A faebold
Here to cast spells, eat tasty treats and click raptor claws
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Quick sculpt done over the course of a week, based on art by Sita Duncan
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The Georgia Senate Resolution to Rev. Duncan Teague
Senate Resolution 563 was issued to Rev. Duncan Teague in recognition of his 10th pastoral anniversary during Abundant LUUv’s sixth (SITA) anniversary at their new facility on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard in Atlanta:
By: Senators Orrock of the 36th, Halpern of the 39th, Parent of the 42nd, Jackson of the 41st, Butler of the 55th and others
A RESOLUTION
Recognizing and commending Reverend…
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We just recently put up auditions for what should be the last side characters in Pale Spectrum.
If you or a friend is into voice acting, feel free to take a peak.
Note: Some minor spoilers regarding the story so read at your own risk.
Aside from that, I've been adding background variants to scenes as I go through and polish chapter 2. As well as narrative coding (sprite expressions) and music.
The ending for the Mountain storyline has been written, and there's only one remaining ending for the Palace storyline left to finish off. Which is good! Since the budget for the game is creeping close to what we had for it, which is pretty nutsy, seeing as that means we've spent over $5,000 on voice acting for the game so far.
It's great to see that the end is in sight! While not entirely certain of the exact release date just now, I'm aiming roughly for April-May, as that is the 1 year mark since the kickstarter campaign ended. We'll see how it goes! This may just mean that the game is ready for beta testing during this time, or that it's done except for a handful of voice over lines, but I think it's a good goal to work towards.
The studio has officially gotten moved into a new house, so expect the work flow to ramp up again as we get more and more settled.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
-Geckos
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Women of Xal Official Demos Coming April 2nd, 2018
Hello, everyone! It's been a while! A month and change, in fact. And we got busy!
(Some news will be old news to some of you since this is a modified repost of the Kickstarter update that went live today. They only receive the major updates to avoid email spam.)
Firstly, the final updated Kickstarter demo is set to be released April 2nd! It comes with SEVERAL quality of life improvements and will finally use the engine the official game will be using! So impossible bugs will at long last be no more. You can thank programmer Alys Hannum for putting up with me- I mean the Tyranobuilder software and inevitably deciding to transfer EVERYTHING over to the Ren'py engine for both sanity and ironically swiftness.
Secondly, A BRAND NEW DEMO that represents the official game will be coming out as well. Featuring all the new art and music you all have been seeing and hearing! Best yet, it ALSO drops April 2nd! At the same time! It would be April 1st, but...
So anyways! This demo took a bit to get out due to delays from basically all sides. 2018 has been brutal in that way. But now most of the assets are in! There will be some placeholder images and music in the demo, but we figure you guys won't mind that! (And can be updated later~) Just like the Kickstarter/Lore Demo, we'll be handing out the demo to beta-testers and Let's Players early. (Aiming for March 19th! Look forward to details on that soon!)
But wait, there's more! We all get far more CGs thanks to Ithaqua Labs' Sita Duncan/Geckos! (Brilliant Shadows, Pale Spectrum, Perceptions of the Dead, ect) She has created some marvelous dynamic images to go along with the story. The two images above are only some of the images you can expect to see in the canon demo! (Not the Lore Demo)
But wait! There's more!
Madeleine Jansson (Eora) will be providing us animations for those important scenes that could benefit from a talented animated touch! She's been hit with software troubles keeping her from rendering this teaser animation, so unfortunately you can't see it in motion today, but if we're all so lucky, we'll have all that sorted by time the Patreon launches for Women of Xal's extra content! Until then, you can see some of her earlier works (HERE) so you can get just as excited as I am for her inevitable return to animation.
Why are we releasing a WoX-specific Patreon? So we can cram in extras, of course! Game will still come out with all the features we can bring in, animation included, but, we missed a few stretch goals. Like voice acting. And more CGs! And more animation! General quality of life improvements that I will happily explain more in detail when the Patreon launches...April 2nd! (Just like the Lore Demo, the new demo has to prove itself before we accept patrons!)
BUT WAIT. THERE'S. MORE.
Screenshots!
We have a functioning status screen, and it's pretty darn fun to look at! As you can see in my test build, I went with kindness for my run, but unlike the Lore Demo, you actually have more than one stat to worry about and each one comes with its own perks and consequences. How will you manage Xjena on your run?
Merixa also talks a tiny bit more in this demo.
And Clanice a little less~
But you can still be a butt.
Also say hi to Marra. She'll be saying hi to you.
As for the game's progress itself, well, progress can best be summed up with "WE CAN FINALLY START SHOWING THE FUN PLOT STUFF! <3" So!
And well, that's it! That's the end of this lengthy update! I'll leave you all with a cute picture of Axay.
-John
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Heyy! I saw that you asked for music recs so here I go 👉👈
I don’t really know what type of music you’d like, but I’ve seen we have some similar artists we both like, so I’d take a shot.
I don’t know if you like him or not but I’ve really been into Marco Mengoni for years now, and his latest song Venere e Marte is on my top 5 rn. But I guess you already know everything there is to know about Italian music, so I’ll switch to something else.
I love Duncan Laurence’s latest album (Small Town Boy).
Then I guess you wouldn’t have a problem with other languages as well, so I can also recommend Jão (he’s Brazilian, oh and also, he’s bi!!). The first song of his I heard and liked was Imaturo, then I also love Triste Pra Sempre, Vsf, Enquanto Me Beija, Monstros...
Also a not very known artist that I love is Yadam!! He’s Venezuelian, participated in the french version of American idol a few years ago and released his first EP last year. He sings in English, Spanish and French. My personal favorites are Vacío (No Llores X Mi) and The Place.
If you’re okay with french there’s also my favorite french band : Kyo (yes I’m french, we all have our cross to bear 😔), their biggest hits were Dernière Danse and Le Chemin (feat. Sita), but my favorites are Le Graal, Plan A, XY...
I think you like MOR too, have you ever listened to Florent Mothe ? Unfortunately he only has 2 albums, but I like him too. (Les Blessures Qui Ne Se Voient Pas, Je Ne Sais Pas, Tant De Lendemains...).
Anyway I think that’s it for now because it’s getting a bit long and messy 😬
Buona serata ✨
!! I forgive you for being french because of how many music you suggested!! I added all of these songs to a playlist and i can't wait to listen to it! Thank you!! Et bonne soirée 😊❤
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Chubb Partners Grab to Launch In-App Travel Insurance in Singapore
Chubb, one of the world’s largest publicly traded
property and casualty insurance companies, has partnered Grab, a
leading app in Southeast Asia, to launch Travel Cover.
Grab users who purchase Travel Cover are able to
save their travel profiles on the Grab app, making future
purchases extremely easy. They will also be rewarded with
discounts for each repurchase of Travel Cover.
The product is distributed by GrabInsure Insurance
Agency, Grab Financial Group’s insurance platform.
Tom Duncan, Head of Insurance at Grab, said, “Our
mission with GrabInsure is to provide access to affordable
insurance products that better meet the everyday needs of
Southeast Asians as we enter the consumer insurance market. Our
customer research shows that many individuals were uninsured when
they travel, and we are uniquely placed to address this gap.
Travel Cover is an example of how we are leveraging GrabInsure’s
platform to deliver innovative ‘on-demand’ insurance products. We
are pleased to be working with Chubb as they share our vision to
make insurance affordable and easily accessible. We will continue
to work closely together to expand the product offering and
address the differing consumer needs across the region.”
In Singapore, for example, a new insurance tile
has been added to the Grab app, allowing Singapore-based customers
to purchase Travel Cover from just S$2.50 per day for travel to
any destination globally.
To celebrate the launch of this new product, the
first 20,000 customers can purchase Travel Cover at a discounted
price of just S$1 per day until 29 February 2020 for trips within
the Asia Pacific region.
Travel Cover is expected to be rolled out to
other Grab markets in Southeast Asia in the coming months.
Scott Simpson, Country President of Chubb in
Singapore said, “Outbound travel from Singapore is thriving,
reaching 10.4 million departures by air and sea in 2018. At the
same time, smartphone users are projected to hit 4.65 million this
year. Our partnership with Grab allows us to develop more
customer-centric insurance solutions that align with the varied
lifestyles of consumers.”
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Rehearsal – 6th April 2017
The main focus of the rehearsal was to complete the blocking and scripting of Dylann Roof’s section. We have found a lot of information on Dylann Roof over the past few weeks as he was our main character. As our ideas have changed to having six death row cases, we had decided to cut and alter the order of Dylann’s scenes for time purposes. The scenes we managed to focus on in the rehearsal were Dylann’s relationship with his Dad and Dylann’s conversation with his friend before he committed mass murder.
The scene with Dylann and his Dad caused some issues to begin with as we had ideas that were conflicting. In this section Dylann’s Dad gives him a gun for his birthday, but from our meeting with Sita it was suggested that it is more powerful for the Dad not to appear on stage to allow for the reactions of Dylann to be seen more clearly to the audience. We managed to solve the issue by having his Dad shout up to Dylann in his room, asking him if he had opened his present that was in his room yet. The reactions that Caspian makes will be important for this scene as the audience will need to be able to clearly interpret the abusive relationship between the two characters.
We added a scene which will have real footage of Dylann Roof playing with the gun in his backyard, which Caspian will mimic on stage. In our research, we found out that Dylann roof enjoyed listening to opera music so decided this would be a good opportunity to add this to the scene, which will show our extensive research and add new elements to the character.
The final scene we worked on was Dylann discussing his plans with the gun with one of his friends on a riverbank of South Carolina. Like all the sections, the scene was based on real events we found online. Joey Meek was one of Dylann’s friends and there are a few interviews online which discusses their conversation of how Dylann was going to shoot up the College of Charleston, though Joey did not think he would go through with it. We have made the scene quite ominous which suits Dylann’s mysteriousness, we also added another monologue which will reveal more information about the kind of character Dylann is to the audience.
As we did not finish Dylann’s section as intended, Caspian will continue to script and work on Dylann Roof’s scenes over the Easter holidays. The rest of us will now work on our own characters and produce scripts which we will begin blocking together after the Easter break.
The case studies are all different with various crimes and repercussions from the public. Despite all the crimes being shocking and disturbing some are still more extreme than others. But instead of structuring it from least to most extreme, we instead decided to keep it varied to keep the piece engaging for the audience.
The order of sections will be as follows:
Dylann Roof - Cas
Christa Pike - Phoebe
Aaron McKinney - Oliver
Emilia Carr - Harriet
Joseph E. Duncan III - Anthony
Aileen Wuornos - Eden
- A.L.P
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JUST THE GOOD STUFF: WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH EDITION
JUST THE GOOD STUFF: WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH EDITION
Welcome to another installment of JUST THE GOOD STUFF. This time, I’m celebrating Women’s History Month with an assortment of books that are about women and by women – but for everybody.
Let’s get started with…
SITA’S RAMAYANA
Text by Samhita Arni, art by Moyna Chitrakar (2011: Groundwood Books).
Samhita Arni’s re-telling of the Ramayana is in Sita’s voice, and the first-person narration is…
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Just a little scrollbold here to deliver a potion
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Nairn è un’altra delle tappe per la notte nel nostro on the road in Scozia, la quarta notte per la precisione, dopo le due notti a Edimburgo, e la terza notte a Stonehaven.
Arriviamo a Nairn dopo aver visitato in giornata Pennan, Crovie, Gardenstown, Banff, Portsoy e Portknockie splendidi villaggi lungo la costa nord est, nel Moray Firth. Sempre lungo la costa, prima di arrivare a Nairn, vale la pena fare una sosta per una passeggiata alla spiaggia di Lossiemouth e una pausa a Elgin.
West beach al tramonto
Nairn, ex borgo reale delle Highlands, ha origini molto antiche, sorge attorno all’anno 1000 come colonia norvegese, si è sviluppata poi durante l’impero di James VI diventando una vera e propria “città di confine”. I suoi abitanti, in parte di cultura gaelica che si dedicavano alla pesca, in parte inglesi del nord est della Scozia che si dedicavano all’agricoltura. Sembra addirittura che da un lato all’altro della strada principale High Street, si parlassero due lingue diverse.
Situata lungo le coste del Moray Firth è una graziosa località di vacanza popolare per le sue splendide spiagge, tanto da essere definita la “Brighton della Scozia”. Le spiagge di Nairn sono due: la West Beach, la più piccola e la East Beach, la più grande. Spiagge bellissime con sabbia d’orata che conducono a un mare turchese, in lontananza le scogliere del Moray Firth, il luogo ideale per rilassarsi e fare meravigliose passeggiate tra le dune.
West Beach
La cittadina ha un grande viale principale, High Street, attraversa il centro e segue il corso del fiume Nairn che sfocia in mare., lungo il viale negozi e locali. La cittadina non ha sicuramente il fascino di altri villaggi, il suo punto di forza sono sicuramente le spiagge.
West beach
Nairn vanta un porto, importante punto di riferimento, progettato nel 1820 da Thomas Telford ha contribuito allo sviluppo di Nairn. Nel suo momento di massimo svilupo, quando la pesca era l’attività principale, il porto accoglieva una sessantina di barche da pesca e quasi tutti gli abitanti del villaggio erano dediti a tale attività. Per capirne di più si può visitare il Fishertown Museum.
Ad agosto ospita i Nairn Highland Games e l’International jazz festival.
Scorcio del porto
A qualche chilometro da Nair, una tappa imperdibile è il Cawdor Castle, uno dei castelli più romantici di Scozia e che gli appassionati di Shakespeare sicuramente conoscono. Nel Macbeth, la celebre tragedia, Macbeth uccise proprio a Cawdor Castle il re Duncan dopo aver sognato che lui stesso sarebbe salito sul trono di Scozia.
Il castello attualmente è abitato dalla Contessa Cawdor, matrigna di Colin Campbell, VII Conte di Cawdor. Il castello è comunque visitabile tutti i giorni dal primo maggio al 2 ottobre, dalle 10.00 alle 17.30. Qui il sito per le informazioni.
Giardino Cawador Castle
Cawador Castle
Un altro castello, a una decina di chilomteri da Nairn, è Brodie Castle, gestito dal National Trust For Scotland, risale al XVI secolo. Si trova nel parco di Morayshire vicino Forres è circondato da un parco di ben 71 ettari con giardini paesaggistici, un grande stagno, un parco giochi e una passeggiata tra i boschi con un sentiero naturale che permette di osservare la fauna selvatica. In primavera, i terreni sono puntellati di molte varietà di giunchiglie.
Un castello ancora ben conservato che contiene molte opere d’arte, un’importante collezione di dipinti, mobili francesi, porcellane inglesi e cinesi. Spettacolare la biblioteca con circa 6.000 volumi e gli originali soffitti. Qui le informazioni per visitare il castello.
Brodie Castle
DOVE DORMIRE A NAIRN: DENSON VILLA
Si tratta di una guest house in un’antica e tipica villetta. La camera molto ampia arredata in stile classico con meravigliosi coordinati letto e fiori freschi, tutto molto raffinato e curato nei dettagli. Bagno molto carino e pulitissimo, ampia doccia.Davvero un luogo magico dove soggiornare. Il padrone di casa Alex è molto gentile e disponibile ci ha accolti all’arrivo con due scones. Come è consuetudine delle guest house in Scozia e in tutta la Gran Bretagna, la colazione viene scelta da un ricco menù, la proposta e sempre molto ampia e di ottimo livello.
La colazione, servita in camera nel tavolo posizionato di fonte a una finestra con vista sul campo da golf, è stata un’esperienza fantastica di questo soggiorno.
Al check out Alex ci ha congedato con due fette di torta home made, da consumare durante il viaggio.
Di fronte la struttura c’è un parcheggio gratuito deve lasciare l’auto. La struttura dista 10 km dal Castello di Cawdor.
Prezzo pagato (una notte) 88,00 euro, colazione inclusa.
Indirizzo: Lochloy Road, Nairn IV12 5AF, Regno Unito. Sito Web.
Camera
Camera
Generi di conforto
Bagno
Dolci da viaggio
Per cena: Se volete cenare a Nairn vi consiglio il wine bar One One Two, oltre a una buona scelta di vino, propone una cucina davvero ben fatta con ottimi prodotti. Menù ricco e vario a prezzi ottimi. E’ possibile prendere tutta una serie di assaggi (antipasti) come fare una cena classica con antipasto e un piatto principale.
One One Two
One One Two
One One Two
A poche miglia da Nairn troviamo
FORT GEORGE
Fort George è un’immensa fortificazione del XVIII secolo che si trova nei pressi della cittadina di Ardersier e a nord-est di Inverness. In gaelico è chiamata Dùn Deòrsa o An Gearastan (il presidio o/la guarnigione).
Fu costruita per quietare gli altipiani della Scozia, costruita dopo la rivolta giacobita del 1715, per mettere la zona sotto controllo armato. Andò a sostituire un’altra Fort George a Inverness,
Ingresso Fort George
Fort George fu una delle spietate misure introdotte dal governo, per sopprimere le ambizioni giacobite dopo la battaglia di Culloden. Questo forte, fa parte di un pezzo di storia infausta della Scozia e provoca sentimenti forti in tutti gli scozzesi. Conoscere la storia, anche negli aspetti infausti e tristi è importante, per farsi un’idea più precisa su questa Nazione. Fu creato e mantenuto per distruggere la cultura gaelica. Era tristemente questa la sua funzione principale. Fu uno dei tre forti creati per sottomettere le Highlands, gli altri erano Fort Augustus e Fort William. Lo stesso sistema di fortezze adottato dagli Stati Uniti, nell’intento di distruggere la cultura dei nativi americani.
PRIMO FORT GEORGE
Costruito inizialmente nel 1727 a Inverness, Fort George era una grande fortezza che poteva ospitare fino a 400 soldati ed era sita su una collina adiacente al fiume Ness, nel luogo di un castello medievale che era stato ricostruito come cittadella da Oliver Cromwell e poi abbandonata.
Torrette di guardia
Durante la rivolta del 1745 la fortezza fu catturata dai giacobiti, che la fecero saltare in aria nel 1746 per evitare che gli hannoveriani la usassero come base militare. Nel 1747 il colonnello William Skinner, Ingegnere Reale della Gran Bretagna settentrionale, approntò un contratto per ricostruire la fortezza, ma il Comune di Inverness presentò una richiesta di risarcimento per la perdita di una parte del suo porto e fu quindi trovato un sito alternativo (quello attuale).
SITO E COSTRUZIONE
Il sito dove fu costruita è una lingua di terra ad Ardersier, su un promontorio che si protende nel fiordo Moray Firth e controlla l’approccio marittimo di Inverness stessa. Con il proprio porto, sotto le mura, la fortezza poteva essere fornita di viveri via mare in caso di assedio.
Fort George dall’alto – Ph: Graham Bradshaw
I lavori iniziarono nel 1748, con il colonnello Skinner in carica e come architetti appaltatori i fratelli Adam – John, Robert e infine James – che supervisionarono circa 1.000 soldati quale manodopera e difesa del sito contro eventuali attacchi. Entro il 1757 le principali difese erano pronte e Fort George fu definitivamente completato nel 1769. Il budget iniziale era di 92.673 sterline, ma il costo finale superò 200.000 sterline, una considerevole cifra per quell’epoca. Non ci furono comunque altre ribellioni giacobite da contenere e divenne quindi una base militare per i reggimenti delle Highlands, reclutati dai clan.
FORTIFICAZIONI
Nella terminologia militare, le fortificazioni di Fort George costituiscono un esempio di “difesa in profondità” o difesa elastica. Le pareti principali sono rivestite in pietra, sfaccettate in piano e ad angoli con bastioni sporgenti e roccaforti trincerate in modo che ogni facciata è coperta da fuoco di cannoni situati in cima ad altre pareti. Le pareti sono di ampia larghezza e ricoperte da terreno erboso, sopra casematte a volta che formano bunker sotterranei progettati per proteggere l’intera guarnigione dal fuoco d’artiglieria.
Uno scorcio delle costruzioni di Fort George
L’approccio da terra alla fortezza è da una vasta area liberamente spianata con ghiaia, non adatta al posizionamento di cannoni pesanti, in modo da rendere impossibile lo stanziamento di artiglieria nemica in un eventuale assedio, tenuta quindi fuori portata. Sponde erbose in pendenza, progettate per assorbire colpi di artiglieria, nascondono il forte dalla vista. L’ingresso è raggiungibile attraverso un rivellino – struttura difensiva autonoma che incorpora una garitta – ed è completamente esposto al fuoco difensivo del forte principale; segue poi una passerella in legno rialzato, completo di ponte levatoio sopra un ampio fossato posto tra bastioni ben difesi. La fossa forma un terreno completamente esposto a tiro pesante da parte del forte, dalle mura.
ACCESSO TURISTICO
La caserma è attualmente in uso e ospita truppe dell’esercito reale britannico, tuttavia buona parte del sito è aperto ai visitatori. Viene gestita da Historic Scotland, una parte della caserma esibisce varie ricostruzioni dei periodi storici, quando il forte veniva usato per le difese locali del fiordo di Moray, con una mostra di armi e storie militari del XVIII secolo.
HIGHLANDERS’ MUSEUM
L’edificio originariamente adibito a casa del Governatore ospita il Museo degli Highlanders, museo ufficiale del Reggimento Highlanders della Regina. Le esposizioni includono uniformi, armi, medaglie, targhe commemorative delle due guerre mondiali, fotografie, dipinti, cimeli e le insegne del reggimento. Ci sono inoltre mostre che includono la storia dei reggimenti, i loro legami con i clan scozzesi e le imprese dei vari reggimenti nei diversi conflitti.
Uno scorcio del Forte
La Cappella del reggimento è aperta anche ai visitatori e presenta vari stendardi e bandiere memoriali. (Fonte Wikipedia) Sito web: Fort George
Il nostro viaggio prosegue a Loch Ness e al Castello di Urquhart
Scozia: Nairn e i suoi dintorni e Fort George Nairn è un’altra delle tappe per la notte nel nostro on the road in Scozia, la quarta notte per la precisione, dopo le due notti a…
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Amadeus Wins Air Canada Contract as It Digs In Deeper in North America
A passenger checks in at Air Canada's desks at Toronto Pearson International Airport. By moving to Amadeus's Altea passengers service system, the flagship Canadian carrier hopes to have a more efficient technology process. Air Canada
Skift Take: With this deal, the Madrid-based technology giant has scored another win in North America, after having finished moving Southwest Airlines to Amadeus' reservations platform earlier this year.
— Sean O'Neill
Air Canada has decided to move from its 30-year-old, built-in-house reservation system to the Altéa Suite offered by Amadeus, the Madrid-based travel technology giant.
The move is another commercial victory in the Americas for Amadeus, which earlier this year moved the international reservations system of Southwest Airlines from a platform run by Texas-based Sabre to an Amadeus-powered platform.
In perhaps added poignancy, Sabre’s new CEO Sean Menke was Air Canada’s chief commercial officer from 2005 to 2007. But Sabre’s passenger service system, SabreSonic, did not grab the prize in this instance.
More importantly, Amadeus, which had been stymied in breaking into North America as an airline reservation system provider until its Southwest deal, is seeing global momentum in sales of its passenger services system. These systems do everything from handling passenger reservations systems and processing sales of preferred seats to scheduling flight crew.
Since 2010, Altea has doubled the volume of passengers it handles and now has a 45 percent global market share, compared to Sabre’s 20 percent share, according to estimates by investment bank analysts at Credit Suisse.
As recently as 2013, Air Canada’s director of global product distribution, Keith Wallis, was saying that the airline was dissatisfied with the passenger services system offerings of Amadeus and Sabre. Wallis gave a presentation at the time with slides showing why the tech company’s products didn’t meet the airline’s business goals of flexibility in how it wants to sell its products.
What’s changed? Duncan Bureau, Air Canada’s vice president of global sales, said, “Our view is we want our product on as many shelves as possible at the right economics.”
He noted the company is extending its distribution agreement with Amadeus, as well.
A decade ago, Air Canada pulled out of the global distribution systems like Amadeus and Sabre in a stated frustration with how they were “commoditizing” its products.
Bureau said, “We’re in a very different position than we were 10 years ago, as we’ve since more than doubled in size and our international markets have grown significantly.”
He said Altea offers more flexible merchandizing than its in-house system allowed. “Today, an agent would have to toggle out of our in-house PSS to get access to some of our ancillary revenue products, while with Altea all of our products will be available to the agent within the same workflow.”
Bureau said his carrier has added 50 destinations in recent years and doubled its wide-body fleet pointed at Asia Pacific markets where Amadeus has taken more market share than other reservation system providers have lately.
Ilia Kostov, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for airlines for Amadeus North America, said Altea excels at letting an airline communicate with the systems of its alliance partners. In Air Canada’s case, it is a Star Alliance partner with Lufthansa, which is also on the Altea system.
For example, if a flight disruption involving a passenger on an Air Canada and an alliance partner needs to be rebooked, in today’s system there is a lot of manual work that agents have to do; only Air Canada would have clear information about the passenger’s trip. In the future, Amadeus says its Altea system would enable the agents from either Air Canada or Lufthansa to help rebook the passenger.
Amadeus’ airline reservations business hasn’t been all been roses. In 2011, Amadeus lost a contract to move United from its existing system to Altea after the airline decided it wasn’t sufficiently impressed with the robustness of the platform.
Separately, in late September 2017, Amadeus’s Altea system had network problems for several minutes worldwide that disrupted some of its systems and led to flight delays and other hassles for up to 30 minutes. It was triggered by an issue in a faulty switch during network maintenance, the company said.
Other systems, such as SabreSonic, have experienced plenty of — and more protracted — outages.
Amadeus competes against multiple players in the $11 billion a year passenger services system market, though not all have continued to invest as intensively in serving larger commercial airlines as Amadeus and leading rival Sabre have.
Players include Mercator and Unisys. SITA recently introduced a new passenger services system, but it has had only tiny airlines try it. HP used to be a large player but now mainly provides maintenance for legacy systems. IBS Software has some traction in India. Radixx has dabbled in the market. Travelsky Technology is large in China.
Many airlines also use in-house systems that need converting to keep up with today’s technology demands.
While Air Canada is expected to board only 45 million passengers this year, every deal counts.
The largest airlines up for grabs next, according to experts, are All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Turkish Airlines. Their business will be fought for intensely.
0 notes
Amadeus Wins Air Canada Contract as It Digs In Deeper in North America
A passenger checks in at Air Canada's desks at Toronto Pearson International Airport. By moving to Amadeus's Altea passengers service system, the flagship Canadian carrier hopes to have a more efficient technology process. Air Canada
Skift Take: With this deal, the Madrid-based technology giant has scored another win in North America, after having finished moving Southwest Airlines to Amadeus' reservations platform earlier this year.
— Sean O'Neill
Air Canada has decided to move from its 30-year-old, built-in-house reservation system to the Altéa Suite offered by Amadeus, the Madrid-based travel technology giant.
The move is another commercial victory in the Americas for Amadeus, which earlier this year moved the international reservations system of Southwest Airlines from a platform run by Texas-based Sabre to an Amadeus-powered platform.
In perhaps added poignancy, Sabre’s new CEO Sean Menke was Air Canada’s chief commercial officer from 2005 to 2007. But Sabre’s passenger service system, SabreSonic, did not grab the prize in this instance.
More importantly, Amadeus, which had been stymied in breaking into North America as an airline reservation system provider until its Southwest deal, is seeing global momentum in sales of its passenger services system. These systems do everything from handling passenger reservations systems and processing sales of preferred seats to scheduling flight crew.
Since 2010, Altea has doubled the volume of passengers it handles and now has a 45 percent global market share, compared to Sabre’s 20 percent share, according to estimates by investment bank analysts at Credit Suisse.
As recently as 2013, Air Canada’s director of global product distribution, Keith Wallis, was saying that the airline was dissatisfied with the passenger services system offerings of Amadeus and Sabre. Wallis gave a presentation at the time with slides showing why the tech company’s products didn’t meet the airline’s business goals of flexibility in how it wants to sell its products.
What’s changed? Duncan Bureau, Air Canada’s vice president of global sales, said, “Our view is we want our product on as many shelves as possible at the right economics.”
He noted the company is extending its distribution agreement with Amadeus, as well.
A decade ago, Air Canada pulled out of the global distribution systems like Amadeus and Sabre in a stated frustration with how they were “commoditizing” its products.
Bureau said, “We’re in a very different position than we were 10 years ago, as we’ve since more than doubled in size and our international markets have grown significantly.”
He said Altea offers more flexible merchandizing than its in-house system allowed. “Today, an agent would have to toggle out of our in-house PSS to get access to some of our ancillary revenue products, while with Altea all of our products will be available to the agent within the same workflow.”
Bureau said his carrier has added 50 destinations in recent years and doubled its wide-body fleet pointed at Asia Pacific markets where Amadeus has taken more market share than other reservation system providers have lately.
Ilia Kostov, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for airlines for Amadeus North America, said Altea excels at letting an airline communicate with the systems of its alliance partners. In Air Canada’s case, it is a Star Alliance partner with Lufthansa, which is also on the Altea system.
For example, if a flight disruption involving a passenger on an Air Canada and an alliance partner needs to be rebooked, in today’s system there is a lot of manual work that agents have to do; only Air Canada would have clear information about the passenger’s trip. In the future, Amadeus says its Altea system would enable the agents from either Air Canada or Lufthansa to help rebook the passenger.
Amadeus’ airline reservations business hasn’t been all been roses. In 2011, Amadeus lost a contract to move United from its existing system to Altea after the airline decided it wasn’t sufficiently impressed with the robustness of the platform.
Separately, in late September 2017, Amadeus’s Altea system had network problems for several minutes worldwide that disrupted some of its systems and led to flight delays and other hassles for up to 30 minutes. It was triggered by an issue in a faulty switch during network maintenance, the company said.
Other systems, such as SabreSonic, have experienced plenty of — and more protracted — outages.
Amadeus competes against multiple players in the $11 billion a year passenger services system market, though not all have continued to invest as intensively in serving larger commercial airlines as Amadeus and leading rival Sabre have.
Players include Mercator and Unisys. SITA recently introduced a new passenger services system, but it has had only tiny airlines try it. HP used to be a large player but now mainly provides maintenance for legacy systems. IBS Software has some traction in India. Radixx has dabbled in the market. Travelsky Technology is large in China.
Many airlines also use in-house systems that need converting to keep up with today’s technology demands.
While Air Canada is expected to board only 45 million passengers this year, every deal counts.
The largest airlines up for grabs next, according to experts, are All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Turkish Airlines. Their business will be fought for intensely.
0 notes
Aku “Whoever they are, they can use Fire.”
Aku “I have no idea where they went.”
Lyrael “Then you probably should have chased from the start.”
Aku “I was busy being punched in the face!”
Lyrael “It was the neck, the chin. Admittedly a good assassin would have made a blow to that region lethal…”
Lyrael is a bit of an oddball. She doesn’t seem to express emotions the way that others do, and as such it gives her a rather deadpan way of speaking.
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I love my subscribers. So much that I always check out any and all games they suggest. Once again, I’ve been trolled into playing a graphic novel game.
This one is just like the others that I’ve played. It’s boring. The graphics are some of the best though that I’ve seen in a graphic novel… that’s pretty much the only redeeming element.
Roll PASS.
Watch the first 15 minutes of game play and review of Embers of Magic here:
About Embers of Magic
Embers of Magic is a short, adventure visual novel that tells the story of Liana the witch. She takes an airship down to the surface of the dangerous and corrupt earth beneath her flying city home.
It is set in the same world as Brilliant Shadows, but happens 300 years beforehand.
Writing by Christopher “Nyo” Michael Hall
Artist/Coding by Sita “Geckos” Duncan
Engine: Ren’Py
Composer: Caelem
Voices: Adoxographist, Alec Shea, Nyo, Brad Smith and many others…
Embers of Magic is a kinetic novel lasting around 30 minutes. All spoken lines are fully voiced. It is 6,262 words in length.
Embers of Magic Media
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Get the game [HERE]
Tech Specs
OS: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
Processor: 1.5Ghz Processor or better
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: Integrated Graphics Chip
Storage: 200 MB available space
FIRST 15 MINUTES GAME PLAY – Embers of Magic – Graphic Novel Trolling I love my subscribers. So much that I always check out any and all games they suggest.
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