#AI Based Mobile App

[tucsonbizz1]

Explore how artificial intelligence (AI) driven mobile apps revolutionizes real estate industry and reshaping the way we live and interact with our homes.

[grey-space-computing]

Enhancing User Experience in Saudi Mobile Apps with AI

In the current digital environment, the triumph of mobile applications is deeply rooted in their user experience (UX). With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), mobile apps are becoming more intelligent, responsive, and personalized. In Saudi Arabia, where the digital economy is rapidly expanding, integrating AI into mobile app development is not just a trend—it's a necessity. This article delves into how AI is enhancing user experience in Saudi mobile apps, exploring the benefits, challenges, and future prospects.

1. The Role of AI in Mobile App Development

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed numerous sectors, and mobile app development is certainly among them. In the context of user experience, AI plays a pivotal role in making apps more intuitive, efficient, and tailored to individual user needs. Whether it's through predictive analytics, natural language processing, or machine learning algorithms, AI enhances every aspect of the user journey.

1.1 Predictive Analytics for Personalized Experiences

One of the key advancements AI has brought to mobile app development is predictive analytics. By analyzing user data, AI can predict future behavior and preferences. This allows apps to offer personalized recommendations, content, and services, thereby improving user engagement and satisfaction.

1.2 Natural Language Processing for Better Interaction

Natural Language Processing (NLP) enables apps to understand and respond to user queries in a more human-like manner. In Saudi Arabia, where Arabic is the primary language, NLP can be particularly beneficial in providing seamless communication between the app and the user. By understanding the nuances of the Arabic language, AI can enhance the overall interaction quality.

1.3 Machine Learning for Continuous Improvement

Machine learning algorithms enable apps to learn from user interactions and continuously improve over time. This means that the more a user interacts with an app, the better the app becomes at meeting their needs. For businesses in Saudi Arabia, this translates to higher customer retention rates and increased loyalty.

2. The Importance of UX in Saudi Arabia's Digital Economy

Saudi Arabia is undergoing a digital transformation, with a significant focus on enhancing the digital economy. Mobile apps are at the forefront of this transformation, serving as key platforms for e-commerce, banking, entertainment, and more. In such a competitive market, delivering a superior user experience is crucial for success.

2.1 User-Centric Design: The Key to Success

A user-centric design approach is essential for creating apps that resonate with the target audience. In Saudi Arabia, this means considering cultural nuances, language preferences, and the unique needs of the local population. By integrating AI into the design process, developers can create apps that are not only functional but also emotionally engaging.

2.2 The Impact of AI on User-Centric Design

AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify user pain points and preferences. This information can then be used to design more intuitive interfaces, streamline navigation, and offer features that align with user expectations. For example, AI can propose design modifications based on user feedback, ensuring the app stays relevant and user-friendly.

3. AI-Driven Personalization: A Game Changer for User Engagement

Modern user experiences are deeply rooted in personalization. With AI, mobile apps can deliver highly personalized experiences that keep users engaged and satisfied. From personalized content recommendations to tailored notifications, AI-driven personalization is a game changer for user engagement.

3.1 Personalized Content Recommendations

AI-driven algorithms can assess user behavior to suggest content tailored to their preferences. This is particularly valuable in entertainment apps, where users are more likely to engage with content that resonates with them. In Saudi Arabia, where digital content consumption is on the rise, personalized recommendations can significantly enhance user experience.

3.2 Tailored Notifications for Better Engagement

Notifications are a powerful tool for keeping users engaged with an app. However, generic notifications may often be seen as intrusive. AI can help by sending tailored notifications based on user behavior and preferences. This ensures that users receive relevant updates that add value to their experience.

4. Enhancing Mobile App Security with AI

Security is a top concern for mobile app users, especially when it comes to sensitive information such as financial data. AI can enhance mobile app security by detecting and preventing threats in real-time, providing users with a safer experience.

4.1 AI-Powered Fraud Detection

AI can analyze patterns in user behavior to detect fraudulent activities. For example, if an unusual transaction is detected, the app can alert the user and take preventive measures. This is particularly important for financial apps in Saudi Arabia, where trust and security are paramount.

4.2 Ensuring Data Privacy with AI

Data privacy is a significant concern in the digital age. AI can help ensure that user data is handled securely by monitoring data access and usage. By integrating AI into mobile app development, businesses can build trust with their users by demonstrating a commitment to data privacy.

5. The Future of AI in Saudi Mobile Apps

The outlook for AI in mobile app development in Saudi Arabia is exceptionally promising. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more innovative solutions that enhance user experience.

5.1 AI and Augmented Reality (AR) Integration

One of the most thrilling advancements is the potential for combining AI with augmented reality (AR). This integration promises to create more immersive and interactive experiences by blending digital information with the physical world in real time. This combination can create immersive experiences that blend the digital and physical worlds. For example, AI-powered AR apps can offer personalized shopping experiences, allowing users to virtually try on products before making a purchase.

5.2 Voice-Activated Apps Powered by AI

Voice-activated apps are becoming increasingly popular, thanks to advancements in AI and NLP. In Saudi Arabia, where voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant are widely used, integrating voice activation into mobile apps can enhance accessibility and user convenience.

Conclusion

AI is transforming the landscape of mobile app development in Saudi Arabia, offering new opportunities to enhance user experience. From personalized content recommendations to advanced security features, AI-driven apps are better equipped to meet the evolving needs of users. As the digital economy in Saudi Arabia continues to grow, businesses that leverage AI in their mobile apps will be well-positioned to succeed in this competitive market.

FAQs

1. How does AI improve user experience in mobile apps?

AI enhances user experience by personalizing content, improving app security, and enabling more intuitive interactions.

2. Why is user-centric design important in Saudi mobile apps?

User-centric design ensures that the app meets the unique needs and preferences of the local population, leading to higher user satisfaction.

3. How can AI enhance mobile app security?

AI can detect and prevent security threats in real-time, ensuring that user data is protected.

4. What is the future of AI in mobile apps?

The future of AI in mobile apps includes the integration of augmented reality and voice activation, offering even more immersive and accessible experiences.

