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cruzotecapp · 1 year ago

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Salon App Development: How to Create An App for a Salon or Spa Appointment Booking

Home-based services offer a tremendous value of comfort & convenience altogether. Even if we keep convenience aside for a moment, you can wonder how it saves time for customers. If your entrepreneurial mind says to build a business out of this, you might want to consider salon app development to bolster your chances of success.

Why & How to Create an App for Salon?

Before getting started on the hows, let’s understand the whys.

Digital supremacy is rampant. We don’t mean it in a negative way, but that’s the truth. Only the recent pandemic underlined the idea, or maybe emboldened the thought.

Since customers have gotten in the habit of ordering it at home, whether food or grocery or medicine or anything else online, home-based services aren’t lacking at any point of time. Besides, we see a huge untapped market for this segment.

People are likely to choose these services because:

No waiting period

Zero confusion

Easy pre-payment methods

Comfort factor

Value added services

Moving on to the next point – how to create an app for a salon or spa. Since the market is resplendent with choices. Taking genuine points of consideration, it could take more than one person to design a salon app and develop into a promising product if time boundaries are set.

Search for services availability

Customers would want to explore availability of beauticians or hair experts on their preferred timings. A search feature enables a customer to find available dates & times for conveniently booking a slot. As it eliminates the need for calling a salon, one can also pay upfront charges for confirmed appointments in the hair salon app.

Multiple booking management

One of the best features of salon appointment booking is that of multiple appointments scheduling, where customers can schedule, reschedule and cancel services. It’s a hallmark of a feature.

Contactless payments

Covid-19 raised the awareness of safety and hygiene by ensuring no physical contact. On-demand delivery apps enable online payments for easy and smooth transactions. Most payment gateways offer integration features to provide services for customers of all kinds. Whether Debit/Credit Card, E-wallet or UPI payments, money transfer happens real quick.

Beauty products for E-commerce

What a fantastic way to increase the popularity of this app! A feature to sell beauty & wellness products aside door-to-door delivery services for benefiting customers. Your consumers are likely to enjoy the convenience of shopping through the app.

Custom push notifications

Letting customers know about an offer or deal through pop-up notifications is the most cost-effective way of marketing. Next time, you have special offers or new items or any kind of new updates – prepare a custom push notification for app users.

Salon & spa profiles

Beauticians, parlors or salons design their profiles by putting out reliable information for customer viewing. Moreover, customers shall be able to mark their favorite salons using a simple button.

Google maps integration

In India, most on-demand services utilize Google map integration to the benefit of consumers. API integration helps service providers reach to customer’s addresses in real time.

Appointment reminders

A dependable app designed to help both customers and service providers have intuitive functionalities. Setting reminders or calling the salon for timings isn’t ideal anymore. The app shall serve reminders before the appointment timings.

What Is The Salon App Development Cost?

Basically, frameworks, specifications, functionalities, and complexities of the development determine the salon app development cost. Typically, advanced apps with real-time chatting, multiple integrations and additional features could range between $15000 and $20000. Simple and reasonable salon app development may cost between $5000 and $10000. Advanced mobile suites could go upwards from $25000.

Additional costs pertain to the following factors:

UI/UX design

Complex features

Quality Assurance

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) evaluation

Backend features

Wrapping up

If you’re interested in developing a hair salon and spa app to disrupt the on-demand industry, you don’t need a fortune to invest. Simple and affordable custom branded salon apps come easy on pocket and are quick to develop.

Remember, an effective marketing strategy and promotions after thorough research can help you make your application a guaranteed success.

Need a custom designed salon app development? Contact us today.

#cruzo #salon app development company #on-demand beauty & salon app development services #salon app development solutions #how to build salon booking app #how do i make a beauty salon app?#salon booking app

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codenance · 2 years ago

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On-Demand Beauty Service App Development Cost & Features

In today’s busy working lifestyles, many people find it really difficult to visit a beauty salon for even regular services. Also, the long waiting times at these salons make the situation even more difficult. Some customers require a more effective & efficient solution that carefully caters to the beauty services regimen. And this is exactly what an on-demand beauty service application delivers. Such applications enable the customers to get the needed beauty services done at a convenient timeslot and in the comfort of their homes.

After realizing the unmet needs of the customers looking for professional beauty salon services, many beauty salon owners are joining the campaign by investing in an on-demand beauty services app development. With these applications, the user gets convenience & the business gets heavy footfall.

If you too are looking to improve your business with an on-demand beauty services application, you have come to the right place. At this place, we will talk about many different aspects of beauty & wellness applications and will identify the cost of developing one.

Why You Should Invest in Beauty Services Mobile Application: Market Size and Stats

The global beauty industry is tremendously growing at an exponential rate as beauty brands are continuously looking to provide better alternatives. At present, the global beauty industry is over $532 billion & is estimated to reach approximately $716.6 billion by 2025. In her lifetime, an average woman spends approximately $225,000 on skincare alone.

Furthermore, owing to the increasing user demand for beauty services & the shift to the online platform, the life of beauty freelancers has become much easier. The previous year, out of the 1.2 million professionals, including hairdressers, stylists, and cosmetologists in the US, over 70% started marketing themselves through mobile apps.

