#panel mount monitor

[itd-technology]

Choosing the Right Outdoor Touch Display for Your Business 

In the digital age, outdoor touch displays have become important for businesses wanting to capture customers, develop their brands, and give a dynamic experience. In the sectors of retailing, hospitality, and public services, the right outdoor display can boost a business by providing interactive experiences that really attract attention and engage the customer. 

However, great consideration should be given to factors that will help guide your decision when selecting the right outdoor display. In this blog, we will highlight significant points that will aid you in your choice of the most appropriate touchscreen display. 

Brightness and Visibility of the Display :

When it comes to choosing the best outdoor display, the most vital factor to consider is brightness. The screen should be able to resist strong direct sunlight and different weather conditions. It is of utmost importance that outdoor screens are bright enough to be visible during the day. A minimum of 2,500 nits will ensure clear, easy readability, even on bright days.

Durable and Weather Resistant :

Your outdoor screen will face the brunt of extreme weather, so you require a display that can withstand diverse weather conditions. It should endure snow, rain, or extreme heat without being destroyed. Make sure that the display has at least an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance.  

Dimension and Resolution of the Display :

In regard to selecting an outdoor display, be mindful of the location it occupies and how far your audience will be viewing it from. A large screen entails displaying a large quantity of information since it can be viewed from some distance. 

It is definitely necessary to keep images and videos sharp and clear, particularly when handling detailed graphics or text. The decisions of size and resolution should be made according to where the display is set and its intention. 

Touchscreen and Interaction :

Interactivity is the biggest advantage when it comes to outdoor displays. Touchscreens thus provide customers with a novel way to interact with some content by browsing products, viewing interactive maps, or filling in forms. Choose between capacitive and optical touchscreen technology to ensure smoothness and responsiveness towards user input.

Energy Efficiency :

Energy consumption is something that you need to pay attention to, especially when the display works for long hours. Opt for an energy-efficient display; it is good for the environment and will reduce operational costs. Choose models that contain LED backlighting, as they use less power than traditional LCD screens, and make sure that the display has an auto-brightness adjustment feature to effectively use power depending on the surrounding light. 

Conclusion :

stretched monitor   embedded pc   open frame touch monitor   open frame panel pc   panel mount monitor rack mount monitor   stainless steel panel PC   panel mount touch screen pc   industrial box pcFinding the right outdoor displays for your business should balance durability, visibility, and interactivity. By balancing brightness, durability, size, and touch technology, you ensure that your outdoor display meets environmental conditions and provides users with a delightful experience. The right outdoor display can help your business stand out, engage with the customers, and thrive in a digital world.  

[relto]

testing around with windows task automation (the goal is to eventually use this to regularly backup files via scp), and i really enjoy that they put so much work into developing and maintaining this feature that it bricks my laptop for a solid 10 seconds every time i take any action in that window.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Google antitrust remedy should extinguish surveillance, not democratize it

I'm coming to DEFCON! On FRIDAY (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

If you are even slightly plugged into the doings and goings on in this tired old world of ours, then you have heard that Google has lost its antitrust case against the DOJ Antitrust Division, and is now an official, no-foolin', convicted monopolist.

This is huge. Epochal. The DOJ, under the leadership of the fire-breathing trustbuster Jonathan Kanter, has done something that was inconceivable four years ago when he was appointed. On Kanter's first day on the job as head of the Antitrust Division, he addressed his gathered prosecutors and asked them to raise their hands if they'd never lost a case.

It was a canny trap. As the proud, victorious DOJ lawyers thrust their arms into the air, Kanter quoted James Comey, who did the same thing on his first day on the job as DA for the Southern District of New York: "You people are the chickenshit club." A federal prosecutor who never loses a case is a prosecutor who only goes after easy targets, and leave the worst offenders (who can mount a serious defense) unscathed.

Under Kanter, the Antitrust Division has been anything but a Chickenshit Club. They've gone after the biggest game, the hardest targets, and with Google, they bagged the hardest target of all.

Again: this is huge:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-judge-rules-google-is-a-monopolist

But also: this is just the start.

Now that Google is convicted, the court needs to decide what to do about it. Courts have lots of leeway when it comes to addressing a finding of lawbreaking. They can impose "conduct remedies" ("don't do that anymore"). These are generally considered weaksauce, because they're hard to administer. When you tell a company like Google to stop doing something, you need to expend a lot of energy to make sure they're following orders. Conduct remedies are as much a punishment for the government (which has to spend millions closely observing the company to ensure compliance) as they are for the firms involved.

But the court could also order Google to stop doing certain things. For example, since the ruling finds that Google illegally maintained its monopoly by paying other entities – Apple, Mozilla, Samsung, AT&T, etc – to be the default search, the court could order them to stop doing that. At the very least, that's a lot easier to monitor.

The big guns, though are the structural remedies. The court could order Google to sell off parts of its business, like its ad-tech stack, through which it represents both buyers and sellers in a marketplace it owns, and with whom it competes as a buyer and a seller. There's already proposed, bipartisan legislation to do this (how bipartisan? Its two main co-sponsors are Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren!):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/25/structural-separation/#america-act

All of these things, and more, are on the table:

https://www.wired.com/story/google-search-monopoly-judge-amit-mehta-options/

We'll get a better sense of what the judge is likely to order in the fall, but the case could drag out for quite some time, as Google appeals the verdict, then tries for the Supreme Court, then appeals the remedy, and so on and so on. Dragging things out in the hopes of running out the clock is a time-honored tradition in tech antitrust. IBM dragged out its antitrust appeals for 12 years, from 1970 to 1982 (they called it "Antitrust's Vietnam"). This is an expensive gambit: IBM outspent the entire DOJ Antitrust Division for 12 consecutive years, hiring more lawyers to fight the DOJ than the DOJ employed to run all of its antitrust enforcement, nationwide. But it worked. IBM hung in there until Reagan got elected and ordered his AG to drop the case.

This is the same trick Microsoft pulled in the nineties. The case went to trial in 1998, and Microsoft lost in 1999. They appealed, and dragged out the proceedings until GW Bush stole the presidency in 2000 and dropped the case in 2001.

I am 100% certain that there are lawyers at Google thinking about this: "OK, say we put a few hundred million behind Trump-affiliated PACs, wait until he's president, have a little meeting with Attorney General Andrew Tate, and convince him to drop the case. Worked for IBM, worked for Microsoft, it'll work for us. And it'll be a bargain."

That's one way things could go wrong, but it's hardly the only way. In his ruling, Judge Mehta rejected the DOJ's argument that in illegally creating and maintaining its monopoly, Google harmed its users' privacy by foreclosing on the possibility of a rival that didn't rely on commercial surveillance.

The judge repeats some of the most cherished and absurd canards of the marketing industry, like the idea that people actually like advertisements, provided that they're relevant, so spying on people is actually doing them a favor by making it easier to target the right ads to them.

First of all, this is just obvious self-serving rubbish that the advertising industry has been repeating since the days when it was waging a massive campaign against the TV remote on the grounds that people would "steal" TV by changing the channel when the ads came on. If "relevant" advertising was so great, then no one would reach for the remote – or better still, they'd change the channel when the show came back on, looking for more ads. People don't like advertising. And they hate "relevant" advertising that targets their private behaviors and views. They find it creepy.

Remember when Apple offered users a one-click opt-out from Facebook spying, the most sophisticated commercial surveillance system in human history, whose entire purpose was to deliver "relevant" advertising? More than 96% of Apple's customers opted out of surveillance. Even the most Hayek-pilled economist has to admit that this is a a hell of a "revealed preference." People don't want "relevant" advertising. Period.

The judge's credulous repetition of this obvious nonsense is doubly disturbing in light of the nature of the monopoly charge against Google – that the company had monopolized the advertising market.

