#Computer Engineering market in US 2023

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Brother makes a demon-haunted printer

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in RICHMOND TOMORROW (Mar 5) and in AUSTIN> on Mar 10. More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

You guys, I don't want to bum you out or anything, but I think there's a good chance than some self-described capitalists aren't really into capitalism.

Sorry.

Take incentives: Charlie Munger, capitalism's quippiest pitchman, famously said, "Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome." And here's some mindblowing horseshoe theory for ya: Munger agrees with the noted Communist agitator Adam Smith, whose anti-rentier, pro-government-regulation jeremiad "The Wealth of Nations" contains this notorious passage:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.

Incentives matter – if you design a system that permits abuse, you should expect abuse. Now, I'm not 100% on board with this: every one of us has ways to undetectably cheat the system and enrich ourselves, but most of the time, most of us play by the rules.

But it's different for corporations: the myth of "shareholder supremacy" has reached pandemic levels among the artificial lifeforms we call corporate persons, and it's impossible to rise through the corporate ranks without repeating and believing the catechism that there is a law that requires executives to lie, cheat and steal if it results in an extra dollar for the investors, in the name of "fiduciary duty":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/18/falsifiability/#figleaves-not-rubrics

And this attitude has leaked out into politics and everyday life, so that many of our neighbors have been brainwashed into thinking that a successful cheat is a success in life, that pulling a fast one "makes you smart":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/04/its-not-a-lie/#its-a-premature-truth

In a world dominated by a belief in the moral virtue and legal necessity of ripping off anyone you can get away with cheating, then, sure, any system that permits cheating is a system in which cheating will occur.

This shouldn't be controversial, but if so, how are we to explain the whole concept of the Internet of Things? Installing networked computers into our appliances, office equipment, vehicles and homes is an invitation of mischief: the software in those computers can be remotely altered after you purchase them, taking away the features you paid for and then selling them back to you.

Now, an advocate for market-based solutions has a ready-made response to this: if a company downgrades a device you own, this merely invites another company to step in with a disenshittifying plug-in that makes things better. If the company that made your garage-door opener pushes an over-the-air update that blocks you from using an ad-free, well-designed app and forces you to use an enshittified app that forces you to look at ads before you can open the garage, well, that's an opportunity for a rival company to sell you a better software update for your garage-door opener, one that restores the lost functionality:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

I'm no hayekpilled market truefan, but I'm pretty sure that would work.

However.

The problem is that since 1998, that kind of reverse-engineering has been a felony under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing "an effective access control"

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

There's a pretty obvious incentive at play when companies have the ability to unilaterally alter how their products work after you buy them and you are legally prohibited to change how the product works after you buy them. This is the first lesson of the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

I've been banging this drum for decades now – like when I got into a public (friendly) spat with the editor of Wired magazine over their reviews of DRM-based media devices. I argued that it was irresponsible to review a device that could be unilaterally downgraded by the manufacturer at any time, without – at a minimum – noting that the feature you're buying the gadget for might disappear without warning after you've shelled out your hard-earned money:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences

Of course, companies that get a reputation for these kinds of shenanigans might lose market share to better competitors. Sure, if the company that made your phone or your thermostat or your insulin pump reached into it across the internet and made it worse, you're shit out of luck when it comes to that device. But you can buy your next device from a better company, right?

Well, sure – in a competitive market, that's a plausible theory of "market discipline." Companies that fear losing business to rivals might behave themselves better.

In theory.

But in practice, the world's "advanced economies" have spent the past 40 years running an uncontrolled experiment in what happens if you don't enforce competition law, and instead allow companies to buy all their competitors. The result is across-the-board industrial oligopolies, cartels, duopolies and monopolies in nearly every category of good and service:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

Now, even a duopoly has some competition. If you don't like Coke, there's always Pepsi. But again, in practice, companies in concentrated industries find it easy to "tacitly collude" to adopt one another's worst habits – the differences between the outrageous payment processing charged by Apple's App Store and the junk fees charged by Google Play are about as meaningful as the differences between Coke and Pepsi.

Which brings me to printers.

I know.

Ugh.

Printers are the worst and HP is the worst of the worst. For years, HP has been abusing its market dominance – and its customers' wallets – by inflating the price of ink and rolling out countermeasures to prevent you from refilling your old cartridges or buying third-party ink. Worse, HP have mastered the Darth Vader MBA, bushing updates to its printers that sneakily downgrade them after you've bought them and taken them home.

Here's a sneaky trick HP came up with: they send a "security update" to your printer. After you click "OK," a little progress bar zips across the screen and the printer reboots itself, and then…nothing. The printer declares itself to be "up to date" and works exactly like it did before you installed the update. But inside the printer, a countdown timer has kicked off, and then, months later, the "security update" activates itself, like a software Manchurian Candidate.

Because that "security update" protects the security of HP, against HP customers. It is designed to detect and reject the very latest third-party ink cartridges, which means that if you've just bought a year's worth of ink at Costco, you might wake up the next day and discover that your printer will no longer accept them – because of an update you ran six months before.

Why does HP put such a long fuse on its logic bomb? For the same reason that viruses like covid evolve to be contagious before you show symptoms. If the update immediately broke compatibility with third party ink, word would spread, and some HP customers would turn off their printers' wifi before the "security update" could be applied to them.

By asymptomatically incubating the infection over a long, patient timescale, HP maximizes the spread of the contagion, guaranteeing a global pandemic of enshittiification:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

HP has done this – and worse – over and over, and every time I write about it, people pop up to recommend their Brother printers as the enshittification-free alternative. I own a Brother, an HL3170-CDW laser printer that's basically indestructible, cheerfully accepts third-party toner, and costs almost nothing to run.

But I still don't connect it to my wifi. The idea that Brother is a better company than HP – that is possesses some intrinsic antienshittificatory virtue – has always struck me as a foolish belief. Brother has means, motive and opportunity to push over-the-air downgrades to block third-party ink as HP.

Which is exactly what they've done.

Yesterday, Louis Rossman, hero of the Right to Repair movement, revealed that Brother had just pushed a mandatory over-the-air update that locks out third-party ink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHX_9fHNqE

Rossman has a thorough technical breakdown of the heist, but it boils down to this. Brother is just as shit as HP. Look from the men to the pigs and the pigs to the men all you want – you will never spot the difference. Take the Pepsi Challenge – bet you won't be able to guess which is which:

https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Brother_ink_lockout_%26_quality_sabotage

This was the absolutely predictable outcome of the regulatory incentives our corporate overlords created, the enormous, far-reaching power we handed to these corporations. With that great power came no responsibility:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/#franklinite

Filling our devices with computers that run programs that can be changed in secret, that we're not allowed to inspect or alter? It's a recipe for a demon-haunted world, where the devices we entrust with our livelihood, our privacy and our wellbeing are possessed by hellions who escape from the digital Tartarus and are unleashed upon humanity.

Demons have possessed the Internet of Things. It's in Teslas:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

and in every other car, too:

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

Our devices – phones, pacemakers, appliances and home security systems – are designed to prevent us to find out what they're doing. That means that when malicious software infects them, then – by design – these devices prevent us from knowing about it or doing anything about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/18/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome.

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/2025/03/05/printers-devil/#show-me-the-incentives-i-will-show-you-the-outcome

[mxstellatayte]

hiiii ! could you write a part 2 for the charles and the vibe fic?

YIPPEE!!

i was gonna write it anyways but now i have an excuse to do it!

warnings: this is pure filth, threesome (mmf,) p in v sex, unprotected sex (DONT DO THAT,) mirror sex, carlos is an ass guy, charles is a boobs guy tho, kinda exhibitionism?, creampie, sex under the influence kinda?, it's all consensual though!

all you wanted to do was tease charles. all you wanted to do was see how much you could tempt his resolve before it would crumble. you had no idea it would result in getting eaten out in the bathroom and then promptly realizing that carlos had heard the whole thing and had covered for you and charles.

in exchange, carlos wanted to make even on a bet that he and charles had made at the start of the 2023 season.

monaco. february 10th, 2023.

"what do you think the odds are that one of us wins a race this year?"

charles looked up from the chessboard, his eyebrows furrowing. "what do you mean?"

