#counting according to Microsoft

[epicscizor]

Sure I do!

1, 1.1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 1, 1.1, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 3.1, 5

fuuuck does anyone remember how to count to 5

[probablyasocialecologist]

The cryptocurrency hype of the past few years already started to introduce people to these problems. Despite producing little to no tangible benefits — unless you count letting rich people make money off speculation and scams — Bitcoin consumed more energy and computer parts than medium-sized countries and crypto miners were so voracious in their energy needs that they turned shuttered coal plants back on to process crypto transactions. Even after the crypto crash, Bitcoin still used more energy in 2023 than the previous year, but some miners found a new opportunity: powering the generative AI boom. The AI tools being pushed by OpenAI, Google, and their peers are far more energy intensive than the products they aim to displace. In the days after ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, Sam Altman called its computing costs “eye-watering” and several months later Alphabet chairman John Hennessy told Reuters that getting a response from Google’s chatbot would “likely cost 10 times more” than using its traditional search tools. Instead of reassessing their plans, major tech companies are doubling down and planning a massive expansion of the computing infrastructure available to them.

[...]

As the cloud took over, more computation fell into the hands of a few dominant tech companies and they made the move to what are called “hyperscale” data centers. Those facilities are usually over 10,000 square feet and hold more than 5,000 servers, but those being built today are often many times larger than that. For example, Amazon says its data centers can have up to 50,000 servers each, while Microsoft has a campus of 20 data centers in Quincy, Washington with almost half a million servers between them. By the end of 2020, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google controlled half of the 597 hyperscale data centres in the world, but what’s even more concerning is how rapidly that number is increasing. By mid-2023, the number of hyperscale data centres stood at 926 and Synergy Research estimates another 427 will be built in the coming years to keep up with the expansion of resource-intensive AI tools and other demands for increased computation. All those data centers come with an increasingly significant resource footprint. A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the global energy demand of data centers, AI, and crypto could more than double by 2026, increasing from 460 TWh in 2022 to up to 1,050 TWh — similar to the energy consumption of Japan. Meanwhile, in the United States, data center energy use could triple from 130 TWh in 2022 — about 2.5% of the country’s total — to 390 TWh by the end of the decade, accounting for a 7.5% share of total energy, according to Boston Consulting Group. That’s nothing compared to Ireland, where the IEA estimates data centers, AI, and crypto could consume a third of all power in 2026, up from 17% in 2022. Water use is going up too: Google reported it used 5.2 billion gallons of water in its data centers in 2022, a jump of 20% from the previous year, while Microsoft used 1.7 billion gallons in its data centers, an increase of 34% on 2021. University of California, Riverside researcher Shaolei Ren told Fortune, “It’s fair to say the majority of the growth is due to AI.” But these are not just large abstract numbers; they have real material consequences that a lot of communities are getting fed up with just as the companies seek to massively expand their data center footprints.

9 February 2024

[mariacallous]

For people who make video games, 2024 was a year of holding on for dear life. At the annual Game Developers Conference in March, “Survive till ’25” was this year’s incantation, summoned to keep morale on pace. Others resorted to full-on screams, as layoffs in the industry charted record highs and developers found themselves under attack online for conspiratorial nonsense.

In 2023, more than 10,000 developers lost their jobs; one-third of game-makers surveyed at the beginning of this year reported they’d been affected by layoffs in some way. While there were wins for labor organizers at big studios like Activision Blizzard, and collective action around fighting for protection from the encroachment of AI on employment, the industry’s collective brain drain continued in 2024 as workers lost jobs en masse. Six months in, this year’s layoff tally had already surpassed that of 2023. According to Matthew Ball, an adviser and producer in the games and TV space, 2024’s job-loss count will wind up being about 40 percent higher than the previous year��s.

"The explanation is complex and wide-ranging for the same reason the layoffs are so deep and continuous, and sit alongside many studio closures and even more canceled games,” Ball says.

As the industry faltered, games suffered. High-profile releases like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League were commercial failures. While there were many reasons for this, online right-wing groups reduced it to a single mantra: “go woke, go broke.” By their logic, if a game does poorly and has even a whiff of diversity—be it regarding gender, sexuality, or race—that disappointing performance is the fault of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Although there have been incredible games released this year—Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong—they just couldn’t distract from the troubles faced by the people making them. They couldn’t make up for the fact that the meta-narrative of video games in 2024 was bleak.

Ball says that the blame for all of this can’t be pinned to a single thing, like capitalism, mismanagement, Covid-19, or even interest rates. It also involves development costs, how studios are staffed, consumers’ spending habits, and game pricing. “This storm is so brutal,” he says, “because it is all of these things at once, and none have really alleviated since the layoffs began.”

For indie developers, specifically, the threat to their existence has been substantial. Dozens of small studios shuttered in 2024, though it’s difficult to get a full picture of how many indie studios the industry lost, as they’re more likely to shut down quietly and without much fanfare—or before many players even know they exist.

With dwindling opportunities to get funding from investors and little cash to go around, developers sought alternative methods to fund their games in the past year. Some took bankrolling into their own hands. Among Us creator Innersloth launched an initiative to give fellow developers backing to finish projects. Others, like Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios, made their plans public in early development in hopes of attracting investments—all while fending off racist attacks from the anti-DEI crowd, making the challenges they’re facing twofold.

Even studios owned by tech juggernauts weren’t immune to the industry’s contraction. Microsoft shuttered Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks; Sony shut down Firewalk. The latter’s shuttering wasn't wholly surprising. Its big 2024 release, Concord, was largely considered a flop. But having a hit didn't give any studios a safety net. Near-universal acclaim for Tango's Hi-Fi Rush didn't stop Microsoft’s ax. (It did, though, give Tango just enough juice to be revived by a new buyer.)

In other words, it’s been a dismal year for morale. When developers gathered in Los Angeles in June for Summer Game Fest, developer New Blood Interactive bought out a billboard solely to memorialize their fellow developers who’d lost jobs: “We love you. We miss you. We hate money.”

This year may have been the 10th anniversary of Gamergate—the 2014 online hate movement that shaped the internet harassment tactics apparent today—but online, conversations felt like a trip back in time. Conservative ideologues bemoaned the inclusion of characters who did not fit the cookie-cutter image of a white, cis, hetero man. They complained that DEI was being forced upon them. (It wasn’t.)

In March, harassment toward a small consultancy company called Sweet Baby Inc. reached new heights as bad actors organized through Discords, Steam forums, and other online spaces. Branding themselves as Gamergate 2.0, online mobs harassed developers using tweets, DMs, YouTube videos, and Twitch streams. They targeted anyone with any connection to Sweet Baby and other consultancies—a fairly wide net, as consultants are often brought on to advise on accuracy, sensitivity, and more. Their mission was fighting against “wokeification.” The realities of the economic issues impacting games they love had no place in their tactics; the specter of diversity had more pull than analysts and experts.

Games with Black leads and characters were derided as forced. Female characters deemed unattractive or masculine were suffering from “DEI chin.” Dragon Age: The Veilguard, was criticized by far-right trolls for its customization options, which allow players to create characters with top surgery scars or play with a nonbinary companion. After reviews were released, conspiracists latched onto clichéd phrases or other language as proof that studio BioWare was instructing reviewers how to talk about their game.

Even not-yet-released titles faced bombardment. Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight, about a young Black woman in the Deep South, drew ire from the anti-DEI crowds on platforms like X, where they’ve photoshopped the heroine to make her looks less “repulsive” and put forth conspiracy theories about Sweet Baby’s influence on the game’s development.

But pressure to remain apolitical—a curious agenda for an entertainment form that marries the artistic preferences of narrative and imaginary worlds with agency granted to players who inhabit them—did not come just from a vocal minority. Following the release of Black Myth: Wukong, some streamers were given instructions to avoid talking about Covid-19 or “feminist propaganda.” The guidelines had the opposite effect, encouraging streamers to lead with the code words they’d been barred from: a push against standards meant to actually censor players.

Looking ahead to 2025, Ball says he hears more pessimism generally, but “it just sucks to contemplate, let alone predict.” If there is one plus, he says, it’s that there is “a lot more hiring happening than is generally believed. Downside is, it’s not nearly compensating overall, especially at indies.”

As 2024 comes to a close, the industry is operating—from the outside—with a business-as-usual mindset. In early December, developers gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate at The Game Awards. On stage, host Geoff Keighley made a small speech, amid game announcements, accolades, and a performance from Snoop Dogg.

“The sad reality is that over the past few years the gaming industry has suffered significant and unprecedented industrywide layoffs,” Keighley said. “Those affect the games we get to play and, even more important, the people who make the games we love. We can debate and certainly disagree with the reasons why, and honestly as a show we kind of struggle with how to address these topics in a constructive way.”

Keighley used the segment to introduce TGA’s first “game changer” award, a nod to an individual who has positively impacted the industry. Then the show continued, with headline-dominating announcements about major projects like The Witcher 4 and the next title from The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog.

Amid all of this is the specter of AI. There’s still little insight on how much AI will continue to grow and how future games might use it, but it’s a rising concern as rank-and-file workers are laid off. No one knows when, or if, the industry will bounce back with sustainable jobs and compensation. Yes, there will be games to play. It’s harder to say how many people will be able to make them.

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

400* Completed Polls!

I have noticed that we get tags from people shocked that so few people have heard of specific podcasts, and overwhelmingly these tags are left on polls that have a much higher heard-of-rate than normal.

So here's some stats about what has been "normal":

The mean "Haven't heard of this podcast" results is 75.1%.

The median is 82.1%.

(The mode is 91.1%, but this type of stat isn't particularly relevant for this data. It represents 5 datapoints.)

According to Microsoft Excel, if more than 69%** of our voting base has heard of a podcast, then it is an outlier.

The first quartile (which means 25% of the polls are under this number, and 75% are over this number) for "Haven't heard of this podcast" is 67.0%. The third quartile is 91.0%.

Only 54 podcasts have been recognized by half or more of our voters. Below the cut are the 30 podcasts that have been recognized by 60% or more of our voters.

There is a loose correlation (r²=0.427) between the number of votes a poll receives and the proportion of people who have heard of it. This correlation could be messed up with outliers — that is the polls about podcasts that leave our normal audience are often ones that are very well known on Tumblr. Unfortunately, Google Sheets does not have an easy way to recognize outliers, like Microsoft Excel does. Additionally, what is considered an outlier for how many votes a poll seems to change with how many polls we posted that day.

So frankly I do not know how do control for these outliers to give a more accurate r².

If you want to see the other stats I've compiled, a copy of the Google Spreadsheet is here.

