#app developers in Germany

[ds4u]

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View Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxhHIX7q3nc

[sapphiresoftware]

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[manektechgermany]

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[seoworkssss]

The United States is home to a myriad of tech companies, but when it comes to mobile app development, only a few stand out from the rest. [Company Name] leads the pack, offering innovative solutions that blend functionality and aesthetics seamlessly. With a track record of delivering cutting-edge mobile apps for various industries, they have earned their reputation as the go-to mobile app development company in the USA.

[nyancrimew]

new blog post! part 2 of the #FuckStalkerware series, this one is pretty big!

also exclusively covered by techcrunch (less technical but more analysis than my post) here:

content warning: mentions of abuse/controlling behaviour

[restlessmaknae]

love 119 // anton

You and Anton are an unlikely combo. He's a professional swimmer, and you write for the school magazine. One interview with him leads to a series of consequences including asking him to prepare you for the school's swimming competition, and ultimately, falling in love with him.

➳ Characters: swimmer!Anton x school magazine writer!female reader/you

➳ Genre: high school au, boarding school au, rich kids au, comedy, fluff

➳ Words: 7.2k

➳ Warning: mentions of food, reader feels insecure about being 'average' at school, they are both down bad but oblivious until the very end

➳ A/N: This story is part of my KOZ International High series, but can totally be read on its own as it's Anton's own story.

Attending KOZ International High was like watching those movies where they send a misbehaved child to a boarding school in a different country, only for her to experience many culture shocks alongside many unfortunate events that come with living on her own for the very first time. Except that you weren’t a misbehaved child, just a girl whose parents had the money to send her abroad, and a good enough student to actually make it.

Freshman year was living hell for you. You were away from your home, your friends, and even your cute little dog. There was no one else in your whole year who came from your country, so you couldn’t befriend them on your very first day when you heard their name, unlike Heidi and Frida who both came from Germany. You had a national swimming champion, a Youtuber, an app developer, a worldwide known pianist and even a chess champion at your school alongside many students who had won different competitions in many different subjects.

Going from being the top of your class back in your home country to being an average student here - because average here still meant you performed constantly above 85% in all subjects - was rough. Being away from the familiar, your safe spaces and cosy spots and from all the people you knew at the ripe age of 15 was also rough. You felt like you had existential crises for the first few months every single day, and you didn’t know what happened or what day it was, but you just calmed down after a while.

Afterwards, you decided to take advantage of being at this school, and just enjoy the perks it had. You went to the on-site gym, you joined conversations in the communal kitchen of the student hall, you befriended one of your classmates - Dew from Thailand who was an impossibly tall yet shy guy - and you applied for the school magazine at the end of freshman year, and successfully got in.

So from sophomore year, you were a part of the school magazine team that published articles online about students, their achievements, school events but also local news, programmes and initiatives. You didn’t have to stick to just one section, but Minju and Yunah liked writing about local news, so it was kind of like their topic now. At first, you only wrote about school events, but then, you had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Anton Lee from the other class who was in the national swimming team.

However, since he was not from your class, you didn’t really know him or what he looked like, but you didn’t want to be a stalker and message him on social media (though for that to happen, you needed his ID first, and no Anton Lee on Instagram looked like it could be a 16-year-old swimming champion). So you tried your luck in the sports centre which had two giant swimming pools, and as far as you were informed (by Andrew who was on good terms with the guys from the other class), Anton usually practiced here after classes, even on weekends.

What you didn’t expect was to see five different guys and two more girls taking advantage of the swimming pool when you walked into the place in your flip-flops (no outside shoes were allowed). How the hell were you supposed to find Anton? You thought that it would be just him on this fine weekend, but alas, maybe you were the only one who didn’t like swimming that much.

You stood there, totally out of place, until one of the boys emerged from the water, and you decided to walk up to him. Or more like waddle up to him like a penguin, trying not to slip and fall into the water, especially when you saw how defined his abs were. Even though you had swimming classes in freshman year, so you saw boys in their swimwear, you definitely didn’t prepare yourself for this…

“Hi!” You gave him a little wave with your hand, gaining his attention. “Sorry to bother you, but have you happened to see Anton today?” You tried with a friendly smile, but the boy just stood there in front of you, not saying a word. It was difficult to decipher how he was feeling because he was wearing dark-coloured swim goggles, so you couldn’t see his eyes even if he was rolling them at you or not. “Anton Lee?” You tried again in case he didn’t know whom you meant.

You started to feel very weird at this point, but then, the boy got rid of his cap and his goggles, revealing a soft set of eyes and a somewhat confused expression.

“I’m Anton,” he broke it down to you in a soft voice, and you gasped a bit. Oh… so that explained the defined abs part. Right, a national swimming champion could have that.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know what you look like,” you explained with a bit of an awkward giggle. Anton’s lips curled into a polite smile, but you could feel that it was a bit forced. Oh right, you should say why you were there!

“I’m Y/N, I write for the school magazine, and we want to interview you for next month’s installment. Would you be up for it?”

The boy looked back at you as if he had never been asked to give an interview even though you were sure that he had given dozens of interviews. At least, that’s what you could imagine with him being on the national team.

“Uhmm… sure,” he half-said, half-asked at this point, and you weren’t sure whether it was out of politeness or not, but you were thankful that he didn’t send you away.

“Cool,” you nodded excitedly, giving him a wide smile. He just looked back at you, and you realised that he had no phone on him, so you couldn’t ask him to exchange contacts. Ah, you should have thought it through before marching up here and asking him if he wanted to do an interview. “I’ll contact you with the details. I’ll come by your classroom… or something like that.

“Okay,” he nodded, water dripping down from his hair.

Since there was no coach around, he must have been practising alone, and you applauded his dedication. You had never stuck with any sport for a long enough time to call it anything serious, and now, you just went to the gym and joined the cardio classes that the school organised, but sometimes even those seemed like a waste of time. You couldn’t imagine how anyone would go through years doing the same sport, building up their performance, but here was a living proof in front of you whose chest you tried so hard to not glance at. Not just because you would be embarrassed but because you had a feeling that he would be, too.

“Okay. I won’t keep you up any longer. Thanks for your time! See you around, I guess,” you blurted out in one-go, and turned around to walk away from him. You were halfway towards the door when you almost slipped, but managed to recover without falling headfirst and making an even bigger fool out of yourself.

Gosh, what a way to make a first impression!

To be very honest, sophomore year went by in a blink of an eye now that the world (or at least the campus) opened up for you a little bit more than before.

You wrote articles for the school magazine, hang out with Dew on campus or off-campus (asking for your parents’ permission, of course, as it was mandatory for underage students when leaving school grounds), kept your friends from home up-to-date with everything that was going on in your life, focused on your studies but also tried out a few activities to see what you actually enjoyed. You even took part in an English Literature competition as well, but didn’t make it to the finals, so there’s that. Your interview with Anton became the article with the most views during the whole school year, so you got a cute little pin by the other members of the school magazine.

When junior year rolled by, the school was in a frenzy because it was about to organise a national swimming competition for the first time in the school’s history. Most students had to take part in the organisation one way or another like printing out timetables, decorating the sports centre, welcoming guests and competitors alike and directing them in the right direction of the campus, or distributing the competition’s merchandise at stalls. The swim meets would be held over the weekend, but due to the preparations, the Friday before was a short school day with classes only until 1pm. Thankfully, since the school magazine was to cover the whole event, you didn’t need to take on more work, you just needed to be there, take pictures and interview people.

