#Trading services cost

[ninjatradinginsights]

Explore the best stock trading courses and premier trading education in USA at TradersHub. Elevate your trading skills with our innovative approach. Start your journey to success today with our comprehensive online trading courses.

[aeternusfoundation]

Crypto Tokens: The New Shade of Lifestyle

[akashzipaworld]

Overcoming Challenges in Ocean Freight Forwarding | Practical Tips and Strategies

Navigating the complexities of ocean freight forwarding can be daunting, but with the right approach, it becomes manageable. This guide provides practical tips and strategies to help logistics professionals overcome common challenges in ocean freight forwarding. Learn how to deal with issues such as customs regulations, shipping delays, and fluctuating costs. Discover effective ways to streamline your supply chain, improve communication with shipping partners, and leverage technology for better tracking and management. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, these insights will help you enhance efficiency and reliability in your ocean freight operations.

[trademarkagentservicesblog]

Affordable Trademark Registration in Solan: Expert Services Available

Are you curious about the cost for trademark registration in Solan. Discover affordable solutions through our specialized trademark agent services. Our team is committed to guiding you through the registration journey, ensuring your brand identity gains essential legal protection without straining your budget. Rely on our seasoned professionals to navigate the intricate processes of trademark registration in Solan, granting you peace of mind and enabling you to concentrate on expanding your business. For more information visit our website today!

[smelly-fozzy]

How do they expect you to get job experience if they won’t give you the job? Like- they can’t train you after they hire you? You already have to go through training and rules, so can’t that be how you get experience??

[happensss]

Boosting Business Productivity with a Dubai Setup: Strategies and Definition

Dubai is a vibrant center of commerce with a pro-business atmosphere, a strategic position, and a wealth of commercial prospects in the global business scene. In order to enhance production, a firm in Dubai must take use of the city's special advantages in addition to Business setup companies in Dubai to establish a shop. This blog post will examine methods for increasing corporate productivity in a Dubai setting and go into what productivity means in this particular situation.

What Productivity Means in a Dubai Environment:

In the context of a Dubai business setting, productivity is more than just efficiency. It includes the capacity to use the city's strategic advantages in order to get the best outcomes. Dubai is a great place for international trade because of its strategic location, which links companies to markets in Asia, Europe, and Africa. Utilizing this geographic advantage to improve lead times, optimize logistics, and boost overall operational efficiency is key to productivity in a Dubai setup.

In addition, Dubai's infrastructure and business-friendly policies boost productivity by creating an atmosphere that is favorable to growth and innovation. Beyond output, productivity also involves the capacity to change with the times and prosper in a fast-paced business environment. Businesses that are successful in Dubai are aware that maintaining a competitive edge necessitates ongoing innovation, embracing new technologies, and forming strategic alliances.

Techniques to Increase Dubai's Business Productivity:

Accept Technological Developments:

One distinctive feature of Dubai's commercial environment is the speed at which technology is developing. Businesses need to use cutting-edge technology like blockchain, data analytics, and artificial intelligence to increase productivity. By putting these technologies into practice, one can improve decision-making, automate repetitive chores, and gain insightful knowledge for strategic planning.

perspective due to Dubai's cosmopolitan culture and multinational business community. This entails adjusting to various business methods, comprehending a variety of market realities, and customizing goods and services to satisfy international standards. By doing this, companies can extend beyond local borders and take advantage of the diverse talent pool in the city.

Strategic Collaborations and Networking:

Dubai's productivity is frequently correlated with the strength of its business networks. Forming strategic alliances with other companies, domestically and abroad, can lead to new markets, resources, and economic prospects. Using networking sites, joining business councils, and taking part in industry events are all crucial tactics for building deep relationships that support company expansion and productivity.

perspective due to Dubai's cosmopolitan culture and multinational business community. This entails adjusting to various business methods, comprehending a variety of market realities, and customizing goods and services to satisfy international standards. By doing this, companies can extend beyond local borders and take advantage of the diverse talent pool in the city.

Strategic Collaborations and Networking:

Dubai's productivity is frequently correlated with the strength of its business networks. Forming strategic alliances with other companies, domestically and abroad, can lead to new markets, resources, and economic prospects. Using networking sites, joining business councils, and taking part in industry events are all crucial tactics for building deep relationships that support company expansion and productivity.

Invest in Employee Development:

The abilities and drive of a company's personnel are fundamental to its success. Productivity is increased when training programs, skill-building projects, and a supportive work environment are invested in employee development. The varied workforce in Dubai values organizations that place a high priority on professional development since it increases employee happiness and, as a result, productivity.

Flexibility and Quickness:

Dubai's business environment is dynamic, with laws and market trends changing quickly. Businesses that exhibit agility and adaptability will be better able to handle these developments. This entails keeping up with industry trends, attending to consumer requests promptly, and having a flexible business plan that can be modified in response to new possibilities or difficulties.

