#there has only been one instance of fridging that has ever even remotely worked and that's jason todd
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didn't they also fridge Felicia's Day's character at like the peak of her (the actress') popularity? i remember there being some kind of commotion about it at one of the comic con panels, but i was and still am on the fringes of the fandom. so, i'm not entirely sure.
I don't know how popular Felicia Day was at the time, but yeah pretty much. They introduced some last minute villains to make Dean go crazy (for plot reasons and again, Dean is always at the scene of the crime), and one of them killed her offscreen, with Dean and Sam finding her dead and bloody in a bathtub, before the rest of the season is basically devoted to Dean's pain over the fact that she's dead and how Dean reacts to it and what that all means for Dean. She literally just died for no reason other than to advance a plot that didn't even need it because he had a supernatural (heh) reason to go crazy anyway; the only way it could have been more obviously fridging is if she'd literally been in a fridge instead of a bathtub. It did cause a lot of commotion from what I remember, given how classic a case of fridging it was and how there was still so much more to do with the character and how well-liked Charlie was, as well as the show's absolute dearth of female characters anyway (tho she was a canon lesbian so they couldn't ship her with either of the men, which I'm sure made it more easy to kill her off so they couldn't do PG-13 sex scene with Jared or Jensen and Felicia).
#personal#answered#anonymous#there has only been one instance of fridging that has ever even remotely worked and that's jason todd#not at the time it happened and it was lazy and bad#and the rationale behind it was stupid and dumb and bad and everyone who voted yes in that poll should be embarassed#(and deeply ashamed)#but once they brought him back and actually allowed for there to be some focus on how he felt about the situation#then it was at least kinda interesting#(jason todd the most girlcoded male character of all time it must be said)#but the charlie thing......man i forgot about the charlie thing that was Bad#the internet was in an uproar about it and for once i agree with the spn fandom on something#that was sick that they did that
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but what if we were pure gold all along? jj maybank (chapter 4)
Summary: After the assumed death of their best friend, the Pogues are falling apart at the seams. With Pope and Kiara getting closer and JJ left with nowhere to go, he finds himself left to his own devices. Feeling lost and rejected, his luck seems to turn when he meets Scarlett - a Kook who doesnât treat him like shit and has an affinity for partying. JJ gets sucked into her world as she promises to help him forget.
How much longer can he keep running from his demons? And what happens when he starts sharing a bed with one?
Warnings: graphic depictions of violence, child abuse, angst, sexual content, drug use, underage drinking.
Authorâs note: Hi all, this is my multi-chapter fic Iâve been working on. My oneshots & Rafe series have taken off so I thought it was time to share this one too. Let me know what you think!
Word count: 2K
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
the one where JJ makes his choice pretty clear
After two weeks of spending almost every waking minute with his new friend, JJ is starting to wonder if heâll be able to keep up with her for much longer. Scarlettâs appetite for debauchery and disaster was insatiable and despite JJâs best efforts to slow her down (âwhy donât we just get lunch?â âwhy the fuck would we do that?â), she seemed intent on showing JJ a good time, Kook style.
After the initial night at Scarlettâs family mansion, where JJ climbed in her bedroom window like some sort of roughed up Edward Cullen and they drank their way through her motherâs gin collection, it had become a habit of JJâs to seek Scarlett out at any opportunity. Not only was she the only person who seemed to want to spend time with him, something JJ was still reconciling, but God was she fun. Scarlett took quickly to riding on the back of JJâs dirt bike, sharing a joint and even had a go at shooting JJâs gun (a short lived adventure, since a firing mishap caused JJ to leap to the side of the yard to avoid losing a pinky toe). Scarlett was easy to spend time with, a breath of fresh air and a reprieve from the drama and darkness JJ had been experiencing when he last saw the Pogues.
Who, by the way, have still neglected to get in contact with him.
JJ has been holding onto false hope. Heâs swinging between complete disbelief and hurt that his friends havenât spoken to him in two weeks, and almost blinding rage that he apparently means so little to them. He doesnât often have that much time to dwell on it though, since every time heâs remotely upset or quiet as a result of his former-but-the-juryâs-still-out-on-that friends, Scarlett is there to pick him right up and distract him in all the ways she knows how.
They spend most of their nights drinking on the beach or at Scarlettâs house, where her parents are never really around, since JJ swore up and down that he was never going to a Kook party with Scarlett. She had tried to convince him to no avail and gave up pretty quickly when JJ pointed out Rafe Cameron would most likely be in attendance, since he wasnât even trying to lay low after literally murdering someone, and JJ was not going to be held liable for any injuries he may cause. Â So they settled for each otherâs company â sharing joints that JJ taught Scarlett how to roll, stacking beer bottles, going on late night motorbike rides and in one instance, seeing how easily they could blow something up. It didnât take much convincing for JJ to change his phone background, the cracked screen now giving way to a photo of him and Scarlett messing about on his bike.
Simply put, JJ is trying his best to forget about the whole âone of my best friends is missing and presumed dead and the others donât even want to talk to meâ situation.
Scarlett is a nice distraction.
It helps that sheâs gorgeous.
JJ isnât stupid, he knows heâs spending time with someone absolutely beautiful and at times he struggles to understand why she would want to slum it with him. Heâs not immune to how soft her thigh is when it brushes against his, or how her smile always reaches her eyes where the skin around them creases as she laughs, or how cute she looks with her dark hair tied up. JJ figures she must think something of him too â he notices how her hands linger longer on his waist when he brings his bike to a halt, how sheâs affectionately started calling him Jay, and he certainly hasnât forgotten how Scarlett kissed him on the cheek as he left her house last night.
JJ is as shocked as anyone would be that heâs started hanging out with a Kook, let alone calling her his friend and admitting to himself that he finds her hot. Heâd be stupid not to, he is a sixteen-year-old guy after all, and sheâs a stunning rich girl with a pert ass and deep brown eyes. Heâs only human.
--
A knock on the front door of the Chateau brings JJ out of his reverie and he swings his legs around to hop off the couch where heâs been lying for the last three hours. After another late night at Scarlettâs the evening before, JJ somehow made his way home to crash on the couch to get some sleep before Scarlett was due to come over.
JJ runs his hand through his messy blonde hair and pads over to the door, yawning widely as he pulls it open. Scarlett is standing on the porch steps, dressed in her usual sundress and holding two six packs.
She lifts both arms up in excitement as she says âJay! Long time no see!â
JJ shakes his head and smiles softly to himself, stepping aside to let Scarlett walk in the front door. She twirls dramatically as she crosses the threshold and makes a direct beeline for the fridge, bottles clanking as she shoves them onto the shelf.
JJ follows her and leans against the kitchen doorframe, accepting a bottle of beer and popping the cap off with his sharp incisor.
âWelcome back, Scarlett. Itâs only been, what, ten hours since we last saw each other?â
Scarlett rolls her eyes. âWhat, you got something better to do?â
JJ laughs hoarsely as he replies, âyou know the answer to that.â
Scarlett bumps her hip into his as she squeezes through to doorway and winks at him. âI need to sit down,â she says. âIâm beat.â
JJ adjust the front of his shorts and grimaces. It appears he needed to relax too.
He makes his way to the living room with a half full beer bottle, the condensation coating his fingers and making the neck of the bottle slippery. JJ notices Scarlett has already downed one drink and is making some good headway on her second, before he decides to tilt the bottle down and away from her lips.
Scarlett glares at him and purses said lips, and JJ fights the urge to stare at them, forcing his eyes to remain locked on hers.
âWhat did you do that for?â She asks, looking grumpy.
JJ thinks she looks cute.
He shrugs. âMaybe you could slow down. Itâs 3pm,â he replies.
âHair of the dog,â Scarlett says as she completely defies JJâs suggestion and finishes her second bottle, letting out a small burp as she does.
âOops,â she giggles.
JJ sighs but heâs not mad, not really, and he lets Scarlett know by patting her on the knee, resting his hand there for slightly longer than necessary.
âDrink up wuss,â Scarlett says, winking at him and JJ would be stupid not to do what she says, so he downs his beer too and cracks open another one.
Scarlett is scrolling through her Spotify and trying to get it Bluetooth connected to the old speakers next to the couch (JJ has told her before that it wonât work but sheâs stubborn, alright, and insists on trying), and JJ is sat in quiet contemplation on the couch when a sharp knock on the door reverberates through the room.
Scarlettâs head snaps up, her top bun bobbing as she turns towards JJ, eyes wide.
âWhoâs that?â She asks. They werenât expecting any guests.
âShit,â says JJ, standing up and placing his beer on the floor. âItâs probably my Dad. Fuck.â
âYour dad? What is he doing here?â
JJ shakes his head and presses a finger to his lips. âStay here, do not come out under any circumstances, you understand? Iâll talk to him for a bit and then hopefully heâll fuck off, but if anything happens, just go out the back door okay?â
Scarlett narrows her eyes in confusion. âAnd just leave you here? No way.â
Another series of sharp knocks, this time more urgent.
âScarlett, I donât have time to argue. Just tell me youâll get out of here, okay?â
Scarlett looks like she has the time to argue but nods anyway. âOkay.â
JJ steels himself and sets his jaw as he cautiously walks down the hallway and opens the front door.
Itâs Kiara and Pope.
JJ blinks slowly. âWhat are you doing here?â He says abruptly, skipping the pleasantries.
Kiara looks at him, bemused. âNo âhey Kie, nice to see you?ââ
JJ scoffs. âNo offence, Kiara, but Iâm not too sure you deserve that right now.â
Kiara opens her mouth to respond, ever the hot-headed one, when Pope has the right idea to butt in.
âWe missed you man; can we talk?â He says, fiddling with his cap.
JJ steps out onto the porch, leaving the door slightly ajar. âYeah, we can talk. Where the fuck have you been?â
âItâs complicated-â
â-I couldnât see you-â
â-itâs been really hard for us-â
JJ has to laugh at that one, and he turns to Kiara, eyes ablaze with fury. âItâs been really hard for you? Are you fucking kidding me? YOU LEFT ME! ALONE!â
Kiara steps back from JJ, as if sheâs scared, and Pope brings his hand to the small of her back to comfort her.
âCome on man, thereâs no need-â
âWhere were you, Kiara? Why didnât you talk to me?â
Kiaraâs dark eyes fill with tears and her chin starts to wobble. âJJ, you know my parents, they had me on lockdown-â
JJ canât believe what heâs hearing. âYou could see Pope.â
âHeâs my boyfriend JJ, and youâve always known what my parents think-â
Pope has the good grace to stay quiet and let them at it.
âSo what the fuck am I then? Huh?â
JJ wouldnât have noticed Scarlett sneaking up behind him if it werenât for the sudden hardened look in Kiaraâs eyes.
JJ spins around, jaw clenched, as Scarlett asks, âWhatâs going on here?â
Kiaraâs mouth drops open. âA Kook, JJ? Seriously? Youâre fucking a Kook?â
JJâs mouth opens and closes as he struggles to reply. âI-weâre not, weâre friends-we arenât-â
âThis is unbelievable,â Kiara spits. âI thought better of you JJ.â
Scarlett stares Kiara down, folding her arms across her chest.
âShe was here for me, Kiara! You werenât! You were NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! Some fucking friend you are!â JJ shouts.
Kiara looks like she wants to stay more but she decides against it as she simply mutters âunbelievable,â and throws her hands up, walking away.
JJâs chest heaves and heart pounds with adrenaline as Pope looks at him apologetically.
âMan, Iâm sorry, I have to go too, sheâs my girlfriend-â
JJ cuts him off. âWhatever man; just leave. Youâre good at that anyways.â
Pope looks hurt but simply nods at JJ and turns to run after Kiara as she stalks down the driveway, long cardigan flowing behind her.
Scarlett sighs and places her hand delicately on JJâs shoulder, and it takes everything in him not to lean into her touch.
âDrink?â She says.
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#honestly kinda hate this chapter#sorry#but let me know what you think anyway please#jj maybank#jj maybank fic#jj maybank imagine#jj maybank fanfic#jj maybank fanfiction#outer banks#outer banks fic#outer banks imagine#outer banks fanfic#outer banks fanfiction#obx#obx fic#obx fanfic#obx fanfiction#obx imagine#jj outer banks#jj maybank outer banks#jj maybank x oc#pope heyward#kiara carrera
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Hardwood
Bucky Barnes Gen, 2393 words, rated T
Jewish Bucky Barnes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Episode 5 Truth
Bucky decides to make his Brooklyn house a little more of a home for him, to his taste. A worried neighbor comes a-knocking.
TW: mention of murder of children (brief)
Read on AO3
Part 35 of Making a Home - the Jewish Bucky series
--------------
Three days after he comes home from Delacroix, Bucky grabs a frayed edge of carpet from his bedroom floor and pulls. It comes off with a loud tearing sound, but he just keeps pulling, effortlessly baring the hardwood underneath.
He doesnât really know why he does it. He just sees the edge and pulls and heâs halfway down the room when he realizes the furniture is definitely on the way, and if he wants to do this, heâs going to have to plan it out. You donât just redecorate this easily.
At least as far as he knows.
Heâs never done this before. His parentsâ home had stayed the same through his entire life, as far as he knew. Furniture was moved once a year before Passover, when they cleaned the place from top to bottom. And after that, heâd been through many safehouses, but his handlers had never had sudden desires to redecorate.
He doesnât really know where to start. He knows he canât remove the entire carpeting without taking out the furniture of the bedroom. He knows the color of the walls is horrible and he wants to change that. He knows that, by himself, itâs going to be an ordeal. But he doesnât really know who to ask for help.
Miriam is way too old, he doesnât have that good of a relationship with Charlie, and there is no way in hell heâs letting any of his coworkers remotely close to his personal life. So heâs going to do it by himself. One room by one room, probably.
Still, he uses his left arm to pull the bed off of the ground and the other one to pull the carpeting off from under it.
He guesses being a supersoldier has some advantages in this sort of situation.
It doesnât take long for the entire hardwood floor of the bedroom to be bare, for the loud ripping noises that came with his hard, powerful pulls. The carpet wonât be usable anymore but he doesnât care. Heâll throw it in the trash anyway.
Nothing Hydra touched should be given to someone else. It all deserves to burn.
Heâs tired of this house feeling so much like a safehouse. He wants to change things, he wants it to be his house, not Hydraâs, on more levels than just legal. He wants to truly live here. Itâs his, and he can do whatever he wants with it. He could have it bulldozed if he felt like it, but he doesnât. He wants a home.
Heâs halfway through ripping off the first guest roomâs carpet when the doorbell rings.
It startles him. No one ever rings his doorbell. No one comes to see him. Heâs lived there for a couple months now, and not once has that bell rang. He forgets for a brief instant that heâs holding the entire bed up with one hand.
Somehow, he manages to catch the heavy bed frame before it crashes into the floor and damages it.
Despite the surprise someone is ringing, Bucky takes the time to pull on his gloves. Heâs already wearing a long-sleeved tshirt, and with the gloves on, no one can see the arm. He doesnât know if heâll ever be fully comfortable in the open, in the daylight, with the arm out, even if it isnât Hydraâs anymore.
He should probably get used to people knowing who he is. Anonymity isnât something heâs allowed. Not after Berlin, not after the war with Thanos, not after Riga. Before all of that, no one would have recognized him. Bucky Barnes, Captain Americaâs right hand, was supposed to be long dead. The only Howling Commando to lose his life in the service of his country.
Now, if no one sees the arm, he can still pass for just another white man with a vague resemblance to someone that was one tv a couple of times. Thatâs all he can really have.
Thereâs no use in raging against it. The past couple of decades of the rise of social media has made it impossible for him to be erased. Zemo knew what he was doing in Vienna.
The person behind the door is breathing steadily. They donât seem to be filled with adrenaline, not with that relatively calm heartbeat. There is no telltale sign of aggression or preparation for violence. Bucky swallows, takes a deep breath and opens the door.
Behind the wooden panel is his neighbor. Theyâre tall, relatively thin, with hair so short itâs more like a five oâclock shadow spreading over their skull. They smile at him. Bucky stares. He doesnât mean to. He doesnât know if heâs ever seen his neighbor in the daylight.
âHi there, Iâm your neighbor,â they say, pointing towards their door, as if Bucky hasnât recognized the one person that knows when he goes running from his nightmares. âI heard some strange noise, everythingâs okay?â
Bucky keeps staring for a moment. He didnât think the ripping of the carpeting would be loud enough to attract attention. But he was wrong. He didnât imagine it would sound stranger than his occasional nightly shouts of terror or pain.
He quickly gets back to reality as the neighbor in front of him stares back with a smile.
âHi,â he ends up saying. âHm, I was⌠I was pulling the carpeting off of my bedroom floor. Nothing to worry about.â
Itâs strange, having neighbors that seem to care whether youâre dying a strange horribly, ripping death. Or maybe theyâre worried heâs killing someone, or doing some other horrible thing he would have done as the Winter Soldier.
