#but also starbucks and tech exists and how does that change things

[helpibrokemybrain]

writing-prompt-s facelessnamelessanarchist Follow

Follow welcomedhappiness Farewell online privacy

Follow tikalgirl What happened?

xdvisyrx Trump happened.

Follow pizzaalle just get a VPN?

Follow earth-ruins You can’t just tell people to ‘get a VPN (Virtual Private Network)’. Buying a VPN is like buying a house. It’s very very important. Having no VPN or having a ‘wrong’ one can seriously damage your life. Especially for Americans because their privacy laws are garbage. I am going to try explain why you should get a VPN but bare with me, I am from Germany and my English is far from perfect. Let’s start with a simple test. Click this link here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/ It will tell your IP adres, your ISP (internet service provider), and your location. The location might not be very accurate, but then again, it’s just a simple website. Imagine what the government can do! So basically, everyone can find out where you live. But there is more danger. Your ISP. Your ISP logs your every move online and they are required to keep it in case the government wants access to it (or if a 3rd party wants to buy your data (yikes). They have everything. What websites you visit. How long you stay on a website. What you download. Your search terms. European laws are more subtle on this but if you are from the US you are #@*#&, especially because Trump doesn’t support the open internet. It’s scary but maybe in the future you can’t get a job because the recruiter knows your searched on ‘how to deal with depression’ or anythings else that’s supposed to be private because it’s your f*cking right. Or you get a $100k fine because you pirated a movie 15 years ago. You need a VPN. You’re dumb for not using one. but what does a VPN do? A VPN encrypts all your data so if it were be intercepted no one can ‘crack the code’ and damage your privacy. Usually being online goes like this (simplified): Your computer —-> ISP (—–> keeps data —–> sells it) But with a VPN it goes like: Your computer —–> VPN (encrypts data)—–> ISP (ISP can’t see shit) Furthermore, a VPN hides your IP address and location by giving you another IP address located in Spain for example (you can often choose from a list and change as many times as you want). Now that you know why you should get a VPN and what is does it is important to educate yourself because people often choose the wrong VPN. VPN providers are also businesses and have to obey the law. If you choose a VPN provider located in the US then you are throwing your money away because the laws in the US shits on your privacy. If the US gov wants the provider to give all their logs they have to obey.  The ISP  still can’t see what you are doing online and sell your data but the US gov can interfere with your VPN provider so NEVER CHOOSE A PROVIDER LOCATED IN THE US. I just wanted to make that very clear so my followers don’t buy false security. There is still more danger!  Who says your VPN provider isn’t selling your data? You need to check their logging policy. Do they keep logs? If yes, what for? For how long do they keep them? Tip: Choose a provider who doesn’t keep logs More about law  The US is part of the Five Eyes program (the worst): The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence (source) There is also a Nine Eyes (bit better) and Fourteen Eyes Program (better).  You don’t want a VPN provider who is located in one the Five Eyes countries.  If you had to choose go for a provider located in a country that’s part of the Fourteen Eyes Program or even better, go for a country that isn’t part of any program! I know this is a shitty explanation and please pardon my english but now it’s time to do your own research. Take your privacy seriously. Maybe WWIII breaks out and you get killed for liking the ‘wrong’ FB-page. Go to this website: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/simple-vpn-comparison-chart/ Make sure that your future VPN provider both has green boxes for Privacy Jurisdiction and Privacy Logging. I recommend ovpn.se and trust.zone. ovpn is located in Sweden so they are part

of the 14 Eyes Program and they keep minimal logs. Their business ethics, however, are alright. Trustzone is located in the Seychelles. No country can interfere and their privacy jurisdiction is the best you can get. The US want your data but needs to get it from Trustzone? The Seychelles will simply give them the finger and wave them goodbye. However, this makes this provider very appealing for people who torrent and criminals because they keep no logs (and that is how it shoud be) Also,  there are almost no marketing efforts so this provider is one the cheapest) Also, often providers such as ExpressVPN are being called ‘The Best’ on websites about VPNs but know that this is just marketing which also makes those provider more expensive (and they too shit on your privacy) This must be the worst article you have ever read but please, please take your privacy very seriously. EDIT: I got many people asking me which provider I use. For those who want to know, I use Trust Zone. They offer a free 3-day trial with no strings attached. But still do your own research!

writing-prompt-s I am also with Trustzone but I think you forgot to explain one of it’s most important features. It protects you when you are using someone else’s Wi-Fi. If you are at Starbucks and you use their Wi-Fi your privacy is at risk. Anyone with ill intentions could steal your information. Especially if you are using an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot. With a VPN your data gets encrypted so no one can steal it.

Follow rabbittiddy Wait, what’s going, on? Did trump destroy internet privacy with a bill or something? Where’s the news? Oh wait, why am I getting visions of Alex Jones and selling water purifiers?

Follow thecrystalfems He hasn’t yet but he says he wants to. And if he is serious about it it would be really easy to do. Since all our data is already recorded, as the person above explained.

Follow coltrer Trump wants more surveillance of Muslim Americans. This in a country where internet privacy is already close to non-existent. Trust.Zone has a free trial. Use it.  btw this post only has 11k notes? That’s quite disappointing for something this important. Don’t reblog this post to save a life. Reblog this to protect an entire family!

Follow imthedoctor12 @earth-ruins @writing-prompt-s Should I get trustzone for my mobile device?

writing-prompt-s If you use public Wi-Fi, then yes. Which VPN you use is up to you, amigo. Take @earth-ruinsadvice. Do your own research first.

writing-prompt-s @elvesfromthedeep​ just brought the current situation in the US to my attention (March 30, 2017). SourcesAnger as US internet privacy law scrapped  Congress just voted to let internet providers sell your browsing history  To all my friends in the US, please read this entire post. Making everyone aware of VPNs is going to be my mission. Your privacy matters. Please reblog this post.

Follow greeneyespurpleheart Don’t tell me you just wanted to scroll past this. Stop looking at pictures of cats for a moment, okay? Don’t you realize how important this is? This is dangerous! ‘America, the best FREE country in the world’ my ass. With this new law your ISP can sell your Internet history which could include passwords, usernames, religion, credit card numbers, race and much more to the highest bidder. So here is what I want you to do. You are going to read the whole thing and before you think ’this is so important. Let me reblog this real quick and go back to admiring cats again-’ NO! Don’t reblog this. Take action first. Then reblog. Sign up for a free trial! Trust.Zone offers one (here). Yes. It might be difficult to set up a VPN for some people. But is that going to stop you from protecting yourself and your family? 30 minutes. 30 minutes is all that it takes. 5 if you know how to install software. The problem with some of you is that you see ‘difficult’ as something negative. I want you to see difficult differently. I need you to push through this stuff. You are going to protect yourself. There is nothing negative about that. VPNs are fun and costsaving too! A VPN bypasses geographical restrictions so you can access websites you normally can’t or you could start Netflix’s one month free trial over and over again- forever. And it’s legal! (unless you use it to buy weapons etc.,) Don’t tell yourself that you are too tired and that you will do this tomorrow. Because that isn’t going to happen and you know it. You have to do this right now. You only have to click on it. Don’t let this/shit/life just happen to you. Take yourself seriously. Get a VPN. Privacy is not a privilege, it’s a fundamental human right

joyfuldefender Ok sorry that it’s so freaking long and also sorry for the language, but this is extremely important. Please reblog!

Follow li-ionsandtigersandbears Reblogging again bc this is important

Follow mermaidz4ever We have a VPN you should get one too

killmongersbaby Please read.

Follow bae-in-maine Can you get them for your phones?

Follow kika-lei ^ you can. & when you have a subscription you can use it on your phone and computer. no need for separate subs or purchases. it is absolutely so important for safety. but one of my fave things to do with my vpn is access non-US netflix. I mean other places have all the new good place eps, all the ‘classic’ bggo eps…

i-cant-remember-who-i-am IMPORTANT

Follow theriflemanofroblox reblogging so new people can be aware :)

Follow facelessnamelessanarchist Long as hell, but read it!!!

Source: welcomedhappiness

————————— I found this post and I thought it was important but tumblr wouldn’t let me reblog it for some reason so I copy/pasted it because I’m not very tech savvy

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Les Huguenots and as many of the modern life questions as you care to answer

Hello! Sorry about the wait (I took two finals this morning), but here we go, with ALL THE QUESTIONS!

1. Have a blog?

Nevers.

2. Have a vlog?

For some reason, I could see all of them having vlogs and occasionally appearing in each other’s vlogs.

3. Be an Instagram influencer?

Marguerite is on Instagram 24/7 and also who doesn’t want to follow royalty?

4. Do the Tide Pod challenge?

Urbain because “It’s fun!”, Raoul because he’s canonically suicidal

5. Do the Number Neighbor challenge?

Nevers and Urbain both attempt the challenge only to discover that they are each other’s Number Neighbor.

6. Make the funniest memes?

Urbain.

7. Make the most niche (but still funny) memes?

Valentine (it gives her some stress relief).

8. Use the same meme format for all their memes?

Raoul uses the distracted girlfriend (gender-swapped distracted boyfriend) meme format because he’s a little bitter.

9. Be completely unable to read for context on social media posts?

Saint-Bris.

10. Argue about politics on Twitter?

Marcel, Saint-Bris, and Nevers all get into arguments, especially with each other (although Nevers is always civil)

11. Attempt to mansplain to a woman who’s right?

Depending on what point in the opera, either Marcel or Saint-Bris.

12. Start a flame war?

Saint-Bris and Marcel.

13. Go viral (and how would they go viral)?

Urbain makes a hilarious video or meme.

14. Be addicted to Starbucks?

Urbain, Marguerite, and Nevers

15. Work at Starbucks but get fired (and why)?

Urbain gets fired for drinking too much espresso (he thinks it makes him look cool and gives him energy, but he does not need any more energy) and also a little bit for flirting with too many other employees

16. Be Vine-famous if Vine still existed?

Raoul, but on accident (I think what happens is that Nevers is trying to become Vine-famous and Raoul’s in one of his Vines but he’s the one who ends up Vine-famous, much to Nevers’ chagrin)

17. Make the most apology videos?

Valentine, who else?

18. Use Tinder most often?

Marguerite???

19. Work for a ride-sharing service?

Nevers, absolutely. (Urbain would if he were old enough to drive, although he would not be the best driver.)

20. Host a podcast (and what would it be about)?

Nevers would love podcast-making; in his podcast, he interviews people while drinking copious amounts of wine, with hilarious results

21. Say “OK boomer” most often and buy a lot of “OK boomer” merch?

Nevers

22. Be the recipient of an “OK boomer” comment?

Marcel and Saint-Bris

23. Claim young people are killing capitalism?

Saint-Bris

24. Vote for Trump?

Saint-Bris and Marcel both vote for Trump, Marcel comes to regret it, Saint-Bris does not

25. Have anxiety problems?

Valentine :(

26. Make self-deprecating jokes only?

not sure, maybe Raoul?

27. Be nihilistic?

Raoul???

28. Post “I wanna die” every day?

Definitely Raoul.

29. Lead a protest?

Nevers would absolutely do that.

30. Use a live TV appearance to protest?

Nevers and Valentine

31. Use a live TV appearance to do something funny/stupid so they can go viral?

Urbain has a ridiculous obsession with going viral.

32. Become hopelessly confused about technology?

Marcel (Saint-Bris may be old, but he would absolutely be tech-savvy for reasons that totally do not have anything to do with distributing propaganda/planning a genocide)

33. Apply for a job at Buzzfeed?

Marguerite (she loves writing and creating happiness in my headcanon)

34. Enter the Hamilton ticket lottery every day?

Marguerite and Nevers

35. Somehow win the Hamilton ticket lottery on the first try?

Valentine gets the one lucky break in her entire life, goes, and is sobbing uncontrollably by the end.

36. Have a catchphrase?

Marguerite, Nevers, and Urbain all try to make good catchphrases for fun and all of them fail miserably.

37. Try being vegan?

Marguerite (she fails because see #14).

38. Binge-watch Netflix every weekend?

Raoul.

39. Wear crazy socks all the time?

Urbain, absolutely (Nevers and Valentine also like wearing crazy socks, but Valentine is hesitant about them wearing them in public, so Nevers doesn’t do it either because he is a Supportive Husband)

40. Write fanfic?

Urbain is a self-shipper and Nevers likes rewriting stuff so the courageous, morally right underdogs win.

41. Be addicted to Fortnite or Minecraft?

Urbain???

42. Stream video games on Twitch?

Nevers.

43. Tip service workers more than 20%?

Valentine, Marcel, and Nevers.

44. Say people/things are “cancelled” most often?

Saint-Bris, it’s canon (Marcel and Raoul also occasionally do this)

45. Say “mood” in response to literally everything?

Urbain.

46. Speaking of which, use “literally” the most?

Probably Valentine.

47. Be really, really good at escape rooms?

Valentine, Marcel, Nevers, and Saint-Bris*

48. Be really, really bad at escape rooms?

Raoul, Marguerite, Urbain, and Saint-Bris*

(*Saint-Bris can solve an entire escape room by himself but as soon as you make him work with others, it ends poorly)

49. Be fascinated by VR?

Valentine, it lets her see places and experience things she never would in real life

50. Enter one of the TV talent shows?

Urbain tries and makes it reasonably far but he ends up making some iconic mess-up and gets eliminated 

(Nevers auditions on a dare but does not get selected)

51. Make obscure references and then get upset when no one gets them?

Raoul.

52. Do satire?

Marguerite and Urbain.

53. Follow God’s Twitter account without actually paying attention to any of the tweets?

Saint-Bris.

54. Unironically follow both God and Satan’s Twitter accounts?

No one in this opera would DARE follow Satan’s Twitter.

55. Dab the most?

Urbain does it all the time and it’s annoying. Also, Marcel learns it and starts doing it nonstop for a while because he interprets it as “dab on the haters” (i.e. Catholics) and dabs at every Catholic he sees until he realizes they’re mostly amused by it, so he stops.

56. Be the person who changes the world for the better?

Valentine and Nevers. :)

#opera #opera tag #opera asks #ask game #modern au asks #les huguenots #meyerbeer #giacomo meyerbeer #lessthansix

[timeisacephalopod]

One Tony is brilliant but two would be beautiful, three would be heart stopping and four would be world shattering. It's seems the Multiverse has deemed it's Tony day and the averages have so many Tony's on there hands it's ether a dream or a nightmare.

Well, we’ll see how this turns out! God help me I hope this isn’t confusing with so many Tonys. This… honestly ended up kind of self indulgent because its fun to consider how many versions of a person would end up existing in a universe of infinite possibilities.

**

The first Tony to show up- besides himself of course- wakes him up in the middle of the night and calls him an asshole. And, because he’s talking to himself, he tells himself to fuck off and goes back to sleep until the morning. But then two more of him have shown up and they’re all squabbling over suit designs when Tony wakes up and makes his way to the common area of the compound.

The rest of the team is watching them all, confused, when Tony walks into the room. “Please tell me you aren’t another,” Steve says and he frowns.

“Why is there three of me in the living room?” he asks and Bruce’s eyebrows draw together.

“Tony, if anyone would have the answer to that it’s you,” he says.

“Hey, yeah, how come you guys have Bruce Banner? Is he not the Hulk in this universe?” one of him asks.

They all frown, confused. “I’m still the Hulk,” Bruce says but the Tony that spoke looks as confused as the avengers do.

“Then why are you all… Bruce Banner-y? In my universe you let the Hulk take over permanently. I don’t know the details, just what Hulk said and frankly it makes no sense.”

Bruce looks more confused than before and then shrugs. “I… don’t know how or even why that would happen. Hulk only comes out if he’s needed,” he says.

“How come this Steve wears a cooler suit than my Steve? My Steve wears an ugly ass bought colored flag thing and yeah maybe this Steve’s suit looks like its in need of a wash but its definitely cooler,” another Tony says.

“I designed it,” Tony explains and the other him nods.

“Makes sense. SHIELD designs our suits minus mine obviously. Guess Coulson likes the nostalgia.”

Clint perks up, “your Coulson is alive?” he asks and oh, that’s rough. Tony has hear rumors that they were together before he died but he’s never really gotten confirmation. This isn’t confirmation either, but it does seem to support the rumors.

The other Tony nods. “Is your Coulson… not alive?” he asks.

“No,” Steve says. “Is your SHIELD not HYDRA?” he asks and right, good question. Count on Steve to think of it.

The Tony that spoke frowns. “Um. Not that I know of. Yours was?”

“Mine was too,” says the third Tony. “Then the apocalypse happened but since New York is still here I assume that didn’t happen in this universe.”

The Tony with Hulk instead of Bruce raises an eyebrow. “The apocalypse, huh. How come you guys got all the exciting stuff and I only got dumped by Pepper?” he asks.

“No that happened here too,” Tony tells him.

“Boo on us,” he mumbles but the Tony with maybe-not-HYDRA-SHIELD and alive Coulson frowns.

“Are none of you dating Steve?” he asks. “We’re married in my universe. I mean I assumed you two were together here too since he knew right away none of us were you,” he says to Tony.

“I’m with Steve,” Apocalypse Tony says.

“Right on,” Alive Coulson Tony says, high living the other him.

Steve looks, Tony thinks, as confused as he does. “There are… multiple universes where we’re together?” he asks but more out of disbelief than curiosity.

The two Tonys that are apparently with Steve shrug. “Yeah. I mean, I just sort of assumed we were all with you. To be honest I can’t really imagine my life without you. Well, not you. Other you,” Apocalypse Tony says and its probably only because he knows himself, even in other universes he guesses, that he knows that particular Tony pities him. So does Alive Coulson Tony and frankly he resents that. At least Dumped By Pepper Tony gets it even if he’s got a weird Bruce situation going.