As per another report, the spa & beauty salon market in 2017 was valued at $128.59 billion. This is now anticipated to reach $190.81 billion in 2024.

Revenue of the beauty/cosmetic industry in the US from 2002 to 2020

The above statistics point toward the huge valuation & wide customer base of the industry. And this implies that there is adequate potential for a plethora of beauty on-demand service providers to coexist & succeed.

Understanding this massive potential, several investors have come forward & have invested in popular beauty services.

How Beauty On-demand Mobile Application Works?

Beauty on-demand service applications work just like Uber, but for providing beauty services.

After a customer downloads the application, he/she can easily book a local stylist from among the available options listed within the application. Once the booking is confirmed, a stylist will come at the chosen time & execute the selected services wherever the user requires.

Read Also: Logistics App Development Cost

This is a basic on-demand beauty service application that enables the customers to get their beauty care done at their own convenience.

Developing Applications for the Beauty Industry

The various services that can be extended within the beauty industry include, but are not limited to:

Source: Statista

Salon beauty services at home

Hiring beauty professionals for an event

Beauty products home delivery

Types of Business Models for On-demand Beauty Service Applications

Dedicated/Self-owned Model

Dedicated applications are those which are created by a renowned beauty brand or a settled salon to expand their business locally. With these applications, the service provider can make potential clients aware of their services & improve the online presence of their company. And whenever a booking is made, then it is directly routed to the application owner’s spa or salon. They then allocate a professional to visit the customer’s home & extend the service.

Aggregator Beauty Service App

Aggregator applications bring in all hairdressers, artists, salons, makeup, and independent beauticians under one umbrella. If you develop an aggregator application, you need to partner with the beauty salons & spa services in your area. In these applications, the revenue is generated by charging a fee/commission on every transaction.

Read the Full Article: https://codenance.com/on-demand-beauty-service-app-development-cost-features/

#mobile app development #hire mobile app developers #beauty salon app development #technology #on demand app development company #it services #flutter app development

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g-tech-solutions · 2 years ago

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Beauty App Development Cost: Factors to Consider | G Tech Solutions

Wondering about the cost of developing a beauty app? Our comprehensive guide will help you understand the factors affecting the development cost and provide you with an estimated budget to build your own beauty app. Get in touch with us today to know more.

#beauty app developmentbeauty salon app developmentbeauty app development cost & bestcost to develop an on demand beauty applicationcost

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inventcolabs · 2 years ago

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Complete Guide to Develop An On-Demand Beauty Service App: Features and Cost Get the best On-Demand Beauty Service App from Inventcolabs Software. Contact us: +1-646-480-0280

#on demand #on demand app #on demand app developers #beauty #beauty service #salon app #salon app development company

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pleaseeeimjustagirl · 1 year ago

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Sunday Reset Routine

Resetting after a long week is a must! You must have a day where you can decompress it doesn’t have to be on Sunday but Sunday is usually the best day because it is the perfect way to start a new week relaxed and refreshed. Everyone has their form of resetting and some of you babes might not know where to start. So I’ll give you cute ideas below.

What to focus on this Sunday

♡ Reflect on the past week it is good to journal how your week went the good things that happened, some stuff you might have accomplished, and the not so good things that happened so you know what to fix or look forward to the next week

♡ Plan for the upcoming week I love planning I have an app that I use to plan my week it is called Structured. You can also buy a physical planner that helps and to make it fun you can use colored pens. It is better to stay ready and know what you have in store for yourself this upcoming week.

♡ Self care is my favorite part of resetting on Sundays self care looks different for everyone. Self care could be going to the spa, nail salon, full shower routine, skincare, cleaning your home, baking, sleeping, and there are many more different forms of self care.

♡ Relax and try your best to do low-stress tasks the point of resetting is relaxing and taking a seat. Llife is so demanding take this day to focus on your needs and if your need is to watch cartoons all day with a face mask on do that<3.

♡ Pamper yourself by reading a book, homemade facial, enjoying a spa day, and shopping for items on your wishlist. Pamper yourself you deserve it!

♡ Less screen time put down your phone for the day if you have friends who you text or call regularly let them know Sunday is your day to relax. Stay away from Instagram and other forms of social media.

♡ Organize your space take some time to get your space together. A clean space helps you focus. I have to work on my space this Sunday I've been slowly working on but I def need to sit and declutter.

Enjoy your Sunday babes!

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gracelewiss-blog · 3 months ago

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Beauty salon app is a unique concept built for people to have beauticians, hairstylists, & massage therapists at their doorstep, along with multiple payment options.

#cubetaxi #beautician booking app #beauty on-demand app #beauty salon booking apps #app #appdevelopment #appdevelopmentcompany #cloneapp #appclone

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onlineappreviews · 7 months ago

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#beauty on demand app #on demand beauty service app #uber for beautician #on demand beauty salon app

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atvace · 1 year ago

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Lady Dior and the Seven Dilfs

Chapter 1: Drug Projectile

Masterlist

Another Part Of Me - Michael Jackson

"KILL YOURSELF, MORON", a driver shouts at you after you jolted your foot down on the gas pedal, acting like you've got 9 fucking lives. Breaking all traffic laws known to Los Angeles. you drift through three different red lights. The sound of hundreds of cars honking at you is music to your ears.

