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angelisgonnastartchangingurls · 6 months

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richard, on a monday

richard was becoming annie's favorite patient. he didn't like that word though. "client," he said. "i consider this an investment, you know? it's all part of the mindset."

richard was wealthy, a self-made businessman, CEO of a decent-sized local software firm. annie had heard of him before because he was often popping up in mental health circles -- he was a strong advocate for it. annie had read a few of his linkedin posts before he'd sought her out.

richard's backstory was that his wife had died of breast cancer pretty young, and he'd gone to therapy and became a convert. the dead wife stuff was long past him now, but he made a point to continue his therapy, and, he told annie, keep it visible on his calendar, visible to all employees, to encourage them to seek therapy as well.

when he'd come to her, annie had briefly assumed richard just saw lots of younger female therapists, but in fact, his longtime therapist, a man, had retired. annie couldn't find any red flags.

and she really loved talking to him. he was a good talker, very self-analytical and sometimes even too self-critical. but also funny, and observant, and curious. she learned a lot from his observations. it made sense to annie that he was successful in business. after their first session, he'd added her on linkedin, which annie was charmed by. she looked at some recent photos he'd posted from paris with a beautiful woman about her age, maybe a little younger, who seemed to be his daughter.

she learned in his second session that it was in fact his daughter, who was an artist and who lived in paris in a flat he paid for.

"that must be amazing for her," she said.

"and me," he said. "it's a wonderful thing to be able to do that for your daughter."

"what is her medium?"

"mostly photography," he said. "i'll bring you in some of her work."

he did just that next week, bringing in a folder of black and white film photographs in a file folder. annie looked them over. they seemed nice to her eyes -- maybe a little basic. landscapes, architecture, portraits. there was one she liked best -- a nude self portrait. she was quite pleased that richard would have such a thing, that his daughter would show it to him, and that he'd choose to show it to her. in the photo, she's holding the camera at stomach level, photographing herself in a dusty, full-length mirror in what looks like an old-school dressing room. she has a cigarette in one hand, her hair is messy, and she has a nice, thick, dark bush.

"your daughter looks very authentically french," annie observed.

"it's true," richard said. "she speaks french more than english, it's even drifting into her speech in english when she calls me. it's the place for her."

"she's very beautiful," annie said. "i mean, the work is beautiful too, but she's stunning."

"you remind me a bit of her, honestly." richard said. annie hadn't clocked much of a resemblance, really. they were both slim, tall, dark-haired women, but very different faces. "in personality, I mean," he said. "warm but professional -- clearly experts in your field. you have a more academic way of talking, of course."

"i do?" annie said, surprised.

" yes," he said. "well-read, erudite. i promise i haven't been analyzing you, it's just something i notice."

"you can analyze me," annie said, just a little flirty.

the picture of his daughter naked was on top of the folder on the table between them.

"it speaks well of you that she'd show you a photo like this," annie said.

"well, she's very french in that she's very open about her body," he said. "that's kind of new, just the last year and a half or so. i remember going over there to see her like three months in and you know, she was making dinner for us in vintage silk panties and a sweater, and just being sort of overwhelmed, you know, my daughter is now an adult, and also she suddenly reminds me of her mother."

"her body reminds you of her?"

"well, yeah," he said. he gestured at the photo. "i mean, same breasts. same hips."

"how did that make you feel, seeing it?"

"well, i guess it was kind of beautiful, you know, her mother's legacy."

"did you tell your daughter that?"

"yes."

"what was her reaction?"

he laughed. "she took her clothes off."

"really?" annie said. "like right then and there?"

"she was only in the lace panties and the sweater, and they were both thin enough that -- i mean, i could see the bush already, you know? but she took them off."

"what were her intentions there?"

"i'm not sure exactly," he said. "i think it was sort of... i think she was really grateful for the life i had given her, and sad that her mother was gone, and sort of wildly embracing stepping into that role."

"what did she do exactly to step into that role?" annie said.

he laughed. "nothing happened," he said. "but she climbed into my lap and straddled me and hugged me.

"that's sweet," annie said. "and a little fraught."

"absolutely," he said. "it was definitely vaguely sexual."

"daughters who have fathers they admire..." annie mused. "yeah i mean, there's no escaping it. it can be sexual."

"do you admire your father?"

"very much so," annie said. and then laughed.

"so you speak from experience?"

"experience of those feelings? absolutely."

"not the experience of getting naked for your father."

"well, my father sees me naked," annie said. she could feel her skin heating up from talking about her own naked body in front of richard. "but if he told me I reminded him of my mom I think maybe I'd be a little offended."

"you don't have a great relationship with her."

"not at all," she said.

"why do you think that is?"

"honestly? when i developed and became a woman, she kind of froze me out. i'm very open and communicative with my father and brother and almost never speak to my mom."

"that's too bad," he said. "for her, i mean. it's on her to make that effort."

"you and your daughter talk often?"

"we email on the days we can't facetime."

"dads love facetime," annie said.

"we like seeing your faces," he said.

for some reason, annie told him the story about her dad and the ipad. they were over their time for the day but she liked talking to him.

"that's cute," he said. "honestly my daughter has answered my calls naked more times than i can count."

"i like that," annie said. "i like that trust and honesty. even if for her there's a slight freudian slant."

he chuckled. "yeah, i like it too."

"has she ever seen you?" annie asked.

"you know, when in france," he said. "she has a pretty open flat, the shower is not in the bathroom, there's really not much of an enclosure for it, just glass."

"VERY european," annie said. she told him the story about alice and her father on the nude beach -- not referring to alice as a patient, just a friend. she embraced this minor ethical lapse as central to her style.

"funny, you know, i was just wondering like, am i the only dad in the world with pictures of his adult daughter naked on his phone?"

annie laughed. "you're not! and do you mean her photography or other stuff?"

"she also sends me selfies," he said. "you know just casual photos of herself around the flat. she's often not wearing much, or just nothing."

"that's unusual," annie said. "but not bad, i don't think. kind of nice. very intimate."

"i like the intimacy of it, too," he said. "and you're like that with your father?"

"totally," annie said. "i feel very safe and open with him, i tell him absolutely everything."

"i feel like my daughter is pretty honest. i think she tells me everything."

"does she tell you about doing drugs?"

"yes."

"and about people she's sleeping with? i don't necessarily mean sexual details but is she not obfuscating the fact that she's fucking them?"

he laughed. "yeah, she tells me."

"then she's telling you everything."

"that's nice to know. it's kind of like having a little spy camera inside my daughter's brain, talking to a woman like you."

"if my dad wanted a camera in my brain i wouldn't object to it," she said.

annie thought about that when she got home, lightly reconsidering. she was very horny and very stoned and was rather enjoying the way robbie's eyes followed her as she walked around the apartment in nothing but a thin pair of white panties. at one point, she followed him into the bathroom and playfully held his cock again while he pissed.