You, specifically, had been assigned to interview Anton yet again, but after last time, you had his KKT ID, so you could ask him about the details. You asked him a few questions the day before the competition, and when you inquired if his parents would come to see him, you were a bit surprised to find out that they still lived in New Jersey. Not that you knew his whole bio, but for your first interview, you had gotten to know that his parents were both Korean, but moved to the States before he was born. You assumed that they came back to Korea with him, but it seemed that it wasn’t the case, and for some reason, you found it quite disheartening.

So much that when you were sitting in the spectator area, waiting for the boy and his opponents to walk into the arena for the final heat (because Anton, of course, made it to the finals), you turned to Sullyoon who came to take pictures with you for the school magazine, and asked her:

“Is it okay if I take a video of Anton while you take pictures?”

The girl looked a bit perplexed for a moment, probably not knowing why you suddenly changed your mind. However, she wasn’t one who was too interested in others’ business, so she nodded a few seconds later.

“Sure. It’s fine with me.”

“Thanks,” you beamed, smiling to yourself as you turned back just in time to see the boy walk up to his lane accompanied by his coach. He got rid of his jacket by his chair, exchanged a few words with his couch, and started warming up.

It wasn’t the first time you had seen him swim that day, but somehow, because it was the finals, you felt more nervous. You were aware that he was really good, but still… He seemed calm though, but coming to think of it, he usually seemed calm albeit a bit too shy for someone who was considered famous and popular at school. Sure, the members of the school’s first and only band - consisting of Taesan, Yechan, Gyuvin and Jungwon - were probably the most popular boys in your year, but before they rose to the school-level stardom, Anton was probably the most popular one in your year.

Not that you cared too much about popularity, and he didn’t seem to do so either, he was too busy practising. Though he did practise at school too, he had his coach-led sessions outside of the school, so after classes, he was often seen leaving school grounds, only coming back later at night. You sometimes caught sight of him in the corridor at the student hall, but you didn’t interact a lot, just a few hellos here and a few good nights there. Since he wasn’t in your class, sometimes you wondered if he was as shy around his classmates as he was around you, or maybe it was just because you were a girl.

“Y/N, aren’t you recording?” Sullyoon’s voice brought you back to reality, and you hastily murmured a ‘thanks’ before averting your eyes to the swimming pool where the boy already stood on his block, getting into position.

You unlocked your phone, and turned it horizontally to get the whole view of the pool. Then, you pushed the red button a few seconds before the starting signal was given, and off they went. It was an individual freestyle heat, and it didn’t even take a minute to finish, but it felt so long because you were watching him so intensively, your eyes following him in his lane. He wasn’t in the lead at first, but when he turned around, he quickly diminished the distance between him and the top two swimmers.

“That’s it,” you mumbled under your breath. It was silly, you knew, he couldn’t hear you after all, but it didn’t mean that you didn’t cheer for him loudly when he came in first place.

The arena erupted in loud cheers and applause as everyone was happy to see one of the students win in his category. However, since the girls’ final was still left, you couldn’t move from your place to ask him about his experience. For the school magazine, of course, nothing else.

After the competition came to an end, there was a 30-minute break before the start of the winning ceremony which would be held in the event hall a few minutes away from the sports centre. So you took that time to seek out Anton after checking with him through Kakaotalk that he was free and willing to answer a few of your questions.

The boy’s hair was still half wet when you met him on a bench halfway between the canteen and the student halls. The hustle bustle of the event didn’t reach this side of the campus, but it was still close enough, so he wouldn’t miss the ceremony.

“Hey!” You beamed when you saw him sitting there by himself, his eyes fixated on his phone. He changed into sweatpants and a loose tee, but he still wore his flip-flops. You couldn’t tell whether it was because he forgot to change or because he liked it that way.

“Hi!” Anton greeted you back as he looked up, his lips curling into a half-smile. You could tell that he was tired, but you only had a few questions, so you wouldn’t keep him up too long.

“Congratulations! You did really well. I was truly impressed how you went from third to first place in a matter of seconds,” you shared excitedly, but he just let out a shy little giggle.

“Well… thanks,” he mentioned as he scratched the back of his neck. You just smiled at each other awkwardly until you pulled out your notebook and started asking the questions from him, recording everything on your phone. It was a mere three minutes, so it didn’t take long, but before you would let him go his way, you sent him the video of the finals.

“I’ve taken it, so your parents could see it,” you justified when he just looked back at you with wide, curious eyes. He looked at you as if he couldn’t decipher why you would do such a thing for him even though you thought it wasn’t a big deal. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and when he opened it again, his voice was even softer than usual.

“Thanks. That’s… that’s very kind of you,” he admitted, his words uncertain but genuine.

“Anytime,” you shot him a friendly smile before getting to your feet and bidding goodbye. You had to go back to fetch Sullyoon either way.

Your interview with Anton - compiling questions for him before and after his win at the competition - became the article with the most views again, something that you didn’t fail to share with him when it was announced. You couldn’t say that you were friends as per se, but you did ask how his practice went when you bumped into him at the student hall later at night, and he did ask you about how you had been when you met each other by accident in the school corridor. You knew he already had a lot on his plate, so you didn’t seek out his company more than it was necessary, but you still sent stuff his way when something reminded you of him.

However, that did change when senior year rolled by. With the third week of the new term starting came the announcement of the random draw for the annual sports day. KOZ International High’s sports day was your school’s version of ISAC, and even though you were all coming from influential families and all the students had probably enough money to attend the Olympics games in the VIP section, no one complained about the event. In fact, it was all the school magazine and school radio could talk about for weeks, and everyone tried to put effort into practising for their own games to not lose face.

Each year, all the classes participated in four different categories - mixed 4x100 m relay, archery, swimming and dance -, going up against one another within each year. The only category that allowed students to sign up for was dance as only groups could participate, and they needed to be formed in time to seem somewhat professional. Each year, this was the competition everyone was looking forward to the most since usually professional dancers signed up - like Baekseung, Minwoo and Haruto who always won the dance category in your year. For all the other categories, there was a random draw during homeroom where your teacher announced who would be participating in which category. 

This year, Anton didn’t get selected for swimming unlike last year, but you did. You had been selected for relay twice and archery last year, so this was new. Though you knew how to swim and you actually had swimming lessons in freshman year, your competitive side didn’t let you practise just like everybody else now that you were on speaking terms with Anton. So you asked the boy if he could help you prepare for the competition.

“What do you need help with? Technique, breathwork, nutrition or…?” The boy looked at you expectantly when you asked him about helping you out, and you suddenly realised that you had been so wrong that this would be easy, that your request would be obvious.

“Weeeelll, maybe a bit of everything?” You chuckled nervously. “I really want to win this, so whatever can get me there,” you added with a shrug, and Anton seemed slightly amused but also… endeared? Was that the right word for the look he gave you?

Either way, the boy agreed. You thought that he would just watch you swim once to see where you were and what you needed to work on, but he kept asking you when you would practise, so he could come by. He couldn’t always make it because of his own schedule, but he did show up frequently, giving you tips about your posture, technique, timing and little things that you would have not considered paying attention to before (like your post-workout meal).

He was firm in the way he explained certain things, but he was gentle when it came to show you what he meant, especially when he needed to touch you to correct the angle of your arms or the way you turned your head. You could see that swimming was truly his passion, and he was enthusiastic about helping you out, so he probably didn’t think too much into such tutoring, but there were moments when your faces were so close or his skin touched your skin a bit longer than absolutely necessary, and you felt nervous and giddy and warm all at once. He probably did so too because he stuttered or looked away or asked for a break at times like this.

