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full-stackmobiledeveloper · 13 days ago

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Driving Success: Essential Marketing & User Acquisition Strategies for Your New Taxi App

Launching a successful taxi app in today’s ride-hailing market is an exciting yet challenging goal. Visionary entrepreneurs invest heavily in developing robust, user-friendly apps with powerful backend systems, often integrating advanced AI and machine learning technologies to enhance ride-hailing experiences. However, building a great product is only half the battle. The real key to success lies in mastering taxi app marketing and implementing sophisticated user acquisition strategies that effectively attract both riders and drivers.

In 2025, the mobile transportation industry faces fierce competition, evolving user expectations, and the complexities of managing two-sided marketplaces. New entrants must navigate these challenges with a comprehensive growth strategy. This guide provides a strategic blueprint to help businesses transform their innovative ideas into thriving operations, covering crucial areas such as launching customized carpool software and optimizing taxi dispatch systems for peak performance and scalability in a highly competitive landscape.

1. Pre-Launch & Launch Mastery: Laying the Groundwork for Impact

A resounding taxi app launch isn't a single event; it's the crescendo of meticulous planning and strategic pre-release efforts. Success begins long before your app hits the app stores.

Local Launchpad: Mapping Your Taxi App's Initial Service Area for Maximum Impact

Choosing your initial operational territory is a make-or-break decision for any taxi app or ridesharing app. This requires more than just drawing a circle on a map; it demands in-depth market intelligence.

Demographic Research: Identify your target users—commuters, students, leisure travelers, or families—using census data, economic reports, and tools like Nielsen to understand income levels, smartphone usage, commuting habits, and public transport reliance. For drivers, analyze local employment rates, wages, and gig economy trends to develop effective acquisition strategies and make your rideshare app stand out.

Traffic Pattern Analysis: Use big data, transport authority statistics, telecom mobility data, and tools like Google Maps API to map peak travel times, busy routes, nightlife hotspots, and underserved areas. This insight helps optimize driver positioning and marketing efforts for taxi dispatch or carpool apps.

Competitive Landscape Mapping: Conduct a detailed SWOT analysis of competitors beyond just naming Uber or Lyft. Study their apps, pricing, driver commissions, reviews, and marketing to identify service gaps such as poor support or limited coverage. These insights help define your unique selling points and guide app development.

Initial Pricing Strategy: Base your pricing on competitive analysis and cost modeling. Consider dynamic pricing while complying with local regulations. Use A/B testing for introductory offers or bundles to attract early adopters. Smart initial pricing is a key differentiator, especially for Uber clone apps, and understanding taxi dispatch system costs is essential for long-term strategy.

Viral Voltage: How to Design a Pre-Launch Referral Program That Actually Gets People Talking (and Signing Up!)

Harnessing word-of-mouth before your app even goes live can generate explosive growth. This is particularly effective for ride-sharing app concepts.

Detailed Mechanics: Implement a dual-sided incentive system. For instance, both the referrer (who shares your app) and the referred individual receive a substantial benefit upon sign-up and their first completed ride. This could be free ride credits, significant discounts, or even cash bonuses. Transparency about the terms is crucial for ensuring a genuine best carpool program.

Tiered Incentives & Gamification: Elevate engagement by offering escalating rewards for super-referrers. For example, after referring 5 users, they unlock a higher discount rate; after 10, they get exclusive access to beta features or premium customer support. Introduce a leaderboard to foster friendly competition among referrers in your carpooling app.

Effortless Sharing: Make it incredibly easy for users to share their unique referral code or link. Provide readily available sharing options via social media integrations (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), direct messaging, and email. Craft pre-written, compelling messages that highlight your app's unique benefits.

Psychology of Sharing: Tap into intrinsic motivators beyond just monetary gain. Appeal to users' desire for social currency ("Be the first to share this amazing new app!"), altruism ("Help your friends save money on rides!"), or self-interest (the dual-sided reward). Create a sense of exclusivity for early participants who get to be part of something new and exciting. This strategy can be applied to any ridesharing app looking to launch your branded UberPool-like rideshare software app.

Crisis-Proofing Your Launch: Anticipating and Mitigating Common Hurdles for New Ride-Hailing Apps

No launch is perfectly smooth. Preparing for potential pitfalls can save your taxi app from early setbacks, especially for complex platforms developed by a rideshare app development company.

Technical Glitches: Conduct extensive pre-launch stress testing for your taxi booking app development. Simulate peak user loads to ensure your servers can handle demand. Thoroughly test payment gateway integrations, GPS accuracy, and real-time mapping functionality. Have a dedicated technical support team on standby for immediate bug fixes and issue resolution. Implement a robust monitoring system for immediate alerts.

PR Challenges: Develop a comprehensive crisis communication plan. Anticipate potential negative press, such as initial service hiccups, driver shortages, or aggressive competitor smear campaigns. Prepare pre-approved holding statements, designate a single, credible spokesperson, and establish clear channels for internal and external communication. Proactive communication and transparency can turn a potential crisis into a testament to your responsiveness.

Unexpected Competition: Continuously monitor competitor moves. Be ready to deploy agile marketing campaigns if a rival launches a new feature, offers aggressive promotions, or enters your specific niche, like carshare app services or even bike rental. Have a rapid response team that can analyze competitive shifts and propose immediate counter-strategies beyond just price matching, focusing on your USP.

Contingency Plans: Develop "Plan B" scenarios for critical metrics. What if the initial driver acquisition for the taxi app is lower than expected? How will you adjust your incentives or marketing spend? What if rider acquisition is slow? Consider rapid adjustments to pricing, targeting, or even a temporary shift in geographical focus. This foresight is crucial for any software for a taxi business.

2. Fueling Growth: User & Driver Acquisition (Deeper Dives)

Once the app is built and the launch strategy is in place, the real work of attracting and retaining your two core user bases begins for any software taxi dispatch system.

The Driver's Journey: Crafting an Onboarding Experience That Converts Prospects into Loyal Fleet Members

Your drivers are the engine of your taxi app. A seamless and supportive onboarding process is paramount for a driver acquisition taxi app, ensuring you build a reliable fleet and attract the best rideshare apps for drivers.

Streamlined Sign-Up: Minimize friction in the application process. Allow for quick, mobile-friendly registration. Provide clear instructions for documentation uploads (driver's license, vehicle registration, insurance) and integrate secure, efficient background check services. This applies whether they are driving for a standard taxi cab dispatch system or a dedicated driver (vehicle owner) app for a ride-sharing platform.

Comprehensive Verification & Training: Ensure all drivers meet stringent safety and legal requirements. Offer flexible training options—online modules, video tutorials, and potentially in-person sessions for practical skills. Cover topics like using the taxi driver application effectively, navigating the city, customer service best practices, and emergency protocols.

First-Ride Support: Offer dedicated support for a driver's initial rides. This could involve a mentorship program with experienced drivers, a dedicated hotline for immediate questions, or in-app prompts and checklists to guide them.

AI-Driven Driver Matching & Support: Leverage Use AI-driven driver matching to pair drivers with rides based on factors beyond proximity, such as earnings potential, vehicle type, and driver preferences. AI also provides predictive analytics, highlighting high-demand zones and peak times to optimize driver efficiency and earnings, boosting satisfaction and loyalty.

Retention Rhapsody: Leveraging Gamification and Community Building to Keep Riders Coming Back

Beyond just getting them to download, the goal is to make your app an indispensable part of their daily routine for passenger acquisition taxi apps and long-term customer retention taxi apps. This is where your taxi software can truly shine.

Gamification: Introduce elements that make using your app fun and rewarding. Implement loyalty programs with tiered rewards (e.g., earn points for every ride, unlock premium features). Introduce in-app challenges (e.g., "Take 5 rides this week, get a bonus!") that offer personalized badges or leaderboards for active users on your carpool app or ridesharing app.

Personalized Badges & Milestones: Reward users for specific actions or milestones (e.g., "Eco Warrior" for choosing sustainable rides, "Night Owl" for frequent late-night travel, or "Frequent Commuter" for daily trips). These small gestures build engagement.

Community Features: While not for all apps, consider light community features like an in-app forum for carpool-and-ride-sharing-app users or localized social media groups where users can share experiences and offer feedback. This fosters a sense of belonging and strengthens your user engagement strategy.

Proactive Engagement: Use AI-driven user engagement to send personalized notifications for upcoming events, personalized discounts based on past ride history, or reminders about loyalty points.

De-Risking the Ride: Building Trust Through Transparency and Safety Features in Your Acquisition Messaging

Safety and trust are paramount in the ride-hailing industry. Make them a cornerstone of your taxi app marketing and core to any taxi booking app development company.

Communicate Protocols Clearly: Be transparent about your rigorous driver vetting processes (background checks, driving record reviews), regular vehicle inspections, and comprehensive insurance policies. Feature these prominently in your marketing materials, on your website, and within the app.

Highlight In-App Safety Features: Promote critical functionalities such as

SOS Button: Instant access to emergency services or support.

Trip Sharing: Share live ride status with trusted contacts.

ID Verification: Secure logins via multi-factor or facial recognition.

24/7 Support: Help available anytime, day or night.

Transparency in Pricing: Be upfront about surge charges and fare calculations to build trust.

Visual Trust Signals: Use testimonials, top driver ratings, and security badges to build trust. Employ AI-driven fraud detection to keep the platform secure, ensuring safety for both users and drivers—a vital feature of modern taxi software.

3. Digital Powerhouses: Key Marketing Channels

Beyond general strategies, specific digital marketing for app channels will be your workhorses for ride-hailing app growth.

Beyond the Click: Optimizing Your Landing Pages and Conversion Funnels for Paid Taxi App Campaigns

Your paid advertisements, whether Google Ads for taxi apps or Facebook Ads for taxi apps, are only as effective as the conversion path they lead to.

High-Converting Elements: Landing pages must be lightning-fast, mobile-responsive, and have a clear, compelling call to action (e.g., "Download Now," "Sign Up to Drive"). Use concise, benefit-driven headlines, persuasive imagery, and social proof (testimonials, trust badges). Minimize distractions.

Conversion Funnels: Map the entire user journey from the initial ad click through app download, sign-up, and the first completed ride. Utilize analytics tools to identify bottlenecks or drop-off points at each stage. A/B test different versions of your landing pages, ad creatives, and even in-app onboarding flows to continuously optimize conversion rates.

Retargeting Strategies: Don't let interested users slip away. Implement retargeting campaigns to re-engage individuals who visited your landing page but didn't download the app or who downloaded but didn't complete their first ride. Personalize these retargeting ads based on their last interaction. This is key for any rideshare app development company.

The Power of Local SEO: Dominating Google My Business and Local Listings for Taxi App Visibility

For a location-based service, appearing prominently in local searches is paramount for organic user acquisition strategies.

Google My Business (GMB) Optimization: This is your digital storefront. Claim and fully optimize your GMB profile with accurate business hours, phone number, website, and a compelling description. Upload high-quality photos of your vehicles and team. Actively utilize the GMB Q&A section and post updates about promotions or service changes.

Local Listings & Citations: Ensure consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information across all major online directories (Yelp, TripAdvisor, local chambers of commerce, industry-specific listing sites). This is vital for any software taxi dispatch operation.

