Three observations on China's role in Global SEP strategies: the Chinese courts are likely fulfilling political mandates notwithstanding the best of intentions; FRAND should be best viewed as a process as much as a substantive outcome where multiple jurisdictions may have a role to play; and despite the attention several cases have gotten, the system overall appears to be working well.

Web 3.0 is a buzzword that has been floating around the depths of the internet in recent years and is a term that is often used synonymously with Blockchain technology. I remember when I had first started seeing and hearing, “Web 3.0,” tossed around in various publications and articles, I didn’t fully grasp or comprehend […]

The post What is Web 3.0 and Why it Has Insane Potential appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Topia, the leading platform for creating social experiences with decentralized spatial chat inside fully customizable virtual worlds, announced feature launches and key new investment. Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures join Topia investors Alexis Ohanians' Seven Seven Six and Bonfire Ventures. 

As an industry first, Topia has expanded its creator ecosystem with the launch of their verified NFT system. With this system, ERC-721 NFT owners can verify and place their on-chain assets inside Topia worlds and collaboratively create NFT galleries. Topia's peer-to-peer webrtc streams are decentralized, allowing secure end-to-end encrypted browser-based chat. In addition to the new verified NFT system, Topia also introduced member profiles, enabling unique usernames and greater relationship building within Topia worlds.

With the new gallery feature, NFTs can be displayed publicly in a Topia world where friends, family, colleagues, and the general public can be invited to view and discuss them. Topia is maintaining a publicly available verified NFT gallery in topia.io/nft and holding a public launch event with a series of talks on December 14 in topia.io/pixel.

“The emergence of NFTs represents a major milestone for Web3, decentralized technology, and the interoperable creator economy. Until now, it has been challenging to showcase NFTs in real-time social experiences online. We wanted to replicate the ability to socialize around art, as you would in our home, at a gallery, or museum,” said Topia CEO and co-founder Daniel Liebeskind. “Decentralized databases are great for creators, who get to add assets to a shared public backend and leave it up to platforms like Topia to build interoperable frontends that increase the value of their creations. Since founding Topia two years ago, we've been on a mission to empower the creation of social experiences for real-time connection and play. Verified NFTs and owner profiles represent our commitment to the growing interoperable metaverse and enable Topia world builders to create hybrid on-chain, off-chain social experiences that showcase NFTs and are accessible to everyone.”

How Verified NFTs work in Topia -- A new menu option allows Topia users to connect Ethereum accounts to their Topia account. All of the user's ERC-721 NFTs will be populated into their asset library and can be placed within Topia's worlds. Similar to original art in the physical world, an NFT can only exist in one place at a time across the entire Topia universe. Hovering over a placed NFT will reveal a “verified NFT” badge that confirms its on-chain identity and its owner's Topia profile. Placed NFTs can also be added to a user's profile to highlight worlds.

About Topia

Since launching in April of 2020, Topia has grown to see hundreds of user-hosted events every week.  Topia's scalable architecture can handle events ranging from a few friends to thousands of concurrent guests coming together. The free-to-use platform has co-hosted virtual Burning Man twice and attracted a diverse range of users from families, students, and schools, to companies, music and arts festivals, and Fortune 500 companies. Large companies and confluencers have been hiring agencies to build out branded Topia worlds for their employees and fans to foster creativity and collaboration. 

topia.io

We’ve all heard the rumors; a bear market is coming eventually. Whether it be in 2 months or six months is up for anyone to guess; however, we know it will be here, and you want to be prepared when it does. It’s nothing new in the crypto industry, and those that have been here […]

The post How To Create a Crypto Portfolio That Can Survive a Bear Market appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Vacation rentals remain one of the most desirable real estate investments but before jumping in with both feet here are some great questions to ask.

Investing in a ticketing system is a good start, but how do you get the most out of it? To keep your customer service team running like a well-oiled machine, you need to optimize your support ticketing workflows. This article gives you the recipe for reduced handling times and increased agent productivity and responsiveness when addressing customer queries and concerns.

The post 4 Smart Tips to Optimize Support Ticketing Workflows appeared first on Inbenta.

Bitcoin (BTC) has officially surpassed payments giant PayPal in transaction volume.  According to Statista, PayPal processed an average of $302 billion per quarter in 2021, while the Bitcoin network processed an average of $489 billion.  In a new report from blockchain analytics platform Blockdata, the firm looks at what exactly it would take for Bitcoin […]

The post Bitcoin Surpasses PayPal in Transaction Volume: Mastercard Next? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

From Bitcoin to ETFs, Ethereum to DeFi, Staking to Arbitrage, and now from NFTs to Metaverse, the world of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies seems to be on steroids! With the rise of Blockchain and subsequently cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Metaverse, innovation in the space has been the only constant. However, digital innovation has always had two sides, […]

The post Need of Cybersecurity in Metaverse appeared first on Quillhash Blog.