"you're very frisky tonight," he observed.

"i had a good session with Mr. CEO today," annie said. "i have a big crush on him."

"you want to go jerk off about it?" robbie asked. "i could cum."

they went to the bedroom, and annie put porn on the TV. she slipped off her panties and hopped onto the bed and watched robbie pull off his jeans. his cock popped out, already hard. he laid down and started stroking himself, looking over at annie, rubbing her clit. neither one of them was looking at the TV. "you're so hard," annie cooed at one point. he just chuckled and kept stroking. with her free hand, annie toyed with her right nipple. she gathered spit from her mouth and rubbed it across her nipple. "you have such great fucking tits," robbie said.

"you wanna cum on them?" annie invited.

"seriously?" he said.

"i'm so horny don't make me ask for things twice," annie said.

robbie moved to his knees, his cock inches from annie's face.

"god it's so big," annie said. he shot his cum on her. she felt it hit with a warm splatter and immediately started to cum. "oh my GOD" she said. he unloaded several ropes. when he was done, annie looked at the drop of cum still at the tip of his cock, sat up, and sucked once at the head of his cock, feeling the cum on her tongue. robbie laughed. "wow," he said.

"i told you i get even hornier when i cum," annie said.

"you came too?"

"the second your cum hit my skin," she said. "i would literally do anything you asked me right now."

he laughed. "good," he said. he got up and left her on the bed. "you look good like that," he said. he got his phone from his pants and took a picture of annie on her bed with his cum all over her breasts. she smiled for him.

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cindylouwho-2 · 6 months

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RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, March 2024

Welcome to my roundup of SEO and marketing news and useful resources for ecommerce businesses, March edition. There is a lot going on with Google, and some really strong marketing pieces this time around, so let's get right to it.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google launched both a core algorithm update and spam updates on March 5, with the spam update ending on the 20th. Core updates now include the Helpful Content algorithm. In early observations, Etsy and Reddit both picked up visibility in the UK.

The Helpful Content algorithm updates late last year destroyed a lot of sites’ Google traffic. Avoid the things they had in common. You can read the full study here.

Ecommerce sites were some of the biggest losers in Google visibility in 2023, with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Target and Best Buy in the top 10 of sites whose Google appearances slipped.

New to Google SEO? They’ve revamped their SEO starter guide for people like you. And if you are more advanced and want to learn how to optimize your website product pages, this is a good overview.

This lengthy article on backlinks for ecommerce websites covers pretty much all the angles, including the really difficult ones.

Reminder that if you want to rank on Google for a search term, you need to look at what is already ranking, and make decisions based on that content. [video and transcript] This works for most search engines, not just Google.

Yes, Google crawls “high quality” content more often. I used to refer to this as Google thinking the page is “interesting”, so I guess I will need to change my wording...

While Google sends the most traffic to websites, people spend a lot more of their online time elsewhere. Market where people are, not just where your stats say they came from.

Sadly, Google has stopped providing caches of website pages in its search results. While you can still see the caches of some pages by using the Google search Cache:[page link] as in cache:https://cindylouwho-2.tumblr.com that will eventually stop working as well. Bing still provides caches, but unfortunately both it and the Wayback Machine do not crawl often enough to give really recent results most of the time.

Missed Google news in February? Here’s your update. And just in case you are really behind, here is January.

Not Google

Unsure if your website has enough good backlinks? Bing Webmaster Tools will now tell you if you don’t.

Yandex - the top search engine in Russia - was sold by its Dutch ownership group to a consortium in Russia.

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

A US study of social media use found that the most popular site was YouTube, with 83% of adults using it. Two-thirds of American adults use Facebook, while TikTok is up to ⅓ of the US population.

Because they do change periodically, here are the latest image and video sizes recommended for the top social media platforms. [infographic]

Bluesky is now open to everyone - it was previously invite-only.

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta has introduced several changes to its Ad options, applying to Facebook and Instagram.

Meta had a great 4th quarter in 2023, with revenue, users, and earnings per share up. “Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.”

Instagram

An updated post on Instagram's algorithm and how it works.

Instagram is still beta testing longer Reels for some users.

If your account is a brand account, you can now run ads on Instagram with coupon codes right in them. (Some Facebook users can already do this.)

Among other recent changes on LinkedIn, the algorithm is now looking to boost important content longer than just the first day or two after publication.

Pinterest has its own stats package, called Pinterest Analytics, but only for “Business” accounts. They show how many people clicked on the outgoing links, how many people saw your pin on their screen, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know.

Reddit successfully launched on the stock market this past week, but questions remain about how this will change the site.

Google is paying Reddit to scrape its content through the API instead of from the web.

Snapchat

Snap was a little later than most tech companies doing layoffs recently, waiting until February 5 to let 10% off staff go.

Threads

Threads is so new that the algorithm is bound to change a lot in the next year, but for right now, here is how it works.

TikTok

There is an overwhelming amount of info out there on the US attempt to either ban TikTok or force its sale, and much of it is incomplete, so I will let you Google to your heart’s content if you want to learn more. If you are relying on TikTok to drive sales, this would be a good time to make sure you diversify your promotional strategy.

You can now track trending terms on TikTok through the Creator Search Insights section. “Creator Search Insights will highlight frequently searched topics, which creators can organize by category (for example, tourism, sports, science) or tailor to their content type with the “For You” option. Additionally, creators can filter for “content gap” topics, which are highly searched but have relatively few videos on TikTok covering them.“

TikTok may be testing a photo app, which would obviously compete with Instagram.

Twitter

What? Twitter may have lied about its Super Bowl ad performance? I’m so not shocked.

Tumblr

Tumblr will be selling data access to AI companies.

YouTube

This is a pretty decent article on YouTube SEO.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)

Small and micro-businesses need an email list. An email list is:

portable (unlike most social media followers or marketplace buyers)

is available to almost everyone, as we all need at least one email address if we are online

less susceptible to the whims of algorithms (unlike SEO, marketplaces, social etc.)

I keep seeing people argue that no one opens emails, but the chart in the article above is proof that is still wrong. (My blog email list averages close to a 70% open rate, depending on the topic and the time I send it. My jewellery email list - which I hardly ever send to - still has an over 30% open rate. My click rates are well above the industry averages, usually 30 to 40% of all recipients for the blog list. These are much better numbers than social, and astronomically better than my clickthrough rate on Google and other search engines.)

Gmail and Yahoo both changed how they handle bulk emails such as newsletters in February. Here’s what you need to know on the basics, including authenticating yourself so your email gets through.

Find out how to get people to read all the way to the end of your content.

