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mshroom1e · 8 months ago

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ೃ⁀➷ Baby My Phone

type: headcanons

listen to me yap about what phones i’d think twst characters would have.

2.2k words

Characters: NRC students

╰┈➤ Riddle

Uses a landline.

╰┈➤ Ace

He uses an iPhone but it’s one of those broken, screen protector hanging off, yellow clear case iPhone 8s.

He still thinks his phone is better than an Android and refuses to switch.

His wallpaper is one of those with a massive Nike tick and a “just do it” in a neon red camouflage pattern.

He hasn’t changed it since he was 12.

-2/10

╰┈➤ Deuce

He has a Samsung for sure.

It’s not one of the most expensive ones like an S24 Ultra but it’s reliable.

He’s got a pretty average phone case. It’s navy blue and heavy-duty, making his phone practically indestructible.

His wallpaper is probably yellow with a cartoonish picture of a chick breaking out of an egg.

Pretty simple.

Distinguished taste for an equally distinguished gentleman.

9/10

╰┈➤ Trey

He has a Samsung S10.

I don’t know why, but he just does.

I can also see him using one of those grandpa wallet cases where he carries everything inside.

His phone case doubles as a purse with the bits and bobs he puts in there.

It’s literally a fanny pack that just happens to have space to hold a phone.

Need a napkin? Hold on, let him get it from his phone case real quick.

It’s really handy but a little ridiculous with the amount of stuff he carries in there.

The battery life is hammered thanks to the hours of temple run his siblings play on it whenever he goes home for holidays.

His wallpaper is probably a picture of his siblings, which is cute.

4/10.

Would be higher if it wasn’t for the silly wallet case.

╰┈➤ Cater

We’ve already seen his phone multiple times in game, so I don’t think I have much to say.

His wallpaper is bold, like the phone case he uses.

It’s not exactly ugly, but it definitely suits him.

It’s just not something most people would want to put on their phones.

He’s 100% an iPhone user but he’s the type that gets the new model that comes out every year.

Either that or he’s using one of his sister’s hand-me-downs that’s an iPhone 13. (just like me fr).

6/10

If it wasn’t for that peculiar phone case, I’d rate it higher.

╰┈➤ Leona

I can see him using a Samsung S24 Ultra.

He barely uses it, though.

Most of the time, he tosses the phone at his nephew to keep him distracted when he sees him at home.

Because of that, he’s got a home screen full of kids' mobile games like Talking Tom and Subway Surfers.

The phone’s got a small crack in the screen from when Cheka dropped it but it wasn’t a big deal so Leona never bothered to get it fixed or replaced.

He’s got a leopard print phone case and his wallpaper is a selfie Reggie took with him sleeping and set it on his lock screen that he never bothered to change.

7/10

Again, the phone case is a no from me.

╰┈➤ Ruggie

He uses a Samsung too.

It’s an older model, like an S10+.

It’s a gift from Leona that he tossed at Ruggie one day.

Ruggie is pretty grateful for it since he was wondering how he’d contact his grandmother back at home without a phone since he wouldn’t be able to get a durable one until a while of saving up.

He takes pretty good care of it and there’s no scratches or cracks.

His wallpaper matches the selfie of himself and Leona that he set as the latter’s lock screen.

He got himself a heavy-duty phone case just to make sure it doesn’t get damaged.

10/10.

Totally not biased.

╰┈➤ Jack

He’s an iPhone user, probably sporting an iPhone 12 Pro Max. You can’t blame him for needing a large phone when he’s got pretty big hands.

He uses a clear case that’s somehow got no yellowing to it and his phone is green. It’s got a pretty wrecked battery life thanks to the younger sibling x phone syndrome.

His little sister killed the battery life with her 500 cumulative hours on Roblox and Among Us.

He doesn’t really mind since he doesn’t use his phone more than like 4 times a day.

8/10

Pretty cool.

╰┈➤ Azul

A tasteful Samsung user.

He’s one of those people who thinks iPhones are a scam and refuses to buy into it, like the classy businessman he is.

(he just has no idea how to use one).

Idk if Merfolk have waterproof phones or just communicate with echolocation but let’s pretend that the fish people have phones too.

He sports a Samsung Z Flip5 in lavender. He also has a baby blue phone case with a little seashell on it.

The twins tease him about his cutesy design choice but he shrugs it off since he knows it looks good.

It’s a shame he rarely uses the phone when he’s not going to send emails, do schoolwork and post on the lounge’s social media, though.

He also watches food ASMR videos. His wallpaper is a picture of the sea in the usual daytime lighting.

10/10

Very nice

╰┈➤ Jade

Another Android Avenger using a Samsung S22 in sage green.

His phone is in pretty good condition.

Though, he’s got a few spots of soil trapped between his screen protector and the end of his phone case.

There’s only like a single, tiny crack on his screen protector for dropping it on the floor face first when in the Botanical Garden talking to his little plants.

Can’t really blame him since he looks up tutorials when handling new spores. His phone case is transparent with (you guessed it) a pattern of little mushrooms littered on the back.

His wallpaper is a pic of him and Floyd when they were in their first year at NRC. It’s a strangely cute phone for someone as shady as Jade.

7/10

Nice, but the mushrooms r kinda overkill.

╰┈➤ Floyd

His phone doesn’t have a single crack on it.

He’s someone who takes really good care of his stuff and has a bunch of screen protectors since he knows how prone he is to dropping and accidentally throwing his phone.

His battery is fried tho since he’s notorious for playing a bunch of those silly mobile games like Fill the Fridge or Crowd City.

When he isn’t tormenting people with his deadly hugs, he’s sat perched in a corner gargoyle style with his eyes glazed over as he plays Block Blast with a score of 10,000.

Floyd’s pretty diverse with his phone case and he changes it depending on how he feels that day. Most of the time, he goes for his pale green one with an eel drawing on it, like the bag he used during the Camp Vargas event.

His wallpaper is either matching with Jade’s or a random photo of the sea he took a few days ago.

10/10

Very cool

╰┈➤ Kalim

Gets the newly released iPhone every year.

He’s not that bad though, since he gives his old one to his sibling and they pass it on to the next sibling like One For All.

His phone has no cracks on it too. He makes sure to take good care of it since he knows it’s gonna be his younger sibling’s phone in about a year and he doesn’t want them to have to use a broken phone.

He’s just nice like that. His phone case is orange with little peach circles dotted all around the back.

He’s another notorious mobile gamer with his number 1 game being Where’s My Water. His lock screen is a particularly nice-looking spread from one of the many parties he’s had over at his dorm.

10/10

Kalim is the best

╰┈➤ Jamil

Humble Samsung S21 user.

He may or may have not opted for this brand out of spite after Kalim suggested he get an iPhone so they could easily AirDrop stuff to each other.

(Quick Share is better anyway)

Isn’t much of a mobile gamer but he’s found a second home on AITA communities on Reddit.

I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.

Jamil’s wallpaper is either something pretty like the sunset at his dorm or something silly like a selfie he took doing face masks with his sister.

As per sibling rules, however, he always makes sure to change his second lock screen any time he goes home.

She can’t know that he cares that much.

1000/10

Jamil favouritism.

╰┈➤ Vil

iPhone 15 pro max ultra mega sigma plus plus premium user.

Sometimes he has to record videos on his phone, so he needs one with the best camera and screen refresh rate possible.

It’s scary how he has no games on his phone except Wordscapes.

Believes screen time is terrible for your skin (is it?) and refuses to spend more than an hour on it outside of updating his different social media accounts.

His phone has no cracks and he hates greasy screens so best believe he’s got a glass cleaner wipe tucked into his pocket everywhere he goes.

His phone case is purple with a pop socket in the shape of a gold crown. His wallpaper is a picture of himself (ofc it is) from his favourite photoshoot.

6/10

Vil

╰┈➤ Rook

Samsung Soldier.

Rook uses a hefty Samsung Fold5.

Sometimes he needs a phone to do phone stuff and sometimes he needs a tablet to view a proper sized map of NRC for various uses I will not elaborate on for legal reasons.

When Vil takes away Epel’s phone, I imagine Rook allows Epel to use his phone to play Subway Surfers or Roblox.

Lives risky life and doesn’t use a case or a screen protector.

His phone somehow isn’t shattered especially after the billion times it’s fallen to the ground at the speed of light when he watches people from trees.

His lock screen is a Pinterest collage of Vil. 5/10

Vil

I refuse to elaborate

╰┈➤ Epel

Cracked Samsung S9.

Been using the same phone since he was 12 and refuses to let it go.

Anytime he falls, the phone disassembles and his battery goes flying.

He has to do a walk of shame each time to pick up his battery and put it back inside his phone.

Sometimes he stays up until 3 am playing COD mobile with Deuce and hides his phone under his pillow every time Vil opens his door to make sure the first years are asleep.

His wallpaper is a really cute selfie with him and the rest of the first year group. No phone case.

9/10

The battery thing is sadly relatable

╰┈➤ Idia

He uses a Samsung S24 Ultra.

Perfect mix of amazing performance as well as free rein to go into developer mode or download any 3rd party apps and modded games as much as he wishes.

Strongly believes Android is better.

When he isn’t raging at kids on Fortnite, he’s hidden in a corner of his room reading fanfic on AO3.

He will not tell a soul why his screen time shows that he has 6 hours every day on Samsung internet.

His phone case, I imagine would be a basic black with a little doodle of a cat on the back.

His wallpaper would be a pic of his PC setup when he thought it looked particularly cool.

10/10

Super techy.

╰┈➤ Ortho

He is the phone.

╰┈➤ Malleus

Uses a landline.

╰┈➤ Lilia

He has an iPhone 14 and no one can tell me it isn’t Kuromi-themed.

I’m talking lock screen, phone case, home screen, widgets, and icons.