Remote-managed IT services are becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. The reason is that the competition in the industry has gone up in recent years due to the increase in warehouses leveraging technology in their operations. However, the technology needs to be managed in an effective and cost-efficient way. This is where remote-managed IT service come in. This service can help you handle and utilize technology effectively to build a scalable business and eventually cater to a significant market portion.

The National Private Truck Council 2021 Benchmarking Survey Report provides fleets with new industry standards to evaluate performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

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"Information is power," explained Jim Lager, senior vice president for Penske Truck Leasing. "Fleet operators need real-time data to make informed decisions about their business. They want to know if what they are doing is best-in-class or underperforming, and how they can improve. Being able to see that information helps them identify areas of opportunity within their operations."

Lager added that every aspect of the supply chain is stressed right now. "I think it is even more critical to have good information and good partners to talk to about it," he said.

The 2021 NPTC Benchmarking Survey Report, which is sponsored by Penske, captures critical metrics from the 2020 calendar year, which was a time like no other.

"The purpose of this report is not to critique any fleet's performance, but rather to give them the tools so when they need the answers and the metrics in their continuous improvement efforts that they can grab onto those metrics in the report and move on," said Tom Moore, executive vice president of NPTC.

Even with the challenges, private fleets performed well and used their advantages to navigate supply chain challenges, hauling more shipments and volume than they did in the previous year.

Moore continued: "The thing that really impresses me, despite everything that is going on in the pandemic, is the stability that occurred in our private fleet management. We didn't see extreme swings in terms of equipment buying or a lot of change in the driver hours, even though the DOT extended those hours. Those folks stuck right in that core business. I thought that was a telling statement for how private fleets position themselves for success."

Supply chain challenges have helped private fleets raise the awareness and importance of transportation generally within their companies.

"In the last three to four years, companies have decided to start their own private fleet from scratch because of the vulnerability in finding transportation," said Gary Petty, CEO of NPTC. "I think a lot of companies are saying, 'We can manufacture the greatest product around, but if we can't get it in a way that has no damage and no loss that is timely, it doesn't matter.'"

Many private fleets shined during COVID disruptions and were able to navigate capacity constraints and surging costs others faced within the transportation market, strengthening the case for having a private fleet.

"Private fleets are resilient and flexible," Lager said, adding that more and more companies are considering and transitioning to private fleets. "That is a result of the spot market and the carrier situation driving them toward that so they could control their destiny. They don't want to trust that to a carrier. They want to do it with a partner like Penske."

Petty stated 75% of the private fleets in the study are operating as cost centers or, as he calls them, contribution centers. "They're in it to provide outstanding customer cost in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Whatever financial model, the goal is to deliver exceptional levels of customer service in the most efficient manner possible," he said.

As in years past, the primary reason companies report operating a private fleet is to provide exceptional levels of customer service that are unavailable on the open market, especially at a time when transportation and logistics capacity has been relatively constrained.

In the latest study, more than 92% of the respondents, in response to the open-ended question, 'What is the primary reason your company operates a private fleet?,' answered customer service.

Measuring on-time performance remains the primary means of tracking customer service, although other metrics are growing in acceptance.

This year 68% of the fleets report measuring on-time performance as opposed to 82% last year.

This erosion in on-time deliveries makes room for a bevy of other metrics, according to the NPTC report, most notably safety scores, tracked by 56% of respondents (53% last year); cost-per-mile, tracked by 55% of the respondents (35% last year); and customer comment, tracked by 32% of the population.

Shipments for private fleets were up from last year by 9.7%, and volume was up by 5.6%. This growth is supported by an overall mileage increase of 5.7%, which means that fleet respondents accomplished these gains rather efficiently, according to the report.

Even still, private fleets do face challenges, with driver-related issues being the No. 1 challenge listed. Driver-related issues are cited by nearly every respondent, often more than once. Rounding out the list of issues cited by fleets are: Cost-related issues; equipment and maintenance; customer service; regulatory and safety.

While driver issues remain top-of-mind, private fleets perform better than the for-hire population. "While everybody is feeling the driver shortage, it is less at private fleets," Penske's Lager said.

