#mobile marketing awards

[itcstories]

ITC wins Mobile Marketer of the Year Award at Maddies

ITC wins Mobile Marketer of the Year Award for its achievement in mobile marketing. Read the post for more details.

[blacktabbygames]

Hi, I admit I dont really know what the process for this looks like, but would you ever consider adding Slay the Princess to the Playstation Plus subscription service, or to Xbox GamePass? Even temporary, with a time limit?

This might be something we do towards the very end of Slay the Princess' life cycle, but subscription services are a pretty hard sell for us in general. I don't think they're sustainable for the games industry as a whole, and they're a contributor to some of the race-to-the-bottom mentality. (Absolutely zero judgment for folks who use these services, btw. *I* use these services, but then I also know that I never actually buy a game after getting it on Game Pass or PS+; this is really just about the corporate side of things)

A big news item in the industry over the past month was the closure of Tango Gameworks, the Microsoft-owned studio that made Hi-Fi Rush last year, a wonderful game that got a bunch of awards and scored an 87 on Metacritic.

There's been a lot of speculation around this closure, and to add to that speculation, I believe that at the end of the day, Hi Fi Rush lost a lot of money, at least on paper.

It was shadow-dropped as a day 1 gamepass exclusive, which meant that there was no marketing done in advance, and sales were immediately cannibalized. (Side note— Hi-Fi Rush is maybe the only game I've picked up on Game Pass that I turned around and bought a Steam copy of, mostly because I wanted to play it on my Steam Deck.)

Since Tango was owned by MS, this was almost certainly a deliberate choice to make Game Pass seem more appealing, and even then, the studio behind a *hit* game was closed for financial reasons. So we're not sure that's a part of the industry we want to dance with.

I know this probably seems at odds with our stance on piracy, but at the end of the day, I think they're different beasts, and it's the scale, perceived legitimacy, and corporatization of subscription services that gives me a lot of pause, especially with Game Pass, which tends to double-release for PC and console. And on the flipside, I legitimately don't think piracy hurts developers.

So again, I think if we were to do something like this, it would be towards the end of the game's life, or it would be something tied more to an isolated ecosystem (i.e. if we do mobile, something like Apple Arcade, since people don't really *buy* mobile games, and the overlap with console + PC is very small.)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How to design a tech regulation

TONIGHT (June 20) I'm live onstage in LOS ANGELES for a recording of the GO FACT YOURSELF podcast. TOMORROW (June 21) I'm doing an ONLINE READING for the LOCUS AWARDS at 16hPT. On SATURDAY (June 22) I'll be in OAKLAND, CA for a panel (13hPT) and a keynote (18hPT) at the LOCUS AWARDS.

It's not your imagination: tech really is underregulated. There are plenty of avoidable harms that tech visits upon the world, and while some of these harms are mere negligence, others are self-serving, creating shareholder value and widespread public destruction.

Making good tech policy is hard, but not because "tech moves too fast for regulation to keep up with," nor because "lawmakers are clueless about tech." There are plenty of fast-moving areas that lawmakers manage to stay abreast of (think of the rapid, global adoption of masking and social distancing rules in mid-2020). Likewise we generally manage to make good policy in areas that require highly specific technical knowledge (that's why it's noteworthy and awful when, say, people sicken from badly treated tapwater, even though water safety, toxicology and microbiology are highly technical areas outside the background of most elected officials).

That doesn't mean that technical rigor is irrelevant to making good policy. Well-run "expert agencies" include skilled practitioners on their payrolls – think here of large technical staff at the FTC, or the UK Competition and Markets Authority's best-in-the-world Digital Markets Unit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kitbashed/#app-store-tax

The job of government experts isn't just to research the correct answers. Even more important is experts' role in evaluating conflicting claims from interested parties. When administrative agencies make new rules, they have to collect public comments and counter-comments. The best agencies also hold hearings, and the very best go on "listening tours" where they invite the broad public to weigh in (the FTC has done an awful lot of these during Lina Khan's tenure, to its benefit, and it shows):

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2022/04/ftc-justice-department-listening-forum-firsthand-effects-mergers-acquisitions-health-care

But when an industry dwindles to a handful of companies, the resulting cartel finds it easy to converge on a single talking point and to maintain strict message discipline. This means that the evidentiary record is starved for disconfirming evidence that would give the agencies contrasting perspectives and context for making good policy.

Tech industry shills have a favorite tactic: whenever there's any proposal that would erode the industry's profits, self-serving experts shout that the rule is technically impossible and deride the proposer as "clueless."

This tactic works so well because the proposers sometimes are clueless. Take Europe's on-again/off-again "chat control" proposal to mandate spyware on every digital device that will screen everything you upload for child sex abuse material (CSAM, better known as "child pornography"). This proposal is profoundly dangerous, as it will weaken end-to-end encryption, the key to all secure and private digital communication:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/18/encryption-is-deeply-threatening-to-power-meredith-whittaker-of-messaging-app-signal

It's also an impossible-to-administer mess that incorrectly assumes that killing working encryption in the two mobile app stores run by the mobile duopoly will actually prevent bad actors from accessing private tools:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/09/04/oh-for-fucks-sake-not-this-fucking-bullshit-again-cryptography-edition/

When technologists correctly point out the lack of rigor and catastrophic spillover effects from this kind of crackpot proposal, lawmakers stick their fingers in their ears and shout "NERD HARDER!"

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/01/12/nerd-harder-fbi-director-reiterates-faith-based-belief-in-working-crypto-that-he-can-break/

But this is only half the story. The other half is what happens when tech industry shills want to kill good policy proposals, which is the exact same thing that advocates say about bad ones. When lawmakers demand that tech companies respect our privacy rights – for example, by splitting social media or search off from commercial surveillance, the same people shout that this, too, is technologically impossible.

