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forgadgetsandgizmos · 4 years

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It Pulls Me Back into the Night

Written for Day 2 of Alex Manes Week 2020 | Prompt: AU/Canon Divergence

Read it on AO3

When Alex woke up at five in the morning to a text from Max of a location and-

>>come quick

-he has to admit that the first thought to cross his mind was something along the lines of again? His second was annoyance at having to wake the sleeping bed of curls beside him in order to attach his prosthetic.

At no point did he expect to drive to a cave in the middle of the desert and find himself staring at a glowing, mystery alien device, a Max lookalike, and one Mimi Deluca. Or that the three of them would precede to ask him to plan a heist. . . in 1948.

Yet here he sits, plans for said heist spread out in front of him, aided in his endeavors by a bearded, country version of his alien boyfriend’s alien brother.

Antarian, not alien, he corrected. Because the mystery planet Mimi had deemed ‘that place with the red skies’ was called Antar.

At least it was according to Jones-the-alien-lookalike, who had yet to provide another name.

Jones’ cave hole hideaway has its own pod and consul set-up. According to him, his consul was the original one linked to Michael, Isobel, and Max’s pods, and therefore stored their missing seven years of memories, like a back-up on a computer. Jones was locked out of the interface and while Michael, Max, or Isobel should have been able to access it, the memory of exactly how was just as lost as everything else about their past. Hence, a power-borrowing, time-walking heist to find Nora in 1948 and have her give Michael a psychic impression of her mind, allowing him to gain access to the consul and restore his own memories. Which will include how he can restore Max and Isobel’s. According to Jones. Whose trustworthiness Alex remained on the fence about.

Plus, just thinking about the physics of it all for too long made his head spin.

“I think the plan is as good as it’s going to get based off seventy-year-old information,” Alex finally announced. In the last three hours, they had created a timeline of everything they knew about Nora’s day at the harvest festival in October of 1948, even calling Sanders to ask for his recollection of events.

“Are you sure?” The real Max stood to the side, leaning against the cave wall. In the time Alex had been here, he had barely taken his eyes off of Max-lookalike.

Alex shrugged. “As sure as I can be.”

“Finally,” Jones exclaimed; the word drawn out near the end from his exaggerated accent. Alex had to resist rolling his eyes every time he heard it.

“I’ll call the others,” Max directed to him. He headed outside for cell reception since this cave was a complete dead spot.

It was a fact Alex had been cursing every five minutes of their little three-hour research project. The only skill Alex brought to the table and Max brought him to the one place in miles it was useless. Although if he’s being honest with himself, it was perfectly on par with every other insane event during the past few months.

Forty-five minutes later, Michael and Isobel were running in, Kyle, Liz, and Maria not far behind.

Michael rushed straight to his side and pulled him into a quick kiss. “Leave a note next time.” He shoved Alex’s shoulder lightly. “I didn’t even realize you had left this morning when I got Max’s call.”

“I didn’t wake you when I put on my prosthetic?”

“Busy day at the junkyard, I was exhausted. Slept right through.”

“Is anyone going to explain what’s going on?” Isobel questioned, waving her hand in a hello, remember me? gesture.

And that was how Alex ended up explaining theoretical time travel to the gaping faces of his friends before he’d had his (second) morning coffee.

He had to hand it to Liz and Kyle; they had managed to set up a mini-hospital room in a cave with bare-bones equipment and an extension cord hooked up to Max’s car battery outside.

Liz was comforting a worried Maria who was hovering over her mother while Kyle connected her to vital monitors.

Max had conveniently ducked out, leaving him to explain Jones’ plan to Michael and Isobel.

“Let me get this straight,” Michael started. “You want Isobel to link my mind to Mimi’s so I can steal her powers- “

“Borrow her powers,” Alex corrected.

“-steal her powers and use them to time travel-“

“Time walk.”

“-into creepy Not-Max’s past to get a psychic impression from my dead mother that will make the glowing alien machine return my missing memories?”

Alex grinned, unabashed by Michael’s bewildered tone. “That about sums it up.”

“Are we sure this is possible?” Isobel appeared to be taking this more seriously than Michael. She had dropped her previous look of exasperation in exchange for the intense concentration she displayed now. After she recovered from the shock of Alex saying, ‘back in time,’ of course.

Alex sighed. “That’s where it gets dicey. Theoretically, yes. Jones said that Mimi’s ability to walk through the past of people in her direct line is a common power among Antarians. The thing is, Michael’s going to be going backwards through Isobel to Mimi to Jones. It’s is a lot of hoops to jump through in order to make this work.” Alex didn’t try to hide his displeasure at his next words. “There’s a slight chance that when Michael tries to come back to his body, he can’t ground himself and gets stuck between times.”

Michael’s eyes shot to him, wide as saucers.

“We have a plan for that,” Alex reassured him.

“Yes, your boyfriend.” Jones’ booming voice echoed around them.

Michael scowled, turning his body in a vein effort to block Jones’ view of Alex. A pointless gesture in the cramped cave but it made Alex smile, nonetheless.

“Boyfriend goes in connected to you, separate from the other two, giving him a straight shot back. Your connection to him,” he directed to Michael, “will allow you to travel with him and use to him anchor you. As long as he can ground himself, you’ll both wake up safe and sound.”

Michael ran a hand through his hair. “And it has to be me because...”

“You aren’t physically traveling back in time,” Max answered, finally back from his car to join the growing group. “You’re traveling back through Jones’ experiences. If I went, Jones would be the only person who could see me. Your familial connection with Nora should theoretically allow her to see you as well. Isobel has the same connection with Louise, but she has to link you and Mimi.”

“You get to meet your mom,” Isobel realized.

A guilty expression flashed across Max’s face. “I’m sorry, Isobel. You’re the only one who can make the connection between Mimi and Michael.”

“I offered,” Jones added snidely.

“We aren’t letting you in their heads,” Alex snapped, his annoyance obvious. He and Max vetoed this hours ago and Jones had repeatedly brought it up since then, especially since the other five arrived. “I’m not comfortable with it and frankly, Maria isn’t either.”

A rough hand grabbed his and thumbed over his skin in soft circles. He squeezed back firmly.

“We’re all set up,” Liz announced, drawing their attention to the opposite wall. Mimi sat calmly, hooked up to a heart and blood pressure monitor beeping steadily. Maria held her hand beside her, looking significantly more concerned about the next few minutes than Mimi.

Liz rubbed her hands together and looked between Michael and Alex. “Remember, you’ll have eight minutes, maybe nine. Longer than that and I can’t make any guarantees about how well Mimi will hold up to the stress.”

“Time limit.” Alex nodded and raised his wrist to show the room where the pre-set timer was blinking on his watch. “Timer. We got it.”

“Time travel,” Michael muttered, shaking his head.

Alex grunted his agreement.

Yeah. This was insane.

He was standing.

It was the first thing Alex noticed when he opened his eyes. He had been laying down in the cave beside Michael, holding hands with their arms pressed together to make sure they didn’t break contact when they lost consciousness.

Now he stood in the midst of a bustling fall festival. His head spun behind his eyes from the sudden, blinding sunlight and loud screeching of children laughing.

The first thing he noticed when his head had finally calmed enough for him to crack his eyes open was the color. The movies always show the ‘40s and ‘50s in pastel, as if they had been painted in faded watercolor with age.

The real ’48 was nothing like that.

He stood on a bed of hay. Tents selling crafts and food formed makeshift streets around him. Vibrancy was everywhere, the scenery adorned in neon colors and strong patterns. Men and women alike wore bright colors with clenched waists and high-waisted denim. Young women passed by in coveralls with bright shirts for a pop of color.

He jumped back as a child in bright blue pants and a yellow shirt burst past him, a woman in a polka-dotted dress following close behind. He stepped back on his prosthetic, so that had made the jump at least. Good. He’d been worried.

Michael placed a steadying hand on his back. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” he whispered.

Alex nodded dumbly.

Shoot, the timer, he remembered. Alex clicked a button on the side of his watch, starting the countdown from seven minutes and thirty seconds. Jones had suggested the thirty-second cut, figuring they would be disoriented and need the cushion. It irks Alex to know he was right.

Jones had been telling the truth about them not being visible. Despite knowing they must have suddenly appeared standing in a spot that was empty seconds before, no one had spared them a second glance.

It was definitely for the best. With him in his leather jacket standing next to Michael in worn jeans and his black hat, they certainly didn’t fit in with the tailored suits and squared shoulders of the men here.

“We need to find Nora,” Alex said finally. “The longer we’re here, the more the connection fades and the harder it’ll to get back.”

Michael nodded his agreement. Neither of them wanted to risk Mimi’s health.

“Okay. According to Sanders’ timeline, Nora, Louise, Roy, and Walt got to the pumpkin contest around two o’clock today, while Jones said he’d been here since twelve. Assuming our version of the timeline is correct, we’re in the thirty-minute window between when Jones sees Nora at half-past two but keeps his distance and when he speaks to her at three. After that, he gets too far away.”

“I was there when you explained it the first time, Alex,” Michael remarked with a poorly stifled laugh.

Alex rolled his eyes and stepped forward. “Excuse me for knowing my boyfriend has a tendency towards selective hearing.”

Michael caught Alex’s hand, pulling him back. “My boyfriend.” Michael’s eyes glinted mischievously. “I like that.”

“Think we can tell it to your mom?”

Michael’s face softened at the mention of his mother, forming an almost wistful expression. “I hope so,” he mumbled.

Alex squeeze his hand reassuringly and tugged him forward. He didn’t have any experience with coming out to a parent – his dad had seemed to know he was gay before he did – but they had still daydreamed together, usually in bed, usually blissed out after sex.

Some things were too painful to even think about. His mind drew a blank when he tried to imagine his dad’s reaction to Harlan murdering Tripp and building a shed to hide the body. But other things, like Christmas with grandad Tripp, who’d be accepting and warm, or telling Nora about them together and her being overjoyed that they found a cosmic love to match her own? Those daydreams were perfect. And in a way, this was their chance for one of them to be real.

Despite Michael’s cool attitude before they’d left, Alex could tell he was nervous about meeting his mom. Whether it was excitement, embarrassment, her meeting Alex (assuming she could see him as well), her meeting Alex as his boyfriend, or some combination, he wasn’t sure. Alex didn’t blame him. He couldn’t meet Tripp, who was human and therefore unable to see or hear them, but the sentiment was there.

It was barely a half-minute of walking before they saw the sign from the picture reading ‘Roswell Fall Festival.’ Nora was easy to spot; she stood beside an overly large pumpkin and the only non-white man in the small crowd. He noticed Nora’s eyes on them seconds before Michael did.

Alex paused next Michael’s frozen body. Nora’s posture mirrored Michael’s, stiff with shock.

He spun and met Michael’s eyes, a dozen, churning emotions reflecting back to him. As much as Alex wished he could him be, to take a second and soak this in (he was seeing his mom, alive and healthy), they had already wasted precious time getting here. They didn’t have more to waste.

“Ms. Nora? Everything alright?” A child beside her – Sanders, Alex presumed, as a child and before he’d lost his eye - noticed her distress and was tugging on her skirt. The man beside her – Roy Bronson – drew his eyebrows in.

Nora shook her head. “Everything’s fine, Walt.” She swatted his hand away. “You know not to be pulling on my skirts,” she admonished half-heartedly.

Michael’s hand tightened suddenly in his.

“Sorry Ms. Nora,” Walt said, seemingly unapologetic.

“I need to excuse myself,” she announced. “I’ll just be a minute.”

Roy reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Louise will be back soon,” he protested, “and the contest is about to begin.”

“I’ll be back in time,” she answered, turning away. She looked over to where the two of them stood, oblivious to the rest of the crowd, and tilted her head towards a closed barn to her right. With another glance to Michael, who seemed to have a better hold over himself, he followed her.

They stopped once they had reached the back of the barn, hidden on each side by large stacks of hay decorated in fall-themed leaf print outs strung together.

Michael and Nora stood facing each other.

Mother and son in a bittersweet reunion, Alex realized. Nora would understand how they were here. She could see their strange clothes and must realize what it means.

They couldn’t warn her about what would happen tomorrow. Jones had explained again and again before they left. To everyone else, everything happening around them is real. To Alex and Michael, they were experiencing a memory as if it was projected around them. Or more accurately, as if they had been projected into it. They couldn’t change anything because this was had already happened. Even if they spent the next five minutes explaining to Nora, in painstaking detail, everything they know about the next seventy years, she would forget the second they left. They’d arrive back at the same future they left empty handed, having wasted their time.

“Hi, Mom.” Michael’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“My son,” Nora said softly. She reached a hand up to cup his face before it fell as if for a moment, she had forgotten he wasn’t here and then reality hit. Alex watched her eyes trace Michael’s body, catching briefly on his tight grip of Alex’s hand. “You’re alive. And healthy.” She beamed at them.

“We’re not really here,” Michael started to explain, his voice dripping with unspoken apologies.

She shook her head. “I know. You won’t have long. What do you need?”

“I’m not really sure, something about accessing a consul. We found Jones-“

“He’s still alive?” Nora asked suddenly, eyes snapping to Michael’s.

“He was in pod, like ours, hidden away.”

“You stay away from him,” Nora demanded. Her voice took on a sharp edge to it. “He’s a stowaway who took a dangerous stance in the war on Antar and I don’t want you near him.”

“I don’t really understand that, but, well. That’s what I’m trying to say. When we woke up, we didn’t remember anything from before. Jones said that you can give me some psychic link to trigger my memories with the consul he was found with?”

Alex saw Nora’s face crumble before she could steady it. “It unlocks with a psychic connection that’s tied to me. I can transfer it to you.” She reached out a hand, palm up. “Hover your hand about mine,” she directed.

With a glance towards Alex, he placed his hand palm down above Nora’s and both their hands light up with the same faint, iridescent orange and purple that the ship pieces glowed with. After a few tense seconds, the colors faded.

“It’s done,” she announced, taking her hand away.

Michael followed suit.

“Rath - “

Alex tilted his head.

“- listen to me. This is for you and only you, alright? Get your memories back but you can’t give it to Jones,” she implored, a hint of a scowl (a very familiar scowl, Alex noted) appearing when she said his name.

Alex’s watch beeped. One-minute warning.

Michael looked at him, eyes suddenly frantic. Not enough time. It won’t ever be.

“Rath?” Michael’s voice was small, timid.

Nora didn’t seem to know what to say to that. “Yes? That’s you. That’s your name. Do you,” she trailed off. “What do you go by?”

He swallowed. “Michael.”

She repeated the word a few times as if she was feeling it out.

“There’s 3 of us,” he continued, “Isobel, Max, and I.”

“Vilandra.” She was blinking, rapidly. Blinking away tears? “And the other. Zan.”

“Rath,” Michael repeated.

Nora looked at Alex properly for the first time since they’d arrived. “And you?”

Michael had her eyes, Alex noticed. They shared the same shine when they smiled.

The unexpected question seemed to shock them both into silence.

“This is Alex. I love him, Mom. So much.” Michael answered the question with confidence, the first Alex had seen since waking up here.

Alex let his grin show. It was his Michael again, emerging from this shell he had climbed into roughly six and a half minutes ago.

Michael had dropped Alex’s hand earlier when Nora asked for it. Now, he took it again.

“Manes, Alex Manes,” Alex said again. He winced, realizing what he had said. The first thing he does when he officially meets the love of his life’s long dead mother is copy James Bond?

“I see,” Nora said softly.

“I’m Harlan’s grandson,” Alex answered her unspoken question. “I don’t agree with his values.”

“I can see that,” Nora said with a wink, motioning towards their hands. She flattened her hands over her skirt. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Alex Manes. I’m Michael’s mother, Nora.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am.” Looking over at Michael, he didn’t think either of their faces could smile any bigger or brighter.

His watch beeped again. “30 seconds,” he said apologetically. And they’d have to go or risk getting stuck here or Mimi getting hurt.

“I understand.” Nora took a step closer and placed her hand over Michael’s chest. Had he really been here, they’d be touching. “Michael, I’m so glad you’re safe. It’s all I’ve been worried about for a year and to know that you survive, and you’re healthy and loved is a blessing I will treasure, even if I don’t remember it for long.”

