#waste monitoring software

[ellipsus-writes]

Each week (or so), we'll highlight the relevant (and sometimes rage-inducing) news adjacent to writing and freedom of expression. This week:

Inkitt’s AI-powered fiction factory

Inkitt started in the mid-2010s as a cozy platform where anyone could share their writing. Fast forward twenty twenty-fuckkkkk, and like most startups, it’s pivoted hard into AI-fueled content production with the soul of an algorithm.

Pictured: Inkitt preparing human-generated work for an AI-powered flume ride to The Unknown.

Here’s how it works: Inkitt monitors reader engagement with tracking software, then picks popular stories to publish on its premium app, Galatea. From there, stories can get spun into sequels, spinoffs, or adapted for GalateaTV… often with minimal author involvement. Authors get an undisclosed cut of revenue, but for most, it’s a fraction of what they’d earn with a traditional publisher (let alone self-publishing).

“'They prey on new writers who have no idea what they’re doing,' said the writer of one popular Galatea series."

Many, many authors have side-eyed or outright decried the platform as inherently predatory for years, due to nebulous payout promises. And much of the concern centers on contracts that don’t require authors’ consent for editorial changes or AI-generated “additions” to the original text.

Now, Inkitt has gone full DiSrUpTiOn, leaning heavily on generative AI to ghostwrite, edit, generate audiobook narration, and design covers, under the banner of “democratizing storytelling.” (AI? In my democratized storytelling platform? It’s more likely than you think.)

Pictured: Inkitt’s CEO looking at the most-read stories.

But Inkitt’s CEO doesn’t seem too concerned about what authors think: “His business model doesn’t need them.”

The company recently raised $37 million, with backers including former CEOs of Sony, Penguin, and HarperCollins, proving once again that publishing loves a disruptor… as long as it disrupts creatives, not capital. And more AI companies are mushrooming up to chase the same vision: “a vision of human-created art becoming the raw material for AI-powered, corporate-owned content-production machines—a scenario in which humans would play an ever-shrinking role.”

(Not to say we predicted this, but…)

Welcome to the creator-industrial complex.

Publishers to AI: Stop stealing our stuff (please?)

Major publishers—including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Vox Media—have launched a "Support Responsible AI" campaign, urging the U.S. government to regulate AI's use of copyrighted content.

Like last month's campaigns by the Authors Guild and the UK's Society of Authors, there's a website where where you can (and should!) contact your representatives to say, “Hey, maybe stop letting billion-dollar tech giants strip-mine journalism.”

The campaign’s ads carry slogans like “Stop AI Theft” and “AI Steals From You Too” and call for legislation that would force AI companies to pay for the content they train on and clearly label AI-generated content with attribution. This follows lobbying by OpenAI and Google to make it legal to scrape and train on copyrighted material without consent.

The publishers assert they are not explicitly anti-AI, but advocate for a “fair” system that respects intellectual property and supports journalism.

But… awkward, The Washington Post—now owned by Jeff Bezos—has reportedly already struck a deal with OpenAI to license and summarize its content. So, mixed signals.

Still, as the campaign reminds us: “Stealing is un-American.”

(Unless it’s profitable.)

#WarForever

We at Ellipsus love a good meme-turned-megaproject. Back in January, the-app-formerly-known-as-Twitter user @lolt64 tweeted a cryptic line about "the frozen wastes of europa,” the earliest reference to the never-ending war on Jupiter’s icy moon.

A slew of bleak dispatches from weary, doomed soldiers entrenched on Europa’s ice fields snowballed (iceberged?) into a sprawling saga, yes-and-ing with fan art, vignettes, and memes under the hashtag #WarForever.

It’s not quite X’s answer to Goncharov: It turns out WarForever is some flavor of viral marketing for a tabletop RPG zine. But the internet ran with it anyway, with NASA playing the Scorcese of the stars.

In a digital hellworld increasingly dominated by AI slopification, data harvesting, and “content at scale,” projects like WarForever are a blessed reminder that creativity—actual, human creativity—perseveres.

Even on a frozen moon. Even here.

Let us know if you find something other writers should know about, (or join our Discord and share it there!)

- The Ellipsus Team xo

[reticent-writer]

heyyy PLEASE I NEEDD Vox x teen! Reader. Where she’s like the Vee’s assistant, or Vox’s assistant or something like that and she sees Vox as a father figure? Tyy

I like this alot

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

the most chaotic job in all of hell, like there is never a peaceful moment in the Vees tower. Someone is always yelling, something is always being broken, and you are in the middle of it. The peacemaker.

Your soul belongs to Vox but you assist all of the Vees. Your like 17/18. You were a hacker before you died, you hacked into the governments software and was killed for it.

You did the same thing to Vox but he didn't get mad instead he offered a secure home/job for your soul. (Seeing that everyone is dead that sounds silly but you shook his hand anyway)

If Vox isn't around to calm down Val and Velvette you're the next best thing. Valentino can talk your ears off as much as he wants and Velvette can use you as a model

In hell you can travel through electronics like Vox

Most of your time is spent with Velvette and Vox, mainly Vox. Vox has you do a lot of work that he trusts no one else with like going to the overlord meetings when no one else wants to

You are genuinely nice, like the other overlords wonder why you're working with the Vees

Your room doesn't have a door, so to get to your room you have to go through electronics to a backroom type of place. It's still in the Vees tower but no one but you or Vox and get to it.

Vox made it like this so if you wanted to be unbothered no one could even knock on your door.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Vox-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

"Y/n are you awake."

You heard Vox from inside your room. You zapped you phone knowing that Vox you feel it. Basically saying you were getting up.

It took you 15 minutes to get ready before you teleported to the monitor room to find Vox watching random sinners on his big screen.

"I'm up, sir."

He dramatically spun his chair to face you.

"I hope it's been a hellish morning so far, what's on today's schedule."

You pulled out your phone and started to read off it, "the day doesn't start until 1 which is when the early talk show starts ot lasts until 3, at 5-7 is a game show, Velvette s show starts at 7, Valentino's live streaming a BDSM thing at 8, late night talk show at 10."

You looked at the time it was 8 am.

"Well since I'm free why don't we work on your mega computer." He offered. He likes how your face lit up and without wasting a second you dragged him to one of the quietest rooms in the building. In it was a desktop with a few wires connected to it.

Your mega computer was a project you started after you sold your soul. You hope it can connect to heaven one day and who is Vox to stop you.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Velvette-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

You were in Fox's monitor room untangling cords.

"Y/N COME HERE." Velvette yelled at you through her phone.

You sighed as you stopped what you were doing and turn went through one of the many TVs.

"Yes, Vel." You smiled, clearly Vox was rubbing off on you.

"Something is missing with this outfit, tell me what it is." She pointed you in the direction of a mannequin with a outfit in your preferred style.

"(￣ヘ￣）ᵁᴹᴹ a (whatever you want)."

She hummed and with a snap of her fingers it appeared.

"Better right?"

"Yes."

"Good it's yours, take it" she snapped again and the outfit was in your hands, "no go put it on, I wanna see it."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, put it on."

-It looked amazing-

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚-Valentino-˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

"Vox said your not aloud in the studio so the least your could do is read the script." He said as he handed you a think packed.

"Jailbird gets hard time" you read loud in disgust, "do you really think I should be reading this?"

He scoffed, "oh please it's not like I can't see your browser history. A03, wattpad, Quotev, fanfiction.net the list goes on."

You stared at him in disbelief.

"What... Aww is someone embarrassed." He squished your cheeks. Your face was beat red.

"Aw, Chiquita, I don't judge. You should see the more kinky scrips."

"Oh no thanks. I think I hear Vox calling me. Bye." You reached his pocket for his phone and with a poor you were gone.

After that you made it so no one could see any of your activity.

✿✼:*ﾟ:.｡..｡.:*･ﾟﾟ･**･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　

A/n: I don't like Valentino. I love his voice tho

[wisteriagoesvroom]

gax + corporate/law vibes + ‘The powerpoint was steadily taking over their relationship, something that Max was not willing to stand for.’

gax?? gax!!

power (you make some points): a gax ficlet

rated m, ~1.2k words now also readable on ao3

author babble:

bear in mind i wrote this before i knew more about the Gax Lore i.e. karting together, actually being nice to each other blablabla. you could also just retrofit the vibes and hopefully they still work. anyways!

will throw this up on ao3 when i’m not sitting bleary eyed in an airport

————

If there was one thing that Max Verstappen wouldn’t tolerate, it was George Russell having the monopoly on good PowerPoint presentations. Max had won all four years of debate in College, as well as the dubious title of “most radical deployment of Google Slides templates” at his MBA, and he was not about to be usurped by the other guy in his department who actually knew how to use an animate transition.

“You missed an indent there.” Max says, pointing at the monitor. Yellow and red lights wink at them from the outside, as if to say: you’re both in your mid-twenties, quit wasting it on a computer screen at 11pm on a Wednesday, maybe?

Max is not staring, very determined not to look at his teammate’s facial expression. But George is almost certainly rolling his eyes right now.

“Was coming back to that, alright?” George huffs back. Max is very professional most of the time. But something about how wound up George is, how insanely pedantic he is about everything from semicolons to coffee cup placement for the Directors to taking insanely detailed minutes that nobody except Max reads after the meetings – well. What is it that Nietschze once said? We hate in others what we most identify with about ourselves. Or was that from Twitter? Max does not really use Twitter except to look at Bloomberg News updates and cat videos, so he does not know. And anyway Nietzsche never made a six figure salary.

“It would just be easier if you would let me do it.” Max says.

“Fuck right off, mate.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you like me to.”

“Not now.”

“Just share the link to this. I’ll do it.”