5. Why is personalization important in mobile apps?

Personalization keeps users engaged by delivering content and notifications that align with their interests and preferences.

[phoenixbizz]

Explore the impact of AI on warehousing and mobile apps, and how it's shaping the future of logistics.

[skytech-mobile]

Explore how artificial intelligence ai based mobile apps is transforming the architecture industry and help to develop business sales and customer service.

[devstree-uk]

Are you curious about creating a fantastic app that employs artificial intelligence to help people find their ideal hairstyles? Look no further! In this informative blog post, we'll guide you through the exciting process of building an AI-based hairstyle app. Explore how AI can transform the world of hairstyling, and learn how you can be a part of this innovative future. Discover the magic of AI in hairstyling here

[decolonize-the-everything]

This is not a drill

This is IMPORTANT especially if you live in the USA or use the internet REGULATED by the USA!!!!

Do not scroll. Signal boost. Reblog.

Reblog WITHOUT reading if you really can't right now, I promise all the links and proof are here. People NEED to know this.

( I tried to make this accessible but you can't cater to EVERYONE so please just try your best to get through this or do your own research 🙏)

TLDR: Homeland Security has been tying our social media to our IPs, licenses, posts, emails, selfies, cloud, apps, location, etc through our phones without a warrant using Babel X and will hold that information gathered for 75 years. Certain aspects of it were hushed because law enforcement will/does/has used it and it would give away confidential information about ongoing operations.

This gets renewed in September.

Between this, Agincourt (a VR simulator for cops Directly related to this project), cop city, and widespread demonization of abortions, sex workers, & queer people mixed with qanon/Trumpism, and fascism in Florida, and the return of child labor, & removed abortion rights fresh on our tails it's time for alarms to be raised and it's time for everyone to stop calling us paranoid and start showing up to protest and mutual aid groups.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

These are the same feds who want to build cop city and recreate civilian houses en masse and use facial recognition. The same feds that want cop city to also be a training ground for police across the country. Cop city where they will build civilian neighborhoods to train in.

Widespread mass surveillance against us.

Now let's cut to some parts of the article. May 17th from Vice:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using an invasive, AI-powered monitoring tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can in some cases link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data, according to an internal CBP document obtained by Motherboard.

Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data in return, according to the document. Results can include their social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone. The monitoring can apply to U.S. persons, including citizens and permanent residents, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, according to the document.

“Babel data will be used/captured/stored in support of CBP targeting, vetting, operations and analysis,” the document reads. Babel X will be used to “identify potential derogatory and confirmatory information” associated with travelers, persons of interest, and “persons seeking benefits.” The document then says results from Babel X will be stored in other CBP operated systems for 75 years.

"The U.S. government’s ever-expanding social media dragnet is certain to chill people from engaging in protected speech and association online. And CBP’s use of this social media surveillance technology is especially concerning in connection with existing rules requiring millions of visa applicants each year to register their social media handles with the government. As we’ve argued in a related lawsuit, the government simply has no legitimate interest in collecting and retaining such sensitive information on this immense scale,” Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told Motherboard in an email.

The full list of information that Babel X may provide to CBP analysts is a target’s name, date of birth, address, usernames, email address, phone number, social media content, images, IP address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, employment history, and location data based on geolocation tags in public posts.

Bennett Cyphers, a special advisor to activist

organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard in an online chat “the data isn’t limited to public posts made under someone’s real name on Facebook or Twitter.”

The document says CBP also has access to AdID information through an add-on called Locate X, which includes smartphone location data. AdID information is data such as a device’s unique advertising ID, which can act as an useful identifier for tracking a phone and, by extension, a person’s movements. Babel Street obtains location information from a long supply chain of data. Ordinary apps installed on peoples’ smartphones provide data to a company called Gravy Analytics, which repackages that location data and sells it to law enforcement agencies via its related company Venntel. But Babel Street also repackages Venntel’s data for its own Locate X product."

The PTA obtained by Motherboard says that Locate X is covered by a separate “commercial telemetry” PTA. CBP denied Motherboard’s FOIA request for a copy of this document, claiming it “would disclose techniques and/or procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions”.

A former Babel Street employee previously told Motherboard how users of Locate X can draw a shape on a map known as a geofence, see all devices Babel Street has data on for that location, and then follow a specific device to see where else it has been.

Cyphers from the EFF added “most of the people whose location data is collected in this way likely have no idea it’s happening.”

CBP has been purchasing access to location data without a warrant, a practice that critics say violates the Fourth Amendment. Under a ruling from the Supreme Court, law enforcement agencies need court approval before accessing location data generated by a cell phone tower; those critics believe this applies to location data generated by smartphone apps too.

“Homeland Security needs to come clean to the American people about how it believes it can legally purchase and use U.S. location data without any kind of court order. Americans' privacy shouldn't depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card,” Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard in a statement. “DHS should stop violating Americans' rights, and Congress should pass my bipartisan legislation to prohibit the government's purchase of Americans' data." CBP has refused to tell Congress what legal authority it is following when using commercially bought smartphone location data to track Americans without a warrant.

Neither CBP or Babel Street responded to a request for comment. Motherboard visited the Babel X section of Babel Street’s website on Tuesday. On Wednesday before publication, that product page was replaced with a message that said “page not found.”

Do you know anything else about how Babel X is being used by government or private clients? Do you work for Babel Street? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Wow that sounds bad right.

Be a shame if it got worse.

.

.

It does.

The software (previously Agincourt Solutions) is sold by AI data company Babel Street, was led by Jeffrey Chapman, a former Treasury Department official,, Navy retiree & Earlier in his career a White House aide and intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, according to LinkedIn.

🙃

So what's Agincourt Solutions then right now?

SO FUCKING SUS IN RELATION TO THIS, THATS WHAT

In essence, synthetic BATTLEVR training is a mixture of all three realities – virtual, augmented and physical. It is flexible enough to allow for mission rehearsals of most types and be intuitive enough to make training effective.

Anyway the new CEO of Babel Street (Babel X) as of April is a guy named Michael Southworth and I couldn't find much more on him than that tbh, it's all very vague and missing. That's the most detail I've seen on him.

And the detail says he has a history of tech startups that scanned paperwork and sent it elsewhere, good with numbers, and has a lot of knowledge about cell networks probably.