It was usually late at night when you practised in the pool, so there weren’t other students around, and you tried not to be too self-conscious about this whole thing. However, when Andrew came by to practise for his own competition, and you could feel his eyes on you two for a few minutes in the beginning, you felt a bit nervous.

However, when you asked Anton about it after practice that day, sitting on the edge of the pool, your feet grazing the edge of the water, he said that he wasn’t bothered by it.

“Can I ask you something though?” He inquired, looking at you with those curious brown eyes, and you nodded, prompting him to go on.

“Please, don’t take this the wrong way… but why do you want to win the competition so bad?”

“Fair question, really,” you chuckled, airy and light, but sucked in a deep breath before jumping into your explanation. It’s not like it was something to be ashamed of, but you still felt a bit silly for feeling this way. Either way, he deserved to know the truth in exchange for his help.

“I just… I don’t really feel like I’m good at anything here. You know, back in my home country, I was the top student in my class, and at the whole school, too. Here, I’m pretty much average, and as much as I want to say that it doesn’t bother me, it does. There’s always someone who’s better at me in literally everything, so I get joy out of winning anything. Even if it’s our sports day.”

You weren’t sure how someone like Anton who was known for being on the national team would understand what you were feeling, but he seemed to know just the right thing to say.

“You’re good at writing for the school magazine and interviewing people,” he pointed out, his words oozing sincerity. When he looked at you like that and sounded like that, you really did feel good about yourself, but you weren’t sure if he was just trying to make you feel better or he really thought so.

“That’s nice of you to say, but the others are also really good. Minju even won a literary competition.”

To that, he couldn’t say anything. It was a fact. Ever since you had been admitted to KOZ International High, you hadn’t won a single competition. Not that it should have mattered, your parents were happy as it is, but still… going from being known for being smart and an overachiever to being average… it hurt a bit.

“To me, you are the kindest girl I’ve ever met,” the boy confessed gently, quietly, like a secret shared just between you two. “In that sense, you are the first one on my list.”

His words felt warmer than the towel around your body, and you were sure that if you had not just come out of the water a few minutes ago, a blush would surely be creeping onto your face, mirroring your emotions in an obvious way.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he nodded confidently, but you could see that he was also a bit shy with the way he bit down on his lower lip. A habit that you had picked up on before, but up until now, it didn’t make your heart race.

“But you’ve met so many people, right? I mean, you are an athlete.”

“While it’s true that I’m usually surrounded by a lot of people, I don’t actually know them or take notice of them. For instance, when I’m swimming, I focus on the water, the pool and my body. Nothing else,” he shared willingly, his eyes watching the waves his feet made on the surface of the water. “In a way, a lot of people watch me, but they don’t see me. If that makes sense,” he added a bit belatedly, his voice soft as ever.

You’ve never really thought about his swimming career that way. You’ve thought that he met a lot of people and made a lot of friends and connections, but what he was saying made perfect sense. It also made you feel a bit disheartened because after everything he must have been lonely. His parents didn’t come to see him compete, there was always a buzz around him even if he didn’t want it, and he focused on swimming, nothing else.

This thought made you feel even more thankful because he carved time out of his busy days to help you out, and now he even called you the kindest girl he had ever met.

“They don’t see the real you, I get it,” you hummed, slightly shivering at the way his eyes found yours. “I’m glad that I can see the real you though,” you blurted out without thinking ahead, without thinking at all. It was like you were under a spell; locked down, locked in, unable to move.

In that moment, with the melody of Anton’s coy little giggle accompanying you in the swimming arena, you realised what this feeling meant.

You were in love.

You were both nervous and excited for the sports day.

Swimming was at the end of the day because you had the relay runs first, followed by archery and dancing. You went out to watch the competitions, but since they hired a professional photographer for the event, the school magazine members didn’t need to take pictures. Instead, you enjoyed the event, rooted for Dew in the relay run (and with his impossibly long legs, his team won) and Sullyoon and Minju in dancing. You even checked out archery where Anton came in second place after Carlos.

Then, there was a lunch break and the juries for dancing decided on the ranking before announcing the winners as part of the first winner’s ceremony of the day. The involved students and those who were curious then moved to the arena where each year had its swimming competition for the boys and girls alike. Since you went in class order, the seniors were last, and by the time it was your time to get ready, you had been all nerves.

You didn’t expect Anton to be waiting for you in the corridor between the changing rooms and the pools because he had already sent you a good luck message on Kakaotalk (and you had congratulated him on his second place in archery). However, you couldn’t deny that the sight of the boy was enough to put your mind at ease. For a little while, at least.

“Hi!” Anton greeted you with a friendly smile as you halted in front of him, your sports bag thrown over your shoulder. “I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m just…” You let out an awkward little chuckle, suddenly all too aware that your voice was anything but stable. “Okay, I’m gonna be honest. I’m very, very nervous,” you added, biting down on your lower lip. It wasn’t even something that would be marked or kept in your school records, and yet, your heart was pounding so loudly, you were slowly going crazy.

“It’s all okay. I get nervous before competitions, too,” the boy admitted, somewhat of a fond smile playing along his lips while he was looking down at you. You looked back at him, suddenly finding it hard to breathe - not just because of his words, but because of his close proximity. Before, you were rarely aware how close he was, but these last few weeks, that’s all you could think about.

Gosh, you were so gone…

“You do?”

“Yeah, it’s totally normal. Plus, studies say that adrenaline can actually improve performance,” he explained as an attempt to ease your nerves, and you found yourself smiling for the first time in a while.

“No matter what happens, thanks a lot for helping me out. I owe you a whole lot,” you admitted, and playfully nudged his shoulder. You could see that the boy was a bit taken aback by that, but a few seconds later, his features softened even more than already, and his voice was even quieter than usual.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Anton disagreed gently. His eyes were twinkling with care, the lines of his lips deepening his dimples, a sight that made your heart race. Not out of nervousness, but out of this newly bloomed warm and comforting yet thrilling feeling.

You just stood there in the corridor, looking at each other in silence, getting lost in each other’s eyes. This moment was so precious, you wanted to tuck it into your pocket and never let it go. Yet, life moved on around you even if you were still, and the door to the pools opened, the quiet corridor suddenly filled with laughter and chatter.

Suddenly self-conscious, you mumbled something akin to:

“I should probably go. To get changed and to warm up.”

“Yeah, sure,” the boy nodded, but before you could go your way, he reached out to gently pat your head. Only once and only briefly, but you felt electrified from head to toe either way. “Good luck, Y/N! I’m rooting for you!”

And off he went, his cheeks tinted pink, and as you watched him leave, your hands automatically reached for the top of your head where his hand had previously been. You were woken from your stupor only when Dew showed up and started asking what was that between you and Anton. Though you had told Dew how you had been practising with Anton’s guidance, you had never touched upon how you felt around the swimmer.

“I really don’t know,” you blurted out in all honesty, and Dew looked back at you, all confused. “Do boys act like that with just anyone?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then, why do you think he did that?” You asked, hoping that the Thai boy could help you. He was a boy after all, he should know better. On the other hand, Dew merely shrugged his shoulders.

“My guess would be that he likes you, but don’t ask me about stuff like that. I’ve never had any luck with girls,” he justified before you could ask him (rightfully so) whether boys patted a girl’s head that they liked. You thought that maybe having a guy friend would help with your feelings, but it seemed like it couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Either way, Dew wished you good luck before he left, but all you thought about was Anton and the way he patted your head. Even when you entered the arena later on, you tried to search for him in the spectator area, but to no avail. There were just too many people, and now it made perfect sense why he said that he was surrounded by a lot of people, but he didn’t take note of them or concentrate on them.

