#drone software development

[globaldigitals11]

SAP Mobile Services is a part of SAP's broader portfolio dedicated to enabling businesses to leverage mobile technology effectively. In the context of Malaysia, SAP Mobile Services likely offers a range of solutions designed to help businesses in the region optimize their mobile communications, enhance customer engagement, and streamline processes through mobile applications.

[nextbraintechnologiesblog]

We are the Best drone software development company offering drone mapping software, enterprise drone solutions and drone inspection software etc.

[inventcolabsoftware]

Agriculture drone software development  features.

Agriculture drone software encompasses a range of features designed to enhance the use of drones in farming and precision agriculture.

Here are some key features commonly found in agriculture drone software:

Remote Drone Control: Allows users to control drone flight, including takeoff, landing, and navigation through a user-friendly interface. 

Real-time Data Streaming: Provides live streaming of video and sensor data from drones to ground control stations, enabling real-time monitoring. 

GPS Integration: Built-in GPS for precise mapping, tracks drone location, and ensures accurate data collection. 

Autonomous Flight Paths: Enables users to plan and execute automated flight paths for repeatable surveys, covering large agricultural areas with minimal manual intervention. 

Weather Integration: Integrate real-time weather data to make informed decisions about planting, irrigation, and pesticide use based on current conditions. 

Mobile Compatibility: Offer a mobile app or responsive design for access on smartphones and tablets, allowing for on-the-spot decision making. 

Security and Privacy: Implement strong data encryption and user authentication to protect sensitive agricultural data.

Training and Support: Provides user training resources and customer support to help drone operators and farmers get the most out of the software.

These features enable farmers to make data-driven decisions, optimize resource allocation, and improve crop yields through precision farming practices. Agriculture drone software plays a crucial role in modern precision agriculture, helping farmers make data-driven decisions, optimize resource usage, and improve crop yields.

[jacelynsia]

Top 10 AI Tools for Future-Ready Developers

Stay ahead of the game with these 10 must-have AI tools for every software developer in 2023 & beyond. Keep up with the tech evolution. Embracing these AI tools in 2023 and beyond can empower developers to create innovative solutions and drive the future of software development.

[opencommunion]

"As the U.S. government continues to provide Israel with both weapons and diplomatic cover — most recently, by voting against a UN resolution demanding a ceasefire, coincidentally also on December 11 — activists like DBNY see collective direct action as their best means of curbing the violence. They also describe their organizing as a direct response to solidarity requests from Palestinian labor unions urging workers around the world to halt the flow of weapons to Israel.

... Since September, DBNY has been taking the fight to Easy Aerial’s doorstep. Each week, activists with the group distribute flyers to the more than 11,000 people who work for over 450 businesses in the 300-acre complex, including art studios, food vendors and entertainment companies. The flyers in English and Spanish provide background on Easy Aerial, Crye Precision and the Brooklyn Navy Yard itself .... In addition to the weekly flyering, DBNY has organized demonstrations to coincide with the corporation’s board meetings and public events. Activists have also been directly petitioning the corporation’s executives, board members and staff, demanding they evict Easy Aerial and Crye Precision from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

While the response from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to DBNY has been official silence paired with harassment from hired security — including drone surveillance — the response from workers has been 'overwhelmingly positive,' according to the activists. 'Most of them have been shocked and disgusted to learn that they work alongside war criminals.'

... Ultimately, DBNY hopes to replicate the recent successes of other activists targeting weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli military. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Boston, for example, was able to force the closure of Elbit Systems’s offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in August, following a year of demonstrations, as reported by Cambridge Day.

According to DBNY, until the Brooklyn Navy Yard ceases to host businesses trading in 'blood money' from targeting people in Gaza and the United States alike, all New Yorkers and visitors should boycott the complex. To that end, the activists have created a petition demanding the eviction of Easy Aerial and Crye Precision, as well as pledging a boycott until that time.

'We also urge all tenants and workers to take autonomous actions at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and by joining our campaign to disrupt, strike and boycott all genocide profiteers,' said the DBNY spokesperson."

Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard: IG, Linktree Resources for locating genocide profiteers near you ACT UP Civil Disobedience Guide Small Group Direct Action Advice

[ahaura]

(Dec. 1)

Article: Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems after Palestine Action Campaign

After weeks of action, the sole recruiters for the British operations of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, have confirmed via email to Palestine Action that they ended their association with Elbit on the evening of the 29th November. For two months, activists in the Palestine Action network had disrupted iO Associates at their premises across the country, to impede their ability to recruit roles for Israel’s war machine. 

iO Associates recruited the likes of engineers, software developers, and finance staff for positions across the sites of the British branch of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems. Elbit are the largest supplier to the occupation military, providing the vast majorities of its drones, munitions, surveillance gear, and parts for its tanks, jets, and precision missiles. From Britain specifically, they manufacture parts for Israel’s killer drones, along with weapons sights, tank parts, and more, exporting these technologies to Israel in great volume yearly. This is the nature of the business that IO was Associates with, and were IO Associates biggest client.

In response to their facilitation of Elbit’s criminal activities, iO’s offices were stormed and occupied in Manchester on the 1st September, and again on the 7th October. Activists painted iO offices red on October 9th in London, Reading, and Manchester. They were forced to vacate their Manchester offices from the 11th October, after the premises were also stormed by the Youth Front For Palestine, and then finally targeted in Edinburgh twice, on the 11th and 17th October. After being forced to vacate their offices, having their online presence tarnished, and (as confirmed to us by former employees) losing their staff who resigned in opposition to their arms trade partnership, iO Associates have finally cut ties with Israel’s weapons trade. 

This is part of an expansive strategy by Palestine Action, by disrupting the suppliers and facilitators of Elbit’s presence in Britain. It has seen Elbit’s accountants (Edwards), haulage providers (Kuehne + Nagel), landlords (JLL) and many other complicit companies targeted, alongside the hundreds of actions at Elbit sites themselves, continuing to resist the presence of Elbit warmongers in Britain, and constantly reminding those associated with them that they have blood on their hands.

As a result of iO Associates dropping Elbit Systems, the recruiters have been removed as a target of Palestine Action’s campaign. All targets who still facilitate Israel’s weapons trade are listed on elbitsites.uk

[falling-endlessly]

Boomerang (part 3)

Vox x Female!Ex!Overlord!Reader

Summary: Your infuriating ex is planning something, and it's putting everyone on edge. But if he wants at the hotel, he'll have to go through you (and Alastor) first.

<— Part 2 Chapter Index Part 4 —>

—6 HOURS AGO—

"What," Valentino growled, claws creating cracks in the table from how hard he was gripping it. "The fuck did you just say?"

Velvette was no better. Her lip was pulled into a furious snarl, and for once her phone was nowhere to be seen. "Vox, are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Relax," Vox reclined in his chair, raising a brow at his murderous business partners. Velvette's eye twitched and the table creaked in protest under Valentino's fury. "I'm not actually going for redemption, damn, calm your tits people."

