Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of the website located at https://enginerds.com ("Website") and the services offered through it, operated by Spike-Buster Media LLC, a California limited liability company ("Company", "we", "us", or "our").

By accessing or using the Website, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree with any part of the Terms, you must not use the Website.

Description of Service

We operate the following, together the "Services":

• Enginerds editorial and aggregation. We collect article titles and source URLs from publicly available feeds and, for some stories, publish original summaries and insights. Some of that material is produced with the assistance of artificial-intelligence models. We do not claim ownership of the third-party articles we link to.
• Enginerds Compass — free tier. A signed-in free account can look up any topic across a recent window of coverage, generate a limited number of reports, and save a small number of watches. No payment card is involved.
• Enginerds Compass — paid plans. Monthly subscriptions that widen the history window, raise report and watch allowances, and add export and team seats. Billing, renewal, cancellation, and refunds are governed by our Subscription, Billing & Refund Terms.
• One-off reports. A single sourced report on one topic, purchased outright rather than by subscription.
• Signal Feed (API). Programmatic, read-only access to Compass measurements, additionally governed by our API Terms & Data License.

Features, allowances, and prices are described on the pricing page and may change as described in "Changes to These Terms" below.

Enginerds Compass (Paid Subscriptions & API)

Enginerds Compass ("Compass") is offered through the Website. The terms in this section, together with our Subscription, Billing & Refund Terms and API Terms & Data License, govern your use of Compass and its outputs (reports, briefs, exports, signals, and API responses).

What Compass Is — and Is Not

Compass measures the composition of technology-press coverage. It analyzes article metadata, cited events, story types, claim stages, framing, source breadth, and related coverage patterns over time. Compass does not determine product quality, adoption, investment value, legal compliance, company performance, technical truth, or future outcomes.

Measurement, Not Ground Truth

Compass measures how selected technology-press coverage is composed and how that coverage changes over time. Compass does not verify the truth of every claim in the underlying articles and does not determine whether reported products, companies, models, or technologies are successful, safe, compliant, investable, or technically superior.

No Professional Advice; No Reliance

Compass outputs are informational and research-support tools only. They are not investment, financial, legal, business, procurement, or technical advice, and are not a product endorsement. Nothing in Compass is a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, adopt, or avoid any security, product, company, or technology. You are responsible for reviewing cited sources and for your own decisions, and should consult a qualified professional where appropriate.

No Prediction

Compass may identify coverage movement, persistence, emergence, and connections within the measured corpus. These signals are not forecasts, predictions, recommendations, or guarantees of future outcomes.

Corpus-Limited; Accuracy & Classification Limitations

Compass outputs are limited to the sources, articles, classifications, and time windows available in the Compass corpus at the time of generation. Results are not exhaustive and may contain errors, omissions, stale or broken links, misclassified or mis-resolved entities, or thin coverage. Compass reflects the measured corpus available at the time of generation and may change as the corpus is updated.

Your License to Compass Outputs

Subject to your plan, these Terms, and — where payment applies — timely payment, you may use Compass-generated reports, briefs, excerpts, and exports in your own professional work — including internal briefs, client memos, presentations, newsletters, research notes, strategy documents, and (where your plan permits) dashboards. You may not resell, redistribute, or repackage Compass data as a standalone database, feed, or competing service; remove attribution; or present Compass outputs as ground-truth conclusions. When Compass outputs are shown externally, credit "Enginerds Compass" (for API outputs, the API Terms form — "Data: Enginerds Compass" — also satisfies this). Use of the Signal API is additionally governed by the API Terms & Data License.

Subscriptions, Billing & Cancellation

Paid Compass plans are billed on a recurring basis and renew automatically until cancelled; the optional one-off report is a single digital purchase. Before any charge we show you the renewal terms and ask you to accept them expressly, and we email you a copy afterwards. You can cancel at any time from Account → Billing (sign in first) — one button and one confirmation, with no offers, surveys, or retention steps; cancellation stops future billing and access continues through the current billing period. Billing, renewal, cancellation, refunds, plan changes, taxes, and any mandatory rights under the law applicable to your purchase are set out in the Subscription, Billing & Refund Terms.

User Judgment

Compass is designed to support professional judgment, not replace it. You should review cited sources and apply your own expertise before relying on any output.