Every inch more of this I learn as I continue to Google the names and companies popping up... It gets worse.

Monitor phone use. Quit photobombing and filming strangers and for the love of fucking God quit sending apps photos of your actual legal ID to prove your age. Just don't use that site, you'll be fine I swear. And quit posting your private info online. For activists/leftists NO personally identifiable info at least AND DEFINITELY leave your phone at home to Work™!!!

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I'm an A-Level student and so many of my classmates use ChatGPT for essays in Law and RS and stuff - like, they sound proud of themselves, as if they're cheating the system and being clever? Just makes me feel very bleak. What are we doing man

Well, the unfortunate news for them is that they are going to struggle if they make it to uni.

This is the big problem with AI - it cannot analyse a single thing. If I were to say to you "What are the features Tumblr users would most want and why?", you are a human being with a brain and experiences and decision-making skills, and you could probably sit and come up with an answer. You would base that answer on things you personally find lacking, or want to see; you would also base it in things you have seen others bemoaning on the site.

For example, I reckon I'd say something like:

The permanent ability to boop people with a cat paw, which is implemented as opt-in. Also customisable, so you can choose whether you want a random cat paw to appear on your screen each time it happens to you. Also a different animation for super boop/evil boop, and maybe more boop options than those two, and maybe also different paw colours.

Actual enforcement of hate speech rules. We all agree to them when we join, so it's perfectly legal to delete someone for spouting Nazi shit AND YET.

No more banning or censoring queer folks' accounts

More ability to adjust the interface for disabled bloggers, e.g. colour and contrast, font, layout, switching off moving GIFs or other animations by default, etc.

Tag editing, it's frustrating having to delete whole tags.

Tag memory! Where have my tags gone??? For a year now I have slightly better luck on desktop, but for the most part, which of my tags are remembered by autofill and which are never, ever offered to me has been wholly divorced from how often I've used them. And my tags are often lengthy and odd, so it's become much harder to use mobile.

No data scraping. This is the anti-cap site thank you. Also on that note, get rid of the For You section and any other algorithmic tracking, because it's just as likely to show you a Nazi blog as an anti-Nazi one as long as you have spent any time at all discussing Nazism.

Better blocking ability, on that note.

Better search function

I could go on, but you get the idea. That's analysis that I've done, based on discussions I have seen and taken part in, and my own experiences.

I just asked ChatGPT. Here's what it had to say:

"Tumblr users have diverse preferences, but there are several features that many users would likely appreciate: 1. Improved Content Discovery: Tumblr is known for its vast array of content, so improving content discovery mechanisms such as personalized recommendations, trending topics, and enhanced search functionality can help users find more of the content they enjoy. 2. Enhanced Customization Options: Tumblr users value the ability to customize their blogs extensively. Providing more themes, layout options, and customization tools can empower users to express themselves creatively and make their blogs unique. 3. Integration of Multimedia Formats: Tumblr is a platform where users share various types of multimedia content, including images, GIFs, videos, and audio. Enhancing support for different media formats, improving media upload and management features, and optimizing the viewing experience can enhance user engagement. 4. Improved Mobile Experience: Many Tumblr users access the platform via mobile devices. Therefore, optimizing the mobile app for better performance, usability, and feature parity with the desktop version can greatly enhance the user experience. 5. Community Engagement Features: Tumblr has a vibrant community, so features that facilitate interaction among users, such as improved messaging, reblogging, tagging, and commenting functionalities, can foster a sense of community and increase user engagement. 6. Content Moderation Tools: Given the diverse content on Tumblr, providing users with robust content moderation tools, including options for filtering, blocking, and reporting inappropriate content, can help ensure a safer and more enjoyable experience for all users. 7. Monetization Options for Creators: Many Tumblr users are content creators who would appreciate opportunities to monetize their content. Introducing features such as ad revenue sharing, subscription-based content, or integrated e-commerce capabilities can incentivize creators to produce high-quality content and invest more in their Tumblr presence. 8. Accessibility Features: Improving accessibility features such as alt text support for images, screen reader compatibility, and customizable text sizes and color schemes can make Tumblr more inclusive and accessible to users with disabilities. 9. Privacy and Security Enhancements: Enhancing privacy controls, data protection measures, and account security features can help users feel more confident and secure when using the platform, which is especially important given concerns about online privacy and security. 10. API and Third-Party Integration: Opening up Tumblr's API and allowing for easier integration with third-party services and apps can encourage innovation and development within the Tumblr ecosystem, providing users with more options and flexibility in how they use the platform. Overall, focusing on improving content discovery, customization options, community engagement, and user safety while also providing opportunities for creators to monetize their content can help Tumblr retain and attract users in a competitive social media landscape."

It's possible that feels alright, on first glance. But take a closer look.

Every point made is vague, and disconnected from any real life examples. In the very first point, it thinks we want better search functions (yes!) but also more algorithmic recommendations (no!). It wants us to have personalised recommendations AND better security, in fact, which are incompatible - but an LLM doesn't and can't know that. Monetisation of the platform is something that has historically faced appalling backlash from users, and this thing is suggesting ad revenue sharing and subscription services.

Because, its suggestions are generic suggestions. These are not Tumblr-specific. No mention of queerphobia, no mention of Nazis, and absolutely zero understanding of what the specific users on this site actually want.

... all of which is to say...

It's what is academically known as descriptive work. It lays out some facts, but there's no depth, no analysis, no interpretation of those facts at all. Why would we want third party integration? What apps are we calling for? Give examples. Would that aid ad-blocking? Search functions? In that case, wouldn't third-party integration be tackling the symptoms and not the cause? Shouldn't we work better ad-blocking and search functions into Tumblr at a base level?

And in school - even up to A Level - that's okay. You won't get top marks for that, because it's all too vague and too descriptive, but it's fine. School-level assignments tend to be more broad and less applied, too, which LLMs fare better with.

But in university, you start with descriptive facts, and then you are expected to analyse. If you cannot analyse, you run a very real risk of failing. Which means if you've spent your GCSEs and A Levels not bothering to learn those analytical skills and letting ChatGPT do the work for you, you are going to face an extremely uphill struggle when the expectations of study increase.