That's a lie, though. Facebook started out as the anti-surveillance alternative to Myspace. We know it's possible to operate Facebook without surveillance, because Facebook used to operate without surveillance:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3247362

Likewise, Brin and Page's original Pagerank paper, which described Google's architecture, insisted that search was incompatible with surveillance advertising, and Google established itself as a non-spying search tool:

http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/papers/google.pdf

Even weirder is what happens when there's a proposal to limit a tech company's power to invoke the government's powers to shut down competitors. Take Ethan Zuckerman's lawsuit to strip Facebook of the legal power to sue people who automate their browsers to uncheck the millions of boxes that Facebook requires you to click by hand in order to unfollow everyone:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/02/kaiju-v-kaiju/#cda-230-c-2-b

Facebook's apologists have lost their minds over this, insisting that no one can possibly understand the potential harms of taking away Facebook's legal right to decide how your browser works. They take the position that only Facebook can understand when it's safe and proportional to use Facebook in ways the company didn't explicitly design for, and that they should be able to ask the government to fine or even imprison people who fail to defer to Facebook's decisions about how its users configure their computers.

This is an incredibly convenient position, since it arrogates to Facebook the right to order the rest of us to use our computers in the ways that are most beneficial to its shareholders. But Facebook's apologists insist that they are not motivated by parochial concerns over the value of their stock portfolios; rather, they have objective, technical concerns, that no one except them is qualified to understand or comment on.

There's a great name for this: "scalesplaining." As in "well, actually the platforms are doing an amazing job, but you can't possibly understand that because you don't work for them." It's weird enough when scalesplaining is used to condemn sensible regulation of the platforms; it's even weirder when it's weaponized to defend a system of regulatory protection for the platforms against would-be competitors.

Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no libertarians in government-protected monopolies. Somehow, scalesplaining can be used to condemn governments as incapable of making any tech regulations and to insist that regulations that protect tech monopolies are just perfect and shouldn't ever be weakened. Truly, it's impossible to get someone to understand something when the value of their employee stock options depends on them not understanding it.

None of this is to say that every tech regulation is a good one. Governments often propose bad tech regulations (like chat control), or ones that are technologically impossible (like Article 17 of the EU's 2019 Digital Single Markets Directive, which requires tech companies to detect and block copyright infringements in their users' uploads).

But the fact that scalesplainers use the same argument to criticize both good and bad regulations makes the waters very muddy indeed. Policymakers are rightfully suspicious when they hear "that's not technically possible" because they hear that both for technically impossible proposals and for proposals that scalesplainers just don't like.

After decades of regulations aimed at making platforms behave better, we're finally moving into a new era, where we just make the platforms less important. That is, rather than simply ordering Facebook to block harassment and other bad conduct by its users, laws like the EU's Digital Markets Act will order Facebook and other VLOPs (Very Large Online Platforms, my favorite EU-ism ever) to operate gateways so that users can move to rival services and still communicate with the people who stay behind.

Think of this like number portability, but for digital platforms. Just as you can switch phone companies and keep your number and hear from all the people you spoke to on your old plan, the DMA will make it possible for you to change online services but still exchange messages and data with all the people you're already in touch with.

I love this idea, because it finally grapples with the question we should have been asking all along: why do people stay on platforms where they face harassment and bullying? The answer is simple: because the people – customers, family members, communities – we connect with on the platform are so important to us that we'll tolerate almost anything to avoid losing contact with them:

https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/

Platforms deliberately rig the game so that we take each other hostage, locking each other into their badly moderated cesspits by using the love we have for one another as a weapon against us. Interoperability – making platforms connect to each other – shatters those locks and frees the hostages:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/facebooks-secret-war-switching-costs

But there's another reason to love interoperability (making moderation less important) over rules that require platforms to stamp out bad behavior (making moderation better). Interop rules are much easier to administer than content moderation rules, and when it comes to regulation, administratability is everything.

The DMA isn't the EU's only new rule. They've also passed the Digital Services Act, which is a decidedly mixed bag. Among its provisions are a suite of rules requiring companies to monitor their users for harmful behavior and to intervene to block it. Whether or not you think platforms should do this, there's a much more important question: how can we enforce this rule?

Enforcing a rule requiring platforms to prevent harassment is very "fact intensive." First, we have to agree on a definition of "harassment." Then we have to figure out whether something one user did to another satisfies that definition. Finally, we have to determine whether the platform took reasonable steps to detect and prevent the harassment.

Each step of this is a huge lift, especially that last one, since to a first approximation, everyone who understands a given VLOP's server infrastructure is a partisan, scalesplaining engineer on the VLOP's payroll. By the time we find out whether the company broke the rule, years will have gone by, and millions more users will be in line to get justice for themselves.

So allowing users to leave is a much more practical step than making it so that they've got no reason to want to leave. Figuring out whether a platform will continue to forward your messages to and from the people you left there is a much simpler technical matter than agreeing on what harassment is, whether something is harassment by that definition, and whether the company was negligent in permitting harassment.

But as much as I like the DMA's interop rule, I think it is badly incomplete. Given that the tech industry is so concentrated, it's going to be very hard for us to define standard interop interfaces that don't end up advantaging the tech companies. Standards bodies are extremely easy for big industry players to capture:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/

If tech giants refuse to offer access to their gateways to certain rivals because they seem "suspicious," it will be hard to tell whether the companies are just engaged in self-serving smears against a credible rival, or legitimately trying to protect their users from a predator trying to plug into their infrastructure. These fact-intensive questions are the enemy of speedy, responsive, effective policy administration.