Review Management: Actively solicit and respond to all reviews on GMB and other platforms. Positive reviews significantly boost your local search ranking for queries like "taxi near me" or "ride-hailing [city name]." Address negative feedback professionally and promptly, demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction.

Visual Storytelling: Crafting Compelling Video Ads for Your Ride-Hailing App on Social Media

Video content is highly engaging and perfect for showcasing the user experience on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube.

Compelling Hooks: Capture attention in 3 seconds with a relatable problem and solution.

Concise Messaging: Keep videos 15-60 seconds, highlighting 1–2 key benefits with text overlays.

Clear CTAs: End with strong calls to action like “Download Now” or “Sign Up.”

Platform Adaptation: Customize format, music, and messaging for each social platform and target audience.

4. The AI Edge & Expanded Mobility: Driving Smart Growth

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a luxury but a fundamental necessity for competitive ride-hailing app growth, transforming every facet of marketing and operations. Beyond AI, the mobility sector is expanding rapidly into diverse solutions.

Personalized Marketing AI: AI in taxi apps analyzes vast amounts of user data (ride history, preferred times, locations, device type, past promotions engaged with) to create highly granular user segments. This enables personalized marketing AI to deliver hyper-targeted promotions, notifications, and ride suggestions ("50% off your next ride from work," "Exclusive weekend discount to your favorite restaurant"). This level of personalization significantly boosts conversion rates and fosters AI-driven user engagement.

Predictive Analytics for Demand: Leveraging machine learning for ride-hailing, your app can process historical data (time of day, day of week, weather, local events, public holidays) and real-time inputs (traffic, current driver availability) to predict demand surges and lulls with remarkable accuracy. This allows smart dispatch systems (a crucial AI application and part of the best taxi dispatch software) to proactively position drivers, offer dynamic incentives to drivers in low-supply areas, and manage surge pricing intelligently.

AI-Powered Driver Matching: Beyond simple proximity, AI-powered driver- matching algorithms consider a multitude of factors: the driver's current rating, historical performance, vehicle type, estimated earnings for the driver on a specific route, and even driver preferences (e.g., avoiding tolls). This optimization leads to faster pickups, more efficient routes, and higher driver satisfaction, directly improving overall service quality. This sophisticated matching is a hallmark of any truly intelligent rideshare matching system.

AI for Dynamic Pricing: Sophisticated AI for dynamic pricing models can adjust fares in real time. These models factor in demand, supply, traffic conditions, competitor pricing, and even weather. This ensures optimal revenue generation during peak times while maintaining competitiveness during off-peak hours. Clear communication about surge pricing, potentially justified by AI solutions predicting high demand, is crucial for user acceptance.

Data Science for App Growth: The immense data generated by a taxi app is a goldmine. Data science for app growth teams, armed with AI solutions, can conduct advanced A/B testing, identify high-value customer segments, predict user churn, and uncover unexpected correlations that inform marketing strategies. This data-driven approach allows for precise marketing budget allocation for maximum ROI.

AI-driven Fraud Detection: AI algorithms constantly monitor transaction patterns, ride behaviors, and driver actions to identify and flag suspicious activities (e.g., unusual ride cancellations, payment fraud attempts, account sharing). This robust security infrastructure builds immense trust among both riders and drivers, a key factor for customer retention in a taxi app.

4.1. Expanding Horizons: The Mobility Ecosystem

Beyond traditional taxis and ride-hailing, the mobility sector is diversifying rapidly.

Super Apps: The future sees mobility services integrating into a super app—a single platform offering a multitude of services. This could include not just ride-hailing, but also food delivery, payment solutions, and other daily necessities.

Micromobility: This growing segment includes solutions for bike rental and scooter sharing. Developing apps for micromobility services caters to short-distance travel within urban environments.

Car Sharing System Enhanced: Beyond simple rentals, advanced carshare app Platforms offer peer-to-peer car sharing or corporate fleet management, blurring the lines between rental and sharing. This often involves intricate car rental software.

Specialized Dispatch & Logistics: The principles of taxi dispatch software extend to other logistics. This includes trucking dispatch software for freight management and shuttle software for corporate, campus, or airport shuttle services.

Intercity and Outstation Services: The need for long-distance travel is also being addressed. Solutions for intercity ridesharing and outstation carpooling cater to users seeking affordable and convenient travel between cities.

Build Your Brand: Whether you create your own rideshare app from scratch or launch your branded UberPool-like rideshare software app, the emphasis is on establishing a unique brand identity in this competitive market.

5. Measuring Success: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

To ensure continuous ride-hailing app growth, rigorous tracking and analysis of critical taxi app KPIs are non-negotiable. This data informs every strategic decision and helps refine your user acquisition strategies.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Cost to acquire riders/drivers per channel; keep it low for profitability.

Lifetime Value (LTV): Total revenue per user; should exceed CAC for sustainable growth.

Conversion Rates: Track funnel stages from download to repeat rides; fix drop-offs.

Retention Rate & Churn Rate: Measure how many users stay or leave after the first ride.

Driver Utilization Rate: Percent of time drivers are active; higher means better profits.

Acceptance Rate: Share of ride requests accepted; low rates signal supply issues.

Ride Completion Rate: Percent of booked rides completed; shows reliability.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) / Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Direct feedback from users to improve service quality.

Conclusion: Your Blueprint for Market Leadership in On-Demand Mobility

Launching a taxi or mobility app in 2025 demands more than great development—it requires data-driven marketing, rider and driver balance, and AI-powered insights. By carefully planning your pre-launch, leveraging digital channels, and optimizing with KPIs, you can stand out in a competitive market. Strategic execution, continuous learning, and smart decision-making are essential to build scalable, successful rideshare, carpool, or dispatch software that thrives in the evolving mobility industry.

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unicotaxi-app · 9 months ago

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Find the UK's Best Taxi Booking Apps in 2025

Here are the best taxi and ride-hailing apps that rule in the UK's passenger transport business. Are you looking to build your own Airport transfer, Car rental app or Taxi / Ride Sharing app choose UnicoTaxi

#unicotaxi #ride hailing app #car sharing solutions #taxi management software #airport taxi #airport transfer #app for limo booking #ride hailing software #taxi booking app #uber like taxi app

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travel-agency-software · 1 year ago

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What are the Benefits of Online Car Rental Software?

Discover the advantages of online car rental software, including streamlined booking processes, real-time availability, enhanced customer experience, and efficient fleet management. Explore how this technology can transform your car rental business.

Read more: What are the Benefits of Online Car Rental Software? (sriggle.com)

#car rental software #car rental management software #car rental booking software #rental car software #car rental reservation software #rental car management software

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months ago

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Cars bricked by bankrupt EV company will stay bricked

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

There are few phrases in the modern lexicon more accursed than "software-based car," and yet, this is how the failed EV maker Fisker billed its products, which retailed for $40-70k in the few short years before the company collapsed, shut down its servers, and degraded all those "software-based cars":

https://insideevs.com/news/723669/fisker-inc-bankruptcy-chapter-11-official/

Fisker billed itself as a "capital light" manufacturer, meaning that it didn't particularly make anything – rather, it "designed" cars that other companies built, allowing Fisker to focus on "experience," which is where the "software-based car" comes in. Virtually every subsystem in a Fisker car needs (or rather, needed) to periodically connect with its servers, either for regular operations or diagnostics and repair, creating frequent problems with brakes, airbags, shifting, battery management, locking and unlocking the doors:

https://www.businessinsider.com/fisker-owners-worry-about-vehicles-working-bankruptcy-2024-4

Since Fisker's bankruptcy, people with even minor problems with their Fisker EVs have found themselves owning expensive, inert lumps of conflict minerals and auto-loan debt; as one Fisker owner described it, "It's literally a lawn ornament right now":

https://www.businessinsider.com/fisker-owners-describe-chaos-to-keep-cars-running-after-bankruptcy-2024-7

This is, in many ways, typical Internet-of-Shit nonsense, but it's compounded by Fisker's capital light, all-outsource model, which led to extremely unreliable vehicles that have been plagued by recalls. The bankrupt company has proposed that vehicle owners should have to pay cash for these recalls, in order to reserve the company's capital for its creditors – a plan that is clearly illegal:

https://www.veritaglobal.net/fisker/document/2411390241007000000000005

This isn't even the first time Fisker has done this! Ten years ago, founder Henrik Fisker started another EV company called Fisker Automotive, which went bankrupt in 2014, leaving the company's "Karma" (no, really) long-range EVs (which were unreliable and prone to bursting into flames) in limbo:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Karma

Which raises the question: why did investors reward Fisker's initial incompetence by piling in for a second attempt? I think the answer lies in the very factor that has made Fisker's failure so hard on its customers: the "software-based car." Investors love the sound of a "software-based car" because they understand that a gadget that is connected to the cloud is ripe for rent-extraction, because with software comes a bundle of "IP rights" that let the company control its customers, critics and competitors:

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

A "software-based car" gets to mobilize the state to enforce its "IP," which allows it to force its customers to use authorized mechanics (who can, in turn, be price-gouged for licensing and diagnostic tools). "IP" can be used to shut down manufacturers of third party parts. "IP" allows manufacturers to revoke features that came with your car and charge you a monthly subscription fee for them. All sorts of features can be sold as downloadable content, and clawed back when title to the car changes hands, so that the new owners have to buy them again. "Software based cars" are easier to repo, making them perfect for the subprime auto-lending industry. And of course, "software-based cars" can gather much more surveillance data on drivers, which can be sold to sleazy, unregulated data-brokers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

Unsurprisingly, there's a large number of Fisker cars that never sold, which the bankruptcy estate is seeking a buyer for. For a minute there, it looked like they'd found one: American Lease, which was looking to acquire the deadstock Fiskers for use as leased fleet cars. But now that deal seems dead, because no one can figure out how to restart Fisker's servers, and these vehicles are bricks without server access:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/08/fisker-bankruptcy-hits-major-speed-bump-as-fleet-sale-is-now-in-question/

It's hard to say why the company's servers are so intransigent, but there's a clue in the chaotic way that the company wound down its affairs. The company's final days sound like a scene from the last days of the German Democratic Republic, with apparats from the failing state charging about in chaos, without any plans for keeping things running:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/07/east-germany-stasi-surveillance-documents/

As it imploded, Fisker cycled through a string of Chief Financial officers, losing track of millions of dollars at a time:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/31/fisker-collapse-investigation-ev-ocean-suv-henrik-geeta/

When Fisker's landlord regained possession of its HQ, they found "complete disarray," including improperly stored drums of toxic waste:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/05/fiskers-hq-abandoned-in-complete-disarray-with-apparent-hazardous-waste-clay-models-left-behind/

And while Fisker's implosion is particularly messy, the fact that it landed in bankruptcy is entirely unexceptional. Most businesses fail (eventually) and most startups fail (quickly). Despite this, businesses – even those in heavily regulated sectors like automotive regulation – are allowed to design products and undertake operations that are not designed to outlast the (likely short-lived) company.

After the 2008 crisis and the collapse of financial institutions like Lehman Brothers, finance regulators acquired a renewed interest in succession planning. Lehman consisted of over 6,000 separate corporate entities, each one representing a bid to evade regulation and/or taxation. Unwinding that complex hairball took years, during which the entities that entrusted Lehman with their funds – pensions, charitable institutions, etc – were unable to access their money.

