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ariyadaivaris · 6 years ago

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catsi replied to your post “i miss lucha chiropractic, and i miss mustafa’s teaming with gran and...”

oh i absolutely 100% know what you mean and agree

205 live has been putting a lot more emphasis on putting on incredible matches (with great success) but in the process i think it's lost a lot of the quirky upbeat fun attitude that made us all fall in love with it to begin with? i ALSO miss titus worldwide and seeing akira have friends, i miss seeing goofy interactions backstage like that box of flour that exploded in ariya's face that one time

and i LOVE drake, i do, but i miss the sort of open-ended free-roaming the boys had before? feuds felt a lot more personal before one person called all the shots. like the Drew vs Mustafa feud that was born out of Drew doing some dumbass shit and Mustafa being like "ahah no this will not do". like they drove their own feud and it had so much STORY. it was much more than just "grrr you were mean" "grrr yes i am fight me about it"

or the fucking Brian and Akira feud, jesus, that feud was one of my favourites in all of pro wrestling, i think? Brian teaching Akira these "lessons" via fucking with his matches and Akira finally snapping and parrotting every lesson back at Brian and then ending his whole shit with that senton thru a table. like i feel like the current 205 live would never allow that story-heavy of a feud to last as long as it did (it was like 2 months?)

this is a stupid analogy but bear with me - old 205 live felt like an open-world RPG where you can just go wherever and do whatever and in the process have wild interactions like Everything Alicia Fox Was A Part Of, or the trick or street fight, etc.. maybe the combat wasn't allowed to be as detailed as it could be to give the story room to breath but the story gave the combat DEPTH

and new 205 is like... an on-rails fps. the combat is good, it's so good, oh my god is it ever good, but there's so much focus on it that story feels lost and stuff just happens to make combat look cooler or last longer? and i still love 205 with all my heart but what made me fall in love with it to begin with and get obsessed with it was its thoughtful, deep, consistent storylines

SORRY THAT'S A LOT... i've just had the same thoughts as u of like... i love these boys SO MUCH i want their interactions to have more depth than "i have the title" "well I WANT THE TITLE..." "fight me for it!" like akira and neville's title feud wasn't akira going "i want that title!" it was titus going "YOU want that title. YOU CAN GET THAT TITLE. let me help you. let me be your friend" and neville being like "the power of friendship cannot defeat me!!"

CAT!!!!!!!!!! never ever apologize im gonna SING i love listening to you talk about 205 oh my god

you worded it PERFECTLY that analogy makes perfect sense? i absolutely feel that, it’s gotten so much more focused on technical work and, like you said, combat, but in the process it feels like...the heart of 205 has kind of gotten lost? it’s there but everything’s shut off from everything else that isn’t on the designated path and it’s so FRUSTRATING to have everything so CLOSE but so strictly separated

like....like you said, i LOVE drake, but i feel like he’s very very much Lawful Good and i love that character and i love how he interacts with the roster as a result, but he’s lawful good running 205 and 205 is very very VERY Chaotic Neutral/Good and fitting it into this alignment, things have gotten shaved off around the edges and it stings!!! there’s a thriving ecosystem of dynamics between everyone on this roster, take any two people and they’ll probably have an established dynamic (besides lince who has taken basically until now to be actually given a spotlight, and new dudes like buddy or lio) and knowing that, you can SEE them use that and weave it into their interactions and it feels so alive on such a foundational level!!!

like...talking abt mustafa v drew, you could see the story advance and you could see HOW that story changed their in-ring performances. like, the story wasn’t JUST in words, but as time went on, mustafa DID get grounded but it was exactly in the way he needed to be grounded to achieve his fullest potential! and you could SEE him learning that, you could see him incorporating technical pins into his matches, and waiting longer for risks that were more certain, instead of charging in blindly! you could see the story and characters evolve through JUST THE WAY THEY FOUGHT and its a level of storytelling that is so so so understated but its like. HOOOOLY SHIT like, it still blows me away thinking about it

like. LIKE!!! like you said, storylines lasting 2 months or more, that doesn’t feel...like something that could happen for just feuds between people who arent champions right now. the feuds that happen now are still good, but there’s a big fucking jumble of people involved in every one and that decreases the chance for individual feuds and also just...in lhp’s case it feels very much like a reason to not give lince or gran or kalisto individual character arcs which Yeah Okay Fucken Great You’re Not Sneaky, its

tony and drew having matches with gran and cedric? like, that rivalry, that was a team thing for a bit but it was enhanced because we’d seen the dynamics between these individual dudes already, and we saw that on display during matches. drew and cedric NOW, FUCK, its frustrating seeing it because on top of the FUCKING fandom shit happening lately, like, drew and cedric have a pretty significant title history already! like, its certainly been swept under the rug with the rat where he fucking belongs but cedric actually reached OUT to drew and told him that he COULD make a better 205 if he did the right thing. he was actively sympathetic towards drew and that was an interaction we never really got to see more of and that could add SUCH A DIMENSION TO THIS FEUD IF WE COULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE HISTORY 205 HAS INSTEAD OF ACTING LIKE THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF NEVER HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

god my train of thought is all over the place im sorry fhdkjsd i agree with you wholeheartedly cat u worded it perfectly. christ i miss akira and titus worldwide. that arc was so good, akira trying to be alone and gradually learning to accept titus’s friendship and apollo’s concern for him, akira learning to tap when he couldn’t fight anymore instead of carrying on and breaking himself, that character arc is still the best in all of wrestling to be QUITE honest and now it feels like...akira’s alone again. akira is alone again after hideo, even, which is an arc im still a lil cross about! akira feels so...alone. and he wasn’t before. and it’s like...

akira’s support system he actively EARNED and WORKED FOR last summer, it’s all gone now. he doesn’t get to tag with mustafa or cedric or jack anymore, he doesn’t really have anyone looking out for him, he’s fighting his own battles again and it feels like everything’s just...been unravelled. and it HURTS! that story arc was EVERYTHING to me and its still my favorite an entire ass year later. and now it just...isnt there.

i dont know. i love 205 with all my heart and it is my heart but i feel like...without matches on ppvs or on raw, their time is even more limited to prove what they can do, and its been streamlined and we dont see everyone’s antics backstage, we don’t see faces reaching out to heels, we don’t see noam and ariya bickering with lince, we don’t see akira and mustafa talking in passing before plot stuff kicks in, it just feels like...the fabric that made 205 feel like a living breathing creation and family is pulled out into just individual threads now? and i miss...when it wasn’t that

#catsi #long post -#FHKSDFJDS SORRY THIS IS INCOHERENT LITERALLY #THE OPEN WORLD ANALOGY IS LITERALLY PERFECT LIKE........THAT'S DEAD-ON. I AGREE ENTIRELY #that's brilliant i never would have thought of it like that. that's perfect

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reviewandbonuss · 4 years ago

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The Best Help Desk Software (In-Depth Review)

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

Unorganized support teams are a nightmare for everyone involved.

From two agents wasting time on the same request to customers or employees sitting around for hours waiting on an answer, things can get really hectic without the right tools and software. And it could even damage your reputation forever.

You don’t want that and I don’t want that for you, either.

However, choosing the best help desk software for your team isn’t an easy task. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of options to choose from.

So to help make your life a bit easier, I looked at dozens of the top options on the market and narrowed it down to my top six recommendations.

From small customer support teams to IT services and mobile field support, this guide covers it all. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly which help desk software is right for you, regardless of your situation.

The Top 6 Options For Help Desk Software

Freshdesk – best for small to midsize businesses

Hubspot – best all-in-one customer service CRM

Zoho Desk – best for fast-growth businesses

Freshservice – best for IT service management

Happyfox – best for mobile and field support teams

Cayzu – most affordable help desk software

How to Choose The Best Help Desk Software For You

Before we dive into my top recommendations, let’s talk about what makes these tools great and what to look for when deciding which help desk software is right for you and your team.

There are tons of options to choose from, so don’t forget to keep these considerations in mind as you go through the process.

Your use cases

Help desk software exists for a number of reasons, like internal employee support and external customer support. Furthermore, different tools include varying features depending on your use cases.

So, it’s essential to consider how you plan to use the software before making a decision.

Number of agents

How many support agents do you have? Most help desk software charge by the agent, so you need to have a good idea of the number of seats you need.

Some providers also impose agent limits on specific plans, so you’ll have to upgrade to a higher tier if you need to add more agents to your account. This upgrade can be extremely pricey, especially if you’re not expecting it.

So, make sure to choose a plan that offers a bit of breathing room as you grow.

Ticket management

Tickets help you organize, route, and store help desk inquiries. So, you should make sure your software includes basic ticket management systems to help make the process faster and easier.

Furthermore, some software includes ticketing features for a wide variety of support channels, including email, live chat, social media, instant messaging, SMS, and more.

An efficient ticketing system is crucial, from automatic ticket creation and organization to smart routing and everything in between.

However, some of the options on this list limit the number of tickets you can create daily or monthly, which may be too limiting for large teams. And you may be better off choosing an unlimited plan instead.

So, keep this in mind as you make your final decision.

Support channels

What channels do you use to provide support?

Internal support teams may use instant messaging, live chat, or email while customer service teams may utilize social media, SMS, and phone calls.

Regardless of the channels you use, it’s crucial to implement software that handles everything you need.

If you already have systems in place, make sure the help desk software you choose plays well. And if you don’t, consider where your customers/employees hang out and the communication methods they’re most comfortable with.

Furthermore, you should also think about internal communication tools. One agent may need to pass an inquiry on to someone else, or they may need help answering someone’s questions.

So, it’s important to think about how your agents communicate with each other and how you plan to share information from one department to another, as well.

Other features

The best help desk software includes a variety of helpful features beyond ticketing and communication. And it’s essential to consider which features you need to streamline and optimize your support systems.

Some typical features and extras include:

Knowledgebase and self-service support

Escalation levels to the right people

Automated workflow creation

Open API integrations

Internal chat software

Cross-department collaboration

Client and contact management

Analytic dashboards

Role-based access

Ticket sorting

Time tracking

It’s also crucial to consider the specific features you need for your use cases.

Internal teams need different things than customer support teams, so keep this in mind as you go through the decision-making process.

Analytics and reporting

Data helps managers and owners understand how your service agents perform and what your customers are asking. Advanced ticket tagging and categorization can also help with the latter.

From there, you can optimize your support process and work on building a self-service knowledge base or in-depth how-to guides to quickly and efficiently answer common questions.

This frees up agents and gives them more time to handle less-common requests.

Furthermore, reports and data visualization help display information in a way that’s easy to understand. This can give you a birds-eye view of your support system and may even help you know how to better serve your team and customers.

The Different Types of Help Desk Software

There are several different types of help desk software. The best type for you depends on various factors, including the size of your business, your budget, customization, and security requirements.

Cloud or web-based — this is the most common type, and it’s often referred to as a SaaS tool because the user pays a monthly subscription to continue using the software.

Furthermore, everything is stored on the cloud or the provider’s server, so the user doesn’t need additional infrastructure or dedicated IT. Plus, the vendor is in charge of managing and maintaining the software, making it an easy and affordable option for businesses of all sizes.

All of the recommendations on this list offer a cloud or web-based solution.

On-premise — unlike cloud or web-based software, on-premise systems are installed on the user’s servers. Typically, the end-user purchases a license for the software and they’re in charge of management and maintenance.

While they’re harder to install and manage regularly, they tend to be more secure and customizable. So, it’s an excellent option for high-security industries and anyone interested in a hyper-customized solution.

However, this means a dedicated team is required to update and maintain the infrastructure.

Enterprise-grade — these are built specifically for extremely large businesses. They come with a ton of hyper-customizable features and solutions to suit the needs of enterprise businesses with massive budgets.

Enterprise help desk software comes in all shapes and sizes, from single-location businesses to international conglomerates operating worldwide.

For most users, this type of software is 100% overkill.

Open-source — this type of software is best for developers or companies with knowledgeable IT departments because you get access to its source code. This means you can modify how the software works to meet your unique requirements.

Essentially, it’s a more affordable way to get a highly customizable solution, as long as you have the skills and know-how to make it work for you.

#1 – Freshdesk Review — The best help desk software for small to midsize businesses

If manual email and social media customer service are becoming too much for your team to manage, Freshdesk is a great way to ease the burden.

Its ticketing system is straightforward to use, and it comes with numerous helpful features.

Plus, it’s incredibly affordable, and there’s a limited free forever plan with unlimited agents to try it out before you invest a single penny.

With Freshdesk, you can streamline conversations across channels in one place, create contextual conversations with anyone, automate repetitive processes to save time, automatically share solution articles, and easily monitor your team’s performance.

Furthermore, you also get access to countless support features, including:

Multi-channel team inbox

Agent collision detection

Custom ticket statuses

Scenario automations

Canned responses

Shared ownership and huddles

Linked tickets

Time tracking

Scheduling dashboard

Event and time-based automations

AI-powered chatbots

Knowledge base capabilities

On top of that, they also offer several educational courses and a fully-staffed customer support team to help you and your team get the most out of your new software.

Freshdesk has five different help desk plans to choose from, including:

Sprout — Free with limited features

Blossom — $15/agent per month

Garden — $35/agent per month

Estate — $49/agent per month

Forest — $99/agent per month

You can start with the free plan to try it out, but I highly recommend upgrading to a paid plan when you can justify it to gain access to more of their advanced features.

Each plan comes with a free 21-day trial to test the waters before making your final decision.

#2 – Hubspot Review — The best all-in-one customer service CRM

If you need a full-blown customer relationship management (CRM) tool to go along with your help desk software, Hubspot is a smart choice.

And the best part? You can get everything you need to get started for free.

With their free Service Hub, you get ticketing, meeting scheduling, reporting, a team inbox, live chat + chatbots, email templates, and team email connections.

