#amazon listing software

[xenaintelligence]

Foresight is an AI-powered ecommerce listing tool designed to assist sellers in optimizing their Amazon listings. Leveraging AI technology, Foresight helps users optimize the listing title and bullet points with the most SEO-friendly keywords.

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[ecommercedeveloper24]

Why Choose ECommerceDeveloper24 for Ecommerce Product Management Software ?

We are the team of e-commerce specialist who provide Product Listing Development Services.

We help your digital store to create a seamless online presence, resulting in higher customer retention and loyalty and instant revenue growth. Our product listing software development services enable you to reach maximum customers by creating a constructive product database and adding them to different marketplaces.

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

BOYCOTTING FOR PALESTINE

The Official BDS Boycott Targets

Campaigns

Block the boat: End maritime arms transfer to Israel

Ban Apartheid Israel from Sports (FIFA, Olympics)

CAF get off Israel's train: Boycott CAF

Greenwashing Apartheid

Israeli Spyware

Military Embargo

Farming Injustice

Consumer Boycotts - a complete boycott of these brands

Cisco

Axa

Puma

Carrefour

HP

Siemens

Chevron

Intel

Caltex

Israeli produce

Re/max

Ahava

Texaco

Sodastream

Intel

Organic Boycott Targets - boycotts not initiated by BDS but still complete boycott of these brands

Disney

Macdonald's

Dominos

Papa Johns

Burger King

Pizza Hut

Wix

Divestments and exclusion - pressure governments, institutions, investment funds, city councils, etc. to exclude from procurement contracts and investments and to divest from these

Elbit Systems

CAF

Volvo

CAT

Barclays

JCB

HD Hyundai

TKH Security

HikVision

Pressure - boycotts when reasonable alternatives exist, as well as lobbying, peaceful disruptions, and social media pressure.

Google

Amazon

AirBnb

Booking.Com

Expedia

Teva

Here are some companies that strongly support Israel (but are not Boycott targets). There is no ethical consumption under capitalism and boycotting is a political strategy - not a moral one. If you did try to boycott every supporter of Israel you would struggle to survive because every major company supports Israel (as a result of attempting to keep the US economy afloat), that being said, the ones that are being boycotted by masses and not already on the organic boycott list are coloured red.

5 Star Chocolate

7Days

7Up

Apple

Arsenal FC

ALDO

Arket

Axe

Accenture

Ariel

Adidas

ActionIQ

Aquafina

Amika

AccuWeather

Activia

Adobe

Aesop

Azrieli Group

American Eagle

Amway Corp

Axel Springer

American Airlines

American Express

Atlassian

AdeS

Aquarius

Ayataka

Audi

Barqs

Bain & Company

Bayer

Bank Leumi

Bank Hapoalim

BCG (Boston Consulting Group)

Biotherm

Bershka

Bloomberg

BMW

Boeing

Booz Allen Hamilton

Burberry

Bath & Body Works

Bosch

Bristol Myers Squibb

Capri Holdings

Costa

Carita Paris

CareTrust REIT

Caterpillar

Coach

Cappy

Caudalie

CeraVe

Check Point Software Technologies

Cerelac

Chanel

Chapman and Cutler

Channel

Cheerios

Cheetos

Chevron

Chips Ahoy!

Christina Aguilera

Citi Bank

Codral

Cosco

Canada Dry

Citi

Clal Insurance Enterprises

Clean & Clear

Clearblue

Clinique

Champion

Club Social

Coca Cola

Coffee Mate

Colgate

Comcast

Compass

Caesars

Conde Nast

Cooley LLP

Costco

Côte d’Or

Crest

CV Starr

CyberArk Software

Cytokinetics

Crayola

Cra Z Art

Daimler

Dr Pepper

Del Valle

Daim

Doctor Pepper

Dasani

Doritos

Daz

Dior

Dell

Deloitte

Delta Air Lines

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Telekom

DHL Group

David Off

Disney

DLA Piper

Domestos

Domino’s

Douglas Elliman

Downy

Duane Morris LLP

Dreft Baby Detergent & Laundry Products

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

eBay

Edelman

Eli Lilly

Evian

Empyrean

Ericsson

Endeavor

EPAM Systems

Estee Lauder

Elbit Systems

EY

Forbes

Facebook

Fairlife

Fanta

First International Bank of Israel

Fiverr

Funyuns

Fuze

Fox News

Fritos

Fox Corp

Gatorade

Gamida Cell

GE

Glamglow

General Catalyst

General Motors

Georgia

Gold Peak

Genesys

Goldman Sachs

Grandma’s Cookies

Garnier

Guess

Greenberg Traurig

Guerlain

Givenchy

H&M

Hadiklaim

Huggies

Hanes

HSBC

Head & Shoulders

Hersheys

Herbert Smith Freehills

Hewlett Packard

Hasbro

Hyundai

Henkel

Harel Insurance Investment & Financial Services

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HubSpot

Huntsman Corp

IBM

Innocent

Insight Partners

Inditex Group

IT Cosmetics

Instacart

Intermedia

Interpublic Group

Instagram

ICL Group

Intuit

Jazwares

Jefferies

John Lewis

JP Morgan Chase

Jaguar

Johnson & Johnson

JPMorgan

Kenon Holdings

Kate Spade

Kirks’

Kinley Water

KKR

KFC

KKW Cosmetics

Kurkure

Keebler

Kolynos

Kaufland

Kevita

Knorr

KPMG

Lemonade

Lidl

Loblaws

Levi Strauss

Louis Vuitton

Life Water

Levi’s

Levi’s Strauss

LinkedIn

Land Rover

L’Oréal

Lego

Levissima

Live Nation Entertainment

Lufthansa

La Roche-Posay

Lipton

Major League Baseball

Manpower Group

Marriott

Marsh McLennan

Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Mastercard

Mattel

Minute Maid

Monster

Monki

Mainz FC

Mellow Yellow

Mountain Dew

Migdal Insurance

Marks & Spencer

Mirinda

McDermott Will & Emery

Motorola

McKinsey

Merck

Michael Kors

Mizrahi Tefahot Bank

Merck KGaA

Micheal Kors

Milkybar

Maybelline

Mount Franklin

Meta

MeUndies

Mattle

Microsoft

Munchies

Miranda

Morgan Lewis

Moroccanoil

Morgan Stanley

MRC

Nasdaq

Naughty Dog

Nivea

Next

NOS

Nabisco

Nutter Butter

No Frills

National Basketball Association

National Geographic

Nintendo

New Balance

Nutella

Newtons

NVIDIA

Netflix

Nescafe

Nestle

Nesquick

Nike

Nussbeisser

Oreo

Oral B

Old spice

Oysho

Omeprazole

Oceanspray

Opodo

P&G (Procter and Gamble)