"i was looking at the red bull and mclaren numbers and our car splits them. we have a fighting chance this year, so do you think one of us will get a win this year?" charles moves a rook, taking one of carlos' pawns.

"it depends. if my entire radio just sounds like 'we are checking, we are checking' and i have to make my own strategy and tyre calls, maybe. if xavi learns basic engineering and communicative skills or gets replaced altogether, i'd say yeah, there's a chance."

"you wanna bet?"

"what are we betting?"

carlos hesitates, then looks up when he hears the door opening. something clatters in the closet before you can be heard cursing quietly, then rearranging the fallen shoes onto the rack. eventually, you come through the doorway to the living room, and, when you see carlos, your face lights up.

"carlos! cómo estás?" (how are you?) you walk over and lean down, kissing his cheek in greeting.

"bien. un poco nervioso para bahrain, pero el carro maneja fantástico este año. y vos?" (good. a bit nervous for bahrain, but the car drives amazing this year. what about you?) you walk over to the kitchen while he's talking and pull out ingredients to make yourself a bowl of yogurt and berries- your favorite snack to have after work before you take your pit bull out for a walk.

"i'm alright. the marketing team made a stupid mistake so i had to do some damage control that took way longer than it should have, but i know martin is going to give them absolute hell tomorrow for it, so at least it doesn't reflect badly on me." your bowl clinks on the countertop as you sit down at the island and take out your computer, your headphones that were previously resting around your neck being slipped over your ears. "i've got some emails to write for an upcoming content creator collab we're doing, so i'll be in my zone. you guys know the drill?"

charles nods. "hermit mode?"

you smile, slipping the second speaker over your ear. "hermit mode."

a few moments pass before carlos speaks again. "are you okay with betting her?"

charles' eyebrows raise. "what do you mean?"

carlos makes his move on the chessboard. "if i win more races than you this year, i get her for a night. if you win more races than me, you can use me for a night. however you want."

the thought of his teammate and closest friend getting to fuck you lights a fire inside of charles, and while he wants nothing more than to agree to the bet purely for the stakes of it, he needs to check in with you first. "can i run it by her and get back to you on that?"

carlos nods. "just get me an answer by bahrain so we can figure something else out if she doesn't want to do that."

italy. february 3rd, 2024.

you had forgotten about the bet. charles and carlos had not.

now, just minutes later, you find yourself with your back once again against the wall, but this time you're staring into carlos' eyes while he fingers you gently, your legs wrapped around his waist and charles leaning against the vanity facing both of you. your eyes unintentionally flick over carlos' shoulder to your boyfriend who is an absolute mess. he's palming himself over his slacks, and you can tell just from the flush in his face that creeps down to his neck and the way his eyebrows are pinched together that he likes what he sees. before you can eye-fuck him the way you know he likes, carlos pulls his fingers out of you and you whine, but he carries you over to the vanity and taps your ass to get you to let go. "spin around, amor. let me see that beautiful ass of yours."

this is a side of carlos that you've never seen before, and it would be a lie to say that it's not hot. without a second thought, you spin yourself around so that your back is resting against his chest and your ass rests against his crotch. "come on, hermosa. bend over." as slowly as you can, you lean forward, resting your hands on the vanity and grinding yourself against him and you swear you can feel his dick twitch inside of his own black slacks. as soon as your forearms are fully resting on the granite vanity, carlos runs his hands down your back and to the front of your legs where he pulls the scarlet fabric of your dress to gather on your left side, the slit opening so that your entire ass is exposed. "no panties?" oh. you forgot about that.

"i kept them for good measure," charles says, pulling them out of his pocket. "you want 'em? you might have to shut her up. she never stops moaning."

"i know. i heard everything. you two are lucky i was the one outside and not anyone else. now," carlos says, taking your panties from your boyfriend and shoving them in his pocket, "do you feel like returning the favor?"

the whiskey you'd downed earlier is taking its effect, and you can't help but bite your lip and nod. normally, you wouldn't be nearly as confident as you are now with someone other than your boyfriend having you in the position you're in right now, but you trust carlos and frankly, you're too turned on to care. charles is in the same room and you're both comfortable enough in your relationship that it's okay. "yes, carlos. i'll return the favor. whatever you want." as you're talking, you can hear carlos unbuckle his belt and unzip his slacks, and when there's finally one layer of fabric between the two of you, carlos reaches into his jacket packet and pulls out a condom. before he opens it, though, you pipe up, your voice embarrassingly breathy and high. "i'm clean and on the pill. don't waste it if getting me pregnant is your only concern."

"are you sure?" carlos says, glancing over at charles. your boyfriend only responds with a shrug and points his thumb at you.

"whatever she says. you're the one fucking her."

carlos doesn't waste a second setting the condom on the vanity, pulling his slacks and underwear down his thighs just enough so that it's comfortable, and pushing into you. you have to bite your lip and cover your own mouth to prevent yourself from moaning too loudly, the stretch from carlos being so different to the one you're accustomed to with charles.

when you look up, carlos' head is thrown back and his hands grip your hips so tight his knuckles are white. it might be the hottest sight you've ever seen. "carlos." your voice is whiny, and you're shocked you can even get his name out.

"hm?"

"fuck me, please."

"are you sure?" his voice lilts in the way you're used to hearing, but this time, there's something slightly different about it. maybe it's the fact that he's currently buried inside of you, his hips flush with your own, or maybe it's the fact that every time you move your head to look up at him, your cunt squeezes around him so perfectly he fears he might cum within three thrusts, but either way, you feel so, so perfect.

"positive. now please. fuck. me." slowly, carlos pulls his hips back before pushing into you, slowly increasing his pace until every time his body meets your ass, you're shoved forward slightly on the counter and your breasts bounce forward, almost falling out of the low neckline of your dress.

"mierda, amor, tienes un coño hecho para mi," (shit, love, you have a cunt made for me,) carlos groans out, pulling your arms back and holding them with one hand while the other goes to hold you up by your neck. the restriction to your windpipe makes your head spin and the new angle has carlos' entire cock running against your g-spot with every thrust. you're able to wiggle your hands free, your left hand reaching back to tug at carlos' hair and your right goes down to rub circles around your clit, making you tighten around carlos' dick, and the combination of the pain from his hair being pulled and your cunt spasming around him makes him tip over the edge.

the feeling of carlos filling you up in turn sends you into your own orgasm, and as you cum, you look to your left, where charles jerks himself off watching you. when you make eye contact with him, though, it's the last straw and he spills into his hand with a quiet groan and his head thrown back.

the three of you catch your breaths and carlos pulls out of you gently, then shoves his cum back inside of you. the forgotten egg vibrator in charles' coat pocket is reinserted into your cunt and you whine at the overstimulation, slightly anxious that charles might tease you again, but he whispers a quiet promise in your ear that you've been good tonight, he won't turn it on anymore.

eventually, carlos slips out of the bathroom and you follow shortly after, walking back down the large hallway to return to the event. later that night, after speeches have been made, hollow promises have been spoken, and many, many bottles of expensive champagne have been toasted with, you make your way back outside, your arm linked with charles' as he calls his car to be pulled with the valet service. carlos walks up and stands next to the two of you, his car already on its way up, and turns to you.

"i'd say the bet is settled, no?"

there you have it folks :D

[june-gdprototyping]

CNC development history and processing principles

CNC machine tools are also called Computerized Numerical Control (CNC for short). They are mechatronics products that use digital information to control machine tools. They record the relative position between the tool and the workpiece, the start and stop of the machine tool, the spindle speed change, the workpiece loosening and clamping, the tool selection, the start and stop of the cooling pump and other operations and sequence actions on the control medium with digital codes, and then send the digital information to the CNC device or computer, which will decode and calculate, issue instructions to control the machine tool servo system or other actuators, so that the machine tool can process the required workpiece.

‌1. The evolution of CNC technology: from mechanical gears to digital codes

The Beginning of Mechanical Control (late 19th century - 1940s)

The prototype of CNC technology can be traced back to the invention of mechanical automatic machine tools in the 19th century. In 1887, the cam-controlled lathe invented by American engineer Herman realized "programmed" processing for the first time by rotating cams to drive tool movement. Although this mechanical programming method is inefficient, it provides a key idea for subsequent CNC technology. During World War II, the surge in demand for military equipment accelerated the innovation of processing technology, but the processing capacity of traditional machine tools for complex parts had reached a bottleneck.