Get ready for April marketing with 5 topical ideas. National Handmade Day is April 6.

We should all think twice before deciding to use AI to create content. “Circa 2024, generative AI does not produce new ideas or even develop its own conclusions. Rather, it regurgitates information that it has indexed.” Not convinced? Here’s another article. “AI-generated content represents the literal “average of everything online.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES)

Google Ads can now be tracked in Google Analytics 4.

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising were up in the 4th quarter of 2023.

STATS, DATA, TRACKING

Google Analytics 4 tracks organic traffic differently than the previous version. Here’s how to figure it out.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

I’ve probably posted this specific article before, but it is worth another read: how to communicate with customers. For example, “Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone.”

According to a US study, Generation Z is skewing the traditional marketing funnel. “Per Archrival’s data, 77 per cent of Gen Zs and 79 per cent of millennials in the US are actively seeking style inspiration at least monthly, with almost half of those looking for style inspiration on social media. When asked where they learn about new brands, products and experiences, video reigns supreme: YouTube is the most popular platform with Gen Zs, followed by TikTok, then Instagram.”

Trend alert: bag charms are back.

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Almost all of these 12 video tools are free, and some can be used on your phone.

MISCELLANEOUS

This is an older piece, but it checks out: IKEA Hacks for Craft Show Displays. A few of these could be done with non-IKEA items.

Want to stay up-to-date on a nearly daily basis? Follow me on Bluesky or on LinkedIn, or become a member of my Patreon.

#ecommerce #seo #social media #search engine optimization #microbusiness #content marketing #cindylouwho2

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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A Colorado man took to YouTube to express his fear that he may have accidentally found a serial killer's crime scene when he found 10 pairs of women's high-heeled shoes discarded in the desert.

Levi Comstock posted the video to YouTube over the weekend to the Countertop Epoxy account, an account typically dedicated to epoxy. The video, which has garnered millions of views across X, formerly Twitter, lasts roughly five minutes. In it, Comstock walks the viewer through the strange discovery he made while four-wheeling in a remote desert location in western Colorado.

At the beginning of the video, Comstock said he felt that he had found what "could be a crime" and went on to explain what happened. Later on, Comstock asked for advice and admitted that he did express concern to a local sheriff's office but that he was told "it was probably nothing."

Newsweek has not confirmed the discovery or Comstock's report as of publication of this article.

It's unclear which sheriff's office Comstock spoke to in the video, but according to LinkedIn, Comstock owns Countertop Epoxy, which is located in Grand Junction, Colorado. Newsweek reached out to Countertop Epoxy by email and phone for comment.

Mesa County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Wendy Likes told Newsweek that police have investigated the area in the past and found evidence of illegal dumping. She said that lots of trash has been found in addition to shoes and commented that shoes are a common item to dump. She added that if evidence of something nefarious surfaces, law enforcement will investigate the area again.

During one of his desert adventures, Comstock found a "very well hidden" pond where he stumbled across one high-heeled shoe. The discovery originally didn't surprise him, but then he found the shoe's pair a few feet away.

"I found two more sets of high heels within looking around for about 5 minutes, and they are all in the shoreline of this shallow pond," he said, adding that the shoes were different sizes.

During several visits to the pond, Comstock said he found 10 pairs of shoes, some with broken heels, and a pair of women's nylon stockings.

Comstock, who clarifies that he isn't an investigator, said he noticed the pond's water level was low. When he walked out on a series of boulders going into the middle of the pond, he found a piece of plastic sticking out of the mud that he soon came to realize was a broken high heel. On the second day he returned, he was accompanied by some friends and their tracking dogs, although the dogs weren't trained for cadaver searches.

"I think it's crazy that every single pair has had a matching pair together," Comstock said. "I think it's crazy that there's been multiple sizes."

"I'm guessing that whoever is throwing these shoes down here is expecting that usually they're going to be underwater," Comstock said later in the video.

#nunyas news

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linguini17 · 2 months

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Anyone in Helsinki looking for a Customer Support Team Lead role, let me know. It's for a medium-sized and growing company with great family policies. Hybrid work, German proficiency a HUGE plus. I can send you the formal ad on LinkedIn

#job seeker #job hunting #helsinki #suomitumppu #german

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mariacallous · 4 months

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The latest in a series of duels announced by the European Commission is with Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Brussels suspects that the giant based in Redmond, Washington, has failed to properly moderate content produced by the generative AI systems on Bing, Copilot, and Image Creator, and that as a result, it may have violated the Digital Services Act (DSA), one of Europe’s latest digital regulations.

On May 17, the EU summit requested company documents to understand how Microsoft handled the spread of hallucinations (inaccurate or nonsensical answers produced by AI), deepfakes, and attempts to improperly influence the upcoming European Parliament elections. At the beginning of June, voters in the 27 states of the European Union will choose their representatives to the European Parliament, in a campaign over which looms the ominous shadow of technology with its potential to manipulate the outcome. The commission has given Microsoft until May 27 to respond, only days before voters go to the polls. If there is a need to correct course, it may likely be too late.

Europe’s Strategy

Over the past few months, the European Commission has started to bang its fists on the table when dealing with the big digital giants, almost all of them based in the US or China. This isn’t the first time. In 2022, the European Union hit Google with a fine of €4.1 billion because of its market dominance thanks to its Android system, marking the end of an investigation that started in 2015. In 2023, it sanctioned Meta with a fine of €1.2 billion for violating the GDPR, the EU’s data protection regulations. And in March it presented Apple with a sanction of €1.8 billion.

Recently, however, there appears to have been a change in strategy. Sanctions continue to be available as a last resort when Big Tech companies don’t bend to the wishes of Brussels, but now the European Commission is aiming to take a closer look at Big Tech, find out how it operates, and modify it as needed, before imposing fines. Take, for example, Europe’s Digital Services Act, which attempts to impose transparency in areas like algorithms and advertising, fight online harassment and disinformation, protect minors, stop user profiling, and eliminate dark patterns (design features intended to manipulate our choices on the web).

In 2023, Brussels identified 22 multinationals that, due to their size, would be the focus of its initial efforts: Google with its four major services (search, shopping, maps, and play), YouTube, Meta with Instagram and Facebook, Bing, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Amazon, Booking, Wikipedia, Apple’s App Store, TikTok, Alibaba, Zalando, and the porn sites Pornhub, XVideos, and Stripchat. Since then, it has been putting the pressure on these companies to cooperate with its regulatory regime.

The day before the Bing investigation was announced, the commission also opened one into Meta to determine what the multinational is doing to protect minors on Facebook and Instagram and counter the “rabbit hole” effect—that is, the seamless flood of content that demands users’ attention, and which can be especially appealing to younger people. That same concern led it to block the launch of TikTok Lite in Europe, deeming its system for rewarding social engagement dangerous and a means of encouraging addictive behavior. It has asked X to increase its content moderation, LinkedIn to explain how its ad system works, and AliExpress to defend its refund and complaint processes.

