#best fitness tracker apps

[ahex-technologies]

Exploring Wear OS Development: Creating Apps for Smartwatches and Wearables

Welcome to the exciting world of Wear OS development! Wearables are taking center stage, transforming how we interact with technology. From smartwatches tracking our health to fitness bands motivating our workouts, these miniaturized devices offer unique opportunities for developers. Ready to dive in and create your own Wear OS app? Let's explore the landscape!

What is Wear OS?

Formerly known as Android Wear, Wear OS is a smartwatch operating system developed by Google. It boasts a growing user base and offers diverse functionalities, making it an attractive platform for developers.

Why Develop for Wear OS?

There are several compelling reasons to join the Wear OS development scene:

Growing Market: The smartwatch market is booming, presenting a vast potential user base for your app.

Unique Interface: Wearables demand a different design approach compared to smartphones. Explore circular interfaces, touch interactions, and limited screen space.

Diverse Use Cases: From fitness tracking to notifications to quick-glance information, Wear OS apps cater to a variety of needs and niches.

Seamless Integration: Leverage Google's ecosystem and integrate your app with popular services like Maps, Fit, and Assistant.

Getting Started with Wear OS Development:

Developing for Wear OS is easier than you might think! Here's your roadmap:

Set Up Your Development Environment: Download Android Studio and install the Wear OS plugins.

Explore Design Principles: Learn Material You guidelines and best practices for designing intuitive and visually appealing wearable experiences.

Get Familiar with the Tools: Master essential tools like Watch Face Studio for watch faces and Jetpack Compose for building modern UI components.

Practice with Tutorials and Sample Code: Explore Google's official tutorials and sample code to get comfortable with the development process.

Developing Your First Wear OS App:

Start with a simple app to grasp the core concepts. Consider building:

A basic watch face: Showcase your design skills and learn the fundamentals.

A fitness tracker: Integrate with sensors and display health data like steps and heart rate.

A notification companion app: Extend an existing smartphone app to display notifications on the watch.

Beyond the Basics:

Once you're comfortable, explore advanced features like:

Complications: Create interactive elements on watch faces.

Offline functionality: Ensure your app works even without a phone connection.

Wear OS Pay: Integrate payment functionality for convenient transactions.

The Wear OS Community:

Join the thriving Wear OS developer community for support, learning, and inspiration. Resources include:

Android app Developers website: Official documentation and tutorials.

Stack Overflow: Get answers to your development questions.

Google Developer Groups: Connect with local developers.

Wrapping Up:

The world of Wear OS development is brimming with possibilities. Start exploring, experiment, and create innovative apps that enhance the smartwatch experience. Remember, the journey begins with a single step. Take that step, and who knows, your app might be the next big thing on someone's wrist!

Additional Tips:

Identify a specific niche or problem to address with your app.

Prioritize a user-friendly and intuitive design.

Test your app thoroughly on different devices and Wear OS versions.

Market your app effectively to reach your target audience.

[saffronwholesaler]

[lilacgaby]

househusband nanami please come to life rn??

kento, who's the word gentleman personified. he took his job as a house husband very seriously, making mental notes of his schedule for the day .

such a lover boy too, he'll even plan out time just to do small things for you. 'embrace [name], compliment [name], have a conversation with [name]' are all very important entries in his mental calendar.

will cook you the best food imaginable, preps it perfectly so he'll have time to coddle you in the morning, and lay with you at night.

has the period tracker app on his phone for you, so the scene of you coming home from a particularly hard day of work to kento knowing exactly what you need and want isn't new in your home. flowers, chocolates, pain-relievers, heat pads? whatever you need he'll have it and more.

the house is always clean and sparkling, it'll always smell good too. the beds will be fixed, the fans dusted, the windows wiped, the garden tended to, your house constantly looks like it should be in a catalog.

he, even without doing anything, always looks gorgeous too. his hair lazily parted, his shirts always buttoned down just low enough to see his defined pecs, the pants he wore fitting him like a vice.

yeah, househusband kento everyone.

[listentoace]

This will freak you out

... or at least I hope it does. Yes, I know most of the stuff I post on here is just kinky and horny talk and that's totally fine. By now, thousands of users have found their way to my blog and I'm very grateful for the support. I know I don't share much about myself, but the following will be about a more personal matter. I work in IT, or more specifically, with data. Lots of data. Being into data science, I am hyper-aware of the constant collecting and aggregating of user data. I know it's somewhat common knowledge that you're being tracked, but I want to take this opportunity to point out how bad the situation is and why privacy matters. I'll try to keep it as easy to follow as possible, so please bare with me!

The Trackers

Right now, you're on Tumblr. As you are reading this, your app connects to over a dozen servers that are not from Tumblr itself. They are from companies like Google, Amazon, Yahoo, but also lesser known companies such as Adjust and Moat. Within a single day, the Tumblr App sends about 5.000 tracking requests to the aforementioned and more companies, sharing your personal data. That's once every 15-20 seconds, regardless of whether you have the app opened or not. While I can't say exactly what data is being shared, it is likely that this is personal information that can be utilized to assume your opinions, target ads, or predict future behavior, as these are ways how companies will ultimately make money. Depending on what permissions you have granted the Tumblr app, it might also scan your gallery, your entire file system, access your call history, or your camera and microphone. By granting this permission, you are essentially giving Tumblr the keys to your phone on a complete "just trust me, bro"-basis. To me personally, that sounds scary.

But why do you use Tumblr yourself, then?

Very good and fair question! I actually am conflicted regarding using Tumblr, but I have put several security measures into place to minimize tracking potential as much as possible. While Tumblr can still see when I go online, read all the messages I send to others, know what content I view, like, comment on, and otherwise engage with, that is about it. Tumblr cannot acces my general file system, it cannot remotely access my camera and microphone, and even all the aforementioned trackers are blocked. I'll go more into this later.

"So what, I've got nothing to hide."

It's great that you think that! That's just what the big tech companies want you to believe. But answer me this: have you ever found it uncomfortable when a person next to you was reading all your texts, looking at your gallery, and just generally kept an eye on what you do on your phone at all times? Well, if a single person doing that is bothering you, how much worse must it be to know that several companies with thousands of employees spy on you for a living? Yes, they have seen your nudes, your breakup texts, your hours of Whatsapp calls with your best friend. It's literally a Big Brother Dystopia.

"Why would they be interested in me?"

