#i go to one notification and end up 4 blogs over reading the addition to the story

[yourlocalcorviddad]

Trying to catch up on notifications is FUCKING WILD

[mellindi]

How can I grow my tumblr page? Btw I loved your story with Camila in San Myshuno!

Hiiii! Tysm for reading Camilla's story! ♥ As for growing your blog, here are some things that really helped me. It got a little long so I'm placing them under the cut.

Tag your posts properly. The most common tags used here for all things sims 4 related are: ts4, sims 4 For gameplay/legacies: ts4, sims 4, ts4 gameplay, sims 4 gameplay, ts4 legacy, sims 4 legacy For stories: ts4, sims 4, ts4 story, sims 4 story, ts4 stories, sims 4 stories And if your content is a combination of gameplay, legacies and stories, all of these tags will do. Tumblr uses the first five tags when showing posts in search results so be sure to keep personal/blog related tags (ie: the name of your legacy) or additional commentary toward the end of your tags so that people are able to find your posts!

Post content that you're passionate about. I'd argue this is one of the most important things to keep in mind because regardless of how cliché it sounds, people really can pick up on your energy through your posts. When I read dialogue or commentary or whatever on someone's gameplay/story posts, I can usually tell if that person likes their own content. The passion that exudes from your posts is infectious so when you feel it other people do too!

Try not to get caught up in trends -- unless said trend is something that makes you happy. Trends come and go 'round here all the time. Some of them may interest you, others won't. Don't feel like you have to do a certain thing because that's what's all over your dash and what's getting the most notes. When everyone and their mama was doing renders, I would see people upset because they couldn't figure it out or they didn't like the quality of theirs but they felt like they had to do it because that's what everyone else was doing and their note count reflected what they felt like the community wanted to see. Stay true to the content that you like and what makes you happy. Your followers will continue to love your content regardless of what everyone else is doing.

Interact and show love to other simmers. When you send nice messages to other simmers or leave comments on their posts, that not only makes them happy but also lets them know you're here. Most simmers, will notice you popping up in their comments or ask box and return the favor. Don't get discouraged tho if you feel like your faves aren't giving you the same attention in return (esp if you're only interacting with simmers who clearly have a super large follower base). It takes time to develop your tribe so keep reaching out, giving genuine attention to simmers whose content you love (regardless of the size of their follower list), and eventually, you'll have your own little family over here. Also, when people leave comments on your posts, respond! Let them know how you feel. That you appreciate it or that they're right (or wrong, lol) about their predictions or whatever. This way, you'll develop a decorum that encourages the commenter to come back. Every friend I've made on here started with a dialogue in the comments of one of our posts.

The other stuff...

So if you're looking to grow your blog, meaning you'd like to get more attention, increase your follower count etc... These are some tips that are purely for getting people to follow your blog:

Be active. You don't have to be on here every day, all day (I certainly am not, lol) but while you're working towards building your blog, you'll need to post often. I can't tell you exactly how often, but often. The queue system comes in handy for this 'cause you don't really need to be here to be here.

Develop your style/Work on your editing. Find a style that you like and implement it throughout your blog. There are a ton of different styles out there: the soft and hazy look, the grungy look, the bright and colorful look, etc... Play around with some until you find something you like and go with that. When it comes to editing, I'm not going to tell you, you need to use Reshade but since we're talking about numbers and that's it, I can (and I'm sure others can as well) tell you that my follower count grew... a lot, once I started using Reshade and even more once I stepped up my editing game. There are a lot of different presets out there. Try some out and see what you like. If you're not sure about Reshade, I happen to have a whole guide on that, that can help you out 😊

Make Custom Content. People like stuff. Esp if it's free so you'll definitely gain more followers this way.

Now with all that being said. There's a huge difference between having a large following and having a group of followers (regardless of the number) who are truly invested in your content. The ones that turn notifications on or check often to see if you've posted. The ones who leave comments to tell you how much your OC has pissed them off this episode or how much they're rooting for them. The ones who ask questions and give genuine feedback, who pick up on clues and share their theories with you -- because they truly care about what you do here. If I had to choose, I'd take that small group of passionate followers aka my little family over having thousands upon thousands of followers any day. How do you get this little family you may ask? The tips at the top of this post are your best friend ♥

[angryschnauzer]

Last Night on the Plain

Summary; As an archeology student at the end of your first year of University, you spend the summer on a dig in the South of England. Throughout the whole dig you’ve lusted after the site-lead; a fresh out of his doctorate Dr Cavill, assigned to the dig to get some leadership experience. Will the last night you spend on Salisbury Plain be one to remember?

(This fic is a prequel to my multichapter story Superior Specimen it can be read alone but contains spoilers for that story) Links for Superior Specimen: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9

Pairing: Grad Student Henry Cavill x 19 year old Female Reader

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Mutual Pining, Professor/Student Relationship, Oral Sex, Blow Job, Fingering, Unprotected Sex. SPOILERS FOR Superior Specimen.

I do not operate a tag list, but if you follow @angryschnauzerwrites​ and put that blog onto notifications, you will get an alert every time i post a new fic.

Please check out my AO3 for masterlist.

Last Night on the Plain

 Sitting on the kerb outside Iceland, the little town of Warminster was quiet on a Saturday afternoon. The Land Rover would soon be coming through to pick you and your friends up, the dig site lead having driven a few of you into town to collect supplies for the last night of the six week long dig. 

 Six weeks of living in tents, running to the nearby stream to dive into the Watercress filled waters and wash, rinsing your underwear in a bucket and hanging over guy ropes of the tents and hoping the cows in the next field over don’t lean over the fence and eat them, six weeks of celebrating the end of your first year of University. 

 You loved Archaeology, having studied hard for your A-Levels at college, you got the grades to go to Southampton University to study it. The dig would contribute towards your yearly grade, teaming up with other uni’s from around England, the excavations on the far west of Salisbury Plain in the south of England, and the project was to uncover settlements from when the giant pillars of Stonehenge were moved from their starting point in Wales and anything from the trade routes over the following millennia. 

 Your friend nudged you in the ribs, nodding to the vehicle heading towards the three of you;

 “Hey hey, here comes Cav”

 “Dibs on shotgun” you blurted out, your friends groaning at your speed at calling the front seat.

 Standing, the three of you watched as the site lead pulled up to the kerb, his big smile at seeing you misfits waiting for him made your stomach do a little flip. He brought the Land Rover to a bumpy halt at the kerb, leaving the engine running as he got out and helped load the supplies into the back, reaching the front passenger door just in time to hold it open for you. You missed the way he looked at your ass as you climbed in, shutting the door after you.

 The ride back to the dig site was bumpy; 30-year-old Land Rovers weren’t known for their comfort, the lack of seatbelts in the vintage vehicle not helping as the country roads and tracks were littered with potholes. You were painfully aware of the way your breasts were bouncing around, having foregone bras within the first week of the dig. They pinched and prodded you as you bent over excavating for hours on end and became an unnecessary addition to have to bother keep washing by hand. 

 On one particularly vicious bump you were bounced across the narrow bench seat, grabbing at Cav’s leg before you ended up headbutting the steering wheel. He apologetically smiled at you;

 “Sorry…”

 “S’ok”

 You rode in silence for a while, the pair in the back deep in discussion about the merits of getting an upgrade from their Sony Ericsson’s to Blackberries. Finally your seatmate spoke;

 “So, pink, huh Punk?”

 You pulled at a strand of hair, holding it out from your head and grinned;

 “The Sun-In turned it orange. Orange isn’t my colour”

 “I left you in town for forty five minutes… how did you have time to dye your hair?” he said with a grin.

 “It’s Cherry flavour Panda Pop. We stood in the alley behind Ladbrokes and poured a bottle over my hair”

 He laughed, his toothy grin wide and genuine;

 “That explains the smell”

 “Hope you’re referring to the cherry and not the alley”

 His face paled and he stuttered, before you grinned and gave his thigh a squeeze;

 “I’m teasing”

 He smiled and turned his attention back to the road, concentrating on the journey now that the paved roads had finished and it was now dusty tracks across the farmland. You watched as he steered the vehicle, and you knew he was going to be your only regret of the summer. Dr Cavill, or Cav as everyone called him on site, fresh having finished his doctorate in Palaeontology, but desperately in need of some leadership skills and experience on how to run a site dig.  He was cute. Tall and fit, gorgeous blue eyes and high cheekbones, both of which were regularly hidden by his mop of soft chestnut brown hair. When he was deep in concentration he would nibble at his lip and it only made them plumper. 

 You were so in your little dream world that when he made the sharp right hand turn into the field the dig was in you lost your grip, your hand sliding from its spot on his thigh to in between his legs, your head low on his stomach;

 “Oh!”

 He slowed the Land Rover as you scrambled back to your seat, his cheeks flushed and pink.

 “Sorry…”

 -

 The campfire was down to its last embers, the sun almost fully set. It was the last night of the dig and you were all celebrating. The finds had been fantastic, everything catalogued and recorded, friendships hatched and grown, sunburn peeling away to reveal soft skin, leave-in bleach hair sprays and nights of passing around a three litre bottle of White Lightning - the cheapest by volume cider you could find. Cav had excused himself to his tent, not often joining the students for the latter parts of drinking, and the nights argument was whether or not it was too late to walk the three miles to the Red Lion pub in Heytesbury.

 “You guys go. I’m gonna take one last look at the north end trench, see if i can find my amethyst necklace I lost last week”

 “Punk, you’re drunk, it’s getting dark too!”

 “I’m not drunk, I’ve had a few sips of Cider, and I’ve got a head torch”

 “Fine, suit yourself”

 -

 Brushing through the sandy soil you were yet to find your necklace, but as the friction under the brush suddenly changed you looked closer, smiling when you saw what was revealed. 

 Minutes later you stood at his tent, calling out;

 “Cav? I’ve found something…”

 He appeared in the doorway, the camping lantern illuminating his tent as it sat on the table where he would write his notes and inspect finds;

 “Hey! What have you…” he saw the shards of pottery you were holding in your hands, his eyes going wide; “You found the last parts?”

 Nodding you smiled. Throughout the dig the team had discovered finds from multiple era’s, and one he’d found was the majority of shards from a Roman Pot, an urn that would have been used to carry Olive Oil all the way from the southernmost parts of the Roman Empire. You knew that it had been frustrating him that all his attempts to reassemble the urn had failed, the missing pieces seemingly integral to the structure.

 He pulled the tent flap to the side for you to enter, setting the pieces down onto the table before straddling the bench that sat beside it. Cav came over and grabbed the tray that held the other parts, a ball of blu-tack nestled in the corner;

 “This is amazing! It looks like all the missing pieces are here!” he turned to you, his eyes shining bright in the glow of the lamp; “I thought you all were going to the pub?”

 “I stayed… I wanted to have one last search for my necklace I lost last week”

 “Oh… did you find it?”

 “No. But this is so much better! C’mon, I wanna see if we can get this to fit together now!”

 His long legs meant he could step over the bench with ease, sitting down next to you and you watched as he started to push the pieces together, cradling them in his large handspan. Softening the blu-tack he pulled a little off and applied it to the edge of a piece, angling his arm at an awkward angle, cursing under his breath;

 “Could you…”

 “Sure” taking the piece from him he held the fragile urn in both hands as you bent over his arms and stuck it into place, moving onto the next piece, this time near his hand furthest from you. 

 Due to the angles you were struggling to see, before you spoke quietly;

 “Lean back a little”

 He did as you asked, extending his arms to full stretch as he held the artefact, letting out a squeak of surprise as you tucked yourself under one arm, shuffling to straddling his lap and sit;

 “Okay, now I can see what I’m doing…” you muttered as you pushed your ass back against him, the whole thing completely innocent, but you were unaware of the look of panic on his face, how he was afraid he was going to crack a tooth from gritting his jaw, willing his dick not to get hard.

 He was now rendered to simply holding the urn in place, he was unable to concentrate, however you had taken over the placement of the new pieces, slotting them into their gaps, the blu-tack holding them secure. As you slid the final piece in you sat back, resting your back against his chest, smoothing your hands over his as you both took in the piece of pottery that dated back two millennia;

 “It's stunning…” you muttered.

 He softly brushed his thumbs over the sides of your hands, and you felt the warm puff of breath on your neck as he spoke;

 “So are you…”

 You let out a breathy sigh, your back arching and you could feel he was hard, the bulge against your ass pressing incessantly against you. Resting your head against his shoulder you turned your head and his lips caught your own. The world stopped and you saw stars as those soft pink pillows caressed your lips, moaning into his mouth and he took the chance to slip his tongue against yours.

 Somehow the two of you managed to gently rest the delicate artefact back onto the tray in the midst of your fledgling passion, his hands intertwining with yours, fingers laced together as his tongue worked magic with your own.

 When you broke the kiss you were gasping for air, his mouth finding your neck as he kissed along your exposed shoulder and neck, his sharp teeth dragging against your skin and making you moan;

 “Oh… oh fuck… yes…”

 He stopped for a moment, his hands still entwined with yours but he wrapped his arms around your body;

 “Tell me to stop… tell me this is wrong, I’m your supervisor…”

 “It’s the last night… let’s give ourselves this night… Just promise not to fall in love with me…”

 “It may be too late for that already” he murmured against your skin, but you were lost in the haze of lust to comprehend his words.

 Your hands finally parted, his slipping beneath your strappy t-shirt, yours reaching back to curl into his hair as his tongue danced patterns over your neck again. You were writhing on his lap, lost in the moment when suddenly the bench tipped, the two of you falling back and landing on the ground. 

 You moved first, rolling off before turning and straddling him, leaning over to catch his lips with your own as you ground your clothed core against the bulge in his tented shorts;

 “I’ve wanted to feel you between my thighs for the last six weeks” you muttered against his earlobe, pressing kisses to his jawline as his hands found your ass and pulled you firmly down onto his body; “The amount of times I’ve gotten myself off in silence as I thought about sneaking into your tent…”

 He could only let out a guttural moan, and as your hands found the edge of his t-shirt you parted so you could strip him of it.��

 You sat back, pressing yourself down harder against his growing erection as you admired his smooth and pale chest, the tiniest crop of hairs right in the centre, delicate muscle definition but still slim and athletic. You watched his face as you trailed your fingers down the length of his long body, finally brushing against the thin trail of hairs that led from his navel into his shorts. You shifted back a little, unfastening the button on his Khaki shorts and unzipping him, reaching into his underwear and grasping his hot length before pulling him free of the cotton confinements. 

 Bending you took him into your mouth, sliding your tongue over his hot flesh as you swallowed around him, bobbing your head up and down. His hands found your head, pressing gently to tell you the speed he liked, a string of curses falling from his lips as you rapidly drove him to the brink of pleasure. It didn’t take long until he let out an ‘uh-oh’ and you slid a hand up his stomach, his own grasping at it as he started to cum in your mouth. You swallowed all that he gave you, his back arching as he thrust up into the warm comfort between your lips, before his body went limp. 