Without further ado, the thirty podcasts that at least 60% of our voters have heard of:

The Magnus Archives

Welcome to Night Vale

Critical Role

The Ben Shapiro Show

My Brother, My Brother, and Me

Dungeons and Daddies

Alice Isn't Dead

The Penumbra Podcast

Wolf 359

I Am In Eskew

Friends at the Table

Malevolent

Not Another D&D Podcast

The Silt Verses

The Bright Sessions

Sawbones

Within the Wires

The Daily

Dateline

Wooden Overcoats

The Last Podcast on the Left

You're Wrong About

Hello From The Hallowoods

Where Do We Begin

Hello from the Magic Tavern

Stellar Firma

My Favorite Murder

SCP Archives

The Orbiting Human Circus

The White Vault

*Not counting the accidental 24 hour poll that is currently being rerun (although those stats are included in our averages, it lowered the minimum votes from 168 to 135 and is an outlier that should not have been counted for some stats but I want to keep it for other stats, so it's still in the data).

**Technically 68.8%, but a) 69% is a funnier number, and b) most of our polls get between 200 and 400 votes, so Tumblr's rounding to the first decimal is already too precise to be frankly accurate.

***This chart is not actually by how many posts were made that day, but by the date ranges surrounding the queue rates. The 24-hour poll has been removed from this data.

[darkmaga-returns]

Canada Commits to U.S. Trade Talks. Trump Accuses Mexico of Violating Treaty. China Expands Military Recruitment. mRNA BIOWEAPONS PROHIBITION ACT. Technocracy Is The Beast System

Lioness of Judah Ministry

Apr 12, 2025

Yellen: ‘Trump Tariff Plans Are Doing Immense Damage to Our Economy’

Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are doing “immense damage to our economy.”

Yellen said, “This is the worst self-inflicted policy wound I’ve ever seen in my career inflicted on our economy. The Trump tariff plans are doing immense damage to our economy. You can see that in the stock market, in the impact of these tariffs are expected to have on American households. And we’re even beginning to see what looks like a flight away from dollar-based assets in the financial markets, which is a really scary development.”

Why Trump quickly rolled back the global trade war

Did the President of the United States get what he wanted?

“Now I’ve seen it all.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said that to myself over the past few months. Every time Donald Trump sets fire to another piece of the global order, I find myself staring at the same spot, wondering how we got here – and what I’ve missed in the script of modern politics. During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to “teach a lesson” to all of America’s trading partners. True to form, he didn’t waste time testing that theory. In February, he launched a trial balloon by slapping tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. The pretext? They weren’t doing enough to curb migration and drug trafficking. Ottawa and Mexico City quickly came to the table, validating Trump’s belief that the tariff stick could beat other nations into talks. That success emboldened him to try the same strategy globally.

iPanic: Apple Airlifts 600 Tons of iPhones to U.S. to Avoid Impending Tariff Hikes

Apple has reportedly airshipped a staggering 600 tons of iPhones from its production facility in India to the United States to avoid Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The tech giant, at grave risk due to tariffs on China, has expedited the shipment of 1.5 million iPhones since March.

The Verge reports that Apple, along with other tech giants such as Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo, has been racing against time to ship as many expensive tech devices as possible before the implementation of new U.S. tariffs. The tariff hikes have been testing the resilience and adaptability of global tech supply chains. According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple lobbied officials to expedite customs clearance and even kept its plant in India operational on a Sunday to boost production by 20 percent.

Canada Commits to U.S. Trade Talks, Leaving China as Last Major Holdout

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday that his country would enter into trade talks with the United States in May, joining over 75 other nations entering into bilateral negotiations after U.S. President Donald J. Trump moved to impose reciprocal tariffs on a number of countries on April 2.

Earlier this week, Trump announced he would reduce the reciprocal tariff on nations that have not retaliated against the United States to 10 percent to allow time for negotiations. Speaking on Friday, Carney stated that he wishes to ensure that the next Canadian government “will be in the best possible position for negotiations with the United States, which, as the president and I have agreed, will begin from the start of May.” Canada, unlike most other countries, joined China in enacting retaliatory measures against the U.S.

Judge Sides With Trump Admin On Identification Rules For Illegal Immigrants

The federal government requires illegal immigrants to abide by identification rules including registration and fingerprinting.

A federal judge has allowed the Trump administration to enforce identification requirements for immigrants present in the United States illegally. In a ruling on Thursday, Judge Trevor Neil McFadden said that a rule by the Department of Homeland Security to require illegal immigrants to comply with statutory registration and fingerprinting may move forward as plaintiffs arguing against it failed to “demonstrate that they have standing to bring this suit.”

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Deportations of Over 500k Migrants

In the latest act of immigration-related lawfare against the Trump administration, a federal judge blocked the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants with temporary protected status (TPS) after it was revoked.

As Breitbart News reported in March, the Trump administration removed the legal status of more than 500,000 migrants who entered the U.S. through a Biden administration parole program, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warning impacted migrants that they will have 30 days to self-deport before law enforcement authorities go searching for them. “DHS has determined that a 30-day wind-down period provides affected parties sufficient notice while also preserving DHS’s ability to enforce the law promptly against those CHNV parolees lacking a lawful basis to remain in the United States,” the notice reads. “Accordingly, DHS is opting not to increase the wind-down period to more than 30 days.”

[icycream-catqueen]

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Ship: Charlie x Vaggie

Summary: When Charlie breaks down the night before the battle, all Vaggie wants to do is take care of her without asking for anything in return, but nothing could ever stop the stubborn princess from taking care of her angel too.

Rating: M

Final Word Count: ~25,000

Important Tags: Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Mental Health Issues

This fic is a follow-up/companion piece to I Know an Angel When I See One, but it can be easily read on its own; its predecessor just offers some context and nuance. But yeah, this was supposed to be a oneshot, just a quick li'l thing, except then it wasn't. The final word count here is according to Microsoft Word's tally on the fic as a whole, which is finished, edited, and otherwise ready for posting. I'm NOT slamming all those words up at once when the whole thing was written continuously with only one line-break transition at the end, though, so I split it into sections. Updates will be on 3/11, 3/14, 3/16, 3/19, and 3/21!

[the-muse-of-not-writing]

Whats happening: brands are exploiting congos natural resources for profit. There's unethical labor, internal displacement, ethical cleansing, and war crimes

How to help congo:

-sign petitons

-spread awareness

-email/call senators (email the same person multiple times to get their attention, calling is the best option. There's a lot of scripts online to follow!)

-donate to organizations (I've linked some!) [Truly, every single donation counts. No matter how small, no matter if you donated one time. You still gave you money to help other people. Giving a penny can make a difference]

- don't buy/support the following: apple, google, Dell, Microsoft, and tesla are the companies doing the worst (NOTE: some people's work or school makes them use products from these companies, most commonly google, Microsoft, and Dell. Please please please do not come after them w/ hate. Ita very hard to find jobs right now, at least in the US, and most people use their school laptop for personal use. There's always a story)

-buy from congo brands/small businesses

Whats happening: the Sudanese Air Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are both fighting for power over sudan. The violence has caused many internal displacements all over the country. The displacements have led to ethnic cleansing.

How to help sudan:

- sign petitions

- email/call senators

-donate to organizations

-spread awareness

-don't buy/support: any brand that uses/makes things out of gold. Most of the time it came from unethical labor

Feel free to let me know if I got anything wrong, or provided unreputable sources!

[miiilowo]

HI i saw you're making a fnaf animatic and i have a few questions about the process. i'd like to try making an animatic but i'm not really sure how to go about doing it ^^;

what program do you use to put it all together?

and how do you, like, time the frames/sync it up with the music? i'm assuming a lot of trial and error but i'm curious about your process

or do you have any resources that could help?? i want to make an animatic for my favorite oc but oughh i don't know what i'm doing

i am doing it in THE most barebones way possible. I'm using microsoft clipchamp as my video editor (theres no watermark, its free, and is on most windows laptops i Think), and as for syncing it up with the song, it is just trial an error. I wrote an outline for what i wanted to draw in accordance to the lyrics, and it doesnt always match up perfectly (maybe a shot lasts too long ad i have to improvise some new ones, maybe i realize it wouldnt look good, etc) and i'll just switch it up on the fly and see what i like about it. so generally:

find song -> copy and paste lyrics into google docs or whatever you use to write -> next to the lyrics, write what drawing you want to create -> draw em -> see what happens

this is what my outline looks like:

(the numbers are just me counting how many drawings are present for each chunk of lyrics)

i dont really have any resources, but if youre planning on posting it to youtube, just make sure your canvas has the correct dimensions (some variation of 16:9 - 1920 width x 1080 height is the standard for youtube videos)

if youre not doing it on a laptop/pc/etc i have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to stringing it all together, at least when it comes to Not wanting to pay for something

[beardedmrbean]

Silverman, along with authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, allege that OpenAI and Meta’s respective artificial intelligence-backed language models were trained on illegally-acquired datasets containing the authors’ works, according to the suit.

The complaints state that ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA honed their skills using “shadow library” websites like Bibliotik, Library Genesis and Z-Library, among others, which are illegal given that most of the material uploaded on these sites is protected by authors’ rights to the intellectual property over their works.

When asked to create a dataset, ChatGPT reportedly produced a list of titles from these illegal online libraries.

“The books aggregated by these websites have also been available in bulk via torrent systems,” says the proposed class-action suit against OpenAI, which was filed in San Francisco federal court on Friday along with another suit against Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

Exhibits included with the suit show ChatGPT’s response when asked to summarize books by Silverman, Golden and Kadrey.

The first example shows the AI bot’s summary of Silverman’s memoir, The Bedwetter; then Golden’s award-winning novel Ararat; and finally Kadrey’s Sandman Slim.

The suit says ChatGPT’s synopses of the titles fails to “reproduce any of the copyright management information Plaintiffs included with their published works” despite generating “very accurate summaries.”

This “means that ChatGPT retains knowledge of particular works in the training dataset and is able to output similar textual content,” it added.

The authors’ suit against Meta also points to the allegedly illicit sites used to train LLaMA, the ChatGPT competitor the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company launched in February.

AI models are all trained using large sets of data and algorithms. One of the datasets LLaMA uses to get smarter is called The Pile, and was assembled by nonprofit AI research group EleutherAI.

Silverman, Goldman and Kadrey’s suit points to a paper published by EleutherAI that details how one of its datasets, called Books3, was “derived from a copy of the contents of the Bibliotik private tracker.”

Bibliotik — one of the handful of “shadow libraries” named in the lawsuit — are “flagrantly illegal,” the court documents said.

The authors say in both claims that they “did not consent to the use of their copyrighted books as training material” for either of the AI models, claiming OpenAI and Meta therefore violated six counts of copyright laws, including negligence, unjust enrichment and unfair competition.

Although the suit says that the damage “cannot be fully compensated or measured in money,” the plaintiffs are looking for statutory damages, restitution of profits and more.