The electronic revolution (1950s-1970s)

After World War II, manufacturing industries mostly relied on manual operations. After workers understood the drawings, they manually operated machine tools to process parts. This way of producing products was costly, inefficient, and the quality was not guaranteed. In 1952, John Parsons' team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the world's first CNC milling machine, which input instructions through punched paper tape, marking the official birth of CNC technology. The core breakthrough of this stage was "digital signals replacing mechanical transmission" - servo motors replaced gears and connecting rods, and code instructions replaced manual adjustments. In the 1960s, the popularity of integrated circuits reduced the size and cost of CNC systems. Japanese companies such as Fanuc launched commercial CNC equipment, and the automotive and aviation industries took the lead in introducing CNC production lines. 

Integration of computer technology (1980s-2000s)

With the maturity of microprocessor and graphical interface technology, CNC entered the PC control era. In 1982, Siemens of Germany launched the first microprocessor-based CNC system Sinumerik 800, whose programming efficiency was 100 times higher than that of paper tape. The integration of CAD (computer-aided design) and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software allows engineers to directly convert 3D models into machining codes, and the machining accuracy of complex surfaces reaches the micron level. During this period, equipment such as five-axis linkage machining centers came into being, promoting the rapid development of mold manufacturing and medical device industries.

Intelligence and networking (21st century to present)

The Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies have given CNC machine tools new vitality. Modern CNC systems use sensors to monitor parameters such as cutting force and temperature in real time, and use machine learning to optimize processing paths. For example, the iSMART Factory solution of Japan's Mazak Company achieves intelligent scheduling of hundreds of machine tools through cloud collaboration. In 2023, the global CNC machine tool market size has exceeded US$80 billion, and China has become the largest manufacturing country with a production share of 31%.

2. CNC machining principles: How code drives steel

The essence of CNC technology is to convert the physical machining process into a control closed loop of digital signals. Its operation logic can be divided into three stages:

Geometric Modeling and Programming

After building a 3D model using CAD software such as UG and SolidWorks, CAM software “deconstructs” the model: automatically calculating parameters such as tool path, feed rate, spindle speed, and generating G code (such as G01 X100 Y200 F500 for linear interpolation to coordinates (100,200) and feed rate 500mm/min). Modern software can even simulate the material removal process and predict machining errors.

Numerical control system analysis and implementation

The "brain" of CNC machine tools - the numerical control system (such as Fanuc 30i, Siemens 840D) converts G codes into electrical pulse signals. Taking a three-axis milling machine as an example, the servo motors of the X/Y/Z axes receive pulse commands and convert rotary motion into linear displacement through ball screws, with a positioning accuracy of up to ±0.002mm. The closed-loop control system uses a grating ruler to feedback position errors in real time, forming a dynamic correction mechanism.

Multi-physics collaborative control

During the machining process, the machine tool needs to coordinate multiple parameters synchronously: the spindle motor drives the tool to rotate at a high speed of 20,000 rpm, the cooling system sprays atomized cutting fluid to reduce the temperature, and the tool changing robot completes the tool change within 0.5 seconds. For example, when machining titanium alloy blades, the system needs to dynamically adjust the cutting depth according to the hardness of the material to avoid tool chipping.

‌3. The future of CNC technology: cross-dimensional breakthroughs and industrial transformation

Currently, CNC technology is facing three major trends:

‌Combined‌: Turning and milling machine tools can complete turning, milling, grinding and other processes on one device, reducing clamping time by 90%;

Additive-subtractive integration: Germany's DMG MORI's LASERTEC series machine tools combine 3D printing and CNC finishing to directly manufacture aerospace engine combustion chambers;

‌Digital Twin‌: By using a virtual machine tool to simulate the actual machining process, China's Shenyang Machine Tool's i5 system has increased debugging efficiency by 70%.

From the meshing of mechanical gears to the flow of digital signals, CNC technology has rewritten the underlying logic of the manufacturing industry in 70 years. It is not only an upgrade of machine tools, but also a leap in the ability of humans to transform abstract thinking into physical entities. In the new track of intelligent manufacturing, CNC technology will continue to break through the limits of materials, precision and efficiency, and write a new chapter for industrial civilization.

[trendingjournals]

US Tech Stocks Stabilize After DeepSeek AI App Disrupts Market

US Tech Stocks Stabilize After DeepSeek AI App Disrupts Market

US tech stocks held steady on Tuesday after experiencing a sharp decline on Monday, triggered by the unexpected rise of the Chinese-made artificial intelligence (AI) app, DeepSeek.

Shares of chip giant Nvidia, which had fallen sharply on Monday, rebounded by 8.8% as experts suggested the AI market selloff may have been an overreaction. Investors were quick to adjust their positions after DeepSeek claimed its AI model was developed at a fraction of the cost of its competitors' offerings.

The news sparked concerns over the future of America's AI dominance and raised questions about the scale of investments US companies are planning. US President Donald Trump described the situation as "a wake-up call" for the tech industry, while also suggesting that the development could ultimately be beneficial for the US economy. He remarked that if AI models could be produced more cheaply while delivering the same results, it would be a positive outcome for the country.

Trump downplayed concerns, emphasizing that the US would remain a key player in the AI field. The surge of optimism around AI investments has fueled much of the US stock market's growth over the past two years, prompting fears of a potential market bubble.

DeepSeek, launched just a week ago, quickly became the most downloaded free app in the US. Its rise comes amid ongoing tensions between the US and China over AI technology, with the US restricting the export of advanced AI chips to China.

Chinese AI developers, facing limited access to these chips, have shared research and explored alternative approaches that demand less computational power. This has led to the creation of AI models that are significantly cheaper to produce, challenging industry norms and threatening to disrupt the market.

Nvidia, the leading provider of advanced chips used in many AI applications, was hit hardest by the market selloff. Its share price dropped 17% on Monday, erasing nearly $600 billion from its market value.

Analysts, including Janet Mui of RBC Brewin Dolphin, explained that investors typically respond with caution to groundbreaking developments due to uncertainty. However, she noted that the cheaper AI models could benefit tech giants such as Apple and other firms, who have faced scrutiny over their high AI investments.

After the initial shock, US stock markets stabilized on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 gained nearly 1%, and the Nasdaq saw a 2% increase. In the UK, the FTSE 100 closed 0.35% higher. Meanwhile, AI-related stocks in Japan, including Advantest, SoftBank, and Tokyo Electron, saw sharp declines, contributing to a 1.4% drop in the Nikkei 225. Several Asian markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, with mainland China's markets set to reopen on February 5.

DeepSeek's Founder: Liang Wenfeng

DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng in Hangzhou, China. The 40-year-old, an engineering graduate, also established the hedge fund that financed the development of the AI app. Liang recently attended a meeting with industry leaders and Chinese Premier Li Qiang. In a July 2024 interview, he expressed surprise at the sensitivity surrounding the pricing of his AI models, stating that the company had simply focused on cost-efficient development and pricing without anticipating such a reaction from the market.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“You have to understand,” he said, apologetically. “I’ve written over 24,000 songs. I wrote 50 songs yesterday.”

And thus was I ushered into the strange universe of Matt Farley.

Freed from the blinding incandescence of my own name, I could suddenly see the extent of what I had stumbled into. It was like the scene in a thriller when the detective first gazes on the wall of a serial killer’s lair. Papa Razzi and the Photogs is only one of about 80 pseudonyms Farley uses to release his music. As the Hungry Food Band, he sings songs about foods. As the Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns, he sings the atlas. He has 600 songs inviting different-named girls to the prom and 500 that are marriage proposals. He has an album of very specific apologies; albums devoted to sports teams in every city that has a sports team; hundreds of songs about animals, and jobs, and weather, and furniture, and one band that is simply called the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over.

He also has many, many songs about going to the bathroom. If you have a child under 10 with access to the internet, it is very likely you know some part of this body of work. What he refers to collectively as his “poop songs” are mostly released under two names: the Toilet Bowl Cleaners and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee.