To avoid repeats of this catastrophe, regulators began to insist that banks produce "living wills" – plans for unwinding their affairs in the event of catastrophe. They had to undertake "stress tests" that simulated a wind-down as planned, both to make sure the plan worked and to estimate how long it would take to execute. Then banks were required to set aside sufficient capital to keep the lights on while the plan ran on.

This regulation has been indifferently enforced. Banks spent the intervening years insisting that they are capable of prudently self-regulating without all this interference, something they continue to insist upon even after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/15/mon-dieu-les-guillotines/#ceci-nes-pas-une-bailout

The fact that the rules haven't been enforced tells us nothing about whether the rules would work if they were enforced. A string of high-profile bankruptcies of companies who had no succession plans and whose collapse stands to materially harm large numbers of people tells us that something has to be done about this.

Take 23andme, the creepy genomics company that enticed millions of people into sending them their genetic material (even if you aren't a 23andme customer, they probably have most of your genome, thanks to relatives who sent in cheek-swabs). 23andme is now bankrupt, and its bankruptcy estate is shopping for a buyer who'd like to commercially exploit all that juicy genetic data, even if that is to the detriment of the people it came from. What's more, the bankruptcy estate is refusing to destroy samples from people who want to opt out of this future sale:

https://bourniquelaw.com/2024/10/09/data-23-and-me/

On a smaller scale, there's Juicebox, a company that makes EV chargers, who are exiting the North American market and shutting down their servers, killing the advanced functionality that customers paid extra for when they chose a Juicebox product:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260316/juicebox-ev-chargers-enel-x-way-closing-discontinued-app

I actually owned a Juicebox, which ultimately caught fire and melted down, either due to a manufacturing defect or to the criminal ineptitude of Treeium, the worst solar installers in Southern California (or both):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

Projects like Juice Rescue are trying to reverse-engineer the Juicebox server infrastructure and build an alternative:

https://juice-rescue.org/

This would be much simpler if Juicebox's manufacturer, Enel X Way, had been required to file a living will that explained how its customers would go on enjoying their property when and if the company discontinued support, exited the market, or went bankrupt.

That might be a big lift for every little tech startup (though it would be superior than trying to get justice after the company fails). But in regulated sectors like automotive manufacture or genomic analysis, a regulation that says, "Either design your products and services to fail safely, or escrow enough cash to keep the lights on for the duration of an orderly wind-down in the event that you shut down" would be perfectly reasonable. Companies could make "software based cars" but the more "software based" the car was, the more funds they'd have to escrow to transition their servers when they shut down (and the lest capital they'd have to build the car).

Such a rule should be in addition to more muscular rules simply banning the most abusive practices, like the Oregon state Right to Repair bill, which bans the "parts pairing" that makes repairing a Fisker car so onerous:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/27/24097042/right-to-repair-law-oregon-sb1596-parts-pairing-tina-kotek-signed

Or the Illinois state biometric privacy law, which strictly limits the use of the kind of genomic data that 23andme collected:

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004

Failing to take action on these abusive practices is dangerous – and not just to the people who get burned by them. Every time a genomics research project turns into a privacy nightmare, that salts the earth for future medical research, making it much harder to conduct population-scale research, which can be carried out in privacy-preserving ways, and which pays huge scientific dividends that we all benefit from:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/01/the-palantir-will-see-you-now/#public-private-partnership

Just as Fisker's outrageous ripoff will make life harder for good cleantech companies:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/#better-micetraps

If people are convinced that new, climate-friendly tech is a cesspool of grift and extraction, it will punish those firms that are making routine, breathtaking, exciting (and extremely vital) breakthroughs:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/10/08/norways-national-football-stadium-has-the-worlds-largest-vertical-solar-roof-how-does-it-w

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/10/software-based-car/#based

#pluralistic #enshittification #evs #automotive #bricked #fisker #ocean #cleantech #iot #internet of shit #autoenshittification

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shiorimakibawrites · 2 months ago

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Breaking and Entering (The Phantom #1)

Word Count: ~5200 Main Pairing: Matt Murdock x Project Beagle! Reader Summary: You arrive in New York City tired, hungry, and in need of a shower. Warnings: Referenced canon-typical violence, crime, fugitive on the run, swearing, feelings of isolation, nudity, fear, psychic abilities, self-deprecation, implied past attempted sexual assault, referenced domestic violence The Phantom Masterlist Matt Murdock/Daredevil Masterlist My General Masterlist Taglist: @loves0phelia, @nowheredreamer, @beezusvreeland, @yarrystyleeza, @justvalkyrie, @xoxabs88xox, @flynnethenerd A03 Link

Special thanks to @pastafossa for permission to write this alternate take on your story and for beta-reading this chapter.

Chapter 1: Breaking and Entering

So this is the Big Apple, you thought as you walked out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Maybe someone else would have found the shift from the relative quiet of the Greyhound bus to the chaos of the terminal and the bustling street outside overwhelming. You saw it as a sanctuary. You plunged into the sea of people that you hoped to disappear into. Just another tourist marveling at the skyscrapers, painted gold by the setting sun. Just another transplant from nowhere looking for a fresh start, a place where they could shed their past and become someone new.

Being a needle in a haystack isn't a terrible approach, you mused to yourself as you settled onto a subway train. It has served you well over the last decade and some change. But always, always, the past came knocking like the inconsiderate bastard that it was and burnt your haystack to the ground. Which was why this time, you were going to be a needle in a needle stack. Thousands of people came to New York City everyday. If there was anywhere in the world where you would be just another face in the crowd, it ought to be here.

Please, you plead with whatever cosmic force looked out for people like you. Give me a couple of months here.

You were so tired. You haven't stopped moving for the last three months. He had gotten too close in Tampa. Far too close, you remembered with a shudder. You had managed to get away but it hadn't been clean. The resulting paranoia had you ditching all your planned next location options. They could be compromised. So you laid false trails to them and elsewhere while you roamed with no particular destination in mind. Eeny-meeny-miny-moe to pick a direction. Deciding on how much to pay for a plane or bus ticket based on the price of Twinkies at the last Stop-n-Slip you had been in. Stealing a car from long-term parking at the airport. Accepting a ride from two guys in a 67 Chevy Impala to anywhere but here.

It had eventually pointed your wandering feet toward New York City. A place where you ought to be to vanish for a few months. A place where you could rest and regain your strength. Just one more false trail, you promised yourself. Then I can rest.

And done, you thought as you finished altering the passenger manifest of a plane to show one Katherine Monroe boarding at JFK on a flight bound for Dallas-Fort Worth. It was such a shame that said airport was going to be experiencing glitches in their security cameras and boarding software that will make it impossible to know if Ms. Monroe caught the connecting flight to El Paso or not. It was equally unlucky that certain cameras here at JFK were down for maintenance for the last hour and wouldn't be operational again for at least another hour.

All of which should have your pursuers chasing their tails for a while. It wasn't unusual for you to book a flight with a layover, then skip the connecting flight to head out in entirely the opposite direction. Or the same general direction but with a different city in mind. It also wouldn't be unusual for you to go through the entire journey, connecting flights and all. Let them wonder if you had disappeared into Dallas or gone all the way to El Paso and took advantage of its proximity to the border to slip into Mexico again. Or the directions pointing south was a red herring and your actual goal was the border with Canada.

Which had been tempting. There was a lot of sparsely populated wilderness along the US-Canada border, a rugged terrain where, with the right skills, you could lead anyone hunting you around by their noses for years. Maybe after the forest ate a sufficient number of them, they'd take the hint and leave you the fuck alone.

You snorted. Not gonna happen. The very idea that you had beaten Him simply did not compute. He would never accept it. Never stop hunting you or Twenty as long as He was alive. Therefore the hunters were never stop searching.

And I can never stop running, never truly be free, you thought bitterly. The best you'd get was a few months of rest in a place where no one could really know you. I'll always be alone. You took a deep breath, then swallowed down the ache and exhaustion. You weren't going to cry. He had already stolen enough of your tears.

You stowed your laptop back into your bag. Time to go. While this chain coffee shop had taken care of your hunger, you still needed to find shelter and a shower. Not necessarily in that order.

Hours later, you were reconsidering staying in New York. It had been hot and muggy when you arrived but you had hoped that as night fell, it would cool off. No such luck. The sun had disappeared but the heat remained. Even the criminals and the working girls seem to have fled the streets in search of air that wasn't thick as syrup.

"And just as sticky," you grumbled to yourself as you trudged up the stairs. You were in decent shape but six flights of stairs in this heat had left you dripping wet with sweat. Adding that to the grime of more than a week's travel with only bathroom sinks to wash in left you feeling even grosser than you already felt before starting this quest for a shower.

A hotel room likely had a shower but they also cost money. Money that you were starting to run short of. Well, short of money on your person. You had money squirreled away in secret accounts but getting that cash in your hands tonight would be…difficult. You never moved the money in your secret accounts into one of your public accounts without engaging in a misdirecting trail of false transfers and dummy accounts to confuse those hunting you. A process that took time and concentration, both of which were difficult to come by when you were tired and itchy from sweat.

Your other preferred methods of…er, acquiring…fast funds either also required same concentration or were hampered by the late hour. There were less preferred methods but those were also much higher risk. Especially in this city. Even the few hours you had spent in the city had been enough to hear about the mysterious vigilante who roamed Hell's Kitchen aka the very streets you were perched above right now. This 'Man in Black' is rapidly becoming a thorn in the side of the Russian mob but he had made his distaste for unorganized criminals loud and clear. Call you a coward but you'd rather not get your ass kicked tonight, thank you very much.

But as mentioned, you needed a shower and somewhere to sleep. It's hard to get a legal job when you look like you haven't slept or bathed much for more than a week. Ask you how you know. But you also couldn't afford to be put in the hospital or a jail cell. Not if you wanted to keep what little freedom and life you had. Maybe you should find a different neighborhood to attempt this in but everywhere else you had looked so far had been busier, with too many potential witnesses…

Besides it couldn't hurt to look. Nothing illegal about looking.

You made yourself as comfortable as you could be sitting on the roof in this heat, took a deep breath, then opened your third eye. For lack of a better term. What you had read online didn't quite match your experience but it was closer than anything else you had found.

The sensation was impossible to fully describe. You had tried on those nights when you couldn't sleep. It felt a bit like blinking open your eyes after a long nap but also like relaxing a muscle that had been held in tension too long at the same time and like finally getting to relieve your full bladder all at the same time and happening in the center of your forehead. And then you could see.

White unfurled around you, shining as bright as the sun at midday. It stung and made your eyes water. After a moment, the brightness dimmed to something closer to moonlight, allowing you to see the individual threads flapping and coiling in the air like ribbons dancing with the wind. Except it wasn't the wind moving these threads.

Part of that movement was that the people attached to them were moving but even when someone was still, their threads kept moving. The only time you had even seen someone's threads stop was the moment they died. The threads would freeze then every strand of theirs would turn a dull gray before falling limply to pool around their person. The only movement and sign of life being the blue-gray threads belonging to those left behind.