"What happened to keeping up an image for the brand?" Velvette banged a fist against her armrest, gritting her teeth. "The Morningstar bitch was literally humiliated on live television, and now you're going to personally advertise for her?!"

"The next extermination is coming sooner than ever, and people are getting desperate. This little publicity stunt can work in our favor," Vox crossed his claws under his chin, megawatt smile growing. "What's a little pity pitch going to hurt? Think about it, I can gather intel, fuck up Alastor's little project, and show Y/n where her allegiances should lie. Win-win-win," he chuckled ominously.

"Cut the shit, Vox," Valentino scoffed, leaning forward to sneer in his face. "It's obvious you're only going this far for that bitch. Can't keep a leash on your toys, hm?"

Vox grit his teeth, digging his claws into his thighs under the table. He knew this wasn't going to go over well, but to be talked down to by someone who was benefiting from him? "So what if I am?" He hid his rage with a large, mocking grin. "And by the way, where's Angel Dust? Haven't seen him around in a while."

Val's face twisted with rage. "You fucking—"

"Enough!" Velvette snapped, glaring at both of them. "I don't have time for this stupid shit. Get on with it or this meeting is over."

Vox's unhinged smile slowly relaxed into his charming PR one. "Of course, my apologies Velvette, Val. I can see why you're not...convinced yet. Let me fix that."

The projector on the wall suddenly sparked to life, displaying three pie charts and a legend with many colorful categories. He gestured to them from left to right. "This is a distribution of our profits from ten years ago, five years ago, and last year."

"We have eyes," Velvette droned boredly.

Vox's antennae sparked in irritation, but he continued regardless. "Y/n's helped develop countless programs and softwares, and with her expertise our earnings jumped thirty seven percent, especially during the collaboration between Voxtek and DeepSpace VR. Now, what happens now that she's taken her business elsewhere? Hell knows she has the computing power to run it without our servers—"

"So, we're supposed to just bend over backwards for a few bucks?" Valentino snarled, crossing his arms.

Vox's screen glitched as he struggled to keep his composure. Thirty seven percent was not just a few bucks. But he knew antagonizing Val right now was more trouble than it was worth. "Val," he chuckled, sauntering forward to rest a hand on the backrest of Valentino's chair, leaning into his space. "Since when have you said no to money?" His eye widened, rings spinning.

"Since it walked out on two legs and ignored us," Valentino snorted.

"Val, I need you to see the bigger picture!" He grasped both of Valentino's shoulders, moving behind him so he could speak enticingly into his ear. "This is an opportunity to keep our brand at the top, and get dirt on that radio bitch. The future is what matters, and we are going to be the ones pioneering it."

The projector flickered to one of the surveillance cameras pointed at an exterior angle of the hotel. Then, the image suddenly rippled to show an artificial video of the same property, but instead of the tacky hotel, there stood a modern building adorned with a bright, neon V logo.

Valentino's smile grew at his last sentence, and he turned in his seat, leaning his forehead to rest against Vox's screen. "I like your vision, Cariño," he purred, grinning wickedly to show off his golden tooth. "But, if your little money-making cocksleeve doesn't come back, well, don't say I didn't tell you so~" he said in a sing-song voice, long tongue coming up to lick languidly along the side of Vox's monitor.

Vox's grin froze on his face, screen glitching.

Valentino chuckled, pushing out of his seat before strutting away. "Oh, and Vox baby," he threw a saucy wink over his shoulder. "Come find me when you get lonely, yeah?"

The double doors slammed shut behind him, bathing the room in silence. Which Velvette quickly broke, of course.

"What the fuck, Vox?" She scrubbed a hand down her face. "All this for a profit we can afford to lose? Really?"

"Velvette," his smile twitched up to full, blinding attention again. "Have I ever let you down before? Everything is under control, trust me!"

"Uh huh," Velvette scowled, unconvinced. "You know, Alastor and Y/n are the only people you've ever really lost it for, and you're going to a place where there's both of them."

"What, you don't think I can handle myself?" His smile strained.

Velvette shook her head, standing up from her chair and approaching him. "You know, that PR shit might work on everyone else, but I can see through your bullshit, Vox," she gave him a hard stare. "Just don't fuck everything up, got it? Or I'll make you wish you didn't."

His fists clenched as she walked past him, smile dropping into a scowl as soon as she was out of view.

****

—PRESENT—

"Whatever you do, make sure he's at least ten floors away from me," you muttered to Vaggie, watching as Charlie gave the bane of your existence an awkward tour of the hotel.

The atmosphere was so tense and suffocating, it was starting to make you incredibly antsy. The others were no better. Angel was drumming his fingers anxiously on the bar counter, Niffty was curiously regarding the new "resident" and Husk was already chugging his second bottle of hard liquor. Holy hell, and you couldn't even forget about Alastor if you tried, the radio demon releasing a constant stream of static and looking about ready to sacrifice someone—preferably Vox—in an incredibly painful and sadistic ritual.

"I can't believe she's letting him stay," Angel hissed under his breath, rubbing his temples in exasperation. "Actually no, what am I saying? This is Charlie, of course she'd let him stay. God damnit."

A tap on your shoulder made you turn around, only to find your favorite stiff drink on the counter behind you. You nodded gratefully at Husk, taking the glass and throwing it back like water.

"At least the hotel's in one piece!" Niffty chirped, her one eye back to tracking any stray insects. "Less mess to clean up." Her knife gleamed as she stabbed a cockroach clean in half with a deranged giggle.

"This isn't going to end well," Vaggie scowled darkly. "He's going to try something, I fucking know it."

"Yeah, no shit," Angel groaned, Husk grunting in agreement.

"Or," Pentious chimed in, hair flaring thoughtfully. "He truly does want to redeem himself?"

There was a silence as everyone turned to look at him incredulously, before a unanimous, resounding "no," rang out.

****

"Anddd here's your room key," Charlie presented it to him with a flourish, beaming brightly. "We hope you enjoy your stay! Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served downstairs in the dinning room, or you can go out and get your own food! We'll get your survey ready for you tomorrow so that you can start building your schedule."

"Schedule?" He quirked a brow, taking the room key from her outstretched hand. "For what, exactly?"

"Oh! Um," Charlie laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "We actually host group therapy activities and trust exercises with the other staff and residents! You'll fill out a short survey so that we can personalize—"

"O-kay, let me stop you there, sweetheart," he chuckled, grin widening condescendingly. "I think it's great what you're doing, really, I do. But I've already got a schedule, and a billion dollar company to run. I'm quite the busy man, you know?"

Charlie furrowed her brow. "But—"

"Seriously, my sales would fall and what would my clients say? Hm?" A crowd booing track played in the background as Vox shook his head like she was just some uneducated child. "So thanks, but no thanks." He shot her a wink, before the door slammed in her face.

Charlie blinked in shock, taking a few seconds to process that she'd been dismissed in her own hotel. Her shoulders slumped as she trudged away.

