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5 Weird But Cool Investment Property Ideas

Benzinga

Investment properties have the potential to bring in substantial funds while also appealing to an owner’s level of financial risk tolerance. These properties are purchased to generate income and are typically not inhabited by the owner. When researching the various investment properties, consider how much time and attention you will be able to commit to their maintenance and oversight. Investment properties allow you to expand your streams of income and create passive income. Examine fun creative investment properties such as haunted houses or houseboats that have the potential to expand your financial freedom at your own pace. 5 Weird But Cool Investment Property Ideas Investment properties are much more than the commonly associated rental homes with white picket fences. For more conventional investment properties, consider working with a property management company to oversee the property in an organized manner. However, if you crave a more creative investment property, contemplate a stream of income that can be both engaging and profitable by investing in weird, but cool options such as haunted houses and art galleries. 1. Tiny Houses Tiny houses are typically more affordable to purchase than larger-sized houses which can make them an attractive option for people interested in buying their first investment property. The market for tiny homes has increased in demand over the years and provides an avenue of opportunity for a creative investor. For example, an interested investor has the ability to craft an entire neighborhood of tiny houses. If such a project sounds too ambitious, consider the convenience of adding a tiny house somewhere on your property and renting it out. A tiny house on your property has the potential to bring in a steady stream of cash flow while remaining convenient and accessible to you in terms of management. Before deciding to build, check the rules for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) within the neighborhood. Interested in owning a tiny house? Get started with an investment property loan. 2. Houseboats and Campers Houseboats and campers have the potential to provide large profit margins during peak rental seasons. Consider popular vacation locations that can help boost the value of your houseboat or camper. For example, houseboats and campers near prime vacation locations or trending tourist locations have the ability to charge over $300 a night. Investing in a rental houseboat or camper can bring in impressive cash flow during peak seasons such as the summer. Keep in mind that houseboats are unlike other investments and usually depreciate in value over time. In general, houseboats and campers have the potential to draw in substantial funds when placed in the right location, properly maintained, and competitively priced. Interested in owning a houseboat? Get started with an investment property loan. 3. Haunted Houses Haunted houses have the capability to bring in a substantial amount of cash during the fall. Think about a prime location to draw in more foot traffic and remain in close proximity to other attractions. It’s possible to have a haunted house more than pay for itself after one impressive haunting season. It’s recommended to maximize the profits earned during the spooky season by giving yourself the longest amount of time possible to attract customers. For example, some horror events and haunted houses open as early as the first week of September. Consider purchasing a house that has an urban legend behind it to add to the notoriety of the property when it comes time to enthrall and scare guests of your haunted house. One main perk of purchasing a house that’s considered haunted is that they are frequently lower in price than the rest of the market. Of course, there might be a few hair-raising surprises along the way at such steep price reductions. Interested in owning a haunted house? Get started with an investment property loan. 4. Bed and Breakfast Bed and Breakfasts remain a growing industry that focuses on serving people that are interested in short-term stays. The beauty of a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) stems from an owner’s ability to make money in a pleasant and comfortable setting by charging individuals that wish to stay the night within the house. B&Bs frequently provide a sense of intimacy and calm in a building that offers a sense of charm. This comparative advantage often allows B&Bs the ability to be easily recognizable and marketed as a unique experience. When researching potential B&Bs, think about specific sights or attractions close to the property, the unique features of the property, and the total number of guests that you are interested in housing at one time. Happy innkeeping! Interested in owning a bed and breakfast? Get started with an investment property loan. 5. Art Gallery If you have a passion for art, consider renting out a thoughtfully purchased and designed space to artists. The art galleries are intended to showcase artistic talent while also bringing in funds. Usually, art gallery owners obtain income by renting out a space to artists, taking a percentage of art sales, and hosting glamorous events such as galas and auctions. An art gallery in many ways is a partnership with an artist so be sure to foster a positive working relationship. One important note to recall when creating an art gallery is the importance of quality space. The gallery space should highlight and attract a specific niche of the massive art world. Keep in mind that galleries have the potential to lose money due to poor marketing or branding. Invest in promoting your brand and image to spread awareness within the local area and garner buzz before you open. Interested in owning an art gallery? Get started with an investment property loan. Increase Your Income with Investment Properties Investment properties have the opportunity to be as fun and creative as you are. One perk of certain investment properties is that they can earn you money while the value of your property steadily increases over time. When purchasing an investment property, contemplate the level of time and effort that you are willing and able to commit to the upkeep and management of the property. For example, haunted houses that mainly operate in the fall will likely have different time and attention requirements than that of a bed and breakfast. Overall, investment properties can provide an alternative source of income in unconventional fashions that have the ability to accommodate a wide range of budgets. Frequently Asked Questions When researching interesting investment properties, combine your creativity with your financial knowledge to select the ideal property. If you have questions about a specific property or deal, consider speaking with a real estate or financial professional. What’s the down payment for an investment property? The general down payment for an investment property tends to vary depending on factors such as a borrower’s credit score and the specific type of rental property. A lower credit score will likely indicate that an individual will need to pay a larger than average down payment. Investment properties already have higher interest rates when compared to other types of real estate so purchasing an investment property with a low credit score might require a substantial down payment at a much higher interest rate. The reason that investment properties usually have increased interest rates stems from the understanding that people are more likely to default on loans for their investment properties before defaulting on a loan associated with their main residence. In terms of minimum down payment, it’s common to put at least 15% down. Keep in mind that putting down larger amounts for the down payment helps lower interest rates and can promote better loan terms. If possible, contemplate placing a down payment of around 20% or more to help lower the interest rates. How many investment properties do you need in order to retire? The amount of investment properties that an individual needs to retire depends on the properties within the local market as well as a person’s expected monthly financial needs. Examine how much you will likely need to obtain on a monthly basis to live. When calculating the number of investment properties that you will need to retire, keep in mind that passive income gained from rental properties generally decreases with standard expenses such as maintenance. In general, the market has no set minimum number of investment properties that a person needs to retire. However, a person can roughly calculate the number of investment properties needed to retire based on cash-on-cash returns compared to expenses. Contact Details Benzinga +1 877-440-9464 info@benzinga.com Company Website http://www.benzinga.com

