#source: getty images and one direction

[rattkachuk]

.

[therobotmonster]

Please don’t use midjourney it steals art from pretty much every artist out there without any compensation. I didn’t know this at first and tried it but then during the creation process i saw water marks and Getty image logos (though I’m sure they’ve hidden that now) so it’s definitely stealing.

No, it isn't. And you've taken the wrong lesson from the Getty watermark issue.

AI training on public facing, published work is fair use. Any published piece could be located, examined, and learned from by a human artist. This does not require the permission of the owner of said work. A mechanical apparatus does not change this principle.

All we, as artists, own, are specific expressions. We do not own styles, ideas, concepts, plots, or tropes. We do not even own the work we create in a proper sense. All our work flows from the commons, and all of it flows back to it. IP is a limited patent on specific expressions, and what constitutes infringement is the end result of the creative process. What goes into it is irrelevant, and upending that process to put inspiration and reference as infringement is the end of art as we know it.

The Getty watermark issue is an example of overfitting, wherein a repetitive element in the dataset over-emphasizes specific features to the point of disrupting the system's attempts at the creation of novel images.

No one denies that the SD dataset is trained on images Getty claims to own, but Getty has so polluted the image search functions of the internet with their watermarked images that the idea of a getty watermark has been picked up the same way the AI might pick up the idea of an eye or a tree branch. It is a systemic failure that Shutterstock and Getty can be so monopolistic and ubiquitous that a dateset trained on literally everything public facing on the internet would be polluted with their watermarks.

Watermarks that, by the way, they add to public domain images, and that google prioritizes over clean versions.

The lawsuits being brought against Midjourney and Stable Diffusion are copyright overreach being presented as a theft tissue. The facts of the matter are not as the litigants state. The images aren't stored, the SD weights are a 4 gig file trained on 250 terabytes, roughly 4 bytes per image. It runs local, does not reach out to image sources over IP. All you've got are mathematical patterns and ratios. I would go so far as to say that the class action suit is based on outright lies.

But for a moment, let's entertain the idea that what goes into a work, as inspiration, can be copyrighted. That styles can be stolen. That what goes in defines infringement, rather than what comes out. What happens then?

Well, the bad news is that if Stable Diffusion and Midjourney were shut down tomorrow, Stable Diffusion is in the wild. It runs local, it's user-trainable. In short, the genie isn't going back in the bottle. Plus, the way diffusion AI works, there's no way to trace a gen to its sources. The weights don't work like that. The indexing would be larger than the entire set of stored patterns.

Well good news, there's an AI for that. The current version is called CLIP Interrogator And it works on everything. Not just AI generated, but any image. It can find what style it closely matches, reverse engineer a prompt. It's crude now, but it will improve.

Now, you've already established that using the same patterns as another work is infringement. You've already established that inspiration is theft. And now there's a robot that tells lawyers who you draw like.

Sure, you can fight it in court. If it goes go to court. But who's to say they won't just staplegun that AI to a monetization re-direction bot like youtube has going with their content ID? Awesome T-shirt design you uploaded to your print-on-demand shop... too bad your art style resembles that from a cartoon from 1973 that Universal got as part of an acquisition and they've claimed all your cash. Sure you can file a DMCA counter-notice, but we all know how that goes.

And then there's this fantasy that upending the system would help artists. But who would "own" that style? Is that piece stealing the style of Stephen Silver, or Disney's Kim Possible(TM)? When you work for Disney their contracts say everything you make is theirs. Every doodle. Every drawing. If the styles are copyrightable, a company could hire an artist straight out of school, publish their work under work-for-hire, fire them, and then go after them for "stealing" the style they developed while working for said corp.

Not to mention that a handful of companies own so much media that it is going to be impossible to find an artist that hasn't been influenced by something under their control.

Oh, and that stock of source images that companies like Disney and Universal have? These kinds of lawsuits won't stop them from building AIs with that material that they "own". The power goes into corp hands, they can down staff to their heart's content and everyone else is denied the ability to compete with them. Worst of all possible worlds.

Be careful what wishes you make when holding the copyright monkey's paw.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Colin Firth, filming Lockerbie and embodying Dr Jim Swire, 88, in Glasgow as he sported Jim's famous 'Lockerbie: The Truth Must Be Known' badge. 📸 © Wattie Cheung

Sky drama and Peacock “Lockerbie”.

It's not the one original series "Lockerbie," about the 1988 flight disaster. Sky and Peacock began filming in Scotland in February and BBC, Netflix and MGM started programming in March.

The cast members in Lockerbie Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man, The Staircase) join Catherine McCormack (Slow Horses, Temple, Lucan) to play Jane Swire opposite Firth’s Dr Jim Swire.

Known as the Lockerbie bombing and the Lockerbie air disaster in the UK, it was described by Scotland's Lord Advocate as the UK's largest criminal inquiry led by the smallest police force in Britain, Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.

The five-part series, featuring Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, is based on the tragic Lockerbie terror attack on 21st December 1988 when Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York exploded over the Dumfries and Galloway town, killing all 259 on board and 11 residents.

Colin Firth, will play Dr Jim Swire, a doctor who lost his daughter, Flora, in the 1988 tragedy. Writers also took inspiration from Jim's book, The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father's Search for Justice.

In the wake of the disaster, Dr Jim Swire (Firth), is nominated spokesperson for the UK victims’ families, who have united to demand truth and justice. Travelling across continents and political divides, Jim embarks on a relentless journey that not only jeopardises his stability, family and life, but completely overturns his trust in the justice system. As the truth shifts under Jim’s feet, his view of the world is left forever sullied.

Colin dyed his hair a whitish shade of grey to match Jim's and wore a tartan tie. 📸 © Wattie Cheung

Firth was seen on the set of the new drama in Linlithgow, which will close several roads in the east end and city centre during the filming. Colin was spotted in character and has taken on the role of Jim, 88, the father of one of the 270 victims of the 21st December 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

At the back of Colin's briefcase was a drawing of Jim's daughter, Flora Swire, who was on her way to the US to spend Christmas with her boyfriend when Libyan terrorists blew up the plane.

The real Jim (pictured in 2015) became famous after the bombing for his relentless lobbying towards a solution for the difficulties in bringing suspects in the original bombing to trial 📸 © PA

The series is based on the book The Lockerbie Bombing: A Father’s Search for Justice by Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph – as well as other sources.

Lockerbie bombing, The new drama, Flight 103: Film crew in Linlithgow to work on, have been spotted in Glasgow as filming begins in the city. Road closures are in place as filming kick starts.

A film crew is currently filming in Linlithgow working on a new TV series based on the Lockerbie disaster.

Linlithgow is situated between Edinburgh and Glasgow, to the south of the Firth of Forth and on the edge of Linlithgow Loch. Linlithgow Palace, Stewart residence, birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, and rest stop between Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle.

It had been noticed for its similarity to the original Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over the town of Dumfries and Galloway, 40 minutes into its flight from London to New York.

@getty Images

Scottish playwright David Harrower (Blackbird, Knives in Hens) is the lead writer. Maryam Hamidi (Vigil) is guest writer on an episode. Additional writing comes from Jim, Kirsten and Naomi Sheridan.

BAFTA Award-winning Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders, The Winter King) is lead director. Jim Loach (Save Me) will also direct an episode. Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant are Executive Producers for Carnival Films. Sam Hoyle is Executive Producer for Sky Studios. Additional Executive Producers include David Harrower, Otto Bathurst, Liz Trubridge, Jim Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan and Oskar Slingerland.

A true story with an Academy Award®-winning actor Colin Firth not to be missed 📍

#Lockerbie #ColinFirth #DrJimSwire #book #TheLockerbieBombing: AFather'sSearchfor Justice #SKY #Peacok #truestory #bombing #CatherineMcCormack #Linlithgow #Scotland #PanAmflight103 #DumfriesandGalloway #disaster #filming #newdrama #FloraSwire #JaneSwire #series #Libyanterrorists #plane #LockerbieairdisasterintheUK #policeforce

A release date for the series hasn't yet been set.

Posted 6th March 2024

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Taylor Swift ‘snubbed invite’ to appear on Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast

Reports claim Meghan wrote a personal letter asking her to appear on the Archetypes show but the singer declined through a representative

Victoria Ward 24 June 2023

Taylor Swift snubbed an invitation to appear on the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast and the couple left Netflix and Spotify executives “underwhelmed” by their lack of productivity and ideas, it has been claimed.

The production of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was fraught with difficulties over securing the right guests and the Duchess often asking for late changes, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a wide-ranging analysis of the couple’s careers since settling in California, the newspaper suggested that their big dream of wowing Hollywood with their star power and royal connections had been undermined by a lack of substance.

It revealed that Archewell employees and associates had admitted the company often lacked direction, and that the royal couple “at times seem surprised by the work required to finish entertainment projects.”

It added: “Most potential initiatives, they said, follow a similar route: Big idea, subpar execution.”

It is alleged that Meghan wrote a personal letter to Taylor Swift, asking her to appear on Archetypes, but that the singer declined, through a representative.