So, it includes everything you need to start optimizing your customer support process.

But you also get several other features like tasks and activities, email tracking, contact website activity, contact management, custom fields, and more.

While Hubspot’s free plan is excellent, their paid plans offer a fantastic suite of amazing features you can use to improve your entire support system further.

Each pricing tier adds more advanced features, but their most affordable plan ($40 per month for two users) includes:

Eight hours of VoIP calling and recording

Conversational bots to create and route tickets

Simple open and close automations plus internal notifications

1,000 canned responses for frequently asked questions

Up to 1,000 email templates

Ten reporting dashboards

1,000 documents

Conversation routing

Two ticket pipelines

Up to five currencies

So, it’s quite a step up from Hubspot’s free plan. However, if you meet those limits, you have to upgrade to a higher-tiered plan. The next tier starts at $320/month, so it’s quite pricey.

Alternatively, you can opt for their Starter Growth Suite, which includes the starter plan for Hubspot CRM, the Marketing Hub, the Sales Hub, and all the service features above.

It starts at $50 per month, so it’s a super affordable way to get access to a ton of different marketing, sales, and CRM features if you need access to all of them.

Note: this is special COVID-19 pricing with regular rates starting at $112.50 per month.

#3 – Zoho Desk Review — The best help desk software for fast-growth businesses

Zoho provides countless business tools to businesses of all sizes in every industry you can imagine.

All of their software is fantastic, and their help desk software is no exception.

From affordable plans at every level and a robust free plan to incredible support features, you can rest assured that Zoho Desk has the ability to scale alongside you as your business grows.

At its core, Zoho Desk is a multi-channel ticketing system. So, you get top-of-the-line ticketing features that let you organize and streamline support inquiries, whether they’re coming from email, social media, live chat, phone, or an online form.

And as your business grows, the need for a self-service knowledge base increases. With Zoho Desk, you can quickly turn support requests into knowledgebase articles in just a few clicks to continuously grow your database.

On top of that, you also get access to a wide variety of features designed to help improve and consolidate your support processes. Some of the most popular features include:

Zia, an AI-powered digital assistant

Help center tools to design and create your knowledge base

Several ticket views and automatic ticket organization/prioritization

Advanced response editor with canned snippets

Visual process automation builder

Customization via APIs and built-in integrations

Dashboard headquarters for analytics and reporting

Custom field options for web forms

With that said, it’s important to note that lower-tiered plans don’t include every feature. So, be sure to look through each plan’s features before choosing one.

And keep in mind that you may have to upgrade to a higher plan to get what you need.

Zoho Desk plans include:

Free — For up to three agents with email ticketing and limited features

Standard — $12/agent per month with social channels, workflows, and dashboards

Professional — $20/agent per month with BPM, time tracking, and ticket sharing

Enterprise — $35/agent per month with Zia, live chat, and advanced customization

#4 – Freshservice Review — The best for IT service management

If you’re looking for a better way to handle IT support, Freshservice is one of the top options on the market. Like Freshdesk, it’s a Freshworks product, so you have a massive brand behind the software.

However, it’s built specifically for IT teams, rather than customer service.

With more people working from home, strong IT support is more critical than ever before. And you may even see an influx of inquiries coming through as people adjust.

Which… is where Freshservice comes in and saves the day. They offer everything you need, including multi-channel support, hardware and software records, contract management, and a top-rated mobile app for iOS and Android.

Furthermore, you can automate agent assignments and approval workflows to help streamline the process. Plus, you also get access to powerful features like:

Incident, knowledge, and SLA management

A user-friendly service catalog

Self-service portal and knowledgebase

Internal contextual collaboration

Problem, change, and release management

Project dashboards and analytical reports

Asset and inventory management

Lifecycle management

Asset auto-discovery

Interactive visualizations

And you can easily integrate any Freshworks software with Freshservice, along with tons of other third-party software integrations as well.

So, it’s an excellent choice if you already use or plan on using any of their other business tools.

Freshservice offers four different plans to choose from, including:

Blossom — $19/agent per month with essential features

Garden — $49/agent per month for growing teams

Estate — $79/agent per month for large teams

Forest — $99/agent per month for enterprises

These prices indicate annual pans paid in advance. They also offer monthly plans for a higher fee, except for the Forest plan.

Try Freshservice free for 21 days to see if it’s right for you!

#5 – Happyfox Review — The best for mobile and field support teams

Field agents have a unique set of challenges vs. support teams in the office or one set location. As such, you need a specialized tool that adapts to meet your needs.

Happyfox is a field service software designed to help you track agents, schedule work, and leverage real-time communications with a fully-featured mobile interface for seamless use on the move.

When agents are continuously traveling from one job to the next, they must have an easy way to share and track status information from one agent to the next.

And the good news is that Happyfox does just that, with a wide range of features like:

Ticket ques, statuses, and categories

Multi-channel ticketing capabilities

Ticket threads and attachments

Canned actions and responses

Searchable and customizable knowledgebase

Agent collision detection

Built-in asset management

Auto-assignments and smart rules

Simultaneous routing rules

SMS support

And dozens of other helpful features specifically for mobile teams.

Unlike the other options on this list, Happyfox doesn’t display their pricing online. But they offer standard per agent pricing and special packages for unlimited agents, making it suitable for field service teams of all sizes.

For agent-based pricing, they offer four plans with varying feature sets.

And each plan automatically includes SSL security, unlimited tickets, smart rules, knowledgebase capabilities, multilingual support, rich text formatting, and mobile applications.

However, their unlimited agent plans cap the number of tickets you can have in a year. So, you have to decide which option makes the most sense for your situation.

Schedule a live demo to see if Happyfox is right for you and your team today!

#6 – Cayzu Review — The most affordable help desk software

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly cloud-based help desk software, Cayzu is exceptionally affordable with paid plans starting at $4 per agent per month.

It’s also straightforward to use. With that said, it’s not the most feature-rich option, but you sacrifice some of the advanced features for an incredibly affordable price.

At just $4 per month, you get access to all the essential features you need, including:

Secure data protection

Automatic backups

A mobile application

Unlimited customer support

Ticketing system

Canned responses

Knowledgebase capabilities

Email ticket creation

Multi-language support

Open APIs and rest APIs

Support widget

Or you can upgrade to one of the higher plans for just a few dollars ($9 per agent per month) and get time tracking, assignment rules, basic automations, due dates, custom SSL certificates, and more.

And they also offer a freedom plan (up to 70 agents) if you’re interested in an easy way to get all of their features. It starts at $469 per month, but it’s probably overkill for most users.

Plus, over 20,000+ companies (including Verizon, Yahoo, and PBS) trust Cayzu with their help desk needs. So, you’re not alone and you’re in good company when you sign up.

Wrapping things up

Freshdesk, Hubspot, and Zoho Desk are my top recommendations for most users. They all offer numerous powerful features at affordable prices for businesses of all sizes.

However, they’re not perfect for everyone. Different situations call for different solutions.

So, don’t forget to use the criteria we talked about as you sort through choosing the best help desk software for you, your team, and your customers.

What’s your go-to help desk software?

The post The Best Help Desk Software (In-Depth Review) appeared first on Neil Patel.

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j-p-morris · 4 years ago

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Individual reflective diary - Advanced game-play development

Pre-assumptions

Going into the project I had confidence. This had been built by getting good grades in the former version of this module the semester before. I respect that a lot of that grade had been down to our group as a whole so I knew that I needed to contribute more this time around and was ready to do so. Given the prompts that our games had to follow, platforming or racing game, I was struggling to find any creativity towards the concepts as they felt somewhat restrictive.

For the racing game we could make a fun kart game in the style of Mario kart / Crash team racing, or a serious simulation attempt in the style of Forza. The impact to creativity came in that a simulation type game had to be good. It had to play well, look good and spark a certain amount of competitivity. A standard that I wasn’t sure of how to achieve and a prompt that didn’t entirely excite me, as I am not interested in such games personally.

The karting style game did offer more freedom and an opportunity for a type of game I was familiar with. The only issue I faced was that it has been done so many times and so well that anything we made would come across, at least to me, as a generic knockoff. Many big-name series have delved into this sub-genre, I mentioned crash team racing, and many have felt like generic re brands of Mario kart because it did it so well so early. It would be impressive for any of us to some up with new ideas for the genre or new ways to do things, so we would essentially just be compiling all the best bits of those games and that to me felt cheap.

Luckily for me the group I found myself in already wanted to make a platforming game. Again I felt the platforming genre left little in the way of new invention but it was far less restrictive than a racing game. That being said, it would be difficult to create something now that is completely new and unseen in any genre, so perhaps the issue lies with me in that I’m simply not so creative in that department and my talents are better executed elsewhere.

Due to the fact that I joined the group a week later than the initial ‘get into groups’ session (see why in week by week diary) I was more than accepting of just tagging on and helping where they needed, rather than joining later and asserting my ideas on a team that already had a start.

To summarise my assumptions, I felt that we could make a good to great project depending on what team I landed in, especially considering my lessons from first semester about being more pro-active. And I also felt the options of racing game or platforming game were unpopular picks but I understand that they were maybe picked intentionally to get us to build outside of our comfort zones.

Week by week diary

I will preface this diary by saying that I am compiling it come the end of the project, as that is how I tend to tackle these documents. This being said not all of the details will be to the correct week, I may miss things entirely or not have the correct amount of weeks total. I will be conversing with my group about what they remember so I get as much detail as possible. I recognise that actually doing this week by week would have been a much better approach and something I will carry forward into future projects.

Week One:

Week one was the introduction to our semester module and outlining what exactly we would be making. As mentioned in the pre-assumptions the prompts didn’t excite my creativity. When asked to get into groups and discuss ideas I elected to stay separated and go over ideas on my own. Understandably this was a bad idea because I had no one to bounce ideas off which did restrict me. Overall this was due to my own lack of comfort in approaching other people which is something I know needs work if I’m to progress in any work environment, never mind just this course. I left this session still not in a group but that would be corrected in the next week.

Week Two:

This next week focused on the third person controller, a vital part of what we were doing as this would be our first module that focused on a third person game. At the end of this lecture I approached the tutor as to get help being assigned to a group, there were a few of us in the same situation. Luckily there was a group at the front of class at the same time as me composed of some people I had talked to and knew a little so I said that I could join their group while the other people without groups former their own. They accepted this and brought me up do speed with their ideas and I offered to help out where they needed me.

We were set up in Scrumwise by out tutor so that we could accurately manage our project and get some practice in working in an agile manner. We got started by setting out some tasks to complete for the next week and added them to our Scrumwise page.

Week Three:

Over the past week I had been working on my parts of the project. I offered to work on a game UI as I had made on in the previous module and was familiar with it so I could do it quite easily. Despite not having access to last semester’s project for reference, it ended up very similar. I followed what I remembered and rebuilt it for this game, changing the font and stylising it more appropriately while keeping the functionality.

On top of this I figured out a spawning system that would work for detecting when the player had fallen and a basic checkpoint system that would change the player’s spawn point for when they did fall. This was all very basic and was built in a test setting just to know that it worked in practice and in theory. We were working in separate unity files so later down the line we would have to compile everything we built as individuals but for now this was the only method that we had.

Coming into class this week I had completed I believe all but one or two things I had been tasked with and had marked them all off as complete on Scrumwise. Most the rest of the group had done the same in finishing their required parts but had neglected the Scrumwise aspect, something that would persist over the coming weeks when outside of the lecture room.

We concluded the session by assigning more roles to work on for the next week and updating Scrumwise accordingly. I didn’t have much else to work on because I had made a faster start to the project than my peers, which at this stage wasn’t an issue and I feel more of a positive reflection on my own drive to get work done rather than a negative reflection on their approach, as they were still making good work.

Week Four:

Around this week it became clearer that we would not be able to keep up with managing Scrumwise. We would add tasks once a week when we met in class but other than that our page went untouched and as a result, come the next week and the end of the sprint it would show that we had completed no work, when in reality we were on par with the module, just out of touch with documenting it.

I believe it was also this week that we had a quick exercise in class to showcase how certain demand from higher up the chain can result in often ridiculous changes to a game. This was to get us to think about how we could make our games in such a way that they were adaptable and still simple. We sat down and went over core mechanics of our game, what we wanted everything to do and how we were going to achieve that as simply as possible. I believe this lecture helped us to streamline our project and focus on what was important rather than going off and trying to implement too many things and have to remove them later for time’s sake.

Week Five:

Another week went by while neglecting Scrumwise and at this point we decided after a conversation with our tutor that we would be dropping it going forward as it didn’t gel with our style of managing a project. I realise that it is an important tool and adapting to agile is important especially in this line of work, however at this stage of our development it isn’t vital and I have time to practice and adapt in projects I work alone and in projects next year. This was more a decision to make sure that we could tackle this project to the best of our abilities without added pressure or distractions of managing this page. Our solution was to have one of us write down each person’s tasks for the week and check back in at the scrum meeting the next week. Simple but effective.

Sometime over next couple of weeks would be our internal testing, or at least a smaller version in the class rather than a public setup, so we needed to knuckle down and get our versions compiled as up to now we had all still been working separately. I offered to compile our work and set to work on that. We had a small test area set as a lava filled cave that I took and used to create a small demo area with. I added a player that another tutor helped me acquire that had animations, some pillars to jump between, I added my menu UIs and a checkpoint.

I had added everyone’s scripts but didn’t know how they worked and figured it would be quicker if they could get them working themselves, as they already knew how they worked. So I sent the version over to our shared google drive and said to work on it for the next week. This didn’t happen. Come the internal testing session some of us arrived late and communication had been particularly poor from certain members so it was unclear if we even had a demo version beyond what I had sent over nearly a week ago.