The dimming also allows you to see their true colors. Aside from the aforementioned blue-gray and white, threads of red, blue, green, orange, and yellow in every conceivable shade painted the city and its people with vibrant color. Over the years, you have learned what the different colors mean. Blues were for connections to objects, anything that wasn't alive and they ranged from soft powder blue for something new to the rich hue of lapis lazuli for a person's most cherished possession. The other colors were seemingly reserved for the living. Anything from butter yellow to vibrant red signified a bond of mutual affection between one person and another person or an animal. The stronger the bond, the redder their shared thread became. And if that affection was one-sided? Then the thread was green. And like the other threads, the more vibrant the hue, the stronger that feeling was.

You always felt bad for anyone with a forest green thread. It must be so painful to be so in love with someone who doesn't love you back.

It took a moment to sort out the threads. There weren't many coming from the building under your feet. Which you expected since it was nearly empty. That was not the case with the buildings on either side of you. Your fingers skimmed the surface of each thread, not deep enough to see the roads within but enough to feel. Whispers of emotions that weren't your own but washed over you just the same. You discarded the threads pulsing with safe-warm-happy of the peacefully sleeping along with the discomfort-cold-wet-fear of the shadows from children and pulse-pounding throb of lust-want-love from couples having sex until you found what you were searching for. A bundle of threads that radiated that mixture of concentration and impatience-to-be-done that you associated with someone working. The bundle contained an unusual amount of green threads that spread across the neighborhood like a spider’s web. The only people you had ever met with so many green threads had been paramedics or firemen. Someone who saved people’s lives. Whoever this person, they had done something to forge connections with so many people in this place, creating threads that ranged from soft mint to deep emerald green. So many that they nearly hide the other threads. The most prominent was a white, thick and heavy as rope that seemed to sink into the ground but there was healthy scattering of blues that trailed into the apartment building to your right along with a couple of pale yellows and fiery oranges that headed elsewhere. Buried in the middle, so deep that you almost missed, a single scarlet red thread.

You pushed down your envy with the ease of long practice. There was no point in getting jealous. It wasn't this person's vault that they had something you could never have. Because as much as you longed for someone to love you that fiercely…having that kind of bond with someone was too dangerous. Both for you and whatever poor soul you'd inflict yourself on. The things that He would do….You couldn't do that to someone. You weren't that much of a monster.

You shook your head and focused on the task at hand. Namely selecting one of these pretty blue threads to slip into and see if the resident of that apartment really was near the Hudson River like it appeared they were. A yellow or orange thread would be easier but all of them were headed away from the main bundle, not toward it. Which meant whoever those threads were connected to, they weren't with this person right now but if you were being honest, you preferred using blue threads. It was harder but it was far less intimate. Blue threads contained far less emotions and memories than the others.

You grabbed the thread that had the truest, most vibrant blue. The emotions seeping out of it tasted bittersweet, love and grief in equal measure. Reaching into the thread would have been easier with the object in question but not impossible. You don't know how long you sat there, the thread in your hands before it happened.

What happened exactly was just as difficult to describe as opening your third eye. Physically you remained seated on the roof, the thread gripped firmly in your right hand. But mentally….it felt like you had pressed against a door. One that had been stuck fast but after some pushing and shoving, the door gave way and you stumbled out onto a street.

Or least you thought it was a street. This inside-the-thread space usually appeared as a street to you. And while you could feel pavement under your feet and heard cars speeding past you, it was so dark. The only source of light was a flicker of flames all around that seemed to take the shape of…buildings? And, you squinted, the cars? The fire didn't illuminate the darkness so much as it highlighted it. It didn't help that the flames kept fluctuating. Every sound or shift in the air caused the flames to either grew dimmer or become more intense. The later gave you brief glimpses of finer details on the buildings. The former left you standing in pitch blackness unable to see your hand in front of your face.

You inched toward the nearest building, a squat thing that hugged the ground. It didn't get any clearer as you approached. Well, not in the visual sense. Far more prominent was the smell — the pungent odor of sweat, leather, the sharp astringency of iodine and muscle balm, the sweet cooper of blood, the vaguely minty scent of Irish Spring soap along the faint elements of a man's cologne. Just as strong were the sounds - the rhythmic thump of fists striking a punching bag, grunts and the murmur of a man's voice. It was too low for you to make out the words over a steady beating drum.

You didn't go inside. It wasn't necessary. You just needed to confirm this person's location, not snoop on their memories related to the connected object sheltered in that low building. And all you needed to do to accomplish that particular goal was simply walk down the street.

Which, admittedly, was easier said than done. The flames helped but this darkness was incredibly disorienting. Eventually, you got yourself turned in what was (hopefully) the right direction and started walking. Albeit, far more slowly than your usual ground-eating stride. This street might not be 'real' in the strictest sense of the word but it felt real. Real enough to make you worry about tripping. Real enough to trigger old anxieties about who or what was in the shadows, waiting and watching…always watching…

You firmly shoved those memories back into the tightly locked box where they belonged. You were not going to think about that, not going to remember it. You didn't need to remember it. That part of your life is over.

The street never got any brighter. You suspected that it never would. Whoever this person is, their world was made of fire and shadows. Part of you wanted to know why but you set aside your curiosity for the same reason you stayed outside of the buildings. You didn't need to know. It was none of your business. You were violating enough of this person's privacy just being here. A trespass that you were intending to compound by entering their home without their knowledge or permission. The least you could do was not poke around their mind anymore than necessary.

Marking the passage of time inside a thread was all but impossible. But eventually, you felt things shift. It remained just as dark as before but everything else intensified. You could smell water…old rotting wood…cigarette smoke and gun oil…something sharp that you couldn't identify…so many things that you had no idea what they were…could hear male voices filled with contempt…a cacophony of drums…felt the neverending heat, the sweat rolling down your back, the familiar but still irritating scratchiness of cotton blend…and the simmering rage, the pure unaltered fury at those who dared to harm his people…

You stumbled back and found yourself back in your own body, shaking and dizzy. What the fuck was that? Why was everything in his mind so damn loud? You had encountered people with sensory issues before but never with that level of intensity. And the overwhelming force of his emotions…Who is this guy?!

It was enough to make you briefly reconsider picking this particular apartment for your shower. But you were tired. Your nose was dripping blood. The pressure at your temples warned of an oncoming migraine. You still felt gross. And you still had to find somewhere to sleep tonight…

He's clearly busy, you told yourself. Doing what, you had no idea. And in all honesty, weren't sure that you wanted to know. But it seemed like something that would keep him occupied. Certainly occupied long enough for you to pop in, take a quick shower, and bounce.

Sweetening the temptation was that apparently whoever had last used the roof access door hadn't closed it properly. The lighting up here wasn't great but that obnoxious billboard on the far side of the other building was more than bright enough to make the open door. If you get onto that roof, you could bypass the buzzer on the front door. Okay, you weren't certain that there was a buzzer intercom at that door. But given how common that feature was in this city, it seemed a fair assumption to make.

The gap between this building and the one you needed to get to didn't look too far…that you'd fall six stories to your death (if you were lucky) if you were wrong did give you a moment's pause but you'd still be There if you weren't willing to take some risks to get what you want.

It was probably a sign of how messed up your brain was that running full speed toward that gap, then jumping had you grinning like a loon. Even after you landed on the other roof with all the grace of a drunk cat, earning yourself bruises that you were going to be feeling in the morning, you couldn't stop grinning.

That was kinda fun, you thought. Scary but fun. It might just be adrenaline speaking but maybe you should add parkour to your to-learn list. Wouldn't that be a nasty surprise for the people hunting you?

Despite your growing headache, you needed to open your third eye again. Fortunately making sure you went to the right apartment wouldn't require actually diving in this time. You just needed to follow the thread itself. The initial brightness made pain stab through your brain like a knife but you gritted your teeth and waited for both to subside. Which they did and soon you were following the azure thread through the open door.

You had expected the door to take you to a hallway. Instead you found yourself in a loft, looking down at what was clearly someone's living room. Luck was with you in that it was the right living room as the azure thread in your hand disappeared into a closet under the stairs that bridged said living room and the loft. Good, you thought as you closed your third eye. If you had to break into someone's house, you preferred to do it when they weren't home. Especially when it was this late at night. You preferred not to get shot. Getting shot sucked.

You didn't look for the light switch. First, since you weren't wearing gloves, you needed to avoid touching anything that you didn't have to. Getting the police to dust for prints would be extreme to find someone who hadn't actually stolen anything from you but some people were just that petty. You had no doubt that He had your prints flagged in every database in the country. Second, you didn't need it. There was more than enough light coming in from outside. Weird thread or not, you hoped this guy had good blackout curtains for his bedroom because cheese and crackers is that billboard bright.

It didn't take long to find the bathroom. There you did need to turn on the lights. The bathroom was a little plain but the shower was huge, easily big enough for two or more people. The towels were plain white, like the ones in hotels, except these looked much softer. It was shockingly neat for what was, as far as you could tell, the home of a single man. There wasn't a single item out of place.

You gave silent thanks that your mystery man was a neat freak. His tidiness was saving you a significant amount of time that you might have otherwise wasted searching for a towel, washcloths, and soap. You sat your bag on the counter. You'd fish out your cleanest clothes afterward. Which weren't very clean, you admitted to yourself with a grimace. But there wasn't anything you could do about that. You hadn't been able to do laundry. Your rushed exit from Tampa meant the only clothing you had was what's in the bag and what you had been wearing that day. Which didn't leave you with a lot of clothing options.

You turned on the shower, then peeled off your sweat-soaked clothing and dropped them into a single pile. Words could not describe how good it felt to take all that off, especially the bra. Stepping under the spray felt just as good in a different way. Mystery Man favored unscented soap but beggars could hardly be choosers. Plain soap at least smelled good. It was more than you could say for the beauty products your last identity used, which smelled entirely too much like Vick's Vapor Rub. And not just to you - more than one person had asked if you were feeling well during the ten months you had lived in Tampa.

The shampoo was also unscented. You hadn't known there was such a thing as unscented shampoo. Soap, yes, but shampoo and conditioner always seem to have some kind of smell added to it. Plain or not, it lathered up well and did a beautiful job washing out a couple weeks worth of grime out of your hair. And it all felt so good that you had to just stand underneath the spray for a moment, close your eyes and let yourself relax. Just for a moment…

Until there was a loud knock on the door and an unfamiliar male voice, hard and uncompromising, said, "When you're done showering, you're going to tell me why you are in my home."

You were frozen, finding yourself unable to move and unable to make a sound. Even when the man opened the bathroom door, you still couldn't get yourself to move. Not even to attempt to cover yourself. Your heart only beat faster when you see the man's reflection in the mirror. Lean, hard muscle poured into an entirely black outfit - shirt, pants, boots, gloves, and....a mask. You bite down hard on your bottom lip to stifle a whimper.

"Here are some sweats for when you are finished," the man continued, setting down the bundle of clothing that you only just realized was in one hand. That same hand darted out and grabbed your bag. Then without another word, he went back out the door and closed it.

The Man in the Black…fuck, fuck! And he had said that this is his home? Fuck, fuck, fuck! Of all the apartments in Hell's Kitchen, you had to pick the one that belonged to the vigilante? Fuck!

How had he snuck up on you? The shower drowned out a lot of sound but that bottom step creaked loud enough to wake the dead! So did several of the floorboards. And why had he, apparently, run back home? He had felt so busy...

