to fruition here. Through battery management and notification changes, Google is continuing its efforts to corral an ecosystem of bad-acting apps through a better-managed OS. The other big trend is one I’ve been talking about for a couple of years now: moving toward making AI the new UI.  ANDROID 9 PIE IS FULL OF NEW IDEAS OF HOW AN OS CAN BE SMARTER  Two years ago at the Code conference, CEO Sundar Pichai told Walt Mossberg that Google intended to be more “opinionated” about its own phones, and the Googlification of Android on Pixel phones is stronger than ever now. The heavy emphasis on the Overview screen, Actions, and (eventually) Slices are all examples of Google trying to use its own AI chops to surface what you need instead of making you hunt through home screen folders and apps. It’s been fascinating to compare Google’s strategy to Apple’s with iOS 12 — and will continue to be.  Of course, if we’re bringing up iOS, we have to circle back to where we started: updates. Apple still trounces Android when it comes to getting phones updated to the latest OS. Last year, Google built the Treble infrastructure to make it easier for companies to push out these big OS updates faster. This year, I’d like to see more companies take advantage of it. Android users have more reason to hope than we have in a long time; the Essential Phone was the first non-Google phone I can remember that got an update the same day as Pixel phones. But that’s just one phone out of hundreds (or more).  As happy as I am with all the individual features in Android 9 Pie, I’ll be even happier if the Android ecosystem gets its act together and releases it.    Read the full article

#Android9Piereview

[timeclonemike]

Time to reinstall it again.

So. There’s this thing about Deus Ex that’s been rattling around in my head for a while.

The original game was iconic because despite its flaws and the limitations of the engine, it existed in a sweet spot of storytelling narrative, world exploration, stealth, combat, and strategy. It wasn’t the first First Person Shooter / Role Playing Game hybrid, but it was one of the best for a long time and still holds up today.

But I think some games that tried to follow in its footsteps, including the later installments in the same franchise, missed the mark when aiming for that sweet spot. I don’t necessarily mean choices to port to consoles or not, or engine limitations, or anything that exists on the technological side of the game design process. I mean the stories that these games are trying to tell.

In the original Deus Ex, there was some optional dialog when talking to one of the members of the old guard Illuminati where he explains the whole psychological aspect of secrecy and inducting recruits into a multi-tiered conspiracy; the prospect of learning increasingly valued and restricted information is the biggest incentive for the new guys to do well by whatever standards the group uses to evaluate people. (I think it was Stanton Dowd but don’t hold me to that.)

Whether or not the writers intended to or not, they were also describing the progression of a player through the game itself. Every new objective met and mission accomplished and note found and computer hacked filled in another blank, completed more of the jigsaw puzzle, until by the time the endgame starts if the player has been playing attention, they know what’s going on and how high the stakes are.

The focal point of the original Deus Ex was secrecy and trust. You start out working for a top secret task force that holds its cards very close to its vest by design. When you find out that they’re the fox guarding the chicken coop and switch sides, you end up working with... more groups that hold their cards close. Do you trust these organized crime guys to help you and not stab you in the back? Do you believe this lady whose apartment is filled with the telltale sound of security lasers? Do you take your pilots advice? Do you listen to the voice in your head? If you’re working with organized crime now, maybe you’re the bad guy after all. Maybe your old bosses were hardcore hard-asses because the sociopolitical situation is that fucked up. Maybe society really does need an invisible hand on the steering wheel, if ordinary people are just going to panic and turn on each other. Or maybe there are no good guys in this war, just competing assholes with different outfits.

These are the questions that a first time player had to ask themselves, and it isn’t until you start screwing around in the VersaLife facility that you start to find evidence supporting what your allies are actually telling you in dialog, emails, and infolink transmissions. You find the Dragon’s Tooth blueprints and spread that around. Doing that, you find out about the Universal Constructor and its role in the creation of Grey Death and Ambrosia. You blow that up (and according to newspapers most of the VersaLife building) and you find out about the supertanker. Scuttle that and both before and after you learn more about the Illuminati and Majestic Twelve, so you head to Paris and so on and so on and so on... every step fills in more of the blanks. Honestly a conspiracy thriller is the perfect story to tell using a video game because the pacing is so compatible.

Now let’s look at what was not the focus of Deus Ex: Questions about the human condition and the socioeconomic implications of technological assistance. Mechanical augmentation is old school by the time JC Denton gets dumped out of the incubator tank with his cutting edge nanotechnology based augments. There’s two other mechs working at UNATCO, the bartender at Underworld, and maybe Jojo Fine, even if his are cosmetic. The MJ12 Commandos are, according to one email, outfitted with “off-the-shelf” hardware that turns them into walking weapons platforms with enhanced vision and hearing, and running off of standard power supplies. The questions of how this technology would change the human condition and society didn’t get directly addressed during the main plot because for the most part, they didn’t matter; the world was literally falling apart and everyone had much more important stuff to think about. Like not catching an incurable disease. Or finding enough food to live another day.

The implications of what the technology could do to or for people did get addressed in the endgame, but in service to the game’s central theme of trust and secrecy. Technology is a force multiplier and by exploiting the developments in nano augments, artificial intelligence, and the Universal Constructor, Bob Page was turning himself into God. Omniscient, able to manipulate information on a global scale through Helios and the Aquinus Protocol, immortal, and theoretically invincible through his armies of mass produced robots, engineered life forms, and loyal followers. And Bob Page would certainly not be a just and loving god, because he’s an asshole with a massive ego. So he can’t be allowed to become One With All Things. Aside from that, the game is open ended in what happens next, and it comes down to trust in the end; you can trust humanity to steer its own course with nobody in the shadows trying to pull strings, you can trust your fellow conspirators to steer humanity in the right direction behind the scenes... or. You can say “fuck this” and do it yourself by merging with the Helios AI before Page does and becoming a much more benevolent higher power than he would ever be, no matter how much of a dick you were in game.

This is the problem I have with Invisible War, Human Revolution, and to a lesser extent Mankind Divided because I haven’t played it (waiting for a Steam Sale) and I don’t know how much it takes its cues from the other two games. Basically, the dichotomy between augmented and non augmented humans is given center stage, driving the conflict between different factions even when engineered by a third faction behind the scenes. Even within the context of it being another attempt by conspirators to guide human society in a direction that they want it to go, it dominates the philosophical landscape of the plot as well. This is especially true when both sides are presented as having good points, and both sides are shown being supported by assholes who will do anything to further their ideals, and other assholes who use the ideals of their action as an excuse to be assholes. The entire narrative tension becomes a never ending circle jerk until the player picks a side and kills key members of the other one.

Not that anyone’s asked me, but I think the Deus Ex franchise needs to return to its roots of secrecy, trust, and open ended philosophical meandering. And to a limited extent, I have some ideas on how to do this.

First, focus on a plot that really emphasizes the idea of a conspiracy seizing power purely for the sake of power itself. This disconnects the main antagonist, whoever they are, from whatever philosophical arguments get made in the rest of the game.

Second, the question of “what it means to be human” needs to go back into the setting background again. Have it crop up in newspaper articles, blog posts, books and ebooks, have it be something that academics can make tenure arguing about, and (this is important) only have NPCs bring it up when it directly affects them. And have most of the NPC banter and dialog be entirely based around stuff that people today can relate to; incompetent politicians playing fast and loose with the rules, the rising costs of health care, climate change and deniers of the same, economic uncertainty in all of its many many flavors, natural disasters, and mixed in with all of that is a little bit of concern about augments and how it affects their lives specifically. Hell, include a parody news article where augment producing companies complain that post-millennial generations are “ruining” the augmentation market.