"CAN'T YOU SEE ! You're just another part of me HEE HEE"; you sang with the song on the radio as you drift-parked in front of Waffle House. You see a familiar face in a yellow jacket and dirty blue jeans, leaning on the trunk of his silver pony car. You open your driver's car door and slam it loud enough for him to get startled and look over your way.

He drops his cigarette and furrows his eyebrow. Looking at you walk towards him like a total model. A tight, short skirt. 8-inch black boot heels that are sharp enough to kill. A dusty white tank top, and a long white trench coat that you let dangle down your shoulders, making it look like a cape.

Your left hand is occupied by a mini Lady Dior white Cannage Lambskin bag, worth the tuition fees of three private university students. You radiate fashion with your pink-white heart-shaped sunglasses at the brick of your nose to your neatly styled fresh out-of-salon hair. "Heyyy Ricky. got the goodies I need?" You walk towards his trunk, watching him open the back. "yeah yeah princess, I got you.

The trunk reveals a few bags of nameless drugs, which come in a variety of different colors. Blue, white, and even pink.

Beside it, a pack of a c4 explosives. Your eyes scan the amount of wires attached around the sides of the explosive. "you know this cost twice that thing." He scoffs and nudges your purse. "fucking excuse you, this bad baby cost more than your fuckin net worth, TWICE." You hug your bag at your chest. he rolled his eyes and placed his hand on his hips then sighed.

"Cash App or Zelle?" he looks at you with one raised eyebrow. Lowkey looking like the rock meme. "just Cash." You smile softly at him, showing a brown bag supposedly full of cash.

Sirens echo from behind. "Step away from the car." a police officer demands, a few metres from where you and Rick are parked. There were two of them, they might've been watching for a good while. You gaze towards the officer facing them as Rick sighs in frustration and looked down at his trunk.

"Ola señor, como esta?" you confidently laugh while raising your hands to your side. "Ma'am, please step away from the car." the officer said again. "h-heyy what's wrong officers? It's a good night ain't it, it's best we chill, no?" you lent out your hand and raised your eyebrow, clearly not trying to rizz up the police. "Just do it now, ma'am. nobody needs to get hurt if you just-" The police's shout got cut off as Rick holds your neck back and plants the muzzle of his gun at your head.

The two police draw their guns in reflex but to their confusion, you're laughing. "oh gyat dayum-" you hug your purse to your chest. "Take it easy buddy," the police aimed his gun towards Rick. "you don't wanna do that." The other police continued.

"oh fuck yeah, I wanna do this. I'll kill this bitch and then kill the both of you bastards" Rick shouted in defense. "oh no he don't, officer, he just playin." You wheezed and waved your hand jokingly. "oh hell no i ain't playing." Rick's grip got tighter and the the muzzle shifted to the side of your eyes.

"yes he is-"

"No, I'm not"

"YES he is"

"IM NOT PLAYIN" Rick shouts back, looking at you with horrified eyes. "drop the gun, Now" the officer demanded. "aw come on officer, just go back to your car and leave. He's just playin' dawg." you smiled and pointed at the police car. "I can't do that ma'am, alright? you're in danger" the officer gripped his gun tighter as you scoff.

"I'm gonna blow this bitch's head all over and paint the floor with her blood!" Rick threatened, you gave him a funny look. "not on my purse..right?" you tilt your head to look at him. He sharply stares at the officer, not answering you. His silence makes your smile drop. "..not on my purse..right?"

"just turn the fuck around and go get back inside your car, asshole. buy some fucking donuts." Rick clucked his gun and aimed it back to your head, loosened his grip. You sighed and rubbed the knuckles of your hand. "alright officer, you see, we're good pals. Lemme go on and talk to him alright? We homie, officer" you raised your hand to the police, gesturing for them to calm down. You swiftly faced Rick, and punch his lower jaw hard enough that a tooth bolts out of his mouth. His body limped to the ground, not making a sound.

You raise your hand to the side of your head now facing and standing alone in front of the officers who are now drawing the gun at you. "alright? cool?" you reassured the policemen. "He's down, now guns down, no hostage situation alright? now can you get inside your car-" "I'm sorry, ma'am you'll have to put your hands behind your head and get on the floor." the officer stated again.

Your mouth falls agape ,slightly offended. "I ain't takin no orders from your ugly ass, unless you're Leon Kennedy then I might consider!" you shout as you point at them. "just put your hands in the fucking air!" the other officer yelled. "sir, everything is cool, I.. I uh" you paused and looked at both of them in the eyes.

You gestured your eyes telling them to move. But they both seemed confused. They didn't get the hint of your eyes. Then suddenly, Rick looked up from the ground, shooting two of the officer in the legs. They both groaned in pain and dropped their guns.