 Pulling off him his hands gripped at your arms, pulling you up his chest until you were laying on top of him;

 “You’ll need to give me a moment… then I’ll be right with you…”

 You grinned and pressed a kiss to his bite swollen lips before standing, and he pushing himself up to rest on his elbows, a look of panic on his face before you grinned at him;

 “Chill… just getting more comfy…”

 You pulled your top off and dropped it to the ground, unfastening your combat shorts and let them fall too, kicking off your flipflops before you were standing there in just your knickers, your thumbs hooked over the sides before he finally spoke;

 “I want to be the one to take those off…”

 He quickly stood and pulled you over to the double air mattress he had in his tent, watching you lay back against his sleeping bag as he stripped himself of the rest of this clothing. As he climbed on he crawled up your body, and it was then that you saw the tiniest patch of brown in the sea of his blue eyes. You were mesmerized by it as he lay over you, your legs parting as he rutted against you, already growing hard again. He moved to your side and slid a hand down the length of your sternum, over your soft stomach and into your underwear, feeling how the thin cotton was soaked through with your arousal. Sitting up he pulled the ruined scrap of fabric down your legs, looking at your soaked petals as he parted them with his long fingers, finding your sensitive nub and rubbing delicate circles against it, before sliding his hand down and pushing two fingers into your soaked hole;

 “Fuck… you feel so tight…”

 “I need you… I need you inside me…”

 “I don’t… I don’t have any protection…” he looked pained to admit what could be the stopping point of the night.

 “I’m on the pill… been taking it continually so I didn’t get a period whilst on the dig…you can go bare…”

His eyes went wide, he’d had a number of lovers over his years at University, and he was well into his mid 20’s, but he had always used condoms, never wanting the girl to have to take the responsibility for their tryst… he had never gone bare but just at the mere thought of sliding into your heat, to feel your hot wetness against his skin, it made him as hard as a rock.

 He scissored his fingers inside you before shifting, pulling them from you as he positioned himself between your thighs, the light from the lantern casting long shadows over your bodies. He rested his tip against your folds, taking a moment to lick your juices from his fingers, then with a smirk he started to press into you.

 With each passing inch your eyes fluttered shut, not realising you were missing the look on his face as he found heaven between your legs. The feel of your pussy around him was almost suffocating, hugging him so tight as he slid in with ease from your arousal;

 “Oh my god… you feel so fucking good… you’re gonna have to tell me how you like it, cos’ I don’t think I’m going to last long…” he muttered.

 Wrapping your hand around the back of his neck, you pulled him down for a fierce kiss, all teeth and tongues whilst your body grew accustomed to his impressive length inside you, the biggest you had ever taken;

 “Hard and fast, I was made to be broken… break me…”

At your words something changed in him, pushing his body onto his arms as he started to rut into you, watching your juices shine on his dick as he pulled out, only to slam back in as your body took every inch of him, your silken channel hugging him tight. The tent was filled with the wet slap of skin on skin, and knowing you were the only ones on site your voices rose, your moans filling the night sky. 

 Your body was bucking beneath him, shaking from pleasure and he could tell he wasn’t going to last much longer. He desperately wanted to feel you come around him, pushing a hand between your bodies he rubbed furiously at your clit, feeling your body tighten and your back arch, and as you came your body trembled around him. 

 The feeling was indescribable, he was so deep in pleasure that when his back arched and he came deep inside you he let out a roar, his eyes screwed shut as he filled you with his come, finally going limp, his arms shaking from the exertion of holding himself above you. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and pulled him on top of you, burying your face in his neck as you breathed in his scent.

 Finally finding his voice he whispered quietly;

 “Stay with me tonight”

 Wrapped in the sleeping bag and blankets you did just that, curled up in his arms and the warmth of his embrace.

 -

 Henry was woken by the sounds of the camp being broken down, the crews from the various universities packing up their things as the minibuses arrived to take them back to the halls of residences or shared houses. He was alone in his bed, and as he sat up he could hear your voice yelling out to your tent-mates to ‘pick up your fucking stuff’. 

 In the hours that followed various vehicles turned up on site, his own supervisors, benefactors and sponsors of the dig, all very excited by the finds and reports, and especially of the assembled Roman Urn. At every moment he tried to get away, tried to find a moment to talk to you, but as the minutes and hours ticked by the window was closing. 

 You were all packed up, everything in the old minibus. Every time you had looked across the site he was talking to someone important looking, never getting a moment where he was alone. The driver of your minibus honked the horn and you panicked;

 “Hang on, I’ve just got one more thing to do…”

 You ran across the site and he saw you, excusing himself from the people he was talking to and managed to intercept you behind the old Ford Transit van that was taking the equipment away. He wrapped his arms around you and pressed a kiss to your lips;

 “I didn’t want you to leave before I got to say goodbye”

 Your bottom lip trembled, your voice shaking;

 “I’ve left my number on a piece of paper on your table, its tucked under the tray with the urn on”

 He let out a sigh of relief, nodding before kissing you again, the sound of your minibus driver honking the horn impatiently.

 You reluctantly pulled out of his arms, giving him a final wave before running to the bus, and he watched from the side of the van as you climbed in, the vehicle driving off into the distance as a cloud of dust trailed behind it.

 “Henry!” an older male voice called out cheerfully. 

 Rubbing his palms over his face he took a deep breath, before turning and smiling at his supervising professor;

 “Hey, good to see you Sir”

 The older man clapped a hand over Henry’s shoulder;

 “You’ve done an amazing job on this dig… the reports that came in have been exemplary. You had all the same students at the end of the dig as at the start which I’ll have you know is a particular skill… some site leads drive students away in droves!”

 Leading Henry back towards the dig site he waxed lyrical about Henry’s skill and how he showed true leadership skills, turning to another gentleman that was leaning against Henry’s Land Rover;

 “Have you met Piers?”

 Henry shook his head, he knew who he was being introduced to, the CEO of the most prestigious museum in the UK and some would say the world with regards to Archaeology and Palaeontology. Shaking the man’s hand he was speechless;

 “We’ve been following the dig reports, your talent is something I haven’t seen for many years… we’d like to discuss a position on our expedition board with you…”

 “Y-yes… that would be fantastic! Thank you”

 “Now, let’s see that Roman urn I’ve been hearing all about…”

 Leading the men to his tent he lifted the tray, pulling it out into the sunshine as they took in the beauty of it, no-one noticing the small scrap of paper catch on the wind and slipping out of the tent, Henry too distracted by the reality of being hired for his dream job.

 -

 Many Years Later.

 Henry grinned as his team crowed around him, the heat of the Siberian Summer seeping into their pores. In broken Russian the students were laughing and shouting, before three of them carried the massive femur bone they’d excavated a few days previously over to Henry, heaving it into his massive arms.

 “Smile!” someone shouted out and he heard the clicks of phone camera shutters, before he gently rested it onto the soft ground, chatting to the team as he did so.

 That night they hit the bars of the nearest town, Henry smiling when he saw one had wifi, connecting his phone and uploading a few updates to the dig account and also his own. An hour later he checked his phone and saw his Instagram notifications, one account name in particular catching his attention; @thepunkwiththepinkhair

 It couldn't be, could it?

 It was. It was you. The pink may be gone, but he had finally found you again.

*******************************************************************************

Thank you for reading!

Some explanations of British shops/brands;

Iceland = a budget supermarket chain

White Lightning = cheap, harsh apple cider, sold in bottles that are 3000ml/a gallon for around £5.00 (USD7/EURO6)

Panda Pop = very cheap fizzy drink, full of additives, artificial colours, sugar.

Ladbrokes - a chain of gambling shops.

Sun-in - spray in hair bleach that you would spritz on your hair and go out in the sunshine, and it would bleach your hair. Apparently it was meant to give you ‘sun kissed highlights’, but when i was 18 i turned my hair bright orange with it.

In the UK University starts when you are 18, and a degree lasts 3 or 4 years. You can then do a ‘post graduate course’ which is another year of studying, and if you want to work towards your doctorate, it can be another 4-7 years on top of that, which is why Henry in this story is literally fresh out of studying even though he is approximately 25 years old.

[qonqr]

I’m Still Here

Many of you may have been asking yourself where did Silver go? Is anyone still working on QONQR?  I admit I’ve been very quiet the past year and from the outside, it looks like not much is going on.

 Before I give my QONQR update I want to share a major accomplishment for me. I’m a little less of a hoarder than I was a month ago. As the 11th year anniversary approached, I decided I had too much old QONQR merchandise I needed to get in the hands of my players. However, I hate shipping. I should be the spokesperson for one of those shipping providers that make shipping easy because I hate doing it so much. Many of you know that the player Rayndel has an Etsy store where she sells QONQR merchandise with my permission. I sent her a 65lb (30kg) box of QONQR stuff. Coffee cups, T-shirts, dog tags and stickers. She is liquidating all of it for me. You can find it all right here.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DragonHoardCrafts?section_id=19648949

 2020 and 2021 have been challenging for most people, and I’m no exception.  Both our kids are off to college. We are getting older and so are our extended families. Medical issues become more frequent for us and them. The stress of the pandemic doesn’t help. There are days when I can sit at my computer all day, and never write a line of code. Things are hard, they impact our ability to work as hard as we once did.

 A little over two weeks ago, QONQR hit its 11th birthday. The milestone passed quietly. I always spend time reflecting on how QONQR has changed my life and the stories you’ve shared about how it has changed yours. We’ve built something great together. Together we keep it going.

 Despite outward appearances. Things are happening at QONQR. I am working, albeit at an admittedly slow pace. I’ve let go of the stress of pushing QONQR as fast as I can, and instead I’m working on QONQR at a pace that is comfortable. It is important to me and my family that I end my day without being drained of all my energy by the awful decisions and quality that Apple and Google hand me every day.

 The next release of QONQR will include the following features. Many of these are mostly done, so I’m happy to share them, with the caveat that I have no idea when these will actually hit the store. Tons of testing is still needed.

 New Sync Lock Rules

 Sync lock will now last much longer, perhaps a week or even a month before it automatically expires. Along with that Sync Lock Protection will also last longer. The more times you gain sync lock protection, the longer it will last. We want to protect legitimate family members from daily locks, but also want to avoid situations where multi-scoper can get infrequent help to unlock an army of devices and accounts. In addition to longer locks, Sync lock may also hurt resource collection with your bases depending on how play testing goes.

 As with everything pertaining to multi-scoping, it is a blurry line between stopping those who play unfair, and those that are punished for inviting family and friends to play.

 Notifications

I have wanted push notifications for most of the past 10 years. In fact, we were very close to having them implemented about 5-7 years ago, but Google changed their push notification system. We used a unified messaging system created by Microsoft to push to both Google and Apple simultaneously. There were incompatibilities between the new and the old Google system for a long time. We gave up on trying to finish that implementation back then, waiting for Google and Microsoft to get their stuff fixed, and it was years before it became a priority again.

 I spent most of the past 3-4 months working on notification. This area is quite possibly one of the worst technical implementations I’ve had to work with in all my time working in software. For example, if you kill an iPhone application, you also remove the ability to get push notifications until the next time you start the app. It appears to be almost random when Android will decide to beep your phone when receiving a notification, and when it will be silently added to the notification center. For both Apple and Google, the documentation is frustratingly inaccurate or out of date. There are multiple different ways a notification can be processed depending on whether the application was terminated by the user, suspended by the operating system, in the background or in the foreground. Was the notification scheduled locally or sent from a remote server?  Honestly, as a developer, it would be difficult to purposely design a worse system.

 The good news is that I believe I have it working as good as it can possibly work. In the next release you will be able to enable or disable notifications as a whole, or selectively choose which notification you want to receive. Notifications will include: Atlantis, New Wire messages, Mentions in Chat and Forums, Bots and Bases Full.

 A Major Overhaul to the Scope

The changes to Sync Lock mandated that overheat have additional logic to control bots and energy regeneration. More significantly, if we want to have a notification that your scope is full, so I needed to know exactly when the scope would be full.  Currently your regeneration rate is based on the number of launches in the past hour. Launching a few seconds before or after an old launch rolls off that 1 hour mark can mess up the prediction of when you will be full again. To make that prediction accurately, without checking every minute to see, “Are my bots full now”, we changed the formula for when bots will be full, and scheduled a notification based on that time.

 The new regeneration is very similar to the old, but we predict you may get 1 or 2 more launches per hour. I’m hedging the formula towards more not fewer launches to make sure this is seen as a positive change.

 As long as we are messing with the scope, let’s talk about the Bot Regen Accelerator.  Hard core players have pointed out that players who launch on a timer, always hitting the “optimal” launch interval, don’t gain any advantage when purchasing this $0.99 upgrade. In the new release this upgrade will reduce your overheat level by 1 level and you will never be in maximum overheat due to deploying bots. The impact of the upgrade will be noticeable by everyone with this change. The name of this upgrade will probably change to “Scope Coolant” or “Heat Diffuser”. Send me your name ideas.

  Subscriptions, Ads and Elite Players

This is a change that probably won’t be in the next release, but it is something I’m thinking about before the end of the year. Apple has had a bug in their subscription logic for years. If you purchase a subscription on an iPhone, then get a new iPhone, you need to cancel the subscription in the App Store, then renew from your new phone. Apple keeps charging you, but the new device can’t see the subscription, so QONQR doesn’t know you are a subscriber. Why wouldn’t Apple fix this? Well Apple only takes half the percentage of a subscription after the first year. By making you start a new subscription, they can double their cut of the money you pay QONQR for the subscription. Another problem with subscriptions is that they result in many support requests because they honestly aren’t 100% reliable in either Apple or Google’s implementation.

 Many people know that earlier in the year, Apple introduced a change to advertising that blocks tracking. This is great in theory, and I get it as a consumer that I don’t like to be tracked, but this tracker blocking also blocks my ability to make any revenue on advertising. Why would I continue to give away free advertising?

 Elite players are those that have spent over $100 in QONQR over the life of their gaming experience. Over the years the benefits of being “Elite” have dwindled. Features have changed, and incentives have ended. I’d like to invest more time and energy to build features for players that continue to support QONQR but I think it makes more sense to lower the bar and make the benefits for “active” spenders.

 With these three things in mind, there is a chance that QONQR will move to a monthly “pass” option rather than a subscription. There seems to be a trend with games, where players buy a monthly pass that offers benefits, rather than using subscriptions. Subscriptions are buggy and in the case of Apple, a shady business practice.

 The same benefits available to subscribers would remain under the “pass”, but you would have to explicitly purchase the pass each month.  Secondary missions may move to the “pass” model with non-pass players getting only a handful of secondary missions per month. Ads would be completely removed from the app in this scenario since they no longer generate much revenue.

  What’s in the Plans for 2022?

 If you have read my blog over the years, you know that Apple and Google make it harder and harder to stop cheating (primarily multi-scoping).  It is being reported that Windows 11 will have the ability to run Android apps. I don’t know yet how that will impact QONQR, but I’m guessing it won’t be good. At best it will have no impact because I’ll be able to stop QONQR from running on Windows, at worst it could be a nightmare.

