#also before I became disillusioned with big tech

[smiegrin]

Egg Moment 🏳️‍⚧️ n+1

"I will have succeeded if I can persuade everyone in this discord server that I'm just a very sophisticated chatbot."

Me, 2017, 5 B.C.E. (Before Consuming Estrogen)

[violetjedisylveon]

More 3 a.m. AU Stuff

So I made a post about a Modern Star Wars AU abouy a week ago and I had more thoughts about it so here's part 2! I also realised I left some characters out, I've fixed that here. You can find the first part here.

And I added ghosts and supernatural stuff so I guess it's not exactly a modern AU anymore, more like a super natural modern AU. I think I'm gonna call it Jedi Supernatural Secret Service AU. Or Jsss AU, that's probably easier.

So, Dooku.

Dooku is Qui-gon's older brother and was his mentor in the Jedi secrete service thing.

He did become disillusioned with the Jedi and joined the Sith but only after his brother died. Secretly he was trying to avenge his brother because to heck with Canon/Legends!

Yaddle is Yoda's younger sister, much younger, he's in his late 90s and she's in her early 60s at the time of Anakin's birth. Both Yaddle and Yoda have a genetic disorder that caused their ears to be longer and pointy because.

And for the sake of my own sanity, humans live longer, they generally live to their hundred thiries, some longer.

Yaddle's kids are Oppo Rancisis and Yarrel Poof. She was trained by her brother in the Jedi but eventually said 'Fuck this' and left to start a humanitarian organization. Now she has a lot of children.

Plo Koon and Barriss both volunteered there and Barriss started working for Yaddle after leaving the Jedi.

Barriss was basiacally adopted by the children at Yaddle's orphanage, the kids usually call her big sister and sometimes call her mom, they call Yaddle mom more often.

The Jedi use high tech gunsword things instead of lightsabers.

Boga is Obi-Wan's bearded dragon house guard. In this AU, bearded dragons were specially bred and modified to be bigger, stronger, have more loyalty and generally be a better partner for people like Obi-Wan, so Boga is really big, not as big as cannon but big. Boga is almost always near Korkie to keep him safe.

Yaddle comes over to watch Korkie when Obi and Cody go on dates, she did the same with Obi and Satine before Satine died.

Yoda used to be in charge of the Jedi, even though he was a really old man but when Order 66 happened, he moved to a swamp where he fished and would occasionally come to family reunions but doesn't like them because Yaddle always gives him a hard time about something.

Plo Koon adopted his clones, imedeatly. He brought all of them home once and they just kept going back.

Plo lives if I didn't mention that already.

Obi-Wan's mother died when an assassination attempt caused her to go into premature labor, she and Qui-gon were having another baby, they were a girl. They both died. Obi-Wan was about 6 and a half.

Shmi was an immigrant from a dangerous country. She worked as a waitress and sometimes an extra cook in Dex's Diner.

Qui-gon and Dex were really good friends, Dex was Obi-Wan's godfather and would either go to Qui-gon's house and watch him or let him stick around his dinner, depending on his schedule.

After Qui-gon's wife died, he and Obi-Wan went there for meals because Qui-gon didn't have the motivation to make anything at home. Cooking always reminded him of her since they did that together.

Shmi was usually the one who served them. She always gave them some extra food to take home since she figured something was wrong, she is very good at reading people in this AU. Qui-gon appreciated that since it made everything a little easier and gave Obi-Wan something to look forwards to.

When Qui-gon had to work, Shmi would bring food over for Obi-Wan on her breaks and always gave him little treats she paid for.

She would talk with Obi-Wan when he was dropped off at the diner and keep him company even when she wasn't working. She was almost always there and if he needed someone to talk to, he could just take a walk down to the diner.

Later, Shmi helped Dex and Qui-gon introduce Obi-Wan to Satine(then set up a date when they were older;)

Shmi and Qui-gon became very good friends and Qui-gon began trusting Shmi with Obi-Wan, she would take him to school when there wasn't enough time and Shmi covered for Qui-gon on take your parent to work day(she brought snacks for all the kids).

After enough time, Dex eventually saw what Qui-gon and Shmi didn't and conspired with Dooku, who wasn't 'bad' at this point, to set them up.

They failed.

When Yaddle visited her nephews and grand nephew for the holidays, she saw Shmi and Qui-gon interacting exactly 1 time then asked Qui-gon if he planned on getting married anytime soon or what.

Yaddle doesn't care if she's not appropriate, she does what she wants and doesn't beat around the bush.(I'm picturing her as a kick-ass old lady kinda vibe in this AU, Yaddle doesn't take anybody's shit.)

This is after about three years after Obi-Wan's mom died, Shmi was around before that and had been friends with Mrs. Kenobi(he has his mom's last name, remember).

So Shmi didn't exactly feel like she should take her friends place and didn't want to disrespect her but(since it's October when I'm writing this I've decided spirits are still a thing so it's not a completly normal world, there is some supernatural elements in this AU, and certain people can see the supernatural stuff better and ask for help/manipulate them, hence the Jedi and Sith groups) her spirit came to Shmi and told her it was okay and that she wanted her husband and son to be happy ans that Shmi made them happy.

So Shmi and Qui-gon get married! Yay!

Qui-gon and Obi-Wan both got super nervous and scared when Shmi was pregnant, especially Obi-Wan, he didn't want to loose another mother and sibling.

But Anakin and Shmi survived, it was a good, fairly easy birth.

Happy Secret service family times!

Aka, Qui-gon teaching his whole family how to not die and getting tips from Dooku.

Yes, Dooku has children, mostly adopted/other people's kids who he serves as a fatherly uncle towards. And he's really good with teenagers. He adopted Asajj after her other adopted family got killed, he adopted Keelyvine Reus, (he adoptes Keelyvine first) he helped Tholme with Quinlan and later Aylaa, he sort of adopted Sev'rance Tann, and also the rest of who were the dark acolytes in legends. His biological kids are Rael Averross, his son and oldest bio child, Komari Vosa, his daughter and youngest bio child. They both have their mother's last name, Vosa but Rael changed his.

Dooku also has grandchildren, Rael has two illegitimate children, Nim Pianna with a women named Selbi Pianna, and Lamia. Komari adopted some kids out of a life in criminal gang because she's a good person I decided. Keelyvine adopted Tyzen Xebec after his dad died. Dooku has more grandkids but I don't wanna write them all out here, he loves all his grandchildren equally.

He(&Yaddel) taught Plo the ways of serial adopting and was proud when Plo out serial adopted him. Yaddel taught him how to serial adopt. Plo and Shaak Ti were serial adopting buddies.

Between the four, a lot of otherwise neglected children would have been without someone to talk/go to or any sort of good, supportive adult figure in their life.

So Anakin and Obi-Wan have a lot of first cousins from Dooku and a bunch of other cousins from Yaddel. Qui-gon is drowing in cousins, neices and nephews and is super proud of his big bro.

Plo Koon was a good friend to Obi-Wan and Anakin, like another dad because he exudes a fatherly presence.

Shmi, Satine, Cody and Padmé all had no idea what they were signing up for when they married into this family. A hell of a lot of cousins, crazy family reunions where somehow, everyone can almost always make it in some way, usually about 100 or so people in person and everyone else doing it over the holophone.

As people from small families(except Cody, he's got a shit ton of 'brothers', most aren't actually related to each other, just raised together) this was a big adjustment but a fun one since the big family was generally pleasant to be around as a whole, there were some annoying members but not too many of them.

Shmi loves the big family a whole lot, she thinks it's very fun if tiring to remember everyone's names at times and she really likes to learn about everyone.

Satine is surprised that there aren't major family fights because of stupid disagreements, they have a surprisingly effective mediator, Yaddel, who no one wants to piss off, she likes the relatively calm conversations over disagreements unlike her family who solved things with violence and shouting.

Padmé has heard of the one disagreements that no one is allowed to talk about because of the family war that happened but she can't find out about it because they don't speak of it and it drives her crazy. Other than that minor annoyance, she loves the big crazy family too.

Cody sees the big family and was like; 'Cool, just like home but less violent.' He adjusted to the new family very well.

Most of the family is supportive of Obi-Wan and Cody, others just don't mind it and nobody says anything against it because they are basically asking for death.

The same thing happened with Ahsoka and Kaeden. Everybody loves it when there are babies and no one has to look far for a babysitter.

The whole family goes to weddings, they are all outside weddings because there isn't any indoor place big enough to handle all these crazy people.

Bail and Breha are politicians, Breha is still a queen and she and Padmé are buds. They would have 'diplomatic' meetings every few months where they just chilled and gossiped about stuff.

Alright, this is really long I'm gonna stop it here but this one kinda covered the early life and family of Obi-Wan and Anakin.

I think I gave Dooku too many kids but whatever!

And I still left people out, I'll fix that soon ;)

I am going to start writing out this concept because I think it will be really fun.

Have a good day!

VJS out!

[nimsajlove]

Your sister, not mine!

So Bad Batch got me now... So have a small piece about Ahsoka keeping together a small girl and her brothers. Placed in the brothers-au.

Brothers-AU  Ao3

Spoilers ahead under the cut!

*~*

Ahsoka loved the sound of laughter in the hallways. Satisfied, she walked towards the bridge with her eyes closed, she had spent so much time on this ship that she would probably have found her way around blind and deaf. When the doors closed behind her with a slight hiss and she opened her eyes again, the sight outside was overwhelming. Trapped for two years at the Temple on Coruscant, shackled by her new duties, she had gotten nearly depressed and when she saw the stars now, she was at home. She knew this, this was where she grew up! "Is the whole cruiser really necessary?", Jesse asked doubtfully behind her as he stepped onto the bridge and Ahsoka turned her gaze to him, a broad grin with bared fangs spreading across her face. "No, but this is more convenient than a shuttle." When Jesse huffed smiling, she turned her gaze back to the front and her gaze became calmer, more thoughtful. "I also think it's good for all of us, to come home again.", she added and felt her brother's hand on her lower back, he radiated deep approval and her expression became gentle. This was how it should have been! On the bridge there were quiet conversations, while they slowly glided towards the meeting point, there were no extraordinary orders to obey.

The door hissed open again, without turning around, Ahsoka cocked her head and listened to the low grumble of another brother. "Commander, is there a problem?", she teased with a grin and Jesse chuckled before he gave way to Rex. He shot her a sharp look, still blaming her for his promotion. And maybe Kenobi. And Cody. And Fives. Actually, they were all to blame, after all they had all decided together to hunt down Maul. "They are late again.", he muttered, and Ahsoka's fingers, that were no longer there, tingled. She quickly clenched her hand into a fist. It wasn't like she didn't want to see Clone Force 99 again. She was dying to challenge Wrecker to a little duel, on condition, of course, that she was allowed to use all of her skills. And she also knew that Echo was waiting for new data from Tech. Simply to expand the knowledge they could access, even if Echo clearly sorted out what was really important. Something that Tech never did, everything was kind of important to him. Jesse shook his head while Rex gripped her fist and waited for her to loosen her fingers again. "My dessert on it, that Hevy will mess with Crosshair again.", he mumbled tense and Ahsoka escaped a bright laugh, Rex on her other side relaxed a little again and now had to smile too. "My dessert for the next three cycles on the fact, that YOU will mess with him again.", she replied and Jesse rolled his eyes, puffing. "There's a shuttle coming out of hyperspace.", one of the men announced loudly and Jesse broke away from Ahsoka's side to start to retreat. "See you later, vod'ika." Smiling, Ahsoka shook her head, that Jesse just couldn't put his dislike off, surprised her a little. Even Rex was above it now, but she would never blame her brother either! The Bad Batch was just a bit ... difficult.

 *

When they entered the hangar, another brother's hand was on her back. Kix was right on her heels, she could feel his gaze on her and the Jedi did her best to just let every hint of unrest slip away. This hadn't been a battle yet, so there was no need for the adrenaline in her blood. In addition, she was always focused on the battlefield! This was different... Behind them were Rex and Echo, who had Fives in tow. Echo looked pleased while Fives looked disillusioned. He was no more happy to be reminded of Echo's rescue than was his sister. With a sigh, Ahsoka turned her gaze forward, the ship could not be overlooked! It was in the middle of the hangar and Tech and Wrecker were already standing in front of it, the latter's face began to glow when he saw the Jedi. "Ah, finally someone to throw!" Fives and Kix made worried noises, but Ahsoka shook the hands off and walked towards the huge clone with long strides. When she reached him he grabbed her and lifted her onto his shoulders, a nice way of greeting. She laughed out loud and propped herself up on his head. “Can't we just take her with us? This one is more fun than the other Jedi!", complained Wrecker, turning back to Hunter, who had to be in the ship. "Who did you last meet?", Ahsoka asked curiously. She had to admit, that she felt like a young Padawan again on the clone's shoulders. "Billaba, she had put her Padawan at our side.“, Tech said from below and Ahsoka froze. Full of horror, she thought of the young Padawan of the Jedi Master. "No, he didn't throw him.", Hunter reassured her when he finally got out of the ship. Ahsoka swung elegantly down from Wrecker's shoulders and smiled at the ever calm clone, her fingertips tingling slightly. However, it wasn't half as bad as when she ran into some Jedi Masters. It was worst with Windu and Yoda, she could no longer look either of them in the eye. “It's nice to have you on board. So you have-" "Wow, that's big...", interrupted a low voice and Hunter's head sagged slightly, he sighed very deeply and very tired. Then he turned around and revealed a person, a child. Crosshair stood behind the amazed girl and Ahsoka would bet her headdress that the sniper smiled softly.

"What have you done now?", asked Rex and stepped close to Ahsoka, out of pure reflex she wrapped one hand around his wrist and the tingling sensation from before subsided again. Hunter raised his hands defensively, the unfamiliar gesture made her grin. "Nothing at all, she invited herself.", Tech muttered.

 *

"We just couldn't shake her off." Hunter mumbled and Ahsoka looked at the girl curiously. Omega was sitting further back in the quarters with Echo in one of the bunks and seemed to be explaining something to him enthusiastically on the datapad. She couldn't see her brother's face, but he seemed gently amused. "When the clones suddenly had a choice on Kamino too, she just sticked to our heels.", Hunter continued to complain of his suffering and Ahsoka turned her gaze to him. “So is she a clone for the Republic? I can't imagine that the Kaminoans just gave her away.” “We didn't think Nala Se could smile either.”, growled Crosshair and Fives, who had been standing silently and stiffly next to Ahsoka the whole time, escaped a slightly hysterical laugh. Then he put his hand over his mouth and tremblingly fought back his control, Ahsoka gently put her hand on his arm and waited until her brother had caught himself and sank into the bunk next to her and propped up on his knees with slightly trembling hands. She heard Echo stir in the other corner and looked over at him and Omega, he quietly exchanged a few words with her and even if she was obviously not satisfied, she nodded. Echo came over to them with great strides and sank to the floor at his brother's feet, his head resting on Five's knee and he relaxed a little.

