#you can also play the meme format of I’ve connected the dots

[catofoldstones]

And here’s from where she’ll take her grey cloak when she runs away from the vale

[calamariimpossible]

Magicians on the internet, crypto, and the email that broke me.

This is a continuation of a twitter thread that Muz (@mzkrx) started to write out in his car but then when he plotted out his thoughts, it made more sense to him to put it down in a blog format rather than a thread. You'll find out why as you read through.

Stuck in the car for half an hour so I'm gonna do a thread (Editor's note: Now a whole-ass blog post) about a strange email I got recently.

So I was casually watching magic tricks on YouTube. the funnest part of which to me is reading the comments. YouTube commenters love explaining how they think the trick is done and it's fun to read through their theories and connect dots between similar tricks, etc.

And then one time as I was scrolling I noticed a comment that didn't make sense. It was a string of an almost sentence. Intelligible enough to not be random words but odd enough to read like a trigger phrase for something.

The closest I can describe it as is like the string Zemo used to wake up the Winter Soldier, but with some syntax to it. Like "many thermos wiggle throughout exotic harbinger of circle ascending fuchsia entrapment".

Initially I thought nothing of it, but then I kept seeing them in these magic trick video comment sections. They're never the same string, and it's always under magic trick videos. from different channels even.

Hmmm.

The profiles that posted these comments are also always blank accounts with zero videos and no profile pic. Just their name. I felt like it was too much of a coincidence for these comments to only be under magic trick videos.

I also knew that the world of performance magic is thick with secrets. That is to say, there is deliberate obfuscation of information whenever you try to go online to find out how a trick works.

Magicians get together online and share information with each other just like performers of every other sort as well but the amount of code and doublespeak they use is an order of magnitude more annoying to decipher compared to say, an engineering message board or a gamedev forum.

Knowing that, I thought maybe this almost parsable gibberish I keep seeing everywhere was also some kind of code these people were using to talk to each other.

So I started investigating.

First things first, let's just Google one of the phrases. Maybe that's enough?

And it sorta was.

Pasting them onto the search bar lent me to only 1 result (wild!) and it was a website that looked really dank. Like geocities dank. Annoying neon colours and badly margined jpegs of tarot card images everywhere and a big bold header text that said something to the effect of:

"Congratulations, you've found our hidden message. This portal is only for those seeking knowledge beyond what is on the surface. Continue below."

* * *

I haven't been doing well. I feel like I say that too much. I say it on Patreon, on my personal podcast, whenever any of my friends ask me how I'm doing, pretty much everywhere. I feel very heavy. I understand I'm not the only one feeling like this during a pandemic.

Duh.

But I have this other version of worry that I can't quite articulate until right now: I'm scared I won't be funny anymore. Anwar and Farid can attest that even during our recordings I don't feel up to being funny. I question my jokes a lot. I barely enjoy telling them. I'm worried I'm letting everyone down.

To me, silliness and absurdism as virtues only make sense when the world has trace amounts of injustice and wrongness that training ourselves to see it in our everyday helps us remind ourselves of what is just and fair. The more we consume silliness, the more we are able to recognize silly and point it out. So we don't ignore it when things go wrong, so we talk about it, manage it. So we can take care of each other.

Maybe I can't be sure if we're all up for taking care of each other right now.

* * *

"Continue below" seems instructive, but it wasn't. Like I mentioned, the margins were haphazard and the CSS was all over the place. Some jpegs were straight up cropped off.

Meaning I can't be sure what "below" meant. But there were clickable images and text so I was readily intrigued.

It was tantalizing. Did I stumble into some secret order of Extremely Online Magicians? Maybe I'll finally find out why there aren't many female magicians out there. Maybe it's some sort of secret initiation to a secret message board full of secrety secrets. Secretly.

Y'all.

I didn't click on any of the linked images or anything. I closed the tab. That was the end of that.

An earlier version of myself would gladly run headlong into this rabbit hole to find out more and sink hours into some goddessforsaken labyrinth of links. But the current version of me recognizes this for what it almost certainly is: an abandoned roleplaying game.

Back in the early 00s when the internet was the realm of nerds and nerds only, it was full of people who loved sharing things for sharing's sake. It used to be punk rock to maintain a blog that only talked about snails or have a lo-fi YouTube channel that uploads biweekly 3-minute news about your house, or manage a little message board where people roleplay as wizards who rummage around the net looking for clues.

