#even though photoshop crashed like a million times while i was making this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

helloalycia · 3 years

Text

my happy ending [one] // kara danvers

summary: your crush from work decides to make a move, but she keeps putting off telling you something that you don't realise is actually really important

warning/s: none

author's note: i'm still working on a bunch of stuff but here's some old stuff to tide you over as i do. this is part one to a two-parter! enjoy :)

part two | masterlist

I sketched out some designs at my desk, ideas for some new Instagram and Twitter marketing CatCo we were planning to do. I was in charge of social media marketing at CatCo Worldwide, so things like this were routine at work. What wasn't routine was the cute blonde, Kara, AKA Cat Grant's assistant, approaching my desk with a chirpy smile on her lips.

"Hey, Y/N," she greeted, before setting down a coffee cup in front of me.

I smiled automatically, Kara's presence instantly affecting my mood in a positive way. I glanced at the cup and quirked an eyebrow.

"Hey, Kara. Is this for me?"

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose adorably. "I was picking up Miss Grant's order and I remembered you said you loved the chocolate orange hot chocolates Noonan's do. So, I got you one."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Oh, wow, er, thank you. You didn't have to do that."

She shrugged, and I was sure she looked as flustered as I felt. "No biggie."

I took a sip of the hot chocolate and smiled at how good it was, but mostly because of who got it me.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked, walking around my desk and sitting at the edge. She glanced at my sketches and added, "Is that the new fashion post for our social media accounts? They look amazing!"

"Just some sketches, but eventually they will be," I said, before nodding. "And thanks. I just need the photos so I know what I'm working with. Gotta ask the new guy, James... you met him yet?"

Kara nodded. "Yeah, I just bumped into him earlier."

"Can you believe he knows Superman?" I asked with disbelief. "How awesome is that?"

She smiled with amusement. "Extremely awesome."

"Keira!"

Kara lost her smile when Miss Grant called for her, before looking to me apologetically. "I should–"

"It's cool," I said, nodding for her to leave before Miss Grant tracked her down. "Thanks again for the drink."

Kara flashed me a smile. "Anytime. See you later."

I watched her walk away, waving as she glanced over her shoulder. I found myself biting my lip to contain my own smile, feeling butterflies in my stomach.

Kara Danvers, assistant to Cat Grant.

Ever since she began working here, I found myself crushing on the blonde and her cute mannerisms. We were friends, occasionally hanging out outside of work and doing things together. But that's all it was, sadly. I knew she was friends with Winn – best friends, I think – and I also knew that the tech guy was practically in love with her. I didn't know him as well as I knew her, but I knew enough to not want to get in between the two of them. So, Kara Danvers remained a silly little crush.

I got back to my sketches, managing to draft up some mock-ups on Photoshop before my day ended. I was more tired than I thought that evening, ending up falling asleep earlier than usual. Which meant that I missed the biggest news in National City yet – a mystery woman saving a plane from crashing, possibly a new superhero.

I woke up the next morning to a million and one calls and texts from colleagues at CatCo, all expecting me to get on social media to post about this mystery woman. By the time I got to work that morning, I was caught up with everything and in awe at this new superhero we had. It was pretty darn awesome!

The amazement I felt however was short lived, as Cat was all over me when I got to the office, claiming I should have been on top of our social media coverage as soon as it happened. Apparently me falling asleep wasn't a valid enough point to miss it, so I was put to work instantly, working with the photography and marketing department to find some sort of coverage on this mystery hero.

As I was lining up some posts with the limited images available of this hero, I felt a presence stop by my desk and saw it was Kara.

"Morning," she greeted, before glancing at my computer. "Oh, so you heard?"

I chuckled. "Kind of hard not to. It's everywhere." I nodded to the many TVs around the office that were playing reruns of the news coverage from last night.

"Pretty cool, right?" she asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Very, but it also means I now have a lot of work to do, especially because I fell asleep when all of this went down," I said, jokingly. "Cat has been all over me about this all morning."

Kara laughed and it was literally the best thing I'd heard all day.

"So, I was actually hoping I could tell you something," she said, an excited smile on her face as she met my eyes.

I felt a little flustered under her gaze and found myself distracting myself with my computer screen momentarily.

"I actually have a lot of things to do right now,” I said regretfully. “Maybe later?”

Her smile faded as she nodded. "Right, no, yeah, that's totally fine. Sorry."

"No, no, don't apologise," I said instantly, feeling a little bad. "I just– if I don't get this done, Cat will kill me."

"I got it, you do this, it's cool," she said reassuringly, offering me a small smile.

"Sorry," I tried, a little sad that there was nothing I could do. I really needed to get this done, despite wanting to spend some more time with Kara.

"It's fine, good luck," she said, giving me a grin and thumbs up before leaving.

I sighed, before getting back to work. Unfortunately, it was a few hours before I could get away from my desk, and I managed to track down Kara at her own desk, remembering she wanted to tell me something.

"Hey," I said, earning her attention.

She looked up from her notebook, smiling when she saw me. "Hey, you manage to get that content done?"

"Just about," I said, before offering a small smile. "Sorry again for blowing you off."

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine, honestly."

"I'm free now though," I said optimistically. "Maybe we could grab an early lunch? You can talk to me then?"

Kara pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she nodded slowly. "That sounds nice actually, yeah."

I felt a little relieved when she agreed. "Great. Well, I'll let you get your things and meet you by the elevator?"

She pursed her lips, suppressing a smile. "You got it."

We ended up getting lunch, as agreed, and it was nice to make it up to her. Though, I never really noticed that she never ended up telling me whatever it was that she wanted to tell me. I was so distracted by how smoothly our lunch was going that I forgot to ask her about it. Maybe if I'd asked, she might have told me the truth. Or she might have made something up and lied. I guess I would never know.

–

Did somebody say tiny umbrella drinks? #gottalovethetinyumbrellas #CatCoFoundation [image here]

I sent yet another tweet and picture out from CatCo's Twitter account, watching as it instantly got responses from everyone. I was at an event that Cat was throwing for all CatCo employees plus special guests. It was an event to raise money for Cat's foundation – a charity for children's hospitals in National City. My job was to live-tweet the heck out of the event, hoping to boost donations online.

It was a formal event, so I was comfortably dressed in some high-waisted pants and a silk blouse, it being my best attempt at 'formal' clothes.

The event wasn't too bad. There was free food and drinks, plus I got to hang out with some of my friends from work whilst doing the bare minimum. I just wasn't an evening person, I guess.

"Hey, stranger," a voice startled me, and I turned around, surprised to see Kara Danvers stood there.

I hadn't seen much of Kara in the past few months, despite working with her. She always seemed to be caught up with Winn, and she'd gotten quite close with the not-so-new guy, James Olsen. I wasn't stalking her or anything, but I began to notice when I would try to make plans with her like we used to – little things like grabbing coffee or going to watch a film after work – and she would decline or have plans already. Then I'd see her constantly being surrounded by Winn and James, so I figured she'd just made new friends.

"Kara," I breathed out, smiling as I took in her appearance. "Hey."

I hadn't seen her at all this evening and I was sure she just showed up because I definitely would have noticed how good she looked in that fitted red dress of hers.

"You look really nice," she said, looking me up and down before meeting my eyes.

"Thanks," I said, hoping my cheeks didn't look as warm as they felt. "So do you. You liking the event?"

Kara looked around, nodding. "It's beautiful."

"You did a good job," I said, giving her a knowing smile. "I know you planned it."

"This was all Cat, I just–"

"Kara, everybody knows you plan the events around here," I told her with a chuckle. "It's okay."

She smiled to herself, looking down. "Right." It went quiet for a moment before she looked up and said, "Do you want to dance?"

I was a little taken aback by her confidence, but nonetheless, I found myself nodding. She smiled as she held out her hand. I took it, feeling goosebumps from how soft her hands were.

She led me to the dance-floor, stopping and resting a hand on my waist, the other holding my hand. I nervously rested an arm on her shoulder as I focused on swaying to the music playing rather than stepping on her toes.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in a while," she said after a moment. I looked up and saw her blue eyes staring right through me.

"Well, we've both been busy," I attempted to give a reason.

She shook her head, smiling apologetically. "No, it's not that... it's my fault. I've been hanging out with James and Winn so much lately that I've been neglecting you."

I laughed a little awkwardly. "Kara, it's okay. You don't need to feel bad for having other friends. I mean, you don't have any obligations to me. They're your best friends. Of course you're gonna hang out with them."

She pursed her lips and I admittedly felt nervous as she stared at me, her expression unreadable. She was a little taller than me which didn't help with me trying to keep my emotions in check. She was extremely close to me as we swayed to the music and I could just about focus on it as she continued to stare at me.

"What if I want to have obligations to you?" she asked, and I almost thought she was joking until I realised that she wasn't.

I wanted to understand what she meant, but I didn't get to ask because she leaned forward and closed the gap between us with her lips. I was surprised at her boldness, pinning Kara for the shy type. Nonetheless, I returned the kiss, melting into her embrace and warmth.

We pulled apart soon enough, myself a little flustered from the kiss. My lips were still tingling as she met my eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"I hope that was okay," she muttered.

I nodded slowly, still surprised. "Yeah, it was."

My stomach was doing somersaults as I mirrored her smile; the gala was merely a blur in the background as I realised Kara Danvers had just kissed me. I definitely wouldn't have thought she felt something for me other than friendship.

"I'm assuming you want this to go somewhere," I said, a little stupidly.

She laughed melodiously as she nodded, intertwining her fingers in mine. "That's the plan, yes. But actually, er..."

"Second thoughts already?" I joked, though inside I was genuinely believing she might be second-guessing her decision, judging from her sudden change of facial expression.

"No, no," she said, shaking her head. "It's just, I feel like we should talk first. I have to tell you something. Before this goes any further."

She sounded quite affected by whatever it was, so I nodded, losing my smile for a moment.

"Of course, you can tell me whatever you need to," I reassured her, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Do you want to talk now or after?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but tilted her head to the side as she grew distracted. I waited patiently, expecting her to snap back into reality, but she seemed caught up with something else.

"Kara? You okay?" I asked, growing a little concerned.

"What? Yeah, sorry," she said, shaking her head before meeting my eyes with apologetic ones. "I'm sorry, I have to go for a minute. I just realised I have to check on the desserts for the party."

"Oh, okay." I nodded, giving her a small smile. "You can tell me whatever it is afterwards then?"

She smiled, nodding. "Yeah. I'll be back after, I swear."

I believed her and watched as she let go of my hand, already in a rush to leave. I wondered what was so time-sensitive about desserts, but decided not to question it as I realised the very obvious and surprising fact that Kara liked me.

As she turned to leave, she quickly turned back to me and moved forward, pressing a haste kiss to my cheek. My face heated up as she flashed me a beautiful smile, before moving to leave.

Just danced with the most beautiful girl in the room #CatCoFoundation

I looked up and saw Kara by the door, about to leave, but she stopped when her phone vibrated. After glancing at the screen, she paused and a wide smile graced her lips. Her eyes lifted and she gave me a knowing look before disappearing. I found myself smiling like an idiot the rest of the night.