Third, bring back skills all the way. Deus Ex started you out with a flashlight in your eyes and a radio in your skull, with options for upgrades later, so you had to get by with your wits, planning, and whatever you put your skill points into during character creation. In Invisible War Alex starts with just the flashlight, but their entire genetic structure has been developed from the ground up to prototype universal genetic alteration and biomod integration. Adam Jensen kicks a reasonable amount of ass with just his tricked out gun during the opening interactive cutscene / tutorial of Human Revolution, and does real well right up until he gets bushwacked by Team Asshole, after which his boss has them put literally everything in the Serif Industries catalog into the guy’s body. No Deus Ex protagonist can ever realistically be expected to align themselves with the anti-modification side in any conflict without invoking emotional manipulation, delusion, a suicide mission, or a vendetta against whoever wired them up without their consent. So either the mods have to be completely optional, or the social dichotomy has to be completely optional. (Or a completely unimportant background detail compared to the rest of the plot.)

Fourth, if you have to keep some sort of dichotomy, make it more complicated than just two sides, for and against. Make it like real life. Make it complicated as different people go “well I agree with this part but that other thing is a deal breaker” and mix and match until the whole human augmentation position exists on a grid system just like political ideologies do, measured using two different X and Y axes. Or (I cannot believe I’m saying this) take a page out of Civilization Beyond Earth’s book with the Affinities, especially the Hybrid Affinities from Rising Tide:

Purity: No augments at all. Skills only

Harmony: Biotech and genetic engineering.

Supremacy: Mechanical augments.

Purity / Harmony: Genetic engineering, but only to wipe out disease and increase humanity’s natural abilities.

Purity / Supremacy: Cybernetics as a matter of utility and tool use, no AI research or enhancing the brain beyond what’s needed to interface with the augments.

Harmony / Supremacy: Transhumanism or bust!

This also lends itself to different abilities and how they get developed. So instead of just mech stuff added by surgery, there’s also retroviral gene therapy, and with skills that makes a trinity of abilities that all need to be balanced. Or at least, if a player goes all in with one group, it requires a certain play style to do (probably with an achievement for beating the game that way). If skills are about what you can do in the world and how well you can interact with objects in that world (five different weapons skills to choose from, hacking, picking locks, etc) then it would make sense for genetic engineering to add passive upgrades and abilities like health regen, improved strength and reflexes, resistance to toxins and knockout darts, and so on. Meanwhile mechanical augments go straight for adding functionality and integrating technology, as with the infolink and seeing through walls. Having all three of these categories be open ended, without any artificial mutual exclusion and railroading along a specific path, means that a player is limited entirely by the circumstances they find or expect to find, and the opportunity cost of making one choice at the exclusion of others. Presumably the requirements for skill progression involved going out and doing things, while mech augments need at least outpatient surgery, and gene therapy requires some convalescence and has a nasty debuff effect while the virus is playing with the PC’s DNA, so there’s that tension going on. Also, augments probably require money while skills can be improved for free, but upgrades for the equipment that skills use, ammunition, and supplies also cost money, so there’s that resource management aspect.

This also means that the players allies and enemies can be more varied as well, because no group is defined purely by adherence to one type of ability or another. The groups are defined by where they stand in relation to the conspiracy driving the main plot (part of it or not, supporting it or not, aware of it or not) and possibly a completely tangential goal or mission like money for a mercenary team. This means that allied groups have more room to have memorable characters, and so do enemy groups as well. It also means that fighting against a specific group requires a lot more planning and tactical thinking, if they have a team made of different people whose abilities compliment each other.

And that’s about all I have on this subject, at least for the moment. It’s getting late and I have to peel potatoes in the morning.

#game design #deus ex #conspiracy #artificial dichotomy #holy smokes #they're savioriffic #that was an actual billboard in Deus Ex #I am not kidding #long post is looooooong #I really need to learn how to do that Keep Reading thing

[watchmanis216]

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. -Daniel 12:9

Technology that “Empowers Profound creation”-Microsoft’s Nadella pushed home the point that this was the goal of Microsoft and their new line of tech products that would be available and geared for all people of all ages. This was revealed in the latest Windows 10 Creators update. It was a show that drove home the point and the new products made the grade. Check out this article.

In This Article:

Empowering Generations of Creators and Users for Tomorrow.. 1

Windows 10 Creator’s Update. 1

Surface Book updated. 2

Summary: Surface Book. 2

Surface Studio is the New product: 3

Details of the New Surface Studio   3

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  Technology that “Empowers Profound creation”-Microsoft’s Nadella 

Empowering Generations of Creators and Users for Tomorrow

We want to have the effect that the Guttenberg press had on this generation –Terry Myerson, Microsoft

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella was the last one to take the stage at the latest New York unveiling by Microsoft. They put the ‘Awe’ in “AweSome” and the “WoW” was onstage as well. Now all they have to do is make sure it all works as they have said it would! Stepping forward to MC the major show was Terry Myerson, Microsoft Executive VP of Windows and Devices group. It was an unveiling that many in the Tech world had been guessing what would be revealed. If you are a techy, then this show was for you.

If you were a gamer, then it was also the show that you would not want to miss. No doubt after all was said and done Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella gave a short speech that summed up the fact and vision that he has pushed at Microsoft which was creativity and creation, thus making technology become a tool. As he said “technology is just a tool in the hands of humanity which enhances our creativity.” He urged creators to seize the moment and bring creativity to life.” After all, he said that technology “Empowers profound creation!”

This, of course was a sales speech, but after seeing the lineup which focused on three main areas; I believe the presentation did its job. It has come a long way since Microsoft’s founding in 1975. Even longer it seems since the first release of Window’s 3.0 on May 22nd of 1990. It was that windows that I first had. It was new, innovative; but yet it crashed. Today after the Windows 10 first came on the scene in 2015 to today the OS has had many problems. Yet this Windows 10 is still much better than many previous OS put out by Microsoft. I know, I have had the OS from the start.  I was one of the one’s who followed the system and at the first chance upgraded from Windows 7. I wish I could say it was an easy time. But to be blunt, it was full of problems; yes many of us know very well what it was like.

Windows 10 Creator’s Update

Today’s revealing issued forth the Windows 10 Creators Update which will be released in early spring of 2017. The three most important areas detailed today in the show were:

The expanding of Virtual reality, 3D, and Mixed Reality

Making the systems 4K gaming and broadcasting upgrades a reality

The issue of connecting, sharing, and keeping in touch with family, friends, and collaborators

The presentation went into depth, in as much as you can in the time allotted, for each area. I am not a gamer, but I know very well the depth to which this arena is and the popularity of it all. The most interesting thing today for me was something I write about a lot. This is Artificial intelligence and its companion virtual reality. Here we find Microsoft bringing things from real life into the digital world on your computer, then transferring it to your own world of family and friends. But this is not all; you can take your real world, take it into the digital world of 2D, and then transfer it to the 3D world of Virtual reality and mixed reality.  Microsoft will unlock a new era of creativity which will house other apps and major players. It will also have an updated Paint and Powerpoint to work in 3D. They have included collaboration with Remix 3D, SketchUp, and others who are in the 3D and VR Mixed reality products. HoloLens will be included even more in the systems along with Edge which will have 3D capabilities.