Throughout the session I tried to develop on what I had built and in the meantime the rest of the group took the initiative and compiled a better version that was used as a demo and as far as I recall seemed to go down very well with test audiences.

Week Six:

This week was fairly straight forward. In class we had an exercise involving various physical puzzle toys. This was to get us to think about the fundamentals, what made it fun and such. Using this we applied ideas to our own game and managed to whittle it down so that it removed unnecessary parts and streamlined the experience and the production to only factor what was important.

Week Seven Onward:

I say ‘week seven onward’ because it was around this point that the current global situation reached a point that it affected our ability to continue the project as we were. This disrupted our workflow to pretty much a stop and for at least two / three weeks nothing was developed. Communication became non-existent and only once online lectures started again did we hear from each other as we got back into working.

One member of the group took initiative and built a game world, all assets included, that we used to develop the final version of the game. The game world was different to what we initially had planned but still fell under our plans, more closely resembling a middle level we had planned rather than the first stage. However we decided to call this a demo version and just showcase this as a level. Had global events not happened and we could work as normal this would be level two of three.

Following from the level being built I took over and downloaded it from our google drive and added my work. This came with some issues. Uploading and downloading files from the google drive didn’t work flawlessly and only after about four uploads could I download a version that was up to date and without errors. From this I took a week to make sure everything I added was working and that I wouldn’t need to add anything else in the future. I should explain that at this point we decided to just include everything we already had made and focus more on document rather than creating more moving parts to the game. This was down to the fact that we had just over a month and a half before the updated deadline and advice from tutors was to do so. With the fact that we got good feedback from the internal testing and that the game artifact is now worth less to the module we felt this would be an okay route to take.

As of now I have uploaded my work to the game and sent it to the google drive so that the rest of my team can add their sections and complete it, though that was over a week ago and I am unsure of any developments. Next week we aim to be done with the game itself and focus solely on documentation. One member of the group has been in charge of the design document until now so I am eager to get hands on the document and go over it so that I’m confident of its standard. Beyond that we need to work on the presentation and then we should be done with the project.

From here on in I will be keeping an actual week by week diary until the work has been submitted, with updates being written after every Monday as that is when we elect to meet, after arranged lectures and tutor check ins. Looking at the module brief the dates for week to week breakdown only go as far as the original deadline, therefore any further weekly diary entries will come under a title “WFH” (work from home) and week one through, potentially, four, although this is over a month before the work from home order was given.

WFH Week One:

This week’s update is short. I have finished all of my inclusion to the game artefact and am waiting on other members of the group to complete their additions as well as a copy of the current GDD. My biggest contribution of work this week has been writing this document up to this point and a start on the Individual Reflective Diary which outlines exactly what I have contributed to the project.

WFH Week Two:

Following on from a team meeting the plan is to start work now on the presentation. The document is still nearing its completion and the game artefact is being passed around for updates and compilation. Some issue keep arising in using google drive in that uploads and downloads keep failing for seemingly no reason. In future projects I will find it essential to avoid this method and highlight to the university the necessity for an investment in UnityCollab for students. Right now it’s behind a pay wall that inconveniences us yet has the potential to be an even more valuable asset then GitHub that I’m sure would improve the quality of all group-game modules the course offers.

Looking to the presentation, sections have been divided out and I will be talking about my inclusion of the checkpoint and fall trap briefly, along with my main sections of issues in development, things we cut and future plans. Having had a successful presentation last semester I have a certain confidence going into this, especially considering the current circumstances, and not having a live audiences. The only hiccup comes in recording myself and finding a good method to do so. Editing duties are left to another member of the group.

One final update is that considering my previous experience with creating a website, something my group members are inexperienced in, I will be adding all of our works to a site. This is more or less a copy paste job but nonetheless I list it as a responsibility.

WFH Week Three:

I’m writing this update a couple of days later than I planned simply because other module commitments have been more pressing and required more of my attention. As of right now there is just over a week before deadlines.

I have the website set up for our documentation, all that requires is the completion of said documentation by other members of the group and I can update the site accordingly and chalk that off. Elsewhere I have completed writing my section of the presentation and aim to record it over the next couple of days, before I write the next update to this report.

At this stage I’m unsure of the progress of the game itself. As we have been passing it around and I’ve contributed my parts I haven’t had a need to download a latest version, though I assume additions will have been put off, though coming so close to the deadline I hope I get confirmation of progress being made. I will more than likely send reminders to everyone and make regular check-ups to see work is being done.

In terms of remaining work I have:

- Presentation to record. (Will be sent over to another group member for editing so that takes a higher priority as to not have them waiting on me close to the deadline)

- Website to complete. (Dependant on other group members completion in a reverse of roles from the previous point)

- Game itself. (Dependant on other group members)

- This report. (Will be completed with next update and post-mortem)

- Peer assessment review. (I want to leave that as late as possible to fairly reflect all contributions)

- Personal asset list. (Will be tagged on to the end of this report, can only be completed at the end of work as it is the compilation of my additions)

WFH Week Four (Final):

This week progress has been better, probably with deadlines in a few days. I’ve completed my part of the presentation and sent that off to the group for editing together. Still waiting for the document to be completed so I can finish the website but work has at least been happening for the document so I’m not worried.

I’m unsure how progress is coming along for the game itself. Communication is scarce, especially between those who it falls to now. The best solace I can take is that I’ve included my work and so anything missing from the hand in version won’t be because of me. Though one bug has occurred to my part of the build but we’re all unsure where it has come from as the build, I sent off still works so all I can gather is that something that someone else has submitted is interfering. I feel at stage of development, and even last week when the bug was brought to my attention, that it’s too late to be spending valuable time on the game artefact when It could be spent elsewhere picking up more marks and creating an all-around better project.

Elsewhere I have completed the majority of what I can on my own and now just wait for collaboration with group mates for finally ticking things off the list. I have completed the peer assessment form, as mentioned the presentation, this document will be completed next as I move straight onto writing the post-mortem and directly afterwards I will fill out the personal asset list.

Post-mortem

Overall I feel this project has been a success. There have been setbacks and moments well below standard but I believe beyond those we have worked towards a goal and achieved it.

Firstly what went wrong. From a personal view, it took me beyond the first week to get into a group which isn’t the worst thing in the world but would’ve saved some time. This is purely a reflection on my ability to approach others, I simply prefer to be placed into a group and work from that than try and sell myself to course mates I haven’t spoken to yet. Definitely something I need to work on for next year and crucially beyond.

Our communication was well below par. Personally I feel like I have done well communicating and making it to organised teams’ meetings both from tutors and group. Elsewhere however my group’s commitments have been inconsistent at best, so much that in one member’s case I’ve only heard from them once since campus closed. Even now, less than a week before the deadline, I’m not sure what said member has contributed and on a whole I’m not sure how close the game is to having everything we plan included.

Google drive has caused more problems than it has solved. Having uploads and downloads for the game be consistently corrupt for no good reason isn’t a good way to manage a project and in future will be avoided at all costs. Additionally our failure to take to Scrumwise was a detriment. The practice could have been invaluable towards next year but looking at jobs especially and is now something that I’ll either have to come to grips with in my own time or in final year.

However, on the positive side, I felt even given the extra week to get into a group that I fit in well and managed to settle down quite quickly, getting quite a bit of work done after our first scrum meeting. I ended up quite fortunate in that the idea this group had was one I could get behind. I feel that joining the group late I wouldn’t have felt right coming in and asking them to change things. And I feel that in the end I’ve become the most consistent member of the group.

Our communication was bad, but we had moments that we realised it and corrected it, even if these corrections didn’t last the rest of the semester. Some time after the closure of campus we hadn’t done much work and were drifting a bit until one member picked up some work, covered for another member too and got us back into a sort of rhythm. What I mean to say is that we didn’t communicate well, but when it was needed, we managed to. In future I’ll be making sure communication doesn’t just occur when it’s needed, so I have at least learned from this.

And it cannot be understated how valuable a tool like GitHub or UnityCollab can be to streamlining group work. I’ll be putting practice into using GitHub and requesting that the university look into funding UnityCollab availability for students.

As long as we can hand in our work and it goes beyond a pass, which I believe it will easily and significantly, then I’d say we performed well this semester. Especially considering how difficult current events have made things for all of us. I don’t know the unique situations of everyone in my group, so I have some sympathy regarding standards of commitment and I feel fortunate that we’re managing to hand in as we are.

Personal asset list

Spawn controller script.

Menu controller script.

Main menu and corresponding linked menus.

Pause menu and corresponding linked menus.

Presentation – Mechanics: checkpoints, fog / Development: All.

Formatting of GDD onto website.

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dissertationprepsami · 5 years ago

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Week 4 and 5

We looked at the Harvard way of referencing so we would know how to reference properly according to the uni in our dissertations. Harvard style referencing is an author/date method. Sources are cited within the body of your assignment by giving the name of the author(s) followed by the date of publication. All other details about the publication are given in the list of references or bibliography at the end.

Kat gave us an example to look at.

Harvard referencing isn’t something I’ve done before so I thought I should do some research into it at home too as I know that there can be some bad consequences if you get it wrong.

I found a handbook that I think will come in helpful as it seems to break down exactly what you need to do for every type of reference.

I also spoke to Kat about the research I had done into social media addiction but also decided I still wanted to carry on research into rehabilitation after prison as it is another thing that I would be interested in doing for my dissertation. Me and Kat spoke about the sort of things that I would need to look into in order to find out more about this process. There would be three categories of prisoners that I could look at for this; prisoners who have committed the crime as a necessity (provide for their family), prisoners who are mentally ill, and the wrongly accused. I want to look at the rehab programs that are offered to prisoners and the after care that they receive. Hopefully I will be able to interview some ex-prisoners or even some prison guards to gain some inside information that I may not be able to find from stats on the internet.

I have a friend that went to prison for 9 months and was also on tag for a period of time, I thought I could ask him some questions about the sorts of things he was offered within the prison and what he had to do when he was still on tag.

There are different types of rehabilitation techniques that prisoners get;

Parole

A commonly used method in justice systems around the world as a way to help reintegrate offenders into society. During parole the offender is released before his or her sentence is completed in exchange for fulfilling certain conditions, such as gaining employment, refraining from drug and alcohol use, and refraining from contacting the parolee’s victims (if any). Parolees are also often required to regularly check in with a parole officer who ensures that the parolee is adhering to his or her conditions for release. By offering early release in exchange for good behavior, parole is meant to make the transition from incarceration to freedom easier.

Home detention curfew (HDC)/Tag

Some prisoners are released early subject to a curfew which requires them to be at home for between 9-12 hours per day, allowing them to live at home and to work during the final weeks of their sentence. They are given an electronic tag, a small device which is fitted to the ankle or wrist. The tag sends a regular signal to a monitoring centre which confirms the presence of the person in their place of curfew. If they are absent or try to tamper with the equipment the monitoring centre is alerted and the breach investigated. HDC lasts a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 3 months for those serving less than 12 months, and a maximum of 4 and a half months for those serving 12 months to 4 years.

Treatment

Some crimes, particularly drug crimes, are the result of an individual’s own addiction problems. While incarceration was previously used as a “tough on crime” punishment against people convicted of drug crimes, legal experts are increasingly recognizing that incarceration does little to address the underlying causes of addiction. As a result, in many jurisdictions judges are given the discretion to sentence offenders to mandatory substance abuse programs in lieu of prison, particularly if it is the offender’s first offense. Such treatment programs are designed to help people overcome their addiction problems, thus allowing them to become fully functioning members of society.

The method that I am most interested in looking at is home detention curfew, I was particularly interested in this rehabilitation scheme as its the one that my friend was on, but also because this is the one that actually allows the prisoner to leave prison early, alongside parole, so it means that these are the prisoners who are most in need of being reintegrated back into normal life, it would be interesting to see if the process they go through actually helps them

I started researching a bit into HDC, I wanted to find some key facts, I thought this would help me decide whether I wanted to choose this as what I do for my dissertation as I want to make sure that what I end up doing is something that I am really interested in, as I am going to have to do a lot of research into it and do a lot of reading about it. I also feel like if I was doing something that I am not that interested then it would show in my work.

Any of the facts or statistics that I find may be useful if I do choose this topic so I wanted to make sure I had the links so I could refer back to it when I am writing the dissertation.

General stats about re-offending

2000-2006

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217378/effect-early-release-hdc-recidivism.pdf

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/fa4e/b5f3ac8ee5084195c6b1266dd17dcce51015.pdf

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2018/06/22/prison-population-falls-after-rise-in-home-detention-curfew-cases/

- Ten per cent (6,643) of the HDC sample were recalled to prison while they were being electronically monitored.

- The majority of the recalled offenders, 8%, were recalled for breaching the terms of their curfew while the remaining 2% were returned to prison for committing a further offence while on HDC.

- Offenders whose current conviction was either burglary or robbery were twice as likely to be recalled compared to prisoners who had committed other types of offences.

- Thirteen per cent of prisoners released on HDC had previously breached licence conditions. 23% of the offenders who were recalled from HDC had previous breaches compared to only 12% of those who were not recalled.

- HDC released prisoners who were recalled had committed almost twice as many crimes in the past than those who were not returned to prison.

- From July 2006 to March 2010, 7,292 people were released on HDC; 21% of them were recalled, which equates to an average of 34 people per month.

- People on HDC are predominantly male, on shorter sentences (63% were serving sentences of 6 months to less than 2 years), and have a less serious offending profile compared to the overall prison population.

- It costs £126 per week to keep someone on HDC, compared to a notional cost of £610 per week to keep them in prison.

- Prisoners and staff strongly felt open prison made it easier for prisoners to transition to life back in their home communities.

- Citing figures showing that only 21% of potentially eligible offenders were released under the scheme in 2016, the instruction emphasised that refusing HDC for prisoners who qualify should be the “exception”.