 March 2022 will mark the 10 year anniversary QONQR hit the Apple App Store. I can say with a high level of confidence that QONQR is now the longest running location-based, multi-platform, mobile game.

 Personally, I think 2022 needs to be a transformational year for QONQR. I’m not sure we can survive if the game doesn’t change. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have never cared about supporting mobile developers. Outrageous fees and abusive rules (recently acknowledged by the US Congress) have been part of the ecosystem from the start. There are dozens of apps that you can download from the official Google Play store that make it a simple tap to attempt to hack and manipulate an Android app, so players can do something the developer is attempting to prohibit. Once again Microsoft broke the tools I use to help secure the app from hackers, causing weeks of work to find a solution that would maintain the same level of security.  Apple and Google both purposely hide information from developers that would help them ensure real people are using their apps instead of bots. They do this under the façade of privacy, but ignore simple solutions that could maintain privacy, while helping developers ensure the integrity of how their apps are used.

 I’ve said for years, the only way to stop hackers and cheaters in QONQR is to make it irrelevant. That requires a major shift in gameplay. Together, you the players and me the developer, we need to decide if we want QONQR to have such a major shift. I don’t know what that shift would look like, but 2022 might be the year we figure it out.

 2020 was a year of making sure QONQR can survive. Through tons of work that year, massive software rewrites and updates, I was able to cut the cost of hosting QONQR. Today the cost of hosting QONQR all year, matches what we spent in three months during 2019. So far 2021 has been a year of slow work toward significant improvements to the game, but without major strategic impact to your daily playing. I’ve taken my time to avoid burn out. I’m enjoying the pace of my current work week. It has been good for my family and me.

 I’m not sure what 2022 will look like for QONQR yet, but I’m excited to try something new. Maybe we’ll break things, maybe we will create something ten times better than what we have had for the last decade. Time will tell. We’ll figure it out together.

 Thanks for keeping the lights on.

-Scott (aka Silver)

[mimi-cee-hq]

Anonymous Text - Futakuchi x Reader

(I blame @/starlity’s blog for this story because it made me want to write for a Dateko character. 😊 )

Summary:

From Nametsu’s suggestion, Y/n starts taking requests to practise her makeup skills. Futakuchi starts texting her for fun without telling her who he is. But there’s a reason why he wants to stay anonymous.

I have a Futakuchi character summary post if you forgot who he is. I reference some of the scenes in that post for this story so I recommend taking a look at it. I also took a different approach to Futakuchi’s character, but it’s still based on canon events. Also, Nametsu Mai is Dateko’s manager, Koganegawa is their huge baby setter, and Onagawa is the season 4 dude with the big hair they nicknamed Pantalons.

Request from @rynn-lee:

hi, hi!! could i ask for a matchup? 🤓 well, i’m 18 and 5’4. i’m curvy and a bit chubby, and i have straight strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes (also glasses uwu). my style is something in between 80s and rocker, i always wear black, RED, animal prints, leather… and my makeup has to be always on point lol (i’m studying makeup). about my personalityyy… i’m a very calm and patient person, i think i tend to be kind and very open minded. i can be shy sometimes, but i’m usually outgoing. i also love having fun, and i’m always teasing my friends. i may be a bit sarcastic too… 👀 but i always try to help and do all i can for them my passions are music (mostly hard rock and 80s), art, drawing, reading, cinema… (useless fact: i LOVE jurassic park omg) i also love very very much the beach, i could be there forever. and, although being calm, i have anxiety issues :( i’m a big nerd and i live for memes lmao i hope this works! thank you in advance! ❤️

Anonymous Text - Futakuchi x Reader

Words: 2,245

“You’re right. That looks pretty bad.” laughed Y/n.

“I told you. It looks worse than it actually is though. It doesn’t hurt that much.”

Nametsu continued to explain to Y/n that she had gotten the bruise on her cheek during the boys’ volleyball practice. Futakuchi had accidentally hit her when he turned around while carrying the volleyball pole.

“But seriously, I don’t know what to do with him. Futakuchi is supposed to be the captain, but he’s not exactly the best role model. Some days I feel like Aone would have been the better choice.”

“So is he the guy you have a crush on?”

“Futakuchi?” asked Nametsu. Y/n nodded. "Ew. No. You wouldn’t want to date him. He takes things too lightly. He was always causing trouble for our senpais.“

Y/n was in the same class as Futakuchi, but they had never really talked to each other. She’d hear about him at times from Nametsu, usually complaining about him. But Y/n was the kind of person who’d want to get to know someone herself instead of basing her opinion on what someone else had told her. She wondered if Futakuchi really was as bad as Nametsu had said.

“Okay,” said Y/n as she took a closer look at Nametsu’s bruise. "I might be able to help you out with this.“

It was Y/n’s dream to become a makeup artist, so she had recently went to a makeup camp for high schoolers. One of the things they had learned was to create a bruised look. She had also learned how to cover up bruises. So she was happy to help Nametsu with what she had learned.

“Thanks so much, Y/n,” said Nametsu. “I didn’t want people at school commenting on it all day.”

“It’s no problem,” Y/n smiled.

When she was done, Nametsu was amazed at her work. “It’s like it’s not even there anymore!”

“This is good practice for me too,” Y/n replied with a smile. “I could do this every day for you until your bruise disappears, if you’d like.”

Nametsu’s eyes sparkled, delighted at Y/n’s offer. “I’d love that! You’re the best!” she exclaimed as she hugged her. As Y/n packed up her makeup tool box, Nametsu asked, "Have you ever thought about taking requests? I bet other girls at school would love to have their makeup done by you.“

Y/n thought for a moment. She had never considered it before. "That sounds like it would be fun!” she replied with a grin.

A few weeks later, Nametsu’s bruise healed so Y/n wasn’t as busy with her make-up anymore. It was tiring for her to wake up so early every day, but she’d do anything for her friends. Nametsu helped Y/n create some posters to place around the school with information about this new undertaking of hers. It wasn’t too long before she got some make-up requests. But she also got an interesting one.

Unknown number: You do make-up right?

Y/n: I do. Is there a certain style you want?

Unknown number: Could you make my lips look plump? Extra plump? And really red? Could you also make my eyelashes 10 inches long?

Y/n smirked at the request. It seemed like she attracted a troll. But being the calm and patient person she was, she replied with sarcasm.

Y/n: Sure. I can definitely do that. Red is a nice colour. I’ll need $400 to cover the cost of the 10 inch false eyelashes.

Unknown number: What? They exist?

Y/n: Sorry, I forgot to add “/sarcasm”

“What are you doing?” asked Nametsu in class, noticing Y/n smiling at her phone.

“Just having fun with a troll,” she laughed. When she got another notification on her phone, she saw there was a reply.

Unknown number: I deserved that. How are you doing? Are you getting any requests?

Y/n didn’t expect that those first few texts to be the start of an interesting friendship. The two of them continued to text each other over the next few weeks. It was kind of weird, but also fun. She didn’t learn much about him. She knew he was a guy that went to her school. He had apparently seen the posters which is where he got her number. He told her that he wanted to keep his identity a secret for fun. She didn’t mind.

At first the texts were just silly. He’d share a picture making fun of one of the teachers. She’d share a meme in response. But after a few weeks of texting back and forth, they started sharing more with each other.

That guy: Have you ever dealt with people who say they understood what you said, but it looks like they didn’t understand at all?

Y/n: Lol. Are you having a hard time teaching someone?

That guy: I guess you could say that.

Another day, Y/n decided to share her worries with him as well.

Y/n: I’m starting to get anxious about my next request. The last one didn’t go so well. She didn’t like it.

That guy: What? You worked so hard! Who do I need to hunt down?

Y/n: Ummm… No. Please don’t. It’s not like you’d get away with it.

That guy: Don’t worry. I won’t get caught. I’ve had lots of practice!

Y/n just stared at that last text and laughed. “Who is this guy?”

“Who?” asked Nametsu, who was sitting beside her in class.

“Just ‘that guy’,” she replied.

“You’re still texting him?” asked Nametsu. Y/n nodded with a smirk. “Anyway, how are your make-up requests going?”

“They’re alright. I’m starting to run out of make-up though, so I’ll need to get more supplies.”

Y/n didn’t expect to see her tall and large classmate in front of her the next day. Aone handed her an envelope. When she asked what it was for, he just gestured to the note that was on it.

“This is for the eyelashes. I expect them to look awesome,” said the handwritten note on the envelope.

She read the note with a snicker. When she looked at the other side to open the envelope, there was an additional note.

“Actually, I don’t think they’ll suit me. Just use this to buy other make-up supplies.”

If this envelope contained what she thought, she couldn’t believe how generous he was being to her. He was really starting to spoil her and she couldn’t help but wonder who he was. He had told her that he still wanted stay anonymous. She didn’t know why, but she decided to respect his boundaries if he had a good reason to not reveal himself.

She opened the envelope and stared at the contents before she laughed her head off. “He’s such a dork!” she said, knowing that he likely didn’t mean to do that.

*****

Futakuchi felt his phone vibrate. He smiled when he saw that he got a text from Y/n.

Y/n: So what are your interests and hobbies? Besides texting me of course.

Futakuchi: They’re a secret. :P Are you still trying to find out who I am?

Y/n: Nope, just curious.

Futakuchi: Well, I’m not telling you. But what other things do you like?

Y/n: That’s hardly fair.

She decided to tell him her other interests anyway. She wished that their school didn’t have uniforms. She liked her own style: a mix of 80s and rocker. Futakuchi didn’t know what she meant by 80s style. She didn’t know if Japan had an equivalent style, so he ended up searching pictures for the fashion style during that decade. He laughed when he replied her.

Futakuchi: LOL! Their hair looks like Pantalon’s!

But it wasn’t until her reply that he realized that he let out a slip.

Y/n: Are you on the volleyball team?

Futakuchi panicked. He didn’t want her to know who he was. Now she was one step closer.

*****

A couple of months back, Futakuchi sighed as he walked back to his classroom. He had left his knee pads there the other day, so he had to get them before their morning practice had started. “I should apologize to Nametsu again,” he thought to himself. “I actually feel bad about giving her that bruise.”

When he arrived at the classroom, it was empty except for the one girl who had her head down at her desk. When he took a closer look, he saw that she was actually sleeping. He recalled Nametsu mentioning that Y/n had been helping her with make-up everyday. “She must have gotten here even earlier than us to do Nametsu’s makeup,” he thought.

He sighed, remembering that there was a time when he used to be like that.

In junior high, he had been best friends with a girl he had known for years. They had basically grown up together. He had liked her - a lot. She had decided to try to date him, but she had gotten overwhelmed with how much he would do for her. She had felt bad that she hadn’t been doing as much for him. He had told her that he didn’t care. But it had taken a toll on their relationship.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Kenji. You’re too serious,” she had told him.

It had hurt. So he had decided that he wouldn’t be so serious the next time he dated a girl. But as he looked at Y/n sleeping at her desk, he wondered if it would be different with her. “She works so hard for her friends,” he thought to himself. “Would she be the same for a boyfriend?”

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind, until he saw her posters. When he saw her number right in front of him, he decided to text her on a whim. He saw her smile at his ridiculous request. After she gave her sarcastic reply, he knew they’d get along. But as they texted, he didn’t notice that his feelings for Y/n had grown so much to the point where he was worried about her finding out who he was. Since he had given her money for her make-up supplies, he was especially worried that Y/n would feel burdened by it. At least he could still hide behind the anonymous label. Or so he thought.

Y/n: Thanks for the money!

Y/n: BTW, I know who you are now. You’re on the volleyball team.

Futakuchi started to panic. “She knows it’s me?” He started to worry about what her opinion was of him. But then she next text gave him a different dilemma.

Y/n: I’ve been helping you too. :)

He was confused because she hadn’t been helping him with anything. They barely even talked in person. But during their next volleyball practice, he saw that she was a lot closer with Koganegawa.

“Thanks so much for helping me Y/n-senpai!’ said Koganegawa.

"You’re welcome,” she replied with a smile. “I was happy to help.” Koganegawa was moved to tears from how grateful he was and gave her a hug.

Futakuchi found himself stepping between the two of them and pushing them apart. “Futakuchi?” asked Y/n, confused. “What’s wrong?”

For Futakuchi, this whole thing was wrong. She had been helping the wrong person this whole time. He knew he could set it right if he just revealed himself to her. He started to grow frustrated at this situation. He had to decide. Was better to stay behind an unknown phone number and to be mistaken for Koganegawa? Or should he reveal himself to her at the risk of Y/n potentially being put off by him?

Futakuchi told her.

Y/n blinked a few times and had to do a double take. “I think you were supposed to say something else first?”

That was when that he actually confessed to her instead. “I like you.” He wasn’t supposed to say that. But his thoughts were such a mess that he ended up confessing to her instead.

Y/n just giggled at him. “Well, I already knew it was you who was texting me. I was just waiting to see if you’d tell me yourself.”

Futakuchi blushed, not knowing if it was from the embarrassment of accidentally confessing or from how cute her laugh was. “But didn’t you say that you were helping me?” he asked.

“I have been,” she replied. “I’ve been helping Koganegawa with setting practice. Didn’t you say you were having a hard time teaching him?”

Futakuchi couldn’t believe that he had misunderstood the whole thing. Koganegawa started to excitedly ramble about how much his practices with Y/n had helped. She had scolded him every time his sets were too high, knowing that Futakuchi wasn’t good with those ones. He was shocked that she had done all of that for him.

With determination, Futakuchi suddenly grabbed her wrists and told her, “Go out with me.” He stared at her eyes intently, waiting for her answer.

“I think you’re supposed to ask,” she teased.

Futakuchi smirked at her. “Fine,” he complied. “Could you be my girlfriend?”

“Maybe,” she said as she started to walk away. But Futakuchi didn’t let her get away and hugged her from behind. “Okay,” she said with a smirk as she turned around to hug his waist.

“Hold on a moment,” said Futakuchi. “How did you know it was me?”

“Pro tip: use cash instead of a check if you want to stay anonymous.”

*****

Extras

The Dateko volleyball club was very confused at the whole scene because they never saw the two interact before. Nametsu knew they were texting each other but didn’t think they’d like each other.

Nametsu didn’t approve of Futakuchi at first until she saw how serious he was about her.

He offered to take her to any movie she wanted. Y/n just wanted to watch Jurassic Park all the time to the point where he got sick of it.

@rynn-lee was actually a setter, but because she didn’t put it in the request, I was vague about how Y/n helped Koganegawa. 😊

I hope you liked it. This story ended up being so meta with me answering my request with a story about Y/n answering her request. 😅 It was actually unintentional.

Check out my other stories. I have a completed long fic and some other short stories too. 😊

Matchup tag list: @nagichi-deku, @nxlx96 (let me know if you want to be added to or removed from the tag list) And tagging @haikoo because you usually like these stories.

[getengage]

How to Attract Customers in Retail Stores During COVID-19?