That last part was a thing I remember being actively involved in. In '03, a group of online friends and I wrote up a scavenger hunt of sorts where we sent people through various blog pages that we have where the goal is to just dick around and have fun. We wasted each other's time for sure. Hundreds of hours of it for literally no gain at all but for some laughs and fun memories.

The internet isn't like that anymore. People don't share something online for sharing anymore. Not really. There's this idea that if you put stuff out there, you want people's attention because numbers are good. You get a lotta reblogs and RTs and Likes which means people Like you.

If you don't have a lotta numbers, you don't matter. If you do, everyone has to talk about what you said or did because it's 'News' now.

Isn't that kinda gross, you think? That we need people to interact through an app to be sure that we're Liked? I say "we" but I mean me. I've successfully poisoned my brain to believe this to a certain extent too and it's not good.

I felt myself physically react when I closed that geocities magician website tab. I shuddered because my brain went from "this is cool" to "I gotta let people know I found this" to "this'll get me hella RTs" to "ew Muz why did you think that" within 3 seconds and I was disgusted with myself.

As a dude who started my online presence on YouTube and parlayed it into my real life comedy/writing career, I've believed for a long time that doing good work and putting it out there is what it takes for a working creative to make it because that's what I did. So there's this idea that making stuff and having it be seen is some kind of virtuous.

But it's not anymore. People pick fights with children for clout. Newspapers post about people's tweets as if its important. People are investing in crypto, a thing that literally only exists as electrical waste on a grand scale. We're boiling the oceans to yell at each other over nothing and exchange bits of code everyone agrees has ever-rising value but doesn't. Everyone is making and eating junk, it feels like.

So am I making junk? Have I just been making useless junk for literally over a decade now? Is that what I've been good for this entire time?

* * *

So the email.

It was a response from a company I applied to for a job. I applied as a creative writer and they're an advertising agency.

Receiving emails from a prospective employer when you're in need of a job is exciting! So soon after I applied, too. Wonderful. Here's what it said:

We just received your application today but would love to extend the opportunity for you to participate in the Case Competition as a prerequisite of your job application for Creative Writer position with [REDACTED] and stand a chance to be a winner for cash awards up to a total worth of RM1,800.

Yea.

They want me to enter a competition where I compete with other candidates to get a chance of being hired.

This company saw how many people applied for a job with them, and decided to dangle some cash and throw it over the fence to see which candidate will fight for it the most.

I didn't expect to feel vomitous after reading an email but that did it. I almost dry heaved. That's where we are now.

Recruiters see a glut of applicants and decided to play Fall Guys. These people watch Istana Takeshi and think Takeshi is the good guy. It hurts. It hurt me. That email caused me pain.

I can't at all empathise with recruiters who think this was okay to do. They really believed that creative writers will do a little dance for them just for money.

Look, I know we all need to eat. But I can also hate that people undervalue the work of creatives to this painful extent.

I don't give a shit about earning a lot of dough. I just wanna make things that tickle people. I want you to smile more.

That's the whole point of that weird little YouTube comment that led to the quirky website. That's the whole idea of making silly videos and dumb tweets and memes. We just want you to laugh.

But it seems people think so little of joy that they'll do whatever they can to avoid legitimately supporting and paying for stuff that gets them through the day. So much so that they want free work from us for the potential of maybe being able to get paid for more work. It breaks me, man.

I hate that I cannot make a living just trying my best to make people happy.

That's the best way I know to take care of you.

I know I don't just 'make junk' for a living. People have messaged me personally that my work has helped them get through tough times in school, in their relationships, at the office and I am eternally grateful that they took the time to tell me that.

I just also wish my feelings about my work aren't easily brought down by the majority of people who insist its worthless. Even if sometimes those people is me.

So forgive me if I won't be funny for a while. I'm gonna need some time to process this. Thank you for reading. I love you.

[plufim]

E3 2017 predictions

E3 predictions

In general these come from my thoughts, but also include ideas I’ve heard floated around the web which I completely agree with. Avoiding the already announced/leaked stuff, since that’s not fun!

I’ve sort predictions for all main presentations into 3 different categories based on likelihood (“Lock it in, Reggie” (very confident), “50/50” and “swinging for the fences” (super unlikely but I gotta go all in)). Also, because I’m Connell, this skews Nintendo, but I do have thoughts on everyone! And almost entirely positive ones!

