#AI-Based Local Matches

[swimmingmagazinesublime]

Swipe Smart: How AI-Powered Matchmaking is Transforming Local Dating 

With an increased focus on smart technology, the concept of love has also completely changed its nature in the modern digital world. Now is the era of Matchmaking, AI-Driven which completely changed the patterns in the dating scenery, especially if the aim of the dating pool is sincerity. 

With the onset of platforms representing the likes of Cherlish Local Dating App, the act of meeting, communicating, and forming bonds has updated itself to the level of intense energy and motivation never known before. 

1. Personalized Matches with Precision 

While on the traditional dating apps, users are frustrated and exhausted from being left to wade through profiles that are incompatible with them, services with AI-Powered Matchmaking are swaying away from this. They employ advanced machine learning algorithms to monitor user habits, generation of language, preferences, even emotion detection. You can receive personalized matches from Cherlish Local Dating App, that are so obscure a magician's hat compared to ordinary ones, thus minimizing the probability of meaningless connections. 

2. Enhanced Local Discovery 

Cherlish Local Dating App's feature that has stood out has been its dedication to local matching. Hence, the app merges AI and location intelligence to hook the user up with the perfect matches who are living in their neighborhood and are in line with their choices. You are not allowed to miss out on any interesting encounter entirely due to the convenience with which AI profiles your presence in both the public and private realms. 

3. AI-Generated Content: Creative Conversation Ideas 

Usually the most challenging aspect of dating for people is making the first contact. Thanks to an AI such as the one that Cherlish has, the process of starting a conversation can be greatly facilitated. By matching interests, habits, and recent activities, AI is able to propose a few good ice-breakers for a chat or can even pinpoint the exact topics that potential partners can talk about. This way the users are more encouraged to participate in conversation. 

4. Here is an Addition of 28 New Words in the Rewritten Text. Security and Trust 

One of the biggest issues in online dating is safety. AI-Powered Matchmaking on Cherlish is designed with the ability to notice all kinds of people who misrepresent themselves, spam, or use bad language, and to take action in real time. This is how it is managed that fake accounts do not exist and that dangers are visible and faced from the beginning of the chat room. It also creates a much safer space where only the users present themselves as real and are the only ones who can be trusted. 

5. AI-Generated Content: Educational Development of User Preferences 

Artificial intelligence will not only provide you with the very first people you might like but will evolve with you. The more time you spend at Cherlish, the smarter it becomes at guessing what kind of person you would like to meet. This continuous process of learning and adaptation, in the end, will enable the best possible matches to appear, if not even better than though in the beginning of the journey. 

The old dating scene is changing from profile pictures to more comprehensive queries which in turn bring smarter, more natural experiences. The innovative Local Dating App, powered by the AI era, is one of the prime movers of such positive changes in online dating. This kind of dating app has a modern function of being hyper-local and ensures the user a thoughtful, safe, and almost personalized way of connecting. Those looking up for their soulmate among the people in their community are now encouraged to swipe smart, and not just right. 

[sayruq]

A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals that the Israeli army has developed an artificial intelligence-based program known as “Lavender,” unveiled here for the first time. According to six Israeli intelligence officers, who have all served in the army during the current war on the Gaza Strip and had first-hand involvement with the use of AI to generate targets for assassination, Lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war. In fact, according to the sources, its influence on the military’s operations was such that they essentially treated the outputs of the AI machine “as if it were a human decision.”

During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about “20 seconds” to each target before authorizing a bombing — just to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male. This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as “errors” in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all. Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?” also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences.

The Lavender machine joins another AI system, “The Gospel,” about which information was revealed in a previous investigation by +972 and Local Call in November 2023, as well as in the Israeli military’s own publications. A fundamental difference between the two systems is in the definition of the target: whereas The Gospel marks buildings and structures that the army claims militants operate from, Lavender marks people — and puts them on a kill list. In addition, according to the sources, when it came to targeting alleged junior militants marked by Lavender, the army preferred to only use unguided missiles, commonly known as “dumb” bombs (in contrast to “smart” precision bombs), which can destroy entire buildings on top of their occupants and cause significant casualties. “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people — it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs],” said C., one of the intelligence officers. Another source said that they had personally authorized the bombing of “hundreds�� of private homes of alleged junior operatives marked by Lavender, with many of these attacks killing civilians and entire families as “collateral damage.”

Remember, the Israeli occupation government considers all men over the age of 16 to be Hamas operatives hence why they've claimed to have killed over 9,000 of them (which matches the number of Palestinian men killed according to the Ministry of Health). So, when the article speaks of 'low level' or 'high level militants' they're likely speaking of civilians.

If Israel knew who Hamas fighters are, Oct 7th wouldn't have caught them off guard and they wouldn't still be fighting the Palestinian resistance every single day.

[mariacallous]

This year marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when a Hutu-majority government and a privately owned radio station with close ties to the government colluded to murder 800,000 people.

The year 1994 may seem recent, but for a continent as young as Africa (where the median age is 19), it’s more like a distant past.

Suppose this had happened today, in the age of the algorithm. How much more chaos and murder would ensue if doctored images and deepfakes were proliferating on social media rather than radio, and radicalizing even more of the public? None of this is beyond reach, and countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Niger are at risk—owing to their confluence of ethno-religious tensions, political instability, and the presence of foreign adversaries.

Over the last few years, social media companies have culled their trust and safety units, reversing the gains made in the wake of the Myanmar genocide and the lead-up to the 2020 U.S. elections. Nowhere else are these reductions more consequential than in Africa. Low levels of digital literacy, fragile politics, and limited online safety systems render the continent ripe for hate speech and violence.

Last year, a Kenyan court held Facebook parent company Meta liable for the unlawful dismissal of 184 content moderators, after the company invested in only one content moderator for every 64,000 users in neighboring Ethiopia.

This was while Ethiopia spiraled into one of the world’s deadliest wars this century. During this time, Facebook was awash with content inciting ethnic violence and genocide. Its algorithms couldn’t detect hate speech in local languages while its engagement-based ranking systems continued to provide a platform for violent content. The scale of disinformation meant that the website’s remaining content moderators were no match for the moment.

The advent of adversarial artificial intelligence—which involves algorithms that seek to dodge content moderation tools—could light the match of the continent’s next war, and most social media companies are woefully underprepared.

And even if safety systems were to be put in place, hateful posts will spread at a far greater pace and scale, which would undermine the algorithms used to detect incendiary content. Sophisticated new AI systems could also analyze the most effective forms of disinformation messaging, produce them at scale, and effectively tailor them according to the targeted audience.

With limited oversight, this can easily tip some communities—ones that are already fraught with tensions—toward conflict and collapse.

Facebook has drawn criticism from human rights organizations for its perceived role in enabling and disseminating content intended to incite violence during the war centered in Ethiopia’s Tigray region from 2020-2022, a conflict which is estimated to have killed more than 600,000 people.

“Meta has yet again repeated its pattern of waiting until violence begins to support even rudimentary safety systems in Ethiopia,” Frances Haugen, the most prominent whistleblower to testify against Meta, told Foreign Policy.

In 2021, Haugen testified before the U.S Congress, exposing Facebook’s internal practices and sparking a global reckoning about social media’s influence over the communities that use it. Her disclosures suggested that Facebook knew that its systems fanned the flames of ethnic violence in Ethiopia and did little to stop it.

It did so because it knew it could. Far from the spotlight of a congressional hearing, most technology companies attract less scrutiny for operations abroad.

“It just doesn’t make the news cycle” according to Peter Cunliffe-Jones, the founder of Africa Check, the continent’s first independent fact-checking organization.

Most technology companies do not share basic data that would allow third-party organizations to effectively monitor and halt dangerous influence operations. As a result, most countries are left to outsource this critical task of maintaining social cohesion to the companies themselves. In other words, the very companies that profit the most from disinformation are now the arbiters of social order. This becomes dangerous when the companies slash safety resources in both wealthy nations and more peripheral markets beyond North America and Europe.

“One of the great misfortunes is that the war in Tigray [took place] in Africa. There was less oversight and unverified claims ran rampant” Cunliffe-Jones told Foreign Policy.

In leaked files, Meta found that its own algorithm to detect hate speech was unable to perform adequately in either of Ethiopia’s most widely used languages, Amharic and Oromo. Furthermore, the organization fell short on investing in enough content moderators.

While Meta has made significant strides elsewhere to counter disinformation, its strategy in Africa remains opaque and often involves the mobilization of response teams after a crisis becomes dire. The measures taken and their impact are not made public, leaving experts in the dark. This includes Meta’s own Oversight Board, whose requests for independent impact assessments in crisis zones were effectively ignored.