COVID-19 has shown retailers that their past strategies for footfall increase are no longer effective. To offset in-store traffic loss due to COVID-19, retailers need innovative solutions.

This blog is written to help retailers navigate the difficulties of COVID-19 with seven working ideas to increase footfall to your retail store.

But before that, let's understand what is footfall in retail marketing.

What is footfall in retail marketing?‍

Footfall meaning: Number of people who enter a store or venue in an hour. Also, footfall means the number of customers you get to your retail outlet per hour, week, and month on average.

Knowing the footfall to your retail store can help you decide how many products you need to stock, which days of the week are best for promotions, and what type of promotional offers work well.

What Is A Retail Store And What Is Retail Marketing?

A retail store sells goods and services to the end-users, called customers. And retail marketing is the process of promoting awareness and interest in retail goods and services to generate sales from potential customers.

Let's now look into the seven ideas to increase footfall to your brick-and-mortar retail store.

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‍How to increase footfall in retail during COVID-19?

The pandemic has drastically impacted customer behavior. People prefer shopping online to brick-and-mortar purchases, and consumers are limiting their spending on a range of items - investing only in essentials is the norm now (McKinsey).

What's more, customer loyalty is plunging awfully. If retailers do not have a come-back strategy, it's going to be hard to stay on top of the game. On top of that, to pull off a rulebook on how to increase footfall in retail during COVID-19 is no easy feat.

That is why I have compiled seven ideas to increase footfall to your store. Read on and be enlightened!

1.Abide by COVID-19 protocols for footfall increase

As a preliminary step, be well-informed of the COVID-19 protocols. Don't implement this merely under the government norms, instead take extra measures to show customers that you care!

Most importantly though: adhere to these guidelines religiously and never forget customer health is your top priority. Endorse contactless service at all possible points so as not to let any opportunity slip by.

And here are other things you’d want to implement in your brick-and-mortar store for footfall increase.

Have an automated entrance

Deploy hygiene counters

Fix thermal sensors in the entrance

Have an isolation space for those showing symptoms of the coronavirus

Lay an inner pathway that customers could use in your shop

Fix sneeze guards in the checkout counters

Ensure to have ventilation systems

Do give your customers the ease of a comfort room

2. Run in-store promotions to boost store traffic

Wondering how to attract customers to your store?

Well, discounts are a perfect way to attract new customers and retain existing ones. When you want to increase customer traffic in a brick-and-mortar store, give customers an offer that only works inside the store.

For example, Target's program, Cartwheel offers 5% to 50%, off specific items when customers shop in-store to increase foot traffic.

Much like the aforementioned example, there are various other ways to endorse in-store promotions. Below are a few techniques brick and mortar retailers can use to increase foot traffic in their store:

Offer a “Bring your family or friend” discount – this gives your customers a valid reason to visit your store. And when this takes on a chain reaction, you may rapidly increase the customer traffic.

Surprise your consumers with free samples of your products. This would allow them to try some new brands and products.

If you’d want to reduce your excess stock post the quarantine time, try running a multi-buy campaign.

Use Ingage to boost store traffic! Get your personalized demo here.

3.Enhance in-store shopping experience with digital signages

If you are wondering how to increase footfall in restaurants, or any retail outlet for that matter, digital signages are your best bet. They are innovative and amazingly powerful when it comes to empowering your customers in-store.

Digital signage is a  type of advertising that uses a video screen to display marketing messages. They can be used for attracting customers, conveying information, and promoting merchandise.

If you are wondering how to increase footfall during COVID-19, then consider these ideas to increase sales in retail stores:

Offer surprise discounts like “pay what you want” – this will make your customers feel valued and loved by encouraging them to visit more often.

Giveaway free samples so that customers get an opportunity to try new brands/products.

Also, if you have excess inventory post quarantine time, run multi-buy campaigns.

Some more examples of how digital signage is used for ways to increase sales in retail stores are as follows:

Grocery stores and supermarkets use digital signage to show recipes, make grocery lists, or serve as an information center.

Retail outlets in malls that have fashion sections can display the latest trends on their screens so customers know what’s new. This helps them pick out something they might like quickly.

Some restaurants showcase menus on screens while others even project live cooking shows! These displays help with menu navigation too; helping a diner decide between chicken tikka masala or steak tartare by showing pictures of both dishes at once.

4.Leverage beacon notification to attract customers to your store

The beacon technology is a way to implement a tracking system indoors. A beacon is an inaudible signal that can be tracked and act as the trigger for other events like sending notifications about deals, discounts, or new products.

Beacon technology helps with driving footfalls by giving customers an indoor mapping experience of your store's inventory. This ensures they always know where they are going and what’s around them. The navigation reminds them of their proximity to items on display so there’s never any confusion over whether something is nearby or farther off.

Beacon notification also increases customer engagement; through this tech, users get notified of discounts, deals, and new arrivals as they move around the store.

Along with this technology, you can also use geofencing so that when a customer enters your store's radius, they get an alert on notifying them of specials in the area or location of products while providing directions to their desired product.

You should consider implementing beacon notification for attracting customers from all over because it is cost-effective and easy to set up. They're compatible across devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, etc., which means footfall increase is just one step away!

5.Train your salespersons to become the shopper's friend

Educating your salespersons on how to be consumers’ friends is important. They should be knowledgeable about what products are popular and in-demand so that they can help the customers find exactly what they want while at the same time giving guidance on how to save money by telling them where discounts and deals can be found.

It's an excellent way of building customer relationships and increasing traffic to retail stores.

For instance, Denver’s Cherry Creek does an exemplary job on this. The customer has penned the experience thus:

“One of my friends was getting married in a couple of months and stopped by the store where he and his groomsmen were getting their tuxedos. He was greeted by name and with a cold beer. Handshakes and hugs all around. When we left, I turned to my friend and asked, “Do you know them?” He said, “Yeah, they’re helping me with my tux.”  (Source: Vendhq)

6.Reconceptualize the checkout counters

Customers abandon their purchases because of long lines at the checkout. With the pandemic out there, this could be one of the reasons why the retail foot traffic is diminishing. (The Baymard Institue)

To overcome this hassle, and add another way to increase footfall in retail stores, you can reconceptualize the checkout counters. Some ideas are adding more till counters, or installing in-app checkout. This way customers don’t have to wait in queues for long periods and can make the purchase right there and then.

7.Encourage BOPIS (Buy Online Pick-up In-store)

True, consumers are inclining to online purchases as opposed to in-store shopping, but you can turn it to your advantage. In fact, an ICSC report cites that 69% of customers who went to collect their orders eventually bought additional items.

To implement BOPIS for your retail store, you need to have a centralized platform that allows you to manage orders, sales, and customers.  This helps you to deliver a personalized customer experience.

In combination with BOPIS, another way to promote footfall into the store and drive sales in retail is by bringing your website in-store. And this will be a good move if you have multiple stores and not all the stock in one place.

So people could browse your eCommerce site in-store for products they want but which aren't available at their local shop. If they show interest, you can then let them know that associates can place an order for these items, then deliver them individually to their home when ready of course!

This is yet another savvy way to increase footfall to your retail store.

How to calculate footfall in retail?

Now that you know how to increase footfall to your retail store, you must know how to calculate footfall in retail as well.

This is because, when you know how to calculate footfall in retail it can help you  with many retail metrics like:

How to plan your store for peak footfall times?

How much stock you need in the store and how often you'll need to restock it?

What products are selling well on an hourly basis? This is so crucial information for retailers that will help inform decisions about where to place certain items or which ones may be more popular than others etc.

When stores should have promotions (if they want), discounts, and raise weekend sales?

It can also help you gain insights such as how many people are coming into your store per hour and how much money is being spent.

Also, calculating the number of customers that enter your store provides valuable information about how many chances you had to make a sale. By dividing your transactional sales by the footfall data, you can determine what percentage of shoppers that came into your store made a purchase (your conversion rate).

Retailers can calculate footfall using "Beam Break" technology. Most retailers have the main entrance, and typically install an infrared beam across it. As each customer walks in the store, they get a count and by dividing it by two, retailers can see how many people come to their stores.

Learned how to increase footfall in retail during COVID-19?

We hope this blog gave you an insight into how to increase footfall in restaurants, malls, and other retail outlets.

Increase footfall in retail during COVID-19 with Ingage! Get your free demo here.

But to get a detailed blueprint, I suggest you read the White Paper we have compiled.  It has research from experts in the industry to help you increase footfall.

Here's a gist of what the White Paper covers:

How have pandemics catalyzed technological innovations

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[twisted-trunk]

 I Don’t Have Time for This [A Day In The Life]

I drag myself up from my bed, heaving heavy winter blankets off of me. I take one step away from my place of rest and despair. My medicine, pills placed in two separate containers; morning and night, lay on the dresser that functions more as a tall nightstand. Choosing the one closest to the door, I squint and try to remember the day. It shouldn’t be so hard between taking my meds and keeping my medical diary. Good thing I don’t fully close the tab from the day before. 

I take my medicine: some float on the water in my mouth, some are small, some are big. I down half my water bottle. My heating pad clinks to life as I tap the remote on the cord three times then slink back into place. I maneuver my laptop in front of me, slightly tilted then click on a YouTube video.

The window for sleep is gone. 

I’m tired. 

I open my phone. 

The time flashes brightly at me then gives way to my home screen. I click the weather app. The barometer reads 1023 hPa (hexopascals; normal or one atmosphere is 1013 hPa), last night ended at 1018 hPa. What’s the point in this, I ask myself even as I dutifully record it in my medical diary; I feel like shit either way and it’s been doing fucking backflips. 

Next, I record the time: 6:35. It’s winter. The sun isn’t up. My birds are, for the moment, quiet. The house isn’t awake. Save for the annoying neighbor that straight-piped their muffler, the world is quiet. The fish tank’s filter pours water back down into the tank. Car lights flash on the wall through the slight opening my layered curtains allow. Soon, the sun will come and the light will force its way into my world far before I’m ready. 

I can already tell it won’t be a cloudy day. 

I click a new YouTube video, something’s ought to catch my attention. I pray the depression med will finally do something. I pray the rest of the medicine with do something. The dose of one has been upped, there has to be a difference, right?

Through muscle memory, I click through apps. Weather. Instagram. Solitaire. Tumblr. Instagram. Safari. Solitaire. 

I check the time. 

6:53 am. 

Unconsciously, I sigh. I check my blogs though I know nothing’s new, no one has interacted with them; no notifications tell me otherwise. Still, though, I check. Maybe someone will want to talk with me. I think I expressed that enough? I hope I did. 

I don’t want the disaster or awkwardness from attempting to make conversation first but then really having nothing to say besides please talk to me, give me something, anything, I need something to take my attention away. Let me know I’m not alone. 

7:03 am. 

Light is invading more of my space. I pull the stiff blankets up as a pathetic barrier against it. I exit the YouTube video and search my recommended for something. 

I refresh. 

I refresh again. 

One more time. I click on something. I play with my phone again. The water continues to fall and splash. I open a different app. The noise grates on my thin nerves if I focus on it. I try my mindless games. Nope. 

I flow through Instagram and tumblr and instagram again. 

8:59 am. 

It’s bright and I don’t want to get up but I’m thirsty, and it’s a horrible feeling and my mouth is dry and my doctor even prescribed me to drink more and I don’t want a kidney stone. 

I don’t know how long it takes, but I get up and trample around my bed to fold the curtains in. The best it’ll get. The room is shaded only slightly; more so if it were darker out. Winter, I think, it’ll be darker, I think, but as ever, I remind myself that snow reflects light and it will be worse than a bright summer’s day.  

I grab the same cup I used the day before. My inner germaphobe winces but nothing’s been in there but water; I barely had enough energy yesterday to make myself a small bowl of pasta. 

I throw my forlorn, now warm compress into the freezer and ensure it’s shut with a knee to handle. I hate this freezer. 

I refill my glass and go to the bathroom. 

I come back and stand in front of my bed. Just do it, it think. You’re already up, I think. 

I shame myself into doing my physical therapy—at least the exercises I am able to do. Halfway through my first, I remember the ones I could have done before ever getting up to warm myself up for the rest. That was the plan I’d had for two weeks yet could never quite do it without flipping the order. I’ll lay down again anyway, after this I won’t have much pith and vinegar left. 

I never do. 

A few in, the hardest ones, I feel sick. Whether it be the “exhaustion” or unintentional dehydration or my poor eating habit courtesy of a very sickly stomach, I don’t know. 

I grit my teeth and focus on whatever distraction I’d last clicked on. 

I do some stretches in the middle, finish what’s left of it all while I’m still up. Then I lay down. I open my phone again as I begin this round of exercises and stretches. 

10:15 am. I write down when I started in my medical diary, giving a very wide birth of time considering my... inabilities. 

I click through apps again. YouTube plays in the background. My birds rise to an unknown challenge. I get up and whisper sweet nothings at them, half chiding them for being so damn loud. They direct their complaints directly at me. I give them food and open their cage doors. One flies directly onto my shoulder. Another makes declaration and flies past me to a tall perch. Two others share the same shyness. The rest take their time. Despite the time I’ve spent with them and my attempts at training over the last year or so, the second two flee my attempts to hold them. The last addition plain out tries to bite me. He doesn’t do it hard and still takes my finger as a perch, but his cuddlebug-ness needs direction. Still, he has his moments. I mumble at him and lightly chide him, petting him with my cheek as one hand has my phone and the other is holding him. I set my phone down and make entreaty towards the shyer two. They make exclamation and half hearted attempts to flee. They’ll come around. They all will, eventually. But now I have to lay down again. 

I pause in my room again. I look around. At what, I’m not quite sure, the thoughts come and go, barely a thing left behind. I mull on the thought of food. 

Nah. Nothing’s “ready.” Pulling something together seems too much. I set my cuddle bug on a perch on their birdy playground I have set up in my room. It’s next to the bike I got as an early Christmas present. 

I gather my laptop and make myself comfortable on the bike. I watch a YouTube video, my phone still open on solitaire. 

The video ends. I catch a glimpse of the time: 11:45 am. 

Nearly time to take my midday pills, I think as my legs continue to move and my finger clicks on another video. 

Finally, something catches my attention. 

I still play solitaire on my phone. 

I add a science-y video to my watch list. 

I check the barometer. 

1019 hPa. 

I keep peddling. 

1:51 pm. 

I get up and take my midday pills. 

I blow kisses to my birds as I refill my water. 

I stare at the counter for a minute. Food, I think, it’s about time. I need food. I evaluate my appetite and what my stomach would accept. Spaghetti, I decide. I retrieve my laptop and listen to a tiktok while I wait for the water to boil, and eat. 

I retreat back to my room to lay down and record the time I took my meds and ate. 

I text a friend. Something they say triggers me. I take a breath. That’s not how they meant it, I say to myself and do my best to tone down my response. It still comes off rudely. I hope they don’t take it the wrong way. 

3:47 pm. 

The light has faded some, the shadows have shifted. 

My friend and I make light conversation. Something viscerally in me feels off. It’s like when I dread something. 