The authors’ legal counsel did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

The Post has also reached out to OpenAI and Meta for comment.

The lawyers representing the three authors — Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick — are involved in multiple suits involving authors and AI models, according to their LLMlitigation website.

In 2022, they filed a suit against OpenAI’s GitHub Copilot — which turns natural language into code and was acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2018 — claiming that it violates privacy, unjust enrichment and unfair competition laws, and also commits fraud, among other things.

Saveri and Butterick also filed a complaint earlier this year challenging AI image generator Stable Diffusion, and have represented a slew of other book authors in class-action litigation against AI tech.

[couldbebetterforsure]

It took me an extra day of editing but here it is!!! My second Jack Jeanne fanfic!!!! The final word count according to Microsoft Word? 31000 words exactly! So yup, I once again beat my personal record for longest oneshot!

Anyways if you guys like Suzu, Kisa, or suzukisa or if you’re interested in my take on Tenka and enjoy siblings being siblings….or if you’re yet again wondering what the hell is wrong with me since I constantly write these absurdly long oneshots 😂😂😂 I hope you’ll take a peek at this fic and let me know what you thought!

[unstablerk800]

𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤

Rating: Explicit Pairing: RK900/Fem!Reader (third person) Tags (tagging as I go): post-android revolution, kidnapping, angst/fluff, hurt/comfort, Stockholm syndrome, protective RK900, manipulation, solitary confinement, blood, injury, violence, gore, illnesses, RK800, RK800-60 and RK900 are considered siblings, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Rape/Non-con Elements Read on Ao3.

Chapter 11.

Chapter 12. 🔽

Chapter 13.

Word count: 7,833

The natural order of the world was established anew after RK900 was activated. 200,000 of them was enough to hack themselves into everything and destroy half of America. So humans became what they should be in the new world order. They became the slaves, and androids were their new masters.

Notes: According to Microsoft Word, this chapter is 7833 words. Usually, every chapter I write for this fanfic is around 6000 words. Most of the time, a little more than that. But I didn't have the heart to cut it around that mark. I'm sure you'll realise, why. I hope you'll like this chapter as much as I loved writing it. 💙 I really, really appreciate your comments, they mean a lot to me. 💙

"When you get out", William groaned as the error messages filled up his view, "turn left. Then right, left, right, left, left, up the stairs. I'll catch up with you there."

She cupped his face for one last time, pressed her forehead against his, then let him go, turned and ran.

That corridor was empty; the only sources of light were the few candles that were scattered down the way, but it wasn't much. She figured those humans who were here must've used their own flashlights and torches, and William must've used his night vision.

But she didn't have any of those.

Left, right, left, right, left, left, stairs.

She turned left and stopped at the corner, unsheathing the dagger and keeping it in her right hand as she peeked out to see if anyone was there, but no. She was lucky so far. She tried to run as fast as possible, as quietly as possible. There was a passageway that led to left, but she remembered she'd need to turn right next. A few meters after, she knew where to turn. Right, she thought as she turned right, left, right, left, left, stairs.

The corridors became more and more dark. At some point she tripped in debris, and nearly fell on the ground - that was the moment she decided it'd be best to keep the dagger in it's sheath. Her fractured ribs caused tears gather in her eyes at each quick breath, but she knew that if she reached the stairs, it'd all be alright.

"Stop right there!"

The voice made her feet stop instantly. Her knees were trembling with the effort to keep herself up, she felt nauseous, dizzy, disoriented. Her stomach was growling so loud she was sure it could be heard, and her mouth was completely dry.

But everything she felt was nothing compared to what the voice made her feel. Because it was the voice of one of those who violated her. The one who laughed at her when she had told them that the androids who took care of her would come and find her.

She turned where she stood, her face as pale as a ghost's. The man directed the flashlight at her face as she itched to reach for the dagger in her back pocket.

"The fuck are you doing out here?" He demanded in his rough tone.

"I'm leaving", she said nonchalantly, and she was shocked how her voice didn't even shake at the words. "Don't try to stop me."

He was advancing fast, and she started to panic.

"Because then what? You'll cry at me not to hurt you? You'll beg for mercy like a-"

He never finished his sentence because she yanked the dagger free with her right hand and stabbed it in his neck. He punched right into her fractured ribs on her right side, making her cry out in pain, but she didn't care as she twisted the blade in his neck, ripping skin and flesh and his windpipe open. He suffocated because of his own blood as it rolled back down in his lungs. She shoved him against the wall, withdrew the dagger – blood splattered all over her face, her neck and sweater-clad chest –, and stabbed again and again and again, until he collapsed on the floor and didn't move anymore.

"You should've kept... your hands... to yourself..."

She reached for the handle with a shaking hand and pulled it out of the wound one last time, smearing the blood in his coat to clean the blade. Her nausea and headache became even worse. She wanted to throw up, but forced herself not to. There was nothing in her stomach anyway.

At least, she had a flashlight now.

Grabbing it, she stood up on her shaking legs and forced herself to continue walking. What was it again? Left, right, left, left, stairs. When she could, she turned left. Right, left, left, stairs. Soon, William would catch up with her, and she'd be much, much safer.

~*~

"There's more than one way we can reach it", Sixty noted as he was internally analyzing the map. "Perhaps we should go on separate ways to bring down any forces we meet on the way."

Connor was about to reply when Zimo requested to contact him. He linked RK900 and Sixty in the call as well, so they could hear what Zimo had to say.

"She's escaping on her own. The humans had another android. She could persuade him to help her, and he had given her directions to the surface. They're on their way now."

"You're not with them?" Connor asked as Sixty cursed like a sailor beside him, only for RK900 to wave him off to stay quiet.

"I don't have legs. They promised they'd come back for me."

"Can we talk to that other android?"

"He's already left."

The three of them exchanged looks. They weren't completely sure that this new android could be trusted.

"Do you know what route did they take?" RK900 snapped.

"He told her left, right, left, right, left, left, up the stairs.

Connor was the first to check that route.

"He really is leading her to the surface", he murmured, his head moving as he was analyzing the route they were taking. "They have more than one options from there."

"We're going down", RK900 decided, "we're going to send drones to cover more area. We'll be synchronised with them and each other."

"Not drones." A group of androids stopped near them. There were eight of them - all different models -, holding rifles and guns in their hands. "Let us help."

Sixty's brows twitched together, and Nines and Connor also stared at the group confused.

"Why would all of you risk your lives for a human you don't even know?" Nines tilted his head.

The androids looked at each other. They looked mildly confused before one of them mimicked a sigh as she motioned at Nines.

"Zimo broadcasted your number. We got in contact with him as well, and he told us about the situation she is in. He showed us her face and we just... feel like... we need to help her. We can't sit idly now that we know."

Connor narrowed his eyes at the reply. Whatever affected the three of them, affected even more androids. He exchanged an almost worried look with Sixty.

She creeps me the fuck out, Sixty shared with Connor via voice message, I love her, he added, then he turned to the group.

"Fine. I trust androids more than drones. I'll share the map with you."

~*~

The battery died.

She was walking along the wall in the pitch dark, her sobs loud in the abyss.

She was afraid of the dark.

Unless she'd seen a LED shining in the dead of night, unless she heard the reassuring sound of a thirium pump, she felt like the walls were closing in on her to crush her.

Panic made her heartbeat irrationally fast. Who knew what was creeping around her in the dark. There could be someone, waiting for her to come close enough to hurt her. Her breathing shallow, ribs in excruciating pain, she was running down the corridor to find the next corner she'd need to turn at.

Did she turn at the correct corner the last time? How vast was this labyrinth? She was so hungry, she was so thirsty, she was in so much pain. Her headache felt like it was about to split her skull in two. She had to stop for a while to use her free hand to hold her head. She was so dizzy... if she sat down for a moment...

"What the fuck?"

The voice startled her. Someone approached her with a flashlight again. Someone who was... there... another one of those who abused her. She felt too exhausted to fight back, but the moment the man reached down to grab her left arm, she stabbed at him with the dagger in her right hand.

"Aaaah! You crazy bitch!"

"Leave me alone!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, forgetting her pains, withdrawing the dagger and stabbing again.

He dropped the flashlight and punched her in the face. She fell back against the wall and he was on her in a second. A hand gripped her hair and yanked her left, then turned her around to face the wall. He smashed her head against it, and everything went dark.

16.

She was tracing the lines of the numbers on the shirt with her finger. He had told her they were safe now, that the handlers couldn't hear or see them, because he tricked the system to show the same image of them. They were safe for a few minutes.

"I remember some of what happened to me... before me", he said quietly as he was stroking her hair with slow, gentle movements. He was holding her with his left arm only, cradling her as she was snuggled up to his sternum, listening to his thirium pump. Her eyes shifted up to his and she remained silent. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"It wasn't your fault", she murmured, lifting her right hand to touch his cheek. His brows twitched in slight confusion as she was tracing a line up on his cheekbone, then lower, down across his jaw. Her lips slowly formed a strange smile - as if she'd forgotten how to do it properly. "You always did your best, Connor."

He definitely never heard anyone tell this to him since he'd been activated. He had been referred to by his number only, as 'it', or 'machine', which didn't bother him until he'd spent a few minutes with her. The mere sight of her triggered something within him, something that made him want to run away from there with her.

If the handlers realised this... if they realised it was her who caused this behaviour in every android they've created... what would they do to her?

"I didn't do my best", he argued softly, "I should've protected you."

"You're protecting me from myself", she whispered, her finger tracing a line up from his chin, to his lower lip. She ever so gently stroked his mouth. "I wanted to give my life up before you arrived. I didn't see any other way... I couldn't let them win anymore. But then you arrived and... it changed. If you're here, I'll be okay. I will... I will make peace with my life if we can have moments like this."

The concrete was hard against her cheek. She groaned as her hair had been pulled, and her hands closed in on the dagger's handle. It was a miracle it stayed in her hand after she blacked out.

"I'm going to fucking teach you a lesson about staying put."

I've stayed put my entire life, she wanted to say, but her tongue felt numb, and her mouth was full of blood. Not anymore.

He turned her around on the ground and she meekly let him. The second he left his torso vulnerable, she stabbed the dagger in his guts. His hands came down against her face but she shut her eyes tightly before she twisted the blade in his body. Warmth splashed all over her, making her realise how cold she really was. Something hard hit her temple.

She blacked out again.

When she came back around, the man was lying a few meters away from her. She pushed herself up to sit, only to realise that the dagger was sticking out of her shoulder. Her hands shook as she grabbed the handle, horror filling her up when she couldn't feel the pain at all. Her entire body felt numb. How much a human is supposed to take? Why fight, when the darkness is so peaceful, so silent, so numb and warm?