You jumped over Rick's limping body towards your car, which received another groan from him. you slid through the front cabin and towards the shotgun, quickly grabbing the revolver that you stored in the dashboard. You ran and bent in front of the police, aiming your gun at Rick who took cover behind his car. "I fuckin TOLD you to just get in the car." you bent to his level, he grunts in annoyance and pain.

Rick managed to get inside his car and got out of the lot and towards the main road. you shot the back wheels making his car wobble uncontrollably. With three bullets left, you shot the trunk open and ran to get a closer position, jumping from one car to another (suprisingly swiflty with your 8 inch heels) you shot one bullet and heard him shouting.

"MATE, I'VE GOT A FUCKING C4. STOP SHOOTING" Rick opens the driver's door and jumped out of the car as you shot your last bullet directly at the c4 from afar,creating a huge explosion hitting the red lights followed by honkings from civilians on the scene.

"Fuck yeah!" you swayed your hair, dropping your gun down to your coat pocket, running towards Rick's staggered body to stomp on him with your 8-inch boot heels, you knock him out cold.

"oh Rick, you're so babygirl," you say kneeling down on him "if only you weren't on the FBI's most wanted list." Cuffing his wrist behind him and heaving him like a duffle bag. Lifting a heavy weight like this is no problem for you, it's simply child's play. you're a strong woman with an inhuman power but still execute things in a stylish way.

You walked out of the scene with fire, chaos, and people chattering in the background, "Chief, this is (Y/N). Your Amazon wishlist is wrapped and ready to mail." you said into your earpiece.

[FBI public Department ]

"He was wanted! why should I get demoted?!" you aggressively pointed down on your Major Colonel's desk. "I saw odds, I risked it. that ain't public destruction. That's an obstute mission execution." You pursed your fingers like a mad Italian when they see someone bifurcate spaghetti to fit inside the pot.

"(Y/N), your actions for the last mission were supposed to be stealthy. You caused a whole fucking commotion; I had to convince the LAPD it was- oh for fuck's sake I've had enough for you." He rubbed his temples in annoyance, facing the American flag with exactly 50 stars.

"nobody can fucking do the job, I did it fucking well and you know that, chief." You gripped your fist and held it to your chest.

"That motherfucker Maddie can't even stay undercover for 5 minutes, bitch got held hostage and I saved her ass. Kate Laswell got surrounded by some fucking Russians in her mission trying to catch Makarov, I saved her ass. For fucks sake I even got the fucking intel for Hadir's location."

You shift yourself towards the side of the chief. "YOU got blackmailed by those Serbians because you forgot to turn on your VPN whilst trying to access a public WiFi to beat your meat-"

"Fucking enough, (y/n)." you flinched as Chief Artofay raised his voice at you, facing you and walked towards you. "you get the fuck out of my office or I'll fucking axe you out of this fucking department for greater fucking good. You choose." He glared at you with dark eyes. "I notified General Sheperd about your demotion," He continue "There's a spot for you, finally I can take a fucking break from all your bullshit!" he hissed. you rolled your eyes as he looked outside his window, "not that old fat fuck" you muttered beneath your breath.

"What was that?" he turns to you, glaring again. "Nothing, Chief." You bit your tongue. There was a slight silence between the two of you. You didn't like it. The thought of being replaced was never imaginable for you. It's surprisingly making you sad.

"Then what the fuck are you doing here, get the fuck out of my office!" He slammed a folder full of papers to his desk and shouted at you to get out of his sight. "YOU DIDN'T FUCKING DISMISS ME" You snatched the folder and raged out of his office, slamming the door behind.

"FUCK YOU, (Y/N)" his last regards could be heard from outside his office. You scoffed and look down at the folder. A policeman seemed concerned of the fuss, he looked at you funny. "the fuck you looking at, pendejo?!" you taunt them away.

[ Task Force 141 - in some foresty desert-looking environment. ]

You clutched your Kate Spade Jacquard duffle bag and your pink Michael Kors Lady Travel suitcase. Grunting in annoyance while also walking towards the gate of the base with your pink Steve Madden espionage 8-inch heels you bought to watch Barbie with your friends. You have your white top, pink blazer, and pink short linen skirt all from different expensive brands you mindlessly bought. Taking another sip from your Starbucks coffee before tossing it into the trash, you cross your arms to your chest and knocked at the security glass window.

"Hellooooo?" you tapped furiously with your long acrylic nails. "is anyone here? I'm sent by the old fat fuck- I mean General Sheperd." You grew impatient. "HELLO? ay, Por Dios-" You rummage through your Birkin bag to get your phone.

"Security is at switch. No one's there." a deep voice from your back startled you to death.

"JESUS FUCKING-" you fisted your grip and let go again. A 6'2 guy with an odd skull face leaned against the door frame, looking slightly down at you. He has his arms crossed to his chest, he stood and sighed. "That's not a nice way to talk about your superiors, (Y/N) (L/N)." He said coldly. You scoffed. "Who cares." You turn around to the security window again. "You're supposed to follow me" the guy stated again, looking at you in confusion.