It’s the black and pink/purple pallette that they both sport that makes my brain associate the two.

He’s got a few cracks and scratches from when he hangs upside down and his phone crashes to the ground like a missile.

One of his other lock screens is a pic of Silver when he was a baby and walking for the first time.

Don’t tell Silver, though.

8/10

Super cute.

╰┈➤ Silver

Lilia got him an iPhone 14 too so they could AirDrop things to each other and FaceTime every day for the year Lilia was at NRC without Silver.

Other than that, Silver rarely uses his phone.

His sleep timer is through the roof since he hibernates for most of the day.

He’s got a plain black phone case and everything on his phone is at default settings.

Including home and lock screens.

6/10

Very normal

╰┈➤ Sebek

Wanted to be cool like Malleus and have no phone since he does not wish to partake in the use of technology of human invention.

Instantly takes back that statement once he was out with the Diasomnia dorm and got lost in a marketplace.

Lilia and co had spent hours looking for him. After that, Lilia got him one of those “my first phone” gadgets for kids where the only contact numbers are emergency services and parents and the “parents” can easily access his location.

That way, they can prevent any accidents that creates their very own “Finding Sebek” franchise.

5/10

Very silly.

#twisted wonderland #gn reader #twst fanfic #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twst fic #twist #twst shitpost #twst headcanons #twst hcs #disney twst #twst imagines #twst kalim #twst wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland malleus #twst scenarios

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mostlysignssomeportents · 10 months ago

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The antitrust case against Apple

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT (Mar 22) in TORONTO, then SUNDAY (Mar 24) with LAURA POITRAS in NYC, then Anaheim, and beyond!

The foundational tenet of "the Cult of Mac" is that buying products from a $3t company makes you a member of an oppressed ethnic minority and therefore every criticism of that corporation is an ethnic slur:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Call it "Apple exceptionalism" – the idea that Apple, alone among the Big Tech firms, is virtuous, and therefore its conduct should be interpreted through that lens of virtue. The wellspring of this virtue is conveniently nebulous, which allows for endless goal-post shifting by members of the Cult of Mac when Apple's sins are made manifest.

Take the claim that Apple is "privacy respecting," which is attributed to Apple's business model of financing its services though cash transactions, rather than by selling it customers to advertisers. This is the (widely misunderstood) crux of the "surveillance capitalism" hypothesis: that capitalism is just fine, but once surveillance is in the mix, capitalism fails.

Apple, then, is said to be a virtuous company because its behavior is disciplined by market forces, unlike its spying rivals, whose ability to "hack our dopamine loops" immobilizes the market's invisible hand with "behavior-shaping" shackles:

http://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

Apple makes a big deal out of its privacy-respecting ethos, and not without some justification. After all, Apple went to the mattresses to fight the FBI when they tried to force Apple to introduced defects into its encryption systems:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/04/fbi-could-have-gotten-san-bernardino-shooters-iphone-leadership-didnt-say

And Apple gave Ios users the power to opt out of Facebook spying with a single click; 96% of its customers took them up on this offer, costing Facebook $10b (one fifth of the pricetag of the metaverse boondoggle!) in a single year (you love to see it):

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/facebook-makes-the-case-for-activity-tracking-to-ios-14-users-in-new-pop-ups/

Bruce Schneier has a name for this practice: "feudal security." That's when you cede control over your device to a Big Tech warlord whose "walled garden" becomes a fortress that defends you against external threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#manorialism

The keyword here is external threats. When Apple itself threatens your privacy, the fortress becomes a prison. The fact that you can't install unapproved apps on your Ios device means that when Apple decides to harm you, you have nowhere to turn. The first Apple customers to discover this were in China. When the Chinese government ordered Apple to remove all working privacy tools from its App Store, the company obliged, rather than risk losing access to its ultra-cheap manufacturing base (Tim Cook's signal accomplishment, the one that vaulted him into the CEO's seat, was figuring out how to offshore Apple manufacturing to China) and hundreds of millions of middle-class consumers:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-apple-vpn/apple-says-it-is-removing-vpn-services-from-china-app-store-idUSKBN1AE0BQ

Killing VPNs and other privacy tools was just for openers. After Apple caved to Beijing, the demands kept coming. Next, Apple willingly backdoored all its Chinese cloud services, so that the Chinese state could plunder its customers' data at will:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html

This was the completely foreseeable consequence of Apple's "curated computing" model: once the company arrogated to itself the power to decide which software you could run on your own computer, it was inevitable that powerful actors – like the Chinese Communist Party – would lean on Apple to exercise that power in service to its goals.

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese state's appetite for deputizing Apple to help with its spying and oppression was not sated by backdooring iCloud and kicking VPNs out of the App Store. As recently as 2022, Apple continued to neuter its tools at the behest of the Chinese state, breaking Airdrop to make it useless for organizing protests in China:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

But the threat of Apple turning on its customers isn't limited to China. While the company has been unwilling to spy on its users on behalf of the US government, it's proven more than willing to compromise its worldwide users' privacy to pad its own profits. Remember when Apple let its users opt out of Facebook surveillance with one click? At the very same time, Apple was spinning up its own commercial surveillance program, spying on Ios customers, gathering the very same data as Facebook, and for the very same purpose: to target ads. When it came to its own surveillance, Apple completely ignored its customers' explicit refusal to consent to spying, spied on them anyway, and lied about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Here's the thing: even if you believe that Apple has a "corporate personality" that makes it want to do the right thing, that desire to be virtuous is dependent on the constraints Apple faces. The fact that Apple has complete legal and technical control over the hardware it sells – the power to decide who can make software that runs on that hardware, the power to decide who can fix that hardware, the power to decide who can sell parts for that hardware – represents an irresistible temptation to enshittify Apple products.

"Constraints" are the crux of the enshittification hypothesis. The contagion that spread enshittification to every corner of our technological world isn't a newfound sadism or indifference among tech bosses. Those bosses are the same people they've always been – the difference is that today, they are unconstrained.

Having bought, merged or formed a cartel with all their rivals, they don't fear competition (Apple buys 90+ companies per year, and Google pays it an annual $26.3b bribe for default search on its operating systems and programs).

Having captured their regulators, they don't fear fines or other penalties for cheating their customers, workers or suppliers (Apple led the coalition that defeated dozens of Right to Repair bills, year after year, in the late 2010s).

Having wrapped themselves in IP law, they don't fear rivals who make alternative clients, mods, privacy tools or other "adversarial interoperability" tools that disenshittify their products (Apple uses the DMCA, trademark, and other exotic rules to block third-party software, repair, and clients).

True virtue rests not merely in resisting temptation to be wicked, but in recognizing your own weakness and avoiding temptation. As I wrote when Apple embarked on its "curated computing" path, the company would eventually – inevitably – use its power to veto its customers' choices to harm those customers:

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/01/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either/

Which is where we're at today. Apple – uniquely among electronics companies – shreds every device that is traded in by its customers, to block third parties from harvesting working components and using them for independent repair:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks

Apple engraves microscopic Apple logos on those parts and uses these as the basis for trademark complaints to US customs, to block the re-importation of parts that escape its shredders:

https://repair.eu/news/apple-uses-trademark-law-to-strengthen-its-monopoly-on-repair/

Apple entered into an illegal price-fixing conspiracy with Amazon to prevent used and refurbished devices from being sold in the "world's biggest marketplace":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/10/you-had-one-job/#thats-just-the-as

Why is Apple so opposed to independent repair? Well, they say it's to keep users safe from unscrupulous or incompetent repair technicians (feudal security). But when Tim Cook speaks to his investors, he tells a different story, warning them that the company's profits are threatened by customers who choose to repair (rather than replace) their slippery, fragile glass $1,000 pocket computers (the fortress becomes a prison):

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/01/letter-from-tim-cook-to-apple-investors/

All this adds up to a growing mountain of immortal e-waste, festooned with miniature Apple logos, that our descendants will be dealing with for the next 1,000 years. In the face of this unspeakable crime, Apple engaged in a string of dishonest maneuvers, claiming that it would support independent repair. In 2022, Apple announced a home repair program that turned out to be a laughably absurd con:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/22/apples-cement-overshoes/

Then in 2023, Apple announced a fresh "pro-repair" initiative that, once again, actually blocked repair:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Let's pause here a moment and remember that Apple once stood for independent repair, and celebrated the independent repair technicians that kept its customers' beloved Macs running:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/29/norwegian-potato-flour-enchiladas/#r2r

Whatever virtue lurks in Apple's corporate personhood, it is no match for the temptation that comes from running a locked-down platform designed to capture IP rights so that it can prevent normal competitive activities, like fixing phones, processing payments, or offering apps.