I guess I should have realised, once again, that Kara never ended up telling me whatever it was that she wanted to tell me. I was so caught up in the fact that she returned my feelings that I never remembered to ask her what it was that she wanted to say. Maybe if I'd remembered, things would have ended up a little differently.

–

Kara and I went on some dates, our relationship blossoming naturally. It was the best thing to happen to me at the time – finding someone who I thought truly understood me, and vice versa. We had inside jokes, an 'our song', a favourite restaurant we frequented; we were happy and it was amazing. I was really falling for her. I thought she was perfect. Nothing could change that, I thought. She was everything I wanted.

"What are you thinking about in that pretty little head of yours?" Kara asked, tilting her head to look at me.

It was moments like this when I was in awe of her beauty, inside and out. She was comfortable, with her hair tied in a loose ponytail and her face makeup-free. Her glasses were balanced on her nose as she stared at me with an easygoing smile and sparkling eyes. I felt a sudden overwhelming flood of love for her as she waited for me to reply.

"I'm in love with you," I blurted out uncontrollably.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, mouth agape as she realised what I said.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. "That was random. And weird. Too soon, right? I freaked you out. I'm sorry."

Kara blinked several times, straightening up as she shook her head. "No, it's not, it's..." I watched her with anticipation, as she found her words. "It's fine. It's... I feel the same way."

It was my turn to be surprised now. I raised my eyebrows, a smile forming on my lips. "You do?"

Kara pursed her lips, eyes flickering up to meet mine. "Yeah."

I breathed out. "I'm really happy to hear that, especially because I thought I freaked you out, but like, I feel like something is bothering you, Kara."

Resting a hand on hers, I squeezed it gently. She offered me a small, troubled smile and I wondered what was occupying her thoughts.

"I trust you," she said gently. "I do. I love you. And I... I want you to know that I think what we have is amazing. I've never been happier."

"This sounds like a breakup," I joked, chuckling nervously. She wouldn't break up with me right after saying 'I love you', right?

"No, no, it's not!" she reassured immediately, taking any doubt from my mind. She leaned forward and cupped my cheek gently. "I'm not breaking up with you, silly."

"Good to know," I said playfully, resting my hand on hers and moving it to my lips, kissing it softly. "What is it though? What's on your mind? You can tell me anything you know."

She nodded. "I know... I can. I will. Now."

I stayed quiet, watching as she had some inner conflict going on. What was bothering her so much?

"I want to say that I–"

But she was cut off by her phone ringing. She rolled her eyes and I offered her an approving smile as she reached to answer it.

"Alex, hey, what's up?"

I sat back, keeping ahold of Kara's hand as she listened to Alex on the phone.

"Are you sure?" Kara said, concern in her voice.

I wondered what was going on, as the blonde was scrunching her brows together with worry. Her hand slipped from mine as she stood up, pacing.

"Okay, I'll be there now," she finished, before hanging up.

"Hey, that sounded serious, is everything okay?" I asked, standing up, too.

Kara nodded, already in the process of grabbing her things. "Yeah, sorry, it's just some family stuff with Alex. I should get going and help her out." She stopped moving and turned to face me, a distracted frown on her face. "I'm sorry. I know we were supposed to spend the evening together and I wanted to tell you something, but–"

"It's fine, Kara, you can just tell me another time," I cut her off, moving forward and rubbing her arm gently. "I hope everything is okay with Alex. I'll just see you at work tomorrow, yeah?"

Kara smiled tightly, nodding. "You're too understanding. It's annoyingly admirable."

I chuckled, stepping forward and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. She had a few inches on me, so I had to step on my tip toes to reach, but seeing the little smile appear on her lips when I did made it worth it.

"Don't get stressed about whatever it is you wanna tell me," I added, meeting her eyes. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I love you and I'm really lucky to have you in my life. I don't think anything will ruin that. Just... remember that, okay?"

Kara nodded, her eyes flickering to the floor. "Thank you, Y/N."

"I'll leave you to it," I said, moving away to grab my coat and put on my shoes. "Good luck with whatever is up, and see you tomorrow."

As I was about to leave, her voice called out, "I love you, too."

I smiled widely at her before leaving, feeling lightweight because of all the love that was bubbling around inside of me. Once again, Kara managed to distract me from the fact that she had something big to tell me, as when I followed up the next day, she assured me that she just wanted me to know that she sometimes moved too fast in relationships and she didn't want me to feel like I was being rushed.

I believed her, blinded by what I thought was my happy ending, and that was that.

#kara danvers x you #kara danvers #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers imagine #supergirl #supergirl imagine #supergirl x reader #melissa benoist

174 notes · View notes

imanativeofswlondondahling · 4 years

Text

Hidden in Plain Sight (3)- Tom Holland X Reader

A/N: This story is fun to write, but school is taking over little by little so sorry if this gets delayed more than I mean for it to be! Enjoy Chapter Three!

Word Count: 2165

Warnings: Swearing? Maybe? To be honest I can’t remember if I swore or not but knowing me I probably did. But there is mention of a killer moth so if that’s as trigger as it was when it was flying around my room then I’ll mention it here.

You had the absolute worst day. You were hoping it was going to be a good day since you had put on one of your favorite outfits to wear to work. But as soon as you got to work, everything turned into a shit show. A project you thought was finished didn’t save the last days edits, your boss got on you for something that was your coworker’s responsibility, and someone ate your lunch, which you’re not entirely sure how that happened, but it did. Add to it you have the start of what you think is a migraine, the last thing you want to do is anything work related, but because you’re behind on the project that is due tomorrow, you’ll probably be up all night working on it before going in tomorrow to continue working on it at the office. So heating up some soup to eat while you work, you decide to scroll through Tumblr while you wait for it to heat up.

The news of Spider-Man, and therefore Tom Holland, staying in the MCU still hasn’t died down, which let’s be honest why should it? It’s fantastic news. Out of all the Spider-Mans, Tom’s portrayal of it is your favorite and you would be so sad to see him taken from Marvel just because Sony, Marvel and Disney couldn’t come to an agreement on things. It’s only been a couple days since it was announced, but you wouldn’t be surprised if this was talked about for weeks at least. You reblog a couple of photos, adding some of your usual hashtags. Honestly, you want to be distracted by asks, but you know that the likelihood that people will respond is low, plus you shouldn’t let yourself be distracted by Tumblr when you have the project due tomorrow.

Hating seeing notifications, you click on the second icon from the right on the bottom of your screen. You clear off the notifications from reblogs and likes but notices your app is still showing a notification, on the messages side. It’s probably just from one of your friends. You flip over to the other screen and see a message from none other than Tomholland2013, who you’ve been messaging on and off over the past couple of days, ever since you sent him that edit.

You haven’t been super active on tumblr lately. Everything ok?x

Been super busy at work lol. Big deadlines coming up.

You don’t expect to get a message back since you figured from your messages where he mentioned he was in the early hours of the day while you were only in the late afternoon, that he was probably asleep since you got home later from work than you had planned. So you set your phone aside as you pull the broccoli cheddar soup from the microwave. However, you’re pleasantly surprised to see a message waiting for you when you pick your phone back up to head back to your computer to keep working.

Ah, big deadlines. What kind of work do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?x

Hm, this new tumblr friend of yours is awake even though it’s probably the middle of the night for him?

I don’t mind. I work in graphic design. Isn’t it the middle of the night for you?

It would be if I was at home. I travel a lot for work. I’m currently in New York, so it’s only 9pm.x

But it definitely feels like I should be asleep. I’ve only been in New York for a few days and my mind is still on London time.x

What kind of work do you do?

You set your phone down and boot your computer back up. You know you have shadows to deal with and layers to add back before even getting to the stuff you were meaning to get on today. This project was going to be the death of you.

Tom stares at the message. How does he respond to that? He can’t very well tell you he’s an actor. That blows all of this. He likes being able to be open with you and the moment that it comes out that he is actually Tom Holland, well you might not be open with him. Could he tell you he works in the movie field without having to admit who he is? Could he play it off that he’s still a fanboy, because he will be a marvel fanboy until the day he dies, without blowing this whole thing up? There’s just something about you and being able to connect with someone who has no idea who he is that is different.

Even on your blog today, you shared things from months ago and still reacted like it was your first time seeing them. Your whole blog just radiated positivity, even though your messages sounded like you had a lot on your plate outside of the internet world. He wants to be able to know you without the pressure of having to be, well, him. But you’re not asking him to spill everything about who he is. Just a snip-it.

Film production. Getting ready to head off to a new project actually.x

Must be fun to travel for it. Anywhere fun?

Cleveland actually. Haven’t been there before, so maybe I’ll find something fun to do outside of the project while I’m there.x

Maybe you’ll run into Tom. He’s supposed to be there shooting a project I think. Especially if you’re also in the film industry, you’d already have more of a way into things than say I would lol

I don’t know if I’ll have that much time off to look for him.x

Well if you happen to run into him in said little time off, tell him there’s probably half a million if not more tumblr users willing to marry him, should he be in need of a wife, husband, or nonbianary pal.

Would you happen to be one of those said half a million?x

He shouldn’t have sent it. You have been pretty good about responding, but after sending that message, he hasn’t heard from you in over twenty-four hours and he’s beside himself. You also haven’t posted on your blog. Which makes him think you’re avoiding him on the site all together, which is even worse. The flight to Cleveland, wouldn’t have been half bad if he wasn’t worried the whole time about what you might have been sending while his phone was on airplane mode. And of course the one time he would have paid any amount for on flight wi-fi, it was down and no one could use it.

As soon as the plane lands, he’s flipping the switch to connect his phone again. He needs to see if you’ve messaged back. He’s ignoring all the other notifications that pop up, looking for only on apps notifications. And while you haven’t posted again, you have messaged back. Which makes him suddenly feel like he can breathe again.

I’m not the one who took Tom’s name on here. I feel like you might propose to Tom before I even have a chance to meet him IRL.

I don’t think I’m Tom’s type.X

And what do you think Tom’s type is?

And it takes everything to not just describe you. It wouldn’t be hard. He had spent a lot of time deep diving through your blog. He had looked through your #me tab on your blog. It was filled with everything from selfies to posts about things you had done. And you were the kind of person that he was into. It wasn’t an only physical attraction thing. It was the things that you found important enough to post about. The little things about your day that you shared about. But instead of typing back you, Tom decides to type something different.

I think he would be into someone down to earth. Someone who is into sharing time with friends and family equally and someone who has a great sense of humor. Oh and they would HAVE to love Tessa. That would be a must.x

Wow you’ve thought a lot about this.

Do you disagree?x

Surprisingly no. But I thought you’d say something more… I don’t know physical I guess.

Why’s that?x

I don’t know. I just did.

What do you think he’d be into?x

He can’t help but ask. He wants to know what you think he’s like. There’s enough speculation out there about what he’s like, but for some reason, knowing what you think about him, it means something to him.