We want to have the effect that the Guttenberg press had on this generation –Terry Myerson, Microsoft

Pushing home the point that people are the center of the Windows Experience, the next update will address the issue that many of us face today. After all, we all know how one’s information can get lost in myriads of junk mail. Or become enveloped on Facebook or Twitter by torrents of posts. They indeed want to make sharing information with your family, friends, and others as easy and fast as possible, including a drag and drop on people icons in the task bar. Which will immediate forward the information in apps you can choose from.

Surface Book updated

Filter your incoming info with your personal prioritized contacts so you see the text or message from your most important contacts to be upfront. Cut through the noise so you can connect to the most important people in your life. – Allison O’Mahoney

“Technology is just a tool in the hands of humanity which enhances our creativity. It Empowers profound creation!” -Satya Nadella

The two major devices announced today were the new Surface Book which has had a full thermal redesign that includes a second fan and cooling fins. They have added more batteries to make a full 16 hours of battery life possible. In short they say it is the ‘most power and ultimate laptop’ out there that makes for 30% more battery life, two times more graphics than any other, and even 3 times more than the Mac book pro.

Summary: Surface Book

Updated I7 chip to more!  $899, $1,499, $2300,

30% more battery life, most powerful, two times more graphics than any other, 3 times more than mac book pro.

Full thermal redesign

Added second fan with cooling fins

Put more batteries in product, 16 hours of battery life

Most powerful and ultimate laptop

The new product unveiling was seemingly incredible with a massive 28” screen enclosed in solid aluminum. It also is one of the thinnest LCD’s ever created with a unbelievable 13.5 million pixel screen that also has what Microsoft calls True Color.  Watching the stream live, the Surface Studio PC, was not your ordinary PC. In fact it is so different that to call it one would be a misnomer. On my own screens as I watched you could plainly see the vibrant and True Color the display had. In addition, with the ability of the frame to lay down the screen and make it into a studio device for creating, drawing, and doing other intricate details, it was a win.

  Surface Studio is the New product:

To say I would not want one of these studio pc’s would be a mistake. It was beautiful; the graphics on screen and at the presentation were great. The illustrations and use of the studio itself and how you can move the LCD effortless to use as a board to do work on was to the point.  They revealed a lot in the use of this studio but also the strength and durability of the system. The problem here is one little one. Will it really work? It is not that Microsoft has made mistakes [although they have]; the intro of Windows 10 was filled with problems from the get-go. Today I wanted one of these, either the laptop surface or the studio surface. This is what the presentation today impressed on me. I am a creator, writer, author, and painter. All of which are creative which flow from the creative juices that I have. But these are much more than that. We will see what others may offer in competition to Microsoft, but today the team that presented these products did their job. They sold us on the products, technology, and made us believe this is a new era in the race for Virtual reality and AI. These both represent a new level of get things done technology that seems, looks like, and has the specs for a very top notch system.

Details of the New Surface Studio

Surface Studio, pixel sense technology, 28 inch display, thinnest LCD ever, I7 core, NVIDIA GPU, Surface dial,  $3000 for 1TBi5 8GB Ram/2GB GPU, or $4,100 for 2TB/i7 32 GB Ram/4GB GPU

All in one

Built for professionals, builders, creators; helps you produce

28” Screen: aluminum closure, thinnest LCD ever created, 13 and half million pixels, True Color

DCI-P3

3:2 aspect ratio 192 PPI

True Scale, One inch on screen is one inch in real life; no need for print preview

2 terabyte HD, only one cable coming out of the back of it

Mic array, Studio HD camera

Cortana

Wonderlist

Windows Hello

Zero gravity Hinge [weightless]

Surface Pen

Technology that “Empowers Profound creation”-Microsoft’s Nadella

Simply put, my friends; we are at the time of the end, many run to and fro in the earth. But also the whole world is and has been gaining knowledge which has been increased more than at any other time. This led us to the technology we all enjoy today, but make no mistake this will also be used by the beast and his co-horts in the end of days reign of his. –The Watchman Dana G Smith | WIBR/WARN Radio 

Dan 12:4, 9-10 4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Image of the Beast and A.I.  Latest book by Dana Glenn Smith

A Commentary and Headline news by Dana Glenn Smith From the Writers Life Blog www.danaglennsmith.com

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Technology that “Empowers Profound creation”-Microsoft’s Nadella But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

[mealha]

How does Google's Pixel 4 smartphone camera compare to the iPhone 11 Pro?

Shot through a shop window, the Pixel 4 handles the shiny, golden surfaces and contrasty pools of light very nicely. (Stan Horaczek/)

At its recent product announcement event in New York City, Google showed off a handful of new gear. But, the company dedicated considerable time—and presumably money spent to hire iconic portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz—showing off the Pixel 4 smartphone’s new camera. That emphasis makes sense. Consumers still indicate that photo quality is one of the most-important factors they use to pick a new device. And Google is coming off of a very strong showing in the Pixel 3, which was (at least as far as I was concerned at the time) the absolute best smartphone camera.

The Pixel 4 adds some more AI-powered smarts, relying increasingly on its software to determine the overall look of the final image. And while the camera has some moments where it’s truly excellent, I ran into a few growing pains as Google tries to calculate its way to perfect photos.

What's new?

The Pixel is about average when it comes to quickness in capturing photos. It took me roughly five tries before I got the timing right and caught the person up front with a punch extended. (Stan Horaczek/)

On paper, the Pixel 4’s camera doesn’t seem all that different from the hardware that came before it. The primary exception is the notable addition of a telephoto lens, which Google intends to improve performance specifically when it comes to zooming and portrait mode. The shooter’s competition, however, is stiffer this year: Apple seems to have corrected some the over-zealous HDR tech that made iPhone XS images look unrealistic and unnatural at times, and the Cupertino company promises to further improve the iPhone 11 Pro’s already-very-good camera when its detail-enhancing Deep Fusion tech arrives in the next iOS update.

Image quality

This scene is a great space to test HDR. There's natural light coming in through the archway and artificial light overhead. The Pixel 4 does a really excellent job of bringing up the shadows near the door while keeping the colors accurate to the scene as it looked in real life. If you wanted to edit the photo, it's a great, neutral starting point. But, it also looks fine the way it is. (Stan Horaczek/)

Google doesn’t pull punches when it comes to computational photography, which relies more on processing power and algorithms than pure hardware performance. The company makes it abundantly clear that the software magic that happens during and after you press the shutter has become extremely important in determining the look of the final image.

Like almost every smartphone camera at this point, pressing the shutter doesn’t simply take one photo. Instead, it captures a burst and combines information from those images into one finished file. This “smart HDR” tech does a lot of good: It can prevent highlights from getting blown out, or flatten out a super-contrasty scene that could lose crucial details. But, as with iPhone 11 Pro, it can be unpredictable.

These Bananas at Whole Foods illustrate the difference between the Pixel 4 (left) and the iPhone 11 Pro (right). The Pixel's image doesn't crank the contrast as much and the tones look smoother overall. If you weren't comparing them side-by-side, however, they're both totally acceptable. (Stan Horaczek/)

In good conditions shooting with the main wide-angle camera, I prefer the images that come out of the Pixel 4 to those from the iPhone 11 Pro. It’s close, but the Pixel’s camera still feels more neutral and natural to me. I don’t notice the HDR effect that can make subjects look unrealistic—and sometimes even cartoonish—as much as I do with the iPhone. This is especially useful for users who edit their photos after taking them (something very few typical users do).