I bet you have heard about the Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal from 2018. Just to summarize: a data analytics company CA worked closely together with Facebook to target adds specifically tailored to users to manipulate them into voting for Donald Trump as President. If you are asking how specific this could be, just look at this demonstration by Signal, where their ads are extremely specific to a point where probably only a few thousand if not only hundreds of people would fit the description and just those exact people saw their ad.

"You got this ad because you're a newlywed pilates instructor and you're cartoon crazy. This ad used your location to see you're in La Jolla. You're into parenting blogs and thinking about LGBTQ adoption."

Facebook took it down within hours. But imagine you seeing this ad of a random company knowing this much and lots more about you. Note that Instagram and WhatsApp belong to Facebook/Meta, so even if you're not using Facebook directly, you're still being watched just as closely.

Knowing exactly what you like, dislike, fear, and love, strong emotions can be triggered for political or financial gain. You're into sustainability? Buy this product and we will retrieve one pound of plastic from the ocean! You are conservative and maybe slightly racist? Immigrants are taking over more and more healthcare jobs! You are scared by a possible nuclear war? Vote us for safety and peace!

This is how Cambridge Analytica managed to pull in millions of voters in the US and manipulate the election in a way that Donald Trump wouldn't have won without their manipulation. This is literally a threat to democracy. And as you know, my allegiance is to the Republic, to Democracy!

You might be aware of how right-wing and extremist parties all around the western world use very polarizing and emotional topics in their campaigns and are doing very well on social media. Often much better than more centered, leftist, or conservative parties, who tend to polarize less. This is not a coincidence. Not only is this because of customized, targeted content, but it's also because strong emotions generate more attention

Doom Scrolling & Dopamine

Social Media has had decades to perfect their dopamine lottery. The algorithms know exactly what you are into, no matter how much of a niche it might be. A good, user-oriented algorithm would show you a few posts, the best ones of the day, and then simply say "well, that's been all the good stuff. Wanna see the rest anyways?". But that's not how it works, is it? When opening an app like Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr, etc., you usually immediately land on a recent top-post. This is to give you the instant gratification and that sweet hit of dopamine.

Have you ever noticed how you had to scroll a bit before you got a post again that you really loved? That's by design. The mix of top-posts and mediocre ones is on purpose, to keep you waiting for more. You never know when the next super funny TikTok will come by. All you know is that it might be the next one. In-between top-posts, you're met with mediocre garbage and an add or two and just before it gets too boring, you hit gold again. The constant release of much higher than normal amounts of dopamine make your brain temporarily lose touch with what levels are normal. Why is it that you feel drained and tired after scrolling through social media for a few hours, even though you've done nothing but sitting around? You didn't think hard, you didn't move much, so what is it? It is the dopamine-rollercoaster that is mentally straining you. And there are tens of thousands of highly trained software engineers and corporate executives designing their platforms to keep you scrolling for as long as possible. If that little chiming sound increases your screen time by as little as 2%, it will be added. It is designed to suck your life away, chain your eyeballs to the content they want you to see, just so they can literally sell you to anyone who has the cash. You need that new gadget, visiting this country is an absolute must, this new sports competition is amazing, definitely vote for this cool party. Trust them. They know what you want. You don't know anything about them, but they know everything about you.

"What do I do now?"

Well, it is unlikely that you'll stop using social media at all. I mean, even I am still here. But there are things you can and should do for your mental and financial health, and for your own safety and protection against manipulation. Here is a list of things you should consider

Limiting social media to only a few apps you actually use and are interested in

Spend no more than 2 hours on social media per day

Meet friends irl instead of only texting

Stop sharing personal information. It is not illegal to enter false names, birthdays, etc into random sign-up forms! Protect your children as well!

Use privacy- & user-oriented platforms, such as Signal instead of WhatsApp, or Mastodon instead of Twitter. They finance themselves through volunteers and donations instead of by selling your data and lifetime to any buyer

Use privacy-oriented frontends (the visual interface and application you interact with), such as NewPipe or FreeTube instead of YouTube. You also won't be seeing any ads there

Don't buy anything impulsively. Take a week or two to think about whether you really need and want it.

Check facts, do your own research, use multiple sources, be critical

And in case you're interested in what I use:

I'm have an Android phone running /e/OS and a total of 5 computers/servers which run Linux and a Windows laptop for work. My phone block any trackers, fakes my GPS location (not VPN/IP) to where I am in Barcelona. All devices have a 24/7 encrypted VPN connection. I don't have WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or even a Google account. For personal use I have Signal, Element (Discord alternative), and Proton Mail. That's it. Every website or platform I have an account on has it's own, unique, single-use email, a randomized password and 2FA whenever possible. I use KeePass as my password manager, encrypted with a password, key file, and hardware key. I enter false data into any random form, use hardened Firefox browsers to resist fingerprinting and tracking, and back up all my data at home on a hard drive instead of using a cloud service. (Yes, there is much more)

For my content, I use Tumblr and a semi-active Discord account, Reddit accounts are banned.

For my professional life, I am forced to use Microsoft Teams and Outlook, yet I only use those on my work computer & phone.

Privacy = Freedom

Yes, I know my measures are far beyond average, but I wanted to present an example and hopefully inspire some of you to take back your online freedom and privacy! Because that's what it is! Privacy is Freedom!

I hope this inspired you and please ask any questions in the comments! This truly is a topic that means a lot to me so thank you for reading all the way through it. Please reblog to further share this important topic and encourage others to protect themselves!

- Ace

[rayofmisfortune]

WOOOO A DP WIP THAT I MAY OR MAY NOT FINISH BUT DON'T WANT IT TO ROT IN MY NOTES APP AND WILL PROBABLY REGRET POSTING LATER!

Idk where to go with it atp so uhhh... yea lol. I love fics where Danny gets stuck as Phanton so- that's what this was supposed to be. May end up rewriting it completely at some point but I just don't want it to rot and catch dust like all my other fic wips hehe.

This was my first time ever writing any of the dp characters so they may be ooc?

Cw for panic, dissection talk (it's the Fentons, come on), dehumanization (unsure if that applies but, just in case)

This was bad. This was really, really bad.

Danny was hiding out in an inconspicuous alleyway. A... hopefully enough out of the way alleyway that certain ghost hunters, aka his parents, wouldn't find him in in the matter of a few minutes.

Considering his streak of luck this day, his hopes of having more than a few minutes of respite were close to zilch.