But that only lasted for a few steps, before she perked right back up. What was she thinking? Giving up so quickly on one of her clients?

Charlie grinned, smacking a fist into her palm. She'd just have to try harder.

Unbeknownst to her, a figure had been watching the entire exchange from the shadows. Your jaw clenched, claws digging into the drywall.

"Unbelievable," you shook your head in disdain.

****

As soon as the door shut, Vox deflated like a balloon.

"Fuckkk," he hissed under his breath, sliding down the door tiredly. "The hell am I doing?"

He allowed himself only a few minutes to wallow in self-pity, before he sighed, pushing off the floor and getting to work. In less than twenty minutes, he had the whole room wired to his needs, electronic Voxtek devices littering the previously empty spaces. Now he had a way to travel without leaving his room.

He was just about to dematerialize into one of his laptops when a familiar, chilling presence made him freeze.

"Why, you only just got here! Don't tell me you're leaving already," Alastor chuckled, tilting his head in mock concern.

The radio demon was leaning an elbow against his dresser, just casually invading his privacy. God, just his smug face made Vox want to kill him already.

"What's it to you, old timer?" Vox sneered, electricity sparking from his claws in agitation. "Unlike you, some of us actually have responsibilities. So if you don't mind—"

"Oh my, breaking your word to Y/n already!" Alastor shook his head with a grin, sound effects of a heckling crowd emanating from his microphone cane. "How very...disappointing. Truly, I'd expect better from you!"

Vox's eye widened, the swirling rings on full display as his teeth grinded in rage. "Y-y-y-you keep her fucking name out of your filthy, cannibalistic mouth! You hear me?" He glitched furiously, electricity sparking in glowing webs from his monitor.

"Aha! Someone's a little on edge," Alastor laughed in tandem with an artificial, mocking laugh track. "Really, that was too easy! You're losing your touch."

"Get the fuck out of my room!" Vox snapped.

"Gladly," the radio demon grinned menacingly, the corners of his mouth stretching to unnatural proportions. "But first, I came to deliver a little message."

Vox gritted his teeth, curling his fists by his sides. His electricity buzzed under his skin, ready to electrocute the fuck out of this crazy fucker if he needed to.

"If you and your merry band of idiots pull even the smallest stunt to sabotage the hotel," Alastor approached him, antlers growing as his eyes turned to radio dials. "I think you'll find out that absence did not make my heart grow fonder."

"What, don't tell me you actually care about this place," Vox grinned, baring his teeth. "The whole redemption thing doesn't really seem to be up your alley, no offense."

"Oh, of course not! Haha! Don't be ridiculous," Alastor chuckled like he'd said something hilarious, but it was overlayed with bursts of radio static. "But I'm afraid I've invested too much in this source of entertainment for you to ruin it with your cheap, unoriginal touch."

The message was clear: don't touch my things.

Vox curled his lip, unwilling to back down no matter how utterly disturbing Alastor's demon form was up close. It gave him chilling flashbacks of their last explosive disagreement. "Then stay away from Y/n," he spat.

Alastor's grin widened, eyes glowing an eerie green as he held out his hand. "Is that a deal?"

Vox grimaced, looking at Alastor's creepy, voodoo doll appearance. "Hell no, you creepy fucker."

Then, like whiplash, Alastor's demon form receded and the air became breathable again. "Well, glad we cleared that up, then!" He laughed exuberantly, twirling his cane. "Nice catching up, chum!"

The demon grinned as he disappeared into shadowy wisps of smoke, melding with the darkness against the walls.

Vox's jaw clenched, electric anger vibrating through him and rattling his teeth. "Fuck!" He kicked over the first thing he saw, which happened to be a wooden workbench. It took a few deep breaths for him to finally calm down and collect his thoughts.

When he was no longer at risk of causing a city-wide outage again (that had been fucking embarrassing), he made his way back to his laptop like he was originally planning to do, only to pause in shock when he saw the brand new device short circuiting, screen full of pixelated static.

An explosive rage convulsed in his chest, the lights in the hotel flickering ominously.

"You red bambi ass fucker!"

****

<—Part 2 Chapter Index Part 4 —>

Taglist: @pooplyface1423 @spookysisters @that-one-weeb-buts-its-the-main @neito327 @hxzbinwrites @coleisyn @bababahannah @yellowsubiesdance @dirk-strides @justaspectatorforfandomarts @harmoira @sunnyslug @gum-iie @lady-valtieri @mit-suri @whatelsecouldgowrong @sillysimplysilky @eternalera @aoiyx @hazellight11 @hopefully-not @tsuvvy @imcryinginemo @dinorawrss @rekoloid @ayesha-eroticax3 @sle3pyh3ad2 @l0verboyxoxo1111

[designation-zi]

Murder Drones Timeline of Events

Disclaimer: Most of this is speculation based off of background details and conjecture. Subject to change. If you notice anything I missed feel free to comment and I’ll make adjustments :)

Proceeding Events:

Sometime in the Future, around the 31st Century

- Humanity becomes advanced enough to venture into space and establish colonies and civilizations on exoplanets in other solar systems. Some of these include the “Proxima System”, “Plat-Binary System”, and the “Copper System.”

- JCJenson, an interstellar megacorporation creates a brand of autonomous robots known as “Worker Drones” to serve humanity and mine resources on the exoplanets. One of these planets is Copper-9 from the Copper System.

- Worker Drones are heavily abused and mistreated by humans, often being improperly disposed of and thrown into landfills.

- JCJenson is aware of the fact their drones have a chance of self rebooting if disposed of incorrectly, dubbing these “Zombie Drones.” This can happen if the drone and their core wasn’t properly disconnected and destroyed, or the software cleanup program “wdOS_606” wasn’t installed or was interrupted or rejected (even up to five years later.) The company is also aware that among these instances, there’s also a chance of the drone developing “Hazardous Mutations.”

- Camp 98.7 is established in the year 3002 on Copper-9.

Humanity’s Downfall:

Year still unknown, but still in the 31st Century

-Underneath a landfill of discarded drones on Earth, presumably in Australia, a drone with a P/N starting with “CYN” self reboots. A so called program named the “Absolute Solver” seemingly contacts her through her broken visor and appears to make a deal with her, promising not to “discard her.” This is how the Solver gets its first host. It’s not known if the Solver took complete control there or if Cyn’s possession was a process.

- The landfill is close by to the mansion of a wealthy human family known as the Elliotts. Their daughter “Tessa James Elliott” enjoys retrieving discarded drones from the landfill so she can repair them. These drones become part of the manor’s wait staff, but Tessa treats them like people and as her friends, even giving them wigs so they can have identifying traits — much to the annoyance of her parents.

- Among the drones Tessa has brought home three are known as N, V, and J due to their serial designation numbers visible on their yellow armbands. It can be noted that it seems Tessa scratched out the “Marked For Disassembly” on the bands with sharpie after she repaired them.

- One day Tessa finds Cyn in the dump and brings her home. She introduces her to N, V, and J shortly after.