The production of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, which has now been dropped by Spotify was fraught with difficulties

“Harry, in particular, struggled to land on an idea,” the newspaper added of their Spotify deal.

The couple have had multiple ideas rejected by Netflix, which is said to be unlikely to renew its deal when it expires in 2025.

They were also hampered by a recent, post-pandemic downturn in the industry that has led to widespread cost-cutting and restructuring.

Spotify recently laid off 200 people, including many audio engineers, and is said to be revamping its approach to podcasting.

Other proposed projects by the Duke and Duchess are said to have included a sitcom likened to the hit show Emily in Paris, “but about a man”, and a family-friendly show about gay characters that felt similar to the popular coming-of-age drama Heartstopper. Netflix is said to have turned down both.

The couple are reportedly developing a show for Netflix called Bad Manners, based on the Miss Havisham character in Great Expectations.

The Duke and Duchess also had multiple ideas rejected by Netflix CREDIT: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

It is described as a prequel to the Charles Dickens novel that recasts the lonely spinster as a strong woman living in a patriarchal society. It is not known whether it has been commissioned by Netflix.

Despite following a path forged by Barack and Michelle Obama, who have been hugely productive and successful, the Sussexes appear to have failed to live up to the mark.

Netflix executives are said to have grumbled about Archewell’s output, fearing that their six-part Harry & Meghan documentary released in December was all they had to offer.

The couple announced earlier this month that their $20 million Spotify deal had come to a premature end, having produced just one series of Meghan’s 12-part Archetypes podcast and a short ��holiday special.”

A joint statement said: “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”

A source close to the couple told the Telegraph that it was proving “tough” for the couple to move forwards with Netflix projects in development due to a Hollywood writers’ strike, which has brought much of US film and TV production to a crashing halt.

Their multi-year Netflix deal, rumoured to be worth $100 million, was announced with much fanfare in September 2020, with the streaming service predicting that the couple’s programmes would provide its “most exciting and most viewed” content the following year.

But the only show the couple have so far produced was their six-part eponymous docuseries.

Heart of Invictus, a behind-the-scenes documentary following competitors as they prepared for the 2022 Invictus Games, was announced in April 2021 and slated for release the following spring.

But that too has not yet seen the light of day, although Netflix insists it will be launched this summer.

An Archewell spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal: “New companies often make changes in their start-up phase, both with people and strategy, and we are no exception. We’re more equipped, focused and energised than ever before.”

She said the company recently hired a new head of scripted content, actress and producer Tracy Ryerson.

A Netflix spokeswoman said Harry & Meghan was its biggest documentary debut. “We’ll continue to work together on a number of projects,” she added.

[cosmicanger]

David Velasco, one of the letter’s thousands of signatories, was fired after six years as the editor of Artforum.Credit...Pietro D'Aprano/Getty Images for Fondazione Prada

Artforum Fires Top Editor After Its Open Letter on Israel-Hamas War

David Velasco was removed after the magazine’s publishers said there was a flawed editorial process behind the publication of a letter that supported Palestinian liberation.

By Zachary Small

Oct. 26, 2023

One of the art world’s top magazine editors was fired Thursday night after the publishers of Artforum said that the staff’s decision to post an open letter about the Israel-Hamas War failed to meet the organization’s standards.

The editor in chief, David Velasco, said he had been terminated after six years as Artforum’s leader. He had worked at the publication, considered among the world’s most prestigious art magazines, since 2005.

“I have no regrets,” Velasco said in an email. “I’m disappointed that a magazine that has always stood for freedom of speech and the voices of artists has bent to outside pressure.”

Thousands of artists, academics and cultural workers, including Velasco, signed the Oct. 19 open letter, which supported Palestinian liberation and criticized the silence of cultural institutions about the Israeli bombing of residents in Gaza.

The letter initially omitted mention of Hamas’s surprise Oct. 7 attack, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, information that was added after criticism from subscribers and advertisers. A preface was also added to say that the letter “reflects the views of the undersigned individual parties and was not composed, directed or initiated by Artforum or its staff.”

It is not clear who wrote the letter. In it, the signatories “call for an end to the killing and harming of all civilians, an immediate cease-fire, the passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the end of the complicity of our governing bodies in grave human rights violations and war crimes.”

The magazine’s publishers, Danielle McConnell and Kate Koza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a post on the magazine’s website Thursday evening, they criticized the decision as “not consistent with Artforum’s editorial process.” The letter “was widely misinterpreted as a statement from the magazine about highly sensitive and complex geopolitical circumstances,” they said in the post, which made no mention of Velasco’s termination.

“Our publication has a proud history of advocacy,” they added. “That the letter was misinterpreted as being reflective of the magazine’s position understandably led to significant dismay among our readers and community, which we deeply regret.”

The Oct. 19 open letter met condemnation, drawing responses by figures in the art world. On WhatsApp, campaigns were organized to dissuade advertisers from working with the magazine.

“I think it was a complete betrayal of their readers,” Michael Phillips Moskowitz, a curator and collector, said. “It was characterized by hubris with no understanding of what led to this moment.”

Several prominent artists later removed their names from the Oct. 19 letter, but it remained popular among many of the people who signed it, including those who said that the intention was to advocate peace.

“Tampering with the opinions of artists is to not understand the role of art,” said Cecilia Vicuña, a Chilean poet and artist who signed the letter, adding that she valued “the right to freedom of speech.”

Velasco joined Artforum in 2005 as an editorial assistant and became editor in chief in 2017 when the magazine’s leadership was accused of ignoring issues of misconduct amid a sexual harassment lawsuit against its publisher at the time, Knight Landesman. The lawsuit was later dismissed, but Velasco had to rebuild trust in the publication’s brand. He was largely successful, restoring Artforum’s reputation as an authoritative source of art world intrigue and criticism.

Before Velasco was fired, some artists defended him in a letter to Jay Penske, the mogul behind Penske Media Corporation, which recently acquired Artforum, saying that Velasco had “established a fearless and uncompromising vision for the magazine.”

“David’s leadership at Artforum is needed now more than ever,” the letter said.

[antiomnia]

Hi! I have to say, I love your style 🥺 and no one draws Levi like you do ❤️ from the questions, I’m most interested in no. 24 👁️👁️

ngl It makes me extra happy when someone compliments my Levi specifically, thank you 😩💕💕💕

✧ 2k celebration: weirdly specific artist ask game

24. Do your references include stock images

Yes. I use some sort of reference for probably more than half of my stuff, from poses to anatomy to materials. And honestly I should use more, I can't stress enough the importance of references.

Sometimes I see a random image and it just gives me inspiration for the general vibe or concept of a piece. This is one of my favorites:

Source: Ben Birchall - WPA Pool / Getty Images/Getty Images

Or if I already have a particular image in my head and I need a very specific/more direct reference, I'll probably combine multiple images, like one for the general pose, another for the hands, other for the outfit and so on. Sometimes I have no choice but to photograph myself lmao

[xtruss]

The Secret Life and Anonymous Death of the Most Prolific War-Crimes Investigator in History

When Mustafa Died, in the Earthquakes in Türkiye, his Work in Syria had Assisted in the Prosecutions of Numerous Figures in Bashar al-Assad’s Regime.

— By Ben Taub | September 14, 2023

Photo Illustration By Cristiana Couceiro; Source Photograph From Getty Images

It Was 4:17 A.M. on February 6th in Antakya, an Ancient Turkish City Near the Syrian Border, when the earth tore open and people’s beds began to shake. On the third floor of an apartment in the Ekinci neighborhood, Anwar Saadeddin, a former brigadier general in the Syrian Army, awoke to the sounds of glass breaking, cupboard doors banging, and jars of tahini and cured eggplant spilling onto the floor. He climbed out of bed, but, for almost thirty seconds, he was unable to keep his footing; the building was moving side to side. When the earthquake subsided, he tried to call his daughter Rula, who lived down the road, but the cellular network was down.

Thirty seconds after the first quake, the building started moving again, this time up and down, with such violence that an exterior wall sheared open, and rain started pouring in. The noise was tremendous—concrete splitting, rebar bending, plates shattering, neighbors screaming. When the shaking stopped, about a minute later, Saadeddin, who is in his late sixties, and his wife walked down three flights of stairs, dressed in pajamas and sandals, and went out into the cold.

“All of Antakya was black—there was no electricity anywhere,” Saadeddin recalled. Thousands of the city’s buildings had collapsed. Survivors spilled into the streets, crowding rubble-strewn alleyways and searching for open ground, as minarets toppled and glass shards fluttered down from tower blocks. The general and his wife set off in the direction of the building where Rula lived, with her husband, Mustafa, and their four children.

A third quake shook the ground. When Saadeddin made it to his daughter’s apartment block, flashes of lighting illuminated what was now a fourteen-story grave. The building—which had been completed less than two years earlier—had twisted as it toppled over, crushing many of the residents. Saadeddin felt his body drained of all emotion, almost as if it didn’t belong to him.