This year's survey found that driver turnover fell to 15.8%, nearly three full percentage points down from last year's 18.5% turnover rate and much lower when compared to the for-hire segment. Private fleet's average driver turnover is 14.25% over the 15-year history of the survey, and the average driver in the NPTC survey stays with a carrier for more than ten years. "That is extraordinary," Petty said.

NPTC started tracking metrics surrounding the time to hire and the hiring process for the first time. NPTC found that the average fleet has to review, screen and/or interview 19.7 candidates to fill one driver's seat, and the average time to hire a driver candidate is 34 days.

"Private fleets understand you get what you pay for," Moore stated. "They changed the mentality from speed-to-hire because they want to hire the right person.

The three top reasons for turnover are discipline issues, drivers leaving for another job, or retirement.

Moore noted: "For those leaving for another job or discipline issues, that tells me a private fleet can do a better job in the hiring process. If you're asking the right questions in the interview, you can identify what drivers are more likely to leave or will have discipline issues."

For the first time, NPTC asked fleets how much it cost to bring a driver on board. It is about $7,500 for the typical heavy-duty operation, and $3,400 for medium-duty fleets.

The survey also examined which freight movements private fleets haul and which they contract out. Private fleets typically handle about 2/3 of the outbound flow of goods and work with third-party carriers to handle the rest.

For-hire motor carriers handle 17% of all outbound freight movements, while dedicated contract carriers perform 12%. When deciding how to position the private fleet, survey respondents mention numerous inter-related and overlapping factors. The most frequently highlighted are cost, service, geography, and proximity to customers, and backhaul loads.

Empty mileage rates decreased, with an empty mileage of 26% down from last year's 33.3% and the previous year's 28.4%. NPTC found that 28% of respondents reported improved empty mileage, and Lager said reducing empty miles is top-of-mind for carriers. "There is not the luxury of being inefficient right now."

Penske Truck Leasing helps customers analyze their network to determine the best lanes to handle internally and the best to outsource.

"We have the engineering capability and capacity to analyze a customer's entire operation and make a recommendation," Lager said. "We can process the data and optimize it in several ways. It isn't always about cost; it is about delivery windows and meeting schedules. We can display all of that and help them make those decisions."

Use of on-board safety technology continues to increase, and not one respondent indicated not using on-board safety technology.

"If you're not safe, you're not going to be efficient, and the rest of the metrics don't matter," Moore said. "The safety record continued to get better and stronger and was one of the best years we ever had."

Survey participants can request customized data pulls that compares data of peer or like-kind fleets in the same market.

Petty: "It is apples-to-apples numbers they can use. This is powerful information internally. We have found once companies get on the track of scoring themselves against peers, it gives the whole benchmarking exercise a powerful boost of credibility."

By "Move Ahead" Staff

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 […]

Penske Logistics celebrated 22 winners virtually today during its second annual Freight Management Carrier Awards program. Category winners were selected from among Penske's expansive base of trucking carriers operating within its freight management operations. There are several award qualifications: A Penske Logistics enterprise scorecard combined with customer, operations and sourcing feedback.

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"It is my pleasure to hand out these deserving honors to our 2021 winners," explained LeAnne Coulter, vice president of freight management for Penske Logistics. "These transportation leaders are especially impressive in supporting our freight management customers by going above and beyond during these challenging times."

These are the 2021 Penske Logistics Freight Management Carrier Award recipients:

U.S. Less-Than-Truckload National Carrier Award

• Estes

U.S. Less-Than-Truckload Regional Carrier Award

• Dayton Freight +
• PITT-OHIO

U.S. Truckload National Carrier Award

• Crane Transport +
• Mercer Transportation

U.S. Truckload Regional Carrier Award

• A.D. Transport Express
• Carter Express
• GSA International +
• Pete & Sons Association
• Select Dedicated Solutions +

Canada Truckload Award

• Charger Logistics
• Hunter Express
• Lion Force Transport

Broker Services Provider Award

• Kirsch Transportation Services
• Spot +

Flatbed Services Provider Award

• Buchanan Hauling and Rigging +
• Keim TS +

Liquid Bulk Services Provider Award

• American PetroLog
• Andrews Logistics +

Refrigerated Services Provider Award

• Southland Transportation +

Intermodal Provider Award (new category)

• Alliance Shippers Inc.
• Hub Group

+ indicates a two-time winner

Penske Logistics has more than $6.1 billion in freight under management. When there are supplemental freight needs, customers want to know that their freight will reach its destination safely while on time and on budget. Penske Logistics offers award-winning freight management and brokerage solutions to help manage transportation networks, and handle seasonal needs, capacity surges and challenging lanes.

Please click here to learn more about joining Penske's carrier network.

By "Move Ahead" Staff