They shot him! And now he's stuck as Phantom. He can't turn back and they're after him and he can't escape can't hide can't do anything-

The Fentons have been chasing after Danny almost the whole night. Always hot on his tail, no matter where the half-ghost went. Unable to turn back to his flashy sleep deprived teenager self. His parents had proudly showcased their upgraded ghost tracking technology that morning. The excuses he had to make to them when the Specter Tracker snapped in his direction the moment his Mom turned it on were... awkward at best, unbelievable at worst.

'Must be the ectocontamination messing with the, the um… tracker!' Ignore the fact that if that were the case it would also hone in on you, please please please

'Fenton Specter Tracker, Danny-o!'

'... with the Fenton Specter Tracker.' Aaaand totally not because I'm the thing you're tracking down ahah. That would be crazy, right?

That was this morning. (Or was it yesterday morning now?) This was now.

And right now?

He's stuck in ghost mode. After being shot by his parents! His bad luck probably started right that very morning (yesterday morning?), not just with the Specter Tracker fiasco, but with the fact his parents didn't bother to share a very important tidbit of information! They managed to upgrade the Ecto-Stoppo-Power-Erfier (TM pending). The one he was shot by that one time in the lab? Yeah, that very one. It's pocket size now!

... if the pockets could fit a microwave... NOT IMPORTANT!

Danny had been out on patrol, because of course he had to go on patrol before an important English test that could shift his final grade from an F to a D. Not that he could've known this would happen, but he should've at least had enough common sense to figure something may screw up his already fucked up sleep schedule.

And of course he had to leave his phone at home. So he can't contact Tucker, Sam or Jazz to help him out of this honestly sad situation.

Calling this sad is an understatement. Terrible, horrifying, nightmare come to life would be more accurate if Danny's being honest with himself.

Yeah, sure, he could prooobably risk it and fly all the way home from the other side of Amity Park, crash land into Jazz's room, give her a heart attack and hope she maybe had some ideas as to how to get him back to (his usual) normal.

One itty bitty problem with that one. Danny's pretty sure the tracker his parents made is honed in on his specific ecto signature, so the second he moves, they're on their way. Fenton Blasters loaded and at the ready. Also, the whole thing with his powers slowly stopping to work? Yeah, that as well.

Fun, so much fun. This was definitely how he wanted to spend his evening/night/early morning, when he should be catching up on his sleep debt. Sarcasm by the way, if it wasn't obvious enough.

The roar of an engine snaps Danny out of his swirling thoughts. The roar of a <em>very</em> familiar engine.

The GAV.

He's out of time.

Danny scrambles back up to his feet from where he was leaning against a dumpster. Yuck. The half-ghost shudders at the prospect of being found so soon after escaping within an inch of his not-life.

He pressed his back against the alley's wall, his core hammering away in his chest, and willed himself with everything he had to go intangible before it's too late. The all too familiar sensation crawls through his body, slower than usually, but he's phased through the wall just in time before the GAV screeches to a stop at the entrance to the alley.

Danny stays invisible and intangible, all the while his parents' feet landed on the pavement of the night streets. He listens with bated breath (he doesn't need to breathe) as Fenton Blasters are loaded, safety off, ready to shoot anything that moves. The Fentons slowly creep into the alley Danny had just been in. He can't see them, hidden in the wall as he is, but he can just about picture Mom making silent gestures to his Dad.

But of course, his Dad was never one to stay silent. "I can't wait to rip that ghost fiend apart molecule by molecule, Maddie!"

A soft sigh from his Mom, too close to the wall, too close too close. He's done for. They'll get him. "Honey, we have to run experiments on it before we do that."

"Oh, right." The sound of his Dad clearing his throat. "I can't wait to run experiments on the ghost fiend and rip it apart molecule by molecule once we're done, Maddie!" Then, more silently. "Was that better?"

His Mom chuckled warmly. "Yes, Jack." Too close too close too close

[maryangelex]

The 141 & Their Phones

A/N: I'm pretty sure I saw someone post this or something similar but I have to give my own two cents!

Includes: Ghost, Price, Gaz, Soap.

Warnings: none except not-cannon material.

Ghost:

This guy has a Samsung, there is no way he'd give into buying anything from Apple (he's even got those Reikon earbuds, not Airpods).

His wallpaper would probably be one of the default ones but he'd actually pick one of them, the darkest colored one that's available.

Very few apps too, probably WhatsApp because the lads aren't keen on the green texts from him, and others like a workout tracker and Spotify; all his apps are password-secured too.

Very basic or has little to no social media (maybe he'd have it to keep up with the boys or like his tattoo artist).

He's got a dirt cheap black rubber case or maybe a sleek black one that one of the guys might have gifted him so his phone can have some dignity.

And he's definitely got a privacy screen!! You can't argue with me on this one, he has a privacy screen protector and it's part of his "masked identity" ordeal.

Price:

He's got an iPhone but it'd be an old model like an iPhone 8, maybe even an iPhone 6 (in the bigger sizes so it can fit in his big ol' man hands). He just likes the home button, he understands it better, okay?

He's got an Otter case!! Again, do not fight me on this. He's got one of those trucker dad cases; the bulky Otter ones because he thinks it's optimal protection.

Bonus points if it's those that clip onto his belt, he's an efficient guy!! The most severe dad energy.

He'd actually put a little effort into finding a nice wallpaper, maybe one of his dog or him and the team at a pub. He took it himself and he's very proud because he put a filter on it.

And he asked Gaz to size up his font...

Gaz:

Now this gorgeous boy knows what he's doing when it comes to technology. His iPhone is the newest one and it is absolutely beautiful.

his wallpaper would probably be something scenic, a picture he took himself because he didn't buy the one with the best camera specs for nothing.

He has all of his apps (which there is a lot of but he uses them well and frequently) organized into categories. And he definitely has widgets.

He wouldn't have the customized widgets or a theme or anything, but he has the widgets organized and his phone is just so essential because he's made it super optimal for him.

He'd have workout apps, meal-prepping apps, one to log his runs, a planner, and other organizer apps.

And he'd have a nice case, probably one of those Apple ones, and a screen protector that's unscathed.

Soap:

This is where it gets ugly...The opposite of Gaz. This iPhone is chaos incarnate.

He's got no case, his phone is semi-raw dogging it with just a screen protector (Gaz gets him new ones frequently so that he doesn't walk around with a battered screen)

No widgets because he doesn't understand those. But a ton of apps that are definitely not categorized, they're just all over the homescreen so he has like four pages.

His wallpaper would either be a picture of the Scottish Highlands that he took, or the Neil Ellis selfie. Yes, this man has a selfie as his wallpaper.

And his camera roll is full of memes he screenshot and all sorts of pictures he's taken.

