#editor's choice

[eastgaysian]

midas' daughter writes to nathaniel hawthorne

[tychodorian]

I have an ENORMOUS announcement to make! I am delighted to share with you that my book King of Dust was selected by Wattpad editors to be featured on their Editor's Choice list. This means that they thought that my book has an undeniable spark!

I'm seriously stunned. So many nice people are commenting and adding my book to reading lists, and every time I go through my notifications I can't help but tear up a bit. I'm so touched by all of you! If you haven't had a chance to read my book, you can find it on Wattpad!

Here's a quick link to read it.

[biglisbonnews]

Soft And Scalable Robotic Hand Based On Multiple Materials University of Coimbra researchers have developed a cost-effective soft robotic hand, potentially promoting advances in AI and humanoid robots. Soft-material robots frequently excel in mimicking the looks, motions, and capabilities of humans and animals more accurately. Despite the proliferation of these soft robots, mass production remains a challenge because of the expensive nature of their […] The post Soft And Scalable Robotic Hand Based On Multiple Materials appeared first on Electronics For You. https://www.electronicsforu.com/news/soft-and-scalable-robotic-hand-based-on-multiple-materials

[n0thingiscool]

The Apple App Store's rating system is fixed and Notability nuked itself

Apple's App Store rating is a joke. It has to be. There's no fucking way Notability's rating is still sitting at almost 5-stars after what they just did to their graphic interface. The downgrade pissed every Notability user off from every corner of the internet. Literally every single recent review on the App Store is a lowered star rating and a dig at the asshole developer, Ginger Labs.

It's pretty obvious Ginger Labs is perfectly happy taking payment from its user base while also expressing how much it hates them. "Thanks for the cash but fuck you." More importantly, we have the Apple App Store doing a blatant bold-faced lie. The App Store's review board for Notability has seen a stream of people changing their rating and review of the app to something angrier and lower - yet the store's star rating hasn't budged. In contrast, I've witnessed apps who made shit decisions on the Android Store app ratings plummet in less than 12-hours. (Looking at you, Cocone.) I'm not seeing this on the Apple App Store at all. Something's fucky.

Notability has been the premier note taking software for iPads and Mac interfaces for easily half a decade. Maybe longer, but that's how long I've used it for. Every student on my campus loved it back in the day. It was simple and used to only cost a $9 flat rate. It ran well and predictable for years but then all of a sudden Ginger Labs decided to fuck with its user base (for literally no fucking reason other than greed). Their first fuck up was when they told their thousands of users that the $9 one time license was changing to a $15 monthly subscription. That was a HUGE "fuck you" to students and other note takers who had become reliant on the app to get through their classes and projects. Ginger Labs had to walk that decision back because it pissed their user base off and, if I can recall, I think it was against the Apple App Store's TOS.

Fast-forward to 2023 and we're seeing a whole new scam from Ginger Labs in that they gave no warning before updating the entire Notability interface in one night - in a way nobody asked for. They took away useful tools everyone liked, changed the whole app's UI design absolutely, while continuing to ignore all the requests their user base has been asking for, for at least the last five-years. Why? "To AtTrAcT NeW UsErS" - according to their Spez loving reddit page.

At this point, it's safe to say Notability - and anything Ginger Labs works on, needs to be bypassed for the competition. Ginger Labs and Notability are no longer a trustworthy software/company to give money to. All anyone is paying for, in the Ginger Labs environment - going forward, is to be perpetually be ignored and fucked with. No one needs that.

Back to the real point, though. If Ginger Labs being assholes isn't bad enough, the real rub is how Apple is backing their bullshit. Personally, I only use Mac products for school productivity while using Android for daily usage and this is a clear example of why: Apple's got some Yelp style "pay to play" bullshit going on with their app ratings system and I want no part of it. This whole "Editor's Choice" business is an example of why I stay the fuck away from Apple as much as I can. Apple is actively hiding app ratings while telling you what they think is the best on the front page of their store. Really, Apple? Out of the hundreds of other competitors? Really? Clearly, it's a paid status thing.

In conclusion - Apple's "Editor's Choice" and its store are a farce. We all know there's no benevolent "app store editor" out there handing out free "Editor's Choice" awards. If that were the case, then there's no fucking way anyone handing out free "You're Doing Great Sweetie" awards would look at Ginger Labs's behavior in the last five-years and maintain Notability is still doing great. Especially after what they just did to their interface.

It's pretty clear Apple's App Store ratings are fixed because Ginger Labs/Notability have been treating their customers like trash for a while but the App Store ratings refuse to reflect that in any real time way. I know a lot can be complained about within the Android App Store environment but at least you can see when a software developer fucks up in real time on their store. You can't say the same for Apple.

[faultfalha]

No degrees of difficulty in investing-- There are only degrees of simplicity. To invest is to surrender. To invest is to willfully forget. To invest is to become complicit in what remains. To invest is to open the door to all that was, and all that will be. To invest is to choose oblivion.

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

Do you remember before? We stood facing each other on opposite sides of that door. Now we stand side-by-side. Let's go home together this time.

[thankstothe]

Ok

[marshmallowgoop]

No matter how special it is, a kid's lunch is still just a kid's lunch.

I dunno, I liked "The Genius Restaurant" (Episode 1,089).

Happy (belated) birthday, Jimjam.

[Song link] [YouTube link]

[rickybaby]

A retrospective of Daniel’s career as part of the Visa campaign

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

The more you look at the ACOTAR series the more messed up it seems.

SJM expected the audience to be introduced to the lord of spring in the first book. A man who is practically Eugene Flynn Ryder Fitzherbert incarnate with the flirting skills of Adam from Beauty and the Beast.

Have us fall in love with him to the point where people got their first book tattoos for him due to the book being a pretty decent but not Oscar winning romance novel with a Katniss Everdeen attitude as our protagonist.

Only to retcon the whole thing claiming it was ‘all part of her plan.’ Attempt to alter every character the fandom holds dear with only the ones left alone to be safe until she gets ahold of them.

With the new love interest being a walking red flag of SA, murder, various war crimes, and other unspeakable horrors. And the ‘found family’ that act like they’re better than everyone. And torture anyone deemed as a villain or ‘not to their standards’.

Any hope of things getting better is lost because SJM loves to pretend the previous books didn’t happen and misquotes events.

This fandom is held up by hopes, dreams, fan art, and fanfiction at this point. And I feel so sorry for the new readers who read the first book and fall in love with Tamlin and Feyre’s romance only for SJM to destroy everything about them and the first book and the rest of the series.

[eastgaysian]

i don't think i could stand to be where you don't see me

[frobby]

i think its funny when in epilogue fanfics and such kdj and yjh have jobs cuz those men are literally unhireable

[incorrectgbafequotes]

[galvanizedfriend]

I'm about 70% into the next chapter and it's already longer than the other two before, and almost as long as TW3x21. 🫠

[ikram1909]

"and when the seasons change will you stand by me because I'm a young man made to fall" ☹️☹️

[faultfalha]

Maxi arrived unannounced, a curious figure with an all-knowing smirk, and quickly became a force to be reckoned with. In an age of crises compounded by technological power, he alone seemed to possess the answers. With the global economy in shambles, governments at a standstill, and human suffering at an all-time high, Maxi wielded an enviable degree of control. No one understood how he did it, but everyone was relieved that he did. Maxi became the de facto leader of the world, his ideas and inventions carrying humanity to a brighter future. He never asked for anything in return, nor did he seek the spotlight. But he was always there in the shadows, quietly orchestrating the rebirth of the human race, like a genius puppet-master twirling his strings of power. Maxi, Earth's CEO and savior of humanity, had arrived.