A Mountain of Laws …

On one hand, the message appears to be that no one will escape the reach of Brussels. On the other, the European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, has to demonstrate that the many digital laws and regulations that are in place actually produce positive results. In addition to the DSA, there is the Digital Markets Act (DMA), intended to counterbalance the dominance of Big Tech in online markets; the AI Act, Europe’s flagship legislation on artificial intelligence; and the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Data Act, which address data protection and the use of data in the public and private sectors. Also to be added to the list are the updated cybersecurity package, NIS2 (Network and Information Security); the Digital Operational Resilience Act, focused on finance and insurance; and the digital identity package within eIDAS 2. Still in the draft stage are regulations on health data spaces and much-debated chat measures which would authorize law enforcement agencies and platforms to scan citizens’ private messages, looking for child pornography.

Brussels has deployed its heavy artillery against the digital flagships of the United States and China, and a few successful blows have landed, such as ByteDance’s suspension of the gamification feature on TikTok Lite following its release in France and Spain. But the future is uncertain and complicated. While investigations attract media interest, the EU’s digital bureaucracy is a large and complex machine to run.

On February 17, the DSA became law for all online service operators (cloud and hosting providers, search engines, e-commerce, and online services) but the European Commission doesn’t and can’t control everything. That is why it asked states to appoint a local authority to serve as a coordinator of digital services. Five months later, Brussels had to send a formal notice to six states (Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Poland, Portugal, and Slovakia) to urge them to designate and fully empower their digital services coordinators. Those countries now have two months to comply before Brussels will intervene. But there are others who are also not in the clear. For example, Italy’s digital services coordinator, the Communications Regulatory Authority (abbreviated AGCOM, for Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, in Italian), needs to recruit 23 new employees to replenish its staff. The department told WIRED Italy that it expects to have filled all of its appointments by mid-June.

The DSA also introduced “trusted flaggers.” These are individuals or entities, such as universities, associations, and fact-checkers, committed to combating online hatred, internet harassment, illegal content, and the spread of scams and fake news. Their reports are, one hopes, trustworthy. The selection of trusted flaggers is up to local authorities but, to date, only Finland has formalized the appointment of one, specifically Tekijänoikeuden tiedotus- ja valvontakeskus ry (in English, the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center). Its executive director, Jaana Pihkala, explained to WIRED Italy that their task is “to produce reports on copyright infringements,” a subject on which the association has 40 years of experience. Since its appointment as a trusted flagger, the center’s two lawyers, who perform all of its functions, have sent 816 alerts to protect films, TV series, and books on behalf of Finnish copyright holders.

… and a Mountain of Data

To assure that the new commission is respected by the 27 states, the commission set up the DSA surveillance system as quickly as possible, but the bureaucrats in Brussels still have a formidable amount of research to do. On the one hand, there is the anonymous reporting platform with which the commission hopes to build dossiers on the operations of different platforms directly from internal sources. The biggest scandals that have shaken Meta have been thanks to former employees, like Christopher Wylie, the analyst who revealed how Cambridge Analytica attempted to influence the US elections, and Frances Haugen, who shared documents about the impacts of Instagram and Facebook on children’s health. The DSA, however, intends to empower and fund the commission so that it can have its own people capable of sifting through documents and data, analyzing the content, and deciding whether to act.

The commission boasts that the DSA will force platforms to be transparent. And indeed it can point to some successes already, for example, by revealing the absurdly inadequate numbers of moderators employed by platforms. According to the latest data released last November, they don’t even cover all the languages spoken in the European Union. X reported that it had only two people to check content in Italian, the language of 9.1 million users. There were no moderators for Greek, Finnish, or Romanian even though each language has more than 2 million subscribers. AliExpress moderates everything in English while, for other languages, it makes do with automatic translators. LinkedIn moderates content in 12 languages of the European bloc—that is, just half of the official languages.

At the same time, the commission has forced large platforms to standardize their reports of moderation interventions to feed a large database, which, at the time of writing this article, contains more than 18.2 billion records. Of these cases, 69 percent were handled automatically. But, perhaps surprisingly, 92 percent concerned Google Shopping. This is because the platform uses various parameters to determine whether a product can be featured: the risk that it is counterfeited, possible violations of site standards, prohibited goods, dangerous materials, and others. It can thus be the case that several alerts are triggered for the same product and the DSA database counts each one separately, multiplying the shopping numbers exponentially. So now the EU has a mass of data that further complicates its goal of being fully transparent.

Zalando’s Numbers

And then there’s the Big Tech companies’ legal battle against the fee they have to pay to the commission to help underwrite its supervisory bodies. Meta, TikTok, and Zalando have challenged the fee (though paid it). Zalando is also the only European company on the commission’s list of large platforms, a designation Zalando has always contested because it does not believe it meets the criteria used by Brussels. One example: The platforms on the list must have at least 45 million monthly users in Europe. The commission argues that Zalando has 83 million users, though that number, for example, includes visits from Portugal, where the platform is not marketed, and Zalando argues those users should be deducted from its total count. According to its calculations, the activities subject to the DSA reach only 31 million users, under the threshold. When Zalando was assessed its fee, it discovered that the commission had based it on a figure of 47.5 million users, far below the initial 83 million. The company has now taken the commission to court in an attempt to assure a transparent process.

And this is just one piece of legislation, the DSA. The commission has also deployed the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a package of regulations to counterbalance Big Tech’s market dominance, requiring that certain services be interoperable with those of other companies, that apps that come loaded on a device by default can be uninstalled, and that data collected on large platforms be shared with small- and medium-size companies. Again, the push to impose these mandates starts with the giants: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, ByteDance, and Microsoft. In May, Booking was added to the list.

Big Tech Responds

Platforms have started to respond to EU requests, with lukewarm results. WhatsApp, for instance, has been redesigned to allow chatting with other apps without compromising its end-to-end encryption that protects the privacy and security of users, but it is still unclear who will agree to connect to it. WIRED US reached out to 10 messaging companies, including Google, Telegram, Viber, and Signal, to ask whether they intend to look at interoperability and whether they had worked with WhatsApp on its plans. The majority didn’t respond to the request for comment. Those that did, Snap and Discord, said they had nothing to add. Apple had to accept sideloading—i.e., the possibility of installing and updating iPhone or iPad applications from stores outside the official one. However, the first alternative that emerged, AltStore, offers very few apps at this time. And it has suffered some negative publicity after refusing to accept the latest version of its archenemy Spotify’s app, despite the fact that the audio platform had removed the link to its website for subscriptions.