"And who are you exactly supposed to be?" you suspiciously pointed at him. He stops in his tracks and tilts his head looking at you. "it's classified." He coldly said.

"..you're the black skully?" you tilted your head, playing the guessing game. "No." His voice grew with a hint of irritation.

"the dark noggin?" you place your finger to your chin. "No i-"

"OH, black Thanatos!" You sway your hand proudly. "you know what stop-" he turns to you, now seriously pissed

"Grim Reaper!" you point at him, flashing a little of the shiny acrylic nails.

"I'm Ghost-" "You are?! This place is haunted-" he furrowed his eyebrow and walks towards you trying to assert dominance. "NO bloody fucking hell. My callsign, Ghost." He places his hand on his hip and sighs in annoyance.

"WOW, You are?!" you tilt your head a little in sarcasm, pretending to be amazed. "Actually, yeah it..shows." your face dropped uninterested and swift. He groaned and turned around again. "you can stay here for the rest of the night or fucking follow me, that's your call." he states. You shrug. You follow him anyways while dragging your stuff.

[cafeteria.]

"Boys, introducing our new recruit. (Y/N)(L/N)." The so-called captain places himself on a stool and sips his coffee. There was a slight pause with silence between the five of them. One of the guys broke the silence by coughing which caught your attention. "Is this some kind of new transfer student being forced to introduce themself in front of the class scenario?" you cooed. "if you want it to look like that, yeah." The guy with a mohawk leaned himself to the counter and snickered to another dude.

"Okay, what's your name then uh?" you crossed your arm and tilt your head, gazing at him. His smile dropped when he saw your gesture, you took over the atmosphere. "..Soap Mactavish. They call me Soap on station." you puffed your cheeks, and laughed like a hawk "the fuck who signed their name Soap? And who are you? shampoo?" you point at the dude beside Soap." oh I'm Gaz," Soap snickers with muffled laughter.

you nodded, trying to mentally take notes of everyone's name. "uhhuh uhuh..." You knew Ghost'slready. But he was nowhere to be found in the cafeteria "..and you're the captain here?" you turned to the guy beside you. He places down his mug and clears his throat.

"yes, Captain Price-"

"rice?" you squinted your eyes

"no, Pri-"

"Spice?" he bit his bottom lip when you said that.

"no, its captain Price-"

"Lice?" you tilted your head.

"PRICE, (Y/N) get your head out of your ass for once so you can HEAR." Ghost suddenly came out of nowhere snapping his last straw. You raised both of your hands in defense. "Price, are you sure she's supposed to be here-" You snapped your head towards Ghost who doubted you.

"Fuck you mean by that," you walk towards him as the sound of your heels echo. "Trust me you want this bad bitch on your side, Ghostie."

You glared back at Ghost.

"correct- (y/n) Is a well-trained soldier that worked right below Chief Artofay. She's also the intel behind Hadir's location." Captain Price voices your past successes. "no shit, tell this Casper boy more about me capt. So he won't mess with this bad bitch, uh." You crossed your arms to your chest in pride, facing Ghost who has his eyebrow raised. Soap and Gaz wheezed at the 'Casper'.

"She saved Kate Laswell from Makarov's circumjancet." Price smiled as you nodded toward Ghost proudly. "Fuck yeah tell em more, capt." you glared sharper to his eyes, feeling your ego well fed.

"also almost got fired due to her reckless aggression in Rick's illegal explosive and drug sales." Price smirked behind you. "uhuh yeah tell him tha- wait what" Your eyes widen and turned around to face Price. "No no, capt don't tell em that part-" You pointed your acrylic nails towards him slightly embarrassed. This made Ghost chuckle.

"Okay, that's enough talking. so.. (y/n) you're in a task force. What callsign do you want?" Captain Price took out a paper out of a folder reading through it. You were about to voice your nickname but was cut off.

"Barbie" Gaz snickered. "Oh this Barbie ain't just Barbie, it's Barbenheimer." you chuckle in sarcasm. "shortie." Ghost exclaims while looking down at your heels. "the fuck did you just call me, Casper?" You tilt your head disturbingly to him. "The heels..take 'em off. You're probably 5'4 without them." You could feel him smirking behind his balaclava. This caused a burst of friendly laughter amongst the cafeteria which sulked you down in annoyance.

"That's a surprisingly good question though. You haven't wrote your callsign for the task force. You'll need one." Price shows you your paper. The 'callsign' column was empty.

You think about it for a second, looking at your Pandora rings, then you held your Swarovski necklace. A brief moment afterward, you looked up at Price and smiled.

"My callsign is... Dior." You gave a smug smile and put your obsession of expensive brands to the field. "Great. Let's get your adjustments then."

A/N: I'm still trying to settling in with tumblr, I'm really new at this thing so forgive me for my mistakes </3

#task force 141 #mw2 #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #cod mw2 #x reader

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warningsine · 5 months ago

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is trying to accomplish something that seems impossible in the South American country: steer people away from WhatsApp and X.

Maduro’s announcement this week that he had ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela is the latest in a series of efforts by his government to try to suppress information sharing among people voicing doubts about his claim to victory in the July 28 presidential election.

