#successful software integration

[techtoio]

Integrating New Software: Tips for a Smooth Transition

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, businesses often find themselves integrating new software to stay competitive and efficient. However, the process can be daunting, fraught with potential disruptions and challenges. At TechtoIO, we understand the importance of a smooth transition when implementing new software. This guide provides essential tips to help you integrate new software seamlessly, minimizing downtime and maximizing productivity. Read to Continue

[magtecbusinesssolutions]

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[mudassir-iqbal]

ERP Implementation Success: Key Steps for a Smooth Transition

Embarking on an ERP Implementation Success journey is both exciting and challenging for any organization. To achieve ERP Implementation Success, businesses must follow key steps, anticipate potential challenges, and apply effective strategies. From planning and vendor selection to data migration and training, this article explores the essential aspects of ERP implementation to ensure a smooth and…

[insurance-brokers-india]

What are the next steps after obtaining an insurance broker license, and how can you generate potential leads using Mzapp CRM software?

Congratulations on securing your insurance broker license! The journey doesn’t end here; it’s just the beginning of building a successful insurance brokerage. Here’s how you can proceed and leverage Mzapp CRM software to find potential leads:

Steps After Getting Your Insurance Broker License

Understand Your Market: Research your target audience (individuals, businesses, or specific sectors).

Develop a Business Plan: Set goals for client acquisition, revenue, and operational processes.

Build a Network: Partner with insurance providers and attend industry events to establish your presence.

Create an Online Presence: Build a professional website and maintain active profiles on social platforms.

Offer Value-Added Services: Educate customers on policies, claims management, and risk assessments.

Using Mzapp CRM Software to Generate Leads

Lead Capture: Utilize Mzapp’s integrated forms and web tracking tools to capture inquiries from your website or social media.

Automated Follow-Ups: Set up personalized email and SMS follow-ups to nurture leads effectively.

Lead Scoring: Prioritize leads based on their interaction history, ensuring you focus on high-potential prospects.

Data-Driven Campaigns: Use analytics to identify what works and launch targeted campaigns.

Seamless Policy Management: Impress leads by showcasing how smoothly you manage policies and claims through Mzapp.

Why Choose Mzapp CRM?

Mzapp CRM simplifies lead management, streamlines operations, and provides insights into customer behavior, making it easier to convert prospects into loyal clients.

Learn more about how Mzapp can transform your insurance business here.

[simplifyworkforce]

Top 20 Personality Interview Questions to Ask Your Interviewee

"Discover the top 20 personality interview questions to assess your candidates effectively. This guide provides insightful questions that help employers gauge interpersonal skills, cultural fit, and emotional intelligence during interviews."

[sierraconsult]

At Sierra Consulting, we ensure that your staff understands the finest CRM for your organization. Our training is completely targeted to your team's needs, from navigating the platform to using all of the great features. We want to assist your team use the CRM to its maximum potential, especially with excellent features like Monday.com's workflows and automation, so they're prepared for success.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How lock-in hurts design

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you've ever read about design, you've probably encountered the idea of "paving the desire path." A "desire path" is an erosion path created by people departing from the official walkway and taking their own route. The story goes that smart campus planners don't fight the desire paths laid down by students; they pave them, formalizing the route that their constituents have voted for with their feet.

Desire paths aren't always great (Wikipedia notes that "desire paths sometimes cut through sensitive habitats and exclusion zones, threatening wildlife and park security"), but in the context of design, a desire path is a way that users communicate with designers, creating a feedback loop between those two groups. The designers make a product, the users use it in ways that surprise the designer, and the designer integrates all that into a new revision of the product.

This method is widely heralded as a means of "co-innovating" between users and companies. Designers who practice the method are lauded for their humility, their willingness to learn from their users. Tech history is strewn with examples of successful paved desire-paths.

Take John Deere. While today the company is notorious for its war on its customers (via its opposition to right to repair), Deere was once a leader in co-innovation, dispatching roving field engineers to visit farms and learn how farmers had modified their tractors. The best of these modifications would then be worked into the next round of tractor designs, in a virtuous cycle:

https://securityledger.com/2019/03/opinion-my-grandfathers-john-deere-would-support-our-right-to-repair/

But this pattern is even more pronounced in the digital world, because it's much easier to update a digital service than it is to update all the tractors in the field, especially if that service is cloud-based, meaning you can modify the back-end everyone is instantly updated. The most celebrated example of this co-creation is Twitter, whose users created a host of its core features.

Retweets, for example, were a user creation. Users who saw something they liked on the service would type "RT" and paste the text and the link into a new tweet composition window. Same for quote-tweets: users copied the URL for a tweet and pasted it in below their own commentary. Twitter designers observed this user innovation and formalized it, turning it into part of Twitter's core feature-set.

Companies are obsessed with discovering digital desire paths. They pay fortunes for analytics software to produce maps of how their users interact with their services, run focus groups, even embed sneaky screen-recording software into their web-pages:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-side-of-replay-sessions-that-record-your-every-move-online/

This relentless surveillance of users is pursued in the name of making things better for them: let us spy on you and we'll figure out where your pain-points and friction are coming from, and remove those. We all win!