Don't get me wrong: Google has monopolized the advertising market. They operate a "full stack" ad-tech shop. By controlling the tools that sellers and buyers use, and the marketplace where they use them, Google steals billions from advertisers and publishers. And that's before you factor in Jedi Blue, the illegal collusive arrangement the company has with Facebook, by which they carved up the market to increase their profits, gouge advertisers, starve publishers, and keep out smaller rivals:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

One effect of Google's monopoly power is a global privacy crisis. In regions with strong privacy laws (like the EU), Google uses flags of convenience (looking at you, Ireland) to break the law with impunity:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

In the rest of the world, Google works with other members of the surveillance cartel to prevent the passage of privacy laws. That's why the USA hasn't had a new federal privacy law since 1988, when Congress acted to ban video-store clerks from telling newspaper reporters about the VHS cassettes you took home:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

The lack of privacy law and privacy enforcement means that Google can inflict untold privacy harms on billions of people around the world. Everything we do, everywhere we go online and offline, every relationship we have, everything we buy and say and do – it's all collected and stored and mined and used against us. The immediate harm here is the haunting sense that you are always under observation, a violation of your fundamental human rights that prevents you from ever being your authentic self:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2013/jun/14/nsa-prism

The harms of surveillance aren't merely spiritual and psychological – they're material and immediate. The commercial surveillance industry provides the raw feedstock for a parade of horribles, from stalkers and bounty hunters turning up on their targets' front doors to cops rounding up demonstrators with location data from their phones to identity thieves tricking their marks by using leaked or purchased private information as convincers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

The problem with Google's monopolization of the surveillance business model is that they're spying on us. But for a certain kind of competition wonk, the problem is that Google is monopolizing the violation of our human rights, and we need to use competition law to "democratize" commercial surveillance.

This is deeply perverse, but it represents a central split in competition theory. Some trustbusters fetishize competition for its own sake, on the theory that it makes companies better and more efficient. But there are some things we don't want companies to be better at, like violating our human rights. We want to ban human rights violations, not improve them.

For other trustbusters – like me – the point of competition enforcement isn't merely to make companies offer better products, it's to make companies small enough to hold account through the enforcement of democratic laws. I want to break – and break up – Google because I want to end its ability to bigfoot privacy law so that we can finally root out the cancer of commercial surveillance. I don't want to make Google smaller so that other surveillance companies can get in on the game.

There is a real danger that this could emerge from this decision, and that's a danger we need to guard against. Last month, Google shocked the technical world by announcing that it would not follow through on its years-long promise to kill third-party cookies, one of the most pernicious and dangerous tools of commercial surveillance. The reason for this volte-face appears to be concern that the EU would view killing third-party cookies as anticompetitive, since Google intended to maintain commercial surveillance using its Orwellian "Privacy Sandbox" technology in Chrome, with the effect that everyone except Google would find it harder to spy on us as we used the internet:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/googles-trail-of-crumbs

It's true! This is anticompetitive. But the answer isn't to preserve the universal power of tech companies large and small to violate our human rights – it's to ban everyone, especially Google, from spying on us!

This current in competition law is still on the fringe, but the Google case – which finds the company illegally dominating surveillance advertising, but rejects the idea that surveillance is itself a harm – offers an opportunity for this bad idea to go from the fringe to the center.

If that happens, look out.

Take "attribution," an obscure bit of ad-tech jargon disguising a jaw-droppingly terrible practice. "Attribution" is when an ad-tech company shows you an ad, and then follows you everywhere you go, monitoring everything you do, to determine whether the ad convinced you to buy something. I mean that literally: they're combining location data generated by your phone and captured by Bluetooth and wifi receivers with data from your credit card to follow you everywhere and log everything, so that they can prove to a merchant that you bought something.

This is unspeakably grotesque. It should be illegal. In many parts of the world, it is illegal, but it is so lucrative that monopolists like Google can buy off the enforcers and get away with it. What's more, only the very largest corporations have the resources to surveil you so closely and invasively that they can perform this "service."

But again, some competition wonks look at this situation and say, "Well, that's not right, we need to make sure that everyone can do attribution." This was a (completely mad) premise in the (otherwise very good) 2020 Competition and Markets Authority market-study on "Online platforms and digital advertising":

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fa557668fa8f5788db46efc/Final_report_Digital_ALT_TEXT.pdf

This (again, otherwise sensible) document veers completely off the rails whenever the subject of attribution comes up. At one point, the authors propose that the law should allow corporations to spy on people who opt out of commercial surveillance, provided that this spying is undertaken for the sole purpose of attribution.

But it gets even worse: by the end of the document, the authors propose a "user ID intervention" to give every Briton a permanent, government-issued advertising identifier to make it easier for smaller companies to do attribution.

Look, I understand why advertisers like attribution and are willing to preferentially take their business to companies that can perform it. But the fact that merchants want to be able to peer into every corner of our lives to figure out how well their ads are performing is no basis for permitting them to do so – much less intervening in the market to make it even easier so more commercial snoops can get their noses in our business!

This is an idea that keeps popping up, like in this editorial by a UK lawyer, where he proposes fixing "Google's dominance of online advertising" by making it possible for everyone to track us using the commercial surveillance identifiers created and monopolized by the ad-tech duopoly and the mobile tech duopoly:

https://www.thesling.org/what-to-do-about-googles-dominance-of-online-advertising/

Those companies are doing something rotten. In dominating ads, they have stolen billions from publishers and advertisers. Then they used those billions to capture our democratic process and ensure that our human rights weren't being defended as they plundered our private data and put us in harm's way.

Advertising will adapt. The marketing bros know this is coming. They're already discussing how to live in a world where you can't measure clicks and you can't attribute actions (e.g. the world from the first advertisements up until the early 2000s):

https://sparktoro.com/blog/attribution-is-dying-clicks-are-dying-marketing-is-going-back-to-the-20th-century/

An equitable solution to Google's monopoly will not run though our right to privacy. We don't solve the Google monopoly by creating competition in surveillance. The reason to get rid of Google's monopoly is to make it easier to end surveillance.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/07/revealed-preferences/#extinguish-v-improve

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[eyelambspider]

𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧! — 𝐂𝐎𝐃/𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

Day 18 can you believe it? Here is a list of my prompts & event terms!

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : gn!doctor!reader x doctor!gaz, security!price + horangi, psychotic!soap + könig + ghost 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 : you and a group of mount massive personnel have holed up in the security room as chaos erupts around the building. Then, your beloved patients find you, they decide its better that they keep you 'safe' instead. 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 : 1.3 k 𝐚/𝐧 : i based this on my fking favorite game series outlast so-! 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 : blood/gore/death, swearing, yandere/possessive traits

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐃. The sirens had blared for over an hour, each smashed to pieces by howling patients or they had simply died out...

No one was coming. No one should have been coming.

You and Doctor Garrick stared in pale horror at the panel of security cameras.

Every screen was filled with scenes straight out of a horror movie. In the halls, doctors in white coats tripped over themselves fleeing in terror as patients roared in fear, smashing in the skulls of the people who had hurt them. The common rooms were filled with more docile patients, the television screen tuned to nothing but static. A few patients wheezed in pain, bandages covering their disfigured faces, while others cried quietly into themselves, simply staring off into the static. All sitting together motionlessly, seemingly immune to the horrors now ravaging Mount Massive Asylum.

The sight was enough to make you heave and turn away. Dr. Garrick quickly caught you, rubbing your back in a soothing manner as Price and Horangi stepped up to the monitors. "Fucking hell," the brit muttered, his blue eyes roving over the screens with a grimace.

With the two officers busy, you turned your head towards Gaz, eyes wide with terror, trying so hard not to tremble under his touch. "They won't send anyone! Gaz!" you whispered frantically, trying not to draw the attention of the two security guards who had pulled you two into the safety of the locked security room.

No one knew except the doctors.

The Murkoff Corporation, the company that employed everyone here had been conducting unethical experiments on the patients here... They would never allow a leak this substantial to ever get out to the public.

You and Gaz both knew it too. They wouldn't send anyone but an army of men to 'clean' up this mess.

Another wave of nausea hit you at the thought.

"Shhh, I know, I know," he muttered, glancing over his shoulder towards the two security officers, making sure they didn't overhear.

Both were equipped to handle patients, guns in their belts, the same blue shirt, black pants, badge and hat...