“I'd like a holo of that as proof. You got that Tech, right?“, Ahsoka asked jokingly, Tech shook his head. “We were hoping you could take Omega with you to one of the Temples. Surrounded by other children, in a safe place.“, Hunter revealed his request and Ahsoka nodded slowly, her chin sinking into her hand. That was tricky... she couldn't take Omega with her just like that. Or could she? "You want to get rid of me?", asked a small voice and the attention of everyone present swung over to the girl, with huge eyes she stood between them and clutched the datapad. None of Force 99 dared to meet her gaze and when tears welled up in the girl's eyes, Ahsoka got up and crouched down in front of her. She liked children, missed the Younglings. Carefully she put a hand on the delicate one from Omega and met the child's eyes with a sure, calm look. “They won't get rid of you that quickly. I'll take care of that.", she assured her and when the girl nodded vigorously, Ahsoka knew that this child had chosen her brothers. She thought of her own connection with her brothers. Without thinking about it, she tugged at every bond once and wallowed in the knowledge that she could feel Kix at the door as well as Jesse at the shooting range. Hevy, Cutup and Droidbait she felt in the hallways as well. She could hardly bear to be swept away from her brothers. She couldn't do that to Omega. "But they can't take a child to old separatist locations either.", Rex growled and Ahsoka looked up at them, Echo nodded curtly. Ahsoka knew that just because she practically grew up in hostile territory didn't mean it was good for a kid. She felt the aftermath every day. “All right, you're right. I will see to it in the Order, that you and Omega are welcome in every Temple. But pray, that I don’t hear something about you leaving her behind and not coming back!"

*

“General, are you sure about this?”, Hunter asked softly. He and Ahsoka watched the preparations in the hangar and Omega, who sat with big eyes obediently on the ramp to their ship and watched everything. Ahsoka carefully stretched out in the Force to the clone next to her and smiled, fear she had never felt in Hunter before. "She's your sister, you can give her something that she can't get from me.", she replied just as quietly and her gaze slid over to her brothers, Jesse had not escaped the work and Kix and Droidbait did their best to keep the ARC away from Crosshair. Her heart swelled at the sight of the clones joking around her and shouting things to each other. Hunter's gaze was heavy on her and when she felt that he understood, she smiled at him and made her way to Omega. The girl had to be fed knowledge about the Temples. Congrats Hunter, she thought to herself. You just adopted a vod’ika.

[nefelibata-agibilibus]

Why Young Justice is a disappointment

I just rewatched Young Justice, and I’m thinking about the disillusion I felt, and why, for a few days I have been thinking about this, and I want to write it, this will be a long post, and is just me venting about my feelings.

Why I like Young Justice

I love to see cartoons, series and movies. I always liked superheroes, and, when I found Young Justice I loved it, the animation was great, the fights were cool, the characters, the plot, It was awesome, into the things I like are:

The big plot: It was awesome, as we learned about they machinations of the villains, we met them, the idea of the Light, this group of people, using the Justice League, in the fight between Darkseid and Vandal Savage, the two of them conquering the universe, waiting to fight each other in the last, ultimate, fight.

The way we learned about the Light was cool too, in the first season we don’t know who they are, we watch a lot of people planning things in the background, before knowing what they want we know who they are, and, by learning all the kind of villains are part of this, we understand the plans are big, mixing technology, chaos magic and metahumans powers, with influence on the ocean, the world politics and one of the greatest group of assassins, even alien conquerors.

The core of the show: We can say this show, deep down, is about found family and teenagers stepping up.

The team is about found family, in the first season Artemis, Conner and M'gann are alone, and they found family on the team and their allies, Mount Justice became the house of Zatanna after Zatara puts on Nabu’s helmet, they are kind of a surface family for Kaldur’ahm, in the second season a lot of people live there, and call the place home, this is the new home for Bart, and the kids kidnapped by the Reach found friends on each other, in the third season the team is a family for Violet, Bryon, Vic, Tara and Forager, and the youth center for metahumans is meant to be a home, they even buy a new place to be their quarters.

This is specially for Artemis, she was raised by abusive parents, Sportmasters trained her to fight, in the comics we see she knows other villains kids, Jade ran away, Artemis wanted to ran away, and her mother is manipulative, she cries so Artemis accepted entering Gotham Academy, despite not wanted to do it, her mother also uses Lian to make her quit the superhero life and enter a relation with Will.

At the beginning she doesn’t trust the team, she hides the truth about her origins, and she is really worried they would find out, at the end she trust them, and, after five years, she and Wally even consider start their own family, in the mental playground M'gann created is clear they talked about marriage and having babies, she offers a home for Violet and Tara, not only teaching them how to control their powers and work as a team, but offering kindness, and that kindness saves Garfield life and helps Tara cut the relation she had with the Light, both of them were in abusive places, and a group of friends they made are the ones helping to be better, they choose the kind and loving people over the manipulative and abusive.

The second core of the show is teenagers asking to not be treated like kids without agency, untrusty of the league secrets, they can make decisions too, they can fight crime too, the world the grown ups are crafting is theirs too, and, yeah, the grown ups are more mature, can take better decisions because they have more experience, their brain is fully developed, and, at the beginning, Red Tornado, Black Canary and Batman look after the kids, keep and eye on them, assign the missions, do the training, Black Canary is a teurapet too!. They are taken care of physically and emotionally, but they ask for trust, Garfield and Conner said it, work with me or move away, this is my world too, and, if I can take decisions about what’s happening to it, I will act.

Artemis and Kaldur’ahm act won’t have worked without the team, they were trusted enough by the league, so, Kaldur betraying would be useful to the Light, but the big public didn’t knew a lot about him, and their missions were undercover, no big shows and public fights for the normal people to know about them, so the betrayal affect just the heroes, Artemis death just affects the team and the league won’t need to said out loud that she died, and then said “Just kidding, she was in a deep undercover mission”, like, If Wonder Woman, Superman, or any league member died, the people would get angry if later they just take back that and go away with it.

And they are important in other ways, during the first season, when Klarion created two worlds, the team were essential to calm the kids, and asked for the older ones to take care of the youngers, and, during the fight, they needed them to fight against Klarion and brake the stone in their reality to join the worlds, Zatanna is the one to put on the Helmet of Fate, she is the decisive piece to win the fight; in the third season, when the outsiders stepped into the spotlight, they save people, and show that Luthor’s impediments could cost lives, in the final moment the outsiders, by defeating Granny on earth, saved all the heroes.

The fights: The animation is 10/10, smooth, easy to follow, clean, I love it, but, especially in the first season, the fights are more than heroes punching villains, the fights develop a character, give exposition about their history, an inside on their minds, or moves the plot.

This is awesome, taking on account the first two seasons were made to be broadcast on cartoon network, for a casual viewer, while zapping, would stay for seeing the fight, but, for a viewer who wants to know the characters, it is always going to have exposition, for the plot or the character.

You can take, as an example, the episode 5 season 1 “Schooled”, we watch how Superman don’t want to work with Superboy, and we’re reminded about Conner’s anger issues, he’s acting proudly and Black Canary defeats him easily, Robin is the one smoothing him, a kind of foreshadowing for Dick being the leader, Conner gets the lesson “raw force won’t help you win every battle”, and, during the fight with Amazo, he understands that, they even present Artemis.

Some people would stay, watch the episode, and enjoy it, it has its own story, there is no real need to know all the plot to enjoy it, for a fan, or someone invested in the show, the episode is good, we watch the relation between Superboy and Superman, foreshadowing about Robin leadership and a lesson for Conner. 

The consequences: The things happening to the characters aren't capsuled on one episode, they do things that will affect them in the future.

I will take, as an example, the episode 17 of season 1 “Disordered”, chronologically is after the exercise of the aliens, a traumatic experience for the characters, and it isn’t swept below a rug, we got and inside of every character, you have the cool episode fight, and an introduction to New Genesis and Apokolips tech, something really important for the next seasons.

We deal with the feelings of everybody, and they give us hints about the secrets or the future of the characters, Robin wants to be away of Batman’s darkness, putting on track Dick’s journey to become Nightwing, for Wally, he acts like nothing happened, and is still in denial about his feelings towards Artemis, we get hints about M'gann secret and how she is affected by the idea of others knowing, the writers foreshadow Kaldur’ahm leaving the leader position for Robin, the fear Artemis has about her friends finding out about her family, and, Superboy’s wish to be Superman, all of that is the road to the character grow.

But they ruined it with the time skips.

        2. Where Young Justice failed?

Time skips: I was watching Young Justice with my dad, it was my second time with the series, he ended the first season, we started the second one, and my dad asked me if Netflix didn’t add a season, no, they didn’t forget a season, they decided to age the characters, put a lot of info in the firsts episodes, and I felt robbed.

The first skip is of five years, the team grow, M'gann is less like Hello, Megan, she and Conner broke up, she is dating a L’gaan, is treated like a sister by Garfield, whom developed powers and now is Beast Boy, Superman is treating Conner like a brother, he have less anger, and helped the Genomorphs to be free of Luthor, Roy tried to enter the Light undercover, with Jade help, they failed, decided to have a normal life, married, have a baby, and now Roy is in a bad place, everyone is worried and Jade rejoined the villains, Artemis and Wally keeped their relation and leaved the superhero life, they were doing fine, Dick became Nightwing and is the leader, dated Zatanna and broke up, Barbara became Batgirl, Batman adopted Jason, Jason died, he adopted Tim, and Kaldur’ahm, lost Tula, discovered Black Manta is his real father, (in the comics we met his father and mother, so everybody lied to him about his family), quit the team to become a villain, but, plot twist, is on a deep undercover mission, and, apparently, only Dick, Wally and Artemis knows about.

And we didn’t need the skips, like, all the things happening would be useful for one or two seasons, and, if you wanted the undercover thing, you have Roy, you, literally, said he was undercover with the Light, you had things with every character, a way to develop them.

The second skip is shorter than the first, but it wasn’t necessary either, they grieved Wally, Dick ended his time out of hero life, Barbara became Oracle, Bruce adopted Stephanie and Cassandra, and they became Orphan and Spoiler, M'gann and Conner were doing a home life, M'gann was the team leader, Roy decided to be a normal man, changed his name to Will and raised Lian with Artemis, she kept Tigress alias, and lied to his mother about being a hero, Kaldur’ahm got a boyfriend and became Aquaman, leading the Justice League, all Atlantis knew he betrayed them, and now he is the great hero for all the atlanteans, Bart took Kid flash’s mantel, got adopted by the Garricks, and was able to spend a good time with his grandparents, father and aunt, Jaime got a girlfriend, and the kids kidnapped by the Reach aren’t around, except for Eduardo, who is helping in the Youth center for metahumans, and Virgil, who’s a hero and wants a girlfriend.

If you start a show with a core group of characters, and they are the main characters, you can’t insinuate grow for them, give the hints about their future, and swept them under the rug with the beginning of the next season, then, the new characters I’m starting to care about are pushed away too, it disappoints me. I wouldn’t be surprised if in season 4, the team are the babies we saw in season 3.

And there is no need to do this, are little things you could justify to need the time, but aren’t really important or could happen before is stated in the show.

In the first jump you could justify the Kroletan invasion as a reason to skip the five years, but the Kroletans aren’t the main villains, they are only used to make a database about the Justice League, and, in the comics, changing the leader of Bialya to be under the control of the Light, (and this is never brought again), furthermore, you could justify the building of a complex base under the earth in few months, days or weeks with alien technology, or just begin with the Reach, and justify the existence of the database about earth heros with info given by the Light.

And during the second time skip you could say, Tara needed time to be brainwashed by Slade, the tech to activate the metagen is new, and the mental controls to the metahumans.

But, technically, they said Vandal Savage is a meta human, and he is older than human history, if you don’t want to count him, you could start the metahuman gen active since 1950, I think, if they have on the Light mind controllers, people older than the team, and literally made clones, have access to Apokolips technology, they have Lex Luthor! The Light didn’t need the time, and the way to activate the metagen is really different between the Reach and the Light, they didn’t need the Reach to begin the investigation.

The lack of character growth: They were doing well at the beginning, and were good, and they hit a few things on other characters during the other seasons, but they miss a lot.

Dick, for example, has a lot of little brother energy, out of mission he is teasing his friends, when Black Canary defeated Conner, he laughed, he made fun of Wally the first time they were with M'gann, he is asking, with mockery, Artemis about what she is doing in Gotham, he calls M'gann Bald Megan, when they are on the first mission on Santa Prisca he is mocking Kaldur about explaining the disaster to Batman; he is going to be the leader of the team, but he is young, despite being the one with most time working as a vigilante, he is only 13, in age the next is Wally, with 15, and that Robin is interesting, in the comics he is the leader of a lot of teams, he is the older brother of the batfam, but he has to learn how to work with a team, to be trustful, to talk to others.

Creating Dick’s growth about leadership is an excellent idea, learning to guide people, how to talk to them, and, when he is a leader, he learns to be a mentor, he is teaching Violet, Bryon and Forager to control their powers and work together, an seeing a character grow to this point, would be satisfying, but they don’t do this, and yes, he is leader on season 2, but he is barely there, the missions, the action they are doing, Dick is away, he only fights one or two times, when the alien traps them on the Justice Hall he is not there, when Bluebettle betrays them, Dick’s not there, and he leaves, M'gann is the new leader, and they never gave hints about her doing that, Barbara has more foreshadowing than M'gann, Dick tells Kaldur Batgirl can step up and help, not M'gann, and we don’t see her really leading, Dick is the trainer, and Garfield is the one creating the Outsiders; Dick is a leader, you want him leading a team, but you don’t let him be one.

