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Ereka Vetrini’s Guide to Summertime Fun

YourUpdateTV

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/4K2p1T5ok44 This is the second summer in a row that Americans must be thoughtful when planning family getaways. Whether hitting the road or planning a staycation, most head of households still have safety top of mind. However, being careful doesn’t mean family and friends cannot enjoy some fun in the sun together. As a TV host, Lifestyle Expert, and Working Mom, Ereka Vetrini has figured out a way to balance her career and family time. She has come up with four easy ways to get the party poppin’ and keep it cool as the temperatures heat up over the summer months. STICK WITH THE TRADITIONAL: According to a recent summertime survey, most parents plan on spending more time outside with their families. That’s why Ereka suggests sticking to the tried and true, like beach days, barbeques, and hanging out by the pool. That way families get to spend time together outdoors while being safe and socially distanced from strangers. Before heading out-and-about, Ereka recommends packing up a tote with a new book, games for the kids, and treats the whole family will love. There’s a tasty candy brand crafted in Italy that recently launched in the United States. Fruit-tella Soft Gummies are made with fruit puree as the first ingredient. They come in two flavors, Strawberry & Raspberry and Peach & Mango. These candies are quite flavorful and each one has a fun and playful fruit character shape that makes for the perfect summertime treat. Fruit-tella can be found at CVS stores nationwide. www.us.fruittella.com Instagram: @fruittellaus Twitter: @fruittellaus https://www.facebook.com/Fruittellaus/ GET THE PARTY POPPIN’: Americas’ streaming addiction has only increased during the pandemic and parents are looking for new ways to watch TV programs and movies with their families. Ereka suggests outdoor movie nights. She says setting up a big screen in a backyard can easily do the trick, especially if you add America’s favorite snack. The most popular moviegoers treat, popcorn, just received a major upgrade with the newest innovation in microwave popcorn from Opopop. The secret to this brand’s taste is that each kernel is individually wrapped in exceptional flavors and a perfect mix of ingredients, prior to popping. Opopop comes in six fun flavors, including reimagined classics like Fancy Butter, and uniquely created experiences with Maui Heat, Vanilla Cake Pop, Salted Umami, Cinnalicious, and Chedapeno. Opopop can be purchased at Opopop.com. www.opopop.com Instagram: @opopopco https://www.facebook.com/Opopopco/ CHILL OUT: July is National Ice Cream Month and the perfect time to cool off as we head into those long hot dog days of summer. Ereka says nothing screams summer more than ice cream cake! She suggests keeping it easy with a few pre-made ice cream cakes like the Carvel Confetti Cake and the new Cookie Dough Cake from I Love Ice Cream Cakes. Ereka recommends storing one in the freezer for family barbecues, get-togethers, and pool parties. The Carvel Confetti Cake and new Cookie Dough Cake are available online at ILoveIceCreamCakes.com along with a helpful product locator or at your local grocer and bakery’s freezer section. www.Iloveicecreamcakes.com Instagram: @ILoveIceCreamCakes https://www.facebook.com/ILoveIceCreamCakes/ GRAB GEAR & GO: Many families are road-tripping throughout the summer months and that means children can catch up on reading, summer schooling, or gaming while heading to a destination. As a conscious consumer and parent, Ereka is often concerned about protecting her family’s tech gadgets from cracked screens and other mishaps that happen on-the-go. OtterBox for Kids combines trusted protection from OtterBox with products designed with kids in mind. These easy-to-use cases come in three different colors and offer an EasyGrab case stand to help little hands carry their tablet or easily hang a tablet between head rests. Other gadgets like the OtterBox Kids EasyGrab Mobile Charging & Audio Cable Bundle are available to keep the fun going while vacationing. OtterBox products are available at Verizon and Verizon.com. www.Verizon.com Instagram: @otterbox Twitter: @otterbox https://www.facebook.com/otterbox/ About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 16, 2021 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Elsevier commits to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040