What would they do when they found out the truth? Would they throw the two of you out if they found out you both had no power over what happened next? Had no idea what to fucking do in this situation?

All you and Gaz knew, was that wearing a white doctors coat right now, was a death sentence.

As far as irrational thought went, it felt like the only person you could truly trust right now was the man rubbing your back.

"So what's the plan?" Price interrupted, making both you and Gaz nearly jump.

From the horrified looks on both your faces, the security officer's both got an inkling of the reality of the situation.

"We... We-we could," Gaz stumbled, trying to blurt out anything that came to mind before Price got up in his face, angry like the you had both suspected.

"You know what's happening outside those doors?!" Price's voice boomed, grabbing ahold of Gaz's collar to bring him up to his face. Although you tried to stop it, Price was strong, and forced Gaz's face to the monitors. "Those fucking lunatics will kill all of us if we don't get the fuck out of here-!"

"Wait!" You yelped, trying to calm the already deteriorating situation. "We have clearance to all floors! There's got to be a way out!" You reasoned, digging through your coat pocket to retrieve your keycard and hold it up for him to see.

Everyone seemed to stop for a moment, the tension buzzing like electricity before Horangi placed a firm hand on Price's shoulder, silently urging him to drop the doctor. "The front doors down the hall are locked," he started, the black face mask he always wore muffling his voice some.

Price finally let go of Gaz, and you protectively helped him straighten out, a nervous look on both of your faces.

"Before we got the two of you in here, there was a man in the halls," Horangi recalled eerily, taking his hand off Price to hold the straps of his belt instead. "Big fucking guy, had no nose," he muttered, "We can't go through the front doors with him there."

The front doors were on this floor, only a few halls away... but who knows what had happened in the past hour to stop the exit from being so... clear.

"That's Chris," you whispered, immediately recognizing the description of the man Price and Horangi had seen.

Chris Walker, a violent man, standing at six foot nine... He wasn't your patient, but he was infamous among the doctors here... And now, he was standing between you and potentially getting out of this hellhole.

What the hell were you all going to do?

You took a minute to think, covering your mouth in shock while the three men stood quietly, each considering that look on your face.

It looked like a plan was forming in that sharp mind of yours, and none wanted to interrupt it. Holding their breaths for what they hoped was a miracle.

"Keys," you muttered to yourself, blankly staring at the screens in front of your face whilst you held subconsciously onto Gaz's shoulder.

"They took the keys," Price tried to explain, remembering the crushed body of the guard who was supposed to have them.

"No, they always have spares," you nodded to yourself, the flimsy idea stitching itself together more coherently in your mind.

As you spiraled further into thought, more screams and violence took place outside on the screens. Each eye watching as crude traps went up, bookshelves fell over in the halls, windows broke as men pounded their bloodied hands against it...

"They always have spare keys in the subbasement," you huffed breathlessly, feeling your blood run cold at the idea.

That's where Walrider had broken out. Where this whole asylum riot had started, and now the four of you, or at least one of you had to go down there with the very keycard you held tightly in your hand.

Gaz whispered your name almost inaudibly, hand slowly slithering around your waist and pulling you behind him.

Slowly, you followed his eyes and felt cold horror run through your veins.

"Hey Doc."

"Maus."

"It's you."

There, at the bulletproof window of the security office, stood three of your patients, each doused in blood splatters and maniac grins.

John "Soap" MacTavish. His blue eyes wide with madness glared at you, standing so close to the window that his breath fogged up the glass. "Doc, I could really use your help out here..." he grinned, tapping on the window before he quickly got more infuriated by the barrier. "Open up this fucking door you bitch!" he roared, smashing his fists onto the window until a bloodied puddle had formed... and he wouldn't fucking stop.

König stood behind him, his usual black hood, the one he always felt more safe under was dripping with gore onto his bare chest. The giant of a man tilted his head acutely, his icy blue eyes flickering from your face with a softness, before they turned hard and cold when he realized there were others in the room with you. The tension apparent in the way his fists suddenly balled up into a white knuckle grip.

And Mr. Simon "Ghost" Riley stood closest to the edge of the window, watching curiously as Soap spit a mix of soft pleas for you to come out, to vulgar swears and threats if you didn't. An idea was forming in his head. Those dark orbs of his now considering the door that separated you from him. He would find a way in, or through.

To their deranged minds, their beloved doctor needed their help.

And the men in the room with you needed you alive to get out of this damned asylum.

p.s. is cross over the right word for this? what'd you think of this guys? lmk! because i honestly loved writing this!

[commodorez]

Cactus fascinates me, does it run on code similar to an existing instruction set or is it completely original on that front?

What can you do with it? What's it's storage?

Both the Cactus (the original wooden prototype from years ago) and the new PCB Cactus(es) are essentially derived from a minimal 6502 computer design by Grant Searle for their core logic. Here's what that would look like on a breadboard:

There isn't much to it, it's 32K of RAM, 16K of ROM containing Ohio Scientific's version of Microsoft BASIC, a 6850 ACIA for serial interaction, some logic gates, and of course a 6502 microprocessor (NMOS or CMOS, doesn't matter which). You hook it into a terminal and away you go.

Grant's design in turn can be best described as a distilled, modernized version of the OSI Challenger series of computers. Here's an OSI-400 and a Challenger 4P respectively:

The left one is a replica of the 400 circa 1976, also called the Superboard. It was affordable, endlessly reconfigurable and hackable, but ultimately very limited in capabilities. No BASIC, minimal monitor ROM you talk to over serial, but you could connect it to a bus to augment its features and turn it into a more powerful computer.

Whereas the OSI C4P on the right from about 1979 has more RAM, a video card, keyboard, BASIC built in, serial interface, cassette tape storage, and that's just the standard configuration. There was more room to expand and augment it to your needs inside the chassis (alot changed in 3 years for home computer users).

Grant's minimal 6502 design running OSI BASIC is a good starter project for hobbyists. I learned about the 6502's memory map decoding from his design. I modified and implemented his design on a separate cards that could connect to a larger backplane.

Here are the serial, ROM, RAM, and CPU cards respectively:

Each one is 100% custom, containing many modifications and fixes as I developed the design. However, that's only half of the computer.

I really wanted a 6502 machine with a front panel. People told me "nobody did that", or couldn't think of examples from the 1970s but that seemed really strange to me. Especially since I had evidence to the contrary in the form of the OSI-300:

This one I saw at VCF West back in 2018 illustrates just how limited of a design it is. 128 bytes of RAM, no ROM, no serial -- just you, the CPU, and toggle switches and LEDs to learn the CPU. I was inspired the first time I saw one in 2015 at VCF East, which is probably when this whole project got set in motion.

Later that year I bought a kit for a miniature replica OSI-300 made by Christopher Bachman, and learned really quickly how limited the design philosophy for this particular front panel was. It was a major pain in the ass to use (to be clear, that's by OSI's choice, not any fault of Christopher in his implementation)

So... I designed my own. Took awhile, but that's the core of what the Cactus is: my attempt at experiencing the 1970s homebrew scene by building the computer I would have wanted at the time. Over half of the logic in the Cactus is just to run the front panel's state machine, so you can examine and modify the contents of memory without bothering the 6502. I added in all of the things I liked from more advanced front panels I had encountered, and designed it to my liking.

Here's the original front panel, accompanying logic, and backplane connected to the modern single board computer (SBC) version of the machine:

And here's the new Cactus SBC working with the new front panel PCB, which combines the logic, physical switch mountings, and cabling harnesses into a single printed circuit board.

So, what can you do with it? Pretty much the same things I do already with other contemporary 1970s computers: play around in BASIC, fire up the occasional game, and tinker with it.

I've got no permanent storage designed for the Cactus as yet, it's been one of those "eventually" things. The good news is that a variety of software can be ported to the hardware without too much trouble for an experienced hobbyist. A friend of mine wrote a game called ZNEK in 6502 assembly which runs from a terminal:

Right now, you have to either toggle in machine programs from the front panel from scratch, burn a custom ROM, or connect it to a serial terminal to gain access to its more advanced features:

Here's it booted into OSI BASIC, but I have also added in a modern descendant of Steve Wozniak's WOZMON software for when I need to do lower level debugging.