- N treats Cyn kindly, and she refers to him as her big brother.

- An unknown amount of time passes and eventually Tessa seems to become unnerved around Cyn due to the drone’s odd behaviour and mannerisms. J often locks Cyn in the library basement because of this.

- Many of Tessa’s drones seem to mysteriously contract some sort of error which leaves them in a catatonic state with their visors flashing a large yellow X alongside the words “error 606” (note that 606 matches the software cleanup program’s name of wdOS_606.) Because of this they are placed into the library. One of these drones is V, who N regularly visits so he can try and talk to her and read to her.

- The Elliotts’s decide to throw a gala at their manor alongside another family called the Frumptlebuckets (lol.) An interesting observation is that these wealthy humans (or at least those in the Elliott’s social circle) apparently like to dress up and act similar to those from around the Victorian era.

- Cyn escapes from the basement and convinces N to attend the gala, so they head to the ballroom to ask Tessa. This ends up leading to an altercation with Tessa’s mother Louisa where she orders Tessa to dump Cyn and all of her other “broken” drones in the library back into the landfill.

- Cyn talks back to Louisa, but N takes the fall for her and ends up being chained outside next to a dead drone that had been picked apart by a flock of crows. Meanwhile, Tessa has been chained up in her bedroom alongside J and Cyn as punishment. This, alongside an earlier scene where she seemingly rubs her wrist in pain implies this happens fairly often to her and highlights that her parents are abusive.

- Tessa berates Cyn for N taking the blame for her, angered that N may end up dead. However, Cyn seems indifferent and calmly claims she has “backups” of N.

- Cyn transforms into her horrific eldritch Solver form and claims Tessa won’t have to “discard her pets” and that she won’t discard her either. She leaves out the window after warning Tessa to stay away from the gala due to her seeming squeamish, revealing her intent to massacre the humans.

- Wanting to save everyone from being killed, Tessa gets J to break their chains and the two of them sneak out and arm themselves with a revolver and sword respectively. Despite this, after they arrive everyone is massacred anyways thanks to Cyn/the Solver corrupting the other Worker Drones, including J, who shuts the door so Tessa can’t escape.

- It’s assumed N escapes being killed by the crows and walks in on Cyn slaughtering the humans at the gala due to a brief flashback of him seeing Cyn eating a human hand (when he touches the Zombie Drones VHS tape.)

- Tessa is killed, and in a twisted way of sticking to her word of not discarding her, Cyn skins her corpse to graft it onto her drone body. (Due to an image of humans in hazmat suits finding Tessa surrounded by the remains of the people from the gala, it’s not fully known if Cyn also killed her at the gala and then posed as her, or if she was killed shortly afterwards.)

- Cyn converts the drones from the manor, including N, V, and J into deadly “Disassembly Drones.” They are given a “nerfed” version of the Solver that Cyn has admin access over to better remain control over them. Their memories are erased before setting them loose to slaughter the rest of the humans on Earth. Sometime after, the Solver causes the planet to implode into a black hole.

- The other colonies on the human exoplanets catch wind of what’s happened back on Earth, so JCJenson establishes “Cabin Fever Labs” to research the Solver and how to stop it.

- One of these labs is established on Copper-9 at Camp 98.7 and its surrounding mineshafts (and a cathedral that was there for some reason.) Multiple drones are purposely given the Solver, notably Nori (002) and Yeva (048.)

- The other exoplanets of the Proxima and Plat-Binary systems are corrupted and wiped out due to the Solver spreading and the Disassembly Drones presumably being sicced there.

- Nori ends up becoming possessed by the Solver. Eventually the JCJenson scientists on Copper-9 are able to create a Crucifix USB patch that can get rid of the Solver’s hold on its hosts. This patch is seemingly only successfully used on Yeva. Unfortunately, before it can be used on Nori, the Solver uses her to kill all the scientists except for an intern named Mitchell who had mistakenly put on the wrong uniform of a doctor and had been sent to fetch Yeva.

- Before the Solver can kill Mitchell after he returns, Yeva saves him and throws the USB into Nori’s face which frees her from its control, but also leaves her mind scrambled. However, the Solver is still able to create a small black hole with Nori’s hand that Yeva is forced to cut off. It’s sent falling into a pit to the planet’s core that the Solver had opened up prior.

- Copper-9’s planetary core partly implodes which wipes all organic life off the planet and turns it into a frozen wasteland. (Don’t worry. The dogs had been evacuated beforehand.) It seems a group of humans tried to survive by cryogenically freezing themselves in a bunker called “Outpost 3” in one of Copper-9’s cities. This didn’t work due to the computer having an error. This leaves the Worker Drones to inherit the planet and embrace their freedom.

Aftermath:

Year still unknown

- Nori and Yeva escape Cabin Fever Labs, while other test subjects such as Alice (017) are left behind to try and survive the lab’s Anti Drone sentinels. Nori meets a drone named Khan Doorman and ends up marrying him while Yeva also finds herself a husband.

- Uzi Doorman and Doll are created by their parents uploading parts of their code into Untrained Neural Networks and they both inherit their mothers’ connections to the Solver.

- The Doorman family experiences moments of happy family memories until Nori begins to have “kooky insane” ramblings and visions about the Solver and Disassembly Drones which she refers to as “Sky Demons” as a result of her brain being scrambled from the USB patch.

- Nori tries to warn the other drones and tells Khan to build doors to shelter themselves from the upcoming dangers.

Return of the Solver:

Sometime before the year 3071

- Cyn/The Solver sends squads of Disassembly Drones to Copper-9. Their memories are wiped and they are made to believe they were created and sent by the humans of JCJenson to eliminate the rogue Worker Drone population. Their directive also involves piling their kills into a “Corpse Spire” and locating Cabin Fever Labs. Cyn also wants to kill all other Solver hosts for an unknown reason.

- The squad consisting of N, V, and J lands close to the bunker of Outpost 3 and begin killing any Worker Drones they come across.

- V is seemingly the only Disassembly Drone that has retained some memory of Cyn and the Solver. She keeps this to herself and follows her directive so Cyn will leave her alone. Additionally, she also pretends to forget about N, believing this will protect him.

- A colony of Worker Drones takes shelter in Outpost 3 where Khan starts to build protective doors like his wife had requested. Around this time Nori is stung with a Disassembly Drone’s nanite acid. Khan uses a wrench to put her out of her misery. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, Nori manages to survive in her Solver core/heart form and goes back to Cabin Fever Labs so she can look for the Crucifix USB Patch.

- V kills Doll’s parents. Doll witnesses this while hiding and the trauma seemingly causes her Solver abilities to begin manifesting.

- The “Worker Drone Defence Force” is established in Outpost 3 with Khan as the leader. Unfortunately, they don’t really try to defend anything and just play cards behind the doors.