In the context of a Dubai company structure, "productivity" refers to more than just traditional measures. It encompasses a comprehensive strategy that includes networking, personnel development, global viewpoint, technical innovation, strategic geographical benefits, and flexibility. Businesses that use these tactics can prosper in a cutthroat international market in addition to gaining a firm footing in Dubai. Dubai's appeal as a business location is derived not only from its infrastructure but also from its capacity to boost productivity for companies that take advantage of its special ecosystem. Dubai can be so dependable in setting up a business in Dubai with the right guidence and proper structure form business setup consultants in Dubai can be really easy to setup business in Dubai.

[covidsafecosplay]

Do you need affordable sewing supplies? Do you want to help cut down on waste and fast fashion?

Do yourself a favor and check out Swanson's Fabrics! The physical location is in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, USA, but the online shop will ship to you!

I can't remember who first told me about Swanson's, but they're a textile thrift shop that collects and repurposes donations of unused sewing supplies. Their physical location, The Stash House, offers community sewing resources and a studio. For non-locals (such as myself), their online shop offers fabrics, patterns, and notions. The shop restocks on Thursdays, and they have a constantly-rotating collection of items. If you like thrifting secondhand craft materials, Swanson's is for you!

Via their official "about" page:

Swanson’s Fabrics and notions are gifts from retired sewing stashes. They are the fabrics and supplies that sewers and fiber-artists naturally accumulate. I had a suspicion that the reason we all collect so much is that we didn’t have a place “good enough” to take it. So I made the place. Turns out I was right, and thanks to my community (and yours) of makers and crafters, I can resell these fine materials at a low, approachable cost. ALL FABRICS ARE $5.00/yd, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE MADE OF. REALLY. I MEAN IT. I KNOW. UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE! As we come to grips with the climate crisis, interrupted supply lines, and our dependency on slave-labor in far away countries to produce our cotton and fiber goods, we need another way to approach the fabrics in our lives. We have a massive resource of textile goods in our country and it is time to tap into it. Our attics, basements, thrift-store donation bins, and dumpsters are brimming with discarded fabrics. It is time to start making and trading for the things we need, and stop buying so much new stuff we don’t. We need to see ourselves as trash-rich. Customers at Swanson’s can pay for goods and services with goods and services. I accept trade of sewing and fiber supplies/materials, and trade for help in the shop. I hope to inspire you to make your own clothes, to mend the ones you have, to shop second-hand and alter things to your taste. There is a lot of power in dressing yourself. Custom is king, and you can’t have a revolution in your master’s clothes…. ❤️💪🏻 -Kathryn

The CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with Swanson's Fabrics, and are simply sharing the resource.

Do you have a favorite place to get your crafting supplies? Share in the comments or via a reblog! Bonus points for those that prioritize sustainability, accessibility, community, and trade.

[andrioddeveloperscommunity]

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[cathkaesque]

Relentless direct action has secured another victory in the fight against Israel’s arms trade, as Elbit Systems are forced to sell their ‘Elite KL’ factory in Tamworth.

The company had previously manufactured cooling and power management systems for military vehicles, but was sold on after stating that it faced falling profits and increased security costs resulting from Palestine Action’s efforts. 

After the sale was completed last month, Elite KL’s new owners, listed as Griffin Newco Ltd, confirmed in an email to Palestine Action that they will have nothing to do with the previous owners, Elbit, and have discontinued any arms manufacturing:

“Following the recent acquisition of Elite KL Limited by a UK investment syndicate, the newly appointed board has unanimously agreed to withdraw from all future defence contracts and terminate its association with its former parent company”.

This victory is a direct result of sustained direct action which has sought, throughout Palestine Action’s existence, to make it impossible for Elbit to afford to operate in Britain. Before they sold the enterprise to a private equity syndicate, Elbit had reported that Elite KL operating profits had been slashed by over three-quarters, with Palestine Action responsible: Elbit directly cited the increased expenditure on security they’d been forced to make, and higher supply chain costs they faced.

And these actions did, indeed, cost them. The first action at the site, in November 2020, saw Elite KL’s premises smashed into, the building covered in blood-red paint. Between March and July 2021, the site was put out of action three times by roof-top occupations – drenched red in March 2021, with the factory’s camera systems dismantled, before again being occupied in in May. Another roof-top occupation in July, despite increased security, saw the site forced closed – once again painted blood-red, and with its windows and fixings smashed through.

In February 2022, activists decommissioned the site for weeks – closed off after an occupation that saw over £250,000 of damages caused, the roof tiles removed one-by-one. After this, Elbit erected a security perimeter around the site – but to no avail. One month later, six were arrested after Palestine Action returned to Tamworth – again taking the roof and smashing through, preventing the production of parts for Israel’s military machine.

