Buying or selling a house is a huge deal, and it’s one of the most important financial choices you’ll ever make. That’s why choosing an experienced real estate agent to help you through the process is crucial. There are plenty of real estate brokers fighting for the job via internet advertisements, postcards, and yard signs, but with so many to choose from, it can be difficult to choose the ideal one. Reaching out to a real estate agent, on the other hand, might be challenging, especially if you’ve never had to work with one before. If you want to learn how to reach out to a real estate agent, follow this guide to learn each and every step you need to take to do so successfully. How to Easily Connect with a Real Estate Agent Use a Real Estate Platform Like FastExpert One of the easiest and most intuitive ways … Continued

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The geology that cursed Southern California with earthquakes also blessed it with restorative hot springs.

Santa Monica is pushing a program among the first of its kind to offer affordable housing to families and their descendants who were displaced by the construction of Interstate 10.

If you are a policy-maker, prospective business partner or investor, IP Australia wants you to know that a useful way to identify small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with high growth potential is to look at their IP activity.  A new research report from the Office of the Chief Economist, titled Intellectual property rights and enterprise growth: The role of IP rights in the growth of SMEs, describes a study using data on the full population of Australian businesses – around 600,000 SMEs over the period 2002–2017 – to examine correlations between IP activity, employment, and growth of SMEs.  The study finds that, on average, SMEs that own IP rights (IPRs) are 3.5 times larger than SMEs with no IP rights (7 employees compared to 2 for SMEs with no IP rights).  Furthermore, rights-holders pay their employees better, with median annual wages being A$53,755 per employee compared to A$43,304 for SMEs with no IP rights.

My opening sentences above were very carefully chosen.  There is a risk that this study may be understood or reported in some quarters as implying the presence of a causal relationship between ownership of IP rights and business success.  It should go without saying, however, that (in the absence of evidence otherwise) correlation is not causation.  This is expressly acknowledged in the report itself (page 10), but IP Australia is also choosing its words carefully in promoting the report.  In information provided to media, the Director General, Michael Schwager, is quoted as saying:

This research paper presents evidence, for policy makers and business investors, that SMEs who file for IPRs are more likely to experience high growth than those who do not file for any IPRs.

On average, SMEs that own IP rights are around 3.5 times larger, are older and pay a higher median wage. SMEs filing for all the three types of IPRs, namely patents, trade marks, and designs, are the most likely to achieve high growth in terms of both turnover and employment.

To the casual reader, these statements might be taken to imply a causal relationship.  Saying that entities that do X are more likely to achieve Y arguably implies that X might be a good thing to do if your goal is to achieve Y.  But of course that is not true here.  If all anybody needed to do to succeed in business was to file a trade mark application, then I am sure everybody would be doing it!  An economist or statistician reading the above statements would merely find a few interesting facts regarding the observed relationships between IPR ownership, business growth, company size, longevity, and employee remuneration.  They would see nothing regarding any causal relationship among these characteristics.  All they would learn is that entities represented in the study data that have achieved Y are also more likely than average to have done X.

It is also notable that Michael Schwager’s statements specifically address policy makers and investors.  What about business owners?  Surely they would want to know how to maximise their prospects of success?  Well, of course they would.  But this study, by itself, tells them nothing about how to achieve that outcome.  Just because more successful businesses are more likely to own more IPRs does not imply that simply filing more applications for IPRs is the hidden secret to business success!

So, let’s delve a little more deeply into this report and see what else it tells us about IPRs and successful SMEs, and attempt to infer, from its findings, something about what makes an SME successful, and where other SMEs should be looking to find exemplars from which they can learn.

MAP Protocol's testnet, Makalu PoC-2 was officially launched on December 10, 2021. Makalu PoC-2 is equivalent to MAP testnet, in the sense that it upgraded the consensus mechanism on the basis of the original PoC-1. Makalu PoC-2 upgrades the consensus mechanism to POS, from the original POW, with high TPS performance standards. This allows it to utilize cross-chain transaction data (assets) and perform “on-chain upgrades” in a flexible manner, while greatly improving transaction processing speed.

Official Launch of MAP Protocol's Makalu Poc-2 Brings Much-Needed Upgrades

Makalu PoC-2 makes use of the IBFT algorithm to achieve message consensus between nodes and implement Validator registration and election functions in the form of on-chain contracts and supports. Makalu PoC-2 will also continue to support light client verification to verify on-chain transactions on the peer chain, while being compatible with and supporting EIP-1559. PoC-2 will continue to update multiple versions in the form of small version iterations.