When Apple rolled out the App Store, Steve Jobs promised that it would save journalism and other forms of "content creation" by finally giving users a way to pay rightsholders. A decade later, that promise has been shattered by the app tax – a 30% rake on every in-app transaction that can't be avoided because Apple will kick your app out of the App Store if you even mention that your customers can pay you via the web in order to avoid giving a third of their content dollars to a hardware manufacturer that contributed nothing to the production of that material:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/06/save-news-we-must-open-app-stores

Among the apps that Apple also refuses to allow on Ios is third-party browsers. Every Iphone browser is just a reskinned version of Apple's Safari, running on the same antiquated, insecure Webkit browser engine. The fact that Webkit is incomplete and outdated is a feature, not a bug, because it lets Apple block web apps – apps delivered via browsers, rather than app stores:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kitbashed/#app-store-tax

Last month, the EU took aim at Apple's veto over its users' and software vendors' ability to transact with one another. The newly in-effect Digital Markets Act requires Apple to open up both third-party payment processing and third-party app stores. Apple's response to this is the very definition of malicious compliance, a snake's nest of junk-fees, onerous terms of service, and petty punitive measures that all add up to a great, big "Go fuck yourself":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/06/spoil-the-bunch/#dma

But Apple's bullying, privacy invasion, price-gouging and environmental crimes are global, and the EU isn't the only government seeking to end them. They're in the firing line in Japan:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-to-crack-down-on-Apple-and-Google-app-store-monopolies

And in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-wins-appeal-in-apple-case

And now, famously, the US Department of Justice is coming for Apple, with a bold antitrust complaint that strikes at the heart of Apple exceptionalism, the idea that monopoly is safer for users than technological self-determination:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1344546/dl?inline

There's passages in the complaint that read like I wrote them:

Apple wraps itself in a cloak of privacy, security, and consumer preferences to justify its anticompetitive conduct. Indeed, it spends billions on marketing and branding to promote the self-serving premise that only Apple can safeguard consumers’ privacy and security interests. Apple selectively compromises privacy and security interests when doing so is in Apple’s own financial interest—such as degrading the security of text messages, offering governments and certain companies the chance to access more private and secure versions of app stores, or accepting billions of dollars each year for choosing Google as its default search engine when more private options are available. In the end, Apple deploys privacy and security justifications as an elastic shield that can stretch or contract to serve Apple’s financial and business interests.

After all, Apple punishes its customers for communicating with Android users by forcing them to do so without any encryption. When Beeper Mini rolled out an Imessage-compatible Android app that fixed this, giving Iphone owners the privacy Apple says they deserve but denies to them, Apple destroyed Beeper Mini:

https://blog.beeper.com/p/beeper-moving-forward

Tim Cook is on record about this: if you want to securely communicate with an Android user, you must "buy them an Iphone":

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/7/23342243/tim-cook-apple-rcs-imessage-android-iphone-compatibility

If your friend, family member or customer declines to change mobile operating systems, Tim Cook insists that you must communicate without any privacy or security.

Even where Apple tries for security, it sometimes fails ("security is a process, not a product" -B. Schneier). To be secure in a benevolent dictatorship, it must also be an infallible dictatorship. Apple's far from infallible: Eight generations of Iphones have unpatchable hardware defects:

https://checkm8.info/

And Apple's latest custom chips have secret-leaking, unpatchable vulnerabilities:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/03/hackers-can-extract-secret-encryption-keys-from-apples-mac-chips/

Apple's far from infallible – but they're also far from benevolent. Despite Apple's claims, its hardware, operating system and apps are riddled with deliberate privacy defects, introduce to protect Apple's shareholders at the expense of its customers:

https://proton.me/blog/iphone-privacy

Now, antitrust suits are notoriously hard to make, especially after 40 years of bad-precedent-setting, monopoly-friendly antitrust malpractice. Much of the time, these suits fail because they can't prove that tech bosses intentionally built their monopolies. However, tech is a written culture, one that leaves abundant, indelible records of corporate deliberations. What's more, tech bosses are notoriously prone to bragging about their nefarious intentions, committing them to writing:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Apple is no exception – there's an abundance of written records that establish that Apple deliberately, illegally set out to create and maintain a monopoly:

https://www.wired.com/story/4-internal-apple-emails-helped-doj-build-antitrust-case/

Apple claims that its monopoly is beneficent, used to protect its users, making its products more "elegant" and safe. But when Apple's interests conflict with its customers' safety and privacy – and pocketbooks – Apple always puts itself first, just like every other corporation. In other words: Apple is unexceptional.

The Cult of Mac denies this. They say that no one wants to use a third-party app store, no one wants third-party payments, no one wants third-party repair. This is obviously wrong and trivially disproved: if no Apple customer wanted these things, Apple wouldn't have to go to enormous lengths to prevent them. The only phones that an independent Iphone repair shop fixes are Iphones: which means Iphone owners want independent repair.

The rejoinder from the Cult of Mac is that those Iphone owners shouldn't own Iphones: if they wanted to exercise property rights over their phones, they shouldn't have bought a phone from Apple. This is the "No True Scotsman" fallacy for distraction-rectangles, and moreover, it's impossible to square with Tim Cook's insistence that if you want private communications, you must buy an Iphone.

Apple is unexceptional. It's just another Big Tech monopolist. Rounded corners don't preserve virtue any better than square ones. Any company that is freed from constraints – of competition, regulation and interoperability – will always enshittify. Apple – being unexceptional – is no exception.

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

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/2024/03/22/reality-distortion-field/#three-trillion-here-three-trillion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

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sheenashifts1217 · 6 months ago

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Pick a Pile No.1

Welcome to my first Pick a Pile :)

This is a collective reading so it may resonate more for some than others. Take what helps you and leave what doesn’t. 💗

If you’d like a personal reading, I currently have a deal in my shop for a free five song channeled playlist with any purchase of an s/o reading. Check my pinned post for more details.😊

What Advice Will Aid Your Shifting Journey

Choose pile 1, 2, or 3

Take a breath and simply pick the one you feel most drawn to.

(Top left pile 1, top right pile 2, bottom pile 3)

Pile 1

Lyrics standing out:

“You b**** ain’t like me

Dance in the breeze

A man with the sleaze

Stop it, get another topic

I got the nerve

And I block it

You’re a brat

Cause I never repeat

Do what I say like Simon

I’m a VIP

Sorry I’m pretty and easy to hate”

Okay pile 1, I SEE YOU GUYS!!! 💅🏼 This pile is short and sweet because you all know what you need, self aware queens. You all know your power, and as you should. For those of you in this pile who really know your power, own it more, step into it, actually practice it.

It feels like you all know what you need to do and you know you can shift, you’re just being lazy. PUT THE WORK IN. But frl, it seems like you guys really just need to set some time aside to focus on shifting and your DR because you know what to do, you just feel too busy. It’s okay to take a breath. Some of you all in this pile may also be rushing yourself. Allow yourself to accept what your experiencing and just let it flow. It’s already yours, you already have all of your desires.

Overall, pile 1, you guys are baddies whether you know it or not. Step into that power, own it, and use it. Make time for yourself and slow down a little. You don’t have to experience everything at the same time, that’s why you have a life, spend it.

Confirmation: 222, 444, Aquarius, ford mustang, hot pink, purple number 4, Elmo?, Sesame Street, Disney, neon green nails

Pile 2

Lyrics standing out:

“Trying to cover up my face

Try and stay calm

Something missing

I think looks wrong

When pretty isn’t pretty enough

What do you do?

I could change up my body and change up my face

You can win the battle

Insecure

Try to ignore it

I don’t know why I even try (I see the starfish position)

Just feel like sh*** over and over again”

Hi pile 2! You guys are giving me 2020 shiftok vibes. A lot of you probably started to practice shifting around 2019/2020 and were fed a lot of misinformation and now you feel like that is stopping you, but it doesn’t have to, let that go. You are in charge of your own reality so take that misinformation and use it as a learning experience. Don’t be discouraged because it was false or didn’t work for you, that’s good because now you’re one step closer to knowing yourself and what does work for you!

You may be a person that is on social media a lot in general or just hyperaware of others lives and you’re comparing yourself to them. STOP IT. Everyone’s experience is their own. When you see someone else’s success or experience, you don’t know what went down before that. Focus on yourself and what is meant for you, will happen. Accept it and take charge of it. You may be one who relies on others success for your own motivation as well, this is your sign to rely on yourself. Connect with your higher self and trust your intuition.

Keep going pile 2! You guys have put in time and energy this far, what’s a little longer? Your efforts are not in vain. You’ve got this. Trust yourself!

Confirmation: tiktok, iPhone, 13, dodge, dodgers, football, Dallas cowboy cheerleaders, red white & blue, Olympics, gymnastics, toe nails, 12

Pile 3

Lyrics standing out:

“Light headed

For some reason I find myself lost in what you think of me

And too confused who I should be

In a big old world

We’re so alike

When I cross that line

It’s been a point of contention between myself and this body they stuck me in

Am I pretty enough to lie to you

Let me be the void you fill

I am quantum physics

My witness brings me to existence

So I can be your girlfriend boyfriend”

Hello my lovely pile 3! You all feel trapped either in your bodies or just to this reality in general. You have put shifting to your DR on a pedestal or even a part of you doesn’t want to accept that it’s real because you may not feel worthy. Remind yourself that you are constant, flowing energy.

Some of you have been so focused on “finding yourself”, that instead you have used the 3D to define who you are in the 4D. Make the two align.

Try to focus more on the “what” of shifting, instead of the “how”. Feel those connections and emotions you have in your DR. Maybe focus on one in particular that is important to you. Focus on one DR at a time. You have overwhelmed yourself with the thoughts of wanting to shift and being everywhere at once. Take your time and enjoy your CR as well. Shifting is an act and a journey, it’s real life, so make sure you’re still taking care of yourself.

In summary, you are more than your body. You are your thoughts and emotions and your actions, your love and energy you spread. Own that energy and use it for your benefit. Focus on who you are and what it is you want. Try to have a clear idea of that, then connect to it. Once you feel that connection, that’s it. Congratulations it’s now yours. Forget the 3D and just know it’s already yours.

Confirmation: red, Taylor Swift, (Taylor’s version), reputation, Niall Horan, train, Liam Payn, 2222, lock and key, hearts, stars, moon, “go piss girl”, dress to impress

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madamlaydebug · 1 year ago

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CRITICAL WARNING!!!! Radio talk show hostess, Kim Komando, did some digging about TEMU and this is what she found!

Seemingly overnight, everyone’s talking about Temu (pronounced “tee-moo”), an online shopping app that boasts deals that seem too good to be true, like $17 wireless earbuds, $1 “gold” necklaces and $23 wedding dresses.

Over 50 million Americans have downloaded Temu since it launched state-side in September 2022, after it gained traction with expensive Super Bowl ads promising to let you “shop like a billionaire.”

