#and basic auction protocol

[laf-outloud]

Guess this really is a Jared con. I was watching the M&G auctions and Jensen’s had 56 bids and ended at $613.57 meanwhile Jared’s had 73 bids and went for $580.00. Not only does this show the smarter bidders are Jared fans because even with more bids they kept the price lower but he was still more in demand this con.

That's awesome! I hope Jared feels the love from everyone!

It looks like other Walker guests had some good numbers as well with Keegan, Mitch, and Jake getting at least 10 bids each for their M&G's. One surprise was Mark Sheppard who had 40 bids for his. Definitely a sign that Jared fans are in the house!

Unsurprisingly, Misha fans went way overboard in their spending for his Adventure Walk. 40 bids and they ran the price up to $811.00. At least they kept his regular M&G at the set auction price.

Here's a link if anyone wants to look at the auctions.

[kazscrows]

Six of Crows Reread 🪶

Chapter 38: Kaz

I have been waiting to get to this chapter-

This is going to be a long one so settle in and buckle up

I’m not kidding this one goes for ages—

He’d gambled on Matthias’ feelings for Nina, but he’d always liked those odds. The real risk had been in whether or not someone as honest as Matthias could convincingly lie to his mentor’s face. Apparently the Fjerdan had hidden skills.

Kaz is a Helnik shipper you can’t change my mind

And lmao he thought Matthias wouldn’t be able to lie basically because he’s “too good”—

He reeks of decency, right?

Kaz throwing up the bombs to fell the sacred ash is… something

I made a post about this last night

He had lock picks and extra pellets of that weird knockout gas they used earlier in the cells in his gut too—

Oh he learned to do this via a fire breather magician

I guess it kind of makes sense

But then Kaz notes that the magician died due to poisoning himself accidentally—

Man (meaning Kaz Brekker) is insane

He remembered Inej standing on the embassy roof, aglow with some new fervour he didn’t understand but could still recognise – purpose. It had suffused her with light.

She was glowing to him

He’s so proud of her

I’m so proud of her

I really like that we got to see exactly where everyone was when the black protocol bells began

Gives it that heist movie feel of recapping the mission but from other points of view

Does that make sense? Do you guys know what I mean?

He’d waited, counting the minutes, but there was still no sign of Nina or Matthias. They’re in trouble, Kaz had thought. Or you were dead wrong about Matthias, and you’re about to pay for all of those talking tree jokes.

Imagine the plan failing because Kaz made fun of Matthias one too many times

That would have been tragic

He quickly tries to think of a way to get to the treasury but…

Would he be going to help Nina and Matthias or just to grab the target?

Luckily we don’t have to find out

Hopefully he’d choose to help his new friends

I like to think he would

He’d been about to call out to them when the explosion hit, and everything went to hell.

They blew up the lab, he’d thought as debris rained down around him. I definitely did not tell them to blow up the lab.

I love when Kaz thinks things like this

It happens at least once more in Crooked Kingdom

You’ll see when we get there

I’m thinking about a line from the auction

Kaz hoped the Shu boy he was holding on to was a surprisingly young Bo Yul-Bayur and not some hapless prisoner Nina and Matthias had decided to liberate.

I mean.. you never really know with Nina

The voice of god. There was always truth in legend. Kaz had spent enough time building his own myth to know.

Woah this just made me think about Kelsier from Mistborn

Has anyone here read those?

Sometimes Kaz and Kelsier are pretty similar, but also polar opposites

They both run a thieving crew so there’s the obvious similarity

Kelsier loves to smile though so there’s a difference (he smiles out of spite, but it doesn’t really matter right now)

Water had a voice. It was something every canal rat knew, anyone who had slept beneath a bridge or weathered a winter storm in an overturned boat – water could speak with the voice of a lover, a long-lost brother, even a god. That was the key, and once Kaz recognised it, it was as if someone had laid a perfect blueprint over the Ice Court and its workings.

What god do you serve? Inej had asked him. Whichever will grant me good fortune. Fortunate people didn’t end up racing ass over teakettle beneath an ice moat in hostile territory.

He’s already starting to think about Inej

Also side note: “Fortunate people didn’t end up racing ass over teakettle” is just a really funny line-

He thinks that while tumbling blindly down a freezing cold river in the dark

Survive. Survive. Survive. It was the way he’d lived his life, moment to moment, breath to breath, since that terrible morning when he’d woken to find that Jordie was still dead and he was still very much alive.

Pain

I’m gonna cry

Kaz tumbled through the dark. He was colder than he’d ever been. He thought of Inej’s hand on his cheek. His mind had gone jagged at the sensation, a riot of confusion. It had been terror and disgust and – in all of that clamour – desire, a wish that lingered still, the hope that she would touch him again.

Hope doesn’t have to be dangerous

It’s beautiful really

When he was fourteen, Kaz had put together a crew to rob the bank that had helped Hertzoon prey on him and Jordie. His crew got away with fifty thousand kruge, but he’d broken his leg dropping down from the rooftop. The bone didn’t set right, and he’d limped ever after. So he’d found himself a Fabrikator and had his cane made. It became a declaration. There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken. The cane became a part of the myth he built. No one knew who he was. No one knew where he came from. He’d become Kaz Brekker, cripple and confidence man, bastard of the Barrel.

He really does go after Pekka brick by brick

He didn’t let his limp define him

He used it to sculpt how others saw him

They see him in the exact way he wants them to

In a way it made him stronger

I just want to copy paste this entire chapter

But the flashes of memories Kaz is getting:

Hot chocolate with Jordie and his warning to let it cool

Himself signing for the Crow Club

His first time seeing Inej, in purple silk, and with kohl around her eyes…

When he gave her her first knife, it had a bone handled hilt

She named it Petyr…

Her crying after her first kill and him ignoring the sobs…

Do you think he regrets that? What if he’d tried to comfort her instead..?

Kaz remembered her perched on the sill of his attic window, sometime during that first year after he’d brought her into the Dregs. She’d been feeding the crows that congregated on the roof.

“You shouldn’t make friends with crows,” he’d told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

He’d looked up from his desk to answer, but whatever he’d been about to say had vanished on his tongue.

The sun was out for once, and Inej had turned her face to it. Her eyes were shut, her oil-black lashes fanned over her cheeks. The harbour wind had lifted her dark hair, and for a moment Kaz was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world.

“Why not?” she’d repeated, eyes still closed.

He said the first thing that popped into his head. “They don’t have any manners.”

“Neither do you, Kaz.” She’d laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

Oh window scene my beloved

I’m stronger than this, he told himself. My will is greater. But he could hear Jordie laughing. No, little brother. No one is stronger. You’ve cheated death too many times. Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man.

The sound of water is Jordie’s voice for Kaz

A twisted tragic version of him

He’s trying to hang on and survive so he things of his revenge first

But it doesn’t work…

Only thinking of Inej saves him

He hopes she’s alive and that she escaped

He thinks about how if she’s trapped he has to live to safe her

The ache in his lungs was unbearable. He needed to tell her … what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he’d begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near. He needed to thank her for his new hat.

I love this beautiful broken boy who’s decided to try

The water pressed at his chest, demanding that he part his lips. I won’t, he swore. But in the end, Kaz opened his mouth, and the water rushed in.

Imagine an episode of the spin-off ending like that

That ends part 5, onto the final part!