I would say, similar to you- family, friends and Tessa would definitely be at the top. Sense of humor would be important. I also feel like with there being so much he can’t talk about to the public, having someone he can trust with stuff would be important. I also think trust would be important so that he has a space he can just be himself too. 🤷‍♀️

Pretty spot on. All of those are important to him. He wants to ask if those things are all important to you, but asking that would come off weird, so he takes a different approach.

Honestly if I wasn’t such a div when I was making accounts I would have just made a Tessa fan blog. I’m a bigger fan of her than of Tom. x

SO TRUE. How can you not be?! She’s the purest thing in this world (sorry to Tom) and every time he shares more of her with us I melt a little.

Paddy had sent him that picture of Tessa this morning, maybe sharing it would brighten everyone’s days. Especially knowing that you were such a fan of her too. Adding the picture to his Instagram story, with a quick caption of missing this sweet girl, he quickly uploads it.

APPARENTLY TOM CAN READ OUR THOUGHTS?!

What do you mean?x

Cute Tessa content just uploaded to his Insta story. Apparently he’s away from her and missing her 😭

She’s just too pure for this world x

I needed that right now.

Something wrong?x

Work project might kill me.

It’s due by the end of the day, but photoshop keeps crashing and I might scream.

I’m sorry love x

I’m restarting my computer for the third time today and it’s not even noon yet.

You know he’s English so the love thing shouldn’t throw you. Plus he’s a boy on the internet. But for some reason, it feels like something more. So instead of saying anything about it, you just keep messaging like nothing happened. A small part of you is hoping that by not mentioning it though, it might happen again.

Tom spends the rest of the day messaging you when he can. He knows you’re working on a project that has a deadline, so he doesn’t expect you to be at his beck and call. But when he gets a notification at almost eleven o’clock at night his time from your blog, he hopes it’s one of your personal posts to make him laugh. He isn’t let down.

THERE WAS A MOTH FLYING AROUND MY ROOM AND NOW I CAN’T FIND IT IM GOING TO DIE. IF IT EATS ME YOU ALL KNOW WHO THE MURDER IS

#me #killer moth #save me #if i die i leave everything to tom

He can’t help but send you an ask about it.

Tomholland2013 asked: You know moths don’t eat people right?x

Y/T/B: You didn’t see how big this one was. This one was definitely of the people eating variety with how big it was. And now it’s hiding in my room waiting for me to close my eyes and then it will sneak up on me, kill me, and devour me whole. 🖕

Tom laughs at your reply before sending another ask. Sure he could do this in your message thread, but he’s betting the asks are helping distract you from the moth.

Tomholland2013 asked: That’s a quiet defensive response from someone who is going to be eaten. If you want me to come save you from a killer moth, maybe be a bit nicer.x

Y/T/B: If you will race over here, find this moth, and release it into the wild so that it can’t kill me in my sleep I will make you as many Tom edits as it takes in gratitude. 👏😘Just come save me please. I swear I can hear him laughing in the distance.

Tomholland2013 asked: If he’s laughing in the distance, I’ll be over to take care of him. No one gets to disrespect my favorite blog and get away with it.x

Y/T/B: Thanks darling. I really, really appreciate it. Now I must be off to hunt this moth, before he hunts me.

Tags: @serendipitous-amor @im-still-tryin-to-find-it @tomfiction4 @im-deeply-shallow

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland x you #tom holland fan fic #tom holland fanfic #tom holland fan fiction #tom holland fanfiction #imanativeofswlondondahling #hidden in plain sight

38 notes · View notes

nennechus · 6 years

Text

gif tutorial !! (feat. anamo)

for everyone asking how i get my gifs so crispy

note: this tutorial is made using photoshop cs5! and while it should still work for newer versions, not everything may be the same. sorry :(

programs

photoshop cs5 (this is the only version i’ve really ever used so sorry cs6 and cc users)

topaz clean & denoise (optional)

kmplayer

media downloaders

4k video downloader

twitch leecher (for clips longer than what twitch allows)

how to download twitch clips (I use the “slow” method) twitch update made this useless ! so now i just use this site to download clips :)

1. extracting your frames when you can’t do video frames to layers

I think you need QuickTime (i don’t, which is why i can’t use this method) for this, but if your version of photoshop allows you to do File > Import > Video Frames to Layers, here’s another tutorial to help with that!

Remember that the best, clearest gifs come from the highest quality sources! However, I don’t normally recommend downloading actual 4k videos because while your gifs may be super HD, the frame rate is almost always really weird and slow.

After downloading your video/clip using one those nifty programs listed above, we need to extract your frames! Personally, I’ve only ever used KMPlayer to do this, but I’m sure that other equivalents will work pretty much the same.

Anyways, after opening your video in KMPlayer, pause right before the scene you want to gif and right click. There should be a tall menu that pops up, and from there you click Capture > Frame: Extract. This brings up yet another menu, and here are the best settings (at least I think so) for extracting your frames!

Now, you need to click start and let your video play. Once you’ve captured all the frames that you want, they should all be in your Capture folder that KMPlayer made for you (mine is located under This PC > Windows (C:) > KMPlayer > Capture). Just organize the frames as you want - I usually separate the frames for each gif into separate folders, but do whatever you want.

To actually get these frames into PS, start up the program and go to File > Scripts > Load Multiple DICOM Files and locate your Capture folder. Look, we have frames now. Cool.

2. actually making gifs

Make sure that your Animation window is open (it’s under Windows on PS if it’s not) so you can see what is likely only one frame, which is probably way less than the amount of frames that you captured (this will be different if you used Video Frames to Layers). To fix this, click on the symbol (a little upside-down triangle next to four lines) on the far right of the animation window and choose Make Frames From Layers.

Since we now have a lot more frames in our timeline, you can click the play button and watch them scroll through. Decide how you want to crop your gif and then resize the cropped frames to fit Tumblr (sizes here). Once you’ve done this, click on the upside-down triangle again and select Convert to Timeline, then select all the frames in the Layers tab that’s probably on the right of your screen and right click > Convert to Smart Filters. This will make sharpening easier because you can sharpen every layer all at once like this.

3, sharpening

At the top of your PS window, there should be a Filter tab. From there, click Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. Using my fairly limited experience with PS versions other than CS5, I do know that not every version of PS sharpens the same, so if you’re using something other than CS5, settings may vary somewhat. But anyways, here’s what my Smart Sharpen settings look like:

I then have my own personal sharpening action that I apply to the gif to somewhat smooth out the sharpness, but this tutorial has something towards the end that’ll give you a similar effect. And don’t forget to play your gif again to make sure that it works before you start coloring!

4. coloring

As a lot of players are POC, please be conscious of how you color the gif! Obviously, Obivously, it’s one thing to lighten up a dark scene because it’s hard to see what’s going on. However, when you purposefully and consciously make the decision to lighten (or darken) solely a player’s skin color, that’s gross! Stop!

This being said, there are 5.6 million gif coloring tutorials out there and 5.6 million ways to color a gif. Personally, I tend towards more “””natural””” and true-to-life colorings for my OWL gifs, but I’ve made vibrant and pastel and colorful gifs as well. Here’s what the base PSD for all my OWWC gifs looks like, and this is pretty representative of all my other OWL PSDs as well.

But as I said, there are so many different ways to color gifs - some of my gifs only have a total of three adjustment layers - and everyone has their own preferences for how they like their gifs to look. However, I will say that my first step in coloring is a gif is always use Levels and click the Auto option for a little color correction.

When you’re all done coloring your gif, select everything in your Layers tab (PSD + actual gif), then right click > Convert to Smart Filters again so that you only have one (1) layer in the tab.

5. using topaz to be extra (this is optional)

Is using Topaz necessary to make gifs? No, absolutely not. It also makes the giffing process take longer. It’s literally just to be extra yet I still use it on every single one of my gifs. Why? Because it makes them s m o o t h and I hate seeing pixels. Even if most OWL stages are pretty noiseless and nice overall.

To use Topaz, click on your single Smart Object gif layer and go to Filter > Topaz Labs.

While I do have both Topaz Clean and DeNoise, I typically prefer DeNoise over Clean, and that’s mostly because it’s a bit more difficult to mess it up. Topaz DeNoise does exactly what it sounds like it does - it removes noise from images. However, it also smoothes skin and hair and everything else, which is why you still need to be careful using it unless you’re going for an unrealistic, completely airbrushed look. Topaz Clean does the same, but with more emphasis on the smoothing (I guess), so it’s easier to accidentally go overboard with it.

I almost never use the two in conjunction, but a good thing about Topaz is that it also reduces your gif file size by reducing noise! Which is nice! Also here are some nice Topaz settings. I use these (for the most part)!

update as of jan. 6, 2019: I am a Big Liar and I use both Clean and Denoise together all the time now and have been doing so since pretty much immediately after writing this tutorial. Just be careful when using both otherwise your gif might start looking too smooth - as with anything else, Topaz should be used in moderation :)

6. saving your gif

This part is actually super important if you used Topaz on your gifs. After you’ve made everything into a Smart Object, click on the upside-down triangle on your Animation window and select Flatten Frames Into Layers. If you used Topaz and don’t do this before trying to save your gif for posting, you will crash PS.

This process might take a while for Topaz users, but at the end, once your Smart Object has been made into many layers, go back to the upside-down triangle, click Convert to Frame Animation, and then select Make Frames from Layers from that same menu.

Now all your frames are visible on the timeline! Delete the very first one (otherwise the same frame will be repeated twice), select all of the frames on your timeline, then click on the little “0 sec” thing beneath the frames to set the gif timing. For this, I generally recommend using 0.03 or 0.04 seconds, but this depends on personal preference as well as the frame rate of the original video.

It’s time to finally save our gif. You just go to File > Save for Web & Devices and a big window will pop up. Honestly, the only save setting that really matters is that you have your gif set to loop for forever. Some people prefer using Diffusion over Pattern when saving, but this is what mine looks like right now:

If you go to save your gif and find that it’s above Tumblr’s 3MB gif limit, you are probably just going to want to delete frames if you don’t want to lose the overall gif quality. Otherwise, you can click on that Colors: 256 box and try to cut down the number of different colors in your gif - though I will warn you that this generally makes gifs look more pixelated. And once your good and settled, click save and your gif is ready to post!

#uhhhhh idk if i should put this in the owl tag #uhhh maybe not tbh #mytutorials

12 notes · View notes

linuxlife · 6 years

Text

Linux Life Episode 45

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to my little world of Linux. So I have been a bit busy with family business so I have not had much time with Linux for the last few weeks or so.

Well since we last had words I seem to be having a few problems with Linux. While none are majorly damaging they can be a bit of a pain. Firstly VLC will lock up tight when loading up videos occasionally. The only way to recover it is to switch to another terminal and then to kill the process using PS and kill -9 instructions.

Why it does this I can’t seem to ascertain as it doesn’t seem to leave a log explaining what is causing it. It is not always doing so which is confusing. If it did it with every video or a particular type but is not the case. So is it a glitch with VLC or the video driver unknown.

Also the Show Desktop application crashes at the same time normally so is it VLC or a MATE issue? It could even be a NVIDIA issue.

I really don’t have a clue. As I said it’s not the end of the world as normally a reboot sorts it but it is annoying.