The focusing on the Pixel 4 is impressive. It grabbed onto the pizza cutter through this window reflection. (Stan Horaczek/)

Google made a few welcome improvements to its overall HDR experience as well. When you tap the screen to focus on an object in the image, two sliders now pop up for adjusting the brightness of the scene. One slider affects the overall exposure (how bright or dark everything looks) in the scene, while the other simply affects the shadows. That second slider is extremely useful. It allows you to do things like taking silhouette photos in which the subject is virtually blacked out while the background (usually the bright sky) stays properly exposed.

The first shot in this series was the default with no adjustments. In the second shot, I raised the overall brightness, which drew out detail from the leaves, but blew out the sky. In the third shot, I used the shadows slider to raise the shadow levels to bring up the leaves a bit while the sky remained mostly unchanged. (Stan Horaczek/)

You can also achieve the opposite effect in which you can brighten up a dark foreground subject without blowing out a bright sky in the background. In a situation like the one pictured below, you’d typically lose some of those nice yellow leaf details to shadow unless you brightened the whole image and blew out the sky. Adjusting the shadow slider allows you to bring up the exposure on the leaves while leaving the sky alone.

That slider is one of my favorite additions to the Pixel 4 camera, and it’s a trend I’d love to see continue as we go forward into the future of HDR all the time on everything.

When the shooting conditions get tricky, however, the Pixel 4 has some real quirks.

The flickr effect

Most artificial lighting flickers, but your brain does a good job of making the glow seem continuous. The pulsing effect, however, is more difficult for digital cameras to negate, and the Pixel 4 seems to have more trouble in this arena than its competition.

In the video above, you’ll notice some dark bands going across the image. This kind of thing isn’t out-of-the-ordinary with artificial light sources, which have a generally imperceptible flicker to coincide with the 60 Hz electrical current flowing through them. Dedicated digital cameras, however, typically have “flicker detection” to help combat it, and even the iPhone 11 Pro does a better job of mitigating the effect.

The effect isn't always so pronounced. In this image, you can clearly see dark bands running across the map in the center of the image that's illuminated by the artificial light overhead. Light coming in through the window and door pushed the shutter speed to 1/217th of a second, which is too fast to negate the banding effect. (Stan Horaczek/)

With the Pixel 4, I noticed it in a variety of locations and artificial light sources. It’s subtle, most of the time, but if you have a bright light source in the frame of the picture or video, it can push the shutter speed faster than 1/60th of a second, which is when the bands start to creep in.

When I switched to a manual camera mode in the Lightroom app and used a slower shutter speed, it disappeared. In scenes like this, the iPhone seems to use its HDR+ tech to keep at least one frame in the mix with a shutter speed slow enough to stop this from happening. Once I figured out the circumstances that brought it on, I shot the example below, which shows it very clearly.

The image on the right came from the iPhone 11 Pro Max, while the image on the left—which very clearly displays the banding problem—comes from the Pixel 4. Looking at the metadata, the iPhone claims a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second, where as the Pixel's shutter speed was faster than 1/250th of a second, which explains why it's so visible in the Pixel photo, but not the iPhone frame. Presumably, this is the kind of thing Google can fix down the road by adjusting the way in which the HDR capture process works. (Stan Horaczek/)

The flaw isn’t a deal breaker since it only appears in specific circumstances, but it’s very annoying when it does.

White balancing act

Shot on a cloudy day in the shadows with lots of yellow in the frame, I'd fully expect this picture to come out too blue. The Pixel did a solid job, however. (Stan Horaczek/)

Another area where our brains and eyes routinely outperform cameras: color balance. If you’re in a room with both artificial light and a window, the illumination may look fairly consistent to your eye, but render as orange and blue, respectively, to a camera.

Smartphones often try to split the difference when it comes to white balance unless you mess with it on your own. The Pixel 4, however, analyzes the scene in front of it and uses AI to try and recognize important objects in the frame. So, if it notices a face, it will try and get the white balance right on the person. That’s a good tactic.

Under artificial light, the color balance changes frequently when the camera moves subtly. (Stan Horaczek/)

Generally, I think the Pixel 4 does an excellent job when it comes to white balance, except when it gets it very wrong. Move around the iPhone 11 Pro camera, and the scene’s overall color cast tends to stay mostly consistent. Do the same with the Pixel 4, and its overall white balance can shift drastically, even when you only slightly move the camera. Above, the grid-style screenshot show a series of photos I took in succession under unchanging conditions. I moved the phone subtly as I shot, and you can see the really profound color shift. Again, this primarily happens when shooting under artificial light.

As long as you pay attention and notice the change before snapping the shot, it’s totally fine and the Pixel does a great job. It’s also easy to correct later on if you’re willing to open an editing app. But, on a few occasions, I ended up with a weirdly yellow photo I didn’t expect.

Telephoto lens

Portrait mode and a backlit beard make for quite the scene. (Stan Horaczek/)

The new telephoto lens is roughly twice the focal length of the Pixel’s standard camera, which effectively gives you a 2x optical zoom. It has an f/2.4 aperture, compared to the improved f/2.0 (lower numbers let in more light) portrait lens on the iPhone 11 Plus. It’s only a fraction of a stop, however, so it’s unlikely to make a huge impact, but it’s a reminder that Apple has been doing telephoto lenses for some time now and is already refining while Google is just getting started.

You get more accurate colors and more details out of the Pixel 4 (left) then you do out of the iPhone 11 Pro (right) when zoomed in to 8x. The iPhone actually allows you to go a little more to 10x if you don't mind the lower-quality image. (Stan Horaczek/)

Like we said earlier, the telephoto lens counts zooming as one of its primary functions. The phone gives you the option to zoom up to 8x by combining digital and optical technology. Google claims pinching to get closer now actually gives you better image quality than simply taking a wider photo and cropping in, which has historically provided better results. I found this statement accurate. “Zooming” has come a long way on smartphone cameras, but you shouldn’t expect magic. You’ll still end up with ugly choppy “artifacts” in the images that look like you’ve saved and re-saved the photo too many times as a JPEG.

When you peep at the images on a smaller screen, like Instagram, however, they look impressive, and that’s ultimately probably the most important display condition for a smartphone camera in 2019.

If you zoom a lot, the Pixel beats the iPhone on the regular. It’s even slightly easier to hold steady due to the improved images stabilization system when you’re zoomed all the way to 8x.

Portrait mode

The Pixel 4's portrait mode really shines when you shy away from the standard up-close headshot. (Stan Horaczek/)

The other big draw of the telephoto lens comes in the form of improved portrait mode. Even with the single lens on the Pixel 3, Google already did a very impressive job faking the background blur that comes from shallow depth of field photography. Predictably, adding a second lens to let it better calculate depth in a scene improves its performance.

If you really want to notice the jump, try shooting a larger object or a person from farther back than the simple head-and-torso shot for which portrait mode was originally developed. Using portrait mode for larger objects is a new skill for the Pixel 4 and it does a good job of mitigating the inherent limitations of the tech. Any weirdness or artifacts like oddly-sharp areas or rogue blobs of blur typically tend to show up around the edges of objects or in fine details like hair or fur. The closer you get to your subject, the harder you’re making the camera work and the more likely you are to notice something weird or out of place.

The iPhone 11 Pro (left) does a better job with the tricky edges in the subject's hair, but the Pixel 4 (right), produces a more natural image because it's not adding any simulated lighting effects like Apple does. (Stan Horaczek/)

Overall, the Pixel 4’s portrait mode looks more natural than the iPhone 11 Pro, but it struggles more with edges and stray hairs. In headshots, the areas around the hair typically give away the Pixel 4’s tricks right away. (The iPhone 11 Pro gets around those edge issues by adding a “dreamy” blur across most of the image.) The Pixel’s overall colors and contrast are generally better because they don’t try to emulate different types of lighting like the iPhone does. But, when you get a truly ugly edge around a subject’s face or hair with the Pixel 4, it can quickly ruin the effect.