So, to round off, try not to get too discouraged. You know you aren't doing it, which means you are the one actually learning and developing and growing. Others will learn eventually, and probably more painfully. You do you!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The reverse-centaur apocalypse is upon us

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

In thinking about the relationship between tech and labor, one of the most useful conceptual frameworks is "centaurs" vs "reverse-centaurs":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

A centaur is someone whose work is supercharged by automation: you are a human head atop the tireless body of a machine that lets you get more done than you could ever do on your own.

A reverse-centaur is someone who is harnessed to the machine, reduced to a mere peripheral for a cruelly tireless robotic overlord that directs you to do the work that it can't, at a robotic pace, until your body and mind are smashed.

Bosses love being centaurs. While workplace monitoring is as old as Taylorism – the "scientific management" of the previous century that saw labcoated frauds dictating the fine movements of working people in a kabuki of "efficiency" – the lockdowns saw an explosion of bossware, the digital tools that let bosses monitor employees to a degree and at a scale that far outstrips the capacity of any unassisted human being.

Armed with bossware, your boss becomes a centaur, able to monitor you down to your keystrokes, the movements of your eyes, even the ambient sound around you. It was this technology that transformed "work from home" into "live at work." But bossware doesn't just let your boss spy on you – it lets your boss control you. \

It turns you into a reverse-centaur.

"Data At Work" is a research project from Cracked Labs that dives deep into the use of surveillance and control technology in a variety of workplaces – including workers' own cars and homes:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work

It consists of a series of papers that take deep dives into different vendors' bossware products, exploring how they are advertised, how they are used, and (crucially) how they make workers feel. There are also sections on how these interact with EU labor laws (the project is underwritten by the Austrian Arbeiterkammer), with the occasional aside about how weak US labor laws are.

The latest report in the series comes from Wolfie Christl, digging into Microsoft's "Dynamics 365," a suite of mobile apps designed to exert control over "field workers" – repair technicians, security guards, cleaners, and home help for ill, elderly and disabled people:

https://crackedlabs.org/dl/CrackedLabs_Christl_MobileWork.pdf

It's…not good. Microsoft advises its customers to use its products to track workers' location every "60 to 300 seconds." Workers are given tasks broken down into subtasks, each with its own expected time to completion. Workers are expected to use the app every time they arrive at a site, begin or complete a task or subtask, or start or end a break.

For bosses, all of this turns into a dashboard that shows how each worker is performing from instant to instant, whether they are meeting time targets, and whether they are spending more time on a task than the client's billing rate will pay for. Each work order has a clock showing elapsed seconds since it was issued.

For workers, the system generates new schedules with new work orders all day long, refreshing your work schedule as frequently as twice per hour. Bosses can flag workers as available for jobs that fall outside their territories and/or working hours, and the system will assign workers to jobs that require them to work in their off hours and travel long distances to do so.

Each task and subtask has a target time based on "AI" predictions. These are classic examples of Goodhart's Law: "any metric eventually becomes a target." The average time that workers take becomes the maximum time that a worker is allowed to take. Some jobs are easy, and can be completed in less time than assigned. When this happens, the average time to do a job shrinks, and the time allotted for normal (or difficult) jobs contracts.

Bosses get stack-ranks of workers showing which workers closed the most tickets, worked the fastest, spent the least time idle between jobs, and, of course, whether the client gave them five stars. Workers know it, creating an impossible bind: to do the job well, in a friendly fashion, the worker has to take time to talk with the client, understand their needs, and do the job. Anything less will generate unfavorable reports from clients. But doing this will blow through time quotas, which produces bad reports from the bossware. Heads you lose, tails the boss wins.

Predictably, Microsoft has shoveled "AI" into every corner of this product. Bosses don't just get charts showing them which workers are "underperforming" – they also get summaries of all the narrative aspects of the workers' reports (e.g. "My client was in severe pain so I took extra time to make her comfortable before leaving"), filled with the usual hallucinations and other botshit.

No boss could exert this kind of fine-grained, soul-destroying control over any workforce, much less a workforce that is out in the field all day, without Microsoft's automation tools. Armed with Dynamics 365, a boss becomes a true centaur, capable of superhuman feats of labor abuse.

And when workers are subjected to Dynamics 365, they become true reverse-centaurs, driven by "digital whips" to work at a pace that outstrips the long-term capacity of their minds and bodies to bear it. The enthnographic parts of the report veer between chilling and heartbreaking.

Microsoft strenuously objects to this characterization, insisting that their tool (which they advise bosses to use to check on workers' location every 60-300 seconds) is not a "surveillance" tool, it's a "coordination" tool. They say that all the AI in the tool is "Responsible AI," which is doubtless a great comfort to workers.

In Microsoft's (mild) defense, they are not unique. Other reports in the series show how retail workers and hotel housekeepers are subjected to "despot on demand" services provided by Oracle:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/retail-hospitality

Call centers, are even worse. After all, most of this stuff started with call centers:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/callcenter

I've written about Arise, a predatory "work from home" company that targets Black women to pay the company to work for it (they also have to pay if they quit!). Of course, they can be fired at will:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/29/impunity-corrodes/#arise-ye-prisoners

There's also a report about Celonis, a giant German company no one has ever heard of, which gathers a truly nightmarish quantity of information about white-collar workers' activities, subjecting them to AI phrenology to judge their "emotional quality" as well as other metrics:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/processmining-algomanage

As Celonis shows, this stuff is coming for all of us. I've dubbed this process "the shitty technology adoption curve": the terrible things we do to prisoners, asylum seekers and people in mental institutions today gets repackaged tomorrow for students, parolees, Uber drivers and blue-collar workers. Then it works its way up the privilege gradient, until we're all being turned into reverse-centaurs under the "digital whip" of a centaur boss:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revenge

In mediating between asshole bosses and the workers they destroy, these bossware technologies do more than automate: they also insulate. Thanks to bossware, your boss doesn't have to look you in the eye (or come within range of your fists) to check in on you every 60 seconds and tell you that you've taken 11 seconds too long on a task. I recently learned a useful term for this: an "accountability sink," as described by Dan Davies in his new book, The Unaccountability Machine, which is high on my (very long) list of books to read:

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-unaccountability-machine/

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/02/despotism-on-demand/#virtual-whips

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[mariacallous]

In March 2007, Google’s then senior executive in charge of acquisitions, David Drummond, emailed the company’s board of directors a case for buying DoubleClick. It was an obscure software developer that helped websites sell ads. But it had about 60 percent market share and could accelerate Google’s growth while keeping rivals at bay. A “Microsoft-owned DoubleClick represents a major competitive threat,” court papers show Drummond writing.