I guess I could use something else for video such as Kodi but it is a bit of an odd sheep when it comes to its bizarre UI setup. However if VLC keeps bugging out I might have no choice but to find a different video player.

I have also had a few issues with certain RSS readers. I decided to try a couple but they have proved to be a bit of a problem. First I tried FeedReader which I managed to add the feeds reasonably easy but every time I updated the feed it would crash upon me. Only way to kill it was using the above process.

So I removed it and have been running RSS Guard, now it was a pain working out how to add the feeds but with a bit of persistence I finally managed it. However it does not seem to update itself automatically. Also it seems to have issues picking up the feeds straight away.

Maybe there is a decent RSS reader. Not that I really need an RSS reader but I try and keep up with various podcasts. Making it easier than trawling through Twitter to find the latest news.

So I will continue to look to find one that does the job with the least problem. If anyone has any recommendations feel free to let me know.

So I decided to download the complete torrent collection from the Mod Archive. Reason being I decided to see what Linux was like regarding tracker music playback. Even though there is only a few mods I actually like. I now probably have about quarter of a million of them.

Now I am not a newbie when it comes to MOD trackers but it seems there is now many new formats I had never even heard of.

Sure there was the usual MOD, S3M, XM, IT files even the odd MED. I was even aware of the 669 files as I am that old I can remember them.

However then there was AHX, MTM, FAR, MO3, MPTM, STM, MTM, ULT, HVL, DSM, PLM, OKT and others I had no idea how to play them.

Now Schism Tracker ( Modern day Impulse Tracker) will play quite a lot of these formats but there was a few it wouldn't.

I was amazed at how many tracker formats VLC can playback.

OpenMPT (previously ModPlug player) seems to play virtually anything thrown at it but although you can install it on Linux it just runs the Windows version through Wine.

However AHX and HVL were not covered by any of the above players

Both files are used by the Hively Tracker which I did not even know existed. Then again I stopped following tracker software after SkaleTracker died. So I am hardly on the cutting edge of tracker software.

So back to Hively Tracker first I ran the Windows version using Wine. Just to see what they were. Sure enough it's just another tracker.

However on their site was a version for 64 bit Linux but it was for Debian. Now long time readers will remember Pencilsheep (A weak Photoshop clone which died) was only available in .DEB format.

So off I went and found Debtap again which converts Debian files into a format useable by Arch.

Sure enough converted file but would not let it install via Pacman due to needing a dependency of the deja vu fonts core.

Now they were installed just not where Debian installs them. Bit of fiddling I install Hively Tracker using the Pacman -Udd command which basically instructs it to install and ignore the dependencies.

So now installed native to Linux I try and open it. Nope, however a quick check using terminal it is looking for the font in a specific directory in the /usr/share/fonts directory.

Bit of root file copying to where it expects to see the fonts. Now Hively Tracker is working fine under Linux so I was able to delete the Windows version.

Bit of a fiddle but it now can play AHX and HVL files without starting Wine.

However I still need to use OpenMPT for most of the other obscure ones. So I am still using a Windows application. One that is listed in the AUR but it's still a Windows app running through Wine.

Now all I need is about 10 years of free time and infinite patience to sit through all the MOD Tracker files I have (about 35GB worth)...

Who would have thought MOD Music was so complicated?

Anyway that's enough waffle for this episode, so until next time ... Take care.

#linux life #tracker music #hively #modarchive #torrents #linux antergos #debtap #rss guard #vlc media player

0 notes

whorehousenyc · 5 years

Text

How to fix Software with latest update in Windows PC

Samsung Tool PRO is a cell phone tool which can be used to unlock popular Samsung devices such as the Galaxy.

The application isn’t just a simple unlocker, but also capable of repairing your device if it’s been bricked by flashing official firmware to the device Samsung Tool PRO Download.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Download, although a bit older version but there are solid reasons to choose 7.0 over advanced series. Simplicity and quick tools to draw your desired sketch lines and shades which were never so easy. Speedy work is what users ever wanted and 7.0 Package is probably the most comprehensive initiative for professional editing tools.

TeamViewer is the All-In-One Solution for Remote Access and Support over the Internet.

TeamViewer 10 free download connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. You can remote control your partner’s PC as if you were sitting right in front of it.

The next feature update for Getintopc Windows 10, known as version 1809 (and codenamed Redstone 5,) is packing lots of new features and improvements to the OS and user experience. In case you’re curious, here’s a complete changelog detailing all the noteworthy new changes and enhancements coming in this release.

DU Recorder is not only a screen recorder for videos but also an app to capture screenshots and edit images. With DU Screen Recorder for pc, you can take a screenshot in just one click. With just one hand. No more double-press and hold.

Adobe has ended its support for their creative suite products, but we have compiled an offline installer of Photoshop Creative Suite 5, which can be installed on multiple machines. You can download full Adobe Photoshop CS5 free download standalone offline installation setup which supports both “x64 & x86” system environments.

Windows 10 preactivated iso kickass has fixed a loophole at some point (which was in previous versions of windows) it is may be an attempt to shove customers towards new hardware as opposed to letting them upgrade existing installations, though again, I’m not sure the volume is high enough to matter either way.

uTorrent 3.5.5 Pro has got a very simple and intuitive user interface that will display all the data you require to know about the uTorrent Getintopc you are managing. This is the fact that you can preview the name, size, status, download as well as upload speeds, seeds, peers and the estimated time for the files being downloaded.

If your organization uses XenApp or XenDesktop, install Citrix Receiver on your device to get access to the remote Windows and Linux applications and desktops. Citrix Receiver for windows 10 free download.

Now you are not limited by the maximum amplification capabilities of your PC’s sound card. You can raise the volume to the desired level even if the volume level in a system set on maximum. Sound Booster for Windows 10processes all audio being played in the system and boosts it before it gets to the sound card.

Driverpack Solution offline ISO is a popular driver management software that is popular throughout the world. With which you can easily solve any computer or laptop driver’s problem.

Instagram is a social media network that allows users to take, edit, and share photos and messages. A new version is available for PC owners running Windows 10. This latest version includes an update with Instagram’s latest features, including filters, photo messaging, and stories. Download Instagram for pc windows 10.

Windows takes forever to start up. Mysterious errors crash and restarts. Sluggish internet and download speeds. Trouble loading songs, videos, and programs.

Tired of bothering friends and family for help, or worse…hauling your PC to the local repair shop, iolo system mechanic free?

When the download is complete, you can proceed to install the app. Installed correctly, we can now start sharing files from the PC to other devices and vice versa.

Before we go on to see how the app is installed, we want to show you the main features of Shareit for pc latest version.

In the World, Best Professional video editor suggest to you use Final Cut Pro X Torrent. Moreover, in this software, you can access a lot of features and tools to edit your video for your own desired output. Furthermore, you can delete your unnecessary part from the video and also merge with another important part of the video.

MacOS is one of the most popular operating systems which is developed and market by App Inc. since 2001. It is the second most widely used OS as per Wikipedia. If you are currently using Mac os high sierra download ISO then I have good news that you can upgrade your old OS with MacOS high sierra for free.

Download Microsoft word for Mac or a long time, Microsoft offered a free program called Word Viewer to open any DOCX file without paying for the full version of Office. But, Word Viewer was retired a few years back. What you have instead is the new Word Mobile.

Since Adobe’s powerhouse is extensible via various add-ons and plugins, you might be interested in one that is specially created for building complex particle systems and animating them. This component is called Trapcode Particular Free and it aims to bring to the table a lot of effects you can use in your designs.

smcFanControl lets the user set the minimum speed of the build in fans. So you can increase your minimum fan speed to make your Intel Mac run cooler. However in order not to damage your machines smcFanControl doesn’t let you set a minimum speed to a value below Apple’s defaults.

dungeons and dragons name generator each player plays as a fictional character with various traits and statistics determined at the start and throughout the game. The characters will embark on an adventure set in a fantasy world and much of it is dictated by the Dungeon Master or narrator, as well as many rolls of various dice. Dice are used to determining the outcome of actions and events, like trying to pick open a door or the activation of a trap.

The moving process has been over for a couple of weeks, although a few bits of administrative stuff still need to be dealt with. I’m still settling into a new routine though, but a more regular schedule for content should be back relatively soon female fantasy names.

The Random Japanese name generator is a country in East Asia with a population of over 126 million people, which makes it the tenth largest country by population in the world. Japan is also known for its contributions to modern technologies, its entertainment culture, and it has a powerful economy.

This Nord names generator will give you 10 names fit for the Nord race of the Elder Scrolls games. The Nord is a race of humans, who closely resemble Vikings, both in looks, names, and somewhat in culture.

Blood elves are high elves who, after the Scourge invasion of their kingdom, changed their names to blood elves to reflect both their royal lineage and the loss of life they suffered because of this invasion. Blood elf name generator

Country name generator varies a lot, which is often because of the different language backgrounds. Even names translated to English vary a lot, and I’ve kept this potential for variety in this generator. Some names will seem similar to existing country names, others will be more different or obscure, and some will seem more like names specific to a certain language.

The gnomes are true tricksters. Their small size and sense of humor are often used to deceive both friend and enemy, and to hide their true intentions. However, although they do have their suspicions of taller races, most Gnome name generator means no harm, and only wish to joke around.

As more and more people join Youtube name generator it gets harder and harder to get a good name for your account/channel. You may have found that you have to resort to less-than-desirable usernames like having to have an account name that does not mean anything or is not easy to remember.

Star Wars name generator has a universe rich in all sorts of creatures and while not all were named or had enough names to create a name generator with, I did create a name generator for 47 of them. Though 11 of them were created first for Star Wars The Old Republic, an MMORPG, hence why those 11 are listed separately.

Windows 8.1 pro product key is the successor to Windows 8 operating system by Microsoft. It has all new features of Windows 8 and updating to Windows 8.1 is free for the users who are using windows 8. It had updated features than Windows 8, which made it attractive to the users.

If you have not activated your Windows 10 activator yet, then do it today because if you have not activated it, you were not able to receive updates and also will receive lots of pops up saying that your Windows version is inactivated. And also there can be many features that will be inaccessible, so in order to use it, you need Windows 10 permanent activator.

Microsoft Office 2016 is the latest version of Microsoft Office which succeeds Microsoft Office 2013. Microsoft Office 2016 Product Key is the key that will provide you to work with Office 2016 professional plus. If you are using Office 365, you can easily upgrade to Microsoft word 2016 product key free.

The problem is that many websites don’t update their databases. As a result, their keys have already been used. You won’t be able to activate your copy of Windows using a Windows 7 Pro product key from those lists.

The good news is that we have an updated Windows 7 Professional product key list for you. Whenever you come back here, you’ll find new and updated serial numbers.

Finding it difficult to get a Microsoft Office 2010 Product key? Here is something for your help. Growing technological advancements have resulted in making many people technologically sound. Product Key for Microsoft Office 2010 free full version can be used to activate Office 2010 suit. Microsoft office professional plus 2010 product key

The user can use iexplorer registration code for transferring all the files. In addition to this, can help in sending music from iPad, PC, phone, Mac, iTunes and also from iPod successfully. Moreover includes the best and simple drag and drop interface in order to access.