Here are some portrait mode shots (and a dedicated camera picture) edited with Lightroom. The iPhone 11 Pro (left) raised the blacks on the sweatshirt as part of its simulated lighting mode. The Pixel 4 (center) had some trouble with the whispy edges of the hair. The dedicated camera (right) was a Sony A7R with a 50mm lens and preserves the highlights in the hair better and blows the fake bokeh effect out of the water. (Stan Horaczek/)

If you’re only posting your portrait mode shot on Instagram, those rough edges may not really play for your followers. Viewing them on a laptop screen or larger, however, makes them obvious.

The 100 percent crop (screen captured from Lightroom) shows how differently the iPhone 11 Pro (left) and the Pixel 4 (right) handle tricky, but attractive lighting conditions. This kind of light is amazing with a dedicated camera. (Stan Horaczek/)

The Pixel 4 does give you almost immediate access to both the fake blur images and the regular photo in your library. Portrait mode takes a few seconds to process, so you can’t see those immediately. Considering the amount of processing it’s doing, that’s understandable—and also the case with the iPhone—but if you’re trying to nail exactly the right expression, you can’t really check your results in real time.

Night Sight

Night Sight brightened up this extremely dark scene and kept the colors—the greens bushes in particular—from looking cartoonish and oversaturated. (Stan Horaczek/)

When Google debuted its impressive low-light shooting mode, Night Sight, in the Pixel 3, it was incredibly impressive. Google has clearly continued to refine its performance and, even with the iPhone 11 Pro adding its own version of the tech, the Pixel 4 still maintains a considerable advantage.

You’ll still have to swipe over to the Night Sight mode in order to enable it, as opposed to the iPhone, which springs it on you automatically when it thinks the conditions are right. I like having more control over what I’m doing, so I prefer the Pixel’s approach, especially since these night modes require long exposures that can result in blurry photos if you—or the objects in the scene—can’t hold still.

Compared to the iPhone’s Night Mode, the Night Sight’s colors are more accurate and the scenes just look more natural. Ultimately, this one will come down to personal preference, but I prefer the Pixel 4’s results over the iPhone 11 Pro’s.

During the camera presentation, Google flat-out said that it hopes you’ll only use the camera “flash” as a flashlight. I abided by this rule. The flash is not good, just like every smartphone camera flash photo that came before it. It’s useful if you really need it—especially if you don’t mind converting images to black and white after the fact—but you can ultimately just leave it turned off forever.

As an addition to Night Sight, Google also added functionality that makes it easier to shoot night sky photos that show off stars and the Milky Way—if you know what you’re doing. I didn’t test this feature because I didn’t have access to truly dark sky, and the weather hasn’t really cooperated. If you’re planning to use this feature, you should plan to use a tripod—or at least balance the phone on a stable object—since it still requires long exposures. Ultimately, I love that the company added this feature and I look forward to seeing what people create with it, but it’s a specialized thing that I imagine most users won’t try more than a few times.

The case of the missing super-wide-angle lens

The regular wide-angle lens is good for walking around shots like this one, but there were instances when I really missed the super-wide that the iPhone 11 now offers. If I were to finish this photo, I'd straighten it and probably make it black and white. But, since it's a sample image, this is the unedited version. (Stan Horaczek/)

When the Pixel 3 shipped without a telephoto lens, I didn’t really miss it. I do, however, have to wonder why Google would ship the Pixel 4 without the super-wide lens found on the iPhone 11 Pro and other high-end smartphones.

The super-wide is easy to abuse if the unique perspective blinds you to the inherent distortion and overall just kinda wacky perspective it offers. But, there are times when it comes in really handy. If you’re trying to shoot a massive landscape without creating a panorama, or you’re just taking a photo in really tight quarters, the extra width makes a tangible difference.

Ultimately, I advocate that people do the vast majority of their shooting with the standard wide-angle camera no matter which phone they choose, because the overall performance and image quality are typically far better than the other lenses. But, I like options, and a super-wide lens lets you achieve a perspective you physically can’t get by simply backing up.

So, what's the best smartphone camera?

If you're curious what the Pixel 4's actual bokeh looks like, check out the blobs of blur on the right side of this photo. (Stan Horaczek/)

The Pixel 4 has left us in a tough situation. The image quality, color reproduction, and detail are really excellent—most of the time. The quirks that pop up, however, really do have a tangible effect on the overall usability of the camera as a whole. If you’re the type of shooter who is careful to pay attention to your scene and edits your photos after you shoot, then the Pixel is the best option for the most part. The more neutral colors and contrast take edits better than those on iPhone files, which come straight out of the camera looking more processed.

Ultimately, though, we’re in a time when smartphone camera quality has largely leveled off. I haven’t mentioned the Samsung cameras in this review for the most part, because I find their files overly processed with too much sharpening and aggressive contrast and saturation levels. But, a large contingent of people like that. At this point, there isn’t enough difference between overall performance and image quality on the Pixel 4 to jump ship from your preferred platform—only to eek out a slight edge on images that come straight out of the camera.

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[terryblount]

Crackdown 3 – Campaign Review

The past four months paint a bleak picture of the big-budget gaming scene as players had to endure a long series of major disappointments. Games that have been overstimulating our salivary glands for months – or even years – since their announcement only seemed to drive the wedge between publishers and us as consumers deeper and deeper. It was also no secret that long-time fans of Microsoft’s classic, Crackdown IP branded the third instalment as yet another game that missed the bar in terms of fan expectations.

It was therefore with a sense of wariness that I installed my review copy of Crackdown 3 since the current state of the AAA scene has been likened to a dumpster fire by many. Adding to my reluctance was the fact that I never played the previous games, which ruled out any sentimental attachment I might have had to the series as a whole. Ironically, Crackdown 3 turned out to be a game that I think was lambasted due to being a product of its context rather than a lack of quality.

“Quack, quack motherducker!” Apparently it is some sort of long-running gag in the series. Don’t ask me.

I am not saying that fans of this series have no reason to be upset; it has been nearly nine years since the previous game after all. However, as a player experiencing Crackdown 3 in isolation from its roots (and with curbed enthusiasm), I really had fun with it. It has no ambition to be original, nor does try to convey a compelling narrative, but what it can offer to players is a hearty sandbox experience that never tries to overreach itself.

Join the crew, Terry’s crew!

The game plays out in a world where super criminals have given rise to super mercenaries for hire thanks to an organisation simply called ‘The Agency.’ With the power of cybernetic and genetic enhancements, The Agency has ushered in a new age of peace keepers where a single ‘Agent’ can represent the military advantage of a one man army. As in the previous two games, The Agency has once again been summoned into a metropolis (called ‘New Providence’ this time round) where the power of corrupt bureaucrats has grown beyond the reach of the law.

This time the focal point of corruption lies within a super corporation named ‘Terra Nova,’ and it is up to Terry Crews… I mean Commander Jaxon and his squad to overthrow the establishment from within. In a style that is virtually identical to Middle Eath: Shadow or Mordor/War, the aim is not to kick down the front door and open fire on the person sitting behind the desk. Instead, Terra Nova must be destroyed using the one, true antidote for tyrants: Anarchy.

The leader of Terra Nova, Elizabeth Niemand. The final boss.