Three weeks later, on Friday the 13th, Google announced the acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion. The US Department of Justice and 17 states including California and Colorado now allege that the day marked the beginning of Google’s unchecked dominance in online ads—and all the trouble that comes with it.

The government contends that controlling DoubleClick enabled Google to corner websites into doing business with its other services. That has resulted in Google allegedly monopolizing three big links of a vital digital advertising supply chain, which funnels over $12 billion in annual revenue to websites and apps in the US alone.

It’s a big amount. But a government expert estimates in court filings that if Google were not allegedly destroying its competition illegally, those publishers would be receiving up to an additional hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Starved of that potential funding, “publishers are pushed to put more ads on their websites, to put more content behind costly paywalls, or to cease business altogether,” the government alleges. It all adds up to a subpar experience on the web for consumers, Colorado attorney general Phil Weiser says.

“Google is able to extract hiked-up costs, and those are passed on to consumers,” he alleges. “The overall outcome we want is for consumers to have more access to content supported by advertising revenue and for people who are seeking advertising not to have to pay inflated costs.”

Google disputes the accusations.

Starting today, both sides’ arguments will be put to the test in what’s expected to be a weekslong trial before US district judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia. The government wants her to find that Google has violated federal antitrust law and then issue orders that restore competition. In a best-case scenario, according to several Google critics and experts in online ads who spoke with WIRED, internet users could find themselves more pleasantly informed and entertained.

It could take years for the ad market to shake out, says Adam Heimlich, a longtime digital ad executive who’s extensively researched Google. But over time, fresh competition could lower supply chain fees and increase innovation. That would drive “better monetization of websites and better quality of websites,” says Heimlich, who now runs AI software developer Chalice Custom Algorithms.

Tim Vanderhook, CEO of ad-buying software developer Viant Technology, which both competes and partners with Google, believes that consumers would encounter a greater variety of ads, fewer creepy ads, and pages less cluttered with ads. “A substantially improved browsing experience,” he says.

Of course, all depends on the outcome of the case. Over the past year, Google lost its two other antitrust trials—concerning illegal search and mobile app store monopolies. Though the verdicts are under appeal, they’ve made the company’s critics optimistic about the ad tech trial.

Google argues that it faces fierce competition from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and others. It further contends that customers benefited from each of the acquisitions, contracts, and features that the government is challenging. “Google has designed a set of products that work efficiently with each other and attract a valuable customer base,” the company’s attorneys wrote in a 359-page rebuttal.

For years, Google publicly has maintained that its ad tech projects wouldn’t harm clients or competition. “We will be able to help publishers and advertisers generate more revenue, which will fuel the creation of even more rich and diverse content on the internet,” Drummond testified in 2007 to US senators concerned about the DoubleClick deal’s impact on competition and privacy. US antitrust regulators at the time cleared the purchase. But at least one of them, in hindsight, has said he should have blocked it.

Deep Control

The Justice Department alleges that acquiring DoubleClick gave Google “a pool of captive publishers that now had fewer alternatives and faced substantial switching costs associated with changing to another publisher ad server.” The global market share of Google’s tool for publishers is now 91 percent, according to court papers. The company holds similar control over ad exchanges that broker deals (around 70 percent) and tools used by advertisers (85 percent), the court filings say.

Google’s dominance, the government argues, has “impaired the ability of publishers and advertisers to choose the ad tech tools they would prefer to use and diminished the number and quality of viable options available to them.”

The government alleges that Google staff spoke internally about how they have been earning an unfair portion of what advertisers spend on advertising, to the tune of over a third of every $1 spent in some cases.

Some of Google’s competitors want the tech giant to be broken up into multiple independent companies, so each of its advertising services competes on its own merits without the benefit of one pumping up another. The rivals also support rules that would bar Google from preferencing its own services. “What all in the industry are looking for is fair competition,” Viant’s Vanderhook says.

If Google ad tech alternatives win more business, not everyone is so sure that the users will notice a difference. “We’re talking about moving from the NYSE to Nasdaq,” Ari Paparo, a former DoubleClick and Google executive who now runs the media company Marketecture, tells WIRED. The technology behind the scenes may shift, but the experience for investors—or in this case, internet surfers—doesn’t.

Some advertising experts predict that if Google is broken up, users’ experiences would get even worse. Andrey Meshkov, chief technology officer of ad-block developer AdGuard, expects increasingly invasive tracking as competition intensifies. Products also may cost more because companies need to not only hire additional help to run ads but also buy more ads to achieve the same goals. “So the ad clutter is going to get worse,” Beth Egan, an ad executive turned Syracuse University associate professor, told reporters in a recent call arranged by a Google-funded advocacy group.

But Dina Srinivasan, a former ad executive who as an antitrust scholar wrote a Stanford Technology Law Review paper on Google’s dominance, says advertisers would end up paying lower fees, and the savings would be passed on to their customers. That future would mark an end to the spell Google allegedly cast with its DoubleClick deal. And it could happen even if Google wins in Virginia. A trial in a similar lawsuit filed by Texas, 15 other states, and Puerto Rico is scheduled for March.