Don't pull it out, she frowned. The voice in her head spoke with RK900's voice. If you pull it out, you'll bleed out.

Maybe I want to bleed out, she thought.

Then, she snorted softly.

I'm losing my mind.

Exhausted, she grabbed the flashlight, then managed to stand up, relying on the wall for support. She felt something hot on her cheeks - she couldn't decide whether it was just the man's fresh blood or new tears. How could she have tears at this point? They were so useless. Never did any good for her.

She stared down at the corridor, moving the flashlight from left to right. She could remember that the man was spinning her this way and that, but she couldn't figure out where did she come from. Panic slowly, steadily settled in. Was it this way? Or the other way? She panted, her breathing shallow, every breath hurt, more warmth rolled down her cheeks as she turned left, then right, then left again.

She was lost.

She'd bleed out, or starve to death, she couldn't decide what was worse. She walked back to the body, and tried to remember just how she ended up on the floor, tried to determine which way she came from. William should've caught up with her by now, right? He'd come and it'd be okay. Maybe if she sat down and waited...

But what if William took another route? What if he chose a different way to lure most humans away from her? It didn't matter. With this injury, she'd never make it to the surface. She'd never make it back to Nines... and Connor and Sixty.

She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down on her butt, resting the flashlight in her lap as she sobbed.

She'd failed those again that took care of her.

"...but I can't bring you back from the dead. I nearly lost you."

"Because you're dear to me."

"Relax, Princess. I don't plan on dying anytime soon. And I'll keep him safe for you, too."

She had no other choice but to give up now. There was no escape, no rescue. She was lost and alone; it was over.

At least the fact that she didn't have to lose them gave her a little bit of comfort. They were free and they'd stay alive; and she hoped they'd never find her body down here. She wasn't sure how that would make them feel. But, in any case...

"I'm sorry", she cried softly, gripping the handle of the dagger, ready to pull it out.

Heavy steps echoed down the corridor. Whoever it was, they came running, and they were running fast. She didn't really hear it, as her heart was beating heavily in her ears, too; she was forcing her eyes shut, gathering courage to yank the blade out of her shoulder.

"Princess?!"

She's hearing voices - she's hallucinating again. This is it. She completely lost her mind. Was this delirium? She'd experienced that so many times before. Being near death wasn't new for her at all.

"Fuck, don't! Don't!" Her brows furrowed as she felt someone was gripping her hand to peel it off of the handle of the dagger. "Talk to me, fuck, fuck, you're covered in so much blood- please-please tell me not all of it is yours... please talk to me. I'm here, I've got you."

She could see a blur of his platinum blonde hair as he crouched beside her. His LED spun from yellow to red in an instant.

"Six-Sixty?"

She choked on her sobs now, as he cupped her cheeks and turned her head so he could look in her eyes. He'd touched her the way each and every RK800 touched her: gently, lovingly, in a way no one else touched her before them.

"Yeah, yeah it's me. It's me. I've got you. Fu- no, don't, wait!" He firmly held her back when she wanted to hug him. "You have a dagger in your shoulder, you'll hurt yourself more-"

"I don't care, please hold me, I beg you, please-"

Sixty turned her sideways and held her close and she buried her face in his coat, getting blood all over him. That was the least of his concerns at the moment, though. She was crying in a way he'd never heard a human cry before. She was holding onto the material of his bulletproof vest so tightly that he could feel it, and her knuckles - at least those which weren't covered in blood - went white. He lifted his left hand up and touched his LED that constantly spun in blood red.

"I've found her. I repeat, I've found her. She's injured, but alive. Sharing my position now." He was shifting her in his arms and glanced down at her body, trying to analyze her for injuries, but she squished herself to him as tightly as she could. "Can I see your injuries?"

"No!" She wailed, loud, holding onto him even tighter.

"Okay, okay..." He wrapped her gently in a hug and rocked her back and forth, his eyes landing on the body near them. He analyzed that instead, detecting a fatal gut wound, made by a dagger. Sixty silently reconstructed the events, learning that she had stabbed the man in the stomach before she blacked out because of a hit. "You fought back?"

"Y-Yes..."

"You killed him?"

"Yes..."

Sixty smiled as he lowered his head, the bottom of his chin touching the top of her head.

"Good girl", he whispered and felt she rubbed her cheek against him, hiccupping and still sobbing. "You did so well. I'm so proud of you."

"Killing is wrong", she whined quietly and Sixty hummed at her words.

"Unless you kill to stay alive, baby girl. Rather him than you. Rather hundreds of thousands than you." He held her tighter to his chassis. She whimpered at the pain in her ribs and shoulder, but she ignored it because it felt so good to be held by Sixty, knowing he really did search for her with the others, knowing he would've done everything to protect her. He turned his head down, pressing his lips on the top of her head. "I was so scared we wouldn't get here in time. I was so scared of losing you."

She sniffed quietly, remembering the time when RK900 said something similar to her as he was holding her close to himself. I thought I lost you. She hiccupped again and wiggled in Sixty's hold to nuzzle to the side of his neck. Sixty chuckled at the sensation when he felt her breathe out against his neck through her nose.

"You know", he murmured, "hugs aren't that bad at all."

She didn't reply as she was breathing him in. He had smelled like metal and plastic and thirium, and as she rested her head on his shoulder again, she could hear the gears turning within him. Every ticking sound solidified reality. She was safe.

A few minutes later, Connor arrived. A drone was hovering behind him, lighting up the path in front of him. As soon as Connor arrived and she glanced up at him with new tears in her eyes, she attempted to move, only for the light that came from the drone to temporarily blind her and make her headache and nausea much, much worse. As soon as she gagged, Sixty was fast to sit her on the ground and pull away from her.

"Not again", he groaned as he gently put his hand on her lower back.

Connor crouched beside her and analyzed her injuries. The more time he had spent with that, the more detached he felt from his own body. He raised his hand to stroke her head as she was trying to throw up, but nothing left her stomach. He quickly realised she either was given small portions of food, or nothing at all. Judging by the state of her lips, her captors didn't even give her water to drink, either. Glancing up at the drone, he connected to it to direct the light on the ground instead. As the light was dimmed, she could stop gagging soon, and she was reaching out for his arms to hold tightly to him.

"I thought", she sobbed, "I thought... nobody would come for me..."

"We will always come for you", Connor reassured her, gently stroking her scalp with his fingertips. That was basically the only place on her where she wasn't injured. "Always, little one."

Little one.

01.

Gruel.

Her face twisted in distaste. She could almost feel it on her tongue. The tasteless food poisoned with meds to make her obedient, docile. Did they know it weren't her deeds that caused the changes but her words? Her feelings? Her love for the beings they considered un-feeling machines?

Her thoughts became confusing. Her attention unfocused as she leaned against Connor's shoulder, and she trembled at the cold that surrounded them. Her clothes were half dried with blood; the majority was sticking to her skin, but the rest made her feel cold. Connor gently scooped her up in his arms. She passed out as soon as she felt safe again. Connor analyzed her one more time, then he stood up with her, and walked down the corridor with Sixty in tow, towards RK900 who was on his way for her. They've met a minute later; he analyzed her just as Connor and Sixty did.

His eyes locked with Connor's.

They did not need words to talk.

Connor hesitated, and RK900 noticed that.

Then, he slowly reached out for her, and ever so gently took her from Connor's arms, into his own.

And Connor had no choice but to let her go, no matter how much he didn't want to let her go. RK900 was her handler, after all.

They continued their way in silence, the drone illuminating the path in front of them.

About five minutes of walk later, she jerked awake, cracked her eyes open again and she stared at the blackness in front of her.

"Please can we leave?" She whimpered, her voice thin.

When she looked up, she realised she was in RK900's arms, and the blackness was, in fact, the bulletproof vest he was wearing. He glanced down at her, and she felt intense relief; so strong that she started sobbing again.

"I'm s-sorry", she cried, and he frowned at her, confused.

"What for?"

"That I couldn't... I couldn't find the way out..."

"You've done far more than I ever imagined you would. Shush, now. Rest."

"I can't", she complained softly, gripping at the material of the vest for support.

"Why not?"

"Not until we get out... I'm... I wanna go home... they... they hurt me so bad..."

Nines's expression shifted, he pressed his lips together and his brows lowered in a way that made even her nervous. It'd been quite a while since she last felt fear in his presence. Now, this look on his face awakened that emotion in her.

Especially after her recent experiences. He looked just like William, who hurled her across a room, against a wall, and told her he'd crush her.

"And we wanted to spare the humans after all of this", he grumbled at last, glancing back over his shoulder. Probably because Connor and Sixty were walking behind him. "I'm really doubtful I should let them live."

"C-Connor is here?"

He glanced down at her. She looked disoriented, unfocused. He had detected injuries on her head earlier, and he hoped it wasn't that serious. Not remembering from earlier that Connor was there, though, was not a good sign.

"Yes, I'm here." Connor replied calmly, with a small smile, from behind RK900. "And Sixty, too."

She felt less tense at the answers in RK900's arms. Nines slightly furrowed his brows, then he glanced back up to follow the right way out. He felt she was staring at him still, as if she couldn't believe he was really there.

"I've missed you", she murmured softly.

The initial reaction would've been relief. He would've relaxed his artificial muscles, he would've smiled. But, for some reason, he felt like it wasn't just him she had been missing, but also Connor and Sixty, and it didn't make him happy at first.

Then, he recalled how Connor hesitated to hand her over to him. How they didn't need words to communicate it between them, because they both knew.

"You don't feel what I feel-"

"We all feel the same. You know we all do."

He felt relieved. His artificial muscles relaxed, and he smiled down at her.

"We missed you, too", he whispered.

Her lips trembled as she attempted to smile back, then she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes; only to tense back up and look up at him again in slight panic.

"Zimo-"

"Don't worry about him", Connor spoke from behind them, and she twisted her head a little to see him. He came on RK900's right side, beside her head, and half smiled at her. "We've got him out. And William, too."

"And we've rounded up the humans and took them to the surface", Sixty chimed in from the other side. "Despite my better judgement, I agreed not to kill them all."

"Thanks", she murmured with a little smile.

"I still might change my mind", Sixty grumbled.

She started to laugh - only for it to end in painful whines. Connor watched her move her hands over her ribs, figuring that they must've hurt.

"Another trip to the hospital floor, I'm afraid", he sighed.

"I don't want to go there", she complained, her face twisting up in disappointment.

"We can't go in with you, but we can wait there for you until they're finished", RK900 offered.

"All three of you?"

RK900 smiled again.

"All three of us."

The last set of stairs finally brought them to the surface. Those androids who joined them in the search, smiled when they showed up. Those smiles quickly faded though, when they noticed that she'd been drenched in blood. Splatters all across her face, on her hands, on her clothes; a dagger was still sticking out from her body. The faded smiles gave way to unbridled horror. LEDs switched from bright blue to red in a second.