Either way, this personâs presence in front of him right now is peculiar. It makes him think of Mrs Naumescu, his parentsâ left neighbor, who would come knocking whenever she heard something that worried her.
There had been a couple of nights where Bucky had snuck back in, sometimes with Steve, sometimes after dropping Steve off at his own place, where she had heard him come in and come knocking to warn his parents of an intruder, or scare away said intruder. Sheâd had a baseball bat in her hand - her sonâs.
Hopefully this neighbor wonât be as worried for his safety.
âDo you need help?â they ask, and Bucky stares at them again, bewildered. He wasnât expecting to be asked such a thing. He wasnât expecting anyone to want to help.
âIâm pretty strongâŚâ He starts, and then stops.
He can do it alone. But he could also take the offered help, for once. Thereâs an outstretched hand. What horrible thing can they do to him that hasnât already been done? He knows better than to dismiss them as just a neighbor - after all, he knows plenty of very common and innocent-looking spies. But what harm can actually be done to him?
âYou know anything about hardwood floors?â
For the rest of the morning, Bucky keeps the gloves on. There are only a couple of instances of him displaying strength that is just on the edge of unusual, but they donât comment on it. They do exchange names and - to Buckyâs surprise - pronouns.
The neighborâs name is Olly and they use they/them pronouns. To his own shame, he has to be given an explanation on what that means. Heâs so deeply out of touch with that part of the world. A part of the world that he supposedly belongs in, according to todayâs definitions. Because Steve was a man, and even if heâs the only man Bucky ever willingly wanted, it still counts.
It should have been a fluke, a one-off. It shouldnât have counted if it was only Steve. But it does, supposedly. Bucky doesnât know much about that.
They work fast, get the carpeting out of the two other guest rooms as well as the corridor. Turns out, Olly knows how to take care of hardwood floors. They know a lot of stuff about remodeling and house work. They end up establishing together a list of items needed to properly finish the job, and do what Bucky actually wants for his home.
Bucky makes them sandwiches for lunch, with pastrami, mustard and pickles. Itâs a clichĂŠ perhaps, but itâs delicious. There are a couple of beers in his fridge.
âYouâre good at all of this,â Bucky says, swallowing a mouthful of pastrami. Itâs a little too dry. He misses the butcher he went to as a kid. His pastrami was amazing. He hasnât been able to find one that compares with his memories yet. âIs it what you do for a living? House renovation?"
They chuckle, shaking their head. "Oh wow, no, not at all. Iâm a social worker,â they explain. Social worker. Bucky remembers those people growing up. They were trying to fix problems, especially with the crash. âWhen my partner, our friends and I renovated the house,â they continue, pointing towards the wall between their two houses. âWe learned a few things. What do you do?"
It takes a moment for Bucky to figure out actually how to phrase it. "Military contractor."
Thatâs the closest he can think. Heâs contracted by the military, somewhat. They did make him sign a contract, to regulate what had already been outlined by his pardon agreement.
"Like an engineer?"
Of course theyâre polite and curious. Bucky would be as well. He could just come out and say it. Iâm the Winter Soldier and one of the reasons I walk free is that I work to clean up Hydraâs messes. He doesnât know how public the conditions of his pardon are.
Once again, he struggles to explain what it is he does without saying it out right.
âI guess I provide intelligence? And experience."
Phrased that way, it sounds nice. Thatâs what he does though, itâs not a lie. It feels⌠almost pleasant to be able to say it that way. He provides information on how Hydra works, experience on how the safehouses are set up⌠A fist too. When they break into a safehouse, heâs always first. Heâs hard to kill, after all.
And maybe⌠just maybe, some of his higher-ups wouldnât mind if he died on a mission. Theyâd tell the place he went out trying to fix what heâd done.
Sometimes, that phrasing âfixing what heâd doneâ chokes him up. Itâs the way Lieutenant General Henricksen talks about the work he makes him do. Henricksen believes it was his fault. Of course he does.
It makes sense. People have no idea what it is like to be brainwashed. They have seen movies and video games and read books about it. They have no idea what it is actually like. They have no idea how it feels.
He remembers all of it, and he remembers pulling the trigger. Sometimes because he was directly ordered to by a handler - something that was impossible for him to resist doing. Sometimes because it was what was required to complete the mission - like with the son and daughter of the Algerian FLN commander that were sleeping in their beds.
He could have disobeyed all the orders in the second category. He never did. Not until Steve.
He must have zoned out thinking about the horrible things heâs done, because Olly clears their throat.
âAnd if you donât mind me asking, how did you get this house? Itâs been empty for years, we always wondered what was going on with it.â
Thatâs, again, a really hard question to answer without saying the truth. Buckyâs not even supposed to tell the truth about his work. Thatâs not his job. He doesnât work on communication.
âInheritance?â It comes out more like a question than anything else.
So much about his life is⌠unexplainable. Itâs like all he has to share with the world is a heavily redacted file.
Most of it is of his own doing, he realizes. Heâs the one who doesnât want people to know exactly who he is, what heâs done. The only things he is actually forbidden to talk about are the specifics of his high-profile, governmental kills, as well as his ongoing missions with the army. The restâŚ
He could just say that this is an ex-Hydra safehouse and he got it through work. He could just say heâs working with the army to break into Hydra properties and recover what they took from the government while they were hiding behind the SHIELD insignia.
There would be questions, of course. What of the non-governmental resources they took? That goes to various archive buildings all over the U.S., to be tagged, processed and gather dust until their rightful owners pipe up. There are a lot of items waiting for people who donât know theyâre missing something.
Olly seems to accept Buckyâs cryptic and hesitant answer. Thank G-d. Bucky doesnât know what he would have said if they kept prying. He guesses itâs selfish. He knows he canât finish the job by himself, and telling Olly the truth would surely make them run out of the house.
They finish lunch and Bucky makes a pot of coffee. Itâs when he turns back to face Olly that his eyes catch the picture he framed on the wall when he got there.
The picture of Steve and him on the front lines, in Europe. The postcard from the Smithsonian. Both of their faces, smiling wide. As far as Bucky knows, there arenât any images of Steve smiling that way, wide and open and carefree even in the middle of the war, from after he was unfrozen in 2012.
Perhaps because he just didnât have time to smile like this anymore. Perhaps because this was his Bucky smile. The smile Bucky knew he only smiled for him, and because of him. The best, most beautiful smile in the world.
In any case, there is no way Olly didnât see the picture. There is no way they donât know who he is now, even without seeing the arm. They havenât said anything.
Bucky reaches over and pulls his right glove off, revealing skin. It takes all the strength in his mind and body to take off the other one, revealing vibranium.
He usually never takes the gloves off in front of someone when he isnât playing soldier. But he is in his home. He shouldnât have to hide himself here.
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Advice on what to do when you realise you started a scene in the wrong place and don't know what the right place is, please?
Ah, thatâs a tricky one, anon!Â
Scenes can be hard to wrangle at the best of times because they have a lot to do â both individually and collectively â in terms of pacing, character, settings, tone-setting or re-setting, among many other things, and honestly often the hardest thing can be working out the parameters for what that looks like. The fact that youâve identified what youâve written isnât the right spot (even if youâre not quite sure what is just yet), is amazing and truly half the battle when it comes to editing and re-writing, so well done!Â
My suggestion would be to ask yourself what the intent of the scene is. In asking yourself that, have a conversation with your story and your characters. Ask: Â
What do you want the scene to do?Â
How do you want the scene to move the characters and the plot? And are you moving them forwards, sideways or backwards?
What does this scene reveal to the readers?
And whatâs the main thing you would like the reader to take away from the scene?Â
None of the answers to these things have to be big! Sometimes the only thing you want a reader to take away from a scene is a feeling, or a deeper understanding of a character. Sometimes the scene only moves the plot incrementally (although every scene should move your story in some way), because the focus is perhaps more on themes or building a tone or an atmosphere.Â
Sometimes these things happen naturally too and you donât need to think so specifically about them, but if youâre stuck, I do find that theyâre good ones to percolate on. After all, once youâve answered them, you should have a pretty firm idea of what your scene actually is, which should in turn give you some sturdy parameters around what you need to do. Â
So, now that you know what the intent of the scene is, where could you start?
Thereâs no right or wrong place to start a scene, and there is such a diversity in the ways that you can do it, that itâs sort of hard to make real suggestions on how to proceed (particularly without knowing the details of your story specifically). That said, where and how you start it is going to have a big impact on what the reader gets out of the scene, and so being able to answer those questions above can help you to really work out whatâs going to be the most punchy, effective start.
Again, there are a whole lot of ways to do this, but I thought Iâd explore a few here that might help you get your scene going. Iâve even included some exercises, because apparently I miss teaching creative writing that much, haha.
You could start:
1. As Close to the Action as Possible.
This is one of the most common pieces of writing advice that gets thrown around, and I both agree with it and disagree with it. I think starting close to the action or the drama of a scene can make for an excellent hook, particularly if the scene is thrilling or especially dramatic, but itâs not always appropriate.Â
It can be a great exercise though when youâre unsure of a scene!
In that sense, look at your intent, how you want the characters to move, and forget about any establishing work for a minute. Try starting literally as close to the drama or conflict as possible.
Say itâs a scene where two characters kiss for the first time. Try and start the scene with the kiss. Does it work? Probably not, because thereâs not enough build up to it. From there though, you can start to reverse engineer it and work backwards until you find your sceneâs natural starting point.
Or perhaps itâs a scene where a character gets thrown through a window! Is it a surprise for the character too? Well, then it might work best to actually just start with that, because too much beforehand would feel superfluous to the point of the scene, which is, well, a character getting thrown through a window.
This is actually something I did in the second scene of Blue Moon where Ruby and Beth are watching Rubyâs mother at her fatherâs wake. Originally, there was a lot more set-up, and I felt that it weighed the scene down and removed some of the momentum, particularly because the intent of the scene was not the wake, but to show that Ruby didnât know how to comfort her mother while grieving her father herself.
I cut it all out and even then, I thought Iâd write a shorter intro, but when I re-read it, I actually really liked the sort of cut effect of Ruby taking her fatherâs hand in the first scene and then Beth telling her to talk to her mother in the second.
2. With the World Youâre Leaving Behind.
Harry Potter is a really good example of this. Frequently the scenes donât start anywhere close to the action or drama â Rowlingâs style instead typically centres on focusing on something specific and then using that as an entry point into a moment that might not actually happen for a little while.Â
Think of the opening scene for example, which doesnât start even remotely close to the action/drama of the scene - that would be Hagrid arriving with Harry. Instead, it starts with Mr Dursleyâs Very Normal Life. In fact, there are six paragraphs before Mr. Dursley even notices anything unusual - that being a cat reading a map. In this particular scene, this method is used to create a juxtaposition between the mundane and the magical, and to be an entry point for readers into the unusualness of the world of Harry Potter.Â
She doesnât just use it in this opening though. She regularly uses this technique to build atmosphere and âothernessâ across the series.
You can actually do this one as a bit of an exercise too if you like!
Think of the moment of change in your scene. When does the environment shift to build towards the action? What happens before that shift?
Letâs go back to our kissing example! The world weâre leaving behind here is one before intimacy, so itâs a significant change in the dynamic between characters and the overall plot. So think about what that means and what that looks like. Has the air crackled with their UST? Has one character been oblivious to the otherâs feelings, making the kiss a moment of revealation that explodes their world open? Does one character not feel the same way â making the before a space of possibility, and the after space a place of lost possibility or rejection?
Think about what happens before and after the action at the heart of the scene, and how the juxtaposition of that can bring the sceneâs purpose home.
3. With the Central Idea of the Scene.
I do this a lot, haha.
Itâs one of my favourite ways to write a scene, and sometimes Iâll do it extremely literally, and other times less so. You can also do it via dialogue (in the pirate au, for instance, one scene starts with Annie telling Beth about lambskin condoms, a seemingly innocuous, fun starting point, but actually a pretty major signpost to the sceneâs purpose overall, as the intent is realised in Annie later being shamed for having a child out of wedlock), by an image or metaphor (perhaps a scene about a character having a great realisation starts with them seeing a bright light, or alternatively, a scene about a character misinterpreting something might start with them trying and failing to untangle a necklace chain), or an emphasis on a place (Beth sitting in the loading bay looking at Fine and Frugal in 1.01 before the girls rob it).
This can be a great way of teasing out your scene overall before you actually unpack it.
So again, try it out! Think about the pivotal moment in your scene, however big or small, and try thinking about what you might encompass it. Letâs go with our first kiss again as an example. Maybe the scene could start with a character putting on lipstick, drawing attention to their lips. Maybe it could start with them texting their friend, wondering if the other character even feels the same way, maybe it starts with them trying to fluff the couch cushions they later crush beneath their body during a make out.
Think about what might foreshadow your pivotal moment, and what might underline the intent of your scene.
4. With a Focus on Tone and Atmosphere
Some people might disagree with me, but I really think that tone setting is one of the most important things in writing, and that goes for the overall tone of the story, but also for individual scenes. Itâs what guides your reader to the feeling that you want them to take, and really informs the way your story builds. So while youâre thinking of ways to start, why not think of the atmosphere of your scene? Think about the way the mood builds and shifts and how you want the reader to feel within that.
In my story, Need a Little Time, I did this in both scenes, but particularly the second, which started with Rio in Rheaâs kitchen, remembering being in Bethâs.
Itâs the smell that does it â cinnamon sugar and dark coffee and box macaroni cheese â and he blinks and he ainât in Rheaâs kitchen anymore, heâs in herâs, staring at her kidsâ artwork, pinned with cheap, ugly magnets to the fridge, cardboard boxes of cardboard meals scattered over her kitchen island, and then her, smiling, face open and unsure in that way she ainât ever, and him, cunt struck and fuck dumb, smiling back.
His chest aches.
His fingers twitch. Â
This (hopefully, haha) gives the reader a sense of Rioâs headspace and the fact that despite his best efforts, heâs really, really not over Beth, but also links back to the softness of him then (cinnamon sugar, box macaroni, kids artwork) and the harshness and woundedness of him now (dark coffee, cheap, ugly magnets, harsh words like âcuntâ and âfuckâ, fingers twitching). It functions as a tone setter and a memory box, but it also exists to serve the purpose of the scene overall, which is Rioâs complex emotions in finding out that Beth has gotten close to Rhea in his absence.
So! Think about your scene and itâs purpose. What do you think the tone or the atmosphere is? If youâre not sure, think instead of the emotion within it. What are your characters feeling? And how do you want your reader to feel? Once you know that, think of imagery or objects or sensory detail that might build that.
Letâs have a look at our kissing example again! Letâs say itâs a first kiss between two people who really love each other and just havenât confessed their feelings yet. What would the tone of that scene be? Well, probably one of possibility, vulnerability, intimacy. What imagery goes with that? A new bud on an old plant maybe? Clean, fresh smells like soap or newly cut grass, skin still pink from the wind outside. Cold hands warmed between somebody elseâs. The sound of a familiar voice. Maybe a kettle boiling, or a warm meal about to be forgotten.
5. With a Bookend
Bookending scenes is another favourite of mine, haha, both to write and to read. Bookending scenes is a way of starting with a concept and then finishing the scene by circling back to the concept but looking at it in a slightly different way.
This is technically two scenes, but since I still have it open from the last point, Iâm going to use it as an example again, haha. Need a Little Time starts with Rio remembering his mother telling him that if you stay away too long, people and circumstances change in your absence: Â
It was something his mother had said to him once â drunk off cheap merlot and good company at the party after his little cousinâs baptism â her long fingers clamped around his chin.
âThatâs the thing with havinâ kids,â sheâd hummed, smoothing her touch at his clean-shaven cheek. âYou wait too long to see them, theyâve done a whole lot of growinâ without you. Not always the good type either.â
This is revisited directly in the scene later where Rio thinks about how much Marcus has grown and changed since heâs been gone, but itâs actually bookended at the end of the second scene too:
âShe said you guys used to talk a little at the - - I mean. Her daughter and Marcus knew each other.â
And itâs just like that heâs back on that park bench, Elizabeth sitting a foot away, one of those pinched, cagey looks on her face sheâd get when she thought they were being watched, like anyone looked at her and thought anything except some variation of mama, like that part of her costume ever fuckinâ tore, and he thinks his mom was right about this too.
You wait too long to see someone, who knows what they do while youâre gone.
In this, Rioâs grown to understand that his motherâs words are more than just about parenthood, and that things donât pause while youâre away. Everyone has the capacity to change.
So bookending a scene or a story can be a great way of marking growth of a character, or making changing circumstances clear.