I try to distract myself. 

3:51 pm. 

I move back to my bike. 

3:56 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:03 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:08 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:12 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:16 pm. 

I refill my water bottle. 

4:23 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:27 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

4:34 pm. 

I keep peddling. 

1022 hPa. 

My room is slightly darker than before. A YouTube compilation drones in my vision. 

Tomorrow will be rinse and repeat.

For the nth time, I think about all that I could be doing. I know why I can’t yet I shame myself all the same. 

I find something interesting to watch. 

Then refresh. 

And refresh.

And refresh. 

And refresh. 

I give up and turn to Netflix. 

Nothing. 

Something borderline interesting. 

6:50 pm. 

Dinner, maybe? Energy level? Nada. I’ll think about it later. 

Another video plays. I play on my phone, half interested in everything. 

7:13 pm. 

Dinner? 

I need food, I think. 

Can’t. 

I’ll regret it, I know. 

I’ll probably binge some in the morning whenever I get up. 

I don’t move from my place. I try to down talk myself for bed, for the hope of not staying up half the night. 

I drag myself up from my bed, heaving heavy winter blankets off of me. I take one step away from my place of rest and despair. My medicine, pills placed in two separate containers; morning and night, lay on the dresser that functions more as a tall nightstand. I take my medicine: some float on the water in my mouth, some are small, some are big. I down half my water bottle. My heating pad clinks back to life as I tap the remote on the cord three times then slink back into place. I close my laptop and set it further from me. 

That sickly feeling comes back. 

I realize it’s dread. 

I open my phone. 

[NOTE: this is not about suicide—I noticed after writing this that some things could be taken in such a way, hence this note.]

12/7/20

To those suffering: I see you; I support you; I love you.

~Rosa ❤️

[mistvgames171]

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EDIT:I applied to watch the Feedback video over at G4 every week, but it is gone down hill the final couple of occasions I watched it and now that Adam Sessler isn't on it and they have that girl from IGN that everyone hates in just about every episode I just can not be bothered to watch it any far more. Still worth going back and watching some of the older ones although. Klepic utilised to be on that show and back then in the early days was when it was the ideal. Back when they basically talked about gaming news with some semblance of intellect as an alternative of just gushing about whatever game they are told is cool this week.

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This (Blog) is exactly where you can read every thing I know. Understand about the ideal board games for game nights in original critiques, get ideas on all the things from organizing to snack and drinks, and study up on inclusivity and diversity in gaming communities. There's stuff here for person players trying to chip in on game night, to hosts who want to (ahem) up their game, to firms interested in hosting standard board game nights.

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Susan distinguishes herself as a gaming blogger simply because she emphasizes bringing positivity to the gaming sphere. As the Senior Editor for Escapist Magazine,” Susan also has an influence that some of the other gamers never have due to the fact she has the chance to encourage and influence some of the ideal up-and-coming minds of the gaming globe.

[partygaming924]

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EDIT:I utilized to watch the Feedback video more than at G4 each week, but it is gone down hill the final couple of instances I watched it and now that Adam Sessler is not on it and they have that girl from IGN that everybody hates in each and every episode I just cannot be bothered to watch it any much more. Nonetheless worth going back and watching some of the older ones although. Klepic utilized to be on that show and back then in the early days was when it was the most effective. Back when they in fact talked about gaming news with some semblance of intellect as an alternative of just gushing about what ever game they are told is cool this week.

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[sophrosinn]

the (un)lucky ones

story description:

“the story’s great, but I think it would be better if the story ended like this”

Affronted at the audacity of the comment, she furiously replies, “then write your own story, asshole!”

word count: 2,048

a/n: happiest solar anniversary to one of my best girls @vanaera! thank you for being the bestest friend a girl could ever ask for. this short story, which is loosely based irl, serves as my gift to you. i hope you’ll like it! 

shout-out to @senfleurs for being the best gal and helping me out with this. she even stepped up and edited this omg, and i cannot stress how much I’m thankful, lol especially she made sure that I get to finish this on time

—

3.

In retrospect, she knows better than to let some dumb comment, especially from someone on the Internet, rile her up this much. Even her followers tell her as much: it’s unwarranted, insensitive even. One of her followers, hippopopo tries to take it a step further, justifying by saying, verbatim: It’s her story anyway!!! So only she knows how the story should end best, okay! 😤😠💢

(in actuality, she has qualms about that, mostly because she had read some books which she thought didn’t end well. but that would take time to unpack and this story isn’t about that, no. she’s flattered at the support, nonetheless.)

And yet, there she is at 8 in the morning, her fingers furiously gliding across her keyboard as she writes a spite-filled story in response. Oftentimes, her muse for writing comes from movies she watched with her family, or from songs she heard on Korean dramas, or those meet-cute scenarios she gushed about with her best friends. This time, however, spite’s her main gal.

She finishes at 10. Later at 4 in the afternoon, she posts it. About an hour later, she doesn’t even try to contain the smirk lighting up her face when a familiar notification pops up.

—

1.

The story starts with an inconspicuous like from a user named agust-d five months ago. Back then, she thought nothing of it. A day later, agust-d comments on a story from her drabble series. Since then, every day without fail, agust-d leaves a small token of their appreciation for her works; brief, concise comments such as, “nice job on the flower descriptions,” or “i liked it.” 

Belatedly, she wonders if agust-d is a person of few words, because why else would they leave comments with only six words or less, even on her works with over 30k words? Don’t get her wrong, of course she’s eternally grateful for all the support she receives from her affectionate dears. But sometimes, especially on days her self-confidence plummets and she’s in need of reassurance, she ponders if all her efforts are for naught. (of course not, never, she gently reminds herself.)

And each day, she resists the growing urge to reply: don’t you have anything more to say!!! (but alas, she isn’t a rude person—unless provoked—she can’t so she settles with letting her mind wander.)

Three months of this and she finally caves in. With her interest piqued, she browses through agust-d’s posts. After two hours, she learns that agust-d goes by suga online. Coincidentally, Suga is a male student at the same university she’s currently attending. For a moment, she briefly considers a possibility—what are the chances that they’ve met, have fallen into step alongside each other, have passed by him in the large hallways, or have shared her table with him at the library during exam season? The possibility of knowing someone without actually knowing them? 

(that’s the funny thing about the online world, she supposes. you may know all that matters about someone: their likes, dislikes, kinks, fears, and horrid taste in music, absolutely everything except that one thing that matters the most: their names.)

Suga, she eventually learns, is not a man of few words. In truth, he’s got a few words too many to say about a diverse range of controversial topics. In his words, his passion burns bright and clear, but for her, he doesn’t shine any brighter than when he talks about music. It shows in his blog, which consists of a myriad of album reviews across different genres (fascinating, she notes, their music interests align as well).

Occasionally, he posts his renditions of some popular rap music, and as sporadic as this happens, she admits that his covers are her favorite part of his blog. And naturally, she refuses to acknowledge that it has everything to do with her fascination with deep, raspy voices, which, (un)fortunately for her, Suga undoubtedly has.

After some serious debating with herself, she decides to not follow him back. But she makes sure to check his profile every other day for no real reason, really, her soul wallowing in denial. In her defense, when did anyone need a reason to stalk someone?

And so, it begins, her fascination with this stranger on the other side of the screen. Never in her whole life did she imagine herself harboring a (teeny-tiny, infinitesimal) crush towards someone on the Internet. Certainly, she knows there’s always a one-in-a-thousand chance that it happens in real life, it’s just that out of all the 7 billion people in the world, she wasn’t expecting herself to be the (un)lucky one.

—

2.

The fateful day begins like any other. She wakes up to a brand new day, at 7 am, and like clockwork, she begins to stretch atop her pink yoga mat. Halfway through her workout, her phone pings with a new notification. Immediately, her phone screen lights up: agust-d has left a comment on your work!

Her traitorous heart skips a beat in the utmost display of betrayal. It’s Suga!

Ever since she scrolled through his blog two months ago, she has been exchanging messages with Suga. Her covert mission to surreptitiously listen to his song covers ends miserably when she accidentally double-clicks on a post he made two years ago. A string of expletives followed as she stared agonizingly at the post. She attempts to remove her blunder, but soon accepts defeat as it doesn’t even take a full minute until she receives a message notification from Suga. The internal debate resumes as her finger clumsily hovers on the computer mouse and she hesitantly clicks. From thereon, the rest, as they say, is history.

She ends up following his account the day after.

Although, if she were being truthful, all they’ve been sending back and forth are pleasantries. Suga seems hellbent on keeping the conversations polite and distant. She doesn’t understand, it’s not like she’s flirting with him! All she just wants is a compelling conversation with someone (because the Lord knows how much she needs an intellectual to talk to; and suga seems like an intellectual, if his posts are anything to go by).

She unlocks her phone and throws herself onto her bed. Normally, her lips quirk up automatically in response to seeing his name pop on her notifications, but it is not the case for this time. Instead, a frown mars her forehead as she reads his comment.

agust-d: the story’s great, but I think it would be better if the story ended like this

For a moment, she can’t believe her eyes. She blinks a few more times in the hope that her eyes were just playing tricks on her. Nada, it remains the same. 

If there’s one thing to know about her, it’s that she meticulously plans out every detail in her stories. She even spends weeks to outline a draft, and even then, it must be decent enough before she puts it in writing. Publishing her works online, for all the world to see, still intimidates her even after all this time. Not knowing how people will respond to her works frightens her, but what is life without a little fear?

In addition, she’s receptive to constructive criticisms, but criticisms that come from those she looks up to? It’s a bitter pill to swallow sometimes. Suga—he’s become one of those people, and seeing his comment really hurt. She turns her phone off and does her chores for the time being. The moment she logs back in, she is taken aback by the multitude of comments expressing the same sentiment. 

bubbleboy: “Yeah, I agree, I think it would be best if the story ended in this manner.” 

She can’t help but feel the bubble of anger gradually rising. Another even started with, 

orange-gloss: “No offense, but the ending being suggested by others is kinda good.” 

The audacity and the entitlement in this comment! Asking her to not be offended when it is within her right to take offense is absolutely laughable. Furthermore, who are you to even tell me how I should react? 

When she reaches the 20th comment, she explodes. The next two hours find her furiously typing out a decent response disguised as a story, albeit with passive-aggressiveness, addressed to all of the comments, but primarily to the one left by Suga. She talks to the rude commenters with the sweet addition of a phrasing 101 lesson. In her contained rage, she ends with the note: remember, it doesn’t hurt to be nice, and if you have qualms about how I ended my own story, do me and yourself a favor and write your own story!

She makes up her mind to take some time off her blog for a while. But after a familiar notification pops up at 5 PM, she resists the urge to run away and instead, opts to open the messages he sent.

agust-d: i’ll admit, the way I said it was rude

agust-d: but I stand with what I said

agust-d: you should consider the possibility as well

seen

(In hindsight, she realizes that, for once, Suga’s comment surpasses 25 words.)

—

4. 

After the whole debacle with the barrage of rude comments and her consequent outburst, everything has never been the same. Understandably, some of her fans have left since then, but the majority stayed with her and for that, she’s eternally grateful. Although she still publishes her stories and interacts with her followers, a certain emptiness fills her at times. 

A part of her thinks it has a lot to do with Suga, who she doesn’t talk to anymore. She… doesn’t know how to respond to him after her outburst. In a span of a moment, she manages to both defend her honor and drag agust-d through the mud, which was never her intention to begin with. Okay, well, maybe just a little bit. But she’s hurt, so it only makes sense to retaliate.

If only she could easily strike back in her current situation. 

Unbeknownst to her, someone with the handle void-mayo tags her on a malicious post the night before, calling her out for being fake. Apparently, she’s a ‘copycat writer wanna-be with no real ideas of her own.’

She only discovers it when her followers start sending her messages of reassurance and appreciation. Of course, she checks the post at once, reading carefully and taking in everything that was written. (Shit, at least I have a better username, she muses). And not for the first time, she feels hurt, uneasy, and anxious at the same time. Void-mayo is already an established writer, with years of exposure under her belt and a large army of rabid fans at her disposal. Meanwhile, she’s just started her writing blog. And although she’s diligent, thorough, and ensures that each of her stories has its own personality and flavor, most of void-mayo’s fans wouldn’t care. She can’t risk losing her credibility over a baseless accusation such as this! 

And with that, she feels anger bubbling from the pit of her stomach. She doesn’t get the purpose behind the destructive post. She gets humiliated, her reputation tarnished, and worse just because she had written a similar scene with an ice cream . It certainly doesn’t help that others are quick to join in calling her names and ‘cancelling her’ without even bothering to check the facts. 

And as she contemplates on how to proceed with such a delicate situation, her dashboard refreshes. At the top, she notices that agust-d reblogs void-mayo’s post with the addition of his response and for once, the word count exceeds 100.

—

5. 

In a roundabout way of saying sorry and expressing her gratitude, she proceeds to write the ending Suga requested. And illuminated by the dim light of her laptop screen, she can begrudgingly admit that he does have a point; his version of the ending does make sense.

—

fin.

—

omake

agust-d: so am i forgiven yet?

you: i don’t know

you: maybe you’ll have to make it up to me

you: and get me some coffee first?

you: 😉

—

a/n pt. 2: happiest birthday to you again! i’m so grateful to have met you in this lifetime. truly, like you’re the best. even if your internet connection’s always shitty, you always find ways to join our chats and discord parties. just thank you, for all the countless laughs that i’ve had with (and because of) you, for the counsel with my writing, and for the stories and advice you’ve willingly shared with us. here’s to our three years of friendship and counting! i love you so much! enjoy this day and stay safe! 

p.s. keep rocking and keep writing! we’ll always be here with you! muah! ❤️❤️❤️

p.p.s. hihi 🦆🍄

[mobileapplicationupdates]

How Much Does it Cost for a Grocery App like BigBasket

Online supermarkets are developing rapidly and growing day by day, which is everyone's basic need. The development of innovation has significantly simplified the lives of retailers by allowing them to sell grocery items including food, vegetables, natural products, beverages, staples and much more Internet using this Internet medium.

According to reports, it is said that by 2025 at least 20% of the market will be covered with online shopping and online grocery stores. Such demand leads to developing and making a grocery app like BigBasket and makes it easy for all users to pay attention to order online in one convenient place. For all the women and housewives who take care of the housework, who go out to the crowded market to buy groceries, stand a long time and collect things. So when it comes to Mobile apps development company India for grocery app development, it varies on different factors and reasons. The development cost of the BigBasket application like Grocery includes various products and functions, which is more expensive as it is not as easy as it seems due to the attractive functions it contains.

How does online grocery app development benefit the grocery business?

Grocery app development leveraged both customers and app owners with numerous benefits. We have listed here. Have a look.

For customers

Save time

At the moment we lead a hectic and stressful life. Technology gives millennials a comfortable and convenient experience. In such situations, on-demand grocery apps like BigBasket come into play and save users a lot of time.