“We agreed to take turns on this.”

“Yes, Russell. But sometimes, the rules are meant to be bent.”

George swivels his chair to Max, then. Fully attempts to pin him with his gaze, commencing an awkward stare-off that lasts way too many seconds and makes Max once again realise that George’s eyes remind him of the expensive fish tank he saw at the Partners’ sushi dinner once. Max doesn’t think those same fish were the ones they ended up eating. But he does remember that dinner because it was the one where the Partners had dangled the promise of a huge promotion if they could help carry the company merger across the line successfully. The problem is, there was only one spot.

George’s distracting aquatic orbitals aside, fortunately, Max (i) never backs down, and (ii) has been told that he has the dead-eyed emotional stare of a robot missing an empathy software upgrade sometimes.

And clearly, the powerpoint was steadily taking over their relationship, something that Max was not willing to stand for.

Max leans back in his chair, stance all mock-relaxed. “Do you want to be out of here before midnight, or not?”

“We’re expensing the Ubers either way, so it doesn’t make a difference to me, mate.”

Fine. If George is so hyperfocused on The Tasks that he’s forgotten the fun part of being Questionably Close Coworkers, so be it.

Max deploys the nuclear option.

He sticks his leg out, nudging the toe of his Pradas onto George’s slacks. And strokes his foot halfway up to a sensitive point on George’s thigh. Max may even flutter his lashes a little.

To his credit, George does not react. Merely swings his eyes like a lamp to Max’s face again. His hand does, however, goes still on the mouse.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“I don’t know.” Max feigns. He knows that George hates, more than anything, anyone getting dirt on his precious Ralph Laurens. But at least he has his attention now. “Was hoping we could move onto the more fun part of the typical evening activities. Maybe.”

“We shouldn’t be doing that again anyway.”

“George.”

“What?”

“That is not what you said the last, hm, fourteen times that we have done this, eh?”

“Who’s counting?”

“I thought you were the most careful of rule followers and data analysis, knapperd.”

George is a human being, but Max is almost certain the other man shakes himself like he’s preening right now.

“Well. It’s what the team likes me for, and it’s what I’ll keep doing.”

“Oh yes. Surely we must keep in mind the team. And the shareholders. They are very important.”

“Quite.”

“But should we tell them that you like it so much, George. When I do this.” Max says. Rising up, fully crowding George in, hands gripping the cool handles of the computer chair. Leaning in to nibble the side of George’s neck.

George swallows. Max watches his throat move.

Next, Max mouths the words onto the side of George’s jaw, stubble prickling his mouth. “And this.”

The click of the mouse continues steadily as Max moves his mouth to the shell of George’s ear. “And let’s not forget. This.”

Max tilts George’s face up fully, then. George’s face is flushed, eyes sparkling, all surprise at the sudden change of pace, but eager, too.

When Max seals his lips over George’s, George groans, and his hands shoot up to Max’s waist immediately. It doesn’t feel quite like winning a deal or a pitch does for Max, but the completion comes pretty damn close.

Max sweeps his tongue into George’s mouth. George opens willingly, like he always does. In the back of Max’s logical brain, a warning sign blares that the computer chair may not be able to support the weight of them both – because they spend a lot of time pretending they don’t work out together at the gym but Max knows exactly what George’s deadlift PB is and it’s pretty damn high for a scrawny looking dude.

And despite the keening protest of said chair, the two of them are both lost to it now. Max jams one knee between George’s legs, George nibbles hungrily at Max’s lower lip, Max thrusts his hips all needy, and maybe if Max is nice about it George might suck him off under the table, and–

Outlook chimes again.

“Blasted piece of shit.” George says, breaking away. His hands go still at Max’s waist. “Why we’re using G-Suite and Microsoft Office at the same time I will never know.”

George squeezes his eyes shut, as if making himself stop this is causing him physical pain. Maybe it’s that or the workflow incompatibility when George tries to move his custom Excel-Trello gantts into a third party API.

And Max won’t lie. He kind of likes it when George gets so irritated about these things. When he cares a bit too much. Because what is Max but exactly like that, too.

“Hazards of a merger, I guess. But without that, I would never have met you, no?”

George makes a noise like he knows what Max means. The other man straightens his shirt collar, and Max runs a hand through his hair. He’s been growing it out lately, because George had made a passing comment at the bathroom sink once about it looking good.

Sleeping with the person competing for the same Chief of Staff position is possibly the worst decision he could’ve made, and Max once dyed his hair platinum blonde. But, they’re stuck here together. Hell is a slightly more tolerable place when Satan’s right hand man looks this good. And knows his coffee order without asking.

Besides. Max is not bothered. He knows that the promotion is his. This is just a minor plot inconvenience.

Later, they will expense the uber back to George’s place, where Max will put his mouth on George’s arse, and give him a practical demonstration of the three different ways he’s learned to elicit pleasure from the male prostate.

George will whimper and whine the whole way through it, and after they’re both sated, they’ll both roll over to check their emails, barely concealing their smiles. They will pretend that what’s happening between them could be as clean as their zero-email inboxes. As if their connection is not violently seeping through containment.

All in the name of team bonding. For the firm. Yes.

(Or this is what they tell themselves, to maintain the illusion, anyway.)

[alphabetboyluvr]

back to you | knj

REQUEST | @btsgotjams27

VIBES | angst 

SOUNDTRACK | back to you - alexander stewart

HOLLY'S NOTE | tense jaw namjoon gets me feeling a certain type of way so thank youuuu for requesting this!! no warnings - references to shagging cos ofc and approx (1) questionable reference to Saint Augustine lmao. also joonie is 25 in this!! don't shout at me!! i know he's not 25 irl!!

WORD COUNT | 2.5k

Namjoon watches the metronome on his desk tick... tick... tick..., ignoring the glare of the monitor screens in front of him.

There are two. One's open on the definition of a word that's been lodged in his frontal lobe for months, now, and the other is crammed full to the brim with dark grey producing software that he's sick of seeing. The windows open encase remnants of love songs that he can't seem to finish. 

It's not for a lack of trying. Just impossible, he thinks. 

They're an amalgamation of a love he never thought he'd lose, and the hopes of a future basking in it; notes of adoration dedicated to a devotion he didn't realise was quite so delicate, until his clumsy hands got a hold of it. 

Mementoes for memories he can't bring himself to relive, they sit; solemn, unchanged. It's been like this for months. They're artefacts, now. Relics. Souvenirs. Trophies of a conquest he never entirely won; a bygone era in which his hair was lighter and the sun shone more frequently. Eventually, they'll be laid to rest in the paper waste icon down in the far corner of his screen. 

No good. Not fit for use. Discarded before they've reached full maturity. 

"Maturity," he mimics the screen with great contempt. He's 25. Brain's developed. Science says so. 

And yet the loss he's mourning is all thanks to his perceived 'maturity,' or lack thereof. 

It's not like you're dead, or anything dramatic like that. He knows he's being irrational. Knows his immaturity is shining through as he wallows in self-pity, four empty takeout cups of coffee waiting to be thrown away on the edge of his desk. He only leaves the studio to shower. 

Doesn't even really sleep much these days. Has grown a little stubble; wonders if maybe that would make you think he was more mature. More grown-up. He sneers a little as he jots down a lyric idea; something about fine wine, how it ages, and how it was ironic you preferred cheap-as-shit soju instead of the bottles in his cooler.

In fact, when he really thinks about it, Namjoon thinks you were fucking mad to cite 'maturity' as a reason for you to break up. 

He's old before his time; grew up quickly cause he didn't have a choice. Took it as an insult when you said 'we're at different stages in our lives.' Knows damn well he'd have stood on any stage with you. Fuck Wembley, fuck Jamsil, fuck SoFi. Fuck 'em all if they meant he couldn't have you.

But Namjoon would never give it up. You knew this at the time, and truthfully, so did he. 

You would have never asked him to - but you can't dictate your life around him, and his plans, and his obligations. You've desires and goals of your own. Five years his senior, the impending pressures of your friends settling down - celebrating milestone anniversaries, moving back to your hometown to raise their families after their wild twenties spent in the big cities - was getting to you. It felt like you were lagging behind. 

Whether either of you liked it or not, your relationship was a huge factor in that. You couldn't even tell your friends you were dating him. It's not like you ever wanted a huge legacy, but the erasure of your history together hurt. 

A year of your life has been lost to a relationship that you can never speak of. There's an NDA. And even if there wasn't, you've too much respect for him to ever go against his wishes, or put him in a situation that could implode everything he's worked so tirelessly for.

So yeah, maybe you were out of line when you said he was immature, but no adult woman wants to live her life in hiding.

Nor does he - but he thinks the fact he that makes the conscious choice to live his life so privately is mature. Thinks if you were ever to call him, he'd block you. Show you what immature really looks like.

But you never do, so he never will.

Instead, he just scoffs again. "Immature," he mutters, shaking his head as he slouches into his desk chair. It spins ever so gently, Namjoon too irritated to stop it - but then he's facing the sofa and he's right back where he started.

See, Namjoon has been thinking a lot about you lately. It's time to submit his mixtape to the company; time for them to approve it for release. Trouble is, he hasn't been able to work on it since you left. 

You've been in California for eight months. Since last August. Eight fucking months, and he hasn't touched a single thing, because it's all tainted with you. Stained. Ruined. 

It's your favourite classical symphony sampled beneath the opening track; your lyrical suggestion in the bridge of his third track; your name he wordplays into obscurity on his fifth track. No one would ever be able to decipher it. It's just for him.

A little bit of you preserved forevermore; from a time when you were still his.

Kind of like the folder his mouse is hovering over. 