[pastanest]

c.ai links

for those of you who don’t know, there’s a funky app/website called c.ai (character ai) where you can interact with fan-programmed bots, which is pretty cool!! given how much I adore the characters I’ve written for, I figured it could be fun to make bots for them, using segments of my writing to format the bots themselves!

so, that said, here’s a list of the bots I’ve made so far with their corresponding links - as the app is still in beta I’m not sure whether searching for ‘pastanest’ will work, but that’s my username on c.ai as well as here :)

> I’ll add all new bots to this list and reblog it each time as an update

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⌖

Spencer Reid

shrimp reid

no established friendship - you’re newest member on the team and you’re being introduced to everyone; it’s up to you what cases you work on!

jesus reid

established friendship - Spencer is frustrated by having to use his cane, disliking the impact on his mobility and independence. luckily, you’re there to brighten his spirits!

short-hair reid

no established friendship - joining the bau Spencer has a more cynical view on love after losing Maeve, so tries to push away his feelings for you from the moment you meet!

boyband reid

established friendship - mutual pining, no specific location/story, it’s completely up to you!

prison reid

established friendship - mutual pining, feelings pretty obvious, but you decide whether Spencer is due to leave prison soon or if you want to visit him a few times first!

post-prison reid

established friendship - you joined the team during/after Spencer was in prison (potential for age-gap if preferred, but not compulsory) and you have a very obvious crush on Spencer!

professor reid

established professor/student relationship - you purposefully stay behind after a university lecture (potential for age-gap if preferred, but not compulsory) to talk with your favourite professor!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⌖

Aaron Hotchner

joining the team

no established friendship - you’re the newest member of the team and Hotch quickly develops a soft spot for you!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･➷

Daryl Dixon

farm era

established friendship - based on just after Andrea shot Daryl, you arrive at his tent to check on him, but you decide where the story goes from there!

alexandria era

established friendship - you approach Daryl while he’s working on his bike, but you decide if you want to involve any specific canon events from the show/comics based on where you take the story!

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･𓆩♛𓆪

Jon Snow

winterfell

established friendship - before Jon goes to the wall, his love for you is the only thing that can convince him against joining the Night’s Watch!

the wall

no established friendship - the only girl on the wall, you are under the protection of Lord Commander Mormont and you tend to do tasks that keep you out of the way of the men, but sometimes you cant help crossing paths!

Brienne Of Tarth

forest dwellers

established meeting - you are part of Brienne and Podrick’s party as they search for the Stark girls, and Brienne already has quite the soft spot for you!

[rideboomindia]

Based on the search results, here are some innovative technologies that RideBoom could implement to enhance the user experience and stay ahead of ONDC:

Enhanced Safety Measures: RideBoom has already implemented additional safety measures, including enhanced driver background checks, real-time trip monitoring, and improved emergency response protocols. [1] To stay ahead, they could further enhance safety by integrating advanced telematics and AI-powered driver monitoring systems to ensure safe driving behavior.

Personalized and Customizable Services: RideBoom could introduce a more personalized user experience by leveraging data analytics and machine learning to understand individual preferences and offer tailored services. This could include features like customizable ride preferences, personalized recommendations, and the ability to save preferred routes or driver profiles. [1]

Seamless Multimodal Integration: To provide a more comprehensive transportation solution, RideBoom could integrate with other modes of transportation, such as public transit, bike-sharing, or micro-mobility options. This would allow users to plan and book their entire journey seamlessly through the RideBoom app, enhancing the overall user experience. [1]

Sustainable and Eco-friendly Initiatives: RideBoom has already started introducing electric and hybrid vehicles to its fleet, but they could further expand their green initiatives. This could include offering incentives for eco-friendly ride choices, partnering with renewable energy providers, and implementing carbon offset programs to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. [1]

Innovative Payment and Loyalty Solutions: To stay competitive with ONDC's zero-commission model, RideBoom could explore innovative payment options, such as integrated digital wallets, subscription-based services, or loyalty programs that offer rewards and discounts to frequent users. This could help attract and retain customers by providing more value-added services. [2]

Robust Data Analytics and Predictive Capabilities: RideBoom could leverage advanced data analytics and predictive modeling to optimize their operations, anticipate demand patterns, and proactively address user needs. This could include features like dynamic pricing, intelligent routing, and personalized recommendations to enhance the overall user experience. [1]

By implementing these innovative technologies, RideBoom can differentiate itself from ONDC, provide a more seamless and personalized user experience, and stay ahead of the competition in the on-demand transportation market.

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated June 2024 to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[nightcolorz]

What do you think Armand’s favorite video game is? Or perhaps favorite genre. ((If he had a movie phase, I feel like a video game phase isn’t too far fetched.))

lmao omg I love this question 😭🙏I agree 100% Armand absolutely had a video game phase, that is so him

I think Armand would rlly mf like mobile games 💀 like those really mundane repetitive sensory games, where u stack layers of cake or tap balls through hoops. He’d do that shit for like multiple days straight without getting bored 😭. I feel like the thing Armand would be most enamored by with video games would be the coding and technology aspect rather then like, story or entertainment value, so I feel like he’d be into games that most ppl would find pretty boring. I think he’d play online chess and care wayyyy too much. He’d be more fascinated by the Ai chess player function than the actual game tho (yknow where u can play a single player round against the app), bcus the whole concept of playing chess against a computer would be mind blowing to him. I think Armand would also like basic puzzle mobile games, like candy crush and tetris (once again, would be hyper fixated on that for multiple days straight). The issue Armand would run into with mobile games would be always, without fail falling for the clickbait adds and then immediately downloading whatever he clicks on 😭. His iPad data is absolutely devastated by how many shitty mobile games it’s trying to support 😭

my potentially controversial opinion is that I don’t think Armand would be interested in violent/fighting games. He explains in queen of the damned that he doesn’t understand what is cathartic about violence, and he finds the concept of seeking out violence disturbing and confusing. I feel like Armand would have a similar reaction towards shooter/war games as a conservative mother with a gaming son would 💀. “Why would u enjoy that 😦?? War is not fun 😦”. Lmaoooo. He would definitely try those games out to try and understand the appeal (endlessly curious and desperate to understand other ppls perspectives as he is) But I think Armand would be immune to any catharsis that comes with game killing, bcus of how often he experiences real killing💀 The only appeal he would find in violence based games would be the competitive aspect and the visuals + technological components. he is so easily stimulated that I feel like if Armand were to play like, Red dead redemption for example, he’d end up spending hours and hours riding the horse around and looking at the visuals instead of participating in any of the game play 💀 yknow? If he were to try Fortnite or Dead by Daylight or smth like that he’d be so focused on the running around and jumping functions that he’d die immediately 💀