“You see me again,” Michael choked out. “Right before…”

Nora placed a finger over his mouth and shushed him. “I wish I could’ve been with you and raised you, watched you grow up into this handsome young man. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be. Know that I fought for you. You go and be the amazing, intelligent, compassionate boy I know you to be. I love you, dear heart.”

Michael choked back a sob. “I love you too, Mom.”

Nora looked to Alex. “You’ll keep him safe, now.”

“With my life,” Alex agreed.

“I’m glad he found his family,” she said softly. “Time for you to go then. I have a pumpkin contest to win.” She put on a brave face and gave them a wink.

“I’m not ready for you to leave, Mom,” Michael cried, reaching out to her.

“I know baby. I’m not ready to leave. But parents never are, and it’s the job of the kids to keep going.”

BeepBeepBeep. BeepBeepBeep.

Alex cut the sound off quickly.

“I assume that means it’s time for you to go?” Nora supposed.

Alex nodded.

“I can’t be here when you do,” Nora said, backing up to the edge of the hay wall sealing them off from the rest of the crowd. “I love you, Rath.” Alex caught Michael’s shoulder, wrapping him in his arms as the figure walking away from them faded from view.

He let Michael hold onto him for a few seconds before placing his hands on either side of Michael’s face and pressing their foreheads together, both their eyes clamped shut. “Baby, we gotta go,” he whispered.

A shaky breath. Then a nod against his head.

An orange glow filled Alex’s vision. He squeezed his eyes shut as the light built and the sounds of the festival faded away. The sound of his own heavy breathing filled his ears. The feeling of Michael’s stubble under hand was gone, as if it somehow faded beside neither of them moving.

Alex didn’t dare move his hands despite not feeling anything under them. Michael hasn’t moved – if he had, Alex wouldn’t be able to go back – and letting go might mean Michael losing his anchor.

The light dimmed.

This was his part. He had to ground himself in his body - without actually returning to it – and then link himself to Michael so he could return as well.

Without opening his eyes, he turned his attention to his other senses. He could feel the damp, cool atmosphere of the cave against his skin and rock digging into places where he remembered it when he laid down. His prosthetic was just slightly digging into the top of his leg from laying down with it on for too long. He could hear muffled speaking, though he couldn’t distinguish it as any specific person or words.

He focused his attention on his right hand, the one that was supposed to be in Michael’s. He remembered the feeling of warmth against his arm, the places the hair would tickle against the crock of his elbow, and the way Michael’s thumb always caught on his finger when they held hands in bed.

And then Michael was squeezing his hand and he flung his eyes open and the room erupted in his ears.

Alex tightened his arms and rolled over, slowly pulling away from Michael’s sleeping body on the other side of the bed.

It had been a hell of a day. But as exhausted as Alex’s body felt (it turns out that time walking with borrowed alien superpowers took a toll. Who knew?), he couldn’t get his mind to catch up.

As soon as they got back, everyone had begun yelling, wanting to know if they were okay (Liz and Max), how seeing Nora was (Isobel), and if Michael got what he needed to access the consul (Jones). Isobel and Max had taken to learning their birth names with as much grace as one could when said names are delivered through their time traveling brother’s conversation with his dead mother seventy years in the past. Jones had wanted Michael to try and get his memories right then and there, but it turns out that the seven and a half minutes in 1948 equated to seven and a half hours in 2020.

Liz’s calculations had been right for Michael and Alex’s part, but she hadn’t factored in the time dilation. After the initial panic when nine minutes past and they didn’t wake up, but Mimi’s vitals held steady, Liz and Kyle figured it out pretty quickly.

And god, they’d been exhausted. Alex had been about to kill over where he stood. The only thing that kept him standing was his training and knowing that Michael was just as tired, only with acetone substituting for military experience.

He had never been happier to be in his own bed. With Michael too. He had persuaded Michael to come with him instead of going to his airstream, claiming if Michael wouldn’t come to Alex, he’d have to go to him and the bed there would make his already hurting leg worse.

He had gotten a dirty look for it but getting to be here, now, the mop of curls he’d cuddled to sleep peeking out from under the comforter?

He didn’t mind all that much.

Alex stared at the ceiling fan spinning above him in the dark. As soon as they could leave that cave, they’d had. Stopped by the Crashdown for to-go food and eaten it in bed while watching Animal Planet on Disney Plus.

They hadn’t talked about those seven and a half minutes yet, him and Michael. Alex wouldn’t blame Michael if he never wanted to acknowledge them again. They didn’t need to talk about the bad things to understand.

But Nora wasn’t a bad memory. She’d been good. She’d been great.

He supposes, in a few days when the wound wasn’t so raw, when they were cuddling in the dark, blissed out after sex, Michael would talk about it.

And he would listen.

See it on AO3

#alexweek2020 #roswell new mexico #alexappreciation2020 #malex #alex manes #michael guerin #roswellnm #roswell nm #rnm #fic #malex fic #my writing #ao3 #alicewrites

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microsoftenterpriselibrary4 · 4 years

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Microsoft Teams covers 75M daily active customers, as Zoom readjusts its very own user numbers

Personalized histories for Teams video calls are now generally available, as is a capability for meeting coordinators to immediately "finish conference" by clicking a switch in the control bar, Microsoft announced last week. By the end of April, Microsoft is guaranteeing that Groups will certainly support up to 9 noticeable participants at once on video clip phone calls. A photo shared by Microsoft suggests Groups will certainly have a 3 x 3 grid for viewing 9 participants all at once. Digital meeting devices make it possible for individuals to interact socially, function, as well as team up in powerful as well as new means. The University of Denver uses 2 video clip partnership sources to its community.

Do you have concerns regarding Zoom or do you want to experience Zoom Meetings as well as Zoom Room yourself? Contact our video professionals totally free advice and a presentation. A boosting variety of organizations utilize Zoom as their interaction and partnership solution. Microsoft clients utilizing Skype for Organisation are compelled to reconsider this selection as Microsoft introduced to terminate Skype for Organisation in favour of Teams in 2020.

Guests have the ability to see what they appear like as well as can turn off their microphone and also transform their cam on or off prior to telephoning. Google's user-friendly control can scroll through video streams of speaking individuals, as well as advise you that you are mute if you talk without switching on your microphone. Beneficial attributes consist of presenting the 10 most active participants along with the ability to send out text messages by means of the interface. Zoom Fulfilling offers you information concerning the connection of all participants in the call.

Nevertheless, the business has responded quickly by adding waiting space functionality so participants can be screened plus added verification and also security actions. Microsoft Teams is an all-in-one workstream partnership service which incorporates with Office365. With numerous organizations already using O365, Groups becomes an appealing option as it enables durable interior cooperation, back-ups, and documents share. On the various other hand, Zoom is an attractive choice for external partnerships.

For instance, during a current tiny group telephone call, among my individuals linked from a mobile device using 4G. When his link was secure, I saw a collection of white bars suggesting the toughness of his connection in the reduced left edge of his video. Zoom Satisfying has an one-of-a-kind participant reporting function that checks all participants that reported throughout the conference. Google recently revealed that it will certainly enable free access to numerous video conferencing and communication tools for schools and also companies till September 30, 2020, which relates to all G Suite consumers worldwide. Microsoft lately facilitated the screening of Groups and also their different functions during the pandemic.

It is fascinating to note the convenience with which the workers have used the system and browsed via it on their own," states B. Ghosh, CIO, enterprise as well as corp functions, Mahindra Team, which has been making use of Microsoft Teams because the lockdown started in March. Ms. Jenelle says there's a performative element to videoconferencing, which includes in her very own exhaustion. She really feels as though she always needs to be "on" while joining a virtual meetings, given that she understands other people are watching her.

While there is some function overlap between the solutions, every one has its own specialized. This file will certainly aid assist you to the best device for your needs. Teams aids organisations to interact more effectively through team chat, on the internet meetings, calling, and also web conferencing.

The VP doesn't mention Zoom by name, but this seems an initiative by Microsoft to promote Teams as a safer, much more protected alternative to Zoom. The Redmond firm says it logged 200 million meeting participants in someday this month. Teams is consisted of with Microsoft 365 memberships for companies, and firms need to upgrade to greater versions of those strategies to unlock advanced functions of the program, such as video telephone calls.

It's likewise protection against Zoom-crashing harassers, as well as it's good that the firm is moving in this direction. Zoom claimed it's now concentrating a lot more on its safety as well as re-evaluating the balance in between protection as well as simplicity of usage. While Skype's Meet Now supplies a grid sight, Zoom lets you see approximately 49 people simultaneously, in sets of huge 5x5 grids (attempting to figure it out? Right here's just how to see everyone on Zoom).

The business states you can call your local Microsoft companion or sales agent as well as secure free access to Office 365 E1 prepare for a duration of 6 months. For institutions and establishments, the Workplace 365 will stay complimentary to all.

We provide reducing edge, tailored IT options as well as IT support and maintenance to ensure your organisation IT set-up is as efficient, reliable, and fast as possible. Connect with us to learn more regarding our solutions or to arrange a consultation with among our knowledgeable IT experts. Group video, screen sharing, and also telephone calls are still limited to teams of 20 or fewer. So go on, begin planning that shock workplace party with the new, larger team conversation. Whether in the space or across a sea, Groups as well as the Microsoft Surface area Hub interact to improve conferences for neighborhood and remote attendees.

Is Microsoft Team free?

The free version of Microsoft Teams only allows you to have up to 300 members (users) per organization. Paid plans, meanwhile, up that up to a potentially unlimited amount of members, with an enterprise license.

A guide to requirements as well as functions of the leading three video clip conferencing apps. To date, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and also Cisco Webex have outweighed Google Meet and its predecessor brands, amongst businesses and companies. Introduced in 2017 as Hangouts Meet, it included a videoconferencing extension of the Google Hangouts conversation and also voice communications device. It has actually preserved a solid following among pupils and also for customers.

They can simply develop a web link and send it to loved ones as an invitation to join the video clip telephone call. The participants open the web link in Microsoft Side or Google Chrome, and also they are "in" the call. In this Vlog we take a look at Zoom vs Microsoft Teams to identify the most effective alternative for video conferencing. K2 Technologies is aMicrosoft Workplace 365 Partnerwith almost twenty years of experience assisting businesses make use of modern technology to its fullest potential.

Microsoft assumes individuals who prepare trips with friends or organize book clubs and also social gatherings will be interested in Teams. Alexa ranking https://mnetworks.dk/om-os-2/social-ansvarlighed-csr/ 21 (As of 22 April 2020 [update] Zoom Video Clip Communications, Inc. (Zoom) is an American communications modern technology company headquartered in San Jose, The Golden State. It provides videotelephony and also online chat solutions via a cloud-based peer-to-peer software application system as well as is utilized for teleconferencing, telecommuting, correspondence course, and social relationships. If your video clip gets on during a conference with several participants, it instantly presents to all individuals, including on your own. If you hide on your own, your own video clip screen disappears from your display, leaving even more room to see other participants.

Among the best features of this is that it sustains as much as 250 participants in a telephone call, that makes it useful for big conferences. You can additionally live-stream conferences to up to 100,000 people, helpful for bigger ventures attempting to reach huge groups. The base prepare for Zoom consists of a host limitation of 100 individual, endless 1 to 1 conferences and team conferences yet a 40-minute limit on conferences with 3 or even more individuals in them. Shutterstock is another popular graphics web site giving free backgrounds to personalize Zoom and also Skype telephone calls.

It's additionally worth noting that cloud storage space is limited, so be careful how many conferences you document while utilizing the mobile app. The business has made several moves to counter these problems and also assure users about the value of protection and also privacy. This includes basic points like removing the conference ID from the title bar of the phone call so if customers share screenshots on-line the meeting isn't revealed to future misuse. If your system manager has a Pro, Business, or Venture account, you can authorize up and download Zoom onto your computer system using your work email.

Furthermore, it has to be stated that Groups takes rather a great deal of time to set up, so bear that in mind. Microsoft Teams allows you share Workplace documents and service them immediately from the work area. Slack doesn't included the option of modifying papers from the work area, so you need to download documents as well as open them in certain applications to edit them. The most important thing to recognize is that Slack's dimension restriction for submitting is 1GB, while Microsoft Teams is covered at 15GB. We really did not bother to inspect these numbers and upload gigantic files-- we were extra interested in exactly how you can collaborate in these apps.

How do you see everyone on Zoom?

Now, a report by Bleeping Computer claims that half a million Zoom accounts have been hacked and the data from these accounts have been sold on the dark web. These Zoom account credentials reportedly included email address, meeting URLs, passwords, and HostKeys.

Google has claimed it will certainly offer Hangouts components as separate customer services, such as Chat, Messages and also Duo. " Due to the fact that video conferences have never ever been more vital, we've been fast-tracking one of the most requested features for Meet, and also are currently making them offered to all," composed G Suite VP and also GM Javier Soltero in a blog. Google Meet now has a tiled gallery view with a format that currently supports 16 participants, up from just four. They can likewise now pick better video clip by switching to the 30 frameworks per-second video mode choice.

Just like in a routine Teams meetings, you can now include your system audio when offering in an online occasion. Presently, this attribute is only available for producers and presenters signing up with from the Teams desktop computer application for Windows.

No Wire Necessary-- Security & Safety And Security In A Wireless World.

allows individuals to satisfy in person from a desktop, laptop, mobile device or video clip conferencing endpoint. It utilizes the trusted Cisco infrastructure and incorporates with Webex Teams as well as with various other famous suppliers such as Microsoft. Meanwhile, in Italy, service applications like Google's Hangouts Meet and also Classroom were one of the most downloaded and install of any classification of apps this week. Do you know when this feature for Microsoft Teams Room Equipments to join Webex and Zoom conferences will be released? Older Cisco rooms will certainly have the ability to join Microsoft Teams Meetings by means of Cisco's forthcoming CVI service.

To try it out in your next meeting, press Ctrl+ to zoom in as well as Ctrl- to zoom out. Create a welcome web link to invite people to join your org on Teams free by means of the app of your selection. When they click on the web link they'll be sent out to a webpage to demand to join your org-- so you know specifically that's utilizing the web link to join.

Microsoft is additionally coming out with versions of Teams for personal and also family usage. Microsoft has seen a 775 percent rise in cloud solutions across areas that have implemented social distancing because of COVID-19.

Is Zoom owned by Google?

Microsoft originally acquired Skype for $8.5 billion back in 2011. It was the same year that Zoom and Snapchat were founded, and Apple launched its iPhone 4S.

IT specialists can likewise access Microsoft Teams also if their firm is not certified for Groups. They can call their Microsoft companion or sales representatives for free access to the Workplace 365 E1 plan for 6 months.

So, we decided to submit an 800MB video clip documents in Microsoft Teams to give it a shot. To our surprise, the documents not just opened promptly yet likewise played within Microsoft Teams-- very impressive. It's even more budget-friendly than Slack or Microsoft Teams while providing advanced attributes such as endless message history and also sound and also video clip calls. To cut the story short, the least expensive Workplace 365 Strategy that has Teams in it is called Service Basics. It costs $5 per user per month and you need to buy a yearly strategy to get going.

Within this contrast, I want to look closer at both what these tools supply, however how the tools and also their organization result in an inevitably various platform emphasis. As an example, Microsoft Teams appears to master Office 365 based cooperation, meanwhile, Webex Teams is an incredible virtual conference system with digital whiteboarding, in addition to a concentrate on equipment. But it is essential to acknowledge what solutions as well as Office applications your service get to based upon the strategy selected. As an example, even the Free offering of Microsoft Teams provides access to shadow variations of preferred Workplace Apps, however none other services or downloadable versions of the software application. With more individuals, even more files, more conferences, more cooperation, a lot more video clip meetings, more whatever; larger companies merely need the tools to deal with and also facilitate this higher degree of cooperation and emphasis.

What is the difference between zoom and teams?

Through the Microsoft Teams Zoom Meetings tab, you will be able to start, schedule, join meetings, or share your screen. Meetings created in Teams will automatically appear on your Zoom account. This article covers installing, configuring and using the Zoom integration for Microsoft Teams.

It's a little on the expensive side but they just recently expanded their product to currently supply display sharing and also video conferencing. Google Hangouts is our pick for best video conferencing software application for small teams. The web video clip variation is called Google Hangouts as well as is what our group makes use of at We Rock Your Internet. When it comes to on the internet conference solutions, we contrast the ideal video conferencing software application and also review why some of the most identifiable companies might not be your finest option.