“The Odd Man is more shameless,” he explained. “The Toilet Bowl Cleaners are making statements with their albums,” though the distinction between the former’s “Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks!” and the latter’s “I Need a Lot of Toilet Paper to Clean the Poop in My Butt” may be subtler than he imagines.

Largely, though not entirely, on the strength of such songs, Farley has managed to achieve that most elusive of goals: a decent living creating music. In 2008, his search-engine optimization project took in $3,000; four years later, it had grown to $24,000. The introduction of Alexa and her voice-activated sistren opened up the theretofore underserved nontyping market, in particular the kind fond of shouting things like “Poop in my fingernails!” at the computer. “Poop in My Fingernails,” by the Toilet Bowl Cleaners, currently has over 4.4 million streams on Spotify alone. To date, that “band,” and the Odd Man Who Sings About Poop, Puke and Pee, have collectively brought in approximately $469,000 from various platforms. They are by far Farley’s biggest earners, but not the only ones: Papa Razzi and the Photogs has earned $41,000; the Best Birthday Song Band Ever, $38,000; the Guy Who Sings Your Name Over and Over, $80,000. Dozens of others have taken in two, three or four digits: the New Orleans Sports Band, the Chicago Sports Band, the Singing Film Critic, the Great Weather Song Person, the Paranormal Song Warrior, the Motern Media Holiday Singers, who perform 70 versions of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” substituting contemporary foods for figgy pudding. It adds up. Farley quit his day job in 2017.

“People like to criticize the whole streaming thing, but there’s really a lot of pros to it,” he said. Indeed, in 2023, his music earned him just shy of $200,000, about one halfpenny at a time.

Farley’s earnings help fund his multiple other creative endeavors. He records what he calls his “no jokes” music. This includes a two-man band he’s been in since college called Moes Haven, which once recorded an album a day for a year. He hosts two podcasts, one about his work and the other recapping Celtics games. And he makes movies: microbudgeted, determinedly amateur but nevertheless recognizably cinematic features starring himself and his family and friends. (They feature a spectacular array of New England accents.) In most, Farley plays some version of himself, a mild-mannered, eccentric hero projecting varying degrees of menace. Farley and his college friend Charlie Roxburgh are in the midst of a project in which they have resolved to release two full movies per year. The model, Farley said, was inspired by Hallmark Movies: “If this movie stinks, good news, we’re making another in six months!” Their most popular work remains “Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!” (2012), a charmingly shaggy tale of a cryptid threatening a small New England town. It features Farley’s father as a big-game hunter named Ito Hootkins.

[everygame]

Merry Christmas From Melbourne House (Commodore 64) Developed/Published by: Melbourne House Released: 1984 Completed: 11/12/2023 Completion: Beat it with a score of 100 out of 100.

It’s 1984 and the Christmas cash-in market is finally mature, with five whole games released for home computers (at the very least.) Alphabetically first in my list (because Icon Software chose to go with “Xmas” on their merry release) Merry Christmas From Melbourne House is a slight cheat because it’s really just a tiny tech demo/bit of marketing, but it was sold, costing 95p (the price of tape duplication and postage?) for readers of Commodore User (it was actually in the December issue and the deadline was December 17th to get your money to them, which makes me wonder how many people played this long after things stopped being festive.)

It is though, honestly, what I was kind of expecting from A Christmas Adventure. It’s a short, very easy little adventure game that… passes about half an hour and actually manages to feel Christmassy. 

Like A Christmas Adventure, you’re tasked with making sure Santa can get away from the north pole to deliver presents, but in a shocking twist… YOU are Santa. The game’s blurb claims he’s “attempting to stop an industrial dispute” that “is threatening the delivery of toys to children of the world” and it sounds like jolly old saint nick is a fat cat like the rest of ‘em, and out of solidarity with the elves and workers everywhere I spent quite a bit of time typing things like “GIVE ELVES RAISE” and “PROVIDE TIME OFF” but the parser never understood it, so I almost didn’t finish this.

The plot is a bit oversold anyway, considering the solution is pretty much “Get off your fat arse and pack your sack of toys yourself, Santa.”

As you’re not doing all that much, the parser is adequate, and the graphics are… genuinely quite evocative. They are important too–the toys you have to pack are all on one screen. I don’t generally like this design in graphic text adventures–where you don’t get told everything in text (I’m a VERBOSE man in Infocom games)–and having to work out directions here was not my favourite, But it worked well enough, and I was even charmed by the full screen advert for Melbourne House games.

Anyway, lemme see how much 95p is in today’s money. £3.77. I can’t really say people got their money’s worth here, but they could do a lot worse.

Will I ever play it again? I’m good.

Final Thought: Joe Pranevich over at The Adventurer’s Guild played through this as well if you’d like to read something more in-depth about it, with the bonus that one of the developers, Dave Johnston, shows up in the comments, revealing that it was developed “in a matter on weeks using an in-house text engine and a tweaked sprite engine based on Way of the Exploding Fist code” and that he didn’t even have a copy. They paid people at Melbourne House so poorly that they couldn’t raise 95p???

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[blogger-1111]

Why Digital Marketing is Important in 2023???

Let’s start by understanding what digital marketing is all about before we dive into why it’s so important. In the rapidly evolving landscape of business and technology, one thing stands out as a true game-changer – digital marketing. In 2020, we stepped into the digital age with full force, pushed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift has led businesses to adapt to digital methods for their survival. Every business wants more clients and customers, right? Well, that’s where Digital Marketing comes in handy. It’s like the key to attracting people and creating leads. 

Digital marketing means promoting your brand, service, or product using the internet and digital gadgets like phones, computers, and tablets. It’s made up of different parts, including content marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and more. 

Now that we’re clear on what digital marketing is, let’s talk about the importance of digital marketing in 2023. 

Reach a Larger Audience 

Cost-Effective 

Targeted Marketing 

Measurable Results 

Provide Flexibility 

Increased Engagement 

Increased Brand Awareness 

Competitive Advantage 

Improved Customer Experience 

 Reliable Lead Generation 

1. Reach a Larger Audience 

When you advertise on TV or in a magazine, it’s hard to control who sees your ad. You might have some idea about the people who usually read that magazine or live in a certain area, but it’s mostly just guessing. However, with digital marketing, you can discover and target a very specific group of people who are likely to be interested. For instance, you can use social media to display ads to a particular group based on factors like their age, location, interests, connections, or activities. Alternatively, you could utilize methods like PPC or SEO to display ads to individuals who have searched for certain words related to what you’re selling. 

2. Cost-Effective 

Digital marketing is more affordable than traditional marketing, which is ideal for businesses that have limited funds and resources. With digital marketing, your small business can start the process immediately. You have complete control over how you spend your money, targeting certain marketing streams depending on your needs. The reason behind its easy affordability is the low investment techniques such as SEO, Content Marketing, etc. Some techniques, usually at the beginner level, come at no cost. Other techniques are paid, but the charges are lower than any traditional marketing technique like SEM (Search Engine Marketing). SEO is cheaper than SEM and focuses on organic traffic. So having a good Content Marketing strategy can help you in all aspects of Digital Marketing. Digital marketing helps you track day-to-day campaign performance, so you know what channels are performing well and which aren’t, helping you optimize your campaign budgets for high ROI. You only need to conduct some studies and then try any of the types of digital marketing mentioned above. 

3. Targeted Marketing 

Digital marketing allows you to pinpoint your audience with precision. This means you’re not wasting your resources on people who might not be interested in your product or service. Instead, you’re focusing on those who are most likely to engage and convert. This kind of targeting leads to higher efficiency and better results. Whether it’s showing ads to specific demographics on social media or using keywords to appear in search results for people looking for exactly what you offer, digital marketing lets you be where your potential customers are. 

4. Measurable Results 

One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing is that it’s like having a dashboard that shows you exactly how your efforts are working. Unlike traditional methods where you’re left wondering if your ad in a magazine brought in any customers, digital marketing gives you concrete numbers. You can see how many people clicked on your ads, how many liked your posts, how long they stayed on your website, and much more. This data helps you understand what’s effective and what needs improvement, allowing you to adjust your strategies for better outcomes. 