Elite KL is a ‘specialist thermal management business’. Since the sale, the company focuses on cooling systems for buses and trains, but it had, under Elbit, manufactured these systems for military vehicles. Until December of last year, Elite KL’s website was advertising its military and defence products, and it was known to provide parts for Israel’s deadly Merkava tanks, with export license records demonstrating its provision of ‘ML6a’ components for military ground vehicles to Israel. The company was also known to manufacture crew cooling systems, for the military vests of tank operators.

Elbit Systems itself provides 85% of the drones and land-based military equipment for the Israeli military, along with a wide range of the munitions and armaments currently being used against Gaza’s beseiged population. Its CEO, Bazhalel Machlis, has claimed that the Israeli military has offered the company its thanks for their “crucial” services during the ongoing genocide in Gaza

A Palestine Action spokesperson has stated:

“Each activist who occupied and dismantled Tamworth’s Israeli weapons factory did so in order to bring an end to Israel’s weapons trade, and to end the profiteering from Palestinian repression. Every defeat Elbit faces is a victory for the Palestinian people.

Kicking Elbit out of Tamworth shows once again that direct action is a necessary tactic. It is one which must be utilised and amplified in the face of the Gaza genocide.”

[southsouthcooperationday]

The elimination of Non-Tarriff Barriers Mechanism (NTBs).

The elimination of NTBs is critical to boosting intra-Africa trade and achieving the objectives of the AfCFTA. It will reduce the costs of trading across borders and ease cross-border movement of goods. The bulk of the AfCFTA benefits will be realised if State Parties efficiently manage and eliminate NTBs. The Protocol on Trade in Goods establishes a reporting, monitoring, and elimination mechanism where traders can file a complaint on a specific trade obstacle they have encountered during the process of moving goods and services across borders.

[exhibitionboothdesigncompany]

Elevate Your Trade Show Presence: Trade Show Booth Rental Cost and Exhibits Company

When it comes to trade shows and exhibitions, making a lasting impression is crucial for capturing the attention of potential clients and standing out from the competition. LocalExhibits offers a comprehensive range of trade show booth rentals and exhibits services, providing businesses with the tools they need to make a memorable impact.

At Local Exhibits Company, they understand that each business has unique requirements and budget constraints. Therefore, they offer trade show booth rentals at varying price points to accommodate different needs. From small and cost-effective options to larger and more elaborate setups, LocalExhibits ensures that businesses can find a booth that aligns with their budget and goals. Their transparent pricing and customizable solutions enable businesses to maximize their return on investment while creating a visually stunning and engaging booth.

LocalExhibits takes pride in providing high-quality exhibits and designs that reflect the brand identity and messaging of each client. Their experienced team collaborates closely with businesses to understand their objectives, helping them create a booth that captures attention and effectively communicates their products or services. From booth layout and graphics to lighting and interactive elements, LocalExhibits ensures that every detail is carefully considered to create an impactful and visually appealing exhibit.

In addition to trade show booth rental cost, LocalExhibits offers comprehensive exhibit services, including logistics, installation, and dismantling. Their dedicated team handles the entire process, alleviating the stress and allowing businesses to focus on their core objectives. With LocalExhibits as your partner, you can confidently navigate trade shows, knowing that your booth will be expertly managed and executed.

Elevate your trade show presence with LocalExhibits. Visit their website, https://localexhibits.com/, to explore their trade show booth rental options, discover their creative exhibit designs, and learn more about their comprehensive services. Let LocalExhibits be your trusted partner in creating captivating and successful trade show experiences.

[exeggcute]

the great reddit API meltdown of '23, or: this was always bound to happen

there's a lot of press about what's going on with reddit right now (app shutdowns, subreddit blackouts, the CEO continually putting his foot in his mouth), but I haven't seen as much stuff talking about how reddit got into this situation to begin with. so as a certified non-expert and Context Enjoyer I thought it might be helpful to lay things out as I understand them—a high-level view, surveying the whole landscape—in the wonderful world of startups, IPOs, and extremely angry users.

disclaimer that I am not a founder or VC (lmao), have yet to work at a company with a successful IPO, and am not a reddit employee or third-party reddit developer or even a subreddit moderator. I do work at a startup, know my way around an API or two, and have spent twelve regrettable years on reddit itself. which is to say that I make no promises of infallibility, but I hope you'll at least find all this interesting.

profit now or profit later

before you can really get into reddit as reddit, it helps to know a bit about startups (of which reddit is one). and before I launch into that, let me share my Three Types Of Websites framework, which is basically just a mental model about financial incentives that's helped me contextualize some of this stuff.

(1) website/software that does not exist to make money: relatively rare, for a variety of reasons, among them that it costs money to build and maintain a website in the first place. wikipedia is the evergreen example, although even wikipedia's been subject to criticism for how the wikimedia foundation pays out its employees and all that fun nonprofit stuff. what's important here is that even when making money is not the goal, money itself is still a factor, whether it's solicited via donations or it's just one guy paying out of pocket to host a hobby site. but websites in this category do, generally, offer free, no-strings-attached experiences to their users.