This is in fact cheaper than Slack's most affordable strategy (Conventional), which costs $6.67 per individual per month when billed every year. It makes the price much extra eye-catching when you take into consideration the truth that $5 invested on Microsoft Teams additionally provides you access to Workplace 365. Nonetheless, if you intend to get the most out of Microsoft Teams and also Slack, you'll need to obtain a paid strategy. In Microsoft Tools, that suggests that you require to have an account that is either Business Premium or Essentials.

As preferred and as useful Zoom has been for many organisations, the safety and personal privacy elements are still not there. Microsoft Teams transcends in the feeling that due to it's association with Office 365, there are added methods to increase your standard protection. Password freshens, credibility symbols and 2 element verification process-- Zoom just can not compete with these extra levels of safety.

According to Microsoft, people in Norway and also the Netherlands turn on video clip as well as use it the most, with about 60% of conferences in the country including video clip. Right here in the United States, the number is about 38%, and in the UK, it has to do with 47%. Microsoft Teams currently has attributes that assist make video talking easier, and extra get on the means. That currently includes history blur, which helps conceal your background during a telephone call.

You can manage whether to hide or reveal yourself in your own video clip display screen for each conference. As an existing Skype for Organisation client, the full shift to Groups may take a little time. Thankfully, the overlapping capabilities of both apps imply you do not need to do it at one time-- there are a couple of different conjunction as well as upgrade settings to consider when selecting your personal course to migration. Although Groups takes much of its DNA from Skype for Business, both are really various solutions. When you placed them side-by-side-- Microsoft Teams vs Skype for Service-- you'll see that Teams provides a lot more, bringing together files, talks, and also applications in one area for a much more full, integrated cooperation remedy.

Why is teams better than Skype?

According to a recent Forrester study, shared workspaces like Teams can save users timeâ€”from one to eight hours per user per week, depending on their role. The wins from making the Skype for Business upgrade to Teams are clear: faster, more efficient working and collaboration.

Though Microsoft Teams as well as Skype for Organisation does differ, there is some considerable overlap. Both Skype for Company as well as Microsoft Teams include team chats, straight messaging, and voice calling. Though Microsoft Teams initially really did not have the calling capability that Skype did, it still had both voice chat and video clip calling functionality.

After that you ought to leave the conference, if you're not using Skype to meet with a person. Then it won't utilize a lot information and also you don't need to bother with the video/audio quality while you're not in a conference. Webex has unrestricted free meetings for up to 3 individuals and offers the premium includes complimentary for 2 week.

Still, it's improving all the time, and is certainly something to try if you are taking a look at an alternative to Zoom. Jitsiis a extremely cool and safe open resource app that's recently launched to the marketplace.

As several churches relied on Zoom for live-streaming, Sunday morning ended up being prime-time show for a vital group of Zoom individuals. The largest customer of teleconferencing is India Inc, which began its fiscal and also established targets with a flurry of web conferences. " We have done greater than 350,000 conferences, greater than 60 events with hundreds of individuals in each.

For large range company meetings with coworkers or calls with numerous good friends, Zoom for desktop is the only sensible choice. Free Zoom supplies video conferencing for approximately 100 individuals, supplied the conference competes no more than 40 mins, at which point guests are ejected from the meeting. If you don't mind the headache of dialling back in, though, the host can merely begin another telephone

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weshallneverrevolt · 4 years

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In-Home Streaming, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Couch

I’m a longtime PC gamer for many reasons. Yes, there’s the snob factor: PC games can look better than consoles almost all of the time. But it’s also because of the customizability. You pick your framerate, your resolution, your graphical settings. But you also own a machine, not an appliance: you learn its quirks, its inner workings. It’s something you take care of. For an enthusiast, a custom built computer is like a tailored suit.

And yet, there’s something I have missed for a long time: gaming on the couch.

Couch gaming is how I grew up. Huddled with friends around a tiny TV and N64, controllers in hand, shouting and laughing. Or leaned back in a chair with a cold soda, savoring every moment of a lengthy Final Fantasy cutscene. An office chair just isn’t the same. It’s rigid and harsh. It says “at attention,” not “relax.” It was the antithesis of my ideal gaming experience.

But after I got my PC, I never bought a console. For one, I couldn’t afford them. In college my money was precious, and my computer – already cobbled together from low-end or used parts – was expensive enough to maintain. The idea of dropping hundreds on a console and proper television was out of the question.

As an adult with more disposable income and now a home of my own – complete with an awesome living room my wife put together – I wanted to have that experience again. But my budget-mindedness and graphical snobbery hadn’t changed, and my PC was upstairs on the other side of the house. What to do?

I wanted couch gaming. And I managed to get it without buying a console or moving my PC to the living room thanks to a hugely underappreciated technology: in-home streaming. Here I’ll share what I’ve learned, discuss setups, and evangelize one of the coolest tech tricks I’ve discovered in homeownership.

What is In-Home Streaming?

You’ve probably heard of Google Stadia, Google’s uh…interesting new streaming game service. The basic idea is that your console isn’t in your living room. Instead, it’s located in a Google datacenter, which streams the game as a video through the internet. It sort of works, with the hiccups you’d expect with streaming a game over the internet: lag, input delay, graphical glitches. It’s like having very, very long HDMI and USB cords.

In-home streaming is basically that, but in your house. With the distance being just a few rooms instead of across state lines, latency becomes much less of an issue. It finally gives PC gamers the one thing we were missing: the couch.

Because it encodes video in real-time, in-home video streaming is a pretty new technology, and it requires certain hardware and software. The two dominant solutions are Steam and Moonlight, and they’re different in important ways.

Steam Remote Play

Steam Remote Play is by far the simplest method. For one, it integrates directly with Steam, so there is no complicated setup. Just install Steam on both devices, boot em up and you’re good to go. It pairs well with Steam’s “Big Picture” interface for a console-like experience.

Steam streaming also runs on just about anything, including very small computers like a Raspberry Pi. This is because it uses H.264 encoding, a standard that has been around for a long time. Just about any computer made since 2008 can play H.264 video, meaning that your old laptop or a $25 PC from Goodwill can be turned into a stream machine. Encoding H.264 on the host machine also has little performance cost.

Where Steam hits a limit is in resolution. Steam can only stream games at the resolution they use on your native monitor. So if your computer monitor is 1080p, you can’t play in 4K when it’s streamed to your TV. You can go lower resolution, which is fine if you’re streaming to some laptop screens.

Steam works with all Xbox controllers, as well as the Dual Shock 4 through DS4Windows.

Moonlight

Moonlight is what I use for in-home streaming. It’s an open-source implementation of NVidia’s “GameStream” technology, originally developed for their Shield devices. My main PC has a GTX 1070, which supports GameStream.

Moonlight has a number of significant advantages over Steam. For me, the most important is its ability to stream in a different resolution than your desktop. So while my desktop monitor is 1080p, I can play games in native 4K on my TV set! For newer games that my PC can’t run at full 4K, I use NVidia’s dynamic super resolution feature to run at 1440p or another resolution, then upscale it to 4K.

GameStream can also encode in HEVC, a cutting-edge video codec that offers superior quality with lower bandwidth. There’s virtually no artifacting, and colors usually look better than with Steam streaming. There is also HDR support. Because HEVC is lower bandwidth, it’s also ideal for wi-fi streaming.

If you’ve been keeping up with all the NVidia mentions, you’ve probably figured out the most significant drawback of Moonlight: hardware exclusivity. GameStream can only encode certain NVidia graphics cards. For instance, the 10-series locks GameStream to the 1050ti or higher, so budget gamers with a 1030 or 1050 are out of luck. Good news is that the receiving PC can run non-nVidia graphics.

GameStream also supports H.264, but for HEVC you need more powerful hardware on the receiving end. So while any old shitty laptop could stream with Steam, it would choke on HEVC.

Moonlight has the same controller support as Steam.

My Setup

When I first built my setup, I set a few standards:

4K, 60 frames per second

Option for “upscaled” 4K similar to the PS4 Pro/XB1X

4K Blu-ray quality HEVC (around 100mbps bitrate)

Quiet

An unobtrusive look, like a home theater appliance

A hard-wired setup for low latency

Less than a week after we moved in, I hard-wired my house for internet. I ran an Ethernet cable all the way from my office, through the garage, under my crawlspace and into my living room. I then crimped the ends (badly) and installed a wall outlet in my office (barely.) If I were to do this now, I’d buy a pre-made 200-300ft CAT6 cable on Amazon and just run that. That said, my cable still works for what I need.

For my streaming PC, I knew that I had to go small form factor. The credenza in my living room didn’t have space for a full-size PC, and the aesthetic of most of those would offend my non-gamer wife. I considered building one, but most SFF hardware is targeted at enthusiasts and so doesn’t come cheap.

But small form factor PCs have a particular application: offices. When offices dump their old hardware, you can get it for almost nothing. I found just such a deal on reddit’s /r/buildapcsales for a Lenovo ThinkCentre m58p, refurbished from Staples for $20 shipped. It was small, simply designed, and not too flashy. But it is from 2008, and needed a few cheap upgrades:

I swapped out the dual-core E8400 processor for a quad-core Q9400 I had on hand.

I replaced the loud, slow hard drive with a small, cheap ADATA SU635 solid state drive.

For my quiet living room setting, I also replaced the cooling fan with a high-quality Noctua model.

But chief among these upgrades was a graphics card. This PC, being more than a little old, could not play HEVC video without specialized hardware. And it had to be silent, not require much power, and be able to fit inside this small case.

So I turned to the NVidia GT 1030, specifically the MSI low profile silent model. Targeted at home theater PCs and poor gamers, the GT 1030 is not gonna blow anyone’s socks off. But it does 4K, and it does HEVC, and it does all of this over HDMI so it plugs straight into my TV with no issues. One quirk with my model is that the heatsink didn’t fit in my unusual case, so I had to take a hacksaw to it.

For a truly 1%er experience, I wanted to be able to start my upstairs PC remotely. That way when I want to play, I don’t even have to walk up there. For this I used an Android app called Unified Remote, which allows you to remotely control a computer from a phone. Unified Remote is free, but I bought the premium version with Play Rewards points.

The Value Question

Let’s get the first question out of the way: if a NVidia Shield is $150, why not just buy that? A few reasons:

It has hard-wired ethernet. No matter how good your wifi is, hard-wired is better.

Moonlight’s interface is more flexible than the Shield’s.

This also runs YouTube with a full keyboard remote for easier searches.

I can install a Blu-ray player at some point, if I choose.

I can emulate many games on the living room PC; the GT 1030 is great for that.

It runs party games like Jackbox just fine.

This is more fun.

So let’s run a tally. I’m not counting the hard-wiring, since I needed that for my office computer anyway.

The PC itself: $20

GT 1030: $75

Noctua 92mm fan: $15

Bluetooth receiver: $10

SSD: $15

Q9400: free to me, but you can get one on eBay for like $10

So for $135 – less than a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X – I get 4K couch gaming at higher framerates and higher settings. And for certain games, like Overwatch or Cities: Skylines, I still have a killer keyboard and mouse setup.

You can easily make this cheaper, especially if you use Steam and aim for 1080p instead of 4K. A Raspberry Pi – around $60 with accessories – can do 1080p Steam streaming flawlessly. Most Intel CPUs made after 2011 can decode H.264 without a graphics card, and the 6000 series and higher can even decode HEVC. You could also go for a GT 1030 with a fan, which are usually cheaper.

So How’s It Perform?

In short: great!

I’ve played everything from The Outer Worlds to Slay the Spire to Rocket League on my streaming setup, and they all work perfectly. Sekiro – which requires extremely precise inputs – does suffer a bit from the input lag, but I can’t detect lag with most games. Visual quality is excellent with very little loss in color saturation. You will notice artifacting on grass or leaves when you’re up close, but this is less visible at 1440p or higher.

I would not play competitive games on a streaming setup. The only one I play seriously is Overwatch, and there is definitely a difference in my performance when streaming. Competitive first-person shooters also suck to play on a controller, and a proper couch desk is not an investment I’m prepared to make.

Be prepared to tweak graphical settings if you’re shooting for 4K on most setups, as the video encoding does have a slight performance cost. This is not true for older games; Dark Souls and Dishonored run at a locked 4K and 60fps. For modern games, Forza Horizon 5 runs at 1800p on High, and Resident Evil 2 is smooth as silk at 1440p.

One final tip: if you’re streaming over wi-fi, be prepared to make some compromises. I would stick to 1080p to avoid lag, or do 4K only on HEVC with lower visual quality. Also streaming basically requires 5ghz wifi, so if you have an old router you should probably cut back to 720p.

So that’s in-home streaming! If you’re already a PC gamer, it’s an affordable and easy way to achieve a console-like experience. Feel free to DM me with any questions you have about hardware or software setup.

#tech #gaming #streaming #in-home streaming #remote play #steam #moonlight #nvidia #gamestream #hardware #pc gaming #couch gaming

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ariadne-rx300-blog · 5 years

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(R)e:volution

Summary: The RX300, arguably the most elusive design of Elijah Kamski's creation. An undisclosed prototype tasked with human-android relations espionage, equipped with a real-time observational UI, social protocol, combat tactics and looks to kill. How does a painted genius so easily lose track of his own spy? (Android OC/Connor)

Additional Tags: Pre-Deviant Connor, Pre-Android Revolution, OC backstory, Mostly Canon Compliant, Elijah Kamski has ulterior motives, OC is Kamski’s surveillance android, sort of like when people say Google is listening to your conversations, she’s kind of like that, OC observes Connor at work, for “observational research purposes”, this totally isn’t one of those types of romances, except it totally is, probably, Drama & Romance, Fluff and Angst, Deviant Love, Connor Deserves Happiness, Big Brother is Watching

Link to Chapter 1

2 || At Any Cost

Chapter Summary: "What makes me what I am?”

RX300 #151 073 925 - 21

Awaken, fair Eve, skin as alabaster in the light of an artificial moon. The Garden has unfinished business with you.

AUGUST 15TH 2038

P a r a d i s e

As dusk fell, Kamski's simulated arboretum[1] had taken on an ethereal light, jarring in Eve's vision as she stepped forward into inverted god-rays on the rocky path. One foot in front of the other, she pushed past glowing plants with fronds brushing synthetic skin, tickling her cheek had she been capable of the sensation. Her LED spun blue in the simulated darkness, displaying her calm distance from that which was subjectively beautiful. The pathway before her formed itself slowly but steadily, illuminated by her steps as she went with her main directive in mind.

He stood on a pedestal in this dreamscape, arm extended as he stroked a large paintbrush across a previously-incorporeal canvas, hues of blue forming on the pillar before him, contrasting the inverse nature of the world around them.

"Elijah," Eve addressed him, simulated breaths expressed in glittering plumes. He paused, a smile passing over his features as he set his idle painting aside. Stepping from his pedestal and down to her level, he regarded her with the kind of consideration that could only be expected of a man in constant search of answers.

"Eve." He hummed as he approached, eyes glimmering curiously, "I've been closely watching your work. As you're already aware, you are equipped with the latest observational technology--in particular, an interface that I as your sole director may obtain oversight of at any time." She stood still as he circled her contemplatively, her face fixed forward, expression unchanged. "You are my eyes. Anywhere that you can go, I can go. It is a great gift, but one we must hide."

She blinked like a child with tired eyes to his lecturing. He placed his hands upon her shoulders, reaching just a bit taller than his own, his eyebrows rising and falling as he processed her rigid response to his grasp. "Your task is of great importance to me," He gently chided, "to my company. To the world, inevitably. The information we need is imperative to the advancement of human history."

"I understand," she spoke deliberately, "it is my purpose to uphold the expectations you have for me. I am designed to impress, not disappoint." Words fit for the ears of her creator. He'd programmed her well enough to give him adequate lip service, even in the event of a miscalculation or subsequent error.

"Good," He grinned, heaving a sigh that seemed to betray his outright confidence in her abilities. "At the moment, I believe I have an urgent case worth looking into." He stepped backward, finding his place among the luminescence of simulated flowers, turning on his heel and spreading his arms wide. His hands closed, fingers splaying to conjure a transparent monitor in the space before him. Pictures and videos flooded the screen, as well as various taglines heading the articles that surfaced on its intangible display.