The DMA is a regulation that has the potential to break the dominant positions of Big Tech companies, but that outcome is not a given. Take the issue of surveillance: The commission has funds to pay the salaries of 80 employees, compared to the 120 requested by Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton and the 220 requested by the European Parliament, as summarized by Bruegel in 2022. And on the website of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a politically left-wing tech industry coalition (all of the digital giants, which also fund CEPA, are members), stated that the DMA, “instead of helping consumers, aims to help competitors. The DMA is making large tech firms’ services less useful, less secure, and less family-friendly. Europeans’ experience of large tech firms’ services is about to get worse compared to the experience of Americans and other non-Europeans.”

Kovacevich represents an association financed by some of those same companies that the DMA is focused on, and there is a shared fear that the DMA will complicate the market and, in the end, benefit only a few companies—not necessarily those most at risk because of the dominance of Silicon Valley. It is not only lawsuits and fines, but also the perceptions of citizens and businesses that will help to determine whether EU regulations are successful. The results may come more slowly than desired by Brussels as new legislation is rarely positively received at first.

Learning From GDPR and Gaia-X

Another regulatory act, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), has become the global industry standard, forcing online operators to change the way they handle our data. But if you ask the typical person on the street, they’ll likely tell you it’s just a simple cookie wall that you have to approve before continuing on to a webpage. Or it’s viewed as a law that has required the retention of dedicated external consultants on the part of companies. It is rarely described as the ultimate online privacy law, which is exactly what it is. That said, while the act has reshaped the privacy landscape, there have been challenges, as the digital rights association Noyb has explained. The privacy commissioners of Ireland and Luxembourg, where many web giants are based for tax purposes, have had bottlenecks in investigating violations. According to the latest figures from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), 19,581 complaints have been submitted in the past five years, but the body has made only 37 formal decisions and only eight of those began with complaints. Noyb recently conducted a survey of 1,000 data protection officers; 74 percent were convinced that if privacy officers investigated the typical European company, they would find at least one GDPR violation.

The GDPR was also the impetus for another unsuccessful operation: separating the European cloud from the US cloud in order to shelter the data of EU citizens from Washington’s Cloud Act. In 2019, France and Germany announced with great fanfare a federation, Gaia-X, that would defend the continent and provide a response to the cloud market, which has been split between the United States and China. Five years later, the project has become bogged down in the process of establishing standards, after the entry of the giants it was supposed to counter, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Huawei, and Alibaba, as well as the controversial American company Palantir (which analyses data for defense purposes). This led some of the founders, such as the French cloud operator Scaleway, to flee, and that then turned the spotlight on the European Parliament, which led the commission to launch an alternative, the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud, which counts among its 49 members 26 participants from Gaia-X (everyone except for the non-EU giants) and enjoys EU financial support.

In the meantime, the Big Tech giants have found a solution that satisfies European wishes, investing en masse to establish data centers on EU soil. According to a study by consultancy firm Roland Berger, 34 data center transactions were finalized in 2023, growing at an average annual rate of 29.7 percent since 2019. According to Mordor Intelligence, another market analysis company, the sector in Europe will grow from €35.4 billion in 2024 to an estimated €57.7 billion in 2029. In recent weeks, Amazon web services announced €7.8 billion in investments in Germany. WIRED Italy has reported on Amazon’s interest in joining the list of accredited operators to host critical public administration data in Italy, which already includes Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. Notwithstanding its proclamations about sovereignty, Brussels has had to capitulate: The cloud is in the hands of the giants from the United States who have found themselves way ahead of their Chinese competitors after diplomatic relations between Beijing and Brussels cooled.

The AI Challenge

The newest front in this digital battle is artificial intelligence. Here, too, the European Union has been the first to come up with some rules under its AI Act, the first legislation to address the different applications of this technology and establish permitted and prohibited uses based on risk assessments. The commission does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past. Mindful of the launch of the GDPR, which in 2018 caused companies to scramble to assure they were compliant, it wants to lead organizations through a period of voluntary adjustment. Already 400 companies have declared their interest in joining the effort, including IBM.

In the meantime, Brussels must build a number of structures to make the AI Act work. First is the AI Council. It will have one representative from each country and will be divided into two subgroups, one dedicated to market development and the other to public sector uses of AI. In addition, it will be joined by a committee of technical advisers and an independent committee of scientists and experts, along the lines of the UN Climate Committee. Secondly, the AI Office, which sits within Directorate-General Connect (the department in charge of digital technology), will take care of administrative aspects of the AI Act. The office will assure that the act is applied uniformly, investigate alleged violations, establish codes of conduct, and classify artificial intelligence models that pose a systemic risk. Once the rules are established, research on new technologies can proceed. After it is fully operational, the office will employ 100 people, some of them redeployed from General Connect while others will be new hires. At the moment, the office is looking to hire six administrative staff and an unknown number of tech experts.

On May 29, the first round of bids in support of the regulation expired. These included the AI Innovation Accelerator, a center that provides training, technical standards, and software and tools to promote research, support startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and assist public authorities that have to supervise AI. A total of €6 million is on the table. Another €2 million will finance management and €1.5 million will go to the EU’s AI testing facilities, which will, on behalf of countries’ antitrust authorities, analyze artificial intelligence models and products on the market to assure that they comply with EU rules.

Follow the Money

Finally, a total of €54 million is designated for a number of business initiatives. The EU knows it is lagging behind. According to an April report by the European Parliament’s research service, which provides data and intelligence to support legislative activities, the global AI market, which in 2023 was estimated at €130 billion, will reach close to €1.9 trillion in 2030. The lion’s share is in the United States, with €44 billion of private investment in 2022, followed by China with €12 billion. Overall, the European Union and the United Kingdom attracted €10.2 billion in the same year. According to Eurochamber researchers, between 2018 and the third quarter of 2023, US AI companies received €120 billion in investment, compared to €32.5 billion for European ones.

Europe wants to counter the advance of the new AI giants with an open source model, and it has also made its network of supercomputers available to startups and universities to train algorithms. First, however, it had to adapt to the needs of the sector, investing almost €400 million in graphics cards, which, given the current boom in demand, will not arrive anytime soon.

Among other projects to support the European AI market, the commission wants to use €24 million to launch a Language Technology Alliance that would bring together companies from different states to develop a generative AI to compete with ChatGPT and similar tools. It’s an initiative that closely resembles Gaia-X. Another €25 million is earmarked for the creation of a large open source language model, available to European companies to develop new services and research projects. The commission intends to fund several models and ultimately choose the one best suited to Europe’s needs. Overall, during the period from 2021 to 2027, the Digital Europe Program plans to spend €2.1 billion on AI. That figure may sound impressive, but it pales in comparison to the €10 billion that a single company, Microsoft, invested in OpenAI.