Today, Temu is the most popular shopping app in the U.S. behind Amazon. But most of us don’t know much about the app’s true origins. Reader Daniel Mayer asked an important question, “Is [Temu] something we should be concerned about?”

So, I did some digging. And as it turns out, yes, you absolutely should be. Here’s what I found:

Where did Temu come from?

This isn’t some fly-by-night operation. Temu is based in Boston, Massachusetts, by PDD Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PDD). PDD is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

PDD also owns the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo headquartered in — you guessed it — China. So, Temu is a Communist China-based app and site.

What you need to know before using Temu

First, you’re buying goods directly from manufacturers in China and other parts of the world. That’s why shipping times are often 12 days or longer. The prices are low because the goods are cheap. The pictures of what you see advertised may not be what you actually get.

Temu’s BBB rating is 2.21/5. Reviews at TrustPilot are interesting, with 38% 5-star reviews and 41% 1-star reviews.

But that’s not the worst of it.

Temu is downright dangerous.

The app is a clever, pervasive digital stalker. As you shop, Temu monitors your activity on other apps, tracks your notifications and location and changes settings.

🛑 It gets worse. Temu gains full access to all your contacts, calendars and photo albums, plus all your social media accounts, chats and texts. In other words, literally everything on your phone. This is scary

No shopping app needs this much control, especially one tied to Communist China. If you’re using Temu, delete the app from your phone ASAP.

On iPhone, Long-press an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App. Tap Delete to confirm.

On Android, touch and hold an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App > Delete.

Pro tip: If you downloaded Temu, to be safe from Chinese spies, you really need to do a full factory reset.

But wait, there’s more! Temu’s sister app was removed from Google Play because of malware.

Do not buy from this company, or use their app!

COPY AND PASTE PLEASE

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chuckbass-love · 1 month ago

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Only Love Can Hurt Like This | Ransom Drysdale | Part 12

A/N: Yet again, i have left this way too long and at this point there are no excuses except life being life. I really hope y’all are still invested in this and if not then i completely understand.

Disclaimer: My work is not to be translated or to be posted anywhere else other than MY Tumblr, Wattpad and Ao3 without my permission. However, reblogs are welcome.

Summary: The moment you’ve put off finally arrives and you’re scared, but what will happen if the test is positive?

Pairing: Ransom Drysdale x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Talk of pregnancy, swearing, vaginal intercourse, anal fingering, daddy kink, cum play, sweet Ransom moment (again to make up for such serious moments in this part) 18+ again, being as the entire series thus far has been 18+. Enjoy guys💕

Word Count: 4,380

GIF NOT MINE!!! Credit to @cevanswife go check them out! 💜

Noise. Suddenly, when time is moving extremely slow and you’re impatiently waiting with bated breath, for something so important, there’s always too much noise. Noise that you barely even notice in your day to day life when you’re rushing around completing errands or running out of the door for work. Even when falling asleep in the pitch black and silence, the noise is louder now than it is then.

Like the clock in your bedroom, above the en suite door. Despite having a timer on Ransoms phone set already, you can practically feel that damn clock laughing at you, mocking you and telling you that you still have one more minute left.

One more minute.

Or the wind outside, smashing against the double glazed windows, making your ears ring. God knows why.

And then there’s the noise you can’t hear too well but faintly, and that’s still enough.

The washing machine and the dryer in the laundry room. Rattling.

Tick, tick, tick.

One more minute.

One more minute before your life might change forever.

You never thought you’d see this side of Ransom, the side where he’s switched on, attentive, loving and willing to try and be there, no matter the outcome of this dam test.

Why is it taking so long. Your knee starts to bounce off its own accord. You can’t stop it. Just like your hands, they shake a little, anticipation is the sole cause. Oh and nerves. Your anxiety is wracking your entire body.

Dare you glance down at the timer on the iPhone on the bathroom side.

45 seconds left.

You start too whisper, counting down as your knee starts to bounce more, your nails picking at the nails on your other hand until a soothing hand comes to stop it.

“I’ve got you baby”

30 seconds left.

“What if it’s positive?” your worried eyes search his for some reassurance, needing him now more than ever to show and possess the strength you don’t have.

It’s been a whirlwind couple months, from breaking up with Ransom to getting back together with him, then dealing with his bastard of a friend...well, ex-friend. And then having him use your sister, your own flesh and blood, to get back at Ransom. It’s a lot for anyone to deal with and in the midst of all of it, you can’t help but admit you have been careless with safety during sex. It’s kind of hard to stay on top of things when the last thing on your mind is safety. All you want lately is to feel him close, skin to skin, for him to ease the anxious feelings away with his body. His touch, his kiss. So powerful, so gentle yet rough.

It’s what you always seem to need lately.

And if those needs have resulted in a tiny human growing inside of you.. would that be so bad?

“Then we’ll deal with it, we’ll sort this together. You and me”

Sort this? Deal with it?

Does he mean -

You can barely even let that thought manifest and clearly your knee is working overtime and you’ve gone back to picking at your hands and nails again as Ransom stills both. Using one hand to force your eyes to his.

“Y/N, baby. Look at me. I didn’t mean that in the way it sounded. I meant that we’ll talk about it. We’ll cope and get through this however we need to. We’ll discuss this together..okay?”

You feel yourself nod as you look back down at the timer.

1 second left and...

The ringing sound of Ransoms alarm goes off, startling you despite knowing it was coming.

You take a deep breath, waiting a second so that you can calm your hands and that shaky knee of yours before you look at Ransom and pick the test up. His hand over yours, holding it as you both bite the bullet and glance.

Two lines.

Two very clear, very real lines.

You feel his hand grip the test to look at it properly without you. He takes it and stands up as he begins to pace the small bedroom. His large frame taking up all of the space.

Were you too quick to believe his promises of being there no matter the result? Did you buy into that false sense of security yet again?

Everything moves in slow motion, even your thoughts. You daren’t disturb him while he paces, with his eyes fixated on those two lines. He’s processing. Internally cursing this baby inside of you. Or at least you think

Ransom’s POV

Two lines.

Two very clear, very real lines.

I instantly feel claustrophobic, instantly need air. After pacing for what feels like forever, i feel worse. I need proper air, i need it now.

I rush to the window, practically cursing inside as i fumble with the handle, i push it open and lean there for a moment, breathing in and out rapidly, unable to catch my breath fully.

I needed that. That’s the air i needed.

With my eyes shut and fresh air blasting my face, i start to cool down. The temperature in my face cools slowly but enough for me to regain a coherent train of thought.

It takes a minute before the thought of her comes back to me. I spin around instantly to find her, tears pooling in her eyes, a worried look on her face. I can tell that the first thing she thought of when she saw me just now was that i’m angry.

How wrong could she be.

I rush to her side, pulling her close to me so i can hold her.

“Shhh, i got you. I’ve got you” i soothe, or at least attempt to as she sniffles into my chest.

“A-are you mad?” her voice comes out just above a whisper, while a rogue tear slips down her cheek and onto my chest.

“Of course not”... “why would i be?”

It seems logical in my head, why would i be mad? How could i be mad?

I’m happy, albeit overwhelmed but happy nonetheless.

“You’ve barely said a word’

“It’s overwhelming that’s all darling, it’s a lot to take in and i can’t even imagine how you must be feeling. Talk to me”

Your POV

You pull away from his chest, wiping your tear stained face as you swallow your nerves down as best as you can so that you can get your thoughts out into words.

“I’ve always known that i’ve wanted to be a mother. Even when i was younger with my sisters, playing moms and dads” that earns a chuckle from your sweet but misunderstood boyfriend.

His arm cradles you as you continue.

“But that’s a far cry from that to this, to doing it, for real. Having a tiny human depend on you for everything. It’s also the unexpected, perhaps. The fact that this wasn’t planned. We’ve been so preoccupied lately, being careful when having sex hasn’t exactly been at the forefront of our minds. But what if it was meant to be that way?”

“How do you mean?”

“What if this was always supposed to happen. This little life growing inside of me as we speak. Sometimes things happen when you least expect it, for a reason”

I feel silly saying that but it’s true. Life can have a funny way of challenging you, and doing it in ways you wouldn’t expect.

You look up at him, searching his eyes for anything to show that he’s truly okay with the outcome of the test.

Facing a positive pregnancy test was certainly not on your plans for this year, but what matters is how you deal with it, how you communicate with one another about this. It may be your body but you want the choice to be one you make with both yours and Ransoms input. It took the two of you to create this life. It’s only right the two of you decide what happens.

Your hand naturally goes to your stomach and you gently rub your thumb across it, wondering what life would be like with a baby. How Ransom would hold up as a father. You know he’d be a whole lot better than his father, that’s for sure. Which let’s face it, isn’t a hard feat at all. Richard Drysdale is a bastard of a man. And you know that Ransom wouldn’t mind you saying that. It’s a fact.

Ransoms hand joins you, his thick and long fingers fingers guiding your own to stroke your stomach.

“We don’t have to decide just yet” he starts, getting down on his knees in front of your bed and positioning himself in between your legs, parting them as he inches closer. A position you’ve had him in more than once. It brings heat to your sex. You can’t help it. The man is quite literally a sex god.

You’re sat here, in the midst of a serious conversation and yet you’re in the mood to be intimate. This man can literally touch you in any way, be in front of you talking about politics or even pissing you off in some form and you still feel that invisible string, pulling you to him, like a magnetic force. You belong to him, and he belongs to you. However, times like these make you want him all the more.

His eyes darken as he catches yours doing the same, he knows that look.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore, if that’s okay?” you murmur, your hands roaming down his tanned and toned body, abs for days, that sexy V-shape leading into his boxers, where his not so mysterious size awaits you.

You need him, god you need him more than you need to breathe. Everything is aching, your anxiety wreaking havoc on your body once again, you need a distraction, just for right now. You know that you can’t avoid it forever, but you can allow yourself to forget, just for today. Or even just for right now.