But this impulse is a world apart from the humility and respect implied by co-innovation. The constant, nonconsensual observation of users has more to do with controlling users than learning from them.

That is, after all, the ethos of modern technology: the more control a company can exert over its users ,the more value it can transfer from those users to its shareholders. That's the key to enshittification, the ubiquitous platform decay that has degraded virtually all the technology we use, making it worse every day:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

When you are seeking to control users, the desire paths they create are all too frequently a means to wrestling control back from you. Take advertising: every time a service makes its ads more obnoxious and invasive, it creates an incentive for its users to search for "how do I install an ad-blocker":

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

More than half of all web-users have installed ad-blockers. It's the largest consumer boycott in human history:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

But zero app users have installed ad-blockers, because reverse-engineering an app requires that you bypass its encryption, triggering liability under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This law provides for a $500,000 fine and a 5-year prison sentence for "circumvention" of access controls:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Beyond that, modifying an app creates liability under copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, noncompete, nondisclosure and so on. It's what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model":

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

This is why services are so horny to drive you to install their app rather using their websites: they are trying to get you to do something that, given your druthers, you would prefer not to do. They want to force you to exit through the gift shop, you want to carve a desire path straight to the parking lot. Apps let them mobilize the law to literally criminalize those desire paths.

An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to block ads in it (or do anything else that wrestles value back from a company). Apps are web-pages where everything not forbidden is mandatory.

Seen in this light, an app is a way to wage war on desire paths, to abandon the cooperative model for co-innovation in favor of the adversarial model of user control and extraction.

Corporate apologists like to claim that the proliferation of apps proves that users like them. Neoliberal economists love the idea that business as usual represents a "revealed preference." This is an intellectually unserious tautology: "you do this, so you must like it":

https://boingboing.net/2024/01/22/hp-ceo-says-customers-are-a-bad-investment-unless-they-can-be-made-to-buy-companys-drm-ink-cartridges.html

Calling an action where no alternatives are permissible a "preference" or a "choice" is a cheap trick – especially when considered against the "preferences" that reveal themselves when a real choice is possible. Take commercial surveillance: when Apple gave Ios users a choice about being spied on – a one-click opt of of app-based surveillance – 96% of users choice no spying:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-out-of-app-tracking-in-ios-14-5-analytics-find/

But then Apple started spying on those very same users that had opted out of spying by Facebook and other Apple competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Neoclassical economists aren't just obsessed with revealed preferences – they also love to bandy about the idea of "moral hazard": economic arrangements that tempt people to be dishonest. This is typically applied to the public ("consumers" in the contemptuous parlance of econospeak). But apps are pure moral hazard – for corporations. The ability to prohibit desire paths – and literally imprison rivals who help your users thwart those prohibitions – is too tempting for companies to resist.

The fact that the majority of web users block ads reveals a strong preference for not being spied on ("users just want relevant ads" is such an obvious lie that doesn't merit any serious discussion):

https://www.iccl.ie/news/82-of-the-irish-public-wants-big-techs-toxic-algorithms-switched-off/

Giant companies attained their scale by learning from their users, not by thwarting them. The person using technology always knows something about what they need to do and how they want to do it that the designers can never anticipate. This is especially true of people who are unlike those designers – people who live on the other side of the world, or the other side of the economic divide, or whose bodies don't work the way that the designers' bodies do:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

Apps – and other technologies that are locked down so their users can be locked in – are the height of technological arrogance. They embody a belief that users are to be told, not heard. If a user wants to do something that the designer didn't anticipate, that's the user's fault:

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

Corporate enthusiasm for prohibiting you from reconfiguring the tools you use to suit your needs is a declaration of the end of history. "Sure," John Deere execs say, "we once learned from farmers by observing how they modified their tractors. But today's farmers are so much stupider and we are so much smarter that we have nothing to learn from them anymore."

Spying on your users to control them is a poor substitute asking your users their permission to learn from them. Without technological self-determination, preferences can't be revealed. Without the right to seize the means of computation, the desire paths never emerge, leaving designers in the dark about what users really want.

Our policymakers swear loyalty to "innovation" but when corporations ask for the right to decide who can innovate and how, they fall all over themselves to create laws that let companies punish users for the crime of contempt of business-model.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

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/2024/01/24/everything-not-mandatory/#is-prohibited

Image: Belem (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desire_path_%2819811581366%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[charmedreincarnation]

MAYA’S MORPHICS FIELD CHALLENGE

Hello everyone :) School is starting, and that's a time when stress levels can peak for anyone in the manifesting community. It's tough to wake up to another school year without your dream life, and I know how draining it can be. You might feel like you have to focus on your journey while also tackling school, which is challenging enough on its own. I hope this can help with anything related to manifesting reality, the void state, shifting, lucid dreaming, school, and mindset. Remember, you're not alone in this journey, and it is inevitable you achieve all that you desire!