Part 6: Proper Thieves

First | Previous | Next

[exeggcute]

sometimes i get so mad about online advertising being so lawless compared to other mediums (ex. television ads occupying specific spots in programming or a small fraction of the screen while online ads can sprawl wherever the hell they want And bog down computer performance) i find myself wishing for someone to enact legislation leading to their regulation, but how likely of a possibility do you think that actually is?

it depends tbh. we do have related stuff like CCPA and GDPR (obligatory meme that I have saved on my phone:)

...so it's not impossible for further laws/regulations to crop up down the line. my main thoughts here are that (1) adtech changes so rapidly that I think any specific legislation is almost certainly doomed to become obsolete before long (compounded further by the fact that most lawmakers barely seem to understand the internet, let alone a fucking RTB supply chain lol), (2) enforcement would be a nightmare considering there are literally several hundred billion bid requests generated EVERY SINGLE DAY (googled this stat to make sure I wasn't misremembering and got another dr. fou link lol. can't escape this guy) and (3) believe it or not, the online advertising industry is largely self-governing... or at least tries to be.

an organization called the IAB (interactive advertising bureau) sets a ton of standards around not only the logistics of buying and selling ads (they are, for example, the creators of the OpenRTB protocol for real-time auctions), but also the quality of the ads and ad space being sold. there are tons of initiatives they've proposed that have widespread buy-in among the industry, like ads.txt, which everybody who's anybody uses these days.

you do, of course, have to buy in to what the IAB is metaphorically selling, but their decrees hold a lot of weight among all sections of the ads supply chain—both reputable buyers and reputable sellers regularly adjust their behavior based on IAB guidelines. for example, two of the things you mentioned:

"ads can sprawl wherever they want": the IAB has about a million guidelines for where ads can physically go on a page, how they can run (e.g., video ads must be muted by default or they aren't IAB compliant), and what percentage of the visual real estate they can use up. publishers obviously can and do violate these guidelines, but third-party tools exist to make sure your ads aren't running on pages that pull that shit. and as a rule, advertisers actively dislike buying ad space on awful cluttered pages because they know the pages are shitty and the impressions are less valuable.

"big down computer performance": people call those heavy ads! the IAB sets standards around ad performance (the lighter the better, basically) and google chrome even implemented a feature that automatically kills heavy ads before they eat up your whole CPU. some performance based-issues are also caused by malvertising which is uhhh a whole other thing but no one likes it and everyone who matters is trying to stop it.

which isn't to be naive here or an industry shill or whatever because Fucking Obviously these problems persist. I actually had to email the advertising division at conde nast recently because I kept getting malicious redirect ads on their mobile site (they haven't responded yet... return my calls bitch!) so clearly even well-meaning reputable websites and ad platforms and advertisers continue to have issues with IVT and whatnot. the struggle is eternal.

but arguably so is the struggle against basically anything that's legislated, like property crime or whatever. I'm admittedly not optimistic that formal laws would fix digital advertising, only put a slightly hotter fire under people's asses to clean up their respective acts better. which is certainly a good thing, it's just a rapidly evolving game where the bad actors are always coming up with new tactics.

fun and related example: I read a recent retrospective about the kids behind the mirai botnet, which originally started out as a DDoS-for-hire scheme but pivoted to ad fraud when it turned out that was way more profitable. possibly the largest botnet ever (don't quote me on that though) and it was spun up by three teenagers!!!

[enigmaart]

HERE'S THE FARMER BOIS!!

Decided to call this AU "Equinoctial Harvest" ^^

After the pizzaplex burned down, the bois were found in the rubble by scavengers and sold off at an auction. An old man bought them and took them to his farm, Corona Crops. The old man fixed them up as best he could, repainted them with what he had (which was a LOT of different greens) and basically made them like new in about 2-3 years.

After the first year, Sun and Moon woke up from their long, long power down after the old man fiddled with their wires. They were confused and scared, but the old man was patient and understanding, and when they calmed down, he informed them of the previous events.

The bois are devastated. They had lost their home, their job, their friends too...they fell into a depression for the next month or so. The old man didn't push them. He understood they needed time. While they were in the house's garage thinking about their losses, the old man worked around the barn and in the fields, caring for the animals and tending to his crops. Come the next harvest, he brings in a plate of food into the garage, and eats as he works on the bois.

Then, for the first time in a while, they spoke to him again. Asking what he wanted with them. He told them straight up. He was a lonely old man, only getting older everyday, and needed some help around the place (especially out on the field. His back was starting to get bad).

While the three stayed pretty quiet after that, Sun was the first to reach out to and confide in the old man, who told him finally to just call him "Pa". Sun told him about all of his fears of being useless now that he's not in the daycare anymore, and how he doesn't think he's cut out for anything else. He knew most of his skill came from programming and protocols, so he's worried he won't get better at it. Pa, the ever so sweet and gentle old man, offered to teach him some things while he worked ^^

Moon was the more skeptic, cautious house guest. He wouldn't talk to Pa more than he needed to (like when he asked what particular parts he needed to fix/clean/replace). Eventually tho after a moment that opened his mind a little, he became more willing to carry out conversations and engage for longer. It wasn't long after that Moon was asking Pa how the farm works and what he does. And Pa was a very willing teacher ^^

Now, they spend everyday out in the fields (barefoot, cus they like the feeling of grass ^^) and caring for the farm and helping along Pa's business!

[demonofvoidandnightmares]

Mary walked into the manor nervous; this was the big night; The Night of Demons. Standing in the center of the hall where she would take in guests was a man she'd never met but she just knew THIS was Jason Blood. There was something very off about him, a dark aura she did not like. Still this was her job so she took a deep breath and continued to walk inside. Around her various rooms and a large staircase, roped off on both sides, she figured this was to keep guests from snooping around the manor; granted she wasn't doing any of that tonight. "Miss Faekay I presume?" The figure spoke, cold, clear and calm. No emotion in his voice, just an air of disinterest maybe? "Yes sir" Mary nodded, trying to hide her fear in a soft, polite tone Jason gave a curt nod "You're early. good allow me to show you to your station for the evening" He lead her to a desk near one side of the entrance hall "I am sure you know the general protocol on how to greet our guests?" He asked, Mary nodded "Good; now you will have the added step of checking for invitations and press passes" He added "You will also direct those not interested in coffee or tea to the bar area just beyond these doors here" He pointed to a set of double doors across from her desk "Otherwise you will point them to the central doors here" He pointed to a large set of oak doors before showing the other facilities that could be used by her or guests, his voice freezing the air as he spoke.

"Now then, any questions?" he asked, staring directly at her; one eye piercing her soul, the other drawing her in. "Ummm what if I...have to leave the desk to...freshen up" She asked very softly. "I provided a sign to let them know you will return promptly, it should be in the upper right drawer" He opened it to show her. "Ok thank you; and if I need to call you for any reason?" Jason was impressed with how prepared she wanted to be but annoyed, she had to remind him that there could be need for him outside the auction area. "The desk phone has direct lines to my personal cellphone as well as security and a few key members of staff for my home; notes on when to call any of us or your direct manager should be in this..." He handed her a thick tome "This has a list of everyone invited and why; including every press pass, staff member and special guest. Now then that should be everything settled?" His gaze on her again; she nodded. "Yes sir; thank you" a pit in her stomach growing. "Oh one more thing Miss Faekay; do make sure to remind guests that eating and drinking is forbidden in the main auction area" Mary nodded at that "Of course sir" "Now then I will check on your over the course of the night otherwise I believe we've covered the basics fully" Jason leaned down a bit, to match her height "You have been spoken of highly Miss Faekay, do not prove your peers wrong tonight, understood?" There was almost a hiss in his voice; the scent of firewood and vanilla filled her nose "Y...Yes sir Lord Blood sir" She stammered out causing him to smirk "Good, I will leave you to it then" He walked off, a slow, steady gait as he vanished behind the oak doors.

