#web users experiences in 2018

[virtualtadpole]

Thailand's "cute boy" craze: an explainer

Here's another repost from Reddit, originally from 2022. Since Perfect 10 Liners is currently airing with the "cute boy" page as a key plot point, this seems as good a time as any to re-share (remember that the original novel was first released in 2018). Sorry this one is a wall of text, I wasn't sure it'd be a good idea to include example photos involving people who weren't really public figures at the time.

Those of you following Thai BL will probably have come across this concept of "cute boy" social media fan pages, and might have wondered whether they're an actual thing. Or you may have heard of actors being one of their university's cute boys before joining the industry, and wondered what exactly that meant. Here's my attempt at an explanation.

The roots of the phenomenon go back at least to the popular Thai web forums of the 2000s, especially the youth-oriented Dek-D.com, one of Thailand's biggest and oldest web communities (also known as the web fiction platform which launched many BL novels). Dek-D's forums had a picture-sharing section, with a subsection dedicated to photos of cute guys and girls. It was still the early days of digital cameras and camera phones, and these posts were popular among the site's teen users. A few (mostly girls) who became noticed from these posts became Thailand's first "net idols", many of whom went on to join the entertainment industry.

The arrival of social networking sites around 2007 (first Hi5, then Facebook a few years later) helped facilitate these posts, as publicly posted photos became more easily accessible. The issue of privacy wasn't really on most people's minds then, and most of it was done in a light-hearted spirit. Being featured in these posts meant a boost in followers and online popularity, enabling more teens to become recognized as net idols, but it would be a few more years before this really meant anything. On the other hand, the social networking sites themselves would eventually bypass the traditional forums as a central venue for such posts, and an increasing number of Facebook pages (followed by dedicated Instagram and Twitter accounts) would be created to offer a curated experience instead.

The actual trend of "cute boy" pages took off in 2012, around the same time as the explosive growth of Instagram. Teens flocking to the platform (escaping Facebook, which was now full of parents) filled their public profiles with selfies and portraits of themselves, generating a steady stream of material that these pages could pick up to post and promote. This in turn gave the kids likes and followers, a mutually beneficial arrangement for most thanks to the platform's like-seeking culture.

Of course, not all of these proliferating pages featured teen boys. "Cute girl" pages have their share of followers, though they don't seem to be as visible or talked about, perhaps due to a combination of factors including the way society doesn't consider it as creepy for girls to openly ogle after boys compared to the opposite.

As competition grew, these pages diversified into several niches, including those covering specific schools and universities. Most of the school ones aren't that unusual, given that it's quite natural for students to talk about the popular boys and girls at school, and this had been a trend in school forums long before then. Most of them didn't last long though, as page administrators soon graduated and moved on.

However, things were different for certain high-profile schools, particularly the country's four oldest boys' schools, which participate in the biennial Jaturamitr football competition: Suankularb (SK), Debsirin (DS), Assumption (AC) and Bangkok Christian (BCC). The schools had always been well known, but the Instagram era launched an unprecedented wave of interest in their good-looking students, many of whom attracted huge numbers of followers just by being on Instagram. AC especially stands out in this regard, as Instagram allowed outsiders to glimpse into this exclusive boys' world that served as the basis of Love Sick, the source novel of which was begun in 2008.

Not only were cute boy pages created dedicated to these schools (some by outsiders), some of the boys became minor celebrities in their own right, with fans (mostly sao Y (the Thai term for fujoshi), and also some queer folk) meeting up with and photographing them in real life, especially at school events such as AC's Christmas fair and the Jaturamitr competition. And they were serious about it, coming equipped with professional DLSR cameras and huge telephoto lenses. The schools' student bodies leaned into this popularity, having the popular boys promote fundraising events and selling merchandise to their fans.

The relationship between the boys and their fans seemed to be mostly good, the boys appreciating the positive attention and the fans getting to stan someone much more accessible than the mainstream celebrity. And if they later became famous, then there's the pride of having known them before everyone else. These being sao Y, there sometimes is a bit of shipping, though mostly jokingly. Of course, this was not limited to boys from AC and the other Jaturamitr schools, but they were much more prominent.

This was the backdrop against which Love Sick launched its casting calls in 2014, which generated a huge amount of online buzz throughout the cute boy pages and fan Twitter. There's a reason the series featured such a huge cast with so many minor roles - to provide ample opportunity for fans to latch onto the actors and the show.

In some ways, the cute boy label served as a distancing from the previous term net idol, which by 2014 had begun to develop into a negative stereotype of people using their online fame to sell beauty products for easy profit, especially those livestreaming on emerging platforms such as Socialcam and Bigo Live and whose followers tended to be less sophisticated as opposed to the urban middle-class. Which is why most people appearing on cute boy pages tended to come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, and much more attention was given to those focusing on elite schools and universities.

At the university level, cute boy (or other similarly named) pages associated with the country's top universities became very prominent online and also offline, often collaborating with the universities' student bodies to promote events and sometimes also assisting in the universities' PR for prospective students. Many universities already had a pageant culture in one form or another, with which these pages tied in well. Most prominent among the pages were Chula Cute Boy and TU Sexy Boy of Chulalongkorn and Thammasat, the country's two oldest universities. The two universities have an annual traditional football match, which the Cute Boy and Sexy Boy pages played large parts promoting in recent years, and is another event that attracts many fangirls.

Some have argued that the net idol phenomenon serves as a democratization of the entertainment industry, opening up opportunities for aspirants to directly connect to audiences as opposed to the traditional model where everything depended on one being picked up by an agency. But it benefits the traditional model as well. While in the old days talent scouts would look for teens hanging out at Siam Square, today they only have to scan the cute boy pages. Many BL actors were discovered this way. Inn Sarin was a long-time favourite of Chula Cute Boy, and Up and Mix first became widely known from there as well. Many others have likewise previously been featured in various cute boy pages, and practically all of the younger actors who joined the industry more recently probably had strong followings before their debut.

But the craze might be coming to an end. While there have long been concerns over today's youth's obsession with looks, and the university cute boy pages have from the beginning been criticized for promoting shallow images of their universities at the expense of academic aspects, they didn't really have any effect on the trend. But this began to change in 2020, when a widespread youth protest movement swept through school and university campuses and liberal progressive ideas rose to the fore. The issue of "beauty privilege" became one of many perpetual topics of discussion, and many began calling for an end to university cute boy pages. Thammasat, long regarded as the university with the strongest student activism, saw the TU Sexy Boy page shutting down (though the admin cited personal reasons and it was never confirmed whether this was in response to the criticism). Many people seem to have stopped tweeting cute boy pictures since then.

On top of the political mood, the pandemic's disruption of normal school life also interrupted the cute boy momentum, as many photo opportunities dried up. Long-time page admins and fans outgrowing the topic and losing interest might also be a factor. The Chula Cute Boy page has also been inactive since late 2020, for undisclosed reasons.

The future seems at best unclear for now. There are still many active pages out there, but on the whole, from what I've seen, there does seem to be a loss of interest. If younger netizens are indeed disinclined to craze after them the same way, the era of cute boy pages might very well soon be over.

Or maybe they've just moved onto TikTok, and I haven't found out how.

----

In the above original post, I neglected to go into the phenomenon of real-people shipping, so I'm attaching this comment from later as an addendum:

Regarding real-people shipping, there are probably two lines of origin that influenced the practice. First is the rise of K-pop and the shipping culture that came with it, which led to a proliferation of online fanfiction in dedicated Thai web communities and a shipping culture forming around the reality singing competitions which were the talk-of-the-town entertainment programs in the 2000s. One of the first really famous shipped pairs was Nat and Tol from Academy Fantasia season 4 in 2007. (That is Nat Sakdatorn, whom you may recognize as the uncle from Never Let Me Go, among many other roles.)

The other origin is the rise of "net idols", which followed the arrival of social media sites (in Thailand this was led by Hi5 in 2006). I covered this in more detail in my post on Thailand's "cute boy" craze, but didn't really touch upon the shipping aspect. Indeed, a significant shipping culture did form (a few years later) around net idols/cute boys. At first this focused more on (people who were believed to be) real-life couples, like Both and Newyear, who became famous in 2012. From there, manufactured/imaginary couples naturally followed in hopes of cashing in on the popularity of such shipped pairs.

I'm a bit hazy on when the shipping of actors as couples actually became a regular thing in the BL industry. While the practice of fanservice moments on the promotion circuit go back at least to The Love of Siam, I don't think there was significant shipping of the actors' real-life persona, and the same seemed to be the case with Love Sick, especially after the series ended. The first actor pair to become shipped as such was probably Krist and Singto from SOTUS, and the practice quite definitely became a thing after that.

----

Postscript: Thanks for reading, and sorry the writing in this one isn't as good as the other posts I've shared. If you're interested in further reading on the topic, I can recommend the article The Yaoi Phenomenon in Thailand and Fan/Industry Interaction. (2019). Plaridel, 16(2), 63–89 by Assoc. Prof. Natthanai Prasannam, one of the leading Thai academics on BL/Y culture in Thailand.