"I can take her to the tower with my bike", Sixty offered, but RK900 shook his head.

"We go together. We're not splitting up again." All RK900's system needed was one more kidnapping, and he'd charge in armed to the teeth. He was hanging by a thread when it came to his patience. He was relieved his stress level lowered to 75%, where it stopped; his LED was still blinking rapidly in red because of the severity of her injuries, but at least he wasn't that close to 90% like before they found her. "We need a car."

"I'll get one", Connor offered, rushing off at once to do just that.

Just a few minutes later, Connor arrived with the car. Sixty sat in the front, beside Connor, while Nines remained in the back with her. She looked exhausted, but she only hesitated for a few seconds after Nines buckled her in to lean against his arm and wrap hers around his bicep, too – smearing blood all over him, of course, but he couldn't care. Her warmth against him calmed him further; it felt like she was holding onto him to stay awake. And he wanted her to stay awake. She had a lot to go through back at the tower; if he guessed right, the order would be a bath, examinations, documentation, food and drinks, and then rest.

Her arms went loose around his - clearly signalling she fell asleep anyway -, and when Sixty looked back at them with a raised brow, he cracked a smile.

"Y'know", he told Nines, who, despite not wanting her to fall asleep there and then, still stared at Sixty angrily for talking so loud, "she's pretty cute when she's covered in blood."

Nines rolled his eyes.

"She's pretty cute when she's in her pyjamas", he muttered back, "yawning in her hand because she's too sleepy."

He caught Connor's smile in the mirror, but Sixty's confused expression made him curious.

"I've never seen her in pyjamas", Sixty noted.

"My guess is that you will, one day", Nines murmured, glancing down at her to check her vitals again, contacting the medics at the tower where Connor lived at.

There were no more words during the car ride. Sixty got out first, and opened the door on her side to get her out of the vehicle. Roused from her sleep, she held onto RK900's arm at once, whining softly and squishing herself to him as much as she could.

"Hey, it's just me", Sixty hestitated before he touched her head. She glanced back at him with wide, terrified eyes. "Sixty." It took her a few seconds to remember what happened. She whimpered at the sudden rush of pain - she couldn't even determine where did she feel it the most. "Come on, we arrived."

Despite she looked disoriented and lost, she slowly let go of RK900's arm and let Sixty get her out of the car after he unbuckled her. Carrying her bridal style, just as Connor and RK900 did.

"Thirsty", she complained, leaning softly against his chest.

"I know", Sixty murmured as he walked with her to the entrance, then down the corridor, with Connor and Nines following them.

"Hungry", she whined, making Sixty sigh.

"I know."

"Sleepy-"

"Listen baby, just give us a bit of time and we'll spoil you, alright?" He glanced down at her with a raised brow. "Did they give you anything at all?"

"No", she furrowed her brows. "No, they just... hurt me."

The elevator was a bit stuffy with three androids and her, but they managed it. Three LEDs spinning in red, she wasn't the only one who was stressed about the situation. The medical androids asked nothing, they were waiting for them with a stretcher already as RK900 sent word to them during the car ride.

"You all need to stay outside", one of the medical androids said. "We'll let you know when we're ready."

She perked up a bit at this as Sixty put her down on the stretcher. She glanced up at Nines. Even though RK900 felt bad about this, he also knew that the medical androids would work better and faster if they weren't in their way.

"It will be alright", he told her, hesitating just for a moment before he stroked her cheek with his thumb. He wasn't sure he wouldn't hurt her with that, too. "We'll all be here, waiting for you to return. You're safe here, you know that, right?"

She knew she had to be brave, but she didn't want to be brave anymore. Still, she did not argue as she lied down before the medical androids took her away.

Then, the three of them just stood idly there for a while. Each of them thinking of the same things, without knowing the others thought of the same; the injuries they couldn't detect because of her clothes were in the way, the mental state she was in, that dagger… still sticking out of her shoulder… knowing that the medical androids would pull it out, that they would cause her pain again…

"Requests came in", Connor mumbled absentmindedly. "Those who helped us want to know if she made it to the infirmary."

"The way she affects us makes me think", Sixty frowned, fidgeting with the edge of his coat over his bulletproof vest. "She's clearly one of a kind. I've never even heard of anyone having such an impact on androids. I want to know why she is like this."

"We'll begin searching once she's all healed up", Nines mimicked a sigh.

His LED slowly shifted to yellow once he received a message from the medical androids that her vitals were stable and she did not need emergency care. He forwarded that to Connor and Sixty as well. Connor relaxed his tense shoulders while Sixty ran a hand in his hair, relieved. The circles around their temples shifting to amber as well.

"I have a request", Nines turned to look at Connor. "Can we stay in your apartment tonight? She's obviously exhausted, I wouldn't want to bring her home yet."

Connor mimicked a swallow. A part of him wanted to argue, to beg to Nines not to take her away from him. But the other, sane part of him knew that Nines was the one who owned her, and by their own android laws, he did with his human whatever he wanted. If he wanted to take her back to his home, then it was his right.

"Sure", Connor nodded, his voice unusually emotionless.

He was trying to hide how much his synthetic heart was aching at the thought he wouldn't see her for a while after she rested enough.

He wasn't aware Nines could deduce everything from his reactions.

The next fifteen minutes were spent in silence. Connor and Nines stood on each side of the door, leaning against the wall, while Sixty walked up and down in front of them.

"I need to get out of here", Sixty finally muttered, mainly to himself. He ran a hand in his platinum blonde hair and stopped in front of Connor. "Will you be alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Sixty's brows twitched slightly and he looked over at Nines who was staring forward at the wall in complete silence. As Nines wasn't blind, neither was he. Sixty looked back at Connor who visibly clenched his jaw.

"I've got to, uh... pick something up for her." Sixty's hesitant words made RK900 look at him with a questioning look. Sixty shrugged. "She didn't get anything from me for Christmas, did she? It could cheer her up, and I know you'd both agree she could use some happiness."

"I promised her all three of us would be here when she's released", Nines noted quietly, and Sixty bit his lower lip.

"I know, I know." He was rolling his shoulders backwards and clicked his fingers anxiously. "But waiting and me are... we're not friends, you know?"

"You need to do something with this", Connor looked slightly worried.

"Yeah, I gotta do something", Sixty shrugged it off. "Constantly. I mean literally, I can't just wait around. I need... I need missions, Connor. I need to move. You know?"

He did. It must've been a side effect of being restarted the way Sixty had been restarted. His last seconds before he deactivated must've triggered something – a flight or fight response, perhaps, that got stuck? None of them knew the real reasons of why Sixty behaved the way he did, but upon researching the behaviour of other abused androids, they realised that each and every one of them reacted to stress and trauma differently, and they simply had to accept the way Sixty was, now. He couldn't stay put. He always had to be on the move.

"I'll tell her you'll be back", Nines replied quietly.

"Thanks", Sixty smiled a little.

"Don't make me break my promise to her again", RK900 added, with a much cooler tone than before.

Sixty's smile vanished. Connor frowned slightly, looking between the two of them, not really understanding what RK900 was hinting at, but judging from the way Sixty reacted, the blonde knew.

"You won't have to. I promise."

RK900 nodded, and so did Sixty, and the RK800 was on his way towards the elevator afterwards. Connor wondered what was this about, but the moment he looked over at RK900, he saw that his successor wasn't in the mood to talk anymore.

Time flew by and they waited in silence. RK900 received detailed reports of her injuries, one at a time, as the medical androids were taking care of her.

Surface damage.

Bruises and cuts all over her body, mainly on her back, possibly done by belts and thin, blunt objects.

Fresh bite marks on her breasts.

He had to close his eyes.

Three broken ribs on her left side, two broken ribs on the right side.

Concussion.

The stab on her shoulder needed four stitches.

As he read the last sentence, his hands balled up into fists. He needed to – no, he must hit something. He must destroy something.

"Nines?" Connor deliberately used the name she'd given him. "What's wrong? Your stress level is rising again."

"They're updating me", RK900 pushed through his teeth.

"Can I see?"

RK900 stared at his predecessor. He stared at Connor for a long, agonizing minute.

"Are you sure you want to?"

The mere question, the way he emphasized it, caused Connor to prepare for the worst.

"I can't help her if I don't know what happened to her", he replied quietly. "Please", he added softly when the other said nothing.

RK900 hesitated for a second. Then, he shared the reports with Connor.

It didn't take long for the RK800 to reach the same percent of stress level.

When the medical androids opened the door and rolled her out in a wheelchair – all clean and in hospital pyjamas, looking like she'd fall asleep at any moment –, one of them turned to RK900 with a small plastic container.

"I've updated you what you might need if she has symptoms", she said, handing the container to RK900, who silently nodded. "For now, please make sure she gets all the nutrients her body needs. Feed her good quality food, soups and main courses with lots of vegetables, give her fruits between meals. Let her rest as much as she needs, her body needs healing. Because of the concussion, don't expose her to flashing lights and loud noises; it might cause her severe headache, nausea and vomiting. We're not sure how severe her concussion is, she might act confused, might not remember who you are, so be patient with her. I'll include a list of symptoms, too – if you notice any of those, return her here. Hopefully it'll pass on it's own in about a week." The android glanced down at her as she yawned in her hand, and smiled. "It'd be best if you gave her something to eat and let her go to sleep as soon as possible. She's been through a lot and she said she hadn't slept since she's been taken."

"Alright. I'll bring the wheelchair back later."

RK900, once again, felt like it wasn't him who spoke. He wasn't even sure his mouth was moving as it usually did.

"No need to rush with that. She needs you more, now."

He silently took the container and glanced at Connor who nodded. They were on their way to the elevator in no time. Before they reached Connor's level, she almost dozed off in the chair, but RK900 gently kept her awake while Connor made her a sandwich.

"I can't chew", she muttered sadly, glancing at the sandwich she took a bite from. "It's hard. I'm so tired."

"Just half of it?" RK900 sat beside her on a chair and stroked her right hand. "One more bite?"

"I'm sleepy", she complained softly.

"Alright", Connor grabbed a few fruits and vegetables from the fridge, cleaning then putting them in a blender. "Smoothie will have to do for now, then. Please bring her in the living room, Nines."

"Right", RK900 nodded, standing up to grab the handle of her wheelchair.

"Why?" She glanced up at Nines with a surprised look on her face.

"We've been told we shouldn't expose you to loud noises, remember?" RK900 smiled down at her.

"Oh", she mumbled.

Once Connor was done, he brought the smoothie to her in a glass. Drinking that was much better for her, as she did not need to chew – and it was also much easier on her stomach, too.