July 18, 2022 02:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Unocoin Collaborates With CleverTap to Offer Its Users Omnichannel Customer Experiences

CleverTap

CleverTap, the modern, integrated retention cloud, today announced it has partnered with Unocoin, India’s first crypto exchange, to optimize, accelerate their user engagement, and provide a seamless omnichannel customer experience. Through this collaboration, and by integrating CleverTap’s solution into its app, Unocoin is now equipped to better understand user behavior and has the ability to create segments based on user activity, demographics, and other parameters. Unocoin will also be able to create hyper-personalized campaigns to engage with its audience across multiple channels at the right time with precise communication. “As a platform that helps individuals with investments into cryptocurrencies, we need to be cognizant of the exact needs of our users. Understanding a customer’s behavior on our app becomes vital as this helps us provide a tailored experience. Since awareness and understanding of cryptocurrencies at large is at a nascent stage, delivering precise communication becomes all the more important,” said Suhas SK, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Unocoin Technologies Private Limited. CleverTap enables Unocoin to keep track of app activity, in-app purchases, and returning users. Unocoin will also be able to personalize customer experience using real-time behavioral data with precise predictive recommendations, leading to engagement opportunities based on each user’s exact needs. “We are delighted to partner with Unocoin in their journey to make investing in cryptocurrency easy for all. With CleverTap Retention Cloud, Unocoin will be able to hyper-personalize the experience for every investor. Today, hyper-personalization is crucial at every point in a customer’s journey and is a key enabler to growth. We are confident that with our help, Unocoin will be able to grow and offer its customers exactly what they need,” said Vikrant Chowdhary, Chief Growth Officer, CleverTap. About CleverTap CleverTap is the modern, integrated retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. CleverTap drives contextual individualization with the help of a unified and deep data layer, AI/ML-powered insights, and automation enabling brands to offer hyper-personalized and delightful experiences to their customers. 1,200+ customers in 60+ countries and 10,000+ apps, including Gojek, ShopX, Canon, Mercedes Benz, Electronic Arts, TED, Jio, Premier League, TD Bank, Carousell, Papa John’s, and Tesco, trust CleverTap to achieve their retention and engagement goals, growing their long-term revenue. Backed by leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia, Tiger Global Management, and Accel, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Sofia, São Paulo, Bogota, Amsterdam, Jakarta, and Dubai. For more information, visit clevertap.com or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter. About Unocoin Started in 2013, Unocoin is a Bangalore-based technology startup and is India’s first entrant into the bitcoin industry. The company operates India’s largest (in Indian customer base) BTC-INR trading platform which enables Indians to buy, sell, store, use, and accept bitcoin. At its peak, Unocoin processed transactions worth more than INR 2B per month for its 1,300,000+ customers. The startup has been featured among the Top 20 companies in The Fintech20: India List, and have won prestigious titles like ‘The Golden SABRE award’ in financial communications for the project, ‘Bit-by-Bit: Building Bitcoin in India’ and ‘TECH30’ award from YourStory.For more information, visit https://www.unocoin.com/in Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements in this press release may represent CleverTap's belief in connection with future events and may be forward-looking statements, or statements of future expectations based on currently available information. CleverTap cautions that such statements are naturally subject to risks and uncertainties that could amount in the actual result being absolutely different from the results anticipated by the statements mentioned in the press release. Factors such as the development of general economic conditions affecting our business, future market conditions, our ability to maintain cost advantages, uncertainty with respect to earnings, corporate actions, client concentration, reduced demand, liability or damages in our service contracts, unusual catastrophic loss events, war, political instability, changes in government policies or laws, legal restrictions impacting our business, impact of pandemic, epidemic, any natural calamity and other factors that are naturally beyond our control, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different, from those anticipated by such statements. CleverTap does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated or revised status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will CleverTap and its affiliate companies be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or any related damages. Contact Details Sony Shetty sony@clevertap.com Company Website https://clevertap.com/