[the-vampire-fish-queen]

The UK needs some help with there own Online Safety Act (UK KOSA) that going to end up shutting down both small and big sites starting in March 2025.

It's already starting a online cycling community web forum with over 60K users shutting down because of the UK Online Safety Act (UK KOSA).

Link to more info here

"Reading https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/time-for-tech-firms-to-act-uk-online-safety-regulation-comes-into-force/ and we're done... we fall firmly into scope, and I have no way to dodge it. The act is too broad, and it doesn't matter that there's never been an instance of any of the proclaimed things that this act protects adults, children and vulnerable people from... the very broad language and the fact that I'm based in the UK means we're covered.

The act simply does not care that this site and platform is run by an individual, and that I do so philanthropically without any profit motive (typically losing money), nor that the site exists to reduce social loneliness, reduce suicide rates, help build meaningful communities that enrich life.

The act only cares that is it "linked to the UK" (by me being involved as a UK native and resident, by you being a UK based user), and that users can talk to other users... that's it, that's the scope.

I can't afford what is likely tens of thousand to go through all the legal hoops here over a prolonged period of time, the site itself barely gets a few hundred in donations each month and costs a little more to run... this is not a venture that can afford compliance costs... and if we did, what remains is a disproportionately high personal liability for me, and one that could easily be weaponised by disgruntled people who are banned for their egregious behaviour (in the years running fora I've been signed up to porn sites, stalked IRL and online, subject to death threats, had fake copyright takedown notices, an attempt to delete the domain name with ICANN... all from those whom I've moderated to protect community members)... I do not see an alternative to shuttering it.

The conclusion I have to make is that we're done... Microcosm, LFGSS, the many other communities running on this platform... the risk to me personally is too high, and so I will need to shutter them all.

What and When

So here's the statement...

On Sunday 16th March 2025 (the last day prior to the Act taking effect) I will delete the virtual servers hosting LFGSS and other communities, and effectively immediately end the approximately 300 small communities that I run, and the few large communities such as LFGSS.

It's been a good run, I've administered internet forums since 1996 having first written my own in Perl to help fans of music bands to connect with each other, and I then contributed to PHP forum software like vBulletin, Vanilla, and phpBB, before finally writing a platform in Go that made it cost efficient enough to bring interest based communities to so many others, and expand the social good that comes from people being connected to people.

Approximately 28 years and 9 months of providing almost 500 forums in total to what is likely a half a million people in that time frame... the impact that these forums have had on the lives of so many cannot be understated.

The peak of the forums has been the last 5 years, we've plateaued around 275k monthly users across the almost 300 websites on multiple instances of the platform that is Microcosm, though LFGSS as a single community probably peaked in the 2013-2018 time period when it alone was hitting numbers in excess of 50k monthly users.

The forums have delivered marriages, births, support for those who have passed (cancer being the biggest reason), people reunited with stolen bikes, travel support, work support, so much joy and happiness and memorable experiences... but it's also been directly cited by many as being the reason that they are here today, the reason they didn't commit suicide or self-harm. It's help people get through awful relationship breakups, and helped people overcome incredible challenges with their health.

It's devastating to just... turn it off... but this is what the Act forces a sole individual running so many social websites for a public good to do.

I don't know where to recommend... I know lots of people have moved small groups to places like Signal and WhatsApp, and that some people are on the fediverse, and some are in other websites and groups.

There is no central place that could take us all and preserve the very special thing we had... so it's done.

This is a really special place... the people are special... I guess the next 3 months will be a time of sharing what it meant, and of groups figuring out where they want to go next.

Love you all forever, it's been amazing to be a part of it all, I never thought I'd touch the lives of so many people by running websites, and in turn to give so much reason to my own life. In the end, the person I save most was likely myself.

Dee"

This is very bad and the compliance requirements will affect alot of websites based in the UK and Ofcom seems very out of its depth.

The whole thing is an unworkable mess and will collapse under its own weight. There also alot of privacy and legal issues with it.

This may also affect Tumblr and force the site to leave the UK.

Please spread awareness!

[ranidspace]

"I cant switch to firefox because..."

"It's too much effort to switch"

If you install firefox, it will ask if you want to import your browsing history, bookmarks, saved passwords*, and in a as of october of this year your extensions as well.

*dont use your browsers built in password manager. they're very much not as secure, even firefox's. read about passwords here

You can't import cookies for security reasons, but external tools can do that for you (try to avoid this. if you do have some data you need moved over, usually websites have their own "export data as file" option)

Everything else that you may need to fully complete the switch will come up naturally over time, the initial setup can be half an hour, or if you're happy with how it is at the start, less than 5 minutes.

"They don't support [website]"

Firefox is entirely up to date on current HTML, CSS, and Javascript standards. Theres a bunch of websites that compare all the features that firefox supports compared to chrome and stuff and they're often just, wrong? I've used some MANY of the features that firefox supposedly doesn't support. Plus they're constantly updating it for added support of new and old features. anything they refuse to add is due to security reasons, and nobody uses those features anyway.

In my experience i've never had to switch to chrome to avoid a website breaking. Sometimes it was because of an extension* but thats a very easy fix. Firefox has profiles built in and really good troubleshooting features.

*(stop using privacy badger/possum, please, it's built into firefox now, most of all privacy addons are completely useless because firefox already does it for you!!! ublock is safe tho i love u bbg)

If a site tells you "switch to chrome to see this site as intended" they're lying, and you can use a user agent switcher to trick them into thinking you're on chrome

"i need chrome for work or school"

i'd say 4 times out of 5 you don't, they say you have to use it but in reality it's just that they have better control over what you can do with it.

My high school had a shit ton of extensions automatically installed on chrome, including some shit that was literally spyware, it reported to teachers and staff all of your tabs you have open at any given time, and they could force shutoff tabs and force things open. They had absolutely no control or ability to monitor me when i switched to firefox, and there werent any problems that arose from it.

You can also just use chrome for school/work and use firefox for your personal web browser. separate your work life and personal life, you can do this with two different firefox profiles as well.

"I don't like change"

The only thing that's different about firefox in a day to day usage is the bar at the top, which is entirely customizable. Right click, customize toolbar, and you can mess around with it to make it the same layout as chrome. you can also get rid of those weird empty spaces to the left of the search bar they add by default for some reason. mozilla pls fix. You can further use themes to make it even look even more similar to chrome, I did that with my school profile to differentiate them.

When I switched, there wasn't anything I missed, I didn't have any of the "ugh i dont like how [blank] is in a different spot", or "ugh they dont have [this]". it just worked. It's a web browser, it works and does everything it needs to be. I didn't miss chrome at all, nothing felt different and the adjustment period to the new browser was LESS than what i felt when chrome updated the design in 2018.

"I have no reason to switch"

If you care about privacy at all (which you should), i could list hundreds of reasons why you should switch. Google removed "don't be evil" from their code of conduct for god sake lmao. Every new change they do is a ploy to get as much data from you and feed you as many ads as possible.

The dumping of Manifest V2/dynamic filtering not only makes most adblockers useless, it makes any sort of content blocking worse. Blocking trackers, malware, intrusive and annoying website features, these are things ublock does for you which chrome is doing its best to get you to stop doing. They want you to be exposed to predatory ads and malware so they can get more money.

If you have issues with ram usage and performance issues, firefox includes a lot of (lesser known) features to monitor RAM and CPU usage. While it seems as it may use more RAM, it automatically releases it when more ram is needed by other programs, effectively using less. It also uses much less ram in total in cases where there's 10+ tabs open.

Firefox can automatically block sites from auto-playing videos whenever you go on them

As mentioned firefox has so many more customization features than chrome, allowing you theme and move around everything to your hearts content

While on desktop, Chrome and Firefox are very close in functionality, on mobile, Firefox is working to add full extension support to mobile, it already has a small catalogue of extensions you can use, such as uBlock Origin. It has all of the desktop privacy features as well.

Firefox, only has about 3% of the market share. Other than that, chromium controls over 70% of all browsers, with apple controlling over 20%. The less people use firefox, the more control TWO companies have on the very act of using the internet. The Mozilla Foundation is a fully non-profit organization, with full ownership over the mozilla corporation, they don't have shareholders, and prioritize an open, safe, and private internet. Don't let them die.

"but what about..."

there's probably other reasons but the last of my advice:

you can have multiple browsers at once, install firefox and don't get rid of chrome. try firefox, see if there's anything you don't like, and try to fix it, and whenever you feel the need to, you can go back to the browser you already had.

[duhragonball]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes 1-6

We’ve reached the final (planned) stop on the 2023 Dragon Ball Apocrypha Liveblog, and it’s the most apocryphal series of all, the Super Dragon Ball Heroes web anime!

Here’s the deal.  In 2010, Bandai Namco published a trading card arcade game called Dragon Ball Heroes.  Then in 2016 they updated it to improve the user experience, and renamed it Super Dragon Ball Heroes.   A manga adaptation of the game began in 2017, and then in 2018 Toei began this “original net animation” to promote the game. 