Eligibility

Different parts of the Services have different requirements:

• Browsing. The public Website is intended for people aged 13 or over. If you are under 18, use it only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.
• Accounts and purchases. To create an account, subscribe, or buy anything, you must be at least 18 and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract.
• Acting for an organisation. If you accept these Terms on behalf of a company or other organisation, you represent that you are authorised to bind it, and "you" in these Terms means that organisation as well as you personally.

The Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child under 13 has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

Where the Services Are Offered

Public informational pages are viewable everywhere. Public Enginerds articles, the published monthly Insights reports, and the non-personalized sample measurements may be viewed from any location where they are accessible. Mere access to those public pages does not mean that we offer account-based Compass services in every jurisdiction.

Account-based Compass services are not offered in the European Union and European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, or mainland China. That covers account creation and every authenticated Compass feature — the free tier, Ask, generated or saved reports, watches, alerts, notes, exports, team seats, API access, subscriptions, and one-off purchases. We do not direct those services to the restricted regions, do not market them there, do not price or present them in local currency, and do not offer local tax handling for them. If you are in one of those regions you may continue to read the public pages, but we will not provide account services or accept your order, and attempting to register does not create an account entitlement.

If an order from one of those regions nevertheless completes — for example because the country we detect at checkout differs from the billing address you later give — we reverse it in full: we end any subscription immediately, refund the entire amount to your original payment method with no deduction for any period of access, and email you to explain why. You are not charged for the reversal, and the public pages remain open to you. Placing an order by misstating your location, or by using technical means to conceal it, does not create an entitlement to the paid Services; such orders are reversed in the same way.

We may add or remove regions. Where we withdraw paid availability from a region in which you already hold a paid plan, we will give you notice under Changes to These Terms below and refund the unused portion of what you have paid.

Lawful availability. Outside the restricted regions, the Services are provided under these Terms where we make them available and where doing so is lawful. They are not available in any jurisdiction, or to any person or entity, where the transaction would be prohibited by United States sanctions, export controls, applicable local law, or the rules of our payment and service providers. We may decline, suspend, reverse, or refund a transaction where reasonably necessary to comply with those requirements, and we may decline or discontinue service in any jurisdiction where offering it is impractical or unlawful.

Accounts

• Accurate details. Register with accurate information and keep it current. We may suspend an account registered with details we reasonably believe to be false.
• Your credentials. You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials and API keys confidential, and for activity that occurs under your account. Tell us promptly at support@enginerds.com if you believe your account or a key has been compromised.
• Seats and sharing. A single-seat plan is for one named individual. Plans that include multiple seats may be used by that number of named individuals within your organisation. Sharing one set of credentials among several people, or rotating a seat between people to avoid buying more, is not permitted.
• Closing your account. To close your account, email support@enginerds.com and we will close it within 30 days. Closing it ends your access; it does not by itself refund fees already paid, which are handled under the Subscription Terms. If you also want your personal information deleted, say so and we will treat it as a request under our Privacy Policy.

Your Content

You may submit content to the Services — searches, questions, watchlists, custom topic sets, saved maps, notes, and similar ("Your Content").

• Ownership. Your Content is yours. We claim no ownership of it.
• The licence we need. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, transmit, and process Your Content solely to operate and support the Services for you, and to comply with the law. That licence ends when Your Content is deleted, except for copies retained in routine backups until they expire.
• What we do not do with it. We do not use Your Content to train our own or third-party artificial-intelligence models, and we do not sell it. How prompts and searches are processed — including which third-party providers are involved and for how long anything is retained — is set out in our Privacy Policy.
• Content you must not submit. Do not submit content you have no right to submit, that infringes anyone's rights, that is unlawful, or that contains special-category personal data (health, biometric, or similar), payment card numbers, government identifiers, or other people's confidential information. The Services are not designed to hold that material.
• Feedback. If you send us suggestions or feedback about the Services, we may use them without restriction or obligation to you. Feedback is not confidential and does not transfer any of your other rights.

Intellectual Property

Our Content

The Website's original text, software, selection and arrangement, visual design, layout, logos, reports, summaries, FAQs, and other materials created by or for Spike-Buster Media LLC are owned by us or licensed to us, to the extent protected by applicable intellectual-property law. Third-party content and rights — including article titles, trademarks, and logos — remain with their respective owners. Unauthorized reproduction, modification, distribution, or display of our protected materials is prohibited.