Alex Hewson, of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “The recent reduction in the prison population is welcome, and reflects a sensible and measured streamlining of existing guidance for home detention curfew.

Getting low risk individuals out of prison a few weeks early on a curfew gives them the opportunity to re-establish themselves in their local community, and has the additional benefit of providing some vital breathing room for a system under intense pressure.”

General facts in regards to homelessness and rates of re-offending

I want to look at how homelessness can effect the rates of re-offending too, seen as if released prisoners don’t have any accommodation because they can’t afford it, then its more likely that they will either re-offend just to stay alive by stealing food for themselves, or they may even re-offend on purpose because for them it may be easier to stay in prison where they get things like a bed and food, when outside they don’t.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278806/homelessness-reoffending-prisoners.pdf

- Fifteen percent of prisoners in the sample reported being homeless before custody. Three and a half percent of the general population reported having ever been homeless.

- Nearly two in five prisoners (37%) stated that they would need help finding a place to live when they were released. Of these, 84% reported needing a lot of help.

- Three-fifths (60%) of prisoners believed that having a place to live was important in stopping them from reoffending in the future.

- More than three-quarters of prisoners (79%) who reported being homeless before custody were reconvicted in the first year after release, compared with less than half (47%) of those who did not report being homeless before custody.

http://www.russellwebster.com/homelessness-and-re-offending/

- It found that 15% of these prisoners reported being homeless before being sent to custody – compared to 3.5% of the general population who report EVER being homeless.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/12/two-thirds-of-homeless-ex-prisoners-reoffend-within-a-year

- 27, 209 adult offenders released from custody were recorded as having settled accommodation, while 4,632 were recorded as homeless and 2,815 recorded as having “unsettled” accommodation.

- Last August, concerns were raised over the number of ex-offenders likely to be sleeping rough after MoJ figures revealed that more than 100,000 prisoners left detention for unsettled or unknown accommodation over the previous three years.

I think its really important that I include statistics from the re-offences that occur purely from being homeless. Although its never right to commit a crime, its important to understand that in some circumstances these people may have no other option than to turn to crime in order to stay alive, and it could be through no fault of their own.

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occasionallygrovyle · 8 years ago

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Blog organization: A guide

Mama bird here, gonna give ya a rundown on how to make ur bloggos 👍👍 so y’all can gain more traffic and love for all ya lovely blogs and mons.

Been doing this pokemon blogging business for 4 years, been here and back, so lemme give ya the 411 on how to make them blogs sparkle n shine

Pokeask/daily blogs should be focused on exactly that: interactions and the such. OOC should be limited to munday memes and the such. I know some folks prefer to keep ooc meme prompts to weekends and munday, I’m more neutral on that. Do what you like, just tag it accordingly so people can blacklist if they don’t want to see meme content. Use a meme tag. I myself have a personal tumblr where I reblog all sorts of stuff, cuz tbh when I look at a blog I want to see stuff relating to the theme of the blog, not random ooc reblogs (been seeing a blog reblogging animals relating to their muse under a specific tag, I’d say that’s perf fine since it’s related, and there’s a tag that can be blacklisted if folks don’t wanna see it!).

But Yonder I want to talk to other people and jab about the stuff I like! How do I talk to others if I’m gonna clog up daily/ask content here? Fam I feel you. I talk bout myself all the time lmao. On my twitter, and in discord chats! Got twitter a year ago, It’s a perfect platform to get to know others better, and you can do memes there too! Nowadays when people talk to me via IM I redirect them to my twitter cuz it’s just easier for me. The formatting of twitter just makes it easier to start convos b/c everyone’s pretty much constantly making new convo starters you can respond to whenever. This is more of a personal note but I don’t really show my personality much here on my blogs so by looking through my twitter peeps’ll be able to better judge if we’ll get along!

Speaking of tagging: Abuse the tagging system! Got an ooc post? Tag it ooc! Got an art post? Use an art tag (you don’t have to, that’s getting fairly specific, but I do)! For example: I use the tag #out of park for my ooc posts. And specific mons are tagged as is too! So if someone wants to dig up a specific response they can via a species tag like #pangoro or w/e.

As a side note when people search up tags on tumblr, only the first 5 tags of any given post are put into those tumblr searches. If you want people to find your art tagged under #pkmnart or w/e, be sure it’s one of the first 5 tags in your post! This’ll make sure your content will be seen by more people who otherwise wouldn’t have seen it.

Have all info on a muse easily accessible (aka, a ref)! If I can’t find it within 5 clicks or so (this is relating to user interfaces in general on the web), I’m probably not gonna bother to dig around for it. Got other things to do fam, job, college, commissions, adult life n all that jazz. And we all know social media gives us terribly short attention spans lmao.

Clean up outdated material. Done with that meme you did a few days ago? Delete the prompt so it’s not cluttering your content. If you really wanna save those meme responses, make them into a private post, or compile them all in a draft and delete the original posts. It breaks my heart when I see a lovely blog, but I gotta dig through 10 meme prompts to see any actual content. I usually don’t follow a blog back if I see that.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine but Trim Ya Posts!! See this?

I’ll instantly unfollow if I see this. If you’re going to reblog something like this please, I implore you to 1) use ya personal blog homie, this really shouldn’t be on an ask/daily blog. 2) tag as #long post so that blacklist extension can do it’s magic. This extends to untrimmed rps. Xkit has extensions that allow for deleting the older replies in threads, so when you reblog something your followers aren’t seeing the same starter post for the 20th time.

What if I can’t get Xkit? Well, usually in that case the best alternative is to draw/make the reply and put a [previous post] link either above or below your reply! Trust me, your followers will thank you for it.

Some other tips:

Don’t use super bright colors for blog headers and themes. If them colors make my eyes hurt I’m avoiding it like the plague. https://coolors.co/ is a great color palette generating site! How we perceive color varies from person to person but generally super saturated colors should be avoided for blog headers.

Don’t reblog 4 memes at once. It’s a bit much, at least to me;;

If someone’s taking requests and is asking for a reblogged ref, reply to the original post instead of making a giant thread of ref pics

People might be tearing into each other for w/e reason on your dash but honestly even if the people involved made it public don’t get mixed into it if it doesn’t involve you. Be mature and know when to mind your own business.

Adding to this: talk about issues privately. Not everyone needs to know your beef with so-and-so unless they’re a threat to minors or they’re doing something undeniably nasty, ect.

Don’t gossip. Dude. You may not think so but we can tell who you’re vauging about. Just. Stop. Vent to a friend in private or something.

Dumb anon bugging you? Just. Block em hun. Take a breather, they have no power over you. Just reply with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and move on.

Communicate. If something someone does bugs you, talk to them privately. Vauging and gossiping does nothing to solve the problem except make it incredibly hard to discern what’s truth and what’s not in a situation.

Don’t force a friendship by saying “can we be friends?” It makes things incredibly awkward. You don’t become a friend with someone via request. The best friends I’ve made on here? I don’t even remember when or how we started talking, it just happened naturally.

Generally, peeps have an internet alias that isn’t their muse’s name. For example, my name is not Grovyle. My name is Yonder, and I don’t wish to be addressed as Grovyle as she is one of many fictional fabrications I have. She’s not my identity, not by a long-shot. I’ll only resort to using the muse/url I know them by to address someone if I literally have no other way to distinguish them in a chat.

Oneliners and incoherent sentence structure (not on part of the muse’s personalty but rather the person’s writing) on a regular basis in a response tend to make it very hard for people to reply or maintain interest. Though generally this applies more to text-based blogs where text is what people are coming to the blog for.

Ur all wonderful n I know many of you are new to this and I want you all to enjoy blogging and avoid the mistakes I made when I was a wee blogger back in 2013. Feel free to ask for clarification, I write this in an attempt to help things be more streamlined and easier for everyone in this community! And of course, I’m sure plenty of this is subjective on my part.

Love y’all!

#psa #blog orgainization #out of park

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britesparc · 6 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #374

Top Ten Things I Want from the Next Xbox

Well, it’s getting to that time again! E3 isn’t too far away, and this is One Of Those Years. Big announcements, hardware, speculation, rampant fanning… it’s all go!

Recently, Sony have discussed aspects of their “next PlayStation console”, presumably to get ahead of the announcement game as they’re skipping E3 entirely. It looks like Nintendo will be revealing a new, somewhat cut-down version of the Switch very soon, with a slightly souped-up version possibly coming later in the year. And Microsoft have earmarked their standard pre-E3 conference as the time when they will, at last, lift the lid on their next Xbox or two.

And so, inspired a little bit by a recent, very fun, Eurogamer podcast, I’ve been thinking about what I want from the Xbox Two (or whatever it’s called). And, yes, I’m just thinking about the Xbox, because I’ve got an Xbox. For better or worse, I’m in that ecosystem, and frankly I don’t have the time or money for multiple consoles (although I do really want a Switch). Plus, to be honest, I’m far more interested in the general direction that Microsoft seem to be going than Sony; sure, the PS5 looks like being an evolution and is a simpler proposition I guess (assuming what we think about it is true). But Microsoft focusing on software and one game purchase carrying across multiple platforms and even console generations, that sounds more up my street than “just” sexier graphics.

Anyway, here we go: ten things, some realistic, some not, that I’d like to see in the next Xbox. I’m not really focusing on games here, more the hardware – what I want the box to do.

Backwards Compatibility: this is a no-brainer, surely? Microsoft have really leaned into this, and I think it will continue. All Xbox One games should work, no question, and all of the 360/OG Xbox games already in the Back Compat list should work exactly the same on the new machine. I’d also like to see a graphical upgrade from Xbox One games played on the new machine, like when you’d play certain Amiga 500 games on the A1200.

Backwards Compatible Hardware: I’m not really aware of this happening before, but I really think they should extend the “it all works!” notion to include hardware. Sure, refine and improve the controller, but just make it so that the new box can use the old stuff too. I know they want to make money but it’d be a great incentive if I went in to the next generation knowing my kids already had two working controllers to use.

4K Blu-ray Drive: basically, I don’t want a discless Xbox yet. I do, in fact, buy most of my games digitally nowadays, but I still buy Blu-rays and physical editions of games when I really love them. I want my Xbox to be the only thing under my TV if at all possible, and that means a Blu-ray drive. What I hope is that, if they make a two-tiered system, the cheaper option still has a BD drive, because I have a feeling that any top-end Xbox 720 will be a mite bit pricey.

A Sub-£400 Price Tag: speaking of which… I’m fairly convinced, in my own head, that Microsoft will announce two iterations of the next-gen Xbox. It’ll be a bit like the Xbox 360 “Core” and “Premium” editions (although hopefully the cheaper option won’t be quite as cut-down). I think they’ll cost about £350 and £400 respectively, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the relative success of the Xbox One X means that MS feel comfortable charging a high premium for the top-tier version. I like having nice things, but I’m also a tight-arsed Yorkshireman, so at the moment I’m ambivalent towards which iteration I’ll be getting. If the cheapo option is discless, it’ll be a no-no; but if the sexy version is £450 or even (gulp) £500 that’ll be a tough decision.

Keep the HDMI-in: I’m not sure how popular it is, and whether it’ll be worth the hassle of Microsoft including it in the hardware, but I for one really like the TV-in functionality of the Xbox One. I suppose it can be a little fiddly having to access the Xbox first to watch TV, but seeing as we hardly ever watch TV or use the PVR, we pretty much always go through the Xbox regardless. It’s nice to flit between “live” TV (well, stuff we’ve recorded on the PVR) and the rest of the Xbox functionality. Maybe this will be something that’s retained for a “high-end” Xbox Vol. 4 but ditched for a lower-priced model.

Controller Standby: okay, this really is me just chasing something that would make my personal life easier, but one thing that irritates me with the Xbox One is the controller turning itself off. This is because we use the Xbox as a media hub in the living room; virtually all the media we watch – Netflix, iPlayer, Blu-rays, you name it – comes via that little black box. I did buy an Xbox remote control, but its functionality was a mite limited (nowhere near as good as the 360 media remote), and besides which, it broke. Using the controllers is fine (and easier if you need to navigate the dash), but they turn themselves off to save battery life, and it feels like it takes an age to make them come back on. Some sort of standby mode to reduce battery drain, but where the controller comes back to life, fully functional, the minute you press any button, would be fantastic. Or, y’know, bundle a remote.

Bring Back the 360 Quadrants: speaking of controllers, one thing I really miss is the little circle of light around the Xbox guide button that was on the 360 controller. It’s a simple thing, but lighting up a quadrant of that circle was an ideal way of indicating who was using which controller. Maybe nowadays hardly anyone is playing local multiplayer; maybe more hardcore games use other methods. But some way of easily identifying who’s in control of the dash, or which is the “primary” account at that moment, would be very useful, as it can get a touch confusing. Tying a profile to a controller feels elegant to me, but what do I know? Oh, which reminds me – unified controller settings! That was a godsend last gen, so why did they get rid of it? I wanna tell the Xbox that I play inverted, and then not have to do it for every single game. Please bring that back Mr. Microsoft.

Streamlined Interface: the Xbox One dashboard and whole user interface comes in for a fair bit of stick. To be honest, I don’t mind it, but it is fiddly, and it’s certainly a step back from the Xbox 360 experience. I’m not sure if my problems with it don’t just stem from the console targeting people with other interest than myself; I really just want fast access to my games and apps, and a quick way to check out my friends, achievements, and friends’ achievements. I hope they bring back the old “Guide” so there’s a really, really fast way to access that info “on top” of the dash, so to speak. But seeing as it’ll almost certainly be based around Windows 10, I hope they make it really customisable, too.