These are in order of the presentation times, hence Nintendo being last. Oh, and a shadow drop is an unannounced game or feature being available for download immediately.

General Predictions/Trends:

- One final push for remastered collections.

- The PC gaming show will be a shit-show again.

- After “Seven Nation Army” did so well for the Battlefield 1 trailer, at LEAST 3 other trailers will use a contemporary song for a game set in another time.

EA:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Need for Speed will have a Cops vs Racers mode. Because it is always the best thing. Shutting down fools for daring to turn MY roads into a race track is always the best.

- FIFA presentation will not mention the Switch version at all. Info will only be turned up at the show floor, with 2-3 units available. There will be a very simple token minigame so they can justify it as being “built for switch”, but it is 99% the PS3/360 version.

50/50:

- Mass Effect 1-3 Remastered collection, for PS4 and Xbox one. Designed to win back trust from gamers who were burned hard by Andromeda, which really damaged the brand. This leads to my further prediction (not for this though) that ME5 then connects both stories together, where the Andromeda crew find a device that allows them to send a message with information back in time to Shephards brain and bam, you’re playing with the character’s people liked again.

- Sim City. It’s been long enough since the last Sim City, which was disastrous. Time for EA to show they learned from their mistakes and can take on city: skylines

 Singing for the fences:

- Mass Effect Trilogy also for the Switch. Despite the only support being a terrible FIFA game thus far, the actual sales of the system will be seen as an opportunity… to sell old games again with very little extra work. Perhaps some token amiibo functionality in the character creator.

Microsoft:

Obviously, this will be all about Scorpio. Every game will make a point to include something about how the Scorpio version is enhanced. Also apologies, don’t really have much

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Forza 5.

- Scorpio will have VR featured heavily

 50/50:

- Scorpio’s final name will be: Xbox Scorpio. Microsoft is done with numbers.

 50/50:

- It will be revealed that Scorpio, unlike PS4Pro, will have games exclusive to it.

 Swinging for the fences:

- Crackdown demo shadow drop

- Exclusive John Wick videogame for scorpio

- BATTLETOADS

Bethesda:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Wolfenstein Titan(?) official reveal.

- Prey DLC chapters.

 50/50:

- Switch Skyrim has Zelda content in it. Because why else would someone pay $60 US for this game for a third time?

- Elder Scrolls VI revealed. Will feature at least 2 of the regions. Possibly Elsweyr and Valenwood

 Swinging for the fences:

- Elder Scrolls finally bring back the Dwemer, either by reviving them or setting it in the distant past.

Ubisoft:

So… most of this conference is already leaked, but still…. Uh… hm. Well here’s a few somethings.

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Rabbids/Mario will have a CG teaser. Gameplay saved for Nintendo.

 50/50:

- On stage reveal for Farcry will include not only making fun of the people who got so angry that the villians are a white Christian cult, but there will be an embarrassing on-stage play where people pretend to be storming the stage to protest the treatment of horrible people.

 Swinging for the fences:

- A switch exclusive Assassin’s Creed side-story, much like they did for Vita around Assassin’s Creed 3.

- Rabbids/Mario features a cover of “All Star”, covered by Rabbids themselves, because this game will be drowning in memes. And I will hate this while secretly loving this.

Sony:

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Sony saves IO interactive, Hitman 2 will be PS4 exclusive. Microsoft SHOULD do this, but… this feels more like a Sony move.

- MASSIVE Spiderman blowout, including a lot of show floor stuff. Playable demo. No tie in to the movie, but instead a new story with Goblin and the sinister 6 as the villians. And there’ll be some shitty day 1 pre-order crap, probably involving a Black Cat side story. F4 will cameo, but play no major roles – however Insomniac will be building a shared games universe. Yes, even with the Squaresoft stuff.

- Bloodborne 2. It will happen.

50/50:

- A real, honest to god Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer, with worlds revealed, including Moana and Frozen.

- Shenmue 1+2 Remastered announced. With Shenmue 3 delayed (and that having been inevitable for some time), this would be a smart move to capitalise on the clear demand for more Ryo.

- Another Last of Us Part 2 teaser, but no gameplay yet.

- English Dragon Quest XI release date, mid 2018.

- Red Dead 2 trailer, first with actual gameplay. I also think this will reveal that Zelda-like free climbing is being implemented.