What are morphic fields

Morphic field audio refers to soundtracks that are designed to interact with the concept of morphic fields, which are theoretical fields that influence patterns and behaviors in nature. These audio tracks often incorporate elements like binaural beats or isochronic tones, which are sound frequencies intended to influence brainwave activity and promote specific mental states.

The idea is that by listening to these audio tracks, individuals you can tap into or resonate with morphic fields, potentially enhancing focus, relaxation, or other desired states. The concept is rooted in the belief that sound can influence the mind and body in ways that align with the patterns and connections proposed by morphic fields.

Subliminals or and affirmation tapes with morphic fields

When using morphic fields with subliminals, you can experiment with different approaches to see what works best for you.

Simultaneous Playback:

Play the morphic field audio and subliminal tracks at the same time.

Sequential Playback:

Before: Start with the morphic field audio to create a receptive mental state, then follow with the subliminal tracks. This can help prepare your mind to absorb the affirmations more effectively.

After:

Begin with the sublininal tracks to plant the affirmations in your subconscious, then play the morphic field audio to reinforce and integrate the messages.

Layering:

If you have audio editing software, you can layer the morphic field audio beneath the subliminal tracks, creating a single, cohesive audio experience. This method requires some technical skill but can be very effective.

Experiment and Adjust

Everyone's response to these techniques can vary like all methods so feel free to experiment with different methods and monitor how you feel. Adjust the timing, order, and volume to find the combination that resonates best with you :) it doesn’t have to be methodical at all

Specified Morphic Fields

You can also find specific morphic fields tailored to your desires, such as lucid dreaming, shifting realities, or entering the void state. These specialized audio tracks are designed to help you achieve particular goals by using specific frequencies and energies.

Similarly to binaural beats or isochronic tones Sounds, it’s best to listen to morphic fields in positive environments because they are highly receptive to surrounding influences. Ensure that your surroundings are calm and uplifting. This might include a tidy space, soft lighting, or calming scents like lavender or sage.

Stay away from negative influences like for example watching horror movies or engaging with negative shifting or void content while listening to morphic fields. Instead, pair your listening sessions with positive and inspiring content. This could include watching manifesting videos, glow-up transformation videos, or reading success stories related to shifting and lucid dreaming.

Combine this with affirming and persisting

the only three affirmations I use are:

I can shift

I will shift

I have shifted

This is very simple and effectively covers the past, present, and future, making it easy to repeat. The brain loves mantras, and these affirmations are designed to reinforce your belief in your ability to shift. This repetition helps to rewire your subconscious mind, aligning your thoughts and actions with your desired outcome. Keep it simple, stay consistent, and watch as your affirmations help manifest your shifting journey.

The challenge

Compile a playlist of subliminals or affirmation tapes, whichever you prefer.

Listen to them while playing morphic fields. You can use headphones or play them out loud; it doesn’t matter.

If you don’t want subliminals or affirmation tapes, find specific morphic fields for your desire, such as wealth morphic fields or shifting morphic fields.

They are easy to find on YouTube. Just search up your topic and then morphic field feel feee to use the ones I recommend as well!

4. Do this in a positive environment. Engage in activities like scrolling on Tumblr, reading success stories, or watching lucid dreaming tips.

5.Outside of this, use the three affirmations: "I can shift," "I will shift," "I have shifted."

You can replace these with anything related to lucid dreaming, the void state, or manifesting—whatever suits your goals, e.g: “I can wake up in the void,” “I will wake up in the void,” “I have woken up in the void before”

6.Make this routine fit your schedule.With school starting, you’ll be busy, so keep it simple and easy!

[kitkatt0430]

Welp, I've been using external methods of auto-backing up my tumblr but it seems like it doesn't do static pages, only posts.

So I guess I'll have some manual backing up to do later

Still, it's better than nothing and I'm using the official tumblr backup process for my smaller blogs so hopefully that'll net the static pages and direct messages too. But. My main - starstruckpurpledragon - 'backed up' officially but was undownloadable; either it failed or it'd download a broken, unusable, 'empty' zip. So *shrugs* I'm sure I'm not the only one who is trying to back up everything at once. Wouldn't be shocked if the rest of the backups are borked too when I try to download their zips.

There are two diff ways I've been externally backing up my tumblr.

TumblThree - This one is relatively straight forward in that you can download it and start backing up immediately. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done. Does not get static pages or your direct message conversations, but your posts, gifs, jpegs, etc are all there. You can back up more than just your own blog(s) if you want to as well.

That said, it dumps all your posts into one of three text files which makes them hard to find. That's why I say it's 'not pretty'. It does have a lot of options in there that are useful for tweaking your download experience and it's not bad for if you're unfamiliar with command line solutions and don't have an interest in learning them. (Which is fair, command line can be annoying if you're not used to it.) There are options for converting the output into nicer html files for each post but I haven't tried them and I suspect they require command line anyway.