Intelligent Use of the Cloud: let’s face it, “The Cloud” is Microsoft’s USP as far as consoles are concerned. Sure, everyone has a cloud nowadays, but set against Sony’s “it’s a console but really good” and Nintendo’s “everything is mega-weird and super-cool”, Microsoft saying “all your stuff works everywhere” is a nice little hook. I hope it does work. Cloud processing was this generation’s hyperbolic disappointment, on display in Crackdown but far from the revolution we were hoping for (a bit like that funky sci-fi camera they had last generation…). Game streaming, however? Yeah, sure. The thought of playing my Xbox games anywhere – on my laptop, on my phone, on a Switch – is quite exciting, not just because “yay games”, but because they’re my Xbox games. Playing, I dunno, Halo 5, continuing the story, maintaining my progress, earning achievements… it’s an enticing prospect. On the Eurogamer podcast someone suggested that streaming could be potentially used (or, rather, hypothetically used) to create an “instant-on” situation, where you can start playing a game immediately before it’s finished installing or even downloading. Stuff like that would be nice. And I hope they extend Play Anywhere too, making more games cross-platform.

Discless Play: okay, this is a long-shot, as I imagine MS doesn’t want to go anywhere near the ideas they had when they announced the Xbox One; but all the same, I loved the sound of some of those ideas. Chief among them was the ability to install a game off a disc, but then play it from the hard drive without needing to put the disc in the machine again. I get why some people don’t like that, because of the restrictions it could place on resale, but I’d love it as an option. Seeing as this upcoming generation appears to be all about digital, downloading or streaming games, the concept of a physical unit or physical ownership is a little bit old-fashioned. Now, I’m a big proponent of physical media, but all the same Netflix is way more convenient. If I can rip a CD – or even automatically download its contents from Amazon – then activating a digital copy with a physical product would be great.

Right, there you are. Ten things I wanna see in the new Xbox. Will they come true? Well, maybe some. But I imagine I’ll still be scrambling on my hands and knees looking for errant Halo discs.

#top ten #xbox #microsoft #next gen #games #gaming

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harrisjv · 6 years ago

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LiteApp Studio Review And Large Bonus

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The modern-day marketing professional can reap enormous gain from the mobile application change. Helpful marketing software program is coming to be increasingly available in application type, making devices and also data easily offered on the go. From uploading article to tracking project metrics, apps allow marketing experts to access info at their fingertips quickly as well as easily.

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Buffer is offered to download and install on iOS as well as Android devices.

Just recently ranked one of the top CRM systems on G2 Crowd, Nimble was produced to aid professionals construct better online connections amid all the multi-channel sound that can deafen consumers. Active allows users to track as well as involve relationships by unifying contact details, social media profiles of essential links as well as on-line discussions in one location, streamlining data.

Active is presently available to download and install on iphone from Apple Application Shop.

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Feedly, Blog Sites, RSS Information Visitor is a site aggregator that allows you to accessibility details from all of your favourite websites and blog sites in one place. All customized content is delivered straight to your smartphone or tablet computer enabling you to overtake a wealth of web sites rapidly and conveniently.

Feedly offers a selection of valuable features, including a 'Popular' section on top of each feed to make certain that certain material isn't forgotten as well as a Custom-made Sharing choice which allows professional participants to send posts directly to their chosen clipper.

Other valuable RSS apps consist of Reeder and also The Early Edition 2.

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The Official Facebook App

The main Facebook application is the lengthy ruling, many downloaded and install social networking app on both Android and also iOS. Geared toward giving individuals the same experience of making use of Facebook on their mobile phones as on the web site, the Facebook app makes it very easy to remain connected and also share information with colleagues on portable gadgets. This is an useful application if you're making use of Facebook as one of your major social media sites networks for your company as you can share standing updates as well as material with your followers on the action.

The Facebook app is readily available to download on both iphone and Android.

Twitter as well as Google + additionally have their very own social media applications.

Finest Blog Writing Apps

WordPress is one of the most prominent blogging device for individual and also business use. With its simple to make use of applications, you can update your blog through smartphone or tablet computer, upload and also edit articles in addition to manage customer comments on the move. Wordpress can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Blog writer, among the original blogging tools, but much less in style today makes blogging on the move basic. Update your blog site from your smartphone or tablet, upload as well as edit messages as well as handle individual talk about the step. Posting images from your tool is easy as well as location services permit geo tags to share your place. Blogger can be downloaded from the App Shop or Google Play.

The Official LinkedIn App

The LinkedIn application gives you a helpful interaction device that will maintain you up to speed up with your specialist network. Stay up to date with your LinkedIn links; comply with sector influencers to obtain regular understandings as well as professional web content and search for fellow LinkedIn users, companies and also groups and access your LinkedIn messages.

LinkedIn is an effective system for preserving specialist partnerships and also publishing web content, such as recent blog posts, that attracts attention towards your organisation or solution. The app is readily available to download and install on both iOS as well as Android.

Finest Apps for Staying On Top Of Digital Advancement

LiteApp Studio supplies the most up to date information on innovation, apps, mobile details, social networking as well as general internet-related news. Multiple tabs allow you to see a complete breakdown of channels that you can search by classification, tag or by writer.

The application notifies users to one of the most checked out pieces as well as works across smartphones as well as tablet computers, adjusting the content to the size of the gadget. The posts have a basic, tidy layout as well as are easy to review as well as navigate. If you click on an exterior link within a selected article, the link will certainly open in the app's own internet browser, allowing you to go right back to your initial write-up without leaving the app.

Mashable is a must-have for those that want know the market news before it breaks, to stay ahead of advancements as well as never be left in the dark. It is readily available for download from Google Play and the Apple App Shop.

The TED application presents talks from a few of the globe's most remarkable people: education radicals, technology wizards, clinical mavericks, service masters as well as songs legends. There are more than 1,700 TEDTalk video clips that are updated on an once a week basis and delivered in high or reduced res formats based upon your network connectivity. You can set up your very own playlist to see later on, even when you do not have data or WiFi gain access to. The entire TEDTalks collection goes to your fingertips that you can sort by current or prominent. Find something by tags, motifs, or related talks.

With this free app, videos are optimized for watching on your apple iphone or iPad as well as are categorised to make looking for your following motivational presentation that much easier. As an added function you have the alternative to share your preferred talks with pals.

TED is offered for download from Google Play as well as Apple App Shop.

Best Digital Marketing Recommendation Applications

Quora is a terrific platform for online marketers seeking information from trustworthy resources. Individuals can ask an inquiry as well as get genuine solutions from individuals well-informed along with the option to upload blogs. The application welcomes individuals to aid each other by contributing and sharing their very own knowledge. You can download Quora on Android as well as iOS.

Quick Win Digital Advertising And Marketing Lite is a valuable app that supplies answers to the top 100 electronic advertising inquiries. Based upon guide by Annmarie Hanlon and Joanna Atkins, the application is created in 5 areas so you can dip in and also out looking for response to concerns as they occur:

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Digital Advertising and marketing, how you can use electronic marketing strategies as well as devices to advertise your business/products/services

Branding Online, a critical topic for all businesses of all dimensions

Handling, Determining as well as Loan Making online, where it all collaborates.

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thefield5 · 6 years ago

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Steps to Diffusion

What is it?

FitBit is a health company that was founded in 2007 by James Park and Eric Friedman. The duo took advantage of new wireless sensor technology to create a wide range of products that could co-exist with smartphones to track users health and activity. FitBit thrives on the attributes of compatibility and observability.

Because there are several options, users can choose the model that works best for them, and find what is compatible for their budget and lifestyle. Through the app, and as they continue to use the product, users can also observe directly how the product is impacting themselves and others. FitBit products are also fairly simplistic in design and concept, again, depending on the model. Because of the variety, it allows high tech adopters to use the newest and most advanced, while those who may be less tech-savvy to use the simpler designs without loss of function.

FitBit also was innovative in its advantages, as it allows already active users to gain an even deeper understanding of their bodies and exercise plans. It also made exercise and fitness accessible to those who may have felt shunned by the fitness community or were to scared to join a gym. By tracking steps, FitBit managed to reinvent the pedometer and get countless people moving.

Adoption

The Fitbit was a product that seemed to take off right away. Those that adapted to the technology first would have been upper middle class, athletic millennials. These products were useful for the target audience because if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle it is helpful to have product. The Fitbit can also be seen as a status symbol, as depending on the model, they can be fairly expensive.

There's also a large portion of users that own the product that do not use it for its actual health benefits, but because the product itself is popular. Those who decide if the product adopts or not would be those that decide to buy the product, and more specifically those who are allowing the adoption of the product to happen are first the innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and finally laggards.

Early adopters were enthusiastically athletic individuals, especially those who participated in athletic group activities. These individuals had to be enthusiastic enough to spend a steep amount on the FitBit due to its currently niche market. According to MetaFacts’ Findings, early adopters of the FitBit, much like those of the GoPro, were the first of their age group to adopt a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Many may have already been interested in tracker products but the FitBit was an appealing new device for many reasons.

The most popular reasons seem to relate to trendiness as an accessory and features such as the ability for the hardware to hold up in a variety of environments. These early adopters influenced public opinion of the innovation with a higher than average percentage of users being early adopters. Opinion leaders played the role of motivating other potential adopters, providing educational information, and establishing brand loyalty. This brand in particular achieves this by pushing the idea of exercise in a variety of unique ways. This information is spread to consumers through a variety of channels.

Awareness

Nowadays, people are trying to become healthier. Searching for a product that will help them keep track of their progress to reach the end result they are looking for. By searching for this product, people can come across a Fitbit. As mentioned on the website “This all-day companion uses personalized reminders, coaching, music & more to help you reach your goals.”

Information about fitbit can spread quickly. They have their own Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube page along with a their blog which helps spread information about their product. Will a great product, information even spreads by word of mouth.

There are many gatekeepers when it comes to Fitbit. First off, people who are looking to get into shape, a personal trainer who could be using a Fitbit could suggest their customer to buy a Fitbit because it will help them show the progress they have been making. Professional athletes would be another source. There are a lot of people who look up to professional athletes. If they have something, they think it has to be a good product to have so it’s something we would like to buy. Gatekeepers towards Fitbit could be anyone that uses the product for fitness.

When it comes to how people adopt the technology, there are different levels. The three levels that would be most common for the Fitbit would be knowledge which is when a person will gain experience from the product and get to know how it works. Persuasion is another when an attitude towards the Fitbit can be positive or negative which would lead to the decision. This level will help the buyer know if they would want to have the product by learning about it and even hearing about it from others. Or they would want to go with another product because they have hear bad things about the Fitbit that to their knowledge won’t perform to their standards.

Reinvention

FitBit has seen a huge growth spurt in the past decade. When the product launched, the most popular version was the FitBit Flex, a screenless step tracker that sat inside of a rubber wristband. The original Flex showed your daily step progress with small lights, and could track sleep patterns. In 2017, FitBit released the Flex 2, which is water resistant, allowing users to track their swimming, has vibrating reminders to move, and can be worn as a wristband or pendant.

The Flex isn’t the only device that has evolved over the years. Another popular model is the Fitbit Charge, which originally replaced a recalled product. The Charge was released in 2014, and tracks sleep, steps, stairs, and distance traveled. In 2015, the Charge HR was released, which added the additional function of heart-rate tracking. The Charge 2 was then released in 2017, which has many different additional features, including sleep stage tracking, guided breathing, exercise modes, a stopwatch, the ability to receive notifications from the user’s phone, and even a vibrating alarm clock.

As smartwatches evolved, FitBit released several designs to keep up with the times, the most recent being the Versa, launched in April of this year. Featuring a colored touch screen, bluetooth GPS tracker, apps, music, and notifications, the Versa is also waterproof, allowing it to be worn swimming.

The FitBit app has also evolved overtime, as recent updates have allowed users to create posts and join groups, in addition to gaining badges for achievements and a place to track steps, water and food intake, and sleep. In the past eight years, FitBit has doubled their product line and streamlined their app, making fitness accessible and a social tool.

Diffusion

Diffusion is the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. Now with that being said, based on the FitBit company putting a disclaimer stating the FitBit could cause skin irritation, that could affect the diffusion of the product. For example, if I am using a FitBit, and my skin all of sudden becomes red and maybe a bit itchy, I am going to tell people I know that use one what happened, which in turn may cause them to stop using the product which would ultimately affect the diffusion of the FitBit due to what I told my friends. However, on the flip side, according to a press release by FitBit, they have over 25 million users in 2017.

They also quote: “Consumers continue to purchase and use health and fitness trackers, fueled by advanced features, engaging software and social experiences that motivate, helping to lead to positive health outcomes.” Based off of this quote, as well as the press release, it is possible to say that even in recent time the diffusion for the FitBit is going well. Which is exactly what FitBit wants us to believe. According to an article titled Tons of people are buying FitBits, but are they actually using them, they state that roughly 9.5 of 19 million users were active, and the rest hadn’t been using the device. Based of the conflicting article releases, it will be interesting to see how FitBit does in the future.

Sources

Americaninno.com, www.americaninno.com/boston/fitbit-active-monthly-users-early-adopters/.

“Breaking News Instant Updates and Real-Time Market News.” Comcast to Invest over $50B over next Five Years in Infrastructure CMCSA;CMCSK - The Fly, thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=2509656.

Cipriani, Jason. “Q&A: Fitbit CEO James Park Talks about the Company's Past, Present, and Future.” ZDNet, ZDNet, 16 Apr. 2018, www.zdnet.com/article/q-a-fitbit-ceo-james-park-talks-about-the-companys-past-present-and-future/.

“Find the Product That's Right for You.” Fitbit Official Site for Activity Trackers & More, www.fitbit.com/compare.

“Fitbit Community Grows to More Than 25 Million Active Users in 2017.” Fitbit, Inc., investor.fitbit.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2018/Fitbit-Community-Grows-to-More-Than-25-Million-Active-Users-in-2017/default.aspx.

“Fitbit Reviews.” Glassdoor, www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Fitbit-Reviews-E500145.htm.