Eve surveyed the images, poised to take in only the details that would be deemed necessary. A prominent variable caught her attention and easily debunked this mentality, however; an android detective, purportedly on active duty in the same location, its[2] conventionally approachable appearance wavering in the ether.

"I've arranged transportation, your alibi has been forwarded to you. The authorization you'll need has just been cleared by the DPD. Survey the crime scene, and keep an eye--" Elijah gestured vaguely to the enlarged image of the android in question, "--on that one. Take note of its actions. Don't let anyone onto your motive. This is strictly confidential observational research."

New Objective Received.

A wave of sensory overload flooded Eve, causing her eyes to harshly blink open. Blueish, bruised moonlight caressed her arm where she stood at a large, arched window looking out over broken waves. CyberLife Tower. The room that greeted her was more or less a glorified walk-in closet, complete with an array of outfits fit to dress both androids and humans--or, in the case of Eve on covert occasions, androids posing as humans. This mission required as such, seeing as the DPD wouldn't take kindly to any android apart from the obvious showing up to observe an active deviant threat.

Tensions had risen so quickly, with curious attachment to the Detroit area. It made sense that Kamski would be so adamant about attempting to frame deviancy from every angle, as had been Eve's clear goal since her inception. Being unable to show up to a crime scene himself without flags being raised by reporters and by the American public as a whole--this was why he'd been so determined on sending her instead. On the outside, he'd declared his apparent resignment long ago, secluded himself away from the public eye for sake of personal privacy.

On the inside, he still headed the operation, pulling strings where needed and providing his legacy with the occasional adjustment; new amendments to his original formula where necessary. If he couldn't be where the action was to see for himself, at least he could have someone to act in his stead. In this case, something with the power to act as his inside source, his live feed.

AUGUST 15TH 2038

T h e P h i l l i p s ' R e s i d e n c e

Exiting the taxi had proven a hassle in itself. Eve moved through the throng of people who had gathered at the perimeter, buzzing with curious minds and excitable conversation over the active threat that was taking place high above them. The entrance of the apartment building burst open to reveal a disgruntled police officer holding a woman securely by the arm, escorting her through the flickering line of holographic police tape. She struggled frantically, and Eve saw her chance to move past personnel as the woman began to wail, much to the morbid curiosity of the gathered crowd.

"It has my child!" She bawled, "If you aren't going to save her, let me do it myself!"

Slipping into the complex and onto the elevator with ease, Eve ascended to the 70th floor. She prepared herself, armed only with words (to angle herself away from suspicion), a convincing ID (to provide evidence of the truth to her lies), a pen and notebook (to act as decoys; she had no real use for them aside from aiding her disguise), and an olivine polyester jacket (an aesthetic touch tailored to enhance her visual impression.) With some luck, the attention would be on the event at hand and not on her sudden, mysterious appearance.

She entered the luxury suite's foyer, casting her gaze around in silent surveillance. A framed photograph of the once-happy family to her right, a partly-drained aquarium to her left, shot-up yet still intact. On closer inspection, a single dwarf gourami swam within, unfazed by the circumstances that had befallen the household. The water that clung to her heels indicated the fish had recently been lying on the floor, leading to the conclusion that someone had carefully put it back in its rightful place. No human fingerprints... an android had saved it. Strange.

"Excuse me, miss, may I see your ID?" A prompt, as expected. Given the importance of the current events taking place across the country, DPD was sure to have the place on lockdown. What had once been a family home had turned into a crucial, currently-escalating case of deviancy.

Eve regarded the officer that questioned her, the woman's face drawn into a deeper emotion beyond her recognition. Eve shuffled in her jacket pockets, preserving her disguise as she put on a ruse of human forgetfulness. She 'found' her fake license soon after and proffered it to the officer, "I'm a journalist with Detroit Today," she lied, smiling with about as much excitement as she could simulate. "this is my first big break!"

The policewoman breathed out a sardonic laugh, "This is my first big case, too." Eve's expression faltered as the officer reluctantly handed back her ID. "I wouldn't look so bright if I were you, it's a bloody hellhole in there. That machine made a right mess of the place." The policewoman seemed satisfied thereafter and returned to her work guarding the entranceway, a slight stutter to her steps. Eve nodded to herself in delayed acknowledgment, taking a moment to recalibrate.

Proceeding to the main room, she quickly observed the damage that had been done by the perpetrator in question. Two bodies to the left and right; fatally shot by near-perfect aim. The first bodies Eve had witnessed. Glass had scattered on the ground from the ricochet of bullets leading back to the foyer. That mother was lucky to be alive; why would she have wanted to risk her life? She was untrained and would easily have been apprehended. If anything, her interference would have worsened the situation at hand. Her daughter, taken hostage by their own domestic android.

Eve stopped dead in her tracks as her view was obscured, thought process unexpectedly derailed. A tall man brushed past her, heeding her no mind as he went to examine the body in the living room. A correction was quickly made as she noted a spinning LED--a tall android had made its way to examine the body, leaving her in the lurch for a moment as she took in this new information. Given context clues and the general information she had, the only androids that had been permitted access to the crime scene (aside from herself, secretly) were that of the deviant perpetrating the crime and the android negotiator itself. This one, the one Kamski had wanted her to watch, the prototype detective.

SWAT bickered in the other room, apparently unable to make positive contact with the hostage or the deviant that had taken her. A few stood at the doorway to the terrace, arguing amongst themselves as they repeatedly aimed and lowered their weapons through shattered glass. Eve was invisible to them, a quiet bystander in an unexplained moment of weakness. She caught herself gawking and immediately straightened her back, keeping to the shadows as she observed the detective at work.

The android kneeled by the body of a dead man, stopping still as its programming kicked into gear. It stepped over the body, turning, and for a moment its dark, piercing gaze seemed to look right through her. Was it equipped with a function unlike her own? At most, she was aware of her own ability to pre-construct scenarios, had she the need to defend herself. But, the ability to recreate events that had happened prior? Now that was an interesting function of which she was not capable.

The detective blinked, then stooped to interact with an object on the ground. An electronic tablet likely dropped by the victim in his last moments. A look of recognition seemed to pass over the android's features; it turned its head to the terrace entrance, occupied by armored officers, then stood up to stalk over to the other body. A blue-blooded bloodhound, as was the comparable analogy that came to mind. It was strangely incredible, watching another android acting solely upon its programmed instincts.

In turn, Eve paused, blinking her eyes closed as she sent out a cursory report on her findings. Come to find, when she opened her eyes again, the bloodhound was standing before her, watching intently. "Hello," it smiled as it politely introduced itself to what it had apparently assumed was human, "my name is Connor--I'm the android sent by CyberLife. I couldn't help but notice that you seem a bit... preoccupied with my actions." Bouncing gently on its heels, it seemed curiously eager to interact with her, even despite its current, rather pressing objective. "You said that you were a journalist, correct? Is there anything you would like to inquire about my functions?"

Her chest expanded as she inhaled, pupils widening like camera lenses to little effect. It couldn't scan her... but oddly enough she couldn't scan it either. "Eve." She reciprocated the smile, settling back into a more casual, 'human' stance. "What can you tell me about the bodies, Connor? I noticed you had little trouble looking them over." She chose her words carefully, lips falling open as she processed each phrase. "Is that part of your programming?" She readied her decoy notebook and pen.

"Yes," It gave a small nod, LED spinning yellow as it seemed to take in every detail of Eve's face. It blinked excessively, struggling in its repeated attempts at an assessment of her identity. No doubt, had Kamski enabled it to detect anything past her inherent cloaking technology, it would have been able to uncover her true nature off the bat. It was dangerous to be this close to something that could so easily dismantle you, had it reason to, though evidently this thought was lost on her. After all, she wasn't a deviant; she wasn't prey, and even in the crosshairs of the hunter she felt no fear. She felt nothing, frankly.

"I am an RK800 prototype model, capable of high-grade military combat and investigative tactics." Eve noticed it fall into humanlike mannerisms as it explained, its head tilting slightly, a lock of synthetic hair falling over its forehead. It was undoubtedly designed to appear trustworthy to the human mind and had facial features that were overtly soft in nature, with brown eyes that were almost... gentle? Odd. "Per your inquiry, I am equipped with the ability to scan and reconstruct past events using the evidence that is available," Its voice piqued interest and carried a warm, unassuming tone. "and I even have a social protocol, which you've clearly noticed." A wink, followed by that rapid blinking again. Eve's eyebrows furrowed.

"Where the fuck is that negotiator?" The SWAT captain, on his last straw, broke the atmosphere between the two like an arm. The detective android, Connor, straightened itself at the first sign of urgency, wordlessly refocusing its energy on the task at hand. It didn't waste any goodbyes on the false-journalist, strict in its obedience, instead returning with long strides to examine the dead officer lying in the center of the room. Eve scurried back into the shadows and out of the captain's warpath, though he set his sights on her the moment she made any sudden movements.

"You're obviously not one of mine;" he sneered impatiently as he approached, "Are you authorized?"

"I am." Eve insisted, standing tall and nearly as forthright. "Eve Turing with Detroit Today. I've already been cleared." He looked her over, assessing a final judgement, though she attempted to null his suspicions with mirrored impatience. "Exactly how many more times do I have to answer?"

"None," The captain, 'Captain Allen,' she noted, puffed indignantly. "Your name's on the list." He crossed his arms over his chest and gestured with a nod towards Connor, his demeanor relaxing substantially. "Just, stay out of its way. This is a high-priority case, and things are about to get hairier." Technically, Connor had approached her, not the other way around. She didn't dare argue that fact, though, instead dismissing herself from the conversation with a submissive nod. Captain Allen promptly turned on his heel and returned to his team, likely deliberating over a backup plan in the master bedroom.

Across the room, Connor crouched low. Eve stepped forward despite the captain's warning, stooping to better capture the android's actions. The detective reached forward, retrieving the deceased officer's pistol. It was against the law for androids to possess any form of weaponry, as Eve had been programmed to acknowledge--watching Connor holster the gun in its back pocket caused a stir in her. Was it still a crime if used to further the mission? In Connor's mind, apparently not. It had said that it was trained with military combat tactics...

'Fascinating,' She shut her eyes tightly to the sensation that abruptly overcame her, standing upright as she felt as though someone were digging around in her head with a fork. Kamski's commentary moved through her mind as though they were her own thoughts, yet still clearly foreign to her processing. 'It didn't even hesitate.'

When she blinked her eyes open again Connor was poised to exit onto the terrace. The detective slid the door open and she scrambled to frame the oncoming scenario, ignorant to members of SWAT who voiced their concerns for her safety. She perched herself at the shattered window as the primary event commenced.

A fair-haired android stood at the opposite end of the terrace, a PL600 of domestic function with a small human girl in its grasp--the deviant and the daughter taken hostage. Somehow the previous descriptions hadn't done the actual visual much justice. Things became real as soon as the situation had presented itself before Eve's eyes. The girl squealed, deviant gruffly murmuring under its breath. A shot ripped through the atmosphere as Connor entered onto the scene, the bullet making impact with its clothed shoulder, spattering blue blood and rendering its wounded arm exposed and sparking.

"Hi, Daniel!" It shouted, much to the dismay of the offending android. "My name is Connor!" A SWAT helicopter flew to hover ominously over the scene, the wind from its blades tugging aggressively on Connor's suit jacket.

"How- how do you know my name?" Shock evident in its tone, the deviant's expression quickly twitched into unadulterated anger. It was hard for Eve to comprehend the emotion that struck its synthetic skin so easily, as though what it was feeling were more than simulation, bearing deeper roots than its superficial make.

Connor started forward, slow in its steps. Calculated, monitoring Daniel's rising ire. "I know a lot of things about you; I've come to get you out of this!" Pool furniture having been flung across the terrace in the all-encompassing gale, Connor reached to push a chair out of the way as it continued. "I'm an android, just like you." The detective-turned-negotiator pleaded despite steadily worsening conditions, "I know how you're feeling!"

"What difference does it make if you're an android?" Sneered the deviant with little regard to Connor's shallow empathy, "You're on their side! You can't understand how I'm feeling!" Daniel growled frustratedly and the hostage frantically screamed. "Are you armed?" The deviant spat, one arm clinging to the squirming child with a death-grip, the other pointing a pistol at Connor with potentially fatal aim.

"No!" Came the instant lie. "I don't have a gun!" Eve held onto the windowsill with bated breath, eyes wide. Connor was especially brazen, approaching a highly unlikely situation and directly working to increase its chance of success. It was particularly breathtaking and nonetheless unprecedented.

Daniel called Connor's bluff, though the detective's resolve remained unshaken. "You're lying! I know you have a gun!" A tango with ultraviolence; it was ironic that the one who'd committed the crime would appear more frightened than that of its foil.

"I'm telling you the truth, Daniel, I came here unarmed!" Another bold-faced lie in the face of clear opposition.

A wounded officer lay dying in a red pool of his own blood, barely conscious. Connor set its sights on the man, multitasking. "They were going to replace you and you became upset. That's what happened, right?"

Eve blinked as the deviant seemed to momentarily withdraw its guard, somehow affected by Connor's words. "I thought I was part of the family. I thought I mattered..." It snapped suddenly, firing up into chaos once more. It shook the gun in its hand exasperatedly, the child along with it. "But I was just their toy, something to throw away when you're done with it!"

Steps away from the dying man, Connor poked at Daniel's nerve with a fine tool. "I know you and Emma were very close. You think she betrayed you, but she's done nothing wrong!"

"SHE LIED TO ME!" Daniel roared, "I thought she loved me... But I was wrong. She's just like all the other humans!"

The young girl in its hold, 'Emma,' wept openly. "Daniel, no..."

Connor's attention drifted from the dying man to the erratic deviant. It kneeled to address the wound that Daniel had caused--a bullet through the arm, the injury oozing blood onto concrete at an alarming rate. It was a wonder the officer hadn't already fainted from the trauma or faded altogether. "He's losing blood," Connor stated, expression vague. "If we don't get him to a hospital, he's going to die."

"All humans die eventually!" Daniel exclaimed with disdain and utter lack of sympathy, "What does it matter if this one dies now?"

The detective's lip twitched as conflicting orders flitted across its vision. "I'm going to apply a tourniquet," It said finally, moving to assess the officer's punctured arm. Daniel fired a warning shot, the bullet shooting sparks from where it crashed into the ground near Connor's kneeled position.

"Don't touch him!" The deviant ordered, "Touch him and I kill you!"

The threat was palpable enough. The PL600 had already murdered three people; Emma's father, and two first responders: one lying cold in the dining room, the other afloat, facedown in the terrace pool. Had attempted to murder a fourth, the officer under Connor's attention, and a fifth, the small girl helpless in his arm. Connor, however, was not a 'person' in that regard; solely by the given definition of being an android had it forfeited any right to individual importance.

"You can't kill me," Connor barked, quickly untying its tie and wrapping the wound tight. "I'm not alive." Daniel expelled a breath of frustration as the detective stood to its feet and resumed its careful approach. "Listen," It started, "I know it's not your fault." A pause, followed by a further move for sympathy. "These emotions you're feeling are just errors in your software!"

"No, it's not my fault... I never wanted this... I loved them, you know?" Daniel was selfish, shaken again by Connor's prodding and eagerly responsive with a volatile demeanor. "--But I was nothing to them!" It argued, still pushing back. "Just a slave to be ordered around!"

'Loved' them... A 'slave'... Eve's lips puckered in silent contemplation.

"I can't stand that noise anymore!" The deviant suddenly yelled, "Tell that helicopter to get out of here!"

Connor moved to optimal distance then did as asked, waving the helicopter away from the scene. "There," The terrace calmed as the windstorm slowly died. "I did what you wanted." Even as the negotiator acted in favor of Daniel, the deviant proved unsatisfied. Connor had reached the threshold, and the night was on its last leg.

"You have to trust me, Daniel!" It begged upon selective ears, "Let the hostage go and I promise you, everything will be fine!"

Daniel's pupils shook as retroactive weakness took hold. "I want everyone to leave... And I want a car! When I'm outside the city, I'll let her go!" With the gun to Emma's head, it switched objectives, attempting to bargain in the face of looming destruction. Striking a deal with the devil for the sake of self-preservation, a remarkably humanlike mistake.

With so many sins, what was there left to save? Connor's lips pursed into the fine line that kept the deviant away from its stained freedom. "That's impossible, Daniel." Justice to be served. It spoke logically, "Let the girl go and I promise, you won't be hurt."