Elsevier

Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, is pleased to announce its commitment to becoming net zero by 2040, signing the Climate Pledge together with parent company RELX, to reach the target at least a decade ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of 2050. Kumsal Bayazit, Elsevier’s CEO said: “The scientific consensus is clear, climate change is happening and we all have the responsibility to make the future sustainable for our planet. At Elsevier we are already net zero for our own direct emissions and by signing the climate pledge I am confident we can rise to the challenge and accelerate the action needed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.” In 2020, Elsevier was net zero for its own direct emissions (Scope 1 and 2) and business travel (part of Scope 3) 1. By joining The Climate Pledge alongside other signatories, Elsevier sets out its accountability to achieve net zero carbon across all its emissions by no later than 2040. Today’s announcement further reinforces Elsevier’s longstanding efforts to address the global climate emergency and builds upon the company’s science-based target to limit the rise in average global temperatures. To achieve its goal, Elsevier will: Set a clear target to reduce carbon emissions resulting from business travel by 50% before 2025, based on a 2019 baseline, saving around 10,000 tonnes of CO 2 e emissions annually. Establish an ambitious climate action program focused on sizing and reducing indirect emissions from suppliers (Scope 3 emissions). Form a Climate Advisory Board of distinguished research experts to help identify the challenges, explore best practices and initiatives that will accelerate progress in climate change research. Leverage its data analytics capabilities to map the net zero pathways in renewable energy with its latest finding due to be released in October 2021. Focus on our leadership in publishing content on sustainability science and by launching interdisciplinary journals covering climate science such as One Earth and The Lancet Planetary Health. Create Sustain, an employee-driven resource group to further embed sustainable principles and practices throughout the company. Elsevier’s wider sustainability efforts focus on accelerating progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including being an early signatory to the SDG Publishers Compact and the release of the landmark SDG Report, The Power of Data to Advance the SDGs. The report offers unique insights and initiatives, many developed together with partners to map the state of research and integration of sex and gender within each SDG area, including SDG 13 Climate Action. Elsevier has also launched an SDG tool on SciVal, its web-based analytics solution that provides access to the research performance of global research institutions and their researchers. The SDG tool enables researchers to investigate, understand and analyze SDG research globally to develop existing partnerships or identify potential new opportunities for collaboration. Nick Luff, Chief Financial Officer, RELX, said: “Between 2010 and 2019, thanks to the efforts of colleagues across our business, we achieved a reduction of 52% in our carbon emissions. But we know there is much more to do to limit climate change to 1.5⁰C. By making a commitment to net zero through The Climate Pledge, we will continue our work on tackling climate change through our own operations, and by meaningful engagement with our suppliers, customers and other stakeholders.” Read more about RELX signing The Climate Pledge here. Elsevier will also publish a report analyzing the global impact of research around energy-related emissions, expected in October 2021. --- Notes for editors 1 Sourced from: "Being a responsible business | Environment", RELX, 2020. About Elsevier As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems. In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions and funders. Elsevier employs 8,100 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,500+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 40,000 eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world. Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com Contact Details Andrew Davis +44 7393 242466 andrew.davis@elsevier.com Jonathan Davis +31620987384 j.davis.1@elsevier.com Elsevier Communications newsroom@elsevier.com Company Website https://www.elsevier.com/

July 15, 2021 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Signarama® Signs Their Way into History with GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Title