And if you wanted a love interest, in the comics they said Dick and Barbara liked each other before the team started, when you only watch the cartoon is, almost, out of nowhere the relation, Barbara is in Gotham Academy a few seconds on season 1, she makes a joke with Dick on season 2, they are dating on season 3, and they only interact a few times, I would rather see both of them grow into a relation than Mal and Bumblebee having a drama, Barbara, literally, said she is waiting for Dick to be ready, right now he is a dog, textual words from Wally and Barbara, and the idea of two peoples saying “I love you and I want to be with you the rest of my life, but right now I’m not ready to give you all you deserve” is astonishing, or, you could talk about healthy polygamus relationship, condemning the jealousy that could destroy a couple.

The show had good points, other character starting big, but falling flat, is Bart, he is from the future, a dystopian future, he is willing to leave behind all his friends and family to be in the past, he had a flashback when he is, literally, slaved by the Reach, he is using a collar, doing hand labor, and we don’t know if he really succeed, the only glimpse we got is the man helping Bart, not scarred and radioactive, but still on a bad world, and, on the third season he is a comic relief, saves a girl, and takes a photo with Jay and Barry saying #WeAreAllOutsiders.

Too many characters: Having six characters as the core team, none of them being more important than the others, could be hard,  but they were doing it fine, the things went down with the second season.

Now we have a big team, we don’t really know their names, how they became heroes, why they are here, in the first season we met Zatanna, and get a few chapters of her interacting with the team and Artemis, the only one that the watcher don’t really care about is Roquet, but she is important showing the sidekicks they aren’t a shadow of their mentors, they aren’t just kids on costumes, they are real heroes, they inspired her, and, we could guess, inspired others.

But in season 2, there are a bunch of characters I don’t know, and I quit the show at the beginning of season 3 because I wanted to watch the original cast, Wonder girl wanting to be more, Mal and Bumblebee having romantical issues, L’gaan jealous about M’gann and Conner, Tim wanting trust, nothing of that matters to me, you didn’t need them, needed their drama, because they go nowhere, and, in the third season, they aren’t bring up again.

You needed Jaime, he was the weapon against the Reach, and Bart was a good character, but his presence meant they failed saving the world, and he was a kind of comic relief, but not annoying or silly, and they did good when Tye was kidnapped, we watched the worry of Jaime, how he searched for him, by that we cared about Tye.

I understand why they created Violet and Victor, having a father box and a mother box with them, not as a computer, but as thinking beings, Violet is the answer for Darkseid plan, Victor was created from the father box, and now is working with the team, and they are poc, Violet is no binary, they are good characters.

Bt they started a journey with a character, gave us hints about they journey, and then, all the developing on the background, in season 3 Will tell Dick to stop being a loner, Jefferson is surprised Dick searched for him to save the kids at Markovia and asked help to enter Granny’s house, Dick, for the viewer, was never a loner, on the first episode he is making the team, in the second season he is the leader, his first appearance on third season is working with Oracle, asking help for the mission on Markovia, doing a team with the Harper boys, and training Forager, Violet and Bryon, Will said “Whom are you recruiting this time?” For us that means Dick, usually, asks for help to do the missions, they tell us Dick was working alone, but never showed it.

        3. Conclusion

The most infuriating thing is the show is good, they have a lot of great ideas, I will watch the fourth season, I want to watch the DC Fandome, I love the show, all this babbling came from my heart, and I’m sad, because they have great ideas, they put seeds for an excellent show, but barely water them, they let the ideas rotten and die.

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Taking in the sights of Golden City

The Golden City sure is bright! Everything about it is so fascinating - the architecture, the roads, the trees - the place doesn't seem real. From traveling via whale taxi to the floating buildings and crystalline gazebos, it's no wonder Golden City is on top of many people's must see places before they die - mine included.

Seeing that Golden City seems to be in a world of its own, I never expected to run across a familiar face there - especially one who's currently in the process of renovating an old building to turn into her very own company. I've heard rumors but to see it actually happen - it seems so unreal.

Who would've thought that Ginko Okabe, director of a big marketing company, would start her own thing? And her business partner happens to be Benji Yoshino, a big hotshot tech genius. They crossed paths when Benji met up with the higher ups at Ginko's old workplace and at the time he happened to be acquainted with Manaka. Throw in Shiran then you've got three unlikely people who somehow ended up being friends with such a high profile figure.

Ginko's been super busy with the move from the metropolitan, strictly business city of Hailstorm Bay to the glowing, almost otherworldly place of Golden City. Now that her apartment's all set, the next step is getting the office building ready. So she and her friends have been busy with that for the past week.

With things moving smoothly, Ginko figured that they could all use a break. After all, it's not easy taking an hour long train to Golden City after a 9 to 5 shift to help clean up an old building as well as move furniture. She didn't expect her former coworkers to step up like that but they wouldn't let her hire a bunch of strangers to put her office together. With her giving them an opportunity to leave their monotonous, unfulfilling, (and sometimes toxic) work environment to be a part of her team, doing the heavy lifting was their way of thanking her.

Before heading out to meet up with Benji and Shiran, Ginko gave us a tour of the office. It's one thing to see snippets of the renovation on social media, it's another to see how much progress has been made in a week. What was once an old, run down building will soon be bustling with activity.

After seeing the office, we headed to the cafe and caught up with Benji and Shiran. They've been dating for a while but it wasn't until recently they were open about it. We all kinda suspected it so it wasn't a surprise when they made it official. First Manaka, now Shiran, what is it about diligent working class accountants that would draw in a wealthy, head in the clouds, tech genius like Benji?

How the former accountant and the eccentric millionaire came to be together is one of those stories where it all came down to chance. Benji first met Manaka through skydiving classes. Then they ran into each other again by chance on the streets around the same time he was installing a new security system for the company. Eventually word got out about their relationship, forcing Manaka to lay low for a while - which is partly why he and Shiran kept things under wraps for a long time. While they got along well, they didn't always meet eye to eye, especially about their futures. Manaka wanted stability while Benji jumped from one thing to another - it wasn't meant to be.

Running into Shiran was also a chance encounter. Shiran was interested in Manaka but the feeling wasn't mutual. The two met in college and ended up working in the same place, but aside from the office, they rarely saw each other outside of that. It took a while but Shiran was able to accept that while he and Manaka grew to become good friends, a romance wasn't in the cards for them.

Shiran and Benji literally bumped into each other on the streets and from there an unlikely friendship came about. Shiran was in awe of Benji at first because of his achievements, then slightly jealous when he found out he was dating Manaka, and then cool with him after the mutual breakup. Ginko was surprised to find them causally hanging out together. Soon the duo became a trio.

Things haven't been the same since Manaka's death. A series of workplace safety violations resulted in an explosion that injured many, even killing a few. Manaka, Shiran, and three other people were trapped in the basement, which was on the verge of collapsing, complicating the rescue. All five were rescued and taken to the hospital, where Manaka later died of her injuries. It happened suddenly, totally unexpected as she was fully conscious, alert, and walking when they found her.

Shiran fell into a deep depression for a while, leading to other problems. Ginko struggled a lot too but did her best to not let that affect her work. She later admitted that trying to do damage control over what happened was the hardest thing she ever did, one that made her completely disillusioned with the company. Benji, Ami and Karrie were grieving as well but kept a brave face in public.

Benji was the one who helped Shiran get back on his feet. He said that his biggest regret was not reaching out to Manaka after the breakup. While they were cool with each other and wanted to stay friends, they didn't do a good job of keeping in contact. Benji was out of town when the explosion happened and flew in as soon as he heard, planning to visit Manaka and Shiran at the hospital the next morning.

Just when all of that was behind them, an investigation of Manaka's death reopened the pain and grief for all of them. Apparently the doctor who treated her is on trial as several of his patients have died due to negligence in the past few years. In other words, the deaths of Manaka and many others could've been easily prevented if they had proper medical care. It's already bad enough that she died in a freak accident that shouldn't have happened, and now we find out that her death could've been avoided all together.

Just thinking about all that - damn. Manaka was sweet and spunky, a bit on the obedient and passive side, but always one to go out and try new things. I never understood why she always got the short end of the stick at work - and she certainly never deserved to have her life cut so short like this. Whenever I think about her, I can't help but wonder why the universe can be so unfair at times.

So with the thing going on with the doctor, people are being questioned and such, like Manaka's parents and Shiran for example. Thankfully Shiran doesn't have to testify or anything but the whole thing brought back painful memories for everyone. Shiran admitted that he's still a bit shaken up but he'll be fine. Benji's been like a rock for him, which is good.

Ginko said that since [redacted], Benji has come down to earth, or so others like to say. He's still got his head in the clouds, though no longer floating aimlessly in the sky - Manaka gave him some much needed perspective. He may be an eccentric billionaire with too much free time on his hands who is constantly daydreaming, but when he wants to make an effort, to make a change, to help a friend, he gives it his all.

It's clear how much he still loves Manaka, how she helped him shape up after spending most of his time doing whatever without much of a care. It's also clear how much he loves Shiran - the dedication it took to get him out of a bad place, he didn't have to put himself out there but he chose to. And from what I heard, it was a rough time all around - blackouts, alcohol, sleepless nights, listlessness, apathy - a continuous downward spiral for Shiran.

Since everyone was so busy with the move, Ginko and the guys didn't really have the chance to really explore Golden City. So I figured that now's a good time since we're all here and can experience the wonders of the city together.

First of all, riding the whale taxis is like floating on a cloud. We can choose to have our taxi act as a tour guide - which we did - and that made things a lot more fun! With public transportation as reliable and entertaining as this, who needs to spend extra money on cars? Our whale taxi was so sweet and informative - I can easily spend a day listening to them ramble on about Golden City - not that we haven't already! Because we enjoyed the tour so much, Benji had us booked with them for tomorrow so we have that to look forward to.

The floating gazebos are a must see in Golden City according to many reviews. Made from the finest environmentally safe materials, these gazebos were all built by hand, created to be enjoyed by all, whether it's to appreciate the architecture, hang out with friends, have some time to yourself or to gaze into the horizon. I think my favorite is the Prosperity Cliff gazebo, which overlooks the ocean, giving you a clear view of the mountains and islands. Prosperity Cliff isn't as busy this time of year because it's kinda chilly so it's nice to have the place to ourselves.

Maybe someday when we make another trip during the fall or spring we can take a trip up to the mountains. We probably won't be able to go far since it's kinda rough up there but I've heard there's some good spots for a picnic, a short hike, and maybe a swim depending on the time of day.

Of course, in between sightseeing and shopping we stopped by to enjoy the local cuisine. There's a lot of Japanese fusion places - including a Japanese-Cambodian one, which is one of Ginko's go-to restaurants for takeout because the sushi is top notch along with the soups - so that was an adventure as well!

Our plan was to get back to the hotel by eleven but of course we got distracted and spent an hour at the park watching the fireworks show. Shiran ended up missing the last train, though it's not a big deal as he usually crashes at Benji's place. By the time Daisy Jane and I got back to the hotel it was past one, which isn't too late by our standards. Good thing we won't be meeting up with the others until eleven tomorrow as that's morning for all of us.

Totally looking forward to more sights and wonders to enjoy tomorrow!

[myfeetkeepdancing]

Unsustainable - (8/9)

!Disclaimer: I do NOT ship the people on the banner or any gifs showing up in the fanfic. They helped me visualize and are part of my writing experience. Much love for Tom Holland & Cody Christian!

Summary: An accident happened in which the reader has gotten powers. The reader is struggling to adjust to his new powers but also to keep them secret from Peter as they become closer.

Pairings: Peter Parker x Male Reader

Word count: 2694

The Raven sat there, its tail feather calmly blowing by the breeze from the window. The simple dinner was sufficient to regain some strength. A homemade salad with some chicken, backed in garlic and sweet soy sauce. A snuff of garden herbs to finish it off. You grab a piece of chicken and hold it up beside you, tilting your head to one side. Making way for the Raven. The Raven hops towards you and climbs onto your shoulder. With its beak, it gracefully picks it from between your fingers. You continue to feed him several smaller pieces. Soon after it hops back and takes place in the window.

Looking out over the city. Meanwhile, you feel the headache start to subside slowly. Exploring your new powers drew a lot of energy. Not only physically but also mentally. Communicating with the Raven was difficult at first. Requiring a lot of focus from your nerves to concentrate on the sound. But also separating your own thoughts from the thoughts you ‘told' the Raven. Since it was always around, at school, in the bus, walking home. The information it gave felt if your mind went into overdrive at first. Overflowing with things to process. Keeping your focus on everyday tasks was hard. Hearing voices that aren't there. Not following conversations made to you. It got you into several awkward situations. Multitasking was something you had to grow accustomed to fast. But within several weeks its potential what could be had shown itself. You knew what happened five miles away from home. When ordering a pizza, knowing exactly where your order was. If the bus ran late, you knew. Bad weather coming up. You knew. A sense of clairvoyance surrounded you. Every time taking it a step further. For once, to test your power, you tried to order the ravens around. You had control over the ravens in the area. Not knowing how many, but instead of receiving the information you wanted to send them on a quest for once.

  Standing on the roof, in the afternoon light. You send them out. After mere minutes, the results came in. One by one, ravens landed in front of you. Each and every one of them holding a coin in their beak. The bowl in front of you filled up quickly. Pleased with the result, you counted the money and treated yourself to a sweet milkshake. As a way to celebrate success.  But the next morning your actions turned out to be disastrous. It was all over the news. Ravens snatching coins out people's purses, robbing fruit stand owners of their hard earned money and many more. YouTube was full of videos people getting attacked by ravens. The ravens weren't to blame, it was your decision. Your responsibility. All because of a little ‘experiment'. Learned the hard way.

Recollecting the training of today was more successful. From a mere touch, you would be able to transfer your human consciousness into that of the Raven. Easier said than done. Seated properly onto the roof, you tried several times. Sharpening your nerves, focusing your senses, concentrating your breathing. Slowing your heart rate. In the course of the day, you managed, though it was short-lived.  You managed to glide through the air for a couple of seconds as the Raven. An incredible feeling, feeling the cold wind, the freedom. The unlimited possibilities flashing before your eyes. But the short connection resulted in a substantial headache. Though in the future, he was convinced you would be able to do it without touch. The headaches were something you grow out of. Nosebleeds don't. Unfortunately.

 The bell rang. Must be the pizza delivery guy.  Faster than expected.