Pampers

Pull & Bear

Pepsi

Pfizer

Popeyes

Parker Pens

Philadelphia Cream Cheese

Pizza Hut

Powerade

Purina

Phoenix Holdings

Propel

Ponds

Pure Leaf Green Tea

Power Action Wipes

PwC

Prada

Perry Ellis

Prada Eyewear

Pringles

Payoneer

Procter & Gamble

Purelife

Pureology

Quaker Oats

Reddit

Royal Bank of Canada

Ruffles

Revlon

Ralph Lauren

Ritz

Rolls Royce

Royal

S.Pellegrino

Sabra Hummus

Sabre

Sony

SAP

Simply

Smart Water

Sprite

Schwabe

Shell

Soda Stream

Siemens

StreamElements

Schweppes

Sunsilk

Signal

Skittles

Smart Food

Sobe

Smarties

Sephora

Sam’s Club

Superbus

Samsung

Sodastream

Sunkist

Scotiabank

Sour Patch Kids

Starbucks

Sadaf

Stride

Subway

Tang

Tate’s Bake Shop

The Body Shop

Tesco

Twitch

The Ordinary

Tim Hortons

Tostitos

Timberland

Topo Chico

Tapestry

Tropicana

Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries

Turbos

Tom Ford

Taco Bell

Triscuit

TUC

Twix

Tottenham Hotspurs

Twisties

Tripadvisor

Uber

Uber Eats

Urban Decay

Upfield

Unilever

Vicks

Victoria’s Secret

V8

Vaseline

Vitaminwater

Volkswagen

Volvo

Walmart

Wegmans

WhatsApp

Waitrose

Woolworths

Wheat Thins

Walkers

Warner Brothers

Warner Chilcot

Warner Music

Wells Fargo

Winston & Strawn

WingStreet

Wissotzky Tea

WWE

Wheel Washing Powder

Wrigley Company

YouTube

Yvel

Yum Brands

Ziyad

Zara

Zim Shipping

Ziff Davis

[probablyasocialecologist]

A new database of over 400 companies that operate in the UK and are deemed complicit in Israel’s war on Gaza has been launched by a collective of unions and organisations led by Progressive International. The Watermelon Index, which the international left-wing organisation describes as “a tool for worker-led resistance against the occupation and genocide in Palestine”, will allow employees to connect with each other and with activists to challenge their bosses over connections to Israel. Among the companies listed are Barclays, shipping firm Maersk, e-commerce giant Amazon, software company Microsoft and holiday rental outfit Airbnb. 

19 November 2024

[linkablewritingadvice]

How much should it cost to be a writer?

It depends what route you’re taking. If you are planning to go for traditional publishing, which looks like you finishing a manuscript and then querying agents who will then take your book to publishers, you should be paying for basically nothing. One exception would be if you decide to hire an editor to get a pass over your manuscript and/or query package before sending it off, but this is not required.

If you are in the process of trying to get your manuscript traditionally published, you may be approached by a “publisher” offering to publish your manuscript for a fee. THIS IS A SCAM! An author should never be paying for “publishing services.” Anyone asking you to pay for your own printing, marketing, etc. costs is taking advantage of you. These are called vanity publishers and they will not turn you a profit, help you attract readers, or provide you the prestige of being published. 

Always check on Writer Beware - search for the name of the person or company. You can also just google that name along with the word “scam” or “reviews.” In general, don’t let yourself be blinded by dreams, or let yourself be convinced that something is a good idea because you really want it to be true. Never, ever, ever pay a publisher.

If you are going the self-publishing route, you will be paying for certain things, but none of those should be payment to be published. You are the publisher. Uploading your manuscript to Amazon or other marketplaces is free. However, you will be paying for things that a publisher typically pays for. This could include:

-Cover art - you could do this yourself, though this isn't recommended. A good cover is key to a book's success, so budget to purchase a pre-made book cover, or hire a professional cover artist.

To find pre-made book covers, you can just Google "premade book covers," or check one of these sites: BookCoverZone RockingBookCovers Beetiful

And here's a list of places to buy both custom and pre-made cover designs that's a good start. You can also check Reedsy and Etsy for people listing cover design services. If there is a self-pubbed author whose covers you love, try asking them what artist they use.

-Formatting - you could do this yourself using a formatting program like Atticus, or you could hire someone who does professional e-book formatting.

Here's an article on the turbo-DIY route. Here's a list of formatting programs you can use. To hire someone, you can simply search for book formatting services or look at places where people list such services for hire, like Reedsy, Fiverr, or certain Reddit boards.

-Ad campaigns - you may want to pay for ad campaigns on platforms like Meta or Amazon. More niche, author-specific platforms like BookBub, Book Funnel, or Book Sirens also come with certain costs. 

-Author services - you may wish to hire an expert in things like marketing, blurb copy, social media metrics, newsletter management, etc. You can find information on that here.

Be aware that scam publishers might try to pitch themselves as "author services" - you should be paying someone to help you with specific aspects of your self publishing work, NOT paying to be published.

-Software and platforms - whether it's a subscription to Duotrope, a paid Scribophile account, access to pro Canva features, etc. you may decide to pay for tools that you will use to do your work well.

-Expert advice - some people offer courses, books, or other resources on how to do specific things like write a compelling blurb or run an effective ad campaign. You may notice that a lot of the links I shared here will include upsells from people doing exactly this!

Be very cautious about this, as most of these people claim that they make tons of money on their self published books, but really, they make their money selling this stuff to people like you. Always check out a person’s free resources first, and wait to invest in this sort of thing until you have a specific question you need answered or are trying to do a very particular thing that you need granular guidance on. 

One thing you should NOT pay for is a review, feature, or interview. Self-published authors will be approached by a lot of scammers who claim that, for a nominal fee, they will share information about your book to their huge audiences. These are completely useless and a waste of money. Never spend money on this.

Always keep track of what you are spending on all of this. You may be able to deduct it from taxes you pay on your income from writing, and you will want to really understand what your profit margins look like.

[cindylouwho-2]

The European Union's General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR): A Huge Mess For Some Small & Micro Businesses

Above is an email Amazon sent to sellers many months ago that covers the basics. Not all marketplaces were as forthcoming - or early - with info.

As many of you know, new laws coming into effect Friday December 13, 2024 affect businesses' ability to sell products into the European Union and Northern Ireland (EU and NI). The General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) impose various requirements on most goods being sold to the EU and NI, and some of those new rules will be very onerous for some small businesses. Furthermore, there are still some unanswered questions that the relevant government bodies hadn't covered until the European Commission did release some more details and an FAQ page very recently [pdf for download at the end of the first section on that page], and until public Q & A sessions were held.

This post contains a brief summary of the GPSR and of the key questions for common small business types, with the best answers I can find at this time. There is a section discussing problems on Etsy (which hasn't yet adapted their platform to the new regulations). I also compiled a list of helpful links including government and marketplace information pages, and places to obtain an "EU Responsible Person" to represent your business.