It also reveals how every aspect of Venezuela’s government is subject to Maduro’s wants and needs, as he went from demanding his Cabinet to retweet his posts in May to ordering the nation’s telecommunications agency on Thursday to block access to X.

“X out for 10 days! Elon Musk out!” Maduro said Thursday as he announced his decision to temporarily ban the social network and accused its owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk, of using it to promote hatred after Venezuela’s disputed presidential election.

Maduro, who also accused the social network of being used by his opponents to create political unrest, gave the company 10 days to “present their documents,” but he gave no additional details.

The government’s centralized communications office on Friday did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking a copy of the resolution Maduro said he signed to authorize the ban against X.

X’s press office did not immediately respond to an email from AP requesting comment.

Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner of the highly anticipated election, but unlike previous presidential contests, they have yet to produce detailed voting tallies to back up their claim. Meanwhile, the opposition revealed it collected tally sheets from more than 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines nationwide showing he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The dispute��drew thousands to the streets in protest to which the government responded with full force. Security forces have since rounded up more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or questioning his victory. Venezuela-based human rights organization Provea recorded 24 deaths.

After the election, Musk used X to accuse the self-proclaimed socialist leader of a “great electoral fraud,” drawing Maduro’s rage and a challenge to a “fight.” That’s a reversal for Maduro, who, aware of the key role that social networks play in news consumption in Venezuela, told Cabinet members in May during a televised meeting to support him on social media.

“Who among you does not follow my accounts?” he said. “You are embarrassed to raise your hand, right? All of you? And why don’t you like me? Why don’t you like or retweet? Why? That doesn’t cost anything, it’s a second, boom!”

A month later, he promoted an Instagram post whose song’s chorus urged people to “Give Nicolás a like, give Nicolás a like,” with a caption including the hashtag #NicoLike.

Fran Monroy, a telecommunications expert in Venezuela, said Maduro’s decision to block X is an escalation of censorship that began several years ago.

“Venezuelan newscasts from the major television networks are not watched because they do not reflect the news reality of the country,” he said. “So, what is left? The emergence of YouTube channels that have been very powerful in terms of the dissemination of information, social networks and in some ways virtual messaging or private messaging apps.”

Earlier this week, Maduro went after Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app, publicly deleting it from his phone during his weekly TV show and urging supporters to switch to competitor Telegram.

WhatsApp plays an integral role in everyday life in Venezuela. Millions use it not only to chat among friends and family, but also to schedule beauty salon and doctor’s appointments, buy food, hail a cab, send and receive school homework, and hire and fire employees.

Even the ruling party’s vast network of neighborhood leaders depend on the app to distribute subsidized food, take attendance at pro-government events and coordinate voter-mobilizing efforts on election days, including on July 28.

And the country’s main opposition used it to communicate with campaign volunteers, local organizers and others, who contributed to the bloc’s herculean task of securing the tally sheets from polling sites.

“Maduro has pivoted hard from trying to purchase support and mobilize his base through propaganda ... to recognizing neither of these strategies will work,” said Will Freeman, a fellow on Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “As he leans hard on repression to remain in power, he has an incentive to limit communications so Venezuelans and the world see as little of what will unfold as possible.”

It remained unclear Friday how the government is carrying out the ban on X. Some users in the capital, Caracas, could still access and refresh the application on their phones without using a virtual private network.

Horacio Melendez, however, was among those who could no longer update the posts on the application. Sitting outside a church before going to work, he said he has never posted anti-government messages on his account, which he uses mostly to read what others share. He expressed skepticism over the reasons for the ban.

“That’s where the news is,” Melendez said. “There is a lot of news shared among people, among citizens, about the things that are happening. I imagine that has something to do with the ban as well; it’s not just because of Mr. Elon.”

#venezuela #x #whatsapp #politics

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theappideas1 · 2 years ago

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How To Build A Salon Appointment Booking App? - The App Ideas

Explore Comprehensive Guide On How To Build A Salon Appointment Booking App. Let's check it out in this article!

https://theappideas.com/salon-appointment-booking-app/

#salon appointment booking app #Salon Booking App #Salon Booking App development #on demand salon app development

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mariacallous · 1 year ago

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In 2020, Nazia was working at a data entry office in Hyderabad, but dreamed of being a beautician. Then, on YouTube, she saw a video about Urban Company, a platform similar to the US site TaskRabbit, which promises to connect workers—plumbers, electricians, painters, beauticians, and others—with clients who need their services. Workers who join the platform as beauticians often pay upward of $500 to register and receive a salon equipment kit. For Nazia, it felt like an investment worth taking.

When it launched in 2014, Urban Company was revolutionary for India’s disjointed home services market, providing customers with vetted and trained workers through an easy-to-use interface. Nazia was one of tens of thousands of workers who joined the platform, which grew and grew thanks to consecutive rounds of fundraising from investors including Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures, becoming the largest home services provider in India, valued at almost $3 billion. Then it expanded into the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. In 2023, it launched in the US.