And of course, he uses the most emojis out of the four of them.

[gaysheep]

Touching is Good: A Retrospective

My trusty Nintendo 3DS, which has held out since I was gifted it for my 15th birthday, has turned one decade old with my 25th birthday this past November. Given new life with custom firmware and nds-bootstrap via TWiLightMenu, the 3DS is stellar for visiting any past handheld title or console title up to (and somewhat including) the N64. (Quick plug for the CFW/hacking community for the less popular PS Vita, too, which has accomplished some pretty crazy-cool stuff this last year.) I use my 3DS more often than I use my Nintendo Switch most weeks.

The Nintendo DS (minus the three) launched in late 2004. The second display and stylus support were novel tools for developers to experiment with, and the NDS is best remembered for its robust catalogue of RPGs and visual novels. Where it lacked in power, narrative-focused games flourished under its technical limitations.

That being said, while browsing the ROM archives on Vimm's Lair to pick up some titles, I was reminded of what an interesting era the mid-to-late 2000s were for games. While Sony and Microsoft were fighting over the "core gamer" demographic, who had outgrown Nintendo mascots, Nintendo led a series of wildly successful marketing campaigns for its hardware after the light failure of the Gamecube, where the Nintendo DS and then the Wii were targeted at...everyone else.

[Image source. Image description in alt text.]

If you look at ads for the DS and the Wii, you'll see that adults are featured much more prominently than children, especially women and seniors. (This did not go unnoticed, as I found this ancient relic of misogyny while looking for images for this post.) A Nintendo handheld was already an easy sell to parents with small children (though I think it's also notable that ads which do focus on children often prominently feature girls. Munchlax is pretty hot...), but Nintendo's angle for the DS and Wii was that their hardware wasn't just for children. The Wii was a way to get up off the couch and to play board games with grandma. The DS was a great gadget for a working woman to keep in her pocketbook.

This worked. The Wii and DS were two of the best-selling consoles of all time. In particular, the DS's marketing campaign only worked because it came out in the perfect window of time. PDA-phone hybrids had been around since the 90s, and the Blackberry had been kicking around for a few years, but the iPhone wouldn't be introduced until 2007, and the 4G LTE standard wouldn't be released until 2009. While the Blackberry was popular with businesspeople and the PDA was out of style, smartphones were luxury toys for several years; they wouldn't become near-ubiquious until the mid-2010s. I didn't get my own smartphone until probably around the same time I got my 3DS, a full handheld generation later.

Browsing the software library for the Nintendo DS and DSi with that in mind is really interesting. Many titles released for the platform serve the same purposes that would be fulfilled by simple smartphone apps less than a decade later: planners and diaries, fitness trackers, calculators, language learning and SAT prep software, even a guide to the then-most-recent version of the driver's test in the UK. These proliferated with the release of the DSi's virtual store, but they existed even with the base model. You could go to a brick-and-mortar store and buy them on physical cartridges. (You might be wondering, "Why would you bother carrying those around over just buying a Blackberry?" You can't underestimate how expensive the service bills for a smartphone were before companies realized they were the most powerful spyware tool in history.)

There was never a time where every single businesswoman in New York carried a DS Lite, but adults did buy and use them, and a not insignificant portion of the DS's software library is aimed at a casual adult audience. Another niche covered mostly by smartphone games these days—games designed to be picked up and played in short sessions on-the-go, in places like waiting rooms and subway commutes.

Nintendo made crazy bank in the seventh console generation. Publications of the time talked about a console war between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, but the real battle was between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 over the gamer demographic. Nintendo was producing hardware for a niche who would quietly disappear once smartphone sales began ballooning by hundreds of millions per year over the course of the early 2010s.

After the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo's marketing strategy pivoted again, though I doubt they'll ever completely abandon their family-friendly image. Currently beat out only by the PS2 and the DS, the Nintendo Switch may very well climb to a status as the best-selling console of all time before the end of its lifespan, but the "gamer" demographic is much bigger than it was two decades ago at the dawn of the DS. As more and more devices become consolidated into the Swiss army knife the smartphone has become, consoles can only carve out a role as dedicated gaming machines.

I'm not sure we'll ever see anything like the Nintendo DS or the Wii again. I think they're worth looking back on for their uniqueness in that way as much as they are for the more celebrated parts of their libraries.

[pleaseeeimjustagirl]

Things You Should Prioritize In Your Resting Season

Heyyy babes<3 I'm surprised I never made this blog post I was looking back at my resting season post that a lot of you love and realized I never listed activities that could optimize your resting season so here It is<3. 

♡ Journaling. My favorite form of journaling that I talked about in ‘Building A Productive Routine And Being Consistent’  is gratitude journaling I always start my day with a gratitude prompt. You can do regular journaling as well. Journaling is a great way to let out your emotions. I prefer the pen and paper method I connect more than when I use my laptop.

♡ Mood Tracker. The app I use is Daily Bean the app allows you to track your emotions every day and shows you a diagram of your emotions for the overall week, month, and year. It does have a journaling feature as well I don't use it but if you prefer digital journaling I recommend it.

♡ Reading. Start reading self-help books I have listed many recommendations in ‘Reinvent Yourself In 2024’. Reading can help give you a lot of insight and allow you to learn new things. There are so many books on so many different topics find books that relate to the issues you face, read, and implement the teachings into your life. When I'm not reading self-help books I love romance books so much I'm forever a lover girl lol.

♡ Listen to podcasts. Start listening to podcasts that you relate to and actually find interesting. there are so many great podcasts out there. The podcasts I listen to usually focus on self-improvement, femininity, fitness, and mental/physical health. My favorite podcaster is Leo Skepi he is so real I don’t agree with all of his takes but I agree with most of them. I also love Hailey Gamba her YouTube channel is definitely a must-watch.

♡ Hobbies. Write out a list of hobbies that interest you and give them a try. Give yourself time to see what works and what doesn’t. I've learned so much about myself through hobbies and most of the hobbies I have are related to my goals and of course, some are not. Hobbies are a great way to get yourself out there and make new friends as well.

♡ Solo dates. Take yourself out once a month. It is super important to date yourself babes<3. Spending alone time with yourself is beneficial. You can do at-home solo dates as well. Here is a list of solo date ideas.

♡ Eating Cleaner. You are what you eat is so real! I'm not gonna get too deep into the science behind your gut health and brain health and how they are connected. But watch the two videos created by Andrew Huberman ‘Food And Emotions’ ‘Sugar And Your Brain’. Eating cleaner is good for your overall health. You can still eat out and processed food but an 80/20 lifestyle is key babes!