If anything gets clarified in the near future, this post will be updated.

What Does GPSR Require?

The Amazon summary in the screenshot at the top of this post is one of the easiest to understand, but a shorter overview may work better for some, so here is what eBay has to say:

To comply with the GPSR and related regulations, all business sellers listing items for sale in the EU and NI must include the following information: 1. The product manufacturer's name and contact information 2. If the manufacturer isn’t located in the EU or NI, you’ll have to indicate an EU-based Responsible Person or entity, along with their name and contact details 3. Any relevant product information like model number, pictures, and type 4. Product safety and compliance information like warnings and safety information (which can be included in labels and product manuals) in the local language 5. The CE marking when required by the related regulations applicable to your product

And yes, all of this applies to merchants of all stripes, including small and microbusinesses. Per the EU, “...the GPSR obligations apply to businesses of all sizes. Consumers are entitled to only safe products and therefore exceptions cannot be made based on the size of a business.”

Clearly there are significant hurdles for small and micro businesses: the cost of hiring a responsible person, and the cost of producing the required safety and use instructions and of translating them into local languages. Some may choose to stop sales to the EU and NI instead of complying.

Are There Any Exceptions?

Yes, several types of products are excluded, but most of those already subject to equally strict or even stricter regulations, e.g., medicine, foods, animals etc.

The two main known exceptions of interest to most of my readership are:

Antiques, which seem to be limited to items that are old (but no age is given, as far as I can tell) and generally to art or other collectible items.

Items already available for sale before December 13 of this year.

That second point is good news for many businesses, but please note it only seems to apply to stock made before December 13, not just listings made before that date. Once you run out and need to order or make more products, they then become subject to the GPSR.

Does The GPSR Apply To Digital Products?

It now appears that the new regulations cover items such as digital downloads. The FAQ pdf put out by the European Union very recently states "[t]he GPSR applies to all types of products (physical or digital products too, including software) that are placed or made available on the EU Single Market". At least some analysts agree this can include pretty much everything digital:

I can understand why some folks think that a knitting pattern or a simple art downloadable file should not be covered, and in the future once there is more discussion of and action taken under the GPSR, those products might be excluded. But note that the pdf of FAQs also states "[t]he GPSR is about avoiding and preventing “risks to both physical health and mental health”. Including image files and similar downloads therefore makes some sense.

How Do I Find A "Responsible Person" To Represent My Digital Download Business In The EU?

That's a good question, because I haven't found any verified sources saying they will cover digital items, or any digital sellers mentioning they have found coverage. Many have been denied by the companies they have contacted. [UPDATE: A company called EAS has agreed to represent at least one digital seller.]

If you are aware of any other firms or individuals offering "Responsible Person" services for digital products, please let me know!

(Remember, If you are in the EU/NI, you are the Responsible Person. If your products are manufactured in the EU/NI, the manufacturer is the Responsible Person.)

Does the GPSR Apply To Free Products?

Yes. From the FAQ pdf: "an item provided free of charge falls within the scope of the GPSR.”

In addition to complimentary physical items ("free gifts") sent out with orders, this would seem to include free downloads provided on blogs and social media, on a Patreon site, in YouTube descriptions etc. I’ve not seen much discussion on this aspect of the law for some reason.

Items Offered For Sale Before December 13 Are Exempt, But How Would The Government Know When I First Offered The Product Or When It Was Made?

If you had 100 widgets in stock before December 13 and had them listed on a marketplace or website, by law you can continue to sell those widgets to the EU and NI until all 100 are gone. And if you created a digital file and offered it online before December 13, it should be exempt forever, as long as you do not edit the file after December 13.

But proving you had 100 widgets already made, or that you listed a specific product before the law took effect could be difficult, especially for anyone handmaking their own items. If you are going to continue to sell to the EU and NI after December 13, keep careful records of which stock needs labelling, safety information and translations of use instructions.

Online marketplaces could also create problems if they don't display the date an item was first offered for sale, as happens on Etsy, for example. Every time an item renews, the visible date is reset, and it can be difficult to go through spreadsheets looking for the original listing date, and csv files may not be adequate proof under this law (since they can easily be changed after downloading).

Unfortunately, we won't truly know what evidence will be accepted in these circumstances until the authorities start enforcing these regulations, but this will only be a concern for anyone continuing to sell "old stock" into the EU and NI after December 13, so it is far from the largest concern.

The Case of Etsy - Failure To Comply With The GPSR

Unlike some other marketplaces, Etsy was fairly late in warning its sellers that the GPSR affected them, and how Etsy will approach the law. The blog post included the line "[s]hould Etsy receive a notification from an authority that your product is non-compliant, we will take appropriate action, which may include removing your listing and/or suspending your account." So, the stakes are high here - you could lose your Etsy shop if accused of not complying with the GPSR.

There are currently 2 problems for sellers who decide they can't/won't comply with the GPSR and therefore do not want to offer their items to the EU and NI any more:

Shipping to the UK on Etsy includes Northern Ireland, and sellers anywhere within the UK cannot remove the UK from their shipping profiles. That means they are forced to offer their goods to NI even if they don't want to.

Digital products on Etsy are sold to the whole world by default; there is no way to exclude any countries that Etsy allows sales to. That means every digital listing on Etsy is currently offered in the GPSR jurisdictions, regardless of the seller's wishes or compliance.

The GPSR was published on May 10, 2023. That gave everyone 19 months to get their ducks in a row. However, Etsy has so far done nothing to allow UK and digital sellers to remove their listings from being available in the EU and NI. Nothing.

Support has told some sellers that the corporation is working on it, and that UK sellers could just cancel any sales to NI:

However, it is not good enough to refuse to complete orders to the EU and NI. Any item offered for sale in the EU and NI is automatically subject to the GPSR; just allowing someone to check out is a violation, if the listing and product does not meet the law's requirements.

As of December 13, there is still no way to stop selling to Northern Ireland on Etsy if you are a seller in the United Kingdom, and there is no way for a digital product to be excluded from offer in either the EU or NI. Sadly, this means the only way shops can follow the law is to close for the time being, and some are planning on doing that.

Etsy has failed its sellers, and there is no excuse.

UPDATE (December 13, 2024): Etsy now says it is working on the issues of excluding the EU and NI, but still advises cancelling sales to those locations in the interim, which does not comply with the GPSR. The company had 19 months to figure this out, but they still need a few more weeks at a minimum? Absurd.

Resources and Responsible Person Offerings

I've compiled a separate post on my Patreon, listing some of the official legal and government resources on GPSR, as well as rules and Help pages from some major marketplaces and Print on Demand companies, and a short list of places you can hire a "Responsible Person" for your products:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/sources-and-for-117871846

Please let me know if you find any broken links there, or have other resources to add!

This post will be updated as required.