So you did the same, and as you stepped onto your block, you took in a deep breath. You mentally played back all the advice the boy had given you, and told yourself that you would do great. Positive affirmations and all that.

After the starting signal, your body moved on auto-pilot. You were so caught up in the moment that you didn’t think, just swam and swam, and gave it your all. You now understood what people meant by your surroundings becoming a blur when something happened so fast because it was over before you knew it.

As you emerged from the water at the end of your lane, you took in a few deep inhales before your eyes found the announcement board. You scanned the screen, but your brain couldn’t comprehend the result, not until Daniela in the lane to your right came up to you to congratulate you.

“Congrats, Y/N!”

“Thanks,” you mumbled, still in a daze because… You looked back at the screen, and oh my gosh, you came in first! You did it! You were the winner in your year!

No one was faster than you to get out of the pool and dry yourself, get changed before heading out with your hair still half-wet, searching for a familiar pair of chocolate-brown eyes. You almost gave up when you spotted him just where he had been before he had wished you good luck.

To be honest, you were in a state of heightened excitement that couldn’t be contained, so you weren’t really in your right mind when you ran up to him and just outright hugged him. He was taller than you, so you momentarily pressed your head against his chest in the embrace, and thought it felt odd and new and everything in between, it also felt so right.

You almost let go of the boy when you noticed how still he was, but then, he had his arms around you (uncertain, gentle yet still there), and whispered, so only you could hear:

“You did really well, Y/N!”

And though it was brief and a bit awkward, it was equally heart-fluttering, and even if you tried to deny that you hugged him because you liked him and not because you were thankful for his help, you were lying.

You were oh so gone.

You still couldn’t get over everything that happened on the sports day, but now that you weren’t practising together and you didn’t need to interview him, you didn’t need to face him over the next few days. It helped a bit because your heart was jumping up and down in joy whenever you thought about his words, his head pat and that hug, and you felt like you could burst with all the different kinds of feelings that he brought out in you.

On the other hand, you promised him right after that impromptu hug that you would like to treat him to something as a token of appreciation for his help, and he didn’t protest. So you settled on the following Saturday, but it seemed like time slowed down because every day dragged on, and it was still not Saturday.

Dew even pointed out that though he was no love expert, you really acted like a girl in love (based on the movies and shows he was watching), and you couldn’t deny it anymore. There were even students who came up to you, asking if you were dating Anton because they had seen you two hugging after the competition. You shooed them away, saying that you were just thankful for him because he had helped you prepare for the competition.

You didn’t want to admit it to strangers, of course, but you also didn’t want them to make up rumours about your relationship. Or well, possible relationship. You didn’t ask Anton if he was approached by the same students, and you didn’t want to admit something that maybe only you felt, putting him in a tough spot.

However, you couldn’t deny that you felt like this encounter would be different… like a date or something. It would be the first time you leave school grounds with Anton, and you knew that he only went out for his practices and the necessities he needed. Though you hang out with Dew off-campus, it was different, he really was just a friend, and you were both clear about that.

Therefore, you spent an ungodly amount of time deciding on an outfit because you didn’t have to wear your school uniform or sportswear this time. You also needed to ask your parents to give you permission to go out because you were underage. It was a fairly smooth process with a whole online system set up where your homeroom teacher got a notification when your parents approved your leave, and you could show the approval on your phone to the guards at the gate.

Due to your indecisiveness, you arrived by the gate exactly at the discussed time, and Anton was already there, leaning against a railing. He wore a dark brown coat, currently unbuttoned, that emphasised his long legs and wide shoulders, with a white shirt and dark jeans. His hands were in his pocket, and he was slightly bobbing his head to the music coming from his headphones. He looked like a campus crush in those shows you liked to indulge yourself in, and the thought didn’t exactly help your crazily racing heart.

You were a few steps away when he opened his eyes and noticed you coming up at him. His lips immediately curled into a shy smile, and he took his headphones off to tuck them into his bag. You reciprocated his smile when you halted beside him, and asked him how he was doing while exiting the school and heading towards the bus stop. He said there was a really good restaurant that he liked going to after practices, so you decided on going there.

When he asked about your week, you felt heat rush to your cheeks because well… it seemed like all you had been doing was playing back the events of the sports day and daydreaming about meeting him today.

“Just the usual, really,” you shrugged instead, covering up your lie with a wider smile as you got on the bus.

You automatically sat down in a loveseat, and though his close proximity shouldn’t have surprised you at this point, you still felt your cheeks burn when he sat down beside you. It was different this time though. No matter how many close moments you had shared before, you had never sat beside each other on the bus, and you had never gone off- campus together, so it was new, it was different, and it was very, very exciting.

“What were you listening to, by the way?” You inquired to break the silence, referring to him waiting for you with his headphones on.

“I have this playlist with songs that I like, so I just put it on shuffle.”

“Can I have a listen?” You asked giddily because you really loved music, and you always enjoyed checking out new songs and new artists. However, Anton seemed a bit surprised by your request, and you immediately added that he didn’t have to if he didn’t feel like it.

“No, no, it’s totally okay. I’ve just never had a girl ask me to let her listen to my playlist,” he let you know, coy as ever, before reaching into his bag. You totally expected him to reach out his headphones for you to take it, but instead, the boy leaned closer to you to put it on you, tucking your hair behind your ear with one hand while holding the headphones in the other.

You found yourself blinking at him rapidly, your heart beating in your throat, and it felt like it was so loud, he could hear exactly how big of an impact his closeness and gentle touch had on you. On the other hand, he didn’t seem affected by it, instead, he boosted a boyish smile when his eyes caught yours, as if he could see right through you.

You could barely register the first song playing because you were still under his spell, but at least you didn’t have to talk for the next few minutes. Anton played a few of the songs on his playlist before it was your stop, and you gave the headphones back to him, sharing your opinion on his song choices while heading towards your destination.

The restaurant he picked was run by a lovely elderly woman who prided herself on the fact that Anton had been coming by ever since he had been a student at KOZ, and how much he had grown over these years. She seemed very fond of the boy and kept sharing stories about him until she was gently reminded by him that you were here to eat.

“Come on! You’ve never brought a girl here, so I have to take advantage of it,” she called him out on it, and Anton’s face immediately flushed, his eyes fixated on the table instead of anything else in the room.

“He helped me prepare for the sports day at school, and I won first place, so I’m treating him to a meal,” you shared with the old lady who directed a knowing smile in the boy’s direction before her eyes settled on yours again.

“Oh, so you’re that girl! He’s been talking so much about you lately.”

“Ah ahjumma,” he groaned slightly, acting like a sulky little kid with his lips curled downwards and his puppy eyes showing. She held up her hands in defeat before taking your orders and getting started on making the food.

Not gonna lie, you felt really good by the fact that you were the only girl Anton brought here and that he had been talking about you lately. Sometimes, you felt like he was just generally shy around others, and while it was true, you were now more hopeful than ever that his actions towards you meant that he felt the same way about you.

So though the meal was amazing and you had a very nice conversation while having lunch, you couldn’t shake this thrilling feeling off, and those so-called butterflies in your stomach didn’t want to chill. Instead, they made you believe it was now or never, this was your chance to make sure while walking in the nearby park, and so you blurted out:

“Anton, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he replied calmly, casually, but your next question made him avoid your eyes.