You're eyes widen in disbelief, nailed to the floor, throat falling dry. The hairs on your arms rise at the sight of the person standing in front of you. You try to stammer out a few words, but fail to do so. Words fall short to welcome your guest. Luckily he invites himself in as soon as you open the door. "Here, on the house kiddo." Stepping inside, his eyes survey the room. In your hands, you hold the pizza you ordered just minutes ago.  You stand there, unable to comprehend what was about to unravel in front of you. Looking at him as he wanders around the living room. "Nice touch on the family pictures. How cute." Holding the frame with your 5-year-old birthday pictures your way. As if he's looking for a comparison. "S-Sir… I… what." The many thoughts racing through your mind, block any communication. You had spent many nights thinking about what you wanted to say to him when you would meet him. Day in, day out you pondered about what you wanted to tell him. The feelings you had, the anger, the rage. But now the rage you felt towards him has locked away deep. "Calm down kiddo. Call me Tony. We gotta talk." His hand firmly grasping yours, the other on your shoulder. What follows can solely be described as an awkward handshake. Your arm was more like a rag, as you stood there dumbstruck staring at him with big eyes. "Better start on that pizza. What is keeping him?" Stark looking down the hallway. Seconds after, down the far corridor the sound of boots fast pacing across the marble stone floor came closer. Dad. Suited in a black suit, blue tie and phone in one hand he storms towards the door. An all too familiar sight in all those years. "I will. Yes, Johan. Yes… Of course… You know me right. Ok. I tell him that. Gotta go. Bye.” Coming to a standstill just at the door. “I knew it. That’s my boy. That trip to CERN wasn’t for nothing. C’mere. Gimme a hug.”

 “Right, let’s talk. I got great news for you (Y/N). And I wanted to get your dad’s approval before I got here.”

 “I-…I still don’t get it.”

 “Stark Industries is scouting for young talents. We’ve been doing so for years. We want the best and brightest minds together. And doing in-house training and schooling is the best method there is. And you sprung out in the results on school. The trip to… CERN. You got a bright mind, kiddo. Not to mention, your friend Peter did a good word for you as well.”

 “I knew you got the best parts of me. Such a smartass.” Dad proudly affirming before Stark could continue.

 “Yeaaah… So… Let me have a word with the kid for a moment." Pressing one hand on your shoulder, and the other waving your dad away. You watch him turn towards the study, while on his way he shoots you two thumbs up with a big grin before turning into his study, shutting the door behind him. Leaving you with Tony Stark alone. "Listen kiddo. Since you are still in school. I'd like to offer you an internship. Something like your friend Peter is doing right now. But somewhat different. We'll work out the details when we get there." While Stark sits you down and continues to lecture you. You feel zoned out. Numbed by what's happening. His words don't seem to reach you. You only feel your heart rate increase. Pounding in your chest. Not only the fact that the famous Tony Stark was addressing you personally, but how everything just went south. How could this have happened? Does Stark have a clue about your powers? Did Peter have a say in this? Going to that tower is wrong. They'll found out in minutes. Stark's tech will scan you, maybe take a DNA sample while you… Your mind races, jumping from one conclusion to another. Imagining the worst scenarios. Not only for you. But also for you ‘ally'. All the while Tony Stark is still going on, showing holograms and projection schematics around the room. The scenarios running through your head made you so nervous, that speech became almost impossible. The lump in your throat not helping either. You at least try to make out some words.

 "B-But I…" Nothing more comes out. Your throat falls dry as soon as Stark turns his attention to you the moment you try to speak. Leaving you speechless.

 “You know what, before you do anything rational. How about we do a tour around the Stark Tower first? Meet some of the Avengers, perhaps see their jet. You’ll love it. FYI, I already got your dad’s permission. I’ll inform your dad and make Happy bring the car around. You… eh… wanna dress up perhaps?” Pointing out your sweatpants and sweater combination.

 In a disillusioned way, you stumble to your room. Picking a suitable attire for the tour, you rumble through your closet. On the other side of the apartment, you hear to two men discuss something. From this distance inaudible. You reach out for your phone, ripping the charging cable out the socket. Trembling fingers play around the screen, dialing the number you never meant to forget. Hiding behind the closet door, you bring the phone to your ear. The line connects, then several weird technical sounds creak through the speaker. Your heart skips a beat, a disturbing sound. Afraid someone might have heard it. You peek around the door of the closet, keeping an eye out for the door. The line connects thoroughly as the other side seems to have picked up the phone. You have a feeling someone is listening. No time to waste. "I need help. T-T-Tony… Stark here and is taking me to the tower. Please… Help." You try to whisper.

 "I see…" The short sound rang with bitterness. His voice still instilled goosebumps when he spoke. Breaking the line shortly after. Leaving you with nothing but questions. "You ready?" Stark standing in your doorway. Watching you nervously stuff your phone into your pocket. "Looking better already." His eyes running from top to bottom. "Follow me."

 The drive was nerve-racking. Your body was shaking, it was barely controllable. If your feet weren't bouncing up and down, your knee was. Every piece of nail left on your fingers fell victim to your wandering mind. Staring out the window, expecting something. From somewhere. Pulling hope from the smallest sound, the simplest event. When stopping for a traffic light, your eyes scan the crowd passing by. Your eyes run by every person coming past. Hoping that someone would do something. Hoping they would be involved. To save you from this crazy rollercoaster. You saw the Raven swooping by from time to time. Having nothing to report. Panic started to kick in. Only a few miles to go. You could just jump out…

 “Something is incoming sir.” Happy glances back at Tony, sitting behind him. “Seems to be one of your suits sir.”

 Tony grabs his phone. "I didn't do anything." His finger swiping across the screen. A touch on the side of his glasses opens communication to his AI. As well as revealing the glass roof in the car. You turn your eyes to the sky, looking left and right for any sign. Meanwhile, Starks addressing his AI with commands.

 “Closing in fast sir.” Happy nervously awaiting his boss’s order. “Northeast, one o’clock. Coming from 54th Avenue. Low altitude.” All eyes turn to the front of the car. In the far distance, over the traffic, the light of thrusters can be seen as they turn the corner. Coming straight for the car. “Happy, activate defense matrix. I can’t seem to disable it, and I don’t wanna take a risk.” Happy’s hand reaches for the central panel, hitting several buttons and swiping through menus. “Stay close kid.” Starks’s hand resting upon your shoulder. The single touch makes you jump right up. “I get it, you nervous. Don’t worry. It’s gonna be alright.”

 In silence, the three passengers watch as the Iron Man suit closes in on the car. "Shit! Hold tight!" Happy shouts. On the suit, from both shoulders, small boxes pop up. Releasing a swarm of bright illuminating missiles, closing in even faster on the car. What started as a small cloud of missiles now turned into a maelstrom of tiny orange colored missiles. On the streets, panic starts breaking out. Cars reversing into each other while large masses of pedestrians run past the car, looking back in fear of the incoming swarm of missiles. Two large arms wrap around you, before you can react, you are pushed flat onto the seat. Tony Stark protecting you, holding you tight to his chest.  His eyes shut tight. “You’re going to be alright,(Y/N). I’ll pro-”

 Stark's last words fall silent in the abhorrent, excruciating sound of pounding and ripping metal. The wave of missiles hammering the exterior. Rocking the car on its wheels. Bright orange flashes color the windows. The smell of burned rubber and smoke fill your nose. There seems to be no end to the uninterrupted stream of missiles. The sound of glass cracking and explosions all around drown out all other sounds. Eventually wrapping the interior in complete darkness. Tony Starks grip didn't let go as you feel yourself being thrown around, hitting the roof, seat, and back up again. The explosions seem to be getting heavier and more frequent from all other sides. Shaking the car so heavily you don't know what up and down is anymore.

 Suddenly the cars rocks from side to side and silence fell upon the car. Slowly opening your eyes, you take in the damage. Dust, smoke and torn leather seats, stained with blood. What once was a car was now a horrible mess of warped metal and hanging wires. An occasional spark from the dangling wires breaks the silence. How are you still alive? Shoots through your mind. Because of the adrenaline you only manage to feel several small cuts itch onto your skin. Other than some minor bruises, you can still move your legs and arms. Though your muscles feel sore and stretched. You look at Stark, slowly pulling himself up. His glasses show several cracks, a small cut on his forehead and pieces of glass scattered on this back. None seems to have made its way through his jacket. "Y-You're hurt?" His voice sounding rasp.

 Looking over the top edge of his glass, breathing heavily. Slowly try to get back up. Checking his surroundings. Happy groaning from the front. "Sir? You alright?" As you feel your head spinning. You hold on the door handle. Your intestines feel entirely off balance. Your stomach is about to be turned upside down. As you feel something coming up. A strong push on your side of the car sends it flying several meters until it collides with something. With your last strength left you manage to hold onto the door. In horror you watch Tony being smacked into the door. Happy befalling the same fate. Regaining your bearings, you try to reach out for them. But instead, your body decides to let go of your meal. Vomiting all over the floor. The door handle then gets violently removed out of your hand. Sending you almost flying out the car. Chunks of vomit flying along. Scrambling back up, you see the Iron Man suit with the door in its hand. Behind you, you hear several words mutter. The Iron Man suit reaching out for you. Now it strikes you. The eyes. A bright green light shines through. He did this.

 Barely able to stand on your feet. Your legs unable to support your own weight, the suit reaches out for you. Assisting you out of the car. You feel a tug on your jacket. From the corner of your eye, you see Stark hanging on. Before you can respond. The Raven lands on the shoulder of the suit. Opening its beak and releasing a screech into the car. Although your ears are still ringing from all the violence, you actually notice nothing special. But Tony, on the other hand, jumps back screaming in pain covering his ears. You look onto him as you are slowly being helped onto the street. The suit then picking you up and flying away from the scene.

[chaniters]

Fic villains.

One thing I like a LOT about making fics is creating my own supervillains for the heroes to fight. It's like having action figures all over! Right now I’m trying to work in better backstories for my next villains. 

Also, hoping to improve my character creation skills...

I still have trouble processing the fact that @kruk-art decided to draw some of them! 😻😻

Here's the rooster that I've come up with for my fics so far:

Original villains

1.- Darkfist: Role: Thief//Mercenary//enforcer. Motivation: Money Commits superpowered robberies, mostly banks. Does tend to go alone most of the time, but can be part of a team if paid to act as an enforcer. Doesn't care much for what side he's in as long as he gets paid. Works for the best bidder (usually Hollow Ground). Isn't a killer if he's the one calling the shots, but will kill if hired to do so.  He's fiercely loyal to his loved ones and always keeps them out of his masked life.   He took the hero drugs as a means of escape from a life of poverty. He initially tried to become a local hero but grew disillusioned. Usually burns all the money he gets pretty fast in huge parties, men, women, whatever. He has few friends and a goes on and off into short but very intense relationships. He generally tries to end them in good terms, has commitment issues.    Appearance: Korean parents, deceased. Shorter than one would expect due to his reputation. Short hair. Well-formed muscles, and very agile. Powers, abilities: Intense martial arts training. Can teleport short distances at will leaving a cloud of dark smoke. Teleportation charges him with dark energy of unknown origin that he must discharge through his fists else risking it detonating on him.  It's his signature move, and he uses it to instantly hit his target without giving them a chance to dodge. Dark energy is devastating. Specialty: Beating other superheroes is what he does best. He beat most of the rangers including Sidestep back in the day (he could only dodge him twice before getting pummeled). His streak ended when he faced Anathema, and he lost BADLY, and almost didn't make it alive. Ending: Fights against Herald during an attack on the Ranger's HQ. Herald lures him into teleporting to attack him while going through a window, causing him to fall to his (presumed) death.

2.- Pathos:   Role: Assasin. Motivation: Obsession with killing. Obsession with beating Sidestep. He was one of the instructors at the farm, training Psychics there. He trained Psychic and was sort of a vague "Father figure". He retired shortly after. He was blackmailed by the farm forcing him to return and help fix Sidestep once he was recaptured Sidestep (suicide scar) puppeteered him into trying to choke him to death, though the guards stopped him. That left an obsession with killing that lingered in his mind, growing stronger as time passed. Eventually, he couldn't help it anymore and started committing random murders. Once he realized he couldn't stop, he assumed a supervillain persona and began working as an assassin for the corporates of Los Diablos and beyond. He has a wife and two daughters that know nothing about his villain escapades, they just believe he keeps working in secret projects Appearance: Caucasian male in his late 50's. Black body-suit. Moustache and beard. Weapon: Metal cane he carries around while walking. It has a retractable blade. Powers, abilities:  Psychic. Not nearly as powerful as Sidestep, especially post HB sidestep. Still, more experienced than him. Mastery of illusions. Is never where he appears to be. Moderate Martial arts training powered by powerful psychic combat. Specialty: Beating Sidestep. He can break his barriers and basically walk over him since he thaught him ALL his tricks. Murdering people without them being able to stop him. Ending: Shot in the head by Lady Argent while trying to kill her detective fling aboard FarmaCore's ship.

3.- Catastrofiend Demons: Role: Minion/enforcer Controlled mutation: A special kind of superhero drug developed by the Catastrofiend, that doesn't provide random powers nor has a chance to kill. The drug turns normal humans into powerful hulking creatures that can walk both in 2 or 4 legs with ease. Claws and sharp teeth that can produce mild injury even to some "invulnerable" superheroes. Greatly enhanced senses, agility, and strength. Bestial, loss of sentience. Rarely ever speak after their transformation.  Appearances: Sidestep's nightmares of escaping the Catastrofiend. Brought back in numbers by Farmacore. Specialty: Minions, an army of doom. Obedient. Possible link to extra-dimensional entity unconfirmed. Ending: (All?) of them destroyed on board FarmaCore's Large cargo ship as it burnt, exploded and then sunk into the Pacific.

4.- Dark Energy Man// Jake Black: Role: Vengeful human//Posessed human//emissary of evil extradimensional entity Possessed by the same extra-dimensional entity than the Catastrofiend. FarmaCore and it's associated doomsday cult had attempted for years to reproduce the conditions that led to the initial gate's opening after the Catastrofiend was killed. An unloyal employee sold some of the special hero-drugs they were experimenting on and sold them to Jake Black. Black had lost his partner to the Cartel's drugs and wanted to take on them. His idea to take the hero-drug was partially a suicide attempt, but it worked and gave him powers. He believes he had the power to disintegrate objects and people by creating dark holes in reality. Unbeknown to him, these were just the portals FarmaCore was attempting to create, and he became possessed as something came through and entered his body. Unlike the original catastrofiend, the entity thought his personality useless and simply devoured it, joining the rest of the cultists at Farmacore as their new savior while trying to open the portal.  Powers, Abilities: Creating portals to a dark, outer dimension populated by shadow nightmares that eat human flesh. Tossing portals at enemies.  Creating dark energy shields around himself. Specialty: Creating a portal big enough to summon the Demigod of the dark realm with the aid of FarmaCore's tech and cultists. Ending: Killed by Ortega using the Demigod's own energy against him.