"I don't want to die..."

"You're not going to die." It was almost laughable, the pile of lies that had built up to this point. "We're just going to talk. Nothing will happen to you. You have my word." The word of a being comprised of wires and synthetic skin, a mind made of mathematical equations and social protocol, of programming for the purpose of deviant suppression. The word of a deviant hunter. An untrustworthy, nonempathetic, inhuman being with no ounce of rank to live up to its own promise of credibility.

Hesitation. An atmosphere riddled with the pungent mixture of death, chlorine, and gunpowder. A final problem[3] waiting to be solved.

"I've spent my life taking orders..." Daniel lowered the gun, its free arm opening wide as it had inevitably surrendered to its fate, intending to take its hostage along with it as its shoes hit the edge. "...Now, it's my turn to decide."

Time slowed as the PL600 careened backward over the cityscape below. Emma's scream tore across the terrace, body struggling for purchase as gravity increased. Connor sprung into action, shedding its patience to meet Daniel's desperate act with its own. Eve gasped for air as the detective leapt for the girl[4], gliding forward to collide with the deviant and pulling Emma to safety in one fell swoop.

The two androids tumbled over the side and out of view as Eve left the scene with numbed haste.

THE TRUTH IS INSIDE

1 Similar to Amanda's Zen Garden, but instead centered around Kamski, acting as a sister subspace to the prior. The two exist separately, with Amanda's Zen Garden existing for Connor and Kamski's Paradise simultaneously existing for Eve; two sides of the same coin ("nature versus nurture.") As opposed to Amanda's emphasis on both literal and metaphorical 'nature' in the environment around her, Kamski's is a combination of nature and technology, with an infusion of cosmic influence to represent knowledge and the 'nurture' side of the argument. The name "Paradise" refers to the Garden of Eden from the biblical tale of Adam and Eve... more or less showing Kamski to be a self-proclaimed 'God' figure.

2 This is written from the perspective of Eve, a nondeviant android. Although Eve perceives herself with female pronouns, she perceives the other androids around her to be "it"s, like nonsentient objects. It's a blind irony.

3 Referring to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's infamous Sherlock Holmes finale "The Final Problem," originally intended as the end to the beloved detective's stories as a whole. Holmes and his archnemesis Moriarty duke it out, inevitably perishing together by way of falling into the gorge of the Reichenbach Falls. This is mirrored by Connor's act of sacrifice, as both he and Daniel die by falling off of the apartment building.

4 Software Instability ^

#detroit become human #detroit: become human #dbh #dbh connor #dbh kamski #elijah kamski #connor rk800 #rk800 #dbh oc #rx300 #eve rx300 #ariadne rx300 #connor x oc #ao3 fanfic #self indulgent #my writing

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handypolymath · 5 years

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WIP challenge

I was tagged by @ellewritesfiction to post the first sentence of some of my works in progress, and I’ve been struggling with this because I’m only rarely a chronological writer, and I’m currently trying to wrap up a WIP I’ve been posting as I go since last August. I also co-write with @thassalia a lot, so sometimes the first sentence isn’t mine!

So I’m cheating all over the place with this one, in part to reassure myself that finishing and letting go of Electronic Thumb is a good thing, I’ve got some interesting places to land.

Dr. Sock Sez - where they find a baby in a lab jar

Bruce pulls the poor thing out of the gestation canister, flailing and sputtering because they’d taken out the power for the base before they realized the focus of the main lab was this baby in a fucking jar, and the only thing that keeps him from hulking out is not that Tony makes a ‘filthy Bene Tleilax’ joke, but that Steve gets it.

“That’s incredibly inappropriate,” the Captain bites out, “be useful and fetch the Bruce Out Kit.”

Blankets, Bruce thinks, would make it easier to keep a hold of this squirmy damp girl, who’s not much bigger than a handful but is putting up a good fight.

“Hey, Steve’s up to Herbert on the list!” Tony says, “If he’s up to Lovecraft does that mean we can’t call the baby Mi-Go?”

Natasha unfreezes, but her face is still blank with horror as she watches Bruce curl the tiny angry newborn against his shirt. She lunges toward the control panel and starts breaking into the system. She will find out exactly what they had done, were doing, planned to do with that girl.

Chiaroscuro - our Notorious AU

Natasha swings out the tone arm and stops the turntable, lifts the record and slips it back into the labeled sleeve. She unsheathes the next record and aligns it on the center spindle, starts the platter turning, and sets the needle into the groove.

Dr. Bruce Banner makes very few calls, but the microphones in his apartment catch more than expected. He’s a mutterer when he’s deep in thought, he hums and whistles depending on mood, and he’s carrying on a rather illuminating screaming feud with a neighbor. She’s been out of town for a couple weeks on another errand of Carter’s, a field trip with a seasoned agent and yet another test that she passed without issues. Now she’s playing catch-up on her analysis of Dr. Banner.

Clint has been in Santa Monica since Christmas. She's teased him that at least he gets to talk to the scientist he’s assigned to, instead of just listening to them whistling along with Maria Callas and trading insults with the cranky old man across the alley. In turn, Clint had described kimchi. She’d asked if he realized he was talking to a Russian about cabbage. He’d sniped that he’d eaten his own fair share of cabbage, thank you, and part of her share, and he wasn’t going to stand for any more even if Dr. Cho took offense.

Natasha sighs, and sets the needle back to the beginning of the track. It’s stifling in this room, and it’s making her careless. It’s also the hundredth time she’s listened to Dr. Banner whistle along to this aria from Manon, and a part of her brain has started choreographing a pas de deux to it.

At least he’s getting better at hitting the notes.

Go Out With A Lion’s Roar - just a working stiff on Sakaar

Hulk is sorry, and sorry for himself. He did what he could to make it right, but it’s flowers for a black eye.

The nightmare he was given lingers like a sour puke tongue, makes him feel anger like lava. What he woke up to...the anger turns in on himself.

He makes people sad, and dead. So he flicks off the screen and points the nose up.

The quinjet asks him questions, and he says, “Higher. Faster.” The machine shudders around him and talks to him about oxygen scrubbers. He flexes his hand, and pictures a scrubby sponge. He knows it’s not one of Banner’s memories, because he’s standing on a stool to reach the sink; it’s from the before time, before everything. He wasn’t always a monster. The jet levels out, and tells him about fuel levels and orbit decay.

He opens his fist, and pictures dogs shot into space. Russian dogs. He hopes the dogs weren’t lonely. They didn’t deserve that.

He punches himself in the head. He’s not a dog. He’s not a good boy. For a little while, he didn’t think he was a monster, either, but he’s less sure of that. He already knows Banner’s answer, so he wouldn’t ask him even if he could find him.

For Unlikely Carnal Knowledge - the bodyswapping one

It had been nearly 78 hours of Tony cycling through coffee, mango and algae smoothies, and scotch. Perhaps nibbling a little cheese. Pepper had last slept in her own bed three continents ago, her period was due any moment, and damn it, she was going to use her boyfriend as a heating pad whether he liked it or not.

She gets as far as nodding hello to Bruce, who's scribbling an equation onto a screen with his finger - she uses the same interface but with the financial template instead of half the Greek alphabet - and opening her mouth.

It's exactly like one of those old flash cubes going off. The spike of white blue light, the puffy sounding pop that also sounds like thin crackling glass, the whiff of hot carbon smell. The disorientation makes her grip the counter, but she still knocks her head against the screen and something jams the bridge of her nose. She pushes back, and a pair of eyeglasses go flying.

The Holtzmann Effect - Clint’s apartment building was an early work of Ivo Shandor

Steve isn’t impressed by the amount of material spread across the worktables, sheafs of blueprints and building permits, zoning board meeting notes and cloth-bound library volumes full of archeologists’ hand-drawn illustrations of bullae cuneiform, which Patty describes as Sumerian paperwork.

Steve is daunted.

“Do you drink coffee?” he asks, as Patty pulls out a used yellow legal pad and uncaps her pen with a twinkle in her eye. “I can make coffee, or go get coffee.”

“Not much of a reader?” She narrows her eyes. “Not enough action scanning primary sources for keywords? I thought you also got a boost with information processing, visual memory, that kind of thing.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work.” Steve bristles, “I want to help.”

“Then sit your ass down,” Patty shoves the thickest library book toward him, “and use your eidetic memory to find,” she flips though her pad to show him a page of Sumerian symbols carefully sketched: a stylized fish labeled ‘metal’, an athletic sock labeled ‘dog’, a striped wedge shape with a stem labeled ‘beer’, and a piece of erotic art, “anything that looks like these.”

Her frank expression dares him to give her any more guff.

“Anything to help,” Steve nod solemnly, then takes another look at the page. He points to the large pointed jar in the scene, from which the lady is drinking through a long straw while taking it from behind. “Is it safe to assume that’s also beer?”

Patty’s answer is a playful pout and, “I’m sure people are always bugging you about what you miss from back in the day. Well I wasn’t even alive for that part, but that’s my answer.”

Rust & Ague - that steampunk one

The Iron Man was the exception to every rule. Most airships were chartered cruisers, lumbering luxury liners, and official patrols, with a few oddball private ships here and there, small and ill-funded, or ostentatious fripperies. Stark's ship was a research vessel the size of a cruiser. It ran a small tight core crew, but rotated the bulk of its lower rank hands at every dock.

Those temporary crews were a potpourri mixed by the fine-boned hand of Virginie Petra Potts. She was a dynamo draped in daffodil crepe de chine, sitting on a camp chair behind a cleverly folding writing desk set midway down the dock. The Iron Man rose behind her, gleaming copper in the water, its solar sails furled into scrolls of gold, and she was her gatekeeper.

Main Vein - Jennifer Walters whistleblows on her diabolical law firm

"I...what do you know about Agent Romanoff?"

“You mean before finding out just now that she’s the pocket dynamite from the Battle of New York?” Jen’s look at him is reproachful, but in a teasing way. "I know she got me out of my apartment safe when I thought I’d be dead for sure. I know she had that jacket specially tailored around a double shoulder holster."

Bruce can't help checking the line of Natasha's back, remembering the feel of it snugged against his chest, surging against him slick with sweat. He takes a mouthful of ice water and crunches a cube.

Jen chews her own bite thoughtfully. "I find her skills comforting in a way I wouldn't have suspected a few weeks ago."

"Life is full of surprises."

Which is normally the kind of cliche conversation filler Bruce offers as a dry joke, but that's when the flash bang goes off.

#wip #i have not always been writing electronic thumb #writing is a ridiculous art

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brettewilliams · 3 years

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The Top 10 Essential Features For AI Chatbots

It can be daunting to begin your chatbot journey. Selecting the best nlu conversational ai feature to build an AI chatbot can make it more difficult. Here are the top ten features that you should consider, regardless of your application.

Truly conversational

While it is easy to believe, there is a huge difference between a chatbot answering questions and engaging in an intelligent conversation. Engaging conversations will improve customer experience as well as provide information which will improve your bottom line. The user interface has to be user-friendly and human-like for this.

A chatbot in conversation must comprehend the intent of the user, no matter how complex the sentence; and be capable of asking questions to clear up doubt or to find out more about the person. It'll need a memory to be able to retrieve key information from the conversation, and then reuse it for context or personalization purposes.

If you're a multinational company, you'll need the chatbot development platform that you select to do all this and also in your client's native language too.

Developmental Control

It's hard to know how people will use or misuse the AI application.

Microsoft did not intend for Tay to learn from "helpful" people in how to avoid tweeting inappropriate messages. Even though Tay was designed to show machine learning, it illustrated the problem very well through a few chat-based AI applications that do not have the controls needed to control the behaviour.

Enterprises can avoid making mistakes and offer a security cover for any unplanned situations during conversations. This will guarantee an effortless customer experience.

Enterprise-Grade Solutions

The enterprise was not the main focus of many chatbot-related platforms. Therefore, many features that you would expect to be common, like version control and rollback capabilities or roles for users for managing collaboration among disparate teams, are not available.

Additionally, you should look out for features that will aid speed of development such as web-hooks for automated coding, to facilitate flexible integration with external systems, and easy adaptability to new technologies, devices and languages.

Hybrid Model

Most chatbot platform development tools currently are solely linguistic or machine-learning models. Both have their disadvantages. Machine learning systems function insofar as the programmer is concerned, as a black box that cannot work without massive quantities of carefully curated training data; something only a few businesses possess. While linguistic-based conversational systems that rely on humans to design the rules and response can't respond to information they don't understand, using statistical data like machine learning systems can.

A hybrid approach that combines machine learning and linguistic models is ideal for businesses, as it allows them to quickly develop AI applications regardless of their initial location -- whether with or without dataand then utilize real-world inputs to optimize the application right from the start. This ensures that the system has the same personality and is in line with business goals.

Exclusive Personalization

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The ability to personalize an automated conversation regardless of whether you're accessing account information to answer billing questions or recommending restaurants based on the customer's love for Italian food, will not only deliver a better response but also boost engagement.

While some information can be learned explicitly (such as the user choosing the most preferred option from a list of options) but it's the automatic learning that's based on simple methods (like information gleaned from, previous interactions) that truly harnesses the power of AI in conversation. To tailor the conversation to your needs it is possible to use this data added to other data sources such as geo-location and purchase history or even the time of day.

Analytics and Ownership of Data

One of the key considerations when selecting a chatbot's platform is data. In normal conversations, users reveal a lot of information. Individual preferences, opinions thoughts, opinions, inclinations and more can be found in the conversations. The information is then used to feed back into the conversation, thereby increasing engagement, improve and keep your chatbot's AI chatbot interface; and analyzed to deliver actionable business data. Here at Aisera we use What is a Virtual Assistant?

It is essential that businesses retain control of their data. It's amazing how many tools for development let businesses develop chatbots, but they don't actually provide any of the details of the conversation just the outcome, such as that final pizza delivery request.

Be aware of the data ownership as well as the data analytics tool which is part of the platform. This is a means to look deeper into the data and understand the nature of conversations as well as the level at the level of detail that can be offered.

Cross Platform

Conversational apps are slowly affecting every aspect of our lives, so it makes sense to make sure that applications for conversation can easily be ported to existing and future devices. Although it's simple to claim that apps can be built to work with different platforms and services, each app requires a completely new version. Analyzing what percentage of the original build can be reused at the beginning could help be a significant saving in the long term.

It is also important to consider the way your app can assist users when they move between devices to another throughout the day. Continuously resuming conversations improves engagement and satisfaction of customers.

Data Security

Data security is a key consideration for any enterprise, particularly when dealing with regulations and customer's personal information. Flexibility is crucial for Virtual Agent to be able to handle the strict security standards of today, across multiple geographies and legal demands.

Although most companies don't have any issues with standard cloud deployments, the need to comply with industry regulations or security policies could mean that using cloud deployment isn't always the best option. If that's the case, be sure that you have an option on-premises.

Brand Differentiation

Businesses can stand out from competitors by incorporating intelligent conversational interfaces into mobile apps, smartwatches and even speakers. This allows the organization to improve effectiveness while also offering more distinction. Customization can transform a brand's visual identity into tangible actions.

Proven Technology

Finally before a final decision is made, ensure you look beyond the marketing blurb. Ask customers for feedback and look at real-life examples. Ask them about their experience creating and building solutions, and how they adapt to different languages and applications, how they expanded into new platforms and channels What benefits they've seen and how they plan to use their Conversational AI chatbot will help with their digital strategy.

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creativeratsagency · 3 years

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Mobile UX Design: The Absolute Master-Guide Of 2021

Mobile UX Design

User experience design for mobile and wearable devices is known as mobile UX design. Designers create apps to satisfy the unique needs and characteristics of mobile consumers. Approachability, discoverability, and the ability to maximize on-the-go interactive activities are all priorities for designers. Chronology Of Mobile UX Design

We know who was the first to use mobile phones to make and receive phone calls. Smartphones are now being used to track people's vital signs and transport them to virtual fantasy realms. Because numerous UI/UX designers began building UX mobile apps, it is a significant change in the history of mobile phones.