Signarama

Signarama, ® the world’s largest sign franchise, announced today that it has been recognized by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for setting the record for most signatures on a banner in one hour. During its World Expo event on June 28 th between 10:00AM and 11:00AM in West Palm Beach, the brand successfully captured the needed signatures on the 25-foot banner. The banner was sponsored by Signarama’s preferred vendor partner, GCI Digital Imaging, and themed to celebrate Signarama’s 35 th year in business in 2021 as a continuation of their “we love signs” campaign. “The Signarama brand is proud to hold this record title and it was wonderful to share the moment with our franchisees and vendor partners during our World Expo event,” said A.J. Titus, President of Signarama and United Franchise Group. “The GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS ™ title attempt was also done in part to celebrate Signarama’s 35 years in business. We couldn’t think of a better way to commemorate this milestone!” The attempt itself was exciting to witness. The crowd exited the Grand Ballroom at the Palm Beach County Convention Center after the morning’s guest speakers and filed in an orderly fashion around the banner as the timer started. Special guest Jesse Cole, founder of Fans First Entertainment and owner of the Savannah Bananas, was dressed in his famous yellow suit and present among the crowd. Each signature was counted as attendees dropped a registration card into the famous Signarama “Mini” Mini Cooper vehicle on their way by. There was plenty of time still remaining in the hour as the crowd filed by in record time, so the Signarama team made the split-second decision to pick up the banner, and transport it down the escalators to the heart of the trade show floor in order to finish out the remaining minutes of the record attempt. The crowd followed behind the eye-catching procession chanting “we love signs” as they made the trip down the escalators and onto the trade show floor, where Signarama were able to gain a significant number of additional signatures! Guinness World Records adjudicator, Michael Empric, flew in for the event and was present to count each participant. He later officially announced and confirmed the record attempt totaling 689 signatures on-stage in front of all the participants. The minimum number to set this GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS ™ title was 250. The official record title certificate and banner now hang proudly in Signarama Corporate Headquarters in West Palm Beach. Signarama is the world’s leading sign and graphics franchise with over 700 locations worldwide in over 20 countries. For more information about Signarama, visit Signarama.com. About Signarama Signarama, the world's largest sign franchise, offers branding and messaging solutions in addition to comprehensive sign and graphic services to consumers and commercial customers – from business signs, vehicle wraps, and digital signs, to advertising and marketing services. Signarama is part of a successful system of business-to-business franchise brands and development services under the United Franchise Group (UFG). For more information, visit signarama.com. For more information on the Signarama franchise opportunity, visit SignaramaFranchise.com. About United Franchise Group Led by Founder and CEO Ray Titus, United Franchise Group is home to an affiliated family of brands, including Signarama, Fully Promoted, Experimax, Jon Smith Subs, Transworld Business Advisors, Accurate Franchising, Venture X, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, Network Lead Exchange, Resource Operations International (ROI) and Graze Craze. With over three decades in the franchising industry and more than 1,600 franchisees throughout the world, United Franchise Group offers unprecedented leadership and solid business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Contact Details United Franchise Group Brittny Fuchs +1 561-812-6032 bfuchs@ufgcorp.com Company Website https://signarama.com/

July 14, 2021 09:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Unique Stays Are Booming on Airbnb, with Big Opportunity for Hosts

YourUpdateTV

From a treehouse to a giant potato hotel, searches for unique homes on Airbnb have increased by 94 percent in 2021 compared to 2019, with Hosts of unique stays collectively earning $300 million globally. Recently, the Host of the Big Idaho Potato Hotel, Kristie Wolfe, teamed with Airbnb and YourUpdateTV on a satellite media tour to talk about why guests are so drawn to unique homes and the economic opportunity of hosting for those with unique spaces to share. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/R3kglXdaOA8 The Big Idaho Potato Hotel is one of the several unique stays that travelers are turning to break up the monotony of the past year. According to the Airbnb Report on Travel & Living, this fascination with unique stays is universal, with 55 percent of the 100 most wishlisted homes in the last year falling into unique categories. Unique home searches have increased by 94 percent in 2021 compared to the same time period in 2019. Searches for certain types of unique homes – such as yurts, huts and farm stays – have exploded by 10x compared to just two years ago. In fact, there are over 170,000 unique properties all over the world on Airbnb. Unique Hosts have also benefited from the increased interest in unique stays. Since the start of the pandemic, they have collectively earned $300 million globally. To help meet the pent-up demand, Airbnb launched the new Flexible Destinations tool for guests who aren’t committed to a specific destination and want to be able to filter for unique stays when finding trip accommodations. Spending time outdoors has become more important than ever, and parks are seeing a broader range of people visiting and enjoying in record numbers. As more and more people flock to these treasured places, it’s imperative to be safe and thoughtful about how to enjoy and experience them. Airbnb has teamed up with the National Park Foundation to encourage people to recreate responsibly in parks this summer and share some really helpful tips. This includes: Be mindful of where you plan to visit. Don’t overcrowd areas, as this may endanger the safety of yourself and others. When you’re ready to leave a park, make sure to pack up your garbage. Minimize waste by bringing food in reusable containers and utilize refillable water bottles. Remember to respect wildlife and always observe from a distance. And be an active part of making the outdoors safe and welcoming for park visitors of all identities and abilities. Whether you already have a unique space to share, or are interested in creating one, now is the time to consider joining Kristie in sharing it with people from all over the world, on Airbnb. If you’re interested in learning how to get started as a Host, go to airbnb.com/host About Kristie Wolfe: Kristie is a proud Idahoan who is passionate about living simply. In the winter of 2013, she fulfilled a lifelong dream of building her very own treehouse and sharing it with travellers from around the world. From the success of that unique stay, she has since been able to build a hobbit hole, refurbish a fire lookout and, of course, has made over a 6-ton spud guests can sleep in! About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 13, 2021 05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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25-Year Independent Printing Business Custom Printing Converts to International Minute Press Franchise in Nampa, Idaho