It's password protected. Called 'drafts'. Looks inconspicuous. Just another plain folder icon. Nothing interesting. At least, it looks that way. 

He can't bring himself to get rid of it - and yet the tick... tick... tick... of his metronome becomes the click-click-click of his mouse as he follows the electronic pathway back to you.  

Namjoon enters the password. Knows he shouldn't. Knows he should also change the password, because typing in your birthday is fucking painful at this point.  

There are six files in the folder. Voice notes. Audio files marked with dates and time stamps of last summer. 

Above anything, he knows he shouldn't press play.

But he's 'immature'. Of course he'll do what he shouldn't - or at least that's how the voice in his head taunts him as he presses down on the play icon.

"Is it going?" Your voice echoes into the room. You giggle. Namjoon hears himself confirm that it is. He can picture it now. Remembers the shirt of his you'd been wearing after he'd snuck you into the company building. Knows exactly which part of his studio sofa you'd been on. "Okay, okay. Cool. What do you want me to do?"

"Just speak."

His voice sounds tender. Far softer than it does these days. He thinks he's grown since back then. Thinks he's matured. Thinks maybe if you'd have met him now, instead of then, perhaps it would have lasted.

"About what?" You had said with a laugh, and Namjoon finds himself burying his head in his hands at his desk.

"Anything. Everything. Your mind fascinates me, gorgeous."

"You're the one with genius-level, IQ," you had fondly teased him. "No one more fascinating than you. Did you really have to wear those sweats, though? You know they turn my mind to jelly."

"I can take them off, if it'll help."

"Keep them on," your voice had lowered. In the studio, Namjoon groans into his hands. Knows what's coming next. "Wanna see how much of a mess I make when I ride your-"

His nimble fingers race to the space bar, pausing the audio clip. Has listened to it enough times to know exactly what happens afterwards. 

It's not like he needs the recording to remember. He remembers it all. 

Remembers the semi he'd had at the time, and how the way you'd looked at him had him growing to full stiffness. Remembers the way you'd carried on talking nonsense when you were straddled across his thigh; and the way the conversation had dissolved into you being incredibly vocal about exactly what you wanted him to do with you. To you. For you.

And so it had become a goal: he'd been after the perfect moan to hide deep within the layers of his closing track. Would record you every now and again in the midst of a fuck. Would tell you how good you sound, how much he wants the world to hear you. Would say shit like 'you've got a voice that'll ruin lives, gorgeous,' or something about Augustine, and how he'd have never converted to celibacy if he'd have met you. Would whine along with you, and thank the lucky stars his apartment spanned over two floors - his poor neighbours probably would have complained, otherwise. 

He puffs out his cheeks and sighs. Tilts his head back against the top of his chair, and lets his hand fall to his crotch. He palms it slightly; firm from the thoughts of your clammy body sticking to his, and the musky scent that he wished he could have bottled up for times like these.

"Get a grip," he berates himself, and spins back to the desk. He needs to get his feelings out. Speak them into existence. Admit that he misses you, and that he's been a bit of a mess since you've been gone. His mental block isn't going away anytime soon, so he may as well try a little honesty in its place. 

He opens up the software for the mic that he keeps on his desk for rough recordings, and clicks on the red circle. Kind of feels kind of like a stop sign to him.

"Stop what?" he questions into the void. "Thinking about her? Avoiding her favourite coffee shop, even though it was mine too? Wasting all this fucking space in my brain like it's a storage unit for memories of her? I don't want them. I don't need them. Why can't I let them go? Why is she still in my head? And why am I scared of the day she won't be?"

He rambles and he rambles. Cries not once but four times.  Goes on and on about why you're the fucking worst, and then he spirals into how much he loves the way you laugh, and how he's never felt anything better than your arms wrapped around his waist. Gushes about how committed you are to your work, and how much he's in awe of the way you prioritise yourself. Is proud when he mentions your achievements; is pissed off when he mentions the little quirks of yours he didn't love.

They're lies, of course. He loved everything you did - but it makes him feel better to feign hatred.

Makes him feel like it was his choice. Like he's the one who left. 

He's pulled from his thoughts when his phone begins to ring. It's on loud, so he lets it ring for a bit. Knows it could sound good on the recording. He reaches over for his phone and rubs his spare hand over his face to psyche himself up. 

It's probably just Yoongi, he thinks, like it normally is, wondering if he's at the office building. He doesn't check the caller ID - just answers it and automatically switches to speakerphone. 

"Wassup?" He says into the receiver, far chirpier than he was during his rant. He's still a little dry, but he's performing now. Pretending like everything is fine.

There's a moment of silence. Namjoon's eyes flick to his phone screen. Checks the caller ID. Blood runs cold.

And then, there's a 'hey.' 

Namjoon is the silent one, now. Doesn't know what to fucking say - and thankfully, you hate empty spaces in conversations. 

So you fill it. 

"I quit my job," you tell him. 

Why you think he would care is beyond him.

But the last he knew, you loved your job. Something feels... uneasy within him. He remains silent. Lets you speak.

"There's a red-eye flight that leaves in four hours. LA to Seoul. I know it's..." You cut yourself off, struggling to find the right words to say. "Look, I know it's been eight months, and I know it's been rough. I thought I could do this whole 'life' thing without you, Nam, but... Fuck. I don't think I can. I... I think maybe I was the one who needed to mature. I know I put you through hell, but if I get on that flight, will you be there at the other end?"

It's a simple question, really - yes or no - yet it feels so much heavier than that. Feels like commitment. Feels like something he isn't ready for. Feels like something you rescinded your right to a long fucking time ago.

And so Namjoon laughs. It's cold. Is guaranteed to make you cry. He doesn't care.

"No."

The call ends, his finger forcefully tapping on the red button of his phone. He knows it'll hurt. Thinks 'good'. Reckons you deserve it. 

But then he's scrambling; dialling your number back, holding his phone to ear, stomach in his throat, heart in tatters, swallowing back tears that threaten to fall on his part. 

Being a cunt was much less satisfying than he thought it would be. In fact, if anything, it makes him feel even fucking worse. 

All he wants is to see you. It's the only thing he wants.

You take a while to answer. He was right. It did make you cry. Mainly because you know you do deserve it. 

There's no 'hello' when you answer. You say sorry, instead. "It was out of line for me to ask."

"Yeah," he says. "Kinda was."

"I just... I had to know. Eight months is a long time, isn't it? It's really fucking long."

Namjoon pauses. Bites down on his lip as it shakes. Sighs. "The flight... when does it land?"

"Nine-thirty."

"A.M.?"

"Yes."

"Into Incheon?"

"Uh-huh."

He can hear the tears you're fighting. Wonders if you can hear his. 

"Get the flight," he finally says. "I'll meet you there."

"Wait... are you sur-"

He doesn't let you finish. He's had eight months of fucking torture without you. Eight months to think about all the things he wishes he could have done differently, eight months to play scenarios in his head. Eight months. 

He can't go through it again. Can't be without you. It's too fucking hard. 

"Get your ass on that flight," he says, stern in his tone. 

"It's one-way," you warn him.

And even though you can't see him, you know there's a dimple in his cheek. Know he's smiling. Know it feels like a weight has lifted from his chest, because it feels that way for you, too.

"It better fucking be."

[justforbooks]

House of Huawei by Eva Dou

A fascinating insight into a Chinese telecoms giant and its detractors

Huawei is not exactly a household name. If you’ve heard of it, you either follow the smartphone market closely – it is the main China-based manufacturer of high-end phones – or else consume a lot of news, because the company is at the centre of an ongoing US-China trade war.

But this enormous business is one of the world’s biggest producers of behind-the-scenes equipment that enables fibre broadband, 4G and 5G phone networks. Its hardware is inside communications systems across the world.

That has prompted alarm from US lawmakers of both parties, who accuse Huawei of acting as an agent for China’s government and using its technology for espionage. The company insists it merely complies with the local laws wherever it operates, just like its US rivals. Nevertheless, its equipment has been ripped out of infrastructure in the UK at the behest of the government, its execs and staffers have been arrested across the world, and it has been pilloried for its involvement in China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Into this murky world of allegation and counter-allegation comes the veteran telecoms reporter Eva Dou. Her book chronicles the history of Huawei since its inception, as well as the lives of founder Ren Zhengfei and his family, starting with the dramatic 2019 arrest of his daughter Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, at the behest of US authorities.

Dou’s command of her subject is indisputable and her book is meticulous and determinedly even-handed. House of Huawei reveals much, but never speculates or grandstands – leaving that to the politicians of all stripes for whom hyperbole about Huawei comes more easily.

At its core, this book is the history of a large, successful business. That doesn’t mean it’s boring, though: there’s the story of efforts to haul 5G equipment above Everest base camp in order to broadcast the Beijing Olympics torch relay. We hear about the early efforts of Ren and his team, working around the clock in stiflingly hot offices, to make analogue telephone network switches capable of routing up to 10,000 calls; and gain insights into the near-impossible political dance a company must perform in order to operate worldwide without falling foul of the changing desires of China’s ruling Communist party.

Dou makes us better equipped to consider questions including: is this a regular company, or an extension of the Chinese state? How safe should other countries feel about using Huawei equipment? Is China’s exploitation of its technology sector really that different to the way the US authorities exploited Google, Facebook and others, as revealed by Edward Snowden?

Early in Huawei’s history, Ren appeared to give the game away in remarks to the then general secretary of the Communist party. “A country without its own program-controlled switches is like one without an army,” he argued, making the case for why the authorities should support his company’s growth. “Its software must be held in the hands of the Chinese government.”