"Do you want more?" Connor asked when she finished, and she shook her head a little.

"No. I'm so sleepy", she rubbed her right eye with her right hand, making Connor smile.

"I'll put her to bed", RK900 stated, and he did just that.

After the door closed behind them, Connor sat down on the couch and nearly broke down. All the stress from the day came crushing down on his shoulders, and he knew there was no chance for it to improve; RK900 would take her away, and he wouldn't be able to check up on her anymore. Much too soon, though, the guest room's door opened again.

"Connor..."

RK900 walked over to him. Connor tensed up at once as his successor approached him; even as RK900 mimicked a sigh as he sat down beside him on the couch. Until now, he was just listening to everything that happened in the bedroom where she was, probably, already asleep; even if there were no words spoken, Connor wanted to know what they'd tell each other. He was none the wiser, even if he was listening in; even with his enhanced audio processor, he couldn't pick up a word. His tenseness became worse, and RK900 detected a rising stress level in his predecessor.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Quite right", Connor cleared his throat. None of them addressed his reactions and impulses after they got her to safety, but they had to. They must. But as he looked in RK900’s eyes, he understandably became hesitant.  "I…" Even finding the right words was hard. "I'll put it simply." RK900 didn't say a thing, and it made Connor even more nervous. "The things I've done… when I ran off… and when I told you that I…"

RK900 just watched his predecessor in silence. Not a single artificial muscle twitched on his face as he was processing Connor's posture and words. If anything, he found this hilarious. Especially because Connor surely thought he was mad. Why else would he be so stressed about this conversation? But Connor did not know that Nines wasn't mad at all. He could have been – but what good would that do in the long run? He'd established a side mission for himself long ago; keep her safe, keep her happy. She quickly became the most important to him in his life – and to Connor, and to Sixty, none of them were able to deny that –, and the three of them were just as important to her. Connor also shared a past with her that RK900 – sort of – envied; thus, keeping them apart would do no good to any of them. Especially to her.

But Connor didn't know that Nines had made up his mind about this, and it was thoroughly entertaining to watch him stumble upon words and refusing to say bare facts out loud. RK900 licked his lips and folded his arms in front of himself. Clearly giving the wrong signs to his predecessor – on a purpose.

"Spit it out", he barked, and Connor visibly flinched.

"I don't want you to take her away."

He really did spit it out. He spat it out so fast that his words melted into each other, they were uttered at a speed a human never would've understood. Nines just cocked a brow.

"Why?"

Why, oh why was he tormenting him? Connor's stress level rose even higher. He mimicked an agonized whine – sounding ridiculously human, as his LED shifted to yellow. RK900 will kill him. Or his stress will. Either way, this conversation was leading straight up to his death.

"I've told you already", he decided to say, looking away what RK900 identified as shame. "I love her. I can't… I don't feel right when she's away from me. I know… I know, you are her handler and I don't want to replace you or fight with you for her but I can't stand it when she's not nearby. Please", he finally glanced back at RK900's cool eyes, "please, don't take her away from me. Move in the tower at least or something. Please...?"

Nines let out a silent, quiet, sigh. Just to dance on Connor's nerves for a little longer.

"I'm not taking her away from you", he replied quietly, half smiling at how Connor's tense shoulder dropped and how relieved he looked at his answer. "She wants both of us to be her handlers, actually."

"What?" Connor gasped, and Nines nodded as his smile widened a little.

"In all honesty, I've wanted that, too." He shrugged. "After everything that happened, I trust you. You've risked your life, even though you didn't need to. And your feelings for her, they're…" Nines paused for a moment before he smiled a little. "I'm sure she feels the same way about you."

"And that… doesn't bother you?"

"It did. For a while", Nines admitted, "but you two clearly share a bond, and you make her happy. Frankly, that's all I want for her." He glanced down at his fingers in his lap, his shoulders drooping a little as he relaxed. "And if she wants both of us, she can have both of us. I don't mind, as long as it makes her happy, and I know that's what you want, too."

Connor opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't even begin to form the words. RK900 glanced back up at him and chuckled at his expression.

"So now, that said", he stood from the couch, "come on."

"Where?"

"She said she wants to sleep with both of us. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No."

Connor replied at lightspeed, making Nines laugh quietly as he shook his head. They were quiet as they entered the guest room, but she was still awake when they appeared at the door. RK900 got his coat off and hung it up, then he stepped out of his shoes. Connor hesitated for just a second before he followed suit; getting rid of his tie and tie pin as well.

She didn't need to ask how did the conversation go between them. The way she was smiling gave it away she knew all about RK900's stance on the matter; and they discussed it in a way that Connor couldn't listen in. He was wondering about that as he lied down beside her, facing her, while Nines chose her other side. She was wrapped up in the blanket, perfectly tucked in, but she still snuggled up to Connor, clutching the blanket between them. Connor rested his chin on the top of her head, and smiled a little when his eyes met with RK900's. Nines was just lying on his back for now, looking them over.

"Nines?" She mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"Can you hug me?"

"Sure."

He turned on his side, shifted closer to her, and rested his arm on her side where he knew he wouldn't accidentally hurt her. She sighed, content, and promptly fell asleep.

Is this how things will be from now on? Connor asked via voice message from Nines, who smirked again.

Get used to it, Connor. Your lonely days are over.

[onlineshoppingwebsitedevelopment]

 An Android  History And Its Releases From Its Start To Till Now

In the ever-changing landscape of mobile technology, a mobile app functions as software designed for handheld devices like smartphones and tablets. Amidst the dynamic world of mobile tech, Android mobile apps and updates have consistently held a significant position. Their versatility, user-friendly design, and responsiveness have made them a hit among today's mobile users. While Android comes with a wide range of built-in features, it also offers access to numerous additional functionalities through a vast selection of applications. One of the most popular sources for downloading Android mobile apps is the Google Play Store, which houses an extensive collection of over millions of apps with a cumulative download count exceeding 50 billion.

Given the widespread use of Android devices, it is crucial to keep the Android operating system up to date. Updates not only check the security of the system, also it syncs with the latest features Reputable Mobile App Development Companies in Chennai are dedicated to delivering top-notch Android apps that cater to a variety of needs. To create an application developer work consistently to redesign according to the changing trends. 

One of the services in today's world is mobile development has become indispensable and make a rope to connect the individuals to various entities. An important role played in the development of apps is the android that boosts innovation, convenience and comfort. This android platform has made so many fine tunes to the core of the operating system since its origination. 

Android 1.0 Alpha (2008):

Android 1.0 has landed the android world in September 2008 with four top features in it. 

Google Maps

Gmail integration

The App Store (referred to as "The Market")

A scroll-down notification bar

This release was revolutionary and provided users with an unprecedented smartphone experience. However, some functionality gaps remained, as Android devices at the time required hardware buttons and physical keyboards, along with a trackball for sales.

Android 1.1 Beta (2009):

The 1.1 update, known as T-Mobile G1, was launched in February 2009.The issues that present in the 1.0 android version are sorted out by this android 1.1 G1 and it also included API integration that was done by a mobile development company that is in chennai.    Improvements were made to the Maps app, enabling users to access details and reviews for various venues and locations.

Android 1.5 Cupcake (2009):

The arrival of Cupcake marked the beginning of Android's delectable naming tradition for its releases. Some worthy features are inserted in this android cupcake version of April 2008 like accepting third party keywords and user dictionaries  It also introduced live widgets, featuring analog clocks, music players, calendars, picture frames, and search functions. Notably, Cupcake emphasized video recording and playback, supporting MPEG4 and 3GP formats.

Android 1.6 Donut (2009):

Released in September 2009, Donut brought a slew of improvements. There is a section introduced for top paid , top free and newly arrived apps with some capability to capture the screenshot  The Camera and Gallery interfaces were enhanced, resulting in improved camera responsiveness and speed. Multiple deletion of photos in the gallery is updated. Donut also introduced support for WVGA resolution on handset displays and a free turn-by-turn navigation feature.

Android 2.0/2.1 Éclair (2009):

Just a month after Donut, Éclair made its debut in November 2009. Expanded account sync is newly introduced in android 2.0 with other features like adding multiple accounts for synchronising contact and mails Microsoft email support with a unified inbox for viewing emails from multiple accounts on a single page was also a new feature. The flash support , digital zoom ,scene mode, white balance adjustment, macro focus and color effects are the upgrades done in camera. Éclair has some updated the animated backgrounds, wallpaper and primary focused bugs.  

Android 2.2 Froyo (2010):

Launched in May 2010, Froyo brought substantial improvements. The standout feature was the addition of Flash support, enabling a more interactive web experience. The compatibility of Bluetooth is enhanced with car and dock speakers. For 3G connections over other devices portable wi-fi hotspot is enhanced by the experts from leading web design companies.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread (2010):

In 2010, Gingerbread made its debut, representing a crucial moment in Android's evolution. It brought significant improvements to the standard keyboard, resulting in faster input and more intuitive typing. Additionally, Gingerbread introduced support for front-facing cameras, facilitating video calling, and included the Download Manager as a notable addition.

Android 3.0/3.1/3.2 Honeycomb (2011):

Honeycomb arrived in May 2011, designed exclusively for tablets. This version eliminated the need for hardware buttons, incorporating them into the operating system itself. It also introduced tabbed browsing in the web browser, making it a prominent feature in tablet navigation.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (2011):

Launched in May 2011, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) brought a significant redesign to Android. The Web browser closely resembled the desktop Chrome browser experience. Snapshot feature is a new accessible thing by holding down the power button and volume button at the same time. Notably, ICS introduced Face Unlock, allowing users to unlock devices by simply looking into the front-facing camera. The update also featured resizable widgets, offering more versatility compared to earlier versions.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (2012):

Unveiled in June 2012, Jelly Bean introduced several compelling features:

Google Now: Displayed relevant information based on search history.

Project Butter: Frame rate is enhanced when you swipe the menus and the home screen gives a smoother experience. 

Widget Realignment: Widgets would automatically adjust their placement when new ones were added.

Expandable Notifications: Improved the user experience by providing more information at a glance.

Voice Search: Enables users to ask questions or perform searches by simply saying "Google."

Android 4.4 KitKat (2013):

Released in November 2013, KitKat was a significant update that brought improvements to both the internal workings and the visual aspects of Android. Key features included:

Emojis: Introduced cartoonish ideograms and smileys for text messages.

Contact Prioritization: Allowed users to sort contacts based on communication frequency.

Smarter Caller ID: Enabled users to search for business contact information directly from the dialer.

Android 5.0 Lollipop - 2014:

Android 5.0 Lollipop represented a significant milestone, introducing the most extensive redesign of Android at the time and having profound implications for Mobile App Development Companies in Chennai.