UPDATED: December 13, 2024

[oliviamaitlandauthor]

Comprehensive List of Tips for Self-Publishing Authors

Cover Design

"Never judge a book by its cover" is a philosophy very rarely followed by most readers, so it's important to make sure your cover is as eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing, and true to your story as possible. The cover should encompass what your story is about and it should give the reader a glimpse into the world you've spent years creating.

For most of us who are not artistically inclined, trying to create a cover design on our own is incredibly challenging. When you find yourself unable to generate an exemplary product, you may need to turn to a freelance designer or a company that specializes in poster/book cover graphics. Here are some options for you to explore:

Fiverr - budget-friendly, ample reviews from previous customers, and examples of work are provided by the designer, but make sure to be aware of AI use so your product is made authentically.

BespokeBookCovers - this company asks that you give a short synopsis of your book, along with some basic details, then you will be contacted to discuss more about what you are looking for. They do require a 50% deposit prior to beginning the design, but you do receive the product within 12 business days. They also ensure you are completely satisfied with the product before the transaction is complete. This company may not be the best for fantasy authors as most of their covers have more of a Colleen Hoover-esque aesthetic.

Miblart - This is a wonderful cover design company for fantasy writers, as evident in the examples provided on their website's home page. They do not require prepayment and offer payment installations in case the total cost at once puts a financial strain on you.

Editing and Formatting

Similarly to traditional publishing, you need to thoroughly self-edit your work before submitting it for professional editing. Suppose you feel as though you are proficient enough in editing that you do not require professional services or you cannot accommodate the cost. In that case, I suggest using workbooks or software to make sure your grammar and syntax are as high quality as possible. Here is a list of editing tools that can help you review your work:

Grammarly - a good resource for spelling, but it often flags intentional word-choice and sentence structure to make it more simple, which may be incompatible with your writing style. Also be aware of incorrect suggestions.

The Copyeditors Handbook - offers a guide to book publishing and addresses common writing errors. Does come with a workbook to help you exercise your skills.

It's also important that you understand the risks of self-editing. Sometimes it's hard to see flaws in your own story/writing because you already know all of the details. The reader does not have this knowledge, so certain plot points, wording, or details may be lost on them. Having a second set of eyes is incredibly beneficial to help you solve this problem. Here are some outside editing tools:

UpWork - allows you to list a job and review applicants. Each applicant is verified to be real, and you can sample some of their work and their credentials by viewing their profile.

Reedsy - employs Big Five editors to find a proper match for your writing

Raab & Co. - a self-publishing company that helps match you to a professional editor

ISBN

An ISBN number can help readers identify and find your book across multiple platforms, given that an ISBN is a unique number. You can buy an ISBN through Bowker or ISBN.org. An ISBN number on this website costs about $150 USD. This is not a necessary step, so no worries if you don't get one. It simply helps your book be more recognizable and appear more professional.

Pricing

The best way to figure out how to price your book is to look at similar publications on the platform you intend to publish on. Amazon is the most common, so look at your options. Generally, you can publish the book for a fixed price, or you can use Kindle Unlimited. Here's a list of pros and cons for Kindle Unlimited:

Pros:

Paid per page read, which is amazing for longer works or series

Saves a lot of time and effort as most of the work is done by Amazon, and it can generate more income than other platforms

Gain popularity because each time someone checks out your book or adds it to their library, it counts as a sale in your sales rank, which can boost your profile

Cons:

Unable to publish more than 10% of your book on any other platform while it is available on Kindle Unlimited, which limits your ability to reach a greater audience

Sometimes the length of the book affects income more so than the quality of the writing itself, so your book may be incredible well-written but have a lower sales rank.

[13eyond13]

Hi. If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you get hacked? And how did you realize it happened? It's just that it's something of an anxiety of mine, and I feel that by learning from other people it happened to, I can learn to avoid it. No worries if you don't feel like talking about it, though.

I don't honestly know for sure, but I THINK it was because my desktop computer is pretty old and has been running on a very outdated version of Windows for quite a while now. I don't normally do things like click on suspicious links or answer suspicious emails or calls or messages from bots, but I'm quite lazy about things like updating my hardware and software when the older stuff is still working fine for me. Unfortunately this eventually makes you more vulnerable to being hacked remotely, because you can't get stuff like the current security updates and support on your computer's programs and all after a bit. Over the past couple of weeks I've had someone using my Facebook account to post fake ads for cars and motorcycles on Marketplace, someone using my Steam account to list all my trading cards for sale, somebody flooding my email address to receive literally hundreds of spam emails (like signing me up for random newsletters and junk mail and so on), and somebody using my credit card to attempt to buy a big purchase for themselves on Amazon. Basically since I don't know exactly how it started and the fact that it seems to be happening on multiple of my accounts I just had to go cancel my credit card and report the fraud to my bank, change every password on every personal account I could think of and add more 2 factor authentication steps to everything, and then wipe my computer of as much personal info as possible and lock it up a bit better too. I undid all the settings like the automatically saved passwords on my browser, and I'm not leaving it connected to the internet or leaving any of my personal accounts logged in when I'm not using them anymore. The security breaches seem to have stopped with me changing these passwords and everything else, but it's definitely a very violating and annoying experience to say the least. I should probably be more freaked out about it than I actually am, which is kinda just feeling a bit like the exasperated Ben Affleck smoking meme instead hahaha

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Itunes blocks you from sharing music with YOURSELF, on your own computer https://web.archive.org/web/20041009202513/http://www.raelity.org/computers/operating_systems/apple/mac_os_x/apps/itunes_single_instance.html

#20yrsago How fanfic makes kids into better writers (and copyright victims) https://www.technologyreview.com/2004/02/06/40304/why-heather-can-write/

#15yrsago Flashmob of ATM crooks scores $9 million in 49 cities https://web.archive.org/web/20090205214559/http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/090202_FBI_Investigates_9_Million_ATM_Scam

#15yrsago Internet not full of pedos, the statistical edition https://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2009/02/06/doing_the_math.html

#10yrsago Turks bid farewell to the Internet in the face of brutal censorship/surveillance law https://medium.com/@ahmetasabanci/saying-goodbye-to-internet-in-turkey-33d805b98f6c

#10yrsago Middle class brands collapse, 1% brands thrive https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/the-middle-class-is-steadily-eroding-just-ask-the-business-world.html

#10yrsago How UK spies committed illegal DoS attacks against Anonymous https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/war-anonymous-british-spies-attacked-hackers-snowden-docs-show-n21361

#10yrsago Toronto’s reference library gets a makerspace https://web.archive.org/web/20140209061223/http://torontoist.com/2014/02/reference-library-unveils-3d-printers-is-cooler-than-indigo/

#10yrsago Toxic Avenger’s brilliant rant about the importance of Net Neutrality https://www.techdirt.com/2014/02/05/innovation-our-better-future-depend-preserving-net-neutrality/