For workers it promised an opportunity to work flexibly, and earn well. In 2020, Fair Work, a research group that studies gig work companies, rated the company the best for workers in India, giving it a score of eight out of 10 on parameters that include fair pay and working conditions. (Uber scored one out of 10).

Nazia got stellar ratings and reviews from customers on the platform—so much so that she was invited to pay $300 to upgrade her account to Prime, which gave her access to better-paying jobs.

“Everything was going great,” she says. “With the money I made, I was able to help my family, buy a two-wheeler, and save money for my wedding.”

Urban Company fostered an identity for itself that was different from other gig work platforms, particularly for women. But since the start of the year, things have gone downhill, fast. Thousands of workers have found themselves arbitrarily dumped from the platform for not meeting new targets that they say have been set unattainably high. Nazia is among them. The platform, it seems, is subject to the same cycle of “enshittification” as its peers, sacrificing the incentives it had offered to get workers onto the platform in order to turn a profit—and abandoning its promises of flexibility in the process.

Urban Company declined to comment.

The first sign of trouble at Urban Company started in 2021, as the pandemic hit the home services business. The company slipped in Fairwork’s rankings, scoring five out of 10. Workers twice held protests demanding lower commissions and safer working conditions. After a media storm, Urban Company published a Medium blog introducing a “12 point program” to “improve partner earnings and livelihood”—which included lowering commissions and introducing an SOS helpline for women’s safety. In an attempt to be more transparent, the company started publishing a partner earnings index, but it also filed lawsuits against four protesters for “illegal and unlawful” actions.

But things got really difficult for Urban Company’s workers in 2023. The platform introduced a new rule stipulating that workers had to maintain an acceptance rate of at least 70 percent, a customer rating of at least 4.7 out of 5, and cancel fewer than four jobs per month. Failure meant being blocked from the app. Nazia managed to keep her ratings above 4.8 until May 2023, when they slipped to 4.69. She was temporarily blocked and put into ��retraining”—an online video course followed by 10 bookings that she had to take free of charge in an attempt to boost her rating. Unfortunately, for Nazia, her rating did not budge from 4.69. Since then, she’s been out of work.

“It all happened so quickly,” Nazia says. Now she’s stuck with $2,500 in loans.

I spoke to more than a dozen women like Nazia, all of whom asked for anonymity to protect themselves from retribution and say they were blocked by the platform after failing to meet what they believe were unrealistic expectations.

In Bengaluru, Shabnam—who used a friend’s credit card to pay the $500 joining fee—found that Urban Company started assigning her jobs farther and farther away from home. With rising costs and high commissions, taking these distant trips was “as good as earning nothing,” she says. She turned down the jobs that weren’t economically viable, and soon her response rate—the number of jobs she accepted—dropped to 20 percent. In June, she was dropped from the platform.

Seema, who had worked for Urban Company for five years, had a miscarriage earlier this year. As she was being rushed to the hospital, she didn’t have time to mark in the Urban Company app that she wasn’t able to work that day. Her acceptance rate of bookings fell to 30 percent. She couldn’t get her rate back up to the mandated 80 percent, and she was permanently suspended from the platform. “I went to the office with the doctor’s prescription and everything. They still did not agree to reinstate my account,” Seema says.

In Hyderabad, Sunanda says her account was deactivated earlier this year after a death in the family meant she had to cancel some jobs. She pleaded with a company representative on its helpline and in person—she even submitted the death certificate, but she’s still blocked. “They said they cannot reinstate my account because my rating is not 4.7 or above. I told them my rating is 4.69 and if they give me a chance I will bring it back up, but they refused,” Sunanda, 42, said. “They have given the customers this one weapon: ratings.”

As well as the stick of targets and quotas, Urban Company also offered a carrot for workers: shares in the business.

In 2022, the company announced its Partner Stock Options Program (PSOP), granting shares worth $18 million over the next five to seven years. The following November, they awarded stocks worth approximately $635,000 to 500 partners. But while the PSOPs seemed to be almost guaranteed for workers, the process of accessing them is heavily gamified.

Pratima, an Urban Company beautician, was very excited at the end of 2022 when she realized she’d made it to the top 10 list of workers in her category in Bengaluru. If she continued to stay in the top 10 until April, she was told she’d be granted the company’s stock options that following November. “They call us partners, but don’t treat us like it,” said Pratima, requesting to be referred to under a pseudonym. “I was hoping that if I get a share in the company, maybe then I will be treated like a partner.”

By February, Pratima had completed more than 200 jobs, and she was still in the top 10. Then, a series of low ratings by disgruntled customers pulled down her overall rating, blocking her temporarily and dropping her off the leaderboard. She kept at it, worked back-to-back jobs, and got herself unblocked and back into the rankings. April came around, and she was in the top 10. But then the company seemed to have extended the contest—the leaderboard has kept on counting, but the workers don’t know what’s going on. “It’s like they are making us run a marathon in the name of shares,” she says.

For women who were sold Urban Company’s promises of flexibility and empowerment, the shock of losing their livelihood or being forced to work longer and longer hours has been exacerbated by a sense of betrayal.