You could also use a visual metaphor. Perhaps a characterâs at the end of her rope, and sheâs shopping, and is trying to get one of the last punnets of strawberries, but gets frazzled and distracted by her children, and turns around at the end of the scene and the strawberries are gone. This would be a clear symbol of her losing what little she has, and how much more sheâs lost during the scene.
So, the last exercise, haha. Think again about the intent of your scene, and how you might like to frame it. With that framework, is there an image or a thought that could symbolise the growth across the course of the scene?
Letâs look at our kissing example! You could start the scene with her wondering what it might be like to kiss him, and bookending it with her no longer having to wonder. You could start it with him cooking a meal, and then returning to it and laughing and not caring about it being cold at the end of the scene. You could start with her bemoaning not being able to get something on a crossword to a friend, and finish the scene with him filling in the last answer as a sign of their wholeness together.
Again, these are all just suggestions and ways to tease out scene starters when youâre struggling to find the right spot. I hope itâs a help, and if anyone else has suggestions for anon to try out, Iâd love to hear them too! :-)
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Nervous Regrets - Tyler Seguin - Part 8
Word Count: 4726
POV: Reader
Warning:Â Cursing
Notes:Â Not really any this time. Hope you guys enjoy!
Euphoric, it was a funny word, while its meaning meant happiness or elation; it was often used to describe the effects of drugs one may consume. Obviously, that wasnât your case at the moment, but euphoric was definitely how you felt after the last few hours with Tyler. While you werenât one to agree with the use of recreational drugs, you could see their allure; for if this was the high one got when they took ecstasy or the likes, youâd be a junkie, hooked on one Mister Tyler Seguin.
 That giddy, light headed, endlessly happy feeling inside you at the moment was something you didnât want to let go of; after the last few months of despair and darkness, it finally felt good to love again. It was amazing how a few days could change your whole world. You had crawled into a black hole after the whole cheating scandal; now that you were out, it felt good to be human again. You were soaring above the clouds, floating on them really; and nothing could bring you down.
Making your way through Dallas traffic, you recalled the last few hours; and how you went from sheer panic to pure elation. Seeing your baby, while the man you loved held your hand; was surreal. It was something, only a short week ago, you never saw happening; yet there you were, both of you sobbing as the life youâd created, popped up on the screen. Unconsciously your hand went to your stomach to cradle your baby.
Trusting Tyler was still an internal issue that you were struggling with; but your unquestioning nature seemed to be winning that battle at the moment. Whenever doubts would creep in, he would seem to find some way to breakdown that wall; letting you know he was all in. The baby would forever link the two of you, but if you could find a way to put your trust issues with Tyler aside and become a family; that would be a dream come true.
In order to do that though, you needed to start taking better care of yourself. So, heading home you decided to treat yourself by going through the drive thru of your favorite fast food restaurant. Youâd been craving a salad topped with grilled chicken, not having access to a grill was definitely a problem; that you ordered a side of fries with it, probably wasnât the best option. Walking into the sparse apartment, you slid your heels off, making yourself comfortable. Quickly you ate your dinner, then changed into an old V-neck t-shirt and yoga pants; wanting to get a small workout in before the Stars came on. Throwing your hair in a messy bun, you tossed the Pilates mat in front of the television, putting on a quick thirty-minute session.
About twenty minutes in to it, you realized you shouldâve waited until your meal settled before you began; as your stomach started to rebel against you. Grabbing a ginger ale from the fridge and some soda crackers; you switched the television to the pre-game action. Tylerâs lack of performance in the first few games was a topic of conversation the sports announcers seemed to pay close attention to; it did nothing for bouts of nausea you were currently experiencing. You were hot, sweaty and your breasts felt like they were five times their normal size, in their restrictive bra; and in the moment you felt if you didnât remove it, youâd either hurl all over the living room floor or self-combust. Why a female would ever invent a contraption so constricting was completely beyond your imagination, in that moment. Feeling like you could breathe again, and not actually expel the contents of your stomach on the floor; you made yourself more comfortable on the couch as the game got underway.
Tyler scored with minutes left in the first period putting the Stars on the board; hopefully that would silence the announcers about his previous point percentage. In the second he added an assist on Jamieâs goal; which had the Stars leading the game two to one. You couldnât wait to see what the third period would bring, as it got underway. Unfortunately, the doorbell rang with only three minutes into the period. Getting up out of your warm cozy spot, your brain trying to work out who could be at your door at this hour; your friends usually called before they came over at this time of night. Peeking through the peep-hole you saw Robert, standing in front of your apartment. While this wasnât an appropriate hour of the night, you needed to break things off with him; and so, you opened the door. âRobert, what are you doing here? Itâs a little late.â
You hoped that didnât sound too dismissing. âHey pretty lady.â Starting to kiss you on the lips, but you quickly turned so that he would be kissing your cheek instead. âI havenât heard from you in the last few days and Iâd thought Iâd check on you.â
Well that was sweet of him and here you are trying to break things off. âOh, Iâm so sorry. Work has been crazy, among other things. I did get your flowers, that was very sweet of you to send them.â
âYeah you kind of had me wondering, since you didnât really acknowledge them.â
Maybe because youâd also received ten other more extravagant arrangements that day. Mentally shaking yourself, now was not the time to be comparing whose bouquet was bigger. âTheyâre lovely. Can I get you something to drink, water, soda, wine?â
âA glass of wine would be great.â Throwing his jacket in the chair, he plopped down on the couch; grabbing the remote and turning the television off, just as Tyler was making his way to the net with the puck. Giving him the side eye, the one your grandmother used to give when one of you had said something distasteful; you poured the wine, less than what youâd normally give. âYouâre not drinking?â This asked as you handed him the glass of wine.
âUmm..no, I have work tomorrow,â it wasnât a lie, you did have work; but you also werenât divulging the truth to him.
âYou should blow it off. Iâll grab my dadâs jet and we can head to the beach for a couple days.â He was so nonchalant about it, like it was something he did every day; and that your job meant nothing. Robert was the quintessential rich playboy; daddyâs money had gotten him everything up to this point and he saw no reason not continue on this way. You couldnât be certain heâd ever worked a full day of his life; so how could he understand that you not only needed your job, you enjoyed it. It was something Tyler never questioned.
Taking a seat at the opposite end of the sofa, you tried to explain, âI just canât up and leave work like that Robert. I have responsibilities there; deadlines that need to be met.â Granted your job did afford you the flexibility to work from wherever; and they were fairly willing to let you have time off when you wanted; but this was not something he needed to know.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, he acknowledged you with a simple, âfine.â With glaring eyes, he surveyed your apartment. âBabe, why havenât you looked for some place better to live. You know you could move into my complex, that way weâd be closer. Plus, itâs definitely more luxurious than this.â
What had you seen in this man, when he first asked you out? He was condescending and arrogant; that heâd masked these attributes in your first couple of dates was amazing. Or maybe they were just there all along and you were too blind in your misery to see it. âI actually looked at a place yesterday.â Omitting the part that it was with your baby daddy.
You went to continue, however he cut you off, âgood, I hope itâs better than this place.â Mentally you rolled your eyes at his pretentiousness. âBabe, why are you sitting so far away?â He scooted closer to you, placing his hand on your thigh; while his eyes focused on your breasts. Thatâs when you remembered you werenât wearing a bra; immediately feeling naked and exposed to this man.
Scrambling off the couch, you needed this interaction to come to a close. Even his use of the word babe felt wrong falling off his lips; not like when Tyler would lovingly call you it. Crossing your arms, trying to cover yourself; you began the conversation youâd been dreading since he walked through your door. âLook Robert, youâre a really nice guy. Itâs just wellâŚ.itâs not you, itâs me really.â God youâd been the recipient of that line so many times in your dating history; each time youâd known it had been a lie. It was a half-truth in this instance, feeling the need to be somewhat honest; you continued. âThe truth is. Iâm trying to work things out with Tyler and I just donât think it would be fair to either of you; if we continued this.â Motioning with your hand between the two of you.
âWaitâŚYouâre getting back together with the bastard that had the back-alley blow job scandal.â You winced, it sounded pathetic coming out of his mouth; that you would want to get back with someone who had treated you so callously.
âItâs complicated.â Truly it was; but you didnât feel the need to explain any further.
Setting his half-drunk wine down on the coffee table, he stood. âYouâre gonna pick that fucking man whore over someone like me? I thought you were smarter than that.â His eyes roamed up and down your body, a disgusted look crossing his face.
Flinching, you stepped back realizing you didnât know this man at all. âIâm sorry Robert, I just need to follow my heart; and my heart just really belongs with Tyler.â
He seemed to collect himself then; striding to the door as he said, âGood luck, youâre going to need it.â With that he left; you let out a breath you didnât know youâd been holding in, breathing a sigh of relief that the encounter was finally over. That was until you looked over to the living room and spotted his tailor-made suit coat lying on your chair. Grabbing it and your keys you headed out to return the garment to him. He was in the parking lot, getting ready to step into his vehicle.
âRobert, you forgot this.â Yelling, hoping to impede him from leaving. He stopped closing the car door as you drew closer. Handing him the jacket, you apologized once more. âI really am sorry.â
Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply; when they reopened, gone was the Robert that was cold and arrogant, replaced by the caring man youâd thought youâd been seeing. âIâm sorry to (Y/N). I shouldnât have said those things inside. I just really thought we had something special.â
Hurt was etched across his face; in that moment you felt guilty for not telling him the entire truth about your reunion with Tyler. âI hope we can still be friends.â You werenât exactly sure that was even possible or even if you wanted friendship with this man; it just felt like the right thing to say.
âSure, no hard feelings.â He reached out then to hug you; a goodbye gesture you saw no reason not to return. He held you a little too close and a little too long for your comfort, but you let him have this final embrace. Finally, he pulled back, and before you knew it; his mouth was on yours greedy and hungry; forcing yours open as he held you tight in his arms. Panic set in, it was late and no one was around; you pushed at the wall of his chest hoping to loosen his grip. When it tightened you did the only thing that popped into your mind. Bracing your hands on his shoulders for leverage, you brought your knee up connecting it as hard as you could with his groin; the direct hit had him doubling over in pain. You twisted out of his arms and made your way back into the apartment, as he yelled, âyou bitch!â
Not looking back you headed straight for your apartment and locked the door; glancing out the window, seeing his car peel out of the parking lot. Your heart was racing and you couldnât seem to catch your breath; tonight, had definitely not gone as planned. All you wanted right now was Tylerâs arms wrapped around you; but it wouldnât pay to tell him what had transpired. Knowing Tyler, heâd be out the door ready to beat Robert to a bloody pulp. So instead you grabbed a blanket and encased yourself in its fluffy warmth; taking deep breaths as you calmed your nerves.
Grabbing your phone, you pulled up the highlights of the game to distract you. As you suspected Tyler had scored again in the third period, leading the Stars to victory over the Avs. Checking the time, you felt he should be home by now; you sent him a quick text.
Great game tonight! Iâm so proud of you!
Part of you wished he would text you back, asking to come over; youâd gladly take him up on it. When you were together road trips were always hard; but now that youâd finally started taking steps towards reconciling these next five days were going to be hell without him. The phone beeped drawing your attention.
Thanks
That was it, nothing more; it was not what you expected. Staring at the screen, you waited for more to appear; when it didnât you hauled yourself up and headed to bed. Maybe he was tired, itâs been an emotional day; first seeing the baby and then playing such a great game. Tyler probably went home and dropped onto the bed exhausted. Heâd done that from time to time, after a particular trying game; youâd always removed his shoes and tie then, taking a blanket and covering him up. Heâd eventually wake up in the middle of the night, strip naked and climb into bed with you; waking you up with feverish kisses. The two of you would make love until you both fell back asleep. Your body ached with need for that at the moment. The PA was right; your hormonal urges were becoming stronger, though it could just be thoughts of being with Tyler again.
The baby fluttered then, reminding you that your love had created this little life forming inside you. Closing your eyes, you let your mind take you to a time, not too far in the future; where you and Tyler were lying in bed, the baby on Tylerâs chest as they both slept. Smiling you drifted off to sleep with that picture in your mind.
Waking up, you put the drama of last night with Robert behind you and started your day. Work was busy, so you hadnât really noticed that Tyler hadnât text you that heâd landed in St. Louis, until it was well after four. He had mentioned they were leaving after morning skate, which would likely put them there around two or three in the afternoon. Pushing any uneasy thoughts to the side, that something was wrong, you finished out the day; shooting him a quick text and vowing to call him if you didnât hear from him shortly.
When eight oâclock rolled around and you still heard nothing from him, you started to panic. Picking up the phone, you dialed his number; pacing as the phone rang. Your heart jumped into your throat when his voicemail picked up. Something was wrong, maybe there was an accident, or he couldâve been hurt in practice and be lying in the hospital. Your mind was swirling with dread. Vaguely you thought about calling Jamie; had even pulled up his contact info when the phone rang, Tylerâs face popping up on the screen.
âOh thank god, I was so worried. Are you ok?â it all came out in a rush; like it was all one word and not sentences formed together.
âYeah Iâm fine.â There was despondence in his voice; he didnât say anything more.
âTyler, whatâs wrong? Why didnât you text me when you got in?â Sheer panic had taken over when he hadnât answered; now you were questioning whether or not there was something else going on here. Doubts started creeping in; was he with someone, some woman? When he didnât answer right away you voiced your concerns. âAre youâŚis someone with you?â
âWhat? Fuck, no Iâm not with anyone.â Anger tainted his voice, but really what could he expect; it was the only logical conclusion you could draw, since he was acting so strange. Softly, he added, âIâm not the one fooling around this time.â
âWhat the hell does that mean? That I am?â He was making no sense at all. You thought your relationship with Tyler was finally heading in the right direction; that he would suggest otherwise had you baffled.
âReally? Youâre going to just pretend like you werenât kissing some guy last night.â Realization dawned on you, somehow Tyler must have seen what happened with Robert last night; but he had it all wrong. You started to speak but Tyler cut you off, âSeriously (Y/N), how can you go from everything that we shared yesterday, to making out with some other guy. I mean explain it to me, because I donât get it.â He took a breath and you thought you had your opportunity, until he continued. âFor fuck sake you told me you loved me yesterday. Did that mean nothing to you? Does our child mean nothing to you or our family?â
That was it, youâd had enough; Tyler had crossed the line with that last comment. âWould you shut up for a fucking minute and let me explain.â Blood boiling, you needed to calm yourself. âFirst off, the baby means everything to me, and I mean everything; donât ever fucking question me about that again. Do you hear me?â
A small weak, âyeah,â was all you received.
âSecondly, I do love you and I meant every word I said to you yesterday. God Tyler, I never stopped loving you, not even after everything that happened. All I wanted last night was for you to finish the game and come and hold me in your arms; I just didnât know how to ask you that.â Blowing out a breath you continued on, âLastly, I donât know what you saw, but I was not and I mean not at all kissing Robert.â
âFunny, it sure looked like you had your tongue down his throat.â
âJesus Tyler, I was not kissing him.â He started to refute your claim again, but you were not having it. âWhat you saw was him forcing his tongue down my throat. He wouldnât let me go, I had to kick him in the balls to get away.â
âWhat did you say? He forced you?â This wasnât how you wanted to say any of this to Tyler; point of fact you didnât want to tell him any of it. You knew Tyler would lose his cool, if he found out about Robertâs actions; which is why you had decided to keep this to yourself. That was until heâd misread the entire situation. âTalk to me (Y/N) or I swear to god Iâll be on the next flight home.â
He was overreacting, thinking the worst had happened. âNothing else happened, I ran into the apartment and locked the door. He left shortly after that.â
His silence spoke volumes, you knew he was seething inside; wanting to hit something, mainly a man named Robert. You could almost see him pacing back and forth in the hotel room; hands threading through his hair, as he tried to calm himself down. âWhy was he there in the first place?â
It wasnât the question youâd expected him to ask, but he deserved the truth. âHe stopped over; I didnât invite him, I swear. He showed up because he hadnât heard from me since Saturday, when Iâd left him at the charity event to meet you. He said he just wanted to check on me. I thought he was a decent guy and I owed him the truth; that you and I were back together. I hadnât expected him to get so angry about it, but he did. He forgot his jacket, so I ran out to give it to him. He seemed to have calmed down, so when he went to hug me goodbye, I didnât think much of it.â You paused not really wanting to say the rest; hoping Tyler would say something so you wouldnât have to. When he didnât, you had no other choice, âHe wouldnât let me go and then he just forced his mouth on mine. I tried to push him away but he just held me tighter. Thatâs when I kicked him in the nuts. It was the only thing I could think of to do, but he let me go and I just ran back to the apartment. But Iâm fine, heâs gone and I donât have to see him again.â
âItâs not fucking fine (Y/N), he tried to force himself on you. I wanna fucking kill him. Like just rip his damn throat out. God what if you hadnât been able to get away from him?â He paused as if he was visualizing the whole thing. âI think I might be sick.â
âTy, babe, listen to me. Iâm fine. Just breathe.â
âI shouldâve stopped. I just saw the two of you together and I thought the worse. I shouldâve known youâd never do that to me. Iâm so sorry baby. God why didnât I fucking stop and check on you.â
âTy, donât beat yourself up. I can see it from your side. I wouldâve thought the same thing.â In all actuality you probably wouldâve thought much worse, given the past.