Your mind raced, looking for an escape but there wasn't one. The door was the only way out of this bathroom. And he had your bag. Your go-bag with all the supplies you needed. Without it, you weren't just trapped in this bathroom. You were trapped in this city, unable to run until you made a new one….What if He found you before then? This time you couldn't stop the thin, terrified whine from escaping your mouth.

You did your best to swallow that fear and took a deep breath. Then another and another until you no longer felt like the walls collapsing in on you. You could breathe. You could do this. You could convince the Man in Black to let you go. You could convince him to give you back your go-bag.

Your hands shook as you turned off the shower. And keep shaking while you dried yourself off, distantly aware that the towels were even softer and fluffier than they looked. And they looked pretty fluffy. Now you just had to get dressed and your choices were your own clothes or the ones supplied by the Man in Black.

Pro for your own clothes — they were yours so no potential complications that might come from 'borrowing' the Man in Black's sweats. Con - they reeked. Pro for MIB's sweats — they were clean. Con - MIB will probably expect you to return them. Or would expect you to do certain things in exchange for the 'favor.'

Well he can expect anything he wants, doesn't mean he's gonna get it, you thought, your temper flaring. You welcomed the anger. Anger was an old, familiar friend. Anger had been there for you as long as you could remember, the fire that kept you moving when all you wanted to do was cry.

And if MIB tries to pull that crap…, you thought. Well, it wouldn't be the first time I've taught someone that no means no.

You grabbed the sweats, your hands steady once again as you pulled them on. Wearing your own clothes, smelly and still uncomfortably damp, might distract you. That was unacceptable. The sweats were clean. And comically oversized but you pulled the drawstring on the pants tight to keep them up. There wasn't much you could do about the shirt but it was sleeveless so at least you didn't need to worry about rolling up the sleeves to keep your hands free.

You faced the door and took one more deep breath. Then you walked out of the bathroom with your head held high. I might be down but I'm not out.

MIB was waiting for you in the living room, positioned to easily intercept any attempt on your part to reach the front door or the roof access door. Which was a little disappointing. It's always so much easier when your opponents were dumb. Your bag was sitting on a coffee table, unzipped but otherwise untouched. You hadn't remained in the bathroom long enough for him to have looked through the entire bag but enough for him to have seen something suspicious.

"Have a seat," MIB ordered.

You stuck out your chin, jaw tight. "I'd rather stand."

"Suit yourself," MIB said with a shrug. "I have a few questions. I expect honest answers. And fair warning, I will know if you are lying to me."

I'm sure, you mentally scoffed. You had played this game before.

He took your silence as agreement. "What's your name?"

"Mary Smith," you said, giving the name you had chosen to go by. Technically you had used it before but it was so common, so generic that finding you among all of the real Mary Smiths was all but impossible.

MIB scowled. "Lie. What's your name?"

"Mary Smith," you repeated.

MIB growled, then stomped over to you. He loomed over you, making you viscerally aware that he was a powerfully built man. One with a growing reputation for inflicting incredible violence. His lips pulled back into a snarl, then he said, voice low but full of barely restrained fury. "Do not lie to me. What is your name?"

You weren't going to lie to yourself that he wasn't frightening you. He was. Your heart is pounding and you could feel a cold sweat breaking out. But you stood your ground. He was hardly the first man to threat you. "Mary Smith is the only name you are getting from me. Take it or leave it."

Another growl but apparently he wasn't willing to hit you over what name you were using. "So 'Mary', why did you break into my apartment?"

"To take a shower," you said.

"Nothing else? Weren't gonna steal my laptop?"

"No," you said.

This seemed to throw him a little. His head tilted to one side. "Something else?"

"Maybe a banana?" you said. It had been hours since that muffin at the coffee place. And using your abilities was hungry work.

"That's it? A shower and some food is all you were after?"

"Yep."

"No one sent you? You aren't working for anyone?"

"No."

This really seemed to throw him. He frowned then stepped back, giving you more space even as he stared at you with an intensity you had never experienced. It felt like he could see right through you. "You weren't trying to figure out who I am?" "No," you said. "Didn't even know that you existed until a few hours ago. I just got here."

He nodded, his body language turning more…relaxed wasn't the right word. There was still too much predatory energy for relaxed. Less hostile, perhaps? He was certainly radiating far less menace than he had been a minute ago.

"But you are running from someone."

"What makes you say that?"

MIB gestured toward the coffee table. "IDs, cash, clothes, hair dye, knife, medical supplies —it's a go bag. All of your things reek of stress and fear. Who are you running from?"

"Doesn't matter," you said, though part of your mind noted the peculiar wording.

"Tell me," MIB said. In a sharp contrast to moments before, his voice was now gentle and kind. "I can help you."

You couldn't help it. You laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh. It was bitter, hopeless. "No one can help me."

"I can." MIB said, confident and sure of himself. Probably because he had no idea what he was up against. And proved it with his next question. "Who is after you? The police? Drug cartel? Ex husband?

You shook your head. "Doesn't matter."

"It does. Tell me so I can help you," he said, almost pleading. "I promise I'll protect you."

Even with half his face covered, he looked so earnest. And you couldn't help but feel touched by his offer. He didn't know you. Didn't know what he was promising. Couldn't know who he was pitting himself against. It was something that only one other person had ever done for you.

"No, you can't," you said, your voice barely above a whisper. If the Ferryman wasn't powerful enough….

"Mary —"

"I can't tell you." Your mind unwillingly conjures the knowledge of what would happen to anyone who tried to help you. "I can't."

MIB sighed, a deeply frustrated sound, but he let it go. "Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?"

"No?" You said.

"Well, you do now. My bed is through that door." He pointed behind you.

You shifted, uneasy. "I don-"

"Don't be afraid," he said. "I'll be sleeping on the couch."

"But-"

"Please," he said. "If you wouldn't let me help you, at least let me give you somewhere safe to sleep tonight."

You considered it, torn. You didn't know this man, didn't really trust him, but you were tired. Beyond tired. You haven't had a good night's sleep since you left Tampa. You didn't really want to look somewhere else or sleep outside again. "Okay."

#fan fiction #fan fic #daredevil #netflix daredevil #mcu daredevil #matt murdock #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #into the red thread verse #the phantom series #chapter 1

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rosemaidenvixen · 6 months ago

Text

Tales of Arcadia Hallmark au

Idea came from a conversation between me and @trololololololooz , based on our shared love of Hallmark movies, TOA, and gay stuff.

Spoiler alert, Jeves and Clairy sweetness ahead.

Ao3

Steve is a big time baseball star and Mary is his girlfriend and a big time corporate lawyer. (Neither one of them is super invested in their relationship, because gay, but it's pushed on them by Steve's manager and Mary's boss, as it generates good publicity for both of them). Steve suffers a big injury, his doctor tells him it could be the end of his sports career. Steve's manager blows the doctor off, telling Steve to rest over Christmas and he can get back on the field in January. Steve gets a call from his childhood BFF Darci, who tells him that she just published a book and the release event is going to be held in their hometown of Arcadia, and she encourages him to come. Steve decides to go visit Arcadia for Christmas while resting his injury. Mary accompanies him, under instructions from her firm to scout the town for a corporate takeover.

Mary and Steve arrive in Arcadia only to have their car immediately break down. They go to the local mechanic, only for Steve to be utterly shocked that their mechanic is Jim, Steve's high school friend and secret crush. Both of them are flustered and awkward, Steve says he's only in town to visit family for the holiday/see Darci's book signing and Jim agrees to fix Steve's car. Steve overhears a phone call between Jim and Claire and thinks the two are dating and becomes sad. In reality Jim and Claire did date a bit after high school but mutually broke it off and are just friends now.

Meanwhile outside the mechanic shop Claire and Mary run into each other. Claire, a local councilwoman, recognizes Mary as the corporate takeover lawyer and confronts her. Cue wlw hostility.

Car now fixed Steve and Mary continue on their way to his siblings' house. They arrive and are greeted by Douxie, Steve's adopted older brother, who guides them inside. Douxie lives with his and Steve's younger siblings, twins Aja and Krel, and Aja's girlfriend Shannon. Douxie is a waiter/a musician on the side, Krel is a software engineer, Shannon is a liveblogger, and Aja does something completely off the wall like lumberjack/reindeer herder/bear wrestler. Steve is delighted by the reunion with his siblings and easily falls back in with them. He and Mary also let them know that their relationship is purely for business purposes and they aren't romantically interested in each other at all. At dinner Steve inquires about where their parents are, the others are all made uncomfortable by this and tell Steve they still live in town but Steve doesn't have to see them. Steve brushes off their concerns but Mary is intrigued.

The next morning they all go to the book store for Darci's book release. Steve gets there early and he and Darci have a heartfelt reunion. The book signing commences to and Steve's surprise they run into Jim and Claire at the book store. Cue blushing and awkwardness from Steve and Jim, and tooth grinding barely concealed hostility from Mary and Claire.

Shannon sees how obvious Jim and Steve are being and tells Douxie, Aja, and Krel they need to get the two of them together so they'll stop being blushing awkward messes. Delighted at the idea of hijinks they all agree.

Douxie slides in and tells Steve that while Jim is the town mechanic he also bakes on the side and does a lot of the baking for the town Christmas festival and is heavily involved with running it, and that he'd be a great person to show Steve around the town. Steve and Jim both blush and flounder saying they're going to be busy helping Mary and Claire with their respective tasks. Aja chimes in saying Mary and Claire can come along and the four of them can spend time together, shy agreement from Jim and Steve and forced grins from Mary and Claire.

Cut to them doing various holiday activities, Steve and Jim have shy sweet chemistry while Mary and Claire have barely concealed hostility. This ends with Steve's injury being aggravated. Jim, Mary, and Claire push Steve to go see a doctor, which stresses Steve greatly until Jim tells him that the old town doctor died when he slipped on a patch of ice and Barbara is the new doctor.

At the doctor's office Jim and Steve go into the exam room while Mary and Claire hang out in the waiting room. Barbara looks over Steve's injury and says he's fine for now but to take it easy and not do anything strenuous, and that he should definitely make an appointment with a physical therapist. Jim and Steve share an "I'm glad you're ok" moment, which Barbara observes.

Meanwhile in the waiting room the computer system goes down and everyone starts panicking, Mary steps in and begins organizing things, quickly bringing the chaos into order. Claire reluctantly respects her for this.

Barbara later meets with Douxie, Aja, Krel, and Shannon, once she realizes that Steve and Mary's relationship is purely for show she becomes fully onboard with their antics to bring Jim and Steve together. Shannon has a quick moment of realization "Wait are we in a Hallmark movie?"

The next day Jim and Steve spend time with Toby and Darci at their D&D session, Claire declined because she's busy and Mary because she's tired. Toby privately tells Jim his feelings for Steve are obvious and Jim should go ahead and ask him out, Jim says he can't because Steve built up a new life as a big baseball star that Jim has no place in. Darci does the same with Steve but Steve says that Jim is with Claire and Steve can't disrupt their happiness.

That night Mary is frustrated at her bosses hounding her and decides to go out to a local bar to hopefully unwind. Douxie's band takes the stage and to her utter shock Claire is with them as a bassist/vocalist rocking out to punk music. Moment of gay panic from Mary. Off stage she tells Claire she really enjoyed her performance, a flustered Claire says that punk music is just something she uses to unwind from her job as a councilwoman.