Saadeddin was not the only person searching for Rula and her family. For the past decade, her husband, Mustafa, had quietly served as the deputy chief of Syria investigations for the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, a group that has captured more than a million pages of documents from Syrian military and intelligence facilities. Using these files, lawyers at the cija have prepared some of the most comprehensive war-crimes cases since the Nuremberg trials, targeting senior Syrian regime officers—including the President, Bashar al-Assad. After the earthquake, the group directed its investigative focus into a search-and-rescue operation for members of its own Syrian team, many of whom had been displaced to southern Turkey after more than a decade of war. By the end of the third day, nearly everyone was accounted for. Two investigators had lost children; one of them had also lost his wife. But Mustafa was still missing.

For as long as Mustafa had been working for the cija, the group had kept his identity secret—even after it captured a Syrian intelligence document that showed that the regime knew about his investigative work and was actively hunting him down. “He was probably my best investigator,” Mustafa’s supervisor, an Australian who goes by Mick, told me, during a recent visit to the Turkish-Syrian border. Documents that Mustafa obtained, and witness interviews that he conducted, have assisted judicial proceedings in the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, and several other European jurisdictions. According to a cija estimate, Mustafa “either directly obtained or supported in the acquisition” of more than two hundred thousand pages of internal Syrian regime documents, likely making him—by sheer volume of evidence collected—the most prolific war-crimes investigator in history.

Twelve years into the Syrian war, at least half the population has been displaced, often multiple times, under varied circumstances of individual tragedy. No one knows the actual death toll—not even to the nearest hundred thousand. And yet the Syrian regime’s crimes continue apace. “The prisons are full,” Bill Wiley, the cija’s founder and executive director, told me. “All the offenses that started being carried out at scale in 2011 are still being perpetrated. Unlawful detention, physical abuse amounting to torture, extrajudicial killing, sexual offenses—all of that continues. War crimes on the battlefield, particularly in the context of aerial operations. There are still chemical attacks. It all continues. But, as long as there’s the drip, drip, drip of Western prosecutions, pursuant to universal jurisdiction, it’s really difficult to envision the normalization of the regime.”

Before the Syrian Revolution, Mustafa was a trial lawyer, living and working in Al-Rastan, a suburb of the central city of Homs. He and his wife, Rula, had three small children, and Rula was pregnant with the fourth. In early 2011, when Syrians took to the streets to protest against the regime—which had ruled for almost half a century—Assad declared that anyone who did not contribute to “burying sedition” was “a part of it.” Suddenly Mustafa was caught in a delicate position, since many of Rula’s male relatives were military officers.

Her father and her uncles had joined the Syrian armed forces as young men, and served Assad’s father for many years before they served him. In the mid-nineties, Assad’s older brother died in a car crash, and he was called back from his studies in London and sent to a military academy in Homs. Eventually, he joined a staff officers’ course, where Anwar Saadeddin—then a colonel and a military engineer—says he spent a year and a half in his class.

Assad became President in 2000, after his father died, and for the next decade Saadeddin carried on with his duties without complaint. In 2003, Saadeddin was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. At the outset of the revolution, his younger son was a lieutenant, and he was two years from retirement.

Mustafa and Rula’s fourth child was born on April 5, 2011. Three days later, security forces shot a number of protesters in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, including a disabled man, who was unable to run away. They dragged him from the site and returned his mutilated corpse to his family the following evening. From then on, Homs was the site of some of the largest anti-regime protests—and the most violent crackdown.

On April 19th, thousands of people gathered for a sit-in beneath a clock tower. At about midnight, officers warned that anyone who didn’t leave voluntarily would be removed by force. A couple of hours passed; a thousand people remained. At dawn, the people of Homs awoke to traces of a massacre. A witness later reported that religious leaders who had stayed to treat the wounded and to tend to the dead were summarily executed. Several others recalled that the bodies were removed with dump trucks, and that the blood of the dead and wounded was washed away with hoses.

The day after the massacre, according to documents that were later captured from Assad’s highest-level security committee, the regime decided to embark on a “new phase” in the crackdown, to “demonstrate the power and capacity of the state.” Nine days later, regime forces killed at least nineteen protesters in Al-Rastan, where Mustafa and Rula lived. Mustafa wasn’t involved in politics or human-rights work, beyond discussions of basic democratic reforms, but he was appalled by the overtly criminal manner in which security forces and associated militias carried out their campaign with impunity. Locals formed neighborhood-protection units, and soon took up arms against the state.

A few months later, Mustafa briefly sneaked out of Syria to attend a training session in Turkey, led by Bill Wiley, a Canadian war-crimes investigator who had previously worked for various tribunals and the International Criminal Court. Wiley, and others in his world, had noticed a jurisdictional gap in accountability for Syria and had begun casting about for Syrian lawyers who might be up for a perilous, but worthy, task. Although there was no tribunal set up for Syria, and Russia and China had blocked efforts to refer Syria to the I.C.C., Wiley and his associates had reasoned that the process of collecting evidence is purely a matter of risk tolerance and logistics. The work of criminal investigators is different from that of human-rights N.G.O.s: groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch produce and disseminate reports on horrific violations and abuse, but Wiley trained Mustafa and the other Syrians in attendance to collect the kind of evidence that could allow prosecutors to assign individual criminal responsibility to senior military and intelligence officers. A video showing tanks firing on unarmed protesters might influence public opinion, but a pile of military communications that proved which commanders were in charge of the operation could one day land someone in jail.

“The first task was to ferret out primary-source material—documents, in particular, generated by the regime,” Wiley told me. “We were looking for prima-facie evidence, not intelligence product or information to inform the public.”

Mustafa instantly grasped the urgency of the project. By day, he carried on with his law practice. But, in secret, he started building up sources within the armed opposition. As they captured new territory, he would go into security and intelligence facilities, box up documents, and move them to secret locations, like farmhouses or caves, farther from the confrontation lines.

“By 2012, we had already started to get some structure,” Wiley recalled. He secured funding from Western governments, and eventually the group settled on a name: the Commission for International Justice and Accountability. “We had our guys in Raqqa, Idlib, Aleppo, and so forth—at least one guy in all the key areas,” he said. From there, the cija built out each team—between two and four individuals, working under the head of each provincial cell. “And Mustafa was our core guy in Homs.”

Anwar Saadeddin soon found himself wielding his position in order to rescue relatives who were caught up in the conflict. His younger son, an Army lieutenant, was detained by military operatives on the outskirts of Damascus, after another officer in his brigade reported him for watching Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera. According to an internal military communication, which was later captured by the cija, Assad believed that foreign reporting on Syria amounted to “psychological warfare aimed at creating a state of internal chaos.”

When Saadeddin’s son was detained, he recalled, “I interfered just to decrease the detention period to thirty days.” Soon afterward, he learned that Mustafa was a target of military intelligence in Homs, where the local facility, Branch 261, was headed by one of Saadeddin’s friends: Mohammed Zamrini.

Mustafa wasn’t calling for an armed rebellion, and, at the time, neither the regime nor his father-in-law knew of his connection to Wiley and the cija. But rebel factions were active in Al-Rastan, and Mustafa was known to have urged them not to destroy any public establishments. To hard-liners in the regime, such interaction was considered tantamount to collaboration. “So I went with Mustafa to the branch,” Saadeddin told me. Zamrini agreed to detain him as a formality—for about twelve hours, with light interrogations and no torture or abuse—so that he could essentially cross Mustafa off the list.

In the next few months, the security situation rapidly deteriorated. The Army encircled rebellious neighborhoods near Homs and shelled them to the ground. Saadeddin’s son, who was serving near Damascus, was arrested a second time, and in order to get him released Saadeddin had to supplicate himself in the office of Assef Shawkat, Assad’s brother-in-law and the deputy minister of defense. In Homs, Saadeddin started driving Mustafa to and from work in his light-blue Kia; as a brigadier general, he could move passengers through checkpoints without them being searched or arrested.

But Saadeddin was beginning to find his position untenable. He sensed that the regime’s policy of total violence would lead to the destruction of the country. That spring, he began to share his fears and frustrations with close colleagues and friends, including the commander of his son’s brigade. But it was a perilous game: Assad’s highest-level security committee had instructed the heads of regional security branches to hunt down “security agents who are irresolute or unenthusiastic” in carrying out their duties. According to a U.N. inquiry, some officers were detained and tortured for having “attempted to spare civilians” on whom they had been ordered to fire.

That spring, Saadeddin’s car was stopped at one of the checkpoints that ordinarily waved him through. It was the first time that his position served not as protection against interrogation but as a reason to question his loyalty. The regime was quickly losing territory, and as the conflict spiralled out of control many senior officers found themselves approaching the limits of their willingness to go along. He and his brothers had “reached a point where we would either stand by the regime and have to take part in atrocities, or we would have to defect,” he told me.

That July, Saadeddin gathered his brothers, his sons, two nephews, and several other military officers in front of a small camera, somewhere near the Turkish-Syrian border. Dressed in his uniform, he announced that the army to which he had pledged his allegiance some four decades earlier had “deviated from its mission” and turned on its citizens instead. To honor the Syrian public’s “steadfastness in the face of barbaric assaults by Assad’s bloody gangs, we have decided to defect from the Army,” he said. It was one of the largest mass defections of Syrian officers, and his plan was to take a leading role in the rebellion—to fight for freedom “until martyrdom or victory.” In response, Saadeddin told me, their former colleagues sent troops to destroy their houses and those of their family members. They expropriated their land and killed several of their relatives.