#5yrsago One of pharma’s most notorious gougers is going bankrupt, but 2019 is a banner year for shkreli-grade pharmaceutical price-hikes https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/infamous-pharma-company-declares-bankruptcy-after-3900-price-hike/

#5yrsago Chasing down that list of potential Predpol customers reveals dozens of cities that have secretly experimented with “predictive policing” https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3m7jq/dozens-of-cities-have-secretly-experimented-with-predictive-policing-software

#5yrsago Amazon is using purchase data to sell targeted ads, which is creepy, but not because they’ve invented a mind-control ray https://memex.craphound.com/2019/02/06/amazon-is-using-purchase-data-to-sell-targeted-ads-which-is-creepy-but-not-because-theyve-invented-a-mind-control-ray/

#5yrsago The next Firefox will block all autoplayed audio, video https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/02/firefox-66-to-block-automatically-playing-audible-video-and-audio/

#5yrsago RIP, author Carol Emshwiller https://locusmag.com/2019/02/carol-emshwiller-1921-2019/

#5yrsago Washington State sheriff used courtroom camera to zoom in on defense attorney and juror’s private notes https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/san-juan-sheriffs-use-of-courtroom-camera-to-view-jurors-notebook-lawyers-notes-sparks-outrage-and-dismissal-of-criminal-case/

#5yrsago Lawsuit says that America’s “break even” court records website shouldn’t be making 98%+ profits https://www.techdirt.com/2019/02/06/multiple-parties-including-author-law-governing-pacer-ask-court-to-stop-pacers-screwing-taxpayers/

#5yrsago Fox News blames schools teaching “fairness” for support for a tax on the super-rich https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/annfs6/fox_news_blames_public_support_of_wealth_tax/

#1yrago Bruce Schneier's "A Hacker's Mind" https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/06/trickster-makes-the-world/#power-play

[grimecrow]

Need Tumblr's Help Regarding Archiving Some Media

So there was this independent singer in Canada in the early 1990s who was pretty incredible and she got popular for a short blip. Well I wanted to listen to it 30 years later and the entirety of the artist's presence on the internet is this one link. http://www.musicxray.com/xrays/410313 Which is super sad. So I started trying to find the album and found that there have been TWO copies available in the world in at least the last ten years. One was a ridiculous delisted Amazon listing and then another one on some sort of tiny website that no one could verify 100% for me was legit still though it had been at one point. But I was so determined that I took the risk and it actually paid off!

Now then I live in a country where if I own the thing I can make myself a digital backup of the thing. I found my USB CD drive but I have no idea what program would be good to use anymore! If you have a recommendation for what software I should be using to make myself my allowed digital backup please let me know! Or if you know of any groups that has experience making digital back-ups of rare music I can talk to in order to ensure I have the best backup I can please let me know!

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Backing Up Fanfictions with Calibre + FanFicFare (with screenshots!)

If you've been reading fanfiction for any significant length of time, you've probably had the horrifying realization that a fic or series that you absolutely loved was deleted. Maybe the author was harassed or stalked, maybe they didn't want an abandoned WIP lying around, or maybe they just didn't like the fandom any more. Whatever the reason, it is so important to back up your favorite fanfictions.

Calibre is one of the most popular ebook management softwares available, primarily because:

It is full-featured and fairly easy to use

It has a large plugin ecosystem (like Firefox's addons)

It's available for most operating systems

It's completely free

By "ebook management", I mean it can do things like indexing and searching a library of your books, downloading covers and metadata for them, etc. I originally got Calibre for backing up ebooks I had purchased from various online stores in case they ever shut down (like Microsoft Books) or decided they wanted to take a book back (like Amazon has done), and so I could read in whatever app I wanted.

BUT, remember that plugin ecosystem I mentioned? JimmXinu took advantage of that to create FanFicFare, a plugin that allows Calibre to download stories from over 100 creative writing sites (primarily fanfiction archives, but also erotic writing sites among others).

Just paste in the URL to an AO3 fic, for example, and it will:

Download the fic in your preferred format (EPUB, MOBI, TXT, HTML, others)

Fill in all the metadata for you (story name, author + AO3 pseuds, the fic's order in a series, if the fic is complete or not, word count, all tags, etc.)

Generate an ebook cover from scratch OR using art that was embedded in the fic

From here you can just click on a tag to find all other fics in your library with the same tag; you can also click into the author or the series. It's almost like having a mini-AO3 on your computer, one that is always available and where fics never get deleted.

Installing Calibre

Download Calibre from here, choosing the appropriate copy for your operating system

Run the Calibre installer and click through the wizard. For most people the default options work well.

Open Calibre; the Welcome Wizard should appear and walk you through initial setup

Choose your language, and the place on your computer where you want Calibre to store the fics/ebooks that it downloads, then click Next.

Select the device you use most often to read fanfiction on. This helps Calibre decide what format ebooks should be stored in (but you can override it with FanFicFare later)

You should now have Calibre open with an empty library. NOW we want to install several plugins to teach it how to handle fanfics.

Installing Calibre Plugins

First up is Count Pages. This plugin counts the words and pages in a fanfiction and shows it in Calibre so you know whether the fic you're looking at is a oneshot or a behemoth.

Look for an icon like the one below and click it to open Calibre preferences.

2. Under the "Advanced" section, click "Plugins"

3. At the bottom of the Plugins dialog, click "Get New Plugins"

4. Type "Count Pages" into the "Filter by name" search box at the top right. Once the plugin is visible in the list, click it, then click "Install". It will bring up a prompt about the security risks, but we are only installing well-known plugins today (ex. ZimmXinu has been developing FanFicFare for over a decade). Click Yes to install the plugin.

5. It will then prompt you to restart Calibre in order to begin using the plugin, but just click "Ok" because we're going to install a couple more plugins first.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for three more plugins: "Generate Covers", "EpubMerge", and "FanFicFare"; once all 4 plugins are installed, close Calibre completely and open it again. You should now have several new buttons on your Calibre menu bar:

FanFicFare is now installed! But we still have a little bit of work to do to unlock its full capabilities.

Configuring FanFicFare for Your Fanfic Site of Choice

So FanFicFare is now installed, but right now if you tell it to look at a fic on AO3, it will be browsing AO3 as a new, anonymous user without an account. This means that:

It won't be able to see explicit fics because it hasn't accepted the "See adult works" prompt

It won't be able to see locked fics (ones you can only read if you are logged in to AO3; these are very common nowadays as authors try to prevent AI engines from scraping their fics and flooding them with spam comments).

So we need to configure FanFicFare to accept the adult prompt (if you'd like to download anything rated higher than T), and we also need to give it our AO3 username and password so it can download locked fics on our behalf.

Click the dropdown arrow to the right of the FanFicFare button in the Calibre toolbar. A dropdown menu will appear. Click "Configure FanFicFare"

2. At the top of the "Basic" tab, select your prefered download format (if you prefer a format not listed, like PDF, don't worry, Calibre can convert it for you later).