Convenient

Grocery delivery top 10 mobile apps development companies India square measure simple to use and efficient. It permits users to order from anyplace, notwithstanding location. All users want square measure their Internet-connected smartphones and that they will use the saved time to try and do different productive tasks.

Avoid excessive purchases

It is natural that every time you visit a mall or grocery store, you end up buying things that are not of great use to you. Due to the problem of temptation. While this is not the case with grocery apps, you will focus on the things that are on your shopping lists and avoid overselling.

Save money

From time to time, grocery apps feature attractive deals and discount schemes, from festival season deals to loyalty programs and discount coupons. Not only does it save users money, but it also attracts more customers to the app.

Read More blogs : cost to develop grocery application

Fast and secure payment processes

Grocery apps like BigBasket.provide the ability to make payments through different available options. You can pay online at the same time while placing an order. Or you can choose cash on delivery and make the payment, either online or offline, when the ordered items are delivered to your doorstep.

Essential functions for the user panel

Registration and user profile

Here the user can register his account using his email id and contact number.

Search and explore products

This section allows the customer to search for a particular product and also helps them navigate through the different item categories.

Add to cart

In the Add to cart option, the customer can add a product of their choice and buy it later.

Payment gateway

You can integrate multiple payment options like debit card, credit card, and digital wallet like PayPal, Paytm, etc. And it can also facilitate users with COD option.

Delivery order scheduling and tracking

The user can schedule the delivery and can also track the status of the order and know when it will be delivered.

Push notifications

Push Notification to send the best deals and discounts, attractive coupons, etc. to your loyal customers.

Scores and reviews

This section allows your customers to write reviews and rate the top 10 mobile apps development companies Bangalore based on their

personal experience.

Customer Support

In addition to email and phone communication, integrate 24x7 online chat options to help customers.

Essential features for the admin panel

1. Dashboard

From the Control Panel, the administrator can manage all orders received from customers.

2. Inventory management

The Inventory Management option helps the administrator to easily manage the large stock of inventory.

3. Assignment of orders

Once the order has been placed and confirmed, the managers of the store can assign a task to the delivery men to deliver the items at the mentioned place.

4. Real-time analysis

Real-time analytics help you keep track of your esteemed customers and also extract vital data when needed.

Essential features for the delivery panel

1.Geo-location services

Geolocation services will help the delivery person to easily track the customer's location.

2.Chat within the app or calls

Allows the person making the delivery to contact the customer directly via phone or online chat if they cannot trace the address.

3.Accept or reject the delivery request

The driver can accept or decline delivery of the grocery items if the customer's location is too far away and is not within the specified free delivery distance.

4. Delivery notification

Notify the store manager about the order along with the order number.

How much does it cost to create an application like BigBasket?

After the features, model, technology stack, and team structure are finalized, you should arrive at a cost estimate for your grocery development application. The factors that will determine part of the expenses are:

The complexity of the application, including features and functionality.

Choice of developers, hours involved in development.

Technology stack, application model type

Considering the feature list, technology stack, and application model we've discussed, the medium to simple complexity grocery delivery application will cost anywhere from $ 10,000 to $ 30,000. An application with a sophisticated set of functions, custom software, can be budgeted between $ 100,000 and $ 300,000.

The total time the project can take appears to be between 1770 and 2330+ hours. Consider the hourly rates for development teams located in different regions of the world.

If you are searching for the best android apps development company India, India to build an app like Big Basket, please contact fugenx at info@Fugenx.com to get on the road to brand building and success.

FuGenx Technologies is a leading mobile application development company in bangalore ,india with over 8 years of experience. We have delivered different mobile app solutions with the help of relevant tools and technologies at the time. At FuGenx Technologies, we offer customized end-to-end iOS application development company India solutions for various vertical industries at an affordable price.

We offer in depth top mobile application development companies in bangalore services like golem app development, iOS app development, React Native, Flutter, NodeJS, PHP development, and lots of additional. Contact us for end-to-end best Mobile app development companies in India services.

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[wjnllc]

Yubico proposes WebAuthn protocol extension to simplify backup security keys | Yubico

One of the most common questions people have about YubiKeys, and security keys in general, is: “What if I lose my key?”  While WebAuthn and FIDO2, the open standards for security key authentication, promise strong, phishing-resistant and — perhaps most importantly — easy-to-use multi-factor authentication, this question still remains. As of today, there are no answers that offer an excellent user experience without making compromises on security. Yubico’s mission is to make the best security easy to use, which often means developing new technologies to solve big problems. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at Yubico’s recent proposal to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to add a user-friendly solution for backup security keys to the WebAuthn standard. We’ll also discuss our collaboration with researchers at the Surrey Center for Cyber Security to develop a new cryptographic building block for it.

Background

First, let’s talk about the current state of affairs. The standard answer to the opening question in this blog, “What if I lose my security key?”, is that you enroll two keys with every service or application you’re protecting. By doing this, you prepare a backup security key in advance, much like you have a spare key to your house, your office, or your car. However, the user experience with this approach is not ideal. If you store the backup security key away — say, in a drawer at home, or a bank deposit box — you would need to retrieve it every time you register with a new service. Not only is this inconvenient, but the additional handling also increases the risk that you lose the backup key, which would defeat the very purpose of it. A few solutions have been proposed, but they all come with additional trade offs or concerns: Some rely on sharing private key material, which is not only generally frowned upon, but also causes issues with authenticator attestation and signature counters. Some rely on generating a lot of key pairs in advance and sharing the public keys, which isn’t feasible for devices with limited storage capacity like security keys.  Some rely on backing up keys to a third-party service, which certainly can be done but introduces a new dependency on the availability of that third-party service.  And finally, some approaches only work for U2F-style keys stored on the server, and some only work for discoverable keys stored onboard the security key. In short, we were not completely satisfied with any of the solutions proposed thus far, which is why we chose to develop our own. We believe our proposed solution strikes a better balance between security and usability.

Yubico’s proposal

If we were to imagine a perfect solution, we would like one where we can set up a backup security key once and not have to think about it until we lose the primary security key. At that point, we would retrieve the backup security key and it would “just work”. Ideally, all of the services we’ve already registered our primary security key with would also automatically know we’ve moved to the backup security key, and revoke access for the lost key. Fortunately, Yubico’s proposed solution gets most of the way to the scenario described above. Using the YubiKey as an example, our solution would work like this: 1. First, you get two YubiKeys and use a software tool (such as YubiKey Manager in the context of YubiKeys) to associate the two devices with one another, making one the “backup” YubiKey and the other the “primary” YubiKey. 2. You can now store the backup YubiKey away somewhere safe, and use the primary YubiKey as usual. The next time you log in with the primary YubiKey, the website will also detect that you’ve set up a new backup YubiKey and ask you to register it by simply tapping the gold disc on the primary YubiKey. The same goes whenever you register with a new site for the first time. 3. Now, if you lose the primary YubiKey, you start logging in by providing your username and password as usual. When prompted for your YubiKey, you instead select “I lost my security key”. This will instead prompt you for your backup YubiKey, which you retrieve from where you stored it. 4. The service verifies the backup YubiKey and grants access. At the same time it automatically revokes access for your lost YubiKey, “promotes” the backup YubiKey as the new primary key, and sends you an email notification about these changes to your account. 5. You can now get a new YubiKey and set that up as your new backup by going back to step one. Unfortunately, there’s still no way to perform the recovery procedure for all services at once, but at least this solution minimizes the manual effort needed to set up and maintain backup security keys.

How it works

So, how does this all work under the hood?  In our proposal, the initial setup to associate the two security keys with one another creates a cryptographic link between the two security keys, allowing the primary security key to generate public keys on behalf of the backup key. However, the primary security key does this without knowing the corresponding private keys, and like all WebAuthn public keys, these public keys are non-correlatable to prevent tracking users between services. Along with the backup public key, the primary security key registers a “key handle” for it. The first time you log in with the backup security key, the service sends it the key handle, which the backup security key uses to derive the backup private key. At the same time, the backup security key also generates a new public-private key pair to replace the backup key pair that was generated initially. From then on, you can log in as you normally would.

Data flow between the two security keys and the web service   This cryptographic link enables backup key pairs to work much like U2F key pairs do: the private keys are actually stored on the relying party’s server instead of on either security key. But even so, only the backup security key can access the private keys. This means that backup key pairs don’t consume storage space on either security key, so you can have backup key pairs for an unlimited number of services. It also doesn’t matter whether the primary key pair is a discoverable key that is stored on the primary security key, or a U2F-style key pair that is stored on the relying party’s server. Since the backup key pairs are their own separate key pairs, they can be used for both.

Securing cryptographic proof

Last year, Yubico teamed up with a group of researchers at the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security to help prove the security of the cryptographic operations in our proposed WebAuthn protocol. This work was presented at the ACM CCS conference on November 11, 2020.   The research team, consisting of Dr. Mark Manulis, Nick Frymann, and Daniel Gardham, has not only proved the security of Yubico’s proposal, but also generalized it. They model our protocol as an instance of a new abstract functionality called “Asynchronous Remote Key Generation” (ARKG), and prove that any instance of ARKG can be composed with any public key protocol. This makes ARKG an interesting construct in its own right and also paves the way for new instantiations, possibly using other cryptographic techniques beyond elliptic curves.

Looking forward

With the cryptographic security proof in place, we’re confident that this work can form a solid basis for a much needed backup solution for WebAuthn security keys. To that end, we’ve proposed our solution to the W3C Web Authentication Working Group as an official protocol extension, but a lot of standardization work remains to be done.  The solution will also require services to implement support for it, which will take considerable work, but can be aided by reusable software libraries. Either way, Yubico remains committed to making the best security easy to use for everyone. Read Yubico’s full implementation proposal here, and the research paper here. The full ACM CCS conference presentation can also be viewed here.  We are very grateful to Dr. Manulis, Mr. Frymann, and Mr. Gardham for helping us push the state of the art forward! —

Appendix: Diving into the math

Our proposal makes use of the simple relationship between private and public keys in elliptic-curve cryptography, and uses a small arithmetic trick to “mask” a private key by combining a randomly generated public key with a designated “seed” public key. In elliptic curve cryptography, a private key is simply an integer p and the corresponding public key P = p * G is p times the generator element G for the curve group. In the initial setup, the backup security key creates a “seed” key pair (s, S) and transfers the public key S to the primary security key. To generate a backup public key, the primary security key performs an ephemeral elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE) key exchange with the seed public key S: it generates a random key pair (e, E) and computes e * S. It uses HKDF to expand e * S into an integer c and a HMAC key m, and computes a backup public key P = c * G + S. Finally, it computes a HMAC signature over E, P and the server’s web address, and returns E, P and the HMAC signature to the server. The backup security key can derive the corresponding public key p using E as follows. First, the server sends E and the HMAC signature to the backup security key. Since the backup security key has the seed private key s, it can compute s * E = s * e * G = e * S and thus compute the same c and m as before. Now it can verify the HMAC signature, to make sure the backup key is valid for this server and this security key, and compute the private key p = c + s. p forms a valid key pair with P since P = p * G = (c + s) * G = c * G + S. This private key p can now be used to create an authentication signature, and the server can accept it since it already trusts the public key P. This is actually not a wholly new idea – it’s also been proposed as the basis of the Dual-Key Stealth Address Protocol for blockchains. However, until now we weren’t able to find a cryptographic proof that the raw elliptic curve operations are secure. Thanks to Dr. Manulis and his team’s work on ARKG, we are confident that our proposal meets the highest security standards and is suitable for use with WebAuthn.         By Emil Lundberg at 2020-11-16 17:00:43 Source Yubico:

Read the full article

[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

7 Ideas for Improving Your Approach to Working and thus Your Experience and the Outcome

"To embrace leisure, we don't have to let go of progress. [Our] constant pushing is now impeding our progress. We work best when we allow for flexibility in our habits . . . [w]e can and must stop treating ourselves like machines that can be driven and pumped and amped and hacked. Instead of limiting and constraining our essential natures, we can celebrate our humanness at work and in idleness. We can better understand our own natures and abilities. We can lean in not to our work but to our inherent gifts." —Celeste Headlee Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing , and Underliving

For the past 10 weeks I have had the good fortune to go to work with both of my dogs. Why? Because I have been working from home.

I am able to take them for a short walk about the neighborhood before I step into my office and remote classroom, then take a break around 10:30 am as we sit on the garden porch, soaking in some sunshine and thinking about what I might want to enjoy for lunch in a few hours time. Lunch is leisurely because I can cook it, savor it, not be rushed to eat it or interrupted and our afternoon outing after about 70-90 minutes of work after lunch is to the mailbox and about the neighborhood. Returning to the office if need be to tie up loose ends, check my work email one more time (I only check my school email three times a day), when the day concludes, I am not exhausted, but I do feel productive.

Admittedly, the scenario I shared above is due to an unwanted global occurrence, and I miss my in-person connections with my students and colleagues, but what I do not miss is the excessive expectation to always be checking my email, regularly being interrupted so that I lose my focus/students' focus and requirement for a long inflexible work day (meaning not healthy breaks, a constant expectation of being "on"), and being rewarded for giving more beyond the work day even if it reduces the quality of my home life and personal relationships.

I am not complaining directly about a system that surrounds so many of us, but trying to be honest about the reality of why I was quietly thankful to have the time at home these past 10 weeks to catch my breath. I did my best to examine why, and while the emotional toll for those of us fortunate enough not to have our health and livelihoods taken away was unhealthy and exhausting, overall, I found great refuge and restoration this spring whilst staying at home, finding a schedule that worked for me as I continued to remotely teach and blog and just be home.

I also found much more time to read books that have been patiently sitting in my shopping cart, and two books furthered my exploration into how exactly improve the working environment when we begin to step back into the workplace. I have a few ideas. Take a look below.

1.Understand the history of the current work culture

"We are investing our time and energy and hard-earned money in things we think will make us more efficient, but those things end up wasting our time, exhausting us, and stressing us out without bringing us closer to or our goals." —Celeste Headlee

Journalist and bestselling author Celeste Headlee reminds readers in her recent book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing , and Underliving (Amazon; Bookshop) that "[o]ur working habits changed dramatically a little more than two centuries ago" (aka as the Industrial Revolution), and not largely for the better. In fact, humans came to be seen as being capable of producing regularly and steadfastly with minimal breaks much like a machine. Humans are not machines. Our ability to be productive and creative and resilient comes from adequate and regular and in equal measure amounts rest to that of the amount of time we work. No wonder we're exhausted.

2. Enable the mind to think well so you can respond compassionately

Often we are reacting instead of responding to situations in life that arise unexpectedly or unwantingly. At the time, we are not aware because either we have always behaved in such a way or because we do not know or have not been taught a better way. Dr. Sylvia Boorstein speaks about equanimity, and as it pertains to the mind, equanimity "is the capacity of the mind to hold a clear view of whatever is happening, both externally and internally, as well as the ability of the mind to accommodate passion without losing its balance. It's the mind that sees clearly, that meets experience with cordial intent. Becuase it remains steady, and thus unconfused, it is able to correctly asses the situations it meets."