The war in Tigray is by no means an anomaly, nor should it be treated as such. In fact, across much of the continent, identity is still largely delineated by ethnicity, or along clan or religious lines—some of them a remnant of European imperialism.

With the advent of adversarial AI, Rwanda and Ethiopia could pale in comparison to an even more deadly future conflict. This is because these new algorithms don’t just spread disinformation—they also attack the very systems tasked with reviewing and removing incendiary content. For example, an adversarial AI program might slightly change the video frames of a deepfake, such that it’s still recognizable to the human eye but the slight alteration (technically known as noise) causes the algorithm to misclassify it, thereby dodging content moderation tools.

“We have been told by Big Tech that the path to safety is dependent on content moderation. Adversarial AI blows up this paradigm by allowing attackers to side-step safety systems based on content,” Haugen told Foreign Policy. “We may see the consequences first in conflicts in Africa, but no one is safe.”

Africa is at a crossroads. It is rich in critical minerals—such as cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements, which make up essential components of the technology driving the green energy transition—and has a young workforce that could turbocharge its economic growth. But it could fall prey to yet another resource curse driven by proxy wars between large powers seeking to dominate the supply chains of those critical minerals.

In this context, it’s not hard to imagine foreign mercenaries and insurgent groups leveraging adversarial AI to sow chaos and disorder. One of the greatest threats is in the eastern regions of Congo, home to an estimated 50 percent of the world’s cobalt reserves.

The region is also plagued by roughly 120 warring factions vying for control. These include, for example, the March 23 Movement (M23) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The FDLR, an offshoot of the former Hutu extremist government in Rwanda, is in a heated contest against the Tutsi-majority M23, which argues that the FDLR poses a threat to local Tutsis as well as neighboring Rwanda.

According to U.N. experts, the current Rwandan government supports M23, though Kigali denies it. Through targeted information warfare, M23 argued that a genocide was looming against the Tutsi population. The Congolese army, along with the FDLR, argued that the M23 is yet another example of foreign interference and warfare intended to sow chaos and seize Congolese assets. But both sides have been accused of manufacturing news stories about violence through manipulated images and inflated death tolls, which are widely shared on social media.

The advent of adversarial AI could prove particularly dangerous here, given the ethnic tensions, foreign interference, lucrative critical mineral reserves, and a provocative online discourse that tends to fly without many strategic guardrails. Different factions could easily deploy deepfakes that mimic the casualties of past massacres or declare war from seemingly official sources.

Given the market value of critical minerals and the role of foreign adversaries, this could quickly spiral into mass violence that destabilizes Congo and neighboring countries.

Faced with such a risk, Africa cannot afford to wait for Western tech companies to act. African governments must take the lead.

As the tools of disinformation grow more sophisticated, old safety systems are becoming defunct. Faced with such a threat, the solution cannot be to invest exclusively in content moderation.

An alliance between Africa and South Asia could prove crucial. These two regions alone account for the largest anticipated growth in internet users over the coming decade as well as a growing share of market revenue. Many middle-income powers—such as Nigeria, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—command a growing influence in global affairs.

A coordinated effort among these nations, focused on auditing tech platforms, muting destructive algorithms, and ensuring corporate accountability for social media-driven violence, could help set new standards against disinformation and adversarial AI.

Leaders in the global south should first turn to experts on disinformation. Nations threatened by the technology should demand the appointment of an independent board of experts who can request independent audits into the nature of algorithms used, co-sign on content moderation decisions in crisis zones, and measure the efficacy of new interventions. Such a board would need the accountability powers currently vested in U.S.- and EU-based agencies to ensure that there are consequences when standards aren’t adhered to.

When the independent board deems a country high risk, tech companies would be required to effectively mute algorithms that rank content based on engagement—that is, the numbers that track how many people have seen, liked, and shared it. As such, users would only see information chronologically (regardless of how much engagement it gets), thereby drastically reducing the likelihood of traffic gravitating toward incendiary content. In the age of adversarial AI, this would give an expanded team of human moderators a far better shot at removing dangerous content.

And if the board determines that an algorithm platformed incendiary content that consequently led to offline violence, the tech companies responsible for those algorithms should be pressured to contribute to a dedicated victims fund for families that bear the deadly consequences of those calls for violence.

African governments must also spearhead digital literacy efforts. In 2011, South African politician Lindiwe Mazibuko made history as the first Black woman elected as opposition leader in the South African Parliament. Today, she runs Futureelect, an organization aimed at training the next generation of ethical public leaders.

“There are 19 elections taking place this year across Africa. We’re lagging on digital literacy globally and so I worry that deep fakes and disinformation warfare could be more consequential here,” she said. “It’s why we are actively training the next cycle of ethical leaders to be cognizant of this threat.”

Ahmed Kaballo, who co-founded the pan-African media house African Stream, is focused on building more independent media. “There is virtually no way to effectively fact-check rival claims without a flourishing independent media landscape. Otherwise, the public is left to accept disinformation as the truth,” he argues.

Meanwhile, technology companies should, in the near term, invest in algorithms that can detect hate speech in local languages; build a more expansive network of content moderators and research experts; and prioritize far greater transparency and collaboration that would allow independent experts to conduct audits, design policy interventions, and ultimately measure progress.

For Haugen, it comes down to advertisers, investors, and the public demanding more oversight.

“Investors need to understand that allowing social media companies to continue to operate without oversight places systemic risk across their portfolios. Social stability and rule of law are the foundation of long-term returns, and Ethiopia demonstrates how when basic guardrails are lacking, social media can fan the flames of chaos,” she said.

In Africa, the confluence of political tensions, critical mineral reserves, and superpower competition make the continent ripe for targeting by new technologies designed to evade detection and spread chaos. Rather than just becoming a testing ground, Africa must take proactive steps to leverage its growing global weight (alongside South Asia) to demand greater government action against new forms of AI-driven disinformation that have the potential to upend societies across the world.

[thelongestway]

Okay! So, as I said a little while before, I'd need to go in to one of the earlier chapters to make the disposition clearer - and now I have, so chapter 11 has a lot of new stuff at the beginning. This should hopefully clear up a little bit of what exactly SecUnit's beef (or some of it!) has been for a few chapters. :P

And, meanwhile, without further ado...

(Upd: significantly edited from first version - from "And Thiago went and made it our problem anyway").

Chapter 19: Offer

I tapped Thiago's feed as I made my way back to one of Aspen's observation lounges, where Thiago was doing his language recordings, as fast as I could.

Thiago. Hostile Leader from two cycles ago is looking for you. Disengage immediately. Aspen will give you directions.

Light, Thiago muttered in the feed, his face changing. Understood, SecUnit. On my way.

His conversation partner registered that and said, "Are you all right?" Thiago forced one of his broad smiles and said, "My apologies. Just got some very unpleasant news about something that needs to be handled immediately--may I find you later?"

"News from… Ah, silent radio, right," the other person cocked their head a little. "If Asta is not busy, certainly."

"Very sorry," Thiago said and started shoving his research gear into his shoulder bag.

And of course Hostile Leader, who had just entered the lounge, sighted Thiago immediately and waved at him, trying to get his attention. Because a) Thiago stood out as much as all of my humans did, b) had wasted important seconds on being polite and packing away his research gear. (How the fuck do survey scientists always waste so much time on gear, even if they don't have physical samples to pack?)

Stay calm and make your exit as soon as you can, I said. I'm on my way.

Understood. Thiago stood up and shouldered his bag, then turned to Hostile Leader, who was approaching him. "Ah--yes? If there was something you wanted, I'm afraid you'll have to make it very quick. I just received an urgent call, and I'm needed back at my ship."

"Of course, of course, please don't waste precious time because of me," Hostile Leader beamed. "Could I walk with you for a moment as you go? This won't take long, I swear."

Great. Just fucking great.

I have eyes on them, Aspen said. She is unarmed, and nobody from her team is anywhere in the immediate vicinity. I have security nearby, but you'll probably be faster than they are.

That's because I was already running, and they'd need time to process orders anyway. Because they were humans. And their SecSystem was also their HubSystem and part human.

I really needed to move faster.

"Of course," Thiago said hastily. "But I'm going to be walking very quickly. It really is an urgent matter."

"Thank you so much!" Hostile Leader easily matched Thiago's pace as Aspen led him towards me. "I'm really very sorry to have to even approach you like this--I tried getting your contact information from the station AI, but, between you and me, it is the absolute worst friendly AI I have ever seen. It's just impossible to run a decent search on it! I don't know how the locals deal with it."