âI donât think you should stay there tonight. What if he comes back? Just go to the house and stay there, the security system is top notch and the dogs are there, they may not be fierce but they would frighten anyone away.â
His protective nature was kicking into high gear. âTy, Iâm fine. The door is locked here. No one can get in.â
âYou donât know that. What if he bust down the door or something?â
âIâm sure one of the neighbors would hear, if that happened.â He was being unrealistic now, running through scenarios that werenât going to happen.
âYou donât know that. Maybe I should come home. Iâll go talk to Monty and catch the next flight.â
âTyler, you canât just leave; you have a game, the team is depending on you. Besides, I think I might take off Friday and head to my parentsâ house for the weekend. If I leave after work tomorrow, Iâll be there before your game starts.â
âWell I still donât like you staying there alone tonight. Canât you call Jan or someone, and see if theyâll stay with you?â
âTyler, Iâm fine; I promise. Besides itâs like almost ten oâclock. Iâll be going to bed here shortly.â The last hour or so on the phone with Tyler had you mentally exhausted and needing some rest. Besides you needed to pack, especially if you were going to head to your parentsâ place in College Station. Seeing an opportunity there, you decided to change the subject. âSo, I thought Iâd go down and tell my parents about us and the baby.â
âYou sure you want to do that alone? I mean, when I come home, Iâll go with you.â
It was sweet of him to offer but you kind of had a feeling you needed to do this alone. âThanks for offering but I think I need to do this on my own. I donât know how theyâre going to take everything and I think it would be better just coming from me.â Knowing your parents, they were probably going to try and talk you out of getting back together with Tyler; they were not happy at all, when the scandal hit. They would definitely need time to adjust to everything, before Tyler started coming around again. âHave you told your family yet?â
âI almost said something to Candace on the phone the other day; but then I thought better of it. My mom will be furious if sheâs not the first to know. Iâm just not sure if I want to tell her on the phone or in person, you know?â
You knew exactly what he meant; which is why you were driving almost three hours. âWell maybe you should fly them in or something.â
âYeah I thought about that; but then it really cuts into my time with you.â
Chuckling slightly, youâd always gotten along really well with Tylerâs family. Then like a ton of bricks falling, it hit you, what if they resented you for leaving Tyler; they could carry some animosity towards you, as yours did against Tyler. While the scandal wasnât your fault, part of the aftermath was. He had just as hard of a time with the breakup as you. âWell we could all do dinner or something while theyâre here. That way we could still have time together.â
âYeah of course. Though honestly, theyâll probably want you around more than me. They all laid into me, when we broke up. Once they find out about the baby, they probably wonât leave your side. I know my mom will want to rush out and buy a ton of baby stuff.â Smiling to yourself, you hoped your family would handle the news the same.
âWell she can buy whatever she wants. I havenât bought a thing yet. So it would be fun to go shopping with her.â Youâd been so afraid of where things would go, that you couldnât purchase one baby item, for fear there wouldnât be a happy ending with Tyler. Now, just talking about it, had you bubbling with excitement.
âDonât tell her that.â He laughed then, and you could tell heâd let some of the tension from earlier go. âIâll give her a call tomorrow and see what I can work out. Iâd really like to have you there when I tell her the news.â
âYeah we can do that.â Yawning into the phone, âI really need to get some sleep, can we talk some more tomorrow? I mean if you answer your phone.â
âSorry babe, I was pretty pissed off. I promise Iâll answer.â
âNo, Iâm the one whoâs sorry, for putting you through that. Iâm glad we talked things through though. I think as long as we continue to communicate things will be good.â
âOh, weâre not through with this conversation by a long shot. I donât like the idea of you staying there, with that jackass being able to show up at any time. But since youâre heading to your parents, Iâll drop it till I get home on Sunday. What time do you plan on being back in Dallas?â
Hopefully within the next four days heâd have a memory lapse and forget the whole thing. âI was planning on leaving after lunch. So probably around four or so.â
Disappointment laced his voice, âOh, ok. We should land before noon or so; that is if we donât end up flying out Saturday after the game. Itâs still up in the air. Why donât you stop at the house before you head home and Iâll go over with you? That way I can make sure everythingâs fine.â
âYeahâŚmaybe. We can talk about it later.â
âAlright, but Iâm not going to change my mind on this one.â
Sighing, Tyler could be stubborn at times; you knew he wouldnât relent on this issue. âOk well Iâm going to head to bed. Get some sleep, bossy.â
âYou too, sassypants. I love you. Talk to you tomorrow.â
âI love you too, Ty.â With that you hung up the phone; glad to have things back on track with Tyler; but dreading the next seventy-two or more hours without him.
#tyler seguin#tyler seguin imagine#tyler seguin imagines#dallas stars#dallas stars imagine#dallas stars imagines#nhl imagines#nhl imagine#nhl fanfic#hockey imagines#hockey imagine#hockey fanfiction#nervous regrets
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Touching the Void - Chapter 1
Iâm posting this because, although I like a lot of parts about this, it feels too dragged out for a first chapter... too slow. Idk, I just have some mixed feelings, and since itâs the first chapter, I donât mind posting it because... itâs not technically spoilers? 8D
Man, I hate how different things look from the word program to the actual post, no matter where it is. It never looks quite right :/
An evening in the McCormick household where one didn't need to fight to have dibs on the TV was a rare fucking evening indeed. In fact, Kenny's parents weren't even home... or so he assumed. If there wasn't yelling and bitching coming from somewhere within earshot, they must've been out and about. Didn't surprise him in the slightest. Kevin - pretty quiet as per usual - probably locked himself in his room so he could drink all night, and Karen - sweet, naive Karen - was already in bed at this hour, having had her dinner and going straight to bed. Hard to believe she was in Fourth Grade already. Felt like yesterday when he was back at the wonderful age of 10. Â Â Â Â Â Â He remembered playing their games, the boys and him... being afraid of the Sixth Graders, and everything. Yet now they were he Sixth Graders... that still hadn't settled with him, even if it didn't really feel like they'd grown up at all. And having Middle School looming around the corner come next year? Yuck. He had a similar reaction when flipping the channel to the next fuzzy one. Fucking figures, the one night he didn't have to wrestle his drunk-ass brother or parents for the remote, and there was nothing good on. No sports aside from re-runs. Not even much late-night adult content to be found either. Just the fucking shopping channel - god, he hated that with an immense passion - and some boring documentaries and talk shows. He flipped over to one idly and stared blankly at the screen while the voice continued to narrate. The content on the screen wasn't memorable to him in the slightest. Â Â Â Â Â "-and it begs to offer this yet unsolved question that we ask ourselves constantly: 'What were we put on this Earth to do? What is our purpose?' A-and there's just no rightful way of answering that, try as we may. It's a solution that we, as individuals must come to understand and learn for ourselves. All we can do to aid the process along, is by pushing ourselves in the general direction of self-discovery." Â Â Â Â Â Â He had his finger on the button to switch the channel, before - at the last second - the guy on the TV added, "Which brings me to ask you... why do some people long to die?" Â Â Â Â Â Â That caught Kenny's attention for an extra moment, "W-When you have the potential of a great, grand purpose in our lives as a result of what we were put on this Earth to do, why would you want to knowingly take your own life away? Why do most of us fear Death so greatly... but others don't? What in the world makes us so unique from one another in such a queer manner? What drives these people to do these things?"
The other man on the TV laughed at him, "Sounds more like we've got a 'Q&Q' show than a 'Q&A' now, Abe."
"These are trying topics. You try to come up with an answer. A real answer. It ain't so easy, is it?" Â Â Â Â Â Â "Well, if you had to ask me, I'd say some people are obviously just more miserable than others. The quality of life and the gap and all that mumbo-jumbo. If you're down in the dumps long enough, it might seem like that's what you were put on the Earth to be - a metaphorical punching bag." Â Â Â Â Â Â "Is that what you view yourself to be? You know, some experts say that our words and actions reflect how we feel about ourselves more than they affect others." Â Â Â Â Â Â "Pfffff. You think I'm a punching bag? I'm living the dream, Abe. Or what feels like the dream... that's good enough for me." Â Â Â Â Â The 'Abe' guy opened his mouth to talk again, but Kenny flipped the TV off before he could utter another word. God this night fucking sucked so far. He got up to get a drink - not a drink drink. Seeing what that shit does to other people sure has its way of souring you on even touching the stuff. Shoving the dozens of beer bottles and cans aside in the dirty old fridge, he pulled out a soda he'd stashed in the very back. It'd been opened before, so it was completely flat by now... but he honestly didn't give much of a shit. Flat or fizzy, it was still a nice treat to have, now and again. Â Â Â Â Â Â While he sat and chugged back what was left of his week-old cola, his mind wandered back to that dumb-ass talk show again. 'What were we put on this Earth to do? What is our purpose?'
Did it really matter what the purpose was? You make something of yourself, or you don't. Either way, everyone has access to titties on the internet, and that was enough of a reason alone for some people to work and pay the bills. Can't even get a good magazine nowadays without having to pay like twenty dollars plus shipping... they don't even ship it in discreet packaging anymore! What a fucking time to be alive, when your neighbour can walk by and see the latest issue of Playboy sitting on your front step in broad daylight because some asshole couldn't be bothered to stuff it in the mailbox.
Not that he really cared... wasn't his name plastered all over it. He'd used his brother's name when ordering the subscriptions, and he didn't think anything of it when he'd answered the door the first time to pick them up. He'd probably just assumed his drunk-ass couldn't remember ordering it. He'd never complain about free titty magazines though, that would be fucking blasphemy. Kenny just had to make sure he got up early enough on mail days to be able to snag them first when he saw them... he wasn't the biggest fan of second-hand merchandise. Who could blame him? Â Â Â Â Â Â He crunched the can up with one hand and tossed it in the general direction of the trash can. It hadn't been emptied in weeks, so it just kind of harmlessly bounced off the heaping pile of other cans and rolled on the floor. He'd have to do something about that at some point soon.
He once caught Karen trying to clean up the disaster that was the kitchen. Poor girl almost cut herself on a bottle that'd been broken at some point. After that, Kenny told her that she shouldn't clean up broken bottles and cans - at the very least, not without using a towel or something to protect her hands with. He'd insisted that he'd try to tidy up a bit in her place... but he'd gotten lazy. It gets to a point where if you're the only one in the whole fuckin' house making an effort to clean up, you just don't feel like it's even worth trying. But he'd do it eventually. For Karen's sake, at the very least. Â Â Â Â Â Â With a sigh, he sauntered over to his room and shut the door quietly behind him. He always made a note to try and do that. No reason to slam doors around and, on the off-chance, wake up his sister. His parents did that enough, that quiet days like this were just... unheard of. This whole evening had been a fucking weird one. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Â Â Â Â Â "Some people are obviously just more miserable than others. The quality of life and the gap and all that mumbo-jumbo. If you're down in the dumps long enough, it might seem like that's what you were put on the Earth to be - a metaphorical punching bag." Â Â Â Â Â Â He snatched his pillow and buried his face into it, heaving another sigh. Maybe he shouldn't of even bothered trying to watch TV, if all he can think about is a stupid fucking talk show... but when he thought about it, Kenny kind of felt like a punching bag. Some days, more literally than others. No matter what people threw at him though, he would bounce back from anything. Always coming back, to no one ever remembering. No one remembers the punching bag. He rolled over and glared at the wall. It was going to be one of these nights again, huh? He hadn't gone on such a downward spiral since... since Fourth Grade. Everything had fuckin flown by the past couple years. The usual weird shit would happen every once in a while, but he felt like he was getting involved in it less and less. Stan, Kyle, and Cartman would go off and do shit on their own after school somedays, and it was like they never thought to ask him to join. On one hand, Kenny wasn't complaining â fuck no. That meant he'd been through less shit that could end up with him dead again. Â Â Â Â Â On the other hand... he sort of missed it. He hadn't even worn the Mysterion outfit in what felt like fucking forever... when had he last gone out in it? He got up and went over to the dresser to take a look. It was exactly where he'd left it last time - placed in the bottom drawer. Forgotten. He picked it up and held it out to get a good look at it. It was so small, to him. Had it really been that long? He slowly took his parka off and put the cape on overtop of his shirt. It didn't drag on the floor like it used to, that was for sure. The first few times he'd worn it, he remembered being a dumbass and tripping over it on a few occasions. He'd twisted his ankle once or twice, and one instance actually involved him falling off a roof. That had been agony. Â Â Â Â Â Â Yet he hadn't cut it any shorter or anything. He'd instead persevered and got used to knowing where it was and how to not trip on it. He casually grabbed an edge of the cape and brought it close to his face in what was meant to be a dramatic pose. At least it was long enough to do that, anyway. The hood was a bit small though... and he didn't even dare try on that light purple one-piece. He took a look in the drawer again to find the half-mask sitting at the bottom. He slipped it on over his head, but it was so tight on his eyes. With a scoff, he'd pulled the ensemble off and shoved it back in the drawer. Maybe there was a fucking reason he'd stopped wearing that thing. All it did now was bring back memories of that fucking cult. Â Â Â Â Â Â But it had good memories associated with it too. He'd protected his little sister against bullies in Greely as Mysterion... he'd even become a 'Guardian Angel' to her. That, was what made it worth it. That was why he'd kept wearing it up until last year. He wanted to protect people that couldn't do it alone. He wanted to be this stupid little mountain town's 'guardian angel'... to keep it safe from fucking monsters. He scowled at the open drawer now, at the outfit thrown into a ball and wrinkled to hell. Cartman had been one of those monsters... he'd been fucking insane to drag an Elder God into his schemes. He certainly didn't miss hanging out with him. "Friend" or not. Â Â Â Â Â Kenny didn't bother to close the drawer before stumbling back to his bed and throwing himself upon it again - this time sans parka. Maybe he'd bring back the persona... maybe he wouldn't. He honestly didn't want to think about it anymore... he just wanted the night to be over so he could just go back to school tomorrow - words he never thought would pass his mind. But all that kept coming back to mind was that... Fucking... Talk show. Â Â Â Â Â Â "'What were we put on this Earth to do? What is our purpose?'... It's a solution that we, as individuals must come to understand and learn for ourselves. All we can do to aid the process along, is... push... ourselves in the general direction of self-discovery." Â Â Â Â Â He'd tried that once. It didn't end up all that great.
People don't really realize when they drift off to sleep. It's just a quiet cloak of darkness that overtakes the mind... it's nigh undetectable. Â Â Â Â He wasn't any different, at first. He didn't know he was dreaming. It felt... too real. Â Â Â Â Â Â This place felt familiar... but for the life of him, he couldn't fucking remember where he was, exactly. It was like it kept changing... shifting... the lighting bounced around the ground like water at the bottom of a pool. The sand was red... no, not sand. Dirt. Or... stone? Kenny couldn't focus on it at all, like he'd pulled an all-nighter and hit the point where he just couldn't *mentally* stay awake anymore. The area around him was hazy, and alien. Strange plants - if you could even call them 'plants' - and formations were all around him... nothing familiar besides that feeling deep down that he'd been here once before. Â Â Â Â Â Â The only thing that knocked him out of his stupor was a voice from behind him, but it sounded like he'd missed part of the conversation before it... "...maybe we should just find a place to hide and wait for help!" Â Â Â Â Â That sounded like... someone he knew... Another voice reverberated, this time right next to him, "What help, dude? Nobody in the real world even knows we're here." Â Â Â Â Â Kenny finally looked towards the source of the voices. They were like mirages... blurry... but he recognized them. He recognized the words. Clyde and Kyle. Mentioning the real world? But that meant... This was R'Lyeh. It came to him like a slap in the face, waking him from the hazy phase he'd just been in. The weird lighting, the even weirder tentacle plants and shit... the other boys in costumes... and then he saw himself walk from where he stood, like he'd waltzed right out of his own body, donned as Mysterion. He felt a distant pain in his gut, as he watched himself take charge and insist he'd find help. He knew what was coming all too well. Â Â Â Â Â Â Quite frankly, he didn't want to fucking relive it a second time. He closed his eyes to block it out as he heard Clyde call his name. He'd forgotten to block the sound out... and it was a horrid sound. And the pain! The pain hit him like a fucking truck, like he'd actually gone and done it again! Seething agony for what felt like an eternity... and then darkness overcame him again.