Freemake Video Converter Key After the growth of technology, we are having more number of fun activity spaces here, the ability to reproduce the scenes with high-quality videos have made the humans to produce the life as it is after its completion.

KMPlayer for windows 7 is a versatile media player which can cover various types of container format such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg Theora, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, and QuickTime among others. It handles a wide range of subtitles and allows you to capture audio, video, and screenshots in many ways.

Included in the Dev C++ FileHippo environment are all of the standard features that are necessary for writing, compiling, debugging, and executing programs written in C. Dev-C++ has been designed for the hard-core C++ programmer as it allows.

The user interface of Bluestacks 1 download App Player can be totally configured to suit your needs. Additionally, it is capable of integrating with the custom software experiences which are designed and developed by PC manufacturers.

Format Factory FileHippo is an easy-to-use application that allows you to convert the format of a group of files at once. No matter if they are videos, sounds or images, FormatFactory can deal with all of them.

Download SHAREit For Windows, Mac, Android & iOS — SHAREit FileHippo is one of the most popular file transfer applications with millions of downloads on the earth. No wonder indeed, because with this app, users can share data quickly to other devices.

Vidmate for pc Filehippo is an app that allows you to download and save video from any major website to your PC. The user interface is clean and crisp with a standard set-up. The content you download can be stored in numerous video formats.

Soni Typing Tutor download is free to try, without any significant functionality restrictions. It works on all modern Windows platforms, without any compatibility issues. Downloading and installing the software shouldn’t take more than a minute, even on slower computers.

FileHippo WhatsApp is a renowned messaging service that has been around for some time now. Although you can use it on the web, WhatsApp has launched a desktop app for both Windows and Mac OS X platforms.

The customization options for icons, toolbar graphics, and status icon replacements are vast, you can even create your own. µTorrent download for pc incorporates localization support and has language support; therefore it will automatically change to your system language.

The Adobe Audition Free CC has been warmly welcomed by music developers since its 2018 launch and is being described as a practical program which boasts an array of features. Designed primarily to not only create songs but also to enhance recordings and craft professional mixes,

Antares Autotune free has been the world standard for professional pitch correction for 20 years, and the tool that defines the signature vocal effect of modern popular music.

Kodi 16.1 download (formerly known as XBMC) is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub that can be installed on Linux, OSX, Windows, iOS, and Android, featuring a 10-foot user interface for use with televisions and remote controls.

0 notes

webbygraphic001 · 6 years

Text

How to Launch Your E-Commerce Empire for $100 (or Less)

No, it’s not a clickbait title and yes, starting with $100 can get you an actual running store.

In this article I’ll go through every step you need to take to get your store up and running and explain the costs involved.

Granted, to keep the costs down you’ll do all the heavy lifting but hey, nothing worthwhile ever comes easy so let’s dive right in…

1. The Product

It might feel odd for some that I would go about explaining how to launch a $100 store and start with the product but truth is, the site, domain, logo everything needs to be tailored to fit the product you are trying to sell. The success or failure of your business will rely on your ability to select the correct product and the right market so don’t skip over this step.

Here’s a quick way to validate your idea: Go to Google Trends and type in a word that describes your product, eg: “phone case” or “headlights”. You’ll see in a graph below how much interest there is in a particular region like the US. Keep in mind you can also see the results of Worldwide searches but if you are going to target a particular region I’d advise you look there. Look for trends going up or have a steady above 40 interest. That’s what you are looking for.

A couple of years ago I launched a business selling baby and toddler related toys, clothes, etc. When I looked at Google Trends I remember doing around 40 different searches and seeing what my audience was looking for to get a proper understanding of what my target audience looks for and what types of products I need to add to the store.

A second, yet just as important step here is to look for what your competition does, how they address their customers and look for negative feedback from their users. See what they do wrong and aim to improve on those aspects specifically.

Cost: $0

2. The Domain

So you found your product and market. Good for you. Now you need to get the domain that will bring in your flock of loyal customers and though it might sound irrelevant, the domain can really hurt you if you don’t get the right one.

So what makes a good domain name?

Good question. It’s hard to decide if you want to get something brandable or get some keywords in the domain name. If you end up using keywords in the domain name you’d give your viewers a clear idea of they’ll be getting when seeing your store but what if you want to pivot? What if you find out 6 months in, that the store is selling more than just whatever your keyword in the domain is. If your aim is to build a strong brand, then by all means, put your brand name in the domain.

In regards to the TLD (Top-level domain) you choose, get a “.com” if your audience is worldwide, and go local if you are targeting a specific country. It’s as simple as that.

Other than that, keep your domain name short, be unique and unless you have no other choice, avoid hyphens.

As far as providers go I usually stick to Godaddy.com or namecheap.com, both are great services with good service and solid support.

Cost: $10

3. The Platform (Self-Hosted Solution vs SaaS)

I could probably talk for the next hour on why you should pick one CMS or another, why you can go serverless or use a traditional hosting or even if you should go for a SaaS option or not, but I won’t go into that much detail. Instead, I’ll touch briefly on each subject and only talk about the main “players” in each category.

We’ve seen, the past few years, an explosion of E-commerce SaaS options, some better than others yet the fact that almost every week you hear about a new SaaS in this segment makes me think there’s still room for innovation.

What are the benefits of having a SaaS? Basically, you get to launch your store exponentially faster. You basically signup, add your products, set up payments and delivery options and you are good to go.

Before I get swarmed by angry mobs yelling at me for not talking about their favorite e-commerce platform provider, I want to point out that I’ll limit this article to only two SaaS platforms, that I think, are different enough to give you a wider perspective on how far you can actually go choosing an e-commerce SaaS.

SaaS

Number 1: the king of e-commerce SaaS: Shopify, an easy to use platform that will make sense for most people needing a simple shop with no need for a whole lot of customization. There’s a ton of support for it, themes, plugins and customizing your shop is really easy.

Number 2: a newer player in the SaaS space, yet special: Blugento, a simple to use SaaS, similar to Shopify in this regards, the difference being that behind the curtains, there a fully functioning Magento platform doing the heavy lifting. (I’ll talk about Magento as a self-hosted platform below.) The main benefit of Blugento is the scalability of the store, something lacking from all other providers and an aspect that’s incredibly important.

Self-hosted solutions are dime a dozen and they differ from one another by a number of differences but perhaps the most important one is the community surrounding it. This is a crucial factor for you and your store. Since you are reading a “$100 e-commerce site” article you probably can’t rely on a big team of in-house developers that you can breed, educate, and have lying around until that inevitable time when your site will go down.

And it will. It will crash in the most unexpected way at the most inconvenient time…

Cost: around $50/month

Self-Hosted CMS

…that’s why I’m going to only talk about the two biggest platforms, Magento and WooCommerce. They are both immensely popular with crazy big communities around them, testing, developing and pushing the platform to the limits.

Number 1: Magento has been around since 2008 and it quickly became a favorite amongst developers even if, at the time, there were bigger and more popular e-commerce CMS. Magento is not going to be for everyone, hosting costs are going to be higher, development is more complicated but in return, you get a versatile store with a lot of room for customization and it scales gracefully so when your business grows, your store can grow with it handling hundreds of thousands of products without a problem.

Number 2: WooCommerce is on the other side of the spectrum, easy to install, development is easy and you get a ton of free plugins and themes. Since it runs on top of WordPress development is cheap and it’s relatively easy to find developers to work on the store adding extra features. Compared to Magento, the management of inventory and orders is faster and easier but after about 50K products added to your store, you’ll have to think about upgrading to something like Magento.

Both self-hosted options described above will need a hosting company before they can see the light of day. I personally recommend going with hostgator.com or siteground.com but there are a ton of great choices out there.

Installing either platform is easy as both hosting providers offer tools for installing Magento or WordPress through a simple point and click wizard. No more messing with the console, creating databases and editing confusing PHP files.

Cost: $0 for the platforms, between $10 – $25 / month for hosting

Serverless

I’d be remiss not to mention serverless in this discussion as this is something that has been talked a lot about in the recent months and we’ve seen big names in E-commerce move their operations to the cloud, companies like Zalora.

Zalora moved everything to AWS, website, mobile apps, warehouse operations, everything is running off of EC2, S3, Lambda, and RedShift. They are the biggest retailer in Asia with over 20 million users and yet, their entire infrastructure development team is composed of 3 people, which for anyone understanding the difficulties running such a large website can say it’s amazing!

This is done through AWS Lambda, a service launched by Amazon that lets you upload small pieces of code that work as microservices, called functions—hence the term Functions as a Service or FaaS. They basically do a very specific task that your website triggers, returning a simple result. The technology behind it promises to allow developers to build websites and apps without having to worry about the backend or the infrastructure, all while keeping the costs at an all-time low.

There are three big reasons for switching to a serverless framework: cost, development speed and scalability. There are companies saving tens of thousands of dollars a month after switching to serverless and an average of 77% faster delivery speed of the products. Check out this case study on how serverless saves money in comparison to traditional hosting solutions.

Poor website performance is now measured in terms of lost customers and revenues

– Tom Lounibos, CEO, SOASTA

4. Branding

If I’d were to say branding is important I’d be grossly understating it. I will say that a solid logo and branding will make up the foundation of your successful store. So how can you build one that reflects your company’s image while still looking professional? Well, the easy way would be to throw money at it, but we don’t roll like that, so we’ll be doing this ourselves.

The first place to start is to look for inspiration and you do this by going through design and branding websites looking at the current trends, tutorials and any tips or tricks that will help you in this endeavor. My suggestion would be to start with sites like hipsthetic.com or designoholic.com and then try to expand your search to Pinterest.

Alright, you now have an idea of what you need but you aren’t going to pay a couple of hundred dollars per month for Photoshop because that will blow the entire budget we’ve set for ourselves. So what we do is we sign up with Canva.com. It’s free and it will get you started quite fast. After watching a 1-minute tutorial you’ll be ready to start creating your first logo.

Don’t stop at one. Make two or three and show them to a couple of friends to get feedback. After picking the winner get back to Canva.com and make a few more: one that has transparency; one that is all black; and one that is all white. You can use the color one for your website and the rest you’ll use to watermark catalog images (I don’t really recommend using watermarks on product images but if you absolutely have to, place them in a corner somewhere) business cards, social media posts, etc. You get the point.

Cost $0

5. First Marketing Steps

Alright, we almost made it. There’s only one little step ahead of us. And by little I actually mean the most important thing you’ll end up doing for your business.

SEO

Let’s start with something basic: on page SEO, sounds easy enough, right? Well, not exactly. There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to SEO and I won’t have time to go into much detail but I will let you with this awesome infographic that will teach you pretty much all you need.

Social Media

You probably know this by now, SM is a tool that you can leverage to get in front of the right customers. Start posting on a regular basis but be careful not to alienate your readers with overzealous posts promoting products. I recommend people use the 8 + 2 rule. You provide 8 pieces of useful content, regardless if it’s on your site or not. Content like tutorials, tips and tricks, peer reviews, etc. Don’t be afraid to test the water with this strategy, find out what your users like and with that type of content they interact and start sharing.