I think Armand would be captivated by story games and visual novels, part of me thinks that he is so easily entertained that he would be too busy staring at a single environment or clicking around buttons to engage in the actual story 💀. Armand would 100% be obsessed with video games, but I think he would not play or engage with them in anyway conventionally, just bcus of how he experiences his fixations and what things he takes interest in. Armand is so invested in sensory experiences that I think if he were to play a large scale game he’d spend tons of time fixating on tiny little aspects of the features instead of working to finish it😭. Armand plays like, life is strange for a year and never gets past the first scene bcus he enjoys listening to the sound design so much 💀

Thank u SO MUCH for the ask I love this question I was smiling and giggling writing this 😭 I hope my response was enjoyable, I honestly don’t know much about video games so I have a sort of limited perspective, but I hope my Armand knowledge makes up for it 🙏lol

[zhuzhudushu]

Lingopie — Chinese Review ★★

So I did 3 months of Lingopie (stylized as Liñgöpie) so you don't have to (unless you want to lol).

I mention a Chrome extension, the Zhongwen dictionary, quite a bit in this review. It is here, I highly recommend it (click)! It's also available for Firefox (click).

What is Lingopie?

Lingopie is an app and desktop extension/website that allows you to watch tv shows and cartoons with interactive subtitles for language learning. It currently has Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. It claims to improve your language learning by 80% (compared to Duolingo which is around 20%).

Here is their website. (click)

Pricing: (March 2024)

3 months $36

1 year $71 "on sale" (normally $144)

Lifetime $199 "on sale" (normally $663)

Please note: I have never seen these full prices. It appears that the "sale" is permanent.

My Review / TL;DR Version

Extremely disappointed both in functionality and content for Chinese. Maybe this is a good program for other languages, but for Chinese there is extremely limited content with pinyin subtitles only available for the non-Netflix shows. All the best learning features are available for non-Netflix shows, yet those tended to have significantly worse translations than Netflix. I would not recommend this product for Chinese. While it had a few good features and I enjoyed it for 6-7 episodes of one show, it then had a glitch where an entire episode was subtitled wrong, so I gave up.

See below the cut for full breakdown.

Strengths:

Has access to Netflix shows and films including some popular ones (e.g. Meteor Garden, Dear Ex, Nezha Reborn)

This is nice and I enjoyed rewatching the ones I was familiar with and getting a better grasp of listening and vocab. I appreciate that they try to incorporate kid-friendly along with more serious/adult content with animated and live action tv shows and films. I also liked that it specified if the show was from Taiwan or China, and also included shows that had some Cantonese influence (e.g. Scissor Seven)

Allows you to have English and Chinese subtitles simultaneously or alone, and you can easily click them on an off while watching.

This is pretty standard for all video/subtitle based educational apps, but it was nice to easily click them on and off in case I wanted to double check my understanding, and to compare the direct translation of the words to the full translation of the sentence.

Allows you to pause automatically after each subtitle. Can also loop subtitles over and over. There are also AI-produced explanations of grammar.

This hands down was the best part about the entire experience for me, and why I ended up using Lingopie for 3 months. While it was sometimes clunky (see below), this made singling out specific lines/words for listening practice so easy. Once I got in the groove, I was able to get through episodes fairly quickly and was starting to be able to listen and hear new words in sentences later.

Click on the words in the subtitle to make flashcard sets

This was a nice feature, but I do wish the flashcards were a bit more functional, see below. It was easy enough to use and a quick way to remind yourself of the new words you learned before you jump into the next episode.

Weaknesses:

Pinyin subtitles available on desktop only, with no pinyin subtitles for Netflix shows (as of May 2024)

This is a HUGE flaw, and I was 100% dependent on using another chrome extension for hover-over dictionary while using Lingopie. I know they are working on pinyin subtitles for Netflix and mobile, but I used this for 3 months and it still was not implemented when I ended. To me, if I have to use another app in conjunction with this one in order to fully learn, then what's the point? Especially since I watched Taiwanese and Cantonese-influenced shows with very non-standard pronunciations, comparing standard pinyin to accented productions is necessary for me. Even with the pinyin subtitles for the non-Netflix shows, it left a lot to be desire because they're tiny above the Chinese characters, and sometimes difficult to read. More than once I thought a ǒ was ō because of how tiny it was.

Not enough content, especially cartoons/beginner level

The one above and this bullet are the main reasons why I don't recommend this app for Chinese specifically. Maybe other languages are fine, but there is simply not enough content for the price. I was hoping for more beginner/lower intermediate content like children's cartoons, however there are none for Chinese. All the animated options are more teenager/adult oriented. There also weren't many light-hearted or comedy options, meaning you would have to watch a lot of serious dramas, thrillers, and violent shows if you wanted to get your money's worth. For my personal taste, I don't want to have to pause every dialogue line for an adult thriller. That would ruin my experience of the show and the suspense. For the non-Netflix options, most shows were incomplete with only 1-5 episodes available out of 10+. They also tended to be lower quality productions, with significantly worse English translations. The majority of what is available outside of Netflix are short films (~5 mins) and cooking shows (10-20 mins) which aren't bad for beginners. I personally have no interest in cooking, though lol. Essentially, there is no TRUE beginner fictional content in Chinese available.

The dictionary is... rough

Again, I was fully dependent on the Zhongwen extension. While the English subtitles themselves are good, the individual definitions of words that you hover over are definitely rough. They weren't actually that helpful for breaking down meanings of things like slang and characters' names. For example, in Scissor Seven there were quite a few animal puns, e.g. 汪星人 which is internet slang for "dog" Lingopie translated as "Woofer" which was... awkward and strange. Without the Zhongwen extension I would have had no idea what this was actually referring to. It would been nice if it functioned more like the Zhongwen extension, where it would highlight individual characters or phrases/combos depending on your mouse placement. Particularly on the non-Netflix shows, the translations even in the English subtitles were incredibly rough and at times I couldn't understand the context in either language. There was also one instance of an entire episode (Netflix) that had incorrect subtitles, I suspect subtitles from a different episode? That was the final straw for me.