(I do want push back against the retrospective nostalgia of "everything on the internet used to be this way" because I don't think that was ever really true—look at AOL, the dotcom boom, the rise of banner ads. I distinctly remember that neopets had multiple corporate sponsors, including a cookie crisp-themed flash game. yahoo bought geocities for $3.6 billion; money's always been trading hands, obvious or not. it's indisputable that the internet is simply different now than it was ten or twenty years ago, and that monetization models themselves have largely changed as well (I have thoughts about this as it relates to web 1.0 vs web 2.0 and their associated costs/scale/etc.), but I think the only time people weren't trying to squeeze the internet for all the dimes it can offer was when the internet was first conceived as a tool for national defense.)

(2) website/software that exists to make money now: the type that requires the least explanation. mostly non-startup apps and services, including any random ecommerce storefront, mobile apps that cost three bucks to download, an MMO with a recurring subscription, or even a news website that runs banner ads and/or offers paid subscriptions. in most (but not all) cases, the "make money now" part is obvious, so these things don't feel free to us as users, even to the extent that they might have watered-down free versions or limited access free trials. no one's shocked when WoW offers another paid expansion packs because WoW's been around for two decades and has explicitly been trying to make money that whole time.

(3) website/software that exists to make money later: this is the fun one, and more common than you'd think. "make money later" is more or less the entire startup business model—I'll get into that in the next section—and is deployed with the expectation that you will make money at some point, but not always by means as obvious as "selling WoW expansions for forty bucks a pop."

companies in this category tend to have two closely entwined characteristics: they prioritize growth above all else, regardless of whether this growth is profitable in any way (now, or sometimes, ever), and they do this by offering users really cool and awesome shit at little to no cost (or, if not for free, then at least at a significant loss to the company).

so from a user perspective, these things either seem free or far cheaper than their competitors. but of course websites and software and apps and [blank]-as-a-service tools cost money to build and maintain, and that money has to come from somewhere, and the people supplying that money, generally, expect to get it back...

just not immediately.

startups, VCs, IPOs, and you

here's the extremely condensed "did NOT go to harvard business school" version of how a startup works:

(1) you have a cool idea.

(2) you convince some venture capitalists (also known as VCs) that your idea is cool. if they see the potential in what you're pitching, they'll give you money in exchange for partial ownership of your company—which means that if/when the company starts trading its stock publicly, these investors will own X numbers of shares that they can sell at any time. in other words, you get free money now (and you'll likely seek multiple "rounds" of investors over the years to sustain your company), but with the explicit expectations that these investors will get their payoff later, assuming you don't crash and burn before that happens.

during this phase, you want to do anything in your power to make your company appealing to investors so you can attract more of them and raise funds as needed. because you are definitely not bringing in the necessary revenue to offset operating costs by yourself.

it's also worth nothing that this is less about projecting the long-term profitability of your company than it's about its perceived profitability—i.e., VCs want to put their money behind a company that other people will also have confidence in, because that's what makes stock valuable, and VCs are in it for stock prices.

(3) there are two non-exclusive win conditions for your startup: you can get acquired, and you can have an IPO (also referred to as "going public"). these are often called "exit scenarios" and they benefit VCs and founders, as well as some employees. it's also possible for a company to get acquired, possibly even more than once, and then later go public.

acquisition: sell the whole damn thing to someone else. there are a million ways this can happen, some better than others, but in many cases this means anyone with ownership of the company (which includes both investors and employees who hold stock options) get their stock bought out by the acquiring company and end up with cash in hand. in varying amounts, of course. sometimes the founders walk away, sometimes the employees get laid off, but not always.

IPO: short for "initial public offering," this is when the company starts trading its stocks publicly, which means anyone who wants to can start buying that company's stock, which really means that VCs (and employees with stock options) can turn that hypothetical money into real money by selling their company stock to interested buyers.

drawing from that, companies don't go for an IPO until they think their stock will actually be worth something (or else what's the point?)—specifically, worth more than the amount of money that investors poured into it. The Powers That Be will speculate about a company's IPO potential way ahead of time, which is where you'll hear stuff about companies who have an estimated IPO evaluation of (to pull a completely random example) $10B. actually I lied, that was not a random example, that was reddit's valuation back in 2021 lol. but a valuation is basically just "how much will people be interested in our stock?"

as such, in the time leading up to an IPO, it's really really important to do everything you can to make your company seem like a good investment (which is how you get stock prices up), usually by making the company's numbers look good. but! if you plan on cashing out, the long-term effects of your decisions aren't top of mind here. remember, the industry lingo is "exit scenario."

if all of this seems like a good short-term strategy for companies and their VCs, but an unsustainable model for anyone who's buying those stocks during the IPO, that's because it often is.

also worth noting that it's possible for a company to be technically unprofitable as a business (meaning their costs outstrip their revenue) and still trade enormously well on the stock market; uber is the perennial example of this. to the people who make money solely off of buying and selling stock, it literally does not matter that the actual rideshare model isn't netting any income—people think the stock is valuable, so it's valuable.