July 14, 2022 04:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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SPARK Microsystems Teams with UWB Alliance to Test UWB Coexistence

SPARK Microsystems

SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation ultra-wideband (UWB), and UWB Alliance, an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and growth of the UWB industry, have initiated a joint effort to test the coexistence and aggregation capabilities of UWB technology in environments where other UWB or other wireless protocols and radio devices are in use. This first phase includes testing the interoperability and compatibility of a pair of UWB technologies operating in a single environment simultaneously with UWB transceivers from SPARK Microsystems and other industry players. “Generating empirical data through scientific testing is critical for understanding how UWB devices can coexist with other devices,” said Benjamin Rolfe, CTO, UWB Alliance. “The testing we are doing with SPARK Microsystems will enable the industry to progress forward on collaborative coexistence strategies that optimize spectrum sharing while minimizing interference. It will also provide standards-making bodies with factual documentation to aid in amending or modifying spectrum rules, allowing more UWB-enabled solutions to come to market.” Preliminary results of phase one with multiple UWB devices indicate generally good coexistence performance, with the tested devices showing no measurable performance impact from other interfering UWB devices. Testing of multiple devices in aggregation was also conducted. Phase two will expand the coexistence testing to include UWB with U-NII devices in 6 GHz (802.11ax). The full results will become available shortly after the conclusion of the testing. “SPARK Microsystems and UWB Alliance together recognize the importance of coexistence with other wireless devices for widespread market adoption of UWB technology across various markets such as consumer, healthcare, connected cars, smart home and smart factory,” said Frederic Nabki, Co-Founder and CTO, SPARK Microsystems. “We anticipate the results of the testing will educate and inform cross-industry stakeholders on how UWB uses the spectrum in aggregation while coexisting with other radio devices.” About SPARK Microsystems​ SPARK Microsystems is a fabless semiconductor company that is leading the way towards ultra-low power wireless communications for consumer and IoT-connected devices. With its patented technologies, SPARK Microsystems is bringing to market a high-performance wireless transceiver that allows for orders of magnitude improved power consumption, latency and more accurate ranging and positioning, while providing higher data rates than competing technologies. ​For more information, please visit www.sparkmicro.com.​ About UWB Alliance UWB Alliance is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Washington D.C. dedicated to the promotion and growth of the ultrawideband (UWB) industry. The UWB Alliance promotes large-scale deployments of UWB technology by fostering the advancement of the regulatory environment for UWB technologies, providing a center of excellence for UWB education and coexistence, and promoting industry cooperation in the development of specifications and standards for interoperability. For more information regarding the UWB Alliance, visit uwballiance.org. Contact Details Rainier Communications Jenna Beaucage +1 508-340-6851 jbeaucage@rainierco.com UWB Alliance Steve Raymond +1 206-406-0087 steve@uwballiance.org Company Website https://www.sparkmicro.com

July 12, 2022 11:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Hong Kong Baptist University Symphony Orchestra to hold Annual Gala Concert featuring AI virtual choir, AI virtual dancers, and an AI media artist