My engagement with the DBH franchise has been superficial at best.  Mostly, I just rock out to the theme songs when I find them on YouTube.  I’ve never played the games because I have no idea where and how to play them, and the gameplay doesn’t look all that compelling to me.  I think some of this stuff is only available in Japan?  I’ve never bothered to find out, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

And yet, I’m somewhat familiar with the story mode from the games, as they involve the Time Patrol, which I wanted to research for the fanfic I’m writing, part of which serves as a prose adaptation of Xenoverse 1.  I even wrote a guest appearance with several characters from DBH, and I might use them again down the line.  Also, the manga contains some backstory involving Towa and Demigra, who also appear in Xenoverse 1, and feature heavily in my fic.  So I’ve read some of the manga, and I watched some of the web anime, but mostly for the purpose of scraping them for useful lore. 

From what I can tell, the entire thing is a mess from a story perspective.  The game has been around for 13 years, so it’s clearly a success, but the manga feels completely removed from the story the game tries to tell, and the web anime seems to go off in a completely different direction from that.  At its core, Dragon Ball Heroes is mainly about answering the question “Wouldn’t it be cool if you teamed up with Super Saiyan 3 Vegito to fight Dark Demon Baby Majin Hatchiyack?”  The answer is obviously “hell yeah”, so I don’t understand why we need a manga and anime version to tell stories that don’t really touch on what makes the game fun. 

Mostly, I wanted to run through this web anime for the sake of completion.  The whole thing is up on YouTube, ripe for the viewing, but I keep losing track of which episodes I’ve already seen, and I can never remember what the hell happened.  So this is where we put the “log” in “liveblog”.

We’re starting today with the first six episodes, which make up the Prison Planet arc of the show.  That may sound like a lot of ground to cover, but these episodes are short, so we’re only talking about 40-45 minutes of footage.

The story begins with Goku and Vegeta training with Whis on Beerus’ planet.  Also, the Supreme Kai is here serving tea, and then Future Mai runs over, so she’s here too, apparently.  According to Shin, they came to Beerus’ planet so Trunks could train, but this scene make it look like Mai came here alone, which I’m pretty sure is impossible.  Maybe Whis or Shin brought her, except she was supposed to be with Trunks, so why is everyone just now finding out he didn’t make it?

To be clear, this is the Blue-haired Trunks and Future Mai from the Zamasu arc.  When we last saw them, Whis had arranged for them to take refuge in an alternate timeline where Zamasu hadn’t killed everyone yet.  It was also made clear that they would never return from that world, but SDBH just has them dropping in like it’s Sunday brunch.  Now, you might be asking “Didn’t you just say Xeno Trunks was a character in Heroes?  Why isn’t that version of Trunks in this show?”  And to that I say: Don’t worry, he’s in this too, just not as much.

Then this shady-looking dude named Fu shows up and tells everyone that Trunks is trapped on “The Prison Planet”.  Vegeta asks how he could possibly know that, and Fu explains that he’s a friend of Trunks and he investigated his disappearance.  I like how skeptical Vegeta is of this story.  “My son doesn’t have friends, get the fuck outta here.”

So Goku, Vegeta, and Mai travel to the Prison Planet, which is just a bunch of clip art of planets from our solar system clustered together and surrounded by cartoon chains.  It looks stupid as hell, like they told the art department “We need a prison planet design, and make it as literal as possible.”

There, the gang meets a second Goku, who can turn Super Saiyan 4. This is not the same Goku from Dragon Ball GT, and official sources refer to him as “Xeno Goku”.  He’s an agent of the Time Patrol, and when he encounters the other Goku, they get into a classic superhero misunderstanding and fight.  Then Fu shows up and it quickly becomes clear that he’s the one behind all of this.   Xeno Goku is on a mission to apprehend Fu, and Fu brags that he uses the Prison Planet to trap powerful warriors for his experiments.  Fu tricked Trunks into coming here, then used him as bait to lure Goku and Vegeta.  Xeno Goku pretended to get caught in order to infiltrate this place, but that suits Fu’s purposes, since he’s trapped here now. 

He tells them to find Trunks themselves, and says something about how they’ll have to gather the Dragon Balls on the Prison Planet.  Xeno Goku has one, but the other six are in the hands of the other prisoners.  This sounds like a pretty decent gauntlet for the good guys to go through, but this whole idea gets abandoned by Episode 2.

Meanwhile, Trunks wakes up in a cell with a prison uniform and some sort of tracking bracelet on his arm.   Then the wall opens up and he runs out into a city.  Then Cooler attacks him, seeking the Dragon Balls.  This seems like a pretty cool premise, more authentic to the “Prison Planet” title, but this is all dropped immediately.

From his lab, Fu watches everyone and seems extremely pleased with what’s going on, although he never explains why, or what his plan is.  Get used to this, because this is pretty much all he ever does.

Meanwhile, he’s got this other guy locked away.  His name is Cumber, the Masked Evil Saiyan, and he has a Dragon Ball too.  At the end of episode 1, Fu says it’s not quite time for him to get involved yet.  In Episode 2, Cumber breaks free and heads straight for the good guys to attack them.

Goku tries to punch Cumber, but Cumber has this weird power where if you touch his ki, it makes you go berserk.  That sounds pretty awesome, except it only happens to Goku here, just once, and then it never gets brought up again.  I notice I’m saying that a lot here. 

Also, berserk Goku’s skin is darker for some reason, which I like better, actually, except this is supposed to signify Cumber’s dark energy corrupting him or something, so that seems kind of problematic. 

Fortunately for Vegeta, Trunks and Cooler show up to help.  Yeah, Cooler’s on our side for this.  Apparently he and Trunks came to some sort of understanding between Episodes 1 and 2.  The prison clothes were pointless, since Mai brought along Trunks’ own clothing, so he changes out of them to join the fight. 

During his captiviy, Cooler heard from Fu about Golden Frieza, so he decides to try that for himself and succeeds immediately.  This is treated like some big game-changing moment, as if fans haven’t been photo-shopping Cooler since 2015.  Cooler than goes “I think I shall call this form.................... Golden Cooler!” like there was any possible other name he would have used.

Goku finally comes to his senses, but then Cumber breaks free of his restraints. Trunks goes in to distract him while Goku and Vegeta use Potara earrings which the Supreme Kai gave to Mai before they set off on this trip. 

So it’s Vegito Blue vs. Cumber, and things get so rough that Vegito has to do a Kai-o-ken on top of Blue.  Here’s a picture of Golden Cooler just standing there like an asshole watching. 

Vegito seems to gain the upper hand, but then Cumber reveals he knows the fake moon technique, and he turns into a giant ape.  I’m not sure why he’s this orange color, unless this is meant to be like Golden Oozaru tainted with evil ki or whatever.  The thing is, they keep calling Cumber an “Evil Saiyan”, but he hasn’t actually done anything that evil.  I mean, he choked out Trunks, but there’s plenty of regular Saiyans who would do the same thing if they could.  “Evil Saiyan” implies that he’s some kind of next-level evil, like hanging goat entrails over his altar to Moloch or something.

His first ki blast causes Vegito’s fusion to dissolve, but perhaps more importantly, Cumber’s fighting at such an intensity that it’s damaging the giant chains that seal the Prison Planet off from the rest of the universe.

Goku and Vegeta decide their only chance now is to cut off Cumber’s tail, and Trunks flies in to back them up.  Mai watches from the sidelines, and she’s got two more Potara earrings.  Wait, how many of these things did Shin give her, anyway?

At this point, Fu finally notices the cracks in the seal on the Prison Planet and goes to the battlefield to scold Cumber in person.  He takes out his sword and does some sort of technique to dispel the fake moon and reverse Cumber’s Oozaru transformation without cutting his tail. 

Fu withdraws, apparently satisfied that he’s brought the fight down to a more acceptable level.  This pretty much puts us back where we started, except Goku’s now using Super Saiyan God to fight Cumber, even though we just saw Cumber give Vegito a hard time at Super Saiyan Blue.  Cumber seems to recognize the God form somehow, but he never explains his reaction to it, and this never gets brought up again.

Despite Fu’s intervention, the chains break away completely.  You’d think this would upset Fu, and he is upset, but not because of this...

No, he’s upset because, while he was away, someone found his lab and wrecked it.  Now he can’t monitor the battle, which disrupts his experiment. 

Cumber wrecks Goku’s shit, which knocks him out for a while, but fortunately Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta show up to defend him. Seems that they were the ones who wrecked Fu’s lab, and I guess that explains where Xeno Vegeta was until this moment.  He was scouting out the lab, waiting for an opening. 

I don’t know why the other Vegeta isn’t getting involved in this fight.  I think he’s okay, but he just stands with Trunks and Mai watching the battle. I mean, Golden Cooler is doing the same thing, but I think we’ve already established that Golden Cooler is just an asshole.

Xeno Vegeta suggests that they fuse, since Cumber’s one tough bastard.  He hates fusion, but he’s willing to make an exception.  So for those of you keeping score, this is the second fusion in less than six episodes.