Yeah after this she was getting junk food and watching very insane youtube videos to recover....

[stellevatum]

Kar’s synthetic companions:

QOSMA (Quantum Organization System Management Assistant): A true AI linked to Kar’s Greybox, similar to how SAM is to the Ryder Family (SAM could be seen as QOSMA’s cousin, part of Alec and Ellen’s research were given in exchange for hers after all). She organizes Kar’s information network and database, as well as quantum Blackbox for Kar’s memories. Some Void Agents opt to get a greybox implant to have a more direct connection to QOSMA, but it is not a necessity. She was still a baby AI during the Reaper invasion and has grown exponentially in the centuries after. QOSMA has her own personality separate from Kar, especially in later years as the AI grows into her own.

Doc : A 2-1B medical droid. More frequently used in her younger years, post Rebellion on Doc is around mostly to help those who need it more (ie friends and family, folks who are with her on a missions, etc). He is usually posted on the Enduring (Mal’s repurposed star destroyer and flag ship) with Mal in later years, though sometimes will be berthed on Kar’s flagship.

Artie: RT-D0 is an astromech droid given to Kar when she was in Republic Intelligence. Hasn’t left her side since. Hasn’t had a memory wipe since the start of the Clone Wars leaving him to be a very eccentric droid whose intelligence borders on the like of fully actualized AI. He is sometimes supportive of her crazy ideas, other times is her voice of reason. Acts like a curmudgeon-y old man by the time she reaches Andromeda and Eridian galaxies, but cares for her family. Still doesn’t mean he won’t sass you, and will if the occasion arises.

Aytchkay: HK-42 is a formerly junked ancient HK assassin unit Kar recovered from an auction. HK was repaired and serves as her occasional personal bodyguard– but more often deployed to guard her later children. It is unknown when he was purchased– just that he came to prominence working on Pandora. Like all HK units, he has a great dislike of “meatbags” and is a very misanthropic droid, barring his mistress. Given the amount of organics that need killing on Pandora, he doesn’t seem to mind his situation. Him and Artie have a shared bond over misanthropy and violence, the two of them seem to be confused and at odds with Bee’s more positive personality.

Beedee: Bee, Beedee, Buddy’s formal designation is BD-Y (not to be confused with BD-1, Cal Kestis’ companion). While both are BD explorer units, BD-Y was solely Kar’s and assisted her in many an adventure through the known universe.(That’s not to say both units have crossed paths at some point.) A gift from Bail Organa during the Clone Wars, Beedee was with Kar during her defection and time in the Milky Way, was with her on the Normandy during the Collector Mission and Reaper war. As such, he’s been modified with reaper code (like the geth on Rannoch), upgraded with a quantum processing unit/blackbox, and on top the things most of Explorer Droids can do, is also now a portable QEC.

Beedee and Artie have been her companions the longest (HK is the oldest being at least 3000 years old…), and as such are practically family to her at this point. Bee is a cheerful. inquisitive droid that is always ready for the next adventure. Bee has always been a playmate of children. He likes spending time with Nazar because of his affinity with the late Legion.

Teecee: Teecee, or TC-22, is a TC series protocol droid that is technically Mal’s valet and assistant. As such he is usually near Mal on his flagship, or residence helping Kar remotely than actually in person. Like many other of his kind, Teecee has a stiff, formal personality programming, which suits his master. He is one of the few protocol droids updated to serve in all six galaxies– although his Psycho-to-Galactic-Basic could use a little improvement.

[newengen]

Marketing in the New Age of Generative AI

Generative AI Pulse Check

Over the last year, the public discourse has been flooded with conversations about generative AI - what it is, how it should be used, and to what extent it will (or won’t) change us as a society. Because the implications are widespread, stretching from the tech sector to the education system, we believe it’s important to address some potential impacts on marketers and how we, as an agency, are thinking about generative AI.

Getting Up to Speed

Last summer, a handful of AI image generators were made publicly available, giving the masses a taste of what generative AI tools can do. The technology quickly entered the American lexicon, with shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver shining a spotlight on Midjourney and DALL-E. Then, in November 2022, OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT: a pre-trained, generative chat tool that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP), drawing from textbooks, websites, and articles available on the internet in order to model its own language in its responses. ChatGPT can give natural answers to questions in a conversational tone, and can generate stories, poems, debug code, recommend chords and lyrics, and more. In early February, New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose reported that ChatGPT had 30 million users and 5 million daily visits, just two months post-launch.

Since its release, ChatGPT has escalated the national conversation around artificial intelligence; a February survey published by YouGov found that 46% of Americans have heard about ChatGPT, but their feelings about the technology are mixed at best. 46% of respondents believe that AI will negatively impact jobs (17% disagree), and 36% say it will be “bad for society“ (13% disagree).

And as far as businesses and institutions go? They’re starting to tackle big questions about AI best practices, protocols, and use cases. Bloomberg recently introduced a financial tool called BloombergGPT, Universities are adding Generative AI FAQs to their websites, and the White House published a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, detailing principles that “should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence.”

The list goes on, but let’s turn now to marketing. In this piece, we’re going to explore ways in which generative AI stands to impact marketers, use cases for the technology offered by New Engen leaders, and our agency mindset as we enter this next technological frontier.

Publishers Are All In

Publishers have been building AI into their ad platforms for some time now. In late 2021, Google introduced Performance Max - an automated tool that serves ads across Google’s ad inventory from within a single campaign. Shortly after, in August 2022, Meta unveiled its Advantage+ shopping campaigns, which use AI to streamline the process of ad creation and optimization. Basically, “Our highly automated marketing future has arrived,” says Kevin Goodwin, VP of Performance Marketing at New Engen.

And now, just a few months later, these same publishers are racing to incorporate generative AI tools into their product offerings. Microsoft launched “the new Bing,” an AI-powered search engine that the company believes will improve audience targeting and investment returns for brands. Last month, New Engen was invited to attend a Microsoft webinar called “Introducing the New Bing,” which highlighted how AI can enhance and complement traditional search (but not supplant it, according to the webinar’s host). Microsoft says that, for now, no changes will be made to the ad auction and ads for the new Bing will be automatically created within existing campaigns. The most significant difference, they claim, will be in improved relevancy, with more qualified consumers discovering a brand’s content and ads.

In light of Bing’s AI evolution, Google has been hard-pressed to advance its own search engine and, in March, released a chatbot the company is calling Bard. The technology is still in beta, and time will tell what impacts it might have on the platform's advertisers.