MAP Protocol is considered the “Blockchain Assets Freeway,” as it is a cross-chain bridging protocol that aims to provide a secure end-to-end solution for any blockchain to move assets freely. To fulfill this role, MAP Protocol is built on three layers simultaneously.

The first layer, MAP Chain, known as the base layer, is a dedicated blockchain serving as the infrastructure freeway connecting all kinds of blockchains to break barriers.

Secondly, the asset layer provides an infrastructure freeway linking other blockchains (cross-chain support), allowing all kinds of assets to be mapped to MAP Chain in a non-custodial style via trustless smart contract. 

This is followed by the DeFi Application layer, allowing all kinds of applications, including but not limited to DEXs, games and NFTs that can be built with the cross-chain capabilities enabled by MAP Chain and MAP Assets. This also allows fast trades of NFT tokens in a cross-chain decentralized manner, while applications can be easily built using the underlying light client and assets vault.

Following the December testnet upgrade, the focus in the next stage will be on MAP's ecological construction, especially the high frequency of NFT and GameFi development that is changing the dynamics of the traditional gaming industry. This market has been always our key focus, and is expected to continue seeing explosive growth in the future. MAP Protocol is a cross-chain and will have its own independent ecology. For the future development of NFT and Gamefi, cross-chain will be an indispensable component that cannot be ignored.

MAP Protocol will deploy its applications on all the major chains, supporting cross-chain swaps. This will allow all the assets on MAP Chain to circulate freely across all chains. MAP Protocol also welcomes additional GameFi, NFT and Metaverse projects to publish assets on the MAP Chain and join the MAP ecosystem.

MAP Protocol is also compatible with EVM. All EVM chain assets and projects such as Ethereum can be issued to MAP, and MAP will be motivated through various means including ecological incentives.

To promote MAP Protocol's cross-chain technology, cooperation and partnerships opportunities with more public chains will be established. For the purpose of accessing more public chains, MAP will optimize protocols and provide support for cross-chain oracles, lending and other DApps.

About MAP Protocol

Map Protocol is considered the “Blockchain Assets Freeway”. It is a cross-chain bridging protocol that aims to provide a secure end-to-end solution for any blockchain to move assets freely, i.e., allow fast trades of NFT assets in a cross-chain decentralized manner. Please visit MAP Protocol online for more information. 

Website: https://www.maplabs.io/

Media Contact:

Rena Kim

cooperation@maplabs.io

I recently collaborated on several projects involving chatbots and had the opportunity to discuss with industry experts about the main difficulties that are often encountered in this type of project. While it is becoming easier and easier to build conversational assistants, it looks like there are some problems that emerge systematically as the chatbot grows, […]

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The derivative exchange Bitget issued a statement saying, “a recent report by the Financial Times claiming the platform was suspended from operation in Singapore for being mired in a row involving K-pop band BTS was inaccurate. ” Bitget points out that such an incorrect report is highly misleading as it has delivered the false message to its users, partners, and the broader media community.

The exchange clarifies that it has submitted materials to the Monetary Authority of Singapore and is now queuing for a license. There is no such suspension due to any of the reasons described in the news report. Regarding the dispute involving Army coin, Bitget has immediately delisted the token as soon as it spotted its infringement issue. The platform has also asked the project owner to take responsibility for any disputes arising in relation to this matter and protect the rights and interests of users.

Regarding the issue related to Army coin, Bitget says it has always put user asset security in the first place and established a strict review process to ensure only qualified projects can be listed. It will further tighten up scrutiny and listen to the voice of users through enhanced interaction.

Bitget has maintained a healthy operation as a global trading platform for 3 years. It actively seeks to comply with local regulations and has secured licenses in multiple countries. Partnering with the Italian soccer giant Juventus and Esports platform PGL, Bitget has built up a good reputation as a credible exchange worldwide.

Company: Bitget (Singapore Headquarter)

Contact Person: William Gates

Email: BD@bitget.com

Website: www.bitget.com

Telephone: +65 6721 9775

City: Singapore

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain careers are trending at all-time highs and the industry is growing at a rate so quickly that hundreds of jobs are being advertised faster than you can type up your resume. In fact, a survey performed by LinkedIn in 2020 found that Blockchain skills were the most in-demand skills in the United […]

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