this is also why, for example, elon musk is richer than god: if he were only the CEO of tesla, the money he'd make from selling mediocre cars would be (comparatively, lol) minimal. but he's also one of tesla's angel investors, which means he holds a shitload of tesla stock, and tesla's stock has performed well since their IPO a decade ago (despite recent dips)—even if tesla itself has never been a huge moneymaker, public faith in the company's eventual success has kept them trading at high levels. granted, this also means most of musk's wealth is hypothetical and not liquid; if TSLA dropped to nothing, so would the value of all the stock he holds (and his net work with it).

what's an API, anyway?

to move in an entirely different direction: we can't get into reddit's API debacle without understanding what an API itself is.

an API (short for "application programming interface," not that it really matters) is a series of code instructions that independent developers can use to plug their shit into someone else's shit. like a series of tin cans on strings between two kids' treehouses, but for sending and receiving data.

APIs work by yoinking data directly from a company's servers instead of displaying anything visually to users. so I could use reddit's API to build my own app that takes the day's top r/AITA post and transcribes it into pig latin: my app is a bunch of lines of code, and some of those lines of code fetch data from reddit (and then transcribe that data into pig latin), and then my app displays the content to anyone who wants to see it, not reddit itself. as far as reddit is concerned, no additional human beings laid eyeballs on that r/AITA post, and reddit never had a chance to serve ads alongside the pig-latinized content in my app. (put a pin in this part—it'll be relevant later.)

but at its core, an API is really a type of protocol, which encompasses a broad category of formats and business models and so on. some APIs are completely free to use, like how anyone can build a discord bot (but you still have to host it yourself). some companies offer free APIs to third-party developers can build their own plugins, and then the company and the third-party dev split the profit on those plugins. some APIs have a free tier for hobbyists and a paid tier for big professional projects (like every weather API ever, lol). some APIs are strictly paid services because the API itself is the company's core offering.

reddit's financial foundations

okay thanks for sticking with me. I promise we're almost ready to be almost ready to talk about the current backlash.

reddit has always been a startup's startup from day one: its founders created the site after attending a startup incubator (which is basically a summer camp run by VCs) with the successful goal of creating a financially successful site. backed by that delicious y combinator money, reddit got acquired by conde nast only a year or two after its creation, which netted its founders a couple million each. this was back in like, 2006 by the way. in the time since that acquisition, reddit's gone through a bunch of additional funding rounds, including from big-name investors like a16z, peter thiel (yes, that guy), sam altman (yes, also that guy), sequoia, fidelity, and tencent. crunchbase says that they've raised a total of $1.3B in investor backing.

in all this time, reddit has never been a public company, or, strictly speaking, profitable.

APIs and third-party apps

reddit has offered free API access for basically as long as it's had a public API—remember, as a "make money later" company, their primary goal is growth, which means attracting as many users as possible to the platform. so letting anyone build an app or widget is (or really, was) in line with that goal.

as such, third-party reddit apps have been around forever. by third-party apps, I mean apps that use the reddit API to display actual reddit content in an unofficial wrapper. iirc reddit didn't even have an official mobile app until semi-recently, so many of these third-party mobile apps in particular just sprung up to meet an unmet need, and they've kept a small but dedicated userbase ever since. some people also prefer the user experience of the unofficial apps, especially since they offer extra settings to customize what you're seeing and few to no ads (and any ads these apps do display are to the benefit of the third-party developers, not reddit itself.)

(let me add this preemptively: one solution I've seen proposed to the paid API backlash is that reddit should have third-party developers display reddit's ads in those third-party apps, but this isn't really possible or advisable due to boring adtech reasons I won't inflict on you here. source: just trust me bro)

in addition to mobile apps, there are also third-party tools that don’t replace the Official Reddit Viewing Experience but do offer auxiliary features like being able to mass-delete your post history, tools that make the site more accessible to people who use screen readers, and tools that help moderators of subreddits moderate more easily. not to mention a small army of reddit bots like u/AutoWikibot or u/RemindMebot (and then the bots that tally the number of people who reply to bot comments with “good bot” or “bad bot).

the number of people who use third-party apps is relatively small, but they arguably comprise some of reddit’s most dedicated users, which means that third-party apps are important to the people who keep reddit running and the people who supply reddit with high-quality content.

unpaid moderators and user-generated content

so reddit is sort of two things: reddit is a platform, but it’s also a community.

the platform is all the unsexy (or, if you like python, sexy) stuff under the hood that actually makes the damn thing work. this is what the company spends money building and maintaining and "owns." the community is all the stuff that happens on the platform: posts, people, petty squabbles. so the platform is where the content lives, but ultimately the content is the reason people use reddit—no one’s like “yeah, I spend time on here because the backend framework really impressed me."