“For women especially, a lot of times they have care responsibilities at home, and so there’s hope to find work that’s flexible, that allows them to pick up their kids from school or take junior to the doctor,” says Alexandrea Ravenelle, an author of two books on gig work and a sociology assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. “A lot of these platforms are playing off of that need for flexibility because, for many of the workers who are coming to these platforms, an alternative isn’t a white-collar job in a tech office where they can bring the play pen and set the kid up.”

The mismatch between the promise of these platforms and their reality becomes clear when the businesses move from their early growth phase, in which they are able to burn investors’ cash, to one where they have to start to turn a profit.

When two-sided marketplaces that match workers with clients grow, they try to make things as comfortable as possible for workers to create a deep pool of available services. “The shortcut way to do this is to offer incentives to them—be it sellers, drivers, or other gig workers—showing them that this is a lucrative business,” says Rutvik Doshi, a general partner at VC firm Athera Venture Partners.

Companies spend big on marketing as they try to grow as fast as possible (during the 2021–2022 financial year, Urban Company spent close to $30 million on marketing and clocked a loss of over $60 million), working on the assumption that one day the demand for their services will become organic, the suppliers will start making enough money without incentives, and the platform will be able to raise the commissions it takes off its workers.

But when this doesn’t happen, companies desperately rework their models. When they need to curb spending, or when they struggle to raise new funding, marketing is the first thing they cut. Demand drops, creating an oversupply of workers on the platform. “And the excessive supply on the platforms feels the pinch. That’s the typical cycle with a two-sided marketplace,” Doshi says.

On July 10, Urban Company CEO Abhiraj Bahl released a video to the company’s workers explaining the new strict policies. He said that each year, 45 percent of customers use the platform just once and don’t make a second booking, while 15 to 20 percent of workers leave. “And as a result of all of this, Urban Company is still a loss-making company,” he said in the video, part of which has been viewed by WIRED. “So we are losing customers and we are also losing money.”

He blamed the decline in customers on “poor quality service” and “off-platform jobs”—that is, workers making private arrangements with clients and taking their work off Urban Company, something that’s a serious risk to the company’s model. “It’s kind of an existential question: They need the workers and the customers to stay on their platform in order to remain an intermediary,” says Ambika Tandon, a tech and labor researcher at the Center for Internet and Society think tank.

All of this has led the company to push its workers into a mold that essentially has all the downsides of regular employment but few of the benefits. For workers who joined the platform for its flexibility and autonomy, this reality of platform work becomes difficult to reconcile with.

“Urban Company is trying to imagine an ideal worker for this particular model to be someone who is always available, gives their 100 percent, [doesn’t] cancel at all, has no family responsibilities,” Tandon says. “But a lot of these workers are single parents, who have family responsibility and children to take care of. These are not folks who will fit into this model of having a 80 percent, 90 percent acceptance rate.”

In June, WhatsApp groups used by Urban Company workers were flooded with messages about one of their peers, who had reportedly died by suicide after the company deactivated her account—leaving her with no source of income. Several workers I spoke with said that while the news was shocking, none of them knew the victim. “We were vexed,” Seema from Bengaluru says, “But the problem is that all of us are so isolated from each other. The platform doesn’t have any get-togethers, nothing. We all don’t have any relationships, which is a plus point for Urban Company.”

But, like their peers across the platform economy, Urban Company workers are now getting organized. In June and July, hundreds of Urban Company workers took to the streets in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Shabnam was present at one of the protests last month in Bengaluru, demanding that the company reinstate her account. With this, they have joined thousands of Indian gig workers from Uber, Ola, Swiggy, Blinkit and more.

There have been at least half a dozen such protests across different cities in India since the beginning of the year—all of them essentially fighting for the same reasons: better pay and working conditions, a ban on unfair practices, and laws governing gig work that workers can lean on for safety and protection. “It’s not just Urban Company that has been blocking accounts,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder of Telangana Gig and Platform Worker Union. “Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Flipkart—all aggregator companies are doing this.”

Rikta Krishnaswamy, a coordinator with the All India Gig Workers Union, said that the union has had conversations with the labor departments across different cities, including Delhi and Pune. Another meeting is coming up in Mumbai. “We have raised complaints against these illegal dismissals, and the labor departments in Delhi, Noida, and Gurugram have sent notices to the company for a meeting,” she said. “Let’s see if they actually show up.”

Some of the workers whose accounts were blocked have been able to get it reinstated, provided their rating was not lower than 4.7 and they weren’t blocked for trust and safety issues. But, if the video shared by Bahl is any indication, things are only going to get worse by the end of the year. The company has launched a salon quality improvement program called Project Shakti, under which, by December, the performance metrics are going to get even stricter for beauticians: an acceptance rate greater than 80 percent, no more than three monthly cancellations, and “100 percent orders delivered on UC app only.” The rating threshold will continue to be at a minimum of 4.7.

The new policy is being hammered home. Workers whose accounts have been reinstated and those already active on the platform are being called for a meeting to the Urban Company office in small groups of around 10. Some have to watch Bahl’s video. Then they are presented with new terms and conditions to sign, which include consent for them to be permanently blocked from the platform if they miss their targets.

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