Goode, Lauren. “Tons of People Are Buying Fitbits, but Are They Actually Using Them?” The Verge, The Verge, 6 Aug. 2015, www.theverge.com/tech/2015/8/6/9110035/fitbit-fitness-tracker-watch-active-users-sales https://www.fitbit.com/home.

Long, Dan Owens. “3 Questions For Fitbit Investors.” Seeking Alpha, Seeking Alpha, 3 July 2017, seekingalpha.com/article/4085509-3-questions-fitbit-investors.

Peckham, James. “Best Fitbit 2018: Which Is Right for You?” TechRadar, TechRadar The Source for Tech Buying Advice, 5 July 2018, www.techradar.com/news/wearables/best-fitbit-which-is-right-for-you-1322700.

Rogers, Everett M. Diffusion of Innovation. The Free Press, 2003.

“Tag Archives: FitBit.” MetaFacts' Findings, technologyuser.com/tag/fitbit/.

Weil, Richard. “Pedometers: Get the Facts on the Types.” MedicineNet, www.medicinenet.com/pedometers/article.htm.

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the-fitsquad · 7 years ago

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UVI Workstation

Workstation Synonyms, Workstation Antonyms

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If the students are breezing by means of certain workstations then this normally indicates that it is time to introduce yet another workstation! Want a hard Ultrabook with critical graphics and processing power? The majority of CAD operations you will discover these days are CPU based so the much better the CPU clock speed and the higher the number of cores the far better. Created for the executive, the Pod Desk enjoys a wealthy and earthly appeal with clean lines and an open hardwood develop that innovatively combines discrete storage solutions and a slim streamlined building. 5. L-Shaped Desks – One of the primary pieces of furniture is the desk and workstation. A private computer may be a desktop personal computer or a laptop, tablet, or a handheld Computer. The remote server sent an invalid response for a file being opened with Client Side Encryption.

(33) The delivery of new computer workstations will be via Technologies Solutions by way of the Stores method on each and every campus. There is a token holding timer to stop a workstation from transmitting too a lot data. My property office space is set up in a corner of my living area. By using a consistent mechanical graphics interface in the type of high-overall performance MXM-IIIb, Eurocom is capable to introduce a variety of innovative PCI Express graphics solutions as speedily as desktop Pc graphics. The activation server reported that time based activation attempted after end date. I think about these men and women (and several, a lot of others) to be buddies, and I am thankful that social media has brought them into my life. In the finish, if you are deciding on which specialist workstations to buy, the HP Z-Series are outstanding and will stand the test of constantly-updating technologies.

HP has also completed a lot of work on power saving and a new hibernate mode called HP WattSaver reduces power consumption to .8W, compared to the 2.1W in its earlier generation workstations. Our recommended Revit workstation specs ensure you have a sensible quantity of memory from the outset and have space for expansion if your project size changes in the future. Greater visualization of the final product, sub-assemblies and constituent parts in a CAD technique speeds the style approach. Most folks testimonials speak that the Dell Precisions Workstations T3600 Laptop Workstation- Intel Xeon Processor E5-1603 (4 Core 2.8GHz, 10M) are splendid luggage. The energy that these systems offer you is unmatched by a lot of home desktop computer systems, but that isn’t the only purpose to take into account a workstation.

As laptops become much more than just mobile transportable computing machines, they are increasingly becoming a widespread choice for daily use as properly as to replace the house desktop, or even in the workplace. With the preceding generation HP Z440, Z640 and Z840 workstation, these NVMe SSDs have been only accessible on PCIe add-in boards. From spacious corner desks to compact secretary and wall desk styles, we have a selection of options for you to take into account as you develop your perfect home workplace. Each day, men and women are functioning so difficult to generate the most contemporary designs. Obtaining a tiny component computer table for the condo, condominium, dorm, college, workplace and also home is a excellent way to conserve to make the majority of from the limited space that you have.

B. Kemudahan adminstrasi dan manajemen, untuk memperbaharui (upgrade) perangkat lunak (application) dan perangkat keras (hardware) dilakukan secara terpusat pada komputer server, sehingga pemeliharaan akan jauh lebih mudah. The activation server determined the specified solution key is invalid. Featuring front panels that drop down into tabletops, the desks’ crisp lines and space-saving type add elegance and character to any space. Usually occasions while functioning individuals could find themselves concentrating a lot more on the aches and pains they are experiencing from sitting in a poorly made workplace chair than their actual perform they need to have to be focusing on. This not only leads to unproductive staff but also leads to unhappy employees which ultimately leads to a higher turn more than price and a low employee retention rate.

Giant corporations may possibly have huge, sprawling campuses sitting ominously just outdoors of city limits, but occasionally even they are running brief on desk space – apparently. To steer clear of back and neck pain make positive you decide on a workstation or desk that is suggested for computer systems. Applications and games for PCs are usually created and distributed independently from the hardware or OS manufacturers, whereas computer software for many mobile phones and other transportable systems is approved and distributed by means of a centralized on-line retailer.12 workstation is a high-finish microcomputer developed for technical or scientific applications. Lengthy story quick, the Pro 10.5 acts the way you’d want an costly tablet to. Almost every thing feels effortlessly fast — now we just want the software program to catch up to the hardware.

Eurocom, a developer of extended lifespan, totally upgradable Notebooks, high overall performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers, introduced the EUROCOM Panther 4. Mobile Workstation, Mobile Server and Gaming Station powered by Intel’s newest line of 6 core, 12 thread, 130W desktop Intel Core i7-3960X Processor Extreme edition primarily based on the Intel X79 Express Chipset Sandy Bridge-E architecture. Hyperthreading at a reduce pricepoint – Most of the advantages of Xeon processors come to customers in a larger price tag range, but not this a single. Employers should maintain in thoughts that when there are no certain OSHA regulations governing the safety of workers performing these tasks, and the OSHA common duty clause (Public Law 91-596, Section five (a) (1)) may apply.

Our test unit came equipped with an eight-core Intel Xeon E5-1620 CPU clocked at 3.6Ghz, a fairly modest 8GB of memory and 1TB 7200RPM challenging drive, and an AMD FirePro V5900 specialist graphics card. In an market exactly where new device kinds are becoming introduced all the time, Windows itself is as well old and heavy to be in a position to adapt to those new devices (an example of which are smartwatches) speedily adequate. At the opposite finish of Lenovo’s portfolio is the mighty P910 , a workstation that offers a single or two Xeon E5 CPUs there is no E3 here and absolutely no customer components. Get cost-free skilled guidance and help anytime from the ones who know HP goods ideal. For a full list of supported host and guest the operating systems go to the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Adobe Creative Creative Cloud software is the higher functionality toolset with every little thing you require to produce productions for virtually any screen. The administrative account(s) must only be utilised on the PAW administrative operating program. And HP does it at both the desktop level and the mobile level—its juiced-up laptops are some of the best (and truest) mobile workstations about. Even though the colors are developed with Apple merchandise (MacBook and MacBook Pro) in mind, this will definitely href=”http://bit.ly/2j8Osdq; pop over here operate with Windows ten machines as well. If you have the option of getting a much better video card, but it would mean acquiring a reduce-quality CPU, RAM or tough drive, then you need to practically often pick the greater video card. Boxx is a properly-known provider of custom workstation options and has been around for a fair handful of years.

The 2GB Nvidia Quadro 4000 graphics card offers a good balance between performance and cost and delivered a solid score in our 3D SolidWorks test. The days of endless office cubicles are well behind us. Thanks to modern innovations in office workstation design can be as varied and versatile as your staff members. As you extend your PAW deployment to enable cloud administration, you need to have to let access to authorized solutions whilst filtering out access from the open net exactly where attacks can more effortlessly be mounted against your admins. After verifying that the guest has left the hotel, the night auditor must process the check-out and set the folio aside for front office management evaluation and stick to-up. This is typically occasions an overlooked aspect of an ergonomic workstation, but is incredibly essential to pay consideration to and take seriously.

So to utilize quad-channel, in dual-socket Xeon build, you would need at least eight memory modules (so for 64gb memory, it would be 8x 8gb sticks, for 32gb, 8x 4gb). The Computer software Licensing Service reported that the plug-in manifest file is incorrect. As with most desktop PCs, you will need to have to offer your own monitor, but HP does supply an optional mounting bracket ($27, portion quantity N6N00AT) that lets you hide the compact workstation behind a monitor, and an additional VESA-compatible sleeve ($45, element number Y7B61AT) for mounting the workstation behind a monitor or under a desk. An overclocked workstation with phenomenal functionality for CAD, but with 4 CPU cores operating at four.0GHz, it really is no slouch under rendering applications either.

We will work with you to support strategy your workplace so that it fosters comfort, properly becoming and productivity, whilst allowing your individuals to manage their own privacy, connection with other people correct down to the path they face. This MacBook has a Intel Core M7 Dual-Core CPU which is not a powerhouse but is excellent for casual tasks, eight GB of RAM to run several programs and a beautiful 2304 x 1440 Retina show with an IPS panel for better contrasts, correct colors and larger view angles. Of course Windows Applications mustn’t present an UI (user interface) because these scripts run on the server, away from prying eyes, so you can not, say launch Microsoft Excel, unless it be for a background processing job like to refresh its includes from a web service or database with out obtaining to present an UI to the user.

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samiam03x · 8 years ago

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Unboxing SaaS Data to Increase Customer Renewals

SaaS teams are living a lie.

They believe the same value that acquired a customer will lead to a renewal. While focusing on customer retention is commendable, teams must reexamine their data to exceed customer expectations and achieve business growth.

“With the right insights, you can target your efforts in a meaningful way that will maximize renewal rates by showing your customers you’re paying attention to their needs,” writes Raj Badarinath, former vice president of product marketing at Avangate.

That means monitoring your target audience’s behavior to improve customer success. Let’s explore how data impacts your SaaS renewals.

Analyze Product Usage

Engagement is critical to encouraging customers to renew their monthly or yearly subscriptions. If a customer isn’t using your product, don’t expect them to stay a customer for long.

When customers initially purchase your product, they’re excited and ready to dig into the platform. The problem arises when that excitement dwindles and they don’t see the value anymore.

It’s similar to when children receive a popular toy adore. They play with it for a couple of days. Then, next week it’s buried under a pile of clothes not being used.

You don’t want that to happen to your products. By monitoring your product usage data, you can learn how often and when your customer logs into your application. This insight serves as a roadmap to engage the customer in product adoption.

Identify key behavioral actions that most renewal customers take. Let’s say that’s completing their full profile within your platform. Then, it’s in your best interest to start sending emails and in-app messages persuading customers to finish their profiles.

Also, set up triggers in your analytics platform to alert team members when the usage data drops for specific customers. This proactive measure ensures you connect with customers when the decline starts, not months later.

Image Source

Product usage is helpful for spotting “at risk” customers. Use the data to facilitate customer renewals.

Validate Customer Value

Customers buy products to solve a particular problem. They want solutions that will offer some type of benefit.

For SaaS businesses, that value must be ongoing; your company can’t survive if it’s solving one-time challenges.

Dave Blake, CEO and founder of ClientSuccess, suggests creating milestones throughout the customer journey:

“Define success milestones along the journey. This should be very clear to everyone. These milestones are moments that manifest that a customer is progressing and having success with your product or service. We call these moments of truth.”

This strategy works because your team can monitor the growth of the customer’s success. Also, if you add these milestones to the customer’s dashboard, she can see her achievements within your application.

One of the best ways to confirm value is to simply ask the customer. You don’t need to conduct one-on-one interviews with every single person. A short email works well, too.

Below is an email Alex Turnbull of Groove received during the early years of starting his company. The customer validates the value received and states a concern as well.

Image Source

Asking for customer feedback prepares your team make critical business decisions. It also gives you perspective on which customers will renew.

Monitor Customer Support Tickets

A huge part of customer success relies on exceptional support services. No matter how streamlined your product may be, SaaS customers will have questions about your product.

Customer support tickets are qualitative data showing whether or not your customer understands how to use your platform. By simply tagging their questions with beginner, intermediate, or advanced, you can monitor over time if the customer’s product knowledge is progressing.

Depending on your business, this strategy may indicate gaps where you need to offer more educational tools. Encourage your marketing and support teams to work together to produce content addressing the ongoing needs of the customer, like integration setup and common feature mishaps.

Sometimes the quality of the ticket response isn’t the issue. Analyze your response times and channels to track if you’re offering the best support at the right time and place. A three-day response time might be too long of a wait, and your customers may prefer live chat, rather than email.

Keep in mind that support also extends to social media channels. Customers constantly leave messages on Twitter and Facebook to give suggestions and air out grievances.

Asana understands the importance responding to social media posts. Here’s their response to an upset customer:

The company might not earn a renewal from this customer, but it shows a good faith effort to the rest of their customer base.

Track Net Promoter Scores

Satisfied customers serve as a step in the right direction for earning renewals. When people can offer more positives than negatives about your product, you know your team is making progress.

With the Net Promoter Score, your team can gauge the satisfaction of specific customer interactions. You can learn their feelings towards email support or even a live chat session.

And if you’re monitoring the customer satisfaction within a time period, you can identify areas of improvement in your system—which is beneficial for your business.

“The great thing about NPS is that it’s totally customer driven. When you track it over time and see what causes fluctuating scores, you can move into a cycle of continuous improvement where you quickly respond to any issues that affect your customers. This is good for long-term growth,” states Trevor Hatfield, founder of Inturact.

Skyword recently sent me an email asking for my feedback. Without directly asking if I like their platform, they gained data from me based on my response to a 1-10 rating scale.

Focus on delivering your brand’s promise to boost customer satisfaction. It’s helpful for earning the customer’s trust to gain that next subscription renewal.