“So,” Tony says, changing the subject, “why the hell are you all here?”

*

Steve watches as four Tony’s squabble about suit designs and the things they tired, the things they dismissed, and all of them ripping on the other’s designs. When people say you’re your own worst critic Steve thinks they should all watch this exchange because none of the Tony’s like the other Tony’s designs. One of them is on about repulser technology being inefficient and a relic of the past, another is on about the color pattern being shit, the third is on about the helmet, his Tony in particular is admonishing the others about not using nano tech. It’s a mess.

“Can you guys just… get back to your own universes?” he asks and they all turn in sync. Its creepy as hell to watch considering they all have the same look on their faces, even the ones who are dating him apparently, and not one of them looks impressed.

“We need to figure out how to get each one of them back to the right universe and there’s literally infinity options to chose from. We’re running tests,” his Tony says.

“Leave the science to the big boys,” Apocalypse Tony adds.

“Well maybe he has ideas,” Alive Coulson Tony says.

“Yeah, but they’re never really good,” Weird Bruce Tony says.

“Don’t be rude, he tries his best,” Alive Coulson Tony says and Weird Bruce Tony sighs.

“I’m aware of that but he really should stick to strategy. That’s his expertise.”

“Tony, send them back,” Steve tells his Tony in particular.

“I will once I’m done explaining to them why they all suck.”

The other three Tony’s turn in sync, all making the exact same offended noise and just like that they’re off again. Steve sighs and decides to break out the big guns.

*

Pepper and Natasha over see the four Tony’s and every time one of them tries to argue about something unrelated to getting them all back to the right universe they tell them to get back on track. That’s when the fifth Tony shows up and they all frown. “Why am I white?” he asks the other four and Natasha’s Tony in particular grins.

“FRI, call Rhodey and tell him I’m black,” he says. “In another universe. Tell him I’m black in another universe,” he amends.

The other three Tony’s raise their eyebrows in sync and that’s creepy. “I guess we come in different races,” Apocalypse Tony says.

Black Tony rolls his eyes, “there are infinite universes dumbass- we come in all races and genders. Don’t know why I ended up with four white me’s though,” he mumbles.

“We’re Italian,” Tony says but Alive Coulson Tony frowns at that so clearly he isn’t Italian.

Black Tony squints, “I hate to break it to you, but Italy is in Europe. You’re white,” he says and Natasha’s Tony laughs.

“Yeah, I know that. What I meant was that that’s where we came from. Which obviously isn’t the case for you, and your accent tells me you’re American which probably means you don’t actually know your origin country,” he says.

“I’m actually Romanian,” Alive Coulson Tony says. “And Jewish. Any of you Jewish?” he asks and the rest of the Tonys frown.

“I’m an atheist,” Black Tony says and the rest nod.

Romanian Tony rolls his eyes, “oh course you all are,” he mumbles.

“So, out of curiosity any of you married to Rhodey?” Black Tony who is also apparently Married To Rhodey Tony asks.

The rest of the Tonys shake their heads. “My Rhodey died,” Apocalypse Tony says and Natasha’s Tony winces.

“Mine’s fine, but we aren’t married. I mean we experimented a little in college but that’s it.” Pepper looks surprised by this but doesn’t say anything. “Also these idiots are married to Steve. Rogers,” he adds for clarification. Apocalypse Tony and Romanian and also apparently Jewish Tony exchange a look while Married to Rhodey Tony wrinkles his nose.

“Steve and I hate each other,” he says and Natasha’s Tony lets out a sigh of relief.

“Finally someone with sense,” he says, earning a dirty look from Romanian and Apocalypse Tony.

*

They at least figure out where all the Tony’s are coming from, but not until Tony But A Woman shows up with Starbucks. “Why are you all looking at me like that? I knew i’d be stuck here for awhile so I got coffee,” she says.

“Nice to know I’m hot in all sexes,” Natasha’s Tony says, eyeing himself- herself?- up.

Lady Tony wrinkles her nose. “Pig. Guess male me is a gross asshole,” she mumbles.

“He used to have a stripper plane,” Pepper tells her, selling their Tony out in an instant and he looks way too offended at this.

Lady Tony gives him a dirty look. “I hope you aren’t married to Natasha in this universe,” she says and Natasha’s eyebrows fly up.

“We’re married?” she asks. Its not like she’s told anyone about her sexuality and frankly she doesn’t even know if she’s attracted to women or men given how the Red Room forced her to flirt with anything that moved if that’s what would get her information. Now its sort of second nature and whatever attraction that may or may not have been there is long eroded. Guess her in another universe figured out what she hasn’t.

Tony But a Woman frowns. “We’re… not together in this universe?” she asks.

“Stripper plane,” Natasha says in way of an explanation and Woman Tony nods sagely.

“In my defense,” her Tony starts but Married to Rhodey Tony cuts him off.

“There is no defense, that’s shitty and you should feel shitty,” he says.

“I had a very good relationship with those women and what they did was hard work. They tried to teach me once and I almost broke my neck, you should respect them even if you think I’m an ass. Which is a fair opinion,” he says and well, Natasha wasn’t expecting that.

“In your universe,” she asks Woman Tony, “was I a Black Widow?”

She frowns, “a who?”

“You know. Black Widow. Red Room, kinda attached to HYDRA but not really?” her Tony says but Woman Tony still looks confused.

“I don’t know what that is either,” Married to Rhodey Tony says.

“Then what am I even like?” Natasha asks, unable to conceptualize herself outside that scope of being.

Woman Tony grins, “still hot.” She rolls her eyes because apparently Tony is a pig in both sexes.

“That answers nothing. You a superhero?” her Tony asks and Lady Tony laughs.

“Oh my god, you have delusions of grander that put mine to shame,” she says.

The rest of the Tony’s look confused. “No we’re all superheroes. Iron Heart?” Married to Tony Rhodey says and the other four frown.

“Iron Man,” her Tony corrects but the rest nod so they’ve taken that name too.

Married to Rhodey Tony rolls his eyes. “White me’s aren’t creative,” he mumbles and then eyes up Woman Tony. “Except you, you might be creative I don’t know yet.”

“There are universes where we are honest to god superheroes?” she asks.

“Did you universe find Steve Rogers?” Pepper asks and Woman Tony frowns.

“Yeah, dead seventy years after he went into the ice- are you telling me he’s alive in your universes?” she asks.

Their Tony nods to Romanian Tony and Apocalypse Tony. “They’re married to him. We hate him,” he says, gesturing to himself and Married to Rhodey Tony. “But if you aren’t a superhero what do you do? Did you get kidnapped in Afghanistan? What is your life like?” Tony asks.

Woman Tony shrugs. “Fine I guess. I run the company- green energy mostly. Howard didn’t like it much but Howard can bite me,” she says.

Married to Rhodey Tony, “Howard?”

The rest of the Tony’s look at him, all of them annoyed. “You didn’t have Howard Stark as a parent? What’s your relationship like with your dad?” Apocalypse Tony asks.

Married to Rhodey Tony shrugs. “Fine, I guess. I mean we aren’t close but we aren’t on bad terms. I… take it you guys are on bad terms with your dads?” he asks more than states.

“Howard was an abusive piece of shit,” Woman Tony says and the rest nod in agreement.

Married to Rhodey Tony lets out a soft laugh, “sucks to be you guys. The company though- why are you running it?” he asks Woman Tony but the rest look confused too.

“Its… Stark Industries?” their Tony says, frowning. “I mean Pep has been running SI for like ten years almost now, but still. I had it before I made her CEO.”

The rest of the Tonys give Natasha’s Tony a confused look. “You gave Pepper the company?” Woman Tony asks, shocked.

“Mine went under in the apocalypse but I manage,” Apocalypse Tony says.

“I still have mine but I don’t do clean energy I do oil. Engineering was always my second love,” Romanian Tony says and her Tony wrinkles his nose.

“You’re killing the planet you dumb piece of shit. What kind of superhero are you? You’re not saving anything,” he says, surprisingly angry about this.

“You almost ended the world with Ultron,” Natasha reminds him.

“That was an accident,” Tony says in his defense and only Apocalypse Tony seems to forgive him for that one.

“Wait, can we go back to the company? What the hell is Stark Industries? In my universe I work at Rhodey’s company and its Rhodes Labs. What’s Rhodey do here?” he asks their Tony.

“He’s a colonel in the Air Force. He runs a company in your universe?” he asks and Married to Rhodey Tony nods.

“Pharmaceuticals.Very focused on getting medications to poorer areas both in America and elsewhere.”

Woman Tony frowns, “then how the fuck did you end up a superhero? Actually I want all your origin stories. Are we still Italian?” she asks.

“I’m Romanian. Are you Jewish?” he asks and she frowns.

“No, I’m Catholic,” she says and the atheist Tonys all wrinkle their noses.

*

The downside to a bunch of Tonys is that they all know how the other thinks and they keep shooting down ideas as soon as they crop up, and they crop up fast. “Look- first of all we need to break the damn connection. Who did this? Stripper plane?” Woman Tony asks, glaring at their Tony. He sighs and Natasha shares a look with Pepper, who’s just as amused as she is.

“Why have none of you closed the damn connection to the other universes?” someone new asks and they look over to find an annoyed brown woman who is, despite her obvious differences to the rest of the Tonys, unmistakably another Tony.

“I told them to do that but you know. Men,” Woman Tony 1.0 says.

Other Woman Tony squints and looks around. “Are none of you from Afghanistan?” she asks.

Their Tony sighs, “no. In this universe I was the weapons developer who pretty much single handedly ruined the country. Sorry about that,” he says, at least looking properly ashamed even if Afghanistan Tony looks confused.

“What are you talking about? Afghanistan is fine. Is America a third world country in this universe? It is in mine.” 

Natasha’s Tony’s eyebrows fly up. “Plot twist.”

“Are you Jewish?” Romanian Tony asks and their Tony rolls his eyes.

“She’s wearing a hijab- obviously fucking not,” he says and Afghanistan Tony laughs. 

“I take it none of you are Muslim?”

“Most of them are atheists except him,” Woman Tony says, Romanian Tony. “I’m Catholic. Left over from my Italian roots though I guess these guys didn’t stick to that,” he says, a little judgment in her voice.

Their Tony rolls his eyes, “I found food culture more important than a mary sue magical sky fairy,” he says and Natasha claps her hands as all three religious Tonys suck in a breath.

“Get yourselves the fuck out of the wrong universe!” she tells them.

“Wait- before we get to that are you also a superhero?” Married to Rhodey Tony asks Afghanistan Tony.

“Yeah, Iron Heart. You?” she asks and he grins.

“Alright- another creative. These idiots go by ‘Iron Man’ like some kind of freaks. This one isn’t even a superhero. Are you married to Rhodey?” he asks and Afghanistan Tony frowns.

“Who?” she asks and the rest of the Tonys look offended. “What? Are none of you married to Nick? Fury,” she clarifies when they all look confused. They all raise their eyebrows when she says Nick’s last name and color Natasha curious she wants to know too.

“He’s like… basically my dad in my universe,” Woman Tony 1.0 says and Afghanistan Tony wrinkles her nose.

“Same here, ish,” her Tony says.

“Died in the apocalypse,” Apocalypse Tony says.

“Don’t even know who that is,” Romanian Tony says and when her Tony tells him he was the former director of SHIELD he frowns. “Coulson runs SHIELD.”

“Is SHIELD a non profit organization here?” Afghanistan Tony asks. They all look confused so she takes that as a no. “Huh. Well that’s how I met Nick- who is my age in my universe. I was doing charity work in America.”

“Does he still have only one eye?” Natasha asks because all those Tonys must be dying to ask but they’re all exercising extreme self control not to ask. They all look relieved when she does it for them and Afghanistan Tony nods.

“Lost an eye to infection in childhood. Not unusual in America,” she says. Clint is going to lose his shit when she tells him later.

*

Clint looks annoyed and honestly Bruce can’t blame him. “They drank all the fucking coffee,” he says.

“Ate all the cookies too and Afghanistan Tony is a scrapper- don’t try and take her sweets.” Even Hulk wouldn’t battle it out with her and Bruce wasn’t about to test his luck. He just wanted a damn cookie.

“They figured it out!” Natasha yells, running into the kitchen all but crying in relief. He would too, if he’d been put in charge of keeping them all organized. “Thank fuck. You should have seen them all argue about the fucking suits. Who cares?” she says, shaking her head. “Also apparently there is a universe where I am not only married to Tony, but I also own a pet shop and wear Uggs. I should horrible and I hate me,” she says.

“Anyone say anything about me?” Clint asks and Nat nods.

“Yeah, Afghanistan Tony’s world is weird and America is a third world country and you got some disease that made you go deaf in your teens,” she says.

Clint sulks. “Why the fuck do I get the short stick?” he mumbles.

Natasha squints, “I wear Uggs and I’m married to Tony. Deafness is not that bad, especially compared to that,” she says.

“Any news about the other me’s?” Bruce asks and Natasha nods.

“There’s a short fat Russian Tony that married you but then you got killed by his rivals in Poland and also World War Two ended ten years later than it did here in that universe.”

Bruce winces. “Yikes.”

“Weirdest Tony to show up, go,” Clint says.

Natasha shrugs, “probably a toss up between Japanese Tony who really liked her Kawaii fashion choices or the one Tony that showed up that we think was an alien but none of us were totally sure. We had no fucking clue what he was trying to say. Or even if he was a he.”

“How is alien Tony on par with Kawaii Tony?” he asks.

Natasha pulls out her phone and shows him a picture of all the Tony’s together with Japanese Kawaii Tony in the front in a bunch of pastel colors with fuzzy mint green cat ears on, baby pink hair in big curls that suggests she’s wearing a wig, and a giant smile on her face. He can spot their Tony right away because he looks as confused by this version of himself as he and Clint do. “I see your point,” he says. “She Iron Man too? Or Iron Woman?” he amends.

Natasha lets out a loud snort, “oh my god guys, you should have seen her suit it was a thing of beauty. Tony in pastels should be immortalized.”

“Actually it was, she had the best designs out of all of us. Which is fucking nuts when you consider that the suits were designed to look like stuffed animals from her childhood. Guess I don’t sacrifice style in any universe,” Tony says.

Clint raises an eyebrow, “seriously?” he asks.

Tony nods. “Yeah. She put that suit through the fucking ringer and came out with some pretty damn sweet designs and functions. Kinda wished I could have picked her brain longer. Also she told my Japanese was an insult to the language.”

Bruce snorts and starts laughing. “Sounds like something you’d say.”

#tony & avengers #multiverse fic

[brucesterling]

Dead in Silicon Valley

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/21/the-undertakers-of-silicon-valley-how-failure-became-big-business

I am on the phone with the one-time owner of Kozmo.com. Back in 2001, Kozmo.com was going to deliver your Starbucks coffee in less than an hour. Its former owner is … not what you’d expect.

Martin Pichinson is about 70, a former music manager who came to Silicon Valley in the mid-1980s. His business partner is Michael Maidy, another septuagenarian who, judging from a Google search, favors dark suits that look about a half-size too big for him. Maidy was recently the CEO of another failed tech company: Pebble Tech LLC, maker of smartwatches.  (((!)))

Pichinson and Maidy look about as far from our image of the Silicon Valley CEO as you can imagine. But they are nevertheless an important, if rarely glimpsed, part of its ecosystem.

Their actual company is Sherwood Partners, and unlike Kozmo.com, Pebble, and about a thousand other companies they have wound down over the years, it a) still exists and b) its business is always booming. The company is Silicon Valley’s premier specialist in “assignment for the benefit of creditors” (ABC) – a process by which insolvent companies assign their assets, titles and property to a trustee.

ABC was how Pebble Tech came into existence: it was, for its brief life, simply a collection of Pebble’s remaining assets, to be distributed among various creditors, employees and shareholders. This was also how Maidy briefly became the figurehead of a zombie version of the once-hip startup.

When you’re dealing with Sherwood, things are going badly. “People don’t like to talk to us, because they think, ‘If I’m talking to Sherwood, it’s a sign I’m in trouble,’” Pichinson says. Maidy’s and Pichinson’s names are all over public filings. While many of the lawyers and VCs I spoke to for this story try to stay out of the headlines, Sherwood doesn’t have that option. TechCrunch once called Pichinson “the Terminator of startups”, and many journalists on the Silicon Valley beat seem to check in with him periodically to see how business is going – if he’s upbeat, it’s time for another culling of a herd.

They’re not undertakers, Pichinson insists, though he too can refer to ABCs as “a private funeral”. Silicon Valley’s failure industry runs on discretion and convenient amnesia. Sherwood Partners is a place of memory and a place of failure. “I am the guy who closed down a lot of the high-flying dotcoms,” Pichinson notes, not without a note of pride. Receiverships, bankruptcy, ABC – Sherwood is like a one-stop shop for whatever the opposite of the image Silicon Valley likes to project is. And it has been for almost 30 years.

Silicon Valley thinks it has failure figured out. Even beyond the cliched embrace of “failing better”, a tolerance for things not going quite right is baked into the tech industry. People take jobs and lose them, and go on to a new job. People create products that no one likes, and go on to create another product. People back companies that get investigated by the SEC, and go on to back other companies. They can even lie on behalf of a company like Theranos without any taint whatsoever. In Silicon Valley, it seems, there is no such thing as negative experience.

The attorneys and consultants who have grown old with the industry’s failures, from Pets.com to Pebble, are anything but harsh in assessing their “clients”. “They are not bad,” one old hand insists. Instead, “the question really becomes: how many new ideas can society handle?” Even Sherwood Partners doesn’t see themselves as a repository of Silicon Valley’s screw-ups. To them it’s about luck, bad timing, the wrong blend of personalities. “They didn’t fail, they just didn’t come in first.”