♡ Sleeping Routine. You can tell by now I love Andrew Huberman (Daddy Huberman) because again I'm going to drop some gems from him. He states that you should try and get a consistent amount of hours of sleep rather than trying to force yourself to get 8 hours of sleep every night. Try creating a sleep schedule my days start at 5:30am so I usually fall asleep at the earliest 8pm or the latest 11pm because I know getting 6-8 hours of sleep is best for me and keeps me going throughout the day. Everyone's body is different do what works for you. Video Link 

You don’t have to do the things that I have listed above if they do not fit into what you require from your resting season. I hope you loved this post babes check for this week’s affirmations<3.

[magpiesmemes]

|| Magpie's Tumblr RP guide ||

So it's been a while since I made one of these but with the shut down of omegle, more people are joining the site to rp, I figured I'd explain some of the basics.

Now none of these are necessary, you can just do as you do but these are some of the 'norms' here on tumblr currently. They may change and evolve over time, they've done so countless times in my time on tumblr but here's this for now for those who might find it useful!! Please feel free to offer feedback on this, I struggle with giving instructions so I've tried to make it as clear as possible but my brain isn't the best with this kind of thing. I will correct anything that needs correcting and add things as time goes on, so please do check back if you request an explanation/addition to something as I will try to add it asap.

Last updated: 29/11/23

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BASICS

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Basic Etiquette

Don't reblog roleplays that aren't yours, often this will mess up peoples thread trackers and it's a nightmare.

Rather than reblog asks to continue them as roleplays, make a new post and link the ask in that post. This avoids blog clutter for both parties.

ALWAYS read peoples rules and about pages. No exceptions.

No one is obliged to write their character purely as they are in canon. Canon divergence, au, or just additional headcanons for canon characters is very common. Do not make issue with someone just because their writing for a character doesn't fit with how you see them. It's their character, just don't write with them if you don't like how they write them. Simple as that.

Don't godmod. This means don't take control of a persons character unless otherwise instructed by the other writer, do not assume attacks immediately hit/injure/kill their character without prior planning for such a thing. You can write the attack, just don't assume it lands. This also applies to your character being aware of things - just because YOU know something, doesn't mean your character does.

Mun does not equal muse. Many people play villains because they're fun, don't assume that these people share the viewpoints of such characters just because they're writing them. The RPC would be painfully boring without some villain muses to stir the pot!!

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xkit rewritten

The absolute saviour of tumblr rp when you're on pc, unfortunately I don't believe it's available on the phone app but it's super useful for pc users. For chrome you can find it in the chrome extensions, I'm sure it's available similarly for other browsers. The functions on xkit that specifically benefit rp are: clean feed (for blacklisting any content you don't want to see), mutual checker, tag tracking+ and trim reblogs. Any others are entirely up to your discretion whether you want to use them or not. To use 'trim reblogs' the post must be in your drafts or posted, then you can use the little scissor tool at the bottom of the post to snip off older replies and avoid posts becoming excessively long.

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Settings

So if you're like me and want a chronological timeline for those you follow? Here's how to do that. Go into account settings. Not the blog settings to edit how that looks, you want the settings that has your account info, dashboard preferences, ect. Click 'Dashboard', which should be on the right hand side menu on your screen if you're using pc. Optional: Enable 'Show timestamps' so you can see how old posts are. I find this useful as it ensures I'm not responding to something that is 5 years old lmfao. Scroll down and turn off 'Best stuff first'. This should make your 'Following' tab chronological, ensuring you see whenever people you follow are posting.

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Blog Design

Try to make sure you have a header and an icon for your blog, you can set those using the 'blog settings' tab. Even if there's no picture of your character themselves, try to use an image that captures their vibe - this advice is for both the icon and the header tbh. While not having one isn't bad, it will make people less likely to follow back or perhaps even block you! Often iconless/headerless blogs are spam bots and everyone loathes those.

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Meanings of words commonly used by RP accounts:

Mutuals - Your mutuals or 'moots' are those following you that you follow back. Private - This means that the blog only interacts with Mutuals. Selective/semi-selective - Won't roleplay with everyone, they'll rp with people based on their own preference. Thread - A single rp storyline. Verses - Different timelines of characters. Eg. Kidverse, fantasyverse, ect. Mun/Mundane - You! The writer of the blog! Muse/Muses - Character/s you're writing. Faceclaim - The 'actor' of your muse, whether canon or otherwise. Who do you imagine playing them when writing or whose icons would you use for them.

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Tagging

When writing with someone it's a good idea to put their username in the tags at the very least, this allows them to find your threads easier. ie: '#magpiesmemes' would be used by others if they were to write with this blog.

Making tags for individual threads is also useful, meaning you can find specific rps far quicker. They don't have to be fancy but some people do like to make fancy ones. A nice simple one would be 'Thread: Threadname'.

Also having tags for specific verses is a good idea, indicating to your rp partner what timeline they're writing it. Something like '#kidverse' will do the job but you also can make those fancy.

Having a tag for rp memes you've reposted is a good idea also, meaning it's easier to find if someone wants to send you something. '#memes' does the job just fine.

Lastly, if you're a multimuse then having character tags is a good idea, indicating to people what character they're writing with. Something like '#charactername' is fine but again, any tag can be fancied up to your likings.

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Pinned Post

Having a pinned post at the top of your blog has become fairly standard practice in the rp scene these days. Usually this has your important links on it (rules/muse pages) and some explanation of what kind of blog yours is. For example: 'This is a Private, selective blog for charactername from fandom/an oc. Written by mun. [Ruleslink] - [Muselink]' This would work as a simple rudimentary introduction for people checking out your blog. You can pin a post by selecting the three dots in the top right on it after it is posted, ensuring it's the first thing people see when looking at your blog. This is mine, for example but it needn't be so indepth. I just have zero chill. If you're writing on a sideblog then it's best to also have a pinned post on your main account with a link leading to your roleplay account. That way people will know that you're a roleplayer looking to write if you follow them - and also they may follow the link to check out your stuff!

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Making Rules/Muse pages

These are important to indicate to people what you will or won't write, your personal writing preferences, ect. Many people won't rp with people who don't have these as it means they can't be sure of boundaries. People often use a post to do this, linking it in their pinned post to ensure people can find it. [Tutorial on how to link posts here]. That's the simplest way. You can also make a google doc or even make a carrd instead, linking them for people to refer to for this information. Alternatively you can use your pinned post and simply list it there - though there is risk of it cluttering your page if you have many muses. To avoid that, you can use a 'read more' such as the one this post was under. Make a new paragraph and various options come up, you want the one that looks like two straight lines with a squiggly line between them. [This icon].