5. Provide Flexibility 

Digital marketing isn’t set in stone. It’s flexible and adaptable. If something’s not working as expected, you can change it quickly. Let’s say you’re running an ad campaign on social media and you notice it’s not getting the response you hoped for. With a few clicks, you can adjust the targeting, and the content, or even pause the campaign altogether. This flexibility helps you stay quick and adaptable in a business world that is changing quickly. 

6. Increased Engagement 

Digital marketing isn’t just about sending messages to your audience; it’s about engaging with them. Whether it’s through interactive social media posts, engaging videos, or informative blog articles, digital marketing methods encourage your audience to participate. They can like, comment, share, and even contribute their own content. This two-way communication builds a stronger connection between your brand and your customers. 

7. Increased Brand Awareness 

Being seen and recognized is crucial for any business. In the vast online world, digital marketing helps your brand stand out. With consistent and creative messaging, your brand becomes familiar to your audience. They start recognizing your logo, colors, and style, even if they haven’t made a purchase yet. This familiarity can turn into trust and loyalty over time.

Read More....... 

[harrelltut]

2020 see 19 #fallofamerica need ANU GOLDEN 9 Ether [AGE] 2023-2223 BLACKATLANTIS5000.tech WEALTH INDEX... since 1968-michaelharrelljr.com Domain Corp. [D.C.] of SIRIUS BLACKANUNNAQI.tech.gov WEALTH @ quantumharrelltech.ca.gov wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy… 2wealthy4forbes.com's artificial income [a.i.] matrix domain computer [d.c.] defense.gov stock market... since I.B.1698 MICHAEL [IBM] harrelltut.com of 1968 quadrillionharrell.tech Machine Engineering [ME] AutoCAD [MAC] Memory Robotics in Architectural Memory Equipment w/Symmetric Encryptions of Satellite [RAMESES] Broadband Communication [B.C.] Languages… Scientifically Expanding the Asia [SEA] Pacific Network Info Centre of Internet Number Resources from the Regional Internet Registries [RIRs] @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 TECH 2025 Apple & IBM [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

WELCOME BACK HOME IMMORTAL [HIM] U.S. MILITARY KING SOLOMON-MICHAEL HARRELL, JR.™

i.b.monk [ibm] mode [i’m] tech [IT] steelecartel.com @ quantumharrelltech.ca.gov

i.b. 1698 quintillionharrell.tech sky elite 2wealthy4forbes.com @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 TECH 2025 Apple & IBM [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

EYE ANCIENT SKY TECH KING SOLOMON-MICHAEL HARRELL II the III SELF MADE quantumharrell.tech Domain QUADRILLIONAIRE... Privately Under State.gov [U.S. = Official Clandestine] Military SKY Defense.gov Business Contract [B.C.] Compu_TAH [PTAH] Language Agreements [L.A.] @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 TECH 2025 Apple & IBM [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

US ALUHUM [USA] ANUNNAQI BACK @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 TECH 2025 Apple & IBM [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

iquantumcad.com of ancient6-18gmilitary.tech @ quantumharrelltech.ca.gov 

WE NATURAL AIRBORNE SKY [NAS] LIGHT SHIPS [UFOS] OF SIRIUS [U.S.] BLACKATLANTIS5000.tech MECHANICS @ 1921 QUANTUM 2023 HARRELL 2024 TECH 2025 Apple & IBM [A.i.] LLC of ATLANTIS [L.A.] 5000

こんにちは、クアンタム・ハレル・テレコム

© 1698-2223 QUANTUM HARRELL TECH LLC All LOST ANCIENT [L.A.] ATLANTEAN DNA [A.D.] DotCom [A.D.] + DotTech [A.D.] + Pre 1698quantumharrellgov.tech Domain Name Rights Reserved.

[lemonbarski]

Generate corporate profiles rich with data with CorporateBots from @Lemonbarski on POE.

It’s free to use with a free POE AI account. Powered by GPT3 from OpenAI, the CorporateBots are ready to compile comprehensive corporate data files in CSV format - so you can read it and so can your computer.

Use cases: Prospecting, SWOT analysis, Business Plans, Market Assessment, Competitive Threat Analysis, Job Search.

Each of the CorporateBots series by Lemonbarski Labs by Steven Lewandowski (@Lemonbarski) provides a piece of a comprehensive corporate profile for leaders in an industry, product category, market, or sector.

Combine the datasets for a full picture of a corporate organization and begin your project with a strong, data-focused foundation and a complete picture of a corporate entity’s business, organization, finances, and market position.

Lemonbarski Labs by Steven Lewandowski is the Generative AI Prompt Engineer of CorporateBots on POE | Created on the POE platform by Quora | Utilizes GPT-3 Large Language Model Courtesy of OpenAI | https://lemonbarski.com | https://Stevenlewandowski.us | Where applicable, copyright 2023 Lemonbarski Labs by Steven Lewandowski

Steven Lewandowski is a creative, curious, & collaborative marketer, researcher, developer, activist, & entrepreneur based in Chicago, IL, USA

Find Steven Lewandowski on social media by visiting https://Stevenlewandowski.us/connect | Learn more at https://Steven.Lemonbarski.com or https://stevenlewandowski.us

[globalindustrypulse]

North America Digital Twin Market Size, Share | CAGR 40.3% during 2023-2030

The North America Digital Twin Market industry in North America ranks second globally and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 40.3% over the forecast period. Globally, the industry is set to surge from USD 8.60 billion in 2022 to USD 137.67 billion by 2030. North America ranks as the second largest region in the global digital twin market, propelled by high industrial automation, strong investment in IoT infrastructure, and early adoption of AI and advanced simulation technologies.

Key Market Highlights:

• 2022 Global Market Size: USD 8.60 billion

• 2030 Global Market Size: USD 137.67 billion

• North America CAGR (2023–2030): 40.3%

• Market Outlook: Innovation-driven growth, supported by smart manufacturing and predictive maintenance initiatives.

Market Analysis:                           

North America is expected to maintain its strong position in the global digital twin market due to early technology adoption, cross-industry applications, and robust digital ecosystems. The market is especially promising in sectors such as automotive, energy, aerospace, and healthcare.

Request Free Sample PDF: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/north-america-digital-twin-market-107453

Key Market Players in North America:

Microsoft Corporation

IBM Corporation

General Electric (GE Digital)

PTC Inc.

ANSYS, Inc.

Oracle Corporation

Dassault Systèmes (North America)

Siemens USA

Altair Engineering

Rockwell Automation

Twinswift

Twin Health, Inc.

Market Drivers:

The North America digital twin market is experiencing robust growth, driven by the region's strong foundation in advanced technologies such as IoT, AI, cloud computing, and edge analytics. A key driver is the rising adoption of digital twins in manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace sectors, where virtual models are improving operational efficiency, predictive maintenance, and product innovation.

Market Opportunities:

The North America digital twin market is changing with a growing number of opportunities for sector-specific applications, especially in healthcare, energy, and logistics. In healthcare, digital twins are being explored to model patient conditions and personalize treatment pathways. In the energy sector, they are enabling more efficient grid management and renewable energy integration. Startups and technology providers have the opportunity to create modular, scalable digital twin platforms tailored for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking cost-effective entry points.

Market Trends in North America:

• Surging use of digital twins in electric vehicle (EV) development

• Emergence of AI-powered twins for autonomous system simulation

• Advancements in interoperability with IoT, BIM, and ERP systems

• Focus on sustainability through simulation of energy-efficient systems.

Speak to Analyst: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/north-america-digital-twin-market-107453

Technology Scope:

• Core Components: 3D modeling, real-time simulation, sensor integration, data visualization

• Deployment Modes: On-premises, cloud-based, and hybrid

• End Users: Manufacturing, aerospace & defense, automotive, healthcare, energy, and smart infrastructure

• Applications: Predictive maintenance, product lifecycle management, supply chain optimization, and diagnostics

Recent Developments:

November 2023 – A leading U.S. aerospace company launched a digital twin ecosystem for its next-generation aircraft engines, reducing development costs by 25%.