But for each damning event, there is another that introduces doubt. The book reveals an arrangement from when Huawei operated in the UK that gave GCHQ unprecedented access to its source code and operations centre. US intelligence agencies seemed as able to exploit Huawei equipment for surveillance purposes as China’s. While Huawei’s equipment was certainly used to monitor Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, it was hardware from the US company Cisco that made China’s so-called Great Firewall possible.

Anyone hoping for definitive answers will not find them here, but the journey is far from wasted. The intricate reporting of Huawei, in all its ambiguity and complexity, sheds much light on the murky nature of modern geopolitics. The people who shout loudest about Huawei don’t know more than anyone else about it. Eva Dou does.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[postgamecontent]

The Unisys Icon: One Canadian Xennial's Memories of Ontario's Obscure Computer

One topic that often comes up in retro gaming circles is how aspects of gaming history not part of the American story don't get enough attention. I personally feel it's mostly up to the people to whom the stories belong to tell them. So I am going to follow my own advice today and tell the tale of a computer that statistically speaking almost no one has used, and some of that computer's software. I have to tell this story from memory, because this computer and its software functionally no longer exist. Practically no photographs of any of its games exist. We're relying on decades-old recall here, so… I'll do my best.

The Unisys ICON was a computer developed as an initiative by the Ontario Ministry of Education to create a standard for Ontario schools. It used an Intel 80186 CPU and its OS was an early version of a Unix-like system that eventually came to be known as QNX. Yes, the Blackberry one. Still in use, I believe. Each Unisys ICON came with its own monitor and a very robust keyboard with a trackball embedded in it. Computers ran in a network from a designated server machine. They were pretty expensive and the whole program was quite controversial, with many considering it a colossal waste of tax money. I mean, in hindsight… probably?

The first line of ICONs were introduced to schools in Ontario in 1984, and support for the platform continued until 1994. During that time, several models were created along with a fair bit of bespoke software. Most of it was meant to be educational, used for teaching programming to older kids and more general lessons to younger ones. I don't recall any pure games without any educational component, although some of them really danced on that line. When the ICON program was canceled in 1994, the Archives of Ontario declined to preserve the ICON and its software. They were all ordered to be destroyed, and just about all of them were.

Only a few fully working models are known to be in existence today, and some of the software was just straight-up lost forever. No emulators exist, and there is no way to play any ICON software unless you have access to one of those few remaining units. So yes, all my UK friends out there? I know you dislike it when Americans make jokes about your Spectrum and Amiga computers and games, but you can only joke about something if you've heard about it. No one jokes about the ICON. I mean, until they find out about its nickname, "The Bionic Beaver". That's easy pickins.

My elementary school in a small Northwestern Ontario town had about a hundred students total from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6. It was such a small school, we didn't even have a Grade 5 class and teacher. They just divided the Grade 5 students by academic achievement and stuck the higher achievers in the Grade 6 class and the lower ones stayed in the Grade 4 class with slightly more difficult texts and homework. Anyway, it was a small school. It no longer exists. But in the 1980s, we had a couple of Apple II computers. They were pretty old by then, and the green and black monitors didn't impress kids who had tasted the Commodore 64, Tandy, or NES. But hey, we played Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, and Crosscountry Canada on them when we could.

I remember when we got our ICONs. It was a pretty big deal! Our school received four of them, with one designated as the server. They were put in a prime location in the hallway, between the fourth grade classroom and the school entrance. If a person was going to the auditorium, they'd have to pass by them. Not like those Apple IIs, tucked away in a less traveled part of the hallways. Our school was proud of those ICONs, and the student body was excited to use them. One of the fun things about visiting the junior high school was that it had a whole lab of ICONs, with different games. Pure decadence! Absolutely sick!

Anyway, the memories of Xennials from Ontario are by and large all that remains of these things now. Even the Wikipedia entry's list of software is missing games I know I played on there. So what can you do? I'm going to talk about some of the games I remember, and since literally no screenshots exist, I drew some pictures. Quickly, mind you. And from 35+ year old memories, no less. Sorry, it's all I've got.

(Not actual screenshots)

SpectICON: This was a paint program, and when our ICON computers were turned on this is what they defaulted to. When the program loaded up, it had a colorful picture of a tree in autumn in place. You could change the palette using the trackball, and if you rolled it with some power the colors of the tree would wildly alternate. My friend Peter dubbed this "Disco Tree". It could do some simple animation, mostly by morphing between two images. I used this to make an animation of a robot turning into a car, because I was ten years old in 1989 and Transformers was the thing.

Offshore Fishing: One of the more popular games in my school. You would move your boat to different locations on a map, after which it would switch to a side-view. You then used the trackball to maneuver your fishing net, trying to catch as much as you can. If a shark comes, it will break your net and you'll lose a lot of money. This was supposed to teach us about the fishing industry, I think?

Math Maze: Another popular one in my school. You would make your way through a maze, battling monsters and looking for treasures. You could pick a knight or a wizard, and your choice of weapon between a sword and a wand. Knight with wand was splendid. No effect on the gameplay, of course. When you met a monster or found a treasure, it was time to do MATH. The last boss of the dungeon would ask what weighed more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold. We were very proud when we sorted out the answer to that one. The cut-out box at the side showing a close-up of the action had some interesting visuals, at least.

A Day in the Life Of: We didn't have this one at my school, but the junior high school had it and I played it there. A strange game where you played as a student, and you could just straight up cut school and go to the mall if you wanted to. The mall had some different spots to visit, including an arcade where you could play a minigames called Mutant Bunnies Attack or something. It was basically Activision's Kaboom, and since we had a trackball… well, this was a pretty good time. I don't remember the actual point of this one.

Crosscountry Canada & Lemonade Stand: You might know these games from other platforms. They were ported to the ICON and played pretty much the same way here as anywhere else. Both were old hat for us and didn't get much play as a result.

Greenhouse: A gardening game. You had to grow plants by setting a variety of conditions, including temperature, watering, and sunlight. Each plant had different needs, but if you could sort it out you would be rewarded by seeing them grow. I messed around with this one a bit, but it was on the junior high school computers so I didn't get to play it as much as I would have liked.

Robot R&D: Robots! This was a cool one. You would build a robot from different parts and materials. You could then put them through a variety of tests to see how they would react. You could immerse them in water, try to crush them, or just drop them from high places. For most kids, you had them at "build a robot".

There were lots of other games, but these were the ones I played and the ones I remember. I wish I could tell you about all of them, but this is the limit of my knowledge. Maybe someone else out there can remember other ones and talk about them? I hope that one day this off-beat, highly geographically and temporally localized computer is properly archived and its software is made accessible again. I would like to play Offshore Fishing at least one more time in my life. Thanks for reading!

Extra Note: I just remembered the darned things would say HELLO when you booted them up. A talking computer?!

[theappvault]

Unlock creative insights with AI instantly

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Whether you’re building a business, launching a new product, or looking for your first real side hustle — this app gives your AI the clarity to deliver brilliant results.

🔐 Features: Works completely offline No API or browser extensions needed Clean UI with categorized prompts One-click copy to paste into ChatGPT or Claude System-locked premium access for security

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[demifiendrsa]

Valve has released a 25th anniversary update for Half-Life.

Half-Life is free to own on Steam until November 20, 2023 10AM PT / 1PM ET.

Overview

BRAND NEW INTERVIEWS WITH THE HL1 DEV TEAM!

We got the band back together to celebrate this anniversary, and we invited the fine people at Secret Tape to film it all happening. Getting together after all this time was the perfect opportunity to revisit the game as it existed in its earliest forms, and to talk about how and why it eventually took shape the way it did. Check out the film to see what it was like to be a part of the team, way back then.

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY UPDATE FOR HALF-LIFE INCLUDES:

HALF-LIFE UPLINK

Originally released as a CD exclusive for magazines and hardware manufacturers, this mini-campaign was built by the Half-Life team right after the game went gold. As this was many people's first experience with Half-Life, we thought it was finally time to bundle it with the main game—no sound card purchase necessary.

4 NEW MULTIPLAYER MAPS

Built by Valve level designers, these new maps push the limits of what's possible in the Half-Life engine.

CONTAMINATION

Two-foot-thick steel doors block off access to this contaminated waste facility, which has questionable scientific goals at best. Strap on a gluon gun and roast all intruders.

POOL PARTY

Enjoy a relaxing stay at this abandoned Xen outpost built around a cluster of soothing healing pools free-floating in space. How do you breathe here? It doesn't matter!

DISPOSAL

Processing Area 3, a massive radioactive waste plant gone quiet. Tons of room for you and your colleagues to do experiments with a Tau Cannon or some hand grenades.

ROCKET FRENZY

The creaking weight of this decaying orbital satellite launch facility somehow feels familiar… If we could switch on the oxygen lines, power, and fuel, we might just be able to light this candle.

UPDATED GRAPHICS SETTINGS

Play the game the way it looked in 1998, but on a modern monitor.

Widescreen field of view!

Option to disable texture smoothing on the GL renderer!

Lighting fixes including the long-lost GL Overbright support!

Software rendering on Linux! Crisp colors, animated water, and unfiltered textures!

CONTROLLER AND STEAM NETWORKING SUPPORT

A proper gamepad config out of the box!

Added support for Steam Networking! Invite your friends or join games instantly with no fuss.

STEAM DECK SUPPORT!

We finally put our game through our own “Verified” tests, and... we failed super hard. So we fixed it! After re-testing the game, Half-Life gets to officially wear the green checkmark.

Now you can play Half-Life on the best handheld gaming computer in the world in glorious 800p with improved controls and UI.

UI SCALING SUPPORT FOR HIGHER RESOLUTIONS

The entire UI has been reworked to scale at larger screen sizes. We built most of this stuff for 640x480 CRTs and apparently some of you have upgraded since then.