The €25 million being spent on the European large language model effort, if distributed to many smaller projects, risks not even counterbalancing the €15 million that Microsoft has spent bringing France’s Mistral, Europe’s most talked-about AI startup, into its orbit. The big AI models will become presences in Brussels as soon as the AI Act, now finally approved, comes into full force. In short, the commission is making it clear in every way it can that a new sheriff is in town. But will the bureaucrats of Brussels be adequately armed to take on Big Tech? Only one thing is certain—it’s not going to be an easy task.

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eirinstiva · 5 days

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An invitation

¡Hola! It's September 23th, International Day of Sign Languages, Bisexuality+ day and a new letter arrived from Carruthers!

It was in some such spirit, with an added touch of self-consciousness, that, at seven o’clock in the evening of September 23 in a recent year, I was making my evening toilet in my chambers in Pall Mall.

So... Carruthers lives near Mycroft Holmes? The world is so small~

Carruthers is a civil servant in the Foreign Office. He's young and "knows the right people, belongs to the right clubs, has a safe, possibly a brilliant, future in the Foreign Office". Can you lend a bit of your self-esteem?

Autumn has begun and Carruthers spent last summer working, but he had the chance to do another things besides work:

There were river excursions, and so on, after office-hours; but I dislike the river at any time for its noisy vulgarity, and most of all at this season. So I dropped out of the fresh air brigade and declined H——’s offer to share a riverside cottage and run up to town in the mornings.

Carruthers during the summer:

A passing thirst, which I dare say many have shared, for adventures of the fascinating kind described in the New Arabian Nights led me on a few evenings into some shady haunts in Soho and farther eastward; (...)

New Arabian Nights is a collection of short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. It has been in my to-read list for month, so I can't add to much information~

For the plain truth was that my work was neither interesting nor important, and consisted chiefly at present in smoking cigarettes, in saying that Mr So-and-So was away and would be back about October 1, in being absent for lunch from twelve till two, and in my spare moments making précis of—let us say—the less confidential consular reports, and squeezing the results into cast-iron schedules.

So... Carruthers is the type of person who puts a very long, showy and presumptuous position on his LinkedIn profile but that can be summarised as "secretary". Mmm...

A momentary thrill of curiosity broke in upon my depression as I sat down to open it. A corner on the reverse of the envelope bore the blotted legend: “Very sorry, but there’s one other thing—a pair of rigging screws from Carey and Neilson’s, size 1⅜, galvanised.”

Letter to Carruthers!!! And it's from Arthur H. Davies. It was a bit hard for me to understand it because the contents is a mix of invitation and shopping list... I have so many questions!!!

Why Davies invited somebody who is not a close friend? Davies is like an opposite of Carruthers and don't shared the same social circle even when both studied in Oxford. Why did Davies' friend leave him alone? Why he asked for a gun? If he was already on the cruise for duck hunting, why Davies is not carring his gun?

Dear Carruthers, this is so suspicious... I would suggest to spend more time in your clubs but they are closed for now, so... choose wisely.

#letters from carruthers #the riddle of the sands #erskine childers #book club #arthur h davies #books #literature #letters in the underground

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gaurav-digital · 2 months

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Gaurav Digital: Your Go-To Digital Marketing Freelancer in Mumbai

In today's fast-paced digital world, having a strong online presence is crucial for any business aiming to succeed. Whether you are a small startup or a well-established company, effective digital marketing can make all the difference in reaching your target audience and driving growth. If you are looking for a Digital Marketing Freelancer in Mumbai who can take your business to the next level, look no further than Gaurav Digital.

Why Choose Gaurav Digital?

As a seasoned Digital Marketer in Mumbai, Gaurav brings years of experience and a deep understanding of the ever-evolving digital landscape. Specializing in various aspects of digital marketing, Gaurav is committed to helping businesses thrive online. Here's what sets Gaurav Digital apart:

1. Comprehensive Digital Marketing Services

Gaurav offers a full suite of digital marketing services tailored to your specific needs. From social media management and content creation to paid advertising and email marketing, Gaurav has the expertise to craft strategies that resonate with your audience and achieve measurable results.

2. SEO Expertise

One of the key components of digital marketing is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Gaurav excels as an SEO expert. By optimizing your website and content for search engines, Gaurav ensures that your business ranks higher in search results, driving organic traffic and increasing visibility.

3. Customized Solutions

Every business is unique, and Gaurav Digital understands that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. Gaurav takes the time to understand your business goals, target audience, and industry dynamics, creating customized digital marketing strategies that align with your objectives.

4. Proven Track Record

With a portfolio of successful campaigns and satisfied clients, Gaurav has built a reputation as a reliable and results-driven Digital Marketer in Mumbai. Whether you're looking to boost your online presence, increase sales, or improve customer engagement, Gaurav's track record speaks for itself.

5. Personalized Attention

As a freelancer, Gaurav offers the kind of personalized attention that larger agencies often can't provide. You can expect direct communication, quick responses, and a collaborative approach that ensures your vision is realized.

Services Offered by Gaurav Digital

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): On-page and off-page SEO, keyword research, technical SEO audits, and content optimization.

Social Media Marketing: Strategy development, content creation, and community management across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Google Ads, social media ads, and retargeting campaigns to drive targeted traffic and conversions.

Content Marketing: Blog writing, article writing, video content creation, and more to engage your audience and build brand authority.

Email Marketing: Creating and managing email campaigns that convert leads into customers and nurture existing relationships.

Get in Touch with Gaurav Digital

If you're ready to take your business to new heights, it's time to partner with a dedicated Digital Marketing Freelancer in Mumbai who understands the nuances of the local market and the broader digital landscape. Whether you need an SEO expert to boost your rankings or a comprehensive digital strategy to grow your brand, Gaurav Digital is here to help.

Contact Gaurav today to discuss your digital marketing needs and start building a brighter future for your business.

#digital marketing #seo #seo services #emailmarketing #search engine optimization #google ads

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repguardians · 4 months

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Which Social Media Platform Is Best for Advertising?

Choosing the best social media platform for advertising depends on your target audience, goals, and type of content you wish to promote. Here’s a breakdown of the top platforms and what they offer:

Facebook

Best for: Broad reach and detailed targeting.

Facebook remains a dominant force in social media advertising, thanks to its massive user base and advanced targeting options. It’s ideal for businesses looking to reach a diverse audience and utilize detailed demographic and interest-based targeting. The platform supports various ad formats, including images, videos, carousels, and stories.

Key Benefits:

Extensive targeting capabilities.

Versatile ad formats.

Detailed analytics and insights.

Instagram

Best for: Visual and lifestyle brands.