He woke up in a cold sweat, grasping at his chest for the spikes he'd known were there when he'd purposefully plunged himself upon them. He laid there, catching his breath and trying to cement himself back in reality for a good long moment, before glancing over at the clock. Four in the morning. It didn't feel that long had passed, but who the fuck knew, when you were asleep, right? Time flew by like nobody's damn business... he'd wished for it earlier in the night. Now, he regretted it. That's not what he fucking meant by it at all.
He glanced at his hands, then passed them through his hair, cringing when he realized it had slicked back somewhat from the sweat on his brow. Â Â Â Â Â Â Fuck this night sucked.
#aw hamburgers!#(is the spoiler tag)#fic dev#first chapter#draft#this was typed in pretty much one go with barely any editing going into it#so i'm just calling it a first draft#if some of the paragraphs are spaced weird... don't pay them any mind#legit I imported it from Quoll Writer to OpenOffice - which fucks aLL the formatting#and I like things to look a certain way#I find last time I did a fic I didn't like how on Fanfiction everything was hella crammed#the dialogue was so tight together 'cause I'd only do a single line break rather than full paragraphs#and like it LOOKS okay in the program (especially Quoll Writer where everything's neatly arranged)#but posting it... takes a toll on my overall health and well-being 8D#I don't wanna ramble too much in the tags 'cause they all show up on this blog's theme so it... gets crowded fast#I think I went on too long with the talk-show bit - I could probably cut it shorter now that I look it over again
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The Energy Times, They're A-Changin'
I mean, just consider it.
The last few years have seen a massive change in how we create, use, and consider energy. When renewables were only beginning to make a splash at the residential area, many people understood the fresh and reliable energy in sunlight was likely to take over finally... but they were not certain just how, or how quickly. Both renewable power and energy storage systems have struck some huge numbers during the past couple of decades, drawing some significant focus on the advantages of storage and solar, and with an increasing number of people jumping on board.
They are calling it a power revolution.
We've entered a completely new era of clever... everything. Particularly when it comes to our power, and our houses. Homeowners are enthusiastic about increasing the IQ of the houses for a whole lot of reasons--a great deal of the own lives are already attached and controlled with their mobiles, so if they could add another devices that they use daily to the identical dashboard, why don't take action? Home connectivity may save yourself money, possibly save lives, also may have a strong positive effect on the environment by conserving energy.
Here is how this works: Smart house technology understands when it is not needed. Consider each of the apparatus we depart on all of the time so that they're prepared when we want them. You might not be prepared to unplug your microwave each single time you leave the kitchen, but when your microwave has been smart enough to automatically have a rest in between meals?
However, no wise house is complete without the greatest energy bundle: a method to create energy, and a means to keep it. Rooftop solar, coupled with a house battery, has become the defining variable of this clever, efficient, attached residence. Many house battery versions, such as Tesla's Powerwall, have programs accessible to monitor in-home energy use, in addition to the degree of energy saved and created. This provides energy efficiency to a entirely new level, providing homeowners more info and control over their energy than they've ever needed.
Seeing this trajectory (fine, geeking out within this trajectory) shows us that the potential for residential energy use means connectivity, data, and a simple means to access, track, and control the devices inside your house, such as the mechanisms that create and save power.
Home batteries also have transformed solar power in the irregular energy source it once was. Energy from sunlight is now able to be accumulated and stored onsite so that you may use it whenever you want it... even during the night.
This is a totally new image of home energy. Plus it is turning into a reality only in time.
So many men and women take it for granted, and can not envision a universe where they could not turn a switch and cook their own meals, warmth their home, speak with family or co-workers, or get all of the information we've stored from the cloud.
The US electricity grid is among the most crucial, and most exposed, systems from the nation. With no energy grid, our nation can not run business. We can not do our banks.
America isn't prepared for the grid to return.
However, it might. In reality, it likely will.
Meanwhile, the President of the USA said three years ago that "For those who'd seek to perform our Nation important physical, economical, and emotional injury, the electric grid is a clear goal."
The energy grid is not only a goal because of how crucial it's to this interworking of the society, but also due to just how poor it is.
The energy grid, such as most other areas of engineering, is automatic and remotely controlled. Many significant substations of the energy grid are entirely unmanned, procured from physical assault only by one, chain-linked fence.
"The grid has been cobbled together throughout the electrification of the U.S. within the last 125 decades. It's a delicate, interdependent system. There's so much variability from the grid which what instances a disaster one day may not the following, making safety problems complicated. Small issues can easily spiral out of control."
If we can not be based on the power grid. It is time to take our electricity into our own hands.
It is your choice to be certain to have backup power--saved energy which you could tap into whenever you require it. Rather than wondering if another power outage will strike, you can know that you will still have the power you want to keep up your outlets, your lighting, your apparatus charged, along with your fridge running. With this kind of safety, you can be aware that your loved ones, and those nearest to youpersonally, are shielded from whatever the electricity grid throws your way.
That is exactly what the newest wave of energy-independent American houses will look like: protected, ready fortresses that have onsite storage and generation to power their house and their lifestyle together with renewable energy. This this kind of shift in the energy times? We are prepared for this.
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New Post has been published on Qube Magazine
New Post has been published on https://www.qubeonline.co.uk/refrigeration-inefficiencies-dont-have-to-lead-to-food-wastage/
Refrigeration inefficiencies donât have to lead to food wastage
NEWS FEATURES FIRE & SECURITY SUBMISSIONS RESOURCES
In excess of 1.6bn tonnes of food worth around $1.2tn is lost or goes to waste each year â one third of the total amount of food produced globally â due to inadequate refrigeration systems. Shaun Evers, managing director of Stonegate Instruments, explains the high potential for inefficiencies and the excessive food wastage this can lead to.
Cold storage and refrigeration units are essential for maintaining temperatures and therefore the quality of food products and, if operated correctly, they have the potential to not only drive significant reductions in food wastage, but also energy. Equally, failure to maintain the integrity of cold storage can lead to significant deterioration of perishable food, as well as breaches in regulatory compliance and increases in carbon emissions.
High potential for energy inefficiency
The continual growth in the refrigerated food market and ongoing food safety challenges, paired with heavy consumer demands for better quality products with an increasingly extended shelf life, means refrigeration is a critical element of the food supply chain and one fraught with the potential for energy inefficiencies. It is also a hotbed of health and environmental hazards.
There are a number of areas that can lead to refrigeration inefficiencies. From simply overloading fridges, or doors accidentally being left open which leads to inefficient temperature control, to energy loss caused by a leak of refrigerant gas. Leaks can occur for a number of reasons, from improper maintenance and mechanical damage to accidental release during refrigerant replenishment.
Eating away at your energy consumption
With these factors in mind, kitchens and catering facilities can enjoy a number of benefits from optimising equipment efficiency. Properly maintained refrigerators, working at the right temperature and without any refrigerant gas leaks, keep food fresh for longer, dramatically reducing spoilage.
While the consequences of a too warm refrigerator may be obvious, the opposite is not â a few degrees may seem irrelevant but overcooling by 1°C less than is required can result in a 2% hike in electricity use. Therefore, maintaining the required temperature will help curb costs and reduce food wastage.
And it may seem like a minor error, but leaving a door open can force a system to work harder to stay cool, in turn using more energy and incurring higher energy costs. An easy way to prevent doors accidentally being left open for an extended period is to install an alarm.
As previously mentioned, reducing the chance of refrigerant gas leaks, or spotting and stopping them as early as possible, will not only improve energy efficiency, but will also help protect the environment â figures from the Carbon Trust show that a leak of 1kg of refrigerant gas has the same environmental impact as a van driving for 10,000 miles.
Leaks of refrigerant gas are dangerous for several reasons, not least because they often go undetected as the gases in question are odour-free and cannot be seen. When a leak does occur, it impacts on the performance of the refrigeration equipment, putting food at risk of being spoiled.
Poor equipment performance from gas leaks can also result in spiralling energy costs. For example, if left unrepaired for three months, a small leak in an average 300kW refrigeration system could result in increased energy costs of ÂŁ1,400 â not to mention the repair bill once the leak is identified.
For some organisations, refrigeration costs account for around half of their entire energy bill.
Fortunately, there are various steps that can be taken to minimise the amount spent on electricity.
Managing your refrigeration systems
Managing a cold storage system successfully requires a delicate balance of temperature control, refrigerant leak detection and management, as well as keeping personnel safe. Operational efficiencies such as leak reduction and temperature optimisation through the use of leading-edge products can ensure this balance is maintained, while at the same time ensuring the quality of food in storage does not diminish. New gas leak detection systems, for instance, can ensure leaks are quickly identified and swiftly repaired, minimising any potential environmental damage and safeguarding employees, without compromising the effectiveness of equipment.
Fortunately, simple yet highly effective devices can be used to maximise equipment efficiency. Almost certainly the most straightforward way to determine whether equipment is cool enough is to install an easily visible temperature display. Such a display offers a clear indication of the temperature within a refrigerator and should be bright and readable from a distance, alerting staff to any fluctuations which may precede potential problems.
By far one of the most hazardous of faults though are gas leaks. These can occur due to equipment malfunction, improper maintenance work, mechanical damage or accidental release during replenishment, and often around 60% of gas escapes before anyone notices. While it is impossible to predict when a leak may occur, technology can be used to identify an incident the moment it arises, enabling staff to pinpoint the cause and make necessary repairs before either workforce or the environment is affected.
Innovative technology for monitoring and intervention solutions are one of the remedies for diminishing wastage and losses incurred throughout the cold chain. In a bid to address losses in the food supply chain, while at the same time reducing their cold storage costs, many leading businesses are seeing the value in adopting them.
The benefits of the latest technology
The most straightforward way to determine whether equipment is cool enough is to install an easily visible temperature display. This will offer a clear indication of the temperature within a refrigerator and should be bright and readable from a distance, alerting staff to any fluctuations which may precede potential problems.
In relation to refrigeration gas leak technology there are detection systems designed to alert staff to the release of a wide variety of substances, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), using remote refrigerant sensors linked to audible and visual alarms. Stonegate Instrumentsâ DL1024, for example, can accommodate up to 24 remote refrigerant sensors, arranged in three zones of eight channels, with four relay outputs for signalling an alarm. LED colours indicate the presence and status of each sensor and any sensed gas leak, activating an audio/visual alarm to alert employees. In addition to this they also comprise battery back-up systems in the case of power failure.
When it comes to preventing food spoilage and reducing energy costs, the simplest solutions can often solve the most complex problems. In fact, turning to technology is a win-win scenario as refrigeration equipment performing at their peak will not only help reduce waste and control energy costs, but will also reduce a hospitalâs overall environmental impact.
In addition, with even the most sophisticated devices on the market having a return on investment time of just two years, employing technology makes sense.
Stonegate Instruments designs, develops and manufactures electronic equipment for the refrigeration industry including gas detectors. The companyâs products are proven in cold storage facilities for reducing energy, carbon emissions and the associated costs. For more information, please visit www.stonegate-instruments.com.
 Refrigeration inefficiencies donât have to lead to food wastage
NEWS FEATURES FIRE & SECURITY SUBMISSIONS RESOURCES
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The Petrolhead Corner â Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations â Part 2
Another week, another Petrolhead Corner. Following up last weekâs episode, covering weird and wonderful race car innovations, we dive into the realm of innovations on road cars and concept cars. Once again we have a selection of odd concepts by manufacturers and engineers that tried to improve the automobile in one way or another. Often offering a glimpse of the future in the process, most of these concepts never made it to market.
I canât imagine how some of these ideas were pitched during board-meetings and even got financial backing to be developed. And yet, without these sometimes nutty concepts, we might not have been where we are now in terms of technology. Cars nowadays are riddled with tech that often finds its origin not only in race cars (Anti-lock brakes, fog lights, turbocharging) but also through this kind of concepts. But how would you respond when someone suggests to start making a two-wheeled car or illuminated, colour-dyed tires? Would your fire them on the spot, or allow them to develop a working concept?
Gyro X â the self-balancing car
They say less is more, but that doesnât seem to stick on all occasions. No, some design- or technology-features in cars are better left alone instead of trying to improve on them it seems. Nevertheless, some people have the guts to still pursue a radical idea, despite facing massive technical challenges. One very interesting concept is the Gyro X, better known as the self-balancing car.Â
The Gyro X was developed by Alex Tremulis and Thomas Summers and first saw light of day in 1967. The idea behind the car was to improve efficiency, both in space and fuel economy. Being smaller and lighter than a conventional four-wheeled car this makes sense of course, as it is about half a car in width and features a sleek, aerodynamic body. Power came from an 80 horsepower Mini Cooper engine, pushing the car to an alleged top speed of 125 mph (about 200kph). The most interesting part, however, is the hydraulic gyroscope that was developed for this car and which keeps the car upright. When stationary, two neatly tucked away side-wheels can be lowered to help steady it.
Photo: Wes Duenkel
Photo: Wes Duenkel
Photo: Bruce Sweetman
Photo: Bruce Sweetman
The gyroscopic unit in the nose of the car helps to stabilize the car when driving and prevents it from tipping over while taking a corner. How this technology works is explained in this video by the Lane Motor Museum which has the only Gyro X ever made on display:
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Somewhere along the line the car lost its gyroscopic module and got a third wheel in the process. Since then, the car fell into disrepair and was eventually fully restored in recent years and once again presented to the public as a driveable car in 2017 at the Pebble Beach Concours dâElegance. More information on the car and the restoration is provided in this article on Autoweek.com.
Golden Sahara II â lighting up the roads
Despite the fact rubber used in tires is originally a milky white colour, pretty much all tires are black. This is due to the fact that a substance known as âcarbon blackâ is added to stabilise the rubber. Combined with polymer fibres it creates the tread compound of a tire. But what if you want tires to look a little more⌠groovy? Goodyear had a solution and developed a polyurethane polymer that could be dyed in a whole range of colours. The material had another, rather unusual feature as it was translucent. Engineers fitted lightbulbs to the inside of the wheel to make them glow and light up the inside of the wheel well, as a neat party trick.
Although paraded to the public throughout the US and Europe, Goodyear never put the tires in production largely because they werenât very good on wet roads. Instead, a custom car builder was allowed to use a set of the tires on a one-off custom made car. The car in question is known as the Golden Sahara II, and it is not exactly a subtle machine, not in the slightest due to the tires.
The car featured a bubble-top canopy, wildly sculpted arches (it was the fifties after all), abundant gold trim and even featured some very futuristic and luxurious tricks. This included a remote-controlled autonomous mode, radar-guided braking, a built-in TV and reel-to-reel-tape player, also a mini-fridge and cocktail bar.Â
As with many of these obscure, one-off cars it was eventually parked and hidden from the public for fifty years by the creator and owner, Jim âStreetâ Skonzakes. After his passing in 2017, the car was uncovered again and fully restored. Goodyear stepped in to create a new set of the iconic tires and the completed car was unveiled at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. This video, including period footage, shows the car in all its glittery glory:
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More information on the tires and the car can be found in this article on The Drive.
Saab Prometheus â the joystick-controlled car
Have you ever remembered using something else instead of a steering wheel to change direction and keep in control of a car? No? Neither have I, except in videogames maybe. Saab, the iconic and now laid-to-rest Swedish car manufacturer tried to change things with a radical new steering concept for a version of their Saab 9000 family car, nicknamed Prometheus.Â
Saab thought it was a good idea to clean up the interior and dashboard of a car and get rid of the traditional steering wheel we use for ages to maintain control of the vehicle. Instead, they developed a car that was controlled with a joystick. No steering wheel means no steel rod coming out of the dashboard and becoming a rather painful, immovable object during a crash. Getting rid of the traditional steering wheel means you can open up space on the dash and avoid impalement. It also means you can install a proper airbag. And yes, you can fit an airbag in a steering wheel but it still isnât ideal.
The concept relied on a centrally mounted joystick that was electronically linked to the front wheels. Full lock from left to right was 180 degrees on the joystick. The problem with this system was that even a small adjustment of the joystick resulted in a big change in direction through the front wheels. Not ideal to say the least! A traditional steering wheel rotates about 3,5 times from full left to right which makes it a lot more useful to put in small corrections or larger ones when needed. So safety for the driver was improved, but not necessarily while driving, and thus the concept never reached the stage of production.
More information on this innovation by Saab in this article on Goodwood.com.
BMW GINA â the shape-shifting car
The concept of a shape-shifting car sounds really interesting and has been explored by many different manufacturers and design studios. With modern-day technology, shape-shifting in cars becomes a lot more real, and one of the best examples is the BMW GINA concept car from 2008. It was a design study into materials and technology that sadly has never found its way into a production car.