That can be deeply charming: rather than make failure, messiness and growth something to hide, the ethos of the tech industry puts fallibility and vulnerability at the center of life. The guys at Sherwood have some of that relaxed California vibe, plus a dose of paternalism – they wind down companies started by people less than half their age. They try to make it a teachable moment and move on.

At the same time, Silicon Valley’s tolerance for failure has long sustained an obsession with youth. If a founder fails, tech discourse interprets it as a sign of young vigor. In a country in which 25-year-old white rapists are “still boys” and black 12-year-olds on the playground “look like adults”, the question of who gets to be a kid and who counts as a grownup is clearly charged with privilege.

In 2017, a chastened Travis Kalanick admitted: “I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up.” Even in a place as chock-a-block with balding skateboarders and middle-aged trick-or-treaters as San Francisco, a 40-year-old CEO of a $15bn company casting himself as an overenthusiastic kid who just needs to get his shit together is a bit much.

Failing in Silicon Valley is often a prerogative of the young – or, in Kalanick’s case, the adolescent-acting. And people don’t talk about how much less sustainable it has become to be young in the Valley. One VC who back in the early aughts grew a tiny startup into an $80m company with more than 250 employees reminisced to me about the early days when “we just lived with our parents in Toronto”. “Our labor force was ourselves and we paid for the servers by credit card,” he continued. Then he reflected a moment. “That’s no longer possible, which I guess is what makes us necessary.”

But the thing about failing is that it seems to carry opposite meanings depending on who does it. If a traditional brick-and-mortar business hemorrhages money as unregulated digital competition moves in, then that’s just a sign that brick-and-mortar deserves to die. By contrast, if a disruptive new economy startup loses money by the billions, it’s a sign of how revolutionary and bold they are....

[feitanswife]

Because I’m angry at life and like old memes: Washington State Gothic

-“Evergreen state!” You say so proudly. It hasn’t rained in months. Everything is dead it hasn’t rained in months but the trees are fine. Ever. Green.

- every summer there’s a fire, a few fires, everything is on fire. The sky is full of smoke, no one goes outside. You drive through where they said the fire was, everything is fine. Did they put the fire out? They never said they got it out. Did they ever say they got last years fire out? The place your standing was burnt black on the news last week. Wow, they restored it all so fast. Even the grass. It’s like it never happened, but that’d be silly, there’s smoke in the air! There has to be a fire somewhere.

- there’s four Starbucks stores in your town, one in Safeway, one in Fred Meyer, one with a drive through, and one in a weird spot with only three parking spaces. That one is always packed, even if every parking space in the entire shopping center is open. The drinks you get there never taste quite right. Safeway gets it right every time. Why don’t you just walk across the street to that one? Why don’t you?

-if you go west, the city doesn’t stop. You’ve been driving for five minutes, you’re in Tacoma now. You’ve been driving ten hours, you’re still in Auburn. How does it work? You don’t know. You don’t pay attention to where you’re going but you get where you wanted to be. Somehow. But if you go east... don’t go east.

- no one stops in Yakima. If you’re going to the east, maybe to Idaho I dunno, you don’t stop in Yakima. You wait. You don’t know why you don’t stop in Yakima, but you do, you wait until the rest area if you’re going to stop.

-your neighbor is a witch, no one questions it. Your coworker is a witch. Your boss is a witch. The cashier at the grocery store is a witch. The lady giving out samples at Costco is a witch. You’re a witch.

- along with that, you have crystals. You didn’t buy them. You know their names and what they mean. It’s in a notebook on your dresser, in your handwriting. When did you write that down?

- you have six types of neighbors.

1 There are ones who you’ve never seen, never spoken to, but you know their names, jobs, and where they hide their spare key. You don’t know how you know this.

2 You have an elderly white couple with too much money to live in that neighborhood, they’re nice, befriend them.

3 There’s the weed dealer and his overachiever kid. The kid is a witch. According to the people who can remember, theyre the one who initiated you.

4 There’s the do-all ones. The husband is a lawyer, tech customer service guy, landscaper, contracter, he rides a motorcycle. and his wife is a teacher, a writer, an artist, a therapist, she volunteeers. Where? Somewhere. She’s always volunteering.

5 There’s the ones who don’t speak English. Several kids in the family. They have only one kid who’s fluent despite going to the same public school as any other kids, and they’re in your age group. You’ll speak to them once, and never see them again. The one in your grade and graduate with you, but none of the others seem to age. They grow fruit trees in their yard that really shouldn’t grow in this climate.

6 There’s the ones your parents know. They went to school together. They worked together. They were roommates. They live next door. They don’t have kids. They don’t have lives. They’ve known your parents forever. Their house has no decorations. They don’t plant anything in their yard. Their house is plain white. They have no friends, no pets, and never have anyone over. They’ve known your parents forever.

- you have a classic car in your garage. So does your neighbor. The poorest house has a classic car. On Friday evenings in summer, everyone takes them to the parking lot behind the WalMart. It’s always the same people, but you never recognize the cars.

- you’re going camping. Your boss is going camping. Everyone is going camping. Someone from work left a year ago, said they were going camping. You forgot about them. When they came back, the boss just asked how the trip went. They said it was fine, but it rained and their tent got damp. You still can’t remember the last time it rained.

- “huskies or cougs???? Huskies or cougs????” Everyone asks when you start talking about college. You were planning on going to Central. Everyone goes to Central these days. But when you say that, no one knows where it is. No one sells Wildcat merch. But over 1/3 of your graduating class wanted to go to Central. Your cousin went to Central. Didn’t she? When was she ever gone for school?

- on the subject of how CWU and the town of Ellensburg only seem to sort of exist, I’m just going to put it out here not even joking the Ellensburg Safeway probably houses a portal to hell and it’s also just a shitty store, go to Grocery Outlet or Fred Meyer if you stop there to get something.

- you had a horse growing up, your neighbor has a horse, your best friend has a horse. Everyone has a horse. You live nowhere near a farm and you still hear them.

- your neighbors have chickens. Their neighbors have chickens. You don’t have chickens but they’re here anyway. You move to the city, you still wake up to a rooster’s call. You can’t escape the goddamn chickens.

- you started a garden. Even if you don’t have a yard, you have a garden. Everyone has a garden. You’d have to be crazy to not have a garden! You have buckets of cucumbers. More peas than you can eat. The basil plant is six feet tall. Who needs that much basil? You pick it and dry it anyway, you never seem to have any in the house even though this happens every year. Your lavender plants are spilling into the sidewalk. Your lavender plants are eating local squirrels. You forgot to trim back the rose bush. Its bigger than the house. It’s too late now.

- you have reusable grocery bags. You have fifteen. You keep them in your car. They’re never there. You buy more, and put them in your car. How many bags have you put in your car?

-you own an umbrella or two. You don’t use them. No one does. You don’t remember why but you’d feel mortified to be seen with one. Only outsiders use umbrellas. Tourists. You don’t want to look like a tourist. You really don’t.

- it finally rains, it rains as hard as you’ve ever seen it, the drops bounce feet off the ground. Someone scoffs, “that’s not rain. This, this is a drizzle. You’ll know when it rains.” You stop praying for rain.

- it’s fair time. You’re paying to park in someone’s yard. You win prizes and bring them home, and lose them. You can’t remember what they were, or what games you played, or what you did at the fair. You’re too poor to make rent now and with nothing to show for it. You don’t know why you keep going back, but if it’s fair time, you have to go.

-nobody remembers what happened in middle school. But every time you see things that remind you of your old best friend, you run. You don’t remember why you’re avoiding her. You find a copy of her favorite day game in a parking lot, and you cry. You can’t escape her. You change your style and dye your hair but she always recognizes you. No one says her name. Somehow, you think it might always be her. Everyone is avoiding her.

-do not, for the love of god, pray for snow. If you want snow go to the mountains. Don’t bring it here.

[aliveprofessor]

The First Day

so this is for the first round of the buzzfeed creation challenge for @thebuzzfeedchallenge and my prompt was the “first day of work”. my partner is @thepossessionofshanemadej, and here it is! the thing i made over the course of like a sick day and a half

(also uhhhh big thanks to @faequill for the au and also for being basically my new parent)

Title: The First Day

Description: Ryan is taken on an... adventure on his first day of work.

TW: none! heavy basketball talk for a little bitch who has never seen a basketball game in his life, god bless him

WC: 2144

AO3 LINK HERE

Ryan pulled up to the gleaming mass of metal, finding a parking space somewhere close. He had his box of stuff with him: a notebook full of semi-fleshed out ideas, a flash drive, some trinkets, a calendar. He took a solemn breath and pushed open the doors, prepared for the worst.

Ryan had heard incredible stories about what went on inside Buzzfeed buildings and, truth be told, he was excited to be involved in a story that involved too many naked coworkers.

And then, he was greeted by an underwhelming “Fuck!” as someone dropped their coffee. The boiling drink splashed up Ryan’s jeans, stinging the skin there.

“I’m so, so sorry,” The man said, blond curls flopping over as he picked up a few of the biggest shards.

Ryan shook himself out of his daze, stooping down to help. “It’s okay.”

As soon as he was done, the man stood up and held out his hand. “I’m Zack.”

“Ryan,” Ryan said shaking Zack’s hand.

Zack glanced at the box Ryan had perched on the rim of a potted plant. “First day?”

Ryan nodded.

“I’m really sorry, man,” Zack grinned apologetically, “Wanna sit by me? I’ve got a spare seat and I promise I’ll try to not spill everything on you.”

“Only if you promise,” Ryan smiled back, feeling like a bit of a foolhardy character in a rom-com. Granted, Zack was an attractive human being, but Ryan wasn’t the kind of person to fall for every pretty face he saw.

Zack, still grinning, led Ryan to the promised empty desk. Ryan quickly spread his stuff out over the desk, as if maybe it’d be taken if he were too slow in unpacking.

“You’re a Lakers fan too?” Zack asked, grinning madly. Ryan gasped, excitedly turning to the other man. “Yeah!”

“Oh my God,” Zack looked at his clock, face falling. “Uhh… I wish I could stay and talk about this, but I have to work on this video. I’m supposed to shoot it today and I don’t even know who I’m gonna have in it!”

Then, as though he’d just realized who he was talking to, Zack’s face lit up again. “You could be in it - you’re an intern, right?”

Ryan nodded hesitantly.

“Don’t be shy - it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, c’mon,” Zack grabbed Ryan’s arm and yanked him along. Ryan tailed after the taller man, the linoleum floor rising up to meet their sneakers. In retrospect, Ryan had wanted an adventure.

Ryan found himself in a small faded green car, fabric seats worn and fast food trash littered around the floor.

“Sorry, my car is kind of a mess,” Zack apologized, brushing garbage off of the passenger seat. Ryan sat down, buckling up as Zack explained the video.

Zack started the car. “So my idea was that we could have a few guys meet some professional basketball players - y’know, watch ‘em play up close and then like hang out for a day. And, wouldn’t ya’ know, the NBA was totally cool with that!”

Ryan blinked.

“So, I wanted to direct, and there were three players on the Lakers who really wanted to do it. I’m stoked, Garrett’s stoked, Jen’s stoked -”

“Woah, so which Lakers player am I meeting?” Ryan asked.

Zack had Ryan pull his notes out of his bag and tell him which player he didn’t match someone up with. “No fucking way -”

“It’s Madej, isn’t it?” Zack interrupted Ryan’s exclamation.

Ryan’s voice came way too close to a squeal when he replied. “Yeah.”

And then, the insecurity set in. He was meeting Shane Madej, and he was wearing a dumb graphic tee and coffee-stained jeans.

“You’re gonna do great!” Zack reassured, turning to violently honk at the mountain of traffic. Ryan let out a shaky breath, groaning into his palms.

Soon enough, though, Ryan looked up at the Staples Center, the red letters glaring down at him through the bright morning sun.

“This is just gonna be a practice,” Zack said, “So this place is pretty much just us and the people who have to be there all the time.”

Ryan was awestruck as he entered the main floor, where the Lakers were practicing. The tech and film crew for the shoot were already there, setting up a few tripods and some lights. A shorter woman and an astonishingly tall man were sitting on the bench.

“Sorry we’re late,” Zack grinned, one of the cameras swiveling around to face him and Ryan, “This is Ryan, the poor intern I’ve dragged along for his first video.”

“Aw,” Jen grinned, “He’s cute.”

“Thanks,” Ryan’s face flushed, and he realized how dumb his glasses looked. He handed the papers Zack had had him carry back to their owner and took his seat on the bench by Jen and who he could only assume was Garrett.

Jen patted his shoulder. “You’ll do fine. Who’re you hanging with?”

“Madej,” Ryan murmured, and Jen’s eyes got huge.

“Dude,” She gaped, “He’s so cool. Lucky duck!”

“Oh, like you got stuck with Lonzo Ball,” Ryan rolled his eyes, watching the practice. Jen laughed next to him, and after a solid five seconds of pretending to be mad, Ryan broke too.

“I have never watched a Lakers game in my life,” Garrett interjected, “And yet, this is somehow the best day of my life.”

They spent the next three hours joking and - maybe this was just Ryan - watching the… athletic prowess of the basketball players. So, okay, maybe Michael Jordan in Space Jam was Ryan’s sexual awakening, but was that really Ryan’s fault?

The end of rehearsal came too fast and, yet, not fast enough. Everyone sort of pittered to a stop, grabbing towels and water bottles. Shane Madej even stopped in front of Ryan to introduce himself.

“Hi!” He grinned, “I’m Shane Madej. Who are you?”

Ryan, who had been expecting ‘are you the idiot they signed me up to go to Starbucks with’ stuttered out, “Y - yes?”

Shane started laughing, and Ryan desperately tried to correct himself. “Sorry - sorry, I mean - my name is Ryan Bergara! I’m sor -”

“Don’t sweat it,” Shane said through tears of laughter, “That’s the hardest I’ve laughed in ages. You ready? I take maybe half an hour to cool down and change out, and after that I think they want us to go to, like, lunch or whatever.”

Ryan nodded. “Oh, yeah. Sweet.”

Shane left, and Ryan buried his face in his hands. Jen patted him on the shoulder awkwardly.

“At least it’ll make a good video,” Ryan grumbled into his hands, voice muffled. Jen made a noise of affirmation, and soon, Ryan had devolved to playing a game on his phone. Shane appeared, looking alarmingly normal for someone who was on the Lakers - the Lakers! - wearing a hoodie and jeans.

“Ready?” Shane asked, a twinkle in his eye. Ryan felt something in his heart twist in a not-unpleasant way, and he nodded and grinned back.

Ryan suggested an Italian place - Cafe Palermo. Shane agreed, pulling it up on Google Maps and pulling out of the employee parking lot at the Staples Center.

They finally got to the Cafe, and it was a cute little place, with checkered tile and tables outside.

“Wanna sit out here?” Shane asked, sitting down at a circular table. After checking them in, Ryan joined him, looking at the menu. The waitress came out, a young woman with curly black hair and a polite smile.

“Hi, I’m Veronica, I’ll be your server. What can I get for you gentlemen?” She asked, holding up the notepad, “Anything to drink?”

Ryan got a Fanta and Shane just got water, and Veronica went back inside for a while.

“So…” Ryan began, absolutely buzzing with adrenaline.

Shane looked bemusedly at Ryan as Ryan asked so many basketball questions Shane almost didn’t know what to do with him. Shane replied as short as he could every time, hoping to speed through questions about his job.

And after a while, Ryan seemed to catch up on that. “Sorry, dude, if this is like, boring, or -”

“Hey, it’s okay!” Shane grinned, “It’s just… look, I get asked these questions every day. I know you want to hear it right from the horse’s mouth, but so does every reporter in existence. I’m kinda tired of talking about my day job, y’know?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Ryan nodded, silent for a moment. “Why don’t you ask me questions, then? We’re supposed to be hanging out, right? I’m not interviewing you.”

Shane was quiet and thoughtful as he asked his questions. “Where are you from?”

“SoCal,” Ryan replied, chin resting on his hand. They chatted for a while until Ryan brought up the one subject he’d hoped Shane didn’t disagree with him on.

“... Woah, woah, woah,” Shane interrupted, “You believe in ghosts?”

“You don’t?”

Shane peered at Ryan over his water, dumbfounded. “Yeah, I’m not an idiot -”

Before they continue, Veronica interrupted them. “Are you ready to order?”

And they got what they wanted, and they went right back to arguing. The heated debate lasted for another good hour and a half, with intermittent breaks for eating and glaring at each other without much fire behind their eyes. In fact, Ryan would say that Shane was growing on him

“Stop for coffee before I take you back to work?” Shane asked as Ryan sipped on the last refill of his Fanta. Ryan nodded, and Shane took him to Starbucks.

“Man, I can feel myself getting whiter,” Ryan joked as he walked into the store. They both got their usuals and piled back into Shane’s car.

“How do you stand this thing?” Ryan asked, “You’re, like, a giant.”

Shane joked back. “Watch it, Bergara. It’s not my fault you obviously didn’t eat your greens.”

“Oh, yeah, and I’m sure you grew up eating nothing but kale and green beans,” Ryan said, pouting mockingly and taking a sip of his latte.

Shane snorted. “Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve eaten.”

“And what would that be?”

“I dunno, Ry, there’s just so many good contenders,” Shane said, and in that moment Ryan truly knew what it was like when people talked about butterflies in their stomachs, electricity down their spines. And, of course, Shane had to follow it with the least sexy sentence imaginable. “Like, this one time, I just fucking took a bite out of a pumpkin.”