“Would you have said yes to today if it hadn’t been my thank you treat for your help, we just came just because?”

A few seconds of silence settled over the two of you, and the thought crossed your mind that maybe this would not go as you had imagined it. You would be rejected right here and right now, in the middle of this gorgeous park, on this fine Saturday in October, and you would never be able to recover from it.

Instead, the boy halted his steps, and eventually turned towards you, and you automatically did the same.

“Yeah,” he answered in his trademark soft voice, but before you could open your mouth to ask THE question, he beat you to it. “I like you, Y/N.”

Nothing could prepare you for how it would feel to hear those words roll off his tongue - not even this whole week of daydreaming behind you. As the afternoon sunlight shone on him, his eyes seemed to twinkle, and the sight was just too beautiful - he was too beautiful -, you felt like melting under the Sun.

“I like you, too, Anton,” you squealed before you threw your arms around him, and pressed your head against his chest. This time, the boy didn’t hesitate to hug you back, and it was just so heart-shatteringly tender and comforting and soft, your racing heart finally rested.

For it was now not searching for the answer to your question.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think! 😊

Click here for my RIIZE masterlist!

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for RIIZE or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here. 🥰

Header taken from the 'Odyssey' trailer video

Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 38 Thoughts: German Lessons

It's another guest episode this week and much like the last one of those it's only co-guest written. This time it's Jonny and Amber Devereux of Tin Can Audio, who has done a lot of things I'm not familiar with. I thought this episode was really solid though so I'm sure it's great stuff. The statement is very Archives to me, but the rest is very Protocol and it's really picking up pace. Just good stuff all around.

Spoilers for TMA , and TMAGP episode 38 below the cut.

We start as all good things do, talking about Colin. I'm holding out hope for the eventual Colin read incident because I do miss that man in this show. I love that Alice doesn't cave to Celia's bullshit. There isn't much to really dig apart here. The mentions of alchemy and the specific elements aren't particularly meaningful outside of their reinforcement of those themes. But it's plot development which is all good stuff.

While Celia for sure deserves the attitude Gwen deserves better than that though, smh Alice.

ALICE Well, it looks like Freddie was originally made in Berlin, back in the late 80s, maybe early 90s. There’re a lot of references to someone called “Friedrich”, who I think might have been the original programmer.

While it is pretty funny that Friedrich might have named his app after himself in leet, might be worth mentioned that Dr. Welling's first initial is F and we don't know what that stands for currently. He's currently been on the periphery of things but has been their more than just a throwaway character would've been. So there could be some sort of connection there.

ALICE Colin was certainly thought so. He was trying to find out more from a contact over there, some guy called “Heinrich Unheimlich”. GWEN I’m sorry, “Heinrich Unheimlich”? ALICE Yeah. What? GWEN Alice, do you speak any German? ALICE No, not as such. Why? GWEN Unheimlich. It means… Creepy, weird. I don’t think it’s a real name.

This bit is a fairly big deal IMO. If you've read a lot of my stuff you're likely aware of my theory about what DPHW means. If you aren't this is a fairly large hint that I am on the right lines there. Very briefly I think DPHW stands for Death, Pain, Helplessness, and Weird and is a rating system for incidents. The reason I think it's those things is because we know from the ARG that the German version is TSHU. Those meaning Tod, Schmerz, Hilflosigkeit, and Unheimlich. The translations are all pretty direct with the exception of Unheimlich which would generally be more like uncanny rather than weird, but uncanny is also much more in line with Magnus' use of the weird as horror.

On to the incident and, man, I liked this one a lot. Just some good old fashioned weird stuff happening. I don't think it was super creepy or unsettling, it didn't surprise me or have me on the edge of my seat, but it was thoroughly enjoyable through and through. It's a somewhat novel twist on the bogeyman archetype and everyone likes a good bogeyman scary story. It's also very German and as has been made very explicit in this episode that's a big deal for the world building here. It's come up a lot before, and was all over the ARG, and is central to a couple of core mysteries. A German "external" in the form of Mr. Cat Eyes is also exciting to see given the origins of Freddie. Germany clearly has had a lot of problems in the spookem department. There are also some implications here about a network of spooky people doing spooky things so I'm curious if this will come up in the future. The ending gave a "time to join the family business" sort of vibe to me that I'm hoping will come back around.

Mum said that she thought it was an old toy, maybe from East Berlin. I guess maybe it’s because East Berlin was also old.

As I've talked about the ARG before in these but of note here is that a large portion of it was dedicated to an East German diaspora newsgroup, and we (members of StatementRemains+ Discord server, not me personally) ended up traveling to a Berlin bookstore to find some documents. Which is to say they've been playing the long game on this one and if season 3 was a whole new cast of German characters it'd make a lot of sense given its foundations.

For those curious about the rhyme, it's roughly this

Heinrich Unheimlich, will you play with me? Heinrich Unheimlich, are you in the hallways? Heinrich Unheimlich, oh, are you in sight? Heinrich Unheimlich, don't eat my parents.

in English. I was going to make it rhyme but then I ran out of time.

First off, it's great that Alice continues to not buy into Celia's "don't investigate my crimes" bullshit. Secondly, I'm really liking how much this episode is advancing all sorts of threads. Now we've got Gwen following up on that Starkwall offer which is another element from the ARG that now seems like it's pretty vital to the foundation of where the show started. All great stuff.

GWEN Meaning I know the risks! Besides, those are properly vetted externals who have signed an agreement with the British Government to-

Need a loicense to be spooky if you're Bri'ish.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet and Terminology Sheet

Klaus Watch: C'mon this was prime Klaus territory. I've not forgotten about him.

DPHW Theory: 2153 isn't super interesting all in all, although it is also the DPHW of last week's episode. Which is fun. What's actually interesting is that they said the word "Unheimlich" nine times and Gwen translates it was "Weird". Which is further reinforced by the last episode she was in and her talk about balancing W and Mr. Bonzo, who is similarly a bogeyman-esque character. Albeit through a very different lens. I've not had much doubt I was right about this even from ep 2 but it would be wild for me to not get at least a little excited about this like this. It's probably the first major hint that I was on the money outside of how the numbers lined up.

CAT# Theory: My transcript had it as CAT1 so I had a whole thing about it but it's actually meant to be CAT13 which does mean I don't super care.

R# Theory: AB seems a little high. There is some evidence here in the diary and the mother's actual disappearance but nothing obviously weird like with RedCanary's eyes. B seems more apt to me. Assuming I'm right about it, I mean.

Addendum: So apparently my transcript was wrong on this too and it's actually meant to be ABC, assuming that's not an error of some sort (in or out of universe) I'm not 100% sure what to make of that. It's just weird. It's the first time we've seen them break from an apparent scale and implies these are non-exclusive categories, but also it makes there being an S even stranger because you could just add a D for something that falls outside of its scope. Very, very strange indeed. More data required on that one. Or someone can ask Alex about it.

Header talk: Carousel (Toy) -/- Disappearance (Parent) is a pretty explicit description of things. Hard to add much to that one.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Here is a list of all the games i played in 2024

Agon

One of my favorite games, gm'd it for a local con. It's basically the Odyssey, but told in a fast & furious fashion

Argyropée

French only, a optimistic renaissance fantasy game where i enjoy the universe, the worldbuilding decision, but the system could be better

City of Mist

A noir urban fantasy game, of misteries and myths, stories mixing with regular life.