5.- Eldritch:   Role: Mutated human//Alien-like savage entity// Sentient non-human entity. Consuming the hero drugs without truly understanding the consequences, Olivia underwent a transformation, changing both physically and mentally.

She quickly transformed into a non-human creature and lost quickly lost the ability to tell right from wrong being overcome by primal instincts. Her primary concern turned to survival at any cost. 

Appearance: Permanently mutating form and shape. Hulking monster, large aquatic snake creature, giant behemoth trashing buildings, smaller alien-like humanoid, regular human (copying a human's form). Powers: Mutates into different organisms at will. Gain or lose limbs, creating bioweapons within her own body. Creating other lesser organisms as her minions. Requires rich biomass to sustain itself. Specialty: Terrorizing the city sewers. Terrorizing the city Godzilla style. Growing armies of mutated monsters. Escaping Geni-tech hunters Ending: Escaped into the sea with the aid of Sidestep who restores her sanity.  Holds a grudge against Geni-Tech.

6.- Aegis:     Role: Super-powered hunter. "Reformed" Supervillain  (former name Darknight) A powerful supervillain known ad Darknight, she managed to gain corporate support in exchange for favors and gained the Governor's pardon for her past life's crimes. She acts as a bounty-hunter for powered villains and creatures that corporation need for their experiments. With her newfound wealth, she enjoys numerous contacts, her own battalion of corporate soldiers and many high tech devices. She is attracted to both men and women and has Genitech's CEO dancing around her finger.   Appearance: Hulking tall and muscular woman with dark hair and Nordic features and impressive muscles. She towers over most of her enemies. Unlike most Enhanced, she has access to drugs and painkillers that very far beyond what everyone else gets. She rarely feels any pain from her enhancements. Powers: Boosted: Can create forcefields of green energy around herself for protection, or detonate when in contact with enemies for offense, causing massive damage. Her reasons for becoming Boosted in the first place are unknown.  Enhanced: Enhanced arms, legs, and spine. She is extremely strong and agile. Her mods can turn into a turbo mod granting her brief periods of blinding speed, which she uses to collide with enemies and detonate her shield at max speeds.    Weapon: Articulated electrical whip. Can be used to choke or electrify opponents, along with cutting through most materials. Ending: After defeating both Sidestep and Anathema, she was tricked by Eldritch, who deceived her by taking Sidestep's appearance, and killed her.

Drawn by @kruk-art here https://kruk-art.tumblr.com/post/182091310695/i-had-the-pleasure-to-draw-sidestep-belong

7. The Crumpler Role: Megalomaniac//Thief//Moustache-Twirling villain.  An unsuccessful salesman suffering a severe inferiority complex, the Crumpler took the drug seeking a way out of a life he disliked. Gaining psychokinesis powers in the form of contracting energy shields, he left a trail of corpses in his path committing robberies and other crimes. Appearance: Long mustache, thin, tall. His outfit seems a bit too big for him usually. Obsessed with looking good for the media and keeping up his 70's villain persona. Bad puns galore. Gimmicks, like leaving crumpled notes about his next robbery at crime scenes.  Powers: Creating red energy fields that he can then contract to a tenth of their initial size, "crumpling" whatever or whoever is inside.  Ending: Defeated the Rangers during Los Diablos's charity ball. Was stopped by Villain MC who handed him over to the freed rangers.       

Drawn by @kruk-art here https://kruk-art.tumblr.com/post/182200055365/some-villains-from-fallen-hero-in-cartoon-style

8.- CEO Richard Elisson:                     Ceo of FarmaCore (company mentioned by Senpai Malin at some point, I don't remember when). He is a cult leader, ally and former lover of the Catastrofiend until her death.                     He knows the entity can be summoned again and attempts to do so by heavily investing in quantum theory and dimensional research. FarmaCore's research fails for a long time until the Dark Energy Man is created, providing him with the solution.                     With the Dark Energy man possessed by the same entity that joined with the Catastrofiend, the two attempt to summon their extra-dimensional overlord into the physical realm.                     Ending: Summoning his master's power through the portal, he attempts to destroy Argent, but Ortega stands in the way absorbing the electrical blast. Ultimately his body cannot handle the energies and he burns to death.

9.- CandyMaster Convicted criminal mobster. Agreed to be experimented upon by corporations to reduce his sentence.

Experiments intended to create a controlled resistance and regeneration to facilitate hero-drug survival rate. The end result caused most of his tissue to be replaced by a crystalline sugar-like substance. He gained excellent control over the growth of these crystals, which can become both sharp and resistant, tough brittle. 

He was a mobster and sociopath before his transformation and went on an overdrive after it. His brain chemistry was affected as well and he became a complete psychopath and hedonist living only for his own enjoyment generally at the expense of others. 

Generally underestimated due to the “Candy” theme he chose for his outfit, he is immensely powerful, able to cause enormous damage, and exerting great control over his ability. 

In combat, he can create sharp candy spikes of any size in any direction, coming from him, or appearing from thin air.  He generally regenerates if his crystalline body is damaged, though it is unknown how much damage can he survive to sustain before death.  

Drawn by @kruk-art here https://kruk-art.tumblr.com/post/181935145790/sooo-those-who-had-read-latest-chaniters-fics

Weaknesses: Very weak against acid. Anathema is his perfect match.  

Ending: Presumed dead when cracked to pieces by Charge. His pieces were not recovered.  

10. HIVE

A group of semi-sentient robots. They were created to be autonomous, using bee-brains interfacing with computers to achieve higher intelligence. Invariably, they turned on their creators, forming hives and serving anything they identify as their queen (Usually the assembly plants building more of them). They are not directly evil, but are hostile to anyone interfering with their affairs, and can be manipulated if someone manages to be perceived as their new queen. 

They have superior strength, some of them can fly, and they can use weapons. They work tirelessly to achieve their goals. They typically use trenchcoats to pass as humans but can be identified once people see their yellow glowing eyes. They are very strong. 

11.- Jupiter

Former Nemesis of Marshall Hood. He was a boost with the ability to generate lightning. 

He enjoyed picking on Hood’s more inexperienced Sidekicks, especially Ortega. Ortega has a special rivalry with him, due to the constant humiliation as his boosts were basically an inferior version of Jupiter’s.

With time, his powers increased exponentially and he was forced to retire and live isolated since he could not control the constant electrical discharges around him, and would cause destruction wherever he went. 

Staying off the grid for 6 years since his last appearance, the villain Vitruvian tracked him down and offered him a powerful techno-suit that could absorb and channel the energy into coherent lightning bolts, using Jupiter as a power source for all of the suit's functions. 

Ending: Drowned at the bottom of the sea after fighting Sidestep, Elyise, Steel and Charge on board a cargo ship. 

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Headcanon Villains (Malin created them, I just made up who or what they are)

12.- Dr. Mortum in his villain suit. I headcanon his suit being mostly robotic, hulking, and with several spider legs added to it. Beam weapons, disintegration ray, missiles, a powerful force-field, and many many other hidden gadgets. When he uses it, he is imposing and greater than life, making Eden (the puppet) blush and swoon like a little schoolgirl groupie. I also headcanon the puppet having an irresistible kink for strong imposing super-powered bad boys and girls in Los Diablos, so when Mortum uses this his individuality goes UP very fast.   Ending: Alive and well. I'd never kill the doctor... I'm just hoping Malin never makes me choose between him or Ortega. Because as I said, I'd never kill the Doctor.  

13.- Hollow Ground I headcanon him having immensely powerful geokinesis, along with several powers gained using the Puppet's (before he was in a coma) abilities to ensure his survival taking the hero-drug several times. Limited invulnerability. Regeneration. Strength. Speed. Very slow aging. Kinetic blasts. (Ok he's op) My headcanon is HG being the Puppets former romantic partner, and it ending VERY sourly.

Ending: Heavily injured by Lady Argent, then thrown by Herald into a pit of lava. (Sry cliche I know.)

14.- Catastrofiend: Ok I made a background for Catastrofiend, that no longer matched after *spoilers*. But here it is.  Name Catherine Fields (Cat Fie... CatastroFiend see what I did there? ... don't kill me pls!!!), she is the head scientist on one of the companies that would later be acquired by FarmaCore. An experiment went wrong, a portal to the dark realm is created and she is possessed by an evil interdimensional entity. The two personalities fuse, creating the Catastrofiend, a cult-leader, powered terrorist,  ally and lover of CEO Richard Elisson, as they seek a way to open a portal for her master to enter the physical world.

14.1 Real catastrofiend: A version of the Catastrofiend revealed in the beta of Retribution. 

15. Vitruvian (Headcanon) /Elyse.

I created a version of this villain (Mortum’s old partner) in two parts. First, I made Elyse, Sidestep’s new telekinetic, slightly telepathic friend. She gains his trust, he teaches her some telepathic tricks... And she uses him to drive the Rangers into her plans. She always seems innocent, but she always performs some unnecessary or odd action that’s easy to miss and those are the moments where she’s enacting her plan. Unknown to them, she is the sinister Vitruvian who seeks to gain access to nano-vore technology to multiply an army of evil robots and take over the city. As Vitruvian she achieves control of the nanites to create buildings and construction domes in minutes, where HIVE droids are created endlessly to take over Los Diablos. 

16. The Void (Headcanon) Awan Cormac’s Handler, turned into a villain. He is a modded sharpshooter, with perfect aim mods and great martial arts skill. He uses an adaptive rifle with energy frequencies that adapt to the target’s resistances.

17. Medea: While a hero in my Cyrus’ fics, she’s a villain in Awan’s world, with reality-altering powers. Awan defeated her in their first battle, but she escaped and is at large. She’s also in a relationship with Lord Ember. 

18. Lord Ember. Another villain only mentioned. I headcanon him with the ability to send a pure stream of hyper-heated fire in a cone ahead of himself, incinerating everything to a crisp within seconds. He’s in a relationship with Medea in that world.  Drawn by @kruk-art here https://kruk-art.tumblr.com/post/182200055365/some-villains-from-fallen-hero-in-cartoon-style

19. Cybra, Cellex, and Cestus: Cyrus’s old team from the farm, forming an evil council to lead his rebellion and free all regenes from human oppression. Cybra can control all electronic devices in a huge radius and can modify her body similarly to Argent. Cellex has hyper acute reflexes and speed. Cestus is both strong and bullet-proof.  

20 Dr. Terror, Dr. Grim, Dr. Blitz: Evil masterminds from the farm, turned sentai Villains

21 Regina/Regis. A sentai-villain version of Regina, leading the apocalypse force and attempting to destroy the rangers. Drawn by @kruk-art https://kruk-art.tumblr.com/post/184877636730/regina-design-for-chaniters-super-sentai

22 Upcoming villain with a reverse process here, this one’s based on a sketch by Kruk

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My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[localbizlift]

Calendar influencers? Event social network IRL raises $8M

Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.

The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.

“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook .

Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.

Filling Your Social Calendar

In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.

IRL CEO Abe Shafi

Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.

IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.

The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.

IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.

Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”

Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.

My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.

[subfunctions]

i’ve been thinking about “modern” AUs with aloy and some of the npcs as the teen squad, and elisabet, gaia, the alphas, and some older npcs as the adult squad, but i realized that i’m just bored with normal settings no matter what.

so i wanted to spice it up with another AU, and then i thought.................. jurassic park. with robot dinos.

ted decides that he can make more money and some good pr by making a show out of his cool military robots and some “greener” designs that he allegedly stole from miriam tech. in an attempt to smooth over some lawsuits, he invites elisabet and gaia (human in this AU), their team, and their families/invitees of choice to the island amusement park for it’s pre-opening, as a kind of good faith gesture, while showing it off to investors and other business and scientist folk.

and of course...... life finds a way. even artificial life.

scattered thoughts:

let’s call the island....... osiris park, maybe. ostensibly for the reference to cycles and resurrection and the father of horus, but mostly for the irony.

i’m thinking that there would be some kind of renewed environmental efforts, maybe with some extreme environmental damage and climate change rearing its head again due to, you know, constant robotic warfare and corporate greed still going at it. and maybe FAS is taking the brunt of the blame for claw-back efforts of previous decades being undone.

so it’s elisabet and gaia putting their heads together for the same basic outcome (environmental restoration, except on a smaller scale), and that’s why a team from all over the world (alphas, betas, gammas) has been gathered under a project spearheaded by miriam tech.

but now miriam technologies and faro automated solutions are reluctantly working together, along with other corporations, governments, etc., for the purposes of renewed environmental efforts. hence why ted is trying to get back into elisabet’s good graces - dropping lawsuits, offering to settle on the stolen ideas thing - as she and gaia are the people making waves where green robotics are concerned. this would be a few years before when the faro plague would occur. insert timeline tweaking where necessary.

so the miriam robots are the GAIA machines we know and love (like grazers), and ted’s stolen designs, on the island, are modified versions of unused miriam ideas and are the HEPHAESTUS robots we know and love (like sawtooths). a specific line of war machines, the chariot robots, are being showcased for the first time on the island as well.

the alphas would serve the same basic functions, with some tweaks, and their individual divisions would have the same names (HEPHAESTUS, etc.). for clarification: patrick is there for the purposes of preserving endangered species (plant and animal) until certain habitats are restored. samina works with the team as chief cultural consultant, since there’s a lot of cross-national work going on, and the APOLLO division is in charge of navigating that web and making sure that their efforts reflect cultural preservation and don’t step on toes. ayomide (the MINERVA alpha) is a retired military captain turned security programmer for the project. travis is there as another lead programmer, and the HADES division is dedicated to correcting errors in the project. and the rest are pretty self-explanatory.

there’s always a bunch of young people running around miriam, people’s kids/relatives/interns/etc., and the alphas have sort of taken them all under their respective wings.

so, family/friend stuff, and what kind of nerds everyone would be. it’s going to align with the first gen -> second gen alpha set-up i have in my fic because i’m attached to that now:

elisabet and gaia are roboticists/engineers and aloy’s moms, and maybe rost is elisabet’s adoptive brother or step-brother? and elisabet and gaia are super busy, of course, so rost often takes care of aloy, and aloy basically has a dad-uncle along with two moms. (and i’m gonna imitate a basic idea from the wonderful @project-another-dawn and say that rost is a caretaker/ranger for the now-closed yellowstone national park. also, teersa is aloy’s great-aunt through rost.)