Owned by Facebook, Instagram is perfect for brands that rely on visual content to tell their story. It’s especially popular among younger audiences and excels in industries like fashion, beauty, travel, and food. The platform’s focus on high-quality images and videos makes it ideal for brands that can produce visually appealing content.

Key Benefits:

Strong engagement rates.

Effective for influencer partnerships.

Shopping features for e-commerce.

Best for: B2B marketing and professional services.

LinkedIn is the go-to platform for B2B advertising and reaching professionals. It’s particularly effective for businesses offering professional services, software, and products targeting specific industries. LinkedIn’s advertising options include sponsored content, message ads, and dynamic ads.

Key Benefits:

Targeting based on job title, industry, and company size.

Professional audience.

High-quality lead generation.

Twitter

Best for: Real-time engagement and customer service.

Twitter is ideal for brands looking to engage with users in real-time, promote events, or provide customer service. It’s also effective for driving conversations around trending topics and hashtags. Twitter ads can be promoted tweets, accounts, or trends.

Key Benefits:

Real-time interaction.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

As of July 5th, sites that cannot be read on mobile will no longer be indexed by Google. This has been coming for a long time, and we’ve all had plenty of warning, so it is unlikely to affect many ecommerce sites.

One final reminder that you need to save your old Google Universal Analytics data before July 1, as it will vanish on that date. There are several ways to do this. [Even if you never upgraded to Google Analytics 4, the old stats will still be going away, so don't miss out on saving the important stuff!]

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

If you are interested in deep dives into the recent Google leak, Aleyda Solis has compiled a Google spreadsheet (ironically), of articles on the topic, along with resources.

It appears that Google’s AI Overviews are so bad that they are now only showing up for 15% of queries, down from 84%.

Google’s latest spam update started June 20th.

This case study on Google’s March core update looks at the hazards of having high-ranking but irrelevant content on your website.

Another recent study looking at the effect of various Google updates found that some losing sites may have been trying to game SEO a little too much in Google’s eyes.

Out-of-date content can hurt SEO, but there are proven tactics for dealing with those pages.

If you missed any Google news last month - and there was a lot of it! - Barry Schwartz summarized May for you.

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

Artists concerned about AI tools training on their items are joining Cara in droves, and many are hoping to leave Meta properties at the same time. Cara allows users to add Glaze to their images, which disrupts AI training.

True federated social sites are getting closer, with an app that lets Mastodon users and Bluesky users connect without joining the other site. Confused about how federation works? This TechCrunch article goes through all of the current details, and highlights some of the biggest federated sites, including Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky.

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta will stop using users’ personal posts and information to train its AI models in the EU, due to privacy concerns.

Turns out that using AI to detect use of AI is just as flawed as most applications of AI - ask Meta, which is inaccurately claiming some real photos were “Made with AI”.

Facebook thinks it is for young people again. Yes, really. Among other areas, “Facebook Dating is continuing to see steady and strong daily active user growth, and is up +20% year-over-year with young adults in the United States and Canada.”

Here’s a decent overview of various types of Meta ads; it is written by Wix, but has some useful points for any advertiser.

Instagram

The head of Instagram divulged some tips on the algorithm recently, including the fact that video gets more views than photos these days.

Some video ads on Instagram can’t be skipped right now, but it is only a test.

Apparently Instagram’s Notes feature is quite popular with teens, so the platform is adding more to it. This includes mentions and likes.

If you want a full sized image in posts with links, you will need to pay for LinkedIn Ads from now on. Regular posts with links now have downsized images. If you don’t know anything about LinkedIn Ads, here’s how they work.

LinkedIn Ads can no longer use data from LinkedIn Groups to target people in Europe.

Pinterest is now working with Shopify for its “Pinterest Inclusion Fund” which helps underrepresented groups use Pinterest to boost their businesses.

Reddit’s traffic is said to be up 39% this year, increasing interest in using it for marketing. It is also making people worry about bad information.

Reddit has changed its conversation ads.

Snapchat

Snapchat now has increased safety features, including improved blocking abilities.

“Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit from the California Civil Rights Department...Snap paid women less and offered them fewer promotions when compared to male employees.”

Threads

Threads has expanded the ability to post to other federated social sites.

TikTok

TikTok has combined a lot of its Creator Center tools into one dashboard called TikTok Studio.

Klaviyo now integrates with Tiktok, so advertisers can find their known audiences and personalize ads.

Twitter

Hootsuite has updated its guide to Twitter ads, which is quite detailed.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)

July content marketing ideas include International Joke Day (July 1). [I can’t decide if I am insulted or not that it is the same day as Canada Day.]

Patreon has announced several upcoming changes to their creator tools, including the ability to give away paid memberships to fans at no charge, opening chat to free members, and a countdown clock for big posts.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES)

Microsoft’s smart shopping campaigns will become “Performance Max” in the near future, although you can also make that change yourself now.

Brave now has Search Ads in some areas, after testing them for a year and a half.

Websites that offer coupon codes and use Google’s free shopping ads can sign up to have the codes displayed in Google's organic search listings. You can get all of the details here.

STATS, DATA, TRACKING

If you use Google Shopping Ads (free or paid) for your website, you can now see their performance in Google Images by using the Google Search Console.

Google Analytics 4 has an updated Realtime report now.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Price cutting (as opposed to sales and discounts) is the latest retail trend. “[C]onsumer spending on goods fell 0.2% during [April]”, while US prices were up 2.7%.

US consumers are still buying some types of “hot” items, such as clothing, but they are spending less on electronics and homewares.

UK ecommerce sales to the EU have dropped £5.9 billion since Brexit.

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Adobe confirms it will not use its customers’ content to train AI.

A list of 19 new design tools, including free fonts. [Note: some of the tools use AI.] And here are even more free font libraries and resources.

Get notified of these updates plus my website blog posts via email: http://bit.ly/CindyLouWho2Blog Get all of the most timely updates plus exclusive content by supporting my Patreon: patreon.com/CindyLouWho2

#seo #microbusiness #social media #cindylouwho2 #search engine optimization #content marketing

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captawesomesauce · 1 year

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Thoughts at 3pm...

With the sale going on, we got W an amazon fire 7 and I've spent most of today setting it up for her!

She has an iphone, a smallish one. But she spends SO much of her time on it answering slack, going to zoom meetings, answering texts, just... everything... all day and all night. She also listens to her podcasts on it, and watches youtube vids while she does her arts and crafts.

The problem is the screen size is so small, and iphone makes sideloading apps really difficult.

She really likes my Galaxy Note and so we figured the 7 inch Fire would be a great little "toy" for her! And with it being android, we could sideload whatever we wanted.

The screen size is perfect, I set it to granny giant font size, and it seems to be working well!

