It’s odd to imagine that only three years ago most people made purchases in store. Now with just the click of a button, everyone can get anything they need – from groceries and medication to electronics and clothing. The e-commerce industry has exploded and continues to grow each year. As e-commerce sales soar, there is more responsibility for logistics and supply chains. Demand Fulfillment: What do Consumers Want Low Prices and Fast delivery E-commerce has seen an increase in consumers demanding two main factors: lower costs and faster shipping times. Retailers are faced with the balancing act of minimizing shipping […]

The post E-commerce Boom Demands Changes to the Logistics Industry appeared first on 20Cube Logistics.

Some time ago, we had brought to you a list of freely accessible scholarly material on and around Intellectual Property – the post is here and the list is here – and are happy to say that we are in the process of updating that list with even more books and materials! There is however one stand-out entry that looks like it will be of interest to several of our readers. Published in late 2021, Dr R.V.Vaidyanatha Ayyar’s 421 paged...

Laplink Software, Inc., the global leader in PC migration and creator of the only software of its kind recommended by Microsoft®, Intel®, and all major PC manufacturers, has helped...

(PRWeb January 12, 2022)

Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/2022/01/prweb18426057.htm

This month, DT Supports Small is focusing on locally owned businesses and organizations where you can create a fresh start for 2022. From mind and body to home and wardrobe, here are places to renew, recharge and reengage as we greet the new year. Choc Choc Cosmetics chocchocusa.com | 3127 N Broadway, Chicago Let the […]

The post Dream Town Supports Small: Refresh, Recharge & Reengage appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights.

U.S. Patent No. 11,065,542: Method and apparatus for determining user engagement in a videogame Issued July 20, 2021, to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Filed: December 3, 2019 (claiming priority to […]

In most cases, property appraisals are done in order to assess the value of a home prior to its sale. The appraisal, which is accomplished when a third-party appraiser evaluates your residential property, is necessary before a real estate transaction is finalized with a lender, for example. There are many factors that go into how to find your home’s property value, including comparable sales and marketing trends as well as the area of the city in which the home is located. The appraiser finds your home’s property value at the time of the appraisal, which could be as soon as several weeks or months before closing. If you decide to sell your home in the near future, your home’s value could impact whether or not you can find an offer you’re comfortable with. With so many factors that go into a home’s appraised value, it’s important that you understand the … Continued

The post How to Find Your Home’s Property Value (2022) appeared first on FastExpert.

Automotive Monthly Newsletter and Podcast
This month's theme: Can Electrification Deliver for Commercial Vehicles?

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Even in the face of the global pandemic and semiconductor shortages, commercial vehicle product segments continue to move forward. Light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are experiencing periods of growth and transition.

IHS Markit recently completed a Light Commercial Vehicle study and forecast which highlights trends in the light commercial sector, including the trajectory of growth of electrification in light commercial vehicles, and details how newcomers to the industry are affecting that growth. Growth and transition in this sector are influenced by an increase in e-commerce combined with other factors favoring the introduction of electric commercial vehicles.

Much of the growth in electrification in the light commercial segment comes from companies new to the industry. These newcomers are arriving without the dilemma of balancing the timing and volume of electric vehicle (EV) introductions with the drawdown of volume of legacy internal combustion engine (ICE)-based products. They do not have the need to protect the profitability of their legacy products. In contrast, traditional OEMs do have to balance, and in some cases, temper the growth of EV products because of the need to draw profits from ICE products.

Electrification of light commercial vehicles will occur across all included body types, but at different degrees. Pickups and vans lead the charge, but buses, particularly school buses, show impressive growth of electrification. These are the body types that clearly favored by new entrants to the market.

Medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, broadly defined to include Class 3 as well as Class 4-8, are also experiencing growth and transition. Vehicles in Operation (VIO) for GVW classes 3 - 8 combined has increased 9% since 2018. New registrations for those same weight classes have increased 10% over the same period. This level of growth in the vehicle parc will spur an increase in the need for replacement parts to provide service and maintenance to keep these vehicles on the road. In some cases, the rate of growth of serviceable parts exceeds the growth of vehicles in operation. Since 2018, the need for aftermarket parts for critical vehicle systems has increased as follows:

• Braking systems - 16%
• Electrical systems - 15%
• Steering, Suspension and Wheel End - 12%

This is an indicator that vehicle usage is increasing, driving the need for additional maintenance.

IHS Markit has developed an Aftermarket Parts Demand Forecast, based on the Truck Industry Profile Network (TIPNet), that can provide expert analysis covering 12 aftermarket part categories for vehicles in the GVW Classes 3 - 8.