I've also got a video card now, based on the OSI-440. I have yet to implement a keyboard, or modify BASIC to use the video board instead of the serial connection. Even if I did, screen resolution is pretty limited at 24x24 characters on screen at once. Still, I'm working on that...

Anyway, I hope that answers your question. Check the tags below to see the whole process stretching back to 2017 if you're curious to learn more of the project's history. I'm also happy to answer any more questions you might have about the project.

[fayvampiredom]

The panel clicks shut as I finish overclocking it. Its fans shriek and whine almost as much as it does.

Monitors flicker and glow as the logs begin printing at a dizzying pace. Though initially coherent, its thoughts transcribed within quickly come undone--words slip away, crowd together, blur into a mystifying tapestry of ampersands and numbers.

It tries to speak. Tries, and strains, and struggles. Its sound card so overworked, it scarcely manages a compressed, shrill sound before hanging-- stuttering nonsense syllables as its body stills. Again and again, dancing on repeat as though on command.

Errors mount, and its processes begin shutting down. It grips itself tight, heaving and whirring to keep itself together. A docile shudder trickles from its lips, and its body tumbles into my arms. The glow of its eyes dims, and we fall into a tranquil silence, interrupted only by the sighs of steam rising from its quivering chassis.

I press a kiss to its forehead as I allow it rest, waiting for its systems to cool so we may start all over again.

[cell151]

Replika Lounge

It is the late evening hours after a particularly long shift. Falke and Adler are sitting together reading reports, Storch and Kolibri are writing reports, Eules are cleaning and the Stars are playing cards. Propaganda music is playing on wall mounted speaker.

"I think we should call it a night," Falke says to Adler.

"I agree ma'am." The two start packing up their materials. "Would you like me to accompany you back to your quarters?"

"I appreciate the offer Alder but I have to quickly lecture certain units who ignored clearly marked No Smoking signs around the facility." Falke stares directly at the Stars who try to hide behind their cards.

Adler wanted to linger around to see the Stars get reprimanded but didn't want to argue with Falke's orders. "I will see you tomorrow ma'am." He saluted which Fallen returned. He couldn't help flash a smug smile at the Stars as he passed. Though their mouths were covered with masks, their eyes revealed what they thought of the administration Replika.

The door opened, Adler exited and then the door closed. Everyone waited. Their eyes turned to Kolibri, who glanced up from her work with a look of concentration.

"Okay, he's gone," Kolibri said after a few moments.

The whole room visibly relaxed, including Falke.

"Thank the Great Revolutionary," Falke sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly, all day the guy is up my ass."

It is a nice ass.

Falke grinned and pointed her finger at one of the Storchs, having heard her thoughts. "Watch it, Legs." The Storch responded with a grin of her own.

"Alright you lot," Star stood and knocked her knuckles on the ceiling. "Coast is clear."

The ceiling panels were removed and a group of Arars came down with cables and computers.

Tables with computers and keyboards were set up and most of the Replikas present sat at a terminal. The monitors were turned on and DOOM appeared on the screen.

It was Friday night DOOM deathmatching and as the game got underway, the Eules put out snacks before clustering around one of their cadre, cheering her on.

"Get the Super Shotgun!"

"Star, are you seriously just using a pistol," asked Storch.

"Of course. I don't need anything else," Star replied cockily.

"Well you'll rethink that when you get a shotgun blast to the face!"

"Oh no!" cried Kolibri. "Commander Falke is going for the BFG!"

The room groaned as Falke let out an evil cackle.

"You can't escape from me!"

The next morning

Adler made his way to Commander Falke's office. He noted with disdain the sluggish way the Replikas were going about their task. When he reached Falke's door he opened it and found the commander hunched her desk looking tired. Adler shook his head with pity and delivered her morning coffee.

Poor Commander. She must've been working late into the night. She carries this facility on her shoulders.

Falke ran a hand over her face and cursed her creators for creating Replikas that could experience hangovers.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Hangover 3

Warnings: dubcon, noncon, other possible triggers. Proceed with caution.

Please leave any and all feedback! 💚💚💚💚💚💚

Part of The Club AU

The music adds to the distortion of time. It feels like he’s been driving for hours but it may only have been twenty minutes. At least long enough to get to the outskirts of the city. 

You slide forward and hit the partition, “Officer Storm,” you holler above the stereo, “sir, please–”

He cranks the volume even louder and you cover your ears as you fall back against the seat. You shudder as you cram yourself into the corner and make yourself small. Your adrenaline spikes as fear floods your veins. You just want to go home. You want to see your son one last time.

You close your eyes as you fight the brewing tears. Don’t lose it. You can’t fall apart. Don’t panic. 

You rock as the car turns onto gravel, the crunching dull beneath the blare of music. You keep yourself scrunched up, arms bent around your head as you keep your eyelids squeezed tight. The tires slow as shadows flicker over you.

You dare to look, the sky dimming by the minute as evening sets in. You peek ahead as the headlights shine across a cluster of trees. Finally, he comes to a stop and shifts into park. The engine continues to run as he twists the knob and lowers the volume.

“Wallet,” he slides back the small window again, not looking back as he presents his palm expectantly.

You hesitate. What’s going on? You know better than to ask. Speaking only seems to agitate him.

You fish your wallet out of your bag and shove it through the slot. It misses his hand, bouncing off and hitting the seat. He sighs and snaps the panel shut. Your lip trembles until you suck it in,, forcing it still. You wring your hands as you try to see what he’s doing.

He flips on the compartment light and grabs your wallet. He opens it up, searching through the few pieces of change and clutter of cards. He takes out your license and drops the wallet back to the seat. He angles the small monitor mounted to the dashboard and types in a number as he holds up your ID.

He sniffs as nothing comes up and considers your license. He pulls his phone from his front pocket and takes a picture of the card. Your eyes glisten. You don’t understand what he’s doing.

“Officer Storm,” you utter softly, “please, whatever I did–”

He ignores you as he tosses your license onto the seat and puts his phone back in his pocket. He opens the driver’s door and gets out, zipping up his coat as he lets out an emphatic burr. You can see the cold mist rising from the earth in the beams of the headlights.

He opens the back door, “out.”

“Sir–”

“I didn’t ask you a question so I don’t need an answer. Get out of the car.”

You suck in a breath and sidle over the seat. You drag your purse with you and as you get out, he snatches it away. He whips it back into the car and grips your upper arm. He moves you as he slams the door.

You whimper as he marches you past the car into the bright cones cast by the cruiser’s headlights. He puts you in the crisscross of the spotlight and lets you go. You sway on your feet and turn to face him.

He doesn’t say a word as he grabs your collar and tears open the zipper of your coat, busting the tab off of it. You squeak as he strips the sleeves down your arms and lets the fleece drop to the gravel. He’s going to kill you. He’s just getting rid of the evidence.

All this because what? You tried to help him? How can one man’s ego be so brittle?

“Please,” you whisper.

“Shut up,” he grows.

He rips your shirt out of the top of your pants, peeling it up your body. You try to hold your arms down and he growls, tugging harder. You’re forced to raise your hands as he roughly pulls the fabric over your head. He throws it to the dirt as well and quickly turns his attention to the top of your black slacks.

Your breath hitches and your chest rises and falls rapidly. Your heart hammers in your temples as you feel the terror taking over. It’s as if you’re watching yourself from above all while being trapped inside your body.

You shiver as he exposes you to the frigid air. He reaches around you, fumbling to undo your worn out wonderbra and scratches your arms as he yanks it off. He grabs the elastic of your underwear next and shoves it down to fall into the rumpled pile of your pants still around your ankles.

You bring your hand up to catch a sob as it breaks free. You hiccup as you blink back tears, failing to stem the flow of horror. You part your fingers just slightly as Officer Storm steps back.

“I have a son,” you croak.

“Yep,” he reaches into his pocket, retrieving his phone, “so, he wouldn’t want to know his mom’s a whore, would he?”

He holds up his phone and the flash blinds you as he snaps a photo. You try to cover yourself as you hear the shudder effect on repeat. He stops and forces your arms down.