By now, the regime had ceded swaths of Syria’s border with Turkey to various rebel forces. Saadeddin moved his family across the border and into a refugee camp that the Turkish government had set up for military and intelligence officers who defected. Then he went back to Syria, to try to bring some order and unity to the rebel factions that were battling his former colleagues.

But Mustafa and his family stayed behind in Al-Rastan, which was now firmly in rebel hands. The regime’s loss of control at the Turkish border meant that the cija could start moving its captured documents out of the country.

“It was complicated, reaching the border, because the confrontation lines were so fluid,” Wiley recalled. “And there were multiple bodies who were overtly hostile to cija”—not only the regime but also a growing number of extremist groups who were suspicious of anyone working for a Western N.G.O. During the first document extraction, a courier was shot and injured. During the next, another courier vanished with a suitcase full of documents. “Just fucking disappeared,” Wiley said. “Probably thought he could sell them.” Mustafa recruited a cousin to transport some files to Turkey. But, after the delivery, on the way back to Al-Rastan, the cousin took a minibus, and the vehicle was ambushed by regime troops. “He was shot, but it was unclear if he was wounded or dead when they took him away,” another Syrian cija investigator, whom I’ll call Omar, told me. For the next several weeks, regime agents blackmailed Mustafa, saying that for twenty thousand dollars they would release his cousin from custody. But, when Mustafa asked for proof of life, they failed to provide it—suggesting that the cousin had already died in custody.

By now, Wiley had issued new orders for the extraction process. “I said, ‘O.K., there needs to be a plan, and I need to know what the plan is,’ ” he recalled. “ ‘How are you getting from A to B? What risks are there between point A and point B? And how are you going to ameliorate those risks?’ As opposed to just throwing the shit in the car and going, ‘Well, God decides.’ ”

Saadeddin Spent Much of the next eighteen months trying to organize disparate rebel groups into a unified command. He travelled all over northern Syria, as rebels took new ground, and met with all manner of revolutionaries—from secular defectors to hard-line field commanders. By the summer of 2013, the regime had ceded control of most of northern Syria. But there was little cohesion between the rebel factions, and isis and Al Qaeda had come to exploit the power vacuum in rebel territory. At some point, Saadeddin recalled, he scolded a Tunisian isis commander for arousing sectarian and ethnic tensions, and imposing extremism onto local communities. “He responded that I was an apostate, and suggested that I should be killed,” Saadeddin told me.

In Al-Rastan, a regime shell penetrated the walls of Mustafa’s house, but it didn’t explode. At that point, Rula and the children moved to Reyhanli, a small Turkish village that is so close to the border that you can eat at a kebab shop there while watching sheep graze in Syria. It was also a short drive from the defected officers’ camp, where Rula’s mother and several other relatives were living. But Mustafa stayed behind, to carry out his investigative work for the cija.

“When new areas were liberated, the security branches were raided, and many people took files,” Omar recalled. Some of them didn’t grasp the significance of the files; at least one soldier burned them for warmth. “But most people knew the documents would be useful, someday—they just didn’t know what to do with them. So they just kept them. And the challenge was in identifying who had what, where.”

But, before long, Omar continued, “Mustafa built a wide network of contacts in rebel territory. Word got out that he was collecting documents, and so eventually people would refer others who had taken documents to him.” Sometimes he encountered a reluctance to turn over the originals, until he shared with them the outlines of the cija’s objective and paths to accountability. “At that point, they would usually relent, understanding that his use for them was the best use.”

As his profile in rebel territory grew, Mustafa remained highly secretive. But, from time to time, he asked his father-in-law for introductions to other defected military and intelligence officers. By now, Saadeddin recalled, “I knew the nature of his work, but I didn’t discuss it with him.” There was an understanding that it was best to compartmentalize any sensitive information, for the sake of the family. “Sometimes my wife didn’t even know what I was doing,” Saadeddin said. “But I do know that, at a certain point, through his interviews, Mustafa came to know these defected officers even better than I did.”

In 2014, Wiley restructured the cija’s Syrian team; as deputy chief of investigations, Mustafa now presided over all the group’s provincial cells. “He was very good at finding documents, and he understood evidence and law,” Wiley said. “But he was also respected by his peers. And he had a natural empathy, which translated into him being a very good interviewer” of victims and perpetrators alike. According to Omar, Mustafa often cut short his appearances at social gatherings, citing family or work. “I know it’s a cliché, but he really was a family guy,” Wiley told me. “But where he excelled in our view—because we don’t need a bunch of good family guys, to be blunt—is that he could execute.”

That July, Assad’s General Intelligence Directorate apparently learned of the cija’s activities, long before the group had been named in the press. In a document that was sent to at least ten intelligence branches—and which was later captured by the cija—the directorate identified Mustafa as “vice-chairman” of the group, and also listed the names of the leading investigators within each of the cija’s governorate cells. At the bottom of the document, the head of the directorate handwrote orders to “arrest them along with their collaborators.”

By now, Western governments, which had pledged to support secular opposition groups, found the situation in northern Syria unpalatable; there was no way to guarantee that weapons given to a secular armed faction would not end up in jihadi hands. Saadeddin had begun to lose hope in the revolution—a sentiment that grew only stronger when Assad’s forces killed more than a thousand civilians with sarin gas, and the Obama Administration backed away from its “red-line” warning of retaliation. “At that point, I lost all faith in the international community,” Saadeddin told me. “I felt that they didn’t want Syria to become liberated—they wanted Syria to stay as it was.” He moved into the defected officers’ camp in southern Turkey, where he remained—feeling “rotten,” consumed by a sense of impotence and frustration—for most of the next decade.

I First Came Into Contact with the cija late in the summer of 2015. By that point, the group had smuggled more than six hundred thousand documents out of Syria, and had prepared a legal brief that assigned individual criminal responsibility for the torture and murder of thousands of people in detention centers to senior members of the Syrian security-intelligence apparatus—including Assad himself. In the following years, the cija expanded its operations to Iraq, Myanmar, Libya, and Ukraine. But Syria was always at the core.

“In terms of the opposition overrunning regime territory—that effectively ceased in September, 2015, when the Russians came in,” Wiley recalled. In the following years, Russian fighter jets pummelled areas under rebel control, while fighters from Russian mercenary groups, Iranian militias, and Hezbollah reinforced Assad’s troops on the ground. In time, the confrontation lines settled, with the country effectively carved into areas under regime, opposition, Turkish, and Kurdish control. But Mustafa and other investigators continued to identify troves of documents, scattered among various hidden sites. “We’d acquire them from different places, and then concentrate them,” Wiley said. Omar told me that it was best to keep files as close to the border as possible, to limit the chance of their being destroyed in the event that the regime took back ground. “Mustafa would sometimes spend a week or more prepping for document extractions,” Omar said. “He would sleep in tents,” in camps filled with other displaced civilians, “while he waited for the right moment to move the files closer to the border.”

At the cija’s headquarters, in Western Europe, the organization built cases against senior intelligence officers, like the double agent Khaled al-Halabi, and provided evidence to European prosecutors who were investigating lesser targets all over the continent. In recent years, Western prosecutors and police agencies have sent hundreds of requests for investigative assistance to the cija headquarters; when the answers can’t be found in the existing files, analysts refer the inquiries, via Mick, the Australian in southern Turkey, to the Syrians on the ground. “We wouldn’t tell them who’s asking, or who the suspects are,” Wiley said. “We’d just say, ‘O.K., we’re interested in witnesses to a particular crime base’—a security-intelligence facility, a static killing, an execution, that kind of thing. And then they would identify witnesses and do a screening interview.” When requests came through, Mick told me, “Mustafa was usually the first team member that I went to, because his networks were so good.”

During the peak years of the pandemic, Mustafa identified and collected witness statements against a trio of Syrian isis members who had been active in a remote village in the deserts of central Syria and were now scattered across Western Europe. All three men were arrested after his death.

Perhaps Mustafa’s most enduring contribution to the cija’s casework is found in one of the group’s most comprehensive, confidential investigative briefs, which I read at the headquarters this spring. It’s a three-hundred-page document, with almost thirteen hundred footnotes, establishing individual criminal responsibility for war crimes carried out during the regime’s 2012 siege of Baba Amr, a neighborhood in the southern part of Mustafa’s home city, Homs. Other cases have centered on torture in detention facilities; this is the first Syrian war-crimes brief that focusses on the conduct of hostilities, and it spells out, in astonishing and historic detail, a litany of crimes, ranging from indiscriminate shelling to mass executions of civilians who were rounded up and killed in warehouses and factories as regime forces swept through. The Homs Brief—for which Mustafa collected much of the underlying evidence—also assigns criminal responsibility to individual commanders within the Syrian Army’s 18th Tank Division, which carried out the assault.