June 2023 – A Canadian smart infrastructure firm partnered with a U.S. tech startup to integrate real-time data streams into municipal digital twins for energy optimization.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI is a WMD

I'm in TARTU, ESTONIA! AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (TOMORROW, May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (TOMORROW, May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

Get that? If control over a key resource is diffused among the people who rely on it, then (Garrett claims) those people will all behave like selfish assholes, overusing and undermaintaining the commons. It's only when we let someone own that commons and charge rent for its use that (Hardin says) we will get sound management.

By that logic, Google should be the internet's most competent and reliable manager. After all, the company used its access to the capital markets to buy control over the internet, spending billions every year to make sure that you never try a search-engine other than its own, thus guaranteeing it a 90% market share:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Google seems to think it's got the problem of deciding what we see on the internet licked. Otherwise, why would the company flush $80b down the toilet with a giant stock-buyback, and then do multiple waves of mass layoffs, from last year's 12,000 person bloodbath to this year's deep cuts to the company's "core teams"?

https://qz.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-as-it-moves-core-jobs-abr-1851449528

And yet, Google is overrun with scams and spam, which find their way to the very top of the first page of its search results:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

The entire internet is shaped by Google's decisions about what shows up on that first page of listings. When Google decided to prioritize shopping site results over informative discussions and other possible matches, the entire internet shifted its focus to producing affiliate-link-strewn "reviews" that would show up on Google's front door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

This was catnip to the kind of sociopath who a) owns a hedge-fund and b) hates journalists for being pain-in-the-ass, stick-in-the-mud sticklers for "truth" and "facts" and other impediments to the care and maintenance of a functional reality-distortion field. These dickheads started buying up beloved news sites and converting them to spam-farms, filled with garbage "reviews" and other Google-pleasing, affiliate-fee-generating nonsense.

(These news-sites were vulnerable to acquisition in large part thanks to Google, whose dominance of ad-tech lets it cream 51 cents off every ad dollar and whose mobile OS monopoly lets it steal 30 cents off every in-app subscriber dollar):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

Now, the spam on these sites didn't write itself. Much to the chagrin of the tech/finance bros who bought up Sports Illustrated and other venerable news sites, they still needed to pay actual human writers to produce plausible word-salads. This was a waste of money that could be better spent on reverse-engineering Google's ranking algorithm and getting pride-of-place on search results pages:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

That's where AI comes in. Spicy autocomplete absolutely can't replace journalists. The planet-destroying, next-word-guessing programs from Openai and its competitors are incorrigible liars that require so much "supervision" that they cost more than they save in a newsroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

But while a chatbot can't produce truthful and informative articles, it can produce bullshit – at unimaginable scale. Chatbots are the workers that hedge-fund wreckers dream of: tireless, uncomplaining, compliant and obedient producers of nonsense on demand.

That's why the capital class is so insatiably horny for chatbots. Chatbots aren't going to write Hollywood movies, but studio bosses hyperventilated at the prospect of a "writer" that would accept your brilliant idea and diligently turned it into a movie. You prompt an LLM in exactly the same way a studio exec gives writers notes. The difference is that the LLM won't roll its eyes and make sarcastic remarks about your brainwaves like "ET, but starring a dog, with a love plot in the second act and a big car-chase at the end":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Similarly, chatbots are a dream come true for a hedge fundie who ends up running a beloved news site, only to have to fight with their own writers to get the profitable nonsense produced at a scale and velocity that will guarantee a high Google ranking and millions in "passive income" from affiliate links.

One of the premier profitable nonsense companies is Advon, which helped usher in an era in which sites from Forbes to Money to USA Today create semi-secret "review" sites that are stuffed full of badly researched top-ten lists for products from air purifiers to cat beds:

https://housefresh.com/how-google-decimated-housefresh/

Advon swears that it only uses living humans to produce nonsense, and not AI. This isn't just wildly implausible, it's also belied by easily uncovered evidence, like its own employees' Linkedin profiles, which boast of using AI to create "content":

https://housefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Advon-AI-LinkedIn.jpg

It's not true. Advon uses AI to produce its nonsense, at scale. In an excellent, deeply reported piece for Futurism, Maggie Harrison Dupré brings proof that Advon replaced its miserable human nonsense-writers with tireless chatbots:

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Dupré describes how Advon's ability to create botshit at scale contributed to the enshittification of clients from Yoga Journal to the LA Times, "Us Weekly" to the Miami Herald.

All of this is very timely, because this is the week that Google finally bestirred itself to commence downranking publishers who engage in "site reputation abuse" – creating these SEO-stuffed fake reviews with the help of third parties like Advon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

(Google's policy only forbids site reputation abuse with the help of third parties; if these publishers take their nonsense production in-house, Google may allow them to continue to dominate its search listings):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

There's a reason so many people believed Hardin's racist "Tragedy of the Commons" hoax. We have an intuitive understanding that commons are fragile. All it takes is one monster to start shitting in the well where the rest of us get our drinking water and we're all poisoned.

The financial markets love these monsters. Mark Zuckerberg's key insight was that he could make billions by assembling vast dossiers of compromising, sensitive personal information on half the world's population without their consent, but only if he kept his costs down by failing to safeguard that data and the systems for exploiting it. He's like a guy who figures out that if he accumulates enough oily rags, he can extract so much low-grade oil from them that he can grow rich, but only if he doesn't waste money on fire-suppression:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Now Zuckerberg and the wealthy, powerful monsters who seized control over our commons are getting a comeuppance. The weak countermeasures they created to maintain the minimum levels of quality to keep their platforms as viable, going concerns are being overwhelmed by AI. This was a totally foreseeable outcome: the history of the internet is a story of bad actors who upended the assumptions built into our security systems by automating their attacks, transforming an assault that wouldn't be economically viable into a global, high-speed crime wave:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/24/automation-is-magic/

But it is possible for a community to maintain a commons. This is something Hardin could have discovered by studying actual commons, instead of inventing imaginary histories in which commons turned tragic. As it happens, someone else did exactly that: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/

Ostrom described how commons can be wisely managed, over very long timescales, by communities that self-governed. Part of her work concerns how users of a commons must have the ability to exclude bad actors from their shared resources.

When that breaks down, commons can fail – because there's always someone who thinks it's fine to shit in the well rather than walk 100 yards to the outhouse.

Enshittification is the process by which control over the internet moved from self-governance by members of the commons to acts of wanton destruction committed by despicable, greedy assholes who shit in the well over and over again.

It's not just the spammers who take advantage of Google's lazy incompetence, either. Take "copyleft trolls," who post images using outdated Creative Commons licenses that allow them to terminate the CC license if a user makes minor errors in attributing the images they use:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/24/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator/

The first copyleft trolls were individuals, but these days, the racket is dominated by a company called Pixsy, which pretends to be a "rights protection" agency that helps photographers track down copyright infringers. In reality, the company is committed to helping copyleft trolls entrap innocent Creative Commons users into paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to use images that are licensed for free use. Just as Advon upends the economics of spam and deception through automation, Pixsy has figured out how to send legal threats at scale, robolawyering demand letters that aren't signed by lawyers; the company refuses to say whether any lawyer ever reviews these threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/13/an-open-letter-to-pixsy-ceo-kain-jones-who-keeps-sending-me-legal-threats/

This is shitting in the well, at scale. It's an online WMD, designed to wipe out the commons. Creative Commons has allowed millions of creators to produce a commons with billions of works in it, and Pixsy exploits a minor error in the early versions of CC licenses to indiscriminately manufacture legal land-mines, wantonly blowing off innocent commons-users' legs and laughing all the way to the bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

We can have an online commons, but only if it's run by and for its users. Google has shown us that any "benevolent dictator" who amasses power in the name of defending the open internet will eventually grow too big to care, and will allow our commons to be demolished by well-shitters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

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/2024/05/09/shitting-in-the-well/#advon

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Catherine Poh Huay Tan (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/49729911222/

Laia Balagueró (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbalaguero/6551235503/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[news24-amit]

Automation and Integration Needs Power Robust Growth in System Integrator Market

The global System Integrator Market is poised for significant growth, projected to rise from US$ 28.3 Bn in 2023 to US$ 52.3 Bn by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2024 to 2034. This growth is driven by the widespread adoption of industrial robots, technological advancements, and a pressing need among businesses to optimize operational efficiencies through connected systems.