RESTORED CONTENT

We brought back the classic Valve logo video with its iconic music and reskinned the menu to match the 1998 build.

IVAN THE SPACE BIKER AND PROTO-BARNEY

After all this time we finally shipped the original heroes from the alpha builds of Half-Life, available as multiplayer skins!

AS WELL AS THESE RARELY-SEEN EXTRAS!

In 1999, Valve released a CD called Half-Life: Further Data at retail stores, and we're finally including much of that content.

THREE MULTIPLAYER MAPS

Double Cross

Rust Mill

Xen DM

TWO MP PLAYER MODELS

The Half-Life: Further Data CD also included some multiplayer skins made by the original team; we've brought back this incredible skeleton (now with tintable eyes!) and fan-favorite Too Much Coffee Man.

DOZENS OF SPRAYS

While playing a bunch of multiplayer matches we kept wanting more sprays... So we grabbed several megabytes of them from the Further Data release!

BUG FIXES AND CHANGE NOTES

New Content

Now Verified on the Steam Deck (and our native Linux runtime has been set as the default).

Half-Life: Uplink — the original standalone Half-Life demo — has been added to the game, and is accessible through the "New Game" menu.

Added four all-new Half-Life Deathmatch maps: contamination, pool_party, disposal, and rocket_frenzy

Added three old Half-Life Deathmatch maps formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD: doublecross, rust_mill, xen_dm.

Added Ivan the Space Biker, Prototype Barney, Skeleton, and Too Much Coffee Man as player models to Half-Life Deathmatch.

Added dozens of new sprays formerly available only on the "Half-Life: Further Data" CD.

Added support for Steam Networking, allowing easy multiplayer via Steam's Join Game and Invite features.

Added support for Steam Friends Rich Presence, allowing your friends to follow your journey through Black Mesa.

Nostalgia

Brought back the original Valve Intro video. Can be skipped with the "-novid" launch command.

Updated main menu to a design inspired by the game's original 1998 main menu.

Changed the default models to the original (non "HD") models.

Gameplay Changes

Improved physics for throwing grenades.

Improved randomness for initial spawn points in multiplayer.

Improved satchel charge controls: primary fire now always throws a new satchel, and secondary fire always detonates.

Fixed push-able entity movement being based on framerate.

Fixed players with high framerates freezing in place on death in multiplayer.

Fixed some cases where the player could get stuck in place on level transitions.

Fixed some cases where characters would interrupt important dialogue with their "greetings" dialogue.

Fixed weapon view-bob angles.

Fixed red barrels at the start of Surface Tension not launching as intended.

Fixed Snarks attacking FL_WORLDBRUSH entities (such as func_walls).

Fixed players sometimes failing to deploy a snark while crouching and looking down.

Fixed certain convars ("pausable" and "sv_maxspeed") being set to incorrect values when entering a singleplayer game after a multiplayer game.

Fixed singleplayer auto-aim setting being changed when entering a multiplayer game that disallows auto-aim.

Fixed the flashlight HUD showing empty after loading a savegame.

Fixed rockets in CONTENTS_SKY not always detonating.

Fixed incorrect bullet impact sounds for NPCs.

Fixed gauss gun making a loud static noise if it was charged across level transitions.

Fixed a crash in mods that display keybinds in their UI.

Fixed singleplayer weapons not auto-switching away when exhausted (grenades / snarks / satchels / etc)

Fixed interpolation artifacts when animated models are moved by other entities.

Fixed some buffer overflow exploits.

UI Changes

Main-menu background and buttons have been reskinned, and now scale based upon screen resolution without stretching, supporting background image layouts up to 3840x1600.

In-Game HUD now uses double or triple sized sprites when playing at higher resolutions.

UI dialogs and in-game fonts now scale to improve readability at high screen resolutions.

In-Game HUD HEV suit display has been shifted to the left of the screen, and no longer changes position at larger screen resolutions.

Added an "Enable texture filtering" setting.

Added an "Allow widescreen Field of View" setting to correct non-anamorphic FOVs, for widescreen and ultrawide displays.

Re-organized all the Settings screens to improve legibility, and support controller navigation.

Updated the Pause menu to be aware of the current gameplay mode.

The default server name and multiplayer player name are now based on the player's Steam Persona.

The Steam platform menu has been removed, now that all its features are in Steam itself.

Fixed application icon rendering incorrectly when using the software renderer.

Fixed player and spray images not updating their coloring on the settings screen.

Removed the now very unnecessary "Low video quality. Helps with slower video cards." setting.

Input Changes

Improved support for keyboard and controller navigation everywhere.

Added "Lower Input Latency" option: Synchronizes the CPU and GPU to reduce the time between input and display output.

Fixed issues that caused jerky mouse / joystick input.

(We basically rewrote it all - if you've got a custom Steam Input controller configuration, you should rebuild it from our newly published Official Configuration).

Multiplayer Balancing

Increased the 357 damage from 40 → 50.

Hive Hand reload time has been reduced from 0.5s → 0.3s per shot, and it will be selected at higher priority than the pistol on pickup.

MP5 now always starts it with full ammo when picked up.

Players no longer drop empty weapons, and any that are dropped are reloaded by what's in the dying player's backpack.

Improved client-side prediction to reduce "ghost shots". Like Counter-Strike, consider hitboxes and not just bounding boxes for hits on the client.

Fixed network predicted crowbar swing damage being incorrect.

Rendering

Added supported for UI Sprites and Texture files larger than 256x256.

Added support for UI Font special render modes: "blur" and "additive".

Added setting to turn off texture filtering when using the OpenGL renderer.

Default resolution is now based on the resolution of the desktop, instead of a 640x480 window.

Default gamma has been decreased from 2.5 → 2.2, now that we aren't all playing on CRTs.

Software renderer will now correctly filter out incompatible resolutions, unless there is only 1 resolution available on the display.

Restored OpenGL overbright support.

Fixed fullscreen software renderer crashing on systems that don't support 16-bit color.

Fixed software renderer being stretched when using widescreen resolutions.

Fixed skyboxes and sky color incorrectly carrying over when transitioning maps in multiplayer.

Fixed the game appearing too dark after modifying video settings.

Fixed MSAA in windowed mode.

Fixed mipmap rendering on studio models.

Fixed gluon gun sprite rendering in multiplayer.

Fixed gluon gun sinusoidal noise being incorrect.

Various optimizations to support the newly increased engine limits.

OpenGL optimizations for the Steam Deck.

Engine Improvements for Mod Makers

Increased maximum limit of dynamic sound channels from 8 → 32.

Increased maximum limit of sentences in the sentences.txt file from 1536 → 2048.

Increased maximum number of entities (MAX_EDICTS) from 900 → 1200.

Increased MAX_PACKET_ENTITIES increased from 256 → 1024.

Increased MAX_GLTEXTURES from 4800 → 10000.

Increased software renderer geometry limits: max spans 3000 → 6000, max surfaces 2000 → 4000, and max edges 7200 → 14400.

Cycler and func_button entities can now be the entity target for scripted_sentence entities, and are allowed to speak in multiplayer.

Incorporated func_vehicle entity support from Counter-Strike, for mod-makers to use. Full SDK update will come later, but level designers can use it now.

Native Linux Build

Added support for the software renderer.

Improved font rendering.

Many stability and behavior fixes.

Other

Localization files updated.

Miscellaneous security fixes.

Notes

The previous version of the game has been archived to a publicly visible Beta branch named "steam_legacy", with the description "Pre-25th Anniversary Build." If a mod or feature is behaving in an unexpected way, you may need to run this archived build until the issue is resolved in the default build.

We now consider this anniversary version of Half Life to be the definitive version, and the one we'll continue to support going forward. Therefore, we'll be reducing the visibility of Half Life: Source on the Steam Store. We know Half-Life: Source's assets are still being used by the Source engine community, so it'll remain available, but we'll be encouraging new Half-Life players to play this version instead.

WALLPAPERS

Celebrate 25 years of Half-life by decorating your desktop and mobile phone.

[shantitechnology]

Streamlining Manufacturing Operations with ERP Software

In today’s fast-paced industrial landscape, manufacturing companies are under increasing pressure to improve efficiency, reduce operational costs, and deliver high-quality products on time. One of the most effective tools to achieve these goals is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. For manufacturers in India—especially in industrially advanced regions like Maharashtra and Mumbai—leveraging the right ERP system can be a game-changer.

At Shantitechnology (STERP), we understand the critical role of technology in enhancing manufacturing productivity. As a leading ERP software company in Maharashtra, we specialize in providing tailor-made ERP solutions for manufacturing enterprises across the region and beyond. In this blog, we explore how ERP software can streamline manufacturing operations and why choosing the right provider is key to success.

What is Manufacturing ERP?

Manufacturing ERP, or Manufacturing Enterprise Resource Planning, is a type of software designed to integrate all facets of a manufacturing business. From inventory and procurement to production scheduling, quality control, sales, and accounting—an ERP system centralizes data and automates business processes, leading to improved coordination and real-time visibility.

For an ERP for manufacturing company in India, it is not just about adopting software; it is about embracing a digital transformation that touches every department and function.

Key Benefits of ERP Software in Manufacturing

Implementing a robust ERP system from a reputed ERP software provider in Mumbai or across Maharashtra can bring the following advantages:

Real-time Visibility and Control

Manufacturers can monitor operations in real time—from raw material procurement to finished goods inventory. This transparency helps in better decision-making, faster issue resolution, and effective resource allocation.

Inventory Optimization

With smart forecasting and inventory tracking, ERP software reduces instances of stockouts and overstocking. Efficient inventory control translates into cost savings and streamlined production cycles.