 Swinging for the fences:

- The vita returns as a phone. The switch has shown portable games are still viable, vita has some life in Asian territories, and Sony want to keep the remote play train going. Destined to still fail? Probably! But let’s not let reality kill HYPE.

- Last of Us Part 2 prelude chapter available now, for free. One hour of set up, basically a demo. But that’s what they do to get the kids excited.

- Spyro Trilogy remastered. Activision gotta do something with the guy.

- Red Dead 2 trailer showcases a train heist. I LOVE train heists.

Nintendo:

In general, there won’t be much or any 3DS. They’re getting a lot of that out of the way this week already.

Lock it in, Reggie:

- Xenoblade 2 is not delayed, December 2018. Playable on show floor.

- Mario Odyssey for October 2017. Massive show floor presence.

- Mario Kart DLC, same format as for WiiU – 2 packs of tracks, but this time it’s 8 racing and 2 battle tracks, as well as 3 characters and karts each. A shadow drop of the ability to buy the

- Zelda DLC part 1 shadow drop. Teaser for the rest of the DLC.

- Picross Switch, available now. Not Picross 3D though, they’ll hold off on that.

- Rabbids/Mario gameplay demo

- Dragon Quest XI for Switch officially announced

- Everyone on stage will wear goofy hats because of Mario Odyssey, because hats is a big thing in that game. Hats will grant abilities.

- Splatoon 2 test fire round 2 will be announced to begin the next weekend, with significant tweaks.

- New ARMs content announced, with new ARMs avaialable immediately and

50/50:

- Massive update to switch UI, shadow dropped. Includes multiple UI styles, with Badge arcade built in for further customisation, folders, linking to old Nintendo friends lists, musical themes. Further themes will be on eshop going forward, like 3DS. And finally, this also includes the new online system, hence the new details revealed about it last week.

- Animal Crossing Switch. Early 2018, with much improved social features. Massive amiibo functionality, much like New Leaf now has. It’ll have a new hook, not sure what though. My guess is some Sim City style mayoral stuff like setting up and supplying utilities.

- Warioware Switch, holiday 2017. It’s been a while for the Rhythm Heaven/Warioware team. I NEED THIS ONE NINTENDO.

- Smash Brothers 4 Switch, Q2 2018, rereleased with the best levels from the WiiU and 3DS levels, plus an expanded single player mode. It’s just too crowded for this game yet, but they don’t need to hold off for too long, because it’ll be an evergreen. There will be a teaser though, starring Inklings, Ice Climbers and Spring Man.

- Mario Maker Switch for Q1 2018. It can’t release this year, it needs space away from Mario Odyssey. The game will include a new “switch” block which when hit in game alternates the game style. There will also be playable Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad for each game type, each with different styles, and a different switch block or pipe that changes your character mid-level.

- Skyward Sword HD for switch, with optional non-motion controls for boring people. Q2 2018.

- Partnership with Activision to make an Amiibo action game. You might think this is a swing for the fence, but: Toys for Bob is out of a gig right now. And this would sell better than any recent Skylanders game. Activision would release special versions of select characters, so they can get their cut from the toy sales.

- Donkey Kong Country Returns 3, Q1 2018, by Monster Games. They’ve been quiet for a while, they ported Returns to 3DS, they assisted Retro on Tropical Freeze, this is what they’ve been working towards.

- Dead Cells announced for Switch.

- Layton Collection announced… for phone. Lady Layton western release date.

- Retro’s game. And it’s NOT Metroid, but a sci-fi Western RPG.

- This is a long shot, but T2 is relatively impressed by the switch, so: GTA5 for Switch. With a chunk of the DLC included.

- Switch Sports, holiday 2017. The return of the king. All the games as released for WiiU, plus a few from Wii Sports resort (airplane), with additional modes for each sport. I do have a “swinging for the fence” on this though…

 Swinging for the fences:

- …Wuhu World. Remember Pilotwings 64? Where Little USA was a huge island with different activities, sights to see, and so on? Well, take Wuhu Island, scoot up the detail and resolution, include the small surrounding golf islands, and add a few other themed islands the same size as Wuhu (snow island, city island, etc). It’s a free game where you get the islands and one activity per island, and can walk/drive around each island. Dotted around each is various locations that count as home bases for various sports/vehicles from Wii Sports, Pilotwings and some new items. Each of these is paid, and comes with various different modes and missions. This could be further expanded over time, and allows Nintendo to make money from series that could no longer be sold alone.