in this, the second generation are all in their mid-to-late teens.

aloy takes after her moms in a variety of interests, but she doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life yet. she’s leaning towards engineering.

sona has known elisabet and gaia for a long time and is an engineer who originally did military work until she became disillusioned with it. she specializes in aerospace engineering, and she currently works for miriam under the AETHER division. varl and vala are aloy’s best friends. varl has an interest in genetics and hangs out with patrick a lot. vala is interested in climatology so she spends a lot of time with the AETHER alpha. (still haven’t thought of a name for him, guerrilla games please give me details). haven’t thought of a last name for sona’s family either, but i’ll get there.

they’re all invited to go with the sobeck fam, and varl and vala tag along. sona and rost don’t go, but they catch wind of what’s happening on the island and haul ass to get there later in the story.

ersa and erend are travis’s niece and nephew, and he often declares random days as ‘bring your niblings to work day,’ so they’ve become close friends with aloy and the other teens. he brings them on the island trip. i guess their last name could be tate too, so i don’t have to come up with a modern surname for them. both of them are interested in engineering. erend leans towards agricultural engineering, so he and naoto (last name watanabe, i’ve decided) get along well, and ersa is interested in hydraulics engineering, so she hangs out with the POSEIDON alpha a lot. (guerrilla games, please).

petra (the oldest of the second generation, in her early 20s) has a robotics internship with miriam and is very close with margo, her supervisor, who invites her to the island. haven’t thought of a last name for petra either, r.i.p.

ayomide is vanasha’s mom, and vanasha is fast following in her programming footsteps, so she ends up hanging around miriam with the other teens as well. vanasha okilo! a last name!

charles and tom are talanah’s adoptive dads after her father and brother died in an accident that may or may not have been FAS’s fault. (another lawsuit that ted wants to smooth over.) talanah shares charles’s interest in the natural world, though she leans more towards wanting to study zoology.

jiran is a military investor who works closely with FAS, and nasadi and itamen are avad’s step-mother and half-brother, while older brother kadaman died in a mysterious accident. (i don’t want jiran to be dead in this AU because i want him to get eaten by a machine at some point.) nasadi and samina are cousins, and samina has been mentoring avad, who has an interest in cultural preservation, so samina offers a standing invitation for them to visit miriam whenever. nasadi does so often to get the kids away from their father. (everyone loves itamen, especially vanasha.) no last name on the avad fam front yet, either.

sylens is there at the island’s pre-opening as a preeminent figure in his field; i’m thinking programming. but he’s maybe actually there for shady thievery reasons. he hates corporate science (tm) a lot because seeing pure science twisted to serve money really grinds his gears, so he’s lowkey enjoying watching the mess that FAS gets itself into on their robot dino island.

and the premise, of course, is that life finds a way, and the artificial life on the island goes bonkers while everyone tries desperately contain it to the island and shut it down before it spreads, while also trying to stay alive.

the general idea is that the machines evolved on their own because the complexity of their programming is almost indistinguishable from the complexity of natural life and starts mimicking it. like, it’s because their programming is highkey illegal to begin with (and i think something similar went down in canon, as in someone said fuck the turing act, as part of a plot to sell military bots to various entities and then seize control of them from their owners, and then, well.... Regret), but the machines going rogue is an unintentional side-effect and is simply life finding a way.

but there’s a subplot about security being tampered with, and the island being cut off from the rest of the world, and private black ops showing up, and it turns out that it’s the people who illegally programmed the machines to begin with (far zenith a.k.a. ted’s buddies) trying to cut their losses and cover their tracks the second they know it’s irreversibly gone to shit, because there are a bunch of geniuses on the island who are going to figure it all out real soon.

there absolutely has to be a scene where ted tries to be hip (tm) and in with the teens, and none of them are having it. it’s all [knife emojis] in the group chat.

i’m not going to do anything with this soon because i don’t have time and i have other things to write, but i’ve been thinking about it a lot, and i wanted to get all of this down.

this would also be my general set-up for any “modern” AU where everyone is a big nerd family. i’m not saying that someone should steal this whole thing, but.... i would love.... to read anything with said set-up.

[tecinfo]

This time, without a doubt! Ars Technica's 2020 Deathwatch

Now and again, your motivation in life is to be a wake up call.

Stunning, that 2019, however. While we had any expectations of a shining new year as it started, it turns out the sparkle we saw rather was only the Cherenkov radiation from atomic fueled Russian doomsday torpedoes. Or on the other hand maybe it was the twinkling of the million–dumpster-fire walk that 2019 transformed into—with a portion of those dumpster fires lit by the organizations we respect here in our 2020 release of Ars Deathwatch.

Presently, it's an ideal opportunity to glance forward out of resentment—well, we're not so much furious, simply disillusioned, so we'll state "apathy"— at another new year, as has become our custom. We have taken the beat of our editors and perusers and divined the remains from every one of those stunning dumpster fires with an end goal to foresee the organizations, administrations, and items in the tech world that will lead 2020's unavoidable walk into shame. Also, we're not in any case going to make reference to the political race cycle, I guarantee.

To begin with, how about we get our typical disclaimer off the beaten path: in case you're a first-time Deathwatch player, this isn't an expectation of the real end of organizations or advancements. We realize that it takes a ton to really delete an organization or an innovation from the substance of the Earth nowadays—all things considered, huge numbers of our past Deathlisters have risen up out of Chapter 11 on different occasions before going into Chapter 7. Indeed, even the most noticeably awful thoughts and organizations frequently wait on through inactivity or get consumed by some other organization and metastasize in new and horrendous manners.

So when we state "Deathwatch," what we truly mean is that we are seeing tech-associated elements confronting a few (existential or not) financial, social, or legitimate danger. Organizations may confront difficulties that render them immaterial, cause them to be casualties of "drop culture," make them actually irrelevant, or render them as pal for sharks of obtaining, case, and different types of business hellfire.

While these guidelines are not written in stone, a contender for the Deathwatch is commonly an organization or item division of an organization that ought to have encountered in any event one of the accompanying:

An all-encompassing time of lost piece of the overall industry in their specific classification

An all-encompassing time of monetary misfortunes or an example of yearly misfortunes

Genuine administration, legitimate, or administrative issues that bring up issues about the plan of action or long haul methodology of the organization or product offering

There were hardly any real fatalities on a year ago's rundown, however some are at where our staff (I'm taking a gander at you, Ron Amadeo) didn't think they were even worth referencing any longer. (I'm certain Essential, the cell phone unicorn that proved unable, would likely be glad for the consideration.) So as opposed to go over our other battered survivors (goodness, that Facebook the executives shakeup expectation sure didn't age well), we're going to blast through our new rundown of unfortunate casualties—some of them showing up.

Here they are: 2020's… champs? First up, red-shirted (in reference both to university sports and Star Trek expendables) for 2020: that thing we used to call Oath.

- Sean Gallagher

Verizon Media (otherwise known as the Yahoo/AOL division)

Verizon's Yahoo/AOL division (once in the past called "Promise") was on our Deathwatch list a year back, and it hasn't done quite a bit of anything to get off death's doorstep from that point forward. Presently called "Verizon Media," the specialty unit comprising of previous Web monsters that lost their magic years before Verizon got them, it started and finished 2019 with cutbacks. The division had around 11,385 specialists toward the start of 2019 yet laid off almost 1,000 individuals.

Verizon Media's Q3 2019 income of $1.8 billion was down two percent year over year. Work area publicizing income keeps on dropping, and versatile advertisements haven't sufficiently developed to counterbalance that decay. Verizon demands better days are ahead, with CFO Matt Ellis saying in an income approach October 25 that "Just because, we are seeing portable traffic increments outpace work area traffic decreases in our center claimed and worked items, including sports, fund, news, amusement, home and mail." But in an online-advertisement showcase commanded by Google and Facebook, Verizon Media appears to be bound to stay a piece player, best case scenario.

- Jon Brodkin

G/O Media

Alright, we concede: the main things that make G/O Media tech-related are its Gizmodo (once in the past lead) brand and the way that its distributions are conveyed by Internet parcels. Yet at the same time, G/O has been a quick consuming, self-immolation machine of a sort we haven't seen since the gas battle in Zoolander.

A while ago when it was Gizmodo Media Group, things were... all things considered, they were extremely unsure. Univision acquired Gizmodo and its sister destinations after Gawker Media's crumbling in the wake of the Hulk Hogan claim. Be that as it may, it immediately became evident that Univision executives had definitely no clue how to manage what they had purchased.

So when in April, (asserted) computerized news big shot Jim Spanfeller—already at Forbes, Ziff Davis, and Playboy—and the private value firm Great Hill Partners purchased Gizmodo, joined the gathering with The Onion and rechristened it all G/O Media, there was a lot of cheering.

Spanfeller vowed to restore the Web productions to benefit and said there was no requirement for cutbacks or anything. He rebranded the consolidated destinations as "an amazing distributing stage to draw in well-off and powerful Millennials." (Ok, boomer.)

Only two weeks after Spanfeller dominated, 25 of G/O's 400 staff members were laid off, including Gizmodo's publication chief. Spanfeller acquired administrators from his past organizations, distancing a few staff members since he pushed all the non-white-male initiative out in the process in the wake of promising to respect a guarantee to assorted variety. Deadspin ran an article about the developing malevolence among staff and the executives in August.

Presently, Deadspin Editor-in-Chief Megan Greenwell quit to accept a position at our sister production Wired after she said she was advised to stop non-sports inclusion on the site, refering to her own morals.

New G/O Media Editorial Director Paul Maidment at that point commanded that Deadspin scholars "stick to sports." They didn't, and supervisor Barry Petchesky was terminated. Deadspin essayists at that point chose to stop as a group in what may be the most Pyrrhic work activity in late media history.

The contention with staff, including the association, has cost G/O income in direct ways. Staff members composed posts requesting peruser input on a promoting effort from Farmer's Insurance that included auto-play recordings, and G/O executives requested the posts pulled down. The staff grumbled about the tales being pulled in a post by the association Twitter account. Ranchers at that point pulled the $1 million publicizing effort.

The administration issues likewise produced badgering claims by previous female officials who said Spanfeller made an unfriendly workplace for ladies. Maidment quit. Different executives have fled.

Thus, rather than putting out a seething tire fire, in only eight months Spanfeller's contention with the unionized staff has turned G/O Media into a furious inferno filled by cash and professions. Consider it a Boomer-Millennial battle in the event that you need; I'm a Gen-Xer, and I'm only here to watch everything burn.Symantec has gotten abhor for quite a long time from Ars perusers over its endpoint security programming. Also, let's be honest, work area against infection programming isn't actually a development showcase. With Microsoft basically giving both shopper and endeavor endpoint assurance away for nothing and the PC advertise contracting, security organizations have needed to do a great deal of rotating in the course of recent years. A lot of digital "unicorns" have additionally jumped up in the course of recent years, so there's a touch of union going on in the security programming space. In the most recent year, Webroot was obtained via Carbonite; Cylance was gained by BlackBerry; CarbonBlack was procured by VMWare; and Sophos is being procured by Thoma Bravo, the private value bunch that recently purchased Barracuda Networks, Veracode, and Imperva, among others.

Add Symantec to that blend... kind of. A couple of years back, as Symantec was blowing up itself, the organization procured the profound parcel sifting firm Blue Coat—from Thoma Bravo. Presently, after somewhat of a terrible time, Symantec is selling its venture centered bits to Broadcom, (which sold Veracode to Thoma Bravo). Also, the customer item bunch that remaining parts—you know, the Norton stuff, and so forth.— is perhaps going to be purchased by another private value firm.

To start with, about that "awful time." In 2014, at that point Senior Vice President for Information Security Brian Dye said that Symantec's antivirus programming was "dead" and "destined to disappointment" since it couldn't get present day malware. At that point Dye left to go work for Citrix before bouncing to Symantec's rival McAfee. As the organization attempted to un-dead its antivirus, it created different issues—the wormable adventure sort of issue. Deals did what you'd anticipate.

In any case, with cash to consume from each one of those long periods of Norton permit deals, Symantec purchased Blue Coat in 2017 for $4.6 billion—as executives attempted to escape from the declining PC commercial center and turn to greater ticket undertaking framework security.

Organization incomes flooded in 2018—generally in light of the fact that the organization offered its computerized declaration unit to DigiCert for $1 billion in the wake of getting nailed for mis-giving more than 30,000 SSL testaments. And afterward "representative concerns" (an informant report) about how Symantec had depicted its budgetary outcomes prompted an interior review and an abrupt drop in Symantec's stock cost. (Possibly it was an impractical notion for Symantec to begin its monetary year on April 1.) A survey found that Symantec's executives had booked one arrangement as $13 million, yet $12 million of that was re-assigned as "conceded" by the review.

Extremist investors have been pushing for some time for Symantec to part the organization HP-style, if just to shed the low-development shopper business (which presently incorporates the stunning LifeLock group of credit checking administrations

[sciencespies]

The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

https://sciencespies.com/news/the-decades-biggest-technology-disappointments/

The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

Like most teen years, the past decade in technology started out someplace relatively innocent before growing moody, dark and disillusioned. In 2010, we were excited about new iPhones and finding old friends on Facebook, not fretting about our digital privacy or social media’s threat to democracy. Now we are wondering how to rein in the largest companies in the world and reckoning with wanting innovation to be both fast and responsible.

Over the past 10 years, new technology has changed how we communicate, date, work, get around and pass time. But for every hit, there have been high-profile disappointments and delays. That includes overpriced gadgets for making juice, face computers, promises of taking a vacation in space and companies claiming to be saving the world.

The failures served a purpose, acting as reality checks for the technology industry and the people who fund, regulate or consume its products. Tech companies spent the last decade first trying to grasp, then distance themselves from, their impact on society. Facebook’s famously decommissioned “move fast and break things” motto sounded plucky in 2010 and laughably misguided in 2019, when the company had, in fact, broken things.

It was a decade when billions of dollars were thrown at tech companies, and yet many of the promises those companies made never materialized, blew up in our faces or were indefinitely delayed. And while tech failures are nothing new, taken together they brought the innovation industrial complex closer to earth and made us all a bit more realistic – if less fun.