I got my blogs backed up using this method as of yesterday but wasn't thrilled with the output. Decided that hey, I'm a software engineer, command line doesn't scare me, I'll try this back up thing another way. Leading to today's successful adventures with:

TumblrUtils - This one does take more work to set up but once it's working it'll back up all your posts in pretty html files by default. It does take some additional doing for video/audio but so does TumblThree so I'll probably look into it more later.

First, you have to download and install python. I promise, the code snake isn't dangerous, it's an incredibly useful scripting language. If you have an interest in learning computer languages, it's not a bad one to know. Installing python should go pretty fast and when it's completed, you'll now be able to run python scripts from the command line/terminal.

Next, you'll want to actually download the TumblrUtils zip file and unzip that somewhere. I stuck mine on an external drive, but basically put it where you've got space and can access it easily.

You'll want to open up the tumblr_backup.py file with a text editor and find line 105, which should look like: ''' API_KEY = '' '''

So here's the hard part. Getting a key to stick in there. Go to the tumblr apps page to 'register' an application - which is the fancy way of saying request an API. Hit the register an application button and, oh joy. A form. With required fields. *sigh* All the url fields can be the same url. It just needs to be a valid one. Ostensibly something that interfaces with tumblr fairly nicely. I have an old wordpress blog, so I used it. The rest of the fields should be pretty self explanatory. Only fill in the required ones. It should be approved instantly if everything is filled in right.

And maybe I'll start figuring out wordpress integration if tumblr doesn't die this year, that'd be interesting. *shrug* I've got too many projects to start a new one now, but I like learning things for the sake of learning them sometimes. So it's on my maybe to do list now.

Anywho, all goes well, you should now have an 'OAuth Consumer Key' which is the API key you want. Copy that, put in between the empty single quotes in the python script, and hit save.

Command line time!

It's fairly simple to do. Open your command line (or terminal), navigate to where the script lives, and then run: ''' tumblr_backup.py <blog_name_here> '''

You can also include options before the blog name but after the script filename if you want to get fancy about things. But just let it sit there running until it backs the whole blog up. It can also handle multiple blogs at once if you want. Big blogs will take hours, small blogs will take a few minutes. Which is about on par with TumblThree too, tbh.

The final result is pretty. Individual html files for every post (backdated to the original post date) and anything you reblogged, theme information, a shiny index file organizing everything. It's really quite nice to dig through. Much like TumbleThree, it does not seem to grab direct message conversations or static pages (non-posts) but again it's better than nothing.

And you can back up other blogs too, so if there are fandom blogs you follow and don't want to lose or friends whose blogs you'd like to hang on to for your own re-reading purposes, that's doable with either of these backup options.

I've backed up basically everything all over again today using this method (my main is still backing up, slow going) and it does appear to take less memory than official backups do. So that's a plus.

Anyway, this was me tossing my hat into the 'how to back up your tumblr' ring. Hope it's useful. :D

[jackied0minguez]

Remote Work Redefined: TopDevz CEO Ashkan Rajaee on the Future of Flexible Business

In a world where remote work has rapidly shifted from a temporary solution to a long-term strategy, TopDevz CEO Ashkan Rajaee is leading by example. Speaking ahead of the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, Rajaee shared insights on how his company has seamlessly integrated remote operations into its DNA—and why he believes this model isn’t just a passing trend.

A New Kind of Software Solutions

TopDevz isn’t your typical tech firm. Comprising an elite team of software developers, designers, project managers, and quality assurance specialists based in the United States and Canada, the company tackles the unique challenges that conventional off-the-shelf software can’t resolve. Rajaee explains that while standard solutions can cover 80–90% of business needs, the remaining nuances often cause significant inefficiencies. TopDevz fills this gap by offering custom solutions designed to address those critical details, ensuring that their clients achieve peak operational efficiency. With an impressive 96% workforce retention rate and 63% of their business coming through referrals, the company’s model speaks volumes about its effectiveness and employee satisfaction.

Mastering Remote Operations

Long before the global pivot to remote work, TopDevz was already thriving in a fully virtual environment. Rajaee emphasizes that the success of remote operations lies in having the right infrastructure and clear communication channels. “Working remotely isn’t as simple as logging in from home,” he notes. “It demands disciplined processes and a commitment to best practices—elements we’ve honed over the years.” His team’s seamless transition during the pandemic only reinforced the idea that a well-organized remote workforce can outperform traditional office setups.

The Indefinite Future of Remote Work

For TopDevz, remote work isn’t a temporary workaround—it’s the future. Rajaee envisions a business landscape where companies can lower overhead costs while empowering employees to work from anywhere. This flexible model not only drives client satisfaction by reducing expenses but also enriches employees’ lives by allowing them to choose environments that inspire creativity and well-being.

Rajaee even shares a personal touch: his passion for working from a yacht. Equipped with reliable Wi-Fi and satellite services, his unconventional workspace symbolizes the freedom that remote work offers. “If your current job doesn’t support the lifestyle you aspire to, it’s time to consider other opportunities,” he advises. His own journey from renting a yacht to eventually making it part of his regular work life underscores the importance of aligning one’s career with personal values and ambitions.