“And suddenly, everything about you makes sense,” Ryan exclaimed, “Your head is actually just a pumpkin!”

“Asshole,” Shane remarked, drumming his fingers on the dashboard as there was a lull in the conversation. It wasn’t awkward, Ryan realized, it was just like they were two pieces of a puzzle clicking into place and they didn’t need to talk all the time.

“I liked hanging out with you,” Ryan admitted as Shane pulled into the parking lot of the Buzzfeed office.

“You too, little guy,” Shane smiled, pulling Ryan in for a one-armed hug after he’d parked.

“You’re still a dick.”

“And you’re still an asshole.”

“We’ll have to do this again.”

“Yeah.”

And with that, Shane was pulling away, and Ryan felt panic shoot through his body.

Fuck, thought Ryan, in his coffee-stained jeans and shitty t-shirt and Nike tennis shoes, I don’t have his phone number!

Now melancholy, Ryan trudged back into the office, feeling deflated and exhausted after the eventfulness of his first day. It was only after lunch, everyone else slowly meandering back into the office. Ryan plopped down at his desk, Zack still not back to fill the space between him and the guy on Zack’s left.

“Justin,” He said curtly, introducing himself and letting Ryan do the same before going back to his project. Slowly, Ryan turned on the computer, throwing his empty latte into the trash can under his desk. He drummed his fingers on the desk, letting his reality catch up to him.

It wouldn’t be eventful all the time, and it wouldn’t be Meeting A Basketball Star You’ve Had A Crush On Since He Was In The NCAA big, but it would be good. Ryan thought it would be good, anyway.

Then, he realized that there was something smudged onto his hand. Sharpie, from his coffee. He figured he’d never looked at how the barista had written his name - Shane had gone and gotten both of their drinks. He looked at it, turning it over to see two different styles of handwriting.

One had his name on it - and the other had a phone number.

call me, since you seem to think ur hot shit ;)

And then, it was decided that as long as Ryan lived, there really wouldn’t be a day that lived up to that one. He’d peaked.

Of course, he’d say differently later. But, then again, he’d still have six and a half years to go until Shane proposed.

#fic #mod #txt #thepossessionofshanemadej #buzzfeedchallenge

[un-enfant-immature]

Smart home startup Level Home emerges from stealth with $71M and a new take on the smart lock

As companies like Google, Amazon and Apple hone their strategies to build the brain that helps you use the smart home of the future, where a new wave of internet-enabled appliances, climate and security systems and other connected objects can be connected and controlled through their hubs, a new smart home startup called Level Home is emerging from stealth today with a big packet of funding and a hope of bringing something new to the table, by focusing on ways of rethinking old things you own already, starting with the lock on your front door.

The Level Lock, the first patented product, is a system — tested for durability and powered by a basic CR2 battery (average life: one year) and equipped with ANSI GRADE 1/A security and encryption — that is fitted into the existing dead bolt on your door to make it “smart”.

The door will not look any different after you install the Level Lock, but linking it up with HomeKit, you can then use an Apple iPhone or Watch to unlock it (or, you can also still use the physical keys that come with the lock to open the door). Priced at $249 when it goes on sale (first in the US), the Lock is available now for preorder on Level’s site.

There is a good chance that when the Lock does become generally available, you will be able to get it in more places beyond Level’s site. Along with the launch of the Level Lock and the company itself, Level Home is also announcing that it has raised $71 million in funding since the company was first founded in 2016, with investors including a firm called Hut 8 Ventures (unclear if connected to Hut 8 cryptocurrency mining, I’m asking), Lennar Homes — the home maker that has worked with the likes of Apple and Amazon to build in connected features into new properties — and Walmart.

The retail giant has been working double time to “level up” to Amazon on the e-commerce front, building a range of services online and increasing the ways in which it can connect with shoppers beyond visits to its large retail locations, and while Level is not disclosing any details yet on how it will work with its strategic investors, you could imagine its involvement having more than one touchpoint.

It could be a very strong sales channel for the Level Lock through its many well-visited retail locations.

But it could also be sold potentially as part of a bigger service offering, in competition with something like Amazon Key, where Walmart offers smart locks to its customers as part of a bigger home delivery business. (Walmart has already started down this road: back in 2017 it first partnered with smart lock maker August to test in-home delivery.)

Partnerships with the likes of Walmart and Lennar sound like a big deal, considering that the company hasn’t tested its product or brand in the market, and the area of smart home hardware is also very crowded already.

Part of the reason for the leap may be because of the background of the founders. John Martin (CEO) and Ken Goto (CTO) have worked together for decades across a range of major tech and other consumer companies including Microsoft, Starbucks and Apple. Very far from the image of young startup-guys, they are taking a measured and very confident approach to the bigger task of thinking about how to approach a new generation of hardware that isn’t so much as “disrupting” what is already being used, but is trying to augment it to bring in a wider population of adopters beyond those who embrace the cutting edge of tech.

“We could have made anything for the connected home, so and we thought for weeks about what to invent,” Martin told me about the pair’s decision to focus first on the front door lock three years ago. “We had a couple of fundamentals: we wanted products for everyday life, and we didn’t want home automation out of the mainline of what normally happens. We didn’t want lightbulbs to change color for the sake of it, and we didn’t want to appeal just to the tech professional. So we thought entry was the right point to start.” Or, entry was a good point of entry, if you will.

Of course, Level Home isn’t the first to come on this progression of logic. Smart doors and smart locks are everywhere now, although ironically, they are not being used all that much. “When we looked at first generation smart locks, we were offended by how aggressively the experience was departing from how people use locks today.” By this, Martin is referring to things like physical keys, or aesthetically pleasing doors and locks without large objects attached to them.

Indeed, the smart home market has not been a home run so far, but it shows some promise. The smart home market overall is projected to generate revenues of nearly $74 million this year, nearly doubling to $141 billion by 2023. A stream of hardware sales will underpin that growth, with some 140 million smart locks and other home security devices — the second-biggest category after video entertainment — expected to be shipped this year, growing to 352 million by 2023 globally.

But within that, penetration has not been massive: in Europe, only around 11 percent of homes have smart home devices in them (not counting phones), and in the US, the figure is only slightly higher, at 15%. That speaks to a still-nascent market, but also the fact that many people’s imaginations, and crucially wallets, have get to be captured by what is on offer today.

That spells opportunity for the smart home entrepreneurs, and investors willing to take the leap to back them.

Martin and Goto say that they have a pipeline of several other products that they will be working on, although for now, they are keeping quiet on what they might be. The basic idea will be to continue present an alternative version of the smart home: to quietly make our lives at home easier and more connected, but without any massively perceptible shifts. Move slow, don’t break things.

In a market with a lot of options for how to bring more modern objects into the mix that genuinely look like the future, this could be a good differentiator.

“We’re pleased to make an investment in Level Home as they unveil their latest technology, the Level Lock,” said Ashley Hubka, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Development and Partnerships, Walmart, in a statement. “Smart technology products and home automation provide us with more opportunities to serve customers in new ways today and into the future.”

“Level Home’s unique approach and technology is a game changer for homebuilders,” said Eric Feder, Managing General Partner, Lennar Ventures, in a statement. “As one of the nation’s leading home builders, Lennar is founded on a long tradition of quality craftsmanship and attention to detail. The Level Lock will transform the smart lock category by allowing home builders to offer innovation without having to compromise on their home experience.”

#TechCrunch

[hydrtebottles]

The Plastic Problem (And What You Can Do About It)

By now you’ve probably heard of the plastic problem. Companies and politicians are finally taking cues from environmental activists to reduce our plastic usage. But have you ever sat down to think about how much single-use plastic you really consume?

Consider this: As a whole, humans have consumed 9.2 billion tons of plastic. But the thing is, there’s no infrastructure to deal with it – 6.3 billion of these tons will never meet a recycling bin, according to a study published by Science Advances. That’s equivalent to the weight of one billion elephants.

Plastics are also making headlines for its devastating impact on our oceans and marine life. It constitutes around 90% of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, according to Earth’s Oceans Foundation. Not only does that kill millions of endangered sea life every year, but also leads fish to ingest microplastics — teeny tiny bits of plastic broken down by ultraviolet light and waves.  

That’s not only problematic for sea life—it’ll ultimately get to us when we eat sea life. Microplastics have been found in sea salt and even mineral water, according to a study published in Water Research. That’s unfortunately no surprise, if you take into account just how much plastic we’re producing.

Plastic production is booming

Humans have produced more plastic over the last 10 years than during the whole of the last century. Think of it this way: one million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, according to The Guardian, and the numbers are rising.

The production of plastic on its own isn’t necessarily bad. Plastics have helped advance space exploration, aviation, and medicine. The problem with plastic is we produce it for things we don’t need.

According to nonprofit Plastic Oceans, roughly half the world’s plastic produced is used just one time – like that plastic straw in your juice, or the cutlery you get from takeout.

What makes plastic more problematic is it’s nonbiodegradable and can stick around for up to 1,000 years.

We’ve been told time and time again that recycling is the solution to the plastic problem. However, the issue is too big for just recycling to fix, and may distract us from the real problem: our overproduction of plastics.

Stating these stats isn’t to drag you down, and the plastic fight isn’t a lost cause. It’s our wake up call to move us to action, for the sake of our planet and generations to come. Here are some practical ways you can make everyday changes to help reduce plastic pollution.

1. Stop using plastics

Sounds obvious (and hard), right? Yes— habits are hard to break and, realistically, the plastic problem isn’t something we think about daily.

To really test yourself, take note of how many times you habitually use single-use plastic in your day-to-day. For bonus points, write it down!

Then, pinpoint the instances that are truly unnecessary – whether it’s drinking bottled water every time you go to the gym, or using new plastic bags each time you go to the grocery store.  

Finally, come up with a plan to eliminate (or at least drastically cut) your unnecessary plastic usage. While making one single environmental choice won’t help much, creating positive habits to reduce your plastic usage could go a long way.

So if you replace your bottled water with a reusable one, you could save as many as 170 bottles from being produced each year.

Fortunately, there are dozens of quick hacks that make it easier than ever to cut down on your plastic usage.

For example, pick up a travel mug and keep it in your bag for your morning brew. Companies like Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, Peet’s, and plenty of local coffee shops support this initiative by offering small discounts when you bring in your reusable cup.

Also, buy a metal straw, and take it with you to your local coffee shop. An increasing number of coffee shops are supporting the single-use plastic straw ban—Starbucks has even made a commitment to eliminate all plastic straw use by 2020.

Groceries and supermarkets have also embraced the fight on plastic by charging for plastic bags. Stick a fabric produce bag in your car and say ‘no thanks’ to the plastic bag.

2. Stop buying bottled water

Remember how one million plastic bottles are purchased around the world every minute? Well, according to Brita, Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year. So isn’t it time we said goodbye to bottled water?

Tap water is completely safe to drink in the majority of the western world, and all you need is a reusable cup to keep yourself topped up.

If you have concerns about your tap water, think about introducing a filter tap or Brita water filter. Companies like SodaStream are making waves by eliminating the need for plastic bottles and are raising awareness of the negative consequences of single-use plastic.

But realistically, breaking a water-bottle-buying habit is tough. While we may say we’d like to reduce (or cease) our bottled water usage, it can be difficult to muster up the motivation to say ‘no’ to the convenient option.

We also suggest motivating yourself (and others!) to stop using bottled water through the power of social influences. In an interview with Hidden Brain, Behavioral Economist and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman said that the best way to nudge others (and yourself) towards making environmentally conscious decisions is through social proof.

In other words, if you know that ‘everyone’ (aka, the people you know) no longer purchase water bottles, you’ll be much more likely to stop than if you simply hear a stat about the harms of plastic water bottles.

So gather your friends, and create a challenge. Whether it’s joining up to stop purchasing plastic water bottles for a month altogether, or sending a selfie each time you use a reusable water bottle, coerce one another to be mindful of your plastic consumption

This can not only help you reduce your consumption of plastic water bottles, but may empower others to do so as well.

3. Food & Packaging

To reduce plastic usage, spend some more time cooking at home! Not only will this save you a ton of money every month, but it will also help eliminate all those wasteful containers, plastic cutlery, and (plastic) doggy bags.

If you don’t want to give up on your takeouts, tell the restaurant you don’t want any cutlery delivered. And, if you’re really committed to the cause, pick up the food with reusable containers!

You can apply this thinking to your grocery shopping, too. Buying in bulk will save plastic packaging, and it won’t hurt your bank account either. Today, there are more sustainable-friendly stores than ever around the country that allow you to bring your own containers from home when buying bulk goods. For example, Lauren Singer launched a Package Free Shop in Brooklyn in 2017, after living a zero waste lifestyle. The shop stocks everything you could need to lead an eco-friendly existence including a zero-waste starter kit.

Buying in bulk has some attractive financial perks, too. For example, buying toilet paper in bulk is up to 50% cheaper than buying a few rolls at a time.

Even tech companies are taking notice of plastic waste— Apple has recently made changes to the iPhone packaging, using 84% less plastic, according to Business Insider.

4. Support the cause

There are a couple of different ways to rally for the cause. First up: pressuring large corporations to reduce their plastic usage.

We know how easy it is to feel like you’re powerless when it comes to influencing huge corporations using mass plastics. But if enough people get together and pressure companies to reduce their usage, they might just take notice.

Use social media to call out brands for using too much packaging on their product. Public figures and celebrities such as Cara Delevingne took the plastic problem to her Instagram, pledging to her millions of followers to disavow plastic bottles and straws as part of her New Year’s resolution.

You can also take your business to a more sustainable competitor—and don’t be afraid to let both companies know on social media!

Forward-thinking companies like Loop have just announced a new zero-waste platform. The pilot program promises that consumers will be able to purchase products made from reusable containers that can be returned and be reused again. Loop is working with big brands like Nestle and PepsiCo, signaling that big corporations are slowly committing to making a change.

Although there’s no magic wand to dissolve the plastic problem, there is a growing movement of concerned individuals and communities who are working together to create change. We can’t reverse the damage, but we can work together to fight for solutions to improve the planet for generations to come.

ABOUT US-

Hydrte is a sleek & convenient solution to a BIG problem in our world right now.That problem is Single-use plastic bottles. Humans are purchasing 1,000,000+ single-use bottles every 60 seconds. Only 23% of that is being recycled. The hydrte bottle has been designed to offer a premium feel and has a convenient flat shape. With a capacity of 350ml it is the perfect everyday water bottle. EXPLORE THE BOTTLE

[learningrendezvous]

Marketing Strategy

GOOGLE: THE TROUBLE WITH SUCCESS

The Internet Marketing Strategy Human Resources Corporate Social Responsibility Behaviour Of Multinationals Artificial Intelligence

Google has grown from nothing in 1998 to a multinational tech giant. We tell that story, we identify the drivers of success. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn't want to sell advertising at first - now Google search is a giant advertising cash cow.

MODEL EMPLOYER We go inside the Googleplex near San Francisco to find the people and projects. Google prides itself on being a model employer, offering great pay and benefits to its staff whose average age is 29. Google encourages its staff to work on their own ideas, funding all kinds of futuristic projects with 'the courage to fail'.

MARKETING STRATEGY Google has used its enormous advertising revenue to develop into the online media and mobile phone markets - exploiting the converging technologies of internet, mobile phones and media - as well as exploring countless projects in the field of artificial intelligence. Google goes in for 'semi-organic growth', buying other businesses but to make them fit into existing product development teams.

DON'T BE EVIL? Google says its focus is to make the world a better place. It supports worthy projects in the developing world. But critics say, in the areas that matter, Google acts like any other multinational - in its own interest.

There have been attacks over tax, data privacy and abuse of dominance. Famously, the founders said 'Don't Be Evil' but have they lived up to the early motto?

DVD / 2016 / 28 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGY CASE STUDIES: TESCO - TRIUMPH & TRAGEDY

Marketing Strategy Retailing Corporate Social Responsibility External Factorst

Tesco was the retail success story of the 90s and early 2000s. By 2007 it came close to capturing a third of the UK retail market, and was a true international retail giant - but by 2014 profits were falling and scandals were brewing. It seems the wheels came off the trolley. What went wrong?

STACK 'EM HIGH... Founder Jack Cohen's aggressive growth policies in the mid 20th century set the pattern: his successors had grander plans: to make Tesco all things to all people - selling everything to all sectors of society. Branding, own-label goods, overseas expansion and technology were vital planks of its strategy. But was Tesco over-reaching itself?

THE PERFECT STORM: The 2008 world economic crash was a signal for a profound change in the retail landscape: new discount stores could beat Tesco on price, and Tesco had acquired a reputation as a bully towards rivals and suppliers. With the horsemeat debacle and financial reporting scandals by 2014 it was "the perfect storm". Tesco had a fight-back plan, but was it enough?

DVD / 2015 / 27 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGY CASE STUDIES: THE STARBUCKS EXPERIENCE

Marketing Strategy Retailing Corporate Social Responsibility Globalisation

Starbucks is the essential success story of the American capitalist dream. From humble beginnings in 1971 as a Seattle coffee store, it's become a multinational with over 21,000 outlets in 63 countries. Its brand is universally known.

HOW DID THEY DO IT? Starbucks' success owes a lot to the vision of its guiding light, CEO Howard Schultz, who preaches an almost evangelical brand of caring capitalism, at the same time focusing relentlessly on the customer experience. Acquisition, brand-stretching, social media, and new channel development have all played a part. They put a lot of stress on caring for their staff and the in-store atmosphere. They want customers to feel it's "their Starbucks".

GOOD CITIZEN? CEO Howard Schultz talks about creating "a philosophically different business" but is it really? Critics point to low pay and scheduling pressures for staff, tax avoidance and, above all, the pittance developing world farmers receive for the coffee beans.