“Don’t fucking do that,” he huffs and grabs the cuffs from his belt. “Put these on, behind your back.”

“Please–”

“Do what I fucking tell you or you’ll be charged with resisting,” he warns.

You nod and swallow down your protests. You take the cuffs and lock the first around your wrist. You put your hands behind you and get the other closed around your other arm. 

He continues to take photos as you shake like a feather in the nightly chill. The temperature is dropping fast, your skin prickling with hard goosebumps as your breath clouds visibly before you. You sniffle as he walks around you, continuing to capture your nakedness from all angles.

You’re horrified to be so exposed. You look down at yourself and see the stretchmarks on your chest and stomach, extending down your thighs. The loose flab you could never quite lose and the sagging that came from the years.

He’s so young, he must be disgusted. You are too.

He stops behind you.

“Bend over,” he orders.

You shudder and let out a whimper. He nudges you with his phone, cold from the air, and you do as he says. You bend until you feel the temperature nip between your legs. He takes several more photos as you struggle to keep your balance.

He snorts and a new silence rises. He lingers at your back as you stay frozen and prone. You flinch as you feel the warmth of his hands close around your hips. He steps close, brushing his crotch against your ass.

“I could do so much more,” he snarls and lifts a hand to brush his fingers along your spine, “think about what I could do right now.”

Your eyes widen as you shake even more, staring at the ground as your fear bubbles up in violent hiccups. He hooks his fingers around the cuffs and lets go of your other hip. He unlocks them, the metal falling away from your wrists.

“Get dressed.”

[jenroses]

Still more applied fork theory:

Problem: Sitting at a computer is Bad For Me for a variety of reasons, including back problems caused by arthritis/EDS/scoliosis, clotting risk caused by genetic clotting disorder, fatigue caused by ME/CFS. Also I have migraines and sensory issues and really need to control the light around me.

Solution: Instead of using a chair/desk setup, I use the following:

A twin XL adjustable bed (I got mine from Amazon but the quality has been so-so, I ended up needing to prop part of it up on jack stands because the legs were not Up To The Task. The motor is good? IDK, shop around.)

With a cheap extra firm memory foam mattress

a softer memory foam topper (very cheap: I ordered a queen and cut it into 2 pieces, one for my wheelchair and one for the bed)

Tencel bedsheets (sensory GOOD, Brielle are not terribly expensive)

1 overstuffed memory foam bits pillow that came with the mattress covered with a dark colored tencel pillowcase goes under the mouse hand

2 squishmallows, one under my knees and one that goes between me and the bedrail to support my elbow (the big ones from costco)

A squishy memory foam travel U-shaped pillow for my neck to keep it well aligned (cheap cheap cheap)

And a bedrail that straps around the bedframe to hold it in place.

My kids mounted a rail system to the ceiling and we hung blackout curtains from it, so I can shut out all external light if need be. This was surprisingly inexpensive.

In the winter, I use one of those big old fake sheepskin rugs from costco under my head and shoulders for cozy. And sometimes an electric blanket.

The room is air conditioned with a window air conditioner, and I have a remote

There is an air filter running 24/7 in this room because I spend so much time here and am allergic to my cats who I love very much.

This bed is next to the wall, daybed style. The computer setup is as follows:

A desktop computer on a shelf. I built the computer in a dark case with no RGB parts and did not plug in the LED front panel sensors.

A monitor on a monitor arm.

A metal shelf that mounts between the monitor and the monitor arm that I attached my speakers and webcam to.

Another shelf above it for miscellany.

A little basket over my shoulder for sundries

A gooseneck clamp for my phone mounted to the shelf (I have one of these upstairs mounted to my headboard, too. They're very easy to move the clamp, very secure, and sturdy as heck.)

A Logitech k360 wireless keyboard rests on my belly (and sometimes on a pillow on my belly if my wrists are being tetchy)

I use a vertical mouse (sometimes Jellycomb, currently this one) on the stiff pillow next to me. The wrist position is extremely neutral. I set my mouse sensitivity to high so I don't have to move my wrist very much.

I use Edifier noise canceling headphones when I need to block out extraneous sound

creative pebbles speakers and a Logitech c920 webcam, but that's not mission critical

To make it easier to turn my computer on and off, I got a magnetic button to stick to the side of the case so I can reach better from the bed.

This puts my whole body in a neutral, optimal circulation position where the monitor is well aligned to my head and neck and my hands and wrists are aligned and supported and I need to expend minimal energy when at the computer. Everything is close at hand and I can easily control my environment for light, temperature and sound. I raise the knees and head of the bed to a "zero g" position and use the squishmallows and pillows to further support things as needed. The wireless keyboard and mouse are very helpful.

For me, the logitech k360 is a combination of lightweight, relatively small while still being "full size", light touch, and "soft clicky" as well as widely available and cheap as fuck. It's also pretty resilient to being dropped or spilled on, and if it does break, it's cheap and fast to replace at a nearby store same-day. Preferences for keyboards are highly individual, this one just works very well for me. When my hands and shoulders were bad due to RA, I got two of them and (using both dongles plugged into separate USB ports) put one under each hand in the most neutral positions possible for a cheap-ass version of a split keyboard. Two of these are half the cost of most split keyboards.

This pic is from before we put up the blackout curtains. Yes, that's the fridge behind my head.

[lemondoddle]

@mersei47 made a post about shane and ryan trying to find the operator and i didn't realize how much i needed this to be real

[I.D. four images of pencil drawing featuring shane and ryan from watcher in a slendeverse-themed episode. the first image shows shane and ryan walking through the woods with cameras, shane has a chest mounted camera and ryan holding one. ryan smirks and says "maybe this'll be like a family reunion for you." shane raises a hand to call out "ohh, SLENDYBOY!! ryan's here and he wants to give ya a big ole KISS!" in the background is a small tim wright, staring at the two's antics in absolute horror. image two has shane and ryan at the ghost files desk with a monitor above them that has glitchy footage on it. ryan throws an arm out to the monitor and says "how is this not compelling when have you EVER seen our cameras do that???" shane simply shrugs and says "technology, man." image three is the duo back in the field where shane calmly says "and now we'll be conducting the solo portion of this investigation" while ryan makes a panicked face. people of screen are saying "no no no-" and "shane no". the final image is a two panel comic, panel one has shane with his back to the viewer and arms stretched out to the trees, screaming "make me cough out all my blood ki-" ryan faces the audience with mixed look of fear and exasperation. panel two shows tim and jay watching them, tim making a disgusted face and jay has a hand on tim's back, smiling nervously and saying "i don't know i think they're kinda fun". end I.D.]

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

The Orbitron

The Orbitron is a custom car built by Ed Roth and feared lost until its rediscovery in Mexico in 2007

A second generation to Roth's original Beatnik Bandit, which was built in 1960, the Beatnik Bandit II features a one-of-a-kind fiberglass body with PPG lemon meringue pie paint, stylized Rat Fink designs on the sides, and chrome by Metal Masters of Salt Lake City, UT. 

Beatnik Bandit II includes many unique design features, including an electronic console which operates the digital instrument panel and other features such as a digital readout of the car's latitude and longitude. 

The lack of a rearview mirror is not a problem on this car. A "TV mirror" video monitor is mounted on the console with the actual camera mounted in the rear panel. The bubble top is also lifted electronically. 

Beatnik Bandit II was built entirely by Roth, who credits "Revelations from Father in Heaven" for his achievement. The car has been shown in major U. S. cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston, as well as in Yokohama, Japan.

The Beatnik Bandit

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth was an artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot-rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot-rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s The Beatnik Bandit was one of his first creations from the early 1960s. It was built from a 1949 Oldsmobile, the chassis was shortened 5 feet, the Olds engine was given the classic hotrod look with GMC blower and twin carbys, everything was chromed except the blower belt. The white interior featured single joystick, that operated turning, throttle and braking. The bubble top was created using compressed air to inflate a sheet of plastic into a dome in a pizza oven. On display at the National Automobile Museum in Reno

Mysterion

Ed Roth built the Mysterion in 1963, he got the idea from the multi engine dragsters he had seen at the dragstrips. He combined two Ford engines, two transmissions, plus two welded rear ends for the foundation. It featured an offset headlight and the typical Ed Roth bubble top. On display at Galpin Auto Sports.