Hong Kong Baptist University

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 6 July 2022 - The Hong Kong Baptist University Symphony Orchestra (HKBU Symphony Orchestra) will present an innovative performance showcasing human creativity alongside artificial intelligence at its Annual Gala Concert, to be held on 14 July (Thursday) at 8:00pm in the Hong Kong City Hall. Poster for the HKBU Symphony Orchestra’s Annual Gala Online Concert Dubbed “ A Lovers’ Reunion ”, the Concert echoes the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s reunification with the motherland. As the first human-machine collaborative performance of its kind in the world, the Concert will give the audience a brand new symphonic experience driven by the integration of cutting-edge AI technologies. The AI technologies developed for this performance are provided by researchers from HKBU’s Augmented Creativity Lab led by Professor Guo Yike, Vice-President (Research and Development). Professor Guo is the project leader of a research project entitled “ Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong ” – a HK$52.8 million research fund awarded by the Theme-based Research Scheme (11th round) under the Research Grants Council (RGC) for a period of five years. The team comprises Professor Johnny M Poon, deputy project coordinator; Dr Liu Qifeng, Associate Professor of Practice, Dr Xue Wei, Assistant Professor, and Dr Chen Jie, Assistant Professor of the Department of Computer Science at HKBU. The HKBU Symphony Orchestra will share the stage with an AI virtual choir to perform a newly arranged choral-orchestral version of the song Pearl of the Orient. It will be the world’s first AI choir to perform a choral piece with Chinese lyrics. The AI choir was developed and “trained” by scientists and artists from the Augmented Creativity Lab at HKBU. The team has also trained an AI artist to create a cross-media visual narrative based on the lyrics and music to accompany the choral piece. The audience is invited to share the AI’s imagination of Hong Kong as the Pearl of the Orient. Another highlight of the Concert is a ballet performance featuring AI virtual dancers in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, accompanied live by the HKBU Symphony Orchestra. The ideas for the choreography come from the natural world, which provides dance movements inspired by a newly discovered species of box jellyfish in Hong Kong. In collaboration with professional dancers from the Hong Kong Dance Company, the AI-generated dancers have been trained to perform the ballet with movement-data collected by HKBU scientists. The Concert will also spotlight the artistic prowess of our award-winning student musicians in the performances of Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28; Borne’s Fantaisie brillante sur ‘Carmen’; and Lauryn Kurniawan’s Rasa for string quartet and gamelan. Professor Guo Yike said: “HKBU is dedicated to building a world-class AI art-tech platform that will drive a new revolution that transforms the creative and cultural industries. It will enable Hong Kong to assume a leading position in art-tech on the global stage. The first human-machine collaborative performance of its kind in the world presented by HKBU at the Gala Concert is an important outcome of the ‘Building Platform Technologies for Symbiotic Creativity in Hong Kong’ research project. It is also a milestone of AI research revealing the unlimited potential of human-machine symbiotic creativity.” Professor Johnny M Poon, who is also the music director and conductor of the HKBU Symphony Orchestra and the Collegium Musicum Hong Kong, said: “In addition to celebrating HKBU’s young musicians, the innovative concert showcases how the University is using technology to push the envelope of human imagination in the arts and cultural sphere. “By leveraging our established strengths in both the arts and sciences, HKBU is taking a transdisciplinary approach that will advance the development of the arts, culture and creative media in Hong Kong. Our art-tech research also enables musicians and artists to go beyond the traditional forms and interact with the audience in brand new ways.” Contact Details Communication and Public Relations Office Wong Suk-ling +852 3411 2119 hkbunews@hkbu.edu.hk

July 06, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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CleverTap Recognized by Great Place to Work® Among India’s Great Mid-size Workplaces