But there's more than one way to attain interoperability. Interop doesn't have to come from mandates, interfaces designed and overseen by government agencies. There's a whole other form of interop that's far nimbler than mandates: adversarial interoperability:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

"Adversarial interoperability" is a catch-all term for all the guerrilla warfare tactics deployed in service to unilaterally changing a technology: reverse engineering, bots, scraping and so on. These tactics have a long and honorable history, but they have been slowly choked out of existence with a thicket of IP rights, like the IP rights that allow Facebook to shut down browser automation tools, which Ethan Zuckerman is suing to nullify:

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

Adversarial interop is very flexible. No matter what technological moves a company makes to interfere with interop, there's always a countermove the guerrilla fighter can make – tweak the scraper, decompile the new binary, change the bot's behavior. That's why tech companies use IP rights and courts, not firewall rules, to block adversarial interoperators.

At the same time, adversarial interop is unreliable. The solution that works today can break tomorrow if the company changes its back-end, and it will stay broken until the adversarial interoperator can respond.

But when companies are faced with the prospect of extended asymmetrical war against adversarial interop in the technological trenches, they often surrender. If companies can't sue adversarial interoperators out of existence, they often sue for peace instead. That's because high-tech guerrilla warfare presents unquantifiable risks and resource demands, and, as the scalesplainers never tire of telling us, this can create real operational problems for tech giants.

In other words, if Facebook can't shut down Ethan Zuckerman's browser automation tool in the courts, and if they're sincerely worried that a browser automation tool will uncheck its user interface buttons so quickly that it crashes the server, all it has to do is offer an official "unsubscribe all" button and no one will use Zuckerman's browser automation tool.

We don't have to choose between adversarial interop and interop mandates. The two are better together than they are apart. If companies building and operating DMA-compliant, mandatory gateways know that a failure to make them useful to rivals seeking to help users escape their authority is getting mired in endless hand-to-hand combat with trench-fighting adversarial interoperators, they'll have good reason to cooperate.

And if lawmakers charged with administering the DMA notice that companies are engaging in adversarial interop rather than using the official, reliable gateway they're overseeing, that's a good indicator that the official gateways aren't suitable.

It would be very on-brand for the EU to create the DMA and tell tech companies how they must operate, and for the USA to simply withdraw the state's protection from the Big Tech companies and let smaller companies try their luck at hacking new features into the big companies' servers without the government getting involved.

Indeed, we're seeing some of that today. Oregon just passed the first ever Right to Repair law banning "parts pairing" – basically a way of using IP law to make it illegal to reverse-engineer a device so you can fix it.

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/28/oregon-governor-kotek-signs-strong-tech-right-to-repair-bill/

Taken together, the two approaches – mandates and reverse engineering – are stronger than either on their own. Mandates are sturdy and reliable, but slow-moving. Adversarial interop is flexible and nimble, but unreliable. Put 'em together and you get a two-part epoxy, strong and flexible.

Governments can regulate well, with well-funded expert agencies and smart, adminstratable remedies. It's for that reason that the administrative state is under such sustained attack from the GOP and right-wing Dems. The illegitimate Supreme Court is on the verge of gutting expert agencies' power:

https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2024/05/us-supreme-court-may-soon-discard-or-modify-chevron-deference

It's never been more important to craft regulations that go beyond mere good intentions and take account of adminsitratability. The easier we can make our rules to enforce, the less our beleaguered agencies will need to do to protect us from corporate predators.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/20/scalesplaining/#administratability

Image: Noah Wulf (modified) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thunderbirds_at_Attention_Next_to_Thunderbird_1_-_Aviation_Nation_2019.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[warriorforumwso]

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In-Depth Reviews: ForexJudge.com offers detailed reviews of various forex brokers, covering aspects like fees, platforms, customer service, and regulatory compliance. The reviews are thorough, well-researched, and provide valuable insights.

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Professional Reviews: The reviews are crafted by seasoned forex professionals, ensuring knowledgeable and insightful evaluations. This expert input adds credibility and reliability to the content.

Regular Updates: ForexJudge.com frequently updates its content to reflect the latest trends and changes in the forex market, keeping users informed with the most current information.

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Comprehensive Listings: The platform covers a wide range of brokers globally, offering a broad perspective on the forex market. This extensive coverage includes well-known brokers as well as emerging ones, providing options for different trading needs.

Unbiased Reviews: The reviews are presented in an unbiased manner, focusing on both the strengths and weaknesses of each broker. This balanced approach helps traders choose brokers that best match their requirements【12†source】.

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[yestrday]

what's so special about the academy that it's considered elite and high-end enough for mc to be deemed as an outcast? (or close to one, by her peers and whatnot) like is it just some rich school and mc is the Haruhi of the story and comes from a poor background? or is it known for having the most successful students who grow to be equally successful business people, or most records/awards given to a school? just a thought!

huehue 🌟 lore 🌟

the academy has it roots way back in the distant past, going back as the cataclysm. it originally started as a small mobile classroom teaching children while the parents were hard at work rebuilding their houses, but over the years, it eventually grew into an academy.

it didn't actually have a glamorous start— it was just a normal school in liyue. however, during the era when liyue harbor grew in prosperity and businessmen and their families all over teyvat started flocking to liyue to start their money, the academy became a melting pot of cultures. eventually, it started to churn out businessmen and top leaders that revolutionized not just the liyue market but that of teyvat.

with enough money in their pockets and a stellar reputation teyvat, they moved to a remote island just off the coasts between liyue and mondstadt so that they can be unrestrained from any one nation's government rules. this is so to avoid biases towards nations and guarantee equal opportunities among the seven nations. so it's an institute looked after whatever international institution between the seven nations.

their education system consists of middle school and high school which has a smaller island of their own. however, the main land has the college and all its facilities as well as a little city there complete with an entertainment district. this institute is popular among professors and geniuses in the continent thanks to its massive pool of resources, so it's not just a fancy school with little brain.

so yes! it's an academy filled with rich history and so much connections that you're basically guaranteed a position in high society once you graduate!