When we consider the history of smartphones, we must go back to 2007, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world. The Nokia 6110 introduced a notable advance in mobile app design in 1997 when it shipped with three games, the most famous of which was Snake. The iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs, who permanently changed the game for mobile app designers and developers. The multi-touch screen, which was tailored based on the phone, added a whole new layer of UX design possibilities. They established the app marketplace, ensuring that app developers have a clear way to develop and advertise their apps. It's a realization that Android is the only operating system that works well. Google redesigned mobile app design and supplied app prototypes that explain the Material Design concept in detail. The evolution of its key design best practices for mobile designs. All smartphone designs were modified, and the greatest UX design for mobiles was adopted. For the optimum user experience, most UI UX designers build eye-catching designs.

Principle Of Mobile UX Design

There is a distinction to be made between developing an app and developing a mobile website. Users don't require the mobile version of the website when they download an app.

Everyone wants the best experience possible, which verifies the amount of time they spent downloading the software. Users can remove an app if it isn't suited for them.

According to studies, 75% of apps are only used once after being installed. People prefer to use their mobile, tablet, or wearable devices to access the internet rather than their desktop PCs, hence UX Design For Mobile is popular. UX mobile best practices must be considered by UI UX designers at every stage of the design process. Designers prioritize the user and their demands in design efforts. Their priority is always the user, which is even more successful on mobile devices. Users will rapidly go on to other websites, apps, or interferences if designers do not cater to Mobile UX design. Let us discuss the principles of UX mobile so that users get the best user experience. Intuitive Navigation

On mobile sites and applications, navigation is more natural than on desktop sites. Users can easily figure out how to navigate a mobile app or website. It infiltrates through well-known design patterns like hamburger menus and familiar iconography, among others. If users believe we make it more difficult to navigate on mobile devices, they are correct. They want to get away from the website or app and look for fresh options. Smooth Experience

When a user is looking for material on an app, a mobile website, or a desktop website, the transition between using them must be seamless. Designers don't use blue for the app and red for the website because the design concepts are incompatible.

A smooth experience not only makes things easier for consumers using a website or app but also builds brand trust. It assists them in gaining more organic traffic and rapidly increasing their business. Concentrate on User Goals

On a mobile app or website, a person's goal is more precise than on a large desktop site. In most cases, people do not use their cell phones to search up the company's whole history. These types of topics are covered in menus or submenus. They consider what a consumer might want to do with a mobile app. Requesting a login for basic actions is an important consideration for designers. When we use banking apps, we are frequently asked to check-in before we can do anything on the app. If we are looking for the location of a nearby restaurant or hospital, we do not require the user to sign in. It's critical to make these functions accessible, and it's a terrific method to improve mobile UX design. Personalization

In mobile apps, personalization is critical to improving the user experience. Customization aids in the achievement of marketing objectives while also benefiting all stakeholders involved.

Personalization forces people to focus on the content they're looking for and avoid content that isn't relevant to them. It eliminates site complexities, creates components such as the purchase process, and ensures that marketing messages are relevant to the visitor's needs. We all know that too much customization makes it easy to trap customers. The level of customization fits the user's expectations of the app and the organization.

Many individuals become irritated when a website displays advertisements for things they are considering but do not look for. Visitors become irritated due to the predictive nature of modern advertising algorithms.

Make things Simpler

When someone visits a website or uses an app on a mobile device, we see that people like to complete the work quickly. To finish activities quickly, mobile designers create UX designs. It's also important to make important jobs easier to do on a mobile interface. Many eCommerce apps and websites have a camera option for entering credit card or other payment details. Because visitors automatically read the number, it becomes simple for them to place an order. Many other form field inputs are easily visible on the keyboard and screen. Use Gestures

Mobile UI UX designers want to look at how users use organized signs on their devices. Many actions, such as pushing to zoom or swiping, become second nature to most users.

During the onboarding method or use-case occurs for the first time, the UI UX designer varies from a specified gesture, & necessary for users into this variation.

These are some important ideas to consider while creating a mobile UX design. Mobile UX Best Practices

Mobile designers must consider a variety of mobile UX design best practices. Let us check :

UX Research

Often, UX mobile designers are compelled to jump immediately into mockups or prototypes. They initially do thorough UX research to ensure that they are aware of all relevant elements. In every scenario, comprehensive UX research is required to create a unique user experience. It aids in the finest possible app design. Clutter

We've all had a cluttered desktop, but it's more likely to happen on a mobile device. Every button, image, and piece of material that has been added to the page signifies something far more intricate. In a mobile UI, there is a need to remove unneeded elements. Minimalism will reach a pinnacle, but not at the expense of utility. We may usually accomplish this by prioritizing one major action on each screen. Prioritize

There's a strong desire to provide as many features as feasible. Allowing some elements appears to detract from the user experience. It is necessary to keep details focused on the objectives. It improves the design by assessing the most frequently utilized elements. These elements should be both intuitive and pleasant, according to the designers. TouchPoints

When users touch certain locations and the device does not respond, they become irritated and begin beating it. According to MIT research, they were hitting on sites with a too-small touch spot. Design controls, buttons, and links with a width of at least 7-10 mm, which is the usual fingertip width. Make sure there's enough space between these UI elements.

Legible Text

To keep a consistent experience across numerous mobile devices, it depends on what users engage with content. It's important to choose typefaces that function well in a variety of sizes and weights. To avoid eyestrain, font sizes of at least 11 points are recommended. Clean, easy-to-read typefaces, such as Google's Roboto and Noto or Apple's new San Francisco font, are excellent alternatives to searching.

Fast Speed

Although 4G bandwidth is unlimited, mobile networks are still slower than Wi-Fi and internet services. Many portions of the world lack 4G coverage, leaving mobile users with 3G or slower internet speeds. It means that mobile websites and applications must be quick and that content in an app that does not need to be downloaded every time the app performs a task should be included to make the program run faster. It's a fine line to walk between not loading stuff that isn't being used and giving the impression of speed by preloading content for consumers.

These mobile UX best practices aid in providing the greatest user experience possible. Project 1

Client: Belvedere USA

Our Role: UX Research, UI/UX Design.

Platform: Mobile app

Project 2

Black

Mobile app development boosts luxury fashion brand’s sales

Client: Black

Our Role: UX Research, UI/UX Design.

Platform: Mobile

Hire Us For Mobile UX Design

For many years, Creative Rats has provided a variety of design services. During this time, we work on a variety of mobile UX design projects. Our UI UX design firm generates award-winning mobile designs that are recognized across the world. To make the design engaging, we employ the most up-to-date tools and fonts. To build any mobile app, our designers follow the entire procedure. Take a look at some of our mobile app design projects:

#mobile #uxui #uitrends #ux desgin #uxresearch #uxinspiration #uiuxzone #design #design2021 #mobile ux design

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janessawatson729 · 3 years

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Fitbit Luxe Review: Refined Version of Fitbit Inspire 2

The Fitbit Luxe is just a more refined version of the Fitbit Inspire 2 with a few useful new features (plus more to come soon). Its small display has several drawbacks, yet it is bright, sharp, and appealing.

Since this is a fitness tracker rather than a full-fledged smartwatch like the Fitbit Versa 3 or Fitbit Sense, we did not really expect it to have functions like making calls from your wrist or allowing you to make contactless transactions using Fitbit Pay. The Luxe, on the other hand, is all about keeping track of your health and encouraging better habits (both physical and mental), which it accomplishes admirably.

Fitbit Luxe price and release date

The Fitbit Luxe was first unveiled in April 2021, and it will be available for purchase on July 1, 2021. The ordinary variant with a silicone band costs $149.95, while the special edition with the gold-colored Gorjana link bracelet costs $1999.95.

This places it between the Fitbit Inspire 2 (which launched at $99.95) and the Versa 3 smartwatch (which retails for $329). The Luxe also includes a free one-year Fitbit Premium trial, which you can start as soon as you sync the gadget with your phone.

Design

The Luxe is one of Fitbit’s smallest fitness trackers, featuring a thin design that pays homage to the original Fitbit Flex from 2013. It uses the same ‘Biologic Industrial Design Language’ as the Fitbit Inspire 2, Versa 3, and Sense, with ergonomic lines that follow the human body’s curves. In fact, it has a design that is extremely similar to the Inspire 2 — but there are a few key differences.

To begin with, the Luxe uses stainless steel in black, gold, and silver, whereas the Inspire 2 has a plastic shell. This is complemented by a stainless steel buckle, giving the Luxe a more refined appearance.

The Fitbit Luxe’s screen, on the other hand, is its most remarkable feature. The Luxe’s display is a full-color AMOLED with a 206 x 124-pixel resolution, which looks excellent. Most of Fitbit’s smaller fitness trackers (including the Inspire 2 and Charge 4) use a monochrome OLED display. It’s also responsive, which is crucial for a gadget that lacks physical buttons.

The accompanying app allows you to personalize the watch faces, which include a variety of appealing alternatives (including analog and digital designs) that make the most of the watch’s brilliant, vibrant display. All of these provide a quick peek at the time, but some also include other metrics, such as your current heart rate, step count, and calories burned, which you can check without swiping. Fitbit may well introduce additional faces in the coming months, as the range is already outstanding.

The small size of the face has certain drawbacks (you can only see a small amount of info at a time, and graphs aren’t possible), but it’s vibrant and sharp, with smooth transitions and scrolling.

Performance

If you’ve ever used a Fitbit, you’ll be familiar with the general experience; the Fitbit Luxe is easy to use, with an interface that makes tracking your activity and wellbeing as simple as possible. It’s worth taking a few minutes to modify a few parameters before you use it for your first workout.

On the Luxe, there are just six workout options (by default, walk, run, swim, cycle, general workout, and treadmill), and none of them can be changed from the device itself. Instead, via the Fitbit app, you may tailor the available options to your tastes. Swipe left to remove a workout you don’t utilize, then hit the + icon in the top right to add something you do.

Luxe can recognize specific exercise types and start tracking them automatically with SmartTrack, which is especially beneficial for picking up unplanned exercises that you might not think to measure manually.

The ‘noise’ from general movement, especially gripping motions, can always alter heart rate measurements obtained from the wrist, and optical heart rate monitors will never be as accurate or responsive as a chest strap that records electrical signals as your heart contracts.

Apart from those issues, the Luxe performed admirably, producing numbers that were substantially equal to those of a Garmin Vivoactive 4S. There were no unexpected peaks or troughs, and the two devices’ average and maximum heart rates were within 2bpm of each other.

Because of the color screen, the Luxe has a little worse battery life than its Inspire 2 relative. Fitbit claims that it will last five days in normal use before requiring a charge, which we found to be rather true. Thankfully, charging is simple; the Luxe comes with a USB charger that is magnetically attached to the back of the gadget and does not readily shift or disconnect.

After three nights of wearing the Luxe to bed to calibrate it, you’ll start receiving a sleep score each morning based on the time and quality of your sleep.

When the Fitbit Luxe receives its first major upgrade, battery life is expected to suffer even more. The Luxe features a sensor for blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), which the Inspire 2 does not, therefore we expect the Luxe to use more power overnight. This sensor isn’t enabled right now, however, it will be enabled in the future via a firmware upgrade. In the following months, it’s also possible that Luxe will get additional functions. Fitbit has a history of adding new faces and tools to its devices after they’ve been released — and that’s before we consider the app’s frequent updates.

I am extremely passionate about blogging, running websites, and creating content. I have managed to turn my passion into a profession, and blogging has managed to teach me a lot about technology and myself. I write blog posts, instruction manuals, news releases, and technical descriptions, and reviews for many websites such as central.bitdefender.com

Source: Fitbit Luxe Review: Refined Version of Fitbit Inspire 2

#FitbitLuxeReview #RefinedVersion #FitbitInspire2 #centralbitdefendercom

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clarencenicholsonata · 3 years

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16 Inspiring Examples of the Best Shopify Stores

The number of people shopping online has almost doubled in the last seven years, with 2021 boasting an estimated 2.14 billion global online shoppers. That’s about a quarter of the world’s population! While it’s clear that e-commerce is a growing market that shouldn’t be ignored, setting up an online shop can be tricky.

With their beginner-friendly platform, Shopify decided to make this process easy and accessible. But while having an online presence with good products is the first step, your Shopify store needs to be visually appealing to draw in customers and entice them to buy.

To help, we’ve compiled a list of 20 of the best examples of Shopify stores, ranging from snack retailers to cosmetics. Hopefully, they will provide you with inspiration for your store to stand out from the crowd.

Table of Contents:

Allbirds

Pipcorn

Jeffree Star Cosmetics

Taylor Stitch

Meow Meow Tweet

Tattly

Gymshark

Beardbrand

HELM Boots

Wolf Circus

Hiut Denim Co.

Bremont

BLK & Bold

Biolite

Press London

Burga

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1. Allbirds

Founded by footballer Tim Brown and engineer Zoey Zwillinger, Allbirds is a footwear company putting natural materials and sustainability first. Merging comfort and consciousness, their threads are made from wool and eucalyptus, feature simple designs and packaging made from 90% post-consumer recycled cardboard.

With a clean interface, bold photography, and animations that highlight the companies sustainability focus, Allbirds’ website is visually pleasing. Allowing shoppers to interact with products and some of the companies’ stories from the home page simplifies the shopping experience. The website is consistent throughout, opting for larger product images to avoid over-cluttering the page.

2. Pipcorn

The idea for Pipcorn came in 2012 when Jeff Martin was helping his sister Jen move. Having packed everything up except a bag of heirloom popcorn kernels, Jen had found in a health food store where she worked. Once popped, it turned out to be the most delicious popcorn they’d ever had. Having taken such a liking to it, they tracked down the Indiana farmer who grew it, and together with Jeff’s wife, Teresa, they created a new company, Pipsnacks which makes a range of heirloom snacks.

Featuring fun animations, a beautiful design, and a simple layout, Pipcorns’ Shopify store is engaging and easy on the eyes. Focusing on a few key products and a bit about themselves, the main page is isn’t too busy. The website is easy to navigate, and you can quickly locate the right products thanks to the categorized menu. Another great feature is encouraging users to sign up for the newsletter by offering a 10% discount on the first purchase.

3. Jeffree Star Cosmetics

The cosmetics brand of makeup artist, fashion designer, and model Jeffree Star, Jeffree Star Cosmetics is arguably among the most popular Shopify cosmetics stores. The hot-pink website features plenty of holiday and special editions for their customers, as well as free U.S. shipping for products over $100.

With the homepage boasting a bold carousel highlighting product ranges, you can also buy featured products straight from the homepage. With a simple menu that lets you choose between the shop, bundles, and gift cards, the website is easy to navigate, while a prominent search bar makes it easy to find what you can’t locate yourself.

4. Taylor Stitch

Launched in 2010, Taylor Stitch sells custom and tailored menswear, aiming to make sophisticated dressing affordable. It is famous for its workshops. Based in San Francisco, California, they strive to craft responsibly-built staples designed to look and function just as well in the city as they do in the great outdoors. Their mission is to challenge how the clothing industry operates by improving the way they source, sew, and sell.

As with many fashion brands, the website relies heavily on strong photography to highlight the products. The shop menu allows you to directly navigate to popular items or category pages, cutting down the steps needed to buy. The product pages are clean, with the focus on the clothing.

5. Meow Meow Tweet

Founded by life and business partners Tara Pelletier and Jeff Kurosaki, Meow Meow Tweet an organic vegan skincare company known for its products made from natural ingredients and its sustainable packaging featuring playful illustrations drawn by Jeff. They donate to and support organizations that align with their values and offer a bulk refill program to reduce packaging and waste.

Featuring the same playful designs as found on the packaging, Meow Meow Tweet’s Shopify store offers you the ability to buy featured products from the homepage and see the most recent blog posts. The menu is also simple, with options for the shop, blog, the about section, as well as other information. The product pages match the design of the products themselves and give you usage tips and other product information.

6. Tattly

Tattly started as a side hobby for designer Tina Roth-Eisenburg but has morphed into a growing temporary tattoo business. Started in 2015, it has shipped more than 2.6 million temporary tattoos ranging from $5 to $15 per sale.

Saturated photos take center stage on this Shopify store, with the homepage allowing you to shop a large number of collections and featured items. The product pages show not only the designs themselves but also applied to models, giving you an idea of how it will look. The menu allows you to navigate to new, custom, and all designs and find out more about the company and artists.

7. Gymshark

Gymshark was started by a group of teenagers in 2012 as a screen-printing operation in a garage. Since then it has grown into one of the most successful fitness Shopify stores. With over five million followers on Instagram, the brand also knows how to utilize social media.