CleverTap

CleverTap, the modern, integrated retention cloud, has been recognized by Great Place to Work® India as one of India’s Great Mid-size Workplaces 2022. CleverTap is recognized for creating and sustaining a high-trust, high performance work culture. In its 6th edition this year for India, the list has grown to include the top 75 companies, up from the top 50 until last year. The rigorous methodology to assess workplace culture and identify India's Great Mid-size Workplaces 2022 is considered the gold standard globally. In the Great Place to Work® India study, they have observed that the Great Mid-size Workplaces have gone above and beyond to create and sustain aspirational organizations. Effective leadership is visible in these workplaces that are fostering a culture of fairness and originality, while offering flexibility to their employees in the current hybrid work environment. Organizations that succeed in establishing high-trust, high-performance cultures, and maximizing human potential by bridging experience gaps, will be Great Places to Work For All in the future. “We’re very excited to be recognized by Great Place to Work® India as one of India’s Great Mid-size Workplaces. Even before the pandemic hit, we believed that an empathetic and flexible work culture is the essence of an organization’s growth,” says Sidharth Malik, Chief Executive Officer, CleverTap. “Our employees and their holistic well-being have always been the top priority for us. The recognition by Great Place to Work® India is a testament to our commitment of building a workplace that is inclusive and driven, and one that provides its people an environment to thrive and succeed in everything they do.” “With homes becoming an extension of people's workplaces, this year companies around the world were challenged to put their people at the center of their strategies. But the organizations that invested in their culture and people before the pandemic have overcome these challenges effortlessly. Being recognized as one of India’s Best Workplaces 2022 demonstrates these organizations' commitment to improving their culture and putting their people first, whatever challenges they face,” says Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, CEO, Great Place to Work®, India. As a global authority on workplace culture, Great Place to Work® has been studying employee experience and people practices across organizations for over three decades. Every year, more than 10,000 organizations from over 60 countries partner with Great Place to Work® Institute for assessment, benchmarking, and planning of actions to strengthen their workplace culture. About CleverTap CleverTap is the modern, integrated retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. CleverTap drives contextual individualization with the help of a unified and deep data layer, AI/ML-powered insights, and automation enabling brands to offer hyper-personalized and delightful experiences to their customers. 1,200+ customers in 60+ countries and 10,000+ apps, including Gojek, ShopX, Canon, Mercedes Benz, Electronic Arts, TED, Jio, Premier League, TD Bank, Carousell, Papa John’s, and Tesco, trust CleverTap to achieve their retention and engagement goals, growing their long-term revenue. Backed by leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia, Tiger Global Management, and Accel, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Sofia, São Paulo, Bogota, Amsterdam, Jakarta, and Dubai. For more information, visit clevertap.com or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements in this press release may represent CleverTap’s belief in connection with future events and may be forward-looking statements, or statements of future expectations based on currently available information. CleverTap cautions that such statements are naturally subject to risks and uncertainties that could amount in the actual result being absolutely different from the results anticipated by the statements mentioned in the press release. Factors such as the development of general economic conditions affecting our business, future market conditions, our ability to maintain cost advantages, uncertainty with respect to earnings, corporate actions, client concentration, reduced demand, liability or damages in our service contracts, unusual catastrophic loss events, war, political instability, changes in government policies or laws, legal restrictions impacting our business, impact of pandemic, epidemic, any natural calamity and other factors that are naturally beyond our control, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different, from those anticipated by such statements. CleverTap does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated or revised status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will CleverTap and its affiliate companies be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or any related damages Contact Details Sony Shetty sony@clevertap.com Company Website https://clevertap.com/

June 24, 2022 03:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Bat Boy Found in West Virginia Cave 30 Years Ago; Americans Push to Make June 23rd a National Bat Boy Holiday!