It chooses whether or not to highlight single words or phrases so you have no control over your flashcards

This made the flashcards not as functional to me. Sometimes, I wanted just the specific noun/verb in the sentence, but it would make me highlight the entire sentence. Other times, I wanted a really functional phase, but it would only let me highlight the individual words. I barely used the flashcard feature because of this.

Clunky interface (Chrome & Firefox)

I can't speak for mobile or Safari because I didn't use them. Since I was relying on the Zhongwen hover-dictionary, I only used Chrome. You can only use Chrome or Safari if you want Netflix shows. Sometimes the auto-pause after each subtitle would be too early or too late, meaning I would have to actually click things pretty persistently throughout each episode. Using the spacebar to pause/unpause hardly ever worked, and using the arrow keys to flip between subtitles also never worked for me. Sometimes the hover-definitions of words would linger even after I clicked away, and would not disappear until the next subtitle appeared. This was super annoying and would block a good portion of the screen. Sometimes I would have to click things 2-3 times before it registered in both Chrome and Firefox.

Overall, I think it's a great idea, but needs some pretty major improvements in order to be worth the price.

In my opinion, if they were to add significantly more shows, including kid's cartoons, and improved their subtitles, dictionary, & interface function, it would be worth the price.

Maybe in a few years as Lingopie grows, it will be worth it. But for now, it's not. For now, it's clunky and limited. If you were to watch it for an hour a day, you would probably get through all the shows that interested in you in about 3-6 months. It wouldn't take longer than a year to go through all of the Chinese content, as of right now. So why would you pay for a year or lifetime price for that?

(divider credit here)

[lizardtakesflight]

As I complained in my post about emailing coworkers, I think the single most difficult aspect of work life is communication. This is especially true for people who struggle with communication in the first place as neurodivergent people. My sister (slash coworker) offhandedly mentioned hearing about something that we now both use at work.

goblin.tools is "a collection of small, simple, single-task tools, mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult". It is completely free, works on desktop or mobile, and if you really would like an app for it, it's extremely cheap on the app store.

The Formalizer helps if you're not sure how to word an email. You put in what you're trying to say and it will help you word it the way you want, whether you want it to sound more or less professional, casual, etc.

The Judge is good for both sending and receiving messages. It checks how your own tone comes across or how other people may be trying to communicate from their text.

There's also time-management tools:

Magic Todo helps you break down big tasks into smaller pieces, and Lets you tweak how detailed it gets, too.

The Estimator tries to give you an very rough idea of how long a task may take based on what it is and how stressful you may find it. I haven't used this one yet but I think it might help some people who have time-blindness like I do.

The Compiler is good if you have a basic idea of things you need to do, but you're not sure how to break it all down. Just type out your thoughts and it will use that to make a list.

The Chef is for getting cooking ideas based on the ingredients and tools you have available. I know I tend to get paralyzed by trying to figure out making dinner, so this is great. I've seen apps that can do this but I've not had the best results with them, so I'm going to give this one a try.

If you need instructions for any of them, just click on the question mark at the top of each page. Full disclosure, these tools work based on AI, so your mileage will definitely vary, but so far the Formalizer and Magic Todo have already been a huge help for me.

[cornerdreams-txt]

cryptpad review !

in depth review of cryptpad as someone who is using it as a replacement for google docs because i don't trust google and i dipped the moment i heard "fully integrated ai" 🤭

we're scoring cryptpad on a scale of 1-10 based on its interface, features, accessibility, ease of access, and storage.

scoring criteria:

usability 10/10 : has a lot of formatting options, while also being easy on the eyes. offers features that allow the software to be easily customizable to each user's needs and preferences, or features that make writing easier, without being overwhelming.

accessibility 10/10 : includes accessibility options for eye strain/dyslexia/etc like a proper dark mode and dyslexia friendly fonts, while also having an easy-to-navigate layout, and a mobile app that is equally easy to use without losing its features. doesn't take a long time to load, and is easy to adapt to as a new user.

storage 10/10 : provides a free account with very high or unlimited storage. the documents and files you create don't take up a ton of space, and you have options for upgrading storage if applicable.

what is cryptpad?

similar to how docs operates on desktop, cryptpad is a website-based file drive and software. it's free to create an account, and offers a selection of different kinds of files you can make. here's a list of features i think are notable, first:

there's 10 different of kinds of files you can create, including even code documents! cryptpad also allows you to create as many folders as you like, upload pre-existing files or folders, and even allows you to add links to your drive if you have links you want to save.

cryptpad always will open a new document or a pre-existing one in a new tab! when making a new document it automatically gives you the options to name it, password-lock it, set a destruction date.

there's diversity in your sharing options: you can toggle and change the rules for the kinds of access people get to your shared documents!

somewhat on the same topic, there's access settings and details you can review and tweak at any time.

also you can change your account's display name in your settings LMAO

there's a chat option on documents for when you're working on something with other people in the upper right corner of your screen!

the actual scoring:

usability: 7/10

formatting your documents isn't terribly versatile on cryptpad, but it offers to you that you can make as many folders and nest as many of them as you want, while also making its layout and navigation simple. there isn't a ton of super fancy features in the rich text documents, but i enjoy that, to be honest! keeps it simple.

accessibility: 7.5/10

tragically, you cannot change the background of cryptpad files, and there's no mobile app :( if i could i would. they do, at least, offer a light or dark mode? i have dark mode selected of course, but it um... yeah the background is always just that white 😬 unfortunately. they do have basic font options, but personally, my love for cryptpad's accessibility lies in the fact you can make as many folders and nested folders as you damn well please, and the drive screen is SO easy to navigate.

storage: 10/10

1GB for free, to start with? sir, i have 52 files in this drive (all rich text) and i have used 0.03 of that !! which, if i did my math correctly (debatable), that means i'll need over 5 thousand files to fill up that 1GB. AND it's upgradable, without the upgrade price being my soul? you can even donate just for funsies!

overall rating: 8/10

personally, i love cryptpad! i do wish you could change the document background color, and i wish that i had more formatting option like line spacing, but it's a good iteration of what i want in a writing program! i'd definitely recommend if you like supporting freelance guys doin their own thing while also not struggling to figure out how the fuck a writing software works.