DVD / 2015 / 27 minutes

MARKETING, THE: 4 - THE MARKETING MIX: PRODUCT

An exploration of what most marketers would regard as the most important element of the Marketing Mix: Product.

PART 1 (15 mins): All About The Marketing Mix: Product. An introduction into the essentials of "product". What is value analysis? How is it done? What is the product life cycle? How can a business extend the life of a product? What is meant by brand extension? Also includes the Boston Matrix as a way of analysing a product portfolio.

PART 2 (8 mins): Case Studies In Value Analysis. Apple iPad compared to the Panasonic Toughpad. Tesco's Everyday Value range.

PART 3 (8 mins): Cash Cows, Stars & Dogs: Coca Cola is the cash cow that has funded new products, including "dogs" such as New Coke and Dasani in UK. Apple's come-back cash cow was the iPod, but that has been superseded by iPhone and iPad. McCain Foods' Oven Chips are the cash cow that has funded many variants.

Value Analysis Product Life Cycle Product Portfolio Boston Matrix Product Differentiation Brand Extension/Product Extension

DVD / 2013 / 31 minutes

MARKETING, THE: 5 - THE MARKETING MIX: PRODUCT CASE STUDIES

PART 1 (7 mins): Extension Strategies: Skoda: how did Volkswagen reinvent the Skoda brand? Famous Failures! How some brands went "a stretch too far", including Harley Davidson perfume, yoghurt from Cosmopolitan magazine and mountain bikes from gun makers Smith & Wesson.

PART 2 (9 mins): Long Lives, Short Lives, Reincarnations: The Mars bar. What is the secret of its longevity? Cadbury's Fuse went off like a rocket but fizzled out - but Wispa came back from the dead. Lyle's Golden Syrup has hardly changed in 100 years!

PART 3 (6 mins): New Product, Same Brand: Call Of Duty is the masterbrand for a range of products - critics accuse Activision of "diluting the brand". Activision says: just look at sales! Special Editions is another way of getting new life out of an old product - but for the Queen's Jubilee 2012 not everyone was amused.

Extension Strategies Famous Marketing Failures Long Lives, Short Lives, Reincarnations Masterbrands

DVD / 2013 / 22 minutes

MARKETING, THE: 6 - THE MARKETING MIX: PRICE

PART 1 (15 mins): Pricing Strategies. Price & income elasticity of demand explained. Also covered: penetration, promotional and premium pricing, with examples. What is meant by "skimming the market" and "price discrimination"?

PART 2 (18 mins): Pricing Case Studies. The recession and rising costs has hit the catering trade: how does this affect pricing strategies? Innocent Drinks once commanded a premium price, but have new products undermined their usp? 99p Stores have used price as a strategic weapon, and are benefiting from recession. Ryanair had also used price to gain market share and as a brand identifier. Diesel uses its brand image to charge premium prices. But price can have damaging social effects: we look at cheap alcohol sales in supermarkets and energy sector pricing. Is it effectively a monopoly?

Pricing Strategies Price & Income Elasticity Of Demand Penetration Pricing Promotional & Premium Pricing Skimming Price Discrimination

DVD / 2013 / 33 minutes

MARKETING, THE: 7 - THE MARKETING MIX: PROMOTION

The Promotional Mix Advertising Direct Marketing PR & Sponsorship Point Of Sale Promotion Above The Line/Below The Line Marketing Ethics Internet v Conventional Promotion

An exploration of a key element of the Marketing Mix: Promotion.

PART 1 (15 mins): Introduction To promotion/advertising. Why do businesses promote their goods? To sell more, of course - but it's not as simple as that. There are different reasons requiring different solutions: a different "promotional mix". In this part we look mostly at advertising, in all its forms including TV, radio, billboards, cinema and press - and also the internet, which now threatens the existence of some of the old media. What does the internet offer compared to older media?

PART 2 (15 mins): Other parts of the promotional mix. In this part we look at the other elements in the promotional mix (apart from advertising, covered in Part 1): including direct marketing (mail, email & social media), public relations, sponsorship and point of sale. Above the line and below the line: what do these terms mean? Do they apply these days? Marketing Ethics: large companies are very hot on "responsible marketing", but how much is real, how much PR whitewash?

DVD / 2013 / 30 minutes

ADVERTISING CREATIVE APPEALS

Discusses rational appeals used extensively in B2B advertising vs. the use of emotional appeals common to consumer advertising. Using both print ads and TV commercials, shows examples of the five most common emotional appeals of Humor, Sex, Security, Fear, and Shock. The success of each appeal is well documented by 15 advertising research studies cited in the program. A clinical psychologist briefly comments on the natural human response to each appeal. Fast paced and interesting for students.

DVD / 2012 / 24 minutes

EVENT MARKETING

Explains that "event marketing" includes both the marketing of an event and marketing with an event. Covers social entertainment events such as fairs, festivals, cause-related, and street events. Also covers business events such as trade shows, seminars and expos. In addition to numerous local events, the program includes the large regional events of the Calgary Stampede, Bele Chere Festival, Mountain State Fair and the Southeast Franchising Expo.

DVD / 2010 / 20 minutes

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

Defines an effective macro-marketing system as the "delivery of a standard of living." Discusses how marketing strategy includes a written marketing plan with target market identification and a related marketing mix to satisfy potential customers. Features examples and interviews from both consumer and business/organizational markets. Suggests an Internet presence can be a marketing tool for nearly all organizations. Uses an eBay auction to demonstrate the interaction of supply & demand to determine "market price." An excellent DVD for in introductory marketing course or for a marketing section in any business course.

DVD / 2008 / 19 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR SMALL BUSINESS

Discusses the importance for small businesses to have a marketing plan and a marketing strategy to implement that plan. Covers the marketing concept of customer satisfaction and profit maximization. Suggests how to identify target markets and meet their needs with a proper marketing mix. Features several small businesses including manufacturers, retailers and service providers. Excellent for any course in entrepreneurship, small business management, or marketing.

DVD / 2008 / 24 minutes

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Featuring High Sierra Sport Company

High Sierra Sport Company was founded in 1979 by the father and son team of Harry and Hank Bernbaum. Specializing in adventure travel equipment, High Sierra has since grown to become the tenth largest outdoor company in the United States. High Sierra's innovative product lines are sold worldwide to a broad range of consumers, ranging from professional athletes to business executives. But the company does not operates a single retail store, nor does it sell products through its website. Instead, High Sierra uses business-to-business marketing to sell its products.

DVD / 2007 / ( Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

BUZZ MARKETING

Featuring Taco Bell

Taco Bell's successful "Think Outside the Bun" campaign focuses on how Taco Bell differs from the competition in its creative approach. Just one example of this "Think Outside the Bun" mentality is Taco Bell's buzz marketing program. Buzz Marketing ideas can vary in size and impact but are always fun and light-hearted and they involve the consumer in unique ways.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

CUSTOMER-DRIVEN MARKETING

Featuring Harley-Davidson

Every August, the town of Sturgis, South Dakota, hosts the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. From around the world, motorcycle enthusiasts descend on this tiny town for a week of riding, racing and partying with fellow bikers. The event is dominated by one brand overall, Harley-Davidson. For years, events such as the Sturgis Rally have been a major focus of Harley's marketing strategy. Face-to-face activities are what drive Harley-Davidson's relationships with its customers,

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

FOCUS ASIA BUSINESS LEADERS - WE MARKETING GROUP: BUILDING A GLOBAL MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION COMPANY IN CHINA

By Ali Farhoomand, Kineta Hung, Grace Loo

WE Worldwide Partners, a start up advertising venture focusing on China market, is at a crucial point in its expansion strategy. Viveca Chan, the visionary force behind WE's conception, has to evaluate the viability of WE's business model and growth strategy in the fast-moving and dynamic China market. The Volume explores how WE can position itself as "the third force" in a market dominated by the international advertising agencies, on one hand, and crowded by the small, local independent agencies, on the other.

DVD (With Business Case Booklet) / 2007 / 28 minutes

GLOBAL MARKETING

Featuring Kraft

At 95 years old, Kraft's Oreo is the most popular cookie in the world, enjoyed in more than 100 countries throughout North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia. The Oreo cookie is a truly global product. It is sold in a consistent form with very few exceptions in all regions of the world. Even though the Oreo brand is popular around the world, adjustments to product, packaging and promotion are sometimes necessary to match consumer tastes and expectations in each country.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (FEATURING THE TOLEDO MUD HENS)

The promotion and delivery of a mix of good baseball and family fun has catapulted the Toledo Mud Hens into the position of being one of the elite minor league sports franchises in the country. Not only have they won the league championship two years in a row, the Mud Hens have set a team attendance record, become the league leader in ticket sales revenue, food and beverage sales, merchandise sales, and corporate sales.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (FEATURING U.S. MUSIC CORPORATION)

Marketing and promotion are the tools businesses use to communicate to the outside world about their company, their products, and their services. A sound marketing strategy, using a mix of personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, and public relations, can be the difference between scoring a smash hit and remaining unknown. Kevin Lello is the Vice President for Marketing for U.S. Music Corporation, the maker of Washburn guitars as well as music equipment like amps and home recording gear.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING: BOTTLED WATER

The bottled water market continues to grow at a double-digit rate. In 2004, sales of bottled water in the U.S. were at 9.2 billion units according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation. The bottled water industry grew about 10 percent in 2005 alone, while the carbonated beverage industry remained flat. Why are people actually buying bottled water when at two dollars a serving it costs up to 500 times more to purchase than tap water? One key element playing a major role in this phenomenon is marketing.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

MANAGING MARKETING INFORMATION

Featuring Nielsen Media Research

Whatever you watched on television last night, Nielsen Media Research can tell you how many other people watched it too. Nielsen Media Research has been tracking television viewing for the past 50 years, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Nielsen gathers information about who's watching what on TV. Nielsen's clients include television networks, advertisers and ad agencies. They also include local TV stations and cable providers.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Featuring: Peapod.com

Peapod is an online service where customers can order groceries and have them delivered straight to their door. While Peapod sells groceries, what they are really selling is time-time they save customers. One of the most important things to Peapod is the relationship between marketing and IT, a relationship which allows both departments to work together and reach goals. As a result, Peapod can customize the messages they send to their customers to make sure all of their touch points are designed just the way they want them to be.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 12 minutes

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Featuring: Second City

Since 1959, The Second City has developed an outstanding reputation in the entertainment industry. It has discovered, cultivated and produced some of the most recognizable faces in comedy. With an understanding of their core competencies, and strategic moves to market their expertise, The Second City has built a relationship with its audience that continues to grow today.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGIES (FEATURING BP)

The story of the new BP began in 1998 when British Petroleum announced its merger with American based Amoco. Over three years the company went through a dramatic change. The company, now called BP, is the result of the merging of nine companies. As a result of these acquisitions, BP had accomplished the first phase of its new global retail strategy. It had acquired the largest European, Asian and American gas stations. Now it began the transformation from gas station to convenience stores, BP Connect.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 12 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGIES (FEATURING STAPLES)

Product, price, promotion and place are the four functions retailers use to create value for their customers. Office products retailer, Staples, Inc., successfully integrates these four functions with their brand promise - to make buying office products "Easy" - to achieve a competitive advantage. Staples makes its customers want to keep coming back to Staples by making the overall purchase experience "Easy."

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 6 minutes

MARKETING STRATEGY

Featuring Harley-Davidson

For over 100 years, Harley-Davidson has been the rebel of the road. The company uses that rebellious spirit to create one of the most successful marketing and brand establishment campaigns in the U.S. Activities that bring the company face-to-face with its customers are extremely important to Harley-Davidson and really are what drives the company from the standpoint of its relationships with customers. Steve Piehl, Harley-Davidson's Director of Events & Consumer Initiatives, discusses the Harley-Davidson experience.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 4 minutes

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

Featuring The Little Guys

The Little Guys Home Electronics, located just south of Chicago, specializes in selling and installing home theater equipment. In only 12 years, the store has grown from a start-up company to an established business with annual sales of more than 10 million dollars. Even though Best Buy has a store right down the street, sales at The Little Guys continue to grow every year. How does a new company build a devoted following in such a short period of time? The Little Guys did it by building strong customer relationships.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

RETAILERS, WHOLESALERS, & DIRECT MARKETING

Featuring BP Connect

You're on your way home. You and your car are both low on fuel. You need to get gas and a good cup of coffee. Something other than a stale brew that's been sitting on the burner for hours. And a sandwich would really hit the spot. Isn't there someplace that can satisfy all your needs? Now there is. Welcome to BP Connect! Offering an extensive line of on-the-go foods and beverages is the next step in service station convenience retailing.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

TARGET MARKETING

Featuring Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson has a long history of marketing to women. As early as 1910, the company featured women in its advertising. In recent years, the women's market has taken off, becoming the fastest growing market of motorcycle purchasers. In 1990, 6.4% of new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales were to women. In 2006, that number climbed to 10% of new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales. In approaching this market, Harley has used psychographic rather than demographic segmentation. Psychographic segmentation focuses on values, beliefs and lifestyles rather than traditional demographic divisions.

DVD / 2007 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / Approx. 7 minutes

MARKETING NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS IN TODAY'S ECONOMY

The proliferation of nonprofit organizations coupled with a rapidly changing economy has resulted in fierce competition among these organizations to develop beneficial exchange relationships with clients. Aggressive marketing strategies have resulted in both positive outcomes like "partnering" and negative outcomes like "chugging." Focuses on marketing issues, problems, and strategies facing nonprofit organizations. Special emphasis is placed on charitable organizations.

DVD / 2005 / 24 minutes

STREET SMART SALES AND MARKETING

With Jeff Slutsky

Outside the Box Thinking for Big Results

In a world of rapid-fire advertising and marketing, people are on guard. The same tactics no longer work. We need to get more creative and clever in our sales and marketing efforts. In this fast-paced, entertaining, and idea-loaded program, you'll learn dozens of innovative tactics for outsmarting your competition, prospecting, trust building, handling objections, and much more. You'll hear captivating stories loaded with insights, ideas, and humor. Plus, you will also be reminded of some of the most important sales basics that many of us tend to forget. If you are ready to rethink your thinking about sales and marketing, this seminar will give you the tools, strategies, and insights you need, with an entertaining twist.

DVD / 2005 / 105 minutes

STANDARD DEVIANTS SCHOOL MARKETING MODULE 1: THE BASICS

How do you know if your product is reaching your target consumers? Who are your target consumers? The program will guide you through this important subject by illustrating marketing basics, like generating sales, mission statements, creating a marketing plan.

Topics Covered Needs & demands Product orientation Selling orientation Marketing orientation The marketing plan The mission statement Organizational & marketing objectives Market share

DVD / 2002 / (Grade 11 or above) / 26 minutes

STANDARD DEVIANTS SCHOOL MARKETING MODULE 2: PERSUASION

Ever wonder how companies persuade the public to buy their products? Do you want to know how advertising and public relations make products seem more appealing? Find out as the illustrate concepts like marketing research and information, targeting strategies, and product positioning.

Topics Covered Research Sources of data Focus groups & surveys Segmenting Targeting Positioning The 4 P's of Marketing

DVD / 2002 / (Grade 11 or above) / 26 minutes

STANDARD DEVIANTS SCHOOL MARKETING MODULE 3: TARGET CONSUMERS

How do you know if your product is reaching your target consumers? Who are your target consumers? If you're not sure, then it's time you learned about marketing. Well teach you the four P's of marketing: product, price, place and promotion.

Topics Covered The 4 P's of Marketing Consumer products Product lifecycle Pricing strategies Price elasticity Distribution Conflict Promotion

DVD / 2002 / (Grade 11 or above) / 26 minutes

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING ON THE INTERNET

Is the Internet "Marketing Heaven" or just an overrated marketing tool? Is it just another medium or does it provide a unique opportunity for advertisers? Focuses on the use and appropriateness of marketing & advertising on the Internet. Special topics include target audiences, structural considerations, efficiency, closure and critical issue in Web-page design.

DVD / 2001 / 26 minutes

ACCELERATED BUSINESS GROWTH

With Ford Saeks

Marketing Strategies for Getting and Staying Ahead of the Competition

What challenges are ahead of you in the business world today? Do you have a plan in place that will help you beat the competition and get ahead? In this content-rich presentation Ford Saeks shares expert tips that will help you grow quickly and stand out from the crowd. After teaching you how to recognize what makes your business unique, Ford lays out practical, easy-to-follow marketing steps that will help you capture both attention and business. His insights into the buyer's process will shed light on the reasons customers hesitate to buy and what you need to do to boost sales. You'll also uncover secrets to maintaining a strong, positive public presence that will position you to continue growing.

DVD / 132 minutes

BUSINESS OF A SPORTS CAR, THE: PRODUCTION & MARKETING

With all the test results in, BMW begins making the new sports car at its massive factory in the tiny town of Dingolfing Germany. The enormous robots that will build the car have to be taught the moves that will help the company produce a car every 12 hours. Each car has some 5,000 individual welds. While the factory creates the product, BMW and its marketing team work on building advertising and publicity to build a commanding presence for the epic 6-series. Follow the new car as it makes its way from the production line to its ultimate unveiling at the North American Auto show in Detroit.

DVD / (Grades 9 or above) / 45 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Marketing_1910.html

[martechadvisor-blog]

Effective Digital Transformation Strategies: An Interview with Andres Angelani of Softvision

“Implementing a design system helps define CX/UX requirements, creating more consistencies and providing a universal look and feel and experience, even when used for different purposes.”

A technical marvel of an interview with Andres Angelani, CEO, Softvision on the ongoing digital transformation of MarTech. Learn more effective CX strategies and how to conceptualize future-ready processes.