- Mario Kart DLC includes mission mode, which is available day 1 with missions on existing courses and expands with the DLC.

- New 2D Metroid by a small team from within Retro. There is a 3D game teased to be in the works also, but not from Retro.

- Splatoon 2 Octoling content and Amiibo, including Octoling mascots. I need this, Nintendo.

- EXCITE. TRUCK. 2.

- Nintendo Pinball. Remember Pokemon Pinball? And Metroid Prime Pinball? That but across multiple Nintendo series.

- Sonic and Mario All Stars Racing Transformed. Sumo has to have been making something aside from Snake Pass, and Sonic Racing 2 sold extremely well on the switch.

- Assault Android Cactus Deluxe for Switch. I believe in you Tim! Even if you aren’t even attempting this!

[quantumkris]

Rules: Tag nine people with excellent taste.

Tagged by: @severeinfatuation

Colors: The two best colors for me are both Green and Hot pink. Ever since I was born I’ve always loved green and I honestly have no idea why. It brings me feelings of mental freedom and happiness (I guess because it pertains to nature probably). And hot pink because in my mind it represents comfort, support, and my place of euphoria; eden. It’s a color that when I look at it in any format, I receive feelings and thoughts of comfort and love, and while though a rarity for me, it still comes somewhat.

Last band t-shirt I bought: I never really have “bought” any band shirts. The closest is of ACDC, but I don’t listen to them so I wouldn’t count it <)’-’)>

Last band I saw live: I don’t have the social confidence to even try to go to a live concert in the first place, let alone it probably triggering sensory overload, which wouldn’t be a good thing. Just ain’t meant for concerts, I’m not one of those people that can go to parties and or loudly packed places and come out of it having had fun.

Last song I listened too: Eden - Take Care. Eden when I first discovered him, honestly was a big stepping stone to have me express and open my locked away emotions. From the first song I listened to of his, Statues, I honestly broke down into tears and had cried for hours on end. It wasn’t just the lyrics that caused it, it was the frequencies, how the song sounded, how they traveled through more than just my ears. Ever since then, every single one and all of his songs and future releases would impact my emotional output. Take Care is the most recent one that had the same sort of reaction from Statues, strong emotions coming from it. It’s even more evident as before I even found Eden, I rarely ever showed any “strong” emotions. I never cried on the outside as for parental upbringing, but again, after discovering, all of that went out the window and even today I still tear up to his songs. They’re truly connective with my body and soul, and I can confidently say that he is a big reason for why I am able to express emotions much part today.

Last movie I watched: Uhmmmmmmmmm do Anime’s count for this one?.. I hardly watch any “mainstream” movies anymore. But I guess the most recent movie would be of Dragon Ball Super: Battle of Gods. Oh my fucking god was it pure art that movie. 17 years after Dragon Ball had been produced and THIS IS WHAT THEY COME BACK WITH!? FUCKING YASSSSSSSS. Dragon Ball in of itself is a unique cartoon as it gives me so much stimulation and goosebump type feelings when watching it. This movie was no exception It was just ughh, amazing and perfect.

Fun fact for Dragon Ball btw, it’s the only anime of which I will ever watch in Dub format as I live for the screams of it. The Japanese just.. don’t bring the goosebumps as the English actors do like Sean Schemmel and Chris Sarbat <(’-’(>

Last three tv shows I watched: Again, I don’t really watch too much of T.V. anymore, but going back a few years, I would have to say Gravity Falls, Rick and Morty, and actually Code Name Kids Nextdoor as I recently have been binge watching it just for nostalgic purposes. Gravity Falls ending made me so fucking depressed let me tell you. If Disney were to bring it back for a 3rd season, I would put my college savings into that damn show JUST AS A DONATION AND THANK YOU OOOFFF. And Rick And Morty, it peaks my Physics and Philosophy interest honestly. I love the profound laws and logistics of the show. Fuck the memes and reputation of it, I don’t follow the “community” I follow the show.

Last three characters I identified with: Mmmmmmmmmmmm you can be pissy with me but I’m going to MOSTLY stick to Anime for this one just to make my life easier  (つ'ヮ')つ.