So now it’s Super Saiyan 4 Vegito vs. Cumber, who decides to bust out Super Saiyan 3.  You can tell because his eyebrows are gone.  This seems weird, because base Cumber was giving Vegito Blue a hard time, so the only conclusion I can make here is that SSJ4 is stronger than Blue, or Cumber’s transformations don’t mean much.

Vegito 4 seems to beat Cumber, but then Fu shows up again to confront the jerks who broke his lab. 

Then Cumber rejoins the battle, and Fu observes that the seal on the Prison Planet has been broken. And he seems... happy about this?  If this was what he wanted all along, why did he cancel Cumber’s Oozaru form?  He says that “they will revive soon”, and leaves.

I like how he uses his sword (swords?) to cut an X-shaped portal for himself.  That’s a nice touch. 

Xeno Goku wants to chase after Fu, but they have to rescue the others from Cumber, who’s fired a giant ki blast at them.  Regular Vegeta complains about Regular Goku just lying there passed out, when...

Goku suddenly wakes up and goes Ultra Instinct.  While he fights Cumber alone, the rest of them teleport back to Beerus’ planet.  Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta say their farewells and head off to continue the hunt for Fu, and I guess everyone just assumes that Regular Goku can save himself when he’s ready.

Just as Goku beats Cumber, another portal opens up, and out comes... Zamasu?  And he’s got a posse.  They grab Cumber and leave.

This leaves Goku alone on the Prison Planet as it explodes.  Nice callback to the destruction of Namek, except Goku can use Instant Transmission, so why isn’t he?

Back on Beerus’ planet, the Supreme Kai of Universe 6 suddenly shows up, and he breathlessly informs Vegeta and the rest about an invasion in his home universe.  Dammit, now I have to look up his name.  Fuwa.  The Supreme Kai of U6 is named Fuwa.  Glad we settled that.

Vegeta’s like “I’m a bad enough dude to save Universe 6.  Let’s rock.”

So yeah, this is a bunch of nonsense.  There is a plotline running through all of this, but Toei presented the first six episodes like it’s a single story arc, and it’s more like the first leg of a larger story arc.  There’s hints of something more ambitious here.  Trunks’ prison uniform and the Dragon Balls suggest that they might have been planning to spend more time in this setting, but instead the whole thing explodes in less time than it takes to get a pizza delivered. 

This probably goes without saying, but there’s too many characters in this thing.  We have two Gokus and two Vegetas, and both pairs fuse to make two Vegitos.  It’s fanservice, I get it, but it’s over before we can really get into it.  Golden Cooler literally doesn’t do anything.  I mean Mai doesn’t do much either, but that’s because she doesn’t have any powers.  I don’t know which one irritates me more. 

I like the idea of Cumber, but they never fleshed him out.  Fu keeps teasing details about the guy, but we never find out where he found Cumber or how he got him here, or why he wears that mask.  At least Cumber is still alive so he can return in future episodes and hopefully give us the scoop, but I’m not optimistic that we’ll get much. 

[walkingghotst]

North America Trade Management Software Market Leading Growth Drivers, Emerging Audience, Segments, Sales, Trends and Analysis (2018-2027)

North America trade management software market in is expected to grow from US$ 246.4 Mn in 2018 to US$ 442.0 Mn by the year 2027. This represents a CAGR of 6.8% from the year 2018 to 2027.

North America Trade Management Software Market Introduction

International trade management presents a far more intricate set of challenges compared to domestic distribution, stemming from factors such as multiple currencies, a complex web of regulations, the necessity for multilingual communication, different time zones, and varied transportation methods. Furthermore, the involvement of a large number of parties in a single international shipment significantly amplifies this complexity. Government regulations concerning international trade are notably intricate and perpetually evolving, necessitating that organizations process and respond to a substantial volume of regulatory data often presented in inconsistent paper-based formats.

These inherent difficulties are the driving force behind the increasing adoption of trade management software. The multifaceted nature of global commerce is further highlighted by the unique standing of each participant within the international trade ecosystem. Global trade management solutions address a wide array of interconnected functional needs across the entire trading partner network. Software vendors are offering adaptable and customized GTM solutions designed to evolve with shifting regulations and dynamic business requirements. With the growing volume of regulations and the increasing intricacies of trade, the demand for sophisticated global trade management software in North America is projected to experience substantial growth throughout the projected period.

Download our Sample PDF Report

@ https://www.businessmarketinsights.com/sample/TIPRE00006265

North America Trade Management Software Strategic Insights

Strategic insights for the North American Trade Management Software market deliver data-backed examinations of the industry's current state, including emerging trends, key industry actors, and specific regional characteristics. These insights offer practical recommendations, allowing readers to set themselves apart from rivals by discovering unaddressed market opportunities or developing unique value propositions. By leveraging data analytics, these insights assist industry players—be they investors, manufacturers, or other stakeholders—in anticipating shifts within the market.

Maintaining a future-oriented perspective is vital, helping stakeholders to foresee market evolutions and strategically position themselves for long-term success within this dynamic region. Ultimately, impactful strategic insights empower readers to make well-informed decisions that boost profitability and support the achievement of their business goals within the North American market.

NORTH AMERICA TRADE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE MARKET - SEGMENTATION

North America Trade Management Software Market by Component

Solution

Services

North America Trade Management Software Market by Deployment

On-Premise

Cloud

North America Trade Management Software Market by Organization Size

Small Enterprises

Medium Enterprises

Large Enterprises

North America Trade Management Software Market by End-User

Retail & CG

Automotive

Logistics & Transportation

Healthcare & Pharma

Government, Aerospace & Defense

Chemicals & Minerals

Manufacturing

Others

North America Trade Management Software Market by Country

U.S.

Canada

Mexico

North America Trade Management Software Market by Companies Mentioned

Amber Road, Inc.

Bamboo Rose LLC

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.

Integration Point LLC

Livingston International

MIC

Oracle Corp

QAD, Inc,

QuestaWeb

SAP SE

About Us:

Business Market Insights is a market research platform that provides subscription service for industry and company reports. Our research team has extensive professional expertise in domains such as Electronics & Semiconductor; Aerospace & Defense; Automotive & Transportation; Energy & Power; Healthcare; Manufacturing & Construction; Food & Beverages; Chemicals & Materials; and Technology, Media, & Telecommunications

[fromdevcom]

In 2018, just over 52% of all web traffic was generated through mobile phones. This is in stark contrast to just five years earlier, in 2013, when an estimated 16% of web traffic passed through mobile devices. Because of this drastic shift in the way users interact with the internet, there needs to be a similar shift in the way developers design their web pages. Five years ago, mobile optimization was a proverbial feather in the cap of a company and website that were on the cutting edge of technological advancement. But nowadays, being successful in e-commerce means having an easy-to-use mobile site. And while most developers have caught up to the trend, for the most part, there are still many areas where mobile users are often left high-and-dry. The most crucial of these areas is, of course, the checkout page. For any online retailer, this is the most important page; not only because it is necessary to sell things, but also because the checkout page is the one page that every single user will see – hopefully. This means that it must be a clean, functional, and well-optimized web page that keeps mobile users from getting frustrated or confused and backing out of a potential purchase. With that in mind, we wanted to offer a list of three things to consider when designing a simple mobile checkout page. And while this isn’t a definitive list, these suggestions will help you avoid many of the common problems that plague most mobile checkout designs. Consider the Keyboard Size This might sound obvious, but it’s something that gets overlooked quite often: remember to account for the smaller keyboard. What that means is that unlike desktop web pages, when filling out a form on a mobile device, the keyboard takes up roughly half the screen – cutting the effective size of your page in half. Now, that doesn’t mean you should try to fit everything into the top half of the screen, but it does mean you should be aware of this fact and take certain precautions to minimize potential issues. For example, avoiding extraneous text and unnecessary information will keep the page clean and easy-to-navigate, which will reduce the number of people that get “lost” on the page. Additionally, assuring that all of the field descriptors are able to be understood out of context is a simple, yet necessary precaution. For example, when labeling an address field that’s under the “Shipping” section, rather than just labeling the field “Address,” you would still want to label “Shipping Address.” This is because of the fact mobile users often treat each field as an isolated task, so even if they’re in the “Shipping” section, they may have lost track of that fact. So reminding them that this is the “shipping address” and not the “billing address” is crucial toward providing a smooth experience. Something as simple as this could be the difference between a sale and another bounced user. By taking steps like these, you can counteract the sometimes disorienting effects of filling out forms on a mobile browser. Show Total Cost Again, this should be a pretty obvious statement. But time and time again, e-commerce sites fail to allow potential customers to see the final cost of their purchase until the last possible second, often to the agitation of the user. Most online shoppers are acutely aware of the fact that the product’s listed price is rarely the same as the final order cost once taxes, shipping, and any other fees are tacked on. Because of this, users will want to know how much the final total will be as soon as possible to avoid filling out a laundry list of forms to find out how much their order will cost. In fact, according to an assessment of the top 50 mobile retail sites, 33% of sites failed to display the final total at any point before asking for credit card information. Meaning many users are being asked to fill out payment information and other forms without knowing exactly how much they’ll be charged – which makes a lot of shoppers uneasy and directly leads to cart abandonment.