and all of this content is supplied by users, which is not unique among social media platforms, but the content is also managed by users, which is. paid employees do not govern subreddits; unpaid volunteers do. and moderation is the only thing that keeps reddit even remotely tolerable—without someone to remove spam, ban annoying users, and (god willing) enforce rules against abuse and hate speech, a subreddit loses its appeal and therefore its users. not dissimilar to the situation we’re seeing play out at twitter, except at twitter it was the loss of paid moderators;  reddit is arguably in a more precarious position because they could lose this unpaid labor at any moment, and as an already-unprofitable company they absolutely cannot afford to implement paid labor as a substitute.

oh yeah? spell "IPO" backwards

so here we are, June 2023, and reddit is licking its lips in anticipation of a long-fabled IPO. which means it’s time to start fluffing themselves up for investors by cutting costs (yay, layoffs!) and seeking new avenues of profit, however small.

this brings us to the current controversy: reddit announced a new API pricing plan that more or less prevents anyone from using it for free.

from reddit's perspective, the ostensible benefits of charging for API access are twofold: first, there's direct profit to be made off of the developers who (may or may not) pay several thousand dollars a month to use it, and second, cutting off unsanctioned third-party mobile apps (possibly) funnels those apps' users back into the official reddit mobile app. and since users on third-party apps reap the benefit of reddit's site architecture (and hosting, and development, and all the other expenses the site itself incurs) without “earning” money for reddit by generating ad impressions, there’s a financial incentive at work here: even if only a small percentage of people use third-party apps, getting them to use the official app instead translates to increased ad revenue, however marginal.

(also worth mentioning that chatGPT and other LLMs were trained via tools that used reddit's API to scrape post and content data, and now that openAI is reaping the profits of that training without giving reddit any kickbacks, reddit probably wants to prevent repeats of this from happening in the future. if you want to train the next LLM, it's gonna cost you.)

of course, these changes only benefit reddit if they actually increase the company’s revenue and perceived value/growth—which is hard to do when your users (who are also the people who supply the content for other users to engage with, who are also the people who moderate your communities and make them fun to participate in) get really fucking pissed and threaten to walk.

pricing shenanigans

under the new API pricing plan, third-party developers are suddenly facing steep costs to maintain the apps and tools they’ve built.

most paid APIs are priced by volume: basically, the more data you send and receive, the more money it costs. so if your third-party app has a lot of users, you’ll have to make more API requests to fetch content for those users, and your app becomes more expensive to maintain. (this isn’t an issue if the tool you’re building also turns a profit, but most third-party reddit apps make little, if any, money.)

which is why, even though third-party apps capture a relatively small portion of reddit’s users, the developer of a popular third-party app called apollo recently learned that it would cost them about $20 million a year to keep the app running. and apollo actually offers some paid features (for extra in-app features independent of what reddit offers), but nowhere near enough to break even on those API costs.

so apollo, any many apps like it, were suddenly unable to keep their doors open under the new API pricing model and announced that they'd be forced to shut down.

backlash, blackout

plenty has been said already about the current subreddit blackouts—in like, official news outlets and everything—so this might be the least interesting section of my whole post lol. the short version is that enough redditors got pissed enough that they collectively decided to take subreddits “offline” in protest, either by making them read-only or making them completely inaccessible. their goal was to send a message, and that message was "if you piss us off and we bail, here's what reddit's gonna be like: a ghost town."

but, you may ask, if third-party apps only captured a small number of users in the first place, how was the backlash strong enough to result in a near-sitewide blackout? well, two reasons:

first and foremost, since moderators in particular are fond of third-party tools, and since moderators wield outsized power (as both the people who keep your site more or less civil, and as the people who can take a subreddit offline if they feel like it), it’s in your best interests to keep them happy. especially since they don’t get paid to do this job in the first place, won’t keep doing it if it gets too hard, and essentially have nothing to lose by stepping down.

then, to a lesser extent, the non-moderator users on third-party apps tend to be Power Users who’ve been on reddit since its inception, and as such likely supply a disproportionate amount of the high-quality content for other users to see (and for ads to be served alongside). if you drive away those users, you’re effectively kneecapping your overall site traffic (which is bad for Growth) and reducing the number/value of any ad impressions you can serve (which is bad for revenue).

also a secret third reason, which is that even people who use the official apps have no stake in a potential IPO, can smell the general unfairness of this whole situation, and would enjoy the schadenfreude of investors getting fucked over. not to mention that reddit’s current CEO has made a complete ass of himself and now everyone hates him and wants to see him suffer personally.

(granted, it seems like reddit may acquiesce slightly and grant free API access to a select set of moderation/accessibility tools, but at this point it comes across as an empty gesture.)