As such, the player will spend their time unleashing all kinds of hell on processing facilities, freeing the local resistance militia, and recapturing outposts all while mowing down masses of hired thugs. You do this until the commanders of each division get mad enough to face you head-on, at which point the opportunity presents itself to strike at the head of the snake. Once all of the lessor bosses have been blasted to kingdom come, the time will come to move against the leader of Terra Nova itself.

That weird feeling of Déjà vu

Shadow of Mordor/War is not the only book that Crackdown 3 has borrowed a few pages from. In fact, virtually all of the gameplay mechanics will feel extremely familiar to anyone that has so much as touched a sandbox or open-world game in the last ten years. Fans from Saint’s Row, Grand Theft Auto, Infamous and even Far Cry will all find something they instantly recognise within Crackdown 3’s gameplay mechanics.

Much like Shadow of War/Mordor you can even gather bits of intel on the bosses, and defeating one makes a path up to those in the higher hierarchies.

Still, the most obvious pedigree would have to be Just Cause 3 both in terms of how the game plays, and equally within the structure of the objectives. Crackdown 3 similarly puts you at the edge of the game’s world, and lets you tackle goals and activities in any order of your choosing. The player can spend an hour blowing up chemical plants manufacturing a green goop called Chimera, and then switch freely to liberating resistance soldiers who could offer additional support against the pesky local militia.

All that matters is results, and I never felt pressured to focus on one particular path. Yet, the thing is, I can list so many other games off the top of my head doing the very same thing, and this is perhaps Crackdown 3’s biggest weakness. Instead of being the stylish, next-gen, sci-fi epic that would be a more authentic continuation of 2010’s Crackdown 2, this game’s identity faces a real risk of disappearing beneath all of its more generic elements.

Why would you NOT want to play as Terry Crews!?!?!?

As I mentioned, there is not a whole lot going on in terms of the story which might make many of the tasks seem superficial, if not somewhat repetitive. The city of New Providence is small when compared to some of the dizzying, colossal sandboxes from modern entries in this genre. As such, you don’t exactly pick out an objective, stock up, and take a long trip to where you carry out your tactically-planned mission. You blow up one stronghold, before literally walking to the next one where you just rinse and repeat.

I can likewise agree with the haters that this game never fully realises its visual potential (without digressing into whether or not Crackdown 3 was visually downgraded). The world is characterised by that sterile feeling of a game engine more interested in keeping the frame rate up as opposed to depicting a lush, full environment. The developers, Sumo Digital, even removed those iconic, cel-shaded aesthetics that have always defined the visual identity of this series. This all adds up to a game that just does not have the eye-candy worthy of a nine-year wait.

I thought you said you liked it?

In spite of all this, Crackdown 3 really began to grow on me once I noticed several small, yet significant ways in which the game made an effort to keep things tight and polished. Even if the narrative fades into the background, and the gameplay never innovates beyond what is familiar to the genre, Crackdown 3 is still really good at what it does. The action is slick, volatile and it just works for a AAA title that you expect to have Terry Crews in the lead.

Good for crushing enemies or blowing up pumps!

Take the gun play for example. Here Crackdown 3 lays emphasis on the thrill of momentum and agility, so there is the option of an auto-lock on mechanic. Just bring anything into the gun’s sights, and the designated target will automatically remain locked on while you are free to jump and dash around the battlefield like a kangaroo on opioids.

It is not just purely for style though, since movement is a crucial defensive manoeuvre against the ruthless, hit-scanning AI. The game eagerly throws large numbers at the player once the fight begins, so those moves serve the purpose of making you an impossibly lively target to hit. Moreover, just one strike from the later bosses is enough to take a meaty chunk off your health bar, so getting good at dodging projectiles is anything but a wasted skill.

Agent + mining facility = flames.

The guns are also really fun even if the arsenal at the player’s disposal is not exactly vast. Each gun has been tailored for maximum efficiency towards a specific enemy type which prevents the player from just going in guns blazing. Chemical weapons are virtually useless against refinery workers in hazmat suits, but once you start bringing out the incendiary charges and explosive weapons, the fight suddenly shifts in your favour. This forms a welcome aspect of sub-strategy in addition to the already frenzy combat lighting up your screen.

On top of all this, just because I think Sumo Digital did not fully replicate the visual potential of this series does not mean the game is ugly. On the contrary, the environment is still unmistakably colourful and vibrant, and Crackdown 3’s physics engine is anything but shy when it comes to flashy, thunderous explosions. A distinctive visual style has also been worked into the vehicles and the architecture so, overall, the game is rather easy on the eyes.

Not much in the way of draw distance, but the game can be beautiful when it wants to.

Everything is more fun with friends… or not

Regrettably, I never got a chance to play the multiplayer so my apologies for not being able to comment on that. This is because, firstly, the upload speed of my shoddy internet will only end with me hurling my controller and, secondly, you need an Xbox Gold membership. Besides, in between Anthem and Apex Legends coming out within the same month, will anybody even be playing this?

It behooves me to mention that the multiplayer aspect of Crackdown 3 is called “Wrecking Zone” due to the physics-heavy gameplay mechanics. Much like Warmonger, which came out way back when PhysX cards were still a thing, the player is able to use super realistic, environmental destruction as an active advantage during gameplay. Feel like raising an entire building to the ground to flush your opponent out from hiding? Go for it. Feel like blasting a hole in the wall for a quick getaway? Sure!

Microsoft, however, does the physics calculations for you on the cloud, so you don’t have to stress about bringing the frame rate of your PC or Xbox One to its knees. Let me know how it is if you get a chance to play the multiplayer (or if you would REALLY like a review of it).

Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate

So the dissatisfaction of fans is not entirely misplaced, and I had a blast playing through the relatively short campaign, but where does that leave you making your way through this review? Well, my final opinion is that Crackdown 3 cannot be called a bad game in spite of a few superficial flaws. I am truly disappointed that they did not squeeze more of the sweet visual juices from the Unreal Engine 4, and Terry Crews was hopelessly underused as a leading character.

The agency car you can summon at any time. Once you earn some additional driving skill points it turns into a buggy.

Yet, I just ended up having so much fun because, again, this game just focuses on a near flawless execution of its core gameplay. The action and movement are based on an intuitive control scheme that will have you feeling like a total juggernaut in no time, and the environments make up for their lack in visual fidelity through the level of thought that has been put into their design. The more skilled I became at running and gunning, the more rewarding the overall experience became because the game had no trouble making me look like such a badass.

Crackdown 3 therefore makes for the perfect game to play over weekends when you just want to blow stuff up without having to sift through intricate narrative webs or plot twists. If you already have a Game Pass subscription, or you have a sweet tooth for the more anarchic flavour of sandbox games, play this as soon as possible. For avid fans of the first two entries and newcomers alike, perhaps waiting a bit until the price comes down would be best, but you might just end up liking it lot.

Fast and furious combat

Easy to master

Rewarding exploration

Collectable hunting

Voice acting and sound

Somewhat bland world

Limited story depth

Repetitive in moments

Mediocre graphics

        Playtime: 10 hours total. For the single player campaign

Computer Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

Crackdown 3 – Campaign Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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Technology Resolutions for 2019

The end of the year is the time for New Year’s resolutions for many of us. How successful are you with your resolutions? We thought so. One reason for not completing your resolutions is that they are too general (“lose weight”). What if you tried to make some of your resolutions more specific by focusing on a single topic? In this roundtable, our experts weigh in on the idea of setting technology resolutions for 2019.