That means taking a page from sites like Amazon that estimate shipping and taxes as soon as you enter the checkout screen and well before you’re asked to enter any of your credit card information. This gives users peace of mind when completing the checkout process. Utilize Autofill When Possible Autofill makes everyone’s life easier. It saves time on typing and keeps users in a good mood. And although most autofill data is stored by the browser, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can utilize autofill yourself. The most common way to use this technology would be to make entering addresses much easier. Rather than asking for the full address – including zip code, state, and country – simply have them type their street address and zip code and have the site populate the city and country based on the zip code. Alternatively, IP geo-targeting is a quick solution to help customers move quickly through their checkout forms, leading to an increase in both consumer satisfaction and sales. Final Thoughts Optimizing mobile checkout pages is critical to online and mobile success, but it isn’t enough to take the minor optimization steps that were cutting edge in 2013. Instead, developers must listen to their users and think critically in order to create a page that makes online shopping as quick and painless as possible. Despite the rapid advancements in mobile tech and the fact that more than half of all web traffic is mobile-based, filling out forms and dealing with complicated checkout pages is as annoying to users as it ever was. And in some ways, users are even less patient now considering how far mobile phones have come. Because of this, developers need to work hard to stay ahead of the curve and allow mobile users to have an easy, seamless checkout experience. Doing this will not only keep end users happy, but it will also make your employer very happy when their newly optimized checkout page sees more sales and less cart abandonment. Tayler is a content writer for the cbdMD blog. Before joining the cbdMD content team, he spent time in Atlanta as the editor-in-chief of a music publication, covering everyone from Future to Katy Perry to up-and-coming local rock acts. In his free time, Tayler enjoys sour beer, Thai food, and watching Arrested Development for the 18th time.

[digitalshankarbhage]

Understanding Google Algorithm Updates: What They Are and Why They Matter

If you’ve ever searched for something on Google and instantly found helpful results, you’ve experienced the power of Google’s search algorithm. But have you ever noticed that your website traffic suddenly dropped or that certain websites no longer appear where they used to? That’s likely due to a Google algorithm update.

These updates are a big deal in the world of digital marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and online business. Let’s break down what they are, why they happen, and what you should do about them.

What Is a Google Algorithm?

Google’s algorithm is a complex system used to retrieve data from its search index and deliver the best possible results for a query. In simple terms, it’s a set of rules and calculations that Google uses to decide which web pages show up in search results, and in what order.

The algorithm looks at hundreds of factors like:

Page relevance

Content quality

User experience

Site speed

Mobile-friendliness

Backlinks and domain authority

What Are Google Algorithm Updates?

Google regularly changes its algorithm to improve the quality of its search results. Some updates are minor and happen daily without much impact. Others are major and can dramatically affect rankings for millions of websites.

These major updates are designed to:

Improve search accuracy

Punish low-quality or spammy websites

Reward websites with helpful, trustworthy content

Keep up with changes in user behavior and technology (e.g., mobile usage, AI)

Notable Google Algorithm Updates (Past Highlights)

Panda (2011) – Targeted thin or duplicate content and rewarded sites with original, high-quality content.

Penguin (2012) – Penalized sites using manipulative link-building practices.

Hummingbird (2013) – Focused on understanding the intent behind search queries, not just matching keywords.

Mobilegeddon (2015) – Gave a ranking boost to mobile-friendly websites.

RankBrain (2015) – Introduced machine learning to help better interpret search queries.

Medic (2018) – Impacted health, wellness, and finance sites, emphasizing expertise and trust.

BERT (2019) – Helped Google understand the context and nuance of words in search queries.

Helpful Content Update (2022) – Rewarded sites that produce content genuinely helpful to users, not just written for SEO.

Core Updates vs. Minor Updates

Google also rolls out core updates multiple times a year. These are broad changes to the entire algorithm and often shift rankings across all types of websites. Unlike targeted updates, core updates don’t focus on one issue—they reassess content quality across the board.

Minor updates or “refreshes” happen frequently (almost daily), but they usually cause smaller changes that most users and site owners don’t notice.

How Google Algorithm Updates Affect Your Website

After a major update, you might notice:

A drop in traffic – if your site is considered low-quality or outdated.

A spike in traffic – if your content is relevant, helpful, and well-structured.

No change at all – if your site follows best practices consistently.

If your rankings drop, it doesn’t mean you were “penalized”—it may just mean others are now being rewarded more.

How to Stay Prepared

Focus on Quality Content Write content that genuinely helps your audience. Avoid keyword stuffing or low-effort posts.

Improve User Experience Fast-loading, mobile-friendly, easy-to-navigate websites tend to perform better.

Stay Updated Follow official updates from Google Search Central Blog and SEO news sources like Search Engine Journal or Moz.

Build Trust Make sure your website demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness—especially in sensitive topics like health or finance.

Audit Your Site Regularly Use tools like Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, and SEO checkers to find and fix issues.

Conclusion

Google algorithm updates can be unpredictable, but they all have the same goal: to serve users better, more relevant, and trustworthy information. As a site owner or content creator, your best strategy is to stay consistent with SEO best practices, create genuinely helpful content, and adapt as the web evolves.

[raghavsharma456]

Exploring Sensuality: Top 10 South Indian Erotic Films to Watch on Chull TV App

In the evolving landscape of Indian cinema, South Indian films have carved a niche for their bold storytelling and nuanced portrayal of human emotions, including desire and intimacy. Platforms like Chull TV have embraced this trend, offering a curated selection of films that delve into the complexities of love, lust, and relationships. ​

1. Layanam (1989) – Malayalam

A cult classic, "Layanam" explores the unconventional relationship between a young man and an older woman. Starring Silk Smitha, the film delves into themes of loneliness, desire, and societal norms. Its candid portrayal of intimacy set a precedent in Malayalam cinema. ​Wikipedia+1FamousFix.com+1

2. Rathinirvedam (2011) – Malayalam

A remake of the 1978 film, "Rathinirvedam" tells the story of a teenager's infatuation with an older woman. The film sensitively portrays the awakening of adolescent desire, set against the backdrop of a conservative society.​

3. Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuthu (2018) – Tamil

This adult comedy-horror film combines humor with sensuality. The plot revolves around a group of friends encountering a seductive ghost, leading to a series of risqué and comedic situations. ​IMDb

4. Dangerous (2020) – Telugu

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, "Dangerous" is touted as India's first lesbian crime action film. It narrates the story of two women entangled in a web of love and crime, challenging societal norms and exploring same-sex relationships. ​

5. Hi Five (2021) – Telugu

"Hi Five" delves into the complexities of modern relationships, focusing on themes of infidelity and desire. The film's bold narrative and intimate scenes offer a candid look at contemporary love dynamics. ​FilmiBeat

6. Torchlight (2018) – Tamil

Set in the 1980s, "Torchlight" follows the life of a woman forced into prostitution. The film sheds light on the challenges faced by sex workers, blending sensuality with a poignant social message. ​

7. X Videos (2018) – Tamil

This thriller addresses the dark world of cybercrime and the exploitation of women. By intertwining suspense with erotic elements, "X Videos" offers a gripping narrative that also serves as a cautionary tale. ​

8. Manmadha Leelai (2022) – Tamil

A modern take on relationships and infidelity, "Manmadha Leelai" explores the life of a man entangled in multiple affairs. The film's non-linear storytelling and bold scenes make it a standout in the genre.

9. Bachelor (2021) – Tamil

"Bachelor" delves into the tumultuous relationship between a carefree man and a strong-willed woman. The film's raw portrayal of passion and conflict offers a realistic look at modern-day romances. ​

10. Kadhal Kadhai (2017) – Tamil

A romantic drama that explores the depths of love and longing, "Kadhal Kadhai" presents a heartfelt narrative enriched with sensual undertones. Its poetic storytelling and evocative scenes resonate with audiences seeking emotional depth.

Why Chull TV is the Go-To Platform for Erotic South Indian Cinema

Chull TV has emerged as a prominent OTT platform catering to audiences seeking bold and unconventional content. Its curated collection of South Indian erotic films offers viewers a diverse range of stories that challenge societal norms and explore human desires. With high-quality streaming and a user-friendly interface, Chull TV ensures an immersive viewing experience.

Read more: Explore List of Top 10 YA Movies and Web Series to Watch

Conclusion

The realm of South Indian erotic cinema is rich with narratives that delve into the complexities of human emotions and relationships. Platforms like Chull TV provide a space for these stories to be told and appreciated, allowing audiences to explore themes of love, desire, and societal constraints through a cinematic lens.

Source: https://sites.google.com/view/chulltv/blogs/top-10-south-indian-erotic-films

[zakjasper]

How to Create a TRC20 Token: Tron Token Development

The use of blockchain technology has grown significantly. Integrating blockchain into their operations has benefited the majority of companies, including the cryptocurrency sector. The global blockchain market is predicted to grow more than 100 times to reach 163 billion US dollars by 2027, from an estimated 1.57 billion US dollars in 2018.