Minuteman Press International Inc

Mike Cutler started selling print out of his garage in 1996. Over the next 25 years, Mike built a successful printing business that averaged over $1 million in gross sales over the past 5 years. Mike shares his experience in attempting to sell his independent printing company Custom Printing on his own for six to eight months and reveals how Minuteman Press International was able to step in to help him successfully sell the business. History of Custom Printing Mike says, “Custom Printing was a true family business I built from the ground up. I learned the printing trade through my father, who was a line and typesetter dating back to the 1950s. After starting the business in 1996, I quickly out-grew my garage and opened my first retail location in 1998. At the time, my specialties were thermography, offset printing, and stationery (envelopes and forms). By 2006, we out-grew the original location and expanded to a 6,000 sq. ft. facility. Between 2006 and 2014, I completed eight acquisitions to expand my business. The companies I acquired were in the areas of large format printing and signs, lithography, trophies, and reprographics.” Mike continues, “In 2015, we expanded even more, giving us 8,200 sq. ft. of space to work with. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we actually excelled and recorded our biggest sales year operating as an essential business. At the time of the sale, we had nine full-time employees and some part-time staff. Our 5-year average was $1.2 million in yearly sales.” Selling the Business By June 2020, Mike decided that it was time to sell Custom Printing. At first, he was asking different colleagues and people he knew. However, Mike quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be easy. He says, “I tried to sell the business that I worked so hard to build for six to eight months on my own. I was also preparing to let it go at a very undervalued price as I couldn’t find the right people to buy the business and I found many of them were time-wasters and tire-kickers. On top of that, when I consulted with a business broker, they were asking me for 10% off the top of the sale, and they also wanted a percentage of my lease agreement.” After experiencing these challenges on his own, Mike turned to Minuteman Press International to help sell his printing business. “One of the franchisees I knew locally in Idaho referred me to Chris Jutt, Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President. After our first phone call, I felt confident that Chris had the ability, drive and connections to make this dream a reality for me. Our meetings were always super easy going and comfortable. Chris took all the pressure off of me and said to focus on my successful business and he would do the rest. That is just what he did.” Before meeting with Minuteman Press International, Mike even went as far as to get a professional valuation of his printing business. He shares, “When I knew I was going to be selling, I made sure to get the shop ready. I made sure my financials were in proper order, I kept up with equipment maintenance and repairs, and I kept running and growing my business. Just to get a valuation of my business, I spent $3,000 to get it done professionally. Minuteman Press International did this for free and came up with the same number. That really impressed me and reassured me that the sale of Custom Printing was in capable hands.” “We set a price for my independent printing business that was significantly higher than I anticipated, and Chris Jutt recommended some terms. Within one week, I had several very interested parties. Chris found the perfect people to purchase my business – James and Sheryl Wisler – that will continue what I started some 25 years ago. Minuteman Press International knew that the most important things to me were my long-term employees, my clients, and the reputation I had worked so hard to build. Chris found buyers that valued the same things. He and the entire team at Minuteman Press International delivered on all of my expectations and exceeded in most of them. Looking back, if I knew this was going to be this easy, I would have contacted him years ago.” -Mike Cutler, independent print operator, Custom Printing (now International Minute Press, Nampa, Idaho ) Transition to New Owners After the sale of his business, Mike quickly realized how beneficial it was to have the team at Minuteman Press International assist with all aspects of the transition to the new owners. He shares, “At first, I was apprehensive about how the transition would go. I was immediately relieved when I saw how Minuteman Press International took the reins to teach and train James and Sheryl. We are only two and a half weeks into the transition phase, and already I feel like I am not needed as much as I thought I would be. My employees are in great hands, my clients are being taken care of, and James and Sheryl are doing a fantastic job.” He adds, “The entire team both here locally and at their corporate headquarters has been phenomenal. No matter who I’ve talked to or worked with during this entire process, everyone has been professional as well as instrumental in making this happen. It’s a win-win situation all around.” “The smooth transition has reassured me that it was the right move to sell my business with Minuteman Press International. They have the right plan, the right experience, and everyone has been incredible to the very last detail. In my acquisition experience, nothing has ever been as easy as this. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and there were absolutely no hiccups along the way. I would easily rate my experience as 10/10.” -Mike Cutler Advice to Other Sellers When asked what advice he would give to other print shop owners looking to sell, Mike answers, “Don’t even waste your time trying to do this yourself. When you try to sell on your own, there are so many bottleneck issues and you will likely undervalue your business. I couldn’t find the right buyers on my own and I had to spend too much time to meet with people repeatedly while still running my own business.” Mike concludes, “Minuteman Press International alleviated the bottlenecks and came forward with qualified buyers who were ready to write the check for the right price. I am 100% satisfied beyond my expectations. This was a total team effort by everyone, and they all came through for me.” Contact Minuteman Press International today for a free valuation at no obligation and learn more about how we can help you sell your printing business at no cost to you. Call us at 1-800-645-3006 or visit https://bit.ly/minutemanpressconversions Contact Details Minuteman Press International Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