- The other Disassembly Drone squads that make it to Cabin Fever Labs are killed by either the Sentinels or Alice and (presumably) her son Beau. Alice scavenges parts from Disassembly Drones and Worker Drones to add to herself and Beau since he is stuck in an Untrained Neural Network body. She also learns to put the Solver cores in heat as it “makes them sluggish.”

Year 3071

- The events of episodes 1 - 7 occur

• Recent Revelation: At the end of episode 3 Cyn arrives on Copper-9 impersonating an older Tessa. She is accompanied by a backed up copy of J who was previously killed by Uzi in episode 1. It’s currently unknown if J is aware that Tessa is actually dead.

[veganism]

The genocide is also experimentation on living beings

Israel is currently testing new weapons in Gaza, some of which will soon be sold globally as "battle-tested," according to Antony Loewenstein, an author who has written a widely acclaimed book on the issue.

For years, the Israeli defense sector has used Palestine as a laboratory for new weapons and surveillance tech, he told Anadolu, adding that this is also the case in the current ongoing war on Gaza.

One of the main reasons why "many nations, democracies and dictatorships support Israeli occupation" of Palestine is because it allows them to buy these "battle-tested" weapons, asserted Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.

Another aspect of Israel's war on Gaza has been the use of artificial intelligence technology, he said.

According to Loewenstein, AI has been one of the key targeting tools used by the Israeli military in its deadly campaign of airstrikes, leading to mass killings of Palestinians-now over 28,500-and damage on an unprecedented scale.

The current war on Gaza is "inarguably one of the most consequential and bloody," he said.

He described Israel's use of AI against Palestinians as "automated murder," stressing that this model "will be studied and copied by other nation-states" and Tel Aviv will sell them these technologies as tried and tested weapons.

In the last 50 years, Israel has exported hi-tech surveillance tools to at least 130 countries around the world.

To maintain its illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israel has developed a range of tools and technologies that have made it the world's leading exporter of spyware and digital forensics tools.

But analysts say the intelligence failure during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks casts doubts over Tel Avis's technological capabilities.

Israel's reliance on technology "is an illusion of safety, while imprisoning 2.3 million people under endless occupation," said Loewenstein, who is Jewish and holds Australian and German nationalities.

He described Israel's response in Gaza as "apocalyptic," stressing that the killings of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, is "on a scale of indiscriminate slaughter."

- 'BLOOD MONEY'

Loewenstein, who is also a journalist, said Israel has honed its weapons and technology expertise over decades as an occupying power, acting with increasing impunity in the Palestinian territories.

This led a small country like Israel to become one of the top 10 arms dealers in the world, he said, adding that Israeli arms sales in 2021 were "the highest on record, surging 55% over the previous two years to $11.3 billion."

In his book, Loewenstein explores thoroughly Israel's ties with autocracies and regimes engaged in mass displacement campaigns, and governments slinking their way into phones.

The Israeli NSO Group sold its well-known Pegasus software to numerous governments, a spyware tool for phones that gives access to the entire content, including conversations, text messages, emails and photos even when the device is switched off.

Israeli drones were first tested over Gaza, the besieged enclave that Loewenstein referred to as "the perfect laboratory for Israeli ingenuity in domination."

Surveillance technology developed in Israel has also been sold to the US in the form of watch towers now used on the border with Mexico.

The EU's border agency Frontex is known to have used Israeli drone technology to monitor refugees.

Loewenstein explains in his book that the EU has partnered with leading Israeli defense companies to use its drones, "and of course years of experience in Palestine is a key selling point."

"So again, one sees how there are so many examples of nations that are wanting to copy what Israel is doing in their own area in their own country on their own border," he said.

These technologies and "are sold by Israel as battle-tested," he said.

In other words, he contends that Palestinians essentially have become "guinea pigs," and despite some nations and the UN publicly criticizing the Israeli occupation, in reality "they're desperate for this technology for themselves for their own countries."

"And that's how in fact, the Palestine laboratory has been so successful for Israel for so long," he said.

In his exhaustive probe into Israel's dealings with arms sales around the world, he noted that the country has monetized the occupation of Palestine, by selling weapons, spyware tools and technologies to repressive regimes such as Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 and to Myanmar during its genocide against the Muslim Rohingya people in 2017.

"This to me is blood money. I mean, there's no other way to see that and again, as someone Jewish, who has spent many, many years reporting on this conflict, both within Israel and Palestine but also elsewhere, it's deeply shameful that Israel is making huge amounts of money from the misery of others," he said.

"This is not a legacy that I can be proud of."

- 'NO NATION ACTUALLY HOLDING ISRAEL TO ACCOUNT'

Profiting from misery is to some extent the nature of what capitalism has always been about, but Israel does this with a great deal of impunity, "because Israel does what it wants," said Loewenstein.

"There is no accountability, there is no transparency, there is no nation actually holding Israel to account," he added.

Israel's regime is shielded from any political backlash for years to come because nations are reliant on Israeli weapons and spyware, said the author.

Israel may not be the only player employing surveillance technology that leads to human rights violations, but it still plays a dominant role, which is why Loewenstein insists that it deserves singular attention.

Israel's foreign policy has always been "amoral and opportunistic," he said, calling on all nations to take a stand and hold Israel accountable, and acknowledge that the world is buying what Israel is selling.

[bored-wallflower]

Worker Drones & School

So at first I just assumed that the workers’ schooling was the same as ours but with an extra two years (because Uzi and her classmates’ are 18-20 years old) until I remembered the banner they had up during parent teacher conference and saw what they call the grades.

For anyone that doesn’t know, beta is a stage in the testing and development period of the software release cycle.

After learning this I thought I’d jot down some headcanons on how the drones’ school system and its grades work. I’m only going to focus on the testing and development period and assume that the release period would just be adulthood/being apart of the workforce.

There are 4 different school levels. Each supports a select number of school grades/years that each have 8 terms

Pre-alpha 

Basically just pre school. Only lasts for a year. Kids enter at the age of 4

Alpha 

The drones equivalent to the first half of elementary school. Students enter at age 5 and graduate at age 7. Supports grades 1.01-3.08 (alpha)

Beta 

This school level supports grades 1.01-12.08 (Beta) and acts as the second half of elementary school all the way through high school. Students enter at age 8 and graduated at age 20. I think this would make sense since in the pilot we see a poster and drone cut outs in the nurse’s office that I personally think look like they could have been made/colored in by younger kids.

Release candidates 

Higher education except it’s free and mandatory. This is where students choose a career they want to pursue, learn about and train for that career. Some students will graduate sooner than others depending on what career they’re training for. If a drone wishes to change careers then they are welcome to return to this level of schooling. 