Our Panelists

Dennis Kennedy (DK), John Loughnane (JL), Gyi Tsakalakis (GT), Allison Shields (AS), and Alexander Paykin (AP).

Have you tried the idea of setting New Year’s technology resolutions? Why or why not?

DK: Yes. In fact, Tom Mighell and I have been publicly revealing our tech resolutions on our podcast for the last several years. Going through the exercise has been very useful to me. It gives me a structure to think practically about my own use of technology and, by going public, makes me feel accountable. My success rate has been good, but not perfect, and I’ve noticed that some of the original resolutions might evolve or change during the year, which is not a bad thing.

JL: Not previously. For me (and I suspect many others), New Year’s resolutions have not proven to be an effective means of implementing sustained change.

GT: If by “New Year’s technology resolutions,” you mean “an annual assessment of our technology,” then yes! Every year we review what we currently have, how well it’s working (or being used), and whether there’s something better available.

AS: I am not the biggest fan of New Year’s resolutions in general, preferring to set specific goals with concrete plans of action instead (I seem to get more accomplished that way). I have set technology goals in the past and have been successful at reaching some and not so successful at others. I do have some technology goals on my list for this year.

AP: Absolutely. Every new year is an opportunity for improvement. The trick is to implement the resolutions for New Years and not just make them—make them well in advance. Make Thanksgiving resolutions, then spend December figuring out how implementation would work, then on 1/1, flip the switch.

What themes or specific areas do you target or would you like to target with tech resolutions?

DK: I’ve been using a three-part approach. First, is there a technology pain point that I’d like to alleviate or remove? Second, is there a new technology, a new skill, or a more advanced use of a technology that I’d like to learn? Third, is there something I can do to advance my career, accomplish more with technology, improve processes, or enhance client service?

JL: In lieu of “tech resolutions” I would advocate for “tech commitment” focused on three things: ethics, education, and evolution.

GT: The most recurrent theme is resolving to resist shiny object syndrome. There’s usually a ton of new shiny stuff to try every year. The trick is figuring out what actually delivers something better.

AS: My tech goals have centered on either learning to use technology I already have better, more efficiently, or more consistently; implementing new technology to help improve my practice or the delivery of services to my clients; learning about new technology in the legal space, and turning off technology or reminding myself to use non-tech tools sometimes to reduce information overload.

AP: Major changes. You can upgrade to the new printer anytime. New Year’s should be for big things. Like as of 1/1, we will not use paper files for any new incoming matters. Or as of 1/1, we are switching to a cloud-based practice management system.

What 2019 tech resolutions would you like to share with our readers?

DK: These might change before I finalize them, but here’s my tentative list. First, automate standard tasks and routines by using tools like TextExpander and scripting. Second, I want to dive deeply into idea creation, capture, and management tools. Third, I want to experiment with a niche social media/networking tool called MightyNetworks to try to do some online community creation.

JL: Because the model rules of professional conduct include the requirement of technical competency, I would share a reminder about the fundamental ethical imperative of keeping informed of various technology and associated benefits and risks.

GT: Resolve to avoid shiny objects. Resolve to set S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals through which to measure the value of technology. Resolve to implement technology to measure your client development investments from start to finish.

AS: My main technology goals for 2019 include continuing to learn about new technology and how it affects my clients and their practices (including more about AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity) and implementing some new technology in my consulting practice, specifically webinar or course creation technologies to deliver online presentations or courses.

AP: A few from prior years: 1) Create all new matters in the practice management system and digitize five old (but active) files per week until all are in the PDS. Then, repeat with closed matters until all files are digital. Then, get rid of filing cabinets. 2) Put all files in the cloud and no longer save things to the PC’s local hard drive—ever. 3) Implement a scan on arrival mail policy. 4) Log all digital stamps and maintain an electronic mail log. 5) Invoice all clients electronically. This year’s upcoming resolution: Completely automate the engagement letter process and stop hand-finalizing engagement letter templates.

What are your strategies for achieving your tech resolutions?

DK: I put my resolutions into my task manager, Omnifocus, so they appear to me on a regular basis and I am reminded of them. I also break resolutions down into component tasks so my actual work to move the resolution forward is simpler and more doable. Making them public also helps me stay motivated. The S.M.A.R.T. approach to goal setting can also be very helpful.

JL: Becoming or staying technologically competent can be achieved through many means including joining relevant bar association groups, reading topical articles, and listening to a myriad of podcasts. Clients in all industries are affected by the accelerating pace of technological change—so speaking with clients about their evolving technology challenges is an effective means of staying current on challenges and opportunities.

GT: Set goals. Create a plan to implement. Implement. Measure your implementation against your goals. Rinse and repeat every quarter.

AS: As I mentioned above, I think resolutions are too vague for me—I like to set specific goals and then create a plan to reach those goals by breaking the goals down into smaller, more achievable chunks, and then set deadlines for completing those smaller goals or tasks. For example, if I want to learn more about AI and blockchain in 2019, my first step would probably be to find some resources—books, podcasts, articles, etc. and then set aside time to consume that content. I might even make a plan to write an article or blog post about one or more of these topics since that will force me to have to learn about it.

AP: I am moving the Word versions of my engagement letter far far away and integrating the engagement letter template as an automated document form in my practice management system. To avoid temptation and remind myself to do it electronically, I am leaving a file that looks just like the engagement letter Word file in the original directory, but even though I set it to have Word icon when I click on it, it’s actually a link to my PDS URL. That way the muscle memory and habit of going into that directory will be changed—by force if need be.

What tech resolutions would you suggest might work for many readers?

DK: I like my thematic approach and encourage readers to try that. Buying a new piece of hardware that you really want or trying a new software program or cloud service is also a great starting point. Learning an advanced use of a program you use every day (Outlook, Adobe) is another productive approach. For most of our readers, putting more effort into cybersecurity will be a great resolution.

JL: At one point, a number of lawyers viewed technology as a distraction from their primary practice. At this point, technology is core to the very existence of most clients and fundamental to practicing law effectively. I recommend lawyers view the commitment to staying technologically competent as more than a resolution—but rather as the fulfillment of an ethical duty that should help fulfill client needs and drive practice development.

GT: See my response to question three.

AS: I think everyone is different and has a different level of comfort with technology, but one of the easiest goals would be to look at the technology you already use and identify one to three ways you want to learn how to use that technology better in 2019. That might mean learning how to create Rules in Outlook to better manage your email and then creating time in your schedule to learn how to do it. Or it could mean learning how to create a new report in your practice management or accounting software or developing templates in your document management system to deliver services more efficiently to clients. Sometimes it helps to look at the most time-consuming or frustrating or repetitive actions you undertake regularly and seek out ways that technology can make them easier or more effective.

AP: 1) Create all new matters in the practice management system and digitize five old (but active) files per week until all are in the PDS. Then, repeat with closed matters until all files are digital. Then, get rid of filing cabinets. 2) Put all files in the cloud and no longer save things to the PC’s local hard drive—ever.  3) Implement a scan on arrival mail policy. 4) Adopt an electronic signature policy and an account with a company like DocuSign. 5) Invest in a VOIP phone system which follows you wherever you go. 6) Engage an off-site receptionist service like Ruby, and integrate it into your PDS. There are so many others…

The post Technology Resolutions for 2019 appeared first on Law Technology Today.

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Technology Resolutions for 2019

The end of the year is the time for New Year’s resolutions for many of us. How successful are you with your resolutions? We thought so. One reason for not completing your resolutions is that they are too general (“lose weight”). What if you tried to make some of your resolutions more specific by focusing on a single topic? In this roundtable, our experts weigh in on the idea of setting technology resolutions for 2019.