The next day they do more holiday activities with the four of them, with Claire and Mary earnestly enjoying each other's company this time. At the end of the day Barbara, Douxie, Aja, Krel, and Shannon arrange for Steve and Jim to have a quiet moment alone (Shannon remains the only one self aware of their Hallmark movie shenanigens). Jim reveals that he and Claire broke up and are purely friends now, a stunned Steve reveals that him and Mary's relationship is purely for publicity. Sharing a moment of stunned elation the two of them agree to try a relationship.

The next day Jim and Steve go meet up with Steve's old baseball team, including Eli, Logan, and Seamus who still play baseball in their free time. They are all are excited to see Steve as he's the only one who "made" it. Steve shyly says after his injury he's considering giving up sports and picking up something less hard on his body. Steve has a great time catching up with them until he's ambushed by his parents. They pull him aside and berate him for potentially giving up sports, calling him weak for not wanting to play with his injury, and make homophobic comments about him and Jim. Meanwhile after hearing the other team members talk Jim starts to feel guilty about pulling Steve away from his glamorous sports star life.

That night Jim breaks up with Steve, claiming it's because their lives are just too different. Steve is heartbroken, and under pressure from his parents and his manager, believes baseball is the only thing he'll ever be good for and makes plans to go back to the big city and back to playing.

Meanwhile Claire overhears snippets of a conversation Mary has on the phone and thinks that Mary's giving her firm the go ahead to take over the town. Claire angrily tells Mary off. A crushed Mary makes plans to go back to the city with Steve, both of them planning on continuing their sham relationship.

Steve tells Eli, Logan, and Seamus goodbye, saying he's split up with Jim and is heading back to the big city to start back up with baseball practice. They're worried about Steve both breaking up with Jim and jumping back in to baseball instead of resting his injury. They go check with Barbara, who is very concerned by Steve's plan to return to baseball, as she knows that's the last thing his injury needs.

All of them meet up with Douxie, Douxie confesses that their parents always pushed Steve too hard to succeed in baseball, and that they got the old town doctor to sweep his injuries under the rug so they could push him further and further. Douxie always wanted to intervene, but because he was a foster kid, their parents threatened to send Douxie away if he made too much of a fuss. They all decide that they can't let Steve and Jim part like this, so they wrangle everyone in town to help Steve and Jim get back together (at this point Shannon is resigned "fuck it if we're in a Hallmark movie we might as well go all the way").

Through hijinks Barbara, all of Steve's siblings, and the baseball team get Steve and Mary to attend the town's Christmas tree lighting festival. Toby and Darci find Jim and Claire drowning their sorrows in eggnog at the local bar. Jim bemoans that he can't get in the way of Steve's dream life and at least this way he can protect Steve's feelings. Toby shuts him down hard, saying that he's not protecting Steve, he's taking the decision away from him, and that Steve deserves to make his own choices and Jim owes him his honest feelings. Claire grumbles about being decieved by Mary, Darci curtly points out that what Claire heard was a small segment of a conversation with absolutely no context, Mary could have been talking about a lot of things, and at the very least Claire should ask Mary for an explanation. Jim and Claire concede and agree to meet up with Steve and Mary.

At the tree lighting Jim reunites with Steve and confesses everything, he says he loves Steve and wants to be with him, but doesn't want to get in the way of Steve doing the sport he loves. He says he'll support Steve at whatever Steve wants, as long as it makes Steve happy. Jim's sincerity has Steve breaking down, he confesses he's been grinding so much at baseball he hasn't enjoyed it for a long time, and his injury gives him chronic pain and he wants to quit but has been doing baseball for so long he doesn't know what else to do. Jim assures him he can spend as much time as he needs to figuring it out.

Meanwhile Claire apologizes to Mary for blowing up at her and asks about the phone call. Mary confesses that she is planning a corporate takeover...of her own company, using blackmail and embezzlement to oust her bosses and put herself on top. She says she loved spending time with Claire, but she also loves being a corporate lawyer, and she could never ask Claire to leave the town she loves. Claire confesses that while she does love her town she doesn't want to be a councilwoman for the rest of her life, and that she, Douxie, and the rest of the band have been talking for months about going to the city to try and make it big.

Both couples happily agree to try new lives together. Jim and Steve in Arcadia, and Mary and Claire in the big city.

Steve's parents storm in and start berating Steve again for quitting baseball just when he's "made it". Jim steps in and absolutely tears into them, saying they never truly cared about what was best for Steve and pushed him to the point of injury. Douxie, Aja, Krel, Mary, Claire, Logan, Seamus, Eli, and the other baseball team members all join in on blasting Steve's parents. Embarrassed, Steve's parents slink away.

The Christmas tree lighting commences, Jim and Steve share a kiss, as well as Mary and Claire. Shannon rolls her eyes "Of course they kiss now, we are in a Hallmark movie after all," Aja slides up to her "So does this mean you don't want to kiss me?" Shannon smirks "Oh I didn't say that".

While the couples are all kissing Krel, Darci, and Toby roll their eyes and share a moment of aromantic solidarity as the only three people in town capable of being normal about this stuff. Darci remarks that she doesn't see the Palchuk parents anywhere. Krel tells her that Douxie mentioned their parents were arrested for child abuse and taken away. Toby comments that it's weird for them to be arrested after all this time has passed but none of them really dwell on it.

Cut to the Palchuk parents' being taken away by Krampus (Strickler) while Barbara and Douxie watch. Through conversation it's revealed that Krampus (Strickler) is Barbara's friend with benefits. After he departs with the Palchuk parents, Douxie asks if Barbara cares to explain how she and Krampus (Strickler) became fwb, Barbara says no she does not.

One year later, Steve has quit baseball and lives in Arcadia with Jim. He fosters animals for the local shelter and works part time as a substitute teacher, as well as various other side jobs around town. Steve still doesn't know what he wants to spend the rest of his life doing, but he's having fun trying out the different options while being loved and supported by Jim and his friends and family. He's started physical therapy and stopped playing baseball completely, but enjoys cheering Eli, Logan, and Seamus on at their games.

Mary, Claire, and Douxie arrive in town to visit for Christmas. Mary gushes about how much she enjoys running her own firm, while Douxie and Claire gleefully share how their band is taking off.

Big Christmas party with all the characters happens, Steve and Jim share a kiss under the mistletoe.

Cue end credits over Christmas music.

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softwarerentaaa · 1 year ago

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How to Prevent Card Payment Chargebacks: Essential Steps for Businesses

In the modern era of digital payments and online transactions, chargebacks may become a serious problem for businesses. A chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a transaction with their card provider, reversing the money. Chargebacks not only affect your income but also your brand image and further build up complexity in your operations. Businesses can take proactive steps to reduce the possibility of chargebacks and avoid these problems.

These are essential steps that you should take:

Secure cardholder authentication Implement secure cardholder authentication techniques such as 3-D Secure, to verify the identification of the cardholder for the duration of online transactions, or you can verify with CVV codes and address verification. This enables the prevention of unauthorized card use and decreases the threat of chargeback due to fraud.

Transaction Documentation: The more thorough your transaction records are, the simpler it will be to dispute a chargeback. So, keep all invoices, receipts, transaction dates and times, and customer correspondence. To make them all easier to find, give each of these records a suitable name. Create a procedure for transaction documentation so that each chargeback doesn't require you to start from scratch.

Customer Service Excellence: Provide exceptional customer service by promptly addressing inquiries, concerns, and complaints. Open communication and resolution of issues can prevent customers from escalating disputes to chargebacks.

Regular Monitoring and Review: Monitor transactions often for any suspicious activity or unusual patterns. Take proactive measures to detect and resolve such frauds or faults to stop chargebacks before they occur.

Educate Staff on Fraud Prevention: Train your staff to understand signs of fraud or suspicious behavior. Ensure they recognize the importance of following protection protocols.

You can keep your customers satisfied and significantly reduce the chance of card payment chargeback by taking these preventative steps.

Please contact us if you have any questions or need help putting these techniques into practice. We are here to help you protect your company by establishing a safe payment environment.

We appreciate you taking the time to consider this crucial issue.

Visit our website to know more:

https://rentaaa.com/

#Vehicle Rental Software #Car Rental Software #Fleet Management Software #Car Booking Management Software #Vehicle Booking Management Software #Manage Rental bookings Online #Car Rental Booking Software

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nickgerlich · 8 months ago

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Finding Resolve

We’ve all done it. We are all part of this new phenomenon, something that barely existed before this century, and only truly gained momentum in the last decade. The worst part is, most of us have forgotten exactly how much we are involved with it, because it is hard to remember what and how much these phenomena cost.

I am talking about the subscription economy, that magical place where software and streaming services are the product, and our monthly bill is usually on autopay. It ranges from SOAS (Software As A Service) providers like Adobe and Microsoft, to all the music, movies, and more that we stream into our homes, cars, and mobile devices.

And it is eating us alive.How many subscriptions do you have? Let’s start with your vehicle. Do you have satellite radio? That’s one. Do you subscribe to cloud-based software? That can be one or more. What about streaming tunes like Spotify or Apple Music? There you guy. The list is getting longer.

And then there are all the streaming TV choices, which runs from services like YouTube TV to Netflix, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Peacock, Max, Hulu, Disney…I could go on. You may have cut the cable at home, but you tethered yourself in other ways to the extent that the net effect is little different.

Then there’s the gaming community, if that’s your thing. More dinero. Maybe you fell for the premium version of an app, like Accuweather. If you’re a regular Amazon shopper, you no doubt have Prime, which costs $139 a year, plus the vitamins and supplements I receive every month from them. Like listening to books? There’s Audible. Old newspapers? There’s Newspapers.com, one of my favorite sites to do research. Cloud storage? Good Lord, I have several, for my thousands of photos and documents.

So successful has the subscription model been that paywalls have appeared everywhere online, like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Atlantic Monthly, each of whom have amazing content, a feast for my eyes and brain. Alas, I have drawn the line, because I sense it has long spun out control. And if CNN goes ahead and paywalls its app and site, I guess I won’t be reading them anymore.

Because I, like many people, have subscription fatigue. I simply cannot begin to consume all of this media. Sadly, I cannot remember all of the services to which I subscribe, and if you aren’t there yet, I bet you will be soon enough. The only way to know for sure is to carefully track your credit card statements to look for monthly billing.

That, of course, is the problem, because we willingly provided our billing data so that we do not have to do this every month. As long as that credit card is valid, those providers will keep hitting your card every month. It is only when your card is about to expire that you get a notification. And if you were not careful and instead provided a bank routing and account number, they can keep sticking their hand into your pocket as long as you have that account.

Ironically, there are new subscription management software sites and apps that supposedly make it easy to track and opt-out of all the things, but they are subscription services themselves. That’s like replacing one drug with another. You’re still on the hook.

It all starts so easily, because many of the subscription services are technically just micro payments, only $5 or $10. We see that as pocket change. Other services offer annual payment options, which provide a slight discount for paying in full in advance. But many of the once-cheap micro payments have started to get expensive, like Netflix and Spotify (I am speaking from experience). They are no longer minor indulgences.

Were these tangible products we had to buy in a store, I bet we would all be a lot more careful. The friction of having to be somewhere to even just tap your credit card would probably be enough to cause us to think. But it is simply too easy in the digital world to keep subscribing, because once we get in that loop, there is never any friction.