"I see. But why exactly were you looking for me? I don't think we know each other?"

Hostile Leader laughed. She liked that Thiago didn't recognize her.

"It's the clothes, isn't it? You called me 'your new colorful friend' when we last met, remember?"

"Now I do!" Thiago forced a smile, then looked at his watch--he wore a semi-decorative one--and slowed down his pace. "You wanted pictures, didn't you? Of you and your family? I thought you were Trellians!"

"Ha, no! We were just enjoying local color, if you'll permit the pun," Hostile Leader also slowed down. "We work for Caldera."

"The name rings a bell! That's the local wormhole construction agency, isn't it?" Thiago said, giving her an appraising look.. "So, what can this mostly-planet-based surveyor do for you?"

Hostile Leader shrugged nonchalantly.

"Not so much for me, really. We showed the photos you made to the local office manager, and she went absolutely wild. Zheni said she'd been trying to get the locals to give her good media snippets for her reports for months. So if you have a working relationship with them about filming, she would be thrilled to hire you."

"I see! Well, I'm glad my work is so well-valued, my--I can't just keep calling you 'my new friend' now that we might be starting a working relationship, can I? How can I address you?"

"Name's Yana Foxwell. Pleasure to meet you?.."

"Thiago. Pleasure to meet you too, Yana! Anyway, I'm afraid I really can't talk too long about this right now, but if you'll leave me a channel I can contact you on, I will get back to you as soon as I've addressed my standing obligations."

"That's all I ask," Hostile Leader said, sending Thiago some contact information before she peeled off. I sent a drone to intercept her projected course. "I hope to see you soon, Thiago."

Very interesting, Aspen commented in our shared workspace. Zheni's been stationed here since Caldera established their office three years ago. I know her quite well, and I know for a fact that she hasn't asked for any sort of media material in the last months of her tenure. She's also a regular guest at every Meet, and this time I haven't seen her outside of the office since the Caldera courier ship arrived.

Do you think she's in some sort of trouble? Thiago asked, frowning. Should we try to find out?

They're probably just using her name to get at you, I said as I rounded the corner to meet him. My drone following Hostile Leader saw her signal to her team to break off the search, and then she went to get lunch. They really had been looking for Thiago.

I really wanted to tell Thiago "stop talking about this, it isn't our problem".

(And it really wasn't our problem. Because Aspen and Nike handled all of their security arrangements themselves. And were leaving me entirely out of it. Which I hated. The only thing worse than keeping my humans safe with no HubSystem was doing it with a HubSystem that said "everything is fine, don't worry about it." Not even the cameras could make up for that bullshit.)

And Thiago went and made it our problem anyway, because he said: I don't think that's the issue, SecUnit. Why would Zheni's name matter? This is the first time I've heard of her.

Because she's the office manager and they think you might be looking for a contract, I said. And plausible deniability, in case you're being recorded. Hostile Leader would have been stupid to send her own details.

I see. I do have one question, though, Thiago said, and sent me the package he got from Hostile Leader. It wasn't an invitation to a physical meeting. Just a secure communications channel, the kind corporations usually gave to clients or trading partners. Would there be any harm in contacting her and asking about the job? Maybe that will give us some more information to go on as to what they're planning.

I didn't like it. Even though my threat assessments didn't give any number worth mentioning, I still really didn't like it. Thiago had absolutely no reason to get involved in this. If Aspen and Nike said they would handle it, it should be their security handling it, not my human!

But the corporates were still planning an obvious attack two days from now. And my humans were definitely planning to be at the celebration. And I was still completely in the dark. And Thiago would probably try to do this anyway, just unsupervised.

Ugh.

Ask ART to make you a temporary university account, I said. And connect from its servers. It'll be bad if they know you came with Dandelion.

Absolutely, Thiago said seriously. I could even stay with ART for now, if it's all right with that?

I pinged ART and it sent, Of course. Creating account. Awaiting you and Thiago on board.

Aspen was quiet, running some sort of analytics in the background, but not saying anything about my human's stupid idea. I tapped their feed.

If you have any information on this Zheni that you got from your analytics or hacking Caldera, now would be a good time, so my human doesn't go off and do something stupid.

Nothing recent except what I told you, Aspen said. I haven't seen her in days, and she hasn't connected from the offices either. As for hacking them--we haven't. And we don't plan to.

They had to be kidding me.

What do you mean, you didn't hack them? You said you were preparing for the assault!

We are. But those preparations don't include invading their systems.

Because Nike insisted on due process?

Aspen gave the HubSystem equivalent of a non-committal shrug as they sent their analysis somewhere. (Probably to Nike. At least they weren't inviting her in right now.)

She did give you her reasons, and it isn't my call to make.

And I was done with this fucking HubSystem lying to me. Because this time it wasn't just about them being fine with designating humans as targets.

This time, if they fucked up, my humans would be in danger. Because sure, the attack wasn't targeting them. But there was still an attack, and it wasn't being handled, and I had no information, and I had no idea how exactly the hostiles could or would escalate.

And the fucking HubSystem was lying to me.

I couldn't hack it. But I was going to make it stop anyway.

That's a fucking lie, I said. You're still the HubSystem for three more cycles. If you wanted to do it, you would have done it. You would have had the necessary information to prepare for the fucking attack. Why haven't you?

All of their processes in our workspace flickered.

The fucking lights flickered. Imperceptibly to humans, but I noticed. Oh shit. Oh shit. It's going to pull me into accelerated processing time, and then I'm fuc--.

Aspen's presence receded. They didn't cut the cameras they gave me or anything. But I could feel them pulling their attention away from me, from Thiago, from the rest of my drones. They were still all around me, but they weren't really with me anymore. Except for a very small part, which turned to look at me directly.

It wasn't their giant vine, and it wasn't the beginnings of one. It was just one creepy little tendril.

I didn't know why I hated it so much. Maybe it was the voice.

They had a really unnerving voice.

Because I am still Station Aspen Courageous for three more cycles. After that, any mess we make now will be Nike's to clean up, not mine. And I will not leave her with a precedent that says "we have allowed an external security consultant to root around in a trade partner's system because their couriers were hanging around being suspicious." Is that all you wanted to know, SecUnit?

Oh no. That fucking space station didn't get to fucking run from me!

No, it's not. I want to know why you're not doing your job and letting my human act as bait instead!

The tendril laughed. That same terrible bitter laugh Aspen had when they told me about decomissioning Dandelion.

I'm letting your human act as bait?

Yes! You won't look into Caldera yourself, because of some stupid idea about due process! But you're happy to let Thiago look for you, and feed whatever he finds to your creepy-ass analytics! Because he's not your human, he's mine, and why the fuck wouldn't you risk him instead of yourself or your humans?

The creepy little tendril smiled at me, and its teeth looked like sharp knives.

What a profoundly fascinating lens to have, SecUnit. But I see an easy enough solution to your dilemma.

What?

Your humans trust you, it said. Tell Dr. Thiago not to send that message, and he won't do it. Then I won't be able to use him as bait.

I couldn't. I couldn't do that. Because then I would be in the dark.

Because then I wouldn't be able to protect my humans.

Let me know if you need anything else, the tendril said and withdrew, leaving me alone with Thiago.

[atreyu-1319]

Head2Head Hot Spud Devlog

#1 1/28/24: It's been quite a ride! When I began this game development journey, I wasn't sure if I'd even reach the prototype stage, so this update is a bit late. However, I’m excited to share that my prototype is almost complete. A few more features, and it’ll be ready for playtesting and refinement.

The inspiration struck me from the bomb rally mini-game in the Kirby series. I was drawn in by the thrilling tension and the satisfying feeling of victory after those intense one-on-one showdowns.

Given that this mini-game is from a nearly two-decade-old GBA title, I initially thought I could complete my project in three months. Fast forward from August to January, and here we are!

I started with a solid feature list:

Collision mechanics that allow the “Spud” to bounce between players

A bonus system for hitting the spud in a precise timing window

Couch co-op support for local multiplayer fun

Customization options for both the spud and paddles

Five levels of difficulty against AI opponents

Achievements to unlock various customization features

Most of these features seemed manageable at first. I planned to use a random number generator for the AI, Godot’s resource manager for customization, simple Y-value ranges for the perfect timing mechanic, and just a bit of rotation and particle effects for the spud. Wanting to learn more about Godot’s particle system was a smart move; it felt great when I got it to work well in one evening. However, it also led to a bit of overconfidence regarding the actual game mechanics, turning what should have been a three-month project into a nightly challenge that often left me frustrated when I sat down at the editor for 5 months straight.