“He thought he was contributing to a better Syria,” Wiley said. “When—and what it would look like—was unsure. But he believed in what he was doing. He could have fucked off years ago. We probably could have gotten him to Canada. We talked about it, because one of his daughters had a congenital heart issue.” Nevertheless, he stayed.

Last year, Mustafa bought an apartment on the eleventh floor of a new tower block in Antakya. Rula’s aunt moved into the same building, a couple of stories below. Her parents left the defected officers’ camp and moved into another apartment block, a short walk up the road. A few months later, Mick recalled, “Mustafa said to me, ‘When I’m at home with my family, it doesn’t matter what’s happening outside—it doesn’t matter if there’s a war. When I’m at home, I’m at peace.’ ”

Last December, Mick was visiting Mustafa’s apartment when the floor began to shake. “It spooked me—it was my first time feeling this kind of tremor,” Mick recalled. Mustafa laughed and said that they happen “all the time.” Then he went to check on Rula and the children, who reported that they hadn’t even felt it.

A couple of months later, Mick awoke to news of the catastrophic earthquake and tried to call members of his Syrian team. But the cellular networks were down in Antakya, and it was impossible for him to travel there, because the local airport’s runway had buckled, along with many local roads.

Saadeddin’s sister was dug out of the complex alive; her husband survived as well, but died in a hospital soon afterward, without anyone in the family knowing where he was. On the fourth day of search-and-rescue operations, Mustafa’s passport was found in the rubble. Then his laptop, then his wife’s handbag. “When they found the bodies,” Omar said, “Mustafa was hugging his daughter, his wife was hugging their son, and the other two children were hugging each other.”

Omar spent the next several days sleeping in his car, along with his wife and six children. Thousands of aftershocks shook the region, and, by the time I met with him, a few hundred metres from the Syrian border, he was so rattled that he reacted to everyday sounds as if they might signal a building’s collapse. His breath was short and his eyes welled with tears; Mustafa had been one of his best friends, and he had also lost eleven relatives to the quake, all of whom had been displaced from the same village in northern Syria. Then his young son walked into the room, and he turned his head. “We try to hide from our children our fear and our grief, so that they don’t feel as if we are weak,” he said.

A few weeks after the earthquake, there was an empty seat at a prestigious international-criminal-investigations course, in the Hague. Mustafa had been scheduled to attend. “We can mitigate the effects of war, except bad luck, but we didn’t factor an earthquake into the plan, institutionally,” Wiley told me. Mick coördinated humanitarian assistance for displaced investigators, and, as Wiley put it, “the operational posture came back really quickly.” Omar has now taken over Mustafa’s leadership duties. “Keep in mind how resilient this cadre is,” Wiley continued. “They’re already all refugees, perhaps with the rare exception. They had already lost their homes, lost all their stuff.”

It was the middle of April, more than two months after the quake. Much of Antakya had been completely flattened, and what still stood was cracked and broken, completely abandoned, and poised to collapse. Mick and I made our way through the old city on foot; the alleys were too narrow for digging equipment to go through, and so we found ourselves climbing over rubble, as if the buildings had fallen the day before. The pets of those entombed in the collapsed buildings followed us, still wearing their collars—bewildered, brand-new strays. ♦

[onenettvchannel]

BALITANG SHOWBIZ: Pinoy Big Brother: GEN11 permanently suspends Eviction Voting amidst hate speech and death threats online [#FIRSTonOneNETnews]

Originally published on September 17th, 2024 due to mass financial constraints.

TRIGGER WARNING & DISCLAIMER: The following content may be emotionally triggering for some news readers due to the nature of internet conversation issues as described. ONC & OneNETnews has a ZERO-tolerance policy. We do NOT promote aggressively attacking or condone to expose the hate in a political matter. This Showbiz News report contains sensitive content, including references to online hate comments and death threats. Readers discretion is STRONGLY advised!!!

QUEZON, MANILA -- The popular social experiment reality TV show 'Pinoy Big Brother: GEN11' has announced the permanent suspension of viewer voting for weekly evictions effective mid-September 2024. This decision comes in response to a significant wave of online hate comments and death threats directed at the show's housemates.

In a report from ABS-CBN News, the drastic measure is said to result from the alarming increase of negative and extremely harmful comments created on their social media platforms, a reason cited by producers for the move. It would protect the mental and emotional well-being of housemates as contestants who have been victimized, severely both cyberbullied and cyber-libeled.

Although, this said suspension of eviction voting takes effect, 'Save' voting through the electronic wallet fintech smartphone app partner 'Maya' will still be part of the weekly eviction results until the Big Night for this season on Saturday night (October 26th, 2024 at 8:30pm -- Manila local time). That way, viewers and streaming online may still have a say in the fate of their favorite housemates, but in a more positive way.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and cybercrime authorities have actively launched an investigation into the matter, with the likes of National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office (NOPPO). Those liable of hate speech and threats could be brazenly charged with criminal offense on both cases as above-mentioned.

Online and physical offenders for commuted cases under the law may be imprisoned for 4 years and 8 months to 14 years under 'reclusion temporal' level of The Revised Penal Code (RPC). Those who were involved could be detained at a nearest provincial jail in their provinces per one social media account with a fine of PHP400,000 to PHP1.5 million (or U$D6,830 to U$D25,613).

This issue has sparked a national conversation about the impact of social media on mental health and the responsibility of online users to maintain a respectful and safe environment. Producers for the competitive social experiment reality TV show have called upon the public to stand with housemates and refrain from harmful behavior online.

It will require a more serious mindfulness by everyone about the foul-mouthed words and actions happening online to make a safer and more supportive environment for all, rather than the show was considered overcooked.

'Pinoy Big Brother: GEN11' airs every weeknights at 10:15pm and weekend nights at 8:30pm in Manila / 9:15am and 7:30am Central in the U.S. Only on DWWX-TV 2's Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online LIVE, DZOE-TV's A2Z 11 and DWET-TV's TV5 in Metro & Mega Manila, and catch-up on demand worldwide in selected countries thru iWantTFC and PBB: GEN11's YouTube channel.

PHOTO COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: Google Images and Getty Images

SOURCE: *https://ent.abs-cbn.com/pbbgen112024 *https://www.maya.ph/pbb *https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/10/7/binsoy-ends-pinoy-big-brother-gen11-journey-936 and *https://www.facebook.com/100044588102611/posts/1079782093518051

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

[enterprisewired]

Strategic Planning Frameworks: A Comprehensive Guide to Business Success

Source: Yuri_Arcurs from Getty Images Signature

Today’s world is more business-orientated, so an organization should be more alert and welcoming of new ideas if it wishes to grow. One of the key tools that could improve your business game is strategic planning. Regardless if you are a start-up firm or a well-established business, having a clear roadmap will help you achieve your long-term goals. At the center of this roadmap is strategic planning frameworks. These frameworks act as a structural approach to develop, evaluate, and implement strategies that make a business successful.

In this article, we will get an overview of five popular strategic planning frameworks, their benefits, and how they can be used to improve business performance.

What Are Strategic Planning Frameworks?

Before discussing specific types, let’s simplify what Strategic Planning Frameworks are. A strategic planning frameworks is a guide that helps a business determine how to assign its resources, align with its vision, and achieve its goals efficiently. They offer an organized way to think about commercial goals, identify key challenges, and decide on the best course of action.

Different frameworks cater to various types of businesses and objectives, making it vital for leaders to choose one that fits their specific needs. The right framework makes sure that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the company’s direction and are aligned in their efforts.

1. SWOT Analysis

One of the most widely recognized strategic planning frameworks is the SWOT Analysis. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and it provides a clear picture of an organization’s internal and external environment.

How It Works:

Strengths and Weaknesses: These represent internal factors, such as what the organization excels at (strengths) and areas needing improvement (weaknesses).

Opportunities and Threats: These are external factors. Opportunities highlight potential markets or partnerships, while threats could include competition, changing regulations, or economic downturns.

Benefits:

SWOT is simple to understand and apply, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes. It allows companies to focus on their strengths while mitigating weaknesses and preparing for external risks.

Application:

A small tech startup could use SWOT to evaluate how its innovative product (strength) might help it penetrate a competitive market (opportunity) while considering its lack of capital (weakness) and large competitors (threats).

2. Balanced Scorecard

Developed in the 1990s by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton, the Balanced Scorecard is a holistic strategic planning framework that balances financial and non-financial metrics. This framework encourages companies to not only focus on financial performance but also on customer satisfaction, internal processes, and organizational learning.

How It Works:

The framework divides goals into four key areas:

Financial Perspective: How does the organization appear to shareholders?

Customer Perspective: How do customers see the company?

Internal Processes: What are the business processes that need improvement?

Learning and Growth: How is the company improving its ability to innovate?

Benefits:

The Balanced Scorecard ensures that businesses don’t focus solely on short-term financial outcomes but also on long-term value creation by improving processes, fostering innovation, and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Application:

A retail business may use the Balanced Scorecard to track its progress on enhancing customer loyalty (customer perspective), streamlining supply chain operations (internal process), and investing in employee training (learning and growth) while maintaining profitability (financial perspective).