Zooming Out: Marketers Can Relax About Chatbots & the SERP

"A lot of people are worried that these chatbots will lead to singular query results that will reduce the opportunity for ads, completely alter the way the search engine results page (SERP) appears, or both. But it should give marketers peace of mind to remember that Google and Meta are incentivized to create great ad products that generate revenue for their shareholders. Search was 56% of Google's revenue in Q4 2022 - it benefits them to use AI in a way that allows advertisers to spend more. What we can expect to see is greater curation, enabled by chatbots in the SERP. An early tactical indication of the shift in search is the evolution of match types. Google has already done away with broad match modified and is pushing broad match harder than ever. As we move to more voice-based and long-form queries, the ability to build an effective and scalable keyword strategy with tools like exact match becomes near impossible. I would expect match types, or at least any but broad, to be almost completely obsolete within the next 3-5 years if not sooner." - Kevin Goodwin, VP of Performance Marketing

Meta has, of course, also thrown its hat into the ring. In a recent interview with Nikkei Asia, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth remarked that the company was developing a generative AI solution for ad creation that it plans to launch by the end of this year. Bosworth explained that the technology would be able to generate ad creative tailored to different audiences across Facebook and Instagram, simplifying the advertising process and making it more widely accessible.

New Engen leaders anticipate that the first iteration of Meta’s generative AI tool will level up its existing dynamic creative and automated ad formats, like Slideshows. Kevin Goodwin shares his predictions:

Prediction 1: Meta Will Focus on Feeds

“Meta is likely to focus on feeds in the near term, given the number of ad dollars invested in feed-based products. What this might look like is a tool in which advertisers provide their brand colors, input images, and a set of rules, and in turn, Meta will produce automated feed manipulations like backgrounds and overlays using AI.”

Prediction 2: Recommended Videos & Images Aren’t Far Off

“I believe very quickly we'll see Meta attempt to create 'recommended ads' that splice together top-performing products and assets already within your account. Imagine you have an ad featuring a shoe on a textured background that is performing well. You can click a button that says 'Generate Optimized Variation,' and Meta manipulates your image - maybe changes the background texture, maybe includes some text on the image, maybe puts AI-generated 'people' in your ad, etc."

Brands Are Trying to Capitalize on Generative AI

The internet is having a field day with AI-generated content. AI images of figures like the Pope and Donald Trump have stirred the pot in recent weeks, and college professors are trolling their colleagues with academic papers produced by chatbots. But politics and pop culture aside, some major retailers have made recent headlines for their use of AI-produced marketing collateral.

On March 20th, Coca-Cola launched the “Create Real Magic” marketing campaign to promote its new AI platform, developed by OpenAI and Bain & Company. In a press release, artists were encouraged to visit the platform’s site and generate AI artwork using “iconic creative assets from the Coca-Cola archives” for the chance to be featured on Coke’s digital billboards in New York and London. Two days later, Levi Strauss & Co. announced it would be partnering with Lalaland.ai to build “customized AI-generated models.” As in fashion models, not language models.

Retailers are also jumping on AI to differentiate their gifting experiences, says Anna Otieno, New Engen’s Head of Research. She explains, “Brands are increasingly incorporating generative AI to optimize the customer experience – from search to delivery. Being understood is a top value for consumer interest and engagement. AI-powered gifting generators, for example, are popping up more but are in the development stages of personalization. A tool that helps customers find the perfect gift – and links directly to hyper-personalized products – is already steps ahead of current options. It’s like a personal shopper that goes beyond the usual ‘recommended for you’ features.”

New Engen Creatives Offer Some Perspective

AI and machine learning continue to stir up the industry, and several applications have the potential to deliver serious, positive impacts at scale: AI-powered ad optimization, smart tagging, templatization, video cutting, image generation and editing, automatic cropping, and text generation, to name a few. What’s more, creative professionals are already using generative AI tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and RunwayML in their work. But all that being said, the potential benefits of these tools are counterbalanced by reasonable concerns surrounding content quality, security, and liability.

Test & Learn

For the past several years, New Engen Creative Director Jen Thomas has been working with internal analytics and media teams to assess possible use cases for AI. She tells us,

"I’ve approached AI like I would any other tool in my line of work - by embracing it, but also attempting to fairly evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, ethical considerations, and potential near-term evolutions."

Jen and other New Engen creatives have found that quality concerns surrounding AI tend to limit the success of content creation. “In research and discovery with images and editing, AI hasn’t led to significantly better speed, volume, or quality of output than a person working manually, at least so far,” Jen explains. She adds that, over time, an undesirable “stock” quality can become apparent in AI-generated content. Ultimately, the level of tailoring required to achieve specific outputs is still inaccessible to many, and the QA and editing processes continue to require a trained eye.

ChatGPT and Copywriting

With thoughtful prompting, ChatGPT has shown intriguing strengths, like a facility for loose, engaging, brand-focused language. However, it has also revealed weaknesses, like basic inaccuracies and stiffness in the kind of product-specific, feature-focused language that digital advertising often requires. Certain industries like nutrition and wellness may encounter additional challenges and require an even greater need for human handling - due to the natural language sound of the responses, QA testers must know products at an individual level to be certain any health claims are accurate enough to publish.

This demand for skilled prompters has created a job market for Prompt Engineers, and prompt-sharing is becoming something of a sport for people seeking the right language to describe the output they want.

What to Look Out For

New Engen leaders believe that, right now, the most compelling use case for AI is creative analysis and insights. Machine learning options, like smart tagging and image classification, are where Jen and others see the most potential in a paid media environment. And regarding ChatGPT specifically? Anna Otieno puts it this way,

At an estimated 100 million monthly users, it’s no question that ChatGPT will impact (and has already impacted) how people search, learn, interact, create, work and access information. As an agency, it’s an active learning process, where brands will test and discover organizational uses and consumer-facing tools. The rise of ChatGPT will also call for research and policy around privacy, bias and ethical use. The sooner brands get ahead of that, the safer the adoption for all parties.

Now What?

The topic of generative AI is so massive, has so many angles and applications, that we can only attempt to scratch the surface with this piece. At New Engen, our approach to AI is the same as it has been with any new technology - welcome it, test into it, and find the best use cases for our clients. And we'll go step further by applying this framework equally to third-party technologies and those we are incubating in-house (but more on that later). Right now, we see the greatest short-term potential for AI to expand our creative analysis and insights, and help evolve media productivity and output.

Let’s end with some perspective from Kevin Goodwin, who offered his thoughts in a recent AiThority article,

"Hyper-automation is an opportunity to refocus our industry toward producing truly inspiring creative, and the technology that enables it. The machines, platforms, and algorithms can handle optimization and measurement—and marketers can return to a time when advertising and media conversation was about creative that truly moves people."

Keep an eye out for more AI news and stay in the know by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on LinkedIn.

[blockchainxtech]

Digital Artwork and NFTs

In the past few years, digital artworks have explored the possibility of using NFT (Non-Fungible Token), a new digital medium form, for asset transactions.

A large number of item transactions in the future can be carried out in the form of NFT. In addition, NFT can digitize asset ownership to facilitate more full realization of value.

The emergence of NFT represents the urgent need for traders to transform from paper-based contracts to digital contract-based transactions.

digital artwork

Digital artwork refers to a set of data with a certain artistic value generated by computer technology. Similar to traditional physically created artworks, digital artworks are considered unique and collectible. Since digital art transactions are mostly conducted through cryptocurrencies, it is also called CryptoArt.

As early as 1993, Hal Finney (also an early Bitcoin expert) discussed the idea of ​​​​”encrypted trading cards” on the cryptographic forum Cypherpunks, which may be the earliest discussion on cryptographic artwork and NFT.