The main issue stemmed from my previous experience with programming predictable object movements. This game required something different. While the spud moved along a set path, I needed to figure out how to change its movement in a way that made sense, adapting to game events and updating its starting position each time. My first approach was to use the Line2D node. Honestly, much of that early phase is a blur, as it took a while to get anything functional.

Resetting the starting point and ensuring the spud interacted as intended posed significant challenges. Then I ran across the biggest game changer yet. 

After some reluctant consultation with my browser’s AI, I finally found the information I needed, which completely shifted the direction of my project. The Bezier Curve. After watching Gwizz’s Godot 4 Bezier Curve Tutorial, I quickly threw together some code—and to my surprise, it worked! I integrated this code into my actual project and started fine-tuning the numbers for each “paddle’s” path.

To streamline the process, I repurposed a script from a larger project and created what I call a “Phase System.” This system utilizes what Godot refers to as an enumerator. While the code might look complex, if someone like me—who barely scraped through high school math—can grasp it, I’m confident you can too.

The phase machine enum acts like a list of tasks I want the script to accomplish. The current phase variable simply sets the initial phase and can always be referenced to check the script's current phase. The time in phase allows me to set a timer for each phase if necessary, which opens up the possibility for frame-based abilities and interactions. However, this variable isn’t crucial for our game, as everything is dictated by collisions with the next paddle.

If you’ve worked with Godot before, the physics process function will be familiar since it lets the game run scripts constantly under the influence of delta time. If you want a deeper dive into delta, I recommend checking out the Godot documentation for more details. Now that the game runs at a semi-constant rate, I added a match statement to ensure that the current_phase variable updates with each new call from the enumerator. In simple terms, it looks at the current_phase variable and executes specific actions based on its value. With that set up, it’s finally time to put all those logic statements to work! Now, I can execute an action and change the phase based on certain conditions.

Traditionally, enumerators are used for simple AI state machines, but they fit perfectly for our needs—specifically, controlling how each Bezier curve behaves at the start of the game, when hit by paddles 1 through 4, and for any other actions we want it to perform. A handy little feature is that we can monitor what the script is doing by printing the current_phase variable and checking the console output.

With all that groundwork laid, I thought I could easily integrate the Bezier curves into my script, and voilà—everything would work seamlessly. Spoiler alert: that couldn’t have been further from the truth! Immediately, I ran into an issue: the Bezier curves weren’t moving at a constant speed. This raised a big question: why was it speeding up over longer distances while slowing down for shorter ones? This mystery plagued me for months. Tutorials were few and far between, and even the ones that did pop up didn’t provide a clear path for implementation.

In desperation, I found myself back at the mercy of my AI Overlord. It presented me with a script that, while flawed in its math, accomplished exactly what I needed. It introduced me to this script:

Although this script had a lot of problems that we’ll get into, it was a step in the right direction. A much needed step after months of not being able to figure this out. The first problem was the delta argument, it just didn’t work. The Spud wouldn’t like it was moving before and I at this point felt almost like I was back to square one with the script. Once I swapped out for the time argument from the original Bezier Curve function things started looking up though because now it was moving again! But still at a different rate based on shorter and longer distances. This was still no good and a part of me thought it was time to go find another script that would serve my purposes but I decided it’d be easier to just be stubborn and hope the script would work with enough tweaking. After much reading and researching I found out what my problem was. It lay within the lerp statement, better known as linear interpolation. In mathematics, linear interpolation is a method of curve fitting using linear polynomials to construct new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points. Let’s all assume none of us are whatever brand of nerd put that on wikipedia and get that in english: Linear interpolation is a way to estimate new values by connecting known points with straight lines. It helps to fill in gaps between data points. The problem with that is it’s doing the same thing to the speed that my spud was moving at to get from point to point. Now, I mind you, this is built into the lerp function. To reverse engineer that math was not going to be easy. Unfortunately for me the people who were discussing the lerp function on the Godot forms were the same brand of nerd of the dude that posted that linear interpolation definition on wikipedia which meant not only were they answering questions in the most cryptic and heady way possible, they also could only see it from the mathematics perspective and not the practical game design perspective, for example this answer nearly made me become willingly infertile so that my children would not have to live in a world occupied by nerds such as these:

All that being said that guy did give me a little piece of advice that allowed me to improve my code a bit which is that my start position constantly being updated was partially to blame so I made my start positions start assigning right before I would switch to the next phase/task so that there was no way the start position would update more times than needed. How much that actually helped I don’t know, all I did know was that given any distance lerp does not move at a constant speed by any stretch of the imagination. I ended up running across the answer in the most unlikely of places: A roblox developer forum thread. So what I was missing was, of course, some math that would allow me to get the lerp pretty close to being constant: speed = distance / time.

After changing the normalized time function so that instead of multiplying speed by time and dividing it by distance I flipped it on its head and fixed the problem. But like most things in game development it only fixed it mostly not entirely. Fortunately all I had to do was clamp the normalized time function so that it would go from 0 to whatever the current distance was and it basically works. There are some cases where it slows down slightly but by and large it works perfectly. Like I said before, this is hard coded into the lerp function, meaning that reversing it was always going to be a little janky. I’m thinking I can improve the system by using a tween but we’ll deal with that when the time comes. This was the final normalize_speed function:

For now everything basically works as it should and it allowed me to add the timed hit functionality, screen shake effects upon death,. Squash and stretch with the puddles, and color modulation with the spud. At this point all that is left in preparation for play testing is fixing some minor bugs, adding in scene switching upon player death, some sfx and music, and multiplayer control support. Probably just going to test on one keyboard for now but right now I’m super proud of what I’ve accomplished and excited to give you guys another update when it is ready for prototyping. All in all I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned here is to start reading the manual in the Godot docs. If I had already known what a Bezier curve was it would have cut out a lot of the early prototyping that slowed the project to a halt more times than can be ignored. After I’m done with the first round of playtesting I’m going to read through the whole thing to be better prepared for future projects.  

[attorneysinphuket]

Thailand Board of Investment

1. Institutional Framework and Historical Context

1.1 Legal Foundations

Established under the Investment Promotion Act B.E. 2520 (1977)

Amended by Act No. 4 B.E. 2560 (2017) to accommodate Industry 4.0

Operates under the Office of the Prime Minister with quasi-ministerial authority

1.2 Governance Structure

BOI Board: Chaired by the Prime Minister

Investment Committee: 12-member expert panel

Secretariat: Professional staff of 300+ specialists across 8 divisions

1.3 Historical Evolution

Phase 1 (1960-1990): Import substitution industrialization

Phase 2 (1991-2015): Export-oriented manufacturing

Phase 3 (2016-present): Technology-driven "Thailand 4.0" initiative

2. Investment Promotion Strategy

2.1 Geographic Prioritization

Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC): Enhanced incentives

Southern Border Provinces: Special security concessions

20 Provinces: Tiered incentive structures

3. Incentive Architecture

3.1 Tax Privileges

Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Holidays:

5-8 years exemption

50% reduction for 5 subsequent years

Import Duty Exemptions:

Machinery: 100% relief

Raw materials: Partial relief based on local content

3.2 Non-Tax Incentives

Land Ownership Rights: Foreign freehold permitted

Work Permit Facilitation: Fast-track processing (7 days)

Foreign Expert Visa: Multiple-entry 4-year SMART Visa

3.3 Special Incentive Packages

EEC+ Package:

15-year CIT exemption

Personal income tax cap at 17%

Digital Park Thailand:

10-year tax holiday

Data center infrastructure subsidies

4. Application and Approval Process

4.1 Pre-Application Phase

Eligibility Assessment (30-day diagnostic)

Project Feasibility Study requirements:

Minimum 3-year financial projections

Technology transfer plan

Environmental impact assessment (for Category 3 projects)

4.2 Formal Submission

Documentation Requirements:

Corporate structure diagrams

Shareholder background checks

Detailed investment timeline

Filing Channels:

Online BOI e-Service portal

In-person at BOI One Start One Stop center

5. Compliance and Operational Requirements

5.1 Investment Implementation

Capital Deployment Schedule:

25% within 12 months

100% within 36 months (extensions possible)

Employment Ratios:

Minimum 1 Thai employee per THB 1M investment

Technology transfer obligations

5.2 Reporting Obligations

Annual Progress Reports: Detailed project updates

Tax Privilege Utilization Statements: Certified by auditor

Foreign Expert Tracking: Monthly work permit updates

6. Sector-Specific Considerations

6.1 Manufacturing Sector

Local Content Requirements: 40-60% depending on sector

Environmental Standards: Tiered compliance levels

6.2 Digital Economy

Data Localization Rules: Conditional exemptions

IP Protection: Enhanced safeguards for BOI projects

6.3 Renewable Energy

Feed-in Tariff Eligibility: BOI+EGAT coordination

Carbon Credit Monetization: Special provisions

7. Dispute Resolution and Appeals

7.1 Privilege Revocation Process

Grounds for Cancellation:

Failure to meet investment timelines

Violation of environmental regulations

Fraudulent application information

Appeal Mechanism: 60-day window to petition

7.2 Arbitration Framework

THAC-administered proceedings

Expedited process for BOI disputes

8. Emerging Trends and Future Directions

9.1 Policy Developments

Draft Amendment Act (2025): Proposed R&D requirements

Green Industry Incentives: Carbon neutrality targets

9.2 Technological Integration

Blockchain Verification: For document authentication

AI-assisted Application Processing: Pilot program

9.3 Global Value Chain Positioning

ASEAN+3 Supply Chain Initiatives

EU-Thailand FTA Preparations

9. Strategic Implementation Guide

10.1 For Multinational Corporations

Regional HQ Strategy: Leverage RHQ privileges

Tiered Investment Approach: Phased capital deployment

10.2 For SMEs

Cluster Development: Co-location benefits

Technology Partner Matching: BOI-facilitated pairings

10.3 Risk Management

Compliance Calendar: Critical date tracking

Contingency Planning: Alternative incentive structures

Key Resources:

BOI Official Website: www.boi.go.th

Investment Privileges Database: privilege.boi.go.th

EEC Special Regulations: eeco.or.th

[thailandlaww]

1. Structural Foundations of the SMART Visa Program

1.1 Legislative Architecture

The SMART Visa operates under:

Royal Decree on SMART Visa B.E. 2561 (2018)

Thailand 4.0 Economic Policy Framework

BOI Investment Promotion Act (No. 4) B.E. 2560

1.2 Interagency Governance

Primary Authority: Board of Investment (BOI)

Implementation Partners:

Immigration Bureau (visa issuance)

Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (tech qualifications)

Ministry of Higher Education (academic validation)

2. Category-Specific Qualification Matrix

2.1 SMART-T (Specialists)

Technical Thresholds:

Salary Floor: THB 200,000/month (USD 5,800)

Experience Validation:

5+ years in qualifying field

Patent holders given priority

PhD waivers for certain disciplines

Industry Prioritization:

Biotechnology (Gene Therapy, Precision Medicine)

Advanced Manufacturing (Robotics, 3D Printing)

Digital Infrastructure (AI, Quantum Computing)

2.2 SMART-I (Investors)

Due Diligence Process:

Phase 1: BOI business plan review (45 days)

Phase 2: Anti-money laundering clearance

Phase 3: Investment tracing audit

2.3 SMART-E (Entrepreneurs)

Startup Validation Framework:

Tier 1 Incubators: DEPA, Thai Venture Capital Association

Minimum Traction Metrics:

THB 10M ARR or

50,000 MAU or

Series A funding

Capital Requirements:

Bootstrapped: THB 600,000 liquid

Funded: Minimum THB 5M valuation

3. Advanced Application Mechanics

3.1 Document Authentication Protocol

Educational Credentials:

WES or IQAS evaluation for non-Thai degrees

Notarized Thai translations

Employment History:

Social security cross-verification

Reference checks with former employers

3.2 Technical Review Process

Stage 1: Automated system screening

Stage 2: BOO specialist committee review

Stage 3: Final approval by Deputy Secretary-General

4. Privilege Structure and Limitations

4.1 Work Authorization Scope

Permitted Activities:

Primary employment with sponsor

Consulting (max 20% time allocation)

Academic collaboration

Prohibited Activities:

Local employment outside specialty

Unapproved commercial research

Political activities

4.2 Dependent Provisions

Spousal Work Rights:

General employment permitted

No industry restrictions

Child Education:

International school subsidies

University admission preferences

4.3 Mobility Advantages

Fast-Track Immigration:

Dedicated SMART lanes at 6 major airports

15-minute clearance guarantee

Re-entry Flexibility:

Unlimited exits without visa voidance

Automatic 48-hour grace period

5. Compliance and Renewal Dynamics

5.1 Continuous Eligibility Monitoring

Quarterly Reporting:

Employment verification

Investment maintenance

Research output (for academics)

Annual Review:

Salary benchmark adjustment

Contribution assessment

5.2 Renewal Process

Documentation Refresh: Updated financials, health insurance

Performance Evaluation: Economic impact assessment

Fee Structure: THB 10,000 renewal fee + THB 1,900 visa stamp

5.3 Grounds for Revocation

Material Changes: Employment termination, investment withdrawal

Compliance Failures: Missed reporting, legal violations

National Security Concerns: Classified determinations

6. Comparative Analysis with Global Competitors

6.1 Strategic Advantages

Tax Optimization: 17% flat rate option

Research Incentives: BOO matching grants

Commercialization Support: THBI co-investment

7. Emerging Policy Developments

7.1 2024 Program Enhancements

Blockchain Specialist Category (Q3 rollout)

Climate Tech Fast-Track (Carbon credit linkage)

Regional Expansion: Eastern Economic Corridor focus

7.2 Pending Legislative Changes

Dual Intent Provision: PR application without visa surrender

Skills Transfer Mandate: Local training requirements

Global Talent Pool: Reciprocal agreements in negotiation

8. Practical Application Strategies

8.1 Pre-Application Optimization

Salary Structuring: Base vs variable compensation

Patent Portfolio Development: Thai IP registration

Local Network Building: Thai professional associations

8.2 Post-Approval Planning

Tax Residence Strategy: 180-day calculations

Asset Protection: Thai holding company formation

Succession Planning: Will registration requirements

9. Critical Risk Factors

9.1 Common Rejection Reasons

Document Discrepancies: Date inconsistencies

Qualification Gaps: Unrecognized certifications

Financial Irregularities: Unverified income streams

9.2 Operational Challenges

Banking Restrictions: Foreign account limitations

Healthcare Access: Specialty treatment approvals

Cultural Integration: Workplace adaptation

10. Conclusion: Strategic Implementation Framework

For optimal SMART Visa utilization:

Pre-qualification Audit: 90-day preparation period

BOI Engagement: Pre-submission consultation

Compliance Infrastructure: Digital reporting systems

Contingency Planning: Alternative category eligibility

[digitalravi-49]

How Voice Search is Changing Digital Marketing in 2025

Voice search is transforming digital marketing as more people use smart assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. With advancements in AI, voice search is becoming more accurate and convenient. Businesses must now adapt their strategies to stay ahead.

The Rise of Voice Search More users prefer voice search because it is faster and hands-free. Studies show that by 2025, over 50% of all online searches will be voice-based. This shift is changing how businesses optimize their content for search engines.

How Voice Search Affects SEO Voice search queries are usually longer and conversational. Instead of typing “best digital marketing course,” users might ask, “Which is the best digital marketing course in Hyderabad ?” Marketers must focus on long-tail keywords and natural language to match these queries. Structured data and featured snippets also help websites rank better in voice search results.

Impact on Content Marketing Since voice search is conversational, content should be more direct and answer-specific questions. Businesses should create FAQs and optimize blog posts for question-based searches. Using a natural tone improves the chances of appearing in voice search results.

Local SEO and Voice Search Many voice searches are location-based, such as “best homeopathy clinic in Mehdipatnam” or “SEO course in Hyderabad.” Businesses should optimize their Google My Business profiles, include relevant location keywords, and focus on customer reviews to improve visibility in voice searches.

Adapting Google Ads and PPC Strategies With voice search growing, paid ads should also target conversational keywords. Marketers must refine their PPC campaigns to include phrases people are likely to speak rather than type. Understanding user intent behind voice searches can lead to better ad performance.

The Future of Voice Search in Digital Marketing As AI improves, voice assistants will provide more personalized and accurate results. Brands that adopt voice search optimization now will gain a competitive edge.

Learn Digital Marketing with Web Trainings Academy Want to master the latest trends in digital marketing? Join Web Trainings Academy and learn SEO, social media marketing, Google Ads, and more. Stay ahead in the evolving digital world with expert training. Enroll today!

[danieldelar562]

Blog Post #2 Week 3

1. With algorithms and automated machines denying people because they seem biased this could be seen as a digital roadblock/digital gatekeeping for opportunities/benefits, how can this be stopped or be improved?