Top 3 here starting with #1 (not anime surprisingly) being August (or Auggie) from the book Wonder. I first picked out and read this book alllllllll the way back in the 7th grade, and today I still re-read this book. And with the movie representation of it just having come out recently, I re-read it for maybe the 8th time now. I still love it so so much. The reason why I am literally August in almost all aspects is that he is a character who was born with a facial deformity (I was born with a mental disability, Autism). Through his first years of life, he had to have ~27 surgeries to try to “fix his face” (in my first years I had to go to the doctors several times for them to run tests on me in order to diagnose my Autism). He also was isolated from public schools because no kid could look at him without being scared shitless and fearful of him, so he was homeschooled (I wasn’t ever homeschooled, but I went through the same thing in public school. Being isolated, left alone, and just having myself). I don’t want to spoil the end of the book, but the ending also HUGELY relates to my life in more recent years, so if you know me well enough then you can connect some dots there. But I’d still suggest just reading the book ;D

2nd would have to be Violet Evergarden from the Anime of that same name. Yes.. it’s weird that Miri suggested it to me and I put her as my 2nd, but I already had it in my to watch and just forgot about it ITS DESTINY OKAY DONT OVERTHINK IT. But with Violet, just how I described with Eden and my lack of emotions, is a perfect mirrored version of me when I was younger. Not on the kind of “robotic” standpoint of her exactly, but in the sense of how she doesn’t understand them. Sure, I knew happiness and sadness and emotions like that back then, but more “out there” ones like Sympathy and Empathy to be specific enough. With me not having those two, mostly because of my Autism, I, by no exaggeration at all, had no care for human life at all. I did not care if someone was hurt, I did not react when someone had gotten angry at me, and even to my own mother, I didn’t react when she got injured or anything. It wasn’t my fault that I didn’t react, I simply did not know how to or why I had to. My brain literally could not process a response when Sympathy or Empathy came into play. I would freeze, which in a sense, yes, made me seem like an asshole or psychopath, but it was truly just me at the time. No I didn’t blame my Mild Autism because I knew it didn’t control me, I knew i could branch out from it. And looking back on that today, I obviously did. Obviously now I care about people, I know how to react in situations, and more recently than not, I know how to help people in emotional distress than most people. I actually use this helping as a source of bringing up some self-esteem. Knowing that I’m able to help people with something that my past self could NEVER do is amazing. I literally have 2 close friends that say call me their counselor because I know how to talk to them so well. Only now am I just understanding and applying these two things, but hey, I had a bad start (◞‸◟；)

and the 3rd character would have to be Meliodas from The Seven Deadly Sins. This character honestly is my happy and loopy side of me that doesn’t often come out. While it’s only when I'm comfortable with people that this side of me comes out on, Meliodas reallyyy hits the nail on the head. He’s humorous, jokes around in a more.. kinky matter, to which I do this also, but again, wouldn’t know that if i wasn’t comfortable with the people I’d be talking to <)’-’)>. And he also has his protective manner, to which I’m the same exact way with my friends, family, or significant other (if I were to have one). Most times I may think on myself as a burden for how I check on my friends, but I mean if they weren’t okay with it then they would say something, so I always have to tell myself that anyway.

Book(s) I’m currently reading: Currently reading 3 books for my Philosophy class: The Joy of X (a book of math and reallyyyyyy taking it home with how amazing the conceptualization of math is. And with my nerdy ass, why wouldn't I loveeeee it). And Man is The Measure (Basically a pure philosophical book that goes layers and layers deep into several subjects such as Metaphysics, reasoning, perception, and so on). Even with having those 2 books for class purposes to read, I still fucking LOVE THEM TO DEATH. The 3rd one is a book that my Grandpa had given to me when I was literally 6 years old. He basically told me when he gave it to read it when I'm in high school. The book is called UFO’s and the Unified Field and is a pure Physics book. The weird thing about this is that I didn’t get into physics until I was 9, so how did my grandpa KNOW that I would love this book in highschools time!? My explanation: Destiny  (っ^◡^)っ ❤️

[lyncnews]