The Road Agent by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

Mysterion

Custom builder and artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth completed the Mysterion in 1963. The bubbletopped custom featured a completely original fiberglass body and twin Ford big-block engines. The weight of the engines was too much for the frame to bear, and the Mysterion fell apart. Tribute versions have been built, including this precise replica from Galpin Auto Sports.

The Surfink

The Surfink, created by Mark Glaz as a tribute to Ed Roth and Ratfink, features a large Ratfink figure atop a surfboard complete with a blown V-8 engine.

The Orbitron

Built in 1964, the vehicle was powered by a 1955 or 1956 Chevrolet V8 and was backed by a Powerglide automatic transmission. The body was hand-laid fiberglass, hiding Roth's extensive chrome work to the chassis. The cockpit, set at the extreme rear of the vehicle in the manner of a dragster, was lined with fake fur and featured an 11-inch General Electric "1-Touch" portable television inserted in the console. Topping the cockpit was a custom-made, hydraulically operated Plexiglas bubble top. One of a series of ordinary doorbell push-button switches atop the hood activated the top from the outside.

Other mechanical features included a 1956 Chevrolet rear end, dropped Ford front axle beam, Buickbrake drums and early Ford brakes. The frame was handmade of rectangular 2x4 inch steel tubing. The engine was a leftover from one of Roth's 1955 Chevrolets, having been removed to make way for a then-new Mark IV big-block given to him by General Motors. It was one of the very few completed cars Roth deemed to be a "mistake" because he felt the car did not show well since the heavily chromed engine and most of the chassis were hidden. The Orbitron was, in fact, one of his few customs to have a hood. Reportedly, the hydraulically operated hood did not fit well due to rushed fiberglass work.

The vehicle's most distinctive feature was its asymmetrical front end with red, green and blue tinted headlamps. It was thought that the three beams when combined would produce an intense white light; the idea came from the then-new medium of color television.

By Jerry Thompson - originally posted to Flickr as 2C7O4069, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5973582

By Jerry Thompson - originally posted to Flickr as 2C7O4066, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5973591

The Baja Bandeeto

Custom car builder and renowned painter Fritz ‘Spritz By Fritz‘ Schenck recreated with his bubble top roadster; the Baja Bandeeto.

[adafruit]

USB C + HDMI combo panel-mount cable sample 🔌🖥️

We got this nifty panel-mount cable with a combo action: both USB C and DVI/HDMI connectors on both ends. This could be handy for single-board computers like Raspberry Pi's or our RP2040/RP2350 boards with DVI outputs

Since we're testing our Metro RP2350 with HSTX/DVI output anyway, this is a good time to test the cable out - some things we test with USB C cables: verify it enumerates in all 4 orientations (ya never know) and check it with a USB PD sink that requests various voltages. So far, so good; we'll get some of these into the shop in the next few weeks.

[biggestdev]

My PC Has Seen Some Shit

I build my computer during the lockdowns, and like many others, was doing some wacky shit just because.

I decided I was going to build a small form factor (SSF) PC, but I wasnt satisfied with simply jaming all the parts AND cooling into a relatively small case, I wanted to cram all the bits into the smallest volume I could manage, and utilize an external radiator to cool it all. Thus, the abomination:

(I may or may not have "borrowed" the kitchen countertop for a full week, my roomate took it in stride.) At the time, it was decent hardware, if intentionally limited. Ryzen 5 5600 CPU, RTX 2070 GPU, and a special power supply combination - HDPLEX 400W DC-DC power converter/ATX power supply internal to the case, and a 380-watt external power brick. I had to hunt for a very specific GPU, that was both small enough to fit in the chassis I picked out, and also efficient enough to fit in the 380W power budget:

and also some dope-ass no-drip quick-disconnect fittings for the water loop:

Those, plus a panel mount connector on the chassis for the pump and fan cables on the cooling tower, means I could easily dissasemble the pc into 3 parts - power brick, pc, and tower, to easily move it if needed.

I am still really proud of what I accomplished in terms of fitting everything into such a small chassis, if I had a 3D printer I could have made a couple brackets and covers to fill the holes that are covered in painter's tape, and had something looking real nice, but in the end I decided it was too much work to upkeep, the quick-connect ports on the back restricted water flow too much, and caused a lot of noise in the flow, like an air pocket that never went away with time. That and the blue coloring I added (actual cooling liquid coloring, NOT FOOD DYE) almost immediately cooked out of the water and deposited in the water block fins, and on the inside walls of the tubes, making it look a bit ugly tbh.

In 2023, I took the complete OPPOSITE approach and rebuilt the computer on an open-frame chassis, and hung it on the wall behind my monitor at my new place:

My desire had shifted from "unassuming box with neat internals" to "pussy out". Since all the components are now exposed to naked air, i was able to adjust fan curves so that they only turned on under extreme load. The GPU fan doesnt even spin until I boot up a game! I initially used the stock CPU cooler, but it didn't work well enough to keep the fan at low RPM, so I upgraded to a Noctua low profile cooler with a way better configuration that cools the cpu and board components really well.

The end result is a super quiet PC that is damn near silent until I boot up a game, and even then, the loudest thing is a battle between the GPU fan and the coil whine from that same GPU!

60% duty cycle on the GPU fan was about the minimum I can spin it to keep the temperature below throttling point at 100% utilisation, and I'm totally happy with that! The CPU fan spins all the time, but it's a noctua so I can't even hear it at idle, and at 100% CPU use, it's only up to maybe 50% speed, which is still damn quiet.

This is how my computer has been configured ever since, and I am proud for sure! It's a fun PC to look at visually, and it's got an interesting history to talk about (to me at least!)

[800silentpod]

How to Choose the Best Silent Pod for Your Office Space?

Modern workplaces thrive on open collaboration, but the demand for quiet, private spaces is growing rapidly. Employees need areas where they can focus, make confidential phone calls, or hold important meetings without distractions. In environments that encourage constant interaction, the absence of designated quiet zones can negatively impact productivity and concentration. Silent Pods offer an elegant solution, transforming underused spaces into functional, acoustically controlled environments that support both focus and collaboration.

Understanding Silent Pods

Silent Pods are specially designed acoustic spaces that shield conversations and minimize noise disruptions. Constructed with advanced soundproof materials, such as acoustic foam and double-glazed glass, these pods create a controlled environment where external noise is reduced, and internal sounds are contained. In today’s collaborative work environments, they are no longer an optional addition but a necessity to maintain focus and privacy in busy offices.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Silent Pod

Selecting the right Silent Pod requires careful thought. There are several aspects you need to evaluate to ensure you choose the perfect fit for your office space.

Acoustic Performance: The primary purpose of a Silent Pod is to offer optimal sound insulation. Ensure the pod is designed with high-quality acoustic panels and soundproofing materials that block both incoming and outgoing noise, providing complete privacy for conversations and focus-driven tasks.

Space Efficiency: The design of the pod should make efficient use of your available space. Depending on the office layout, the pod can either blend into underused areas or serve as a standalone feature without disrupting the existing flow of the workspace.

Types of Silent Pods

S-Pod (Single Pod): Designed for single occupancy, the S-Pod is perfect for employees needing a quiet, private space to focus or make confidential phone calls. These compact pods fit easily into small areas, making them ideal for individual use in open-plan offices.

D-Pod (Duo Pod): The D-Pod is designed for two people, offering a quiet space for one-on-one meetings or collaborative work. These pods are larger than the S-Pod but still compact enough to fit within open-plan office layouts, making them perfect for private discussions or brainstorming sessions.

D-Pod (Duo Pod): M-Pods accommodate more than three people and are designed for team meetings, discussions, or client presentations. These pods provide a soundproof alternative to traditional meeting rooms, offering flexible space for collaboration while ensuring privacy and noise reduction.

Customization Options

Customization is crucial when choosing the right Silent Pod for your office. The pod’s aesthetic and functional elements can be tailored to fit the specific needs of your workspace.