Content Marketing

This will be your bread and butter for the next few months. It’s crucial to have a blog where you can share your experiences and knowledge with your peers. As part of the content marketing efforts, you’ll have to do guest posts. Find like minded people who own blogs and start pitching ideas for guest posts. Most blog owners are fairly easy to reach and communicate with so I highly advise you do this. Guest blogging on small blogs is a great way to reach new audiences but perhaps even better than that would be to go on Medium.com. It’s a great platform to publish content, with a ton of viewers, so I’d strongly suggest you try it out.

6. Advertising

So if my math is correct after getting set up with your website domain and host you’d be left with $30 to $40. I’d advise you drop a few dollars in Facebook ads. It’s easy to do, you don’t need to spend money on a consultant and Facebook has a bunch of tutorials on this. What I’d suggest you do is select the best products you have in your store and create a carousel. Have at least 4 products in there. Select a small audience with the demographic that fits your niche and place a $5 limit on the ad spending. You’ll have around a week to tweak the ad and if you have the right combination of audience and product, chances are you’ll have made your first sell by now.

The Grand Total

If you do the math, going with a self-hosted solution will cost around $50 to host ( for a 5 or 6 month period), add to that $ 10 for the domain and you get to $ 60. You’ll have to host it yourself, do all the maintenance and configuration but you get to have about 6 months to make up your investment.

Going with a SaaS will cost around $60 but you will be done and ready to go in a couple of days which is great if you don’t want to spend time learning to code or set up a CMS. The downside here is that your $50 will cover only that first month which adds to the pressure of making a few sells (which shouldn’t be a problem).

Featured image via Depositphotos.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source from Webdesigner Depot https://ift.tt/2MCm458 from Blogger https://ift.tt/2Plw13D

#Blogger

0 notes

iyarpage · 6 years

Text

How to Launch Your E-Commerce Empire for $100 (or Less)

No, it’s not a clickbait title and yes, starting with $100 can get you an actual running store.

In this article I’ll go through every step you need to take to get your store up and running and explain the costs involved.

Granted, to keep the costs down you’ll do all the heavy lifting but hey, nothing worthwhile ever comes easy so let’s dive right in…

1. The Product

Cost: $0

2. The Domain

So what makes a good domain name?

In regards to the TLD (Top-level domain) you choose, get a “.com” if your audience is worldwide, and go local if you are targeting a specific country. It’s as simple as that.

Other than that, keep your domain name short, be unique and unless you have no other choice, avoid hyphens.

As far as providers go I usually stick to Godaddy.com or namecheap.com, both are great services with good service and solid support.

Cost: $10

3. The Platform (Self-Hosted Solution vs SaaS)

SaaS

And it will. It will crash in the most unexpected way at the most inconvenient time…

Cost: around $50/month

Self-Hosted CMS

Cost: $0 for the platforms, between $10 – $25 / month for hosting

Serverless

Poor website performance is now measured in terms of lost customers and revenues

– Tom Lounibos, CEO, SOASTA

4. Branding

Cost $0

5. First Marketing Steps

Alright, we almost made it. There’s only one little step ahead of us. And by little I actually mean the most important thing you’ll end up doing for your business.

SEO

Social Media

Content Marketing

6. Advertising

The Grand Total

Featured image via Depositphotos.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;} How to Launch Your E-Commerce Empire for $100 (or Less) published first on https://medium.com/@koresol

0 notes

topicprinter · 6 years

Link

Hey /r/Entrepreneur! Its Rich, maker of Failory, a website where I weekly interview entrepreneurs (failed and successful ones). Today we published an interview with Bruno, the CEO of Trackin, a startup that releases technology for companies to start a food delivery business. He rapidly built the MVP, acquired $25,000 from the 3 best French entrepreneurs, and started with different marketing campaigns. Today, Tracking is making +$167,000/month!Here are the main points:Idea: Bruno was CTO of a catering company and found one of their main pain points was the delivery and finding out where the food was.Development: They spent a few months building an MVP.Marketing: Online marketing (SEO, AdWords, blog, content creation), direct sales and product growth.Mistakes: Bruno has commited huge mistake when hiring the team.Revenue: $167,000/monthProfit: They became profitable two years ago. But Bruno reinvests everything in the business so in that sense there is no actual profit. Learn from idea to monetization, including mistakes and obstacles, how did he achieve it!Hi Bruno! What's your background, and what are you currently working on?Hi Failory!I have a master degree in Computer Science, and I’ve learned how to code and use computers when I was 12. I released my first website when I was 14 years old. At that time XHTML was fancy and JavaScript was the ENEMY. I was also leading a couple of video game teams that were at the top of the French scene.Even though I’m a ‘tech guy’, I’ve also always been a people person, which allowed me to build products while creating direct relationships with people who needed them and acquire skills that some techies might not have.I’m currently the CEO of Trackin, which has released the technology for any company to start a food delivery business within a day, and MobyDish, which is our main focus today. MobyDish is a full-catering online service for companies of 10 to 1000+ people. What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I’ve always been an entrepreneur. As a kid, I was a student of a private school, and hanging out with kids that received money from their parents. In order to have the same level of life than them and not be left behind, I would find out what students would need, and just make it happen!Before my work on Trackin, I was CTO of another catering company. One of our main pain points was the delivery and find out where the food was. It really makes you look bad to not be able to answer such question when the order size is worth $1k+. I quickly realized that it was a worldwide problem. Even the big brands like Pizza Hut didn’t know what was going on with their drivers as soon as they left a restaurant. I looked up online and didn’t find any technology to streamline deliveries, so I just went ahead, quit my job, my visa, my girlfriend, and life in San Francisco. I went back to France and started to work on the tech!Then long story short, I showed it around the world to different restaurants after a few months and an MVP, then I launched it, got some interesting growth and joined Y-Combinator.Being half French and half Italian, I really care about food, and I couldn’t keep seeing people having bad experiences towards it. It definitely made sense to come up with technology so that people stop being scared to order food online and wait for hours without any news from the restaurant.Also, as a people person, I do care a lot about user experience and making people happy. With MobyDish, it is the perfect opportunity to have a huge impact on the food space and to connect people together, the right way.The idea is not just to feed people but to create such a great and easy experience, that we’ll democratize catering like Airbnb democratized renting apartments from individuals, globally. How did you build Trackin?I will always remember the first days working on Trackin. Looking for the right name, right domain, right design. I spent about 3 days working of the first version on the logo, and my computer crashed...my work on Photoshop was all gone before I got a chance to save it...Worst day of my life at that time, and first lesson learned...Save your work ALL THE TIME.I pitched the idea to a few people and a friend decided to join the journey as a backend engineer/DevOps while I’d take care of the rest.After a few months building the MVP, I’ve traveled to meet with restaurants, collect data and improve our tech and features. The first time I tried to show the product to restaurants, I was petrified. I felt like my baby, ideas and product were about to be judged for the first time. Fortunately, people liked it.Then, in order to scale, I needed to find money to hire some people. We won some French national contests, got money from the government, loans, banks, and other European awards that gave us enough to hire people.Unfortunately, my friend decided to leave the startup to focus on his full-time job instead of Trackin.With all the excitement around us and my knowledge of the food space, I decided to take over his role as well and kept working on Trackin as a solo founder. After six months of improvements, and a couple of press release, I closed our first paying customer (which wasn’t even a restaurant but an alcohol delivery company at night) and things became real. I officially incorporated the company and hired interns to get things going. Dealing with inquiries, marketing, and sales.The first version looked okay, but pretty bad for my current standard, and the new generation of employees was able to use it pretty easily. I’ve always enjoyed showing the product to someone and just stare at how the person would interact with it, where he would struggle, what kind of questions he would have...at that time there weren’t yet online tools to record the online experience and stream it back at you ;)I will always remember how I was answering to calls from my first customers at 2 am. I would be pushing code and new Android apps based on their problems the minute we’d hang up to keep them happy (like connectivity issues, UX, etc.).Our first pricing model was to charge per driver tracked on the platform, kind of salesforce charges for number of seats, but it didn’t make sense for restaurants. Then we decided to charge per deliveries. We felt like it was easier to convert restaurants this way because if they were just launching or were small, we were helping them grow faster, at a lower cost. If they were already established, they would pay more because they use us more and would improve their service, brand, and efficiency.When I’ve started, I knew nothing about sales processes, but I’ve learned by talking to people with more experience than me. Then I started to execute. We grew 10x in 4 months and I got lucky enough to sit down with Michael Seibel in my city (Lyon, France). After having dinner with him and sharing my story, he invited me to apply to YC.I didn’t think twice to jump on the opportunity, rented a house in San Jose, left my life in France, sold my furniture, gave up on my lease, prepared my employees, and moved back to California...Then I went through the program, learned a ton, fundraised enough to survive and then started to work on MobyDish. Which were your marketing strategies to grow your business?I’d say there are not many secrets to growth. Combining techniques and doing it the right way by paying attention to details and knowing what you do is key.I’ve always been good at multitasking, and quick growth, to me, means combining many channels, then focus on the ones that work for your business.My main idea though as always trying to create a strong brand, and it has a lot to do with growth. People need to be emotionally attached to what I create. Long term, it decreases marketing costs, increases retention and organic growth.Online Marketing (SEO, Adwords, Blog, Content creation)Find out who your target is, what keywords they’re looking for when they have the pain points you’re trying to solve.Address these pain points through blog articles, short sentences for SEO and ads, etc. Establish your credibility by sending these in newsletters or on social media.Direct sales:Almost everything can be automated or outsourced nowadays. But when I started I did learn by doing all of it myself. Although I hadn’t realized how important it was to start with a good list of leads. Talking to salespeople I quickly came up with ideas on how to automate SDR, Follow up and Sales pitch.Constant email tweaks, A/B testing and looking at opening rates/conversion rate is key.Product growth:Just think about ways your users can recommend you or add gamification for stickiness and make your users feel great about your product. Then when you make them feel great, invite them to talk about your product to someone else! I always use the Candy crush example. People love playing it because they feel great about themselves when they’re playing it. It’s fairly easy but challenging sometimes, and most and foremost, you get animations and congratulations for almost everything you’re doing. The game keeps praising your actions!I also like to make others laugh or feel good about themselves so the notifications in Trackin are pretty funny and different from what you would read in standard SAAS.Getting a sense of self-improvement, especially regarding sales was amazing. Finding the right introductory sentence to get to talk to a manager and by-pass employees, being aware of what to answer based on questions, being able to read people concerns, see their reactions to the features we knew they would love...were all great feelings.Today with MobyDish, I love to hear customers from Silicon Valley (used to deal with the best products) how they enjoy working with us VS companies like Doordash, Caviar or others. Because these companies have raised millions and are hundreds, when we’re super small, profitable and mainly backed by angels, and still being the company they like most. Another funny fact is that some of the biggest VCs in Silicon Valley that have invested in these food companies, are using MobyDish to feed themselves :) What were the biggest challenges you faced and obstacles you overcame?Deciding to leave the life I’ve built in San Francisco to start Trackin was already a big step. I am an entrepreneur and wanted to get back to that life, but this time it meant giving up on a visa, job, life, friends, cheap place etc.Then getting back to France, it was hard for people to understand my ambitions, I kept hearing that I should start “slowly and not aim too high and slow down on international expansion”Follow your guts when you hear people telling you that it’s not the right thing to do and how to approach things is tough, because some people will be right about some aspects of your business, but some people will be wrong...so how do you know which one to listen to?Deciding to keep working on this adventure alone was another big challenge, and it has been since then. Getting into YC, talking to investors, managing your company...you are expected to do as well as other companies, even though you’re alone. I’ll always remember Michael Seibel during the program explaining to the batch how solo founders are supposed to be “superheroes” because expectations are at least the same and nobody will help out. Although I feel very fortunate, because looking back, I have learned so much about everything related to creating and growing a business: management, sales, hiring, marketing, accounting, technology, customer support, scalability, fundraising etc. There are days I wish I had more time to be a normal CEO, but overall, it’s a huge chance to be able to lead a growing company by yourself, because the amount of new skills you get is extremely valuable and will help you not only in your business life but also in your personal life. Everything becomes so easy!The last biggest challenge I had to face was being in the food space. We came late in the game and humans are not really objectives...After some bad investments were made, and after some companies failed, (mainly because of lack of business models and leadership), food suddenly became a ‘bad’ market. Which forced me to build a business sustainable and profitable right away instead of taking the VC shortcut.But at the end of the day, it made us stronger and we have solid foundations to scale! Which are your greatest disadvantages?I guess my last paragraph above answers this question.Being a solo founder, in the food space in the most expensive city of the world is not ‘ideal’ facing some of the most founded companies in that space.Luckily for us, things are doing great! :) During the process of building & growing Trackin, which were the worst mistakes you committed?I’ve made huge hiring mistakes, multiple times, always ended well though, because I don’t think like you win anything by fighting with people for your ego. And I kept people for too long in the team when I knew they weren’t performing.We also made mistakes regarding our first targets with Trackin: we wanted to build the product for chains, but started talking to small businesses, so developed features based on their feedback, then realized chains were making more sense as target, but needed different features and had longer sales cycles. After trying to sell to chains and talking to experimented investors, I realized that to build a solid business I should sell to small businesses. A lot of them. Chains would ask for custom features and would take tons of time to make decisions, payments etc. Plus, they would represent a high percentage of your revenue and losing one of them could be meaning laying of people.Another mistake I’ve made was spending too much time to get money from government, loans, and contests. This is honestly all bullshit. It’s not because you’re winning contests that customers will show up, love your product and pay you. Contests are only good to have press articles and to get some credibility but it’s not a long-term strategy. This is still a common mistake made by entrepreneurs. The money helped me start hiring people, but the paperwork needed for it and still needed today wasn’t worth it.Keeping people too long in your team when you know they are creating problems or not performing the way you want is also a big mistake. I’ve tried to help and change too many people, at some point you can’t help everybody and need to hire people that will bring great things since day 1, especially in a startup. Then in a big corporation, you can do the opposite.Last but not least, as a co-founder of a company before Trackin, I’ve built the product with my engineers and my CEO without actually talking to the market. We thought we knew what people wanted when we actually didn’t.We spent almost a year building a product that didn’t make any sense to the market we targeted and closed almost as soon after we “launched”. Apart from mistakes, what are other sources of learning you would recommend for entrepreneurs who are just starting?I think that learning from books is a great start, although it’s not always easy to remember everything and apply it in your life. If the book tells you to do one thing when a situation shows up, and if your emotions are taking over your brain or you just simply can’t remember what it was, then you’ll make the same mistakes again. Having some kind of routine to digest new lessons learned and what to do based on a specific situation is very important.I like to plan ahead and have a vision of what I want to do with my company long term, but it’s also very important to set shorter term goals, that will take you there and try to reach them. You’ll face new challenges that you will have to solve. Being highly focused on solving these problems one at a time, one after another and cut the distractions, will allow you to reach your main goal, then the next one and so on.As you’re facing these problems, you can then look for answers in books or ask people that have been through similar issues.Then looking back, you’ll realize how far you’ve gone.You can get to smart people from networks of entrepreneurs, incubators, alumnis of your school, or just shoot an email to someone you really want to talk to. Explain why you’re asking for his/her help. Entrepreneurs who started from scratch usually enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences. Where can we go to learn more?You can learn more about Mobydish here. You can visit Tracking here, but we’re not accepting new customers at the moment. And one day, I’ll have time again to share all my knowledge on my website! Original interview published at https://www.failory.com/mistakes/trackin