Digital artwork mainly includes the following characteristics:

Based on the blockchain platform, once the generation rules are determined, artworks cannot be additionally issued or modified, nor can they be counterfeited;

With more use of encrypted currency transactions, all records are publicly visible and can be effectively traced;

After the user purchases, the ownership is recorded on the distributed ledger and cannot be tampered with or counterfeited;

Artwork transactions are completed directly and immediately, and there is no traditional third party;

Digital artwork itself is not scarce, and it is even easy to be copied, but its ownership is unique and recognized by the market.

In 2014, Robby Dermody, Adam Krellenstein, Ouziel Slama, and others launched the Counterparty trading platform based on the Bitcoin network. The platform provides peer-to-peer financial transactions through the metadata token protocol and supports the creation of tokens, decentralized asset transactions, and more. In September 2016, the “Rare Pepe Frog (Rare Pepe)” project was launched, becoming an early digital artwork.

On June 23, 2017, Larva Labs launched the CryptoPunks project. The project created 10,000 punk avatars, each a unique 24x24 8-bit pixmap. Initially, the project was distributed for free on the Ethereum network, hoping to honor the spirit of punk. Later, with the publicity and participation of enthusiasts, the project attracted the attention of a large number of users and even investment institutions. It is still very active today, and the single price is often tens of thousands of dollars. In June 2021, the sale price of the avatar numbered 7523 reached 11.8 million US dollars. CryptoPunks have unique cultural interests as collectibles and are considered to be the beginning of the trend of encrypted digital art. Since then, Larva Labs has also developed the Autoglyphs and Meebits projects, which have also aroused popularity in the market.

On November 28, 2017, the Axiom Zen team (later incubated Dapper Labs) launched the CryptoKitties game based on Ethereum transactions. Each player can buy a digital kitty through ETH, breed offspring, and sell them. All records are publicly visible on the Ethereum network. Through this game, players can learn to master the basic usage of Ethereum. The game was once very popular, and the price of a single digital cat once exceeded 100,000 US dollars. Related transactions accounted for nearly 20% of the transaction traffic of the Ethereum network, causing transaction delays and congestion. The success of the game has also inspired many imitators. The ERC-721 standard that the project follows is widely adopted.

In April 2021, Yuga Labs launched the Bored Ape Yacht Club project on the Ethereum network, which includes 10,000 different ape portraits, generated by computers. Among them, the portrait numbered 8817 was once auctioned for a high price of 3.4 million US dollars.

NFT

Although many NFTs are currently digital artworks, the connotation of NFTs is actually broader. Anything that can circulate in the digital world can be considered an NFT. Including paintings, photography, music, books, games, etc.

NFT literally means non-homogeneous tokens. Traditional encrypted digital currencies are homogeneous (Fungible Token), there is no difference between any two tokens, they can be replaced with each other, and can often be split into smaller units, such as Bitcoin. The NFT is unique and cannot be replaced by other NFTs, and often cannot be divided into smaller units. For example, a painting NFT represents the painting itself and cannot be replaced by other NFTs.

At present, NFT products often have the following characteristics:

are not interchangeable;

cannot be split into smaller units;

Often the only one that exists.

The non-homogeneous nature of NFT makes it easy to anchor to items in the physical world, such as real estate, cars, collectibles, etc. The property rights of any real item can be bound to an NFT. Therefore, NFT is considered to have great potential.

To Buy And Sell Your Nft With Nft Marketplace, Develop your Own Nft Marketplace Development.

In 2020, with the massive issuance of sovereign currencies around the world, NFT will become more and more popular. In 2021, the NFT project ushered in a big explosion, so 2021 is also called “the first year of NFT” by many people. At present, most NFTs are traded through platforms such as Opensea, Rarible, and Nifty Gateway, and are stored on the Ethereum network and IPFS.

The emergence of the NFT idea is very natural. Its earliest prototype can be traced back to the Bitcoin-based ColoredCoin (ColoredCoin) that appeared in 2012. Colored coins have color attributes, and colors can be used to represent different assets. This provides feasibility for real assets to be chained.

But the Bitcoin network does not support smart contracts, limiting its expressive power. The Ethereum network launched in July 2015 has strengthened the support for smart contracts, making the emergence of a large number of NFTs a reality. Especially in September 2017, the ERC-721 specification was officially proposed and became the reference standard for a large number of NFTs based on Ethereum projects. During this year, the CryptoKitties project was launched, and the concept of non-homogeneous tokens was formally established. In 2018, the Ethereum community also proposed the ERC-1155 standard to support batch transactions, which is currently supported by the trading market Rarible.

Sky Mavis developed the game Axie Infinity in 2018, which later became one of the popular games on the Ethereum network. It allows players to trade virtual pets and land resources through NFT. At the same time, players can earn points and redeem them by playing games. The price of some virtual pets is as high as 300 Ethereum (about one million US dollars).

In October 2020, Dapper Labs cooperated with the NBA to launch the NBA Top Shot game project. It uploads the highlight video clips of a certain player in the game to Flow, a public chain developed by Dapper Labs, and makes them into NFT products. After the NBA Top Shot project was launched, it attracted a large number of users to participate. The total turnover has exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars, and the price of some products, such as the NFT of LeBron James’ slam dunk video, once soared to 400,000 U.S. dollars.

In addition, the British Museum, the Russian Hermitage Museum, etc. have also auctioned NFT products of world-famous paintings.

In February 2021, Linkin Park (Linkin Park) band member Mike Shinoda released an NFT music work on the platform Zora, which sold for as much as $400,000.

In February 2021, digital artist Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple) took 13 and a half years to create 5,000 digital paintings “Every day — The First 5,000 Days” since May 2007, spliced ​​into a 316 MB image NFT, sold at Christie’s at a historic price of $69.34 million (42,329 ETH) to cryptocurrency investor Vignesh Sundaresan.

In April 2021, Centrifuge successfully obtained a MakerDAO loan using the house as collateral.

In December 2021, the digital artist code-named Pak will include 312,686 digital paintings “The Merge”, sold on the digital art auction platform NiftyGateway, 28,983 buyers participated in the purchase, and the total transaction price was 91.8 million US dollars. This is also the NFT work with the highest price at present.

Advantages of NFTs

Using NFT to conclude a transaction includes the following advantages:

Instant transaction: After the buyer and seller reach a transaction from the platform and write it into the blockchain, the ownership of the NFT is transferred, and the transaction records are stored on the distributed ledger and cannot be tampered with;

Not easy to falsify: Once the NFT product is confirmed, its transaction history will be fully recorded, and it is difficult for others to forge;

Improve efficiency: NFT-based transactions are automatically processed through smart contracts, and the processing efficiency is much higher than manual operations;

Reduce costs: The handling fees of NFT platforms are usually much lower than the intermediary fees of real transactions, and reducing transaction costs can also promote the prosperity of the market.

The problem with NFTs

The rapid development of NFT has also led to some problems:

Auditing issues for NFT: Before becoming an NFT and being traded, the platform or auditor needs to confirm the actual ownership of the bound items. Once a false property right occurs, there needs to be a way to roll it back, which puts new demands on the current distributed ledger technology;

Rational regression in the market: At present, excellent NFT products are very scarce, resulting in many products being hyped at inflated prices after they go online. Excessive prosperity in the early stages of the development of new things often leads to the rapid creation and bursting of bubbles. Trading platforms should design a more rational auction mechanism and raise the threshold for participation.

Interconnection between different platforms: NFTs based on different platforms often adopt different standards, and it is difficult to interconnect with each other, which limits the circulation of NFTs in a larger market.