3. Click the "Personal" tab in the FanFicFare settings dialog, then click "Edit personal.ini"

4. It will open a very basic text editor where you can type your personal fanfic site details for FanFicFare to use. If the box is small and text is cut off or hard to read, resize the editor window by hovering over the edge of the window until your cursor changes into an arrow with two heads, then click and drag to expand the window.

5. Type "is_adult" (without the quotes) into the Find bar, then click Find. The first result should be this a line that looks like "# is _adult:true". Delete the "#" and the space after it to uncomment the line; the text color of that line should change from yellow to green and light purple.

6. Type "archiveofourown" (without quotes) into the Find bar, then click Find until you see a section that looks like the one below (it should be the first or second result):

7. Type your AO3 login details after the "username" and "password" text. Do not put any spaces between the colons and your username or password. Note that your password is stored in plaintext in this file, so don't let anyone else get a hold of it.

8. Skip this step if the only site you're interested in downloading from is AO3. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each fanfiction or erotic writing website you use. There are only a few sites in personal.ini out of the box, so you may have to copy a specific site's configuration section from defaults.ini, which has example sections for all 100+ supported sites.

9. Click "OK" to close the personal.ini text editor, then click "OK" again to close the Customize FanFicFare box.

Whew! Lots of clicking but you're done now! Time to download some fanfic.

Downloading or Updating Fanfic(s)

Copy the URL of the fic (I'm using one from AO3 for this example).

Click the FanFicFare button on the Calibre toolbar. It should automatically detect that you have a URL from a supported site in your clipboard and paste it into the dialog

If you want to download multiple fanfics in a batch, you can hit enter and paste more URLs into the box, one per line. NOTE: please do not try to download like 30 fanfictions at once; a bunch of people doing that can strain AO3's servers, and your account might have its download capability temporarily throttled to prevent that.

5. Click OK. Calibre may look like it's frozen for a few seconds, but this is normal during the metadata fetching process. Once it figures out which of the fics you pasted actually need to be downloaded, it will unfreeze and begin downloading them

6. Once Calibre has begun downloading your fics, it will display "Jobs: 1" with a spinning icon in the bottom right corner of the Calibre window. If you click that, you'll get a progress bar of what it's doing

7. Once Calibre has finished downloading your fics, it will display a summary of the job in the bottom right corner of the Calibre window. In this summary, "good" updates meant that a fic had to be downloaded, while "bad" updates indicate fics that didn't need to be updated (because you already had them on your computer) or that could NOT be downloaded due to an error (usually a fic that was deleted or hidden in a private collection). You can click "View Log" if you're curious about which fics were downloaded and which were skipped. In this example, 2 fics were missing from my library and were downloaded, while "Where the Sand Meets the Sea" was not downloaded because it was already on my computer and up to date.

8. Exit the FanFicFare log if you clicked into it, then click "Yes" to accept the results and add the downloaded/updated fics to your library. The fics should appear in Calibre almost immediately. Then FanFicFare will kick off a second job by calling the Count Pages plugin to grab a word count for the new/updated fics. Once that job completes, just click "Yes" in the job summary window that appears in the bottom right of Calibre to store the word counts in your library.

And you're done! You just backed up your first fanfictions :)

Downloading a Series

FanFicFare can actually pull all of the URLs for individual fics in a series for you automatically!

Copy the AO3 series URL (not to an individual fic in the series)

In Calibre, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the FanFicFare button on the menu bar, then click "Get Story URLs from Web Page"

3. FanFicFare should automatically detect that you have a supported web page in your clipboard and paste it into the text field. Choose the download option you prefer: downloading each fic in the series as a separate ebook, OR combining every fic in the series into a single ebook, commonly called an anthology. Note: anthology ebooks can get rather large in file size if they have embedded fanart in them.

4. Once you pick an option, FanFicFare will grab the URL of every fic in the series and automatically paste them into the FanFicFare fic download window. From there on out just follow the normal steps for downloading those fics (this will start at step 3 in the "Downloading Fic(s)" section above).

Updating Fanfictions

Just wanted to note that you can update fanfictions in multiple ways. You can either:

Select ebooks in your Calibre library, then click the dropdown arrow next to the FanFicFare toolbar icon and click "Update Existing Fanfiction Books" OR

Take the URLs and just download them like you would a new fic. FanFicFare will automatically replace your existing copy with the updated one. This way you can just paste in the URL from an AO3 subscription email alert instead of having to hunt down the fic in your library first.

For Advanced Users

FanFicFare can actually pull the URLs off of any page of multiple fics - this includes pages of bookmarks. For example, if you want to download fics that you have bookmarked and tagged with "favorite", just filter your bookmarks for that tag and then use the resulting URL in the steps for "Downloading a Series". Note that FanFicFare doesn't handle pagination, so if you have multiple pages of results for that bookmark search, you'll have to paste in each paginated URL separately.

Summary

Well this got WAY longer than I meant it to. I think my background in technical writing is showing - this is probably more detailed than the average tumblr user wants or needs. But whatever, at least it's thorough. If you found this guide useful, please reblog it! The more people who back up fics, the better the chances that those fics will be available if you want them later. And if you end up using Calibre extensively, consider donating to the one-person developer team to keep the project going :)

[forhaddesigner]

Benefit of Product Photo Editing for Amazon In today's competitive online marketplace, the significance of high-quality product images cannot be overstated. As one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, Amazon is a gateway for businesses to showcase their products to a global audience. The visual presentation of products plays a crucial role in capturing the attention of potential customers, influencing purchasing decisions, and ultimately driving sales. This article will explore the benefits of product photo editing for Amazon sellers, delving into how professional photo editing can enhance the platform's visibility, credibility, and conversion rates. By implementing effective editing strategies and leveraging the right tools, sellers can optimize their product images to stand out in a crowded marketplace and maximize their online presence.

1. Importance of High-Quality Product Images on Amazon

1.1 The Impact of Visual Content on Consumer Behavior

In a world where attention spans are shorter than a goldfish's memory, high-quality product images on Amazon can make or break a sale. Research shows that compelling visuals play a significant role in influencing consumer behavior, helping shoppers make informed purchasing decisions.

1.2 Stand Out in a Competitive Marketplace

Amazon is a jungle of products vying for attention. To survive and thrive in this competitive landscape, your product images need to shine brighter than a disco ball at Studio 54. High-quality visuals can make your products stand out, capturing the attention of potential buyers amidst a sea of options.

2. Enhancing Visibility and Sales with Professional Photo Editing

2.1 Optimizing Images for Amazon's Search Algorithms

Think of Amazon's search algorithms as picky matchmakers trying to pair products with shoppers. Professional photo editing can optimize your images, ensuring they meet the criteria to appear in search results and increase visibility among your target audience.