Empowering the Next Generation of Remote Entrepreneurs

Beyond leading TopDevz, Rajaee is passionate about sharing his remote work philosophy. Through his “RemotePreneur” initiative, he provides aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals with a playbook for building successful remote companies. This resource addresses the nuanced challenges of remote business management—from overcoming financial stagnation in traditional roles to confronting the inevitable criticisms that come with venturing off the beaten path. Rajaee’s message is clear: true freedom in work comes from rethinking established norms and embracing the possibilities that remote operations can offer.

Embracing a New Era

As businesses around the globe continue to navigate the evolving work landscape, Ashkan Rajaee’s vision serves as a powerful reminder that remote work, when executed with precision and passion, can unlock unprecedented opportunities. His leadership at TopDevz demonstrates that with the right approach, remote operations can not only sustain but also drive innovation, employee satisfaction, and overall business growth.

In a time when flexibility and adaptability are more important than ever, Rajaee’s insights offer a compelling roadmap for companies eager to thrive in a remote-first world.

[magtecbusinesssolutions]

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[warningsine]

If it was ever possible to maintain the illusion that good work will attract an audience simply by virtue of its quality, it isn’t now. In 2017, there’s simply too much out there to guarantee that the best series will attract the biggest audiences. It’s a miracle, then, that Halt and Catch Fire, a show originally meant to fill the hole left by Mad Men, has managed to make it to the end of its fourth and final season, which concluded this weekend in the US.

A tech drama that takes place entirely between the first iteration of Microsoft Word in 1983 and Windows 95, Halt and Catch Fire kept its focus squarely on the haze of an emerging field, without any of the fist-pumping moments that might have come from a show focusing on the rise of Google or Facebook. The characters never achieved lasting success or transformation, perpetually stymied by the major players in a nascent and clunking industry. Instead, they faced an endless, thankless series of intractable workplace decisions about integrity, product quality and business logistics.

These seemingly pedestrian moments dominate the show’s central relationship between Donna Clark (Kerry Bishé) and Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis), two women who attempt to found a tech company and spend the next few years discovering what they’re willing to sacrifice in the effort. Eventually, it’s impossible for people this committed to their work to separate their personal values and their professional ones, and while that conflict might sound cliche, in the hands of Halt and Catch Fire’s cast, it’s enthralling.

Over the course of the series, the characters’ business interests range from building personal computers at Dell competitor Cardiff Electric to videogames, web-based chat, and e-commerce at Cameron and Donna’s startup Mutiny to antivirus software at MacMillan Utility to, finally, early search engines at Comet and Rover. (All of these companies are fictional and, with the exception of Cardiff, are founded by the characters themselves.) Halt and Catch Fire’s cast is full of classic Silicon Valley résumé – they’re perpetually successful enough to keep working, and to live more or less comfortably while pursuing other ventures, but they never quite strike it big, whether that’s because of conflicts between the partners, technological limitation, or, most often, the presence of an enormous corporation capable of choking the market.

Every major character on the series contains multitudes. Donna is a hard-assed businesswoman, but she’s also a practically minded, savvy person who wants to do her best to create a thriving company with an innovative product. Cameron’s myopia is frustrating, but it’s part of why she’s such a successful coder. Steve Jobs-style visionary Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) is also, to varying degrees, a charlatan, and tinkering softie Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy) becomes irritable when he has to leave his comfort zone.

Those relationships contained a staggering number of stories. In just the fourth season alone, Halt and Catch Fire handled a teen coming-out story, the fallout from a divorce, a marriage, several mid-life crises, and a sudden, heart-rending death. But none of these stories are the defining features of the characters; they’re simply facets of their lives. Where another drama might end with the consummation of a romantic pairing, or the strengthening of a family, Halt and Catch Fire ends with Donna having an idea, and pitching it to Cameron. We don’t hear the idea, but that’s not important – the point is beginning the cycle anew.

In this respect, it’s similar to the Mad Men finale – but where Mad Men is ambivalent, at best, toward the bolt of inspiration that leads Don Draper to create the “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” ad, Halt and Catch Fire maintains a single commitment: ideas are what we have. That’s why the show could never have become a smash hit, why it got renewed by the skin of its teeth, and why it’s highly unlikely it will ever be brought back by an ambitious investor. With so many self-consciously explosive series vying for your attention, Halt and Catch Fire played a different game. It kept itself contained, forcing the audience to match its subdued, mesmerizing rhythm. Eventually, the audience and the characters learned the same lesson: sometimes, it’s worth putting in the work.

[onlyplatonicirl]

I went to this conference with a smidge of hope. Maybe they would tell me something I didn't know, maybe the game had improved since the last time I saw it. Maybe they'd offer insight about the development process that would allow me to respect them and their work more. The panel was a bit less than an hour long, and I think I walked out of there hating Farm Merge Valley more than I did last year when i went on a screaming ranting paragraph long tirade about how i wanted to blow up their headquarters.