Like proper adults.

The benevolent, world-saving tech company

“Don’t be evil” read Google’s famous motto, which sat atop its code of conduct until 2018, when it was quietly demoted to the last line.

At the beginning of the decade, that is exactly how many of the largest tech companies and CEOs marketed themselves. Their products were not only going to make daily life easier or more enjoyable, but they also would make the entire world better – even if their business models depended on ads and your personal data.

“Facebook was not originally founded to be a company. We’ve always cared primarily about our social mission,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a 2012 letter, just before the company’s initial public offering. He outlined lofty visions going forward, including that Facebook would create a more “honest and transparent dialogue” about government through accountability.

Instead, the decade turned toward disinformation, and hate speech spread on social media. Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube were used to spread disinformation ahead of the 2016 U.S. election, while Google briefly worked on a search engine for China that would censor content. Companies profited off mountains of user data they collected but failed to protect, as major data breaches hit Equifax, Yahoo and others.

In response, workers are pushing back, growing into quiet armies attempting to redirect their companies toward social goals.

Face computers

Google co-founder Sergey Brin debuted Google Glass in 2012 by wearing a prototype of the smart glasses onstage. Its real PR outing came later that year when skydivers live-streamed their jump out of a blimp above San Francisco during a Google developer conference.

By showing information in front of the face instead of on a phone, Google said, the $1,500 Glass would allow people to interact more with the world around them. Instead, its legacy has been questions about our right to privacy from recording devices, the word “glasshole,” and at least one bar fight. The company stopped selling Glass to consumers in 2015 and shifted it to a workplace product, targeting everyone from factory workers to doctors.

Google was not alone. Microsoft made HoloLens, a technically ambitious piece of eyewear that looked like round steampunk goggles and used augmented reality. Facebook bought virtual-reality goggle maker Oculus for $2 billion and heavily invested in and promoted it as a gaming and entertainment device (and the future of social media). Magic Leap, another augmented reality headset promising immersive and mind-blowing entertainment, managed to raise $2.6 billion and only release one $2,295 developer product.

Eventually we may wear glasses that display useful information on top of the real world, outfitted with smart assistants that whisper in our ears. Google’s early attempt at a consumer face-wearable was not destined to be that device.

A more efficient way of eating

Juice. Colorful, thirst-quenching, packed with vitamins, on-demand juice. It seemed an unlikely thing for Silicon Valley to try to disrupt. But in the 2010s, entrepreneurs’ impatience with preparing and even consuming the calories necessary to survive led to a number of eating innovations.

One of the decade’s most memorable tech failures asked the question: What if you spent $699 for an elaborate machine that squeezed juice from proprietary bags of fruit and vegetable pulp for you? The answer, discovered by intrepid Bloomberg journalists in 2017, is that you could squeeze those packets with your hands instead of overpaying for a machine. That machine was Juicero, and it raised $120 million in funding before shutting down just five months later.

Other food innovations have fallen fall short of their revolutionary promises. Smart ovens became fire hazards; meal-kit delivery start-ups went under; robots tossed salads, mixed drinks and flipped burgers; and pod-based devices for random foods (cocktails, tortillas, cookies, yoghurt, jello shots) failed. And then there’s Soylent – a meal in drink form, designed to save time by cutting out “tasting good” and “chewing.” Soylent has managed to find a small but enthusiastic fan base, and even got into solids recently with a line of meal-replacement bars called Squared.

The decade’s real food change came from delivery apps that pay on-demand workers to bring meals made in actual kitchens to your door. Those companies are dealing with employee protests over low and confusing pay while trying to become profitable.

Non-Facebook social networks

Remember Path? Color? Yik Yak, Meerkat and Google Buzz? And iTunes Ping, Apple’s short-lived attempt at making its music hub social? Start-ups and the tech giants alike launched social products over the past decade, but few succeeded.

In 2010 there was Google Buzz, which was quickly replaced by Google+ in 2011. The service struggled to attract users and experienced privacy issues, such as a bug exposing more than 52 million people’s data. It was finally declared dead this year, though some of its best features live on in Google Photos.

Vine burned bright for too short a time before being closed in 2016 by Twitter, which had bought the company for a reported $30 million in 2012. (Speaking of Twitter, it hung on thanks in part to its popularity with politicians, celebrities and people who are mad online, though it is far smaller than Facebook. Snapchat and TikTok have also carved out niches.)

Facebook dominated at the start of the decade and continues to dominate at the end, in part by buying or blatantly copying any competitors along the way. It acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, integrating both more closely with the Facebook brand. Even with major scandals and fumbles, its global user base grew to more than 2 billion people.

A crowdfunding, DIY revolution

For a short time, it looked as though the next generation of gadgets would come from outside the usual Silicon Valley idea factories. They would be dreamed up by passionate hobbyists, prototyped on 3-D printers and funded by fans instead of venture capitalists (though still manufactured in Shenzhen, China). Despite some notable successes – Oculus, Peloton, Boosted Boards – it turns out getting an idea from your cocktail napkin to market is pretty tough.

Notable failures include the disappointing Coolest Cooler, which featured both Bluetooth and a blender and raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter in 2014. It failed to deliver products to a third of its backers; many that shipped didn’t work. Others never materialized, such as iBackPack, which was supposed to produce a WiFi hotspot. The people behind it raised more than $800,000 and were accused by the Federal Trade Commission of using those funds to buy bitcoin and pay off credit cards. Skarp Laser Razor, a razor with dubious hair-removal technology, managed to get more than $4 million in pledges from interested customers before Kickstarter suspended its campaign for violating policies on working prototypes.

(Kickstarter said the vast majority of its products make it to production and that it aims “to be quite clear about the fact that not all projects will go smoothly.”)

Consumer 3-D printers also failed to live up to the hype. We were supposed to have a printer in every home, spitting out replacement LEGOs and screws, art projects, and even food. The high cost of the devices and the skills needed to use them could not compete with overnight shipping.

Drones dropping deliveries

“Could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said.

The year was 2013, and Bezos was on “60 Minutes” to unveil the next big thing in package delivery: drones. He said that within that time frame, quadcopters would be able to drop packages from warehouses at customers’ doors within 30 minutes. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In 2016, Amazon showed off its first commercial drone delivery in a rural area of the United Kingdom, a 13-minute delivery of an Amazon Fire TV streaming device and a bag of popcorn. Its latest drone iteration was on display earlier this year at MARS, its weird tech conference, again promising that drone deliveries were coming soon.

But as of the end of the decade, Amazon packages are still being delivered by humans. In fact, Amazon announced in 2018 that it was adding 20,000 delivery vans via third-party delivery partners to its ground fleet. Other companies, including Uber, UPS and Alphabet’s Wing, have also been testing drone deliveries, and it’s possible that we will have boxes from the sky onto porches in the next decade.

Vaping to fix smoking

It was supposed to be safer than smoking and a way to quit nicotine altogether. While vaping has indeed caught on, its biggest selling point has blown up in recent years. Eight deaths and more than 2,500 cases of lung-related illnesses have been linked to vaping in the United States.

Critics say fun-sounding flavors and colorful devices, most notably from the company Juul, have made vaping wildly popular with teenagers – one in four high schoolers vapes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now the FDA and lawmakers are investigating vaping companies. But if we draw on experience from the cigarette industry, vaping is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

Amazon’s big phone play

Apple and Google have direct access to billions of people with their smartphone operating systems and hardware – 2.5 billion devices run Google’s Android operating system, and 900 million iPhones are in use.

One company noticeably absent from our pockets is Amazon, but not for lack of trying. After several years of stealth development, Amazon announced its Fire Phone in 2014. The smartphone did not look like much, started at $199, ran on a customized version of Android and was available only on AT&T. Amazon reported $83 million of unused inventory in late 2014, and it discontinued the Fire Phone a year after its introduction.

Now that Amazon is competing against those two companies for voice-assistant dominance, its lack of a smartphone is even more glaring. It has put Alexa in anything with a microphone, from cameras to headphones and, soon, eye glasses. (It is on smartphones, but you have to open the Alexa app first.) Meanwhile Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant are already in pockets, built into the core of the devices and listening for their next cue.

Tourists in space

It is no secret that big-name billionaires love space. Despite their passion, the three boldest aspiring space barons have made and missed deadlines for sending people into space this decade.

Richard Branson said Virgin Galactic would fly tourists into space by 2020, but its last test mission was two test pilots and a crew member at the start of last year. Bezos said at an Air Force Association conference in late 2018 that Blue Origin would send a test flight into the upper atmosphere with people on board this year, but the most recent test flight, on Dec. 11, contained no humans. In 2017, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX had taken deposits to fly two passengers around the moon in 2018. That flight did not take place. He has the whole next decade to hit a different goal, set in 2011: sending someone to Mars by 2031.

There are plenty of interested customers. Virgin Galactic has sold tickets to more than 700 people wanting to take a trip to space at $250,000 a seat.

If there is one thing on this list we would not want to rush just to meet a deadline, it is loading civilians into private rockets and hurling them into space.

© The Washington Post 2019

#News

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/the-decades-biggest-technology-disappointments/

The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

Like most teen years, the past decade in technology started out someplace relatively innocent before growing moody, dark and disillusioned. In 2010, we were excited about new iPhones and finding old friends on Facebook, not fretting about our digital privacy or social media’s threat to democracy. Now we are wondering how to rein in the largest companies in the world and reckoning with wanting innovation to be both fast and responsible.

Over the past 10 years, new technology has changed how we communicate, date, work, get around and pass time. But for every hit, there have been high-profile disappointments and delays. That includes overpriced gadgets for making juice, face computers, promises of taking a vacation in space and companies claiming to be saving the world.

The failures served a purpose, acting as reality checks for the technology industry and the people who fund, regulate or consume its products. Tech companies spent the last decade first trying to grasp, then distance themselves from, their impact on society. Facebook’s famously decommissioned “move fast and break things” motto sounded plucky in 2010 and laughably misguided in 2019, when the company had, in fact, broken things.

It was a decade when billions of dollars were thrown at tech companies, and yet many of the promises those companies made never materialized, blew up in our faces or were indefinitely delayed. And while tech failures are nothing new, taken together they brought the innovation industrial complex closer to earth and made us all a bit more realistic – if less fun.

Like proper adults.

The benevolent, world-saving tech company

“Don’t be evil” read Google’s famous motto, which sat atop its code of conduct until 2018, when it was quietly demoted to the last line.

At the beginning of the decade, that is exactly how many of the largest tech companies and CEOs marketed themselves. Their products were not only going to make daily life easier or more enjoyable, but they also would make the entire world better – even if their business models depended on ads and your personal data.

“Facebook was not originally founded to be a company. We’ve always cared primarily about our social mission,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a 2012 letter, just before the company’s initial public offering. He outlined lofty visions going forward, including that Facebook would create a more “honest and transparent dialogue” about government through accountability.

Instead, the decade turned toward disinformation, and hate speech spread on social media. Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube were used to spread disinformation ahead of the 2016 U.S. election, while Google briefly worked on a search engine for China that would censor content. Companies profited off mountains of user data they collected but failed to protect, as major data breaches hit Equifax, Yahoo and others.

In response, workers are pushing back, growing into quiet armies attempting to redirect their companies toward social goals.

Face computers

Google co-founder Sergey Brin debuted Google Glass in 2012 by wearing a prototype of the smart glasses onstage. Its real PR outing came later that year when skydivers live-streamed their jump out of a blimp above San Francisco during a Google developer conference.

By showing information in front of the face instead of on a phone, Google said, the $1,500 Glass would allow people to interact more with the world around them. Instead, its legacy has been questions about our right to privacy from recording devices, the word “glasshole,” and at least one bar fight. The company stopped selling Glass to consumers in 2015 and shifted it to a workplace product, targeting everyone from factory workers to doctors.

Google was not alone. Microsoft made HoloLens, a technically ambitious piece of eyewear that looked like round steampunk goggles and used augmented reality. Facebook bought virtual-reality goggle maker Oculus for $2 billion and heavily invested in and promoted it as a gaming and entertainment device (and the future of social media). Magic Leap, another augmented reality headset promising immersive and mind-blowing entertainment, managed to raise $2.6 billion and only release one $2,295 developer product.

Eventually we may wear glasses that display useful information on top of the real world, outfitted with smart assistants that whisper in our ears. Google’s early attempt at a consumer face-wearable was not destined to be that device.

A more efficient way of eating

Juice. Colorful, thirst-quenching, packed with vitamins, on-demand juice. It seemed an unlikely thing for Silicon Valley to try to disrupt. But in the 2010s, entrepreneurs’ impatience with preparing and even consuming the calories necessary to survive led to a number of eating innovations.

One of the decade’s most memorable tech failures asked the question: What if you spent $699 for an elaborate machine that squeezed juice from proprietary bags of fruit and vegetable pulp for you? The answer, discovered by intrepid Bloomberg journalists in 2017, is that you could squeeze those packets with your hands instead of overpaying for a machine. That machine was Juicero, and it raised $120 million in funding before shutting down just five months later.

Other food innovations have fallen fall short of their revolutionary promises. Smart ovens became fire hazards; meal-kit delivery start-ups went under; robots tossed salads, mixed drinks and flipped burgers; and pod-based devices for random foods (cocktails, tortillas, cookies, yoghurt, jello shots) failed. And then there’s Soylent – a meal in drink form, designed to save time by cutting out “tasting good” and “chewing.” Soylent has managed to find a small but enthusiastic fan base, and even got into solids recently with a line of meal-replacement bars called Squared.

The decade’s real food change came from delivery apps that pay on-demand workers to bring meals made in actual kitchens to your door. Those companies are dealing with employee protests over low and confusing pay while trying to become profitable.

Non-Facebook social networks

Remember Path? Color? Yik Yak, Meerkat and Google Buzz? And iTunes Ping, Apple’s short-lived attempt at making its music hub social? Start-ups and the tech giants alike launched social products over the past decade, but few succeeded.

In 2010 there was Google Buzz, which was quickly replaced by Google+ in 2011. The service struggled to attract users and experienced privacy issues, such as a bug exposing more than 52 million people’s data. It was finally declared dead this year, though some of its best features live on in Google Photos.

Vine burned bright for too short a time before being closed in 2016 by Twitter, which had bought the company for a reported $30 million in 2012. (Speaking of Twitter, it hung on thanks in part to its popularity with politicians, celebrities and people who are mad online, though it is far smaller than Facebook. Snapchat and TikTok have also carved out niches.)