2.2 Increasing Click-Through Rates with Engaging Visuals

Just like a captivating movie trailer makes you want to watch the whole film, engaging visuals can entice shoppers to click on your product listing. Professional photo editing can help create visually appealing images that pique curiosity and drive higher click-through rates.

3. Building Trust and Credibility through Polished Product Photos

3.1 Establishing Brand Reputation with Consistent Image Quality

Consistency is key, whether you're talking about a good skincare routine or your product images. By maintaining high-quality and polished visuals across your Amazon listings, you can build trust with customers and establish a strong brand reputation.

3.2 Communicating Product Features and Benefits Effectively

A picture speaks a thousand words, especially when it comes to showcasing your product's features and benefits. Professional photo editing can help highlight key selling points, making it easier for customers to understand what your product offers and why they need it in their lives.

4. Maximizing Conversion Rates with Appealing Visuals

4.1 Creating a Compelling Product Story through Images

Every product has a story to tell, and your images are the storytellers. By creating a compelling narrative through visually appealing photos, you can draw customers in, evoke emotions, and ultimately drive them towards making a purchase.

4.2 Encouraging Purchase Decisions with High-Resolution Photos

Blurry photos belong in the '90s, not on your Amazon listings. High-resolution images, thanks to professional photo editing, can showcase your products in all their glory, giving customers a clear view of what they're getting and nudging them closer to hitting that "Add to Cart" button.

5. Strategies for Effective Product Photo Editing on Amazon

5.1 Selecting the Right Editing Tools and Software

When diving into the world of product photo editing for Amazon, choosing the right tools and software is key. Look for programs that offer a balance of user-friendliness and advanced features to help you achieve professional results without pulling your hair out in frustration.

5.2 Best Practices for Image Enhancement and Retouching

Product photos need to look their best to stand out on Amazon. Embrace techniques like color correction, background removal, and blemish retouching to ensure your products shine bright like a diamond (or at least like a well-polished product photo).

6. Leveraging Editing Tools and Techniques for Optimal Results

6.1 Understanding the Role of Lighting and Composition in Photography

Before you start editing, remember that photography basics matter. Play around with lighting and composition to capture eye-catching product shots that set the stage for editing magic to happen.

6.2 Enhancing Color Accuracy and Contrast for Visual Impact

Color is your secret weapon in the world of product photo editing. Use it wisely to enhance color accuracy and contrast, making your products pop off the screen like they’re saying, “Hey, look at me!”In conclusion, investing in professional product photo editing is a strategic move that can yield significant returns for Amazon sellers. By prioritizing the quality and visual appeal of their product images, sellers can build trust with customers, increase visibility, and ultimately boost sales. Through the implementation of effective editing techniques and adherence to best practices, sellers can enhance the overall shopping experience for customers and position their products for success in the competitive landscape of e-commerce. Embracing the power of polished product photos on Amazon can be a game-changer for businesses looking to make a lasting impression and drive sustainable growth online.

FAQ

Q: Why is it important to invest in professional photo editing for products on Amazon?

A: Professional photo editing enhances the visual appeal of products, builds credibility with customers, and increases the likelihood of conversion, ultimately driving sales on the platform.

Q: What are some key elements to consider when editing product photos for Amazon?

A: Factors such as image quality, consistency in branding, effective storytelling through visuals, and optimization for search algorithms are crucial considerations when editing product photos for Amazon.

Q: How can sellers ensure their product images comply with Amazon's guidelines and requirements?

A: Sellers can refer to Amazon's image guidelines, utilize templates provided by the platform, and stay updated on policy changes to ensure their product images meet the necessary standards for visibility and compliance.

Q: What are some common mistakes to avoid when editing product photos for Amazon?

A: Common mistakes include using low-resolution images, over-editing or altering the appearance of products inaccurately, inconsistent branding across images, and neglecting to optimize images for mobile viewing, all of which can impact the effectiveness of product visuals on Amazon. Check my Product Photo Editing and Retouching GIG: https://www.fiverr.com/s/1qzEBZ5

[maysoulrose]

Ninja Sex Party The Mystic Crystal | Fan animation!

Okay wow.  SO I am by ALL MEANS not an animator. But ever since this beautiful song was birthed by Ninja Sex Party, I have wanted to attempt at animating my favorite part of the song. I have honestly been working on this since the song originally came out in December of 2020, and I have finally finished it. Since working on it on and off for about 2 years I finally hunkered down and made myself finish it finally this week.  I spent most of my time trying to learn an animating software, storyboarding, and drawing base images. Every time I took a lengthy break, I had to re-learn how to use the software, so I scrapped that and just painted each image in Sai, with different versions and 'animated' them together using my video editing software. This song is one of my favorites, not only by nsp (or any of their other bands) but in general. I honestly don't know why, but this specific part always makes me tear up when I hear it. something about Danny's voice is just so perfect for it. Anyways. I hope you enjoy it, even tho I'm not an animator, haha! This is my best attempt at creating what I saw in my head when listing to the music.

NSP: 

THE MYSTIC CRYSTAL VIDEO: 

GAME GRUMPS:

my stuff:

ETSY | REDBUBBLE | SOCIETY6 | ART INSTA | YOUTUBE | TWITTER | COMMISSIONS! | AMAZON BOOKS    

[nickgerlich]

Finding Resolve

We’ve all done it. We are all part of this new phenomenon, something that barely existed before this century, and only truly gained momentum in the last decade. The worst part is, most of us have forgotten exactly how much we are involved with it, because it is hard to remember what and how much these phenomena cost.

I am talking about the subscription economy, that magical place where software and streaming services are the product, and our monthly bill is usually on autopay. It ranges from SOAS (Software As A Service) providers like Adobe and Microsoft, to all the music, movies, and more that we stream into our homes, cars, and mobile devices.

And it is eating us alive.How many subscriptions do you have? Let’s start with your vehicle. Do you have satellite radio? That’s one. Do you subscribe to cloud-based software? That can be one or more. What about streaming tunes like Spotify or Apple Music? There you guy. The list is getting longer.

And then there are all the streaming TV choices, which runs from services like YouTube TV to Netflix, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Peacock, Max, Hulu, Disney…I could go on. You may have cut the cable at home, but you tethered yourself in other ways to the extent that the net effect is little different.

Then there’s the gaming community, if that’s your thing. More dinero. Maybe you fell for the premium version of an app, like Accuweather. If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you no doubt have Prime, which costs $139 a year, plus the vitamins and supplements I receive every month from them. Like listening to books? There’s Audible. Old newspapers? There’s Newspapers.com, one of my favorite sites to do research. Cloud storage? Good Lord, I have several, for my thousands of photos and documents.

So successful has the subscription model been that paywalls have appeared everywhere online, like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly, each of whom have amazing content, a feast for my eyes and brain. Alas, I have drawn the line, because I sense it has long spun out control. And if CNN goes ahead and paywalls its app and site, I guess I won’t be reading them anymore.