July 12, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Jeff Pink, Founder of Iconic Beauty Brand, Launches Best-Selling Memoir

ORLY

It All Started With Pink--written by Jeff Pink has just concluded a successful book launch on Amazon with the book ranked as a #1 Best Seller in multiple categories. As ORLY marked its 45th anniversary in 2020, Jeff Pink, CEO and Founder of ORLY International, shares his rich history in this honest and passionate memoir. Detailing his journey as an immigrant who grew a small beauty supply shop in Tarzana, Los Angeles, to an internationally renowned beauty brand with a 135,000 square foot state-of-the-art factory and headquarters in Los Angeles, Jeff recounts his storied career and its impact on the nail polish industry. The memoir provides behind-the-scenes documentation of moments in beauty history. Jeff details the origin of the iconic Original French Manicure from its beginnings in Hollywood studios to Paris Runways, as well as creating the first color collection for nail polishes in the late ‘70s, The Winery Collection. Between these nuggets of beauty history, Jeff imparts lessons he has learned along the way of establishing and growing a brand, being an effective leader, and more importantly, the definition of success. Readers will learn about humility, reaching out for help, taking chances on people and ideas, and the need to constantly evolve in order to stay on top. Today, ORLY produces more than 750 products for nail color and care, including releasing six seasonal color collections annually, and is distributed throughout the United States and 40 countries worldwide. “Jeff Pink’s generosity of spirit is what drew me to him as a friend and a client, but his heart and soul made me adore him. His products and unique inventions changed the nail industry forever. The Original French Manicure took the professional salon to new heights in nail fashion. ORLY’s natural nail care treatment products earned him the leadership in this category. Jeff’s memoir is a treasure trove of valuable information and written with heartfelt honesty.” - Deborah Carver, President and CEO of NAILPRO Magazine " Jeff uses his experiences in the cosmetic and fashion world to illuminate the reader to the opportunities and challenges faced by an entrepreneur with a passion to succeed. He provides the reader with the success stories, and also the challenges that he faced. His telling of the seminar that changed his dealings with employees hit home to me. I think this is a must read for everyone interested in the cosmetic business as well as anyone interested in a true depiction of life as an entrepreneur. " - John Servatius, CPA The book, marketed by BCG Publishing is available on Amazon Jeff Pink can be reached at OrlyBeauty.com. Learn more about ORLY at @orly on Instagram. About ORLY It all starts with innovation. From the conception of the timeless nail looks such as the Original French Manicure®, cutting-edge color, treatments, textures and design, to what’s new and next in nails; it’s all been created by the brains and beauty lovers at ORLY®. Family-owned since 1975, ORLY products are made with love at their headquarters in Los Angeles. ORLY prides itself in products made without harmful ingredients, being the first to offer a 13-free formula and being vegan. ORLY is also cruelty-free and Leaping Bunny certified. Contact Details Glow Yang PR Gloria Yang +1 310-381-9964 gloria@glowyangpr.com Company Website https://www.orlybeauty.com

July 08, 2021 08:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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WellSaid Labs Announces $10M Round Led by Fuse to Build “Voices for Every Brand”