Investigate Internal & External Factors

Every customer renewal isn’t solely determined by your actions. Internal and external factors beyond your control can force customers to cancel their subscriptions.

So exactly what major influences are affecting your customers? And how will you learn about these changes?

As a B2B brand, your customer’s management might be evolving, and they’ve decided to select new vendors. Or another company acquired your customer, and now new leadership is moving in a new direction.

Other outside influences could include changes in shopping trends that eliminate your customer’s product demand, or a public relations crisis diminishes the company’s value.

Your SaaS business isn’t responsible for these possible cancellations. However, you are responsible for doing the research the mitigate this revenue loss for your business.

Do the research to learn more about your customer’s industry to prepare for these incidents. Setting up a simple Google Alert can notify you about fluctuations in your customer’s market.

Also talk candidly with customers about their current and future needs. They may feel comfortable discussing how certain changes affect their relationship with your business.

While every customer won’t renew, you can take proactive steps to forecast for these adjustments. Take the time to counteract revenue drops before they happen.

Analyzing Data to Secure Renewals

Don’t assume your current customers will automatically renew their subscriptions. Take a look at your data to analyze post-purchase behavior to ensure customer retention.

From product usage to customer support tickets, your SaaS customers are leaving behind clues on whether or not they will continue with your service. Leverage this data to increase your renewals.

About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter @shaylaprice.

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0 notes

marie85marketing · 8 years ago

Text

Unboxing SaaS Data to Increase Customer Renewals

SaaS teams are living a lie.

That means monitoring your target audience’s behavior to improve customer success. Let’s explore how data impacts your SaaS renewals.

Analyze Product Usage

Engagement is critical to encouraging customers to renew their monthly or yearly subscriptions. If a customer isn’t using your product, don’t expect them to stay a customer for long.

When customers initially purchase your product, they’re excited and ready to dig into the platform. The problem arises when that excitement dwindles and they don’t see the value anymore.

It’s similar to when children receive a popular toy adore. They play with it for a couple of days. Then, next week it’s buried under a pile of clothes not being used.

Image Source

Product usage is helpful for spotting “at risk” customers. Use the data to facilitate customer renewals.

Validate Customer Value

Customers buy products to solve a particular problem. They want solutions that will offer some type of benefit.

For SaaS businesses, that value must be ongoing; your company can’t survive if it’s solving one-time challenges.

Dave Blake, CEO and founder of ClientSuccess, suggests creating milestones throughout the customer journey:

One of the best ways to confirm value is to simply ask the customer. You don’t need to conduct one-on-one interviews with every single person. A short email works well, too.

Below is an email Alex Turnbull of Groove received during the early years of starting his company. The customer validates the value received and states a concern as well.

Image Source

Asking for customer feedback prepares your team make critical business decisions. It also gives you perspective on which customers will renew.

Monitor Customer Support Tickets

A huge part of customer success relies on exceptional support services. No matter how streamlined your product may be, SaaS customers will have questions about your product.

Keep in mind that support also extends to social media channels. Customers constantly leave messages on Twitter and Facebook to give suggestions and air out grievances.

Asana understands the importance responding to social media posts. Here’s their response to an upset customer:

The company might not earn a renewal from this customer, but it shows a good faith effort to the rest of their customer base.

Track Net Promoter Scores

Satisfied customers serve as a step in the right direction for earning renewals. When people can offer more positives than negatives about your product, you know your team is making progress.

With the Net Promoter Score, your team can gauge the satisfaction of specific customer interactions. You can learn their feelings towards email support or even a live chat session.

And if you’re monitoring the customer satisfaction within a time period, you can identify areas of improvement in your system—which is beneficial for your business.

Skyword recently sent me an email asking for my feedback. Without directly asking if I like their platform, they gained data from me based on my response to a 1-10 rating scale.

Focus on delivering your brand’s promise to boost customer satisfaction. It’s helpful for earning the customer’s trust to gain that next subscription renewal.

Investigate Internal & External Factors

Every customer renewal isn’t solely determined by your actions. Internal and external factors beyond your control can force customers to cancel their subscriptions.

So exactly what major influences are affecting your customers? And how will you learn about these changes?

Other outside influences could include changes in shopping trends that eliminate your customer’s product demand, or a public relations crisis diminishes the company’s value.

Your SaaS business isn’t responsible for these possible cancellations. However, you are responsible for doing the research the mitigate this revenue loss for your business.

Do the research to learn more about your customer’s industry to prepare for these incidents. Setting up a simple Google Alert can notify you about fluctuations in your customer’s market.

Also talk candidly with customers about their current and future needs. They may feel comfortable discussing how certain changes affect their relationship with your business.

While every customer won’t renew, you can take proactive steps to forecast for these adjustments. Take the time to counteract revenue drops before they happen.

Analyzing Data to Secure Renewals

Don’t assume your current customers will automatically renew their subscriptions. Take a look at your data to analyze post-purchase behavior to ensure customer retention.

From product usage to customer support tickets, your SaaS customers are leaving behind clues on whether or not they will continue with your service. Leverage this data to increase your renewals.

About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter @shaylaprice.

0 notes

ericsburden-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Unboxing SaaS Data to Increase Customer Renewals

SaaS teams are living a lie.

That means monitoring your target audience’s behavior to improve customer success. Let’s explore how data impacts your SaaS renewals.

Analyze Product Usage

Engagement is critical to encouraging customers to renew their monthly or yearly subscriptions. If a customer isn’t using your product, don’t expect them to stay a customer for long.

When customers initially purchase your product, they’re excited and ready to dig into the platform. The problem arises when that excitement dwindles and they don’t see the value anymore.

It’s similar to when children receive a popular toy adore. They play with it for a couple of days. Then, next week it’s buried under a pile of clothes not being used.

Image Source

Product usage is helpful for spotting “at risk” customers. Use the data to facilitate customer renewals.

Validate Customer Value

Customers buy products to solve a particular problem. They want solutions that will offer some type of benefit.

For SaaS businesses, that value must be ongoing; your company can’t survive if it’s solving one-time challenges.

Dave Blake, CEO and founder of ClientSuccess, suggests creating milestones throughout the customer journey:

One of the best ways to confirm value is to simply ask the customer. You don’t need to conduct one-on-one interviews with every single person. A short email works well, too.

Below is an email Alex Turnbull of Groove received during the early years of starting his company. The customer validates the value received and states a concern as well.

Image Source

Asking for customer feedback prepares your team make critical business decisions. It also gives you perspective on which customers will renew.

Monitor Customer Support Tickets

A huge part of customer success relies on exceptional support services. No matter how streamlined your product may be, SaaS customers will have questions about your product.

Keep in mind that support also extends to social media channels. Customers constantly leave messages on Twitter and Facebook to give suggestions and air out grievances.

Asana understands the importance responding to social media posts. Here’s their response to an upset customer:

The company might not earn a renewal from this customer, but it shows a good faith effort to the rest of their customer base.

Track Net Promoter Scores

Satisfied customers serve as a step in the right direction for earning renewals. When people can offer more positives than negatives about your product, you know your team is making progress.

With the Net Promoter Score, your team can gauge the satisfaction of specific customer interactions. You can learn their feelings towards email support or even a live chat session.

And if you’re monitoring the customer satisfaction within a time period, you can identify areas of improvement in your system—which is beneficial for your business.

Skyword recently sent me an email asking for my feedback. Without directly asking if I like their platform, they gained data from me based on my response to a 1-10 rating scale.

Focus on delivering your brand’s promise to boost customer satisfaction. It’s helpful for earning the customer’s trust to gain that next subscription renewal.

Investigate Internal & External Factors

Every customer renewal isn’t solely determined by your actions. Internal and external factors beyond your control can force customers to cancel their subscriptions.

So exactly what major influences are affecting your customers? And how will you learn about these changes?

Other outside influences could include changes in shopping trends that eliminate your customer’s product demand, or a public relations crisis diminishes the company’s value.

Your SaaS business isn’t responsible for these possible cancellations. However, you are responsible for doing the research the mitigate this revenue loss for your business.

Do the research to learn more about your customer’s industry to prepare for these incidents. Setting up a simple Google Alert can notify you about fluctuations in your customer’s market.

Also talk candidly with customers about their current and future needs. They may feel comfortable discussing how certain changes affect their relationship with your business.

While every customer won’t renew, you can take proactive steps to forecast for these adjustments. Take the time to counteract revenue drops before they happen.

Analyzing Data to Secure Renewals

Don’t assume your current customers will automatically renew their subscriptions. Take a look at your data to analyze post-purchase behavior to ensure customer retention.

From product usage to customer support tickets, your SaaS customers are leaving behind clues on whether or not they will continue with your service. Leverage this data to increase your renewals.

About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter @shaylaprice.

Unboxing SaaS Data to Increase Customer Renewals

0 notes

technologywearables · 8 years ago

Text

Samsung Gear S2 review

It's about the bezel. Fail to remember the sleek style, the Tizen operating system and also the comfy fit, it's the rotating bezel that really makes the Samsung Equipment S2 promptly impressive.

'Exactly what rotating bezel?' you could claim, expecting the kind of bling-worthy machine made steel wheel marked with numbers you would certainly locate on a TAG Heuer or Rolex. Instead, the Gear S2's bezel is so refined regarding be practically unseen, an act of design maturation that I really did not expect to see with such an otherwise significant feature.

It might not be noticeable after that, but the external side of this smartwatch does revolve. Not with hefty and grand beats, yet deftly with a subtle click, it does not fairly rotate, yet the action is light sufficient to be near uncomplicated. It's remarkably carried out also, letting you switch over from the moment, to alerts, schedule visits, media playback, health and fitness monitoring, weather, warns and also more - all at a basic twist.

It supplies instantaneous accessibility to a whole lots of beneficial information, without all that unpleasant swiping and tapping on a little display. It's additionally very easy to utilize even if you're using gloves, which is useful in the winter season. You can still swipe if you prefer, though, or tap to get even more details.

There are Back as well as Residence switches behind the watch as well. Tapping either wakes up the screen, Back lets you go back in apps, while House go back to the time, brings up all you applications, and also serves as a power switch if held - it's far much better compared to Android Use's tortuous trip through settings to turn the watch off.

Design

I reviewed the much more modern-looking Gear S2, yet there's also a S2 Standard, which has a more conventional appearance as well as a chunkier bezel. The typical S2 doesn't specifically look unique, however then once again it doesn't look considerably like anything else either. Its smooth lines, side switches and neatly-integrated rubber band are evocative a slick watch, however then it has that rounded face, which quickly makes you assume analogue. It's not small at 42x50x11.4 mm, however it doesn't really feel that giant on your wrist either.

It's definitely not aiming to be an elegant watch and also I actually like that. The streamlined design suggests it doesn't catch on your clothing and also the shape as well as strap make it unbelievably comfortable to use. Basically, this is a watch I 'd gladly wear regularly. It'll take the misuse too, with an IP68 ranking significance that it's dust-proof and water resistant for a minimum of 30min, at up to 1m in depth. That instance is made out of stainless-steel, not plastic as you might first think, as well as so it's tougher and also really feels more costly compared to it looks.

Samsung has actually done an excellent work in developing a selection of circular watch faces to match the design. You can select these on the watch, but also for the complete customisations you're better off pushing them to it from the Samsung Equipment app. Here you could not only pick from a massive variety of faces, in various colours, however likewise determine if you wish to reveal the day, and select from a checklist of added details, or difficulties as they're called on actual watches.

Complications range from battery level, climate, world clocks, alarm time, actions taken and also much more. Some watch deals with enable more compared to one issue as well as I went with battery and also a liquids counter (Samsung say this is for water and caffeinated drinks, yet it I assume it's much more useful to count liquor systems, especially with Christmas coming close to). It's a fantastic piece of layout and also means in advance of anything that Google or Motorola supplies with the Moto 360 - though there are a significant variety of watchfaces available via Google Play.

Display

Those watch faces are shown on a detailed AMOLED screen. It's 1.2 in as well as 360 pixels throughout, for 302 pixels-per-inch. The screen supplies superb contrast as well as dazzling colours, making stuff simple to review. It's bright also, when necessary, so you shouldn't have any kind of issues in straight sunshine (even though sunlight was doing not have during my testing in murky November). With its a little chunkier design, Samsung has actually taken care of to hide the screen port under the bezel, so it does not have the chopped-off appearance that the Moto 360 screens endure from.

Inside it's powered by Samsung's own Exynos 3250 chipset, which on paper isn't considerably various from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 in the 2nd Gen Moto 360. Both are based on a 28nm procedure, backed up by 512MB of RAM and 4GB of neighborhood storage space. The Exynos goes for 1GHz (compared to 1.2 GHz from the Snapdragon in the Moto) but I had no complaints regarding performance, with everything running extremely efficiently indeed.

Speaking of running, it has the common range of sensing units - accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope - and also an optical heart rate sensing unit too, so that it can track your personal fitness and also renovation if that type of thing inspires you. Directly I do the same amount of workout whether I'm being bothered by watch or otherwise, yet that may be just me.

Battery

I do not know if it's the AMOLED screen, Samsung's Exynos chipset, effectiveness for Tizen, or all 3, yet the Equipment S2's battery life is superb. With light use, I obtained two full days of usage from it, with lots of battery to spare. This remains in spite of it only having a relatively small 250mAh battery - also the smaller variation of the Moto 360 Second Gen makes use of a 300mAh battery. It's a great achievement as well as implies you could disappear for the night without a having to take the charger.

It comes with a little cordless charger, which makes use of the Qi requirement, so you can additionally bill it on many cordless battery chargers (such as those constructed right into some Ikea furnishings). The battery charger is magnetic, so the Gear S2 stays on it and also won't get ripped off accidentally.

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davidegbert · 8 years ago

Text

Why are we still using instant messaging apps at all?