Things to have on your rule page:

- Things you won't roleplay/triggers. - What is your stance on shipping (do you autoship with people who rp your muses partner or do you prefer chemistry first, ect.) - Writing length preference. Do you prefer short simple threads, paragraphs or more novella style? - Do you use icons? Do you prefer your partner would use/not use icons? Same questions with text formatting. - Tagging requests. Are there things you want to avoid on your dash using xkit's blacklist?

Things to have on your muse/about page:

- Basic description of who your character is, it's best to write it as if you're explaining them to someone who hasn't seen what they're from - even if they're a popular canon character. - If they're an oc with a universe of their own, a basic explanation of that universe would be useful but isn't really necessary if you can't/don't want to. - A picture reference of some kind is also useful, if possible. - A description of the verses you write them in. For example: 'Kidverse - This verse is set when my character is aged whatever and this is a short description of what they're like in that particular verse.'

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Advertising Your Blog

One of the many ways people advertise their blogs is by posting self promos. These are usually edited images with a little blog tagline, links to important pages and a short description of your blog. Here's an example of my own. Including tags of the fandoms you write in/write with is a good way to try and draw attention your way. Alternatively, if you're limited in your image making/editing skills you can make a simple post, perhaps with an icon or gif to draw attention. Explain your blog, what you write, who you're looking to write with, ect. Make sure to include tags so people can see it!

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More To Do?

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Okay, so you've got the basics down, now what? Well, there's a lot you can do to make your blog more functional and/or appealing.

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Thread Tracking

So you've got a roleplay but you're scared you'll forget to reply? I recommend RPThreadTracker. There's a how-to use it on the site faq and it's a lifesaver in keeping track of your threads tbh.

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Icons

Though not necessary, you can find icons to use usually by searching the 'charactername icons' or 'faceclaim icons' right here on tumblr, be sure to follow peoples instructions for using them though. Some people will want a like/reblog for their use.

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Formatting

Many people, like myself, use some form of text formatting when writing. Some of the usual ones are small text, like the one I'm writing in now. That's done either by using 'ctrl+shift+-', 'ctrl+-' or you can use this:

while highlighting text. This tool also allows you to colour your text, italicise, ect. Play around with it in your own time to see what works for you. Some other useful keyboard shortcuts:

'Ctrl+b' - Bolds highlighted selection 'Ctrl+i' - Italicises highlighted selection 'Ctrl+z' - Undo, good for if you've accidentally erased text you didn't mean to erase.

[the-factfinder]

Top 5 GLP-1 Weight Loss Support Providers: Skinii.com Takes the Top Spot

GLP-1 receptor agonists have revolutionized weight loss by effectively helping people control appetite and blood sugar levels. With several companies now offering GLP-1 injections, we’ve evaluated the top five providers to determine who offers the best overall support. Skinii.com ranks as the leading choice, providing more than just injections—it's a complete wellness solution. Here’s what sets Skinii.com apart from its competitors:

1. Skinii.com

Skinii.com offers more than GLP-1 injections—it provides a full wellness platform. In addition to weight loss support, Skinii delivers a range of tools and resources to ensure lasting success:

- Calorie Tracking App: Track your food intake with ease to stay on target with your nutritional goals.

- Workout Videos: Access a wide variety of exercise routines tailored to enhance your weight loss journey.

- Milestone Tracking: Monitor your progress with built-in milestone tracking to stay motivated.

- Support Community: Connect with others for advice, support, and encouragement along the way.

- Nutrition Guides and Health Foods: Enjoy personalized nutrition plans, plus Skinii-branded sweeteners and spices that make healthy eating enjoyable. Their recipes integrate seamlessly with Skinii's own products.

- Full Supplement Line: From B-12 to biotin and rosehip hair oil, Skinii offers an extensive supplement range to boost your overall health and wellness.

Skinii’s founder, certified through Harvard Medical School Exec Ed  in sustainable nutrition planning, has created several successful health and medtech companies, and that expertise is reflected in Skinii’s comprehensive approach. Skinii provides a well-rounded, unmatched weight loss solution, making it the top choice in the industry.

2. Calibrate

Calibrate offers GLP-1 injections with an emphasis on metabolic reset programs. While effective, Calibrate doesn’t offer the wide array of comprehensive tools that Skinii does. It focuses on lifestyle coaching, but lacks the in-depth app features, workout plans, and robust support system that Skinii excels in providing.

3. Found

Found combines GLP-1 injections with personalized health coaching. While helpful, Found’s offerings don’t include the extensive wellness tools that Skinii provides. It primarily focuses on medication and coaching, but falls short on elements like nutrition guidance, recipe integration, and a comprehensive supplement line, making Skinii the more holistic option.

4. Plenity

Plenity provides FDA-approved weight loss treatments, including a GLP-1 alternative, but lacks the broader wellness tools found at Skinii. While it offers an effective solution for weight loss, it does not provide the integrated fitness programs, nutritional support, or supplements that set Skinii apart as a more complete solution for long-term results.

5. Sequence

Sequence focuses on GLP-1 injections for clinical weight management but does not offer the range of lifestyle and wellness tools seen at Skinii. Though Sequence is effective for weight loss, it lacks the additional features, such as a calorie tracker, supplement line, and supportive community, that Skinii offers to ensure lasting success.

 Why Skinii.com Stands Out

Skinii.com distinguishes itself from the competition by offering not just GLP-1 injections but a full suite of tools designed to support sustainable weight loss and overall wellness. From personalized fitness routines to nutrition guides, milestone tracking, and a diverse supplement line, Skinii provides everything needed for success. The expertise of the founder, certified in sustainable nutrition from Harvard Medical School, guarantees a level of knowledge and support unmatched in the industry.

Visit Skinii.com to discover how a comprehensive, holistic approach can make all the difference in your weight loss journey.

[robfinancialtip]

The video features Justin, a team member from Halo Collar, discussing the benefits of using the Halo Collar and the newer Halo Collar 3, a GPS dog collar designed for enhanced dog safety and containment. Justin emphasizes the positive reinforcement training program included with the collar, which helps strengthen the bond between dog and owner and guides the dog using gentle methods.