[tailschannel]

Sonic to get "several new mobile titles" in the future, according to SEGA management meeting document

The Sonic the Hedgehog series is expected to receive "several new titles" for mobile platforms, SEGA's parent company confirmed in a management meeting early Wednesday.

Apple and Google were both named as "key players" in the mobile sector for SEGA, as the publisher detailed an encompassing transmedia scheme for the blue blur, which will include licencing and collaborations with other third-party properties.

"Several new" mobile games under development

With an established presence thanks to the likes of free apps like Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces Speed Battle, the franchise looks set to dive in the world of mobile gaming, as part of SEGA's future plans.

The publisher did not rule out exclusivity clauses with subscription-based mobile gaming services. In recent days, the publisher signed a contract with Apple to produce Sonic Dream Team, and Netflix announced a mobile port of Sonic Mania Plus for their game subscription service.

No word of a specific timeframe for the aforementioned mobile games, currently in development.

Future Sonic mobile games to adopt Rovio's Beacon toolkit

As part of the mobile expansion, the upcoming slate is expected to adopt "Beacon", an internal development and marketing toolkit powered by machine learning, frequently utilized by Rovio, the Finnish studio behind Angry Birds that SEGA acquired over the summer.

The studio described Beacon as a platform to "build games and get games to market, models to profitably grow and monetize the game and live operations tools to maximize our players’ fun."

The toolkit has been criticized in a number of fan-run Angry Birds forums for incentivizing revenue at the expense of gameplay quality.

SEGA did not disclose if the Beacon platform will extend beyond the present suite of HARDlight mobile games.

More details on SEGA's resurrection of classic hits

SEGA also unveiled these new images and descriptions for the five new games announced at The Game Awards, described as a "power surge" to re-electrify their classic hits, like Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.

Crazy Taxi: Innovative & Fresh Style Driving Action! Cheerful feeling of freedom and fusion of nature and city. Peel out the new stage of Crazy City!

Jet Set Radio: "Counter-Culture" - Tokyo Street Open World! Experience the "rebellion" movement that feels free in a suffocating society. Make friends, increase your fans, and create a movement!

Shinobi: Slay the enemies in the silence of the moment. Run through the world of Shinobi, full of monsters and ninja actions. Grab Oberozuki, the legendary sword and slay evil once more. Your clan and the world are counting on you.

Golden Axe: Warriors arise to subdue the demons! Defeat your enemies with a variety of attacks with swords and magic! The legendary story about the battle axe, Golden Axe is about to begin!

Streets of Rage Revolution: Beloved side-scrolling beat 'em up action series! Take control of one of the ex-officers and make the city a place where people no longer have to walk the "Streets of Rage."

The announcement coincided with SEGA's plans to strengthen their flagship video game brands like Persona and Like a Dragon, and to expand with legacy properties.

(Edit 2:00 pm ET - post updated with new details)

[have-a-hiddles]

Happy Birthday to me!

Here’s some (mostly positive) stuff about the year I was born:

Chinese Year of the Horse

United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.

The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

The first global positioning satellite, the Rockwell International-built Navstar 1, is launched by the United States.

The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.

San Francisco's City Council signs the United States's most comprehensive gay rights bill.

Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.

At the 50th Academy Awards, Annie Hall won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Woody Allen), and Best Actress (Diane Keaton). On the other hand, Star Wars won six Oscars, including Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. Finally, Madame Rosa (France) won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.

The Bee Gees' album, Saturday Night Fever, went #1 for 24 weeks.

Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.

The Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl, the Washington Bullets were the NBA champs, and the Montreal Canadiens clinched the Stanley Cup.

Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication.

Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.

The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.

Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.

NASA unveiled the first group of women astronauts: Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride.

Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.

United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605.

Abolitionist Harriet Tubman became the first African-American woman to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp.

Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy is arrested.

Cabbage Patch Kids are first created.

The video game Space Invaders launched a craze for computer video games.

The first email system was created at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

The first spam email was sent by Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager who was promoting a new model of computer. Thuerk sent the correspondence out to about 600 prospects via ARPANET, and “complaints started coming in almost immediately.”

Illinois Bell Company introduced the first-ever Cellular Mobile Phone System.

Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Carl Sagan for his book, The Dragons of Eden.

 At the 30th Primetime Emmy Awards, All in the Family (CBS) won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, and The Rockford Files (NBC) won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Carroll O’Connor (All in the Family) won an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series, and Jean Stapleton (All in the Family) won an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.

At the 35th Golden Globe Awards, The Turning Point won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, and The Goodbye Girl won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Actor Ashton Kutcher was born on Feb. 7, 1978 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Actor James Franco was born in Palo Alto, Calif. on April 19, 1978.

Actor Jason Biggs was born on May 12, 1978, in Pompton Plains, N.J.

Actress Zoe Saldana was born on June 19, 1978.

Singer Nicole Scherzinger was born on June 29, 1978.

Actor Josh Harnett was born on July 21, 1978.

 NBA star Kobe Bryant was born on Aug. 23, 1978.

Singer Usher was born on Oct. 14, 1978.

Actress Katherine Marie Heigl was born in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 24, 1978.

Popular movies included: Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Wars (the first one), Superman: The Movie, and Halloween.

 The most popular baby names for boys were Michael, Jason, Christopher, David, and James. 

The most popular baby names for girls were Jennifer, Melissa, Jessica, Amy, and Heather. 

[heizelnutlatte]

💬 iMBC: Article on B1A4 CNU, "Establishes Discipline in 'Idol Champ' with the Title of 'Composer Idol'"

The idol market is fierce. For the myriad of idols being churned out like factory products, dance and singing have become essential qualities that are demanded of them. To be loved consistently and have a long career, one must possess the essence of a musician. This is the case with B1A4's CNU.