System integrators play a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and maintaining integrated solutions that bring together hardware, software, and consulting services. These services support organizations in unifying internal and external systems, such as SCADA, HMI, MES, PLC, and IIoT, to enable seamless data flow and system interoperability.

Market Drivers & Trends: One of the primary market drivers is the rise in adoption of industrial robots. As industries accelerate automation, robotic system integrators have become vital in delivering customized, scalable, and high-performing solutions tailored to complex manufacturing needs.

Another major catalyst is the surge in technological advancements. Integrators are deploying cloud-based tools and platforms that provide real-time data insights, improve developer productivity, and support hybrid architectures. The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT) in integration solutions is fostering innovation and growth.

Latest Market Trends

Several emerging trends are shaping the system integrator landscape:

Cloud modernization platforms such as IBM’s Z and Cloud Modernization Center are enabling businesses to accelerate the transition to hybrid cloud environments.

Modular automation platforms are gaining popularity, allowing companies to rapidly deploy and scale integration solutions across multiple industry verticals.

Edge computing and cybersecurity solutions are increasingly being integrated to support secure, real-time decision-making on the production floor.

Digital hubs and scalable workflow engines are being adopted by integrators to support multi-specialty applications with high adaptability.

Key Players and Industry Leaders

The system integrator market is characterized by a strong mix of global leaders and regional specialists. Key players include:

ATS Corporation

Avanceon

Avid Solutions

Brock Solutions

JR Automation

MAVERICK Technologies, LLC

Burrow Global, LLC

BW Design Group

John Wood Group PLC

TESCO CONTROLS

These companies are actively investing in next-generation technologies, enhancing their product portfolios, and pursuing strategic acquisitions to strengthen market presence. For instance, in July 2023, ATS Corporation acquired Yazzoom BV, a Belgian AI and ML solutions provider, expanding their capabilities in smart manufacturing.

Recent Developments

Olympus Corporation launched the EASYSUITE ES-IP system in July 2023 in the U.S., offering advanced visualization and integration solutions for procedure rooms.

IBM introduced key updates in 2021 and 2022 to streamline mission-critical application modernization using cloud services and hybrid IT strategies.

Asia-Pacific companies have led the charge in deploying advanced integrated systems, reflecting the rapid industrial digitization in countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.

Market Opportunities

Opportunities abound in both mature and emerging markets:

Smart factories and Industry 4.0 transformation offer immense potential for integrators to offer comprehensive solutions tailored to real-time analytics, predictive maintenance, and remote monitoring.

Government-led infrastructure modernization projects, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, are increasing demand for integrated control systems and plant asset management solutions.

The energy transition movement, including renewables and electrification of industrial processes, requires new types of integration across decentralized assets.

Future Outlook

As industries pursue digital transformation, the role of system integrators will evolve from traditional project implementers to long-term strategic partners. The future will see increasing demand for intelligent automation, cross-domain expertise, and real-time adaptive solutions. Vendors who can provide holistic, secure, and scalable services will dominate the landscape.

With continued advancements in AI, IoT, and robotics, the system integrator market will continue to thrive, transforming operations across diverse sectors, from automotive and food & beverages to oil & gas and pharmaceuticals.

Review critical insights and findings from our Report in this sample - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=82550

Market Segmentation

The market is segmented based on offering, technology, and end-use industry.

By Offering:

Hardware

Software

Service (Consulting, Design, Installation)

By Technology:

Human-Machine Interface (HMI)

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)

Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

Functional Safety System

Machine Vision

Industrial Robotics

Industrial PC

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Machine Condition Monitoring

Plant Asset Management

Distributed Control System (DCS)

Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)

By End-use Industry:

Oil & Gas

Chemical & Petrochemical

Food & Beverages

Automotive

Energy & Power

Pharmaceutical

Pulp & Paper

Aerospace

Electronics

Metals & Mining

Others

Regional Insights

Asia Pacific leads the global system integrator market, holding the largest market share in 2023. This leadership is attributed to:

Rapid industrialization and digital transformation in China, Japan, and India.

Strong investments in smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 initiatives.

Government support for infrastructure modernization, especially through Smart City programs and cybersecure IT frameworks.

North America and Europe also show strong demand, driven by the presence of established manufacturing facilities and a robust focus on sustainable operations and green automation.

Why Buy This Report?

Comprehensive Market Analysis: Deep insights into market size, share, and growth across all major segments and geographies.

Detailed Competitive Landscape: Profiles of leading companies with analysis of their strategy, product offerings, and key financials.

Actionable Intelligence: Understand technological trends, regulatory developments, and investment opportunities.

Forecast-Based Strategy: Develop long-term strategic plans using data-driven forecasts up to 2034.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the projected value of the system integrator market by 2034? The global system integrator market is projected to reach US$ 52.3 Bn by 2034.

2. What is the current CAGR for the forecast period 2024–2034? The market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period.

3. Which region holds the largest market share? Asia Pacific dominated the global market in 2023 and is expected to continue leading due to rapid industrialization and technology adoption.

4. What are the key growth drivers? Key drivers include the rise in adoption of industrial robots and continuous advancements in integration technologies like IIoT, AI, and cloud platforms.

5. Who are the major players in the system integrator market? Prominent players include ATS Corporation, JR Automation, Brock Solutions, MAVERICK Technologies, and Control Associates, Inc.

6. Which industries are adopting system integrator services the most? High adoption is seen in industries such as automotive, oil & gas, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, and electronics.

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About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyses information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact: Transparency Market Research Inc. CORPORATE HEADQUARTER DOWNTOWN, 1000 N. West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 USA Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com

[brocoffeeengineer]

2D vs 3D Animation: Key Differences Every Learner Should Know

The world of animation has expanded beyond the bounds of traditional storytelling. From social media reels to Netflix originals and from mobile games to blockbuster films, animation is everywhere. But if you're just stepping into this vibrant domain, one of the first dilemmas you’ll face is choosing between 2D and 3D animation. They are both incredibly powerful, yet vastly different in style, technique, and application. So, what exactly sets them apart, and which one is right for you?

Let’s break it down.

Understanding 2D Animation

2D animation refers to characters and environments created in a two-dimensional space. Think classic Disney films like The Lion King or TV shows like Rick and Morty. The movement is drawn frame-by-frame, often using digital tools today (rather than pencil and paper).

Core features of 2D animation:

Flat visual style: Focuses on height and width but lacks depth.

Frame-by-frame drawing: Each movement is created through individual frames, which can be labor-intensive.

Tools used: Adobe Animate, Toon Boom Harmony, and TVPaint are popular software choices.

Advantages:

Simpler and faster to produce (depending on complexity).

Easier to master for beginners.

Stylized and visually expressive—ideal for storytelling, explainer videos, and mobile games.

Challenges:

Less realistic when compared to 3D.

Requires strong illustration skills.

Limited in simulating complex motion or camera angles.

Understanding 3D Animation

3D animation brings characters and objects to life in a three-dimensional space, giving them depth and realism. This is the style used in films like Toy Story, video games like Assassin’s Creed, and architectural walkthroughs.

Core features of 3D animation:

Real-world physics: Lighting, shadows, textures, and camera angles mimic real environments.

Rigging and modeling: Instead of drawing each frame, animators create a digital model (character), rig it with a skeleton, and move it like a puppet.

Software tools: Autodesk Maya, Blender, Cinema 4D, and Houdini are industry standards.

Advantages:

Highly realistic and immersive.

Ideal for high-budget films, gaming, VR/AR, and simulations.

Once a model is rigged, it’s reusable—reducing effort on repetitive motion.

Challenges:

Steep learning curve.

Demands more computing power.

Often requires teamwork across modeling, texturing, lighting, and animating roles.

Market Demand: 2D vs. 3D

From a career standpoint, the choice between 2D and 3D often depends on your goals and the industry you’re eyeing. While 2D is still widely used in mobile apps, social media content, and educational videos, 3D dominates in film, gaming, and emerging fields like virtual production.