Donjon & Cie

french only for now. Instead of playing the adventurers, instead your characters are the monsters of the Dungeon, in reality the biggest business in the land. Dongeons meet the office. Will be "translated" ( more of a 2nd edition) by the Merry Mushmen as Dungeon Inc.

Eureka investigative urban fantasy

What it says in the title. It's good, it's great, it's what i will use to run cthulhu modules in the future

Exquisite Biome

Occuped some long train rides this year. A solo game where you create little ( or big) creatures in the environment you made up.

Feathered adventures

It's ducktales without the branding. A diceless and possibly gmless game that plays like Scrooge McDuck comics

FIST

I think I traumatized my fellow players with my character. It's great

Knight an avalon rpg

A french game translated in english ( the books are coming). King Arthur in mecha armor fighting against horrors that threatens humanity in the 2030s. One of the most played because we're playing the epic (yes, epic, not campaign).

Lalaland of the dead

French only. Being in the right discords, sometimes, you can play with the authors themselves. A zombie apocalypse game that is also a musical. Sing for more dice.

Magie de minuit

French Only. A gmless tarot game of witches fighting darkness within and out.

Mausritter

Play as little mice, it's totally not terrifying.

Meanwhile in the subway

The game is not a book, it's a subway map

Mothership

The worst rolls possible at creation. Yet the character survived.

Naheulbeuk

French only. The ttrpg parody that is often played at the club when we just need a quick one shot, a silly session.

Nova

The sun exploded ( or did it ? some revelations of the designer on the bird app says it was eaten actually), so get your power suits out. My players managed to be the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

pasion de las pasiones

A demo session with the french translator. Now sitting nicely on a shelf.

Rune

Elden ring as a solo game

The Dark Eye

In germany they created this to avoid playing D&D. I am wary of games that ask me to successfully roll a d20 3 times for each roll. (yes you do roll 3d20 for most things)

The Thunder perfect mind

In development, a game created by Tanya Floaker during NaGaDemon that I playtested. A gmless game of gnostic gothic punk where you play as undeads.

Triangle agency

It's on most list of games of the year for a good reason. Also be careful when reading it or you will get too many demerits and lose access to the Frozen Yogurt Room.

Troika

Used to be my cursed game. The one I would propose but something always happened and couldn't play. Finally I have played it. (But the curse transfered...)

Vaesen

Occult mysteries based on Nordic mythology.

Wilderfeast

Monster hunter meets Dungeon Meshi. I love cooking monsters.

World Wide Wrestling

The new cursed game. Did a first session for a group ( for a mini campaign). That was in August and was supposed to last 1-2 months.............this was the only session

[amalgamasreal]

Updated Personal Infosec Post

Been awhile since I've had one of these posts part deus: but I figure with all that's going on in the world it's time to make another one and get some stuff out there for people. A lot of the information I'm going to go over you can find here:

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/

So if you'd like to just click the link and ignore the rest of the post that's fine, I strongly recommend checking out the Privacy Guides. Browsers: There's a number to go with but for this post going forward I'm going to recommend Firefox. I know that the Privacy Guides lists Brave and Safari as possible options but Brave is Chrome based now and Safari has ties to Apple. Mullvad is also an option but that's for your more experienced users so I'll leave that up to them to work out. Browser Extensions:

uBlock Origin: content blocker that blocks ads, trackers, and fingerprinting scripts. Notable for being the only ad blocker that still works on Youtube.

Privacy Badger: Content blocker that specifically blocks trackers and fingerprinting scripts. This one will catch things that uBlock doesn't catch but does not work for ads.

Facebook Container: "but I don't have facebook" you might say. Doesn't matter, Meta/Facebook still has trackers out there in EVERYTHING and this containerizes them off away from everything else.

Bitwarden: Password vaulting software, don't trust the password saving features of your browsers, this has multiple layers of security to prevent your passwords from being stolen.

ClearURLs: Allows you to copy and paste URL's without any trackers attached to them.

VPN: Note: VPN software doesn't make you anonymous, no matter what your favorite youtuber tells you, but it does make it harder for your data to be tracked and it makes it less open for whatever public network you're presently connected to.

Mozilla VPN: If you get the annual subscription it's ~$60/year and it comes with an extension that you can install into Firefox.

Mullvad VPN: Is a fast and inexpensive VPN with a serious focus on transparency and security. They have been in operation since 2009. Mullvad is based in Sweden and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for payment methods that allow it.

Email Provider: Note: By now you've probably realized that Gmail, Outlook, and basically all of the major "free" e-mail service providers are scraping your e-mail data to use for ad data. There are more secure services that can get you away from that but if you'd like the same storage levels you have on Gmail/Ol utlook.com you'll need to pay.

Tuta: Secure, end-to-end encrypted, been around a very long time, and offers a free option up to 1gb.

Mailbox.org: Is an email service with a focus on being secure, ad-free, and privately powered by 100% eco-friendly energy. They have been in operation since 2014. Mailbox.org is based in Berlin, Germany. Accounts start with up to 2GB storage, which can be upgraded as needed.

Email Client:

Thunderbird: a free, open-source, cross-platform email, newsgroup, news feed, and chat (XMPP, IRC, Matrix) client developed by the Thunderbird community, and previously by the Mozilla Foundation.

FairMail (Android Only): minimal, open-source email app which uses open standards (IMAP, SMTP, OpenPGP), has several out of the box privacy features, and minimizes data and battery usage.

Cloud Storage:

Tresorit: Encrypted cloud storage owned by the national postal service of Switzerland. Received MULTIPLE awards for their security stats.

Peergos: decentralized and open-source, allows for you to set up your own cloud storage, but will require a certain level of expertise.

Microsoft Office Replacements:

LibreOffice: free and open-source, updates regularly, and has the majority of the same functions as base level Microsoft Office.

OnlyOffice: cloud-based, free

FreeOffice: Personal licenses are free, probably the closest to a fully office suite replacement.

Chat Clients: Note: As you've heard SMS and even WhatsApp and some other popular chat clients are basically open season right now. These are a couple of options to replace those. Note2: Signal has had some reports of security flaws, the service it was built on was originally built for the US Government, and it is based within the CONUS thus is susceptible to US subpoenas. Take that as you will.

Signal: Provides IM and calling securely and encrypted, has multiple layers of data hardening to prevent intrusion and exfil of data.

Molly (Android OS only): Alternative client to Signal. Routes communications through the TOR Network.

Briar: Encrypted IM client that connects to other clients through the TOR Network, can also chat via wifi or bluetooth.

SimpleX: Truly anonymous account creation, fully encrypted end to end, available for Android and iOS.

Now for the last bit, I know that the majority of people are on Windows or macOS, but if you can get on Linux I would strongly recommend it. pop_OS, Ubuntu, and Mint are super easy distros to use and install. They all have very easy to follow instructions on how to install them on your PC and if you'd like to just test them out all you need is a thumb drive to boot off of to run in demo mode. For more secure distributions for the more advanced users the options are: Whonix, Tails (Live USB only), and Qubes OS.

On a personal note I use Arch Linux, but I WOULD NOT recommend this be anyone's first distro as it requires at least a base level understanding of Linux and liberal use of the Arch Linux Wiki. If you game through Steam their Proton emulator in compatibility mode works wonders, I'm presently playing a major studio game that released in 2024 with no Linux support on it and once I got my drivers installed it's looked great. There are some learning curves to get around, but the benefit of the Linux community is that there's always people out there willing to help. I hope some of this information helps you and look out for yourself, it's starting to look scarier than normal out there.