3. PEST Analysis

PEST Analysis is another powerful strategic planning framework that focuses on the external macro-environment factors affecting a business. It stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors.

How It Works:

Political: Examines government policies, tax laws, and regulations that could impact the business.

Economic: Looks at economic trends such as inflation, interest rates, and unemployment rates.

Social: Considers demographic trends, cultural attitudes, and lifestyle changes.

Technological: Analyzes technological advancements that could create opportunities or disrupt the business.

Benefits:

PEST Analysis is invaluable for businesses looking to expand into new markets or adapt to changing environmental factors. It helps companies stay ahead of the curve by understanding broader trends that may impact their success.

Application:

A global e-commerce company looking to enter the Indian market might use PEST to evaluate the country’s political stability, growing middle-class consumer base, and rapid digital transformation, allowing them to tailor their entry strategy accordingly.

4. Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Five Forces, developed by Michael Porter, is a strategic planning framework used to assess the competitive forces within an industry. It helps businesses understand the intensity of competition and the profitability of an industry.

How It Works:

The Five Forces are:

Threat of New Entrants: How easy is it for new players to enter the market?

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: How much power do suppliers have in influencing the price of inputs?

Bargaining Power of Buyers: How much power do customers have in influencing prices?

Threat of Substitute Products: Are there alternative products that could replace your offerings?

Industry Rivalry: What is the level of competition among existing players?

Benefits:

Porter’s Five Forces is ideal for businesses looking to understand their competitive environment and identify potential threats and opportunities within their industry. It provides insights into how to position the company for long-term success.

Application:

A telecom company could use Porter’s Five Forces to evaluate how competitive the market is, the potential for new players, and how much power customers and suppliers have. This helps in developing strategies to stay competitive.

5. OKR (Objectives and Key Results)

https://enterprisewired.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1.3-OKR-Objectives-and-Key-Results-Image-by-Funtap-from-Getty-Images.jpg

OKR is a goal-setting strategic planning framework popularized by companies like Google. It helps organizations define clear objectives and track the progress of key results, ensuring alignment across teams.

How It Works:

Objective: What do you want to achieve? Objectives should be ambitious yet achievable.

Key Results: How will you measure progress? Key results should be specific, measurable, and time-bound.

Benefits:

OKRs promote transparency and alignment within teams, fostering a culture of accountability and focus. By setting measurable goals, organizations can track their performance and make necessary adjustments in real time.

Application:

A tech startup could set an objective to increase market share in the next quarter, with key results such as achieving 10,000 new users and increasing website traffic by 30%. This aligns teams and provides a clear focus.

Choosing the Right Framework

Selecting the appropriate strategic planning framework depends on several factors, including the size of your business, the industry, and the specific challenges you face. For instance, a startup looking for quick growth might prefer OKR or SWOT, while a large organization focused on long-term sustainability might find the Balanced Scorecard more suitable.

Incorporating the right strategic planning framework into your business strategy enables you to make informed decisions, stay ahead of competitors, and ensure that your resources are allocated efficiently. Whether you’re analyzing internal strengths or external market trends, these frameworks provide a roadmap for achieving business excellence.

Conclusion

Strategic planning frameworks are vital tools for the company that are working towards navigating through the complications of the business world. By implementing these frameworks such as SWOT, balanced scorecard, PEST Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, and OKRs any organization can line up their goals, observe their improvement, and adjust to the changing work environment. The path to success lies in choosing and applying the right framework that aligns with your organization’s needs and ideas.

[mobilescaffold]

Earn Online

Earning online offers a variety of opportunities, from freelancing to starting your own business. Here’s a breakdown of different methods to make money online:

1. Freelancing

Platforms: Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr

Skills: Writing, graphic design, programming, digital marketing, virtual assistance, and more.

How to Start: Create a profile, showcase your skills and portfolio, and start applying for projects.

2. Online Tutoring and Teaching

Platforms: VIPKid, Teachable, Udemy, Coursera

Skills: Expertise in a subject or skill you can teach.

How to Start: Sign up on a tutoring platform or create your own courses and sell them on educational websites.

3. E-commerce and Dropshipping

Platforms: Shopify, Etsy, Amazon, eBay

Skills: Product sourcing, marketing, customer service.

How to Start: Set up an online store, source or create products, and promote your store through social media and advertising.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Platforms: Amazon Associates, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate

Skills: Content creation, SEO, digital marketing.

How to Start: Promote products or services through affiliate links on your blog, website, or social media, and earn commissions on sales.

5. Content Creation

Platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Medium

Skills: Video production, photography, writing, social media management.

How to Start: Create and publish content, grow your audience, and monetize through ads, sponsorships, or donations.

6. Online Surveys and Market Research

Platforms: Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, Vindale Research

Skills: None required, but attention to detail is important.

How to Start: Sign up on survey sites, complete surveys or participate in market research, and earn rewards or cash.

7. Stock Photography and Design

Platforms: Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images

Skills: Photography, graphic design.

How to Start: Upload your photos or designs to stock photo sites and earn royalties when they are purchased.

8. Blogging and Vlogging

Platforms: WordPress, Blogger, YouTube

Skills: Writing, video editing, SEO.

How to Start: Create a blog or vlog, build an audience, and monetize through ads, sponsored content, or affiliate marketing.

9. App and Web Development

Platforms: Freelancer platforms, GitHub

Skills: Coding, software development.

How to Start: Offer development services or create your own apps/websites and monetize them through sales or ads.

10. Virtual Assistance

Platforms: Belay, Time Etc., Fancy Hands

Skills: Administrative tasks, customer support, project management.

How to Start: Apply for virtual assistant positions or offer your services to businesses in need.

11. Writing and Publishing

Platforms: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Wattpad

Skills: Writing, editing.

How to Start: Write and self-publish e-books or articles, and earn royalties or payments.

12. Investing in Cryptocurrency or Stock Markets

Platforms: Coinbase, Robinhood, E*TRADE

Skills: Research, understanding of financial markets.

How to Start: Research investment opportunities, open an account on an investment platform, and start investing.

13. Selling Handmade or Custom Products

Platforms: Etsy, Redbubble, Zazzle

Skills: Crafting, design.

How to Start: Create and list your products on these platforms, and manage your shop.

14. Online Real Estate

Platforms: Fundrise, RealtyMogul

Skills: Understanding real estate investing.

How to Start: Invest in real estate projects or properties online through crowdfunding platforms.

15. Creating and Selling Digital Products

Platforms: Gumroad, Etsy, your own website

Skills: Graphic design, content creation.

How to Start: Create digital products like e-books, printables, or courses, and sell them online.

Each method requires different levels of commitment, skill, and investment, so choose one that aligns with your interests and strengths. Starting small, learning as you go, and scaling up gradually can help you build a sustainable online income.

forex, trading, online business, earn online, work online, business forex

[scrapesaladofficial]

Director of It Ends With Us 'fought with Blake Lively' over final cut of film and they now 'hate each other'

Blake Lively stars alongside actor and director Justin Baldoni in the romance-drama Sources with knowledge about the making of Blake Lively's new movie It Ends With Us have claimed the star fought with the director over the final cut. Lively stars alongside Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj and more in the romance-drama movie, which arrives in theaters today (August 9) after being adapted from author Colleen Hoover's bestselling book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-GQvSc5ZGw&pp=ygUXaXQgZW5kcyB3aXRoIHVzIHRyYWlsZXI Baldoni also directed the movie, but despite working side-by-side for so long Lively and Baldoni noticeably did not appear to pose together for any photos at the New York City premiere for the movie this week. Internet sleuths quickly began to question the atmosphere at the event and the accompanying press tour, with one person going as far as to suggest the pair were 'avoiding each other like the plague'. Committed social media users also spotted that both Blake and Hoover had apparently unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram. Now, sources cited by TheInSneider - aka Jeffrey Sneider, 'Hollywood's most fearless journalist' - have claimed tensions between Lively and Baldoni came about due to a difference of opinion. Lively did not pose for pictures with Baldoni at the premiere. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Sony Pictures) The insiders have claimed there were different cuts of the film competing against each other in the editing stage, with Baldoni and Lively on opposing sides. Apparently Baldoni's version scored higher with audiences, but Lively allegedly took action to make sure her cut 'won'. The sources claimed that Lively enlisted her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for help, and that he 'basically took over the movie and buddied up to author Colleen Hoover to see that their cut won'. As a result, 'Baldoni and Blake hate each other', the sources have alleged. One claimed: “It’s wild that the cast would shun Justin and not do press with him. It makes no sense because he’s the only one acting professional." Reynolds smiled alongside Lively at the premier in New York, and in an interview with People, the star revealed her husband had contributed to the movie in at least one capacity. Baldoni and Lively play love interests in the movie. (Sony Pictures Releasing) She said: "The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it. Nobody knows that but you now." Lively continued: "We help each other. He works on everything I do; I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his." In spite of the rumors surrounding the movie, Baldoni has spoken highly of Lively and described her as a 'creative force'. Speaking to People, he said: "She's an executive producer on the film, and she is so brilliant." Read the full article

[govindhtech]

Edify NVIDIA An Desert World By Create Gen AI 3D Objectives

NVIDIA Researchers Create an Immersive Desert World Using Real-Time Gen AI. The demonstration highlighted the NVIDIA Omniverse platform’s and models’ helpful 3D world-building capabilities when driven by Edify NVIDIA.