Third-Party Content

Third-party trademarks, logos, article titles, and links remain the property of their respective owners. Enginerds claims no affiliation or endorsement by those third-party sources.

AI-Generated and Editorial Content Disclaimer

Portions of the content provided on the Website—including summaries, questions, and FAQs—may be generated using artificial intelligence models. While we strive for accuracy and relevance, AI-generated content may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be relied upon without independent verification.

Monetization

Compass is funded by subscriptions and one-off report purchases. Some editorial pages may carry an affiliate link, from which we may earn a commission — this never affects what Compass measures or how it reports it, and we do not use your account data, prompts, watchlists, or reports for advertising of any kind. See our Privacy Policy.

User Conduct

You may not:

• Use the Website for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose.
• Scrape, copy, mirror, or extract data from the Website using automated tools or bots — except through the channels we publish for that purpose (the RSS feed, the sitemap, and the Signal API), used in accordance with their terms.
• Interfere with the Website’s operation or security.
• Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or tamper with any portion of the Website.
• Resell, redistribute, or repackage Compass data, reports, or API outputs as a standalone database, feed, or service.
• Use Compass or its API to build, train, or assist a product, dataset, or feed that competes with Compass.
• Share, publish, or expose API keys, or share account access in violation of your plan.
• Present Compass outputs as ground-truth conclusions, predictions, or recommendations, or remove attribution or measurement caveats.

Enforcement

If you breach these Terms we may limit, suspend, or terminate your access. Where it is reasonable to do so we will warn you first and give you a chance to put it right; where a breach is serious, unlawful, or threatens the security of the Services or other users, we may act immediately. We will tell you what happened and why, unless the law prevents us. If you believe we have got it wrong, reply to that notice and we will look at it again. If we terminate a paid plan for a breach you did not commit, we refund the unused portion.

Data After Termination

When a paid plan ends, your account returns to the free tier. Your reports and saved work are retained, not deleted, and remain visible when you sign in — but the free tier does not include export, so if you want a copy of anything in a file, email support@enginerds.com within 30 days of the plan ending and we will send it to you at no charge.

You can ask us to delete your personal information at any time under our Privacy Policy — we act on verified requests, subject to records we are required by law to keep, such as billing and consent evidence. Deleted data may persist in routine backups until those backups expire.

Availability

We aim to keep the Services available and working, but we do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation. We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Services. If we discontinue a paid feature that you are currently paying for, we will give you reasonable notice and refund the unused portion of what you have paid for it. No service-level agreement applies unless we have agreed one with you in writing.

Disclaimer of Warranties

The Services are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. To the fullest extent permitted by law we disclaim the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, and any warranty arising from a course of dealing or usage of trade. We do not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the measurements, classifications, or outputs are accurate, complete, current, or suitable for any particular purpose.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or of a consumer's statutory rights. Nothing in this section limits any right you have as a consumer that cannot be excluded by law, including rights under the laws of your country of residence and under California law.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

• Neither Spike-Buster Media LLC nor its officers, directors, employees, agents, affiliates, or licensors is liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, loss of goodwill, or business interruption, arising out of or relating to your use of or inability to use the Services — even if we have been advised that such damages are possible.
• Our total aggregate liability for all claims relating to the Services is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for the Services in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) US$100.

These limits do not apply to liability that cannot be limited by law — including death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and any liability that applicable consumer-protection law does not permit us to exclude. If you are a consumer, your statutory rights under the law of your country of residence are unaffected by this section, and where that law gives you broader remedies, those apply instead.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Spike-Buster Media LLC and its affiliates, officers, agents, and employees from third-party claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable legal fees arising out of:

• your breach of these Terms, the Subscription Terms, or the API Terms;
• your unlawful use of the Services, or your use of them in violation of a third party's rights;
• content you submit to the Services, including any claim that it infringes or misappropriates someone's rights;
• your material alteration, unlawful use, unauthorized redistribution, or misleading presentation of Compass outputs — including presenting them as ground-truth conclusions, predictions, recommendations, or advice contrary to these Terms; and
• your breach of the API restrictions, or use of the API by anyone using your keys.

This does not extend to anything caused by our own breach, negligence, or wrongdoing. We will notify you promptly of any claim, and you may not settle a claim in a way that imposes an obligation or admission on us without our written consent, which we will not unreasonably withhold. We may participate in the defence with our own counsel at our expense.

Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information we process, why, on what legal basis, who processes it on our behalf, how long we keep it, and what rights you have. Where the law requires your consent for a particular activity — non-essential cookies and analytics, for example — we ask for it separately at the point of collection and you can withdraw it at any time. Using the Website is not treated as consent to anything that requires consent.

Links to Third-Party Sites

The Website contains links to external websites not operated by us. We do not control and are not responsible for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites. Accessing those links is at your own risk.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, then to the extent the CCPA and CPRA apply to us, you have the rights those laws provide. Regardless of whether we currently meet every statutory applicability threshold, we voluntarily accept verified requests to access, correct, or delete the personal information described in our Privacy Policy, subject to lawful exceptions. We do not sell your personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we honour Global Privacy Control signals as an opt-out. For details, see our Privacy Policy.

Changes to These Terms

• We may update these Terms. Every version carries an effective date, and we keep a dated record of what changed in each version. We will send you the full text of any earlier version on request.
• For a material change — one that meaningfully reduces the Services or increases your obligations — we will give you at least 30 days' notice before it takes effect, by email to the address on your account or by a prominent in-product notice.
• You may cancel before a material change takes effect, and we will refund the unused portion of any period you have already paid for. Price changes are handled under the notice rules in the Subscription Terms.
• Where the law requires your affirmative acceptance of a change, we will ask for it rather than infer it from your continued use.
• For changes that are not material — clarifications, new features, corrections — the updated Terms apply from their effective date.

General

Order of Precedence

If these Terms conflict with the Subscription, Billing & Refund Terms or the API Terms & Data License, the more specific document governs for its subject matter: the Subscription Terms for billing, renewal, cancellation, and refunds; the API Terms for use of the Signal Feed. These Terms govern everything else. A signed written agreement between us prevails over all of them.

Three exceptions, which these Terms win. The refunds we promise under "Enforcement" (termination for a breach you did not commit), "Availability" (a paid feature we discontinue), and "Changes to These Terms" (cancelling before a material change) are commitments made here, and the Subscription Terms' general statement that fees are non-refundable does not cut them down.

Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the documents referred to in them, are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services, and replace any earlier understanding on the same subject. Nothing in this clause limits liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Severability

If any provision is held unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable, or severed if it cannot be; the rest of the Terms remain in force.

No Waiver

If we do not enforce a provision, that is not a waiver of it. A waiver is effective only if we give it in writing, and only for the occasion given.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them to an affiliate, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all of our assets, on notice to you. Any other attempted transfer is void.

Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for a failure to perform caused by something outside its reasonable control — including natural disaster, war, civil unrest, epidemic, labour dispute, failure of a utility or telecommunications network, government action, or the failure of a third-party infrastructure or model provider. This does not excuse an obligation to pay amounts already due.

Notices

We give you notice by email to the address on your account, or by a prominent in-product notice; email notice is treated as received on the next business day after it is sent, unless we receive a delivery failure. You give us notice by email to support@enginerds.com, or in writing to the postal address below.

Survival

The sections that by their nature should outlast the agreement do so — including Your Content (ownership and feedback), Your License to Compass Outputs and its restrictions, User Conduct, Enforcement, Intellectual Property, Disclaimer of Warranties, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Governing Law and Venue, and this General section. The licence restrictions in "Your License to Compass Outputs" survive termination in full.

Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions, and the state and federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute — subject to the paragraph immediately below.

Consumers outside the United States. If you are a consumer resident outside the United States, nothing in these Terms deprives you of the protection of the mandatory consumer laws of your country — or, in a federal system such as Canada, your province or state — of residence, and you may bring proceedings in your own local courts. We may bring proceedings against you only in the courts of your place of residence. The choice of California law above applies only to the extent it does not remove protections you would otherwise have. If you have a complaint, contact us first — most things are resolved by email. We do not participate in out-of-court alternative dispute resolution schemes before consumer arbitration bodies; your right to bring proceedings in your own local courts is unaffected.

Where the paid Services are and are not offered is set out in Where the Services Are Offered above.

Relationship

Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between us, and neither party may bind the other.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us:

• Email: support@enginerds.com
• Spike-Buster Media LLC
  13157 Mindanao Way #188
  Marina del Rey, CA 90292
  United States