Weekly World News

Weekly World News (WWN) celebrates the 30 th anniversary of its ground-breaking June 23, 1992 cover story “ Bat Child Found In Cave. ” WWN introduced the half-human, half-bat child to readers around the world, and its ongoing coverage has fostered a growing national movement to make June 23 an official National Bat Boy holiday! Weekly World News is celebrating the anniversary with a special tribute on its website. It all started in Pendleton County, West Virginia where Dr. Ron Dillon discovered this unique “creature,” who would become known as Bat boy, living in a cave in the Allegheny Mountains. Explorers captured Bat Boy, who was living almost two miles underground. Weekly World News' Bat Boy reporting went “viral,” spreading faster than any news story could in the days before the Internet and social media – it was a peaceful time. Scientists and reporters quickly learned that Bat Boy is a very skittish and elusive creature who is frequently on the run, often disappearing for extended periods of time. Bat Boy has been known to be quite tricky and unpredictable. He even managed to steal a vehicle and drive it at high speed, leading to a multi-state run with law enforcement in pursuit. When explorers discovered Bat Boy in Hellhole Cave, they estimated his age at around 10 years old. But further research has identified a genetic deformity that has locked Bat Boy in the very same age for the last 30 years. It seems Bat Boy will never age, however his intelligence and global interests continue to grow. Bat Boy has long demonstrated a keen interest in political and social issues which have thrust him into the limelight, as he has befriended and advised a range of U.S. Presidents and candidates for national office. Bat Boy’s political interests even led to an unsuccessful 2020 run for the U.S. Presidency. Close advisors admit that cryptid prejudices along with the candidate’s communications challenges and non-traditional demeanor posed major obstacles in the campaign. Dr. Ron Dillon, one of the foremost experts on Bat Boy, describes him as a “human-bat hybrid creature. His father was likely a bat or a creature heavily dominated by bat genomes, his mother, Susan Boy, was a human being. We have since traced Susan’s ancestry to passengers on the Mayflower.” Bat Boy's life has been nothing short of a whirlwind and even spawned an off-Broadway musical. Weekly World News does its best to keep readers up to date on his comings and goings. In the years since his discovery, Bat Boy has met Travis Scott, Elvis, Nelson Mandela, Frank Sinatra, every living U.S. President. He is adored by most celebrities – though given his reclusive nature, very few have been lucky enough to meet him. In anticipation of his run for president, Bat Boy abandoned his pagan ways and converted to Judaism and then to every other religion, seeking to play a unifying role for all people under his “Right Wing AND Left Wing” platform. He’s also had a busy and sometimes stormy romantic life, dating Farrah Fawcett, Jennifer Lopez, Jean Kirkpatrick, Cher, Kim Kardashian and more recently, Taylor Swift, but never really settling down. Bat Boy has no known offspring. Bat Boy has become a reluctant cultural icon and national treasure, who savors hiding in plain sight. He has been a subject in numerous TV shows and films such as The Simpsons, American Dad, The Boys, 12 Monkeys and many others. When Bat Boy isn't evading the paparazzi, law enforcement or government scientists, he apparently enjoys supporting his fans via surprise appearances in pop culture outlets. Recently, Bat Boy was knighted by the Queen Elizabeth and blessed by Pope Francis, and there are growing rumors about another presidential run in 2024 under his healing and unifying right-wing plus left-wing message. Leaders of the Bat Boy holiday movement urge all supporters to contact their elected representatives to voice support for a National Holiday to honor Bat Boy and his achievements and to demonstrate support for cryptids of all shapes and sizes. Supporters also encourage of Bat Boy themed apparel, some of which is coincidently available in the WWN online store! There are rumors that Bat Boy will be biking with President Biden today, but with Bat Boy, one never really knows. BAT LINKS WWN Bat Boy Tribute Page Bat Boy the Musical Book - Going Mutant: The Bat Boy Exposed Bat Boy Mask, Socks, Koozies, Pins, etc. Bat Boy Blanket! I © Bat Boy T-Shirt About Weekly World News Since its launch in 1979, Weekly World News has emerged as the defining brand for reliable tabloid news, known for exclusive coverage of Bat Boy, Manigator, P’lod the Alien, SpyCat, the three-legged, Bigfoot and scores of other notable characters. WWN boasts a global fan base of millions, is regularly profiled in the media and relaunched its reliable reporting online in 2019. The brand is expanding into exciting new areas including an online store, advertising and promotions, licensed merchandise and the recent formation of Weekly World News Studios, to bring its iconic characters and stories to big and small screens across the universe. Contact Details Weekly World News Media Contact Carl Woodward press@weeklyworldnews.com Company Website https://www.weeklyworldnews.com

June 23, 2022 08:44 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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SPARK Microsystems Releases SDK for Simple, Fast UWB Application Development

SPARK Microsystems

SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation ultra-wideband (UWB), today announced the availability of its Software Development Kit 1.0 (SDK) for its SR1000 Series UWB transceivers. SPARK’s SDK can be used to simplify and accelerate development of high data rate, low power, and low latency UWB communication links for various applications. This software development kit uses SPARK’s Evaluation Kit (EVK) board as a reference hardware platform for code development and debugging. The SPARK Software Development Kit includes a comprehensive set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to facilitate development of various software applications without requiring direct access and control of the UWB transceiver. Combined with various example application code included in the SDK, this enables more efficient development of new products using SPARK UWB communication technology. “Release of the SPARK SDK 1.0 represents another milestone in our effort to proliferate our products using the unique SPARK UWB technology and support fast time to market for a wide range of customer applications.” said Frederic Nabki, Co-Founder and CTO, SPARK Microsystems. The SPARK SDK is a collection of software development tools and examples in one comprehensive package for use by developers to create UWB-based products and applications. The SDK provides multiple simple and concise application examples to educate developers on using SPARK core libraries, such as the SPARK Wireless Core and the SPARK Audio Core, which bring additional functionality and accelerate development time. It also provides a board support package (BSP) that will enable developers to try the application examples on an already supported and tested hardware platform. In addition, SPARK’s SDK offers an effortless way for developers to experiment with SPARK technology by customizing existing applications and then testing and debugging code on SPARK’s EVK boards. In booth 326 at Sensors Converge 2022, SPARK Microsystems will highlight the many advantages that UWB delivers for sensor applications compared to legacy short-range wireless platforms like Bluetooth. The company will demonstrate its new Wireless Sensor Kits (WSKs) based on the SDK. This extreme low power and compact reference module – just 40mm X 40mm – houses multiple sensors (optical, gyroscope, motion sensors/accelerometers) and leverages a SPARK SR1020 UWB transceiver for point-to-point sensor applications. This kit comes with software examples and necessary information for customers to design sensor modules specific to their own applications. About SPARK Microsystems​ SPARK Microsystems is a fabless semiconductor company that is leading the way towards ultra-low power wireless communications for consumer and IoT-connected devices. With its patented technologies, SPARK Microsystems is bringing to market a high-performance wireless transceiver that allows for orders of magnitude improved power consumption, latency and more accurate ranging and positioning, while providing higher data rates than competing technologies. ​For more information, please visit www.sparkmicro.com.​ Contact Details Rainier Communications Jenna Beaucage +1 508-340-6851 jbeaucage@rainierco.com Company Website https://www.sparkmicro.com