The Halo Collar for dogs serves as a comprehensive dog containment system, allowing owners to establish and maintain dog containment boundaries and track their pet's location through a user-friendly app. Viewers also hear about reviews of the collar and its effectiveness in creating a virtual dog fence and providing reliable GPS tracking.

Overall, the video highlights the best GPS dog collar and fence system, praising the collar's ability to improve dog training and reinforce safety, offering peace of mind to dog owners. Additionally, viewers interested in GPS dog tracker reviews and the best GPS dog containment systems will find valuable insights in the video.

🐶UNRIVALED FEATURES!🐶 CHECK OUT THE GAME-CHANGING FEATS OF THE NEW HALO COLLAR 3:

✅ New PrecisionGPS(™) Technology ✅ New Active GPS Antenna ✅ 24-hour Battery Life ✅ Auto-connect to Any Cellular Network Worldwide ✅ New Perfect Fit System ✅ Magnetic Charging Port ✅ New Colors: Orchid and Sunburst

NEW COLORS Halo Collar 3 is available in 4 vibrant colors: ✅GRAY ✅BLACK ✅ORCHID🆕 ✅SUNBURST🆕

[bellafragolina]

Heart Healthy

Fitness was not something Emmet ever really kept up with. Sure, he took the Pokémon to the park, ran around with them, and stalked the tunnels of the subway daily, but he didn’t actively work out. Not until Ingo returned with audacity to have tits.

“I am working out.” Emmet announces to Pecha, pacing around the small circular dining table. Pecha looks up from the designs strewn across the table, watching him huff as he kept going and going. “I am working out.”

“You are?” Pecha asks, a soft cock to her head. Emmet pauses to nuzzle his nose into her cheek, making her giggle. “Emmet!”

“I am Emmet.” Emmet confirms, continuing his pacing. “And I am too small. Ingo is beefy. I will be beefy too. Yep.”

Pecha shakes her head. So that’s what all the sudden interest in exercise was about. “Emmet. You��re very handsome.”

“Thank you!” Emmet chirps.

“You don’t have to be beefy, you know?”

“Ah,” Emmet says, shaking a finger like he’s lecturing a confused student, “but Ingo is beefy now.”

“And you’re not Ingo.” Pecha replies. “You don’t have to look exactly like him.”

Emmet merely shrugs, stopping his march once more to show Pecha his xtransceiver. “Look. Workout app.” The small screens do display a heart monitor and a tracker of how long Emmet has been walking. It seems there are other symbols for other workouts to the side. Pecha almost wants to let Emmet be to see if he can manage the one that looks like yoga. “I need my heart to beat fast. It’s healthy.”

“You’ll need to walk faster.” Pecha says with a sigh. Emmet is as stubborn as they come, and this is something healthy. She’ll make sure he doesn’t overdo it too. “Your heartbeat isn’t fast enough.”

Emmet huffs. He sits, seemingly deciding to take a break, and pokes at the veggies he got out from the fridge for a “healthy snack.” Pecha snickers to herself, and looks back at her own work. Briefly, she wonders about designing some workout clothes for Emmet. What would look best? It would also need to be functional. . .

squeeeeaaaaak

“Pechaaaaa.” Emmet whines, head pressing to her shoulder. Pecha, used to his attention whoring, starts a new sketch for the new ideas she has. “Pechaaaaaa I want kisssesssss.”

Pecha just hums.

“So mean!” Emmet cries, hands up to his eyes as he fakes tears. “No kisses for the hard worker!”

Laughing, Pecha finally sets her pencil down. Emmet, immediately eager, scoots his chair even closer. He starts by peppering Pecha’s smile in kisses, then tilts his head to properly seal their lips together.

It’s warm, soft, nice, just like Pecha is. Emmet leans further into the kiss, happiness fluttering through his veins as he revels in the beautiful life he lives.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The couple jump apart, both looking down to the incessant beeping noise. Emmet’s xtransceiver flashes, showing that Emmet has a concerningly high heart rate.

Flushing bright pink, Emmet slaps the xtransceiver shut, burying his face back in Pecha’s shoulder as she starts to laugh.

“So cute.” Pecha sighs, running her hands through Emmet’s hair. Hopefully he can feel her pulse too, just as quick as his.

“You’re healthy for me.” Emmet grumbles in response, as their heartbeats sync. “Healthy for my heart.”

Pecha kisses his head. Emmet kisses her collar. And they both recover from the runner’s high together.

[fittywise]

Health & Wellness Trends for 2024

Health & Wellness Trends for 2024

The health and wellness sector is ever-changing propelled by new technologies, and an increasingly strong emphasis on mental and bodily well-being.

AI in Meditation

Meditation: Day by day meditation apps are increasing their hype and benefits which provide customized sessions based on your preference through AI enabled Meditation apps (Headspace, Calm). They offer guided meditations, breathing exercises and mindfulness practices which facilitate easier and more complete meditation.

Tech-Enhanced Yoga

Whether in virtual classes or through yoga wearables, there are plenty of tech-based advancements that have begun to really enhance this millennia-old practice for those still dispatched creatively seeking such alternatives. The likes of Glo provide both live and on-demand classes – while smart yoga mats and fitness trackers can now give you instant feedback on your poses, alignment, etc.

Novel Wellness Tech

Wellness technologies continue to pick up steam, with health and fitness tracking tools being built into more wearables, smart home gyms starting to appeal to a broader range of exercisers, and an uptick in health start-ups targeting individualized preventive care. These are the kinds of innovations that enable people to have their health at their fingertips, and offer real-time insights with directed recommendations.

Digital mental health solutions

Digital therapy platforms, which fall somewhere between the light and controversial categories, such as BetterHelp and Talkspace, are on a continuous rise in 2020 while mental health apps are further normalizing discussing psychological problems. These digital tools are fantastic in that they make it easy and private to get help for stress, anxiety, and depression.

Positivity and Fitness Apps

The more you use fitness motivation apps and exercises in positivity, the more motivated you will be to stay healthy! Fitness goals can be tracked through apps like MyFitnessPal and Strava, while Happify sends daily affirmations and mental wellness exercises.