The expansion of companies in the blockchain sector is shown in this image. The business owners are worried about "how to develop Tron token to grow their business," though.

What is TRC20 Token?

A technical standard called TRC20 is used to create Ethereum-like coins on the Tron network. Similar to cryptocurrencies, the TRC20 token is a digital currency that may stand in for money and other assets.

The Tron network, which offers speedy and affordable transactions, allows these tokens to be bought and transferred. TRC20 coins have been observed to be commonly utilized due to its compatibility with TRON-based wallets and applications.

If you are also thinking about developing a Tron Token smart contract, you should work with an Ethereum development business. By providing experience in blockchain integration, token design, and smart contract generation, it will assist you in creating Tron-based tokens.

7 Key Steps of Tron Token Development

This brings us to a crucial blog post: how to generate a TRNC20 token. It's not as hard as you may imagine to create a own Tron token. If you want to stand out in the market, though, you must continue to exercise caution. According to the STO development business, you can take a look at the following actions if you're not sure how to create a TRNC20 token:

Extensive Market Research

Choose the Tech Stack Appropriately

Develop UI/UX Design

Tron Token Development

Testing and Quality Assurance

Launching and Marketing

Maintenance and Updating

1. Extensive Market Research

A well-defined goal is the first step towards a successful Tron token. Therefore, you must carry out market research in order to have a clear objective for your Tron coin.

It will assist you in determining any difficulties or issues that your Tron token can resolve. Examine current Tron Tokens and related projects on other blockchains as well; this will help you comprehend the competitive environment.

2. Choose the Tech Stack Appropriately

You should be aware that smart contracts are used in the creation of Tron Tokens. Building a TRC20 Token hence requires thorough consideration of the tech stack, including the database, framework, and programming language. At this stage, it is recommended that you get help from a mobile app development business that is familiar with the tools and libraries, guaranteeing the functioning and security of your token.

3. Develop UI/UX Design

Every kind of program requires an interface that is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.  Therefore, when it comes to Tron token development solutions, work with a Tron token development business that can guarantee an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface.

 Users will be able to properly interact with your token as a result.  Furthermore, because it takes into account the complete user journey—including token acquisition, efficient management, and usage in the ecosystem envisioned by the business—user experience design is more than just aesthetics.

4. Tron Token Development

You must design a specific platform according to the goal of your Tron. It might be a desktop, web-based, or mobile application. Think about the important features that are necessary to finish an app as well.

If required, work with a top-notch blockchain development company to create a TRC20 token. Professionals make sure that your Tron token and its intelligent contract features work together flawlessly. This will make using your token a smooth experience for the user.

5. Testing and Quality Assurance 

The most important component of your blockchain project that will help it succeed is testing. You can find faults, glitches, and other technical problems with your smart contact and fix them quickly by testing it.

It guarantees that you can release your app onto the market and that it is prepared for launch. A reputable Tron wallet creation business can perform a security audit as part of the testing process to make sure your token code is safe.

6. Launching and Marketing

You can launch your token once testing is complete. Create a thorough marketing plan that will raise interest in and awareness of your token.

The target demographic can be reached through a variety of means, including social media marketing, community development, and content production. Furthermore, keep in mind that the exchange listing seeks to improve your token's liquidity and ease of trade.

7. Maintenance and Updating

As you are aware, the Tron blockchain is a component of a larger, ever-changing cryptocurrency environment. You must therefore update your Tron token with new features, security fixes, and protocol upgrades with the assistance of a blockchain development business. Additionally, get user input and use it to improve your software. This will not only improve your software but also extend its lifespan.

Why Should Entrepreneurs Invest In Tron Token Development?

As you are aware, companies seeking to innovate and raise financing have a variety of possibilities thanks to the world of blockchain technology. Likewise, Tron, a high-throughput blockchain development platform, has become a top option for producing unique cryptocurrency tokens.

Aside from this, click here to learn more about the advantages of investing in Tron Token development options for business owners:

Smart Contract Functionality

Scalability and Speed

Cost-effectiveness

Potential For High Returns

Maturing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Ecosystem

1. Smart Contract Functionality

Tron supports smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements that automate transactions based on pre-estimated conditions. Businesses can create and utilize unique functionalities thanks to this functionality. A loyalty token, for example, might be set up to automatically compensate users upon reaching specific goals.

2. Scalability and Speed

A remarkable transaction processing speed of thousands of transactions per second is made possible by Tron. According to suppliers of ICO token production services, this flexibility makes it a wise investment for companies, allowing for high-volume applications like as decentralized exchanges. Businesses can offer seamless user expertise and draw in a large audience with faster transactions.

3. Cost-effectiveness

Tron offers extremely cheap transaction fees when compared to other block chains.  Because it reduces the overall operational costs associated with the transactions on their platform, this is one of the major advantages for investors.  Therefore, lower transaction costs promote user adoption and increase the investor's project's competitiveness.

4. Potential For High Returns

The cryptocurrency market has the potential to yield a sizable return despite its volatility.  A company that creates a well-designed token with substantial community support and obvious utility is said to be a blockchain app development services provider.  It stands to gain from the value of the token as well as the general expansion of the Tron network.

5. Maturing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Ecosystem

Businesses now have a number of new possibilities as the DeFi ecosystem for Tron develops.  Companies can improve their value propositions and attract DeFi users by incorporating features like lending, staking, and borrowing into their tokens through DeFi protocols.

Wrapping Up

According to this blog, Tron's development as a leading blockchain platform depends on the TRC20 token standard. By enabling flexible and secure token issuance, it allows the company to create innovative products while taking advantage of the low transaction fees and scalability of the TRON network.

Entrepreneurs desire to invest in Tron token development solutions because they perceive it as a profitable business opportunity. Go ahead and take your business to the next level if you are one of those people. However, creating a TRC 20 token could be really challenging for you.

Therefore, you can work with a cryptocurrency development firm. You may think about Dev Technosys, for example. It is a top provider of Tron Token development services with a global clientele. Our team of committed blockchain engineers offers our clients the best blockchain solutions.

What're you waiting for, then? Communicate your needs to us and achieve your corporate objectives.

[cjoetta25]

Web Wizards: Pioneers in Website Development Perth

Introduction

In the bustling digital arena of Perth, Web Wizards emerges as the guiding star in website development, carving a niche characterized by unparalleled expertise and innovation. Founded by Neville Greenwood in 2005, the company quickly transformed from a sole trader business into an incorporated entity by 2008. With 18 years under its belt, Web Wizards is a beacon of reliability and technical proficiency in website development Perth, where it excels in crafting professional websites that defy high-end price tags. Situated in Cannington, Web Wizards development Perth operates without outsourcing tasks, ensuring that every design, development, and marketing effort is carried out by its seasoned in-house team. This dedication to quality and experience positions Web Wizards as Perth's definitive authority in cultivating robust digital identities, promising clients swift loading websites hosted on local servers.

Revolutionizing Web Design Services

#### Custom & Responsive Designs Web Wizards specializes in custom website development tailored to client specifications, ensuring both aesthetic appeal and functional prowess. By adopting responsive design principles, the team guarantees seamless adaptation across devices, enhancing user experience and search engine rankings. This meticulous approach in design reflects Web Wizards's commitment to innovation in web development Cannington, setting a regional benchmark. - E-Commerce Solutions: Web Wizards builds scalable e-commerce platforms using Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom solutions, integrating secure payment gateways and comprehensive product management features. #### CMS & Application Development Development of dynamic websites with CMS integration, such as WordPress, enables businesses to remain agile, offering easy content management for non-tech users. Furthermore, Web Wizards excels in crafting custom web applications that boost operational efficiency through intelligent data handling, showcasing their transformative impact on businesses. As we explore further, their profound impact on local organizations becomes evident.

Driving Community Engagement

#### Collaborative Software Initiatives In 2017, Web Wizards demonstrated community leadership by developing software aimed at assisting local organizations with government compliance. This initiative exhibits their commitment to societal benefit beyond commercial interests, enhancing collaboration among community entities like the Rostrata Family Centre. - AI and Speed Optimization: The introduction of AI-driven services in 2025 and speed optimization tactics since 2018, underscore Web Wizards's role in tech adaptation, enabling clients to harness cutting-edge advancements. #### Outreach to Diverse Demographics Embracing inclusivity, Web Wizards launched projects to aid senior Australians in digital adoption, exemplifying their service ethos beyond typical commercial boundaries. This community-centric approach engenders trust and prolonged partnerships, evidenced by long-standing relationships with numerous clients. Continuing their journey, Webb Wizards further cements its influence in the digital marketing sector.

Comprehensive Digital Marketing Prowess

#### SEO and Digital Marketing Excellence Since 2010, Web Wizards has expanded its expertise to include comprehensive digital marketing services, ranging from AdWords to advanced SEO practices, paving the way for enhanced online visibility and client engagement. - Innovation in Chat Optimization: The recent foray into AI-dri https://medium.com/@cjoetta091/web-wizards-defining-excellence-in-website-development-in-perth-b77ca963c3d9

[webnseo1]

Case Studies of Successful Business Promotion Campaigns

Here's a collection of case studies of successful business promotion campaigns across different industries, highlighting their goals, strategies, execution, and outcomes.