BMW used a Z4 as a base and covered the entire car in a special type of fabric and in the process added moveable panels to change the appearance of the vehicle. The headlights, for instance, open up when activated, almost mimicking a set of eyes. The hood opens up with a split in the middle to reveal the engine. Other parts of the body change shape upon the driverâs demands, according to external conditions or the speed of the car.
The technology and application of flexible materials continue in the interior. The headrest is automatically adjusted and rises out of the seat when entering the car. The instrument cluster and steering wheel are put on standby when parked and move into reach of the driver when needed. All blends in seamlessly with the interior thanks to the fabric it is covered in. The piece-de-resistance however, were the doors; semi-gullwing doors that flexed open rather than hinged open. When opening the door, automatically, of course, the fabric would reveal its true nature and crease on the hinged section of the door. When being closed it would stretch neatly across the door panel again and seamlessly blend in with the rest of the body.
More information on the BMW GINA Concept can be found on DriveTribe.
The post The Petrolhead Corner â Weird and Wonderful Automotive Innovations â Part 2 appeared first on Wristwatch Journal.
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New Post has been published on https://payment-providers.com/iot-and-the-wackiest-connected-devices-of-2017/
IoT And The Wackiest Connected Devices Of 2017
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The Internet of Things (IoT) may have jumped the digital shark this year.
Of course, some would say this happened a long time ago. The New York Times was calling it the âInternet of Way Too Many Thingsâ back in 2015, long before the Amazon Echo, Google Home and other voice-activated speakers found their way into tens of millions of American homes, and long before smart versions of ordinary devices replaced consumersâ thermostats, refrigerators and cars.
Long before two-thirds of consumers told PYMNTS that they wanted their connected device, whatever it may be, to make seamless payments on their behalf, as shown in this yearâs âHow We Will Payâ study. The study also illuminated which devices people use most and how they like to use them.
But buying stuff and turning up the heat are pretty common use cases, and if some find them a bit excessive or unnecessary, itâs just a matter of taste; many consumers now feel that their smart devices are essential to their lives, whether for convenience, home security or peace of mind.
Where the IoT jumps the shark is with connected devices that never needed to be connected; they are simply smart because they can be. These devices purport to solve problems that no one actually has. The IoT has gone beyond the point of âNo one will ever buy this,â into the realm of âSo bad itâs good.â
Just like on the TV series Happy Days, where, while water skiing, the character Fonzie literally jumped over a shark, the world of connected devices has gotten a little ridiculous â although in this case, itâs not that developers are out of ideas; itâs that theyâre treating every idea as worthy of pursuit.
A lot of them arenât.
However, a lot of them are worthy of a few good laughs. Here are a few of 2017âs most outlandish connected devices.
 Otohiko Fork
There are two types of ramen-eaters in the world: quiet ones and loud ones. Whether consumers like to slurp their noodles or cringe at the sound of others eating loudly, this smart fork can make dining together a more comfortable experience for all.
The Otohiko fork connects to the userâs smartphone and, when it detects a slurping noise, plays a masking sound to hide the slurp. Not exactly subtle â but, certainly entertaining, and perhaps an effective way to make light of what could otherwise be an awkward situation.
 Quirky Egg Minder
Red alert! Egg supply has reached critical level! Now that info can be pinged directly to consumersâ phones to remind them to buy more eggs. The Quirky Egg Minder, made in partnership with GE, tracks how many eggs are in the fridge as well as how fresh they are. But, like, it doesnât even order more eggs automatically when itâs running out, so whatâs the point?
 Flip Flops
Smart flip flops by Hari Mari and baseball glove maker Nokona use near-field communication (NFC) technology to pair with a mobile app and notify the wearer of Hari Mari discounts and special offers. Thatâs it. No fitness tracking, no weather updates, just promotions and deals. But hey, for the consumer who really, really loves Hari Mari, maybe these shoes are a must.
 Wi-Fi Brita Filter
Water filters are a great way to cut out the expense and waste of all those plastic bottles and just drink purified tap water. However, they do need to be replaced from time to time, a task that many people neglect. Thatâs why Brita teamed up with Amazon Dash to create the Brita Infinity, which automatically orders a new $6 filter as soon as it detects that the old filter has outlived its usefulness.
Convenient, yes â but do consumers really want their smart devices making purchases for them? The application of this technology for automated commerce is probably limited to small-ticket items like water filters and not much else.
 KuvÊe Bottle
Looking for something a little stronger than water? This smart wine bottle sleeve works with select wine âcartridges.â When one is inserted, the touchscreen will offer information and tidbits about the wine. The touchscreen can also be used to order more wine when the bottle is empty. This seems like it could lead to some poor decisions, but who are we to judge?
 Jim Beam Decanter
Whiskey maker Jim Beam entered the connected device arena with a voice-activated decanter for its Kentucky bourbon whiskey. The decanterâs only real skill is to measure out shots, but itâs smart enough to spout some sass if people ask it to do anything else. For instance, try to find out the weather and the decanter will say (in the voice of seventh-generation master distiller Fred Noe) that it has no idea, but it does know itâs the perfect weather to drink some bourbon.
If only it could learn to order a new bottle of bourbon when the old one was empty, it would be perfect. Hey, anyone want to create one for the Voice Challenge with Amazon Alexa?
 Furbo
Itâs a Nest Cam for dogs, including a two-way radio that lets users talk to their dogs remotely and sends them notifications if it senses barking â but thatâs not what makes Furbo ridiculous. What makes it ridiculous is the deviceâs ability to shoot dog treats upon remote command from the userâs smartphone.
Apparently, that function is in hot demand among dog moms and dads, because Furbo raised $500,000 in crowdfunding last summer and is now retailing for $242.
 Smalt Shaker
Just add smart to salt and you get âSmalt,â the salt shaker that connects to the internet. Users can turn the dial manually, shake their smartphone or pinch the screen or ask Alexa to dispense a pinch or a teaspoon. Plus, the shaker has its own built-in Bluetooth speaker and multi-colored mood lighting.
However, the rechargeable batteries only last four hours, so itâll need to be charged roughly once every day or two (assuming customers want salt on the table at each meal). On top of that, it canât actually grind salt. This âupgradeâ might actually be a downgradeâŚ
 Toasteroid
If the Griffin Toaster, which pings usersâ phones when their toast is done and remembers their favorite settings for different types of bread, wasnât extra enough, just wait: It gets better. The Toasteroid makes toasting bread a social activity â just what consumers want first thing in the morning!
The app-controlled smart image toaster can print any design onto a slice of toast, from the latest weather report to a toasted text message from a friend (presuming they have the same weird toaster). Why not receive utility bills this way, too, or todayâs New York Times? Thatâs one way to ingest the morning newsâŚ
 And MoreâŚ
Then thereâs the $1,000 mirror that displays weather updates and notifications, the carry-on luggage that promises to weigh itself, charge your phone and lock itself, the coffee machine that knows when youâre out of pods, the hairbrush that uses a gyroscope, accelerometer and microphone to measure how well youâre brushing, the water bottle that glows to remind you to hydrate and the âsmart condomâ that measures a manâs performance in the bedroom.
Thereâs a connected toothbrush that streams live video of the inside of your mouth to your smartphone, the smart floss dispenser that churns out just the right amount at the tap of a finger, a smart changing pad that monitors your babyâs weight, diaper changes and food intake, an umbrella that tells you when youâve replaced it (and where) and a whole slew of smart trash receptacles and Keurig-style appliances for everything from cookies to tortillas â just to name a few.
These devices arenât even solving first-world problems anymore. Theyâre solving problems that literally do not exist. Luckily for developers, thereâs a market for that.
That market may consist largely of people buying gag gifts for Yankee swap holiday parties, but itâs there. And certainly thereâs a large population of hipsters who love to buy things âironically.â For this market, perhaps the Echo was just too mainstream. Perhaps jumping the shark was exactly what the IoT needed to do to suck them in.
Amazon, connected devices, Featured News, Innovation, Internet of Things, just for fun, Mobile Applications, News, Saturday Feature, smart home, weird commerce
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New Post has been published on Globeinfrom
New Post has been published on https://globeinform.com/15-idiotic-net-of-factors-gadgets-no-one-requested-for/
15 Idiotic Net Of factors Gadgets No one Requested For
However, we also can be extraordinarily lazy pieces of shit. We combat with our roommates over whose turn itâs far to get off the couch and locate the faraway, rage at Netflix for making us press a button to maintain watching, and order Seamless as opposed to going outside. It really is in which the Net Of factors is available in â ready to rescue us from the terrible task of using our atrophying muscles to shut the blinds â by using connecting the entirety to the records superhighway.
Alas, a variety of it is general rubbish. In terms of Silicon Valley, thereâs nothing like an high-priced, overwrought way to a hassle that slightly exists.
Take this lately announced lavatory paper tracker, for instance. Are you usually getting stuck out at the shitter and not using a toilet paper? By no means worry: A YouTuber (oh, goodie) has invented a clever lavatory paper dispenser that may feel while youâre running low and will notify you through an app. May we advise a couple of non-electronic hacks, like⌠hold the rest room paper inside the lavatory? Maybe simply one or two spare rolls? Convey some tissues in your pocket? Christ, there are masses of options that arenât connecting your rest room paper dispenser to the Net.
While the problems with Net-linked Gadgets are widely known â why, hi there-there, security troubles â today, in honor of the rest room paper tracker, we need to celebrate the maximum thoroughly banal Devices ever to have a chip slapped on them. They clear up the troubles you did not even understand you had â for a rate, of course.
1. Tracks There are masses of Gadgets with a purpose to track matters that simply donât need to be tracked. Among the ones: a Fitbit in your fats Lilâ doggo in an effort to tell you how a lot your puppy is consuming, in case you suspect heâs sneaking off to Shake Shack for a cheeky burger.
2. HidrateSpark A clever water bottle that âglows to make certain which you In no way forget to drink your water once more.â Apparently, the idea of âconsuming water whilst youâre thirstyâ is unfashionable now. Additionally, there are already apps with a view to remind you to drink water, thatâs lazy sufficient. Do you actually need your water bottle to glow, too? What about a touch robot arm to tap you to your thick head?
three. KeĚrastase Hair Coach A clever hairbrush that makes use of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a microphone to concentrate for your hair to look in case youâre brushing it all incorrect, you sloppy moron. Right hereâs what I wager mine appears like Kurt kart slippeth.
four. Egg Minder An egg tray in your fridge to inform you how many eggs you have left or even how sparkling the eggs are, hugely superseding the vintage generation of âsearching on the date at the boxâ or even placing them in water. I hate this and will no longer remark similarly.
5. I.Con Remember the Gadgets that deliver the Internet properly for your pants. I.Con, a âsmart condomâ Itâs simply greater like a cock ring, pursuits to tell guys exactly how shit they may be in the mattress. Maybe, I do not know, ask your girlfriend?
6. We-Vibe There are numerous brands of Internet-related vibrators and dildos, just like the WeVibe, which Also comprise quite extreme security flaws. Anyway, if you really need your warm and slimy sexual cavities filled with large, powerful WiFi signals, you could try this.
7. Garage
You realize the oneâs little tasks you just canât be arsed to do, like beginning your storage door? there may be a silly device for that. Garage helps you to open your garage door with your telephone, instead of with the traditional remote that appears to be working pleasant my whole existence. I wager you could open it from paintings and scare the shit out of your husband, or some thing.
eight. Amazon Sprint Amazon Dash buttons are not all awful â it makes feel to reserve huge, bulky, heavy-use gadgets like kitty litter with the clicking of a button, particularly due to the fact the buttons are basically unfastened â but a number of them are simply bizarre. Who is buying sufficient pistachios to need a Sprint button for that? Is the burden of your pistachio dependancy so remarkable which you want a unique button at the door of your Pistachio Cove to reserve a new cargo? If I ever went to someoneâs residence and that they had a pistachios Sprint button, I would press that issue 50 times to educate them a lesson.
: Amazon.
nine. Nespressoâs Prodigy A Bluetooth-related coffee machine which can tell you while youâre out in their dumb little espresso pods, which you shouldnât use Besides because they are killing the planet. It could Additionally begin brewing the espresso from afar, but only if your chosen pod is already loaded, thatâs a real disgrace in case you, like me, have gotta have that java.
10. Shuttereaze This smart plantation (what the fuck?) shutter relieves you of the horrific burden of getting up to close your shutters after an extended day of running a blog. As their Kickstarter says, âThis daily routine can turn out to be even extra tedious with tough-to-reach shutters. What you need is a manner to try this remotely or even mechanically. In other words, you want clever shutters.â You need them like you want air and food and love.
eleven. Bluesmart luggage The Bluesmart âlinked carry onâ bags promised the capacity to weigh itself, charge your cellphone, and lock itself. That last function Regrettably becomes now not all groovy with the TSA, who stopped The subsequent Net writer Natt Garun on her manner to CES final year and âsternlyâ wondered her at the bagâs exposed wiring and battery percent.
12. Griffin Toaster A $US100 ($132) Bluetooth toaster by way of Griffin which could send you a notification whilst your toast is carried out to your desired degree of crispness. which is nice, except toast takes like 3 mins. And itâs $US100 ($132). My toaster turned into $US8 ($11) and works nearly all of the time. Photo: Griffin Technologies.
thirteen. Griffin Mirror however, wait! there may be greater demanding shit from Griffin, which Also makes a related Replicate. The Reflect can show notifications from your smartphone, the climate, and, of direction, updates from your Griffin toaster, in case you touch the Reflectâs floor. Love to get my smudgy fingerprints throughout my Replicate just so I do not ought to look out the window.
14. CloudPets There are many linked toys for youngsters available on the market, such as stuffed animals and ill robots. To a childless millennial like me, the news that toys are actually connected to the Net is absolutely baffling. What is incorrect with an easy old teddy endure, I shout on the children on my garden? Why does antique Ted need to speak to the cloud? If nothing else, the information that tens of millions of recordings of youngsters and their mother and father leaked from CloudPetsâ database ought to come up with a pause. youngsters will play with literal dust and rocks, you fools.
15. Turn-flops
We could not forget to say an IoT device this is related in possibly the least beneficial way feasible. This pair of Flip-flops with a chip and accompanying app would not provide something conceivably beneficial like fitness tracking information, however alternatively sends wearers records approximately discounts. Signal me up!
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How Samsungâs new voice assistant, Bixby, is different from Siri
Image: ILLUSTRATION by Ambar Del Moral/Mashable
Samsung has a new voice. And it has world-changing ambitions.
In the upcoming Galaxy S8, users will find an extra button on the left side of the phone, just below the volume controls. Pressing it will activate Bixby, Samsungâs new voice assistant. Once activated, Bixby will help you navigate whatâs arguably the most sophisticated piece of technology you own the smartphone in your hand.
If Samsung gets its wish, though, Bixby will eventually do much more than just help you order Lyfts or set up complex calendar appointments. The long-term vision is for Bixby to act as a kind of uber-interface for all of Samsungâs products: TVs, wearables, washing machines, even remote controls.
SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S8: all the leaks in one place
Samsung designed Bixby with a specific goal in mind, one that veers away from its fellow voice assistants Appleâs Siri, Amazonâs Alexa, Microsoftâs Cortana and the Google Assistant. Those platforms were generally built to help users quickly perform common tasks (âRemind me to buy milkâ) and perform search queries (âWhatâs the capital of Brazil?â). Bixby, on the other hand, is all about making the phone itself easier to use, replicating the functions of many apps with voice commands.
Yes, Siri et al. already do that to a certain extent you can easily set a reminder with your voice, for example but the voice integration typically only handles the basics. The goal of Bixby is to voice-enable every single action in an app that youâd normally do via touch, starting with Samsungâs apps. So, not just âset a reminder to buy pickles at 6 p.m., but âSet a reminder on my Shopping List to buy pickles at 6 p.m. and make it repeat every week, then share the list with my wife.â
Bixby speaks
Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung Mobile and the architect behind Bixby, says the voice assistant is nothing short of an âinterface revolution,â freeing users from hunting down hidden functionality within menus and hard-to-find screens.
âBixby is an intelligent user interface, emphasis⌠on âinterface,'â Rhee says. âA lot of agents are looking at being knowledgeable, meaning that you can ask questions like, âWhoâs president of the U.S.?â A lot of these are glorified extensions of search. What we are doing with Bixby, and what Bixby is capable of doing, is developing a new interface to our devices.â
Bixby architect Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung Mobile.
Image: Pete Pachal/Mashable
Although it makes its debut on the Galaxy S8, it will soon spread. Rhee sees the Bixby button eventually spreading to all kinds of smart-home devices, from TVs to refrigerators to air conditioners.