Home Workout Trends

In addition to home workouts, interactive fitness platforms like Peloton and VR fitness apps have taken off as best ways to stay fit. Bodyweight and equipment-free workouts are also taking over the popularity of such routines as they can be done at any time.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Podcasting "Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk"

This week on my podcast, I read my recent Medium column, “Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk,” about the worst-of-all-worlds created by bossware, where an app is your boss, and you live at work because your home and/or car is a branch office of the factory:

https://doctorow.medium.com/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk-463e2730ef0d

As with so much of my work these days, the column opens with a reference to the Luddites, and to Brian Merchant’s superb, forthcoming history of the Luddite uprisings, “Blood in the Machine”:

https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/love-the-machine/#hate-the-factory

As Merchant explains, the Luddites were anything but technophobes: they were skilled high-tech workers whose seven-year apprenticeships were the equivalent to getting a Master’s in Engineering from MIT. Their objection to powered textile machines had nothing to do with fear of the machines: rather, it was motivated by a clear-eyed understanding of how factory owners wanted to use the machines.

The point of powered textile machines wasn’t to increase the productivity of skilled textile workers — rather, it was to smash the guilds that represented these skilled workers and ensured that they shared in the profits from their labor. The factory owners wanted machines so simple a child could use them — because they were picking over England’s orphanages and recruiting small children through trickery to a ten-year indenture in the factories.

The “dark, Satanic mills” of the industrial revolution were awash in the blood and tears of children. These child-slaves were beaten and starved, working long hours on little sleep for endless years, moving among machines that could snatch off a limb, a scalp, even your head, after a moment’s lapse in attention.

(Fun fact: in 1832, Robert Blincoe, one of children who survived the factories, published “A Memoir of Robert Blincoe, an Orphan Boy” a bestseller recounting the horrors he endured; that book inspired Charles Dickens to write Oliver Twist):

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59127/59127-h/59127-h.htm

It wasn’t just that weavers who belonged to guilds made more money — they also enjoyed more dignity in their workplaces, because those workplaces were their homes. Textiles were the original “cottage industries,” in that it was done in cottages, by families who set their own pace, enjoying amiable conversation or companionable silence.

These weavers could go to the bathroom when they wanted, eat when they wanted, take a break and walk around outside when the weather was fine.

This is in stark contrast to life in the dark, Satanic mills, where foremen watched over every movement, engaging in a kind of meanspirited choreography that treated the worker as an inferior adjunct to the machine, to be fit to its workings and worked to its tireless schedule.

The Luddites had some technical critiques of the machines — they argued, correctly, that those early machines turned out inferior products that fit poorly and degraded quickly. But even if the machines had produced textiles to match the hand-looms, the Luddites’ real anger wasn’t over what the machines did — it was over who the machines did it to and who they did it for.

I’ve written that “Science Fiction is a Luddite literature” — it’s a narrative form that can go beyond describing what a machine does, to demanding that we rethink who it does it for and who it does it to. Not all sf does this, but at its best, this is secret sauce that makes sf such a radical form, one that insists that while the machines’ functioning may be deterministic, their social arrangements are up to us:

https://locusmag.com/2022/01/cory-doctorow-science-fiction-is-a-luddite-literature/

That’s what happens when you mix Luddism with SF — but what happens when you mix it with fantasy? I think you get steampunk.

Steampunk has many different valences, but central to the project is an imaginary world where people engaged in craft labor (lone mad scientists, say) are able to produce high-tech goods that are more associated with factories. I think it’s no coincidence that steampunk took root during the first surge of “peer-based commons production” — when craft workers were producing whole operating systems and encyclopedias from their “cottages”:

https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/make-free-love-the-machine-hate-the-factory/

These modern craft workers were living the steampunk fantasy, so beautifully summed up in the motto for Magpie Killjoy’s Steampunk Magazine: “Love the Machine, Hate the Factory.”

https://firestorm.coop/products/2624-steampunk-magazine.html

But then came the second decade of the 21st century, and now the third, and with it, the rise of something very much like the opposite of that steampunk fantasy: a new form of craft labor where the factory is inside the cottage — where an app is your boss, and “work from home” becomes “live at work.”

As with all forms of technological oppression, this movement followed the “Shitty Technology Adoption Curve,” starting with people with little social clout and working its way up the privilege gradient to entangle a widening proportion of workers.

Among the first people to experience this was the predominantly Black, predominantly female employees of Arise, a work-from-home call center business that pretends that its employees are small businesses themselves, and so charges them to get trained for each new client, then fines them if they want to quit:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/chickenized-by-arise/#arise

In Amazon warehouses and delivery vans, we saw the rise of “chickenized reverse-centaurs” — these are workers who must pay for their own work equipment (as with poultry farmers captured by processing monopolists, hence “chickenized”). They are also paired with digital technology (something automation theorists call a “centaur”) but the technology bosses them around, rather than supporting them. The machine is the centaur’s head and the worker is its body (thus, “reverse-centaur”):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/the-shakedown/#weird-flex

The pandemic lockdowns saw an explosion in the use of bossware, technology that monitors your every keystroke, every click, every URL, every file, even the video and audio from the cameras and mics on your devices, whether or not you pay for those devices.

This is the second coming of Taylorism, the fine-grained, high-handed “scientific” micromanagement of factory workers, transposed to the home, and integrated with sensors that track you down to your eyeballs:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/great-taylors-ghost/#solidarity-or-bust

Truly, this is the worst of all worlds. We increasingly work for large, distributed factories, and unlike the big companies of the post-New Deal era, we don’t have unions and progressive regulators who can force these big businesses to share the wealth in the form of the “large firm wage premium.”

Instead, we have craft labor at sweatshop wages, under factory conditions, in our own homes and cars. This needn’t be: digital technologies are powerful labor-organizing tools (potentially), but that’s not how we’ve decided to use them:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to

As the radical message of sf tells us, that’s a choice, not an inevitability. We aren’t prisoners of technology. We can seize the means of computation. It starts by being less concerned with what the machine does, and homing in on who it does it for and who it does it to.

Here’s this week’s podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/03/19/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk/

And here’s a direct link to download the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they’ll host your media for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_440/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_440_-_Gig_Work_Is_the_Opposite_of_Steampunk.mp3

Here’s the direct feed to subscribe to my podcast:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

And here’s the original “Gig Work Is the Opposite of Steampunk” article on Medium:

https://doctorow.medium.com/gig-work-is-the-opposite-of-steampunk-463e2730ef0d

Today (Mar 20), I’m doing a remote talk for the Ostrom Workshop’s Beyond the Web Speaker Series.

On Weds (Mar 22), I’m doing a remote talk for the @IFTF’s “Changing the Register” series.

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A woodcut of a weaver's loft, where a woman works at a hand-loom. Out of the window opposite her looms the glowing, menacing red eye of HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey.' On the wall behind her is the poster from Magpie Killjoy's 'Steampunk Magazine' that reads, 'Love the machine, hate the factory.']