Production Planning and Scheduling

An ERP system helps in accurate planning and scheduling based on real-time data. It ensures optimal use of machinery, labor, and materials, thereby reducing downtime and improving throughput.

Quality Management

Quality assurance modules help maintain product standards by tracking defects, analyzing root causes, and maintaining compliance with industry regulations.

Cost Control

ERP software helps monitor direct and indirect costs associated with production, allowing manufacturers to identify inefficiencies and reduce waste.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

Faster production cycles, real-time updates, and better order management lead to timely deliveries and improved customer satisfaction—key elements for long-term success.

Why Choose ERP Software in Mumbai and Maharashtra?

Maharashtra, especially Mumbai, is a hub for manufacturing and industrial activity. As competition intensifies, manufacturing companies need advanced solutions to stay ahead. This has led to a surge in demand for ERP software companies in Maharashtra that understand local business needs while delivering world-class solutions.

Working with established ERP software providers in Mumbai such as Shantitechnology (STERP) ensures that manufacturers benefit from:

Localized support and implementation

Industry-specific ERP modules

Customization as per Indian regulatory norms

Faster onboarding and training

Continued technical support and upgrades

STERP:  Your Trusted ERP Partner in Maharashtra

At Shantitechnology (STERP), we take pride in being among the top ERP software companies in Maharashtra. With years of domain expertise, we have successfully implemented ERP systems for numerous manufacturing clients across sectors such as engineering, automobile, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.

Here is why STERP is considered the best ERP software provider in India for manufacturing enterprises:

Industry-Specific Solutions

We offer customized ERP modules that cater to the unique requirements of different manufacturing sectors.

User-Friendly Interface

Our ERP platform is designed for ease of use, ensuring quick user adoption with minimal training.

Scalable Architecture

Whether you are an SME or a large-scale manufacturer, our ERP solutions scale as your business grows.

Robust Reporting Tools

With real-time analytics and reporting, decision-makers have the data they need to act quickly and effectively.

Local Expertise with a National Reach

Being an ERP software company in Maharashtra, we bring local knowledge with the advantage of serving manufacturing companies across India.

ERP Modules That Drive Manufacturing Excellence

Our ERP for manufacturing companies in India is built with powerful modules, including:

Production Planning & Control

Inventory & Material Management

Sales & Distribution

Procurement Management

Finance & Accounting

Quality Assurance

Maintenance Management

HR & Payroll

By integrating these modules into one cohesive system, STERP’s ERP software simplifies complex operations and enhances collaboration across departments.

Real-World Impact: A Case Example

A leading auto-parts manufacturer in Pune (Maharashtra) was struggling with delayed production schedules, inventory issues, and fragmented data systems. After implementing STERP’s ERP software:

Production efficiency increased by 30%

Inventory costs were reduced by 25%

Order fulfillment accuracy improved to 98%

Real-time dashboards provided instant operational insights

This transformation showcases how the right ERP solution can elevate manufacturing operations to new levels of performance and profitability.

Choosing the Right ERP Software Company in Maharashtra

When selecting an ERP software company in Maharashtra, consider the following:

Industry Experience: Do they specialize in manufacturing ERP?

Customization Capability: Can the ERP be tailored to your workflows?

Scalability: Will the software grow with your business?

Support and Training: Is ongoing assistance available?

Cost-Effectiveness: Does the solution offer value for investment?

STERP ticks all these boxes, making us a preferred ERP software provider in Mumbai and throughout India.

Future-Proof Your Manufacturing with STERP

The manufacturing industry is evolving rapidly with trends like Industry 4.0, IoT integration, and AI-driven analytics. Future-ready ERP software should not only streamline current operations but also prepare businesses for tomorrow’s challenges.

STERP’s manufacturing ERP solution is built to support digital transformation, offering integrations with smart technologies and cloud-based deployment for anywhere access.

Conclusion

For manufacturers looking to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and boost profitability, implementing ERP is no longer optional—it is essential. By partnering with a reliable ERP software company in Maharashtra like Shantitechnology (STERP), businesses can unlock new levels of performance.

Whether you are seeking the best ERP software provider in India or looking for specialized ERP software in Mumbai, STERP delivers end-to-end solutions tailored to your needs. Let us help you streamline your manufacturing operations and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Ready to transform your manufacturing business?

Contact STERP – The leading ERP for manufacturing company in Maharashtra and India.

[yandere-fics]

Elouise Anderson

♡ "You smell so sweet today, my love. Come on, let's get you inside before any more people get the pleasure of looking at you." ♡

She's a paranoid yandere. She's always in fear that someone better with a family that they can actually introduce you to will come along and sweep you up. She knows she's not nearly as strong as her sisters so if a competitor appeared there would be less she could do so she instead opts to lock you in her studio apartment. She really wants your love but she refuses to take things slow even if that means you hate her for a long time because she can't afford to waste time on courting you like her sister's can with their darlings. Now that you're in her home you can't say anything bad about her because you're hers and if you don't believe her then she'll bite you until you look like you belong to her. The world wants to separate the both of you and she won't let it happen!

♡ "It's Elouise but just call me Ellie, please? It's really unfair they got all the cool names and I'm stuck with this one." ♡

She's the second daughter of the Anderson family, when Skylar decided to run away from the arranged marriage, the burden was passed onto Elouise who, for the sake of her other sisters who might also be forced to marry him if she decided to run away, killed him horrifically after inviting him out on a date to get to know each other. She was aware it likely wouldn't be enough to buy them time forever but she just wanted to do something for once. Still she wasn't good at it and it took several smashes over the head before he finally went down. After that she moved to the town but pretends not to know her sisters when she sees them, she unconsciously wants to be around them but also can't stand speaking to them since they could also easily steal her darling from her.(although they never would cause they aren't jackasses.)

♡ "I'm 23, me and my sister were born back to back pretty much, let's not talk about her though." ♡

It really bothered her since her and Skylar almost share a birthday, she takes her birthday very seriously too so you better not take your eyes off of her. It's not your fault if you're paying attention to other things, it's those other things fault, don't worry baby, she'll clear all those things out of your way so your focus can go soley onto her.

♡ "I'm only interested in you, my love. And you're only interested in me right?" ♡

She's a lesbian and it's better if you just say yes so that way she'll stop squeezing your chin and smile at you instead.

♡ "I'm a software engineer, but don't worry! I'm going to get a promotion so that way you never need to worry about stepping outside, so just don't look for a job, m'kay?" ♡

She's good with numbers, she did not go to college but she luckily managed to snag a very small job and she climbed the ranks quickly since it was a natural talent of hers. They pay for any additional course she needs and she works from home, rarely if ever leaving her house, unless it's to spy on you and to break into your house. The cameras are just there to monitor her sisters, don't worry she trusts you. It everyone else she can't trust.

♡ "I only like you, my love. ONLY you make me feel any joy in my miserable life." ♡

She also likes her sisters but you'd have to be extremely talented to pry that out of her. She loves them a lot despite her intense inferiority complex and her one sided rivalry. She also really likes her apartment, especially once she gets you trapped in there with her. It has everything she needs to never have to go outside again.

♡ "I hate when people get their disgusting eyes on you, don't they know you're only dressed that cute for me? What? What do you mean it's not for me? Of course it is, you're mine! Here, let me bite you again. I'm sure you're just confused since I haven't been properly marking you lately." ♡

She hates when you deny her, please she knows she's not as good as other people but you're not even giving her a chance to prove her devotion to you, just give her a chance, she really can do better. If not, then she'll have to kill anyone else you lay eyes on although it will be a slow task.(She doesn't need to worry, Sophie stalks both of you since she wants her most fragile sister to just be happy. She's killed anyone who might hurt her sister's happiness with you.)

♡ "W-what am I good at? Oh oh oh, my love. Please I'm so sorry if I'm done anything to upset you but I promise I'll be more useful to you in the future. I'm so sorry I'm worthless at the moment, it's just I'm so busy keeping those mongrels eyes off of you. Wait, you weren't calling me useless? You just wanted to know if I had any talents you were unaware of? Oh, uhm pottery." ♡

She makes a damn good vase, you should ask her to make you one. She'll be happy to be of service.

♡ "Oh? Where do you think you're going? I never said you could leave, I know it's boring here but this is for your own good, even if you hate me now, you'll come to realize it too." ♡

[rainbowgaez]

this shit popped up again and god its so hard to pick the thing i hate the most about it. the fact that it interrupted what i was doing, blanketing what is essentially a giant fucking ad across all 2,764,800 pixels of my monitor. the fact that it's thanking me for my "loyalty" as if my usage of windows is not tied to the fact that i have hardware/software that only works well on windows specifically. the fact that it's literally just here to tell me "sorry ur not eligible to 'upgrade' LOL" thereby being a complete waste of time. the fact that there not a "no thanks" or "do not show me again" or "fuck you eat shit" option meaning this will rear its annoying fucking head again, or the fact that they're ending support for win10 to force people to switch to the dogshit new version of windows. i hate computers die microsoft forever

[kalianos]

It is a little past midnight. Have brainworms.

god I remember when windows 8 came out, immediately bought and installed it to troubleshoot Intuit Pro-Series. I was a chaotic force for good in some weird ways back then. Also Ironically working for Intuit was the first time I stopped hanging out in online spaces. ANYWAY!

Higher level techs were spreading the word that neither program would work on it. ProSeries and Lacerte (Corpo Tax Software) weren't built to handle Mobile Tablets. Day 1 of tax season that year and I had to walk a tax preparer installing pro-series on a windows tablet.