CNU of B1A4 (CNU, Sandeul, Gongchan) secured the top honor in the 'Best Composer Idol' poll conducted from January 17 to 31 on the participatory mobile idol fandom app 'IDOL CHAMP,' with an overwhelming 43.85% of the votes, rising above a dazzling array of candidates.

Since debuting in 2011 as part of B1A4, CNU has walked a solid path as an idol known for singing well while constantly reflecting on the foundation of a musician. He has shone as a lyricist, jotting down lyrics as they come to him, and has earned the title of composer through the melodies he created from his sparkling inspiration.

As this process became refined, he naturally developed the ability to clearly distinguish between what he does well, what suits others, and what the public likes, thereby gaining the capacity of an artist over time. This is also the secret behind B1A4 not just being a fleeting idol group but establishing discipline at the forefront for a long-lasting career.

In connection with this, CNU conducted an interview with iMBC Entertainment, continuously expressing his gratitude to the fans, known as 'BANAs.' CNU said, "First, I want to express my gratitude to BANAs. It's because of them that B1A4 exists, and my songs exist," and promised, "I've been working hard on making songs and writing music. It's gratifying that many people recognize that. I'll continue to take responsibility as a 'composer idol' and make better songs."

Just as the saying goes, "like singer, like fan," BANAs were sincere in their participation in this 'Best Composer Idol' poll. Compared to other topics, the engagement level of fans was tremendous. CNU said, "I think BANAs wanted to share the charm of my music with others," and laughed, "And perhaps it's a message that they've been doing well so far and hope to keep it up."

The process of writing lyrics and composing is challenging. Frankly speaking, it might be more convenient to rely on the expertise of professionals to practice dance and singing and produce a showy stage performance. However, CNU firmly believes that the producing process itself is B1A4's identity. He said, "Writing songs and producing albums, I think that's B1A4's identity. We've consistently tried to include our thoughts and messages we want to convey in our songs since debut. This has been very important to me."

Furthermore, CNU named 'Drunk on Music' from their second full album as his 'favorite song,' and mentioned 'Like a Movie' from their fourth album as the fans' favorite. When asked to recommend a hidden gem, CNU chose Sandeul's 'Oblique Line' and shared, "It was a song I gave to Sandeul, reflecting the confusion I felt at the time. I'm satisfied with how well Sandeul brought it to life."

Having successfully completed their activities as a full group with their 8th mini-album 'CONNECT' after approximately 2 years and 2 months, CNU said, "It felt like the early days of our debut. There was no nervousness, but it was hectic adapting to something new," and laughed, "I even hoped the camera's red light would turn off quickly during the ending pose because it felt somewhat embarrassing."

Lastly, CNU thanked the BANAs, saying, "Thanks to our BANAs, I've been able to receive the title of 'Best Composer Idol.' It's made me realize once again that my efforts have not been in vain," and promised, "I'm thankful for the strength to move forward. I'll take this award as a responsibility and continue to work diligently to produce even better music."

Meanwhile, CNU will make his first appearance on the theater stage in the play 'Brilliant and Brilliant,' which opened on January 19. 'Brilliant and Brilliant' is a work depicting the commotion triggered by an unexpected phone call, where CNU plays 'Shota,' a character with musical talent, promising to increase audience immersion with a perfect character synchronization rate.

Sandeul is set to appear in the musical 'Next to Normal,' opening in March. The musical tells the story of the Goodman family, who seem ordinary on the outside but live with inner wounds. Sandeul will play the role of the son, 'Gabe,' captivating the audience with his solid singing skills and acting.

Roughly translated.

iMBC Article 'Composer Idol', 2024

[reasoningdaily]

After Black Lives Matter - CEDRIC G.JOHNSON

THIS BOOK IS A FREE DOWNLOAD FROM THE BLACK TRUEBRARY CLICK THE TITLE TO DOWNLOAD

Contemporary policing reflects the turn from welfare to domestic warfare as the chief means of regulating the excluded and oppressed The historic uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd transformed the way we think about race and policing. Why did it achieve so little in the way of substantive reforms? After Black Lives Matter argues that the failure to leave an institutional residue was not simply due to the mercurial and reactive character of the protests. Rather, the core of the movement itself failed to locate the central racial injustice that underpins the crisis of policing: socio-economic inequality. For Johnson, the anti-capitalist and downwardly redistributive politics expressed by different Black Lives Matter elements has too often been drowned out in the flood of black wealth creation, fetishism of Jim Crow black entrepreneurship, corporate diversity initiatives, and a quixotic reparations demand. None of these political tendencies addresses the fundamental problem underlying mass incarceration. That is the turn from welfare to domestic warfare as the chief means of regulating the excluded and oppressed. Johnson sees the way forward in building popular democratic power to advance public works and public goods.  Rather than abolishing police, After Black Lives Matter argues for abolishing the conditions of alienation and exploitation contemporary policing exists to manage.