[ragunath12]

Key features of the NFT Trading Platform.

The NFT trading platform website combines the functions of an online store, an auction, and a blockchain platform for issuing non-fungible tokens. Users should be able to create their own NFTs and sell them.

Notifications Currently, the most popular standards for NFTs are as follows:

In addition, such an NFT marketplace (NFT platform) usually has features for attracting and retaining customers and improving the quality of service.

When developing your own NFT marketplace, it is best to start by implementing the following elements.

showcase

This feature provides marketplace visitors with all the necessary information about the lot: title, fixed price, description, image, owner, purchase method, rating, etc.

Some NFT marketplaces also provide information about the blockchain and protocol of the token so that users can verify the authenticity of purchased NFTs.

Search system

Make sure your users can easily find the topic of interest to them. This will make it easier for users to navigate through the range.

Filters also make navigation easier, especially if there are many tokens of the same type on the platform.

Registration and login

To buy or sell tokens on the NFT development  platform, the user must create an account.

As a rule, registration by e-mail, phone number or through accounts on social networks is used. The user is usually also asked to provide a cryptocurrency address.

If it is not available, you can register by providing a link to a cryptocurrency wallet, for example, Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask or MyEtherWallet.

 Creating an ad

This process should be simple and fast. Ideally, it should be the same as on eBay. To do this, you need to think about the optimal sequence of user actions and implement something like an OpenSea collection manager.

This will help you quickly upload the product to the site and specify the properties of the token, including the name, price, description, tags, external link, etc.

Wallet for NFTs

The user needs a crypto wallet to send, receive and store tokens, digital assets and cryptocurrencies (NFT transactions). The easiest way to do this is by implementing integration with popular crypto wallets.

The main thing is that such wallets support the NFT protocol you need. Usually these are MetaMask, MyEtherWallet, Coinbase Wallet and WalletConnect wallets.

Our company is also ready to help you develop your own crypto wallet.

Trading Statistics

Usually, there is a section on the NFT trading platform where the user can view trading statistics. This allows you to understand how popular the site is, what it sells and what price you have to pay.

For example, in OpenSea, trade statistics contain the following data: events, product name, price, buyer, seller, and date.

 Reviews and ratings

From reviews and ratings, you can find out how much visitors like the lot or the seller / buyer. This information helps users evaluate contractors and specific lots.

As a rule, the rating is implemented in the form of a numerical assessment of the product or likes.

Reviews can be implemented in the form of comments that all registered users can leave, as well as in the form of reviews that counterparties leave to each other after the transaction is completed.

You can implement a push notification system to inform users about new bids for items in a selected category or seller, a change in the status of a selected product, new messages, a sale of an item, or an update to the NFT marketplace.

Support

This is an essential element of any NFT development service trading platform. Users can contact support to get answers to their questions or resolve a problem and conflict.

You can implement a help desk through a call center, web mail, a separate information portal, or using a helper bot.

 NFT standards

Standards are the driving force behind the NFT. In order to launch a blockchain-based NFT, certain token standards must be used, which guarantee that the asset will act in a certain way and demonstrate how to use the basic functions of the asset.

ERC721. These tokens are unique and non-fungible. They can represent physical or digital properties. This standard supports smart contracts and provides an authorized way to transfer assets using the transferFrom method.

ERC1155. The ERC-1155 multi-token standard supports not only fungible and non-fungible tokens, but also semi-fungible ones. It is much more efficient than the ERC721 standard.

visit : https://www.blockchainx.tech/non-fungible-token-development

[familydentalcare]

The Most Effective 20 Dentists In Sandton, South Africa

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On arrival, please inform ground floor safety that you are going to both 3rdfloor (Doctors & ladies's clinic) or 4thfloor (Dentist & x-rays/radiology). Our dentists and x-ray/radiology occupy the complete 4th flooring. We are open 7am – 7pm every day together with weekends and public holidays. A main auction house is on the lookout for a experienced business real-estate broker to join their staff. Merchandiser required to join leading style provider based mostly in sandton, jhb. South Africa Dentist, Dr. Orlando Rojas is dedicated to excellence normally dentistry, implant dentistry, metal removing and detoxing.

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The second you step into that beautiful reception, you may know you've got come to the best place. Their companies actually come at a premium although dentist sandton. A dental check up units you back about R900, even if it occurs to final now not than 5 minutes.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa is a necessity for professional practice in addition to a authorized requirement to keep all personal particulars frequently updated. The HPCSA consists of 12 Professional Boards which dentist sandton are dedicated to selling the health of the population. As part of our series on How to Open a Medical Practice in South Africa, there are a couple of things you should do before opening your medical apply.

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[metafootballworld]

MetaFootballWorld is committed to becoming the world's leading World Cup NFT blind box and World Cup live betting platform

MetaFootballWorld allows players to create NFTs on the platform, set up trading areas, self-pricing and auctions, and innovate auction methods such as individual auctions, multi-party auctions and mixed auctions to ensure that NFTs maximize value benefits, provide long-term and effective incentives for protocol developers, NFT creators and NFT traders on the platform, and further improve the liquidity and fun of the NFT market. In the MetaFootballWorld ecosystem, NFT is the specific medium for value bearing, and star NFT carries star value; Significant events NFTs record the beginning and end of events; Soccer NFT commemorates the development of football. Due to the limited total number of star card NFTs, each unique NFT has been frantically snapped up by fans, setting off a wave of collection boom in the market.

MetaFootballWorld creates a complete sports ecosystem

In order to encourage early players, MetaFootballWorld specially awards early lock-in airdrop rewards to players who hold the NFT MetaFootballWorld Star Card. In addition to the fact that the NFT can receive airdrops, the limited total amount makes it a valuable collector's value. The successful combination of the World Cup and the mainstream NFT gameplay in the market is a successful practice of sports and blockchain, MetaFootballWorld hopes to concentrate all NFT gameplay of international sports events, and concentrate NFT collections, avatars and games on the MetaFootballWorld platform, breaking the current situation of sports NFT in different public chains, and will be the real sports business such as event content, media publicity, Financial derivatives and other overall migration to Web 3.0 to create a complete sports ecosystem.

Web 3.0 asset management platform

The meta-universe asset management scenario developed by MetaFootballWorld, on the one hand, applies the underlying design of blockchain and Web 3.0, the security of data is firmly guaranteed, and the "oracle + risk control" system can also effectively prevent capital risks and protect user wealth, on the other hand, due to the application of excellent AI and quantitative algorithms, blessing the world's leading investment and research team, to help investors achieve high returns. With the blessing of blockchain technology, Web 3.0 and NFT technology, the user's assets are unique and immutable first, protecting the security of the user's assets. Secondly, MetaFootballWorld uses advanced algorithms and technical means to design the entire meta-universe financial system, which can form a guarantee for the exponential growth of user assets. In the metacosmic world, the user's assets also need to be circulated and exchanged in the virtual market, and there will also be deposits and loans. Based on blockchain technology, MetaFootballWorld has built a secure and stable basic network platform: users can learn any information about the transaction party on the platform to ensure the accuracy of transaction decisions. At the same time, the platform also ensures equal exchange and comprehensive income between the two sides through advanced algorithms.