[kit-kat-jo]

a collection of obscure murder drones headcanons and thoughts before i forget them:

(some of these are very obviously speculative or possibly debunked but i just think they’re neat)

worker drones have more insect symbolism and behavior while dissassembly drones act more like wild animals, specifically carnivorous or cat-like (classic predator and prey) Nature repeats itself even if its through manmade robots, it would seem

worker drones, after humans kicked the bucket, continue to develop and update based on their initial software as some sort of survival instinct (not including the absolute solver), in order to keep on going. i imagine their software would have to heavily adapt to frequently creating little pill babies with their code, and maybe even certain instincts to protect themselves from murder drones

dissassembly drones can sometimes have different body builds based on status: lither bodies and less complicated outfits for squad members and more sophisticated getup and thicker / taller body mass for squad leaders, or maybe just specifically for pilots like N. (it could very well be a gender thing but i just think this idea is cooler!)

lil developing drones pick out their hard hats and what color they want when they’re old enough to be built a head, and once you have it built in and melded to your robot skull there’s no changing it. so Uzi partially wears a beanie because she hates the color of hers and wants to cover it up to uphold her emo phase aesthetic

drones don’t wear pants because… well they tried when first integrating themselves into a society, but because of how flat their bodies are built, they just slide right off. Maybe they could modify fabric or come up with some gadget to make them fit, but maybe it’s just not worth the trouble. (moreso, for an embarrassingly long time i thought the fuzz underneath Uzi’s hoodie was a skirt, but no it’s just the bottom of her hoodie… and i was wondering why literally no other drone in the show wore any fuckin pants)

before she rebooted as a zombie drone, little maid Cyn had the exact same personality as the solver acted out in episode 5 (just without the eltrich horror and glados voice attached) and just used it to blend in

i like to think there are a bunch more disassembly drones that the solver has under its belt that are scattered all over the other parts of Copper-9, scrounging other colonies and just waiting to appear in the big final fight or whatever the solver has planned up for the finale… the whole alphabet squad pulling up

branching off of this one, when serial designation bots run out of letters they cycle through them again, imagine N face to face with another DD and they have the same name and V just kills his proclaimed brother in front of his eyes traumatizing him forever

[goldsasa]

Dear Sirs!

(or have some ladies also signed?)

A few days ago, you, Mr Musk, together with Mr Wozniak, Mr Mostaque and other signatories, published an open letter demanding a compulsory pause of at least six months for the development of the most powerful AI models worldwide.

This is the only way to ensure that the AI models contribute to the welfare of all humanity, you claim. As a small part of the whole of humanity, I would like to thank you very much for wanting to protect me. How kind! 🙏🏻

Allow me to make a few comments and ask a few questions in this context:

My first question that immediately came to mind:

Where was your open letter when research for the purpose of warfare started and weapon systems based on AI were developed, leading to unpredictable and uncontrollable conflicts?

AI-based threats have already been used in wars for some time, e.g. in the Ukraine war and Turkey. Speaking of the US, they are upgrading their MQ-9 combat drones with AI and have already used them to kill in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The victims of these attacks - don't they count as humanity threatened by AI?

I am confused! Please explain to me, when did the (general) welfare of humanity exist, which is now threatened and needs to be protected by you? I mean the good of humanity - outside your "super rich white old nerds Silicon Valley" filter bubble? And I have one more question:

Where was your open letter when Facebook's algorithms led to the spread of hate speech and misinformation about the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar?

Didn't the right to human welfare also apply to this population group? Why do you continue to remain silent on the inaction and non-transparent algorithms of Meta and Mr Zuckerberg? Why do you continue to allow hatred and agitation in the social media, which (at least initially) belonged to you without exception?

My further doubt relates to your person and your biography itself, dear Mr Musk.

You, known as a wealthy man with Asperger's syndrome and a penchant for interplanetary affairs, have commendably repeatedly expressed concern about the potentially destructive effects of AI robots in the past. I thank you for trying to save me from such a future. It really is a horrible idea!

And yet, Mr Musk, you yourself were not considered one of the great AI developers of Silicon Valley for a long time.

Your commitment to the field of artificial intelligence was initially rather poor. Your Tesla Autopilot is a remarkable AI software, but it was developed for a rather niche market.

I assume that you, Mr Musk, wanted to change that when you bought 73.5 million of Twitter's shares for almost $2.9 billion in April?

After all, to be able to play along with the AI development of the giants, you lacked one thing above all: access to a broad-based AI that is not limited to specific applications, as well as a comprehensive data set.

The way to access such a dataset was to own a large social network that collects information about the consumption patterns, leisure activities and communication patterns of its users, including their social interactions and political preferences.

Such collections about the behaviour of the rest of humanity are popular in your circles, aren't they?

By buying Twitter stock, you can give your undoubtedly fine AI professionals access to a valuable treasure trove of data and establish yourself as one of Silicon Valley's leading AI players.

Congratulations on your stock purchase and I hope my data is in good hands with you.

Speaking of your professionals, I'm interested to know why your employees have to work so hard when you are so concerned about the well-being of people?

I'm also surprised that after the pandemic your staff were no longer allowed to work in their home offices. Is working at home also detrimental to the well-being of humanity?

In the meantime, you have taken the Twitter platform off the stock market.

It was never about money for you, right? No, you're not like that. I believe you!

But maybe it was about data? These are often referred to as the "oil of our time". The data of a social network is like the ticket to be one of the most important AI developers in the AI market of the future.

At this point, I would like to thank you for releasing parts of Twitter's code for algorithmic timeline control as open source. Thanks to this transparency, I now also know that the Twitter algorithm has a preference for your Elon Musk posts. What an enrichment of my knowledge horizon!

And now, barely a year later, this is happening: OpenAi, a hitherto comparatively small company in which you have only been active as a donor and advisor since your exit in 2018, not only has enormous sources of money, but also the AI gamechanger par excellence - Chat GPT. And virtually overnight becomes one of the most important players in the race for the digital future. It was rumoured that your exit at the time was with the intention that they would take over the business? Is that true at all?

After all I have said, I am sure you understand why I have these questions for you, don't you?

I would like to know what a successful future looks like in your opinion? I'm afraid I'm not one of those people who can afford a $100,000 ticket to join you in colonising Mars. I will probably stay on Earth.

So far I have heard little, actually nothing, about your investments in climate projects and the preservation of the Earth.

That is why I ask you, as an advocate of all humanity, to work for the preservation of the Earth - with all the means at your disposal, that would certainly help.

If you don't want to do that, I would very much appreciate it if you would simply stop worrying about us, the rest of humanity. Perhaps we can manage to protect the world from marauding robots and a powerful artificial intelligence without you, your ambitions and your friends?

I have always been interested in people. That's why I studied social sciences and why today I ask people what they long for. Maybe I'm naive, but I think it's a good idea to ask the people themselves what they want before advocating for them.

The rest of the world - that is, the 99,9 percent - who are not billionaires like you, also have visions!

With the respect you deserve,

Susanne Gold

(just one of the remaining 99% percent whose welfare you care about).

[ammonitetheseaserpent]

In the wake of all the epic Disassembly Drone headcanons I’ve been seeing (istg I am GOBBLING THEM I AM MUNCHING THEM I AM SLURPING THEM LOVINGLY THROUGH A STRAW-) I’d like to present some of my own that randomly struck me!