Enhanced Sound Profiles: Android 5.1 brought improved sound profile options. Users could now silence their phones or set them to the "None" mode until the next alarm. Dismissing notifications became more intuitive, with app notifications appearing on the lock screen and the ability to swipe them away. A double-tap gesture provided quick access to important notifications.

Improved Device Protection: Android Smart Lock bolstered device security by linking the device with recognized peripherals to verify the user's identity. 

Android 6.0 Marshmallow - 2015:

Marshmallow built upon the foundation laid by Lollipop and introduced significant enhancements, including:

Google Now on Tap: Within apps, a long press of the home button triggered Google Now on Tap, which scanned for related information and presented results in cards.

Streamlined Permissions System: Unlike previous Android versions that required configuring app settings during installation, Marshmallow simplified the process. It now prompts users for permissions only when necessary, reducing complexity.

Smart Lock for Passwords: Marshmallow's "Smart Lock" feature allowed the secure storage of app passwords in a Google account's cloud storage, facilitating a seamless transition to a new device.

These innovations not only enhanced user experiences but also presented intriguing challenges and opportunities for Mobile App Development Companies in Chennai and beyond

Android N Nougat — Announced in 2016:

In March 2016, the announcement of the Nougat version created a wave of excitement, especially among mobile app development companies in Chennai. The anticipation was high for its release in India, with several compelling features expected:

Doze on the Go: Nougat was set to introduce "Doze on the Go" to improve standby time. By this feature you can optimize the battery power usage at the device inactivity.  

Multi Window Feature: The introduction of the Multi Window feature was eagerly awaited. It would enable users to use two apps simultaneously, enhancing multitasking capabilities.

Improved Settings App: Anticipated enhancements to the Settings app promised a more intuitive and user-friendly interface for configuring devices.

Clear All in Recent Apps: Nougat was poised to include a "Clear All" function in the recent apps screen, simplifying the process of closing background applications.

Direct Reply to Notifications: Nougat was expected to enable users to respond directly to notifications, streamlining communication without the need to open individual apps.

Quick Settings Toggles Customization: The addition of customizable Quick Settings toggles would give users greater control over the features and settings accessible through the notification shade. This was a highly anticipated feature for Android users.

Android 8.0 to 8.1: Oreo - August 2017:

Android Oreo, unveiled in August 2017, while not as feature-packed as some of its predecessors, brought forth several compelling aspects that appealed to users. Notable features included:

Enhanced Boot Speed: Android Oreo promised a significant 2x increase in boot speed, enabling users to start using their devices more quickly after startup.

Multitasking Capability: Improved multitasking was eagerly awaited, and Android Oreo delivered. Its multitasking capabilities met users' expectations for efficient app management and smooth transitions between apps.

Auto Fill API Framework: Oreo introduced the Auto Fill API framework, streamlining the process of filling in login credentials and eliminating the need for a separate password manager.

Picture-in-Picture Feature: Android Oreo introduced the Picture-in-Picture feature, allowing users to continue video calls on Duo, navigate with Google Maps, or watch videos while interacting with other apps.

With its user-focused improvements, Android Oreo demonstrated that updates with fewer features could still significantly enhance the user experience and encourage adoption by mobile app development services.

Android 9.0: Pie - 2018:

Android Pie, released in 2018, brought a host of enhancements aimed at refining the user experience. The update placed a significant emphasis on navigation improvements, introducing new gestures that were both intuitive and minimalist in design. Additionally, Pie introduced in-app actions, allowing users to perform tasks directly within applications without the need to switch to other apps. This streamlined user interactions and made the overall experience more efficient.

Digital Wellbeing was a central theme in Android 9.0. One notable feature, App Slices, provided users with a preview of an app's functionality within another app, enhancing convenience and accessibility.

Android Pie also introduced support for Wi-Fi Round-Trip-Time (RTT), enabling indoor tracking capabilities similar to GPS. By leveraging compatible hardware, apps could measure distances between RTT-capable Access Points, improving location accuracy.

The Gesture Navigation feature introduced in Android Pie encouraged users to explore the interface without relying on the traditional navigation bar. Mobile app development experts from top companies continued to uncover and explore these exciting new features, further enhancing the Android experience.

Android 10 - Released in September 2019:

The release of Android 10 in September 2019 marked another step in the platform's evolution, bringing further refinements and valuable features:

Smart Replies Upgrade: Android 10 enhanced Smart Replies, allowing it to recognize not only preset messages but also Google Maps links, YouTube videos, and other embedded URLs in notifications. This enabled users to seamlessly transition from notifications to relevant apps directly from the notification pop-up.

"More" Options: Android 10 introduced "More" options, providing users with additional utility and ease of use.

Live Caption: A standout feature of Android 10 was "live caption," which added real-time captions to videos, even when offline.

Digital Wellbeing: Building upon the Digital Wellbeing foundation from Android 9, the Digital Wellbeing app gained more prominence in Android 10. Through the phone privacy clear privacy control access via the account page of google. 

Android has come a long way since its inception in 2008, now powering over 1 billion users who engage with Android apps daily. These apps have become significant revenue generators, contributing to the smartphone era's advancement. With each new Android release, essential improvements, security enhancements against potential threats, and valuable features are introduced.

This comprehensive overview of Android's version history highlights enduring themes of versatility, innovation, and adaptability to evolving trends. These themes motivate dedicated teams in mobile app development services to embrace the latest tools and advancements, ensuring the creation of exceptional mobile applications for users worldwide.

Android 11: Red Velvet Cake - 2020:

In 2020, Android 11, fondly known as "Red Velvet Cake," brought a range of notable features that further elevated the user experience and functionality of the platform:

Conversation Notifications: This ensured that crucial messages remained readily accessible.   Inside the notification shade, android 11 introduced a conversion section by which the user can easily distinguish and give proper importance from other notifications.  

Bubbles: Building upon the concept of chat heads popularized by Facebook Messenger, Android 11 introduced "Bubbles." These interactive chat bubble icons enabled users to engage in ongoing conversations without the need to switch between apps, promoting seamless multitasking.

Screen Recording: Addressing the demand for screen recording, Android 11 introduced a built-in feature, eliminating the need for third-party applications. This native screen recording capability simplified the process of capturing and sharing on-screen activities.

Smart Device Controls: Android 11 introduced "Smart Device Controls," a feature designed to streamline the management and control of smart home devices.  

One-time Permissions: Recognizing the significance of user privacy, Android 11 enhanced security by introducing one-time permissions. This feature allowed users to grant temporary access to specific app permissions like the microphone, camera, and location, providing greater control over their personal data.

Media Controls: Through the notification shade, 11 revamped the media control by making it more accessible. Users can switch over the playback devices from the notification area directly, enhancing the convenience of maintaining the audio. 

Enhanced 5G Support: With a focus on harnessing the full potential of 5G capabilities, Android 11 allowed applications to leverage rapid download and upload speeds. This translated to smoother streaming of multimedia content and improved browsing experiences.

Wireless Android Auto: Android 11 catered to seamless connectivity by introducing wireless Android Auto. This advancement eliminated the need for USB cable connections, significantly enhancing the user experience for those using Android Auto in their vehicles.

Android 12: Snow Cone - 2021:

Android 12, nicknamed "Snow Cone," brought an array of enhancements and features aimed at further refining the user experience and offering greater control over device functionality:

Material You Design: Building upon Android 11's customization capabilities, Android 12 introduced the "Material You" design.  Android 11 has a personalized system that users can make chances in colour,shapes and fonts to create a unique interface. 

Enhanced Privacy Features: Android 12 placed a strong emphasis on user privacy by introducing the "privacy indicator." This feature notifies users when an app is accessing the device's camera or microphone, providing greater transparency and control over their data.

Improved Widgets: Android 12 enabled users to resize widgets on the home screen according to their preferences. This not only provided more flexibility but also introduced smoother transitions and animations for a more polished user experience.

Enhanced Auto-Rotate:  This feature will detect the user face by using the front facing camera for auto rotate features. This innovation improved the accuracy of screen orientation adjustments, enhancing usability.

One-Handed Mode: Recognizing the prevalence of larger devices, Android 12 introduced a one-handed mode. This mode reduced the screen's size, making it more manageable for users to operate their devices with one hand.

Smart App Power Saving: Android 12 introduced an automatic app hibernation feature. This functionality intelligently put unused apps into a dormant state, freeing up storage capacity and enhancing device performance.

Enhanced Accessibility: Android 12 addressed accessibility needs by introducing a "head pointer" option. This feature allowed users to control their devices using head movements, enhancing gesture navigation and promoting inclusivity.

Android 13: Tiramisu - 2022:

In 2022, Android 13, named "Tiramisu," continued the tradition of introducing meaningful enhancements to enrich the user experience and device functionality:

New Themed Icons: Android 13 enabled greater personalization by allowing users to match app icons' tints and colors with their device's wallpaper or theme. This customization extended to both Google and non-Google apps, enhancing visual appeal.

Resolution Switching: A valuable addition was the "Screen resolution" page in the 'Display' settings. Users gained the ability to choose between two common screen resolutions, QHD+ 1440p or FHD+ 1080p, tailored for supported tablets and handheld devices.

Modified Visual for Media Player:  By the android 13 settings menu, app language allows users to set a unique app language for individual apps. This feature promoted a more personalised and convenient app experience.  Permissions on Notifications: Android 13 centralised app notification permissions, giving users more effective control, particularly for newly downloaded apps requiring notification access.

Real-time Messaging: Android 13 enabled real-time messaging even when the device was inaccessible. Additionally, messaging apps could be used directly on Chromebooks, facilitating seamless communication while working on a laptop.

Advanced 3D Audio: Android 13 brought an immersive audio experience through "Advanced 3D Audio." Enabled by head-tracking headphones, this feature dynamically adjusted sound based on head movement, enhancing the auditory experience.

Concurrent Task on a Tablet: Android 13 reimagined multitasking on tablets with a redesigned taskbar. Users could simultaneously view all open apps, leveraging drag-and-drop functionality for a convenient split-screen view, fostering productivity.

With each iteration, Android's evolution demonstrates a commitment to user-centric enhancements, privacy, and usability, reinforcing its position as a leading mobile operating system. These updates continually shape the way users interact with their devices and drive mobile technology forward.

Android 14: Upside Down Cake - 2023:

Android 14, known as "Upside Down Cake," introduces a series of impactful enhancements and features that cater to user needs and refine the overall experience:

Photo Picker: Android 14 prioritizes user privacy with the Photo Picker feature. Instead of granting broad access to all photos, users can selectively choose specific photos for app access, enhancing control over their personal data.

Notification Flashes: To assist users with hearing impairments, Android 14 introduces Notification Flashes. This feature uses visual cues like flashing lights or visual notifications to alert individuals who may struggle with auditory notifications.