June 22, 2022 10:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Ripken Baseball Adds Its Fourth Ripken Experience™ through Partnership with Elizabethtown Sports Park in Kentucky

Ripken Baseball

Ripken Baseball, the leader in youth sports events, announced it will add its fourth Ripken Experience™ location in the United States through a partnership with Elizabethtown Sports Park in Elizabethtown, Ky. Officially named The Ripken Experience™ Elizabethtown, Ripken Baseball will bring world-class youth baseball and softball tournaments, plus week-long experiences, to the state-of-the-art complex starting in 2023. This year marks Elizabethtown Sports Park’s 10th anniversary since opening the complex, which has attracted 160,000 visitors annually. Within the past decade, Elizabethtown Sports Park has been responsible for generating $150 million in direct economic impact for the city. With the goal of bringing even more teams and families to Elizabethtown, Ripken Baseball will host events on the 12 interchangeable baseball/softball turf fields. “The fields and facilities at Elizabethtown Sports Park are in the top tier of youth complexes in America – a category I believe includes our other Ripken Experience™ locations across the country,” said Cal Ripken, Jr., who founded Ripken Baseball with his brother Bill. “When we think about The Ripken Experience™ Elizabethtown, the key word is experience. Our teams and their families will be treated like big-leaguers, creating lifelong memories together.” The Ripken Experience™ Elizabethtown joins Ripken Baseball’s lineup of youth sports destinations, including complexes in Aberdeen, Md.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Across its facilities, clinics, and tournaments, Ripken Baseball hosts more than 120,000 participants and 350,000 guests from all 50 states and 12 countries annually. “Bringing The Ripken Experience™ and the Elizabethtown Sports Park together creates the ultimate win for families and players,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory. “The excitement and energy behind this partnership are exactly why we feel it’s a perfect fit for us and we look forward to welcoming teams and their families to our community.” To start planning your trip to The Ripken Experience™ Elizabethtown, visit www.ripkenbaseball.com or give a Ripken Baseball teammate a call at 410-306-7575. About Elizabethtown Sports Park Elizabethtown Sports Park is a true destination for events of all sizes and caliber with three quads for baseball and softball, two championship-style turf fields, three large pavilions for events, and one accessible field with spectator seating. The mission of the sports park is to create experiences for people who yearn to be in the big leagues. This is the perfect place to play. A place for athletes to play like the pros. A place where everyone becomes a champion. The Ripken Experience is the premier baseball/softball partner with the sports park where we look to provide players, coaches, and families with the experiences and lifelong memories that will allow them to enjoy and play the game for as long as possible. For more information, visit: www.etownsports.com. About Ripken Baseball Ripken Baseball brings teammates, coaches, and families together through its Big-League Experiences, while teaching the values of the game, and how to play it the right way – the Ripken Way. Recently expanding the best experience in youth sports to satellite locations through Ripken Select Tournaments, Ripken Baseball continues to innovate the game through tournaments, camps, clinics, and spring training at their state-of-the-art baseball and softball facilities – The Ripken Experience™ Aberdeen (Maryland), The Ripken Experience™ Myrtle Beach (South Carolina), The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge (Tennessee), and The Ripken Experience™ Elizabethtown (Kentucky). Contact Details Eric Nemeth nemeth@ericpr.com Company Website https://www.ripkenbaseball.com/

June 21, 2022 09:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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DistroTV Adds 120 New Channels, Citing Impressive Channel Growth of 87% YoY, and Launches New Regional Channel Bundles to Continue Global Content Expansion as FAST Market Heats Up