“Oh yeah, and what do you want, hm?” his finger crooks under your chin, lifting it up, not allowing you to avoid his eyes. “Come on, tell me princess. This only works if we communicate” his voice is going deeper as he finishes talking. He knows exactly what you want, but as always, in true Ransom fashion, he’s making you work for it. Just the way that you like.

“I want you. No, i need you. I need you so badly. Your touch, your hands. I need it all over me. Afterwards i promise we can discuss the pregnancy. I just need to be close to you. Please” your doe eyes cause him to falter his usual Daddy persona.

“Like this?” he rasps, manoeuvring so that you’re laying down on the bed and he’s on top of you, his hands gripping your ass before leading up your body, squeezing and gripping every curve, his soft sighs make it clear how much he wants you too. No spot untouched.

You hum in appreciation and agreement with his words and he continues, his face burying into your neck, kissing, licking and biting like a wild animal desperate for his next feed. You’re his prey. Always have been since day one. You belong to him.

“Use your words, slut” his demand comes with a menacing drawl, one you would never wish to ignore. You couldn’t even if you wanted to. When he’s in this zone, this fantasy of your owner, Ransom is not to be tested. Best believe he will always come out on top.

“Y-yes, like that” you moan breathlessly as his hands slide up to the tie of your robe, his fingers barely need to work at it before it opens, giving him better access to you and that sexy goddess like body of yours, or at least that’s how he’s always seen it. You’ve never once had to wonder if he’s into you, his reaction to you is enough confirmation.

Ransom moves you to the centre of the bed, spreading your legs before moving in between them once again. “Yes, what?” his eyebrows raise, a playful smirk on his beautiful face.

“Yes Daddy”

And that was all he needed to begin.

His lips pucker as he places kisses along your stomach, working his way up to your neck, gentle kisses at first. But the higher he gets, the more hungry he becomes, nipping you here, licking you there. Your chest starts to rise and fall quite quickly now, your cheeks flush as he reaches your breasts.

No matter how many times he looks at them, feels them in his hands and plays with them, he loves them. It’s like he’s obsessed with showing every significant part of your body some love. But then again, when it comes to Ransom, every part of your body is significant. Every. Single. Inch.

“Look at these nipples of yours, all ready for me. I’ve barely even touched you” his pleased tone makes you smile a little. Daddy Ransom is here for real now.

You prepare yourself mentally for the rollercoaster your body is about to be put through.

His index fingers and thumbs roll the pert nipples as he kisses the valley between your breasts, licking his way to one nipple to bite it ever so slightly, enough to make you jolt in surprise before repeating the same on the other. His pleasure comes with a build up, a build up that renders you desperate for him, desperate for his cock. But it’s all worth it.

“Being so patient for me, baby. Such a fuckin’ good girl” his New England drawl makes you wetter, the pool of arousal at your entrance causes you to wriggle and writhe, needing to rub your thighs together for some kind of relief. But with Ransom between your legs, you’re trapped.

“Woah woah, what happened to patience” his hand moves down towards your sex as his face moves inches above yours “behave” his words come as he smacks at it. He repeats it once more before continuing his journey to your neck. His mouth starts to suck and bite the tender skin, it’s bound to leave a mark, proof to everyone that he was here. His intention.

You wait for him to move up to your face to give you a kiss and when he does it’s messy, emotional and needy. Tongues moving and colliding, your hands gripping his face before he moves them above your head. One hand of his holding them there while he reaches for the handcuffs in the bedside table draw. Your eyes widen as your brain can only imagine what is in store for you. Rough sex with zero mercy. He plans to fuck you until you beg for him to stop. Just the way you like him to. The arousal worsens as he straddles your chest, tying you to your headboard.

Once you’re attached, no escaping, he gets off of the bed to step out of his boxers slowly. The teasing only makes you more in need for him. And then theres his cock. God it’s like he was sculpted to perfection and brought to you to continuously render you speechless. Every day that you get to look at him and that body of his is a gift that keeps giving.

Your eyes rake over him one time too many but he doesn’t mind. In fact the cocky bastard loves it. It boosts his already inflated ego when it comes to his appearance.

That’s Ransom for you, he looks good and he knows it. He’s used that to his advantage plenty of times. You recall him doing the same for you when you first met.

“Like what you see, baby?” he winks, that wink makes you melt but you forget you’re stuck in place by those handcuffs.

You nod, practically salivating at the sight.

“Please” you beg, pathetically.

“I need you” the whimpers fall on death ears as he climbs back onto the bed, fisting his hardened cock for you to watch as his own eyes rake over you. He knows he’s one lucky man.

“Do you now? How much?” Like you said, he’s a bastard.

“Badly, i’m so wet for you. Please”

And with that, he spreads your legs further, inspecting you with his eyes before his index finger starts to rub at your clit a little while his middle finger explores your folds until it’s at your entrance, rubbing your juices around.

“So you are” he hums in appreciation before lifting your legs up a little and bending down.

His mouth attacks your pussy, making you whimper in shock. It’s never been so easy before to get him to give in. He must need you just as much, if not more.

“Taste so fuckin’ good” his growling and breathy voice turns you on more, god you love him. So fucking much. You love the way he relentlessly attacks your body with his mouth, hands and cock. He just knows what you need.

You’ve been here so many times now, danced this same dance. You’re fluent in each others bodies language. Knowing every weakness, every tell tale sign of an orgasm, every pressure point that gets the other begging for more. However, you rarely get to use your knowledge as Ransom enjoys dominating too much, and who are you to argue?

Your hips buck up as you grind into his face.

“You eat my pussy so good Daddy” you whimper, desperate for more of him, his teeth nip not so gently at your demanding clit but it spurs you on. You thrust faster and faster before he holds you still, your thighs wrapped tightly around is head as his nails dig into your soft skin. He’s hungry.

That all too familiar rope in your stomach starts to tighten, your climax building, and building and building. Until one last flicker of his strong tongue causes the rope to snap.

You cry out, his name falling off of your tongue like a prayer, all to familiar. He licks you through the orgasm while your legs shake around his head, just the way he likes. You’re so sensitive but he wants more, who are you to deny him. His tongue now lapping up all he forced from your body, the juices make him groan

He forces your body back to the bed, allowing you too lay there while he stares at you. In awe, perhaps.

His hands wrap around his hardened cock as he moves over you so that your legs can lock around his torso, keeping the two of you connected, while your hands aren’t available.

“You want this cock inside of you? Gonna be my good little slut, hm?” his filthy words only make you want him more, you shake the cuffs in attempt to free yourself so that you can touch him, wanting him inside of you faster.

The taunting tuts he gives you, warning you about rushing him. Ransom is especially thorough when it comes to giving pleasure. He likes to make sure no stone is left unturned, leaving you a puddle of satisfaction with shaky legs for further proof.

“I need it inside of me, i need you. Make me your slut, use me for your own pleasure” you plead, doe eyes returning as you bite your lip seductively. That’ll do it, the final nail in your coffin, clearly, as he slides into you slowly, filling you up inch by inch.

Two sets of eyes close in tandem as pleasure envelopes both of you. All of your stress from the last 48 hours vanishes in a heartbeat. Tension disappears.

You know you have to face everything soon but this is a short term distraction, one you are both welcoming with open arms. It’s what you need right now, no harm in satisfying that.

His thrusts speed up as he grips your legs, pushing them up and back. Folding you over so that he can push down on the backs of your thighs, using it as leverage for him to go to town. Fucking into you with reckless abandon, giving you all that he has. All of his confusion about the new circumstance you’ve found yourselves in, all of the tension that piled on top of him the moment he saw those two lines. All of it is channeled into this moment right now.

“So fucking wet for me, baby. My god” the sound of his balls slapping against your asshole mixed with the sound of your juices each time he drives his cock balls deep into you bounces off of the walls, making you glad you live alone.

His hands move to splay across your ass, gripping it so tight that his nails dig in, leaving a mark for certain. You wince but revel in the pain of it, the beautiful pain.

“You feel so good inside of me, daddy. Are you proud of me, taking all of you like the good little slut you turned me into mm?”

His eyes darken, his brows scrunch as his middle finger circles your puckered hole, so tight, so fucking tight.

He throws his head back grunting as his thrusts get more aggressive before sucking that same finger and circling the hole again. He pushes it in slowly, blowing out a deep breath he’d been holding in until his finger slipped inside, just a little. It’s been a while since he played with your ass like this.

Oh how you’ve missed it. Pushing in and out, he works it in deeper each time, training it to take all of that finger.

God you’re so good for him, he needs you to keep being good, to keep taking what he dishes out. You’re always good, so perfect, so precious.

He loses control, rough isn’t the word for how he’s fucking you, his finger getting faster with its movements, working in time with his cock as it moves in and out of your soaking wet pussy, your juices covering it tip to base.

Yet again, the tell tale sign of an impending orgasm washes over you as you cry to be released. His one free hand moves up momentarily to pick the key up for the cuffs. You nod rapidly, signalling to him to free you. You need to be closer, you need to touch him.

Ransom notices this, smirking as he speeds the pace of his finger up a notch, working harder to push you through that orgasm you’ve needed so much. “Is my good girl gonna cum, huh? Gonna make a big mess all over daddy’s cock?Give it to me baby, come on, give me that cum, i need it like i need fucking air to breathe. Come on, slut, cum on this cock. Give yourself a mess to clean once i free those hands”

His words are enough to push you over the edge as you cry out once again, for the second time today he’s the reason for your relentless pleasure. Your pussy walls clench down on him, again and again and again, making him moan along with you. He pulls out quick, pushing the key into the lock to free you at last before manhandling you around so that you’re on your knees on the floor, in between his naked legs, sucking his cock.