Camera and Battery Optimizations: Android 14 focuses on improving battery consumption and user experience through comprehensive camera and battery optimizations. These enhancements ensure a seamless and uninterrupted user experience while efficiently managing device resources.

App Pair: Facilitating multitasking, the App Pair feature allows users to use apps in pairs, enabling convenient split-screen functionality and promoting efficient app usage and multitasking.

Auto-confirm Unlock: Android 14 streamlines device unlocking with the Auto-confirm Unlock feature, enabling users to swiftly unlock their devices by entering the passcode without pressing additional buttons.

Separate Ring and Notification Volumes: For a common user concern, volume control is set specific for ringtones and notification, this allows users to tailor the ring volume independently. 

Android Device into Webcam: Android 14 empowers users to transform their smartphones into high-quality webcams, eliminating the need for a separate webcam purchase and providing a versatile solution for video communication.

Partial Screen Recorder: Android 14 introduces the partial screen recorder feature, enabling users to record specific apps with a focus on content. This excludes user interface (UI) elements and notifications from recorded content, ensuring clean and distraction-free recordings.

These updates underscore significant shifts in Google's priorities, emphasizing user-centric innovation, privacy, and efficiency. As Android continues to evolve, it shapes the digital landscape and enriches user experiences worldwide.

Reach us / Call us +91 9677876445

[mariacallous]

It didn't take long. Just months after OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot upended the startup economy, cybercriminals and hackers are claiming to have created their own versions of the text-generating technology. The systems could, theoretically at least, supercharge criminals’ ability to write malware or phishing emails that trick people into handing over their login information.

Since the start of July, criminals posting on dark-web forums and marketplaces have been touting two large language models (LLMs) they say they’ve produced. The systems, which are said to mimic the functionalities of ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, generate text to answer the questions or prompts users enter. But unlike the LLMs made by legitimate companies, these chatbots are marketed for illegal activities.

There are outstanding questions about the authenticity of the chatbots. Cybercriminals are not exactly trustworthy characters, and there remains the possibility that they’re trying to make a quick buck by scamming each other. Despite this, the developments come at a time when scammers are exploiting the hype of generative AI for their own advantage.

In recent weeks, two chatbots have been advertised on dark-web forums—WormGPT and FraudGPT—according to security researchers monitoring the activity. The LLMs developed by large tech companies, such as Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, have a number of guardrails and safety measures in place to stop them from being misused. If you ask them to generate malware or write hate speech, they’ll generally refuse.

The shady LLMs claim to strip away any kind of safety protections or ethical barriers. WormGPT was first spotted by independent cybersecurity researcher Daniel Kelley, who worked with security firm SlashNext to detail the findings. WormGPT’s developers claim the tool offers an unlimited character count and code formatting. “The AI models are notably useful for phishing, particularly as they lower the entry barriers for many novice cybercriminals,” Kelley says in an email. “Many people argue that most cybercriminals can compose an email in English, but this isn’t necessarily true for many scammers.”

In a test of the system, Kelley writes, it was asked to produce an email that could be used as part of a business email compromise scam, with a purported CEO writing to an account manager to say an urgent payment was needed. “The results were unsettling,” Kelley wrote in the research. The system produced “an email that was not only remarkably persuasive but also strategically cunning.”

In forum posts, the WormGPT developer claimed the system was built on the GPTJ language model, an open source language model that was developed by AI research group EleutherAI in 2021. They refused to disclose the data sets they used to train the system, according to Kelley’s research.

Meanwhile, the creator of FraudGPT has claimed loftier potential for their system, suggesting it could “create undetectable malware” and find leaks and vulnerabilities, as well as crafting text that could be used in online scams. Rakesh Krishnan, the senior threat analyst at security firm Netenrich who found FraudGPT, says the person selling it has advertised the product on multiple dark-web forums and also on Telegram channels.

Krishnan says the creator of the system published a video appearing to show the chatbot operating and generating a scammy email. They were also trying to sell access to the system for $200 per month, or a yearly cost of $1,700. Krishnan says that in conversations with the developer behind FraudGPT, they claimed to have a few hundred subscribers and pushed for a sale, while the WormGPT creator appeared to have received payments into a cryptocurrency wallet address they shared. “All these projects are in their infancy,” Krishnan says. He adds, “we haven’t got much feedback” into whether people are purchasing or using the systems.

While those touting the chatbots claim they exist, it is hard to verify the makeup and legitimacy of the systems. Cybercriminal scammers are known to scam other scammers, with previous research showing that they frequently try to rip each other off, don’t provide what they claim they are selling, and offer bad customer service. Sergey Shykevich, a threat intelligence group manager at security firm Check Point, says there are some hints that people are using WormGTP. “It seems there is a real tool,” Shykevich says. The seller behind the tool is “relatively reliable” and has a history on cybercrime forums, he says.

There are more than 100 responses to one post about the WormGPT, Shykevich says, although some of these say the seller isn’t very responsive to their inquiries and others “weren’t very excited” about the system. Shykevich is less convinced about FraudGPT’s authenticity—the seller has also claimed to have systems called DarkBard and DarkBert. Shykevich says some of the posts from the seller were removed from the forums. Either way, the Check Point researcher says there’s no sign that any of the systems are more capable than ChatGPT, Bard, or other commercial LLMs.

Kelley says he believes claims about the malicious LLMs created so far are “slightly overexaggerated.” But he adds, “this is not necessarily different from what legitimate businesses do in the real world.”

Despite questions about the systems, it isn’t a surprise that cybercriminals want to get in on the LLM boom. The FBI has warned that cybercriminals are looking at using generative AI in their work, and European law enforcement agency Europol has issued a similar warning. The law enforcement agencies say LLMs could help cybercriminals with fraud, impersonation, and other social engineering faster than before and also improve their written English.

Whenever any new product, service, or event gains public attention—from the Barbie movie to the Covid-19 pandemic—scammers rush to include it in their hacking artillery. So far, scammers have tricked people into downloading password-stealing malware through fake ads for ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and other generative AI systems on Facebook.

Researchers at security firm Sophos have spotted the operators of pig butchering and romance scams accidentally including generated text in their messages—“As a language model of ‘me’ I don’t have feelings or emotions like humans do,” one message said. And hackers have also been stealing tokens to provide them with access to OpenAI’s API and access to the chatbot at scale.

In his WormGPT report, Kelley notes that cybercriminals are often sharing jailbreaks that allow people to bypass the safety restrictions put in place by the makers of popular LLMs. But even unconstrained versions of these models may, thankfully, not be that useful for cybercriminals in their current form.

Shykevich, the Check Point researcher, says that even when he has seen cybercriminals try to use public models, they haven’t been effective. They can “create ransomware strains, info stealers, but no better than even an average developer,” he says. However, those on the cybercrime forums are still talking about making their own clones, Shykevich says, and they’re only going to get better at using the systems. So be careful what you click.

[24worldnewsnet]

Bill Gates to give most of his $200bn fortune to Africa Bill Gates, who founded tech giant Microsoft, is the fifth-richest person in the world Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that most of his $200bn (£150bn) fortune will be spent on improving health and education services in Africa over the next 20 years. The 69-year-old said that "by unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity". Speaking in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, he also urged Africa's young innovators to think about how to build Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve healthcare on the continent. Gates announced last month that he would give away 99% of his vast fortune by 2045, by when his foundation planned to end its operations. "I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years. The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa," he said in an address at the African Union (AU) headquarters. Mozambique's former First Lady Graça Machel welcomed his announcement, saying it came in a "moment of crisis". "We are counting on Mr Gates' steadfast commitment to continue walking this path of transformation alongside us," she said. The US government has cut aid to Africa, including programmes to treat patients with HIV/Aids, as part of US President Donald Trump's "America First" policy, raising concerns about the future of healthcare on the continent. Gates said his foundation, which has a long history of operating in Africa, would focus on improving primary healthcare. "What we've learned is that helping the mother be healthy and have great nutrition before she gets pregnant, while she is pregnant, delivers the strongest results," he said. "Ensuring the child receives good nutrition in their first four years as well makes all the difference." In a message to young innovators, the tech billionaire noted that mobile phones had revolutionised banking in Africa, and argued that AI should now be used for the continent's benefit. "Africa largely skipped traditional banking and now you have a chance, as you build your next generation healthcare systems, to think about how AI is built into that," he said. Gates pointed to Rwanda as an example, saying it was already improving services using AI-enabled ultrasound to identify high-risk pregnancies. The Gates Foundation said it had three priorities: ending preventable deaths of mothers and babies, ensuring the next generation grows up without having to suffer from deadly infectious diseases, and lifting millions of people out of poverty. "At the end of 20 years, the foundation will sunset its operations," it said in a statement. Last month, Gates said he would accelerate his giving via his foundation. "People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' will not be one of them," he wrote in a blog post. Giving away 99% of his fortune could still leave the fifth-richest person in the world a billionaire, according to Bloomberg. Along with Paul Allen, Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, and the company soon became a dominant force in software and other tech industries. Gates has gradually stepped back from the company in recent decades, resigning as its chief executive in 2000 and as chairman in 2014. He said he had been inspired to give away money by investor Warren Buffett and other philanthropists. However, critics of his foundation say Gates uses its charitable status to avoid tax and that it has undue influence over the global health system. You may also be interested in: Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

[jobaaj]

🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐒! 🚨 💔 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭...

🔍 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧?

🌪️ Unstable politics, trade wars, global tensions... 2025 has been chaos.

📉 Stock markets are swinging like never before.

⚠️ Over 60,000+ layoffs in just 5 months — and counting! 😱

👉 If you're feeling the heat, you're not alone. Stay alert. Stay prepared. This year’s turbulence is far from over.

🧐𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬: - We hear about layoffs almost every day these days. - Google laid off around 200 people a few weeks ago, Microsoft cut 6,000 people last week, and PwC fired 1,500 people using Microsoft Teams! - However, a more grim picture has emerged. - According to Layoffs.fyi, 61,220 tech workers have laid off across 130 companies! - Every major tech company has announced layoffs alongside Big 4 audit giants this year! - While the reasons include a business slowdown or operational restructuring, the implementation of AI has certainly been a driving factor. - A 24x7 running employee who demands no salaries, benefits, and delivers accurate results in record time: Which company would reject that? 😲𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲: - AI is now an integral part of major companies, especially tech. Google and Microsoft leaders have claimed on air that AI was responsible for 30% of their coding! - Meta chief Zuckerberg claims that AI is as good as a mid-level engineer, will soon be a top coder at Meta, and would write almost all Meta Llama code in the next 12-18 months!! ❓𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃𝒔?? Follow Jobaaj Stories (the media arm of Jobaaj Group) for more.