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes

phooll123 · 7 years

Text

Always-connected Windows

laptops show promise but still

need work

Laptops with built-in cellular connections are poised to be an actual thing for consumers this year, after years of being only available to business customers. One of the biggest pushes for these connected PCs is from Qualcomm, which has been touting its Snapdragon platform as the future of mobile laptop computing. Windows on Snapdragon computers, which run on Qualcomm’s smartphone processors and modems, are finally making their way to store shelves this spring.

The Windows on Snapdragon platform does more than just provide an integrated cellular modem that frees you from having to rely on Wi-Fi. It’s a complete change to the core structure of Windows that allows it to run on processors originally designed for smartphones. Alongside that major architectural change come a number of benefits aside from integrated connectivity, including instant resume from sleep, significantly longer battery life, and quiet, cool machines. Basically, the new platform makes laptops work like how we’re used to smartphones working: instantly, quietly, and efficiently.

Microsoft tried and failed at this idea before

Of course, this idea has been tried before, and Microsoft has some significant failures (*cough* Windows RT *cough*) in its history that promised many of the same things. Qualcomm and Microsoft argue that this time around, things will be different, as processors are much more powerful and Windows on Snapdragon is not limited to just a handful of apps.

To get an idea of how this new platform works and how it’s different from the standard Windows 10 that’s available on hundreds of millions of devices already, I’ve been using one of the first Windows on Snapdragon PCs to arrive: Asus’ NovaGo convertible. Asus plans to sell the NovaGo in the US starting on May 1st for $599, which includes 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

The model I’ve been using won’t be sold in the US and has more RAM and storage than what we’ll be able to buy, so this isn’t a review of the device itself, but more of a look at how the platform that will run on various devices from HP, Lenovo, and others. (TL;DR on the machine: it’s a clunker of a convertible, with a dated design, no USB-C ports, and mediocre everything else — basically, what you’d expect from a $600 laptop.) I’ve been using the NovaGo as my primary computer to see how it can hold up to my daily workflow, what apps I can install and use on it, and how well those battery life claims hold up. While the experience wasn’t as bad as Windows RT or other earlier efforts, it still hasn’t sold me on the platform.

The first thing that struck me about using the Always Connected PC was just how little was different from the Windows 10 on every other laptop or computer I’ve used. The interface is the same; performance when switching virtual desktops, swiping through apps, using gestures on the trackpad, and interacting with the touchscreen are all the same, too.

Fluid animations are certainly not a given, especially since this computer is running a tiny smartphone chip, but I’m happy to report they work as well here as on any other Windows laptop I’ve used.

Most modern apps, especially those downloaded from the Microsoft Store or preinstalled on the machine, opened swiftly, with little discernible difference between how they work on Intel-based computers. However, other apps were much more sluggish on the Snapdragon computer, leading to a frustrating experience (more on app stuff in a bit).

Since the processor in this computer is the same Snapdragon 835 chip found in countless Android smartphones last year, there are no fans necessary. The NovaGo is a dead silent machine, yet it remains cool under load.

Just as I recently found with Microsoft’s Surface Pro LTE, having an always-available LTE connection in my computer is fantastic. I don’t need to rely on sketchy public Wi-Fi, nor do I need to hassle with tethering my smartphone to get online. I tested the NovaGo with T-Mobile service, and it performed similarly to T-Mobile smartphones in my area. In addition, when the lid is closed and the laptop is in standby, it still maintains its connection to receive emails and other updates, just like a smartphone. I want this in every computer I use, even if I have to pony up for an unlimited data plan to use it.

Resuming the Windows on Snapdragon PC from sleep is similar to waking up a smartphone: you just hit the power button, and it’s ready to go. A cold boot takes a similar amount of time as an Intel computer, but I never felt the need to shut down the computer entirely, so I rarely encountered that.

Qualcomm boasts tremendous battery life from these Windows on Snapdragon PCs, and this particular model lasts quite a long time between charges. It doesn’t come close to the 20 or 24 hours that Qualcomm claims, but in my real-world usage, I’m averaging about 11 or 12 hours per charge. That’s a lot better than I typically see from a light and portable ultrabook, and significantly longer than the six or seven hours I get on the Surface Pro LTE.

It’s possible to download and install the Chrome browser on Snapdragon PCs (presuming you flip the switch from the out-of-box Windows 10 S mode to Windows 10 Pro, as was done on this computer), but you probably won’t want to. Performance in Chrome is rather bad, with sluggish load times, stuttery scrolling, and slow transfers between tabs. You’ll have a much better time sticking with Microsoft’s Edge browser, but that brings its own issues, namely poor compatibility with certain websites and a tendency to get overwhelmed after a few hours of use, requiring a restart of the browser.

The Chrome issues extend to web-wrapper or Electron-based apps, such as Slack, which have abysmal and frustrating performance. I ended up using Slack in a tab within the Edge browser, which performed much better than the Slack app downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

Windows on Snapdragon is a 32-bit platform, which means that any 64-bit (x64, in Microsoft parlance) apps will fail to install or run on it. As a result, a lot of more recent tools and utilities just can’t be used on this system, and I quickly ran into issues when my preferred Twitter app and screenshot tool both required x64 support, even though they are listed in the Microsoft Store. Your mileage may vary, but since x64 has been around for a number of years now, there’s a good chance that an app or utility you rely on now won’t work on the Snapdragon PC, and you’ll have to find an alternative or search around for a 32-bit version of the tool.

(I was able to find an alternate screenshot tool easily enough, but suffering through the official Twitter for Windows app has been awful.)

And 32-bit support doesn’t guarantee that every app will work, either. I was able to install an email client, but it crashed every time I tried to set it up with my email accounts, rendering it unusable. Windows’ own Mail app also behaved oddly: it took three tries of adding and removing my Google accounts before it would support basic archiving. (This is despite Qualcomm and Microsoft assuring me that the app is compiled from the same source as what’s on Intel-powered machines.)

I did download and run Adobe Photoshop for laughs; it works about as you’d expect it to: slowly. The limitation against x64 apps means that virtually any modern game will not install on this computer, not that it’d run very well on this hardware if it did install.

Overall, while there were some definite pluses to using the Windows on Snapdragon computer (long battery life, silent design, and integrated connectivity), I couldn’t wait to go back to using any one of the other Intel PCs I’m used to.

Between the app compatibility issues and the general feeling that I was always pushing the machine to the edge and it was barely holding on, using the NovaGo as my primary work computer hasn’t been a very pleasant experience. In fact, it reminds me a lot of using a low-end Chromebook.