Hello readers.  I hope you're well.  This is just a quick post on some new features that have landed in Microsoft Teams as of March 9th 2017. First things first.  Since when do I blog about Teams?  Well, I've been wanting to write about Teams for a while.  I was going to wait until GA and do a full post on what Teams is once it is launched.  After that, you'll probably see many more posts on Teams alongside my usual Skype for Business related stuff and product reviews. I will say, that I have been evaluating Teams since a few minutes after it was launched into preview in November.  I'm really excited for teh future of Teams.  Especially after having a good chat with some of the product managers at a recent event.   For those that don't know, you can see what's new in Teams in the T-Bot chat in the Release Notes tab.  March 9th was one of the biggest updates I have seen and they added a ton of stuff. The below is directly from the release notes.  I have added a few comments here and there in Blue so you know it's me speaking. New compose box: ICYMI, your compose box got a complete redesign. We improved the experience behind a lot of the actions surrounding composing and editing messages. Now, you have separate icons for the following actions:

Expanding your compose box

Adding an emoji to a message

Sending a GIF

Creating and sending a custom meme or sticker

Attaching a file

Scheduling a meeting

One thing I would say is that I previously found that adding Memes and GIFs etc. was a bit hit and miss.  I'd get the spinning wheel while the app though long and hard about actually adding the thing to the chat or converstion.  Since this update, graphics are added instantly.  Nice one!

You'll find that your expanded compose box still offers all the same formatting options, but you’ve got a lot more space to play around with creating custom memes and stickers, or searching for popular or trending GIFs. Clicking the meetings icon below your compose box will take you straight to our meeting form, where you can immediately schedule a meeting with whoever you're talking to in a channel or chat. Check it out; we hope you like it! The expanded compose box is really cool.  You can really add some richness and uniqueness to your conversations by changing everything from the font type, size and colour, to adding highlights, bullet points and lists.   Another recent update added something called "Markdown".  Which, to be honest, I'd never heard of.  Apparently it was a feature in a competing product and it was added to Teams because of a public outcry.  This is where you can format text by wrapping it in certain characters.  For instance, adding an asterisk to the beginning and end of a block of text will make that block of text bold.  It also does this while you're typing do you don't have to click anywhere or use keyboard shortcuts. The reason I mentioned this feature was more to do with the fact that it was added because many people requested it.  That's interactive development!  And that is cool.   If you use Teams and want it to do more, use the feedback button.  They really do listen.

Meetings got a lot smarter.

Schedule a private meeting: Schedule a private meeting with anyone in your organization! They'll be able to join by clicking "Meetings" on the left side of the app.

Meetings have a smart new scheduling assistant: Our new scheduling assistant will let you know when all your invitees are free to meet. The scheduling assistant also provides a calendar view of the coming week that will show you when all your meeting attendees are busy or unavailable.

I'll also say that I haven't done a lot in meetings thus far.  For one, meetings with internal staff that are using Teams isn't as important as meetings that mix internal and external people.  So far, all I've done is tested scheduling meetings to see what was possible.  I also hit the join button in one that was actually a Skype for Business meeting and it just launched the meeting in SfB.  As soon as the doors are opened to external participants, I am sure this will change, and I'll use it more. Bots now work in teams!

New Bots tab in your team page: You might have noticed there's a new tab in your team view. The Bots tab gives you a list of all the bots that have been added to that team. It's also the place to go if you want to discover new bots or get started creating a custom bot or tab!

Brand new bot gallery: We built a new bot gallery that will show you a list of all the bots that are currently available in Microsoft Teams. Alongside the Bots tab, the bot gallery is also the place to go when you want to find out which bots have already been added to one of your teams.

Discover bots via search: To see a list of all available bots, just click on the search bar at the top of the app and then select "Discover bots". Click on a bot to start a one-on-one chat or click "Add" to add it to a team.

Add a bot using an @mention: To add a bot to a channel, just type '@' in your compose box, then select "Add a bot".

Custom bots: Now, you can quickly and easily integrate an external service with one of your teams by adding a custom bot! Established and aspiring developers can sideload a bot or tab or even create a custom bot using a call back URL. Just head to the new Bots tab and click the links at the bottom right to get started.

The inclusion of more bots is cool.  However I urge some caution here.  If you add a Bot, it pops up to say what access the Bot has.   This bot has the following permissions: 

Receive messages and data that I provide to it. 

Send me messages and notifications. 

Receive messages and data that team members provide to it in a channel. 

Send messages and notifications in a channel. 

Access my profile information such as my name, email address, company name, and preferred language. 

Access this team's information such as team name, channel list and roster (including team member's names and email addresses) - and use this to contact them​.