Q1: Personalization has gained momentum as an important marketing strategy over the years. How does personalization affect the customer experience (CX)? What techniques can marketers employ to make their personalization strategies more effective?

With so much digital noise today, customers need simplicity, personalization and contextualized experiences. Customized digital experiences are the differentiating factor necessary to create memorable moments for customers and provide the right product or service content at the right time.

A customized experience is more than simple personalization. Personalization is when a product or brand understands what a customer is looking for, and delivers on expectations. A customized experience is designed to deliver on a specific interest or preference in a way that the shopper dictates. When designing digital experiences, customization may mean that the application takes outside context from the real world and delivers a unique experience based on that information. If I want a customized retail experience, I’ll purchase my latte from Starbucks according to my preferences and specifications (size, strength, flavor, etc.), whereas my Spotify playlist continually streams music to me based on my tastes in music, artists, songs that have been searched and played. At the heart of a successful business strategy is a customer experience that is elegantly simple and positive, where consumers are likely to come away satisfied – and return. This type of experience is designed by understanding the emotion of end users throughout a journey involving the company’s products and services. Often, this is brought to life by digital experiences that change based on where the shopper is physically.

Q2: CX is the big thing on CMOs’ minds today. How should a CMO approach the challenge of building consistent CX across multiple devices? What are the practical obstacles to that?

In an enterprise environment, typically used by employees internally, we typically recommend a ‘design system.’ Most organizations have hundreds of internal applications being used by the same audience. These can be homegrown over time, and are often custom applications built for the company’s needs, but enabling a different experience depending on who is using it, for what purpose, etc.

Implementing a design system helps define CX/UX requirements, creating more consistencies and providing a universal look and feel and experience, even when used for different purposes. Enterprises are rebuilding their experiences, engineering them for a cloud environment. The design system provides a standard set of guidelines that engineers can leverage easily to provide that consistent experience.

Outside of the enterprise environment, for external users, the same approach and methodology applies. Understanding the end user completely, and the context of their physical as well as their digital environment – are they in a store, on their phone down the street, etc. – is critical when developing the design system.

Q3: What is the difference in creating a memorable CX for a B2C organization and a B2B organization? What are key factors that a B2B marketer needs to keep in mind when creating a CX?

There are three primary factors to keep in mind when trying to create a memorable CX for a B2C or a B2B organization:

There Are No Shortcuts

Too often companies simply want to recreate what they’ve done in the B2C environment for the B2B audience, and that simply is doomed to fail. There are several unique aspects of the B2B environment that need to be factored in:

Lengthy contracts

Smaller number of customers

Typical transactions involve big dollars and sometimes, big risks

Complex products/services  

All Talk/No Action

We’ve all been guilty of this, where we dig deep in the strategy, creating document after document, deck after deck, that talk about the journey. Unfortunately, all our document creation often doesn’t arrive at concrete steps that will boost business performance. Organizations need to move quickly to:

Manage and mobilize resources

Prioritize and determine what you’ll actually do

Be specific in your action plans so that everyone is clear as to whom and how and when things will happen  

CX for the Win

While there is no easy answer, companies must be ready to address the entire relationship. Companies should be prepared to provide customers with a dual customer experience. They need to create and deliver two customer experiences, one that caters to the needs and priorities of buyers and another that caters to that of the users.

Q4: It is painfully difficult to find the right attribution model when the customer journey is fragmented across multiple devices. How can a CMO resolve this issue? Is there any particular attribution model which you believe is ideal?

For each touch point the customer has, you have to be sure there is a model for recognition of previous touch points. Did the customer arrive via their desktop, a mobile device, etc.? This is important given the need to acknowledge credit to organizations for any subsequent sale.

But this can be cumbersome and at times confusing, so from an attribution standpoint, there needs to be a movement to eliminate the need to assign credit. This can be accomplished by building experiences that work together effectively. If the customer data is effective across all touchpoints, so it’s visible to employees, then marketing teams should be able to eliminate the old-school mindset of assigning credit to a particular store.

That’s the challenge, or opportunity depending on how you look at it, that exists when examining retail customers vs. those on laptops and mobile devices. The opportunity is to build an omni experience that becomes a central repository for all data, ultimately eliminating the need to give credit to one vs. another.

If you build all your retail and touchpoints of the customer based on their profile and relevant data, marketing teams and the CMO can likely stop worrying about the particular channel, and instead, worry about maximizing the lifetime value of that customer. In this model, web activity and instore sales work together so organizations get the most wallet share possible.

Q5: Immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are newer spaces in the MarTech industry. What advice would you give a CMO to create meaningful experiences through AR and VR? What are some of your favorite examples of AR and VR in marketing?

The key to this is always make sure you understand the end user and how they want to use the technology. I think too many companies spend too much time building short-term tech, relying on gimmicks that really don’t have anything to do with respecting the end user’s long-term desires for the tech. Instead, focus on building tools that enable the end user to immerse themselves in the brand and product, something that delivers enjoyment but also meets them where they are in their world, and in their technology life cycle.

For others, it’s always a good idea to take products and technology, and insert them into a life moment or event, so the end user can really feel what it would be like to have that product or experience in their life at a key period. This is the real opportunity with AR and VR.

For example, as it relates to live events, put me in the stadium for a product announcement. I want to see Usain Bolt runs past me for a New Balance product announcement. That delivers real excitement and brand value, and then let me buy the product right from that experience.

Transport me to something live, and allow me to experience it in my world in a personal and relevant way.

Q6: IoT, AI, conversational commerce and machine learning are some of the buzzwords in MarTech currently. What is your take on these new technologies? How are they going to shape the future of MarTech?

I think it’s fair to say that the future of marketing is open. While there are lots of buzzwords and new technologies dominating the conversation, we need to remember that there are thousands of marketing technologies to choose from. This translates to a central marketing hub needing to integrate with everything… from your CRM to your CMS, to software, to other pieces of marketing technology that helps drive business performance and in some instances, business transformation. This open hub philosophy also enables you to collect and analyze all your data in one platform. Over time, this will make it easy to fold in and integrate new solutions that will help the business scale and grow.

Q7: MarTech is incomplete without data analytics. Many marketers struggle with understanding the numbers, patterns and ratios from Big Data and turning them into actionable insights. What tips would you give marketers to ease their way into the data analytics process?

There’re a few things that marketers should do to ease their way into the data analytics process:

Be patient

Know that any big data program you dive into will likely take up to 2-3 years to fully mature. Too often people want to rush through and shorten this, but it really is beneficial to take a long view of the data and the impact on the business.

Build a Team

Look inside your organization to build the team, and tap a handful of resources. This often makes more sense than going outside the organization to immediately hire a data scientist. The team you build should be comprised of business analysts, developers and others who already know a lot about the data and business processes. These folks will be able to leverage existing relationships with IT and others, which could help streamline requests and the timeframe.

Leverage Existing Tools

Again, look inside the organization as there are probably free or easy to acquire tools. Excel and Tableau are likely easy to access, and already being leveraged for reporting and dashboards. From there, it shouldn’t be hard to explore advanced techniques for data exploration and data mashup.

Q8: What are some projects or ventures at Softvision that you are excited about? Would you like to give our readers a little sneak peek into Softvision’s future?

There are four new things we’re focusing on today:

Softvision Labs: At Softvision Labs, we identify opportunities to define innovation goals that enable our clients to realize their digital future. Oftentimes, our labs teams look at how customers can be given engaging experiences, enabling them to discover and explore through the mix of digital and physical experiences. We make sure that a strategy is in place to ensure innovations actually impact business, and not sit in silos with limited impact. To do this, we prototype and learn, running multiple experiments at a lower cost.

Education Around New Technologies: The digital world is moving at lightning speed, and if you don’t stay on top of all the developments and new technologies you’ll quickly be left behind. We’re making it a point to identify subject matter experts within our organization, and have them take the lead in staying up to speed on issues that will be most helpful to our clients but also our staff.

Deeper Relationships: Softvision has always benefited from a strong client roster. These days, we’re looking to develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with our existing clients. With a roster that includes Estee Lauder, Goldman Sachs, Macy’s, Mozilla and many others, we’re getting more comfortable asking difficult questions and helping to guide and lead our clients vs. always being in reactive mode. These deeper relationships benefit our clients as much as they do us, and they appreciate our working shoulder to shoulder with them to solve complex business transformation issues.

Global Expansion: We have built a strong company with twenty-three offices, and talent in this space is hard to come by and frankly to keep. We’re specifically expanding our presence in two markets – Buenos Aires and Australia – because we know the space, we have several local client opportunities in those respective markets, and there is a great deal of talent that is untapped. Additionally, we’re expanding our Romanian offices to include a design studio. The design studio will likely service the UK and other markets, and because we have a great team already in Romania we’re confident we can add to it.

MTA: Thank you for such a great in-depth journey into digital transformation, Andres. We hope to talk with you again, soon!

About Andres Angelani:

Andres Angelani is the Chief Executive Officer of Softvision. He is a proven leader in effectively deploying technology and business process strategies leveraging his proficiency in Digital Strategy, Agility and Team Development, Game Development and Enterprise Software Architectures. Prior to Softvision, Andres was one of Globant's pioneers and recently served as the Chief Solutions Officer. Angelani is a frequent speaker and thought leader on how to scale digital innovation in organizations. He also co-authored a book titled The Never-Ending Digital Journey: Creating New Consumer Experiences Through Technology. He started his career in Argentina as a software developer and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Management and a Master’s degree in Software Engineering. Andres is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian and is also a trained classical pianist

About Softvision:

Softvision, part of Cognizant Digital Engineering, creates impactful end to end digital products and solutions that connect brands with consumers that result in relevant, memorable and rewarding interactions. With over 2,800 product, design and engineering professionals, across a network of 25 studios in 11 countries and 5 continents, Softvision delivers sustainable innovation, agility and an emotional connection that inspires engagement and business transformation. For more information, visit www.softvision.com.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

[claudrod]

A few of my favorite (useful) things, and then some

I now keep a catalog of the stuff I own that hopefully will stand the test of time. Here’s a link to it: claudrod.me/favorites.

I’ve written about my attempts at living a simple, ‘minimal’ life here, and I’ve been accomplishing what I need at just the right pace. I’d like to think I am doing well.

Patrick Rhone and Jamie Phelps did a bit of an exchange through their separate blog posts back in 2010, and they’ve amazingly articulated some thoughts on how they select things that they purchase. Patrick Rhone, a writer focusing on the concept of mindful living (among other things), blogged about making ‘final choices’. This is what he says about the term:

Anywhere I can make a buying choice that I, with proper care and maintenance, will never have to make again for the rest of my life, I do. In those cases, I’m willing to pay far more for an item if I know it will last a lifetime and, even more importantly to me, I will never have to spend the mental energy making a choice again. Especially because making final choices often requires far more time and research then making regular ones. In fact, I would argue that the more final the choice, the longer it should take to make it. Also, what you spend on the front end usually repays exponentially, and in many more ways, on the back end.

For me, such final choices are huge wins because the less choice I have to make and because I am well satisfied with what I have, the happier I am.

Jamie Phelps, a developer/overall cool tech guy, responded to Rhone with this:

While Patrick is spot on about final choices, I would add that it also goes for things you buy on a more frequent basis as well. For instance, I never think about what pencil I’m going to buy and use. I know I use Uniball Kuru Toga pencils. If I lose, break, or for some other reason find myself needing to buy a pencil, I don’t go to Staples and gawk for an hour at the wall of mechanical pencils. I hop on the Amazon app on my iPhone while I’m waiting in line at Starbucks and order a couple to show up at my door step in two days.

This is something that I’ve termed “sensible defaults.” It’s a phrase I’ve picked up from studying UI design principles, but it’s something I’ve been able to work into other areas of my life as well.

‘Sensible defaults’−there’s no better term for the approach. I most especially love the mention of ‘UI design principles’, because in the work that I do, I take after a lot of existing best (well-researched) practices and usually default to them for projects. In a way, this seemingly technical discipline applied to real life does make a ton of sense. I would seriously love to hug these tech people and their ‘philosophical’ approach to work (fangirling, obviously 🙄). A lot of the things we do as designers/developers should be grounded on clearly-defined principles, or else we’ll just end up making really dirty work (pun sorta intended).

---

My personal list of sensible defaults will continue to grow as a slowly make better investments on my own ‘final (or repeat) choices’. Writing about some of them here:

Tokyobay Grant Watch - While this isn’t a luxury watch, this is quite pricey for my price range, but a still good deal. I love how simple it looks, and I guess I will still choose to stick with a regular watch over a smartwatch. We all know there’s a huge chance tech-reliant things (even for such a basic thing as a watch) will get obsolete. I personally think a timepiece should be timeless, and this is precisely why this thing works for me.

Pilot Kakuno Fountain Pen - I originally asked a friend to buy this for me in Japan, but she ended up giving it to me as a present. I love fountain pens because their built has basically made them a forever thing, as long as you never run out of ink supply, the pen will remain reusable. Also, ink colors can always change! Specifically for the Kakuno, I love how lightweight it is, and its shape makes for a perfect everyday writing pen.

Amazon Kindle 7th Gen - Got this for my birthday a few years ago, and it’s absolutely one of my favorite things in the world. As I’ve made a personal rule to only buy books that (1) I am willing to pass on, and (2) have most of its value reliant on its physical composition (usually design books and picture books with special print qualities), everything else has to be Kindle’d. The downside of having it, though, is I’ve turned it into a Netflix for books. I start reading a looooot of things but have a hard time finishing them. This actually has to be addressed soon. :p

This exercise helps me appreciate the things that I have even more, in a way enjoying what I put to good use, vs seeking joy in the act of acquiring (usually what ends up being materialism, and to an extent, hoarding).

#links #Claudine and minimalism

[8dgs]

Buford Highway: Development threatens Atlanta’s immigrant corridor

Alda Chen, manager of CD Tower & Gift Shop in Asian Square on Buford Highway, arranges her displays. Buford Highway is the cultural epicenter for metro Atlanta’s Latino and Asian populations. HYOSUB SHIN / [email protected]

The pulse of this region’s immigrant community is found along an eight-mile stretch of road in DeKalb County, just east of Atlanta’s city limits. Here, you can grab a green tea roll or soboro bread for breakfast at a Korean bakery, then slip next door for a lunch of pollo asado with a side of tortilla.

Atlanta doesn’t have a Chinatown or Koreatown or Little Havana. But there is Buford Highway, the international corridor where all these cultures, and more, co-exist.

“I don’t know where else you can have a taqueria beside a Vietnamese restaurant beside a Middle Eastern restaurant,” David Schaefer, managing director of advocacy for the Latin American Association, said recently. “And those groups live in very close proximity to each other. You go to an apartment complex and hear 20 languages.”

Buford Highway has been an affordable place for immigrants and first-generation Americans to shop, work and live for decades. More than 1,000 immigrant-owned businesses line the street. But the area’s growing popularity among developers is threatening to drastically change its culture and identity.

+ A dealer shop is decked with bunting on Buford Highway in Atlanta on January 19, 2018. Buford Highway is the cultural

A national trend toward urban living has coincided with a population boom in metro Atlanta, putting a premium on areas inside Interstate 285. Buford Highway — which runs through Brookhaven, Chamblee and Doraville — is one of the few places where builders can purchase land at relatively low prices.

Clusters of apartment buildings on the road have been purchased and razed. In their place sprout townhouses or condominiums that carry price tags far out of reach of the residents who have long lived along the thoroughfare. Now many are concerned that the panaderias, hair salons and ethnic markets could be muscled out by the Starbucks, Whole Foods and mixed-use developments.

At El Autentico Sinaloense Pollos Asados restaurant in Doraville, patrons pay little mind to the encroaching development. During lunchtime, they fill small tables and booths surrounded by bright green walls and posters of rural scenes.

Manager Octavio Vergara says the same people come into his restaurant day after day: Mexicans who miss home and its food; Americans who have developed a taste for authentic Sinaloa style chicken. Spanish hip-hop blares from the restaurant’s speakers. When the music shifts to a ranchera ballad, a waitress sings along.

Most of the customers know little about development coming to the old General Motors plant a half-mile mile away or the planned Peachtree Creek Greenway, which will start a mile down the road. But the changes will be hard to ignore.

Brookhaven City Councilman Joe Gebbia’s district runs along Buford Highway. He said change is unavoidable and to be expected.

“This is the hottest market right here, and it’s going to flow over into Chamblee and Doraville eventually,” he said.

He is sensitive to concerns about property values rising so rapidly that local business owners and residents are squeezed out. There are no magical solutions.

“We’re really wrestling with how to address this issue and how to be effective in doing it right,” Gebbia said. “We haven’t come up with the answer.”

Gebbia points to the cranes that hover over the North Druid Hills campus of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, as well as the recently constructed Emory Sports Medicine Complex that houses the Atlanta Hawks’ practice facilities.

As related businesses sprout up, the effects are bound to reach the immigrant corridor on the other side of I-85.

“This whole thing is just going to light up like a firecracker right here along Buford Highway,” Gebbia said.

The uncertainty worries longtime residents like 19-year-old Adela Lopez. She has lived in the Foxwoods Apartments almost all of her life, but now she wonders if rent will increase to the point her family is priced out or if the property might be sold to a developer who will tear down the buildings.

Nearby at the old GM site, a 165-acre project called the Assembly is already home to a movie studio and was chosen for the new headquarters of Serta Simmons Bedding. Also coming are apartments, a hotel, a park, shopping and so much office space that the Assembly is on the list of sites pitched to Amazon.

Marian Liou wants to bring attention to the businesses along Buford Highway that exist today. She created We Love BuHi to highlight the community’s cultural identity and to come up with programs and policies that support it.