According to Statista, the global animation market was valued at over $370 billion in 2023, with 3D animation accounting for a significant portion of that growth. Even within advertising and product design, brands are increasingly leaning towards 3D to create more dynamic and engaging experiences.

That said, platforms like YouTube and Instagram continue to thrive on 2D storytelling due to its faster production cycle and relatable aesthetic. Shows like BoJack Horseman and Adventure Time prove that 2D isn’t going away—it’s just evolving with digital tools.

Skillsets and Career Paths

If you choose 2D animation, you may become:

Character animator

Storyboard artist

Motion graphics designer

Background artist

Comic illustrator

If you choose 3D animation, you could specialize in:

3D modeler

Character rigger

VFX artist

Environment designer

Technical animator

Both fields offer freelance and full-time opportunities. Moreover, hybrid skills—like combining 2D and 3D for stylized visuals (as seen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)—are increasingly valued in the industry.

Latest Trends and News

Animation is undergoing a shift thanks to real-time engines like Unreal Engine and Unity, which allow animators to produce stunning visuals with shorter turnaround times. This is especially revolutionizing 3D animation and game design workflows. MetaHuman Creator by Epic Games is enabling hyper-realistic 3D characters with pre-built rigs, reducing production bottlenecks.

Meanwhile, 2D animation has been given new life by AI-assisted tools like Adobe’s Project Blink and Runway ML, which automate certain parts of frame transitions and coloring. This allows smaller teams to create high-quality 2D content faster and more affordably.

Another emerging trend is 2.5D animation, where 2D characters interact in a simulated 3D environment—offering a balance between both worlds.

Which One Should You Learn?

Now for the big question: 2D or 3D?

Ask yourself:

What kind of stories do you want to tell? If you're into whimsical, stylized storytelling or short-form content, 2D might be your space.

Are you tech-savvy and curious about physics and realism? 3D offers more technical depth and opens doors to industries like gaming, AR/VR, and film.

What's your learning timeline and equipment availability? 2D can be started with minimal gear and simpler software, whereas 3D may require more robust tools and system configurations.

Do you want to specialize or become a generalist? If you're looking to freelance across media types, 2D might be more adaptable. For those wanting to work on AAA games or VFX-heavy films, 3D is essential.

Ultimately, you don’t need to choose forever. Many animators today are hybrid professionals—starting in one and eventually learning both as their career evolves. The foundational skills of animation—timing, movement, storytelling—are universal.

A Note on Industry Growth

Cities across India are rapidly developing as animation hubs, and Bengaluru stands out with its increasing demand for both 2D and 3D professionals. With production houses, ad agencies, gaming studios, and edtech companies expanding their in-house creative teams, the interest in formal learning has surged. Whether it’s traditional techniques or cutting-edge software, taking an Animation course in Bengaluru can open doors to diverse career paths in an increasingly competitive market.

Conclusion

In the end, the “better” choice between 2D and 3D animation isn't universal—it’s personal. It comes down to what excites you, where you see your strengths, and the kind of visual world you want to create. Both styles have their charm, technical depth, and career potential. So, instead of asking which is superior, ask which one aligns with your creative goals right now.

As India’s animation industry grows, Bengaluru continues to evolve into a hub for innovation and talent. Whether you aim to be part of a game design studio or a creative tech company, enrolling in a 3D animation course bengaluru could be the first step toward building an exciting future in this dynamic field.

[armstrongsteelbuildings]

Tech Ready: Why Data Centers Are Turning to Pre-Engineered Buildings

The sharp rise in data usage and the rapid growth of the digital economy are fueling demand for larger, more advanced data centers. But the question is: Can your tech business build fast enough to keep up? If you move away from traditional construction methods, you can use pre-engineered metal buildings (PEMBs) instead. These structures offer a faster, lower-risk way to get critical infrastructure up and running, with streamlined on-site assembly and shorter build times.

At Armstrong Steel, we understand the urgency behind scaling infrastructure for cloud computing, secure server storage, and other tech applications. Let’s break down how pre-engineered metal buildings meet the unique demands of data center construction — from speed and flexibility to cost control and energy performance.

The rise of data centers and how PEMBs help

Data centers are the cornerstone of today’s digital economy. Every cloud computing, streaming, and click depends on these facilities, so it’s no surprise that the global data center market is set to grow at a CAGR of 12.5% from 2023 to 2030. But meeting that demand isn't easy — tech companies are under pressure to build smarter, faster, and more adaptable infrastructure. Here’s what they’re up against:

Scalability: Data centers must grow or adapt as quickly as digital needs evolve. Facilities should allow for seamless expansion or downsizing — whether that means adding more server space or reconfiguring layouts — without major cost or construction disruptions.

Energy efficiency: Running a data center requires a massive and constant supply of electricity. Businesses must find ways to optimize energy use through better insulation, cooling systems, and layout planning, all while maintaining performance and keeping operational costs under control.

Aesthetic appeal: In modern business parks or tech campuses, functionality alone isn’t enough. Data centers are part of a company’s brand image, so the exterior design should reflect professionalism and architectural quality.

Speed of expansion: With market demands shifting fast, data centers must be built and expanded quickly. Long construction timelines can mean missed opportunities, so companies need building solutions that speed up delivery without compromising on quality or safety.

The answer: PEMBs

Pre-engineered metal buildings address these challenges with the speed, energy efficiency, and flexibility they offer. Unlike traditional construction, these structures are ready to assemble and erect on site. With PEMBs, you can build a functional and aesthetically pleasing data center quickly and cost-effectively.

The benefits of pre-engineered steel data center buildings

Traditional construction using wood, concrete, and masonry will only delay your project. Meanwhile, pre-engineered metal buildings can keep pace with the flexibility and speed expected in data center construction. Here’s a more in-depth look at the benefits of PEMBs and why they make excellent data centers.

Speedy construction

One of the significant benefits of PEMBs is their quick construction. We make all components of your prefabricated steel building kit in our factory under controlled conditions, ensuring each aspect is carefully engineered to your local building codes, loads, and environmental conditions. This approach could reduce the project timeline by up to 50%.

If you need a data center within 6 months, choosing pre-engineered metal buildingswill allow you to meet that deadline without compromising quality and structural integrity. At Armstrong Steel, we make prefab steel buildings with custom assembly drawings, anchor bolt patterns, and a comprehensive erection guide. The major connections are already punched and ready to bolt together. Moreover, most components are cut and numbered, so you can assemble them based on the drawings.

Flexible designs

Pre-engineered metal buildings are highly customizable. At Armstrong Steel, we can customize the prefab steel building kit to meet your data center’s unique dimensions, layout, and structural needs. Their modular layouts allow endless expansions in the future. In addition, our designs can accommodate any external or internal finish or wall and roofing option, ensuring your building won't look too industrial.

Whether you require a modular or clear-span structure, we can accommodate any design requirement. This flexibility allows you to make the most of the space. For instance, you can incorporate a mix of modular community spaces, offices, an open-plan workspace, and a spacious server room that can adapt to your growing requirements.

Cost-effectiveness

Pre-engineered metal buildings are quick to assemble and erect, contributing to reduced labor costs. Each part is pre-fabricated, reducing material waste and surprise costs. Plus, their low maintenance needs and durability bring long-term savings.

Durable, worry-free data centers

You won’t have to worry about extreme weather when you use a pre-engineered metal building for your data center. These structures are strong and can withstand high winds, hurricanes, and heavy snowfall. Plus, we engineer them to withstand the seismic activity in your region. Building with steel also protects your data center against fires. It’s non-combustible, so it’s unlikely for fire to spread too quickly and burn everything down.

Energy efficiency

Today’s pre-engineered metal buildings are more energy efficient, thanks to modern insulation technologies. They are easy to integrate with solar-ready roofing, insulated metal panels, and sophisticated ventilation systems. These features can help reduce your energy costs, saving you money down the road.

Let’s design a high-quality data center for your business.

Get in touch with our team here at Armstrong Steel if you’re interested in pre-engineered metal buildings for your data center. We’ll work with you to design and manufacture the perfect structure that meets your exact requirements. Additionally, we will make sure your building is delivered on time. Call us at 1-800-345-4610 to get started now, or click ‘Price My Building’ to get a custom quote.