Because I, like many people, have subscription fatigue. I simply cannot begin to consume all of this media. Sadly, I cannot remember all of the services to which I subscribe, and if you aren’t there yet, I bet you will be soon enough. The only way to know for sure is to carefully track your credit card statements to look for monthly billing.

That, of course, is the problem, because we willingly provided our billing data so that we do not have to do this every month. As long as that credit card is valid, those providers will keep hitting your card every month. It is only when your card is about to expire that you get a notification. And if you were not careful and instead provided a bank routing and account number, they can keep sticking their hand into your pocket as long as you have that account.

Ironically, there are new subscription management software sites and apps that supposedly make it easy to track and opt-out of all the things, but they are subscription services themselves. That’s like replacing one drug with another. You’re still on the hook.

It all starts so easily, because many of the subscription services are technically just micro payments, only $5 or $10. We see that as pocket change. Other services offer annual payment options, which provide a slight discount for paying in full in advance. But many of the once-cheap micro payments have started to get expensive, like Netflix and Spotify (I am speaking from experience). They are no longer minor indulgences.

Were these tangible products we had to buy in a store, I bet we would all be a lot more careful. The friction of having to be somewhere to even just tap your credit card would probably be enough to cause us to think. But it is simply too easy in the digital world to keep subscribing, because once we get in that loop, there is never any friction.

We are all going to have to muster a lot more resolve to win this fight, as well as start keeping meticulous records. Otherwise, these things develop lives of their own, lives that will continue hitting credit cards even after our own lives are over. I’m pretty sure none of us will be consuming anything at that point, and there’s no use paying for it.

We don’t have to wait for New Years Day to make this resolution.

Dr “I Honestly Can’t Remember All Of Them” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[emptyanddark]

what's actually wrong with 'AI'

it's become impossible to ignore the discourse around so-called 'AI'. but while the bulk of the discourse is saturated with nonsense such as, i wanted to pool some resources to get a good sense of what this technology actually is, its limitations and its broad consequences. 

what is 'AI'

the best essay to learn about what i mentioned above is On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? this essay cost two of its collaborators to be fired from Google. it frames what large-language models are, what they can and cannot do and the actual risks they entail: not some 'super-intelligence' that we keep hearing about but concrete dangers: from climate, the quality of the training data and biases - both from the training data and from us, the users. 

The problem with artificial intelligence? It’s neither artificial nor intelligent

How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms

The Values Encoded in Machine Learning Research

Troubling Trends in Machine Learning Scholarship: Some ML papers suffer from flaws that could mislead the public and stymie future research

AI Now Institute 2023 Landscape report (discussions of the power imbalance in Big Tech)

ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web

Can we truly benefit from AI?

Inside the secret list of websites that make AI like ChatGPT sound smart

The Steep Cost of Capture

labor

'AI' champions the facade of non-human involvement. but the truth is that this is a myth that serves employers by underpaying the hidden workers, denying them labor rights and social benefits - as well as hyping-up their product. the effects on workers are not only economic but detrimental to their health - both mental and physical.

OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic

also from the Times: Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop

The platform as factory: Crowdwork and the hidden labour behind artificial intelligence

The humans behind Mechanical Turk’s artificial intelligence

The rise of 'pseudo-AI': how tech firms quietly use humans to do bots' work

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

workers surveillance

5 ways Amazon monitors its employees, from AI cameras to hiring a spy agency

Computer monitoring software is helping companies spy on their employees to measure their productivity – often without their consent

theft of art and content

Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control  (what gives me most hope about regulators dealing with theft is Getty images' lawsuit - unfortunately individuals simply don't have the same power as the corporation)

Copyright won't solve creators' Generative AI problem

The real aim of big tech's layoffs: bringing workers to heel

The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence

AI is already taking video game illustrators’ jobs in China

Microsoft lays off team that taught employees how to make AI tools responsibly/As the company accelerates its push into AI products, the ethics and society team is gone

150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting

Inside the AI Factory: the Humans that Make Tech Seem Human

Refugees help power machine learning advances at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon

Amazon’s AI Cameras Are Punishing Drivers for Mistakes They Didn’t Make

China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns

political, social, ethical consequences

Afraid of AI? The startups selling it want you to be

An Indigenous Perspective on Generative AI

“Computers enable fantasies” – On the continued relevance of Weizenbaum’s warnings

‘Utopia for Whom?’: Timnit Gebru on the dangers of Artificial General Intelligence

Machine Bias

HUMAN_FALLBACK

AI Ethics Are in Danger. Funding Independent Research Could Help

AI Is Tearing Wikipedia Apart  

AI machines aren’t ‘hallucinating’. But their makers are

The Great A.I. Hallucination (podcast)

“Sorry in Advance!” Rapid Rush to Deploy Generative A.I. Risks a Wide Array of Automated Harms

The promise and peril of generative AI

ChatGPT Users Report Being Able to See Random People's Chat Histories

Benedetta Brevini on the AI sublime bubble – and how to pop it   

Eating Disorder Helpline Disables Chatbot for 'Harmful' Responses After Firing Human Staff

AI moderation is no match for hate speech in Ethiopian languages

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech companies are in a 'frenzy' to help ICE build its own data-mining tool for targeting unauthorized workers

Crime Prediction Software Promised to Be Free of Biases. New Data Shows It Perpetuates Them

The EU AI Act is full of Significance for Insurers

Proxy Discrimination in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Welfare surveillance system violates human rights, Dutch court rules

Federal use of A.I. in visa applications could breach human rights, report says

Open (For Business): Big Tech, Concentrated Power, and the Political Economy of Open AI

Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data

environment

The Generative AI Race Has a Dirty Secret

Black boxes, not green: Mythologizing artificial intelligence and omitting the environment

Energy and Policy Considerations for Deep Learning in NLP

AINOW: Climate Justice & Labor Rights

militarism

The Growing Global Spyware Industry Must Be Reined In

AI: the key battleground for Cold War 2.0?

‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI

AI: The New Frontier of the EU's Border Extranalisation Strategy

The A.I. Surveillance Tool DHS Uses to Detect ‘Sentiment and Emotion’

organizations

AI now

DAIR

podcast episodes

Pretty Heady Stuff: Dru Oja Jay & James Steinhoff guide us through the hype & hysteria around AI

Tech Won't Save Us: Why We Must Resist AI w/ Dan McQuillan, Why AI is a Threat to Artists w/ Molly Crabapple, ChatGPT is Not Intelligent w/ Emily M. Bender

SRSLY WRONG: Artificial Intelligence part 1, part 2

The Dig: AI Hype Machine w/ Meredith Whittaker, Ed Ongweso, and Sarah West

This Machine Kills: The Triforce of Corporate Power in AI w/ ft. Sarah Myers West