Nike – “Just Do It” Revival Campaign (2018) Goal: Reconnect with younger audiences and reignite brand relevance in a saturated market.

Strategy: Collaborated with Colin Kaepernick, a controversial figure in sports and activism. Emphasized empowerment and social justice, aligning with Gen Z and Millennials’ values.

Execution: A bold ad featuring Kaepernick with the tagline: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” Cross-platform rollout: TV, digital, social media, and billboards.

Results: 31% increase in online sales shortly after the ad launch. $6 billion increase in Nike’s brand value. Massive media coverage and engagement.

Dove – “Real Beauty” Campaign Goal: Shift perception of beauty standards and connect emotionally with a broad female audience.

Strategy: Celebrate real women of all sizes, ethnicities, and ages instead of models. Focus on self-esteem, authenticity, and empowerment.

Execution: Viral video campaigns (“Dove Real Beauty Sketches”). Workshops and global activations on self-esteem for girls.

Results: Sales jumped from $2.5B to $4B within a few years. Over 50 million views on YouTube for key campaign videos. Strong brand loyalty and global recognition.

Old Spice – “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Goal: Reposition Old Spice from an “old man’s” brand to one appealing to younger men.

Strategy: Use humor, sex appeal, and absurdity to stand out. Directly target women (the buyers of men’s grooming products).

Execution: Funny, fast-paced ad featuring Isaiah Mustafa. Real-time video responses to fans on social media.

Results: Over 50 million views on YouTube. Sales increased by 125% year-over-year. Transformed brand image and market position.

ALS Association – “Ice Bucket Challenge” Goal: Raise awareness and funds for ALS research.

Strategy: Viral, user-generated challenge encouraging donations. Leverage social media’s reach and celebrity involvement.

Execution: Participants dumped ice water on themselves and challenged others. Massive celebrity and influencer participation.

Results: Over $115 million raised in a few months. Over 17 million videos uploaded. Tremendous global awareness for ALS.

Airbnb – “Made Possible by Hosts” Goal: Recover from COVID-19 downturn and support hosts.

Strategy: Highlight authentic travel experiences created by real hosts. Emphasize trust, community, and home-like travel.

Execution: Emotional storytelling in ads showing guest-host relationships. Global rollout across video, web, and print.

Results: Helped Airbnb recover and exceed pre-pandemic bookings. Strengthened host loyalty and user trust. Boosted public perception and brand equity.

[daniellacatus]

Artificial Intelligence in Website Optimization

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a key tool for improving websites, offering solutions for content customization, enhancing visitor experience, and streamlining digital marketing efforts. While AI provides numerous advantages, it also introduces challenges that require careful management.

Advantages of AI in Website Optimization

Enhancing User Engagement and Personalization

AI-driven systems analyze visitor behavior to create personalized experiences. Online stores, for instance, suggest products based on browsing and purchase history, increasing engagement and conversions. Additionally, chatbots provide instant support, making interactions smoother. AI also enables dynamic content adjustments based on real-time user interactions, ensuring a more engaging browsing experience.

For instance, streaming platforms like Netflix or Spotify utilize AI algorithms to recommend content tailored to individual preferences. This capability extends to e-commerce, where AI analyzes previous purchases, cart abandonment rates, and time spent on certain pages to make precise product recommendations.

Optimizing SEO and Content Strategy

AI assists in refining website content by identifying keyword trends, understanding search intent, and evaluating competitor strategies. Tools like SurferSEO and Clearscope help in producing relevant, well-structured material. Automation ensures consistent updates, keeping content fresh.

Moreover, AI-driven platforms can conduct automated audits, detecting broken links, slow-loading pages, and content gaps that impact search rankings. These insights allow businesses to make data-backed optimizations, improving visibility on search engines. AI also plays a role in voice search optimization, ensuring content aligns with conversational queries that are becoming increasingly common.

Automating Marketing and Data Insights

AI simplifies marketing tasks through predictive analytics and automated campaign management. Businesses use AI to target audiences effectively in email marketing, social media, and paid ads. AI-powered analysis helps refine strategies and improve results. AI chatbots also enable brands to automate customer interactions, resolving inquiries without human intervention.

Another significant advantage is AI's ability to A/B test marketing campaigns at scale, optimizing ad creatives, headlines, and targeting parameters more efficiently than traditional methods. AI can analyze user behavior patterns and predict which marketing messages are likely to convert, thereby maximizing return on investment.

Improving Website Performance and Accessibility

Beyond content and marketing, AI also enhances technical aspects of website performance. AI-driven tools optimize image compression, adjust loading speeds based on real-time user activity, and improve mobile responsiveness. Additionally, AI contributes to web accessibility by providing automated captions, text-to-speech functionalities, and adaptable user interfaces for those with disabilities.

Challenges of AI in Website Optimization

Concerns Over Data Privacy and Security

AI relies on substantial data for accurate functioning, raising issues regarding user privacy and security. Many platforms collect sensitive details such as browsing history and preferences. If not managed properly, this data can become vulnerable to breaches.

A notable example is the 2018 Exactis incident, where a database containing information on millions of individuals was left publicly accessible, highlighting the need for stringent security measures. Companies that fail to secure AI-driven data collection practices risk not only legal consequences but also reputational damage.

To mitigate these risks, businesses must implement advanced encryption methods, ensure compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations, and prioritize transparency regarding data usage policies.

Maintaining Quality and Originality in AI-Generated Content

Although AI generates content efficiently, the output can sometimes lack depth or relevance. Automated articles may seem repetitive or miss essential context, reducing their impact.

Excessive reliance on AI-generated material might also lead to search engine penalties. Platforms like Google prioritize unique, well-researched content, so overuse of automation can lower rankings. Combining AI with human oversight helps maintain accuracy and credibility.

Another issue is the potential spread of misinformation. AI models trained on biased or outdated sources may generate inaccurate content. Organizations using AI for content production must validate sources and cross-check information to ensure reliability.

Addressing Ethical and Bias Issues

AI models learn from existing data, which may introduce biases affecting content and recommendations. This can result in unfair practices, such as excluding certain groups from tailored content.

AI-driven hiring platforms, for instance, have been criticized for exhibiting biases against specific demographics due to flawed training data. Similarly, AI-generated recommendations may reinforce stereotypes, limiting the diversity of content or product suggestions presented to users.

To counteract this, businesses should regularly review AI models, ensure transparency in data usage, and implement ethical guidelines promoting fairness. Ethical AI practices, such as bias detection algorithms and diverse data sampling, help mitigate these risks.

Dependence on AI and Loss of Human Creativity

While AI can automate many aspects of website management, an over-reliance on machine-generated content may stifle creativity. AI lacks the human touch required for storytelling, emotional engagement, and original thought.

For instance, AI can generate product descriptions based on data inputs, but it may not fully capture the brand voice or emotional appeal that resonates with consumers. Businesses must strike a balance between AI automation and human creativity to maintain a unique and compelling digital presence.

Best Practices for AI in Website Optimization

Prioritize Data Security – Use encryption and comply with regulations like GDPR to protect user information.

Combine AI with Human Oversight – While AI enhances efficiency, human editors should verify accuracy and maintain authenticity.

Be Transparent with Users – Clearly communicate data collection policies and obtain necessary permissions.

Focus on High-Quality Content – AI-generated material should be supplemented with expert insights and thorough fact-checking.

Regularly Evaluate AI Performance – Monitor AI outputs to identify potential biases or inaccuracies, ensuring fairness and reliability.

Use AI Responsibly – Establish ethical AI guidelines to ensure fairness, diversity, and accuracy in automated processes.

Encourage Innovation While Retaining Human Creativity – AI should complement, not replace, human ingenuity in website content and design.

By leveraging AI responsibly and strategically, businesses can optimize their websites effectively while mitigating risks and maintaining trust with users.

A summarized version of this article, written by me, is available in Romanian on Facla Liberă: Inteligența artificială în optimizarea site-urilor.

[govindhtech]

The BrowseComp: Benchmarking Web Browsing Agents

A simple yet challenging benchmark that tests AI agents' ability to discover hard-to-find information.

AI agents that learn from internet surfing are growing in importance. A performant browsing agent may locate hard-to-find information by visiting tens or hundreds of websites. Models using rapid browsing tools, such as GPT-4o, have exceeded SimpleQA criteria for extracting basic data. OpenAI is open-sourcing BrowseComp, or “Browsing Competition,” a benchmark of 1,266 challenging topics to test AI agents' ability to identify convoluted, hard-to-find internet content. You may get the study article and benchmark at OpenAI's simple evals github repository⁠.

The BrowseComp standard

OpenAI created BrowseComp, an easy-to-verify browsing benchmark that is hard for models. One challenge to evaluating big language models is that they tend to long, open-ended replies. Questions with concise answers and one right answer are its focus. Due to this emphasis on quick replies, BrowseComp performance may not correspond with open-ended user distribution performance. OpenAI accepts this trade-off since brief responses are easier to assess and the benchmark is simple.