WellSaid

WellSaid Labs, the artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology company, announced a $10 million Series A round led by FUSE, with participation from previous investor Voyager, as well as Qualcomm Ventures LLC, and GoodFriends. The Series A was oversubscribed with interest from VCs given the record year-over-year growth in revenue and incredible customer demand. WellSaid Labs plans to use these funds to drive further AI and product innovation, scale go-to-market functions, and grow the team. With a mission to offer businesses and brands the highest quality Text-to-Speech (TTS) service imaginable, WellSaid Labs empowers content creators and product teams to create engaging voice content for infinite use-cases in streaming services, radio, programmatic advertising, digital marketing, and corporate training content. WellSaid Labs has rearchitected TTS to resolve business’ toughest content development problems and deliver an easy way for content creators — big or small — to develop all their desired content in one consistent voice that represents their brand. WellSaid Labs’ Voice Avatar library provides access to multiple read styles and tones anyone can use for their productions. In addition, brands can create their own AI Voice Avatars to spec — capturing the likeness, style, and uniqueness of the voice needed to tell their stories in exactly the right way. “Plain and simple, WellSaid is the future of content creation for voice," said Cameron Borumand, General Partner at FUSE. "This is why thousands of customers love using the product daily with off-the-charts bottom-up adoption. Matt and Michael have assembled a world-class team and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of the WellSaid journey.” Creating natural-sounding speech from text is considered a “ grand challenge ” in the field of AI and has been a research goal for decades. Over the last three years, WellSaid Labs has consistently researched and developed tremendous breakthroughs in the quality, speed and reliability of neural text-to-speech systems. In June 2020, WellSaid Labs' TTS became the first to achieve human parity for naturalness on short audio clips across multiple voices. "We’ve added AI Voice to the toolkit of thousands of content creators and their teams," said Matt Hocking, CEO of WellSaid Labs. "Our human-parity AI voice can be produced faster than real-time, and updated on-demand. Opening up new and exciting opportunities to 'add voice' where never before perceived possible. AI voice easily ensures every production can be created and updated efficiently at scale." “Content creators or product experience designers were previously faced with difficult tradeoffs between quality and scalability when using TTS tools or human voiceover. WellSaid’s incredible voices, which are accessible through a studio application or a scalable API, removes the need to choose whether you want natural, lifelike speech or infinitely scalable and easily editable voice content. WellSaid provides both and delivers it however your team would like to consume it,” said James Newell, Partner at Voyager Capital. “Creative teams have found it to be extremely useful when they need to produce multiple pieces of high-quality content in a consistent voice in hours instead of weeks.” “Recent developments in TTS technology using generative AI have enabled synthetic voices to sound very human-like, finding exciting new applications for voice including e-learning, advertising and news readers," said Carlos Kokron, Vice President at Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures Americas. “WellSaid Labs provides an industry leading product that generates highly accurate human-like voices. We look forward to working with WellSaid Labs to help fuel the creator economy with human-parity AI voices across mobile and IoT.” "WellSaid's team has applied deep technical expertise to build a platform that enables easy creation and editing of incredibly life-like audio," said Dave Gilboa of Good Friends and co-CEO of Warby Parker. "We see meaningful growth potential in the use of high-quality audio in giving brands the ability to communicate with customers and creators the ability to engage with audiences." WellSaid Studio eliminates the complexities traditional text-to-speech technologies present to creatives — making the production, updating, and publishing of voiceovers extremely simple and cost effective. Product developers access WellSaid Labs’ core AI engine via real time APIs to power up digital experiences with a reliable and scalable voice infrastructure. About FUSE FUSE is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Pacific Northwest-based companies that are reinventing the modern economy with software. FUSE is committed to supporting the next generation of B2B technology entrepreneurs building category-defining businesses of lasting value. General Partners Kellan Carter, Cameron Borumand and Brendan Wales are joined by Venture Partner and Seattle Seahawks captain Bobby Wagner, as well as Senior Operating Partners John Connors and Satbir Khanuja. Their strategic LP base includes current and former executives at the Pacific Northwest’s top companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, Starbucks, Costco, T-Mobile, Boeing, Avalara, DocuSign, Smartsheet and many more. For more information about FUSE, please visit fuse.vc. About Voyager Capital Since 1997, Voyager Capital has focused on first-round venture investments to help entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest create winning businesses. Built on the team's extensive experience with startups and its exceptional network across the industry, the firm's entrepreneur-centric approach accelerates the pace at which companies can build, execute, pivot and scale. Voyager has $520M under management investing in B2B software, cloud infrastructure, and applications driven by AI and machine learning. With offices in Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, BC, Voyager provides its portfolio the unwavering support and stage-appropriate connections needed to disrupt markets and create sustainable competitive advantage. About Qualcomm Ventures Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us. For more information please visit: www.qualcommventures.com. About GoodFriends Good Friends is a venture capital firm that was started in 2019 by the founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds. Good Friends invests in early stage businesses with a consumer lens. About WellSaid Labs WellSaid Labs is the leading AI text-to-speech technology company and first synthetic media service to achieve human-parity in voice. Creators, product developers, and brands alike power up their stories and digital experiences with a wide variety of voice styles, accents and languages — at scale. For more information go to www.wellsaidlabs.com Contact Details Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://wellsaidlabs.com/