“You can’t ever preserve a place’s value until the people there see it as a place of value and a place of protection,” she said.

+ Jonathan Jimenez, a stylist at The House of Jolie Hair Salon, cleans up his work station on Feb. 24, 2018. TIA

Deidre “Chantel Jolie” Bell opened the House of Jolie Hair Salon in the Northeast Plaza strip mall in September. On a recent Saturday afternoon, reggaeton blasted from the speakers as men and women waited their turn at the stylists’ chairs.

Bell said the location along Buford Highway helps her cater to people from various backgrounds. She isn’t too worried about the threat of development, as long as government agencies implement policies to protect small businesses.

“I think what it’s going to do is make my business grow,” she said. “It’s only going to bring more people.”

Much of the shop’s clientele is drawn from foot traffic generated by roughly 60 other businesses at the plaza.

Down the street at El Autentico Sinaloense Pollos Asados, Genesis Lugo waited for her order and talked about the sense of connectedness she feels when she comes to the restaurant. “The food they make here is like the food they make where my mom’s from,” she said.

Her brother discovered the restaurant a couple of years ago, and Lugo visits Buford Highway about once a month. Lugo said these kinds of restaurants make this part of Atlanta unique.

“It’s just really special to have all these cultures together to allow people to explore and try all these different things,” she said.

On the other side of Buford Highway is ViVi Bubble Tea, a colorful shop serving the milky beverage that originated in Taiwan. The New York-based owners wanted to expand into the Atlanta market, so they chose this roadway because of its high density of Asian residents and businesses.

“My family has always come here for grocery shopping,” Vivi employee John Zhang said of the area. “Especially if we want to have something close to our culture.”

+ Betsy Eggers and Sarah Kennedy lead a tour of an area in Brookhaven near Buford Highway that will one day become

Many look forward to the Peachtree Creek Greenway, the linear park that will extend 12 miles from Doraville to the Atlanta Beltline once completed.

The first mile of the Greenway will be built this year and snakes underneath Buford Highway. It will have wide sidewalks for pedestrians and cyclists, giving them close-up views of a babbling creek. Trailheads will hitch the Greenway to nearby roads and businesses.

“The people want connectivity,” said Sarah Kennedy, vice chairwoman of the nonprofit organization behind the Greenway.

Still, the project’s similarities to the Beltline have caused apprehension.

The Beltline, the network of parks and trails that circles intown Atlanta, has been popular among tourists, residents and developers, winning numerous awards for urban renewal. But it’s also caused housing prices to skyrocket. Some accuse project administrators of ignoring warnings and failing to prevent longtime residents from being priced out of their homes.

Patsy Moeller is a member of the board for Interfaith Outreach Home, a nonprofit that provides transitional housing along Buford Highway for needy families. The organization owns a 10-unit apartment building where clients pay reduced rents as part of a program to get them on their feet.

“Look at what is happening all around us, and we are right in the middle,” Moeller said. “Can the city come along and change zoning so that we are not allowed to be in that space anymore? What does that mean for our families?”

The Greenway’s backers say they have paid attention to some of the negative impacts the Beltline had on affordable housing, and they don’t want to replicate those problems along Buford. They are hopeful that local governments and other groups can help guide them.

“It’s difficult for us to have much control over other people’s property,” Greenway Chairwoman Betsy Eggers said. “That’s not our mission.”

+ Buford Highway is the pulse for Metro Atlanta’s Latino and Asian populations, particularly the stretch that begins in the city of

A group of Georgia Tech graduate students analyzed affordability along Buford Highway as part of their graduate level coursework last semester. Their professor, Gary Cornell, encouraged them to draft recommendations on how to preserve the area’s uniqueness, knowing that the Greenway and other developments could have a substantial impact on people who live there now.

His class presented it findings to the Brookhaven City Council in late November. Among the recommendations: requiring developers to calculate how new projects will affect affordable housing and creating zoning laws that focus on preserving Buford Highway’s character, even as new office buildings or subdivisions are planned.

Brookhaven Councilman Bates Mattison, whose district includes a small tract of the road, said the students’ suggestions should be taken seriously.

“That’s what our city needs is to really create a vision for this corridor. We know that it is our diamond in the rough that has so much economic potential,” he said.

The Latin American Association and Center for Pan Asian Community Services, both located in this area, are active in the fight to preserve Buford Highway as an immigrant-friendly community. Their efforts are buoyed by grassroots organizations like Los Vecinos de Buford Highway — translated to mean The Neighbors of Buford Highway.

Los Vecinos is an offshoot of work begun by Rebekah Cohen Morris when she was a teacher at Cross Keys High School. Hoping to keep her mostly Latino students engaged, she weaved civics and political activism into her lessons. After the class concluded for the year, those students decided to keep working. Today, Los Vecinos is a nonprofit that encourages people to speak up about the conditions of the neighborhoods and get involved in political conversations about the future of Buford Highway.

Sometimes, Morris worries the discussions are too late. She lives in the area and can rattle off the names of torn down apartment complexes.

It’s “hard to stop a rushing training,” she said. Still, she thinks there’s time to shape the way development goes.

Morris would like to see local governments update their zoning laws to allow more density in new housing developments, such as high-rise buildings. She thinks if developers have more units to sell, they’ll have incentive to keep them affordable.

She also wants governments to offer financial resources to landlords who would like to fix up aging complexes that have fallen into disrepair. Too often, Morris said, those complexes become eyesores and land in the hands of investors looking to build more townhouses.

Morris is also a proponent of inclusionary zoning, which requires developers to set aside a certain percentage of new units for affordable housing. The city of Atlanta’s inclusionary zoning ordinance just went into effect, so it’s too early to say if it will have an impact on housing prices near the Beltline and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

She believes the Greenway’s proponents, local governments, developers and residents must work together to address the challenges Buford Highway is facing.

“We have to think about things as interconnected,” she said.

Source Article

Learn More: http://www.8dgs.com/2018/03/02/buford-highway-development-threatens-atlantas-immigrant-corridor/

[newsvomit-blog]

California's housing crunch has turned liberals against one another

BERKELEY, Calif.— A median-priced one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco rents for nearly $3,300 a month.In the Silicon Valley community of San Mateo, the median home will set you back almost $1.4 million.

Even in semi-rural Petaluma in Sonoma County, at least an hour drive from the city, rent for a one-bedroom can reach $2,000 and more. To afford a place to live in the Bay Area, stressed workers and students are moving farther and farther out, commuting for hours a day from what used to be farm country.Others pile two and three to a room.

In Los Angeles, San Diego and along much of the coast, the picture is much the same.For many Californians, the housing crisis has become “a feeling of tightness in their chests and in their jaws,” said Brian Hanlon, a prominent housing activist, “because they have this sense that there is no future for them here.” But now the need for more affordable housing is provoking an intense ideological struggle, and in this left-leaning state, one that pits liberals against liberals.On one side are old-style liberals who lean against development and do not want to see construction cranes building high-rise apartments in their neighborhoods.

On the other side are progressives who support such building efforts and focus on the effect of long commutes on the environment, particularly from cheaper exurban areas with little mass transit. The struggle has recently reached a boil with the decision by some state political leaders to require the construction of new housing units.Frustrated by the inaction of local officials, they are moving to take control of planning decisions, setting off alarms among those who cherish the notion of local control.

The drive to build more housing units, particularly along bus and light-rail lines, has been spearheaded by members of the fledgling Yimby (for “Yes, in my backyard”) movement.The Yimbies have spread not only across California but to cities around the country — like Austin, Texas; Boston; New York; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle — where the amount of housing has not expanded to meet a surge of new jobs. The Yimby newcomers, many of them millennials, have run smack into old-guard liberals, often baby-boomers or older, who cut their political teeth during an era when one could be staunchly progressive and adamantly “slow growth.” The collision has not been a happy one.

“I think they are a combination of dumb and venal and maybe equal parts of both,” said Becky O’Malley, a 78-year-old Berkeley lawyer and journalist, when asked about the Yimby activists.She didn’t hesitate to add that some of the Yimbies appear to be “fronts” for big developers. On the other side, Hanlon, 35, the executive director of California Yimby, accuses opponents like O’Malley of having a drawbridge mentality, of wanting to exclude newcomers after having obtained entrée to the state’s rarefied housing market.

“They are the masters of hypocritical progressivism,” Hanlon says.“They have created what amounts to natural retirement communities.And now people like me can’t get a toehold.” Each side accuses the other of being overly entitled and insufficiently attuned to the needs of poor people.

O’Malley calls Hanlon “an entitled young white boy.” He retorts that she is one of the “elderly white homeowners” who too often turn up to oppose new housing.How did things get this testy? It began with California’s barely abated population growth.From just over 15 million in 1960, the state’s population now hovers close to 40 million residents, the vast majority crammed into a thin strip near the Pacific Coast.

But housing construction has not kept pace.A study by the Urban Land Institute found that by 2035 demand will call for an additional 2.5 million housing units. For decades, California mostly left local communities to their own devices when it came to land-use planning.

But in 1969, recognizing the “vital statewide importance” of providing enough housing, the state Legislature enacted a law that required each community to include a “housing element” in its general plan.The documents are supposed to lay the groundwork for a minimum number of new units — with quotas for very-low income, low-income and moderate-priced units. Experience has shown that many towns and cities do not write adequate housing elements into their plans.

And even when communities do, the needed units (particularly affordable ones) usually do not get built. Yet, the state’s booming economy — particularly among high-wage tech workers — keeps drawing newcomers to California’s big cities.Census figures last year showed the Bay Area had the highest household income in the country.

At $97,000 a year, the region moved ahead of Washington and was nearly $25,000 above the median household income for New York. If the misery of long commutes and oppressive rents is not enough to force a change, policymakers have found a new motivation in recent years: climate change.Researchers estimate that fully 37 percent of the earth-warming greenhouse gases produced in California begin with car and truck tailpipe emissions.

In 2008, the state passed the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, requiring each of 18 regions to show how they would reduce greenhouse gases by integrating land use, housing and transportation.One obvious imperative: House people close to their jobs, since less driving means less pollution.Still, the 2008 law did not force cities to build housing.

Last year, the Democratic-controlled state Legislature and Gov.Jerry Brown, the term-limited Democrat who leaves office next year, turned up the pressure on cities by passing two new laws.One requires cities that fail to keep pace with their designated allotment of housing to automatically approve new projects in areas already zoned for high-density development.

A survey this year found that the law would apply in the vast majority of communities, because just 13 governments met their housing allotments, while 378 did not. The other new law calls for penalties of $10,000 per unit for cities that fail to meet their housing requirements.The fines would go into a housing construction trust fund.

The first bill, written by state Sen.Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, drew opposition from old-line liberals, including the Sierra Club and the League of California Cities.They joined many city councils in saying the law does too much to help developers and takes away the long-sacrosanct right of cities and counties “to make smart local decisions about development,” as a Sierra Club spokesperson said.

But other environmental groups, like the Natural Resources Defense Council, supported the proposal, which won passage thanks to the support of an unusual coalition of Republicans and Democrats. Wiener is back this year with an even more aggressive measure to get substantial housing built near transit lines.His bill, SB 827, would allow the state to override local zoning restrictions and build taller residential buildings — as high as eight stories — around rail and bus stations.

With millions of new homes needed to meet population and market demands, Wiener argues California has no more time for half measures. “We will never meet our long-term climate goals unless we change traffic patterns and allow more people to live near public transportation,” said Weiner, 47, a Harvard Law grad who rides public transit.“Some cities have essentially opted out of building new housing, and it has led to this huge deficit.” Opponents, again including the Sierra Club, cite a litany of objections to SB 827.

They said the bill does not require that at least some portion of the state-mandated housing be reserved for people of modest incomes.They say speculators building new apartment complexes may displace poor people already living there.They wonder how cities will pay for the additional schools, police and other services needed to accommodate the new residents.

And they even question the proposal’s central premise: If new residents arrive with cars, who is to say they won’t spurn the nearby buses and rail lines and take to the roads? Wiener and his supporters reject those arguments, pointing to research showing that housing built adjacent to transit reduces car and truck traffic.And the lawmaker on Monday announced amendments to his proposal to protect the rights of existing tenants, especially the poor.The changes make explicit that cities will retain their right to block demolitions of existing structures.

When buildings are torn down, displaced tenants will have to be guaranteed equivalent housing during construction and the right to live in the new building, at their old rent. Wiener’s amendments also ban destruction of rent-controlled units and keep in place the ability of cities to order that a certain percentage of units in new buildings be set aside for low-income tenants. Around ever-more-crowded Berkeley, there’s no clear consensus about what should be done.

Claire Neal is one of four roommates who split the $3,000 monthly rent for a one-bedroom near the Berkeley campus.She acknowledges that building apartments may eventually reduce rents.“I know taller buildings might be more efficient, but they are really not very pretty,” says Neal, a senior studying environmental sciences.

“And if you are building up, you are going to tear down some things and change the neighborhood.” Waiting at the same Starbucks near the downtown Berkeley BART station, Rahsaan Coleman, 45, also was wary of pledges to build in lower-income communities.A lifelong resident of Oakland, he said he had already seen many friends in the African-American community forced out by gentrification. “If we build up, at what price? Who is going to live there? And is some of it Section 8?” said Coleman, who works at a nonprofit group, referring to a federal rent subsidy program.

“The promises made to some sectors of the community in the past have not been kept.” He said he had seen people forced to live on the streets, noting how many tent encampments are now packed beneath Bay Area freeway overpasses.The picture is not much different in Los Angeles, where a survey last year by the Homeless Services Authority found half of the homeless people said they were there because of eviction, foreclosure, unemployment or for “financial reasons.” Mike Jones, 23, who works for a music company, shares a $2,200-a-month one-bedroom with his girlfriend near the Oakland-Berkeley border.He has heard the objections to new construction and adds lost views and increased shadows to the list, but said something needs to be done about high rents and long commutes.

“The view might be diminished,” he said, “but that shouldn’t matter more than people matter.” Hanlon, of Yimby, called his group a growing force, saying it’s adding members even in outlying communities like Eureka, on California’s North Coast.The Yimbies say they are tired of being demonized for wanting something that approached what their parents generation had.Hanlon’s father, a postal worker, could afford to buy a home.

But even with two master’s degrees, Hanlon said he is not even close to that dream. “I would argue our generation’s inability to afford housing is not some moral failure or some lack of effort,” Hanlon said.“It’s the result of a dysfunctional system, and it’s dysfunctional because the older generation made it that way.” He said older white homeowners are the one group in the state that doesn’t support new housing.

When he goes to hearings about new development, he said, the opponents are typically “septuagenarians who just don’t want the kids living there.” Hanlon worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S.Forest Service before taking on the housing cause.He acknowledges that the Yimby group he now heads receives most of its funding from Silicon Valley tech investors, who want to see more housing for their workers.

He scoffs at the notion that his opinions have been bought by developers, pointing out that he is living in a cheap studio apartment in Sacramento. O’Malley, for her part, bridled at the notion that she is elitist.She derided other whites who fled Berkeley in the 1970s, when the community began busing to integrate its schools.

She helped her scientist husband start a tech company that turns digital script into speech.They sold the company at a handsome profit and now own two homes in the leafy Elmwood section of Berkeley.The O’Malleys act as patrons of the arts, allowing a gaggle of three or four musicians (and numerous regular guests) to live in one of the homes, rent free.

She has taken on Hanlon and the Yimbies on the news website, berkeleydailyplanet.com, which the O’Malleys bought in 2001.The Yimbies, she said, are guilty of “magical thinking” if they believe that housing near public transit will trickle down to benefit those who need it most. “These young people believe themselves to be liberals,” O’Malley said.

“But if they are not careful, their policies will build dormitories for people with high-paying jobs and leave no place for families and people of color.” The sharp talk suggests that fixing the housing shortfall will not be easy.And no one is predicting easy passage for Wiener’s legislation.But some of those who have been following the debate for years take heart that California has tackled other seemingly intractable issues.

Egon Terplan, the regional planning director for the Bay Area good government nonprofit SPUR, noted that the perennial deficits in the state budget have been erased — California now has a $6 billion surplus.And the state’s cap-and-trade program, which provides a financial incentive for companies to pollute less, is a bold initiative that has become a model for nations around the world. So perhaps a path toward building a new wave of homes is not impossible.

“I think we are entering a new era,” Terplan said, “and there seems to be a window of opportunity to really set a high bar for housing.” Source: NBC News.

California’s housing crunch has turned liberals against one another was originally published on NewsVomit

#against #another #california #crunch #housing #liberals #turned

[bluebookweb]

Restaurant’s Secret Weapon in the Battle of the ‘Grocerant’

Declining restaurant sales have been making more than a few headlines of late. Reasons vary, but the growth in alternative options for meal service is often cited as a contributing factor. And, no, it’s not meal kit services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh that constitute the greatest threat. Believe it or not, grocery stores are responsible for the majority of these poached sales.

A new term “grocerants” has even been coined to define this trend of grocery chains implementing restaurant footprints either inside or adjacent to their stores. Generally, the term is restricted to the idea of a fully-embedded restaurant-style experience (i.e. an in-house Starbucks), but many grocery stores are also expanding and enhancing their prepared food sections as well.

The Threat

As restaurants prepare to counter the rise of the grocerant, convenience, cost, and quality are all major factors to consider. The one-stop-shop appeal of the grocerant is undeniable because what’s not to like about grabbing dinner while also picking up everything you need for breakfast tomorrow morning?

Restaurants can’t sit back and let competitors like grocery stores win the convenience battle.

When it comes to cost, restaurants have history to contend with. During the recent recession, many restaurants’ aimed to preserve profits by increasing prices.