Some of it I understand.  For instance, sending and receiving messages.  You need that to chat with a Bot.  The last one, I think, requires some caution.  The Bot can access team info, channel list, members etc.  What does the Bot company do with this informantion?  If anyone cares to comment here, I welcome it. Public teams are here: With public teams, anyone can search for, view, and join your team! This means that when anyone from your organization clicks through "Add a team", they'll see a collection of public teams that they can browse and join. If you want to create a new public team, you'll be able to choose 'public' or 'private' settings for your team privacy as you go through the steps of creating a new team. Public teams is pretty cool.  This could be used for a lot of things.  I think of this as an internal social media network.   Check out the new Notes tab: We've reimagined the way you collaborate. The Notes tab is a great place for you to draft or edit documents and communicate in real time. It's a full-fledged text editor that lets you @mention teammates right on the page, leave comments when you're editing someone else's work, or respond to feedback! This is like a blank online Word document that you can work on with other people.  You can also @mention people in the doc.  Not sure about this just yet.  But it must have a use or it wouldn't be in there. Even more new tabs: We've been quietly adding new options to the tab gallery so you can connect all your favorite external services. Now, you can add a tab to integrate services like Zendesk, Asana, and more. Head over to the desktop app to see what's available. The tab gallery is getting bigger and bigger every day.  And I expect this to get a log bigger over time.  One cool recent addition is the ability to pin a Website.  Now you can add a website you (or your team) access frequently as a tab in a channel.  Another one I like is adding an Office document as a tab.  The cool thing is that the document is open in the tab.

Feeds got a makeover: We've redesigned your Activity feed so it's more transparent and gives you more control over what you see. Click on the Activity icon on the left side of the app; you'll be taken right to your feed. You'll be able to filter your feed by notification type (if you just want to check your mentions, replies, likes, or news from channels you follow). You also have the option of opening Team activity (which will show you all the latest news from your favorite channels) or My activity (which will give you a list of all the actions you've performed recently in Microsoft Teams). Hope you like it!  Email integration with Microsoft Teams: You can now post a forwarded email to a channel in Microsoft Teams, thanks to channel email addresses. Click on the "Get email address" option in your channel menu to start sending emails to a channel. Once an email is forwarded, you can have a conversation about it directly in the channel (FYI, any comments or messages that are posted in a channel about an email will only be visible from Microsoft Teams). You'll also have the option of restricting who can send emails to a channel. I tested this as soon as I saw it.  You hit the 3 dots next to the channel name and click on get email address.

You have some control over who can email the channel.  Everyone, internal only or by domain which is cool.  I sent a message from an external domain and it arrived as a conversation.  Sadly, my reply from within the chat (see the reply button) never arrived.

The message arrives directly in the conversation tab, but the EML file is also uploaded to Teams so you can open it using Outlook and respond directly.  I think the reply button is a better idea personally, but it's a start. Microsoft Teams will show up in apps view: If you've got the right license, Microsoft Teams will now show up in your apps view for your desktop (when you press the Windows key) along with all your other Office 365 web apps. This must be for when you have your Office 365 Apps in your start menu, which I don't.  This coincides with the Teams app showing up as a "waffle" tile in the Office 365 Portal page. T-Bot speaks French: Pour nos utilisateurs francophones, nous sommes heureux d'annoncer que le contenu de T-bot et de l'aide prend désormais en charge le français. Vous êtes le bienvenu :) Translation: "For our French speaking users, we are happy to announce that T-bot and Help content now supports French. You're welcome :)" I don't speak French, but for those that do, this is cool. Accessibility improvements: We take accessibility seriously, and we’re very proud of our continued commitment to making our product a great experience for users of all abilities. With that in mind, we've been hard at work improving accessibility across Microsoft Teams. Please don't hesitate to get in touch should you have concerns or comments! Improvements in your Files tab: The Files tab has a new look and feel! Now, there's an action bar that includes an option to open the SharePoint site for your team. Additionally, you can get links to folders so you can easily share files within Teams. All very cool! I thought I would leave you with one last thing I just found.  You know I love a Keyboard Shortcut.  So I thought it was cool to have a list right in the app.  This is going to be an expanding list for sure, as they add more features.  But this is what you get right now.  As soon as there is an SDK for Teams, I'll work on porting StatusKey to work with Teams too!

As always, I thank you for reading. If this or any other post has been useful to you please take a moment to share.  Comments are welcome.