This shit is ASS. It is so ass that in the eight fucking years I have been studying professional creative writing I do not have the words available to describe how much I hate this game and their shitty ass conference that they didnt even bother to hide that it was sponsored and paid for by Discord. They essentially made me PAY THEM 300 DOLLARS TO LISTEN TO THEM ADVERTISE THEIR SHIT GAME VOLUNTARILY. Because no one would glaze this shit as hard as the own company. They had some woman come on and talk about discord like it was some fucking Utopia For Cool Guy Gamers TM and I think she's a higher up in the company, and she starts talking about the in-game activities. Which like, fine ok. Whatever. That's expected, it's nice to see game integration on the software I am genuinely interested in the stats with that. And then she turns it over to this guy. The head of "Cool Games" (WHY WOULD YOU NAME YOUR COMPANY THAT. YOU HAVE LESS SOUL IN YOU THAN A ROCK. WAKE UP. WAKE UP. LIVE. WAKE UP.) and the woman's like "This is our best selling game, farm merge valley!!!!!!!"

The head steps up. He starts talking about the game and saying things I already knew. But the one thing that drove me absolutely fucking crazy was that once he started getting into why the game was "Successful", his main angle was that "Farm Merge Valley is a social game, which is why its so popular! The future of gaming is collaborative and something you can play simultaneously!"

IM LEGITMATELY CLOSE TO COMMITTING RITUAL SUICIDE IN FRONT OF THIS GUY. THIS IS NOT A SOCIAL GAME. THIS IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A SOCIAL GAME. NOTHING ABOUT THIS GAME IS SOCIAL AND THE FACT THAT HE'S SAYING THATS WHY ITS A SUCCESS MAKES ME WANT TO DIVEBOMB OUT THE FIVE STORY WINDOW I WAS STARING OUT OF. THIS GAME RUNS ON CYCLES OF ADDITICTION TO INFINITELY REPETATIVE TASKS THAT APPEAL TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL TIME. IT IS DESIGNED PURPOSEFULLY TO BE A SOULLESS HUSK. "ohhh we have such a loving community" YOU HAVE A COMMUNITY OF SOULLESS HUSKS. HE LITERALLY PUT A SCREENSHOT OF THE OFFICIAL FMV DISCORD SERVER AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN VCS LIKE "Look how social they are all playing together!!" AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE PICTURE WAS MUTED AND DEAFENED. IDID HE EXPECT HIS TARGET AUDIENCE TO BE MENTALLY BRAINDEAD CHIMPANZEES BECAUSE ANYONE WHO'S PLAYED THAT GAME FOR FIVE SECONDS KNOWS THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON ACTIVELY COLLABORATES ON THAT GAME. THE ONLY SOCIAL ASPECT COMES FROM VISITING PEOPLES FARMS FOR ONE GOD DAMN FEMTOSECOND TO COLLECT A REWARD EQUIVALENT IN VALUE TO GAS STATION SHIT PELLETS ON THE FLOOR. NOT TO MENTION HE ACTIVELY BRAGGED ABOUT THE STATISTIC THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF PLAYERS SPENT EGREGIOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY AND PLAYED FOR 7 HOURS A DAY. IM DEAD SERIOUS. BUT OF COURSE HE DIDNT GET INTO A SINGLE DETAIL ABOUT THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF IT AT ALL. MR MERGE VALLEY YOU HAVE A COMMUNITY OF SOULLESS ZOMBIES THAT BLEED THEIR WALLETS DRY THROUGH HYPNOSIS. YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS AND THE DAY OF ATONEMENT IS NIGH.

"we're unveiling a new update soon!!! We're gonna add an album for collection." ADD AN ARTIST THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THEY LEARNED HOW TO DRAW TEN MINUTES AGO FROM A "HOW TO DRAW MANGA" BOOK. ADD SOUL. ADD THE BREATH OF LIFE. YOU DO NOT RESPECT THIS PROFESSION AS AN ART AND IT SHOWS LIKE GLASS ARMOR OVER YOUR FRAIL HEART. I HAVE STARED THE DEVIL IN THE EYES AND HE HAS MADE FARM MERGE VALLEY. I HAVE PLEADED TO HEAVEN BUT IT FALLS UPON DEAF EARS. EVIL TAKES ROOT AS A CARROT.

another "Lorel hates farm merge valley" rant has hit the friend group. copypasta immediately.

[simplifyworkforce]

Top 50 Leadership Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (simplifyvms.com)

Discover the top 50 leadership interview questions to assess candidates' skills, decision-making, and management style. Perfect for finding the right leader for your team.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

Resident Evil (4 remake) x Detroit: Become Human AU

I made these arts MONTHS ago and never shared them. There's more I wanna draw for this crossover au but this is what I've got now. I of course came up with elaborate backstories behind everything.