OpenAI required human trainers to create fact-based questions with a single, consistent, evidence-based solution, following the SimpleQA⁠ standard. BrowseComp trainers created really challenging questions. OpenAI performed three tests to ensure question difficulty:

Existing models couldn't solve the query. Trainers were asked to check that GPT-4o (with and without browsing), o1, and an early deep research model were unable to address the tasks.

Trainers were asked to perform five simple searches and ensure the solution was not on the first few pages of results.

Trainers were told to create activities that someone could not do in 10 minutes. A second trainer attempted to answer certain queries, albeit this was not fully enforced. If trainers performed tasks above 40% of the time, they were asked to amend their assignments.

OpenAI suggested trainers to start with a fact and then create a “inverted” question with a hard-to-find but easy-to-confirm response to create challenging questions Trainers would start with a “seed” (a person, event, or artefact) and explore a large space for qualities to transform into questions. We offered a sample question:

Tell me the title of the 2018–2023 EMNLP conference scientific work. The first and fourth authors attended Dartmouth College and Penn, respectively. Frequency Effects on Transformer Syntactic Rule Learning (EMNLP 2021).

While a few online searches can verify this question, a brute-force search would require looking through hundreds of publications and researching each author's history. Due to their difficulty and reliability, “asymmetry of verification” issues are useful benchmarks.

BrowseComp is simple yet evaluates AI agents' productive browsing:

Models must reason about internet content's authenticity to respond correctly.

Because BrowseComp answers are hard to find, it takes persistence and extensive browsing.

Brute-force methods are too slow or impossible to find many answers. Thus, the model must be creative to get the proper answer in a reasonable period.

BrowseComp helps browsing agents but is incomplete. BrowseComp avoids the challenges of a real user query distribution, such as long replies or ambiguity resolution, but it tests the essential ability of patience and creativity to find information. Models that win programming contests like CodeForces have great coding abilities that may apply to other technical careers, but this is not guaranteed. To solve BrowseComp, the model must be adept in finding hard-to-find information, however this isn't true for all browsing jobs.

Dataset diversity and difficulties

When establishing the BrowseComp benchmark, OpenAI asked trainees to construct questions about their own interests to provide a more interesting experience and higher-quality data.

OpenAI asked human trainees to answer BrowseComp questions to assess dataset difficulty. They were the same trainers who created the questions, but they couldn't answer them. Human trainers were asked to complete the task without an AI assistant ( ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Grok, or Gemini) and were not provided the correct answer.

Certain topics are challenging, thus OpenAI lets trainers identify a subject as unsolvable and progress if they can find a solution within two hours of investigation. As seen here, trainers solved 29.2% of issues and matched the reference answer 86.4% of the time.

OpenAI model performance

OpenAI evaluated GPT-4o, GPT-4.5, OpenAI o1 (medium) models without browsing, GPT-4o with browsing, and Deep Research, a persistent web surfing agent model, on BrowseComp. As seen in the table below, GPT-4o and GPT-4.5 achieved practically 0% accuracy, highlighting the difficulties of the benchmark. BrowseComp addresses exotic, multi-hop facts that models cannot uncover without strong reasoning or tool use.

When browsing was permitted for GPT-4o, accuracy climbed from 0.6% to 1.9%, but performance remained dismal. This shows that surfing alone is insufficient; models must also think strategically, detect relevant search pathways, and analyse retrieved material. This shows that internal knowledge inference can reveal BrowseComp replies. OpenAI o1, which cannot browse but has greater reasoning, is more accurate. These data indicate that reasoning and tool use greatly impact BrowseComp performance.

Deep Research solves half the issues better than any other model. Given its ability to freely explore the web, assess and synthesise data from various sources, and adapt its search technique, it can solve previously unsolvable issues. It excels at answering specialised, non-intuitive questions that require perusing many websites, the type of challenge BrowseComp is meant to assess, by synthesising massive amounts of online information, changing course, and citing each claim.

Compute scaling during testing

OpenAI o1 on AIME⁠ and OpenAI o3‑mini low/medium/high⁠ show that agent performance scales with inference time computation. Since the queries require iteratively examining many webpages and gathering information, OpenAI should expect more inference-time computation to improve BrowseComp performance.

Aggregation methods that utilise extra computation

OpenAI tried each problem several times and used different strategies to choose the best answer to see if the Deep Research model would perform better with more compute. This experiment aggregated the 64 model outputs per question using best-of-N, weighted voting, and majority voting.

Majority votes for most typical example response.

Weighted voting uses zero-shot triggering the model to calculate a confidence score for each attempt and voting accordingly.

Best-of-N picks the most reliable.

Conclusions

BrowseComp tests a model's online search for hard-to-find information. BrowseComp measures the ability to find a single piece of information, is straightforward to examine, and challenges existing browsing agents, even if it does not measure frequent searches. By releasing BrowseComp open-source, OpenAI hopes to spur research into more reliable AI.

[tapmedia]

Introduction Social media in India has undergone a phenomenal transformation since its inception. From the days of Orkut and Yahoo Messenger to the dominance of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, digital interaction has become an integral part of daily life. But when exactly did social media start in India, and how has it evolved over time? Let's take a journey through the rise of social media in India. The Early Days of the Internet in India Social media's growth in India is directly linked to the expansion of the internet. The internet was introduced in India in 1995 by VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited), marking the beginning of the digital era. However, internet access was limited to businesses and affluent users in the late 1990s. Cyber cafes became a hotspot for people to access the web, leading to early social networking experiences. The adoption of broadband in the 2000s played a crucial role in increasing social media usage. Early Social Media Platforms in India Orkut and Its Popularity (2004-2014) Orkut, launched by Google in 2004, was the first widely adopted social media platform in India. It allowed users to create profiles, add friends, and participate in communities. At its peak, India was Orkut’s second-largest user base after Brazil. However, with the rise of Facebook, Orkut's popularity declined, and Google officially shut it down in 2014. Hi5, Friendster, and MySpace in India Other global platforms like Hi5, Friendster, and MySpace also had a small user base in India but never gained the same popularity as Orkut. Yahoo Messenger and MSN Chat Before dedicated social media platforms, Indians connected through Yahoo Messenger and MSN Chat in the early 2000s. These platforms allowed text and video chatting, making them an early form of online social interaction. The Arrival of Facebook and Twitter Facebook’s Launch and Popularity in India Facebook was launched globally in 2004 but became popular in India around 2008-2010. By 2012, India became Facebook’s second-largest market, and today, it has over 400 million users in the country. Twitter’s Impact on Communication and News Twitter arrived in India around 2009, revolutionizing digital conversations. It became a platform for real-time news, political debates, and celebrity interactions, playing a crucial role in shaping public discourse. The YouTube Revolution YouTube entered India in 2008, but its true potential was unlocked after affordable internet became widespread in 2016. Early Indian YouTubers like BB Ki Vines (Bhuvan Bam) and CarryMinati helped shape India’s digital video culture. WhatsApp and the Messaging Boom WhatsApp, launched in 2009, became India’s most-used messaging platform by 2015. Today, it has over 500 million users in India, making it the country’s primary communication tool. Instagram and the Age of Visual Content Instagram entered India in 2012, but it saw massive growth after the launch of Instagram Stories and Reels. The platform’s visual format made it a favorite among influencers and brands. TikTok and the Short-Video Revolution TikTok became a sensation in India between 2018 and 2020, with over 200 million users. However, it was banned in 2020 due to security concerns. Indian alternatives like Moj, Josh, and MX TakaTak gained traction after the ban. LinkedIn and the Rise of Professional Networking LinkedIn has grown significantly in India, with over 90 million users. It has become the go-to platform for job seekers and professionals looking to network. The Role of Social Media in Indian Politics Social media has played a major role in election campaigns, political debates, and digital activism. Political parties use Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp for outreach, making social media a powerful tool in shaping public opinion. The Impact of Jio on Social Media Growth Before Reliance Jio launched in 2016, internet access was expensive in India.

Jio’s affordable data plans increased internet penetration, making social media accessible to millions of new users. The Future of Social Media in India With the rise of AI-driven content, virtual reality, and regional platforms, India’s social media landscape is set to evolve further. Platforms are now focusing on vernacular content to reach diverse audiences. FAQs When did Orkut start in India? Orkut was launched in India in 2004 and was widely popular until Facebook took over. When did Facebook become popular in India? Facebook gained popularity in 2008-2010 and became the leading social media platform by 2012. How did Jio impact social media usage? Jio’s affordable internet plans in 2016 led to a massive increase in social media users in India. What was the first social media platform in India? Orkut was the first widely used social media platform in India, though Yahoo Messenger was used for online chatting before it. Why was TikTok banned in India? TikTok was banned in 2020 due to data security and national security concerns. What is the future of social media in India? The future includes AI-driven content, regional social media platforms, and increased focus on short-video content. Conclusion Social media in India has come a long way from Orkut and Yahoo Messenger to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. With the rise of affordable internet and digital transformation, social media will continue to evolve, shaping the way Indians communicate, engage, and consume content.