His hips buck, forcing you to take all of him, one punishing thrust after another, saliva drips from your mouth each time he pulls out. His hands grip your hair, giving you no choice but to comply. All while your cum drips from your stretched out and satisfied hole.

Pleasuring your man brings you pleasure too, you can’t help but feel the same old need for more as you service his cock with your mouth, bringing him close to his own orgasm. But before you swallow it, you pull off in time for him to spray your chest. His arousal covering your breasts fully. You waste no time in playing with it, moving it all across with your fingers before licking it off slowly, seductively. His eyes follow your every move, amazed.

“You’re so sexy, you know that, right?”

You nod, confidently. You don’t always know it but in this moment right now, you believe it wholeheartedly. Nothing could stop you from showing it to him.

The taste of him makes your pussy throb non stop.

Look at you, such a desperate slut, constantly craving his cock.

His thumb strokes your chin as he leans over you, catching a drop that didn’t quite make your mouth before you take it and suck the remains off.

“That, my darling, is certainly my favourite distraction” he hums with satisfaction as he stands up, towering over you before picking you up and carrying you to the en suite. “But let’s get you cleaned up, hm? Then we can talk about that test”

You nod before resting your head on his chest as he walks you into the bathroom for a much needed shower.

Sooner or later you’ll need to face that test, and as nervous as you are. There’s no one you’d rather have those difficult conversations with.

-----------------------

General Tag List:

@deadlymistress24 @coffeebooksandfandom @chris-butt @holtzkinnon @mychemicalimagines @llamadelreyx @haus-of-bitch-talk @buckstaybucky @thewinchestergirl1208 @chrissquares @patzammit @cevans-fics @americasass91 @toni9 @aaliferous @bradfordmyworld @thereisa8ella @yassspose @randomsevans @fanficforfun @meetmeatyourworst @leyannrae @rainbowkisses31

Just Chris and his characters Tag List:

@onetwo3000 @sheofthegarden @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @mrslokibarnesrogers @princess-evans-addict @stxvercgersslut @chris-evanslover @bval-1 @thejemersoninferno @janeyboo @evansphnx12 @dwights-new-plague @whxre4cevans @cherry-gemz @chvntelle-99 @talley84 @peakascum @gitasor @allthingschrisevans @janaev4ns @moonlacebeam

If anyone would like to be added to my tag list, please feel free to comment, put a request in my inbox or message me privately.

Thank you for reading and as always, please interact, it means a lot. Love you all💜

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neonoddeye · 11 months ago

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A lesson in physics | College! Gojo Satoru x Reader

In these trying times, I will provide: a college au! I actually wrote this as a birthday present for my best friend, but I wanted to post it here as well. It’s also my first chaptered fic, yay! I hope you enjoy :)

CONTENT INCLUDES: AFAB! Reader, cursing, Gojo and reader are both in college and everything is NORMAL and HAPPY, Gojo is a frat boy, enemies to friends to lovers, will be NSFW in later chapter (MINORS DNI)

Monday, 12:00pm

Working with Satoru Gojo on a class assignment was a horror you only conjured in your nightmares. And as you look at the physics class assignment on your laptop screen, you realize you wouldn’t be waking up from this one any time soon.

“Oh god, him?” Your roommate Shoko joins your gaze of disgust as she glances at your fate. “You’re gonna end up doing the whole thing by yourself!”

“Don’t remind me” you whine, leaning back in your chair and placing a hand on your forehead in dramatic distress. “Can I switch with you?”

“Hell no, I’m securing this A with Nanami” Shoko laughs, patting you on the back as a poor attempt at pity. “But we’ll be praying for you.”

You and Shoko had just left said physics class, the two of you lounging at the library to get a head start on the week’s assignments. You couldn’t help but truly stress over your predicament instead of starting on your homework, however: everyone and their mom knew of Gojo Satoru and his infamous Kappa Alpha frat boy title. Ever since he was on your dorm floor freshman year of college, you’ve harbored a vendetta against him. While you were immune to his mesmerizing blue eyes and undeniable charisma, most of your friends weren’t, and pursued him in droves. With every poor girl’s broken heart that he stomped on, your hatred grew, until you infamously bashed him at his frat’s party that same year. While his reputation was almost impenetrable in the eyes of his male friends, you definitely did a little damage to him from the outside. Two years later, you never thought you’d have to deal with him again- until you both enrolled in the same physics class. Hell, you didn’t even think he had the brain capacity to handle a STEM major. And now, you have to work alongside him; you can’t help but question the universe and wonder what you ever did wrong to deserve this.

“Guess I’ll get his contact info” you sigh, pulling up the list of class emails and scrolling for his name.

“Hey! Y/N, right?” You hear a familiar voice ahead of you. Your lab partner, Gojo Satoru, has already found you in the library. The devil works hard, but Gojo works harder.

“Hey Gojo” you reply monotonously, barely glancing at him over your laptop screen. He’s dressed like a poster frat boy, wearing a dark blue knitted sweater vest over a crisp white button-up paired with slim khakis. His paper white hair is unkempt yet tamed, and his irritating blue eyes sit behind round gold-rimmed glasses. His trademark smirk is replaced by an awkward smile as he approaches you; it’s good to know your blow at his ego was permanent.

“Uh, long time no see” Gojo continues while messing with his disheveled hair, “did you see we’re working on that project together?”

You can’t help but let out a belated sigh. “I sure did. You have any ideas for it yet?“

“Oh nah, I haven’t really looked at the whole thing yet. Do you wanna start it right now? I have time.”

“Oh uh, I have to leave for class in 15 minutes.” In reality, your next class starts in an hour; you just didn’t feel like talking to him right now. Still, you keep up the act by packing your belongings to head out.

“Oh that’s all good. Here,” Gojo hands you his phone, presenting an empty contact card for you to fill out. “Let’s set up a time to work on it later. We have two weeks, but I wanna get it over with”.

“Well, that’s something we agree on” you mutter, filling out your contact info on his cracked iPhone screen. You then hand his phone back to him and rise from your seat. “I’m usually free after 4pm. Just remember to actually text me back, Gojo. I know you’re not very good at that.”

“I will, I will,” he chuckles, holding up his hands in surrender to your threat. “Promise!” he holds up a pinky and winks at you, to which you roll your eyes and head back towards the door. You’re really hoping these next two weeks aren’t as difficult as you think they’ll be.

Thankfully, Gojo actually responded, and the two of you agreed to Tuesday evening at the library. You’re currently waiting for your project partner at a cozy corner desk, taking out your notes and laptop to begin the assignment. It’s 5 minutes past the agreed upon time when Gojo saunters up to you; honestly, you thought he’d show up later or forget entirely, so you’re not upset.

“Sorry, club meeting ran a little later than usual,” he says as he slumps into the couch across from you, his legs dangling over the armrest. “I got you this, too,” he adds, sliding a Red Bull over to you. “I don’t know how long we’re working on this tonight, but I thought I’d get us both one, just in case”.

“Oh, thanks. I got something already, though,” you reply, picking up your thermos of espresso and politely pushing back the offering. “What club are you in?” It seems like you’re both attempting to make amends to make the project a little easier.

“I’m in an astrophysics club. It’s nothing much, tho”, he shrugs. We just talk about nerdy shit and occasionally do projects and stuff.”

“I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t expect that from you”, you lean back in your chair, now slightly interested in the man before you.

“Yeah, I actually do more than just party.” Gojo adds while taking out his own supplies. “Believe it or not, I’m not the same guy I was freshman year”.

“You’re gonna have to prove it to me, I’m afraid”, you retort. If he’s trying to charm you, it won’t work.

Gojo clears his throat. “Anyway, here are some ideas I had for the project”. He slides his notebook closer to you, revealing a page full of bullet points aptly titled “project ideas.” His handwriting is messy, but legible, and as you read his notes you’re reluctantly impressed by his insightfulness and creativity. Gojo reveals that he actually stayed behind at his club to relay his ideas and ask for tips, admitting he was more interested in the material than he thought he’d be. As you lean over the table to point out one particular idea, you catch a hint of cologne from him. You can tell it’s not a cheap scent, with notes of mandarin and cypress above amber and leather. His hair is slightly neater than it was yesterday, and up close you can tell that his skin is flawless. You’re almost annoyed at his effortlessly attractive appearance; no wonder so many people fawn over him.

An hour passes briskly, with the two of you making ample progress with the project. Surprisingly, the two of you work well together, even getting off topic a few times to discuss frivolous subjects. You learned that he likes watching cartoons and reading, and wants to go into research after college. You can’t help but feel a little guilty for holding a grudge over him for so long; it seems like he really has changed.

After 30 more minutes, Gojo stands up to stretch. “Alright, we’re done with the outline”, he yawns, taking a sip of his Red Bull. “I don't wanna keep you too long, how about we call it for the night?”

“Sounds good to me”, you yawn in response, closing your notebook. “It takes me a bit to walk home, anyway”.

“You’re walking home by yourself? At dark?” Gojo questions you with genuine concern in his words. “I can drive you home, if you want”.

“Oh no, I’m fine. I do it all the time”, you shrug.

“It’s no big deal to me”, he flashes a small smile. “I respect having the balls to walk home alone at night, but I’d be a dick to not offer”.

“Sure, why not. I appreciate it”. You smile back, getting up to follow Gojo to his car. As you walk with him to his car, the two of you excitedly discuss a new anime you’ve both been watching. You didn’t take him as the type to be an anime guy either, but he’s surprised you a lot today. When you get to his car, it’s as nice as you expect it to be: a slick silver BMW with a clean interior, accompanied by a new car smell. Of course he has money, too. He’s not a menace to society on the road either, and the low hum of his Spotify playlist accompanies the small talk.

“By the way”, Gojo pipes up after a moment of silence, “I feel like shit for how I acted to your friends freshman year. You were right to call me out like that”.