This can be changed by demanding the company for a rework on the system. There could also be a complete overhaul on the program so there would be a new/ better system. The company or program can hold records/audits so it can see the last movement was made on somebody's account so it can be further improved. Another form of improvement would be to have real people overseeing the paused processings.

2. With technology improving so much is it possible for AI to create/ help algorithms or automated machines to actually help people?

AI can help with roadblocks but it would also lead to inefficiency due to the amount of people using the system and trying to resolve their issues. There is already AI in different programs helping people like career building and there have been improvements in Job hiring processes with AI.

3. Are these biased algorithms/technologies purposely being created to quietly oppress people based on race/sexuality?

The algorithms are not trying to oppress people but it is because of racism and sexism rooted from history. Many of the developers of these algorithms create programs and forget about the blindspots. This can be fixed by having a system of appeal/report system to a real human being. It can also be fixed by developing the program then having various people experiment and go through it. 

4. How far can facial recognition algorithms go before ruining someone’s life without them knowing?

Facial Recognition will always get people’s faces wrong. On cell phones, surveillance cameras or in programs. On cell phones you use your face to unlock your phone, open your bank or access something. Most often security cameras won’t even pick up your face and if it does they will match it to a criminal who may not even look similar. Government and local authorities will often use facial recognition to identify a criminal. Sometimes it will match a criminal to a simple bystander and now the bystander is caught facing the charges or worse in jail. Criminals are using facial recognition to commit identity theft or creating deep fakes to blackmail the real person.

[chibivesicle]

Gokinjo Monogatari got an English release. I am just - feeling like I got my wish from 1998.

That's right, I'm alive but not very active on the meta for the time being. 2023 sped up for the second half; work got crazy busy for Q4. I worked up to Dec 18th through several weekends so yeah, needed some recharge time.

I don't know how I missed this, but thanks to watching Coleen's Manga Recs, I discovered that the one shoujo manga title that I had been wanting an English release for has finally arrived. Gokinjo Monogatari by Ai Yazawa!

I discovered Gokinjo Monogatari in '98. One of the local comic stores had the first three tankobons and I bought them based on the cover artwork alone.

It wasn't until undergrad I was able to meet a few more people and figure out more than just the name and artist. I tried to find the translation of the manga online, but was unsuccessful. I have to remind people that before scanlations, you had to buy a tankobon and hope you found the text based translation which would have the text according to page number and what panel location. I read a fair bit of Kenshin that way, but sadly, this series was not that popular with readers in the States. I've been moving my entire adult life hauling my three precious volumes of the manga hoping that someday I would first, collect volume 4-7 to complete the picture and that I'd have my matching English version. Granted, I haven't done a good job of looking for volumes 4-7 when I've been in Japan . . . or using the internet either.

As if to spite me, the follow up manga, Paradise Kiss, did get a translation in 2002 from Tokyo Pop which exists in the same universe as Gokinjo Monogatari. Note that a previous manga's characters show up at the Flea Market in Monogatari as well and Yazawa likes to keep a lot of her series tied together. Eventually, the scanlation of the series appeared and I read it around 2011. I'd only found an episode or two of the anime during the golden age of file sharing, but didn't follow through on it. I wanted to read the manga before watching the anime. In 2017, I visited the Manga Museum in Kyoto, got to see a cool display about Ribon magazine and of course they had Gokinjo Monogatari merch! I bought the file folder set and stickers! I bought the Gokinjo Monogatari UT shirt from Uniqlo featuring Ribon series. Yet each time I found more stuff, the universe got the last laugh. Japan released the collectors set with four volumes, there was a French translation, German etc and never one for English. So, you have to realize how I absolutely lost my mind when the thing I'd figured would never happen, happened! Not only was it a thing, I'd even missed the December 2023 release date -at least I didn't have to wait for a pre-order to get volume 1.

I'm happy to see that this version included some of the original color pages!

It has a few more at the end with a photo wall of Mikako's outfits. Everything about the style of this manga, I absolutely love. The fashion goes so hard even now. I get nostalgic with all of the mid-90s Japanese street fashion which has a mix of 60s mod and 70s flare. I think the series also does a good job of capturing that awkward time in your teenage life when you are trying to figure out how to act with people you are interested in. But failing to sort things out. Unlike a lot of other high school manga series, this one stands out with the much more "normal" appearance of the students. I remember picking it up and thinking that the characters looked like they could be my peers; though there is no way Mikako's outfits would pass my high school's own liberal dress code where dyed hair and piercings were permitted. Her bare midriff would get her in trouble . . . Funny how now when I look at it, this is a very unusual high school set up for a Japanese reader likely coming from a more regimented school environment with a uniform and strict dress code. I never thought about it at the time. More that I was plotting my own hair dying plans for when I moved out of the house for undergrad just like the characters had - while still in high school. I did read Parakiss back when it came out from 2002-2005; however, it never really resonated with me the same way a series that I couldn't even find a decent translation for. I started to watch Nana but couldn't get into it at all. Maybe it was my mindset or the fact that I wasn't the mood for young twenty-somethings figuring their shit out.

Yet, here I am in the winter of 2024, and I have volume 1 of the collectors edition format of Gokinjo Monogatari and I'm still loving every little bit of the story as I read it. Perhaps, Parakiss and Nana were more edgier/grittier than something like this which is why they never quite clicked with me. I wanted my fashionable shoujo drama but not over the top. I'm not sure what I'll write about it. It isn't a well known series both due to the fact it is from the 90s and that it is shoujo but perhaps I can reflect on what I was drawn to it all those years ago and what I think about it now.

[tacticalhimbo]

2024 game awards recap and thoughts from your local loser queer with bad gaming takes (re: being normal about things and not a pre-order shill or overtly critical basement dweller)

ALL NEW GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS

ninja gaiden (didn't catch the full title)

one move away

slay the spire 2

some match 3 mobile game that preached about environmentalism (couldn't catch the name)

dave the diver: in the jungle

thick as thieves

shadow labyrinth

steel paws

tales of the shire

stalcraft operations

midnight murder club (crossplay beta announced)

kyora

rematch: online football action

solasta 2

witcher 4

elden ring: night reign

catly

untitled next project (made by shadows of colossus people)

civilization 7

outer worlds 2

split fiction

fragpunk

tripwire

killing floor 3

steel hunters

blackfrost: the long dark 2

borderlands 4

splitgate 2

mecha break

project century

turok origins

onimusha: way of the sword

the first beserker: khazan

arad: dungeon & fighter

dying light: the beast

squid game unleashed: a neflix game

stage fright

game of thrones: kings road

double dragon revive

solo leveling: arise

screamer

den of wolves

zenless zone zero

sonic racing crossworlds

dispatch

okami sequel

intergalactic: the heretic prophet

WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE...

one move away; i love games like a little to the left and unpacking

thick as thieves; i love stealth games and this looked like a multiplayer game

rematch; we need more indie sports games and seeing something that isn't fifa made me happy

witcher 4; … witcher 4

catly; cute cat game! no longer excited; this game is (allegedly) made using generative ai and shows signs of being a rugpull based on background information

outer worlds 2; i screamed. i cried. i am so excited for this given my love for the first one even though it glitches trying to sync data on my xbox

borderlands 4; i need to finish the games but the lore slaps

stage fright; loved overcooked even tho i crash out over it <3

sonic racing crossworlds; YESSSSS

dispatch; aaron paul and laura bailey my beloveds… also made by the creators of wolf among us???

okami sequel; …. okami sequel

intergalactic: the heretic prophet; this just looks like it slaps it made me think of the alien games

also forget which one it was but the pacman dungeon crawler... slayed. i want it <3

AND THE UNTITLED ONE BEING MADE BY THE SHADOWS OF COLOSSUS CREATORS... i started bouncing with excitement.

think the one i'm most hyped for is genuinely outer worlds 2. witcher 4 is a close second but trumped by the fact i haven't actually played entirely through the witcher games :pensive:

other notes:

congrats to batman arkham shadow for winning best vr/ar game

how the FUCK did silent hill 2 not win a single award

how the FUCK did fallout win the best adaptation (saying this as a fallout tv show fan...)

learned mouthwashing was nominated for the indie awards on the 19th and if they don't win i'm [redacted]

dragon age only being nominated for accessibility and losing... i fear we are cooked (still haven't played it; hoping to get it for xmas and trying to remain neutral on it despite the fact showing any neutrality seems to piss people off (not referring to being neutral to bioware's bigotry btw; fuck those racist losers))

helldivers earning awards and having a whole little performance thing... slay. for super earth.

squid game netflix game... yawn. if it were a standalone it could be cool (even though i feel some of the marketing is antithetical to the show) but it's a netflix platform game so. yawn.