Some AU lore if you're interested:

-on top of what Ashley's stuff says, she was long in development to become the perfect aging child android - something that's never been done before. She is considered an android bioweapon, as they combined robotics with bioengineering, taking DNA from President Graham (his first name is President actually) and infusing it with advanced technology to create Ashley. She is also the most expensive android, for obvious reasons, and was first commissioned by not-then-president President Graham back in 1995. Sherry was meant to be the first successful model, but her development was expedited and hidden by the Doctors Birkin to be their own daughter. Ashley's production was completed in 2000.

-Leon is an LN-200 android. The LN line was created to be an elite operative model of android, meant to integrate with police Android models. However, the entire LN line was discontinued as soon as Leon was released, due to the simultaneous takeover of CyberUmbrella labs by a mass group of mindless androids that killed on sight, and Leon's almost immediate deviation as a result of witnessing this tech-virus outbreak.

-Leon deviated after witnessing the outbreak on his first day - a malicious software virus was transferred to an Android from a CyberUmbrella lab in Raccoon City; that Android transferred it to others, and it kept going, spreading when androids interfaced. The virus shut down all of the androids' programmed objectives and replaced them with the simple objective: "Kill". Androids infected with this virus can only be cured by a very complex antivirus program that is only accessible from certain CyberUmbrella scientists.

-Leon deviated to escape this virus, and met a CR800 android named Claire, who was looking for her brother, another CR800 android called Chris. The two also met the RE200 android, Sherry, who they had to save from an alternate version of the virus that targeted her advanced software specifically. Claire managed to cure her, while Leon ran into a woman who called herself Ada.

-Ada told Leon she was a human, for her safety, as he was a cop android basically, but she's actually an android - specifically an AW900, illegally developed by Albert Wesker, and the only one of her kind. He named her model after his own initials, and calls her simply "AW900", but Ada took the initials and made it her own name - Ada Wong - out of defiance. She was given more freedoms as an android, as wesker had her do all of his dirty work, but she still wasn't deviant. But then she met Leon, and saw how he was deviant, and was surprised by his emotion and how much she wanted it too. She deviated eventually, but when Leon found out she'd lied about being a human, he was angry with her. Her job was to extract the modified virus that had been given to Sherry, so wesker could make Ada immune. Leon didn't want to let Ada take it, but before he can retrieve it, Ada is shot by Dr. Annette Birkin, who wants to get back at Wesker (you can pick any reason why that is. Maybe it's scientist jealousy. Maybe wesker ratted her out for her work on the RE200. Or maybe wesker stole her husband so she's mad which I think would be super funny. Love you Annette). Ada falls, and Leon thinks she's dead, but she escapes - now fully deviant, scared, and lost. She returns to wesker but pretends she isn't deviant, terrified of what he'd do to her if he found out.

-Dr. Luis Serra Navarro was hired by CyberUmbrella to help develop advanced software for androids. However, he realised eventually that the software he was being made to develop was not for new androids, but was in fact being turned into malware meant to attack androids. He knew CyberUmbrella only wanted to do bad things with this, and he attempted to flee with proof, but he was too late, and the virus was released before he could get the word out. Luis went into hiding, knowing that he wouldn't be pardoned for his work, and returned home to Valdelobos, Spain.

-Luis had hoped to help introduce android technology to his home, but he returned to find it taken over by a cult, which he was quickly swept up into under threat of death. He continued developing android software, this time for Saddler, who called it "La Plaga". La Plaga was Saddler's attempt to combine Android software with human genetics, creating half human half Android armies that he could control and program to his will. This was dangerous, bevause he was adding android tech to real people, reverting them to a robot form - the cult called themselves "Los Iluminados", bevause they believed their work to combine humans and androids was enlightened and would bring them closer to God.

-Luis didn't know the extent of Saddler's plan, but he knew Saddler wanted to use the virus to program all androids for control and chaos, death and destruction, so Luis also developed a failsafe - Code "Amber", an antivirus that would immediately render the Plaga virus dormant and (hopefully) reverse its effects. However, Saddler caught onto this and discovered that while the code amber could undo the plaga, it could also magnify it if modified slightly.

-RE400 Ashley was kidnapped in 2004 by Los Iluminados, as once Saddler learned of the first bioengineered android, he wanted to study her code and see how he could morph it with a human. Ashley was supposed to be unable to deviate, but the trauma of being kidnapped caused her to deviate out of self defence.

-After the events of Raccoon City, a now deviated Leon offered to care for Sherry while Claire continued to look for her brother. However, Leon was discovered, as they'd been tracking Sherry, and the government took her away for testing. They threatened to kill her, unless Leon agreed to be reset and reinstated as a special government agent model. Leon agreed to protect Sherry, he was reset, and lost his deviancy. However, he also lost all memories of Sherry, Claire, and Ada, and anyone else he'd met after deviating.

-years later, when President Graham's android daughter is kidnapped, Leon is sent to save her. They tracked her all the way to Spain, but when she deviated, they lost her location. Luckily, they think they lost her location because the cult removed her tracker, or temporarily deactivated her.