Facebook dominated at the start of the decade and continues to dominate at the end, in part by buying or blatantly copying any competitors along the way. It acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, integrating both more closely with the Facebook brand. Even with major scandals and fumbles, its global user base grew to more than 2 billion people.

A crowdfunding, DIY revolution

For a short time, it looked as though the next generation of gadgets would come from outside the usual Silicon Valley idea factories. They would be dreamed up by passionate hobbyists, prototyped on 3-D printers and funded by fans instead of venture capitalists (though still manufactured in Shenzhen, China). Despite some notable successes – Oculus, Peloton, Boosted Boards – it turns out getting an idea from your cocktail napkin to market is pretty tough.

Notable failures include the disappointing Coolest Cooler, which featured both Bluetooth and a blender and raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter in 2014. It failed to deliver products to a third of its backers; many that shipped didn’t work. Others never materialized, such as iBackPack, which was supposed to produce a WiFi hotspot. The people behind it raised more than $800,000 and were accused by the Federal Trade Commission of using those funds to buy bitcoin and pay off credit cards. Skarp Laser Razor, a razor with dubious hair-removal technology, managed to get more than $4 million in pledges from interested customers before Kickstarter suspended its campaign for violating policies on working prototypes.

(Kickstarter said the vast majority of its products make it to production and that it aims “to be quite clear about the fact that not all projects will go smoothly.”)

Consumer 3-D printers also failed to live up to the hype. We were supposed to have a printer in every home, spitting out replacement LEGOs and screws, art projects, and even food. The high cost of the devices and the skills needed to use them could not compete with overnight shipping.

Drones dropping deliveries

“Could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said.

The year was 2013, and Bezos was on “60 Minutes” to unveil the next big thing in package delivery: drones. He said that within that time frame, quadcopters would be able to drop packages from warehouses at customers’ doors within 30 minutes. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In 2016, Amazon showed off its first commercial drone delivery in a rural area of the United Kingdom, a 13-minute delivery of an Amazon Fire TV streaming device and a bag of popcorn. Its latest drone iteration was on display earlier this year at MARS, its weird tech conference, again promising that drone deliveries were coming soon.

But as of the end of the decade, Amazon packages are still being delivered by humans. In fact, Amazon announced in 2018 that it was adding 20,000 delivery vans via third-party delivery partners to its ground fleet. Other companies, including Uber, UPS and Alphabet’s Wing, have also been testing drone deliveries, and it’s possible that we will have boxes from the sky onto porches in the next decade.

Vaping to fix smoking

It was supposed to be safer than smoking and a way to quit nicotine altogether. While vaping has indeed caught on, its biggest selling point has blown up in recent years. Eight deaths and more than 2,500 cases of lung-related illnesses have been linked to vaping in the United States.

Critics say fun-sounding flavors and colorful devices, most notably from the company Juul, have made vaping wildly popular with teenagers – one in four high schoolers vapes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now the FDA and lawmakers are investigating vaping companies. But if we draw on experience from the cigarette industry, vaping is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

Amazon’s big phone play

Apple and Google have direct access to billions of people with their smartphone operating systems and hardware – 2.5 billion devices run Google’s Android operating system, and 900 million iPhones are in use.

One company noticeably absent from our pockets is Amazon, but not for lack of trying. After several years of stealth development, Amazon announced its Fire Phone in 2014. The smartphone did not look like much, started at $199, ran on a customized version of Android and was available only on AT&T. Amazon reported $83 million of unused inventory in late 2014, and it discontinued the Fire Phone a year after its introduction.

Now that Amazon is competing against those two companies for voice-assistant dominance, its lack of a smartphone is even more glaring. It has put Alexa in anything with a microphone, from cameras to headphones and, soon, eye glasses. (It is on smartphones, but you have to open the Alexa app first.) Meanwhile Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant are already in pockets, built into the core of the devices and listening for their next cue.

Tourists in space

It is no secret that big-name billionaires love space. Despite their passion, the three boldest aspiring space barons have made and missed deadlines for sending people into space this decade.

Richard Branson said Virgin Galactic would fly tourists into space by 2020, but its last test mission was two test pilots and a crew member at the start of last year. Bezos said at an Air Force Association conference in late 2018 that Blue Origin would send a test flight into the upper atmosphere with people on board this year, but the most recent test flight, on Dec. 11, contained no humans. In 2017, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX had taken deposits to fly two passengers around the moon in 2018. That flight did not take place. He has the whole next decade to hit a different goal, set in 2011: sending someone to Mars by 2031.

There are plenty of interested customers. Virgin Galactic has sold tickets to more than 700 people wanting to take a trip to space at $250,000 a seat.

If there is one thing on this list we would not want to rush just to meet a deadline, it is loading civilians into private rockets and hurling them into space.

© The Washington Post 2019

[pmsocialmedia]

Calendar influencers? Event social network IRL raises $8M

Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.

The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.

“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook .

Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.

Filling Your Social Calendar

In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.

IRL CEO Abe Shafi

Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.

IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.

The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.

IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.

Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”

Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.

My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.

via Social – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2XKeOW4

[workfromhom]

Calendar influencers? Event social network IRL raises $8M

Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.

The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.

“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook .

Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.

Filling Your Social Calendar

In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.

IRL CEO Abe Shafi

Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.

IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.

The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.

IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.

Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”

Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.

My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.

from Facebook – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2XKeOW4 via IFTTT

[un-enfant-immature]

Calendar influencers? Event social network IRL raises $8M

Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.

The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.

“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook .

Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.

Filling Your Social Calendar

IRL CEO Abe Shafi

In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.

Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.

IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.

The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.

IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.

Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”

Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.

My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.

[just-another-busy-fangirl-writes]

Laura’s Reading List: Jensen x Jared

Let me know if you have any other fic recs for me to read & put on this list!

[awesome list]

{another list}

Out of the Darkness by aelia (on LJ) ***Comp   Towards the end of Supernatural, Jared and Jensen are slowly drifting apart until there is nothing of their friendship left and they literally go separate ways. When they coincidentally meet eight years later, Jared finds his former best friend not only pysically changed but also mentally hurt. Can Jared and Jensen find each other again? And can Jared help Jensen to leave behind the darkness that has been encasing him ever since that accident has changed his life?

Got me so blind I can’t see by @ashtray-thief, NC17, 20k ***Comp   Jensen has loved Jared ever since he came to court. But Jared is the king’s half-brother and Jensen is just a commoner. There’s nothing Jensen can do but focus on his career in the military and bury his feelings. But when the king sends him to protect Jared on a diplomatic mission and Count Amell pursues Jared with intent, Jensen can’t hide his feelings any longer.

The President’s Man by dont_hate_me01 (on AO3) ***Comp   When Jared’s father died ten years ago, Jared became involved with drugs and bad friends. Luckily, he had more than one person in his corner who looked out for him. Things started to look up, but the past became the present and left Jared in more danger than what he thought possible.

It Never Gets Easier by fatebegins (on AO3) ***Comp   Jared’s not so happily married. He married Jensen young, and had kids before he was ready. Before Jared knows it his life isn’t his own. Pushing down his own feelings, Jared makes a mistake that will change his life forever- maybe for the better.

Claret and Clarity, by firesign10, 3k and 15k, NC17 ***Comp   Jensen is a vampire who hasn’t been hungry in a very long time. Danni brings a very special treat to tempt him.

The Love that Remains by lulyls (on AO3) ***Comp   It’s a story about loss. About an 11 year old boy who falls in love with a boy with blue hair at a summer camp. This is a story about how both boys part ways too soon, but change each other’s lives forever. This is a story about dreams. About how, years later, a guy meets a homeless man, is drawn to him in a way he can’t explain, and feels an inexplicable need to help him. A story about how the heart knows, even when the eyes don’t. This is a story about destiny. There’s a boy named Jared and there’s another named Jensen, and this is their story. How they lost and found each other, and how they must battle their inner demons, have faith in themselves and in one another. This is the story about two boys fighting to finally have the happy ending they’ve been dreaming about their entire lives, and to find their own definition of happiness. It’s a story about love.

Screw You, We’re From Texas by makeit_takeit (on LJ) *** Comp   Everyone knows the story - Jensen had plans to enroll at Texas Tech and become a Physical Therapist, Jared was heading for the University of Texas to become an Engineer. Instead, they both got against-all-odds breaks in Hollywood and ended up on a totally different path. This is the story of what could have happened if fate twisted differently, if they never got those big Hollywood breaks, and instead ended up living the lives they grew up expecting to lead.

Faint Stars and Bright Satellite Skies by marishna (on LJ) ***Comp   It’s a story made for Hollywood- a chance encounter between a regular, down-to-earth guy with his whole life planned out for him without a second thought and a well-known, popular movie star turns into something far bigger than either man could ever anticipate. Neither Jared Padalecki nor Jensen Ackles expect or want the complications that arise in their lives from their fast friendship- especially when it develops into something neither anticipated. While Jared accepts and tries to deal with his growing feelings for his famous friend, Jensen fights it every step of the way until his strictly controlled life, hidden behind a public persona, spins out of control.

A Supernatural Love Story by MsImpala67 (on AO3) (Ch 10 5/12)  The story of how Jared fell in love with Jensen, how Jensen was already in love with Jared, and what happened after that.

Beautiful Disaster by nyxocity (on AO3) ***Comp   Rock Band AU. Jensen’s the lead guitarist in the number one rock band in the country. Justin’s the lead singer, and they’ve been doing this together since middle-school, been together since just after high school. As on top of the world as they are, Jensen’s starting to become disillusioned with the lifestyle and his crumbling relationship with Justin. And then he meets a new roadie on the crew named Jared who’s got a voice like an angel and a heart to match, and everything starts to change.

Homework Verse by nyxocity (on AO3) ***   Jared’s eighteen and in his senior year at a private school in San Francisco. He’s coasting pretty on his parents generous school donations—until his seventh period Physics teacher gets replaced with the maddening, infuriating, gorgeous Mr. Ackles. Jared’s gotten by all his life on his money and his charm, but Mr. Ackles seems to think he needs some… lessons in self-control. The journey their relationship eventually takes them on turns out to be far more than either of them ever bargained for. ((Toppy!Teacher!Jensen in glasses and Student!Jared in private school uniform included))

It Takes Two ‘Verse by ObsidianRomance (on AO3) ***Comp   Jared and Jensen first meet when pro wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys Jensen decides to improve his game with some ballet lessons from famous Polish ballet dancer Jared. Jared thinks Jensen is brutish and Jensen thinks Jared is prissy, but you know what they say- opposites attract.

Alpha Mates by sanshal (on AO3) ***   What happens when two rival alphas are forced into a mating bond?? In a world where alphas hold power and mated-betas are naturally submissive to their alphas, two business competitors are compelled into accepting the other as their life-partner. In spite of the inevitable clash of wills and egos, the duo manage a fragile peace…but will the others’ secrets shatter the careful truce they managed? And will the two rivals ever manage to attain domestic bliss?

Honey, Flower, Apple, and Lime by veronamay (on LJ) ***Comp  The year is 1855. Jensen is the scion of a wealthy Dallas family, heir to a ranching empire that stretches across the American Southwest. Until now, he has led a life of carefree abandon, charming his way into boudoirs and out of entanglements by dint of his silver-tongued wit. After his father’s sudden death, Jensen is sent to London by his stepmother to acquire a wife during the Season. Threatened with disinheritance should he make an unsuitable match, he arrives on the doorstep of his friend Welling’s household prepared—reluctantly—to do his duty. Everything changes, however, when he lays eyes upon the Wellings’ newest footman. Padalecki is tall, strong, intelligent and beautiful—everything Jensen admires in a man. From the moment they meet, Jensen is willing to risk everything to gain the gorgeous Texan’s love. But Padalecki wants nothing to do with Jensen … or does he?

Phoenix by Xenodike, NC17, 111k ***Comp   It’s a nineteen hour drive from San Francisco, California to Evergreen, Colorado. When Jensen drives out of the roundabout and onto the compact dirt road leading towards the two thousand four hundred and fifty-six acres of The Phoenix Ranch, it’s nine o’clock in the morning and he’s been traveling for twenty-three hours straight. Coming home to the ranch Jensen left ten years ago, he has to face his past, present and decide what he wants going forward. All while juggling a baby, a broken relationship, his grandpa, dad, part-time stepmom, four uncles, a cousin, the mother who abandoned him and Jared fucking Padalecki. It’s complicated…

Of Princes and Prophecies by Zubeneschamali, NC17, 44k ***Comp   Jared has lost everything thanks to the usurper High King. He can’t take any of it back, but he can strike out the only way he knows how: kidnap and ransom. The High King’s fiancé is riding across the country and through Jared’s forest, and wouldn’t he be a fair prize?Jensen has not quite resigned himself to the fate of being the High King’s second spouse when bandits strike. If he can get away from them, it might be his only chance for a life of his own. But once he finds out who the bandits’ leader really is, everything will change, for himself and for his kingdom.

Guilty series by Theboys on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.  Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on both of us, because we let it happen. Jensen and Jared are both guilty. The only question that remains is whether or not they’re willing to do anything about it. (parts 2,3 and 4 have Daddy Kinks)

You Are My Hero by A_Touch_of_Hope on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.  Jared’s finished school, and it’s finally the summer. He plans on spending it with his best friend Chad. Jensen, Chad’s father is going through a rough breakup–Jared never expected that listening to Jensen berate himself would hurt so much. Feelings develop, and he feels like he needs to get away. But Jensen finds him. “I’m thirty-nine. Not getting any younger. If you want me, let this happen. If you don’t, stop me, and I promise you that I will never make an advance on you, Jared.”

I’ve Got A Jared Waiting At Home For Me by A_Touch_of_Hope on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU. Jensen needs to be with Jared, not stewing in his cubicle, just waiting for the clock to strike five. Yes, Jared had given him mind-blowing head as a wake-up call birthday present, and then proceeded to ride him like a cowboy—it had been fucking spectacular—but not enough to grant him the patience to remain here, when it’s the last place he wants to be right now.They have stuff to do, no time to sit around.

Teach Me, Daddy by littlefirefly31 on Ao3. Jared/Jensen. J2 AU.  Prompt: Hey, man! I’ve missed your stories so much, I’m glad you’re back! I have, yet, another request - Age difference J2 with younger, bottom!Jared and lots of daddy kink? (ages 11 and 21)