Once food costs normalized, restaurants chose to keep their prices high. In fact, recent Black Box Intelligence™ research revealed prices have continued to increase on average between four and five percent over the last two years. In many cases, those price increases have allowed chains to bolster their bottom lines in the face of declining store traffic.

However, as markets have stabilized, grocery stores have been able to bring prices back down, making them a value alternative to restaurants. And grocery stores aren’t just putting out the same grab-and-go of yesteryear (no day-old saran wrapped sandwiches here), they’ve upped their game to include more options. That’s introduced another issue as recent research also shows that consumers, and particularly millennials, perceive the grab-and-go food offered by grocery stores as a healthier option than fast food.

Fighting Back

Restaurants can’t sit back and let competitors like grocery stores – and make no mistake they are competitors – win the convenience battle. So how can restaurant’s compete with and overcome the grocerant challenge? Put simply – technology.

In this tech battle for consumers there are three major fronts to consider: convenience, personalization, and engagement. Today’s consumers are more tech savvy than ever and expectations are very high. While the grocerant experience is typically low tech, if it’s better than your restaurant’s digital experience, you will lose.

Convenience

Anything (and everything) that saves consumers time – especially at the end-of-the-day rush – is valued.  Other factors such as price and perceived healthiness are also part of the equation, but research shows that consumers are willing to compromise on the latter two for convenience. Recent research from Lux found that consumers are willing to pay 11 percent more for each convenience add whether that’s online grocery delivery or restaurant take-out.

Technologies like mobile order ahead that allow time-pressed consumers to quickly and easily order (and reorder) their favorite meal then swing by and scoop it up or have it meet them when they get home, trumps what the local grocery store can offer. The grocery store may cast a broader net with product offerings, but it has not yet made much of a play on the order ahead front or meal delivery. But that gap will likely close soon. So while restaurants currently have an advantage in this area, they need to capitalize on it now to win back convenience driven customers.

Personalization

Your customer values convenience, but they also value the ability to customize and personalize their meal and their ongoing experience with your brand. Again, this is where restaurants have the upperhand. Need that pizza to be half-pepperoni and half-Hawaiian? No problem. Want double meat on that sub? Sure. Need that burger on a gluten-free bun? We can do that, and we’ll remember it for the next time you order. The ability to customize a meal is particularly important to millennials who value the ability to make everything their own, and the added convenience of knowing what your customer likes makes it even more convenient. Restaurants have been at the forefront of this trend for decades and need to carry that through to digital ordering and delivery.

Many newer restaurant brands have built entire concepts around customizing orders, and even those who have not are still finding ways to meet customers’ needs in this area. In the battle against grocerants, personalization and the ability to easily process highly customized orders is critical. The tech exists to allow your mobile and online ordering to be just as customizeable as an in-store order. Again, while progressive grocerants are closing the gap, most still lack the ability for customers to customize their food offerings in any meaningful way.

Customer Engagement

Grocery stores pioneered the collection of customer data via “loyalty cards” back before they even possessed the computing capacity to process all the data they were collecting. Many of the larger grocery chains now have very sophisticated data gathering capabilities to analyze things like market basket data and replenishment cycles. But as powerful as this consumer knowledge is, grocery stores still lack the ability to act on these insights the way restaurants can, for example, through a branded mobile app.

Data is not engagement and having data does not by itself result in an increase in sales.

Simply put, data is not engagement and having data does not by itself result in an increase in sales. With an app on a consumer’s phone, the data generated by each interaction is insight into this customer’s preferences. This enables you to target relevant offers based on their interests and purchase behavior. The simply function of remembering that this customer ordered the chocolate cake last time allows you to upsell through the app. In fact, two-thirds of us are more likely to make a purchase from a merchant that sends us relevant and personalized promotions according to recent research from Accenture. Again, restaurants have the head start, but the grocerants are catching on and this gap will narrow over time.

The advent of grocerants has brought a new world of challenges for restaurants. And the changes will continue to come as disruptions like Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods promise to change the game again. As restaurants search for ways to compete for convenience with grocerants in an ever-changing landscape, technology can be a decisive weapon in this battle. The advantages in convenience, personalization and customer engagement puts technologically savvy establishments in an excellent position to overcome the grocerant challenge.

Restaurant’s Secret Weapon in the Battle of the ‘Grocerant’ posted first on happyhourspecialsyum.blogspot.com

[batfreshbananacollectionus-blog]

5 Foods That Help With Bloating

We had just pulled up to school and there in the parking lot was my girlfriend Lisa and her son Brahms. Since Secretary Vilsack invited me to join him at USDA as Under Secretary of Food and Nutrition Consumer Services (FNCS), not only have we helped to bring America back from the brink of a second economic depression, we have also worked to institutionalize more opportunities and pathways directed at helping states assist consumers and expand direct access to healthy and affordable food. Corporate enslavement, questionable nutrition facts, biased media, the misguided obsession for fame and zero responsibility with all the subliminal messaging that most succumb to. Breaking free and knowing that there's nothing wrong with you, just something wrong with the rest of the world, isn't exactly anything new as far as underlying themes go but its grounded elements does convey a relatable tale for those already rebelling against today's demons. There have been widely shared reports of students throwing their food in the trash and complaints that the new nutrition regulations in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which first lady Michelle Obama championed , cut portion sizes too dramatically The criticism caused some pundits to question whether the changes were having their intended impact, arguing that many students were turning their backs on the program. The results are displayed in an easy to read E-numbered format telling you the safety level and health benefits of the ingredients that make your food. The tech part exists in both what Schneider refers to as open-source” data of where the ingredients come from and a patent-pending beaded oil capsule for sustained release of the nutrients within — a necessary part of delivering nutrients to your body at the right time in a way that won't cancel each other out. Experts are optimistic that drastically decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and helping global communities adapt to climate change could help mitigate the threat. This means there are also two types of foodies in this world: those who watch Food Network and those who watch Top Chef. To help users get great answers faster, we're launching Ask to Answer Suggestions, which help you find the people who are most likely to be able to answer your questions. In the background, the Ask toolbar installer continues to run, but it delays execution for 10 minutes. Today we'll take a brief look at the state of ordering food using only iPhone apps. Instead of having to focus on a totally new piece of hardware, iOS 8 will increate the value of Apple's existing iPhone and iPad lineup. There is code in there for users ask questions about the pins that they are viewing, and code for the original Pinner to get a notification to answer the question. Over the last year while Chef Watson was in beta, Rivera revealed what proved to Bon Appétit that Watson had broader appeal was that people were using it to manage dietary constraints and solve daily food problems, including overcoming food waste.

Eat What app comes loaded with many more features to help you monitor your food and your family's health, simply by touching a few buttons. That can be another argument in favor of phasing out an old system, rather than making an immediate leap. The 1930 film Just Imagine included food pills alongside a number of other science fiction tropes. One of the nicest features of Food is the ability to tag your photos with a location and a caption. Offer help again soon, but in the meantime, know you that are doing all you can as a caregiver, and don't feel guilty. Wurtman believes that if the nutritional supplement appears to help delay impairment, then it could be prescribed to patients who show positive signs for the disease early on. In particular, our staff across the country continues to work with schools and districts to ensure they have the tools, training and assistance they need to meet the updated healthier food standards implemented under the historic and bipartisan Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. There's no precedent for that - right now, you can't use old 360 controllers on the Xbox One. The first generation of restaurant delivery services (JustEat, Grubhub, Delivery Hero) focused on the first step: they act as a pure software layer that aggregates a fragmented offering of independent restaurants (mainly takeaways), which manage their own fleet of couriers. But the company is attempting to amass the most comprehensive database about food available, with the participation of farmers, restaurants, distributors and artisanal food makers. As we enter the last lap of the 2016 elections, it's time for food to be a major issue on the table. Identifying http://makellosehaut-blog.info to work for means investigating the potential employer thoroughly, and that means asking solid questions. To use financial services terminology, Google's system becomes a guessing game on the spread between the bid and the ask..All this chaos, of course, leaves the market guessing, which is very good for Google - not to mention their stock price. In March, Postmates announced a similar partnership to be the exclusive Starbucks delivery service. At this age, food sources may be a safer bet than calcium supplements-a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that women between the ages of 45 and 84 taking calcium supplements for their bones were more likely to have plaque buildup in their arteries, increasing the risk for heart attacks. Apparently Gobble can create one food package per person per minute in its fulfillment center, thanks in part to the company's kitchen oracle” software that tells team members how to optimize their steps when preparing the dinner kits. Nikki Ostrower, who founded her own nutritionist practice NAO Nutrition , says the same thing about getting movement into your office routine. For example, for a patient at risk for diabetes, a doctor could create a project that outlines activity and nutrition recommendations and then follow the patient's activity, weight loss, eating habits and more. NutritionRank will distinguish itself by adding a layer of valuable context on top of that data. The new study does suggest the shorter chain molecules could pass into food more easily.

[kangaroomoney]

Top Financial Mistakes Under 25

These are a combination of the biggest financial mistakes that I have my myself and that a lot of young adults have made and some tips on how to fix them.

1. Not Saving or INVESTING This is kind of obvious and definitely easier said than done, but so vital to adulting. Up until this past year, my saving account has always been extremely turbulent. I would save a little then deplete time, save a little then deplete it.

About a year ago, I got serious about saving because I had goals I wanted to reach and soon. I saved 60% of my net income (after-taxes) and put it in a high yield online savings account. Online savings accounts can provide higher interest rates because they have lower overhead (cost associated with operation) due to not having to pay rent for the building, employee salaries, electricity, and other associated costs. Also, having an online savings account prevents you from constantly moving money back and forth between accounts which is a lot easier when your checking and savings are at the same bank.

Onto investing. It sounds like a scary and complicated notion and it kinda is because you’re betting and gambling with a lot of your money which could fluctuate a lot. It’s not actually that scary. Since the market has rebounded it has been a really good time to invest. I have always had a 401K set up with the jobs i’ve had and the tip is to save the same percentage that your company matches to optimize the amount that is going in. Since I get taxed a lot, I decided to save 10% and my company matched up to 6% so I could pay slightly less in taxes (we pay more of our paycheck in taxes than other age groups generally.) Putting money into your 401k adds up. Just check on it periodically and if you want to put more in CDs or more in the money market, you can adjust the percentage that is invested in each category.

One option that is really popular now is low cost index funds. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for Vanguard who started this. These index funds are diversified (invested in varies categories) and you can get in with as low as $300. I invested in a fund with $6000 and in the first quarter this year I yielded 7% growth which is greater than the market. The idea was that bankers who charge fees and get commission from managing your portfolio does not do any better than if you randomly picked stocks to invest in and they RARELY do better than the market. I should check my account more frequently than i care to admit. Investing in many individual stocks is a lot riskier because together they may not be diversified into different industries and you’d constantly have to watch it all day, every day and do so much more research, which I kind of do anyway because Im a great and on top of my life (kidding). But index funds are a great way to enter the investing realm.

2. Upgrading Too Soon (depreciating assets) A lot of people get a new job or get promotion and decide to #treatyoself by upgrading their car, buying a new gadget or upgrading their current tech items. If you buy a car without a heavy down payment, you’ll be sucked into this monthly debt you may not be able to afford. Just because you got approved for the loan, doesn’t mean you can afford it. I know a lot of people like to trade in cars but if you own a car that does not have a good resale value, don’t trade it in. Drive it until it dies. Growing up, my parents always said, “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.” They hated the idea of pay interest, so they would not buy a new car unless: it crashed, or died. My mom actually still drives her 1998 Toyota Sienna which my brother and I dubbed “Bertha”. They also paid for all their cars in cash. This idea is nice but, this isn’t as realistic these days. I would put in 35%-50% and finance the rest. I also love tech and gadgets. When I saw Brookstone had begun commercialize drones, I wanted one, bad. I read a million reviews on different drones and to be honest in like 2013 the drones at $400, sucked. They were flimsy, faulty and did not have a great camera, great dodge there. Going back on topic, wait out on large purchases like Laptops and tech toys. The general advise is if you have one that is functioning, dont get sucked in by marketing ploys of the new and flashy.

3. Budgeting- Not being realistic or not having one at all. Budgeting is so important because a lot of us don’t even know how much we spend or need to spend each month. In order to save, invest, and create fluidity, you have to budget. I don’t follow the 40, 30, 20, 10 rule that most financial blogs and institutions suggest. This is because we all live differently. I love food and cannot cook to save my life therefore, my food expenditure would be significantly higher than someone who is competent in the kitchen. I am a little crazy because initially I put all my expenses each month in an excel spread sheet and use that to adjust my spending and plan for future events like wedding and trips. My credit card also does this but i have multiple ones for different purposes and this spreadsheet just allows me to make graphs and see trends a lot better. I am not saying people need to do this because it is an extreme measure and I love spreadsheets but some sort of tracking is important. There are so many apps out there like Mint, Wallaby, Wally that you can input CC info and are able to track your spending. 

I put in my core and fixed expenses that don’t change: rent, student loans, car payments, electric, gym memberships, etc. Then I personally put aside how much I wanted to save. Whatever was left over was what i had to to work with for leisure because at the time, my main focus was saving. This did not allot me with much because I’m young and working in the city making, not a ton of money. I soon realized i didn’t need to spend $500 on clothing each month or rationalize going to NY every weekend or even small things like grabbing Starbucks everyday even though my office has a Starbucks machine #notsoychaithough...

Adjust your budget frequently. I adjust each quarter. I had a speadsheet for the year with a planned budget then at the beginning and end of each quarter go in an see how i’ve done and change things for the next quarter to see what i can improve on. Things change and events come up. My friends and i like traveling so when we plan a trip I incorporate it into my budget. 

Be flexible. I can never understand people who don’t like change, as it is the only thing that is constant, (haha so cliche). It true though, you have to be able to say “ok, this month, I cannot got to Starbucks at all because I have a trip coming up or because I had to replace my brakes the previous month.” 

Get rid of non-utilized memberships and expenses. A friend of mine was paying for 3 different gyms at one time. Take a look at everything you pay for and get rid of non-core expenses. Some people have issues parting with things but if there is no value greater than its cost, get rid of it. I had a similar kerfuffle when I thought, oh i can get rid of my gym membership because my job has a gym in the basement, easy expense to nix. I then visited my company gym, and it just wasn’t for me. It didn’t motivate me to work out, it was cramped and I had to workout with my coworkers next to me, ugh, kidding. So i decided to keep my gym membership but i did nix my yoga membership because I just cannot wake up at 5AM and Chaturanga at 6. I also combined a lot of my memberships with my brother and parents to reduce monthly costs like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Tidal, and AmazonPrime and pay annually so there isnt that monthly conversation of. “Hey, you havent paid me the $5 for Netflix” and think well it’s only $5, i’ll let it go. These expenses add up. The people you choose have to be reliable or you have to be reliable. Cancellation can be a bitch if communication is not clear.

One big problem I used to have with budgeting was that I was not realistic. I would say I would save $1000 a month with only $2000 coming in monthly, but I would do it by running up my credit card on things i did not need and pretend like those expenses did not exist. I just was not strict enough on myself. If you create a budget take it month by month or week by week and keep yourself on track.

4. Yes Man - Social life & Overspending This ties into budgeting but more of the social aspect. Living in a city, there are so many things to do. There are events every weekend or even during the week. You gotta stick to your budget and know how much leg room you have to for fun. I am one who always says yes, because I don’t like disappointing and i like doing things. As one of my coworkers, Elliott had described as an “activities based” person. I am definitely one of those. DC is conveniently located where less an hour out in any direction, you will get a completely different but very capitalistic environments.  Happy Hours and company events were the bane of my existence. I have to say, a lot of people I know go out drinking 3 days a week. This adds up and no one is paying me enough to be drunk 3 days a week. You can’t say yes, when your bank account is screaming “NO.”

5. Credit Cards

At last, these evil little things can be so easily misused and you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. I have a couple but only use 2 of them. There are so many articles I used to read about the best ones or the credit cards with the best perks but they’re all quite comparative. I’ve had a line of credit since I was 16 because my parents mistakenly decided to allow me to have one under their account. My first real credit card was a travel card from the bank i have my accounts in, which was not terrible because If i spend $3000, i got 40,000 points which equated to a free flight to Cali which I was planning for anyway. This card, got in into a lot of trouble and took way too long to eventually pay off. I then got a Discover card, which was my trojan horse. The limit was $500 and this really allowed me to control my spending. I actually still use this card for most of my purchases because there is no reason for my to spend more than $500 each month on miscellaneous purchases. They also had better cash back offers which I enjoyed the quarterly divisions. It is a great card for college students and young adults. I still use my travel card solely and immediately pay it off. I still live by the rule of putting everything on credit first then paying it off because i now have that control and not overspend for the most part. If you dont have that self control i would say just, pay everything in cash. You cannot go down a hole by overspending and think, “well i’ll get 5% or 2% back.” I also have not been interested in cards that have an annual fee though they have slightly better cash back offers or perks. Find one that suits your needs. If you drive a lot, get one with better cash back offer for gas purchases. If you travel often, getting a card with an airline has better perks than the generic travel cards for the most part. Its hard if you fly all over the place and don’t stick with one specific airline. But a travel card would be beneficial in that aspect. The rule of thumb is pay it off immediately. Don’t just pay the minimum because after your initial promotional no interest period, those rates are upward of 20% usually. If you put off full payments, you’ll balloon up your monthly payments after that introductory period. Having credit card will build up your credit but mismanaging will also ruin you. If you have plans for a big purchase like a car or home in the future, it may not be an option if you dig yourself a hole in debt.

This was a long post but, hopefully you got something out of it. I definitely have made many money mistakes but I’m here learning and trying to help at the same time. Happy adulting!

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