Alongside the increase in medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicle VIO and the resulting shifts in the aftermarket opportunities, IHS Markit is also tracking increased prospects in the heavier weight segments for zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), including battery-electric (BEV) and fuel-cell (FCEV) trucks. The soon-to-be-published 2021 update of IHS Markit's Reinventing the Truck study features forecasts by fuel type to 2050 and all-new scenarios, building on the latest announcements by manufacturers and by policymakers around the world. Spurred by a spate of new product introductions and the prospect of ZEV mandates in many U.S. states, BEV trucks are likely to outpace FCEV trucks early on. Among Class 4-7 medium-duty vehicles, the BEV take rate in the baseline forecast is projected to climb as high as nearly 13% by 2028. Among class 8 heavy-duty trucks, the percentage is seen somewhat lower, at just shy of 6%, but still markedly above current levels. As time passes, and more fleets become familiar with the technology, particularly in long-haul applications, FCEV trucks are expected to narrow the gap. IHS Markit tracks OE-offered ZEV commercial vehicle model introductions and finds that available models globally will more than double from 2020 to mid-decade. In parallel to rise in ZEV trucks, hybrid models will also see a boost, the new Medium and Heavy-Duty Commercial Vehicle Alternative Propulsion database shows.

From Light Commercial Vehicles to Heavy-Duty Vehicles, from aftermarket service parts to brand new propulsion systems, IHS Markit is focused on understanding the rate of change and the underlying factors driving change.

Dive Deeper

Medium-Heavy Commercial Vehicle Plant Capacity Forecast - download forecast sample

The Future of Light Commercial Vehicles: A multi-client study - download now

Reinventing the Truck: Key insights for long-term strategies - learn more

Gain insights from IHS Markit's MHCV Alternative Propulsion Forecast

Key insights from our automotive commercial vehicle experts

Gain a new perspective on the commercial aftermarket

Have a question on medium and heavy commercial vehicles? Ask Andrej Divis

Have a question on the identification of new propulsion system technologies and trends? Ask James Martin

Subscribe to our monthly Fuel for Thought newsletter & podcast to stay connected with the latest automotive insight

Patent No. Title D934,417 Remote controller for glucose monitoring system D934,393 Spout D934,391 Faucet handle D934,387 Faucet body D934,385 Faucet sprayhead D934,120 Electric bike D933,976 Banquette 11,159,823 Multi-viewport transcoding for volumetric video streaming 11,159,105 Light responsive polymer magnetic microrobots 11,159,024 Electrical architecture for hybrid propulsion 11,158,502 Methods of forming nano-scale and micro-scale structured materials and […]

The German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) has issued a landmark decision on the relationship between national trademark law and the protection of geographical indications under EU law. The case is called “Hohenloher Landschwein / Hohenloher Weiderind”, with Hohenlohe being a region in Southern Germany, and Landschwein and Weiderind translating into country pork and grazing cattle, respectively...

Pollen DeFi (https://pollen.id/), the decentralized protocol that facilitates ‘hivemind' weighting of asset pools that back up market-tradable tokens, today revealed their upcoming ‘Incentivised Beta' platform release and details on how the ‘DeFi 2.0' protocol will enable its unique community-managed financial instrument. The ‘Beta' release, which goes live in December, will initially enable users to contribute to the continual balancing and rebalancing of a singular central asset pool that will back up a tradable asset token. The protocol will be open to whitelisted users who can begin building community credibility (in the form of a ‘reputation' score), compete for a position on the community leaderboard, and, in turn, will have a chance to earn mainnet Pollen ($PLN) governance tokens. 

Pollen DeFi aims to push ‘DeFi' into the ‘DeFi 2.0' era by moving beyond institutional imitation and removing centralized “middlemen”; the platform instead empowers user-curated cryptocurrency asset pools that are constantly refined via a merit-based balancing of users' portfolio suggestions. Community members are rewarded for making good decisions and subsequently gain more influence over the dynamically-rebalancing portfolio.  Alternatively, users who would prefer to turn to more qualified traders (based on proven reputation, scored by the platform) can delegate their voting power accordingly. These ‘hivemind approved' asset portfolios then back up ‘asset pool tokens' listed as easily accessible financial instruments capable of outperforming market fluctuations.  