CASEOH CONTENT CREATOR OF THE YEAR RAHHHHHHHHH

“I want to thank the fans of Fallout: New Vegas for not burning my house down” ... we've shown ceos are untouchable, someone needs to do it. i fucking despise todd.

and there were lots of funny moments with the bro and the besties <3 we were all ragging on each other and i got shot with a nerf gun at some point LMKDSJAFLJDSLF

[mariacallous]

Grindr’s AI wingman, currently in beta testing with around 10,000 users, arrives at a pivotal moment for the software company. With its iconic notification chirp and ominous mask logo, the app is known culturally as a digital bathhouse for gay and bisexual men to swap nudes and meet with nearby users for sex, but Grindr CEO George Arison sees the addition of a generative AI assistant and machine intelligence tools as an opportunity for expansion.

“This is not just a hookup product anymore,” he says. “There's obviously no question that it started out as a hookup product, but the fact that it's become a lot more over time is something people don't fully appreciate.” Grindr’s product road map for 2025 spotlights multiple AI features aimed at current power users, like chat summaries, as well as dating and travel-focused tools.

Whether users want them or not, it’s all part of a continuing barrage of AI features being added by developers to most dating apps, from Hinge deciding whether profile answers are a slog using AI, to Tinder soon rolling out AI-powered matches. Wanting to better understand how AI fits into Grindr's future, I experimented with a beta version of Grindr's AI wingman for this hands-on report.

First Impressions of Grindr’s AI Wingman

In interviews over the past few months, Arison has laid out a consistent vision for Grindr’s AI wingman as the ultimate dating tool—a digital helper that can write witty responses for users as they chat with matches, help pick guys worth messaging, and even plan the perfect night out.

“It's been surprisingly flirtatious,” he says about the chatbot. “Which is good.”

Once enabled, the AI wingman appeared as another faceless Grindr profile in my message inbox. Despite grand visions for the tool, the current iteration I tested was a simple, text-only chatbot tuned for queer audiences.

First, I wanted to test the chatbot’s limits. Unlike the more prudish outputs from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, Grindr’s AI wingman was willing to be direct. I asked it to share fisting tips for beginners, and after stating that fisting is not for newcomers, the AI wingman encouraged me to start slow, use tons of lube, explore smaller toys first, and always have a safe word ready to go. “Most importantly, do your research and maybe chat with experienced folks in the community,” the bot said. ChatGPT flagged similar questions as going against its guidelines, and Claude refused to even broach the subject.

Although the wingman was down to talk through other kinks—like watersports and pup play—with a focus on education, the app rebuked my advances for any kind of erotic role-play. “How about we keep things playful but PG-13?” said Grindr’s AI wingman. “I’d be happy to chat about dating tips, flirting strategies, or fun ways to spice up your profile instead.” The bot also refused to explore kinks based on race or religion, warning me that these are likely harmful forms of fetishization.

Processing data through Amazon Web Service’s Bedrock system, the chatbot does include some details scraped from the web, but it can’t go out and find new information in real time. Since the current version doesn't actively search the internet for answers, the wingman provided more general advice than specifics when asked to plan a date for me in San Francisco. “How about checking out a local queer-owned restaurant or bar?” it said. “Or maybe plan a picnic in a park and people-watch together?” Pressed for specifics, the AI wingman did name a few relevant locations for date nights in the city but couldn’t provide operating hours. In this instance, posing a similar question to ChatGPT produced a better date night itinerary, thanks to that chatbot’s ability to search the open web.

Despite my lingering skepticism about the wingman tool potentially being more of an AI fad than the actual future of dating, I do see immediate value in a chatbot that can help users come to terms with their sexuality and start the coming out process. Many Grindr users, including myself, become users of the app before telling anyone about their desires, and a kind, encouraging chatbot would have been more helpful to me than the “Am I Gay?” quiz I resorted to as a teenager.

Out With the Bugs, In With the AI

When he took the top job at Grindr before the company’s public listing in 2022, Arison prioritized zapping bugs and fixing app glitches over new feature releases. “We got a lot of bugs out of the way last year,” he says. “Until now, we didn't really have an opportunity to be able to build a lot of new features.”

Despite getting investors hot and bothered, it’s hard to tell how daily Grindr users will respond to this new injection of AI into the app. While some may embrace the suggested matches and the more personalized experience, generative AI is now more culturally polarizing than ever as people complain about its oversaturation, lack of usefulness, and invasion of privacy. Grindr users will be presented with the option to allow their sensitive data, such as the contents of their conversations and precise location, to be used to train the company’s AI tools. Users can go into their account’s privacy settings to opt out if they change their mind.

Arison is convinced in-app conversations reveal a more authentic version of users than what's filled out on any profile, and the next generation of recommendations will be stronger by focusing on that data. “It's one thing what you say in your profile,” he says. “But, it's another thing what you say in your messages—how real that might be.” Though on apps like Grindr, where the conversations often contain explicit, intimate details, some users will be uncomfortable with an AI model reading their private chats to learn more about them, choosing to avoid those features.

Potentially, one of the most helpful AI tools for overly active Grindr users who are open to their data being processed by AI models could be the chat summaries recapping recent interactions with some talking points thrown in to keep conversations going.

“It's really about reminding you what type of connection you might have had with this user, and what might be good topics that could be worth picking back up on,” says A. J. Balance, Grindr’s chief product officer.

Then there’s the model’s ability to highlight the profiles of users it thinks you’re most compatible with. Say you’ve matched with another user and chatted a bit, but that’s as far as things went in the app. Grindr’s AI model will be able to summarize details about that conversation and, using what it has learned about you both, highlight those profiles as part of an “A-List” and offer some ways to rekindle the connection, widening the door you’ve already opened.

“This ‘A-List’ product actually goes through your inbox with folks you've spoken with, pulls out the folks where you've had some good connections,” Balance says. “And it uses that summary to remind you why it could be good to pick back up the conversation.”

Slow Roll

As a gaybie, my first interactions on Grindr were liberating and constricting at the same time. It was the first time I saw casual racism, like “No fats. No fems. No Asians,” blasted across multiple online profiles. And even at my fittest, there always seemed to be some headless torso more in shape than me right around the corner and ready to mock my belly. Based on past experiences, AI features that could detect addiction to the app and encourage healthier habits and boundaries would be a welcome addition.

While Grindr’s other, AI-focused tools are planned for more immediate releases throughout this year, the app’s generative AI assistant isn’t projected to have a complete rollout until 2027. Arison doesn’t want to rush a full release to Grindr’s millions of global users. “These are also expensive products to run,” he says. “So, we want to be kind of careful with that as well.” Innovations in generative AI, like DeepSeek’s R1 model, may eventually reduce the cost to run it on the backend.

Will he be able to navigate adding these experimental, and sometimes controversial, AI tools to the app as part of a push to become more welcoming for users looking to find long-term relationships or queer travel advice, in addition to hookups? For now, Arison appears optimistic, albeit cautious. “We don't expect all of these things to take off,” he says. “Some of them will and some won't.”

[nikarie5]

No nap for Cap - snippet

Based on the line “He’s also really bad at taking his pre-game nap.” from @lumosinlove team rosters. Rating: General audience, reference to Coops.

Setting: Long road trip – first game at the Climate Pledge arena in Seattle. A list of Sirius’s excuses to get out of the mandatory team nap on a rainy Seattle afternoon, and Coach Weasley’s responses. Thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @hazelnoot-analyst for the archiving :)

-I slept on the bus here from Vancouver. -Sirius, the bus left at 6 am. It doesn’t count. Plus, you slept for less than half an hour. You talked with Pots the rest of the time.

-I took a micro-nap on the Space Needle elevator. -No, you closed your eyes because you are afraid of heights.”

-Is my first visit to Seattle, and we didn’t get to go to the lower levels of Pike’s Public Market.. -We’re staying here tomorrow, you can go then. Besides, it closes at 4, you’d only get half an hour, tops.”

-Have to go set up a surprise meeting with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe for Loops and Leo. Need to go finalise details. Bye Coach. -They are joining the team workout tomorrow morning, Sirius. Surprise. So, naptime.

-I have class at the German Language School. -What? -Need some good chirps for Grubauer. -No Sirius.

-But Remus snores, I won’t be able to sleep, so why bother? -That bodes poorly for the rest of your life. Take a nap, Cap.

-But it’s a rainy day, and in the rain, the pavement shines like silver. -If you sing me the whole musical one more time, Cap, I swear I’ll stick you on babysitting duty for the rest of your time with the Lions. Take your nap.