[fanfictionlibrary01]

Fanfics being stolen and uploaded on (audiobook) site "WordStream"

I wish there were no reason for an announcement like this right before Christmas… /sad /angry

What is happening?

Fanfics of people on AO3 (works from other sites could not be confirmed as of now) have been uploaded to the site https://word-stream.com.

What do we know?

The site has no legal notice - we can not see who runs or owns the site, who is behind this, etc.. All fanfics also have a ai-generated "book cover", which adds to the iffy vibes outside the fanfic stealing. Fanfics that were found there all match their originals on AO3 with title and author, mostly by tags, and by writing. The summary is often changed, but the works are definitely stolen. Example: Stolen WordStream Version That work on AO3

We checked more works and can confirm that this is not a single case but affects more works, but this is the only SFW work example we could find atm.

Assumptions after some research and digging we did:

To listen to the audiobook versions, you must create an account on that site, which leads to an info that this site has an app. Through that, the developer and potential person behind this could be someone named "Ofek Weitzman", who in term seems to be associated to a "Speechify Inc." (according to google results: Corporation Wiki Article, Speechify App Site, speechify.com).

Speechify does text to speech via an AI voice generator. It would fit the iffy ai cover vibes.

What we recommend to do:

It stands to assume that locking your works on AO3 is the only way of preventing this. So far, we've not found works that were locked on that site, so locking your works on AO3 can protect the from being (more easily) swiped by any bot etc.. Since the site has no legal notice, looking into ways to report that (it's it's illegal for a site not to have one in Germany for example) is likely an option.

Follow up on this and get the latest updated in the Fanfic Communities Network (FCN) Discord Server!

If you have more information regarding this - e.g. if works from other sites are affected too - please reach out to us in the FCN!!

Edit 1 (1h after initial post):

Apparently, a user called @cliffweitzman claims to own this site and to offer users to send an e-mail so this user can take your works down from the site. They answered in this post by @ekingston with this:

A comment to that from our side: This is no excuse. It should not need to be said and explained that theft of intellectual property is not acceptable. We request @cliffweitzman, if they truly run that site, to immediately take down all works that have been stolen - fanfic or potential others - and that were uploaded without the author's consent, as well as to take full responsibility for their unacceptable behaviour.

Edit 2 (2h after the initial post):

The site is currently showing an error... Let's see.

Edit 3 (14h after initial post):

The site is back up, and seems to have taken down fanfics. After searching for the ones we found having been stolen from AO3, we couldn't find any - but that could be coincidence. According to this reblog, the stolen fanfics could only be hidden from the site and if you don't have an account on WordStream. Things are still very unclear, a statement or acknowledgement of this theft of intellectual property by @cliffweitzman is still pending.

[smokingcreams]

Re: 8tracks

HUGE UPDATE:

As I said on my earlier post today the CTO of 8tracks answered some questions on the discord server of mixer.fm

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN INFORMATION ABOUT 8TRACKS AND THE ANSWERS THE CTO OF 8TRACKS GAVE, PLEASE, KEEP READING THIS POST BECAUSE IT'S A LOT BUT YOU WON'T REGRET IT.

Okay, so he first talked about how they were involved in buying 8tracks, then how everything failed because of money and issues with the plataform then he talked about this new app called MixerFM they developed that works with web3 (8tracks is a web2 product), that if they get to launch it they'll get to launch 8tracks too because both apps will work with the same data.

Here is what they have already done in his own words:

*Built a multitenant backend system that supports both MIXER and 8tracks

*Fully rebuilt the 8tracks web app

*Fixed almost all legacy issues

*Developed iOS and Android apps for MIXER

What is next?

They need to migrate the 8tracks database from the old servers to the new environment. That final step costs about $50,000 and on his own words "I am personally committed to securing the funds to make it happen. If we pull this off since there is a time limit , we will have an chance to launch both 8tracks and MIXER. … so for all you community members that are pinging me to provide more details on X and here on discord, here it is"

Here the screenshots of his full statement:

NOW THE QUESTIONS HE ANSWERED:

*I transcribed them*

1. "What's the status of the founding right now?"

"Fundraising, for music its difficult"

2. "Our past data, is intact, isn't?"

"All data still exists from playlist 1"

3. "Will we be able to access our old playlists?"

"All playlists if we migrate the data will be saved. If we dont all is lost forever"

4. "How will the new 8tracks relaunch and MIXER be similar, and how will they be different?"

"8tracks / human created / mix tape style as it was before

mixer - ai asiated mix creation, music quest where people earn crypto for work they provode to music protocol ( solve quests earn money for providing that service )"

5. "Why is 8tracks being relaunched when they could just launch MIXER with our 8tracks database?"

"One app is web2 ( no crypto economy and incentives / ) mixer is web3 ( economy value exchange between users, artists, publishers, labels, advertisers) value (money) is shared between stakeholders and participants of app. Company earns less / users / artist earn more."

6. "Will we need to create a separate account for mixer? Or maybe a way to link our 8tracks to mixer?"

"New account no linking planned"

7. "What do you mean by fixed almost all legacy issues and fully rebuilt the 8tracks web app?"

"We have rebuilt most of 8tracks from scratch i wish could screen record a demo. In Last year we have rebuilt whole 8tracks ! No more issues no more bugs no more hacked comments"

8. "Will the song database be current and allow new songs? For example if someone makes a K pop playlist theres the capability for new songs and old not just all songs are from 2012. There will be songs from 2020 onwards to today?"

"Current cut of date is 2017, we have planed direct label deals to bring music DB up to speed with all new songs until 2025. This means no more song uploads"

9. "The apps would be available for android and outside USA?"

"USA + Canada + Germany + UK + Sweden + Italy + Greece + Portugal + Croatia in my personal rollout plan / but usa canada croatia would be top priority"

10. "Will 8tracks have a Sign in with Apple option?"

"It will have nothing if we don’t migrate the database but yes if we do it will have it"

11. ""Will Collections return?"

"Ofc If we save the database its safe to assume collections will return"

12. "Will the 8tracks forums return?"

"No that one i will deleted People spending too much time online"

13. "No more songs uploads forever or no more songs until…?"

"Idk, this really depends on do we save database or no. Maybe we restart the process of song uploads to rebuild the and create a worlds first open music database If anyone has any songs to upload that is

We operate under different license"

14. "What is your time limit? for the funding, I mean"

"Good question I think 2-3 months"

15. "From now?"

"Correct"

16. "When is the release date for Mixer?"

"Mixer would need 2-3 more months of work to be released Maybe even less of we would use external database services and just go with minimum features"

17. "Do you have the link for it?"

"Not if we dont secure the database that is number one priority"

*That was the end of the questions and answers*

Then he said:

"You need to act bring here (discord) people and help me set up go fund me camping of investor talks fail so we secure the database and migrate data so we can figure out whats next"

He also said he'll talk with the CEO about buying him the idea of community funding, that all who participate should have a lifetime subscription and "some more special thing", we suggested a message on the 8tracks official accounts (twitter, their blog, tumblr) and he was okay with the idea but he said they need to plan it carefully since the time is limited.

Okay, guys, that's so far what he said, I hope this information helps anyone, I don't know if they get to do a community funding but take in consideration it's a plausible option and that what they want from us is to participate in any way like for example spreading the message, if most people know about it the best, they also want you to join their server so here's the link to the website of mixerfm and where you can join the server:

Keep tagging few people who were discussing about this:

@junket-bank, @haorev, @americanundead, @eatpandulce, @throwupgirl, @avoid-avoidance, @rodeokid, @shehungthemoon, @promostuff-art @tumbling-and-tchaikovsky

#8tracks

[ui-alcoholic]

One of the most defining 16bit computers was introduced in June 1985.