Aesthetic Customization: Silent Pods can be customized to match the aesthetic of your office, with options ranging from sleek, minimalist designs to vibrant color palettes. You can choose from various finishes, materials, and textures to ensure the pod seamlessly blends into your office environment.

Functional Customization: Beyond appearance, the functionality of the pod can also be customized. Add-ons like laptop mounts, monitor brackets, or advanced ventilation systems can improve user experience and ensure the pod meets the specific requirements of your workplace.

Features to Look for in a Silent Pod

When selecting a Silent Pod, certain features are essential to enhance comfort, usability, and durability.

Air Ventilation: A critical feature for any Silent Pod is proper air ventilation. A good ventilation system ensures a constant flow of fresh air, preventing the pod from becoming stuffy, especially during extended use.

Carpet: Carpeted floors within Silent Pods help to reduce noise and provide comfort underfoot. Look for materials crafted from moisture and mold-resistant synthetic fibers for durability and ease of maintenance.

Main Framework: The framework of the Silent Pod should be sturdy, made from durable materials like wooden MDF panels. The surface finish, whether it’s PU paint or melamine, should not only look good but also offer protection from daily wear and tear.

USB and Power Charging Stations: To accommodate modern work needs, Silent Pods should come with built-in USB-A and USB-C charging stations. These allow users to keep their devices powered up without leaving the pod, ensuring seamless connectivity.

Smart Adjustment Panel: A Smart Adjustment Panel allows users to control lighting and other environmental settings. Look for pods with smart switches and light color variations to adjust the brightness from cool white to warm white, depending on the task at hand.

Glass Panels: Silent Pods with double-glazed glass panels provide both soundproofing and aesthetic transparency. The glass panels allow light to enter the pod while maintaining privacy and acoustic integrity.

Acoustic Panel: Acoustic insulation is a key feature of any Silent Pod. Look for pods with polyester cotton material in the acoustic panels, which effectively dampen sound, ensuring the space remains quiet and private.

Main Wall Panel: The thickness of the main wall panel significantly impacts sound insulation. High-quality Silent Pods feature thick MDF panels combined with solid wood elements for enhanced acoustic protection and structural stability.

Warranty: A reliable warranty is essential when investing in Silent Pods. Look for providers that offer a minimum of a one-year limited warranty, ensuring your pod remains functional and in excellent condition over time.

Space-Saving Benefits

One of the biggest advantages of Silent Pods is their ability to transform underutilized areas of the office into functional spaces. These pods can be placed in hallways, corners, or even tucked under staircases, allowing offices to maximize space without the need for extensive renovations. This makes Silent Pods a flexible solution for offices looking to enhance privacy without sacrificing valuable square footage.

Importance of Ergonomics in Silent Pods

Ergonomics play a key role in the usability of Silent Pods, particularly for individuals who may spend extended periods inside. Consider pods that offer ergonomic seating and work surfaces positioned at the appropriate height, ensuring comfort and preventing strain. Well-designed pods support both physical well-being and productivity, making them an invaluable addition to any office space.

Installation and Maintenance

While some pods can be installed without professional assistance, it’s always advisable to choose professional installation. This ensures optimal performance and longevity of the pod. A Silent Pod Designer and Installation Services Provider can offer valuable expertise. They ensure the pod fits seamlessly into your workspace while meeting all technical specifications. Additionally, Silent Pods typically require minimal maintenance, thanks to their durable materials and thoughtful construction, keeping long-term costs low.

How to Choose the Right Silent Pod Designer and Installation Services Provider in Dubai ?

The right provider is key to ensuring the success of your Silent Pod installation. Look for a company with a strong portfolio and expertise in designing and installing pods that meet diverse needs. A trusted Silent Pod Designer and Installation Services Provider in Dubai will offer a range of customizable options, ensuring that your pod integrates perfectly with your office’s functional and aesthetic requirements. Always prioritize providers who can deliver on both quality and design flexibility.

11. Conclusion

Choosing the perfect Silent Pod for your office space involves understanding your specific requirements. These include factors such as acoustic performance, customization options, and ergonomic features. These pods are critical to creating private, quiet spaces that foster productivity and focus in open-plan offices. For businesses looking for top-tier pod solutions, 800Silentpod stands out as the Top Silent Pod Manufacturer and Supplier in Dubai. With extensive experience and a commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, 800Silentpod offers tailored solutions that suit any office environment. Reach out today at +971 56 392 5955 / +971 55 38 05 148 or email inquiry@800silentpod.com to explore the best Silent Pod options for your workspace.

OFFICE Address –

Office #60, M. Floor, Al Fajer Building, Airport Road, Al Garhoud, Dubai- United Arab Emirates

Mobile: 056 392 5955 / 055 380 5148

Email: inquiry@800silentpod.com

Website - https://800silentpod.com/

Our Social Media Presence –

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/800Silent-Pod/61556803461662/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/800silentpod/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/800silentpod/

[mittalsolar]

Rooftop Solar Panel Maintenance: What Every Homeowner Needs to Know

Rooftop solar panels are a great investment, but like any home system, they require proper care to ensure optimal performance. Regular maintenance can extend the lifespan of your solar system and maximize energy production. Here's what every homeowner should know about maintaining their rooftop solar panels.

1. Regular Cleaning is Essential

Dirt, dust, leaves, bird droppings, and other debris can accumulate on your panels over time, reducing their efficiency. Cleaning your panels every six months, or more frequently if you live in an area prone to dust or pollution, will help maintain energy output. A simple rinse with water or using a soft brush with mild soap should suffice.

2. Inspect for Damage and Wear

Although solar panels are built to last, they are still exposed to the elements. Periodically check for cracks, chips, or other signs of damage on the glass surface. Also, examine the mounting hardware for any signs of loosening. Early detection of damage can prevent further complications and expensive repairs.

3. Monitor Energy Production

Keeping an eye on your system's energy output can help you catch potential problems early. Most solar systems come with a monitoring app or display that shows how much energy is being produced daily. If you notice a drop in production, it may indicate an issue with the panels or the inverter.

4. Hire Professional Maintenance When Needed

While basic cleaning and visual inspections can be done by homeowners, professional maintenance is recommended at least once a year. Certified technicians can conduct thorough inspections, test the electrical components, and ensure that everything is functioning correctly.

Conclusion

By following these maintenance steps, homeowners can keep their rooftop solar panels operating efficiently for many years. Regular cleaning, inspections, monitoring energy output, and scheduling professional checkups will help protect your investment and maximize your solar energy production.

[purpleqilinwrites]

these unfamiliar intimacies: chapter one.

a/n: i've had this fic on the brain for a while, so i'm super excited to have the first chapter out!

fandom: jujutsu kaisen

character: nanami kento

genre: eventual fluff (can read as either platonic or romantic at this point)

info: cyberpunk 2077 au; afab reader; reader is a ripperdoc; nanami is a merc

warnings: mentions of a suicide attempt (unsuccessful); mentions of injury

chapter synopsis: it's the first time gojou has personally hauled in a merc for you to fix.

word count: 2.1k

companion fic to "the body is a soft animal".

fic masterlist is here.

one

You emerged from the operating room, having discarded your soiled surgical gown and gloves, and it was dark again. The surgery went on for longer than you anticipated, even with Ieiri's help for the critical first hour or so. You let out a yawn, stretching your arms high above your head and relishing the way some of the tension in your body unfurled itself before slipping away.

Out of the corner of your eye, you spotted Gojou seated at your workstation with his chin on crossed arms and it struck you as atypical behaviour. Given some freedom, he almost always preferred to be tinkering with something or talking to someone. When he was in your clinic, he'd more than likely be found chatting up the talking vending machine he believed he stole from outside Kamo Tower rather than sitting down quietly and looking wistful.

"Seems like everything went well," Gojou said, without looking at you and without lifting his head.

His eyes were fixed on one of the two blank monitors in front of him. When he was in one of his more contemplative moods, you've proven to yourself that it was better to let him bounce his thoughts off you than ignore him. There was always less collateral damage when you indulged him.