[niftyrevolution]

Benefits and Risks of Fractionalizing NFTs

Fractionalized NFTs are a traditional but dangerous investing strategy updated for the blockchain era. Investors purchase a portion — often referred to as a “shard” — of a pricey NFT or a portion of a sizable NFT collection through fractionalization. Lets see the Benefits and Risks of Fractionalizing NFTs through this article.

Benefits of Fractionalizing NFTs 

1. Quick estimation of value

One can easily determine the market value of unique tokens with the help of F-NFTs

In order to determine the worth of a piece of digital art that you own, all you have to do is divide the NFT that goes with it into multiple pieces and sell a few tiny fractions

This will assist you in determining the item’s overall cost

2. High liquidity

Fractional NFTs can easily get around the liquidity problems that expensive NFTs have

If you wish to sell a really expensive product that you possess, you could have to wait a while because not every investor will have the necessary funds on hand

You can divide an ERC-721 token into smaller fractions and then sell the resulting ERC-20 tokens for a lesser price

This can fix the liquidity problem and make the asset more attractive to investors

3. Democratizing investments and easy monetization

Investors with limited resources may be drawn to fractionalized tokens because they give them more possibilities to buy valuable assets in a secure manner

4. Curator rewards

The participant in the token sale is eligible to receive curator incentives, which are an additional sum each year

This makes it possible for people to make more money and improves the lives of artists who might not be blockchain experts

5. DeFi integration

Because fractional NFTs may be integrated with staking, yield farming, and dexes because they are effectively ERC20 tokens (a standard for developing and issuing smart contracts on the Ethereum network)

Risks of Fractionalizing NFTs 

1. The reconstitution problem

Reconstitution can be problematic if you just control a portion of an NFT, It is easy if you possess a whole NFT

It is completely yours, and you are free to sell it whenever you choose

It might not be possible for you to use even a small portion of an asset in a particular name if you only control 50% of it

You will be in danger if you sell a buyer 50% of that asset and they later decline to sell it back to you

What can be done, then? A method for reassembling fractions into the original NFT must be provided by fractionalization methods

2. Buyout auctions

The reconstitution issue can be resolved by buyout auctions

Why then are buyout auctions considered “a necessary evil”? It basically means that even if a single shard of a fractionalized NFT is destroyed, the remaining shards still retain some of their value

In the event that one of the 100 shards belongs to an owner is lost soon after it is minted, they can launch a buyout auction and place the winning bid to recover the NFT, receiving 99% of the revenues back

3. Undesired buyouts

But it’s important to remember that unforeseen buyouts do occur

There is a potential that no one will be able to gather enough money to bid fairly on an NFT if it is valuable enough

4. Recurrently Issued Collectively Kept Shards (RICKS)

In addition to providing a different approach to the reconstitution issue, RICKS also avoids the liquidity and coordination problems associated with a full buyout

How does it function? In contrast to an all-or-nothing buyout auction, the protocol instead releases new RICKS at a set rate, or a certain percentage every day, week, or month, for a given NFT

The revenues from the sale of the new RICKS for ETH at auction go to the current owners of RICKS

REFERENCE: 

 1. https://10clouds.com/blog/defi/fractional-nfts-explained-benefits-and-risks/

DISCLOSURE:

None of these articles constitutes financial advice. Articles are highly summarised to make it easy for the reader and save time, so please DYOR further before putting your hard-earned money into any product mentioned.

Please note that the tech industry evolves rapidly and the info in this article is correct at the time of publishing. As Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant,” so if anything sounds old or off, please holler on the socials or comment here so everyone stays peeled.

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[kiranerysismyhero]

my headcanon is that in enterprise when the Vissians found Charles after they'd taken their own life they went to Phlox like "our sick bay can't revive this cogenitor, can you? no? damn. do you mind disposing of the deceased byee"

and Phlox doesn't really want to do that without some sort of culturally appropriate funeral rites, but Vissians don't have a protocol for that for cogenitors. the compromise ends up being that they suspend Charles in the transport buffer, with the idea that maybe someone in the future will be able to give the most respectful send-off

Only, by the time that some drives that are part of pre-Federation history are put up for auction at Quark's and then seized by station security, things have changed quite a bit. Engineering, medicine, engineered medical officers... Charles is back!

It does take a while after rematerialization for Charles to be ready to sit up and hold a conversation, and in that time Jadzia is helping Julian make sure Charles' molecules stay stable and is called both she/her and "old man" within hearing range

So when Charles is able to interact they basically ask "are you female? or a man? or something else, like me?" and Jadzia's basically just like "yes, yes, and yes... at different times, and to varying degrees. Is that overwhelming? I can bring in the constable, his gender is just goo"

[literallymechanical]

NFT’s Are Stupider Than You Think

tl;dr if you want the full-res, 21,000 x 21,000 pixel, 300 MB image from the 69 million dollar Beeple NFT, skip to the bottom for the download link. It’s not piracy or hackery, it’s just a feature of how NFT’s work. 

[Image ID: The low-resolution preview image for Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days, as posted on the Christie’s auction website]

Okay so we’ve all know that NFT’s—and crypto mining in general—are an environmental nightmare, in terms of ridiculous energy costs. Also, most people are aware that the digital asset itself (often artwork) that corresponds to the NFT isn’t stored on the blockchain.  But there are a few more issues that aren’t as widely understood, judging by the reporting I’m seeing.

Let’s use the 69 million dollar Beeple NFT as an example. Before anything else, here’s the auction house where Beeple sold it.  (I’m using bare URL’s in this post, to make it more clear where each link leads)

https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/beeple-first-5000-days/beeple-b-1981-1/112924

This is a screenshot from that page.  I’ve highlighted the smart contract address, 0x2a46f2ffd99e19a89476e2f62270e0a35bbf0756. That’s the address of the NFT itself on the Ethereum blockchain.  Also note the Token ID, 40913.  Without listing these data so you can verify what you’re buying, the auction is meaningless. This appears to be an older token protocol, I think? Usually you can just get the Token ID from the smart contract without having to list it separately. I’m not an expert, idk.

Also, a very very quick primer: A blockchain (in this case, the Ethereum blockchain) is basically a verifiable, unforgeable, secure, publicly-viewable ledger, where you provably say “I have sole control over this piece of data.”

Anyway, the typical way to interact with the Ethereum blockchain is a website like etherscan.io, like so:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x2a46f2ffd99e19a89476e2f62270e0a35bbf0756

That’s the Beeple’s Everydays smart contract. Remember all this for later. Let’s move on to the stupidity. First...

The artwork isn’t stored on the blockchain. But neither is the metadata you own.

Most people are aware of this, to some extent.  The artwork itself isn’t on the blockchain, just a piece of metadata, right?

Well, no, it’s actually stupider. The metadata isn’t on the blockchain.  The only thing that’s actually stored on the blockchain is a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), which in practice is almost always either a URL (web address) or an IPFS hash (InterPlanetary File System address), but it could be any kind of address. Hell, it could literally be GPS coordinates, if you want. Usually it’s an IPFS hash, though.

Here’s the URI that’s stored in the Beeple NFT. You can get it from that etherscan.io link by going to the “contract” tab and entering “40913″ into the tokenURI query.

ipfs://ipfs/QmPAg1mjxcEQPPtqsLoEcauVedaeMH81WXDPvPx3VC5zUz

For most NFT’s it’s easier than that, you can get the TokenID from the contract? Again, I’m not an expert, but I think this is an outdated token protocol called “Erc20.” 