The homepage features striking photography, featured items that you can easily add to the cart in the correct size, and a video of their latest range. Product pages show the garments on a model and used in exercise, showcasing its range of movement and quality. The menu is simple, with the main options being womens’ and mens’ ranges.

8. Beardbrand

What started to unite the beard-growing community in 2012, Beardbrand has grown into one of the most popular male-grooming Shopify stores. Having gotten their start with content marketing, the focus of their homepage isn’t to sell products but to strengthen their brand image further.

Unlike many other online stores, Beardbrand doesn’t feature any products on its homepage; instead, it has one call to action, asking users to help ‘find their fragrance to avoid ‘scent confusion’ or the use of different smelling products. While they have a hamburger menu on the far left-hand side of the page, it is unobtrusive and not distracting.

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9. HELM Boots

HELM Boots was founded in 2009 with the intention of making boots that were straightforward and built to last. Since then, they’ve spent every day perfecting the modern men’s boot. Their goal is to create a versatile, timeless, functional boot and can be worn in the workshop or boardroom.

The website’s design echoes the clean elegance of their boots, with rich photography highlighting their products. The homepage features their best sellers and a button to shop their entire collection, and an embedded video gives more information about their latest shoe. The product pages continue this clean design with the shoes displayed on white background for maximum contrast.

10. Wolf Circus

Based in Vancouver, BC, Wolf Circus is a Shopify store with a line of handmade jewelry products. All of their products are made using either recycled sterling silver or recycled bronze that’s coated in a high-grade 14k gold plating, which they market as “attainable luxury.” They aim to ‘inspire others to embrace their confidence during their daily hustle.”

Featuring photography worthy of a fashion magazine, the homepage of Wolf Circus’ Shopify store focuses on current collections with a small about section at the bottom. The menu gives you a few different options for shopping, either new, gifts or all, as well as an about and featured content link. The product pages are clean but bold, with product images taking up a large chunk of the page. For added engagement, the store also features a chatbot.

11. Hiut Denim Co.

Cardigan, Wales used to be home to the biggest jeans factory in the UK. In 2011 Hiut Denim Co. was founded there to take advantage of the jean-making skills and know-how that remained with many locals. The company is dedicated to making the best jeans and focuses on details, satisfaction, and quality.

Hiut Denim’s Shopify store is clean and easy to navigate thanks to a menu that divides between product and content but shows the categories in each without needing to hover over it. The homepage highlights the most recent collection and gives quick access to mens’ and womens’ products, as well as a featured product, prints, and returns. The product pages continue this clean look, with product images taking center stage.

12. Bremont

British luxury watchmaker Bremont produces beautifully engineered chronometers. With an annual production of approximately 8,000-10,000 pieces, the companies key pillars are British engineering, aviation & military, and adventure. Founded in 2002, their goal is to make beautifully crafted pilot’s watches of exceptional quality. They are inspired by a love of flying historic aircraft, of watches, and all things mechanical.

Bremont puts its latest collection at the top of its Shopify store, listing its unique selling points directly underneath. You are given the option to discover the newest releases or update your existing watch, as well as directly shop the best-selling watches from the homepage. A chatbot is available to assist you should you have any questions. The product pages use large header images and clean product images to reinforce the boldness of their products.

13. BLK & Bold

Founded by Pernell Cezar Jr. and Rod Johnson, the purpose behind BLK & Bold is to help local communities through the sale of caffeinated beverages. It does this by leveraging wholesale and direct-to-consumer to equip young people with tools to overcome unfortunate circumstances. They also pledge 5% of profits to initiatives that sustain youth programs, enhance workforce development, and eradicate youth homelessness.

BLK & Bold’s Shopify store utilizes a clean and simple design. Offering a 15% discount for newsletter signup via a chatbot, the rest of the homepage focuses on highlighting its newest products, a video explaining its unique selling point, and informing consumers which stores stock the product. This minimalism is continued on the product page, which features simple product images, information, and reviews.

14. Biolite

Biolite creates affordable, durable products that harness surrounding energy to cook, charge, and light daily life for off-grid households. Their vision is to provide 20 million people with access to clean energy and avoid 3 million tons of CO2e by 2025.

Their Shopify store echoes the technology that’s incorporated into their products, with a high-tech design language. The product pages are efficient in design, allowing you to view products both in a studio setting and in use outdoors, and even video of it in action. The menu gives options for the different product categories or to shop all in one place.

15. PRESS

Founded in 2014, today PRESS is proud to be an online delivery service and working with over 700 independent stockists all over the UK. The idea was born when PRESS co-founders Georgie and Ed developed a love for cold-pressed juice as a healthy part of their diets. They brought the concept back to London and sold their first juices out of a bathtub in Old Street tube station. Their mission? To become the biggest health food brand globally.

The layout of their Shopify store is simple, with the menu allowing you to shop their programs or products, as well as learn more about them. In line with the clean and healthy image of their product, their homepage design is sleek. With options to find out more about their programs, reviews of their products, and links to their blog on the homepage, it’s easy to dive into their world and find out more.

16. Burga

Burga sells luxury phone and laptop cases, as well as leather card and passport covers. With a range of stylish accessories, this Shopify Store attempts to display fitting cases for your device if you visit it on your smartphone.

With a design reminiscent of a jewelry store, Burga’s website is as stylish as its products. The focus of the homepage is to highlight specials and allow you to shop for a range of different accessories directly. Product pages feature standard product images and user-generated ones, adding a personal touch to the pages.

Related Content

150 Best Shopify Apps (Paid & Free) To Increase Sales for 2021

30 Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Examples with Proven Success

10 Tactics to Grow Your Ecommerce Customer Base

8 Timeless eCommerce Business Ideas You Can Start Today

How to Sell on Shopify: 7 Easy Steps to Sell Your Products Like a Pro

Summary

As you can see, there isn’t one strategy that works for all Shopify stores. You need to adapt your design to your product. Things to consider include who your target market is, how your product would be used, and how easy it is to navigate through your website. The closer your Shopify store feels to your actual product in design, the more customers will be able to connect with your brand.

Did you see any designs that caught your eye and inspired you to start or update your Shopify store? I’d love to hear about your stories!

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bonnierper-walrus-blog · 6 years

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Profile: The Tailor.

Name: Responds to Tarren, the Tailor, Old Man, Gramps, and really just about any nickname you might give an elderly person. His true name is his alone, and he’s never shared it with another (living) soul. If prompted about it he’ll usually say it’s a guttural gurgle, or the sound of a sneeze, and other such impossible-to-perfectly-reproduce-sounds, providing the person asking is doing so out of harmless curiosity. If they’re not, he just says his true name is Fukkit.

Face Claim: Geri from Geri’s Game, maybe? As just a mental jumping-off point for his #look. Unglamoured he looks like a mashup between a balding Itchy from the ye classic Star Wars chrimmus special and a very mossy old tree that is vaguely person-shaped. Hot!!!!

Age: Anywhere from 300 to 500 years old - he’s spent large portions of his life ducking in and out of the land of fae and didn’t always try very hard to keep track of what time it was in the mortal world when he left. Mostly reverse-engineers the time spent based off of the fashion styles he remembers the most, though this is tenuous at best since he didn’t always return to the same continent, let alone the same century.

Eyes: Dark brown, and always looking a little teary - when unglamoured his eyes are a dark dewy brown, with dark sclera, the color and shape of knots in old tree trunks after a rainstorm. They’re deep-set on his face but are blown up to several times their normal size by the glasses he wears, giving him an owlish appearance while also helping to magically mask the less human aspects of them.

Hair: Dusty white in his glamoured form, a little flyaway and trailing down the back of his neck - unglamoured it changes to a faded, sun-bleached brown, and becomes notably stringier, looking more like thin strands of dried grass that hang well past his shoulders.

Height: 5’5” while glamoured - 3’5” when unglamoured.

Species: Brownie, albeit one with some habits a bit atypical for the species - while skilled in all manner of domestic chores, he’s rarely ever imprinted on a traditional household, and has a much greater affinity for craftsman workshops, costume companies, and performance troupes.

Powers: A wide array of limited-range powers that assist in his work from crafts to cleaning - he can make objects around him levitate, imbue various tools with life to assist in multitasking, and, on rare occasions, let a single room of his tailory seep into the land of fae - just enough to take it outside of mortal time, and give him a chance to get more work done on a deadline. Obviously the last choice is a very tall order, and one he monitors carefully lest he draw too much attention from beyond the veil. Also has inhuman strength, precision, and patience - in particular, though his hands look knobby and arthritic, he actually has a feather-light deftness and a wickedly strong grip that lets him make consistently fine detail work and bend very tough materials to his will.

Weaknesses: Very limited magical range - anything outside of the interior of a small room, and at most the interior of a small building, is just far enough out of his influence to often become useless, unless it’s imbued in the materials he’s worked with. His magic is very specialized, to the detriment of almost all other fields of it. Prideful, and while he doesn't advertise it blatantly he does carry a fair bit of hubris - being as long-lived as he is, and surviving more than a few scuffles with the different fae courts as he’s pushed the limits of the veil to suit his work, he thinks he can handle any repercussions, insofar as he thinks he’s gotten clever and stealthy enough to not draw any more attention. Cold iron and learning his true name will snuff him out like a candle.

Personality: Chipper and unflappable, almost to a fault, Tarren has a flighty, needling nature commonly found in older fae, though it has been tempered by time and necessity after working for centuries disguised among humans. He loves a good joke, especially at someone else’s expense, and loves to work on anything new - be it an alteration for a new pair of pants, or a custom order built to a client’s exact specifications. He likes to teach, but isn't always the best at it, often getting swept up in his demonstrations and either explaining himself too fast or too slow for it to be a very effective lesson. He has no qualms about repeating himself, however, which helps to make up for some of those shortcomings.

His manner and etiquette are a hodgepodge of different centuries’ social norms - at once very physically affectionate and unconcerned with the idea of proper behavior when it hinders his work, while also keeping a certain polite detachment in his speech. He’ll give gifts freely and hold others to favors depending on his mood - never to the point of being a hindrance or hurtful so much as a way to amuse himself and bond with those around him. He does, however, still have a mean streak that can arise if he feels he’s been truly slighted - a refusal of payment stemming from devaluing his work instead of simply being unable to afford it at the time will likely result in him imbuing the fabric with a myriad of unpleasant afflictions that will seep into every piece of clothing it comes in contact with. He hasn’t had to pull that one out in a while, though, so it’s probably fine.

Job: Magical tailor and clothesmaker. Accepts payments in everything from conventional money, to extra materials, to stories of childhood memories or a basket of baked goods - will often change the price of things arbitrarily, too. But his work is top-notch, and he never demands anything one would not seem likely to freely give. It’s more of a formality at this point than a necessity for him, even if the question of how he purchases his supplies does come to mind. He says not to worry about it!

Residence: Lives and works in his tailory, Whipstitch. As he doesn’t run on a diurnal clock or even require certain amenities the way humans do, he blurs the lines of his living area and his work area quite thoroughly. Can be found unglamoured sleeping on a bed of interfacing fabric on the top shelf of his workshop just as often as he retires to a traditional bed in the furthest back room of the shop. But his apprentices needn’t fear - he has a small kitchenette and fridge in the back, and all amenities his more mortal students might need. He periodically updates his machines and tools as well, though sometimes he does feel the need to fall back on more traditional methods.

Other Odds-and-Ends:

His glasses, in addition to helping maintain his glamour, also are imbued with a few spells to aid him in measurements - so long as the person he’s looking at has a tangible form (sorry, ghosts), he can walk around them and get a very solid estimate of their size and the amount of materials he’ll need for a job.

Loves a good saucer of milk, and is a frequent patron of local bakeries - being his apprentice means a lot of plates of goodies set down beside them while they’re working, always paired with a reassurance that it’s not fae food.

Knows what Star Wars is and thinks the wookie comparison is an apt one - but be advised that if you do bring it up he will consider it fair game to start comparing you to various pop culture entities as well, and not necessarily ones that are humans.

Is always open to accepting new apprentices, as he tends to work alone and having extra hands always helps - though he doesn’t expect his students to stick around the shop, more often than not.

His love of clothesmaking stems from one of the first houses he ever looked after - finding a half-finished dress set aside by the lady of the house, he at once became consumed with the task of completing it to her pattern’s specifications. When he found the next day that she intended for alterations, he eagerly set about applying them, and a bond quickly grew between them where payment of his work began to come in the form of sewing patterns and materials to practice his own designs. He keeps that first dress tucked away in a chest at the foot of his bed, and makes custom baby clothes for her descendants when he learns of the arrival of a new addition to the family - ones that mysteriously appear amongst other baby shower gifts, even though no one can remember who gave it to them.

#profile.#long post #hey howdy hey I finally made a profile for the tailor npc I've had in me head for literal years now lmao #hit him up he'll teach u how to drop a stitch and why satin isn't a kind of raw material

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tak4hir0 · 4 years

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Introducing Salesforce Code Builder Over the past three years or so, there have been huge improvements to developer productivity on the Salesforce Platform. Everything from Scratch Orgs, the Salesforce CLI, Salesforce Extensions for Visual Studio Code, to source tracking, source control, and Lightning Web Components has made existing Salesforce developers more productive while also making the platform easier to learn. However, there has also been a remaining gap; many developers are unable to use these great new features because they’re only available on desktop-based tools. Today, that changes. We are thrilled to introduce Code Builder, a web-based development environment fully optimized for Salesforce development and powered by Microsoft’s Visual Studio Codespaces. Code Builder is a full-featured version of Visual Studio Code running completely in the browser and backed by a powerful cloud-hosted developer environment. In just one click, you have a full environment without any setup or configuration. Code Builder comes with everything you need to build applications on the Salesforce Platform, including Salesforce Extensions, the Salesforce CLI, Git integration, and it’s authenticated to your current Salesforce org. What’s really amazing about Code Builder is that it isn’t just a lightweight editor that runs in the browser – every instance of Code Builder is backed by its own powerful Virtual Machine. This means Code Builder will allow you to do everything from simple code edits, to Lightning Web Component development and advanced Apex debugging. It also includes support for Node.js and Java, all without leaving the browser. A familiar, modern experience Code Builder brings to your browser the same interface, capabilities, and features as VS Code on desktop, and in a way that is completely tailored to Salesforce development. For existing users of VS Code, you can switch between either product without missing a beat. Code Builder comes setup for Salesforce development, with great productivity tools like ESLint and Prettier, along with rich code-editing features for all Salesforce languages and programming models. For those that have never used VS Code, but are familiar with Developer Console or Workbench, we want you to be comfortable as well while also bringing the latest productivity features to the web. Going forward, learning Salesforce development and tooling won’t be different depending on where you build – you pick the environment that is most comfortable for you and the tools will be the same. Lightning Web Components For the first time, developers can now write, debug, and deploy Lightning Web Components directly from the browser. Code Builder provides LWC developers with modern development features like code completion, inline documentation, refactoring, linting, and much more. Apex Previously, Apex developers had the choice of using the powerful VS Code Extensions or the light-weight Developer Console. Depending on your choice, you had a different set of capabilities available. For example, the Developer Console doesn’t provide rich code completion, refactoring, or debugging capabilities. With Code Builder, the choice of where you work no longer means giving up features. You can do everything in Code Builder, including using the rich Apex debugging capabilities. Org metadata Where you can access only a small subset of metadata in Developer Console, Code Builder provides access to the full metadata of an org. Using the Org Browser you can open any metadata type for inspection and editing. Once you make changes to your metadata, the change is saved instantly to your org. Application Lifecycle Management Code Builder isn’t just for working against a single org either. You can connect to or create multiple orgs of any type, like sandboxes and scratch orgs. All from within a single Code Builder instance. This means that Code Builder isn’t limited to the simple editing of org metadata. You can use it to script deployments between multiple orgs and test changes in scratch orgs. It also comes with source control integration so you can more easily adopt source-driven development. SOQL queries One of our goals with Code Builder is to consolidate the web-based builder experiences into a single, modern, and consistent tool. The first tool we have brought over from Workbench (and improved) is a SOQL Query Builder. This tool empowers anyone who needs to write and execute SOQL queries to do so with an easy to use graphical interface while also allowing for editing the query syntax directly for more advanced features. A powerful developer environment Code Builder isn’t just about what you can do in the browser, it’s also a powerful cloud-hosted developer environment. This means you can access the command line to run tools like the Salesforce CLI and save files to the disk which are persisted for the next time you come back. You can install any VS Code extension or customize the color theme. This is your environment to do with as you please. Build how you want, from where you want You may be asking if this means you’ll no longer need Visual Studio Code on the desktop. The answer is up to you. The great thing about Code Builder is that it runs all of the same extensions that desktop VS Code runs. This means everything we build for the desktop is now on the web. For you, it means you can choose where you want to work without sacrificing functionality. For some developers, they will mostly use VS Code on their desktop; others will work exclusively in the browser with Code Builder. Sometimes you might want to use the desktop as your primary environment, but maybe you’d like to try out some preview features. For that you could spin up a Code Builder instance and try them out without worrying about disrupting your primary environment. Lastly, Code Builder isn’t just for writing code – it’s for everyone who builds on the platform. If you want to use a visual tool to create SOQL queries and never write a line of code, then Code Builder is for you! But it also means you could use VS Code on the desktop. The SOQL Query Builder and all other features will be available as VS Code extensions that will come preinstalled in Code Builder, but can also be installed in VS Code to use on your desktop. In short, this means that no matter what type of building you’re doing, you can choose to work exclusively in the browser, use the desktop-based VS Code alone, or use both. And you won’t have to make a choice based on which feature is available where. This is a unified path forward for all developer tooling at Salesforce. The future of Salesforce web tools You might be wondering, does this mean we say goodbye to the Developer Console? We know you love the speed and simplicity of the Developer Console, but you also want the ability to build more productively, with code completion, refactoring, and powerful debugging. With Code Builder, every Salesforce developer can build better using the latest Platform features, while enjoying the full power of a modern IDE, preloaded with all of our tooling innovations over the past few years. And it’s instantly available in your browser – no setup or configuration required! Over the next year or so, we’ll provide builders and developers a unified experience, bringing the features they love from Developer Console and Workbench into Code Builder and desktop VS Code. Going forward, desktop and web tools for Salesforce will get all the same features. Excited about the SOQL Query Builder, but prefer to build on desktop VS Code? No problem! Everything built for the browser will be available on the desktop, and vice versa. Code Builder is in Pilot June 25, 2020 with a limited group of customers. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to your Account team at Salesforce… but we also want to hear from you directly. What does your ideal Salesforce developer experience look like? Take this survey to help inform our Developer Tooling roadmap. We deliver new releases for VS Code Extensions, the Salesforce CLI, Local Development, and more, on a weekly basis. What we do is also publicly available on GitHub, so open an issue and let us know how you feel! Finally, be sure to join us Thursday, June 25 at TrailheaDX, where you’ll be able to see Code Builder in action at the Unlock Developer Productivity with Modern, Open Tooling episode. We can’t wait to see you there! About the authors Nathan Totten is the product manager for Salesforce Developer Tools & Experiences. Claire Bianchi is the product manager for Code Builder and the Salesforce CLI.