DistroTV

DistroTV, the nation’s largest, independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platform, today announced it has added 120 new channels to expand its core content categories, across news, media & entertainment, sports, and lifestyle. This in addition to growing its multicultural content line-up, to include new channel offerings to cater to English, Southeast Asian / Indian, and Spanish-speaking audiences, as well as a new bundle of channel content targeting the African community. This brings the DistroTV total channel library to more than 270, with DistroTV now available in more than 60 markets through its apps on streaming devices and smart TVs, as well as worldwide through distro.tv on the web. The company continues its rapid global expansion, empowering media companies to break down content barriers and bring diverse and independent content to our global viewers, wherever they may be watching, amidst an evolving free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) market. Through DistroTV’s easy-to-use interface, viewers can instantly watch their favorite channels and shows, with no registration, sign-up, or fees required. “The FAST market is on an incredible and steep upward growth trajectory, with even paid streaming platforms now understanding that if they do not embrace and ride this wave, they’ll get left behind,” said Navdeep Saini, co-founder and CEO of DistroScale, parent company of DistroTV. “At DistroTV, we’ve long been on a mission to break down barriers to entry and provide free TV for global audiences who want and deserve access to free, engaging programming across a range of cultures and languages. If our growth figures are any indication, we’re well on our way to accomplishing our goals, and we have no plans of slowing down.” Key highlights include: An impressive wave of new channels available to stream for free that appeal to DistroTV’s core US, UK, and Canadian audiences which includes a total of: 45 sports channels, doubling the initial channel count to include the most diverse collection of live & linear mainstream sports, combat sports, niche sports and outdoors channels, like beIN SPORTS Xtra, Swerve Sports, IMPACT Wrestling Channel, FightNetwork, ACL Cornhole, MotoAmerica TV and FuelTV. 13 documentary channels, with notable new additions including Goalcast, Beautiful Planet, and True History. Notable new additions to the entertainment & lifestyle category, including AXS TV Now, Heritage+, Planet Eat, and the return of Canadian foodie favorite, GustoTV. A total of 21 Spanish-language channels available in North America, such as Casa Comedy and Spanglish to the existing bundle of entertainment, documentaries, news and sports channels launched earlier this year, for a total of 25 Spanish-speaking channels globally. DistroTV Español is aimed at speakers in the U.S., as well as in Latin America and included the platform’s premiere of its first original movie, Escándalo Secreto: En Plena Cuarentena, which has seen impressive adoption across all LatAm audiences, both in the US and Latin American markets. The expansion of free-to-stream Indian channel content through DistroTV Desi; the bundle doubled since launch from 15 channels to 36 live streaming channels, featuring new additions such as ABP, Bollywood Prime, Epic, FOODFOOD by renowned chef Sanjeev Kapoor, Desi TV, and more. The addition of these channel bundles will bring even more viewing access and content options to a multicultural Spanish speaking and South East Asian audience; The release of a new African channel bundle, DistroTV Africa, featuring 11 entertainment and music-oriented channels available to stream for free globally and available in countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, and in those countries’ native languages; Since its launch in 2019, DistroTV has taken note and delivered on the demand for growth concerning its breadth of content and global audience. The streaming platform continues to focus on building a robust global network that delivers news, entertainment, music, sports, and lifestyle programming to international audiences. To become a part of this international audience, visit https://www.distro.tv or install DistroTV on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, iOS or Android. About DistroTV DistroTV is the largest, independent, free, ad-supported streaming television service on the market. Launched in 2019 by parent company DistroScale, the platform caters to a multicultural, rapidly expanding, globally-minded audience of passionate viewers. Satisfying the growing demand for premium video content in multiple languages, DistroTV delivers premium video content from producers globally across North America, the UK, Bollywood, Latin America, China, Southeast Asia, and growing. With more than 200 channels plus thousands of Video on Demand (VOD) shows, DistroTV cultivates content that covers a broad spectrum of topics to connect with people’s passion points around Entertainment, Lifestyle, Sports, News, Documentaries and International Content in live, linear and video-on-demand formats. DistroTV is available to stream for free on the web, as well as through Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and iOS and Android devices. About DistroScale DistroTV is the first direct-to-consumer offering from DistroScale, a technology company founded in 2013 and known for providing a global clientele of thousands of media properties with the industry’s most comprehensive video platform for web, apps, and streaming. DistroScale is an all-in-one solution providing infrastructure, content delivery, curation, analytics and a full suite of monetization options. Video enabled by DistroScale reaches more than 250 million visitors per month. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. To become a DistroTV viewer, visit www.distro.tv. More information on DistroScale & DistroTV is available at www.distroscale.com. Contact Details Mackenzie Gavel +1 631-739-5716 mackenzie@kitehillpr.com Company Website https://www.distro.tv

June 21, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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