Review

"A virtuoso performance! Weighing the successes and limitations of Black Lives Matter, Johnson concludes that identity-based mobilization—confusing what people look like with what they need—cannot substitute for majoritarian political coalition-building." —Barbara J. Fields, Columbia University "A brilliant scholar who is first and foremost concerned with equality and justice. It’s those very commitments that lead him, in After Black Lives Matter, to question today’s antiracism and its nostrums." —Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto "Essential reading for those weary of platitude-driven texts on race and criminal justice and in the market for an empirically grounded political analysis that points to practicable solutions to one of the biggest problems of our day." —Touré F. Reed, author of Toward Freedom "A provocative and expansive critique from the left of the loose collection of protest actions, organizations, and ideological movements-whether prison abolition or calls to defund the police-that make up what we now call Black Lives Matter...After Black Lives Matter should be commended both for the clarity of its message and the bravery of its convictions." —Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker

About the Author

Cedric Johnson is professor of African American Studies and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His book, Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics was named the 2008 W.E.B. DuBois Outstanding Book of the Year by the National Conference of Black Political Scientists.  Johnson is the editor of The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism and the Remaking of New Orleans. His 2017 Catalyst essay, “The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now: Anti-policing Struggles and the Limits of Black Power,” was awarded the 2018 Daniel Singer Millenium Prize. Johnson’s writings have appeared in Nonsite, Jacobin, New Political Science, New Labor Forum, Perspectives on Politics, Historical Materialism, and Journal of Developing Societies. In 2008, Johnson was named the Jon Garlock Labor Educator of the Year by the Rochester Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. He previously served on the representative assembly for UIC United Faculty Local 6456.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Given the sheer scale, magnitude and diversity of 2020’s resurgent Black Lives Matter protests, many pundits, scholars and activists celebrated the George Floyd rebellion as an historic watershed, one where the possibility of real reform came into view. For too  many, however, the euphoria of the moment suspended any criti- cal analysis of what it all meant. This is a deeper problem on the  US left—the tendency to read protests as always prefigurative rather than contingent, and as a manifestation of real power rather than a reflection of potential. Such wish-fulfillment think- ing, however, forgets that mass mobilization is not the same as  organized power, and that mass mobilization is much easier now with the endless opportunities for expressing discontent provided by social media, online petitions, memes and vlogging.

The scale of protests can be misleading, and their actual effectiveness, regardless of their size, is dependent on historical conjunctures, such as the balance of political forces, the organized power and  capacity of opposition and the clarity of objectives among activists. Throughout the opening decades of this century, ever larger  protests have proved incapable of consolidating in a manner that might effectively oppose ruling-class prerogatives. In recent memory, we have witnessed successive mass protests—turn-of the-century demonstrations against global capitalism, protests against the Bush administration’s so-called War on Terror, Occupy Wall Street encampments, anti-eviction campaigns, the March for Our Lives following the Parkland High School mass shooting, protests against police violence and ICE deportations, among others—but these have done little to depose capitalist class power and the advancing neoliberal project.

If anything, the hegemony of finance capital, the war-making powers of the national security state, the criminalization of immigration, the power of the gun lobby and the unaccountability of police are as entrenched as ever. THIS BOOK IS A FREE DOWNLOAD FROM THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

[harmonyhealinghub]

Celebrating a Creative Milestone: 1000 Designs on Canva! Shaina Tranquilino July 31, 2024

I am beyond excited to share a fantastic milestone with all of you today! 🎉 I recently received a notification from Canva, awarding me a cute milestone badge for creating 1000 designs! This achievement feels incredibly rewarding and motivates me to continue my creative journey.

Canva: My Go-To Design Tool

For those of you who might not be familiar with Canva, it is a powerful, user-friendly design platform that caters to everyone—from beginners to professional designers. I use Canva extensively for my Etsy shop, Tumblr, blogging, and social media. Its versatility and ease of use make it an indispensable tool in my creative toolkit.

Why I Love Canva

User-Friendly Interface: Canva’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes designing easy and fun. Even if you’re a novice, you can create professional-looking designs with minimal effort.

Extensive Template Library: Canva offers a vast array of templates for every occasion and purpose, whether it’s for social media posts, marketing materials, or personal projects.

Free and Paid Options: Canva is free to use, with an optional membership (Canva Pro) for those who want to access more advanced features and a broader range of assets. The free version is incredibly robust, but the Pro version offers additional perks that are worth considering.

Collaboration Features: Canva allows you to collaborate with others on your designs, making it perfect for team projects or getting feedback from friends and colleagues.

Access Anywhere: Whether you’re on your computer or mobile device, Canva’s cloud-based platform ensures that your designs are always accessible.

How I Use Canva

Etsy Shop: I design product listings, promotional materials, and shop banners using Canva. The professional templates and customization options help me create eye-catching visuals that attract clients.

Tumblr: Canva helps me create engaging posts and blog headers that stand out in the Tumblr feed. The ability to customize each element means my Tumblr page always reflects my unique style.

Blogging: From blog post graphics to Pinterest pins, Canva provides all the tools I need to make my blog visually appealing. High-quality images and infographics make my content more engaging and shareable.

Social Media: Canva’s social media templates save me so much time. Whether I’m designing Instagram stories, Facebook posts, or Twitter headers, Canva has me covered with perfectly sized templates and a wealth of creative options.

Encouraging Creativity

If you haven’t tried Canva yet, I highly encourage you to give it a shot. It’s a fantastic tool for anyone looking to enhance their creative projects without the steep learning curve of more complex design software. And remember, it’s free to start, so there’s no risk in trying it out!

Reaching 1000 designs feels like a significant milestone, and I’m grateful for the journey so far. Each design has been a step towards honing my skills and expressing my creativity. Here’s to many more designs and milestones ahead!

Thank you for being part of my creative journey. Whether you’re an Etsy seller, a blogger, or just someone who loves to create, I hope Canva becomes as valuable a resource for you as it has been for me.

Happy designing! 🌟

Feel free to share your own Canva creations and milestones in the comments below. Let’s inspire each other to keep creating!

[cresolinfoserv34]

Best web development services in hyderabad | Cresolinfoserv

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Cresolinfoserv is the best web development company in Hyderabad. We understand the critical role that a well-designed website plays in today's competitive market. Our best web developer professionals recognize the value of solid information architecture design and integrative branding that engages the customer from the first stop at your site, and we have an exclusive set of best web developers responsible for creating, designing, deploying, and supporting software customized to your business requirements. We offer you deep expertise, low-risk processes, proven experience, and assured quality on a unified platform.