"later" is now "now"

TL;DR: this whole thing is a combination of many factors, specifically reddit being intensely user-driven and self-governed, but also a high-traffic site that costs a lot of money to run (why they willingly decided to start hosting video a few years back is beyond me...), while also being angled as a public stock market offering in the very near future. to some extent I understand why reddit’s CEO doubled down on the changes—he wants to look strong for investors—but he’s also made a fool of himself and cast a shadow of uncertainty onto reddit’s future, not to mention the PR nightmare surrounding all of this. and since arguably the most important thing in an IPO is how much faith people have in your company, I honestly think reddit would’ve fared better if they hadn’t gone nuclear with the API changes in the first place.

that said, I also think it’s a mistake to assume that reddit care (or needs to care) about its users in any meaningful way, or at least not as more than means to an end. if reddit shuts down in three years, but all of the people sitting on stock options right now cashed out at $120/share and escaped unscathed... that’s a success story! you got your money! VCs want to recoup their investment—they don’t care about longevity (at least not after they’re gone), user experience, or even sustained profit. those were never the forces driving them, because these were never the ultimate metrics of their success.

and to be clear: this isn’t unique to reddit. this is how pretty much all startups operate.

I talked about the difference between “make money now” companies and “make money later” companies, and what we’re experiencing is the painful transition from “later” to “now.” as users, this change is almost invisible until it’s already happened—it’s like a rug we didn’t even know existed gets pulled out from under us.

the pre-IPO honeymoon phase is awesome as a user, because companies have no expectation of profit, only growth. if you can rely on VC money to stay afloat, your only concern is building a user base, not squeezing a profit out of them. and to do that, you offer cool shit at a loss: everything’s chocolate and flowers and quarterly reports about the number of signups you’re getting!

...until you reach a critical mass of users, VCs want to cash in, and to prepare for that IPO leadership starts thinking of ways to make the website (appear) profitable and implements a bunch of shit that makes users go “wait, what?”

I also touched on this earlier, but I want to reiterate a bit here: I think the myth of the benign non-monetized internet of yore is exactly that—a myth. what has changed are the specific market factors behind these websites, and their scale, and the means by which they attempt to monetize their services and/or make their services look attractive to investors, and so from a user perspective things feel worse because the specific ways we’re getting squeezed have evolved. maybe they are even worse, at least in the ways that matter. but I’m also increasingly less surprised when this occurs, because making money is and has always been the goal for all of these ventures, regardless of how they try to do so.

[johnypage95]

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[akashzipaworld]

The Advancement of Ocean Freight Forwarding

The Advancement of Ocean Freight Forwarding" has undergone substantial transformation over the years. From traditional methods reliant on paper documentation and manual processes, the industry has shifted towards sophisticated, technology-driven solutions. Leading the charge in this evolution are companies like Zipaworld, which integrate state-of-the-art technologies to optimize every aspect of the shipping process. These advancements include robust real-time tracking systems that provide unprecedented visibility into cargo movements, automated documentation procedures that streamline paperwork and reduce errors, and advanced analytics for optimizing route planning and cost-efficiency. In today's globalized economy, efficient ocean freight forwarding is crucial for businesses seeking to navigate complex supply chains and meet customer demands. Modern ocean freight forwarders not only facilitate the smooth transportation of goods across international waters but also play a pivotal role in enhancing supply chain resilience and responsiveness. By embracing innovation and leveraging digital tools, companies like Zipaworld continue to redefine standards in the industry, ensuring reliable and timely delivery of goods while driving efficiency and competitiveness in global trade.

[reasonsforhope]

"Millions of Australians just got official permission to ignore their bosses outside of working hours, thanks to a new law enshrining their "right to disconnect."

The law doesn't strictly prohibit employers from calling or messaging their workers after hours. But it does protect employees who "refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact outside their working hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable," according to the Fair Work Commission, Australia's workplace relations tribunal.

That includes outreach from their employer, as well as other people "if the contact or attempted contact is work-related."

The law, which passed in February, took effect on Monday [August 26, 2024] for most workers and will apply to small businesses of fewer than 15 people starting in August 2025. It adds Australia to a growing list of countries aiming to protect workers' free time.

"It's really about trying to bring back some work-life balance and make sure that people aren't racking up hours of unpaid overtime for checking emails and responding to things at a time when they're not being paid," said Sen. Murray Watt, Australia's minister for employment and workplace relations.

The law doesn't give employees a complete pass, however...

"If it was an emergency situation, of course people would expect an employee to respond to something like that," Watt said. "But if it's a run-of-the-mill thing … then they should wait till the next work day, so that people can actually enjoy their private lives, enjoy time with their family and their friends, play sport or whatever they want to do after hours, without feeling like they're chained to the desk at a time when they're not actually being paid, because that's just not fair."

Protections aim to address erosion of work-life balance

The law's supporters hope it will help solidify the boundary between the personal and the professional, which has become increasingly blurry with the rise of remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 2022 survey by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, found that seven out of 10 Australians performed work outside of scheduled working hours, with many reporting experiencing physical tiredness, stress and anxiety as a result.

The following year, the institute reported that Australians clocked an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023. Valuing that labor at average wage rates, it estimated the average worker is losing the equivalent of nearly $7,500 U.S. dollars each year.