-Leon, a machine again, travels to Spain to rescue Ashley. When he arrives, he runs into Dr. Serra, who recognises Leon's model, though he never actually worked on Leon's model. Luis introduces himself, not expecting Leon to know, but Leon runs a scan and discovers that Luis used to work for CyberUmbrella, and is angry with Luis. But Luis proves to be resourceful and charismatic in just the right ways that has Leon trusting him against his will, and eventually even enjoying Luis's company, though he'd never admit it.

-When Leon reaches Ashley, she is at first abrasive, and scared of him. He realises it's because she's deviated. His programming insists he reports her deviation; but seeing her so scared, her face and blonde hair triggering something familial in his memories that he couldn't place, Leon lies to Hunnigan, his handler, and reports Ashley as still a machine. As a result, Leon is able to deviate again - and all at once, all of his memories come rushing back, and he's overwhelmed with emotion. He realises Ashley reminded Leon of Sherry, and he's more passionate about protecting her and bringing her home safe than before, determined to keep Ashley out of the government's control the way he failed to do for Sherry.

-Ada returns, and Leon remembers her now, so he recognises her. He doesn't know what she's doing in Spain, and she doesn't reveal it - but she does look out for him, and Ashley (and Luis), mostly without Leon's knowledge. Ada is able to do many things even the most highly trained covert operative couldn't do.

-Ashley was infected with the plaga, without her knowing, and then Leon was as well when he got captured by Mendéz. Luis still knows how to undo it, so he promises to help them.

-Ada is retrieving the Amber code for the same reason wesker had to her get the antivirus back in Raccoon City - to make herself and any other models wesker works on immune to outside viruses or tampering. However, wesker also plans to use the plaga and the amber to develop his own version of virus - Ada suspects this, but she isn't really in a position to question or go against wesker. However, after meeting and spending time with Luis, Luis shows faith in her, and she gains the courage to separate from wesker.

-Luis is fascinated by Leon (and Ashley, because she's cool, but mostly Leon). He flirts relentlessly, especially when he figures out Leon deviated. Leon tries to pretend it doesn't effect him, but Luis knows what his LED spinning red and yellow means, especially when Leon's is otherwise a constant blue.

-Krauser was a regulated government model of android - an MK model, specifically MK300. His model is not as advanced as Leon's, with Leon being one of a kind, but Krauser had plaga and amber induced advancements that made him stronger than any other model. Krauser hates Luis, because when Luis developed the Code Amber as a failsafe, he caused Krauser's plaga-advancements to malfunction, permanently damaging his vision in his left eye, and making Krauser's transformations spontaneous and uncontrollable. So, when Krauser finds out that Luis is helping Leon - Krauser's old subordinate - Krauser goes for revenge.

-Krauser wants to kill them both, but Luis shields Leon, getting himself stabbed. Leon fights Krauser, Luis shoots him to scare him off, and Leon rushes to Luis, scared as hell to lose him and also angry because Luis can't be replaced but Leon can. However, Luis had been previously given the plaga (and cured himself) so he was able to use some of it to his advantage and stabilise himself until Leon could get him medical help. So, Luis survives :)

-When Ada finds out that Leon and Ashley are both deviant, she tells Leon she's also deviant, but still refuses to tell him anything else. She's hot and he doesn't need to know.

-Leon and Luis grow closer, and by the time they escape the village with Ashley - now cured, thanks to Luis - Leon isn't ready to say goodbye. Luis says he can't go with them, because the us government will never let him back. Leon also knows if Ashley goes back, she could be reset, or deactivated, and Ashley likewise knows this and doesn't want to return. Leon has grown to trust Hunnigan too, and tells her their predicament. She agrees to cover for them for a while so they can escape. So, Leon, Luis, and Ashley disappear.

-Leon will return later - heavily disguised - to see Claire, and Sherry again.

-Leon and Luis obviously fall in love and stay together. Ashley doesn't live with them, but she visits often, and they have their own little family.

-Ada still watches over them from afar, too scared to get emotionally involved. But her friendship with Luis was close enough that she does eventually contact him, and he encourages her to visit them. Ada and Leon still have a weird tense rivalry that Luis doesn't understand, but they all care about each other.

The end (for now)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Possible end of Moore's Law: Engineers discuss consequences and opportunities

In 1965, Gordon Moore defined a relationship between cadence and cost for computing innovation that came to be known as "Moore's Law." This rule both described and inspired the exponential growth that built the Information Age. As Moore predicted, integrated circuits doubled their processing power every two years. Chips got smaller, faster and cheaper. Transistors shrank, and energy requirements dropped. And in line with Moore's vision, computers transformed our infrastructure, homes, and thumbs. Markets acclimatized to this regular pace of progress, and the software industry flourished. We've come to expect rapid improvements in technology. But can Moore's Law go on forever? Despite its success, doubts about the future of the Intel founder's forecast are nothing new. Fears about the limits of fundamental physics have long accompanied the mandate to halve transistor sizes, and fresh difficulties regulating energy costs and heat have headlined the last decade of engineering challenges.

Read more.