We work closely with our clients to ensure that their requirements are met at every stage of the development process. Our collaborative approach allows us to incorporate feedback and make adjustments as needed, ensuring that the final product exceeds expectations.

In addition to web development, we offer a comprehensive range of services to meet all your digital needs. From responsive web design and mobile app development to e-commerce solutions and digital marketing and testing services, we have the skills and resources to help you succeed in today's competitive marketplace.

[furby-junkie]

An image from debaque.com (a website that is now dead). 

Furby Island had won an award of $5,000 (USD) for being the Best Licensed IP game.

“The winners will receive a cash prize, Software licenses from Adobe, Phones from Nokia and a guaranteed contract with an operator and a publisher to market the title. The IMGA will truly help to make mobile game developers' dreams a reality!”

Nominees (For Best Licensed IP Game)

The Crystal Maze (Dynamo Games)

Office Games 2 (Indiagames)

Rounders Poker (Nazara Technologies)

Ratatouille: Cheese Rush (Universomo)

Furby Island (LemonQuest)

The contest rules on IMGA’s website  (archive.org)

IMGA award nominees list (Pocket Gamer)

Furby Island, other award-winning games, and nominees on IMGA’s website 

LemonQuest’s article below cut

LemonQuest wins the IMGA award for Best Adapted Licence with Furby Island

日期 : 12/02/2008

The official videogame of one of the most successful toys from Hasbro

This videogame, developed and edited by LemonQuest, and which is the result of an agreement reached between LemonQuest and Hasbro, enables players to enjoy all the magic of Furby on their mobile telephones. Furby is one of the most important and successful toys of all time.

Furby Island, a fun adventure in a multitude of locations, with a wide range of objects, surprises that come in the form of bonuses and some colourful and cheerful graphics, has been given this award over the other four nominees: Office Games 2 – official licence of the NBC series developed by Indiagames; Ratatouille: Cheese Rush by THQ Wireless; Rounders Poker – based on the film and produced by Nazara; and The Crystal Maze – a title presented by Dynamo Games.

Following this recognition of Furby Island by one of the most important Mobile Gaming events in the sector, LemonQuest has become the first Spanish company to receive such a prestigious award.

Article source

[ac-liveblogs]

Bruh how tf does genshin keep winning the best mobile game award. They're doing nothing except collecting money!

Because it's a huge open world game that routinely adds large explorable areas with very regular content and story updates and other game modes?

And say what you will about the writing (bad) or quality of the exploration (also not great), the new areas added often look gorgeous.

That might not be enough to let it compete with non-mobile games, but in a market where most of the competition are 2D jpeg collectors that's more than enough to put Genshin head and shoulders above the rest. Tbh, given how much Genshin does that other games in the same genre don't even try, it would be harder to argue not nominating it. It won't break out into other categories except maybe music though, I'm sure of it.

I'm more curious that HSR didn't make it back in. Maybe the board agreed with me that Penacony sucke-

[bailies-me]

The SM and HYBE drama (and the main third player)

okay so i know this news has been really shocking to all of us. sm is a part of the big 3 in kpop and hybe, right now, is the most profitable company in kpop. both are massive forces in terms of business in music. and it’s now been revealed that hybe had acquires around 14% stakes from lee sooman, making them the biggest stake-holder of sm. this news was really sudden to me and a lot of us, so i decided to do some research. turns out, there’s a lot more going on here. and i mean, a LOT.

a company like hybe in the IT hub of the world (which is south korea btw) is...honestly? nothing. unlike the other big three, hybe’s business is mostly confined to kpop. our concerns about hybe begins and ends about here. now, for sm.

sm is, quite honestly, the MOST influential kpop company, mainly because of the influence it hold outside of kpop. sm, like yg and jyp, is not just restricted to kpop. their “artist-holdings” stretches to sportspersons, actors, comedians, general artists management, etc. infact, sm manages almost 25% of the artists in the korean entertainment industry. 

the second person of conflict; lee sooman.

now unlike yg, jyp and originally, bighit, lee sooman does not have complete control over sm. he quit the position of the ceo in 2010. since then, lee sooman made some big announcements about sm’s suture and what he aims to do with the shares he owns. sm also underwent a tax investigation recently. all in all, there’s been a lot on lee sooman’s plate. he DID want to sell those shares anyway, although i don’t think think he thought the opportunity would appear in this way.

despite being popularly known as the ‘godfather of kpop’, lee sooman has been involved in a power struggle of sorts with his executive board as of 2023. he refused to pass down the shares of the company to his children and has been involved in a business conflict with his nephew, who is one of the current CEOs. lee sooman owns over 18% of the stakes in sm, making him the controlling shareholder (the largest percentage).

now, as the executive board of sm announced them evolving into sm 3.0, they are letting out liquid stakes and shares in the market. and they did this WITHOUT consulting lee sooman. if this happens, he will lose the reigning control over sm. 

so this guy flies over with a broken arm, immediately goes to a hospital (i’m telling you, this whole thing is crazy) and SUES his OWN goddamn COMPANY, which HE founded, for this move, which he claims is illegal.

the third player: kakao group. this is where it all comes together.

so, remember kakao talk? that cute little messaging app? yeah, that’s korea’s biggest messenger app and is used by 90% of the population. kakao is the no.1 competitor of naver in japan. i don’t know anything about the business world at all but i do know that kakao is one of the biggest conglomerates (#15) in korea and the BIGGEST conglomerate that is not involved in the manufacture sphere. they are huge. they are a tech-based internet company formally established in freakin 2010 after the merging of DAUM and the KAKAO INC. it has 128 affliates under it. being a conglomerate means that it essentially is composed of multiple independent business holdings. as of august, 2021, it is a bank, a payment service, a game company, an entertainment company, a fashion unit and of course, a mobility platform.

now, incase you didn’t hear of it, ive was involved in a fraud scam recently. that is because their company starship’s largest shareholder, was accused of sabotaging other rival kpop groups by mass circulating negative articles and rumors. these articles were directed at groups like le sserafim, new jeans, stayc, itzy, etc. they were also accused of rigging music stages and award shows. and guess who this shareholder was? kakao group.

so two things: 1. kakao is a group which has been expanding its monstrous presence in the kpop scene for some time now and also happens to have a great deal of authority on circulatory media. 2. sm suddenly has a lot of stakes to sell. what happens next?

since kakao had been targeting the smaller companies of kpop so far, the big 3 + hybe had not been particularly bothered by this. kakao still does not have a very strong presence in kpop and entertainment is a competitive field, largely based on luck. however, if kakao does start acquiring the shares of the bigger company, it’s going to create a big problem. and guess what happened?

kakao declared that its going to take over the shares on march the 6th. now the exact percentage seems to be unclear but i’m pretty sure general consensus says its over 10%. 

if kakao did go through with this, it’s going to threaten the level of competition and the heirarchy of kpop. ik this doesn’t necessarily sound bad; i mean, who doesn’t love the fall of the monopoly capitalism. but NO, it’s the exact opposite. kakao has a lot more power than any of the kpop companies. it can manipulate media. if it does end up becoming the controlling shareholder of the biggest kpop company, and considering the fact it’s a tech company, it might shake the very foundations of kpop. the overruling monopoly in kpop will be officially established. imagine amazon and elon musk-esque craziness ensuing.

this is why lee sooman turned to bang sihyuk. it is why hybe bought 14.8% of his shares and became the largest shareholder. funnily enough, hybe is actually “trying to protect” sm from being sold out to kakao. and believe me, kakao CAN and WILL do all of the above if given the chance. 

this is not to say that this drama has ended. since sm’s executive boards not only control the music sector but the other fields too, and because they have a personal agenda against lee sooman, they are expressing their displeasure over hybe acquiring the stakes. and no, hybe does not “own” sm. it will have the largest say in executive matters overall but it will not OWN sm. in order to fully acquire sm, hybe needs to over over 51% of the shares, which, you know what? who knows what might happen in the future. the story has just begun. the next stage is to wait for march 6th.

this is not a power grab. this is an emergency decision to protect kpop from kakao. a decision which has the complete potential to turn very bad, very soon.

[slotgacor451]

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[rickyreeves1980]

Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a 1987 action-platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was directed by Akira Kitamura, with Nobuyuki Matsushima as lead programmer, and is the first game of the Mega Man franchise and the original video game series. Mega Man was produced by a small team specifically for the home console market, a first for Capcom, who previously focused on arcade titles.
The game begins the struggle of the humanoid robot and player-character Mega Man against the mad scientist Dr. Wily and the six "Robot Masters" under his control. Mega Man's nonlinear gameplay lets the player choose the order in which to complete its initial six stages. Each culminates in a boss battle against one of the Robot Masters that awards the player-character a unique weapon. Part of the strategy of the game is that the player must carefully choose the order in which to tackle the stages so that they can earn the weapons that will be most useful for future stages.
Critics praised Mega Man for its overall design. Mega Man established many of the gameplay, story, and graphical conventions that would define the ensuing sequels, subseries, and spin-offs in the Mega Man franchise. The game has since been featured in game compilations, including Mega Man Legacy Collection for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch, rereleased on mobile phones, and become a part of console emulation services. It received a full 3D remake titled Mega Man Powered Up in 2006.
In the year 20XX, robots developed to assist mankind are commonplace thanks to the efforts of renowned robot designer Dr. Light. However, one day, these robots go out of control and start attacking humans, among them six advanced humanoid robots created by Dr. Light for industrial purposes. Known as the "Robot Masters", they consist of Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man. Dr. Light realizes that the culprit responsible for these attacks is his old rival Dr. Wily, but is unsure of what to do. His helper robot, Rock, having a strong sense of justice, offers to be converted into a fighting robot to stop Dr. Wily's plans, dubbing himself Mega Man. In time, he defeats the six Robot Masters and recovers their central cores, then confronts Dr. Wily within his Pacific-based robot factory, where he is manufacturing copies of Light's robots. After defeating replicas of the Robot Masters, as well as several robots designed specifically by Wily to defeat him, Mega Man confronts Wily in a final showdown and defeats him before returning home to his family.
The initial Western release of the game, while keeping the same basic plot, significantly changed some details from the original Japanese manual. In this version, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily (who is portrayed as Dr. Light's former assistant) co-create the humanoid robot Mega Man alongside the six Robot Masters, each of whom were designed for the benefit of Monsteropolis's citizens (no such place existed in the original plot). Dr. Wily, angered by Light taking credit for their work and desiring to use his creations for criminal purposes, steals the Robot Masters and reprograms them, then creates his own army of robots to seize control of Monsteropolis and declare it his own personal empire. Dr. Light, horrified by Wily's betrayal, sends Mega Man to destroy the Robot Masters and free Monsteropolis from Wily's machines.
Mega Man consists of six side-scrolling platformer levels freely chosen by the player. In each level, the player-character, Mega Man, fights through various enemies and obstacles before facing a "Robot Master" boss at the level's end. Upon defeating the boss, the player assimilates the Robot Master's signature attack, or "Special Weapon", into Mega Man's arsenal for the rest of the game. Unlike the standard Mega Buster (Rock Buster in Japan), the Robot Master powers have limited ammunition replenished by collecting ammunition cells dropped by defeated enemies at random.