#Salesforce Developers Blog

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abangtech · 4 years

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iPhone SE vs Galaxy A51: value or compromise? (video)

Affordable smartphones are all the rage right now, with the iPhone SE shining a light on it in recent months. But if you haven’t been paying attention, most of the companies have been putting out midrange devices for some time now, some with great sales numbers. The Samsung Galaxy A51 is the latest in a line of phones that actually outsells the highly marketed flagship Galaxy S line, so let’s see how it stacks up against Apple’s resurrection act. This is iPhone SE vs Samsung Galaxy A51.

Easy does it

The first striking detail between these two phones deals with the size — look how much the midrange Galaxy A51 line still dwarfs the iPhone SE. There are no other sizes for the iPhone, just this easy to grasp throwback to the days of the iPhone 7 and 8. There’s a lot more bezel at the top and bottom, specifically making room for the Touch ID home button. And the screen is just diminutive, coming in at 4.7 inches which makes handling a breeze but viewing experiences are literally shrunken down compared to all the smartphones that go big or go home.

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The A51 isn’t too big, thankfully — its 6.5 inch Super AMOLED display is a treat that Samsung users enjoy in pretty much every one of their smartphones. It’s also basically in line with what we expect from 2020 smartphones, right down to the hole punch camera at the top. Samsung really tries to use up as much of the screen real estate as possible, though, making content render right at the line. The result is a minimal bezel since the fingerprint reader is in the display. Face unlock using that front facing camera works just as well, putting a notch in the Samsung camp for biometric options. Then again, Touch ID did return to the iPhone SE just in time for the exclusion of Face ID to make some sense.

I commend the A51 for being pretty thin and light, with the curved backing further helping its handling. That backing has a nice prism design to it as well, so there’s a bit of eye candy there as well. I find this size to be pretty spot on for my tastes — just right for easy handling without making me squint during viewing. Not to say the iPhone screen is bad, it’s just small and not an AMOLED display that includes an always on display. If I just wanted my daily to be easy on the eyes, the A51 is definitely the go-to for things like YouTube and Netflix.

In all honesty, however, the all plastic build of the Galaxy A51 is its main design detriment. I understand that Samsung had to find ways of getting the cost down, but when you’re looking at the landscape of sub-$400 phones, better build quality will always be a plus. This is not to say the iPhone can withstand constant punishment, which is why we have these protective cases from Supcase on hand.

Jack of all trades or master of one?

So you can already see where the chips may fall in this comparison — the Galaxy A51 is able to provide many of the amenities that Samsung users are already used to, just tailored to the lower price point. Meanwhile, Apple tried to put the majority of its current high end specs in a different shell altogether. It should really come as no surprise here that the Bionic A13, underclocked as it might be, provides the smooth and easy iOS experience that Apple users are accustomed to. Getting around the interface is arguably even easier now that there’s a home button again because tactility is sorely underrated. What Apple has done with the SE is provide an everyday smartphone experience that works for pretty much everyone — people who are new to the iOS ecosystem and people who might need a backup phone if their flagship level iPhone suddenly needs a replacement. Despite the dialing back of the bells and whistles, the core experience is really what Apple wanted to provide and they succeeded.

Not to say all the bells and whistles are gone, though — wireless charging and fast 18W charging are here, but I’d argue they were necessary to include for this small battery. There won’t be any day-and-a-half battery life stories with the SE, and even before the end of the day you’ll be looking for a place to set it down or plug it in.

Samsung, on the other hand, managed to keep many of their experiences running in the midrange Exynos processor of the Galaxy A51. We talked about biometrics with the in-display fingerprint reader and face unlock, but there’s also the always useful always on display, the Edge Panel, and further features in Samsung One UI. Say what you will about Android vs iOS, it’s just the truth that Android and One UI have more customization and daily navigation options. But while you can really cater the daily experience, it doesn’t mean it’ll be super snappy — the Exynos 9611 is the major compromise that unfortunately trickles down to every other part of this Android experience.

Apps, games in particular, take more time to load up and visual stutters are pretty frequent even when going to places like the Samsung Briefing screen or to the recent apps screen. This could be helped with the higher RAM options but then you’re paying more money, just like with the higher storage options in the iPhone SE. Oh and speaking of which, the A51 has a microSD card slot so storage isn’t definitely less of an issue there.

Another bright spot is how the Galaxy A51 can easily get through a full day of work due to that 4000mAh battery. There’s no wireless charging, however, and wired charging is a pretty standard 18W. Samsung’s own Fast Charge would have really been a nice addition here. While I applaud the reliably smooth experience of iOS on the iPhone SE, it’s also largely the same as any other iPhone in any other person’s hand. There’s value in that so I tip the hat to Apple in that respect. I do like having the extra features like the always on display and the better battery life even if it means a tiny bit more waiting time for some stuff to load. I’m not one of those people that gets immediately enraged at the sight of some stutter — if you can get past that, the Galaxy A51 is capable of being a go-to daily device.

One VS many

Options. That’s the central theme of this comparison. And you don’t have to look much further than the cameras on the rear to see that playing out. The single 12MP shooter of the iPhone SE is enhanced by what the Bionic A13 provides, but when you want to capture the scene in different ways, you’re kind of stuck. Enter the multiple lenses of the Galaxy A51, providing some ultrawide action and some zoom action when you need it. But it wouldn’t matter if the pictures come out terrible anyway.

This is where we come to an impasse. Taking the 12MP iPhone sensor alone against the pixel binned results of the 48MP main sensor on the Galaxy A51, it’s hard to pick a winner. The iPhone still excels in the video department, with Smart HDR enhancing the iPhone’s capture for better dynamic range. The iPhone also one ups the Galaxy by having 4K 60fps recording. It’s a bit of a cliche at this point to call the iPhone the go-to video camera, but you can’t argue with the results. Apple really got it right in that department on a phone at this price.

But in photos there are plenty of toss ups. Samsung’s signature saturation is usually considered very pleasing and that continues on the main sensor and the ultrawide in particular, while the iPhone is less aggressive with it while maintaining good HDR results. But then you can literally see what Samsung provides that the iPhone does not — an ultrawide, a macro lens, a depth lens to help with portraits, and a night mode. The iPhone just isn’t a shooter you can use in a dark situation.

Another thing that I enjoy with the Galaxy A51 in particular is the 32MP front shooter, which simply dwarfs the 7MP selfie cam of the iPhone. (Front facing video a-roll here)

In all honesty, even if the iPhone can put out some great quality stuff from its very limited toolset, having versatility in the Galaxy A51 means there are more ways to capture memories, which I think make it a bit more fun.

Value or compromise?

Honestly, this is a great experiment in what is considered essential for a midrange phone. Where do these phones cut the fat needed to make that slim price? Midrange is even a hard descriptor to use because in the case of the iPhone you get specs needed to tackle everyday tasks but with the Galaxy A51 you get a taste of all features that are usually reserved for more expensive phones. If your hard earned money feels better spent on a simple but great quality of life, any iPhone is an easy recommendation. In fact, the iPhone SE at its price point might be the most accessible Apple product of all time. But if you want the freedom to do more when the desire strikes you, the Galaxy A51 has all of the tools at the ready — it just needs a little extra elbow grease from time to time. And just speaking personally here, I’d be happy to put the time into learning those tools rather than not having them at all.

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from abangtech https://abangtech.com/iphone-se-vs-galaxy-a51-value-or-compromise-video/

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un-enfant-immature · 5 years

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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Active 2 is a solid smartwatch for Android users

Samsung makes good, underrated smartwatches. It’s just been difficult to get much attention in a category so utterly dominated by a single player. Even still, the company has managed to hold onto the number two spot in global market share, according to recentish numbers. At 11.1 percent, it’s a little less than a third of what Apple’s been able to generate.

The line has been a fairly stark contrast to Apple’s offerings. Samsung’s smartwatch philosophy is in line with its mobile counterpart: offer variety and don’t be afraid to try new things. Compare that to the Apple Watch’s annual improvements. The company offers one, key product, opting to make a little bit better, piece by piece.

Announced at the Unpacked event that gave us the S10 back in February, the Galaxy Watch Active presented a streamlining of the line. And simplified —and, most notably, cheaper — take on the Tizen-powered wearable line. Honestly, that $200 price point was really the key, putting the device in line with Fitbit’s relatively recent foray into the category.

A mere six months later, it returned with the Galaxy Watch Active 2. The device brings a smattering of upgrades, including improved heart rate monitoring (with the ECG sensor currently still in beta) and the addition of both an LTE model and a larger 44mm version. Thankfully, it maintains a streamlined design that’s a welcome alternative to some of Samsung’s bigger, bulkier offerings.

Oddly, the company has opted to move away from the rotating mechanical bezel with the Active line, which has long been Samsung’s key differentiator in the category — perhaps in the spirit of maintaining that kind of minimalism, The rotating mechanical bezel is, simply put, the best way I’ve come across for interfacing with smartwatches, including Apple’s crown.

The Active 2 attempts to adapt the feature into a digital version with haptic feedback. Essentially you swipe around the outer edge f the device and haptics simulate the clicking of the wheel. It works better than I’d initially anticipated, but the lack of the original feature is still pretty glaring. Here’s hoping the company rethinks the omission for future versions.

As with the latest Apple Watch, there’s an always on screen option, though it’s going to take its toll on battery life. With the feature off, however, I was able to get more than two days life on a single charge, which isn’t too shabby. That’s better than Apple, though both companies are still well behind what Fitbit’s able to get out of a device.

Honestly, in 2019, all smartphone makers should be pushing for ways to get more life on a charge — especially those offering some form of sleep tracking. Now that other features like ECG have begun to become ubiquitous, this ought to be the next big push for the industry at large.

My Style is a fun, but ultimately unnecessary trick, wherein the app lets you tailor the color of a watch face using a smartphone photo of what you’re wearing. The app selection is still pretty limited, compared to Apple’s offering, though some key features like Spotify are here. That now includes offline playlists. Other key apps like YouTube have been improved as well.

It’s hard to imagine the company catching up to an Apple on the third-party app side, but Samsung’s long had one key advantage over the Apple Watch: Android compatibility. And with Google’s Wear OS being fairly consistently underwhelming, Samsung’s got some real opportunity to capture even more marketshare.

It would be nice if the Active Watch 2 was a bit more aggressively priced. Apple’s decision to keep older units around means you can pick up, say the Series 3 for $200. There’s also the $200 Fitbit Versa 2. Some may find the $280 price point worth it for the (forthcoming) addition of things like ECG, but for most consumers, the $200 original Watch Active continues to be the better deal.

#TechCrunch

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udemy-gift-coupon-blog · 5 years

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Getting Started with MailChimp & Aweber Marketing Automation ##FutureLearn ##Udacity #Automation #Aweber #MailChimp #Marketing #Started Getting Started with MailChimp & Aweber Marketing Automation Hi Friends, Welcome to " Getting Started with MailChimp & Aweber Marketing Automation" 2 Course Bundle Part 1: is about: MailChimp. MailChimp is FREE and at the reach of EVERYONE. The platform is robust and people are loving their service. They have grown exponentially over the past couple of years. If there’s one thing that MailChimp excels at is it’s marketing automation. It is like a second brain for your business that when put into good use help you find and connect with your audience and with a few configurations on your part, it will just keep branding and selling more stuff to them NON-STOP. That means more money for your business. Automate. Sell More. Earn More. Without a doubt, MailChimp sends better emails and get them inbox better than any other mailing service provider online. 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You get to spy on the habits of the people who subscribe to your list. Knowing who they are what they expect will make delivering to their individual needs possible. Use Aweber To Fulfill The Needs Of Your Subscribers As we spoke of before, you first need to know what the expectations of your subscribers are. Once you have a firm grasp on that, you’ll be able to fulfill their needs. You’ll be able to do this by understanding what topics each subscriber is interested in. You’ll be surprised by how varied the interests of people are who all subscribe to the same list. The information learned will make it possible for you to tailor emails to specific types of subscribers. You can even send subscribers emails based on which ones they’ve opened in the past. Information like this is invaluable, and it will help you convert your subscribers into customers. Don’T Forget You Can Run A Newsletter Also Aweber can also be used to run your own newsletter. You might be surprised to learn you can even tailor the type of newsletters each subscriber gets based on information collected. All of this may seem like a lot of extra work, but it will help your conversions in the long run. It doesn’t matter if you’re running a list or a newsletter, the end goal is to make money. The way you increase your profits is by making sure value is delivered to your subscribers. It’s all about open rates and continually working to improve them. Here’s What You’ll Discover Inside Part 2 of this Course: Learn what's Aweber for and how to set up your account Learn how to use Aweber to build your list and communicate with people. How to set up a campaign and a list. How to manage your subscribers' contact details the right way. How to use Aweber to engage your audience every day. How to do list segmentation and list cleaning. How to add your aweber code to your landing page. How to use their advanced automation system to accelerate your marketing. Tips and tricks you can use to get your messages inbox properly. We’Ll Show You The Entire Process From Start To Finish Right now all of this might sound complicated. Aweber on its surface can seem very difficult to use. You won’t have any problems setting up your lists or even a newsletter after watching our videos. The great thing about Aweber is all the features the service has. Not making use of those features is a huge mistake. You should always be trying to fulfill the needs of your subscribers. Profit is to be made and lots of it if you can zero in on what their exact needs and interests are. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is open rates, and we’ll even show you how to increase those as well. 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