July 07, 2021 09:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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What You Need to Know About Heart Disease

YourUpdateTV

As the world looks with hope to the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, there lies another ongoing health crisis that, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), kills more Americans than anything else: heart disease. Recently, leading cardiologist and Director of Cardiology at State of the Art Cardiology, Dr. John Osborne, teamed with his patient Mike Hodge on a nationwide satellite media tour to discuss managing cardiovascular risk. A video accompanying the announcement can be found here: https://youtu.be/XKKKCVCofew In the last year, heart disease claimed more than 690,000 lives in the U.S., which is staggeringly more than the reported 345,000 lives lost to COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. While the prevalence of the disease – and incredible amounts of research – would lead many to think the risks and standard practices would be widely known, the overwhelming amount of information and data can actually make it harder to assess risk and treatment options, which can be confusing for physicians and patients alike. For example, many people are unaware that after a failed outcomes study, the FDA revoked the approval of a class of drugs called fenofibrates — such as TriCor ® (fenofibrate) and Trilipix ® (fenofibric acid) — concluding that fenofibrates should not be used in combination with statins for CV risk reduction because the risks outweigh the benefits. As a result, millions of patients at risk of heart attack or stroke may be unknowingly receiving medications that have not been shown to reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk on top of statins. According to Dr. Osborne, patients who are taking a fenofibrate, in addition to a statin, are taking a drug that has not shown CV benefit and instead just exposes them to the potential risks of these medicines which outweigh the benefits. For more information, visit itscleartomenow.com About Dr. John Osborne: Dr. Osborne has been recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a Fellow of the National Lipid Association. His clinical interests include preventive cardiology, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, cholesterol disorders, coagulation disorders, and cardiovascular genetics. He is the founder and director of State of the Heart Cardiology in Dallas, Texas and is currently the National Director of Cardiology, Preventive Cardiology, and Lipidology for the Low T Centers and HerKare. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 06, 2021 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Comcast Establishes 50 WiFi-Connected Lift Zones in Houston and Surrounding Areas

Comcast Houston

As part of its ongoing commitment to help connect low-income families to the Internet so they can fully participate in educational opportunities and the digital economy, Comcast today announced it has equipped 50 locations in Houston and surrounding areas with free WiFi enabled Lift Zones. Working with its network of nonprofit partners, Comcast is providing robust WiFi hotspots in safe spaces designed to help students get online, participate in distance learning and do their homework. This initiative provides free connectivity inside partner community centers for the next three years. “We are proud to partner with community organizations across Houston and surrounding areas and equip them with free internet service to provide safe, fast, and reliable connectivity,” said Ralph Martinez, regional senior vice president, Comcast Houston. “The COVID-19 crisis put many at risk of being left behind, accelerating the need for comprehensive digital equity and Internet adoption programs to support them. We hope these Lift Zones will help those who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to connect to effective distance learning at home.” Each Lift Zone location will be outfitted with a robust WiFi solution, powered by Comcast Business, at no cost. The sites are equipped with a combination of Comcast Business’ award-winning Business Internet, WiFi Pro and SecurityEdge solutions; customized based on the size and unique connectivity needs of each location. Some of the Houston and surrounding area community organizations that have established Lift Zones in their respective facilities include Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston, the City of Houston, and the City of Galveston. A full list of Comcast Lift Zones in Houston and surrounding areas, can be found here. Earlier this year, Comcast announced a $1 billion commitment over ten years in continued support of digital equity, including its Lift Zones initiative, which aims to establish WiFi-connected safe spaces in 1,000+ community centers nationwide for students and adults by the end of 2021. Lift Zones complement Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which has helped connect approximately 10 million low-income people to the Internet at home since 2011, including almost one million Texans. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on broadband, aggregation, and streaming with over 56 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. Contact Details Comcast Misha McClure +1 832-547-6783 Misha_McClure@cable.comcast.com Company Website https://houston.comcast.com/

July 06, 2021 05:00 AM Central Daylight Time

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