How to become clear thinkers? We acknowledge we do not know everything, and we take a step back and ask helpful questions with a calm tone. We choose to educate ourselves seeking out experts in the field we wish to learn more about - whether in book, audio, video or conversation form. We become comfortable with not having a concrete and absolute response immediately or at all and acknowledging the gray in nearly every situation that presents itself. And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, we rest the mind regularly and well. This includes good nights of sleep, regularly a slower pace in our schedules, days and weeks and a cultivation of environments that enable us to lower our stress levels and feel safe.

"And because we are humans and have empathy built into our brain structure, when we are touched by what we encounter — and when our minds are balanced — we respond with benevolence." —Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D., author of Happiness is an Inside Job (Amazon; Bookshop)

~Responding vs. Reacting: The Difference, episode #145

3. Let go of the busy mentality

When we reduce the constant go-go-go mentality, we give our lives breath, and figuratively speaking, we give our lives oxygen to live better and thus to improve the quality of our lives. Letting go of busy feeds a cycle of life improvement because as you are letting go of busy, you are improving your decision making skills, reducing the unnecessary stress and constantly cultivating the life you want to live rather than creating more problems, more headaches and less time to adequately address and handle them.

Interestingly enough, studies have shown that we may actually think we are busier than we actually are, but it is the delusion of busyness that is the cause for our mind to feel harried and thus our decision-making abilities to suffer. For example, if you feel pressed for time, this perception can lead you to making bad choices about how you spend your time. Conversely, if you feel you have time to spare, the study revealed people feel healthier and happier. So much of the quality of our lives rest in our minds. Harness the awesome tool of your mind, and you will improve your approach to living.

~Listen/Read episode/post #115 - The 8 Benefits of Banishing Busy

4. Quality productivity is not a result of excessive time given.

"If you silence your phone, close your inbox, and really focus on getting a report done, research shows you'll finish 40 percent faster, have fewer errors, and have plenty of time to take a short walk around the building and let your brain relax." — Celeste Headlee

Studies that were done decades ago have proven that more time does not equate to more output and certainly not a quality output. In 1951, researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology discovered that people who put in excessive hours were the least productive of all. The most productive were the workers who worked 2-5 hours a day, so 10-20 hours a week. Recently, in Sweden, a hospital attempted to improve the working conditions for the workers, reducing their hours to six hours a day, and no more than 30 hours a week. The hospital was prepared to hire extra workers to make up for the loss of productivity, but do you know what happened? As reported in The New York Times, "The unit [performed] 20 percent more operations, generating additional business from treatments . . . that would have gone to other hospitals." Quality over quantity and in this case it surpassed even that of the hopeful that it would simply be equitable in output.

5. Allow yourself to focus on a single task entirely and without disruption

Simply, turn off the notifications. If you work at a job that expects you to be constantly responding to emails broach the topic of productivity as studies have demonstrated if we cannot give ourselves fully to a task, we cannot do our best work. What this means for me at home is that I have been checking my school emails three times a day during the school day - when the school day begins, at noon and at the end of the day. If this will be a shift for those expecting to hear from you, perhaps send an automated response for the first month or two (or leave it in your footer) when people can expect to hear from you, how frequently you check your email, etc. so that they are not expecting an immediate response and should not worry when they do not receive one.

6. Invest in leisure

"Research shows employees who feel more detached from their jobs during their time at home are emotionally healthier and more satisfied with their lives. They're less likely to feel emotionally exhausted, and they report getting better sleep." —Celeste Headlee

Leisure time is separate from "free time" or "spare time" as Headlee defines it. Spare time is the time we find in between the work we do for our income. Leisure time is entirely separate from work. As she describes it, leisure time is "unpolluted" by work - no emails, no work calls, nor worrying about how your activity might impact your work life. Speaking for myself, while I and many other educators have been at home these past 10 weeks, it has not been leisure time during the work week. I am still, if I am not teaching online, checking my emails, responding to expectations, grading papers and aware of my actions during the school day, etc. My leisure time begins on the weekend, after the school day has ended each work day and will fully begin when our summer holiday starts later this week.

The mind behaves differently when we are on leisure time, and it is imperative that we regularly welcome it into our daily schedule. Each of us will do it differently during the work week and weekend, and perhaps even our holidays, but do make sure you have leisure time in your life to savor and enjoy. It will make a tremendous difference in the quality of your life.

7. Give your mind space to become clear

"Just take one breath and another and another, with as much attention in every way as you can. The confusion will sort itself out. Inclined in the right direction, the mind takes care of itself." —Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D.

The untrained mind can be a weapon of destruction to ourselves and others. A trained mind, one that is understood, that is strengthened to think well, critically examine and refrain from rash assumptions due to lack of emotional intelligent understanding is an artist's prized possession. However, it is a choice to become a student of our mind. Boorstein writes, "I do not think the mind needs lots of instruction, but I do think it needs to be encouraged and continually inspired." Feed your mind well. Be conscious of what is presented to it (limit social media, be aware of the news and how much you intake, observe how you feel around certain people, the books you read, the videos, shows and television you watch). Choose to feed it with what you are curious about. Delight in learning something new and do not feel guilty for not knowing what the zeitgeist believes is most popular or most noteworthy of the moment. Give your mind space to have clarity, and when it has clarity regularly, it will be your best friend.

~How to be the Master of Your Mind, episode #20

So how can we institute these needed changes if research has repeatedly demonstrated the need to observe that we are human beings, not machines? We need leaders who are well-educated with the resources that demonstrates convincingly that the quality of work will not diminish and likely will increase when we see our employees as human beings. Yes, it is a culture shift, and it will take time, but it takes courage and strong, patient leadership to clearly communicate the benefit to the worker first, knowing that the company, the department, the school, our futures, will be all the better. And even if you are not in a position of leadership at the moment, communication with your leadership body, build a consensus amongst your co-workers. Schedules and approaches change with data, trusted experts and informing the public as well as those it will directly effect, as well as indirectly.

If nothing else, you can start at home and setting boundaries on your work and home life. Cultivate leisure time, practice the strengthening of your mind and begin to see your being settle, relax and enjoy your daily life far more.

Petit Plaisir

—Sicilian Lemon Biscuit from Shortbread House of Edinburgh

~purchase in the states from Chelsea Market Baskets, NY

~purchase in the UK directly from Shortbread House of Edinburgh

Learn more about the history of shortbread below in a short video about the Shortbread House of Edinburgh company.

https://youtu.be/ez5mLaHPXpA

Tune in to the latest episode of The Simple Sophisticate podcast

[ninnetta153gaming]

Why is my gaming pc all of the sudden slower

Profession In Gaming

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Less created countries like Indonesia and Philippines have drawn less consideration from app publishers. Style and trends in mobile gaming in these nations have been heavily influenced by Western markets, with inroads from China, Japan and South Korea. In Indonesia, globally popular games like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga took five of the top ten spots by revenue and 7 spots by downloads in December 2014. In Philippines, worldwide leaders took an even larger share: six of the best ten spots by income and the entire best 7 by downloads. On the other hand, unlike in Japan or South Korea, Supercell and King did not rely on enormous Television and outdoor advertising campaigns to acquire users and climb up ranks. It appears that the growth in these five emerging Southeast Asian markets was extra organic. In Indonesia and Philippines customers were acquired a lot more by way of marketing automation channels such as Facebook.

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If you never have a large gaming group, you have possibly noticed that two-player games are really hard to obtain, and definitely terrific ones that are just as wonderful for two players are even much more uncommon. I've wracked my memory (and pestered my friends) to come up with a bunch of tabletop games that are a blast for two— not just technically playable with out extra.

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The future of India's game improvement community looks bright and there is no purpose why it can not develop into the chosen destination for international gaming market. The consumer base for games is increasingly increasing, specially on mobile, and the right e-commerce options are already in spot to facilitate micro-transactions and ad income. The Indian game app developers will therefore have ample chance to innovate, design and style, and develop compelling game content for both the Indian and international audience.

Your blog ought to be a fun and exciting interest, no matter what you want to get out of it. Plan and write content material that is exciting to you, not because you feel that you have to create it. Get inspiration from other gaming bloggers for some excellent topics and develop into a component of the neighborhood by engaging with others' content material.

The Tegra four SoC is a large improvement more than other solutions in terms of overall performance and gaming technology capabilities. With Tegra 4 on NVIDIA SHIELD transportable, you can now knowledge high end graphical attributes native in Android games like sophisticated true time lighting effects, depth of field, soft shadows, high res textures, genuine time smoke and particle simulation, greater polygon counts and significantly more. This permits developers to truly produce freely for Android gamers.

EDIT:I employed to watch the Feedback video over at G4 every single week, but it really is gone down hill the last handful of times I watched it and now that Adam Sessler isn't on it and they have that girl from IGN that every person hates in every episode I just can not be bothered to watch it any additional. Nonetheless worth going back and watching some of the older ones even though. Klepic used to be on that show and back then in the early days was when it was the best. Back when they really talked about gaming news with some semblance of intellect alternatively of just gushing about what ever game they are told is cool this week.

In March 2017, Green Man Gaming launched its initially nearby language eCommerce web page in Germany, 33 supplying its prospects the ability to shop in German applying their preferred payment strategies. The corporation also launched its brand new Neighborhood platform in March 2017, 34 giving gamers a new community to connect with each other, view their gameplay stats, get the newest news and watch well-liked Twitch streamers - all in a single location.

Every month more than 700 million men and women play games, watch gaming videos, or engage in gaming groups on Facebook. You may scroll through News Feed and learn a new Instant Game to play with your friends, you may well stick to a streamer's Web page and start off watching their content, or you may get a notification alerting members in your Pokémon Go group about a rare Lickitung spotted in a nearby park.

Awarded the Pureplay eCommerce Retailer of the Year Award, Green Man Gaming is listed in both The Sunday Instances Top 100 SME Export Track and The Sunday Times Top rated one hundred Tech Track 2015. Green Man Gaming is also member of the Future Fifty the 50 hottest higher growth technologies firms that the British Government is earmarking to IPO.

This (Blog) is exactly where you can study everything I know. Discover about the best board games for game nights in original critiques, get strategies on almost everything from organizing to snack and drinks, and read up on inclusivity and diversity in gaming communities. There's stuff here for person players trying to chip in on game night, to hosts who want to (ahem) up their game, to organizations interested in hosting normal board game nights.

The publisher funds the game and its release, while the studio designs and develops the game. In the course of the 2000s, publishers started funding studios that developed games of all sizes and good quality. This fostered an industry that made video games at a volume as well huge for customer demand and with little focus on excellent At some point demand for these low-quality games faded and publishers stopped funding these studios, eliminating a huge portion of the gaming labor industry.

On line multiplayer shooters, like CS:GO, Fortnite, and PUBG, are presently dominating the gaming globe, thanks to professional gamers, eSports tournaments, Twitch streamers , and YouTube gaming channels Some games that have been released years ago are still well-known these days, like League of Legends, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Dota 2, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Other excellent games trending now consist of Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Mario Odyssey, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. Other people have spawned sequels that out play and out execute their original games.

Their mission is to be the very first decision for gamers globally, providing the biggest variety of digital games and access to a vibrant, enjoyable, worldwide gaming community that rewards gamers when they connect, play and take pleasure in immersive gaming experiences. At Green Man Gaming they want to be trusted, respected and valued by their prospects and those in their community. They have put a prevalent set of values at the heart of how they do business. Their values are made to capture what they do when they are at their best.

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Arplis - News: Coronavirus Advice: How to Work From Home Without Losing Your Mind

As a parent, working from home is the best, except for the many times when it’s a goddamn nightmare. These competing situations exist in equal measure; the price of making your own pace, work environment, and slipper decisions is how you’re automatically on the hook whenever there’s a snow day. Or when someone wakes up at 4:30 a.m. chorking all over his Last Jedi bedspreads, hypothetically. It may not be equitable but it’s logical: Person in the house gets the short straw on sick days.

Now, with the threat of the coronavirus, many parents will find themselves working remotely. The good news is it’s certainly possible to work from home with the kids around, if you don’t mind smooshing your work and home life together like some mashed-up PBJ sandwich. If you think it sounds easy, it’s harder than you think. If you think it sounds hard, it’s also harder than you think. But it’s certainly possible. Here, then, are a few humble tips to help you work from home without losing your mind.

READ MORE: The Fatherly Guide to Stay-At-Home Parenting

Build a Wi-Fi-equipped subterranean shipping-container cavern in your backyard.

Holy shit, that sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

But Seriously: Try to Set Boundaries 

The work-from-home people whom I know (and am) deploy all manner of strategies to get through their days, but those strategies all share a common thread: dedicated space. Designate place for work, then guard it jealously. If you can spin a spare room into an office with a lockable door, do it. If you can carve out a desk in the kitchen, do it. If you have to hide in a half-sized cubby in a back corner of the garage, it’s a little weird, and you should keep ant-killer on hand, but do it.

The key is to establish functional, dedicated real estate that your brain equates with “work time,” so you can lock into a work mindset. Otherwise, you’ll be pulled by not only the children in the other rooms, but the unfinished projects as well, and that will blur the work/home more than you already are.

Get Dressed. In Proper Clothes.

Fight the urge to stay in your pajamas. Getting dressed (head to toe) allows your mind to transition from sleepy relaxation mode to get-shit-done mode. If you stay in your PJs you may just be fighting a drowsy fog all day long.

Try to Make Your Workspace a Kid-Free Zone

This is to say, make sure your kids don’t have any claims on the space. A mighty order, naturally, but also easier than you might think. In keeping with the concept of a dedicated workspace, do your best to make sure the kids don’t claim your workspace for any variation of playing, that they know that this space is Dad’s  “office”. This sounds more dickish than it is, especially in a house teeming with small children, but you’re doing it already: You already don’t let kids play in the garage, or near the oven, or in the fireplace. Set a rule early that your space is a Lego-free zone, and enjoy fewer boundary-related discussions later.

Break Up Time If You Have To

While you can easily buy yourself 90 minutes with The Emoji Movie, that’s 90 minutes you have to deal with the low, sick sensation in your stomach. The solution here is an only slightly impractical one: Break up the time into little pieces. Of course you’d be more productive if you worked in one shot, but this simply might not be possible. If that’s the case, have your ids watch a show for 30 minutes, then break for a game, then watch a show for 30 minutes, then break for lunch. Micromanaging your day in this manner will be frenetic, even obnoxious, but it’ll also feel better than flicking on four solid hours of Netflix. Which, hey, might be the only

Eat Lunch On Time

Working from home can sometimes cause hyper-focus. When you’re removed from the rhythms of the office you might forget you need to get up and eat. Set an alarm. Have lunch away from your laptop while looking out the window or something.

Make a Detailed To-Do List

And make it hyper specific. This helps you focus and keeps you from drifting between tabs on his browser. Stick to it.

Respond to Messages at a Set Time

There are a lot of ways to communicate with team members when working remotely. Email. Slack. Text. Set times to respond. If you respond to every Slack notification that appears, it’s like starting a conversation with every person that pauses at your desk. Check your messages once an hour or so. Popping over to the Slack window every time it pings can be a concentration killer.