"This is particularly concerning when worker's share of national income remains at a historically low level, wage growth is not keeping up with inflation, and the cost of living is rising," it added.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions hailed the new law as a "cost-of-living win for working people," especially those in industries like teaching, community services and administrative work.

The right to disconnect, it said, will not only cut down on Australians' unpaid work hours but also address the "growing crisis of increasing mental health illness and injuries in modern workplaces."

"More money in your pocket, more time with your loved ones and more freedom to live your life — that's what the right to disconnect is all about," ACTU President Michele O’Neil said in a statement.

The 2022 Australia Institute survey... found broad support for a right to disconnect.

Only 9% of respondents said such a policy would not positively affect their lives. And the rest cited a slew of positive effects, from having more social and family time to improved mental health and job satisfaction. Thirty percent of respondents said it would enable them to be more productive during work hours.

Eurofound, the European Union agency for the improvement of living and working conditions, said in a 2023 study that workers at companies with a right to disconnect policy reported better work-life balance than those without — 92% versus 80%."

-via GoodGoodGood, August 26, 2024

[dezineinnovation]

Low Cost Interior Design and Decorating Tips

Thinking of a home or office addition, but upset about the cost of the interior designing and decorating? Do you suppose you cannot go to spend much on the interior designing but wish for an elegant make over for your room? You do not have to get vexed about not having too important plutocrat to spend on your decoration, because you can do a fabulous job of decorating your house without spending much of your pennies, if you do it wise.

 Plan your budget

 Low or high, you should always have a specific budget plan for your work, rather than saying' I want the room's interior design to be done at a low cost it's better to have an idea of how much you're ready to spend. Coming to the correct value may not be possible but giving an nearly accurate estimate will always help. Divide your budget under different task like, Rs 1lac for new cabinetwork, Rs. 50 thousand for makeup etc rather than quoting the whole quantum. But flash back your budget plan should be realistic and should be rigorously followed for a successful low cost interior designing.

 Be the interior developer yourself

 Hiring a establishment or a specialist to do the makeover might give you a fully remarkable room or office, but flash back the more established they are, the more you'll end up paying them for the service alone. So it's stylish to take your imagination into play and come up with how much you're going to spent and what would have to be changed or introduced. You can relate papers in magazines or the internet to get ample ideas on how to do the job at minimal cost.

 Protect downward and wide

 You're planning to embellish the interior of the room, so it calls for full day fun shopping. Are you apprehensive that utmost of the goods you buy at the ingrained Shoppe may be available at a possibly slashed price in original shops and transaction houses? So take your time to hunt in the alternate hand shops, bargain request and any shop with a time ending trade or shop addition trade sign board. You're going to hit on commodity great at an unthinkable price. But just getting the thing at a low price shouldn't tempt you to buy it; you should buy only those effects you came to shop for. Else, the low priced shopping experience will turn to a clashing one.

 Get your effects auctioned

 Still, you may have to remove a piece of cabinetwork, curtains and a lot of junk you may no longer bear, if you're revamping the place. Rather than shifting them to the stockroom, you can get these effects vended at a low price to get a tip on your budget; you can either auction it or vend it to an alternate hand shop. Flash back your stuff might not cost much, but removing these will help you to de clutter the room and at the same time get a small rise on your budget. But if you're doing the interior designing and decorating from launch, do not worry for not having anything to vend; you can have an option of choosing veritably wisely and designing the room anew with no time loss.

 Exercise your stuff

 You can use a lot of effects at hand in a novel and creative way to make the interior designing a fun and creative experience. You can make a bumper cover out of your old curtain by suturing together the pieces but while choosing the fabric, see to it that it either gives an arresting effect to the else blunt room or differently combine with the mood of it. You can also use an old piece of cabinetwork and polish it to make a centerpiece of the room. Your grandmother's casket hole can boast the main magnet in your delineation room if you space it well and take care to design it.

 Ornamental pieces

 Ornamental particulars and wall oil can come in any range and occasionally it may bring you a fortune. But it's not just expensive ornamental pieces and antique collections that can make your interior boast a good appearance. You can use a family portrayal or oil your little bone

 Did to give a new look to the walls. These oils and prints do not just come free, they're empty and just a good frame will do the job. You can also use ornamental candles and gift pieces in a creative way to change the face of your room.

 An redundant fleece of makeup

 A redundant fleece of makeup can always give a face lift to a room. Interior designing is no way complete without a well painted wall. Choose the same shade of makeup as your former bone

 As getting a new shade will bear further fleeces of the makeup and hence it'll increase the cost of oil. But you can do a differing shade on just one wall if you're wearied with the' same old makeup' this not just give a new face to the room, it also saves a bit on the makeup.

 Keep it simple

 Be it kitchen, bedroom, office or study; keep the room as simple as possible. Reduce the number of cabinetwork and redundant piece of settee to give your room a neat, organized, commodious and new look. Your apartments and office should also have a touch of your personality so work on it.