SIGGRAPH Real-Time Live event, NVIDIA researchers demonstrated how to use Edify NVIDIA, a multimodal architecture for visual generative  AI, to quickly create a detailed 3D desert scene.

In one of the most esteemed sessions of the prominent graphics conference, NVIDIA researchers demonstrated how, in just five minutes, they could create and modify a desert landscape from scratch with the help of an AI agent. The live demonstration demonstrated how generative  AI may help artists by speeding up ideation and producing unique secondary elements that would not have needed to be sourced from a repository.

These AI technologies will enable 3D artists to be more productive and creative by radically cutting down on ideation time. They will provide them with the means to explore concepts more quickly and streamline portions of their processes. Instead of wasting hours searching for or generating the 360 HDRi landscapes or backdrop assets the scene requires, they could produce them in a matter of minutes.

Edify NVIDIA

Three Minutes to Go from Concept to 3D Scene

A complete 3D scene takes a lot of work and time to complete. In order to build a rich scene, artists must provide their hero asset with a lot of background objects. After that, they must choose an acceptable background and an environment map to illuminate the scene. They’ve frequently had to choose between producing results quickly and engaging in creative exploration due to time constraints.

Creative teams may accomplish both objectives with the help of AI agents: they can swiftly bring thoughts to life and keep iterating until they have the desired look.

In the Real-Time Live demonstration, the researchers employed an  AI agent to direct an Edify NVIDIA-powered model to create previews for hundreds of 3D objects, such as rocks, cactus, and a bull’s skull, in a matter of seconds.

Free 3D Objects

NVIDIA Edify

NVIDIA Edify Quickens the Creation of Environments

Using AI-powered scene generation tools, Edify NVIDIA models can speed up the development of background environments and objects, allowing artists to concentrate on hero assets.

Real Live Time

Two Edify NVIDIA models were displayed in the Real-Time Live demo:

Edify 3D uses text or image prompts to create editable 3D meshes. In a matter of seconds, the model can produce previews that include spinning animations for every object, enabling developers to quickly prototype their ideas before settling on a final version.

Edify 360 HDRi creates up to 16K high-dynamic range photographs (HDRi) of natural landscapes using text or picture prompts. These HDRi photos can be utilised as backgrounds or to illuminate situations.

The researchers also demonstrated USD Layout, an AI model that creates scene layouts using OpenUSD, a platform for 3D workflows, and an  AI agent driven by a sizable language model during the demo.

Using Edify NVIDIA-powered technologies, two top creative content firms are providing designers and artists with new ways to increase productivity through generative  AI, as NVIDIA announced at SIGGRAPH.

Shutterstock’s Generative 3D service, which enables designers to swiftly prototype and build 3D products using text or image prompts, has debuted in commercial testing. Its Edify NVIDIA-based 360 HDRi generator was also granted early access.

Getty Images

The most recent Edify NVIDIA version was added to Getty Images’ Generative AI by Getty Images service. With twice the speed, users may now produce photos with better output quality, timely adherence, sophisticated controls, and fine-tuning.

3D object Genoerator

Using  NVIDIA Omniverse’s Universal Scene Description

USD is a common format used to describe and compose 3D environments, and it is used to structure the 3D objects, environment maps, and layouts created using Edify models. Artists may now import Edify NVIDIA-powered compositions into Omniverse USD Composer right away thanks to this compatibility.

They can further alter the scene in Composer by utilising well-known digital content production tools, such as shifting objects’ positions, altering their looks, or tweaking the lighting.

One of the most anticipated events of SIGGRAPH is Real-Time Live, which offers approximately twelve real-time applications, such as virtual reality, generative AI, and live performance capture technologies. See the replay in the section below.

They then gave the agent instructions on how to use other models to generate possible backgrounds and a plan for the placement of the objects in the picture. This demonstrated how the agent could swiftly switch out the pebbles for gold nuggets in order to adjust to last-minute changes in the creative direction.

They gave the agent a design plan and instructed them to produce high-quality assets and use the virtual world-building program NVIDIA Omniverse USD Composer to render the scenario as a photorealistic image.

3D Objective

Shutterstock Launches Generative 3D, and Getty Images Enhances Their Offering Driven by NVIDIA

With services powered by Edify NVIDIA, you can create 3D assets, light virtual environments, or make photos in half the time. Thanks to generative AI educated on licensed data, designers and artists may now increase their output in new and more efficient ways.

Leading creative content marketplace Shutterstock has put its Generative 3D service into commercial beta. With merely text or image prompts, it enables developers to quickly prototype 3D items and build 360 HDRi backgrounds that illuminate situations.

Leading provider of visual material and marketplace Getty Images has enhanced its Generative  AI by Getty Images offering to produce photos twice as quickly, enhance output quality, provide sophisticated controls, and facilitate fine-tuning.

The services are developed utilising Edify NVIDIA, a multimodal generative  AI architecture, and the company’s visual AI foundry. NVIDIA NIM, a collection of accelerated microservices for AI inference, is then used to optimise and bundle the AI models for optimal performance.

With Edify NVIDIA, service providers can swiftly scale responsible generative models on licensed data and take use of NVIDIA DGX Cloud the cloud-first approach to leveraging the full potential of NVIDIA AI.

3D Objective

3D modelling is sped up with generative AI

Shutterstock’s service, which is currently in commercial beta for corporations, enables designers and artists to swiftly produce 3D objects that aid in prototyping or populating virtual worlds. By utilising generative AI, for instance, they may rapidly generate the dishes and cutlery on a dining room table, freeing up their time to concentrate on creating the characters that sit on it.

The 3D assets produced by the service come in a number of widely used file formats and are prepared for editing with digital content creation tools. Artists have a sophisticated foundation from which to create their own style because to their simple geometry and arrangement.

In as little as 10 seconds, the AI model first provides a preview of a single asset. The preview can be developed into a better 3D asset using physically based rendering elements like concrete, wood, or leather if customers find it appealing.

This year’s SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference will test the speed at which designers can realise their concepts.

A Blender method that enables artists to create items directly in their 3D environment will be demonstrated by Shutterstock. At SIGGRAPH, HP will display 3D prints and real prototypes of the kinds of assets that guests can create on the show floor with Generative 3D at the Shutterstock booth.

Additionally, Edify NVIDIA 3D generation for virtual production is being used by Shutterstock in collaboration with WPP, a global provider of marketing and communications services, to bring concepts to life.

Best 3D Printed Objects

Would you like to see that stunning new sports vehicle on a winding mountain route, on a tropical beach, or in a desert? Designers are able to change course quickly with generative AI.

Three businesses intend to use the 360 HDRi APIs from Shutterstock straight into their operations. High-end visualisations and 3D material for virtual environments can be created with the 3DEXCITE apps from Dassault Systèmes and WPP, a CGI studio.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[bllsbailey]

Ted Cruz Blasts Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. For 'Refusing To Answer' Questions

(L) Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questions acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. and Deputy Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Paul Abbate during a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) / (R) Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz chastised Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. on Tuesday for seemingly dodging his questions.

Under the Senate Judiciary Committee, Rowe testified on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, following the resignation of previous U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

Cruz asserted that the acting director had failed to respond to inquiries regarding the number of agents Trump was given in comparison to President Joe Biden as well as the agency’s “decision-making process.”

Cruz: “I believe that the Secret Service leadership made a political decision to deny these requests. And I think the Biden administration has been suffused with partisan politics… Did the same person who denied the request for additional security to President Trump also repeatedly deny the requests for security to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father was murdered by an assassin and whose uncle was murdered by an assassin? Did the same person make that decision?” Rowe: “Senator, what I will tell you is that Secret Service agents are not political.”

Even though he requested it in advance, the Secret Service did not provide protection for Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. until after the Trump murder attempt, when Trump himself demanded that the Independent candidate receive more protection, especially given his family’s history of assassinations.

Cruz: “I have a simple question: yes or no. Did the same person deny the Trump request that also denied the RFK request? That’s a yes or no question.” Rowe: “Senator, that is not a yes or no question. One, there’s a process for a candidate nominee to receive protection… That is a bicameral, bipartisan process.”

As the two continued to converse and talk over one another, Cruz informed Rowe that his usage of the term “bicameral” was incorrect because he is not a member of Congress.

According to sources within the Secret Service, there weren’t enough personnel available to defend Trump due to the NATO summit taking place in Washington, D.C., as well as first lady Jill Biden’s campaign event taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, according to the Daily Caller.

Cruz: “What was the relative size of the Trump detail compared to the detail that is assigned to the President and the First Lady?” Rowe: “Senator, the former president travels with a full shift, just like the president.”

Cruz then asked Rowe to clarify if it was “the exact same size.”