We are all going to have to muster a lot more resolve to win this fight, as well as start keeping meticulous records. Otherwise, these things develop lives of their own, lives that will continue hitting credit cards even after our own lives are over. I’m pretty sure none of us will be consuming anything at that point, and there’s no use paying for it.

We don’t have to wait for New Years Day to make this resolution.

Dr “I Honestly Can’t Remember All Of Them” Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #subscriptions

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full-stackmobiledeveloper · 13 days ago

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Essential Marketing & User Acquisition Strategies for Your New Taxi AppLaunching a taxi app? Don’t just build—scale! 🚕📈 Get expert user acquisition, growth marketing, and AI-powered strategies tailored for 2025.Launching a taxi app in 2025? We offer a complete marketing and user acquisition service to help you scale fast. From pre-launch planning and referral programs to AI-driven targeting, local SEO, and rider-driver retention, we build your growth engine. Perfect for Uber-like apps, carpool platforms, and dispatch systems. Start strong, grow smart—partner with us today.

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unicotaxi-app · 10 months ago

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Car Rental Booking and Management Software

Get your Car rental business next level with Cloud-based and AI-powered Car rental booking and Management Software, Build it with a feature-rich and cutting-edge system at UnicoTaxi.

Visit UnicoTaxi and Book a free demo of our system.

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thesaleswhisperer · 1 year ago

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Morra Aarons-Mele, The Anxious Achiever, Is On The Sales Podcast

Professional Sales Tips you’ll learn today on The Sales Podcast…

Manage anxiety to still excel in business and in life.

Anxious, depressed, and burnt out.

Fight, flight, or freeze.

Social media is a tool designed to manipulate us.

She was a sensitive kid…hyper-vigilant.

She has had anxiety and depression since she was 19.

Bipolar as well.

There was no hybrid job force back then.

She had to become an entrepreneur to cope with her anxiety and depression.

Related episodes and posts

Find The Best CRM For Your Team and Budget

Start Your Free 12 Weeks To Peak™

Anxiety can drive us to perform.

Stress is put on you, and anxiety shows up when you fear the future.

Sometimes, anxiety kicks in on its own.

She’s had a lot of professional help, including at least 20 different medications.

Sales is a system that thrives off a little bit of anxiety.

Money can make us anxious.

She loves sports and sports psychologists.

They can focus.

Mindfulness is key. Turn off your brain.

You have to build the muscle of your mind to stay in the moment.

Many can get in a negative mindset rut.

You have to retrain your brain.

Therapy…be present…stay in the moment.

Think of the worst-case scenario and ask, “Is this likely? Is it probable?”

She is anxious about flying. It’s not a phobia but anxiety.

Sold her 11-year consulting business.

Now focused on workplace mental health.

Not a therapist.

Coaches teams on mental health.

Use your introversion to excel in sales.

She listens more than she talks.

Use your introversion to excel in sales.”

Anxiety is a natural human emotion.

When we understand ourselves, we’re better.

Stop. Look at the evidence and make a plan to do it again.

Use your anxiety to help you plan.

We bring our past to our negotiations.

Sales Growth Tools Mentioned In The Sales Podcast

Take The CRM Quiz: get a free consultation with me

Donate: Just because you like the show, the no-bullshit approach, and don’t want to buy a book, software, or The Make Every Sale Program.

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Founders Card: Get $20,000 in free processing from Stripe, save 15% on Bose, and save on hotels, travel, car rentals, you name it.

Send Drunk Emails: …that get opened and get you paid!

Phone Burner: work the phone like a machine so you can be a human when you connect.

Sendspark: Send video emails that make an impact so you can stand out from the noise. Use promo code SALESWHISPERER to get 33% off for three months

GUEST INFO:

Guest Site: https://morraam.com/

Guest Twitter: https://twitter.com/morraam

PODCAST INFO:

Support The Sales Podcast: https://bit.ly/3JOJ6jC

Podcast website: https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/podcast

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSalesWhispererWes

SUPPORT & CONNECT: Check out the sponsors above; it’s the best way to support this podcast

Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheWes

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Medium: https://medium.com/@saleswhisperer

Check out The Sales Podcast's latest episode

#podcast #sales #marketing #ecommerce #marketing automation

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shipyourcarnowllc · 1 year ago

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The Significance of Car Shipping in Today's World

The world of vehicle logistics has seen tremendous advancements in recent years, with car shipping services becoming increasingly vital for individuals and businesses alike. This article delves into the intricacies of car shipping, exploring its importance, processes, and the future trends shaping this dynamic industry.

In an era where mobility and convenience are paramount, car shipping plays a crucial role. For individuals relocating across the country, purchasing vehicles online, or sending a car to a family member, the ability to transport vehicles safely and efficiently is indispensable. Businesses, particularly in the automotive sector, rely heavily on car shipping to move inventory between dealerships, to customers, or to and from manufacturing units.

Understanding the Auto Transport Process

Car shipping is a complex process that involves several steps to ensure the safe and timely delivery of vehicles. The journey begins with choosing the right auto transport company – one that is reliable, experienced, and equipped with the necessary resources to handle the specific needs of the shipment.

Once a company is selected, the vehicle is prepared for transport. This preparation often includes a thorough inspection to document the car's condition, removing personal items, and ensuring the car is operable. Depending on the requirements and budget, customers can choose between different shipping options, such as open-air transport, enclosed transport, door-to-door service, or terminal-to-terminal service.

The Role of Technology in Car Shipping

Technology plays a significant role in enhancing the efficiency and safety of car shipping services. Modern auto transport companies utilize sophisticated logistics software to optimize routes, track shipments in real-time, and manage the complex scheduling involved in transporting multiple vehicles. GPS tracking allows customers to monitor their vehicle's journey, providing peace of mind and transparency.

Another aspect where technology is making a significant impact is in the reduction of paperwork and streamlining of operations. Digital platforms enable quick quotations, easy booking processes, and electronic documentation, making the entire process smoother and more customer-friendly.

Challenges and Solutions in Auto Transport

Despite the advancements, the car shipping industry faces its share of challenges. One of the primary concerns is ensuring the safety of vehicles during transit. To address this, reputable auto transport companies invest in high-quality carriers and continually train their staff in safe handling and driving practices.

Environmental concerns also loom large, with the industry actively seeking ways to reduce its carbon footprint. This includes exploring alternative fuels, optimizing routes for fuel efficiency, and investing in eco-friendly carriers.

The Future of Car Shipping

Looking ahead, the future of car shipping is poised to be shaped by several exciting trends. The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) presents new challenges and opportunities in auto transport, requiring adaptations in vehicle handling and charging infrastructure.

Autonomous vehicles, though still in their infancy, could revolutionize car shipping by potentially reducing the need for human drivers and increasing efficiency through advanced navigation and logistics planning.

In conclusion, car shipping or auto transport is an industry of vital importance with a rich tapestry of operations, challenges, and evolving trends. As it continues to grow and adapt to the changing needs of society and technological advancements, its role in the global economy and in individual lives is set to become even more significant. With customer-focused approaches, technological integration, and sustainable practices, the auto transport industry is well on its way to a more efficient and environmentally responsible future.

ShipYourCarNow LLC

55 NE 5th Ave STE 402, Boca Raton, FL 33432, United States

(866) 390-0354

#car shipping #car shipping companies #car transport #car transport companies #auto transport

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antvnger · 2 years ago

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((Y'ALL!!

An excerpt from Look Out for the Little Guy just dropped and I am STOKED!! September can't get here soon enough, like seriously. I'm going to devour this book when I get my hands on it. I wonder how my writing on here compares....

See below for the whole excerpt from the book.))

HI THERE. HOWDY. HEYA! Man, I hate introductions.

If you’re reading this book, first of all, thank you! Even though I can make my body as large as the Empire State Building, some days my self-esteem gets, well, ant-sized. Maybe that’s an occupational hazard of being an Avenger and working alongside the mightiest and smartest people on Earth, but the feeling is still there. Even when I remember that I did help save half the world.

Anyway, my name is Scott Lang. You may now or at one time have known me as “Ant-Man.” I’ve been involved in some Super Hero stuff you might have heard about, some Super Hero stuff you probably haven’t heard about, and some Super Hero stuff you might be tired of hearing about—at least if you’re anything like my immediate family.

But who is Scott Lang? Well, I’m just an average, middle-aged white guy who went to a fancy nerd college, got married, and landed a solid white-collar desk job. I used to work as a computer guy at VistaCorp, a huge tech firm that deals with security. (Oh, the irony of that, but just wait for it!) My wife Maggie and I had a baby girl named Cassie, and we were heading into an uncomplicated, peaceful suburban life outside of San Francisco.

I mean, sure, on our TVs we were watching the world occasionally coming under attack by strange beings. But we also saw this amazing group of Super Heroes called the Avengers, who always managed to show up exactly when they were needed and send those baddies back . . . away. From our planet. And my life.

However, there were still some baddies right here on Earth. Specifically, in my workplace.

As I began to discover over time, my company was not completely on the up-and-up. Under the (mis)guidance of my boss, the company I was working at, VistaCorp, started using its prowess with security to take advantage of customers. Specifically, someone either overlooked or deliberately created a glitch in the payment-processing software, skimming millions of dollars from customer accounts.

I decided I was not okay with that.

After multiple attempts to push back against the company, attempts that one might describe as “legal” or “reasonable” or “advisable,” I decided to go in a different direction.

I’d like to start with the positives: I returned five million dollars to our customers and exposed VistaCorp’s nefarious dealings to the public.

And, on the other side, I also drove an extremely expensive sports car into an extremely expensive pool, and myself into San Quentin Federal Penitentiary for three years.

Even worse, this was also around the time that my marriage to Maggie broke up. I don’t want to get into the specifics of why—that’s strictly Scott-Maggie stuff—but let’s just say “Husband suddenly going to the pen for three years” wasn’t exactly a marriage-saver.

More critically, though, that divorce, plus imprisonment, effectively separated me from my dear, sweet daughter, Cassie. For way too many of her precious first few years. I wondered if she and I would ever even have the chance to make a connection.

Eventually, I finished my sentence, left San Q, and attempted to rejoin the world. Even if the world didn’t quite seem to know what to do with me yet. I couldn’t get a job with a conviction on my record. I had no funds or place to stay. Even my one joyful attempt to reunite with Cassie was cut short by Maggie and her fiancé, telling me I had to get my life together before we could talk visitation or shared custody.

Fortunately, though, there was one guy who did have a use for me.

Unless you’ve spent the past few years in a cave (or, say, a subatomic realm), you’ve probably at least heard of Pym Technologies. Or at least, Hank Pym.

If you haven’t, Hank Pym was the inventor of the Pym Particle, an incredible scientific breakthrough. Pym Particles have the power to cause molecular reduction or expansion at great scales in either direction. In other words, they can make anything super-small or super-big. Hank and his wife, Janet Van Dyne, put this to direct use on themselves, performing countless heroic deeds as the original Ant-Man and The Wasp.