I added all of her favorite apps, but also added newpipe (youtube without any ads) and a no-ad spotify. There's a giant card solitare game, linkedin, zoom, exTwitter, instagram, the usuals. I also installed google play and services so she can access all of those apps whenever she wants.

Next up - all of the tv apps like CBS and stuff. We don't have any streaming services like netflix or hulu, but these work for live news and stuff.

#w #take3

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mariacallous · 4 months

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The cartoon interviewer greets you onscreen. He looks a little young to be asking questions about a job—sort of a cartoon version of Harry Potter, with dark hair and glasses. You can choose other interviewers to speak with instead, representing various genders and races with names like Benjamin, Leslie, and Kristin. Alex, the name given to this AI interviewer, asks about your professional experience, theoretical questions about programming, and then gives out a coding exercise.

Alex is an AI interviewer developed by micro1, a US company that describes itself as an AI recruitment engine for engineers. The tech provides an “enjoyable, gamified, and less-biased interview process,” the company’s founder, Ali Ansari, claims in a demo video of the tech.

The use of AI tools in job hunting is becoming widespread. Career sites like Indeed and LinkedIn have incorporated generative AI tools for job seekers and recruiters into their platforms. There are interviewer chatbots companies can enable, as well as AI tools to help people practice for job interviews. But the use of AI in evaluating candidates has mixed reviews: Some HR tools have been caught making negative judgements on applicants who have Black-sounding names, giving preference to men, or skipping over candidates with employment gaps on résumés.

AI tools in hiring save companies money and time, but the long-term implications for workers have yet to be realized.

Ansari tells WIRED that this tool allows companies to “screen candidates in a much more efficient and accurate manner.” Micro1 splits its model into two formats: Companies can employ the software to interview candidates for specific roles, and rather than picking through a sample size of thousands of applicants, can screen endless masses of candidates with the AI interviewer. Or candidates can go through the process independently to be added to a marketplace of engineers. The internal marketplace has a talent pool of vetted engineers—from India, Argentina, Brazil, and other countries far from American tech hubs—who Ansari describes as “untapped but exceptional.” This, he says, may help diversify who gets to work in top tech jobs. “We become the way into Silicon Valley,” Ansari says.

More than 100,000 people have gone through micro1’s screenings with hopes of being added to its marketplace of engineers, and the company lists a number of tech companies, including DoNotPay (whose CEO has also invested in micro1) among those who have used its system to screen or hire engineers from its marketplace. Ansari says companies are using micro1 to screen as many as 30,000 candidates a month.

Asynchronous video interviews have become more common, with companies turning to prerecorded responses in automated systems to handle screening interviews. This task has become more onerous after a series of layoffs in the past two years have whittled down the number of positions available, and recruiters who post open roles on sites like LinkedIn can receive hundreds or thousands of applicants. And generative AI tools have made it easier for those seeking jobs to bulk apply, creating more applications for recruiters and hiring managers to review—some with little relevance to the role. But while AI is becoming more common on the hiring side, too, some recruiters are wary of the biases it may have, and have steered clear of employing the tools in their decisions.

Of course there’s still bias with AI tools, Ansari says. “Of course there’s also bias with humans. The goal with the AI system is to make it much less biased than humans.” With AI, Ansari explains, the AI interviewer on micro1 won’t pass or fail a candidate; instead, it places them into categories like inexperienced, mid-level, and senior. Then, Ansari says, it’s on the hiring manager or recruiter to decide if the candidate is a good fit for the role. They can also listen to audio recordings of the responses rather than relying solely on the AI interviewer to interpret them.

Zahira Jaser, an associate professor at the University of Sussex Business School, says a lot remains unknown about the impact of AI and asynchronous interviewing—including how the tech affects candidates. Recording oneself can be awkward, and there are no human cues to pick up on from an AI interviewer. After being told to act naturally and put their best foot forward in the already nerve-wracking process of human job interviews throughout their career, people may not know how to show their best self to a chatbot, particularly when they’re up against opaque, built-in biases of AI.

“In the real world, humans are biased. But there are techniques we can use to overcome this human bias,” Jaser says. “In an algorithm-driven bias, this is likely to be very systematic.” For example, some AI hiring tools are trained on profiles of past successful employees, raising concerns that they will repeat past biased hiring practices.

For now, these AI tools don’t have the final say in who gets hired. But they increasingly have sway over which applicants get face time with a real human, and that can have a massive impact on what the workforce looks like going forward.

But if you ask Ansari, there is an alternative path for interviews in the future: He believes job seekers may also use AI-driven avatars to interview for jobs with AI interviewers, relegating the painful, tedious parts of initial job searchers to computers entirely. AI could make “really good matches” between job seekers and companies, Ansari says. “And then the company and the candidate can spend their actual time on a Zoom call or in-person interview.”

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housingsocietyaccountingser-blog · 11 years

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PICKMYURL Your 1st Choice for Digital Marketing Agency in India

pickmyurl @pickmyurl PICKMYURL.COM 1st Choice for Digital Marketing Agency.

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3. Social Media Marketing: Our social media marketing services help you build a strong brand presence on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We create engaging content, run effective campaigns, and leverage social media to connect with your target audience, build brand loyalty, and drive conversions.

4. Content Marketing: Our content marketing services are designed to create valuable and relevant content that resonates with your target audience. We create compelling blogs, articles, infographics, videos, and other types of content that not only drive traffic but also establish you as an authority in your industry.

5. Website Design and Development: Our website design and development services are aimed at creating visually appealing, user-friendly, and high-performing websites that drive conversions. We use the latest technologies, industry best practices, and a user-centric approach to create websites that deliver exceptional user experiences.

6. Email Marketing: Our email marketing services help you build and nurture relationships with your target audience through personalized and targeted email campaigns. We create engaging email content, optimize email campaigns for maximum open and click-through rates, and track and analyze results to continuously improve performance.

7. Online Reputation Management (ORM): Our ORM services are designed to manage and improve your online reputation. We monitor and analyze online conversations about your brand, respond to reviews and comments, and implement strategies to protect and enhance your brand's reputation online.

Why Choose PICKMYURL? As the 1st choice for digital marketing agency in India, PICKMYURL stands out from the competition in several ways:

1. Expertise

2. Customized Solutions

3. Cutting-Edge Strategies

4. Results-Driven Approach

5. Exceptional Customer Service

6. Affordable Pricing

7. Comprehensive Services

1st Choice for Digital Marketing Agency in India When it comes to digital marketing in India, PICKMYURL is the 1st choice for businesses looking for exceptional services, unmatched expertise, and measurable results.

With our customized solutions, cutting-edge strategies, and exceptional customer service, we are committed to helping your business establish a strong online presence, drive growth, and achieve digital success. Partner with PICKMYURL, and let us be your trusted digital marketing agency in India.

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