A while back, you may have seen Adam Doud’s article “A weekend with Allo: When tech geeks unite!” where a bunch of us tech geeks used Google’s new instant messaging app Allo to keep in touch while wandering New York City. I didn’t use it though because my newest Android phones either won’t turn on (HTC One) or don’t have any non-WiFi active internet access (Moto Z), and they all have crappy cameras compared to my Nokia Lumia 1020. So if anything important was decided, someone else would email me or call me. Having to switch our tech geeks group from communicating over email (which was working great) to Allo instant messaging (which isn’t platform agnostic at all), reminded me of the old days when instant messaging was new and actually had a reason for being.

IM was necessary in the 90’s

Back in the 90’s we had the advent of “instant messaging” programs. This was necessary on the public internet since electronic mail was largely a “pull” experience meaning the software on your PC had to periodically go out and check for messages. The messages didn’t just appear right away (“push”) as they do now. With “instant messaging”, we could have a little program running on the PC at all times (or while connected to dial-up) and whenever someone sent a message, it would pop up right away. ICQ was one of the first and most popular instant messengers at the time. AOL had an instant messaging function but that was only for AOL subscribers. Eventually they opened that up to anyone for free with the AIM software and that competed a lot with ICQ. Then Microsoft made one too called MSN messenger, which actually allowed you to send messages to AOL users as well. This was awesome news since having all of these incompatible instant messaging programs was a real hassle.

Switching IM programs with every other message

I had one friend who would exasperate the annoyance of running multiple instant messaging programs by starting a conversation on AIM, then replying on MSN, then replying to my reply on ICQ. Many of my other friends dreamed of a world where you only needed one Instant Messaging program and anyone could contact you. The Internet Engineering Task Force actually tried to develop an open-source platform agnostic instant messaging protocol. They founded the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol Working Group in 1998 which worked to create the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. This would have been great! The protocol was actually implemented by MSN Messenger, Google Chat, Jabber, AIM and Facebook Messenger at one point or another, but EVERYBODY has dropped support for the protocol (except maybe Jabber), and still none of the instant messaging programs are cross-app-compatible.

An IM app infestation

Now that smartphones are popular in this decade, we’ve seen a resurgence in instant messaging apps with a gabillion new ones that come and go fairly frequently. You probably have a special folder set up on your phone that contains a huge variety of internet-based instant messaging apps like: WhatsApp, Line, Telegram, BBM, Google Chat, Allo, Hangouts, Skype, Viber, WeChat, Kik, LiveProfile, Facebook Messenger, Tencent QQ, AIM, iChat, iMessage, Yahoo, ICQ, GroupMe, Vkontakte, Mail.Ru Agent, Odnoklassniki, Yandex chat, Mamba.Ru, Mig33, SINA Weibo, Renren, Fetion, Gadu-Gadu, MeinVZ and Jabber. I know it sounds like I’m just rambling gibberish right now, but all of those are basically proprietary programs designed to transfer text-based electronic messages from one client to another with varying degrees of extraneous features. The hassle of running multiple instant messaging apps and switching between them has increased exponentially.

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Transferring text-based electronic messages from one person to another

Guess what, we already have a way of transferring text-based messages between electronic devices over the internet and it works with anything that has ever been able to connect to the internet. We call it Email and since about 2005 just about all email servers and email clients have supported “push” technologies for near-instant delivery just like the instant messengers of the 90’s. Those proprietary connections aren’t really necessary anymore. Exchange ActiveSync and the IMAP IDLE push technologies used by most email servers these days work really well.

But Instant Messengers are easier than Email

Are they really? Replying to an instant message usually happens like this:

Tap app icon

Tap thread to open conversation

Tap text input field

Type message

Tap send

Replying to an email usually happens like this:

Tap app icon

Tap email message

Tap reply

Type message

Tap send

Making email chat-like is only a matter of software design.

Both only take 5 steps. So, it’s just about exactly as easy to reply to an email as it is to reply to an instant message in that scenario. Where instant messaging improves the usability and efficiency of text-based communications is only when you already have the app open and are staring at the conversation. Ain’t nobody got time for that. That is one advantage though for streamlining rapid fire chat communications if both people do keep the app open at the same time and are watching the conversation in real time. You know, like Internet Relay Chat invented in 1988, but with proprietary lock-ins.

However, is there any reason why an email client couldn’t be made to sort emails as conversations and instantly load new messages into a conversation thread as you’re looking at it? No there isn’t, and Microsoft Send actually does (or did) that with Office 365 Business accounts. Getting that to work with other email accounts and servers should be pretty trivial. Tech support systems already do that kind of thing with tags in the subject line.

Instant Message programs become much less easy to use when they’re tied to specific devices. If I’m sitting in front of my computer and an instant message comes in on my phone, it can become really annoying to have to start using my phone to reply to those instead of being able to access the communications on the device I’m currently using. I can’t even get WhatsApp to run on a phone with no SIM card. Then when you’ve got a dozen instant messaging apps on your phone, switching between them becomes extremely annoying. With email, I need just one app and it’s probably already built into any new internet-connected device that I buy. I log in with my email address & password, and I’m done. No need to transfer accounts between phone numbers or whatever.

Email management is far more robust

Other than the huge advantage that Email already works on everything and everyone already has an email account (it’s practically a requirement to be on the internet), another advantage is that email software (and servers) often have far more robust management features compared to instant messengers. In Outlook on Windows desktop, I can set up conditional formatting rules that make particular emails show up in specific colors to make them stand out from the others in my folder lists. That’s extremely useful for visually separating the important stuff. I can also make custom auto-reply rules based on keywords, or send notifications via SMS. For emails that have actionable items, I can flag them with reminders and they’ll show up in my task list. On Windows Phone 8, I can make a live tile People Group that animates and flips over when new emails arrive from specific people. On Windows 10 Mobile, I can pin a subfolder of email as a live tile and set specific notification settings and sound effects for that. On the server side, I can automatically apply categories to emails based on keywords, automatically filter them into specific subfolders, ignore specific threads or subject lines, and even set specific spam confidence levels based on any number of criteria. Even searching is extremely robust. It’s easy to find conversations and references from decades ago. Long before something like WhatsApp even existed. WhatsApp only recently got the ability to save outgoing messages in an outbox while you have no internet access… something email programs have had since the past century.

If only we had such powerful email management software on a phone!

What about security?

Most instant messengers these days require your communications to pass through their proprietary servers. That means everything is in one place so that if there is some kind of security compromise, everybody is vulnerable. With email there are millions of individual servers communicating with each other, so intercepting messages needs to be more focused on a specific domain, but capturing and reading the contents of emails can be pretty easy if you have access to the servers they pass through. You can of course add encryption to emails that require digital ID certificates on both ends and communications within a single domain can be secured even more strongly by running your own internal server (or server farm).

How do you deal with spam?

This is an easy one. Don’t let spammers know about your email address. Some of the best advice I heard a couple decades ago was to make a separate email address that you use for internet stuff like shopping sites, message boards, non-humans, etc. and keep another one only for real people like friends and family. With that, I can set notification settings and a priority-placed live tile/widget for my important friends/family emails and give less priority to the email accounts that are going to get all the spam. Of course I have a few other email addresses for work stuff as well. Spam blockers and filters on most servers are highly configurable with the ability to add real-time-block-lists that keep publicly known spammer servers out. With email, it’s possible to design clients that prioritize emails based on certain criteria. I can filter all of my VIP emails into a sub folder and add specific notification sound effects to that folder in order to keep those messages up front while subduing the extraneous noise. I can even set an email account to be completely exclusive and only allow incoming emails from specific people (for example, the ones in my contact list). That kind of thing isn’t really possible with most instant messaging apps. Most instant messaging apps are just always obtrusive as long as they’re installed and it’s very difficult to sort out the unwanted messages.

Emoji and Stickers are fun!

Yeah, ok, but guess what… most of those are just regular animated GIF graphics that we’ve been able to embed in emails since email clients started supporting the HTML format decades ago. Sure, some email clients still don’t support playing animated GIFs, but there’s nothing keeping them from doing so and there’s nothing keeping me from inserting inline graphics into HTML emails. Some email clients actually automatically replace ASCII emoticons with graphical emoji. Some email clients in the past, Pocket PC 2000 for example, even had quick access buttons for adding voice recordings and handwritten digital ink to emails.

Message delivered and read notifications

Many instant message apps these days have little icons that indicate when the message was delivered as well as when it was read. That’s a pretty great feature for the stalkers out there who get annoyed when people don’t reply to their messages right away and are wondering where the other person is. Of course, this has been possible with email for a very long time. Exchange Server has supported read receipts and delivery receipts at least since the 90’s when I first started using it. Unfortunately, not all email servers treat read receipts the same way or at all. So that’s an aspect of email that’s hit or miss, but of course the feature is absolutely possible.

Do you really want your personal phone number out there?

Another thing that seems really naïve to do is putting your personal phone number into an app folder full of proprietary web-based instant messenger apps. A lot of the new ones these days associate your account with your phone number instead of a username/password log-in. This makes things easy on the user since they don’t need to remember a password, and the app developers can scan your contacts list, cross reference it with all the other users that have installed their app, and show you a list of who you know that is already using this particular instant messaging app. It makes contacting your friends (who have installed the app) really easy, but it’s also kind of a creepy invasion of privacy especially if the company who developed the app decides to change the privacy policy later on (like WhatsApp recently did).

Email will probably be around forever

Another huge disadvantage of all of these proprietary instant messenger apps that require you to peer-pressure your friends into downloading the app and signing up for an account is the fact that they change so frequently. Skype is going to completely stop working on Windows Phone 8, 8.1 and Windows RT next year (and never worked on Xbox 360). WhatsApp has changed their policies and will be sharing your info with Facebook. They’re also dropping support for a good number of platforms in 2017. MSN Messenger no longer exists. Facebook Messenger is going to require a ridiculous 2Gb of RAM on your phone soon and is becoming quite bloated. Instant messenger apps get bought up by other companies and support stagnates all the time. Other instant messengers have added tons of annoying ads once they started getting popular… and subsequently died off in popularity. Email has none of those problems, especially if you own your own domain so that you can switch email services whenever you want (or set up your own server). It’s just like old land-line telephones; you can get one from anywhere (build your own), plug it in and it’ll work.

You can’t get WhatsApp on the awesome old Nokia N8, but email still works.

What about SMS/MMS texting?

SMS and MMS (short message service and multimedia message service) were invented in the 1980’s as a means for sending text-based electronic messages between mobile phones over wireless networks (originally GSM networks). Multimedia message system obviously added the ability to include more than just text, such as pictures, videos, and audio attachments. SMS/MMS texting really started taking off when cross-network communications were enabled around the turn of the century. The reason we needed SMS was because mobile phones didn’t have internet access and therefore couldn’t send/receive regular email. Texting was an inexpensive work-around for that limitation and including the advantages of being “pushed” to the receiving device long before the wide variety of email servers became capable of push. I remember using some smartphones that actually used SMS to initiate an email “pull” when a particular email was seen on the server.

Today, there’s a heavy interest in being able to send and receive SMS/MMS messages on desktop PCs, tablets, and laptops. Apple has a feature called Continuity that lets you do that via iMessage apps on your Macs & other iOS devices logged in with the same Apple ID. Microsoft has SMS sync and relay built into their new Skype Preview app on Windows 10. Google has SMS capabilities in the Google Voice service that’s accessible from any browser. Back in 2005, we had PC apps for Windows Mobile that let us connect to the smartphone and send/receive SMS as well. All of these hacks to get SMS on more internet-connected devices seem a lot like how email has already been working the whole time. To this day, none of those SMS sync services work between platforms though. I can access my email conversations from practically anything that has internet access by (in many cases) simply typing my email address & password into the email program built in. And since I’ve set my Google Voice phone number to forward all text messages to an email account, I can reply to those from any internet-connected device too. It really makes SMS feel unnecessary and extremely obsolete… as long as I’ve got internet access. SMS still shines in those areas where GSM may have reception, but the data connection does not. Those no-internet situations are becoming far less frequent though, and SMS conversations have remained far less manageable and far less capable than email.

Just make better email apps!

The bottom line is, we don’t really need a gabillion different ways to send text-based electronic messages to each other. What we need is a single standard that everyone can communicate on and some more customizable/flexible ways to send and manage those messages. Maybe you want a messaging program that sorts your messages in a chat window with blue and green bubbles and a cute background image. Maybe I want a messaging program that puts all the incoming messages in an “Inbox” folder where I can color code everything with categories and hit the flag button to add them to my task lists or write macros that auto-respond to specific keywords. The interface I like and the interface you like shouldn’t interfere with our ability to send text-based electronic messages to each other!

Conclusion

There seem to be a lot of people and companies that want to replace your open electronic internet communications with their own proprietary systems that lock you in to a particular service. If you’re overwhelmed with email, it might be because you haven’t learned how to take advantage of some of the great management features out there. One of the best ways to get a handle on your email is to keep separate accounts for separate uses. My email account that only friends & family know about is completely noise free. That’s where my priority conversations are and it works on everything that has an internet connection.

These other instant messaging companies want to lock you in to their specific service so that once you start depending on it, they can start sending advertisements and make lots of money. We know this because it’s all happened before. They want you depending on their apps/services because you are the product.

A clever developer could probably collapse the whole instant messenger market by designing a platform agnostic email client that supports all the things email does already, but adds a more chat-like experience interface. Stickers, emoji, backgrounds, etc. could all be easily added as HTML embeds. Conversations could easily be organized with subject or header tags. Then some open-source standard-API server extensions could be added for things like read-receipts and presence sharing so that all email servers could be updated with IM-like capabilities while maintaining backwards compatibility with all existing email programs. We did it with the world wide web and HTML standards compliant browsers that can load any website. Why can’t we do it with electronic text-based communications?

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