“I know”, you reply, with a hint of playfulness in your tone. He chuckles in response.

“No offense taken. But really, I hope we can be on good terms now. I had a good time, even if we were working on an assignment.”

“Unfortunately, I think I did too”. He’s pulling up to the entrance of your apartment complex, and parks neatly by the door.

“Next time, how about we work at my place? Only if you want to though, just thought I’d suggest some place quieter”.

“I’m down”, you nod, “I could bring snacks, too”.

“Sounds like a deal. See you on Thursday, Y/N”. He gives you a short wave as you exit his car, and even makes sure to watch you get inside safely. As you walk to your apartment, you battle with your renewed thoughts of the frat boy you once detested. After being alone with him for an extended period of time, you hate to admit that you can see the appeal; he’s handsome, charming, and seems to have mellowed out over the years. But should you really be giving Satoru Gojo a chance?

Fuck it, you might.

(Stay tuned for part 2!)

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #jjk gojo #gojo x you #gojo x reader #gojo x y/n #jjk

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kimhortons · 13 days ago

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mag totot dump lang ako —

so ayun, hindi nga kami natuloy umuwi ng manila. nabobored tuloy ako. ang dami ko naman sana pwedeng gawin like mag netflix, maglaro or magbasa but i don't have the energy to start one. lol. dapat kasi nag gagala na ako ngayon sa manila or nag wawaldas ng pera haha. kaso since di na nga kami natuloy, naubos narin pang gastos.

gusto ko sana mag check out ng bagong iphone kagabi sa shopee. naka 0% interest kasi, iphone 15 128 gb. tas nasa 3.7k lang for 12 months. but hindi ko tinuloy kasi di pa tapos yung monthly ko sa sloan though konti na lang yun, halos 3-5 na monthly nalang, kaso baka di pa keri isabay hehe.

tas naalala ko, laptop pala dapat unahin ko. pero i'm so torned kasi kahit napa ayos ko na yung xs max ko, e nangangati na yung kamay ko sa bagong phone haha. so pag iisipan ko pa ng malala kung ano uunahin. or what if both? haha eme.

since di nga kami tumuloy, nag plan nalang kami na sa March at May uuwi ng manila. balak namin mag elyu sa birthday ko tas sa May uuwi talaga ako dahil sa concert ng M2M at birthday ni papa. pag ganito parin sitwasyon ng kalsada next year, mag eeroplano nalang kami.

nakikipag deal pa si J kagabi dahil gusto ko nga mag check out ng phone. pag kumuha daw ako nun, di raw kami tutuloy next year umalis. bat naman ganern hmp. syempre di ko parin kinuha kahit sayang yung 0% na interest. huhu. dapat ko talaga ayusin mga desisyon ko sa buhay e. haha.

tulad nung desisyon na wag mag anak. recently kasi akala ko delayed na naman ako. di ko kasi na track last time yung period ko, so di ko sure kung kelan ako dadatnan kasi yung mga kawork ko na nakasabayan ko last time, nauna saken ngayon tas niloloko nila ako. di naman ako kinabahan, pero napaisip din ako kung meron, kasi di talaga kami safe s*x lagi, nananalig lang ako sa timing niya haha.

tinanong ako nung isang kateam ko, bakit daw ayaw ko mag anak. kako, ayaw ko mabuntis ng hindi ko pa nakukuha at nagagawa lahat ng gusto ko. i'm not closing the chance, pero choice ko talaga na wag muna, tsaka di ko pa talaga maimagine sarili ko maging nanay, like ew. chariz haha.

dami ko pa balak na parang imposible ko magawa, pero hoping na sana ma achieve ko, like tulungan yung kapatid ko ipagawa yung bahay namin sa manila, magkaron kami ng sariling bahay ni J, magkaron ng sasakyan at maging stable kami sa career namin, hanggang sa dumating yung point na kaya na namin mag out of the country. pag nangyari na siguro 'to lahat baka kung pwede pa, pwede na.

#personal #blah #td

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srbachchan · 2 years ago

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DAY 5625

Jalsa, Mumbai July 12/13, 2023 Wed/Thu 1:56 AM

🪔 .. July 13 .. birthday wishes to Ef Manoj Kumar Ojha .. Ef Taran Ghantasala .. and Ef Kalpesh N. Gohel from Oman .. love and more from the Ef Family .. ❤️❤️❤️🚩🙏🏻 .. we are in celebration for you all .. Love ❤️

the wise have said .. and we follow .. but the follow of today is different .. there needs to be a reason for the attitude that is needed for the times of today ..

just one simple thought breaches the connect and then , a million other follow .. follow to which extent .. is unknown .. each says they are in breach and the never ending follows .. so best to be in distance ..

न रहेगा बाँस न बजेगी बांसुरी ; झगडे या मुसीबत के मुल कारण को नष्ट कर देना .. an advice from old sayings .. they were never wrong .. through generations they compiled and educated ..

no longer the wood , no longer the flute .. to do away with and destroy the main reason for the trouble and diversity .. and how true it has been .. to understand , that sharing ..

the best offering be, of the ultimate deal .. that which has been incomplete, even after the contracts have been signed .. and when the accusations be in reverse , the true colour and tense of the thoughts and words arise and be made public ..

do not threaten with deeds that you may be proficient with .. just because you have the benefit of experience .. our own individual strength, is large enough to respond in equal matter ..

sympathy and jealousy .. strains of the same Symphony .. either strung more than the other .. it breaks ..

and you look forward to it .. a lesser burden .. a lesser responsibility ..

SO DID THE WISE ADVISE .. generational deterrents made the mind sense for all ..

( was wanting to put relevant pictures up here .. brought them to the DeskTop from iPhone photos .. and they refuse to open here )

so either the Carrier .. of whom I am fed up and switching to another .. or the Laptop of Apple, that is deliberately doing this in order to make the market for the new one .. this is the Laptop M2 .. supposed to be the superior one and speeds faster than any else .. but the in operation and glitches are in abundance .. and stopping work and all else ..

so switching to the old one and never to buy the new ..

Amitabh Bachchan

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divinekangaroo · 4 months ago

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falling - pettiot - Peaky Blinders (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

PART ONE - DAY ONE

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9

PART TWO - MONTH ONE (Or Maybe Month Two, Or Three)

Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | Ch 15 | Ch 16 | Ch 17 | Ch 18

PART THREE - A YEAR (Or So)

Ch 19 | Ch 20 | Ch 21 | Ch 22 | Ch 23 | Ch 24 | ??

A Modern AU take on Tommy's immediate return from military service, and the period between his demobilisation and the start of S1.

(Tags shall be progressively updated)

Tommy Shelby/Lizzie Stark, Tommy Shelby/Freddie Thorne, Arthur Shelby, Polly Grey, Ada Shelby, John Shelby, Johnny Dogs, Various Lees, John Shelby's Children, Zhang, S1E1 Red Dust Girl, Sergeant Moss | Alternative Universe, Modern AU (ish), No iPhones (yet), Awkwardness, Age Difference, Disassociation, Miscommunication, Banter, Fast Food Vendor of your Choice, Pre-Season, Past Trauma, Flirting, Have I Met You Before, Heckling, Cars, Drug Use, Past Childhood Trauma, Mrs Shelby Lives, Gender Role Dynamics, Small Neighbourhoods, Past Greta Jurossi, Brotherly Dynamics, Sibling Dynamics, Class Issues, Attraction, Casual Sex, Car Sex, Military Transition Program, Wilful Medical Noncompliance, Melodrama, Illegal Bookmaking, 90s Fashion, 2000s Fashion, Slow Reveal, Slow Burn, Coming Home, Dysfunctional Family, Lasting Legacy of Catholicism, Bad SMS Etiquette, Gang Activity, Domesticity, Booty Call, Guilt, Shame, So Much Marijuana, Arms Dealing, Crimes & Criminals, Ill Informed Economic Theorising, Wanking, Ethnicity, Stereotyping

#my writing #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfic #lol smack in the middle of age gap discourse; i did write this outline in may so it's not intended to be topical but just landed that way #anyway one day i might write on the frustration that with the binary currently afflicting fandom #narratives considering age difference only seems to mean one was a minor and one wasn't (this is not the case in PB)#but i do feel there is an age difference between t and l large enough to be consistent with t and ada.with lizzie and ada an age cohort.#areas of narrative interest in age difference: generational thinking differences; how and when power moves between one and the other;#substitution; reliving lost experiences; experience inversion (elder knows less than younger); what else it adds to fluid dynamics;#also: compounding interest wealth (younger) versus who was old enough to buy property before housing demand exceeded supply by 400% (elder)#<- economics and fiscal status very important stuff re: age difference narratives #my theorising on Lizzie's age hinges on when the timeline made sense for young!Mosley to have 'visited' Lizzie and how I could make it wors #nothing to do with tommy or canon alas. only with making *every* interaction with mosley worse so much worse worse worse #also of considerable narrative interest considering an au: the way age and age cohorting is considered so differently in different eras

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mariacallous · 7 days ago

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Love it or hate it, you have to admit Temu had a banger year. Launched in late 2022, the Chinese-owned ecommerce site, known for selling a vast array of astonishingly affordable goods, took only two years to become a household name in the US. Over the past 12 months, it has topped download charts, surpassing other viral apps like ChatGPT and Threads, and now operates in dozens of countries around the world. Even its biggest rival, Amazon, recently introduced a Temu clone called Amazon Haul that closely resembles the original, both in terms of its logistics supply chain and user interface.

Temu is projected to earn more than $50 billion in total sales this year, according to analysts from AB Bernstein and Tech Buzz China, potentially tripling its 2023 figure. Temu’s website now gets nearly 700 million visits worldwide every month, and Apple recently revealed it was the most downloaded app of 2024 on iPhones in the US.