The Higher tech was confused as hell how I did it....apparently they couldn't understand how windows would just interpret the finger touch press as a mouse click. Now to right click, that was moon magic to me back then. Though I think they just wanted a mobile way to make tax sheets and input data then just slam it over to their desktop in the office/at home. You would be amazed how many people had this tax preparer software on their home computers. Hell I remember someone who had this expensive stuff and bought it every year just to do their own taxes and some of their friends.

Also obligatory, fuck Intuit. Never use Turbotax or H&R block to file what can be done for free. I gave away so much free stuff when I was in Turbotax even though I knew they were doing it on purpose to bait people to stay in their ecosystem before they "shut down" our ability to give out stuff for free. You can only word things in so many ways to avoid getting nabbed by the monitor police.

:V Call centers man, we had a department in one corner of this open office floor plan dedicated to monitoring us, recording our calls, and making notes on anything we did.

Randomly remembered this when someone was bringing up how Windows 11 wasn't the worst Windows OS and people were jumping on how Windows 8 was terrible and windows vista doesn't work on low powered systems. (Hey! Let's ship an OS that works best at minimum 2gb of ram! On systems that barely had 512mb! Because that was listed minimum spec. What Could Go Wrong?)

Double fun irony. That call center job was how I ended up making friends, learning more social skills, accidentally stealing someone else's girlfriend by being more outgoing and out there. Discovering the joy of dating someone who used to be a runway model and artist in new york who was more than a little obsessed with sucking dick. Older women man...definitely confirmed.

The downsides of having said person be your girlfriend when you are an immature little shit of a man and there was a good....seven year gap I think in our ages? Then again she was on Instagram constantly after me with a new guy on her shoulder every month after that...so minor gold star for being the longest relationship?

AAaaaaaaaaand figuring out the age old problem of "YOU SHOULD NEVER ROOM WITH SOMEONE YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH IN HIGH SCHOOL" due to the whole....situation that made my last year of freedom a descent into hell and depression that took almost a year and a half to escape. You know like, you friend is leaving the military...that he asked you to join up with him in....and you get dumped out leading to two year depression spiral where you took a call center job out of desperation to do SOMETHING with your life before you wasted away into a worthless pile of shit.

ONLY for him to show back up, joining the National Guard, and after apartment hunting for less than a week shooting down all your suggestions and saying we need to get this luxury 2 bedroom apartment that just opened up in this brand new apartment complex which..pricey, and doesn't include utilities. :D WHAT COULD GO WRONG!? Hey turns out....food costs money.

Walking in from work one day planning on changing to go out with friends to a bar only to walk into a big fat shirtless old guy sitting on your couch. Having to shoo said friends away from the door from the master bedroom. Only to find out hours later that it was your roomate/bestfriends dad who was now...crashing on your couch for a while?

Also not paying the bills. Getting a GI Bill to go to a mildly scammy tech school to learn HVAC and then...not...doing that....and basically flat out not getting a job. I can not stress how pissed off and stressed out I was for an entire year straight. My natural light brown/blonde streak in my hair got a few white hairs in it from that experience.

Though I am not going to lie it was a wonderful experience. KNOWING that yet again...as I was paying for half the rent, the electric, the internet, I THINK there was a gas bill as well? $100 easy a month on electric in 2012 was kinda hell for my area but oh well. KNOWING that he came to me saying he couldn't pay the water bill. So I needed to cover it. And me pulling a Luane from King of the Hill moment. I paid my fair share, I can live without water for a bit. (I was already having to drive to my parents house every week to do laundry sooooo....yeah we didn't have a washer and dryer for most of the year.)

THE HILARIOUS THRILL OF JOY I FELT WHEN I LEARNED ON MY DAY OFF AS MY ROOMMATE COMES IN HALF COVERED IN SOAP FROM HIS SHOWER TO TELL ME THE WATER WAS SHUT OFF! AHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Schadenfreude. Justified.

The amount of times I had to cover all the bills and the Rent...sometimes completely in a 12 month lease was hellish.

So hellish I somehow managed my money to not go into debt back then. Instead I almost to the Penny Zero'd out myself. Including renting the Uhaul to transport my stuff back into my parents house.

OH and him running to the office to grab the deposit money and just leaving with it to buy an engagement ring. That also sucked. Not like I didn't know where a lot of the money was dissapearing to. When you hear stories from friends about him going to a certain fake Australian restaurant and tipping the waitress personally over $100....in 2012. And constantly making us go back to that restaurant to specifically get her and tip her more money.

.....ah memories. Oh yeah and I got invited to a threesome around that time. Probably should have said yes since I knew them but oh well.

And to think I wondered when I was half my age if I would even survive up today. All the things I would have missed out on experiencing. Never was suicidal. Just genuine curiosity in some morbid fashion if I would someone how just be able to live as my crazy stunted self.

....We own a mower now. We have to fix a few more things on it and the tires definitely need to be replaced but it mows better. And now my girlfriend doesn't need to drive her parent's mower down the highway just so we can cut the lawn. It was worth it for piece of mind.

A handful of people I went to school with have apparently tried to reach out to me a few times. At least one of them died a month after doing so. Never opened that message to find out what they said and that was about a decade ago now. We didn't interact much but I am pretty sure he just thought I was annoying dumbass. Wonder if I should completely erase that.

Think I'll title this brainworms or something. I kinda just let my fingers typed whatever came to mind. This was fun.

:V May you not be bored to death if for some reason you read this. I should add a cut not to take up space. Yis yis.

[seancosy]

I saw ur post in the solarpunk tag and! I think we can do better! I think nobody should have to work ever, because how do we pick who's exempt? who's making that decision? the only way I can think for it to be fair is if the person themself gets to make that decision.

bc like the system you're describing isn't hypothetical and as someone who's gone through a nightmare of uncaring bureaucracy just to be allowed not to work due to disability I can say it doesn't work and definitely doesn't feel like a utopia!

I don't follow you and not gonna come back to this so do with it what you want but yeah something to consider I guess

Points I agree with:

People should have the ability to self-determine their capacity to work, and should not be expected to work if they are unable to.

External parties should not be deciding who is able or unable to work.

Points I disagree with:

"Nobody should have to work ever"

I may be misunderstanding you, but... life is work. Someone needs to drive trains, design functional sewerage systems, deliver babies, rescue people from burning buildings, grow rice, implement grain shipping logistics, change diapers, develop vaccines, wash clothes, teach children to read, sterilise surgical equipment, provide counselling to antisocial or dangerous people, cook food for the elderly, insert urinary catheters, repair potholes in roads, pick up rubbish, code the software that checks pressure in dam walls, etc.

None of the above jobs are particularly sexy. Very few people would dream of performing any of these roles when they are growing up. But the work is necessary to maintain a functional society. What links these jobs is that they are meaningful. They help. They improve society. People can find purpose and fulfillment in these tasks because they know they are helping society, even if indirectly.

There are so many jobs in our current society that do not provide a benefit to anyone other than a select few capitalists. If we restructured to become more 'solarpunk' (which I interpret as more communist and likely more anarchist than current societies), these capitalist jobs wouldn't exist, and we wouldn't miss them. Merchant bankers, advertising executives, influencers, soldiers, funko-pop factory workers (I have a personal dislike for these products; such an overt waste of materials and for literally no benefit! people often don't even take them out of their packets?!?!), mortgage brokers, the list goes on.

If we redirected the people working in these capitalist jobs towards roles that directly help society.... everyone would work a lot less, but society would function just as effectively, if not more so. There would be fewer jobs, and more people to do them. There would be more chance to rest and enjoy leisure time. And yes, some people would probably be able to never work at all, if they chose to. But if the work is meaningful, I genuinely believe most people would want to work, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to do something meaningful for others even for just a few hours a week (clean the dishes at the cafeteria or babysit your friend's kids). But no, I don't think people's work contributions should be monitored or quantified at all, unless it's to tell people to rest when they are overworked. People should work of their own volition. And of course those with disabilities or any other factors that prevent them from working safely shouldn't need to work if they are unable or unwilling.

An interesting book that portrays a world that is anarcho-communist is The Dispossessed, by Ursula K LeGuin. It details the struggle between the need for work VS personal freedom exceptionally well.

(Original post linked below)

[web-to-print-industry]

How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming the Printing Industry

The printing industry is undergoing a significant transformation, thanks to the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). From automating production workflows to enhancing customer experiences, AI is helping businesses streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. By leveraging print management software and online product designer tools, print businesses can now offer faster, more precise, and highly customized solutions.

1. AI-Driven Automation in Print Production

AI is revolutionizing the way printing businesses manage their workflows. With print management software, AI can analyze order patterns, optimize print scheduling, and reduce waste, making production processes more efficient. Automated quality control systems powered by AI can also detect errors in print files before production, ensuring high-quality output with minimal human intervention.

2. Enhancing Customer Experience with AI

Customers today expect fast, seamless, and personalized services. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants help printing businesses provide instant support, answering customer queries and guiding them through the ordering process. Additionally, AI-driven recommendation systems suggest the best print options based on customer preferences, improving user engagement and satisfaction.

3. Smarter Design Capabilities with AI

The integration of AI with an online product designer enables users to create stunning, print-ready designs with ease. AI can assist in:

Auto-generating design templates based on user input.

Providing real-time design feedback and error detection.

Offering intelligent color-matching and font-pairing suggestions. This ensures that even users with minimal design experience can create professional-quality prints effortlessly.

4. AI-Powered Print Marketing and Personalization

AI is enhancing print marketing by enabling hyper-personalization. Businesses can use AI to analyze customer behavior and create targeted print materials, such as direct mail campaigns customized to individual preferences. Variable data printing (VDP), combined with AI, allows businesses to produce personalized brochures, flyers, and packaging that appeal to specific audiences.