âAnywhere there is an internet connection and a microphone, Bixby can be used,â he says. âThere is some technology in the device, but a lot of it lives in the cloud. Thatâs why the range of devices goes beyond just a smartphone. It means it can be in any device we produce.â
âAnywhere there is an internet connection and a microphone, Bixby can be used.â
Samsung began work on Bixby about 18 months ago, Rhee says. It grew out of the companyâs S Voice tool, which has been on Samsung phones since 2012. (The timing might explain why Samsungâs smart fridge announced right around then failed to deliver on its planned integration with Alexa.) S Voice hadnât progressed much over the years, but then last year Samsung acquired the much-hyped Viv Labs and its sophisticated assistant, a strong indicator of the companyâs renewed interest in voice control. However, Rhee says Vivâs technology is planned for future updates to Bixby and doesnât have a role in the initial release.
The name Bixby came out of Samsungâs focus groups, but it was actually their third choice overall. It was the top pick among millennials a demographic the company is specifically targeting with the Galaxy S8 so it won out. (Rhee declined to say what the other names were.) Itâs also distinctive enough, with hard consonants, for it to work well as an activation word. Bixby, which will initially speak just English and Korean, is intended to be a userâs âbright sidekick,â helping them navigate their devices in a more natural way.
â[What came before], itâs been people trying to learn how the machine interacts with the world, but⌠it should be the machine learns how the human interacts with the world,â Rhee says. âThe learning curve shouldnât be steep.â
All talk, all action
For an app to be considered Bixby-supported, every possible touch action needs to be mapped to a voice command. Rhee explains that, for a typical app, there are about 300 different actions the user can perform. That doesnât sound too bad until you consider there are around 15,000 different ways to perform them. And the ways to verbalize those actions number in the millions. Thatâs a lot of stuff to map out.
Still, Samsung says itâs up for the challenge, at least as far as its built-in apps are concerned. But what about third-party apps? Considering the amount of development work, will Snapchat or Facebook ever work as well with Bixby as Samsungâs apps?
Bixby will take you as far as it can rather than just hitting you with a, âSorry, I didnât catch that.â
Rhee says Samsung has a plan to get third-party apps talking to Bixby, and an SDK to be released at a later date will introduce tools that make the mapping much easier. He also suggests Vivâs technology can help here, too.
âViv Labs is coming in by way expanding our vision into third-party ecosystems. It doesnât necessarily have to be all of the touch commands that they can perform. At a minimum, [Bixby will perform] the basic functionalities: like the settings, or changing the language from English to French.â
On the Galaxy S8, a total of 10 apps will be Bixby-supported, Rhee says, with a second âwaveâ coming a few weeks later. Out of the gate, users will be able to use Bixby with Contacts, Gallery, Settings, Camera, Reminders and a few others.
Another way Bixby is different from its peers: it will be aware of what youâre doing on the phone and suggest different actions depending on whatâs on screen. So if you press the button while, say, looking at a single photo in the Gallery, editing and sharing controls are probably more relevant to you than searching. And if Bixby doesnât understand every aspect of a complex command, it will take you as far as it can rather than just hitting you with a âSorry, I didnât catch that.â
All this âawarenessâ brings up an important question: How much data is Samsung collecting about you? Rhee says most user-specific data is kept on the device, but, as a cloud service, Bixby needs to store some information in the cloud. Itâs not yet clear what the exact breakdown is.
The button
Having a dedicated button for Bixby brings a number of advantages. For starters, it means Samsung wonât have any need for Clippy-style pop-ups directing users to the assistant people will inevitably find it on their own. It also ensures there will be far fewer accidental activations than if Bixby were mixed into a home button something users of Siri are all too familiar with.
âWe actually have done a lot of research to have the Bixby button as part of the home button like our friends in Cupertino,â Rhee says. âA lot of people find it a little awkward to use it in public. The home button is a very overloaded place thereâs a lot of functionality into it. Having a dedicated button really removes a lot of friction.â
Itâs the dedicated button that really epitomizes Samsungâs approach.
And since the idea is to press and hold, lifting your finger when youâre done, Bixby will know definitively when youâre done speaking. Still, there will also be a wake-up phrase you can just say âHi Bixby,â to activate the assistant at any time.
Itâs the dedicated button that really epitomizes Samsungâs approach, and if it indeed ends up on all Samsung products, Bixby will become much more than just a smartphone assistant itâll become the gateway for Samsung to finally, truly become a major player in the internet of things.
Sure, Samsung has had its âSmartâ devices for a long time, and its low-power Tizen OS is ideal for powering the many products with connections to the internet. It also acquired SmartThings in 2014 to strengthen its IoT brand.
But until now, Samsung has lacked a gateway for its customers to really take advantage of that interconnectivity. For most, itâs hard work hunting down the right settings on your phone to connect a smart TV to an air conditioner, but what if you could just tell Bixby to do it? And if you can talk to it from all those devices asking any question or even making phone calls then youâre really onto something.
âItâs actually omnipresent in a sense,â Rhee says. âEven if I speak to Bixby in, say, a washing machine, you can still do a lot of things that you do on your phone. For instance, you can say, âBixby, send a text to my friend Michael,â or âMake a phone call.â Thatâs the vision.â
The more capable assistant
Amazon and Google already know this, and the success of Alexa and buzz around Home are a testament to the unquestionable efficiency of adding voice control to devices. But Samsung, with its high standard of controlling all functions of a device via Bixby, might end up with the advantage. Alexa, for all of its âskills,â often falls short of full control (you can turn on or dim LED lights, for example, but might not be able to select specific colors), so the market has room for a more capable competitor. Of course, how and when Bixby will mix with third-party products and services remains an open question.
âPhilosophically, what we are looking at is revolutionizing phone interfaces,â Rhee says. âWe understand our applications better than anybody else out there thatâs why we started with our own technology, but going forward we have plans to work with our partners.â
Bixby may be the best thing to happen to Samsung software in a long time.
Eventually, Rhee says a Bixby app might come to non-Samsung Android phones and even iOS, possibly partnering with Google Assistant for search-related queries (though he cautions Google and Samsung havenât âgotten to the specificsâ on how that would work).
At the same time, Bixby control could extend to all kinds of smart products, not just Samsung ones. That would probably take a level of cooperation with competitors that Samsung hasnât really shown before, but if Bixby becomes ubiquitous in the long term, whatever OS this or that device is running will become less relevant.
Thatâs a future Samsung is clearly hoping for, since software has traditionally been its weakness. Samsung may be a chief Android partner, but itâs struggled to differentiate its many services from Googleâs, and the company lacks an OS of its own (Tizen notwithstanding). Samsungâs browser, Samsung Pay, S Health theyâre all duplicates of Google products, and are widely regarded as inferior.
Thatâs why Bixby may be the best thing to happen to Samsung software in a long time. If customers respond, Bixby could, in the long term, finally get Samsung users to think of its phones as Samsung phones rather than just the best-performing Android phones on the market. All Android vendors try to differentiate to some extent, but Bixbyâs app-simplifying skills and potential IoT capabilities are a compelling sell.
Bixby represents an important step for Samsung when it comes to services: finally a good answer to âWhy should I use your software?â Effortless voice control of everything not just your phone is a tantalizing promise, and if Samsung can pull it off in the long term, its âbright sidekickâ might end up being the only assistant we actually want to talk to.
WATCH: Samsungâs wireless earbuds double as a fitness-tracker
Read more: http://ift.tt/2ndLCYb
from How Samsungâs new voice assistant, Bixby, is different from Siri
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Link
Samsung has a new voice. And it has world-changing ambitions.
Pressing it will activate Bixby, Samsung's new voice assistant. Once activated, Bixby will help you navigate what's arguably the most sophisticated piece of technology you own â the smartphone in your hand.
If Samsung gets its wish, though, Bixby will eventually do much more than just help you order Lyfts or set up complex calendar appointments. The long-term vision is for Bixby to act as a kind of uber-interface for all of Samsung's products: TVs, wearables, washing machines, even remote controls.
Samsung designed Bixby with a specific goal in mind, one that veers away from its fellow voice assistants â Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google Assistant. Those platforms were generally built to help users quickly perform common tasks ("Remind me to buy milk") and perform search queries ("What's the capital of Brazil?"). Bixby, on the other hand, is all about making the phone itself easier to use, replicating the functions of many apps with voice commands.
Yes, Siri et al. already do that to a certain extent â you can easily set a reminder with your voice, for example â but the voice integration typically only handles the basics. The goal of Bixby is to voice-enable every single action in an app that you'd normally do via touch, starting with Samsung's apps. So, not just "set a reminder to buy pickles at 6 p.m., but "Set a reminder on my Shopping List to buy pickles at 6 p.m. and make it repeat every week, then share the list with my wife."
Bixby speaks
Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung Mobile and the architect behind Bixby, says the voice assistant is nothing short of an "interface revolution," freeing users from hunting down hidden functionality within menus and hard-to-find screens.
"Bixby is an intelligent user interface, emphasis... on 'interface,'" Rhee says. "A lot of agents are looking at being knowledgeable, meaning that you can ask questions like, 'Who's president of the U.S.?' A lot of these are glorified extensions of search. What we are doing with Bixby, and what Bixby is capable of doing, is developing a new interface to our devices."Although it makes its debut on the Galaxy S8, it will soon spread. Rhee sees the Bixby button eventually spreading to all kinds of smart-home devices, from TVs to refrigerators to air conditioners.
"Anywhere there is an internet connection and a microphone, Bixby can be used," he says. "There is some technology in the device, but a lot of it lives in the cloud. That's why the range of devices goes beyond just a smartphone. It means it can be in any device we produce."
Samsung began work on Bixby about 18 months ago, Rhee says. It grew out of the company's S Voice tool, which has been on Samsung phones since 2012. (The timing might explain why Samsung's smart fridge â announced right around then â failed to deliver on its planned integration with Alexa.) S Voice hadn't progressed much over the years, but then last year Samsung acquired the much-hyped Viv Labs and its sophisticated assistant, a strong indicator of the company's renewed interest in voice control. However, Rhee says Viv's technology is planned for future updates to Bixby and doesn't have a role in the initial release.
The name Bixby came out of Samsung's focus groups, but it was actually their third choice overall. It was the top pick among millennials â a demographic the company is specifically targeting with the Galaxy S8 â so it won out. (Rhee declined to say what the other names were.) It's also distinctive enough, with hard consonants, for it to work well as an activation word. Bixby, which will initially speak just English and Korean, is intended to be a user's "bright sidekick," helping them navigate their devices in a more natural way.
"[What came before], it's been people trying to learn how the machine interacts with the world, but... it should be the machine learns how the human interacts with the world," Rhee says. "The learning curve shouldn't be steep."
All talk, all action
For an app to be considered Bixby-supported, every possible touch action needs to be mapped to a voice command. Rhee explains that, for a typical app, there are about 300 different actions the user can perform. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider there are around 15,000 different ways to perform them. And the ways to verbalize those actions number in the millions. That's a lot of stuff to map out.
Still, Samsung says it's up for the challenge, at least as far as its built-in apps are concerned. But what about third-party apps? Considering the amount of development work, will Snapchat or Facebook ever work as well with Bixby as Samsung's apps?
Rhee says Samsung has a plan to get third-party apps talking to Bixby, and an SDK to be released at a later date will introduce tools that make the mapping much easier. He also suggests Viv's technology can help here, too.
"Viv Labs is coming in by way expanding our vision into third-party ecosystems. It doesn't necessarily have to be all of the touch commands that they can perform. At a minimum, [Bixby will perform] the basic functionalities: like the settings, or changing the language from English to French."
On the Galaxy S8, a total of 10 apps will be Bixby-supported, Rhee says, with a second "wave" coming a few weeks later. Out of the gate, users will be able to use Bixby with Contacts, Gallery, Settings, Camera, Reminders and a few others.
Another way Bixby is different from its peers: it will be aware of what you're doing on the phone and suggest different actions depending on what's on screen. So if you press the button while, say, looking at a single photo in the Gallery, editing and sharing controls are probably more relevant to you than searching. And if Bixby doesn't understand every aspect of a complex command, it will take you as far as it can rather than just hitting you with a "Sorry, I didn't catch that."
All this "awareness" brings up an important question: How much data is Samsung collecting about you? Rhee says most user-specific data is kept on the device, but, as a cloud service, Bixby needs to store some information in the cloud. It's not yet clear what the exact breakdown is.
The button
Having a dedicated button for Bixby brings a number of advantages. For starters, it means Samsung won't have any need for Clippy-style pop-ups directing users to the assistant â people will inevitably find it on their own. It also ensures there will be far fewer accidental activations than if Bixby were mixed into a home button â something users of Siri are all too familiar with.
"We actually have done a lot of research to have the Bixby button as part of the home button like our friends in Cupertino," Rhee says. "A lot of people find it a little awkward to use it in public. The home button is a very overloaded place â there's a lot of functionality into it. Having a dedicated button really removes a lot of friction."
And since the idea is to press and hold, lifting your finger when you're done, Bixby will know definitively when you're done speaking. Still, there will also be a wake-up phrase â you can just say "Hi Bixby," to activate the assistant at any time.
It's the dedicated button that really epitomizes Samsung's approach, and if it indeed ends up on all Samsung products, Bixby will become much more than just a smartphone assistant â it'll become the gateway for Samsung to finally, truly become a major player in the internet of things.
Sure, Samsung has had its "Smart" devices for a long time, and its low-power Tizen OS is ideal for powering the many products with connections to the internet. It also acquired SmartThings in 2014 to strengthen its IoT brand.
But until now, Samsung has lacked a gateway for its customers to really take advantage of that interconnectivity. For most, it's hard work hunting down the right settings on your phone to connect a smart TV to an air conditioner, but what if you could just tell Bixby to do it? And if you can talk to it from all those devices â asking any question or even making phone calls â then you're really onto something.
"It's actually omnipresent in a sense," Rhee says. "Even if I speak to Bixby in, say, a washing machine, you can still do a lot of things that you do on your phone. For instance, you can say, 'Bixby, send a text to my friend Michael,' or 'Make a phone call.' That's the vision."
The more capable assistant
Amazon and Google already know this, and the success of Alexa and buzz around Home are a testament to the unquestionable efficiency of adding voice control to devices. But Samsung, with its high standard of controlling all functions of a device via Bixby, might end up with the advantage. Alexa, for all of its "skills," often falls short of full control (you can turn on or dim LED lights, for example, but might not be able to select specific colors), so the market has room for a more capable competitor. Of course, how and when Bixby will mix with third-party products and services remains an open question.
"Philosophically, what we are looking at is revolutionizing phone interfaces," Rhee says. "We understand our applications better than anybody else out there â that's why we started with our own technology, but going forward we have plans to work with our partners."
Eventually, Rhee says a Bixby app might come to non-Samsung Android phones and even iOS, possibly partnering with Google Assistant for search-related queries (though he cautions Google and Samsung haven't "gotten to the specifics" on how that would work).
At the same time, Bixby control could extend to all kinds of smart products, not just Samsung ones. That would probably take a level of cooperation with competitors that Samsung hasn't really shown before, but if Bixby becomes ubiquitous in the long term, whatever OS this or that device is running will become less relevant.
That's a future Samsung is clearly hoping for, since software has traditionally been its weakness. Samsung may be a chief Android partner, but it's struggled to differentiate its many services from Google's, and the company lacks an OS of its own (Tizen notwithstanding). Samsung's browser, Samsung Pay, S Health â they're all duplicates of Google products, and are widely regarded as inferior.
That's why Bixby may be the best thing to happen to Samsung software in a long time. If customers respond, Bixby could, in the long term, finally get Samsung users to think of its phones as Samsung phones rather than just the best-performing Android phones on the market. All Android vendors try to differentiate to some extent, but Bixby's app-simplifying skills and potential IoT capabilities are a compelling sell.
Bixby represents an important step for Samsung when it comes to services: finally a good answer to "Why should I use your software?" Effortless voice control of everything â not just your phone â is a tantalizing promise, and if Samsung can pull it off in the long term, its "bright sidekick" might end up being the only assistant we actually want to talk to.
Writer:Â PETE PACHAL
from Blogger Why Bixby will be the star of the Samsung Galaxy S8
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Link
Samsung has a new voice. And it has world-changing ambitions.
Pressing it will activate Bixby, Samsung's new voice assistant. Once activated, Bixby will help you navigate what's arguably the most sophisticated piece of technology you own â the smartphone in your hand.
If Samsung gets its wish, though, Bixby will eventually do much more than just help you order Lyfts or set up complex calendar appointments. The long-term vision is for Bixby to act as a kind of uber-interface for all of Samsung's products: TVs, wearables, washing machines, even remote controls.
Samsung designed Bixby with a specific goal in mind, one that veers away from its fellow voice assistants â Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google Assistant. Those platforms were generally built to help users quickly perform common tasks ("Remind me to buy milk") and perform search queries ("What's the capital of Brazil?"). Bixby, on the other hand, is all about making the phone itself easier to use, replicating the functions of many apps with voice commands.