Our Panelists

Dennis Kennedy (DK), John Loughnane (JL), Gyi Tsakalakis (GT), Allison Shields (AS), and Alexander Paykin (AP).

Have you tried the idea of setting New Year’s technology resolutions? Why or why not?

DK: Yes. In fact, Tom Mighell and I have been publicly revealing our tech resolutions on our podcast for the last several years. Going through the exercise has been very useful to me. It gives me a structure to think practically about my own use of technology and, by going public, makes me feel accountable. My success rate has been good, but not perfect, and I’ve noticed that some of the original resolutions might evolve or change during the year, which is not a bad thing.

JL: Not previously. For me (and I suspect many others), New Year’s resolutions have not proven to be an effective means of implementing sustained change.

GT: If by “New Year’s technology resolutions,” you mean “an annual assessment of our technology,” then yes! Every year we review what we currently have, how well it’s working (or being used), and whether there’s something better available.

AS: I am not the biggest fan of New Year’s resolutions in general, preferring to set specific goals with concrete plans of action instead (I seem to get more accomplished that way). I have set technology goals in the past and have been successful at reaching some and not so successful at others. I do have some technology goals on my list for this year.

AP: Absolutely. Every new year is an opportunity for improvement. The trick is to implement the resolutions for New Years and not just make them—make them well in advance. Make Thanksgiving resolutions, then spend December figuring out how implementation would work, then on 1/1, flip the switch.

What themes or specific areas do you target or would you like to target with tech resolutions?

DK: I’ve been using a three-part approach. First, is there a technology pain point that I’d like to alleviate or remove? Second, is there a new technology, a new skill, or a more advanced use of a technology that I’d like to learn? Third, is there something I can do to advance my career, accomplish more with technology, improve processes, or enhance client service?

JL: In lieu of “tech resolutions” I would advocate for “tech commitment” focused on three things: ethics, education, and evolution.

GT: The most recurrent theme is resolving to resist shiny object syndrome. There’s usually a ton of new shiny stuff to try every year. The trick is figuring out what actually delivers something better.

AS: My tech goals have centered on either learning to use technology I already have better, more efficiently, or more consistently; implementing new technology to help improve my practice or the delivery of services to my clients; learning about new technology in the legal space, and turning off technology or reminding myself to use non-tech tools sometimes to reduce information overload.

AP: Major changes. You can upgrade to the new printer anytime. New Year’s should be for big things. Like as of 1/1, we will not use paper files for any new incoming matters. Or as of 1/1, we are switching to a cloud-based practice management system.

What 2019 tech resolutions would you like to share with our readers?

DK: These might change before I finalize them, but here’s my tentative list. First, automate standard tasks and routines by using tools like TextExpander and scripting. Second, I want to dive deeply into idea creation, capture, and management tools. Third, I want to experiment with a niche social media/networking tool called MightyNetworks to try to do some online community creation.

JL: Because the model rules of professional conduct include the requirement of technical competency, I would share a reminder about the fundamental ethical imperative of keeping informed of various technology and associated benefits and risks.

GT: Resolve to avoid shiny objects. Resolve to set S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals through which to measure the value of technology. Resolve to implement technology to measure your client development investments from start to finish.

AS: My main technology goals for 2019 include continuing to learn about new technology and how it affects my clients and their practices (including more about AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity) and implementing some new technology in my consulting practice, specifically webinar or course creation technologies to deliver online presentations or courses.

AP: A few from prior years: 1) Create all new matters in the practice management system and digitize five old (but active) files per week until all are in the PDS. Then, repeat with closed matters until all files are digital. Then, get rid of filing cabinets. 2) Put all files in the cloud and no longer save things to the PC’s local hard drive—ever. 3) Implement a scan on arrival mail policy. 4) Log all digital stamps and maintain an electronic mail log. 5) Invoice all clients electronically. This year’s upcoming resolution: Completely automate the engagement letter process and stop hand-finalizing engagement letter templates.

What are your strategies for achieving your tech resolutions?

DK: I put my resolutions into my task manager, Omnifocus, so they appear to me on a regular basis and I am reminded of them. I also break resolutions down into component tasks so my actual work to move the resolution forward is simpler and more doable. Making them public also helps me stay motivated. The S.M.A.R.T. approach to goal setting can also be very helpful.

JL: Becoming or staying technologically competent can be achieved through many means including joining relevant bar association groups, reading topical articles, and listening to a myriad of podcasts. Clients in all industries are affected by the accelerating pace of technological change—so speaking with clients about their evolving technology challenges is an effective means of staying current on challenges and opportunities.

GT: Set goals. Create a plan to implement. Implement. Measure your implementation against your goals. Rinse and repeat every quarter.

AS: As I mentioned above, I think resolutions are too vague for me—I like to set specific goals and then create a plan to reach those goals by breaking the goals down into smaller, more achievable chunks, and then set deadlines for completing those smaller goals or tasks. For example, if I want to learn more about AI and blockchain in 2019, my first step would probably be to find some resources—books, podcasts, articles, etc. and then set aside time to consume that content. I might even make a plan to write an article or blog post about one or more of these topics since that will force me to have to learn about it.

AP: I am moving the Word versions of my engagement letter far far away and integrating the engagement letter template as an automated document form in my practice management system. To avoid temptation and remind myself to do it electronically, I am leaving a file that looks just like the engagement letter Word file in the original directory, but even though I set it to have Word icon when I click on it, it’s actually a link to my PDS URL. That way the muscle memory and habit of going into that directory will be changed—by force if need be.

What tech resolutions would you suggest might work for many readers?

DK: I like my thematic approach and encourage readers to try that. Buying a new piece of hardware that you really want or trying a new software program or cloud service is also a great starting point. Learning an advanced use of a program you use every day (Outlook, Adobe) is another productive approach. For most of our readers, putting more effort into cybersecurity will be a great resolution.

JL: At one point, a number of lawyers viewed technology as a distraction from their primary practice. At this point, technology is core to the very existence of most clients and fundamental to practicing law effectively. I recommend lawyers view the commitment to staying technologically competent as more than a resolution—but rather as the fulfillment of an ethical duty that should help fulfill client needs and drive practice development.

GT: See my response to question three.

AS: I think everyone is different and has a different level of comfort with technology, but one of the easiest goals would be to look at the technology you already use and identify one to three ways you want to learn how to use that technology better in 2019. That might mean learning how to create Rules in Outlook to better manage your email and then creating time in your schedule to learn how to do it. Or it could mean learning how to create a new report in your practice management or accounting software or developing templates in your document management system to deliver services more efficiently to clients. Sometimes it helps to look at the most time-consuming or frustrating or repetitive actions you undertake regularly and seek out ways that technology can make them easier or more effective.

AP: 1) Create all new matters in the practice management system and digitize five old (but active) files per week until all are in the PDS. Then, repeat with closed matters until all files are digital. Then, get rid of filing cabinets. 2) Put all files in the cloud and no longer save things to the PC’s local hard drive—ever.  3) Implement a scan on arrival mail policy. 4) Adopt an electronic signature policy and an account with a company like DocuSign. 5) Invest in a VOIP phone system which follows you wherever you go. 6) Engage an off-site receptionist service like Ruby, and integrate it into your PDS. There are so many others…

The post Technology Resolutions for 2019 appeared first on Law Technology Today.

from http://bit.ly/2SgZY6N