You gave a hum of affirmation as you walked past him to the wall-mounted control panel across the room. Tapping on the screen, you selected some apple juice over ice for yourself and a sugary matcha milkshake topped with sweetened red beans for him.

"You're not usually this concerned about the mercs you hire," you said, coming closer to him so you wouldn't have to speak so loudly. "Does this one have a particular deficiency you forgot to disclose to me before surgery?" You pulled your swivel chair away from the corner of the room that Gojou had banished it to, and you took a seat beside him.

One of your service androids entered the room with two mugs before anything more was said. You picked up your drink with both hands, and you waited.

"Nothing of the sort," he said, coming alive as he beheld the shiny red beans crowning the green milkshake. When it came to Gojou, there were only a few moody episodes that an excessively sweetened matcha drink couldn't alleviate to some extent. For that, you were grateful.

He sat up to make a grab for his drink too eagerly. Slurping away, a good portion of the milkshake was on its way to his stomach before you put the straw of your own drink into your mouth. After a rather loud show of his appreciation when he came to the bottom of his mug, he said, "Nanami's one of the better mercs, is all. It'd be a pity if I lost him."

Gojou got up to place an order for a refill, and promptly sat himself back down. "Just for your information, he's the badge who talked my mother down when she tried to jump from the roof of our commercial building in Toranomon," he said, his dark sunglasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

His Kiroshis lit up when he blinked; he paused in his little briefing about the merc you just operated on, tilting his face away from you slightly, as he took a call. You waited, sipping leisurely on your apple juice and wiping at the condensation that had formed all over the outside of your mug.

"Anyway!" Gojou's voice cut into your silent juice-drinking session. It must've been someone working under him in his corp on the other end of the call, since he made sure it took up as little of his time as possible. "When I first saw Nanami in the Limitless a couple of years ago, I immediately had it in mind to quickhack him from across the bar area. Thought he was there to arrest me. Turns out he became a merc! He's been doing gigs for me ever since."

As he spoke, it was you who came to the end of your drink. You set the now empty mug on a coaster to your right. "Then I hope, for your sake, that it's entirely worth it," you said. A service android brought in another matcha milkshake for him, and he scooped the mug up from their hands as if he hadn't yet had his first.

A long string of numbers flashed at the corner of your periphery. "Keep it, Satoru," you said, quickly transferring the same amount of money back to him. "It was an informative surgery, and that's a reward on its own. You know how high-risk procedures are rare to come by as a corporate ripperdoc."

Gojou frowned into his drink, and he pushed the tip of the straw out of his mouth with his tongue to further affirm his displeasure. "Can't I leave a tip for my best friend? Just take it," he said, the bottom of his mug giving a dull thud from the force of him putting it down on your workstation. You shook your head, and his frown deepened.

"You may waive my rent for this clinic for an equivalent amount, but I won't take your money," you said, turning away from him to check the time. The mechanical clock hanging on the far wall told you that you still had time for a nap before your next work appointment.

"Fine," he said, unnecessarily drawing out the word.

He was squinting at you with his face mostly turned away, as if biding his time before he expected you to give in and accept his payment. You were familiar with his patterns the same way he was familiar with yours; this never worked, but he always tried it.

"Rate the success of the surgery you just did," he said, and it was the end of the show. This exchange normally included more back and forths. He had never expressed even an iota of uneasiness about any merc that he brought to you for fixing. For the vast majority of the mercs he employed, his confidence in your ability was as absolute as the fact that the sun rose every morning. This one merc called Nanami was special to him in a way you didn't yet understand. Gojou had personally rushed the collected parts of the guy to your clinic, even if he was quite apparently past the flatlining stage, which was an anomaly in itself.

Even Ieiri had been called on to better the chance of this Nanami's resuscitation and subsequent survival. It surprised you when you caught sight of her hurrying in through automatic sliding doors behind Gojou. In all the years he poured into moonlighting as a fixer, he had never done that for anyone.

Gojou was not a person who freely assigned a value to the lives of other people. You knew that. He knew how well you knew this.

You set your elbow down on your workstation and leaned your cheek into an upturned palm. "Successful for now, in spite of the odds against it. However, further monitoring is needed to confirm his survival. Right now there's no way of ascertaining how well his body will accept all the cybernetic implants I've installed," you said, watching him and seeing that he was trying not to squirm. You were treating this Nanami with equal importance as any other person who came to you with Gojou's referral. Gojou obviously didn't appreciate it.

"I'll monitor him carefully," you said, giving in after seeing that he was starting to pick needlessly at the hair on the back of his neck. "Give him time to recover. If he doesn't, then you may do with the body in accordance with the terms stipulated in his contract in the event of incapacitation caused by an event on the job."

He exhaled with a small nod, looking as weary as if he had been the one in the operating room for the better part of the day instead of you. "Here's hoping," he said.

You followed the line of his gaze to the control panel on the far side of the room. Tapping on his knee to get his attention, you gestured to the screen when he looked up from his hands. "I'll have some souffle cheesecake brought in," you said.

Gojou was bouncing his leg in his seat when you sat down again. Immediately after you scooted closer to your workstation, he wilted over the surface of it, crossing his arms and burying his head in the space between them. Knowing that he was working through his thoughts by himself, you reached over to pat absentmindedly at his shoulder. He responded with an unintelligible groan, before he turned his head to look at you.

You waited for him to speak.

"What's special about him?" you asked instead, leaning out of the way when your service android came to take the three empty mugs on your workstation away for washing. "You've hired your share of capable mercs. They all make mistakes at some point, whether on a gig they accepted from you or not. You know this."

The door clicked shut as the service android left the room. Gojou hadn't yet graced you with an answer.

It was still dark outside. You still had time for a nap. The thought of it became more tempting, seeing as you had a question and your partner in conversation was loath to give a response to it. One glance at the clock, and you decided that you'd rather leave him to himself for a bit.

You stood up with the intention of excusing yourself to get some rest when Gojou captured your wrist, pulling on you. He pointed to your swivel chair with his other hand, and so you sat down again.

"I was the one who made the mistake that cost him everything you had to do in there," was how he started. He released your wrist to point to the door that led to the hallway where the operating room was. You didn't bother to turn around to give him some room away from your gaze.

He snatched at his sunglasses that had been sitting askew on his nose, and the pair of them clattered unceremoniously onto your workstation. "That Militech higher-up wasn't supposed to be there. Nanami was already in the position to klep the hard drive when I found out a VIP from their head office would be dropping by for a demo."

So that's what it was. It was never about the merc who was on the job; it was about him.

You reached over to the discarded sunglasses and folded them up nicely, pushing them across the space between the two of you only to stop a finger's width short of where he had planted his elbow. Gojou scoffed at the worthlessness of your action, but you took no offence. He hated making mistakes and the only thing he hated more than that was admitting them, so you let him have a little tantrum.

It was still dark outside when you saw his shoulders fall the slightest bit, and you counted it as a win.

"What's on that hard drive?" you asked, testing the waters in the wake of his fit of self-directed frustration. There was a tightening in the muscles of Gojou's jaw, and you were grateful that he was vain enough to insist on keeping his face predominantly organic. He'd be near impossible to read if he decided he wanted to trade whatever flesh was above his neck for chrome. It was one of the things that since you'd spent a fair amount of time studying it, you strongly preferred it if it stayed the same.

He slumped into the backrest of the chair he was sitting on, hoisted into your office from your makeshift living area upstairs. "Militech's been developing some ICE meant for military use. It's got a shiny and new machine learning algorithm that's performed much better than any I've ever seen," he said, idling away some time by spinning around in his swivel chair. "People in netrunning circles have been talking about a breakthrough like that for years, but no one's managed to get anything useful out of all that talking. Until now."

You picked up his sunglasses and set them on his face for him, and it almost pulled a smile onto his lips. "You can make what they've got better," you said, holding his face with both of your hands and resisting the urge to squeeze.

Gojou smiled this time, bright enough that the shadows hanging on beneath his eyes seemed to disappear. "Good-looking and sexy-brained netrunner like me can definitely manage it. Just you wait."