Set Hard Log on and Log Off Parameters

When you work from home you don’t have a commute to buffer you from your work life. Because of that, it’s super easy for work to creep into the evening hours. Set temporal boundaries that work for you and shut your computer when your workday is done. Otherwise, your brain will melt like sweet, sweet ice cream.

Realize This One Horrible Fact: You’ve Been Mixing Up Work and Home Already

In addition to all the other things its ruined (politics, movie endings, the ability to form meaningful connections with your family), your phone has already done a bang-up job of murdering the former line between your work and home life. No one with WiFi clocks out at 5 p.m. So, think of it this way: in working from home, you’ve just leveled-up a little bit.

Give Yourself Breaks

On this work-from-home day, and many others, you will neither accomplish as much as you like, nor be the parent you wish. Much like rip currents, Chinese finger traps, and genetic hair loss, fighting this will only make it desperately worse, and the sprint will only wear you down and make you act like a dick at dinner. So, then, take some time off. A half hour to clear your head might seem like a lot but it’s saving you far more than that in space-out time. Besides, you’re not going to get all your stuff done today, and it’s not going to work as well as you want it to. But like other parenting compromises that briefly postpone something great, it still leaves room for pretty good.

Related Articles:

The Best Indoor Games for Quarantined Kids and Families

Keeping Up With the Kids: Entirely Reasonable Fitness Goals for Dads

This Is the Way to Perfect Baby Yoda Pajamas

Surprise! Netflix Is Destroying Disney Plus

The post Coronavirus Advice: How to Work From Home Without Losing Your Mind appeared first on Fatherly.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/coronavirus-advice-how-to-work-from-home-without-losing-your-mind

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What is Digital Marketing and what can you expect for the future of the entrepreneurial market

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.        What is Digital Marketing and its importance?

2.        Are Digital Marketing and Inbound Marketing  the same thing?

3.        What is B2B x B2C Digital Marketing?

4.        Marketing Mix in the Digital Age: the  evolution from 4Ps to 4Cs

5.        Creative digital marketing ideas from big  companies

6.        The internet of things: more space for Digital  Marketing

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 What is Digital Marketing?

You probably already know the answer to that question, after all, for over 10 years this has been one of the most used Marketing strategies to be successful.

 But there is always something new to discover on a topic as dynamic as this!

 Think about just about any subject you want to learn and you can find that information in a simple Google search.

 You may even have reached this article by typing the question: "what is digital marketing" in the search box .

 My point is: information is abundant and available to those who want it like never before, no matter the subject, ranging from topics such as politics, religion and sports to information about products and services.

 If information is abundant in all areas, and that is something extremely positive, it also becomes more difficult to be found in the midst of such an offer. And that is where the importance of knowing what Digital Marketing is.

 Marketing is nothing more than creating a connection with a specific target audience to identify needs and desires and offer the most appropriate solutions.

 And what is Digital Marketing? It is the meeting of these marketing strategies but done online.

 There is a discussion among those who believe that Digital Marketing is any marketing strategy that includes electronic devices, such as TV and radio, and not only those who are in some way connected to the web.

 However, I believe that the internet is the technology that justifies the existence of Digital Marketing. So this article will focus on strategies and tactics aimed at the online environment (despite its effects on the offline world as well).

 So, if you want to know what Digital Marketing is and want to learn more about it,  keep reading this article because in it we will talk more about:

 What is Digital Marketing and its importance:

 We stay connected most of our time on the internet, whether talking with friends, consuming content or playing online.

 It became much easier to conquer your target audience, because no matter what market niche your consumer belongs to, he will certainly be online too.

 Not only him: but his friends, relatives, co-workers, practically his entire social circle.

 And these people will also be sharing impressions about products they have purchased and whether they are satisfied customers of a brand or not.

 One of the biggest benefits of those who use digital marketing channels is the ease of measuring the impact of each of these channels, such as how many visitors to a website become buyers, making it possible to identify which ones bring the most results and therefore deserve greater investment.

 Through this data, you can discover:

 ·      Which channels have the best cost-benefit ratio for acquiring customers, based on the conversion rate and the acquisition cost of each of these leads.

·       Which channels are more efficient not only to attract consumers but to generate buybacks (such as email marketing), creating a loyal customer base.

·       Which consumers are more likely to buy other products of their own from higher categories by engaging this share of customers.

 But after all, are Digital Marketing and Inbound Marketing the same thing?

In the last article “What is Inbound Marketing? The most effective strategy to get customers to come to you (spending up to 62% less) ” I talked a little more about this strategy that is well known for winning people's interest instead of interrupting them, like the associated actions to Outbound Marketing.

However, Inbound Marketing is often associated with Digital Marketing as if they were different names for the same thing.

And what is Digital Marketing?

The term Digital Marketing is not just about tactics to gain people's attention. On the contrary, Digital Marketing uses the tools of Inbound and Outbound Marketing . If these actions are performed within the online context, they are included under the umbrella of Digital Marketing.

The Digital Marketing involves some activities such as:

·         Generate value through Content Marketing ;

·         Create relationship with audience through Email Marketing ;

·         Increase reach using SEO (Search Engine Optimization);

·         Improve the social side through Social Media Management;

Digital Marketing activities may also include remarketing , advertisements on social networks and search engines, use of banners, push notifications, direct mail via email and any other Outbound Marketing tactic used in the digital medium.

 The goal of Outbound is to put the message in front of the audience , as many people as possible, whether they like it or not, whether they like it or not.

 And although they are much less efficient and cost much more than Inbound practices, they can still be part of your digital marketing plan , as long as you use common sense and don't irritate your audience.

 But, without a doubt, the greatest benefit of Digital Marketing is obtained when you decide to make the audience come to you and not the other way around.

 And to do that you need to generate real value by producing quality content, whether your customer is the end consumer or other companies.

 What is B2B x B2C Digital Marketing:

 Effective marketing is always made for people, regardless of whether you operate in the B2C (Bussiness to Consumer) or B2B (Bussiness to Bussiness) market. However, we cannot say that there is no difference in digital marketing strategies for these two markets.

 Unlike B2C marketing, which focuses on reaching the end consumer, B2B marketing focuses on the relationship between companies and how to reach business customers more effectively.

 In the B2B market you need to reach professional buyers, much more skeptical and well-informed.

 Business buyers already know their needs very well and already have pre-conceived ideas about what they want.

 If your company operates in the B2B market, your digital marketing efforts will be much more focused on lead generation so that at the end of the process, that is, when that lead reaches the bottom of the sales funnel , it is directed to the sales team. sales.

 For this reason, the role of B2B Digital Marketing is to attract and convert qualified leads to their salespeople through their main marketing channels , especially on their website / blog, the most important channel for companies that sell to companies.

 In addition to your website, one of the most important social networks for B2B businesses is LinkedIn, since most professional buyers are in this online environment.

 Videos and podcasts are excellent content formats for the B2B market.

 Make a channel on YouTube in order for your audience to make videos about trends in your niche market, launching products and services.

 On the other hand, if your business is aimed at the final consumer, you can make the  lead go through the sales funnel until the moment of purchase without having to have any contact with a sales team.

 The B2C process can be solved in minutes with just a Google search for a product and a quick look at reviews.

 The purchase journey, in this case, is much faster , which allows you to talk about your products and services to the audience more quickly and need to bet on good copies ,  mental triggers and calls to action on your content to make more sales.

 Social networks like Instagram and Facebook are much better to complement your Digital Marketing strategy aimed at the final audience.

 Different strategies, for different audiences. However, that is not all that changes with respect to Digital Marketing. Even the traditional marketing mix and its 4Ps have changed in the digital age.

 Marketing Mix in the Digital Age: the evolution from 4Ps to 4Cs:

 The strong massification of the internet since 1990 has had an impact on the marketing mix.

 Better informed consumers, once again caused changes in the market and one of them certainly happened with the 4Ps of the marketing mix.

 The model created in the 60s was still necessary, but the new needs made room for the 4Cs, which, created by Robert Lauterborn, are a kind of evolution of the 4Ps.

 Client

The original orientation of the Product P was, as the name already indicates, in the company and not in the public. I have a solution that I think is good and I look for a market for it.

 Today, the ideal way is to check which unmet needs exist in the market and only then create and offer a solution , which can even be an MVP ( Minimium Viable Product ).

 The focus changes 100% from the product to the customer. A company needs to sell a product or service that meets exactly what the consumer needs.

 So, know your persona , your desires, fears and objections to offer an almost personalized solution.

 This is the big difference between the Product P and the Customer C.

 Cost

The price is no longer the only value inherent to the purchase of a product or service, it is necessary to take into account the opportunity cost.

 Put on the scale everything your potential customer will have to invest to, in the end, enjoy the benefit you offer.

 This includes spending on transportation to your store, parking, internet package, time involved in the purchase process, using the product or service and much more.

 Communication

Communication in place of the promotion P is cooperative and not manipulative , not even  persuasive .

 Keeping the dialogue open with consumers and potential customers allows the creation of products and services much more in line with their real demands.

 Within the concept of communication, content is an important part of the Digital Marketing mix and the best way to sell, as there is a generation of value not only for the company but also for the customer.

 Instead of interrupting your audience to sell, you offer informative and entertaining content, free of charge, create connection, generate trust and produce much superior sales results with significantly lower investments.

 Convenience

Convenience implies that the product must be readily available to consumers, requiring them to be offered at various distribution points.

 An example of convenience is the option to purchase digital books. As soon as the payment is approved, you have immediate access to the product, without having to wait days for the order to arrive at your home or having to go to a physical bookstore to purchase the product.

 Creative digital marketing ideas from big companies:

 The Digital Marketing is a strategy available to all business sizes, smaller with tighter budgets to larger with a lot of money available to invest in what is necessary to increase the range.

 And if you want to learn more about the subject, a Digital Marketing course may be right for you.

 But in the end, everyone is vying for the audience's attention in the most creative ways possible, balancing the value proposition with the brand personality to attract and engage more and more consumers.

 Next we will learn about digital marketing actions of some of the biggest companies in the world and that you can also be inspired to use in your own business.

 Creativity in a complex market

The GE (General Electric) is an excellent example to show that the B2B marketing can go far beyond traditional strategies and even some creative that most of the companies that market uses

 The company invests heavily in the power of content and produces web series, online magazines and  podcasts .

 Using the tagline “imagination at work”, GE tells stories behind the scenes, especially about new research in areas related to aviation, cancer drugs and even the climate. And the content of these reports is so good that it often goes viral on forums like  Reddit .

 When dealing with complex and scientific subjects with a more humane approach, GE achieves the engagement of people in an uncommon way in the B2B market.

 His fictional podcast series called “Life After” , where an FBI agent has conversations with his deceased wife through advanced technology, is a great example of branded content that is hugely successful and has proven to be a excellent Digital Marketing tactic.

 Interactive and personalized content

The BBC put into practice one of the best ways to engage the audience: counting on their collaboration in the production of content .

 About 78% of consumers are more open to building relationships with brands that publish audience content, as does Go Pro.

 With the infographic called “Your life on earth” , where you can customize your own infographic by entering your data such as date of birth, sex and height.

 With this information, curious facts about how and how much the world has changed in its lifetime, showing various statistics and insights.

 Influencers and Digital Marketing

The Get Response platform invests heavily in Content Marketing, whether through posts published daily on its blog, strategic banners placed in the right places and various premium materials such as ebooks to capture more subscribers to the email list .

 But they went further and managed to use influencers from their niche market to evaluate and record testimonials about their product, putting it all on their website.

 Case studies and testimonials from satisfied customers work much better than excellent copywriting techniques . If these people are influential, true authorities then, even better.

 To achieve the same result, you do not necessarily need to hire the largest YouTubers in Brazil, not least because your audience may not even identify with these people.

 Instead, show your product or service and offer it for free to key people in your market and who have some authority, even if your audience is not huge.

 The internet of things and the impact on Digital Marketing

 The internet of things is the term used to define the connection of electronic devices of daily use (not just computers and cell phones) to the internet.

 In this case we are talking about TVs, cars, coffee makers, bathtubs, refrigerators, lamps and any other device that does not need internet to fulfill its function, but that in the very near future will also be connected, opening up new possibilities for Digital Marketing strategies.

 This video from IBM explains in a simple and visual way the concept of internet of things:

 These devices can transmit and collect information via Bluetooth, beacons and store them in the cloud. Consumption habits and consumer behavior registered and available for use by those who work with Digital Marketing.

 Digital Marketing 100% based on data is the future of marketing.

 Imagine a chocolate and snack machine, similar to the ones found on the subway, that can communicate over the internet with suppliers, warning when the product stock is low or showing which of these products are most consumed and at what times?

 Experts in the area say that by 2020 we will have around 13 billion devices connected to the internet , not only facilitating the user experience but also the companies.

 The Digital Marketing of the future will not only promote solutions focused on demographic and psychographic data of the target audience, but will offer personalized products for each consumer.

 This may seem like a distant future, but some companies are already starting to put the internet of things into practice and thus leveraging their digital marketing strategies.

 Products as media

Imagine products that can be used to sell themselves . Confused?

 Products connected to the internet can not only be marketing tools, but also sales tools.

 If you go to wash your clothes and notice that your washing powder is over, I guarantee that the idea of   going to the supermarket to buy the product will not be something that will make you happy there.

 However, imagine if you realized this, you could just press a button on your machine and, automatically, she would order the replacement soap for a website specialized in selling this type of product.

 Too much technology? Because Amazon in partnership with detergent brand Tide is already doing just that.

 The so-called Dash Button from Amazon, buttons that connect via the wi-fi network with the Amazon application and can be pressed whenever your stock of a certain product is running out, already exists.

 For the soap manufacturer, this is quite an advantage, as the brand does not compete for consumer attention in the supermarket, functioning almost as a loyalty program.

 And for the consumer there is nothing more convenient and practical than buying soap at the push of a button.

 Products as a service

The internet of things also brings new possibilities of features in products that until then would have been impossible to imagine, and that today can be used as a differential at the time of sale.

 The Tesla Motors produces electric cars of high technology, consumer dream of many people.

 In addition, they are going further and bringing services to their cars. Tesla updates the car software remotely to improve product performance without any inconvenience to the consumer.

 Just like your cell phone and computer already do with your operating system, but on devices where this technology is not yet commonplace.

Connected products

The Uber and Spotify made a partnership to connect their service s.

 With that, the user can link his Spotify account to his Uber account and thereby play his music selection in the car's speaker, while using the Uber service.

 In this case, the internet of things allows not only the connection between one application and another, but also the connection to the car, improving the user experience and making it (a) remain within an application ecosystem, increasing its loyalty.

 As much as it sounds like science fiction or something close to the Jetson's design, all of this is already happening. And there are many more innovations to come.

 Even if you think you already know what Digital Marketing is , you will find that you need to keep up to date frequently if you want to stay relevant in your market.