Rowe: “On the day of, in Butler, the agents surrounding him, it is the same number of agents surrounding the president today.”

The Texas senator chimed in after the last statement to clarify his use of the term “president,” asking for a second time if “it is [his] testimony that in Butler, Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had the same number of agents protecting him that Joe Biden has at a [comparable] event.”

Rowe grew frustrated and insisted he was “trying to answer.”

Cruz: “You are not answering it. Is it the same number of agents or not? Sir, you are refusing to answer straight.

Rowe tries to interject.

Cruz: “Sir, stop interrupting me. Stop interrupting me. You are refusing to answer clear and direct questions. I am asking the relative difference in the number of agents between those assigned to Donald Trump and those assigned to Joe Biden. I’m not asking why you assign more to Joe Biden.”

As the testimony and discussion became more heated, Rowe finally informed Cruz that he would give him the precise number so he could see it with “own eyes.”

Meanwhile, Rowe emphasized the breakdowns in communication that occurred during the Butler event throughout Tuesday’s hearing, claiming that data regarding Crooks was “stuck” and “siloed” in local law enforcement channels.

Rowe: “The only thing we had was that locals were working an issue at the three o’clock, which would have been the former president’s right-hand side, which is where the shot came… Nothing about man on the roof, nothing about man with a gun. None of that information ever made it over our net.”

However, Rowe’s last statement highly contradicts other news reports and testimonies by local law enforcement.

Although the FBI still hasn’t disclosed a motive for the failed assassination attempt, CNN reported on Tuesday that the CEO of the website “Gab,” Andrew Torba, claimed last week that law enforcement contacted him and said there’s a chance the would-be assassin had an account on his alternative social media platform. The aforementioned account, according to Torba, was “pro-Biden.”

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 30, 2024

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[msclaritea]

Biden told to drop out in "haywire" meeting with Hispanic Democrats

President Biden, Chrissy Levin and Rep. Mike Levin at a rally.

President Biden, Chrissy Levin and Rep. Mark Levin at a campaign event in Oceanside, California on Nov. 3, 2022. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images.

President Biden's meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday didn't go as planned, with one lawmaker even urging him to drop his re-election bid, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

Why it matters: It's a rare instance of a lawmaker actually telling the president in a direct encounter that he should exit the 2024 presidential race.

One lawmaker who was told about the meeting described it as going "haywire."

The latest: Biden was an hour late to the Zoom meeting with Hispanic Caucus members on Friday, which was held through the group's political arm, BOLD PAC, the sources said.

After Reps. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) asked Biden questions, which one source described as "pre-selected," Sanchez, the BOLD PAC chair, tried to "lightly" end the meeting, the source said.

But Biden offered to take more questions and Sanchez called on Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.). He told Biden it is time for somebody else to lead the party, according to both sources. Levin later put out a statement making that position public.

Zoom in: In response to Levin's comment, Biden said, "That's why I'm going out and letting people touch me, poke me, ask me questions. I think I know what I'm doing," according to a source familiar with the call..."

[fmhiphop]

Immersive Harmony:  Watch The Full Trailer of Doja Cat's VR Scarlet Tour

The virtual reality (VR) space is becoming a popular platform for immersive musical experiences. Recently, the announcement of Doja Cat's Scarlett Tour in VR has generated excitement. Wonderfully, the full trailer is now available. Doja’s Artistic Journey Doja Cat: Image Source Getty Images Doja Cat, also known as Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, has carved a notable niche for herself in the music industry. Her artistic roots can be traced back to her parents. Her mother was a painter and her father an actor, composer, and film producer. But despite being the offspring of artists, Doja Cat's journey to fame was not a direct path. According to Hip-hop Scriptures, she independently learned to sing, rap, and use GarageBand while unemployed, consistently creating and uploading music to SoundCloud. It's no secret that hard work pays off. By creating opportunities for herself she found success. The turning point came in 2012. Her talent began to attract attention, leading to her eventual signing with Kemosabe Records in 2014. In 2018 the virality of her son "Mooo" elevated the artist. This marked the beginning of her career in earnest. https://youtu.be/mXnJqYwebF8?si=9zm9IZpwlkFfWwPv A Star Ascends In 2019, Doja Cat achieved her first solo entry on the Billboard charts, and by 2020, she earned recognition as a top new artist. As Hip-hop Scripture notes, "Rolling Stone ranked her at number one on their list of the ten biggest breakthrough artists of 2020. Cosmopolitan declared Doja Cat hip-hop's most fierce upcoming rapper. To add to her acclaim, Forbes named Doja one of the top breakout stars of 2020." However, this was just the beginning. Doja Cat had much more to accomplish. In fact, according to Beck Media,  "Her GRAMMY award-winning track "Kiss Me More" featuring SZA, the lead single from "Planet Her," currently holds a certification of 5x platinum by the RIAA. Impressively it has claimed the #1 spot on the Top 40 and Rhythm radio charts. Furthermore, it continues to accumulate over 2.2 billion streams worldwide." Doja Cat's Scarlett Tour in VR It's 2024 and Doja Cat continues to maintain her momentum. One way she has done so is by touring. Now a new opportunity has arisen for her fans. The Doja Cat Scarlett Tour in VR is set to premiere on January 20, 2024, exclusively in Meta Horizon Worlds. Promoted debut time is 5 pm PT. And according to sources the concert will showcase fan favorites like "Woman," "Paint the Town Red," and "Agora Hills." Ultimately it's poised to be a delightful experience for fans who were unable to see the star perform in real life (IRL). Check it Out If you're a music enthusiast and a fan of Doja Cat with a Meta Quest VR set, don't miss the opportunity to check out the full trailer. Should you find the collaboration between Diamond Brothers and Meta intriguing, there's an ongoing opportunity to RSVP. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. As most eloquently expressed, not always does one have such experience. Take the opportunity to capture the captivating energy of The Scarlet Tour from the comfort of your home. Written By: Renae Richardson Read the full article

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on https://yaroreviews.info/2023/09/energy-bills-forecast-to-rise-in-january-to-1996

Energy bills forecast to rise in January to £1,996

Getty Images

By Michael Race

Business reporter, BBC News

Annual energy bills for a typical household are expected to rise by £73 in January, a new forecast suggests.

Consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicts bills could increase to £1,996 under the official price cap set by the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem.

The energy price cap limits how much suppliers can charge households for each unit of energy they use.

Cornwall analysts said a rise in January would be largely down to increases in wholesale energy prices.

The rise comes as millions are set to see energy bills fall from 1 October, when the next price cap comes into force.

From October a typical dual-fuel household will pay £1,923 a year until December, which is down from £2,074 in the previous three-month period. However, some government support, which helped with bills last winter, has been withdrawn and bills are still much higher than in 2021.

‘Not unexpected’

In its latest forecast for January, Cornwall said it expects bills to near £2,000 again.

Dr Craig Lowrey, principal consultant at the group, said that while it was disappointing to see the trend in energy bills falling over the past year “stall”, it was “not wholly unexpected”.

“While the rise is small, it shows we cannot just assume prices will continue their fall and eventually reach pre-pandemic levels,” he said.

“Policies need to be put in place to deal with the possible situation that high energy prices have become the new normal.”

The price of wholesale energy increased as Covid pandemic restrictions were eased, and then rocketed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, causing bills in turn to soar.

The energy watchdog, Ofgem, sets a maximum price that suppliers can charge customers per unit of gas and electricity.

It applies to households on variable or default tariffs in England, Wales and Scotland, but the actual amount paid by customers will vary depending on the amount of gas and electricity they use.

To shield people in England, Wales and Scotland from much higher bills last year, the government introduced a £400 discount for each household, but that scheme has now finished.

However, some groups who may struggle to pay bills are to receive additional help through cost-of-living payments.

What is the energy cap and what’s happening to bills?

Dr Lowrey said dealing with persistently high energy prices would “not be achieved by a one-size-fits-all solution”.

He said the government possessed “a toolbox of short- and medium-term options, including targeted support such as social tariffs or investment in energy efficiency”, which he argued could ease the burden on vulnerable households.

“However, it is important we understand such assistance cannot overcome the effects of a volatile international energy market on bills,” he added.

“It is only by continuing our transition away from fossil fuels, towards secure and sustainable domestic energy sources that we can reduce our exposure to such international drivers and, in turn, stabilise our energy prices.”

A coalition of 140 organisations and MPs has called onthe government to consider introducing a social tariff to help with energy bills this winter.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the group said support would stop people having to face a choice “between heating and eating”.

The Department for Energy and Net Zero has been contacted for comment.

What can I do if I can’t afford my energy bill?

Check your direct debit: Your monthly payment is based on your estimated energy use for the year. Your supplier can reduce your bill if your actual use is less than the estimation.

Pay what you can: If you can’t meet your direct debit or quarterly payments, ask your supplier for an “able to pay plan” based on what you can afford.

Claim what you are entitled to: Check you are claiming all the benefits you can. The independent MoneyHelper website has a useful guide.

Read more here

Related Topics

Energy customer switching

Ofgem

Cost of living

Energy service companies

More on this story

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