And outside of the Super Hero game, Hank started a serious R&D operation known as Pym Technologies. But a few years ago, Pym Tech fell into the unscrupulous hands of people who wanted to exploit his discoveries for use on the battlefield—and to sell the resulting technology to folks we really do not want to be in battle with! By then, Hank had been pushed out of the company that literally had his last name on the door. But he knew what was being planned with his invention, and that it had to be stopped. So he . . . let’s say “hired” me to recover his creations from Pym Tech.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Scott! is probably what you’re saying right now. How did we jump from custody disputes to biotech espionage?

Well, right about the time I was stumbling out of prison, trying to find myself, Hank Pym—whom I didn’t know at the time—found me. Hank had done his research on me and knew I was skilled at both electronics and thievery. And most importantly, he knew that I had nothing left to lose.

Unbeknownst to me, he “tested” me by enticing me to steal the Ant-Man suit from his highly formidable safe. Once I succeeded at that, Hank and his daughter, Hope Van Dyne, kinda “stole” me from police custody, offered me the gig (as if I had a choice!), and then trained me to pull off one of the craziest high-tech heists ever.

So, return the potentially world-threatening military technology to its rightful creator, and it’s back to peace again, right?

Wrong.

Literally no sooner had I pulled off the Pym Tech operation (with an assist from some old prison pals and some extremely skilled ants) than I found myself face-to-face with the Avengers.

Well, two of them, anyway. Captain America and the Falcon. Believe me, two’s more than enough! I’d already had a tussle with the Falcon, but now he and Cap (as I would soon be calling him, no big deal) actually wanted my help.

Wow. I mean, wow! It wasn’t just cranky old semi-retired scientists tracking me down anymore—now I’d caught the attention of Earth’s Mightiest.

So what they wanted me for was . . . a bit messy. Basically, the Avengers had a huge internal divide over something too complicated to get into here, and Cap and Falcon wanted some fresh (and highly size-adaptable) muscle on their side. Especially when all of this culminated in a huge Avengers-vs.-Avengers fracas at an airport in Germany. Germany! I’d just spent three years in a tiny cell. Now I was suddenly “doing Europe”?

I don’t want to get into the details of the conflict (and in fact I am under legal obligation not to), but let’s just

say I might have been on the more “badass” side of it.

In the end, that whole fight got resolved, as I think you know. Otherwise our planet would be a scorched battlefield of never-ending intra-Avengers smackdowns.

So . . . peace on Earth now?

Nope. That’s when—thanks to Thanos—half of all life in the universe disappeared. So no, no peace on Earth or anywhere else.

I wasn’t around for those five years of missing people (you’ll find out why soon), but I came back just in time, jumped to a different timeline, fought, like, every bad guy in the universe on a field in upstate New York, helped the Avengers stop Thanos, and put all the people back where they belonged. Including, last but not least, putting my precious Hope back together with me!

As you might imagine, that was . . . a lot.

So in the time since, I’ve been trying to take things a bit easier. Nursing wounds. Reconnecting with those I’ve missed. Reflecting on what it all means.

Oh yes, and of course, writing this book!

And if you want to really get to know who Scott Lang is, reading this book is where I’d recommend you start.

So at this point, I bet you also have a very serious question—one which I’ve asked myself over a thousand times a day while writing this:

Why on Earth is Scott Lang the first Super Hero writing a book?

I mean, just between us, I’m proud to be an Avenger, but sometimes I also feel like a “latecomer.” Sure, I came through in the ultimate clutch, but in baseball terms, I’m not a starter—I’m a DH (designated hero).

Here’s how I see it: I’m the “everyman Avenger.” I’m the one you could grab a beer with, the one you’d feel okay asking to look after your dog when you’re away or for a drive to the airport. I’m not a Super Soldier or a billionaire (unless this book is super-successful), just a regular dad, a San Francisco Giants fan, and a guy who’s made mistakes I’m still trying to rectify.

In a word, I’m an ordinary guy who’s been thrust—more than once—into extraordinary circumstances.

And I know that still doesn’t completely answer the question of why I wrote this book.

The simple answer is, “The Avengers asked me to.”

One day, Bruce “the Hulk” Banner and Clint “Hawkeye” Barton took me out for lunch. They said they were concerned that the world didn’t really know what had happened with Thanos and the Blip and our long struggle to finally put things right again.

At first, as I usually do when confronted with heavy topics, I made a joke: “I’m pretty sure at least half the world knows what happened.”

Bruce responded that yes, of course, billions had experienced these jarring and mind-bending events, but they didn’t know the full story behind them. And ultimately, that’s what people need the most to get through and get past traumatic events: a narrative that helps it all make sense.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Solid plan. So who are you going to get to tell that story?”

Clint answered, “You, Scott. You’re the guy who got scooped up in all this pretty recently. You’ve still got one foot in their world. And you’re a guy everyone likes . . . and trusts.”

And Bruce sealed the deal: “It’s tough stuff, and no one knows how to keep it light like you.”

Well. I still had tons of doubts. I was hardly an eyewitness to almost all that history. I hadn’t been around for the Battle of Wakanda, or any of the events that led to Thanos gathering the various Infinity Stones.

But pretty much immediately, I knew what my answer would be. As far as I’m concerned, when the Avengers ask you do to a job—any job—you say yes. So I did. Two quick handshakes (Bruce—now permanently in his Hulk body—made sure to keep his “not too firm”), and it was settled. They’d supply me all the archival footage and documentation, take me anywhere I needed to go, and let me ask as many questions as I needed.

The only thing is, it wasn’t actually 100 percent settled for me—on the inside. From the confidence peak of having two amazing Super Heroes place their trust in you, there was a frighteningly steep plummet into self-doubt. Even with their sensible reasons, the whole affair just stirred up a question that’s been burning inside me most of my adult life:

Why me?

I’ve been asking myself that since before I even met the Avengers. Back when I was working at VistaCorp, why was I the only one who couldn’t sleep at night after learning of all the money they were stealing from customers? Why did I basically give up my job, give up my marriage, and spend three years in San Quentin, just so I could play Robin Hood?

And finally—and this one still smarts—when VistaCorp’s nasty business became public to the world, why was I the one who ended up going down for it?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. And perhaps I never will.

Not even Doctor Strange can tell me, and believe me, it’s not for my lack of asking. Once the purple dust had settled from the Battle of Earth, I tried bonding with the guy. Let’s just say, he was either unwilling or uninterested in filling me in about any of my 14,000,605 possible pasts.

But here’s what I do know. That VistaCorp/prison experience taught me that our world is broken. And that it’s never going to get fixed unless folks like me—the unlikely ones—step up to the job.

And when Hank Pym plucked me out of the ex-con pool and put me to work as Ant-Man 2.0, I started to see the haziest outlines of a “why” for me. Maybe all those hard years I had just endured were actually preparation for a higher purpose.

Which is a good thing, because right after my first outing as a hero, I was drafted into that aforementioned very scary and sort of confusing business with Avengers fighting other Avengers in Germany, I was sent to an underwater super -SUPER-max prison, and once again, I had to take the fall and spend two more years in detention under house arrest.

Why me again?

Still no perfect lock on the answer, but I was beginning to glimpse one. This is going to sound beyond weird for a guy whose success—and often life—depends on quantum mechanics, but basically, I had a feeling.

Even as I was yanked from one seemingly unthinkable scenario to another, asked to do things I would have never dreamed possible, I began to see that many incredible things were, in fact, possible—and I was doing them. And they started to feel more and more, for lack of a better word, right.

I know this is the kind of feeling my Avengers pals feel mid-mission or mid-battle, and maybe they’ve gotten used to it, but I’m just finally getting there. To the feeling that, even when faced with the most terrifying foes imaginable, even with the odds exponentially stacked against you, if you are working side by side with others to serve a greater good, you are in the right place, doing the right thing. For you.

And honestly, that’s the real story behind the entire Avengers saga. It’s the one I thought was most essential to share with all of you. That was the deeper reason I said yes to those two Avengers at the lunch counter. Because I knew that, once again, I was being called to do what seemed impossible (or at least, highly inadvisable)—but instead, I let the feeling take hold, and guide me.

And I realized that I needed to share that feeling with you.

Because at the end of the day, nobody can tell where life is going to yank them, unexpectedly and seemingly beyond their reach. Steve Rogers signed up to fight, imagining he’d only go as far as a scrawny guy can get in wartime. Tony Stark was brilliant and successful, but I know a part of him wondered if he’d ever get out from under his dad’s shadow. Even Doctor Strange in all his professional success could never have imagined becoming a Master of the Mystic Arts—or even that such a thing existed!

And that same unpredictability is just as true for you as it is for me. What would you do if life shrunk you down and tossed you into a bathtub being filled by your former prison buddy? Okay, that one might just be me. But how about when life sends you unexpectedly packing from your gig of three years and straight into a jail cell—because you dared to blow the whistle on your company’s greed?

You don’t ask why. You ask, “Where do I go from here?”

Because that’s the job life has for you, at least right at this moment, and it’s the kind of job you don’t get to quit.

You can run, but you can’t hide—not even if you can shrink yourself down and leap into a bathtub.

Now I know I said before that I don’t, technically, have a super-power. But looked at another way, I actually do. And the even cooler part is, so do all of you.

Having the ability to change my size at will, I’ve seen that the world is full of “big guys” and “little guys.” And unsurprisingly, the former is always stepping on the latter. Sometimes this is by design, but sometimes, just because of their status and drive, the big folks don’t even see the everyday, hard-working folks just trying to get by.

That’s why it’s always the job of people like me—and, as I’m going to show you throughout this book, you—to look out for the little guy. That’s something we all have a super-powered ability to do, if we simply choose to accept the job.

You are in this place and time for a reason, and no one else is. And so—when that next uncertain, unlikely, “impossible” step is revealed to you—I urge you with every particle in my body, Pym or otherwise, to turn that “Why me?” into a “Why not me?”

At least that’s what I tried to do when I promised the Avengers I would tell their story. And the best way I know how to do that is by telling mine at the same time. Because as I’ve learned, whenever I start to talk about something big that happened, I also see the little lessons that can be learned from it, and I want to share that, to help myself and others.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t get the chance to be around my daughter Cassie for so many chunks of her life, to share what I’d learned with her. I’m still working on that, but it’s hard now that she’s a grown-up herself who’s already seen and experienced so much without me to guide her. I missed the boat on that one, but believe me, you are in for an entire book of “Dad wisdom” just burning for a home.

So that’s what I plan to do in this book. I’m going to tell it all, from how I saw it, experienced it, and heard it firsthand from my hero buddies. I’m going to bring you into the hero world.

Along the way, you’ll hear about my story—Scott Lang’s story—from where I started to the (ant-) man I’ve become, and am still becoming. Because I’m so incredibly fascinating? No. Because my life—just like yours—loses half its value if we don’t find a way to share its lessons with others.

And finally, because—if you take nothing else away from my words—what I want to share is that what makes all of us giants is how much we look out for the little guy. How we help out our fellow humans when they need it most. How our greatest super-power can simply be a listening ear, a concerned eye, or an outstretched hand. How we don the “hero’s uniform” by simply showing up and doing the unbelievably unlikely job that life has just handed us.

And speaking of jobs, I’ve got an entire rest of a book to write. Oh, why did I agree to this? WHY ME?

#ant mun's thoughts #scott lang #ant-man #look out for the little guy #scott's book #I wonder how my writing him compares to this #hhhmmmm #marvel #mcu #ant man #antman

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