Temu has now fully replaced Wish, an earlier bargain online shopping site, in the cultural lexicon as the signifier of knockoffs or budget-friendly alternatives. The winner of the recent Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest in New York City, for example, calls himself “Temu-thée Chalamet.” Tens of millions of ordinary people have tried out the app, many of whom learned about it through one of Temu’s seemingly unavoidable and relentless advertising campaigns. At this point, your grandma is probably obsessed with Temu, too.

“My friends and family members who didn't know what it was in 2023 do now,” says Moira Weigel, an assistant professor at Harvard University who studies transnational online marketplaces. “Random relatives who know that I study China or ecommerce will say, ‘Oh, you must know all about Temu,’ in a way that didn’t happen a year ago.”

Weigel says that Temu has done a few things right, including identifying the correct suppliers in China, targeting appropriate customer segments, and finding an inexpensive way to ship products from one to the other. That allowed the shopping platform to defy early analyst predictions that it would quickly burn through its cash reserves and flame out.

Temu, which is owned by PDD, one of the biggest ecommerce giants in China, is moving and pivoting at a speed that its Western counterparts can’t really grasp, says Juozas Kaziukėnas, founder of the ecommerce intelligence firm Marketplace Pulse. “When you look at a company like Temu, it's going a thousand miles an hour,” he says.

Kaziukėnas believes the most important thing Temu did this year was quickly switch its focus away from shipping small packages through air cargo and start building local inventory supply chains in the US and other countries. “This year, it started with 100 percent of goods coming from China; now in the US, 50 percent of them are coming from local warehouses. For Western marketplaces, these types of changes would have taken years,” Kaziukėnas says.

Still, Temu does not have a shortage of looming challenges. In the US, the Biden administration is eager to dismantle a tariff exemption rule that critics say unfairly benefits Temu before it leaves the White House. In Europe, Temu is under formal investigation for allegedly selling illegal products and getting users addicted to its app. The company is also often criticized around the world for its negative environmental impact, labor practices, and alleged misuse of user data, including allegations from researchers in the US that the app poses a national security risk.

Whether Temu can overcome these hurdles will depend on how fast the company can adjust its supply chain and pivot away from the most troublesome aspects of how it operates—before regulators take action. “What Temu was, is, and what Temu will be in the future are perhaps different things,” Kaziukėnas says.

From $1 Deals to Dupes

Temu made its name by promoting dirt-cheap deals that are often too good to believe, like $5 purses and $2 wireless headphones. It spent millions promoting the tagline “shop like a billionaire” in a series of Super Bowl advertisements, and that’s indeed what the app used to feel like: Identical or very similar products cost only a fraction of what they did on Amazon or Walmart, and it was hard to resist the temptation of adding a dozen more things to your shopping cart when they each were less than $1.

Temu managed to pull it off because it exploited a few areas of untapped potential, says Weigel. On the buyer side, it targeted price-conscious shoppers living in a time of high inflation. On the seller side, it scouted out Chinese factories that needed to keep their production lines running, but had no idea how to enter overseas markets. To connect them, Temu figured out it could take advantage of the so-called de minimis rule to send items affordably through air cargo directly to customers’ doorsteps. The provision allows people to send packages to the US duty-free as long as the goods inside are worth less than $800.

Because this business model is based on shipping everything from China and doesn’t require much local inventory, it’s very easy to replicate in different markets. As of December 2024, Temu’s website shows that it’s available in 86 countries, while Amazon, having been in business for three decades, operates in only 22. “In recent history, like the past 10 to 15 years, the first place people were interested in selling is the US and Europe, because they're large markets, prices can be higher, and so on,” says Weigel, who traveled to China this year to interview vendors selling on Amazon and Temu. “Now, there is increasing interest among these small-to-medium-size Chinese businesses in expanding in Africa, Southeast Asia, and also Central Asia … Multiple people talk to me about how young and rapidly growing the population in Africa is.”

But that doesn’t mean Temu is totally different from Amazon. In fact, the company has begun borrowing a number of tactics from the US ecommerce giant. In March, Temu reportedly started working with local warehousing companies in the US and allowing vendors on the platform to store their own US inventory instead of shipping directly from China. This is essentially what Amazon has been doing for years with its Chinese-based marketplace sellers, a strategy that allows it to deliver orders in as little as a single day. And now, these locally shipped products account for nearly half of Temu’s sales in the US, according to The Information.

What this means is that many of the products Temu sells are no longer exempt from American import duties, significantly reducing the price advantage that Temu used to have. But the strategy allows Temu to ship physically larger items to US warehouses through ocean freight before putting them up for sale, and then, the products can be delivered faster to customers, who previously often needed to wait a week or more for their packages to arrive.

That is why consumers are increasingly buying things like couches or other furniture on Temu, and also why sometimes prices on the site end up not being much lower than on Amazon or other online retailers. “I think it's pretty clear that Temu is becoming a more expensive offering,” says Kaziukėnas. “I talked to someone at Temu months ago, and they said that they're repositioning Temu from cheap to affordable.”

Higher prices can help recoup some of the financial losses that Temu incurred in its earlier days when it was primarily focused on expansion, but it could also create an identity crisis for the platform. If it doesn’t have shocking $1 deals, then what does Temu really stand for? How can it compete with Amazon and Walmart when the other two are often perceived as more reliable, both in terms of shipping speed and product quality? “I think that’s a problem for Temu already, that it doesn't really have a strong brand to consumers,” Kaziukėnas says.

Lingerings Risks—and Rewards

The days might be numbered for the de minimis exemption. The White House announced in September that it would crack down on “abuse” of the provision, citing a sleuth of reasons ranging from intellectual property violations to fentanyl smuggling. It’s not clear yet how exactly the regulation might change—lawmakers may get rid of it completely or lower the price threshold—but a fix could be finalized before president-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

If it happens soon, the change will no doubt make it harder for Temu to remain competitive, but it’s not going to eliminate it from the field. So much of the conversation in Washington this year has revolved around restricting de minimis to contain Temu, Kaziukėnas says, but the platform has already taken significant steps to reduce its dependence on it. Its ability to ship under de minimis and handle everything from inventory to pricing used to be the main selling points Temu used to lure Chinese suppliers, but now, it’s doing a 180 to address the risks—and the strategy seems to be working. “The regulators are still only now trying to figure out what to do. And by the time they have figured out what they actually need to do, these retailers will be something different,” Kaziukėnas says, referring to Temu and competitors like Shein that rely on de minimis.

Of course, there are other risks that the company needs to address. What TikTok is going through right now—the app could be blocked in the US as soon as next month—should serve as a cautionary tale for Temu, as the latter is already receiving similar scrutiny from lawmakers over its Chinese ownership and data protection practices.

The possibility of being blocked in the US is real for Temu, but Weigel points out that there’s less of a political urgency to act on an ecommerce platform than a social media one that has elicited concerns about things like artificial intelligence and disinformation. “While there is a bipartisan consensus that people are concerned with the implications of China's tech rise, the incentives to police Temu are lower than TikTok,” she says. The Chinese ecommerce vendors she has spoken to don’t seem very concerned either. “These people are very nimble and flexible. My sense was that it was a thing people were curious about, but not something they were afraid about,” Weigel says.

After all, Temu’s aggressive expansion into other markets gives them plenty of alternative places to find customers if things get really ugly between the US and China. On a recent trip to Shenzhen, Weigel says she met a woman who heads a cross-border ecommerce industry association. One of the first things she told Weigel: “We don’t necessarily make the American and the European markets our top priority.”

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ovmobiles · 3 months ago

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Google pixel 9pro

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is the new kid on the block in this year's lineup. The Pixel 8 Pro was succeeded by the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and the 9 Pro is a new addition to the portfolio - it is a compact, full-featured flagship with all of the bells and whistles of its bigger XL sibling

A compact Pixel is not a new concept in itself, of course, but this is the first time Google is bringing the entirety of its A-game to this form factor. The Pixel 9 Pro packs a 48MP, 5x optical periscope telephoto camera - the same as the Pixel 9 Pro XL. There is also UWB onboard the Pixel 9 Pro. Frankly, it's kind of amazing that Google managed to fit so much extra hardware inside what is essentially the same footprint as the non-Pro Pixel 9.

Google Pixel 9 Pro specs at a glance: Body: 152.8x72.0x8.5mm, 199g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min). Display: 6.30" LTPO OLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2000 nits (HBM), 3000 nits (peak), 1280x2856px resolution, 20.08:9 aspect ratio, 495ppi; Always-on display. Chipset: Google Tensor G4 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.1 GHz Cortex-X4 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4x1.92 GHz Cortex-A520); Mali-G715 MC7. Memory: 128GB 16GB RAM, 256GB 16GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM, 1TB 16GB RAM; UFS 3.1. OS/Software: Android 14, up to 7 major Android upgrades. Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.7, 25mm, 1/1.31", 1.2µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 48 MP, f/2.8, 113mm, 1/2.55", dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f/1.7, 123-degree, 1/2.55", dual pixel PDAF. Front camera: 42 MP, f/2.2, 17mm (ultrawide), PDAF. Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@24/30/60fps, 1080p@24/30/60/120/240fps; gyro-EIS, OIS, 10-bit HDR; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps. Battery: 4700mAh; 27W wired, PD3.0, PPS, 55% in 30 min (advertised), 21W wireless (w/ Pixel Stand), 12W wireless (w/ Qi-compatible charger), Reverse wireless. Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD; NFC. Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers; Ultra Wideband (UWB) support, Satellite SOS service, Circle to Search. Google also paid some extra attention to the display of the Pro. It is a bit bigger than the Pixel 8's and better than that inside the regular Pixel 9. The resolution has been upgraded to 1280 x 2856 pixels, the maximum brightness has been improved, and there is LTPO tech for dynamic refresh rate adjustment.

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