- There were DD prototypes and others before the ones we have now, and they developed a little system of hand/wing/tail gestures to silently convey questions/commands when they needed to (i.e. when they might have needed to coordinate attacks)

- Like, pointing a finger at someone and then giving a single, deliberate tail flick is a signal for that specific drone to follow them, a single long sweep of the tail means “spread out”, and pointing forward with any sort of weapon-hand is the ultimate signal to attack.

- They’ve also got some other like. militaristic, encoded ways of describing things like time

- This system was used so much it pretty much became part of the DDs’ software, so it ended up getting passed down to the current trio when they were repurposed

- N teaches Uzi some of these gestures and codes at some point as a lil ✨bonding thing✨, but they also came up w/ some of their own to be used in more just. day-to-day life (I could totally see them as the type to make up secret codes that only they know the meaning to. like. there ends up being several situations where they’ve used them around V in convos w/ her and she’s just. baffled)

- A lot of DDs have their own individual little tics and gestures; for example, @thecosmiccrow brought up the idea of N holding his tail like a stuffed animal for comfort, and I like to imagine V sort of. unconsciously brings out her knife claws if she’s angry/frustrated enough

[d8tl55c]

hi! 🎊\o_🎉 looking for something? 𓆡

'/_'|-_ |'['-,= _|_'|L'|-',=•-|[,-,= [,-'/L'-_

L' /_'|-•|-',= "/,|-•_| +｡⁠. ﾟ✧ ✨

update 3.17 - 01/03/2025! :D

gender: she/they/it thx

util: colorsss, community posts list (doc), spacer [⠀], 🌟(• ˕ •マ ฅ(ᵔ꒳ ᵔマ.ᐟ

fan of (bold==frequent post): AvA/M and other Alan Becker works, AUs, Rain World, The Murderbot Diaries, Sky CotL, Kitten Burst, ULTRAKILL, Portal, Pony Town, Minecraft, Interstellar, D:BH, Undertale, Hollow Knight, Lackadaisy, 17776, Murder Drones, Dungeon Meshi, Doctor Who, The Isle, WolfQuest, Warrior Cats, wildlife, bugs, space, robots, software development, adding programming knowledge into my writing and headcanons, modding, whump;blood;violence;fluff;serious and silly, fanfic of all of the above, humans, math, animation, ascii art, old internet.

(^ will update over time)

my ava/m au is called EXECUTABLE. it spans the entire known timeline of AvA and AvM in a Different POV and Drabble format (img), focusing on StickFigures, software, and eldritch dieties.

^ and mostly these two.

(i plan to make an index post once there's enough material to lay out a timeline >:3 )

/// personal tag collection ///

#executable!au == my AvA/M AU!! _o/

#--/ art == visual art made by me!

#--/ story == writing made by me! +art = a comic

#--/ animation == animation made by me!

#subpixels == discussion about xyz

#read later == you can probably guess this one

#important == occasionally heavy shit /gen

#wiki == knowledge base

#ancient lore == cool old stuff

#tumblr stories == stories i found on tumblr

#writing advice == i want to save this for writing

#saving this == grabbing it

#awoo to this == this is SO interesting i want to emit a noise

#kitceil == one of my OCs (scug) (intro-ish) (ref)

#leuenaar == one of my OCs (scug) (ref)

#L1_CAT == one of my OCs (laptopcat) (intro)

#L24_CAT == one of my OCs (laptopcat) (^ intro)

#datelyssyc == one of my OCs (protogen) (NEVER posted ;v;;;)

(^ all these are in the tags of this post too)

/// posted works ///

✨no extra memory (done - short story - musings about CG executable!au)

✨tco_safety+feathers.pdf (done - png and short story - EXECUTABLE AU BREACHES CONTAINMENT ) (related: third safety doc page)

they are ready to spar (done - short story - c!alan & TCO executable!au)

if you were Orpheus... (done - short story - ??? mythological chodark)

error load (done - short story - TDL and yellow? how did we get- dw about it. executable!au)

tco_physeng_breakdown.png (done - png and short story - Universe AA2B+ executable!au TCO)

orange has a question (done - story - Universe B executable!au chodark)

fly away (done - story - TCO post-Showdown executable!au)

orange with a diamond sword (done - story - green influencer arc)

some things are extremophiles (done - comic - TCO executable!au)

this is not a prophetic vision (done - theory - TCO in AvA 7)

Minecraft bed (done - comic - TDL and some TCO)

programmer021 (done - short story - AU copy of TCO, early executable!au)

in the right (done - theory/story - victim in upcoming AvA 11)

Character Limit (done - Ao3 LINK - TCO whump pre-AvA III executable!au)

Box Lunch (done - Ao3 LINK - TCO in the Box executable!au)

Call Your Last Witness (done - Ao3 LINK - tmbd prologue)

missed a spot (done - story extension - yellow and TSC)

(^ latest at the top (✨ sparkles == newly added))

/// some --/ art i like ///

thinking about names (orange vs. the second coming)

different strokes (TSC portrait collab)

WING/K (signature animation)

inspiration in 4k (word count) (L1 and being attacked by fic ideas)

they are dancing (TCO and TDL. one of my first asciis)

i have the solution (throw him into lava) (TCO headcanon diagram)

8-petal design (another ascii. this one flopped lol but i like)

2 many crabbies (Animal Restaurant meme)

approx. pi using e (Animation vs Math meme)

ways of seeing them (playing with new TCO and TDL faces)

TCO cosplays (Pony Town)

tco_physeng_breakdown.png (TCO headcanon diagram v2!!!)

d8's wolf armor(y) (minecraft build ;P )

tco_safety+feathers.pdf (TCO care and safety)

connect the dots (ava/m asciis)

L1 & L24 (intro post)

known sketchcreatures (StickFigures, laptopcats, Tempo, & kirt)

i liked to watch them squirm (kitceil activities)

✨violence common (kit & leuenaar co-ref)

✨person machine (critter) (tw bright colors)

(^ latest at the bottom)

[mariacallous]

Threatened by values that are at the core of the NATO alliance and shared by Ukraine and many other countries around the world, the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 with the intention to wipe the country off the map, crush freedom, and weaken democracy. In doing so, Russia receives significant support, including the provision of advanced technology, from its authoritarian friends, not least China, Iran, and North Korea. More than Ukraine’s survival, Europe’s security is at stake. As a global fight is being played out on the battlefield in Ukraine, innovative technologies are being rolled out at unprecedented speed.

For centuries, security in Western democratic societies has been tied to their ability to innovate. From the bow and arrow to battle tanks and from hand grenades to hypersonic missiles, new military inventions not only changed the way we fight and win wars. They also underpinned our ability to shape successful and resilient societies. Now, with a massive technological revolution underway, which has seen the rise of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and quantum technologies, it is not enough to just be able to innovate. We must remain at the forefront of innovation. By leading innovation, we can continue to shape our security environment. If we don’t, others will.