Since this is an IPFS hash, not a url, you can’t quite just type it into a typical web browser. First you should turn it into a web address by using an IPFS gateway, such as ipfs.io:

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmPAg1mjxcEQPPtqsLoEcauVedaeMH81WXDPvPx3VC5zUz

If you’re on tumblr mobile and clicking links is annoying, here’s a screenshot of what you’ll find at that address.

[Image ID: A screenshot of the JSON text file linked by the expensive Beeple NFT. It lists metadata for the artwork.]

The URI you own can die at any time

The point of storing things on a blockchain is that they are immutable, and verifiable, and can’t be forged.  "ipfs://ipfs/QmPAg1... etc.” isn’t going anywhere, and is provably yours.

However, the text file that lives at that URI? That screenshot? That’s not stored on the blockchain, and it can disappear.  You own the GPS coordinates of a storage locker full of paintings, but that doesn’t help you if the metaphorical storage facility burns down.  Or if whoever has the key to the storage locker (often the original artist, and/or the auction website) comes in and replaces everything with pictures of rugs. 

[Image ID: A tweet where an artist explains that they replaced their NFT artwork with pictures of carpets, “pulling the rug” on their auctions.]

Both of these things are already happening.  A lot of NFT’s are already “abandoned,” asserting ownership over a dead URI. IPFS storage is supposed to take care of that, but in practice it’s poorly implemented, and even when done right it isn’t as failsafe as they’d have you believe. IPFS peer-to-peer storage is slightly less fragile that just storing a file on a website, but not by much. If the IPFS node goes down, the file is lost.

Does this sound like it wildly defeats the purpose of using decentralized blockchain storage in the first place? You’re right! It does.

If the auction website you bought your NFT on goes out of business, you will almost certainly lose the NFT you bought. And we all know how stable web startups are lol. Anyway, next up...

You don’t have exclusive access to anything

A lot of people think of owning an NFT like they own a painting. They have the artwork. They can keep it to themselves, or they can display it in a gallery with their name next to it, but everybody knows it’s theirs!  NFT startups use this as a selling point. They say anybody can have a print of the Mona Lisa, but only you own the original.

This is dumb, because in the case of digital art, the print and the original are identical in every way.  Every single 1 and 0 is the same, and if URI goes down, who cares who bought it? The NFT says you just own a URI that points to a text file. And by design, that URI is public. This isn’t a hack, or a bug. This is the entire point. But the people who run auction sites can be hella disingenuous about that.

Here’s that text file again.  Notice this bit I just highlighted at the bottom? 

That’s a separate IPFS hash for the actual image file.  MakersPlace wrote this NFT incorrectly by using their own makersplace.com IPFS gateway instead of just posting the highlighted bit on its own—if MakersPlace goes out of business, that link will die—so instead I’ll link to that hash through the ipfs.io gateway, which is probably less likely to break any time soon.

But if it does, there are plenty more... until the MakersPlace IPFS node goes down, in which case it’s just gone forever no matter what lol.

So, without further ado...

WARNING: THIS IS A DIRECT LINK TO A 319 MEGABYTE JPEG. IF YOU’RE ON MOBILE, THAT MIGHT MAKE YOUR PHONE SAD IDK.

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXkxpwAHCtDXbbZHUwqtFucG1RMS6T87vi1CdvadfL7qA

You’re welcome.

[kristikinzel12]

YearnNFT Marketplace Explained! Create Your NFT Portfolio Now.

YearnNFT- the utmost mainstream NFT marketplace developed and deployed on Binance Smart Chain network. Backed by Binance protocols, this project empowers both creators/artists and communities to freely and affordably create, discover, reserve, trade, and leverage NFTs. Assisting all communities interested in NFTs is the core motive of YearnNFT team as they intend to empower the upcoming generation of digital transactions.

This platform serves three groups of users- NFT creators, collectors and traders alike. YearnNFT marketplace allows users to easily create and tokenize the content/asset. Moreover, it is also a spot for every contributor to explore and search for rare and exclusive NFTs from various sources; not only they can trade and distribute NFTs freely but also leverage YearnNFT platform to retrieve financial incentives obtaining from NFT goods.

Why YearnNFT Hits the First Place?

YearnNFT intends to build a trustworthy marketplace where any user can effortlessly trade precious and limited art pieces of digital assets such as collectibles, digital art, gaming assets, etc. The team also ensures the scarcity of every placed digital asset. Moreover, creators can decide on minting digital content in limited phases or access prevailing NFTs from BSC compatible blockchain. The motive of scarcity will guide creators avoid the emergence of secondary markets.

On YFNFT platform, distribution methods are customizable, providing corporate solutions to issue the online content using simple purchase, redemption, auction, etc. The team allows and support various content formats. YearnNFT tries to satisfy various demands of users, thus welcoming wide content from 2D images, 3D models, to music files.

Decentralization is another plus point of this marketplace where trades on YearnNFT happens on Binance Smart Chain and standard smart contracts. Yet community governance is next positive feature in which $YFNFT token holders can freely participate in proposal creating, asset holding and voting.

Not only these mentioned rights but also community members enjoy financial rewards along with additional privileges including exclusive sales and increased limits. The team at YFNFT focuses on cost-efficiency by choosing BSC that provides a fast, cheap, affordable and safe transaction environment for YearnNFT ecosystem. Also, the service fees on this marketplace are quite low.

The $YFNFT Token

$YFNFT token is the utility as well as the governance token of YearnNFT platform. It is basically a BEP20 token developed on BSC. YFNFT holders attain additional benefits if they hold verified amounts of $YFNFT assets.

$YFNFT is designed to be used for transactions and voting protocols. The token holders will have high priority in case of NFT listing. Additionally, the creators who hold $YFNFT can raise their minting and transaction limits.

The token holders at YearnNFT marketplace will also earn a discounted rewards and service fee applicable in specified cases. Not only incredible rewards but also, they will have early access to presales and other events held at the ecosystem. Last but not the least, the token holders can propose and vote to choose the future of YearnNFT.

YFNFT token economy is shown below:

Token Name: YearnNFT

Symbol: YFNFT

Network: Binance Smart Chain

Features: Governance, Fees, Rewards, Payments and Trade

Tokenomics Distribution

Total Supply: 73339 YFNFT

Available Supply: 73332 YFNFT

Presale: 20% (14666.4)

Liquidity: 17.5% (12833.10)

Token Burn: 50% (36666)

a) Registration Bounty 2% (1466.64)

b) Referral Bounty- 2% (1466.64)

c) Influencer reward- 1% (733.32.64)

d) Airdrop reward- 1% (733.32.64)

YFNFT Token Development

a) NFT Publishers Reward- 1.5% (1099.98)

a) Development Team- 1.5% (1099.98)

b) Marketing Team- 1% (733.32.64)

c) Advisers- 0.5% (366.66)

d) Founders- 1% (733.32.64)

e) Investors- 1% (733.32.64)

The highest participating users on the platform will be rewarded through community mining. Interestingly, the platform operates a mechanism to ensure a wider issuance and distribution in the community. There are funding systems and strategies to be used for platform and ecosystem development activities. Lastly, the liquidity funds are reserved to provide liquidity and rational bounties in the future.

For more information about the new announcement and upcoming updates please check out the social media Platforms

website: https://yearnnft.finance/index

Twitter : https://twitter.com/YearnNft

Telegram : https://t.me/YearnNFT

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

Reddit : https://www.reddit.com/user/YearnNFT/

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/yearnnft