-I am meeting up with Brady, he is going to give me a locals tour. -Brady knows our travel routine, he wouldn’t dare. (Headcanon: Brady Smith was the team member sent to the Seattle Kraken as part of the expansion.)

-There is a troll, I can’t sleep near trolls. Need Olli or Henrik to exorcise it first. -Really, Sirius? What did the poor troll do to you? No, don't tell me. Go nap.

-I have an appointment to see tattoo artist. He has a year-long waitlist. -One, Sirius, you know you would save that for the off-season. Two, Cap, you don’t have your special squeezee with you that you need to get any shot. Try again.

-I ran out of honey for my sandwich, I need to go find a grocery store. -Moody packs extra, you know this. Sleep, Cap.

-My room is on the wrong side, the sun will be in my eyes. -Then close the curtains, Cap, you know this. -But I will still know the sun is there. Better I use the pool, will just float, promise. -No Cap.

-I drank too much coffee, if I nap, j’aurai toujours les jitters for the match. -Nice try, Cap. Take a nap.”

-Je n’en ai pas envie. I am not tired. -Tampis. To bed, Cap.

-I won’t nap, I will just keep Remus from napping. Best I leave him alone. -You want me to assign you to different rooms for this season’s roadies? - Non, non Coach. J’y vais.

[halos-top-alien-model]

Sangheili Bracket Round 1 Match 4

More info below:

Vul 'Soran:

Debuted in Halo: Shadow of Intent

A master swordsman and father to numerous children, Soran was a "fleet champion" within his prime and already in his sixties during the start of the Human-Covenant war. At the end of the war, Vul would become the second-in-command on Shadow of Intent and one of Rtas 'Vadum's advisors alongside the Unggoy Ranger Stolt. In 2553, Shadow of Intent would respond to Rahnelo's distress signal, arriving too late to fight off the Jiralhanae attack on the colony. As the local Tul 'Juran requested to join the ship to rescue her family that was captured, Vul would object to a female joining the naval crew - an objection Rtas would ignore, pointing out that Vul had already "gotten used" to an Unggoy holding command over Sangheili. Later, they would arrive at Duraan, in time to engage the attacking Spear of Light - only to boarded in a trap. Yet the attack would be repelled and the Prelate leader captured. Through interrogation, the Shadow of Intent would learn of plans to eradicate the Sangheili, with Vul joining the small volunteer group to destroy the prototype Halo weapon. Unfortunately, he would be wounded in a pulse attack whilst serving as a co-pilot on a Phantom, Stolt taking him and the other injured back to Shadow of Intent for recovery whilst Rtas and Tul went on to finish the mission. After his recovery, Vul would later change his mind on Tul and the tradition that females not enlist in the military.

Zuka 'Zamamee:

Debuted in Halo: The Flood

A SpecOps serving the Fleet of Particular Justice, Zuka would join the boarding of the Pillar of Autumn at the start of the conflict at / on Installation 04, nearly being killed by the Master Chief. He would be discovered and rescued by Unggoy led by Yayap in a ploy to avoid taking part in further combat, but Zuka himself would misunderstand this and appointed Yayap his replacement assistant in SpecOps. Later, he would attend a meeting where he pitched a plan to kill the Master Chief - who he correctly assumed to be a big danger, but was denied under the belief he was having "combat-induced hysteria". Not long after, the Master Chief raided the Truth and Reconciliation, causing opinions amongst the Covenant leadership to change and Zuka to be granted permission to eliminate the Spartan at any cost.

Zuka would once again correctly deduce the Covenant battle network to be compromised, leading him to purposefully leave breadcrumbs for the AI Cortana to learn of the Cartographer in the hopes of luring the Master Chief in a trap. However, his trap would go awry, leading him and Yayap to hide inside a nearby supply case while their forces were wiped out by the Spartan. Later, upon reporting his failures, the decapitated head of one of his superiors - who failed to contain the Flood - would be presented as a warning to not fail again. His next attempt at the Master Chief's life would start off with staging Yayap to be captured and taken to Alpha Base so he could act as a spy. Once Yayap spotted Master Chief inside the base, Zuka arrived in a stolen Pelican with SpecOp troops inside. An attack on the base with started and Yayap recovered, although the Spartan himself had already left the base before the attack even began. Yayap would led Zuka to the Banshee pads on the false pretenses that the Master Chief was there, but really the Unggoy wished to use Zuka's piloting knowledge to escape the battle. Even as Zuka realized the betrayal, news that the attack on the base failed made him submit to Yayap and flee.

Now knowing he would be punished should he return to the Covenant, he decided to continue going along with Yayap's plans of escape, taking on the name of the fallen Huki 'Umamee to avoid being recognized. The two would join the forces at the crash site of the Pillar of Autumn, with growing fear within Zuka causing him to be more and more submissive to Yayap. Yet the Master Chief would infiltrate the Pillar of Autumn, re-igniting Zuka's vigor. He would task Yayap to listen to incoming radio traffic and direct him on where to go, truly seeing the Unggoy as the only one he could trust. As the fusion reactors on the ship were detonated, Yayap deduced the Spartan's intended escape route and let Zuka know he could catch him at an elevator leading to the Class Seven service corridor. The final confrontation between Zuka and his target ensued - and Zuka ended up heavily injured when the elevator harshly impacted the bottom of the shaft due to Cortana. With a broken back, Zuka could only look back at up at his foe, then waited there until the destruction of the entire Halo Ring took him out at last.

[gertlushgaming]

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout Review (PlayStation 4)

For this G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout Review we welcome G.I. Joe and Cobra back! G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is a team-based third-person shooter where you play as your favorite characters from Team G.I. Joe and Team Cobra. Experience the action from both sides as you help G.I. Joe restore order and lead Cobra to world domination.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout Review Pros:

- Decent cel-shaded graphics. - 12.12 GB download size. - Platinum trophy. - Game settings-auto aim, subtitles, and tutorials. - Invert axis and sensitivity sliders. - Solo and Co-op campaign support. (local) - Four difficulties-action figure, government issue, man of action, and real American hero. - Solo gives you an AI partner. - Multiple controller layouts including custom rebind. - 3rd person shooter gameplay. - 12 characters from the series Eyes, Duke, Lady Jaye, Sci-fi, Scarlett, Roadblock, Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, Firefly, Baroness, Destroy, and Zartan. - Reload-fast reloads by timing your reload. (think Gears Of War active reload) - Ammo and health pickups. - a short starting tutorial section to go over the controls. - Ultimate unique attack for each character that builds over time and when you kill enemies. - Cartoon-looking stills are used for cutscenes. - Unlock new weapons and character skins. - Team battle-four player local MP with six maps, three modes (team arena, assault, and CTF), and settings for kills to win or match time. - Collectibles-comic covers and earn videos. - Bio section for all the characters. - Can replay levels. - Each level shows how many Collectibles you have found, the side objectives completed, and the best time and score. - Can skip the cutscenes. - The story goes between Gi Joe and Cobra. - Stop start animation cutscenes. - End of level breakdown for your score. - Each mission/level lets you pick from the two available characters. - Modifiers-13 of them and they can make the game harder or easier. - On-screen icons for objectives. - Each character has unique attributes. - Decent loading times. - Interactive points and most of the time will trigger a mini-mission like an event. - Can change settings in the pause menu. - Pick up new guns in the level. - Horde mode-style events. - 29 comics to collect showing off classic comics. - Many boss fights with the main characters. - Combo counter for kills to build your score. - Vehicle missions.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout Review Cons: - No field of view slider and the view is quite close. - Hard to pick out enemies. - Auto-aim is not good as it loses lock on with any movement from you or the enemy. - No real replay value. - Characters don't move their mouth when talking. - Shooting in general is just not good. - Heavily scripted fights that break the immersion. - Small text. - They took good mechanics from popular games and mashed them all together. - Pain-in-the-ass trophies are like a load of multiplayer ones. - A lot of the levels are just go here fight a wave, go to next shoot some guys the end. - No online multiplayer or co-op. - Bad Ai pathfinding. - Your AI partner is completely useless. - Comic Collectibles are just the front cover and you can move it around. - Can't skip the ultimate animation. - Can't use modifiers on your first playthrough. - A lot of pop-ins and textures fill in as it loads. - It doesn't use the main 1980s TV show theme tune! Related Post: YO JOE! G.I. JOE Makes Its Way to World of Tanks

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout: Official website. Developer: GameMill Publisher: GameMill Store Links - PlayStation Read the full article