NATO nations, and the United States in particular, have long had technological primacy. But they are being challenged. China is not only rapidly developing technologies, but it is also connecting new technologies together, multiplying their potential disruptive impact on our societies, our economies, and our security. Semiconductors from China are a critical component of the phones and computers we use every day—but also of the high-end military systems and capabilities we rely on for our security. Russia’s war against Ukraine is shedding light on the incredible speed of innovation. Ukrainians are innovating fast but not fast enough. In just weeks, Russians managed to neutralize the innovative software that Ukrainians have been putting into drones.

To keep its 1 billion citizens safe, NATO must ensure it out-competes any strategic competitor and potential adversary. That is why we are doubling down on efforts to accelerate technological innovation in the field of security and defense. This is not something NATO does alone but together with the drivers of innovation in the private sector. Today, they produce 90 percent of the dual-use technologies used for our defense and security. The private sector is an indispensable partner.

When I took up my job as deputy secretary-general at NATO in 2019, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg asked me to be NATO’s innovation champion. One of my first tasks was to help establish the NATO Innovation Board. As its chair, I prioritized innovation across the alliance, and as a result, NATO has significantly sped up its technological transformation. At the Brussels summit in 2021 and after, NATO leaders launched two breakthrough initiatives to tighten the links between NATO and the dual-use innovation ecosystem. One was the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, which brings together innovators across the alliance to cooperate on critical technologies. The other was the NATO Innovation Fund, a 1 billion euro venture capital fund that provides strategic investments in start-ups developing technologies in areas that are critical to allied security. NATO has also already established a regular high-level dialogue with private sector leaders, including with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services. More recently, NATO stood up a Transatlantic Quantum Community to ensure a secure, resilient, and competitive quantum ecosystem and launched a commercial space platform (SPACENET) to further cooperation with commercial space industries. The alliance has come a long way. Yet the epochal moment we are confronted with requires even bigger and bolder adjustments.

NATO needs to innovate more and faster. Above all, we need to dare to innovate differently. This means rethinking the way we structure our partnerships with the private sector in the area of defense. NATO has worked for decades to achieve interoperability between national militaries. Now, it needs to achieve interoperability with the trans-Atlantic innovation ecosystem to future-proof our security.

In particular, NATO needs to adjust the mechanisms and procedures it has built and relied on for decades to develop and purchase defense capabilities. Defense plans, procurement cycles, and acquisition models are important and necessary to guardrail innovation and help minimize financial risk. But they are also lengthy, rigid, and complex. They can be a roadblock to innovation and a risk for our security. Our procurement timelines are set to the acquisition of large pieces of hardware that we hang on to for decades. New aircraft that NATO is acquiring now to replace the aging fleet of Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft will only be operational in 2031. In the information technology arena, where requirements are different and change very rapidly, more flexible procedures are essential to ensure allied and partner nations get what they need when they need it—and not five or 10 years down the line.

At the same time, as we rethink our partnership with the private sector to accelerate innovation, we must stay aligned with our values. Technological innovation, especially in the field of defense, can be used to curb freedom and control and manipulate people. This is what our competitors do. Moscow and Beijing do not face up to the important ethical dimensions in their race to develop and deploy technologies. But NATO does. It has already integrated so-called principles of responsible use in all its strategies on emerging and disruptive technologies, including AI, autonomy, biotechnologies and human enhancements, space, and quantum. These principles ensure that the use of these new technologies complies with international law and respects our democratic values. Rather than stifling innovation, they enable it by creating a predictable, trustworthy, and responsible environment in which everyone—innovators, adopters, end users, and our publics—feels confident using these technologies and cooperating with one another.

Looking ahead to the next NATO summit in The Hague in June 2025, NATO will pursue its work to foster the development of the long-term revolutionary innovation required to maintain the alliance’s technological edge. A new Rapid Adoption Strategy, to be delivered at the summit next year, will provide recommendations to enable allies to streamline acquisition and procurement processes while at the same time respecting the fundamental principles of fairness, transparency, integrity, openness, competition, and accountability underlying acquisition and procurement in the defense and security environment. With work underway on this new strategy, the alliance is seeking to include small and medium enterprises developing battle decisive technology in the NATO procurement mechanisms. The immediate needs arising from the battlefield in Ukraine are lessons NATO is taking on board as it prepares for the future.

Last week, I concluded my tenure as NATO’s deputy secretary-general and ended my duties as NATO’s innovation champion. Looking back, I am impressed by how profoundly NATO has been adapting to technological advances in a fast-changing world. As threats have evolved and multiplied—on land, sea, and air and in space and cyberspace—so has NATO’s response, in both the physical and the digital world. I leave an alliance that is driving faster toward new, different, and responsible ways of innovating. Looking ahead, I am confident this will keep NATO competitive, our values safe, and the trans-Atlantic area more secure—now and for generations to come.

[satoshi-mochida]

Pixel art side-scrolling action game Nitro Express announced for PC - Gematsu

Publisher PLAYISM and Orangeblood developer Grayfax Software have announced pixel art side-scrolling action game Nitro Express for PC (Steam). It will launch in 2025.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

■ Mysterious T.O.K.Y.O.

Welcome to Nitro City, Tokyo Special Administrative Region! The metropolis of Tokyo is a bit different from what we know, but the streets are just as nostalgic, or, depending on where you’re from, they’re just as good as the place you’ve always wanted to visit.

■ About the Game

Companions / Atypical Vehicles

Autonomous drones, affectionately called “Companions”, have been integrated into daily life, but in cop terms, they’re referred to as “Atypical Vehicles”. When they pose a significant threat to society, it’s time for the Atypical Vehicle Disposal Squad (AVDS)—a special unit of the Nitro City police force—to commence their mission to destroy all rogue vehicles!

Shoot ‘Em Up!

Good news: you can bring as much ammo as you want… and that includes grenades! After just a little bit of cooldown, the lightning bolt of destruction will return to your hands. Ah, how wonderful! Just like magic!

Gadgets and Gizmos

Tired of traditional grenades? Why not try out the EMP, damage-dealing radio-controlled drones, auto-firing turrets, flamethrowers, anti-tank missiles, and more? There’s sure to be at least one out of the 12 different cool gadgets that’ll catch your eye.

Understand Your Guns

By assuming a more stable shooting position, your bullets will hit targets more accurately and deal more damage. You can shoot some guns like SMGs while walking without caring about that, since they’re for close-range anyway, but the bigger the gun, the more it’s affected by your positioning. Stand still and aim carefully to use them properly.

Large Armored Targets

Oh no! We’re under attack by tanks and helicopters! Whatever can we do~?! Rifles and SMGs don’t do much to armored targets. You could totally stick with them and show them your perseverance, but you could hit them harder where it hurts with more powerful firearms and gadgets.

Radio Comms

Story dialogue in stages are all contained in the police radio comms, which can be accessed at any time and are completely optional. Which means you can ignore them completely if you want. Great for multiple playthroughs, or for people who think the story sections of video games are basically the same as the instruction manual of an electric toothbrush.

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.

Announce Trailer