Yes, Siri et al. already do that to a certain extent â you can easily set a reminder with your voice, for example â but the voice integration typically only handles the basics. The goal of Bixby is to voice-enable every single action in an app that you'd normally do via touch, starting with Samsung's apps. So, not just "set a reminder to buy pickles at 6 p.m., but "Set a reminder on my Shopping List to buy pickles at 6 p.m. and make it repeat every week, then share the list with my wife."
Bixby speaks
Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung Mobile and the architect behind Bixby, says the voice assistant is nothing short of an "interface revolution," freeing users from hunting down hidden functionality within menus and hard-to-find screens.
"Bixby is an intelligent user interface, emphasis... on 'interface,'" Rhee says. "A lot of agents are looking at being knowledgeable, meaning that you can ask questions like, 'Who's president of the U.S.?' A lot of these are glorified extensions of search. What we are doing with Bixby, and what Bixby is capable of doing, is developing a new interface to our devices."Although it makes its debut on the Galaxy S8, it will soon spread. Rhee sees the Bixby button eventually spreading to all kinds of smart-home devices, from TVs to refrigerators to air conditioners.
"Anywhere there is an internet connection and a microphone, Bixby can be used," he says. "There is some technology in the device, but a lot of it lives in the cloud. That's why the range of devices goes beyond just a smartphone. It means it can be in any device we produce."
Samsung began work on Bixby about 18 months ago, Rhee says. It grew out of the company's S Voice tool, which has been on Samsung phones since 2012. (The timing might explain why Samsung's smart fridge â announced right around then â failed to deliver on its planned integration with Alexa.) S Voice hadn't progressed much over the years, but then last year Samsung acquired the much-hyped Viv Labs and its sophisticated assistant, a strong indicator of the company's renewed interest in voice control. However, Rhee says Viv's technology is planned for future updates to Bixby and doesn't have a role in the initial release.
The name Bixby came out of Samsung's focus groups, but it was actually their third choice overall. It was the top pick among millennials â a demographic the company is specifically targeting with the Galaxy S8 â so it won out. (Rhee declined to say what the other names were.) It's also distinctive enough, with hard consonants, for it to work well as an activation word. Bixby, which will initially speak just English and Korean, is intended to be a user's "bright sidekick," helping them navigate their devices in a more natural way.
"[What came before], it's been people trying to learn how the machine interacts with the world, but... it should be the machine learns how the human interacts with the world," Rhee says. "The learning curve shouldn't be steep."
All talk, all action
For an app to be considered Bixby-supported, every possible touch action needs to be mapped to a voice command. Rhee explains that, for a typical app, there are about 300 different actions the user can perform. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider there are around 15,000 different ways to perform them. And the ways to verbalize those actions number in the millions. That's a lot of stuff to map out.
Still, Samsung says it's up for the challenge, at least as far as its built-in apps are concerned. But what about third-party apps? Considering the amount of development work, will Snapchat or Facebook ever work as well with Bixby as Samsung's apps?
Rhee says Samsung has a plan to get third-party apps talking to Bixby, and an SDK to be released at a later date will introduce tools that make the mapping much easier. He also suggests Viv's technology can help here, too.
"Viv Labs is coming in by way expanding our vision into third-party ecosystems. It doesn't necessarily have to be all of the touch commands that they can perform. At a minimum, [Bixby will perform] the basic functionalities: like the settings, or changing the language from English to French."
On the Galaxy S8, a total of 10 apps will be Bixby-supported, Rhee says, with a second "wave" coming a few weeks later. Out of the gate, users will be able to use Bixby with Contacts, Gallery, Settings, Camera, Reminders and a few others.
Another way Bixby is different from its peers: it will be aware of what you're doing on the phone and suggest different actions depending on what's on screen. So if you press the button while, say, looking at a single photo in the Gallery, editing and sharing controls are probably more relevant to you than searching. And if Bixby doesn't understand every aspect of a complex command, it will take you as far as it can rather than just hitting you with a "Sorry, I didn't catch that."
All this "awareness" brings up an important question: How much data is Samsung collecting about you? Rhee says most user-specific data is kept on the device, but, as a cloud service, Bixby needs to store some information in the cloud. It's not yet clear what the exact breakdown is.
The button
Having a dedicated button for Bixby brings a number of advantages. For starters, it means Samsung won't have any need for Clippy-style pop-ups directing users to the assistant â people will inevitably find it on their own. It also ensures there will be far fewer accidental activations than if Bixby were mixed into a home button â something users of Siri are all too familiar with.
"We actually have done a lot of research to have the Bixby button as part of the home button like our friends in Cupertino," Rhee says. "A lot of people find it a little awkward to use it in public. The home button is a very overloaded place â there's a lot of functionality into it. Having a dedicated button really removes a lot of friction."
And since the idea is to press and hold, lifting your finger when you're done, Bixby will know definitively when you're done speaking. Still, there will also be a wake-up phrase â you can just say "Hi Bixby," to activate the assistant at any time.
It's the dedicated button that really epitomizes Samsung's approach, and if it indeed ends up on all Samsung products, Bixby will become much more than just a smartphone assistant â it'll become the gateway for Samsung to finally, truly become a major player in the internet of things.
Sure, Samsung has had its "Smart" devices for a long time, and its low-power Tizen OS is ideal for powering the many products with connections to the internet. It also acquired SmartThings in 2014 to strengthen its IoT brand.
But until now, Samsung has lacked a gateway for its customers to really take advantage of that interconnectivity. For most, it's hard work hunting down the right settings on your phone to connect a smart TV to an air conditioner, but what if you could just tell Bixby to do it? And if you can talk to it from all those devices â asking any question or even making phone calls â then you're really onto something.
"It's actually omnipresent in a sense," Rhee says. "Even if I speak to Bixby in, say, a washing machine, you can still do a lot of things that you do on your phone. For instance, you can say, 'Bixby, send a text to my friend Michael,' or 'Make a phone call.' That's the vision."
The more capable assistant
Amazon and Google already know this, and the success of Alexa and buzz around Home are a testament to the unquestionable efficiency of adding voice control to devices. But Samsung, with its high standard of controlling all functions of a device via Bixby, might end up with the advantage. Alexa, for all of its "skills," often falls short of full control (you can turn on or dim LED lights, for example, but might not be able to select specific colors), so the market has room for a more capable competitor. Of course, how and when Bixby will mix with third-party products and services remains an open question.
"Philosophically, what we are looking at is revolutionizing phone interfaces," Rhee says. "We understand our applications better than anybody else out there â that's why we started with our own technology, but going forward we have plans to work with our partners."
Eventually, Rhee says a Bixby app might come to non-Samsung Android phones and even iOS, possibly partnering with Google Assistant for search-related queries (though he cautions Google and Samsung haven't "gotten to the specifics" on how that would work).
At the same time, Bixby control could extend to all kinds of smart products, not just Samsung ones. That would probably take a level of cooperation with competitors that Samsung hasn't really shown before, but if Bixby becomes ubiquitous in the long term, whatever OS this or that device is running will become less relevant.
That's a future Samsung is clearly hoping for, since software has traditionally been its weakness. Samsung may be a chief Android partner, but it's struggled to differentiate its many services from Google's, and the company lacks an OS of its own (Tizen notwithstanding). Samsung's browser, Samsung Pay, S Health â they're all duplicates of Google products, and are widely regarded as inferior.
That's why Bixby may be the best thing to happen to Samsung software in a long time. If customers respond, Bixby could, in the long term, finally get Samsung users to think of its phones as Samsung phones rather than just the best-performing Android phones on the market. All Android vendors try to differentiate to some extent, but Bixby's app-simplifying skills and potential IoT capabilities are a compelling sell.
Bixby represents an important step for Samsung when it comes to services: finally a good answer to "Why should I use your software?" Effortless voice control of everything â not just your phone â is a tantalizing promise, and if Samsung can pull it off in the long term, its "bright sidekick" might end up being the only assistant we actually want to talk to.
Writer:Â PETE PACHAL
Read More
0 notes
Link
Samsung has a new voice. And it has world-changing ambitions.
Pressing it will activate Bixby, Samsung's new voice assistant. Once activated, Bixby will help you navigate what's arguably the most sophisticated piece of technology you own â the smartphone in your hand.
If Samsung gets its wish, though, Bixby will eventually do much more than just help you order Lyfts or set up complex calendar appointments. The long-term vision is for Bixby to act as a kind of uber-interface for all of Samsung's products: TVs, wearables, washing machines, even remote controls.
Samsung designed Bixby with a specific goal in mind, one that veers away from its fellow voice assistants â Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google Assistant. Those platforms were generally built to help users quickly perform common tasks ("Remind me to buy milk") and perform search queries ("What's the capital of Brazil?"). Bixby, on the other hand, is all about making the phone itself easier to use, replicating the functions of many apps with voice commands.
Yes, Siri et al. already do that to a certain extent â you can easily set a reminder with your voice, for example â but the voice integration typically only handles the basics. The goal of Bixby is to voice-enable every single action in an app that you'd normally do via touch, starting with Samsung's apps. So, not just "set a reminder to buy pickles at 6 p.m., but "Set a reminder on my Shopping List to buy pickles at 6 p.m. and make it repeat every week, then share the list with my wife."
Bixby speaks
Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung Mobile and the architect behind Bixby, says the voice assistant is nothing short of an "interface revolution," freeing users from hunting down hidden functionality within menus and hard-to-find screens.
"Bixby is an intelligent user interface, emphasis... on 'interface,'" Rhee says. "A lot of agents are looking at being knowledgeable, meaning that you can ask questions like, 'Who's president of the U.S.?' A lot of these are glorified extensions of search. What we are doing with Bixby, and what Bixby is capable of doing, is developing a new interface to our devices."Although it makes its debut on the Galaxy S8, it will soon spread. Rhee sees the Bixby button eventually spreading to all kinds of smart-home devices, from TVs to refrigerators to air conditioners.
"Anywhere there is an internet connection and a microphone, Bixby can be used," he says. "There is some technology in the device, but a lot of it lives in the cloud. That's why the range of devices goes beyond just a smartphone. It means it can be in any device we produce."
Samsung began work on Bixby about 18 months ago, Rhee says. It grew out of the company's S Voice tool, which has been on Samsung phones since 2012. (The timing might explain why Samsung's smart fridge â announced right around then â failed to deliver on its planned integration with Alexa.) S Voice hadn't progressed much over the years, but then last year Samsung acquired the much-hyped Viv Labs and its sophisticated assistant, a strong indicator of the company's renewed interest in voice control. However, Rhee says Viv's technology is planned for future updates to Bixby and doesn't have a role in the initial release.
The name Bixby came out of Samsung's focus groups, but it was actually their third choice overall. It was the top pick among millennials â a demographic the company is specifically targeting with the Galaxy S8 â so it won out. (Rhee declined to say what the other names were.) It's also distinctive enough, with hard consonants, for it to work well as an activation word. Bixby, which will initially speak just English and Korean, is intended to be a user's "bright sidekick," helping them navigate their devices in a more natural way.
"[What came before], it's been people trying to learn how the machine interacts with the world, but... it should be the machine learns how the human interacts with the world," Rhee says. "The learning curve shouldn't be steep."
All talk, all action
For an app to be considered Bixby-supported, every possible touch action needs to be mapped to a voice command. Rhee explains that, for a typical app, there are about 300 different actions the user can perform. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider there are around 15,000 different ways to perform them. And the ways to verbalize those actions number in the millions. That's a lot of stuff to map out.
Still, Samsung says it's up for the challenge, at least as far as its built-in apps are concerned. But what about third-party apps? Considering the amount of development work, will Snapchat or Facebook ever work as well with Bixby as Samsung's apps?
Rhee says Samsung has a plan to get third-party apps talking to Bixby, and an SDK to be released at a later date will introduce tools that make the mapping much easier. He also suggests Viv's technology can help here, too.
"Viv Labs is coming in by way expanding our vision into third-party ecosystems. It doesn't necessarily have to be all of the touch commands that they can perform. At a minimum, [Bixby will perform] the basic functionalities: like the settings, or changing the language from English to French."
On the Galaxy S8, a total of 10 apps will be Bixby-supported, Rhee says, with a second "wave" coming a few weeks later. Out of the gate, users will be able to use Bixby with Contacts, Gallery, Settings, Camera, Reminders and a few others.
Another way Bixby is different from its peers: it will be aware of what you're doing on the phone and suggest different actions depending on what's on screen. So if you press the button while, say, looking at a single photo in the Gallery, editing and sharing controls are probably more relevant to you than searching. And if Bixby doesn't understand every aspect of a complex command, it will take you as far as it can rather than just hitting you with a "Sorry, I didn't catch that."
All this "awareness" brings up an important question: How much data is Samsung collecting about you? Rhee says most user-specific data is kept on the device, but, as a cloud service, Bixby needs to store some information in the cloud. It's not yet clear what the exact breakdown is.
The button
Having a dedicated button for Bixby brings a number of advantages. For starters, it means Samsung won't have any need for Clippy-style pop-ups directing users to the assistant â people will inevitably find it on their own. It also ensures there will be far fewer accidental activations than if Bixby were mixed into a home button â something users of Siri are all too familiar with.
"We actually have done a lot of research to have the Bixby button as part of the home button like our friends in Cupertino," Rhee says. "A lot of people find it a little awkward to use it in public. The home button is a very overloaded place â there's a lot of functionality into it. Having a dedicated button really removes a lot of friction."
And since the idea is to press and hold, lifting your finger when you're done, Bixby will know definitively when you're done speaking. Still, there will also be a wake-up phrase â you can just say "Hi Bixby," to activate the assistant at any time.
It's the dedicated button that really epitomizes Samsung's approach, and if it indeed ends up on all Samsung products, Bixby will become much more than just a smartphone assistant â it'll become the gateway for Samsung to finally, truly become a major player in the internet of things.
Sure, Samsung has had its "Smart" devices for a long time, and its low-power Tizen OS is ideal for powering the many products with connections to the internet. It also acquired SmartThings in 2014 to strengthen its IoT brand.
But until now, Samsung has lacked a gateway for its customers to really take advantage of that interconnectivity. For most, it's hard work hunting down the right settings on your phone to connect a smart TV to an air conditioner, but what if you could just tell Bixby to do it? And if you can talk to it from all those devices â asking any question or even making phone calls â then you're really onto something.
"It's actually omnipresent in a sense," Rhee says. "Even if I speak to Bixby in, say, a washing machine, you can still do a lot of things that you do on your phone. For instance, you can say, 'Bixby, send a text to my friend Michael,' or 'Make a phone call.' That's the vision."
The more capable assistant
Amazon and Google already know this, and the success of Alexa and buzz around Home are a testament to the unquestionable efficiency of adding voice control to devices. But Samsung, with its high standard of controlling all functions of a device via Bixby, might end up with the advantage. Alexa, for all of its "skills," often falls short of full control (you can turn on or dim LED lights, for example, but might not be able to select specific colors), so the market has room for a more capable competitor. Of course, how and when Bixby will mix with third-party products and services remains an open question.
"Philosophically, what we are looking at is revolutionizing phone interfaces," Rhee says. "We understand our applications better than anybody else out there â that's why we started with our own technology, but going forward we have plans to work with our partners."
Eventually, Rhee says a Bixby app might come to non-Samsung Android phones and even iOS, possibly partnering with Google Assistant for search-related queries (though he cautions Google and Samsung haven't "gotten to the specifics" on how that would work).
At the same time, Bixby control could extend to all kinds of smart products, not just Samsung ones. That would probably take a level of cooperation with competitors that Samsung hasn't really shown before, but if Bixby becomes ubiquitous in the long term, whatever OS this or that device is running will become less relevant.
That's a future Samsung is clearly hoping for, since software has traditionally been its weakness. Samsung may be a chief Android partner, but it's struggled to differentiate its many services from Google's, and the company lacks an OS of its own (Tizen notwithstanding). Samsung's browser, Samsung Pay, S Health â they're all duplicates of Google products, and are widely regarded as inferior.
That's why Bixby may be the best thing to happen to Samsung software in a long time. If customers respond, Bixby could, in the long term, finally get Samsung users to think of its phones as Samsung phones rather than just the best-performing Android phones on the market. All Android vendors try to differentiate to some extent, but Bixby's app-simplifying skills and potential IoT capabilities are a compelling sell.
Bixby represents an important step for Samsung when it comes to services: finally a good answer to "Why should I use your software?" Effortless voice control of everything â not just your phone â is a tantalizing promise, and if Samsung can pull it off in the long term, its "bright sidekick" might end up being the only assistant we actually want to talk to.
Writer:Â PETE PACHAL
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