Boosted earlier this year by strategic backers, The Graph and AlphaBit, Pollen DeFi is focused on building the ultimate ‘crypto meritocracy'; the salient, DAO-driven ‘DeFi 2.0' experience leans on the fact that the leadership team merely creates and hones the core technology and UI, ensures platform security, and facilitates user governance and ease of accessibility, while the diversity of opportunities presented within the financial instrument itself result from decentralized, community-contributed portfolio suggestions. Pollen DeFi is powered by two new tokenized assets built specifically with DeFi 2.0 in mind, the Pollen ($PLN) governance token and the native Portfolio Asset Index token ($PAI) which is backed by the total value locked (TVL) of the first and core asset pool on the platform.  Other crypto-communities, influencers, and even top-ranking Pollen DeFi users will be able to propose additional asset pools that will be continually re-balanced by user proposals and support new asset-backed tokens, similar to the $PAI token.

Pollen DeFi's move from Alpha to Beta with a dramatically upgraded protocol design is supported by an already strong community of followers wishing to begin the process of actively contributing to the balancing of the asset pool. Pollen DeFi's open-source protocol and merit-based system empowers the brightest minds in its community and incentivizes them to continually contribute. This means that $PAI token is backed by a continually rebalanced and optimized asset pool which aims to out-smart market fluctuations with overall global community intelligence ideal for the 24/7 nature of the cryptocurrency market.

Pollen DeFi Project Lead and Co-Founder, Philip Verrien, explained, “Our focus has been on rebuilding asset management from the ground up; reducing risk and volatility, while also maximizing yield and creating dynamic opportunity for anyone, regardless of their experience level; [Pollen DeFi] aims to be the embodiment of what we believe will be the next step in DeFi, and reflect the core principles of truly decentralized finance.” Pollen DeFi's community is at the center of it all; Verrien and his team have designed Pollen DeFi to be powerful and easily accessible not only for the experienced crypto traders hoping to receive community accolades and earn $PLN token rewards for sharing their alchemic index ratios, but also, for those crypto-newcomers who are more familiar with curated asset indexes from TradFi and retail crypto environments consisting of pre-vetted coins and tokens - these users will be able to use Pollen ($PLN) governance token or hold $PAI asset pool token to easily be a part of the secure and well-tuned, ‘hivemind-approved' asset portfolio. 

Pollen DeFi focuses on user participation and utility. It is designed to tackle governance and centralization issues commonplace in today's DeFi ecosystem. Focusing heavily on developing community participation incentives, and processes that build toward true decentralization, using the hivemind to put the community in control.

The $PAI token will be the first index token to be launched on the platform with its value tied to the TVL of the core asset pool. $PAI is designed to be a less volatile asset that provides a safer way to participate in the DeFi ecosystem and is designed to weather any market storm as it will be dynamically managed by the community 24/7. $PLN, on the other hand, is the governance token that allows participants to interact with the platform and is rewarded to community members who actively manage the portfolio successfully or delegate to those that do (from a leaderboard). 

Beginning in December, whitelisted users will be able to actively contribute suggestions to Pollen DeFi's first community-managed portfolio and associated asset pool token, Portfolio Asset Index ($PAI); reputation points earned during this part-testnet, part-mainnet ‘Community Release Incentivised Beta' will be ported over as part of full mainnet launch in Q1 2022. This means that whitelisted early adopters who engage with Pollen's ‘Community Release Incentivised Beta' will appear on the leaderboard once the platform is fully live on mainnet.  The Pollen DeFi team will be releasing more information regarding the community release whitelist and details for those that can participate in the coming weeks, in the meantime anyone interested can join Pollen's telegram group (https://t.me/pollen_dao) or follow @PollenDeFi on twitter. 

For more information, please visit pollen.id.

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About Pollen DeFi

Pollen DeFi (https://pollen.id/), is a first of its kind decentralized asset management ecosystem where the community builds and manages crypto asset portfolios together. Decentralized finance is designed to be by the people, for the people, and Pollen DeFi is acknowledging this by building the first, truly decentralized platform for managing tokenized asset pools. The merit-based DAO provides a reputation-based governance protocol with incentives that leverage the community's collective wisdom to curate asset pools. In this system, all users of the platform stand to benefit from the contribution of the best performing participants. Initially, the Pollen DeFi platform and its Pollen governance token ($PLN) will manage a single asset token, the Portfolio Asset Index ($PAI) token. The $PAI token will be managed 24-7 by the community and is designed to be a low volatility ‘DeFi Lego' which can be used in other protocols in the decentralized finance ecosystem. After Mainnet launch, other communities will be able to create and manage alternative asset tokens via the Pollen DeFi platform.

By the Time I Get to Dallas creator and full-time emergency doctor Colin Devonshire joins Tyler for a discussion about balancing a demanding, rewarding day job, a family and ambitions creative pursuits. They'll discuss how to make Kickstarter efforts sustainable WITHOUT it taking over your life!

Why we generally find ESG to be a poor filter for climate-focused investors We’ve spent hours pouring through the holdings of various ESG ETFs and...