ATARI ST 520

DESIGN HISTORY & STRATEGY

The Atari ST series was born in a turbulent time: Atari had just been acquired by Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore, after leaving that company. Tramiel pushed for a quick-to-market product to compete with the Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga.

Development time: Less than one year — an aggressive schedule for a 16-bit GUI-based machine.

Initial models: The Atari 520ST was the first to ship, showcased at CES in 1985.

Innovative design: All-in-one casing (mainboard + keyboard), like the Amiga 500, but with better modularity (external floppy drive, monitor, etc.).

Former C=64 developer Shiraz Shivji led the design team. He tells a story about the Atari ST/Commodore Amiga history (source) "It is very interesting that the Warner Atari difficulties were due to Tramiel’s Commodore. The Commodore 64 was much more successful (I would say wildly successful) compared to the Atari Computers such as the 800 and the 400. We were also taking away sales from the video games division, the Atari 2600. Jay Miner was at Atari in the old days and was involved in the design of their products. He left Atari to design the Amiga. Atari had funded some of this effort and had an option to buy the Amiga. When we took over Atari in July 1984, the first order of business was to decide what to do with this option. The problem was that the Amiga was not quite ready and would need a lot of money to acquire. We decided to pass on Amiga, but this put enormous pressure on our own development team. Commodore, on the other hand, did not have an internally developed 32-bit graphics-oriented machine and did not have the confidence to develop the machine internally. They ended up buying Amiga for between $25-$30 million and spent a further $20 million or so and yet came out with a product a little after Atari. The roles were reversed, the Atari ST has a Commodore pedigree, while the Amiga has an Atari pedigree!"

MIDI AND MUSIC PRODUCTION

The 520ST included built-in MIDI ports — a revolutionary move. At the time, most other computers needed expensive third-party MIDI interfaces.

Key Software:

Steinberg Cubase – became the industry standard for MIDI sequencing.

Notator – early version of what later evolved into Logic Pro.

Pro 24, Dr. T's, and Hollis Trackman – widely used for composing, sequencing, and syncing synthesizers.

Used by Artists:

Fatboy Slim composed with the ST well into the 2000s.

Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, The Chemical Brothers, and Underworld used it in studio setups.

Many studios kept an Atari ST just for MIDI due to its tight timing and reliability.

SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM

TOS/GEM: A fast and responsive GUI OS that was very usable on 512KB of RAM.

Productivity apps:

Calamus DTP – high-quality desktop publishing

NeoDesk – an improved desktop GUI

GFA Basic – a powerful programming environment

Graphics tools:

Degas Elite, NeoChrome – pixel art, animation

Spectrum 512 – used clever tricks to display 512 colors

While the Amiga had better graphics and sound, many games were first developed for the ST, then ported to Amiga. Key games:

Dungeon Master – first-person RPG with real-time mechanics

Carrier Command, Starglider, Blood Money, Rick Dangerous

Flight simulators, strategy, and adventure games flourished

CULTURAL IMPACT

In Europe (especially the UK, Germany, France, and Hungary):

The ST became a cornerstone of bedroom coding, Demoscene, and music production.

Local software houses and users created a vibrant community around the machine.

The Atari ST was used in schools, small studios, and households well into the early '90s.

In education: The ST's affordability and easy-to-use software made it a favorite in European schools and computer labs.

DECLINE & LEGACY

By the early 1990s, the ST line was losing ground to IBM-compatible PCs and faster Amigas.

Later models like the STE, TT030, and Falcon 030 tried to revitalize the line, with limited success.

Atari shifted toward consoles (like the Jaguar) and left the computer market.

Long-term legacy:

The Atari ST's MIDI legacy lives on — it helped standardize digital music production workflows.

Many musicians and retrocomputing fans still collect and use STs today.

A vibrant retro software/demo scene remains active, especially in Europe.

[puzzlevision]

The MePhone4 is a smartphone that was designed, developed, and marketed by Meeple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the MePhone lineup, succeeding the MePhone3GS and preceding the MePhone4s. Following a number of notable leaks, the MePhone4 was first unveiled on June 7, 2010, at Meeple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and was released on June 24, 2010, in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. The MePhone4 introduced a new hardware design to the MePhone family, which Meeple's CEO Steve Cobs touted as the thinnest smartphone in the world at the time; it consisted of a stainless steel frame which doubled as an antenna, with internal components situated between two panels of aluminosilicate glass. The MePhone4 introduced Meeple's new high-resolution "Retina Display" (with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch), while maintaining the same physical size and aspect ratio as its precursors, Meeple's M4 system-on-chip, along with MeOS 4—which notably introduced multitasking functionality and app folders. It was the first MePhone at the time to include a front-facing camera, which made possible Meeple's new FaceTime video chat service, and the first to be released in a version for CDMA networks, ending AT&T's period as the exclusive carrier of MePhone products in the United States.

[thecupcakemedic]

Good-ish News: In light of recent developments (living one historical shitshow after another), im going to be more active on my blogs here again! I think being in an altogether less malicious social media space will help me and many other wean off of meta apps, so I’ll be slowly moving my bits and bobs from the last few years over for you too see if you wanted to catch up :3 thanks for sticking around, I hope to catch up with everyone again!

very condensed highlights:

got married! moved to Germany! focusing on content creation and streaming while beginning my journey into voice acting!

goals:

• Curating my EGL wardrobe and working towards making/wearing coords again at least once a week, as well as making EGL centered content

•more baking and tea party hosting

• Growing my twitch following and applying for partnership

•finally beginning my first proper historical sewing project after YEARS of procrastination and overthinking 🥲

[thoughts-of-bear]

Since I actually already participated in the tag game here (tagging @ur-friendly-nbhd-cardassian btw) but wanted to update my character because i was indecisive the first time (and i didn't know there was a bi-flag background) imma go ahead and post the photo above as part of an introduction post :) sooo here goes

Hello to all people reading this

Have a seat and a biscuit, you lovelies <3

You have found the blog of a person who has had a tumblr account for a few years now without actually using it and now has 4 hours of screentime a day from this app alone :')

I am a 21 year-old woman (she/her but I don't mind they/them either) from Germany who has recently developed an unhealthy obsession for Baldur's Gate 3 and ESPECIALLY Halsin (my beloved oak daddy <3).

So I created this blog mainly so I can simp shamelessly here and not worry about my friends who follow my other blog finding out about it.

My fandoms include the Tolkien universe, Narnia, Good Omens, OfmD, Sherlock, Star Wars, Supernatural (I am only at season 6 tho), Skyrim and a lot more I have temporarily forgotten.

My favourite authors (who I can definetely recommend checking out) are T.J. Klune, Tolkien obviously, Kerstin Gier, Walter Moers, Ursula Poznanski and Neil Gaiman (was tempted to tag him but I'm too shy).

I love sewing (starting my apprenticeship as a taylor this year), ballet, drawing and painting, archery, videogames, reading, listening to music, being with my best friends, movie nights, baking and cooking, my cat, travelling (without plane), nature... damn, I could do this all day, life is fucking great actually

More on the topic of why I love being alive here and here :D

My favourite flowers are lillies and my favourite colours are green and blue.

I love talking about my fandoms with other people, so feel free to send a message or an ask or something <3

That's it for now I think :3 Have a lovely day!