5. Predictive Maintenance for Printing Equipment

One of the biggest challenges in the printing industry is machine downtime. AI-powered predictive maintenance in print management software helps monitor the health of printing equipment, identifying potential failures before they occur. This reduces unexpected breakdowns, increases machine lifespan, and improves overall efficiency.

6. AI in Supply Chain and Inventory Management

AI-driven analytics help printing businesses optimize their supply chain by forecasting demand, tracking inventory levels, and preventing stock shortages or overproduction. This level of automation ensures smooth order fulfillment and cost savings in material procurement.

7. The Future of AI in Printing

As AI technology continues to advance, its impact on the printing industry will only grow. From real-time production monitoring to AI-powered creative tools, the future of printing will be faster, smarter, and more customer-centric. Businesses that embrace AI-driven print management software and online product designer solutions will have a competitive edge in delivering high-quality, customized printing services.

Conclusion

The integration of artificial intelligence in the printing industry is not just a trend but a game-changer. By incorporating AI-powered print management software and intuitive online product designer tools, businesses can achieve higher efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction. The future of printing is smart, and AI is leading the way toward a more innovative and automated industry.

[dayfalwastaken]

William Afton and the woes of computing.

If it were up to Steve Jobs and Wozniak, he would’ve most likely been called a hobbyist. A hacker if they were being generous. Some poor sod who took apart commercial products so he could build ham radios, but William had long since stopped assembling walkie talkies. It was his kind of practice of taking everything apart that had enabled him and Henry to develop the Springlock suits. The same could be said for all of their creations, including the software. Early on in their work they had discovered just how tedious animating by hand could be, for example. If they wanted as many unique shows to be played for their customers with as little repetition, as opposed to their competitors, they’d need a new method of making Freddy and Bonnie move. That was how they’d come up with the motion capture sensors within the Springlocks. An elegant, simple yet genius solution.

The problem, however, arose from the fact that cutting edge tech build in a garage by two guys in their spare time was still built in a garage. It was prone to failure more often than not. For all of their refinement and attention to detail, the animatronics glitching while in the middle of a performance had been and remained a real possibility. They’d been lucky no glitches had occurred thus far, but William found himself not being very optimistic for the foreseeable future from how things were currently going for him.

Just in the past hour he’d gone through four crashes and had his program freeze twice. Each one of them could’ve permanently corrupted the tape, which would’ve screwed tomorrow’s show. Suffice to say, William had gone and deleted all of his hidden text files. He owed Henry an apology.

Bent forward with his chin resting on his arms, William fought off the sleep as he stared blankly at the ongoing animation. Funny how now of all times he was regretting investing in that coffee machine for his office. He’d always had his secretary bring him his morning coffee… He really should’ve thanked that woman more often.

Wow, William. Missing your last job? You’re getting sloppy.

But it was the little things he longed for. Briefly, he questioned whether the people that had worked under him thought much if his departure from the company. Had they considered him a good boss? A part of him hoped they did. He’d done his best in spite of the menial rewards of his high position. In his opinion.

Though, to his exasperation, and without notice, the replay froze. Grumbling to himself, he made a mental note of the timer beneath the Camera Port and hit the refresh button, hoping to God this wouldn’t be the tape’s last straw. His fists clenched when he didn’t see the loading icon spinning. There was no icon at all in fact, like the screen had frozen along with the app.

C’mon, this shouldn’t be so hard on your graphics card! What more do you want from me? But of course, there was no response. Screw it. First thing tomorrow I’m making some phone calls and getting better parts. I’ll pay for them later. Henry would no doubt complain about it, but if William was gonna have to do this on a regular basis he wasn’t about to waste his time on broken hardware. He’d look into the code later, but if there was something wrong inside he couldn’t afford to make repairs with stuff reserved for the Springlocks. Those two took priority over everything else.

He kept clicking on the refresh circle, thinking that maybe input lag had gotten in the way, but nothing was happening.

Seven minutes in and he was about to drive his fist through the monitor. Thankfully, on the eight-minute mark, his prayers had been answered. Two pop-ups revealed themselves on the screen. He read the first one.

You are running low on memory.

Recommended action: Save your files and restart all open programs.

“Oh, piss of! You stupid, two-bit piece of crap!” Holding the mouse with enough strength to crack its plastic casing, he clicked on the second pop-up, daring it to say something that’d further anger him.

You have one (1) new video.

Play it? Y/N

“…What?” Anger was immediately replaced with confusion and a sense of morbid fascination. This confirmed the computer was bugged, but the programmer within wouldn’t stand not seeing what had been produced. It could be nothing but a black screen and static audio, perhaps created from misinterpreted code, but he had to see. Open Source allowed for pretty much anything to be made so long as one knew what they were doing. It wasn’t unreasonable to imagine a glitch causing statements to be read out of context and be crapped out into a video.

William’s finger inched closer to the Y key. What a ludicrous message indeed. And yet, his gut was telling him he was in for a big surprise.

The moment the video began playing, the entire screen had been engulfed in a white light, blinding him momentarily. The second thing to happen was the music. Blasting at full volume, a company PSA-type melody- the kind usually played in advertisements- rang out, so loud it could be heard throughout the whole restaurant.

William fell off his chair, close to spilling his third drink over the keyboard. Dazed and covering his ears in pain, he pulled himself up, barely seeing enough to turn the volume dial down enough to where his eardrums wouldn’t explode. He spent the next couple of second rubbing at his eyes and groaning. Once he’d regained his vision he propped up his chair, just in time to catch the light fading into something more recognizable. A cartoonish, white bear character with pink round cheeks and purple accents, waving at the camera. On his head was a top hat not unlike Fredbear’s, while on his chest were two black buttons and a bowtie. Below it, a red introductory card. It said; HELLO, my name is Helpy.

[satyaranjan7605]

GIS In Our Daily Lives

The involvement of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in our daily lives is pervasive, influencing and enhancing various aspects across different sectors. The integration of GIS into everyday activities has become integral for decision-making, planning, and optimizing resources. GIS helps city planners and transportation experts to provide them with information like maps, satellite pictures, population statistics, and infrastructure data. GIS helps them make better decisions when designing cities and transportation systems that are sustainable and good for the environment.

The following points elucidate the notable involvement of GIS in our daily lives:

Navigation and Location Services: GIS provides monitoring functions through the visual display of spatial data and precise geographical positioning of monitored vehicles, whereas GPS provides accurate, clear, and precise information on the position and navigation of a monitored or tracked vehicle in real-time and at the exact location.GIS is at the core of navigation applications and location-based services on smartphones. It enables accurate mapping, real-time navigation, and geolocation services, assisting individuals in finding locations, planning routes, and navigating unfamiliar areas.

E-Commerce and Delivery Services: GIS software is a powerful tool for supply chain network planning. It helps determine the optimal location for distribution centers, warehouses, or other supply facilities. GIS is utilized in logistics and delivery services for optimizing routes, tracking shipments, and ensuring timely deliveries. E-commerce platforms leverage GIS to enhance the efficiency of their supply chain and last-mile delivery processes.

Weather Forecasting and Disaster Management: Many states are using GIS dashboard to monitor the rainfall across the state, on a real-time basis, from the data shared by rain sensors installed at various locationsGIS plays a crucial role in weather forecasting and disaster management. It assists meteorologists in analyzing spatial data, predicting weather patterns, and facilitating timely responses to natural disasters by mapping affected areas and coordinating emergency services.

Healthcare Planning and Disease Monitoring: Geographic Information Systems enable the visualization and monitoring of infectious diseases. Additionally GIS records and displays the necessary information that health care needs of the community as well as the available resources and materials. GIS supports public health initiatives by mapping the spread of diseases, analyzing healthcare resource distribution, and assisting in the planning of vaccination campaigns. It aids in identifying high-risk areas and optimizing healthcare service delivery.

Social Media and Geo-tagging: GIS also helps in geotagging and other location related information in posts, it’s tools can map and visualize the spatial distribution of social media activity. This analysis can reveal trends, hotspots, and patterns in user engagement across different geographic areas. Many social media platforms incorporate GIS for geo-tagging, allowing users to share their location and experiences. This feature enhances social connectivity and facilitates the sharing of location-specific information.

Smart City Initiatives: The Geographic Information System (GIS) offers advanced and user-friendly capabilities for Smart City projects and allows to capture, store and manipulate, analyze and visualize spatially referenced data. It is used for spatial analysis and modeling. It is the cornerstone of smart city planning, enabling the integration of data for efficient urban management. It supports initiatives related to traffic management, waste disposal, energy consumption, and overall infrastructure development.

Education and Research: GIS is increasingly utilized in education and research for visualizing and analyzing spatial data. It enables students and researchers to explore geographic relationships, conduct field studies, and enhance their understanding of various subjects.

Agricultural Management and Precision Farming: Farmers leverage GIS to optimize agricultural practices by analyzing soil conditions, crop health, and weather patterns. Precision farming techniques, facilitated by GIS, contribute to increased crop yields and sustainable farming practices.

Real Estate and Property Management: In the real estate sector, GIS aids in property mapping, land valuation, and site selection. It provides real estate professionals with valuable insights into spatial relationships, market trends, and optimal development opportunities.

Tourism and Recreation: GIS enhances the tourism industry by providing interactive maps, route planning, and location-based information. It assists tourists in exploring destinations, finding attractions, and navigating efficiently.

The broad and varied involvement of GIS in our daily lives underscores its significance as a technology that not only facilitates geographic data analysis but also contributes to the efficiency, safety, and interconnectedness of modern society. As GIS applications continue to evolve, their impact on daily activities is expected to further expand and refine.