This platform might work for the most casual of users who can live with the Edge browser and don’t rely on many third-party apps or utilities. But if you’re a heavy user looking for the holy grail of an always-connected computer that can last well beyond a workday away from an outlet, Windows on Snapdragon isn’t likely to be your answer. Chances are, we’ll see more connected PCs and soon, but the better ones are likely to be powered by Intel processors, not the same chip that’s in your phone.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2DHvvXp

0 notes

topicprinter · 7 years

Link

Hi /r/Entrepreneur, this is Pat from Starter Story, excited to share this new interview with Jeff from Beardo.TLDR:Came up with the idea while skiing with friends.He started with little to no product or business experience.The product went somewhat viral - he sold all 1,000 units within 25 days of launch.Has since launched hundreds of unique products.Here's the interview - hope you enjoy:Hello! Who are you and what are you working on?Hi, my name is Jeff Phillips and I am the inventor of the Beardo beard hat. We started out with one product which is our patented hat with a detachable beard (the Beardo), but have since launched hundreds of unique products and have even moved into branded promotional products.Beardo really started out as a bit of a gamble and we never really took it that seriously. I knew the Beard hat was fun and functional and that I really liked it, but my friends weren’t so convinced that others would feel the same and actually purchase it.I really just trusted my gut and went for it. I am glad I did because within the first 25 days of launch we had sold out of our entire years stock of 1,000 units, and pulled in over $40,000.What our product looks likeWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I suppose I get my creativity from my Dad and Grandpa. They both were always looking for ways to improve things and generally just liked working with their hands. I’ll never forget the day my dad designed a ‘can crusher’ so that our recycling didn’t take up so much space. He never wanted to put it to market or anything like that, but just wanted it for himself. When he saw that someone had released one a few months later and was probably making millions on it, he was pretty annoyed!Like Dad and Grandpa, I am constantly thinking of crazy inventions and edits around the house to make life simpler. It’s not something I can turn off, so I started writing my ideas down in a journal. I guess it was just a matter of time until one of us went into mass production with a crazy invention!The Beardo came about organically and out of sheer necessity.At the end of 2006, I was snowboarding in Whistler, and it was an absolute chiller of a day. We had made our way to the top of a run called ‘7th heaven’ and I was certain that the wind was going to be the end of me.I had this old brown knit scarf in my bag and had tied it around my face to stay warm. About halfway down we stopped on the side for a bit of break and instead of taking off the scarf, I just spread a hole in the knit and popped my water bottle through to take a drink… one of our group cracked up laughing because it looked like a real beard!I got back to where we were staying, cut the scarf up to refine the beard a bit and the first Beardo beard was born! I used it a few more times until I got some better prototypes knit, and the true form took shape into the World’s only hat with a foldaway, detachable and adjustable beard! I did keep the original though and I have been meaning to get it framed to hang on my wall!Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.Though I didn’t have any design experience, I had run a few small businesses before and knew a little about graphic design as well. I also had a couple degrees (B.A and a film and TV diploma) that gave me a lot of great experience and the know-how to do things myself. All of these experiences really came in handy while designing the beard hat because it helped limit the startup budget.When this really started to take off, I was living in a friends garage to save a bit of money. We had no internet and things were pretty tight. Getting Beardo off the ground with trademarks, patents, and web design was costly, so again I did a lot of it myself and leaned on friends for help when needed.I remember that I used to drive around the suburbs with my laptop open trying to find a wireless internet signal that was unlocked! Most of the designing, patents, and trademarks were created in my wagon. I remember one house must have picked up on what I was doing because I had been in front of their place for a week when they started to peer out the window and the next time I went back the free wifi was no more.The design process was pretty straightforward though, it was easy enough to get an actual knit prototype made and from there I went off looking on Google for manufacturers. My early focus was to stay in Canada, but after seeing the quality issues with the first round of samples and a price tag of more than I could sell them for, I had to look elsewhere. I ended up finding some great companies in asia who specialize in knitwear and went back and forth for a while before deciding that they were a great company to work with.After getting the patents, trademarks, website design and the first batch of beard hats, I had spent about $8,000 and was ready to launch. I still wasn’t sure what would happen, but I figured that at worst case, I could take the beard out of these really nice knit hats and sell them to a store for cost. That was my backdoor if the whole thing crashed and burned.Describe the process of launching the online store/business.I’ve seen a lot of changes since I started Beardo and there are definitely a lot more people launching sites and small brands. I think it’s great and it makes things that much easier to get going, but it also means you have a lot of competition and you need a point of difference. Luckily for me, I had created a unique product so I didn’t have to contend with any similar businesses.The best advice I can give is that before launching you need to have a rollout plan in place. A lot of people think that getting the site and product made is the hard part and that all you have to do is wait for orders to roll in. In reality, the launch and promotion are the hard parts. Before going live, you should be ready to contact media (local and otherwise), start advertisements, run promotions, send out free samples to bloggers and influencers and keep pushing and expanding your reach every day.For example, one major undertaking was to search for direct email contacts for all the magazine, Newspaper, TV, and University newspaper editors that I could find. Then one by one, I hit them up and try to get a story, collaboration or even a paid ad.Below is a short list of some of the neverending projects I would also work on in those early days:Facebook Pages: Write on walls/hockey teams, fan clubs, and ski pages.Bloggers: Find some and pitch them an angle (ie. winter is coming), free gear or reviews.Free magazines to be included in (movie theatre mags etc)Paid Magazine editors (UK, USA, CAN)University/college paper editors - Stories or collaboration/contests.Newspaper editors - Angle: "Lead into winter".Playoff Beard Promos: Hit up hockey teams, shops, etc.Ski Season Promos: Hit up slopes, shops, events, etc.Look for and contact retailers for wholesale accounts.Look into potential of running market stalls and mall kiosks.Daily deal sites: Reach out to them.Tradeshows: Organize and set some up.Google adsFacebook adsNow I am not saying that you need to have everything ready to go before you launch, but you need a rough plan. Truth is you’ll never launch if you try to get everything all lined up. it’s going to be messy and constant and that’s ok. Just roll with it and keep planning and pushing.I had a pretty good plan in place but was really surprised when the first order came in - it was from South Korea! It seems my planning had worked and Beard hats were quickly picked up by global bloggers and the media, which was unreal! The best part was, after only one live-to-air interview on the Canadian news, it quickly went viral and more and more bloggers and ‘cool product’ sites started listing the Beardo.What has worked to attract new customers?Without a huge media boost, it can be tough to get new customers. I would always keep a list of ideas I had, or things I saw that other brands were doing that seemed to work. That pretty much became my neverending to-do list.The MOST exposure and returns we have seen were directly resulting from being featured by the big fish like ‘Good Morning America’, our Kickstarter, or our appearance on ‘Dragons Den’ and also having exposure from celebrities.A company called FAB (daily design deals) liked our product so much that they used it in their online campaign in 2011/12 which resulted in HUGE social media growth and a lot of sales. One thing leads to another though, so the more exposure you can get will almost certainly lead to more and more. It’s kind of a snowball effect, and that’s what you want.Out of everything we do, social media and SEO are consistently the best returns for us.When you set up your website, the first thing you should think about is SEO, and making a list of all your top keywords is just a small part of that. There are some really great google SEO guides out there and I recommend that anyone starting out should take night classes or online course for the basics, like: SEO. blogging for business, HTML, photoshop, photography.A good place to start for SEO are on the guides that Google provides.SEO is constant and you need to keep on top of it. Not only in terms of your site changes, but also google is constantly changing their own algorithms and with that, suggestions to improve your strategy. One thing I would recommend everyone do is to start following @SEOMOZ and even signing up for a trial. You’ll learn alot about SEO really quickly and it’s a great way to look into what your competitors are doing too.How is everything going nowadays, and what are your plans for the future?I joke with friends that I thought Beardo would be a short-lived business, and beard hats would be a fad that would be dead in 12 months. I don’t think anyone thought it would do so well, or be around so long. As long as I am still meeting people who have never seen it yet, there is always room to continue.Today, Beardo has warehouses in 5 countries and has a range of over 140 fun and functional winter headwear products and we are always coming up with new ideas! We do have plans for new products, but they are top secret!Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?As I said earlier, I have seen a lot of changes in the e-commerce space and I think the number one regret I have is not blasting Facebook ads more.When I first started advertising beard hats on facebook it was just to grow the fanbase as the objectives today simply didn’t exist. I started out with about $10-20 a day and at a cost of about $0.01- 0.02 per fan - it grew really fast!Back then I thought $70-140 a week was quite a lot of money to spend on advertising, and kinda thought things would stay the same… I was dead wrong. Facebook changed their algorithm and cost per reach, which basically means to get that same fanbase growth you would have to spend thousands a day.It’s also now nearly impossible to speak to your own fans through organic reach with your posts without paying, so that’s a big bummer. Back when we had 10k fans, we would get 500-1000 likes per post. Now we have 330k and are lucky if we get 10 likes. We should have been focused more on channeling our fans into email subscription as it allows for a direct method for contact.I think there is no real model for success that covers all brands and products, you really never know what will work and what will fail and just because something works for one brand doesn’t mean it can be reproduced.You should try everything and don’t be afraid of failure and definitely don’t get hung up on failure. Move forward and try your next idea. If you are out of ideas, Google, follow others or ask around. I think a major attribute of a successful entrepreneur is not just driven but creativity and the ability to think outside of the box, so trust your weird ideas.What platform/tools do you use for your business?We now use Shopify because it is nearly impossible to crash it! We have tried and have even had hundreds of thousands of concurrent visitors on the site with no issues. Not even a flicker.One of my friends just had her bikini site crash last night because she wasn’t prepared for a big rush of visitors and it’s been down for nearly 15 hours now. Do yourself a favor and go with Shopify.We also use the Product Upsell App through Shopify as well as discounts, reviews, and BitPay which allows people to pay using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. We also accept Paypal and Shopify payments too.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources for your business?I really liked the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris. It’s a bit of fiction, but gets you thinking out of the box!Besides that, I don’t really look for business motivation. I am more interested in design inspiration, so I just look at lots of strange art, and try to travel as much as possible to open my mind to new ideas.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?If you are looking to start out online, you should remember that simple is better. When designing your website try to make it as streamlined as possible. That goes for product design, packaging and ads as well! Simple is better and trial and error is the key, so keep testing.Some issues I see are things like spending too much money before you have even started. These days you can start with an idea and turn it into millions before you even have product!Just look at Kickstarter.com. It’s a perfect place to launch and trial your product or idea to see if others are even interested. If it gets funded, perfect! If not, you hopefully haven’t spent too much and can move to the next idea. We did a kickstarter of our own in 2013 and it was the reason we were able to launch our line of ski masks!You can also start out on the cheap by selling on a platform like Etsy and try to grow a fanbase and revenue that way before blowing your paycheque on a fancy website.Things like patents and trademarks are important but easily done without spending tens of thousands on legal fees. Trademarks are especially easy, so before getting a lawyer, check it out yourself!The most important thing is to trust your gut and go with it. There are lots of people out there with great ideas but who are too afraid to start.Interview at https://www.starterstory.com/beardo-beard-hat

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes