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mousequteers · 3 months ago

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**Chapter 5: *"Silk, Secrets, and Sabotage"***

**Mission Codename:** *#MMCXXII-CHANEL//BLUE_ORCHID*

The MouseQuteers infiltrate Paris Fashion Week, where Division C plans to auction stolen Chanel "Blue Orchid" blueprints—a neural-weave fabric that bends light *and* memories—to Dior’s shadow board. Disguised as models, the team navigates a runway rigged with laser-grid security and rival spies.

- **Charity (Kilala)** struts in a hacked Coco Chanel revival gown, her scepter disguised as a feather boa. She syncs with **Greñada**, whose gravitational whispers unravel Dior agents’ earpieces.

- **DL** flirts with a double-agent valet (Felicia Hardy in disguise) to access the vault, but his time-warp glitches—*“Why’s every mission a time loop with exes?”*

- **Estrella’s** Sanrio drones swarm the afterparty, swiping encrypted USB drives from champagne trays… until CHANEL THEE BLACK CAT GLITCH corrupts them into *Hello Kitty x Venom* hybrids.

**Personal Stakes:**

- **Charity** discovers her mother Britney once modeled the prototype Blue Orchid in 2003—a memory erased from public record. *“They turned her into a living mannequin.”*

- **DL** confronts Felicia: *“You sold the Spotlight to save yourself. What’s left to sell?”* She smirks: *“You’ll see.”*

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**Chapter 6: *"Overboard on the S.S. Nostalgia"***

**Mission Codename:** *#MMCXXII-DISNEY//DROWNED_QUEEN*

A distress signal lures the team to a Division C-controlled Disney cruise liner hosting K-pop star **Jisoo** (Blackpink) for a "retro" concert. The catch: The ship’s AI, **Captain Hook 2.0**, is programmed to “retire” rebellious idols via staged accidents.

- **Alice** materializes in the engine room, her void-eyes short-circuiting Hook’s pirate-droid crew. *“This ship’s a ghost. It’s been sunk before.”*

- **Dollar Bill** battles glitched animatronics of NSYNC and *Little Mermaid* hybrids in the ballroom, her guitar shattering Ursula’s enchanted contract: *“Sorry, fish—this ain’t your sea.”*

- **Greñada** duets with Jisoo on *"Kill This Love (Titanic Remix)"* to distract Hook, while **DL** rewinds time to stop Jisoo from being thrown overboard—revealing the ship’s coordinates: *Antarctica.*

**Personal Stakes:**

- **Jisoo** hands Greñada a USB labeled *“Bambi’s Lullabies”*—voice memos of Bambi Prescott negotiating with BLACKPINK’s AI avatars. *“Your ‘Alice’… she’s in the files.”*

- **Dollar Bill** finds a NSYNC tour jacket in Hook’s locker with Risk’s name embroidered—*“Sync or Swim”*—hinting at her half-brother’s fate.

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**Chapter 7: *"Hashtag Warfare"***

**Mission Codename:** *#MMCXXII-ZEGLER//GLITCH_PRINCESS*

Division C launches a digital smear campaign against **Rachel Zegler**, flooding her socials with deepfakes and troll bots to derail her *Snow White* press tour. The MouseQuteers wage a cyberwar from a neon-lit Seoul server farm.

- **Estrella** deploys her Sanrio creatures as firewalls, their pastel hues clashing with CHANEL’s glitch-static. *“Kawaii vs. corruption—let’s go.”*

- **Alice** hacks into Rachel’s livestream, her voice overlaying as a subliminal truth serum: *“They’re scared of your voice. *Sing*.”* Rachel belts *"Someday My Prince Will Come"*—a frequency that crashes Division C’s servers.

- **Charity** discovers the troll bots are powered by recycled Britney Spears fan forums. *“They’re weaponizing her pain. *Again*.”*

**Personal Stakes:**

- **Rachel** confides in Charity about Division C’s offer: *“They said they’d ‘fix’ my image… for my mom’s medical bills.”*

- **Estrella** uncovers a fan-art thread linking her Sanrio creatures to Bambi Prescott’s childhood sketches. *“She *made* us?”*

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**Chapter 8: *"Shorty’s Requiem"***

**Mission Codename:** *#MMCXXII-MILIAN//HOLLYWOOD_GHOST*

Christina Milian recruits the team to investigate her “cameo” in John Travolta’s film *Shorty*. The set is a front for laundering Division C’s funds—and Travolta’s co-star is a cryogenically preserved 90s icon.

- **DL** and **Greñada** pose as extras, discovering Travolta’s dance sequences are coded messages to Division C investors. *“The ‘Pulp Fiction’ twist? It’s all stock trades.”*

- **Alice** wanders the studio’s underground vaults, finding cryo-pods labeled *“Subject MJ”* and *“Subject Xtina Aguilera.”* *“They’re not making movies. They’re *mining* stars.”*

- **Christina** reveals her role was a cover to expose Travolta: *“He’s not John. He’s a clone. The real one’s been missing since *Grease*.”*

**Personal Stakes:**

- **Christina** shares a flickering hologram of her daughter (a MouseQuteer fan) begging her to *“stop the bad men.”*

- **Charity** confronts a cryo-pod labeled *“Subject Britney 2007”*—empty, but blaring *“…Baby One More Time”* in reverse.

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**Chapter 9: *"The Spotlight’s Shadow"***

**Twist:**

The missions converge at a derelict Disneyland, where Bambi Prescott reveals her endgame: **The Spotlight** isn’t a relic—it’s a living entity, and Alice is its *anchor*. *“You thought you were saving stars? You’ve been feeding them to it.”*

**Cliffhangers:**

- **Felicia Hardy** ambushes Travolta’s clone, stealing his identity to infiltrate Division C’s board. *“Time to reboot the system.”*

- **Jisoo’s** USB decrypts, showing Alice’s face in a 1986 Mouse Club photo. *“She’s not a subject. She’s the *founder*.”*

- **CHANEL THEE BLACK CAT GLITCH** hijacks Rachel Zegler’s Snow White premiere, broadcasting Bambi’s manifesto: *“The fairest of them all? *Me*. Always.”*

---

**Next Chapter Teaser:**

*The Factory Boys return with a vengeance, their new single *"Hologram Heartbreak"* brainwashing fans into attacking Area06. Meanwhile, Estrella’s Sanrio creatures rebel, and Charity must choose: Save her mother’s legacy… or erase it?*

---

**Thematic Threads:**

- **Fame as Fuel:** Division C’s exploitation of nostalgia and celebrity DNA.

- **Generational Trauma:** Daughters confronting their mothers’ stolen legacies.

- **Identity vs. Algorithm:** Who’s *real* in a world of clones, AIs, and cryo-stars?

**Style:** *Cinematic universe sprawl à la MCU meets *Black Mirror*, with a K-pop beat drop and haute couture sabotage.*

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jamesstegall · 4 years ago

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Apple defends its new anti-child abuse tech against privacy concerns

Apple has boasted a few iconic ads during the company’s 45-year history, from the famous 1984 Super Bowl ad for Macs to the company’s combative 2019 ad campaign promising that “what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone.”

On Thursday, Apple announced new technologies to detect Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) right on iPhones—and it seems like suddenly, what’s on your iPhone no longer always simply stays there. The controversial new features strike at the heart of concerns about privacy, surveillance, and tech-enabled crimes.

Apple says these new features simultaneously preserve privacy and combat child abuse. For critics, though, the biggest question is not about what the technology might do today, it’s about what it could become tomorrow.

Will Apple’s new scanning technology enable even broader surveillance around the world? Will governments start demanding Apple scan for all sorts of forbidden content on the iPhones in their respective countries?

Apple says the new detection tool, called NeuralHash, can identify images of child abuse stored on an iPhone without decrypting the image. The company also says it has implemented multiple checks to reduce the chance of errors before images are passed to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and then to law enforcement. (For example, the scanner must detect multiple images rather than just one.) The feature will roll out in the United States this year.

After a long & forceful push from me & @LindseyGrahamSC, Apple’s plans to combat child sexual exploitation are a welcome, innovative, & bold step. This shows that we can both protect children & our fundamental privacy rights. https://t.co/c8Hp7jQY3a

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 5, 2021

Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, and other big cloud services already scan material stored on their servers for child abuse material so the general premise is not new. The difference here is that some of Apple’s scans will occur on the iPhone itself—and Apple argues that this is the defining pro-privacy feature of the new technology.

In a briefing with journalists on Friday, Apple said that while other cloud services scan nearly everything their users upload, Apple’s on-device scanning is meant to only send an unreadable hash to the company, a code that identifies images that depict child abuse based on a database maintained by NCMEC rather than Apple.

Apple has also pointed out that the feature applies only to people who upload photos to iCloud (automatic uploads are the default setting on iPhones but can be disabled). iCloud accounts are not currently encrypted, so law enforcement can already peer into them.

Why, then, doesn’t Apple just do what other big tech companies do and scan images when they’re uploaded to the cloud instead of when they’re still on someone’s phone? Why build a new and complex set of technologies when it could just take existing tech from off the shelf?

Apple’s next move

There is an enormous amount we don’t know about what Apple is doing now and what comes next. One popular theory is that this week’s announcement will be the first of several moves in the coming months.

Apple’s marketing has boasted about privacy for years. The iPhone was one of the first personal devices to be automatically encrypted. iMessage is one of the most popular messaging apps with end-to-end encryption. But many Apple customers automatically back everything up to their iCloud accounts—and iCloud has never been encrypted. So even in 2019, that famous iPhone privacy ad could have used a tiny asterisk.

Governments have for years exerted enormous pressure on all tech companies, Apple included, to allow law enforcement special access to otherwise encrypted data in order to prevent what they see as the most heinous of crimes. Child abuse is always at the top of that list, followed closely by terrorism. Apple’s public embrace of encryption has made some cops’ jobs more difficult—but it’s made some kinds of surveillance and abuse of power harder too.

The big loophole has always been iCloud. Cops have to work hard to get directly into iPhones, but if most of the data is already in an unencrypted iCloud account, a warrant will do the trick.

Following this week’s announcement, some experts think Apple will soon announce that iCloud will be encrypted. If iCloud is encrypted but the company can still identify child abuse material, pass evidence along to law enforcement, and suspend the offender, that may relieve some of the political pressure on Apple executives.

It wouldn’t relieve all the pressure: most of the same governments that want Apple to do more on child abuse also want more action on content related to terrorism and other crimes. But child abuse is a real and sizable problem where big tech companies have mostly failed to date.

“Apple’s approach preserves privacy better than any other I am aware of,” says David Forsyth, the chair of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who reviewed Apple’s system. “In my judgement this system will likely significantly increase the likelihood that people who own or traffic in [CSAM] are found; this should help protect children. Harmless users should experience minimal to no loss of privacy, because visual derivatives are revealed only if there are enough matches to CSAM pictures, and only for the images that match known CSAM pictures. The accuracy of the matching system, combined with the threshold, makes it very unlikely that pictures that are not known CSAM pictures will be revealed.”

What about WhatsApp?

Every big tech company faces the horrifying reality of child abuse material on its platform. None have approached it like Apple.

Like iMessage, WhatsApp is an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform with billions of users. Like any platform that size, they face a big abuse problem.

“I read the information Apple put out yesterday and I’m concerned,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart tweeted on Friday. “I think this is the wrong approach and a setback for people’s privacy all over the world. People have asked if we’ll adopt this system for WhatsApp. The answer is no.”

WhatsApp includes reporting capabilities so that any user can report abusive content to WhatsApp. While the capabilities are far from perfect, WhatsApp reported over 400,000 cases to NCMEC last year.

“This is an Apple built and operated surveillance system that could very easily be used to scan private content for anything they or a government decides it wants to control,” Cathcart said in his tweets. “Countries where iPhones are sold will have different definitions on what is acceptable. Will this system be used in China? What content will they consider illegal there and how will we ever know? How will they manage requests from governments all around the world to add other types of content to the list for scanning?”

In its briefing with journalists, Apple emphasized that this new scanning technology was releasing only in the United States so far. But the company went on to argue that it has a track record of fighting for privacy and expects to continue to do so. In that way, much of this comes down to trust in Apple.

The company argued that the new systems cannot be misappropriated easily by government action—and emphasized repeatedly that opting out was as easy as turning off iCloud backup.

Despite being one of the most popular messaging platforms on earth, iMessage has long been criticized for lacking the kind of reporting capabilities that are now commonplace across the social internet. As a result, Apple has historically reported a tiny fraction of the cases to NCMEC that companies like Facebook do.

Instead of adopting that solution, Apple has built something entirely different—and the final outcomes are an open and worrying question for privacy hawks. For others, it’s a welcome radical change.

“Apple’s expanded protection for children is a game changer,” John Clark, president of the NCMEC, said in a statement. “The reality is that privacy and child protection can co-exist.”

High stakes

An optimist would say that enabling full encryption of iCloud accounts while still detecting child abuse material is both an anti-abuse and privacy win—and perhaps even a deft political move that blunts anti-encryption rhetoric from American, European, Indian, and Chinese officials.

A realist would worry about what comes next from the world’s most powerful countries. It is a virtual guarantee that Apple will get—and probably already has received—calls from capital cities as government officials begin to imagine the surveillance possibilities of this scanning technology. Political pressure is one thing, regulation and authoritarian control are another. But that threat is not new nor is it specific to this system. As a company with a track record of quiet but profitable compromise with China, Apple has a lot of work to do to persuade users of its ability to resist draconian governments.

All of the above can be true. What comes next will ultimately define Apple’s new tech. If this feature is weaponized by governments for broadening surveillance, then the company is clearly failing to deliver on its privacy promises.

from MIT Technology Review https://ift.tt/2VnENXH via IFTTT

#IFTTT #MIT Technology Review

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trickstarbrave · 4 years ago

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I see some of my old posts abt this getting likes still so I did feel the need for whatever reason to post an update or rather restatement to my views on the topic

I know this is a horribly tired topic that was discoursed to hell and then left behind and for good reason so as a warning: ace discourse below

First and foremost I’m not in the business of telling ppl wholesale they don’t belong in the community. The vast majority of ace ppl are also other various lgbt identies and trying to “remove” people from the community is not a thing I’d ever advocate for nor have I really ever as far as I can remember. If I have in bad faith I would like to extend an apology bc I have bad memories problems and think those actions are wrong and harmful. If the consensus is ace ppl are lgbt then I’m not here to say everyone else is wrong and I’m the authority on lgbt identities. We are a coalition group, a mashing of communities w sometimes shared histories and experiences. Even if I think ace and aro ppl don’t have as many of those in common I don’t get to decide if they are or not. They are now and I’m more focused on making that work

Still though since it’s inception the ace community has not been a very healthy one. As at best a newer addition to the lgbt community being brought to light and given a label and community, the community has been toxic. Much of the foundational moments for identity were from the AVEN forums and a lot of harmful misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, and ableist things were said on their and supported. This kind of behavior has continued well into the community even today.

This is not a moral judgment on asexuals or aromamtics. I’m aromantic. I was also subjected to these things. I always felt alienated from the community. Even when trying to engage behavior was half the time welcoming and understanding and half the time felt very hostile. I point this out because again: many asexuals and aromantics are other lgbt identies and this rhetoric is very harmful. It’s alienating. It makes you feel guiltier at times. Furthermore at times the community pressured ppl who did not have absolutely any desire for sex in any capacity to be okay with it, as though they were on the same level as people who liked and enjoyed sexual acts removed from sexual attraction to people. Sometimes it encouraged harassing people for saying having sex was a vital part of relationships for them and they felt incompatable with someone who was repulsed by sex and didn’t feel abstaining for a hypothetical ace partner would be healthy for either of them. Even more alarming was qpp’s, really originating from the aro community, spreading and simply being a tool for a while in many circles to coerce people into relationships who otherwise wouldn’t be okay with polyamory or were underaged. I’ve seen so much harm and been subjecting to it that I did have to (and still want to but avoid it for stress reasons) point this out. Even more alarming was during the discourse era seeing big name ace bloggers with large underaged followings bring on self admitted pedophiles to their blogs, and refusing to apologize when said pedophile admitted to sexually harassing minors. Lies were spread to demonize lesbians especially, and to a degree gay men as well, including that we steal funding we don’t need

As well (currently) the lgbt community hasn’t had the best resources to provide a good environment for ace and aro issues, and the ace community has not made it a priority in many spheres to curate those spaces either. As an aro sexual abuse victim there were many times I didn’t want to see public displays of affection or hear abt sexuality of any kind at times (despite not being ace) and I knew asking for those to cease in lgbt spaces would be harmful and come across as bigoted. Lgbt spaces are places to express your comfort in your identity and your relationships in the way cishet ppl can whenever they want to in society. Seeking out spaces without that just meant retreating and being alone. A curated space for aro and ace ppl would have removed tension I know many people have had and still do experience by providing refuge for sex and romance repulsed ace and aro ppl

I felt more boundaries would be beneficial, as while trans people are no doubt a part of the lgbt community (regardless of how many trabsphobes say we don’t belong), trans specific areas and communities still exist. Trans spaces where trans experiences are centered are a priority. The ace community regardless needs better spaces for ace people besides social media and Internet forums. It needs structure and accountability. It needs to unlearn harmful practices and bigotry that have run rampant for their own members’ sake, not for the sake of outside people to see validity in it.

And for a while, people who were otherwise cisgendered, heteroromantic and asexual would speak out in lgbt spaces about trans and gay issues because this is the “same community”. Cis gay men have no authority on lesbian, bi, or trans issues. Cis lesbians have no authority on gay men’s, bi, or trans issues. Cis heterosexual trans ppl shouldn’t talk abt lgbp issues w authority. Cishet ace and aro ppl shouldn’t talk those either. A lot of the hostility and early discourse was abt that, about those bloggers who very quickly left the discussions and website entirely in some cases, speaking about issues that shouldn’t concern them. About homophobia and how it should be treated or tolerated, using slurs they had no right using, and more. Even more alienating was ppl saying a character was ace rather than gay, and when pointed out they could be both it resulted in backlash as trying to take away ace representation, and then real human survivors of sexual abuse who were dead were framed as ace icons and ace representation while framing their discussions of their reactions to sexual abuse as “the ace experience”. Lies spread that ace conversion therapy was a thing and that doctors were going to hold you down and feed you medicine to make you want to have sex, terrifying many young bloggers on this website who genuinely believed and lived in fear of this happening until they were told it was misinformation and lies.

(Yes you can be sexually assaulted for being ace, yes victims of sexual abuse can as a result ID as ace or aro, that’s not what I’m arguing against in case somehow someone finds a way )

But from the other side I’ve seen and spoken out against people who just said bigoted things. Claiming there were too many gender and sexuality identities. I think the split attraction model is limited to ace and aro ppl to explain our identities more coherently and misapplying it to others only servers in the end to stigmatize various sexualities, but this went beyond that. For many people “grey” and “demi” modifiers are useful. I’m grey aro. My romantic feelings are complicated and inconsistent enough I think it’s not average. Sure to a degree “anyone” could be demi or aro and many ppl in the ace community have misattributed those modified identities to ppl who didn’t even fully explore how they felt, but they are not worthless. I can count to you how many times I’ve felt genuine romantic attraction, and I do not fully understand the intricacies of romantic attraction, nor the differences at time between platonic feelings in practice. I was mocked for my identity several times and saw people with identities like mine mocked. This was not a discussion of it these identities were harmful like claiming disassociating during sex was a normal sexual identity. At worst they are unnecessary.

I’ve been always more invested abt having a better community for ace and aro ppl bc that’s what I ultimately wanted. No, they didn’t have the messy intertwined history of other lgbt identities but also they didn’t have to be. Lgbt or not there wasn’t a space for ace and aro ppl I thought was really healthy. It was either they existed there in a group with other people with their issues being talked about or not at all. Ace pride colors were based on the at times toxic forum website AVEN. The aro community was often overlooked by ace ppl or at times actively thrown under the bus.

And lies and misinformation was still spread. Pieces of history incoherently being co-opted and misappropriated to seem legitimate. And to top it all off ace and aro specific oppression was incoherently discussed to. How different forms of oppression work together and often feed into each other or take new shapes was ignored. Studies were extremely limited in scope, loaded, and mostly inconclusive. Facets of misogyny and even homophobia were framed as ace exclusive and unique experiences, and people lied about real life discrimination for being ace (usually these were young people like the 15 y/o who claimed to have two gay dads who kicked her out for being ace, so I won’t dwell on those as much. Tumblr has been a weird website). Discussions of race especially were riddled w terrible behavior from white ace bloggers who resorted to lying, shaming, and guilt tripping. All this only serves to fan the flames and drive a wedge between communities even tho inclusionists claimed it was all evil exclusionists doing while refusing to call out the misinformation and bigotry they often spread. There was no purpose in harassing bloggers of color, no purpose in terrifying children so they lived in fear of medical professionals and most ppl, and no excuse.

Hopefully moving on from this it will truly die away, but I hope people learn from it. This wasn’t just as some ppl frame it cis gay and lesbian bloggers starting a harassment campaign to try and kick aces out on a large scale. This was a messy discussion that was years brewing until it exploded in even more vitriol, misinformation, and rage. It became an opportunity to critique an (albeit in comparison young) community for harmful behavior that was going unchecked and lead to even further bigotry, misinformation, and alienation. And the bigotry and misinformation didn’t serve a purpose and little understanding of what ace and aro people needed besides information and education to the public, which was already taking place before this, was had. And ultimately I expected more from the community at large.

To ace and aro followers and readers: I’ve seen some ugly parts of the community but I don’t necessarily demand you answer for that behavior, unless you’re personally guilt of it. I don’t say this because I have a mission to prove you’re bad. I think the community is toxic, but it will ultimately not get better unless ppl who are dedicated to it are willing to help find what resources ppl need, provide it, and refuse to encourage or call out shitty behavior. And ultimately that will come from a place of love and desire to create an environment future generations will feel welcomed in. I just don’t want other ace and aro kids being lied to about what they’ll experience, subjected to homophobia and transphobia of many colors, and at times groomed by adults. And I don’t want it based around just social media where anyone can lie abt credentials and act like an expert to further any of those horrible goals, even unintentionally

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mysydneymemories-blog · 6 years ago

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'I will ignore him': Billionaire Huawei founder takes aim at 'laughable' Trump

Ren maintained Huawei had the capability to devise its own solutions given time. It's been designing its own chips for years, which it now uses in many of its own smartphones. It's even developing its own operating software to run phones and servers. However, the CEO deflected questions about how quickly Huawei can ramp up those internal replacement endeavours. Failure could dent the fast-growing consumer business and even kill emergent efforts such as cloud servers. Loading "That depends on how fast our repairmen are able to fix the plane," said Ren, who appeared at ease in a white jacket over a pink shirt, making light of questions about his company's plight. "No matter what materials they use, be it metal, cloth or paper, the aim is to keep the plane in the sky." Ren has gone from recluse to media maven in the span of months as he fights to save the $US100 billion ($144 billion) company he founded. The 74-year-old billionaire emerged from virtual seclusion after the arrest of eldest daughter and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as part of a broader probe of Huawei. He's since become a central figure in a US-Chinese conflict that's potentially the most important episode to shape world affairs since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Ren said in January, when the world's biggest economies battle for dominion, nothing in their way will survive. His company is a "sesame seed" between twin great powers, he said. "This may bring one of China's national champions to its knees,'' said Chris Lane, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "If China shut down all the Apple plants, the US would get very upset. This is a similar kind of move."

Ren says Donald Trump's bluster is "laughable."Credit:Bloomberg Ren has had much to deal with of late. His company finds itself increasingly under fire, besieged by a US effort to get key allies to ban its equipment. The US assault helped crystallise fears about Huawei's growing clout in areas from wireless infrastructure and semiconductors to consumer gadgets. Then came the blacklist. Huawei appears to have anticipated this possibility since at least mid-2018, when similar sanctions threatened to sink rival ZTE. Huawei's said to have stockpiled enough chips and other vital components to keep its business running at least three months. "We have made some really good chips," said Ren, a legendary figure in his home country thanks to the way he built Huawei from scratch into a global powerhouse. "Being able to grow in the toughest battle environment, that just reflects how great we are." Last week, Trump said Huawei could become part of a US-Chinese trade deal, stirring speculation it was a bargaining chip in sensitive negotiations. But Ren said he wasn't a politician. "It's a big joke," he scoffed. "How are we related to China-US trade?" Even if the US wants to buy our products in the future, I may not sell to them. There's no need for a negotiation. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei If Trump calls, "I will ignore him, then to whom can he negotiate with? If he calls me, I may not answer. But he doesn't have my number." In fact, Ren pulled no punches in going after a man he labelled "a great president" just months prior. "I see his tweets and think it's laughable because they're self-contradictory," he quipped. "How did he become a master of the art of the deal?" Beijing itself isn't without options. Some speculate China might retaliate against the ban of Huawei which may widen to include some of its most promising AI firms by in turn barring America's largest corporations from its own markets. Apple could relinquish nearly a third of its profit if China banned its products, Goldman Sachs analysts estimate.

Ren said he would not support any retaliation by China against US giant Apple. Credit:Bloomberg Ren said he would object to any such move against his American rival. "That will not happen, first of all. And second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said in the interview. "Apple is my teacher, it's in the lead. As a student, why go against my teacher? Never." At the heart of Trump's campaign is suspicion that Huawei aids Beijing in espionage while spearheading China's ambitions to become a technology superpower. It's been accused for years of stealing intellectual property in lawsuits filed by American companies from Cisco and Motorola to T-Mobile. Critics say such theft helped Huawei vault into the upper echelons of technology but Ren laughed off that premise. "I stole the American technologies from tomorrow. The US doesn't even have those technologies," he said. "We are ahead of the US If we were behind, there would be no need for Trump to strenuously attack us." Loading Ren's easy demeanour belies the way he's consistently shunned attention. The army engineer-turned-entrepreneur has this year turned in a command performance in the public spotlight, particularly for someone who's rarely spoken to foreign media since he created Huawei. The re-emergence of the reclusive CEO who before January last spoke with foreign media in 2015 underscores the depth of the attacks on Huawei, the largest symbol of China's growing technological might. Ren again waved off speculation his company is in any way beholden to the Communist Party, though he's declared his loyalty ultimately lies with the country's ruling body. US lawmakers aren't convinced. That's why the US Commerce Department cut off the flow of American technology from chips to software and everything in-between. An iconic figure in Chinese business circles, the billionaire remains a uniquely placed voice in a conflict that will help define the global landscape. Ren, who says he survived the chaos of the Cultural Revolution thanks in part to his much sought-after expertise in high-precision tools, remains a big believer that Huawei's technology will win the day. His company today generates more sales than internet giants Alibaba and Tencent combined. In 2018, Huawei overtook Apple in smartphone sales, a triumph that burnished his tech credentials.

Huawei's viability as a leading telco may be jeopardised by key suppliers refusing to do business, in line with Donald Trump's demands. Credit:AP His quotes adorn the walls of the food court at Huawei's sprawling campus on the outskirts of the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, and employees still speak of him in reverent tones. The company's 2018 report shows he has a 1.14 per cent stake, giving him a net worth of $US2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ren, who survived Mao Zedong's great famine to found Huawei in 1987 with 21,000 yuan, said Huawei will do whatever it takes to survive. It will ignore the noise while doing its business the best it can. Meanwhile, the pressure is bound to take a toll. At one point during the interview, Ren's unflappable demeanor cracked if only for a minute. "The US has never bought products from us," he said, bristling. "Even if the US wants to buy our products in the future, I may not sell to them. There's no need for a negotiation." Most Viewed in Business Loading https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/i-will-ignore-him-billionaire-huawei-founder-takes-aim-at-laughable-trump-20190527-p51rrn.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

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goforcechokeyourself · 8 years ago

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Battlefront 2 Master Post

Alright so this is my master post I was wanting to make where I talk about battlefront 2, I attended the swco2017 battlefront 2 panel and was shown the “exclusive” content video after the main stream was cut to all the online audiences so I’m going to talk about that and basically everything else we current know about battlefront

So first off the game is set to release nov. 17th 2017, the game can be played earlier by 1. purchasing the Elite trooper edition (79.99) which will allow you a 3 day early access to the game (nov. 14th) and or 2. by being apart of of ea access which is exclusive to x box one and origin on pc which will let you start playing on (nov. 9th). ��

NO SEASON PASS (what could this mean?)

Battlefront 2 (ea) will feature a single player campaign as well as up to 40 player multiplayer. It will spread across all eras including prequel, original, and sequel trilogies. Space battles have been confirmed as well as offline co-op for console editions. Classes are making a debut in this as one of the changes from their earlier installment in their battlefront games (2015) as well as a weapon modification system and abilities customization options.

Prequel content

So lets get right into the mix shall we? like most of you here I assume your biggest worry was the prequel content right? Clone wars was a huge part of my enjoyment for the other battlefront games from the 2000′s and my childhood in general; so the announcement of prequels being included in this immediately spiked my interest!

(picture below is a scene from the trailer where it shows maul and yoda about to face off)

Even after seeing this though (which is the only prequel content shown in the trailer :’/ ) I was skeptical about the appearance of the clones, ideas worked around in my head about nasty ol’ EA making a hero only mode which feature prequel characters and while that would still be a step up from not having them in the game at all it really pissed me off because I want the clones dammit and those stupid little battle droids too. So after the stream cut off at swco2017 EA’s panel for battlefront 2 they told us to turn off our phones and that they would be showing us something exclusive to us. Basically a video of the dev team and their journey making the game riddled with secrets and bits of concept art and more information about the game. They also showed a slide show before this with bits and pieces of art for the games and both of those mixed with information I’ve gathered on my own will be presented now in this post.

So back to the clones, are they making it into the game? YES THEY WILL!

(picture above is a piece of concept art featuring clones some sporting jetbacks fighting a battle on the water planet of Kamino)

Yes the clones will be apart of this game thank the maker! I was a little upset that no actually footage of them is shown or any actually close up art or models for them was shown but considering the games launch is still pretty far off I understand and will be patient.

(picture below features a battle droid from the separatists side)

However we did get a look at a game model for a battle droid! Which I am pleased to say looks very nice indeed.

Okay so what about planets? Well Kamino is the only one we have a visual for sadly, however in the description for the “elite” version of the game available for pre order on amazon.com it is revealed that Theed will be playable as well (will we see the gungans???).

Phase 1 clones are the only ones shown via art so no information about if we will see phase 2 clones is available right now that I know of unfortunately. But I for one am very excited at the prospect of clones in my battlefront game once again after 12 years.

Original and Sequel trilogy content

Lets take a look at some of the other eras, both the original and the sequel trilogy will have maps and troopers and verticals available for play in both multiplayer and single player (it was not discussed if any prequel content would make it into the single player but we will get into that later)

(picture above shows kylo ren leading a group of first order troopers into battle on star killer base)

TFA & TLJ content will be available in the game little is talked about what TLJ content will be shown in game beside the pre order bonus of bonus outfits for rey and kylo and some unique abilities and skins for the falcon and a TFO fighter?

Maybe we will see Maz’s castle as a playable map? who knows.

As far as the original trilogy content goes for multiplayer. We have Hoth confirmed, Yavin 4, Endor, Tatooine, and the main character (iden) of the single players home world Vardos

(pictured about the new planet Vardos)

Also something to be excited about even tho we are in fact seeing some reappearing planets from the earlier installment (2015) is that there are new details about the planets yet unexplored by DICE. Such as being able to ride the taun tauns! this might not sound like much but I loved riding them in the old 2005 installment of battlefront so this pleases me very much.

(pictured rebel soldier riding tauntaun into a snow trooper)

The scout trooper and tie pilot will be available as skins (or classes?) I assume as both of them are shown in the trailer.

(pictured above Iden and the inferno sqaud on endor in tie fighter like apparel)

Okay so we got the OT, PT, & ST all taken care of as far as content so what else can we expect from this game that is new?

Whats new?

Well new ground vehicles have been confirmed yet again via amazon description

So we have tanks, what can be expected from this some of those glorious tanks from Battlefront 2 (2005) maybe? Only the future can tell.

We have an assortment of new weapons like the A280-CFE blaster rifle (used by mr cassian andor in rogue one)

We have the return of the class system tho not as large as the 2005′s roster. Battlefront 2 (ea) will have 4 different classes with different play styles featured in their game specialist, heavy, officer, and assault. From my assumption assault will be the regular trooper type (battle droids, clone trooper, storm trooper etc.) and specialist will be things like scout troopers, bothans, assassin droids. Heavy troopers will consist of wookiees, droidekas, tfa heavy trooper and last but not least the officer class seems pretty self explanatory.

(pictured from left to right specialist, heavy, officer, assault)

Abilities and Customization

One of the other new things that will be in this new installment is abilities. This will be the answer to the power up icons found as pick ups in the last game.

The only ability that I have heard about is reys mind trick and kylo’s “force freeze” so we will have to wait and hear more about them.

Heroes

As far as heroes go we will definitely be seeing Rey, Kylo, Darth Maul, Yoda, and Han Solo as been confirmed as well.

(pictured below is rey running through a jungle or forest planet shown in the trailer)

Single Player Campaign

There will be a single player campaign featured in battlefront 2 (ea). The focus of this campaign will be about a woman named Iden who is the leader of Inferno sqaud (yes that same one). The campaign will span 30 years connecting ROTJ to TFA and will center around Idens resolve to get revenge on the rebel alliance and it’s heroes for killing her emperor an for the most part destroying her empire “this is where the real war begins”. In the trailer shows of starkiller base are shown and her and the inferno squad dispatching rebels and numerous space battles both with rebels of the OT and ST. Also a very interesting scene of her holding luke skywalker hostage? with a DH-17. So pretty exciting right? it has been announced that this story will be CANON. There is also going to be a tie in novel for the game named Battlefront 2 Inferno squad and that comes out in July. The novel will take place 4 years before the game and give some insight into Iden’s background and life pre the events of ROTJ.

Now lets get into the content that was shown after the cameras went off.

A lot of concept art was shown for various locations via computer screens people were working on as well as actual pieces shown to us one that I would like to talk about was a scene of the rebel troopers from ROTJ in which the infamous bearded trooper is seen. I thought this was interesting because the picture seems largely focus around the bearded trooper and as it’s been made aware Dave Filoni is currently working to try to make the fan theory that, that trooper is in fact captain rex from star wars rebels. So this brings up the question will rex be playable in this game?

another piece of interesting concept art was a sea cave map? it’s hard to tell what planet this was on if I had to guess I would say naboo? but it could very well be a new planet. this piece of art was very beautiful though so hopefully it gets turned into a good map.

There was lots of shots of places and models very obscured because you were looking at them not directly so it’s hard to say exactly what most of them are there very well could be a video of this someone snuck so you’re welcome to look for it to try and pick through it but as for me the only 2 real things that stuck out for me I just mentioned above. I would want to bore you all with my speculations on what obscure images in concept art could mean that I barely remember so I shall not.

To round it all up

I am pretty excited for this game, I was not so much pleased with the last installment in 2015. I was a stalwart defender of it during the announcement stage and even during beta stage but now that it’s all said and done and all the content has been released and it’s been left to rot on the servers I find myself forever bothered by why it was even made. If you want my personal opinion I believe DICE used the game as somewhat of a tech demo not only for this game but for Battlefield 1 which irritates me because I had so much passion for it when it was coming out and the return of battlefront even in the face of adversity. At the swco2017 panel tho I saw the passion of the devs when they talked about this game and I admit even in my doubt I still hold for this game to save myself from being dissapointed I believe this game will at least right most of the wrongs that were committed in the first game.

I hope everyone who is excited for battlefront 2 or just wanted information enjoys my post about it, May the force be with you all.

#star wars #battlefront 2 #EA #swco2017 #video games

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googlenewson · 5 years ago

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“We have a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick-maker,” said Leah Larabell, co-owner of High Garden Tea, an apothecary-style shop.

She’s not reciting a storybook rhyme. The East Nashville neighborhood where she and her husband Joel built and run their business really has that legendary trio of retailers as part of the business community that support its eclectic amalgam of residents, including many musicians and artists.

“As I go through my day, every single part of my day affects the East Nashville economy: going to the dry cleaner, getting meat at Porter Road Butcher, picking up wine at Weiss, and then going to a show at The Basement East,” adds Libby Callaway, an East Nashvillian and owner of The Callaway, a marketing and branding firm.

Larabell and Callaway were among those who awoke Tuesday morning to see that their community had been devastated by tornadoes. Four separate tornadoes hit Middle Tennessee around 1 a.m. on March 3, 2020, one of which stayed on the ground for more than 50 miles. The storms, which reached wind speeds of more than 175 m.p.h., battered the metro area, suburbs, and rural counties. Within the city, the neighborhoods hit hardest, like East Nashville, were those with concentrations of small businesses, from dry cleaners to boutiques to restaurants. At least 25 people lost their lives, with more than 400 homes and nearly 200 businesses destroyed, including the popular Basement East music venue Callaway frequents. The Weiss Liquor store is open, but lost the iconic neon sign that greeted Main Street visitors long before East Nashville had its creative cachet.

The building that houses Larabell’s business is now short several walls, its roof, and $180,000 in merchandise. Within hours of the storm, loyal customers started a GoFundMe campaign raising enough for the couple to be able to pay their 12 employees for at least two weeks while they regroup.

Nashville’s recent population growth has been well-documented; for parts of 2017 and 2018 more than 80 people moved to Music City every day. The city’s population increased from 569,000 in 2000 to 705,000 in 2020, with the greater Metro area now topping 1.75 million. But as the city has grown, the small town-nature of this neighborhood, which was hit by tornadoes in almost the exact same spot in both 1933 and 1998, has not dissipated. The losses of these businesses—whether temporary or permanent—have had both an emotional and an economic impact on its residents.

The Soda Parlor, another nearby business that suffered the wrath of the storms, was nationally known because of its owner, Olan Rogers, a YouTube comedian and the creator of TBS’s Final Space. Fans flocked for old-fashioned sundaes and custom merch, sure, but thanks to the free retro arcade games, it was somewhere local kids and parents regularly hung out after school.

As Nashville has grown and East Nashville real estate has skyrocketed, there has been hand-wringing about too many restaurants and too small of a labor pool. But as the neighborhood woke up to splintered power poles and insulation hanging from trees, it became clear that collaboration and charity trumped competition.

Hospitality is the city’s second-largest industry, by number of employees, and keeping those folks paid is essential to rebuilding, says Butch Spyridon, president and CEO, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

Because Tennessee doesn’t have an income tax, the economy relies on sales tax. “It is more expensive here today than it was on Sunday,” he says of the loss of sales tax revenue.

Nashville native and Chef Jessica Benefield, owner of Two Ten Jack and The Green Pheasant, was lucky in that her restaurants were spared from the storms. She started a GoFundMe campaign with the intent of buying grocery gift cards for out-of-work chefs and waiters.

Countless restaurants offered assistance to business owners who, on a regular day, are competitors, offering to hire staff for a night or a week or a month, making shifts for extra sous chefs and servers, all the while making clear that there is no poaching going on in this tight labor market: Everyone will be welcomed to go back to their original jobs when restaurants re-open.

At other businesses, the owners literally made space, often for the competition. Some restaurants cleaned shelves in their walk-in coolers so that restaurants that lost power could store ingredients. Co-working spaces, including Collective615, a woman-only space across town and the Nashville Entrepreneur Center near downtown welcomed displaced entrepreneurs with a desk and an Internet connection. Boutiques, including Apple and Oak in East Nashville and Hey Rooster General Store in Hillsboro Village, welcomed other merchants to come sell their wares in their shops.

Mike Krajewski lost his personal-training gym, MK Fitness, and was flooded with offers of places where he could train his clients, many from gym-owners he has never met. Krajewski, who emigrated from Canada, thinks the high number of transplants in Nashville might contribute to the supportive business community. “This is a spot where we’ve chosen our family. We have chosen the people we want to be around.”

As cleanup crews work to remove debris, two neighborhood entities, CreativeMornings and Center 615, an East Nashville co-working space, teamed up to offer a less practical, but more poignant, help. They urged volunteers to drop off the sentimental, but not necessarily valuable, items found in the rubble for future re-uniting with tornado victims. Their lost-and-found bins feature photographs, stuffed animals, and handmade quilts. In true Nashville fashion, one of the first things found? A GRAMMY certificate.