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

Comcast Houston

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

July 06, 2021 05:00 AM Central Daylight Time

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Summer Home Maintenance To-Do List

YourUpdateTV

Summer is a great time to tackle your to-do list, but with seemingly endless lists it is hard to know what project is a “must-do” or what can be delayed. It is easy to put off home maintenance projects, but there are a few projects that shouldn’t wait. Recently, Home Care Expert at Angi, Bailey Carson, shared her top maintenance projects for the summer and tips on saving money and time. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/fm8VglbsBJM If you only do a few home projects this season, make them these—you’ll save yourself a lot of time, money and despair down the road. Weather Proofing - A home that can withstand all seasons is critically important and key to a four seasons home are weather proofing projects like caulking and weather-stripping doors and windows and implementing passive design can make a huge difference. Leaky Roofs or Windows - Leaks in the short-term are a nuisance, but in the long-term leaks create huge problems for your home. At Angi, major roof repair is one of the most common tasks and according to our cost data can easily cost in the thousands. To avoid the total replacement, be proactive and take care of weak spots. Call a professional to do an assessment. In addition to saving money, leaks can cause water damage and buildup of hazardous mold. Cleaning gutters & downspouts - Fall leaves, followed by winter weather and spring showers, can cause major buildup in your gutters and downspouts. Cleaning these each year can prevent roof problems, water damage and flooding in and around your home. Annual HVAC servicing - A hot summer day is the last time you want an unexpected AC outage. Servicing your HVAC units can help prevent those, while also determining if there are any inefficiencies that could be driving up your energy bills and costing you more and more each month. Cleaning out dryer vents - We may be good at cleaning out the lint trap each time we use the dryer, but most of us tend to put off dryer vent cleanings because they’re out of sight, out of mind. No more – these are a major fire hazard, and they cause your dryer to work harder each time, wasting energy and driving up your monthly utility bills, and replacements can be costly. For more information and to find an expert near you, visit Angi.com About Bailey Carson: Bailey Carson is a Home Care Expert at Angi and Head of Book Now. In this role, she oversees all aspects of Book Now services from product and operations to sales and marketing. She transitioned from her prior role as General Manager of Everyday Services for Angi. Previously, Bailey was the SVP of Growth for Handy, an Angi sister brand, where she led the expansion of its cleaning business, overseeing marketing, operations and customer support. In addition to her 15+ years of work experience, Bailey is also a seasoned homeowner and just completed a move to Virginia including a remodel – all with three kids (including twins)! She has dedicated countless hours of personal and professional time to understanding the ins and outs of everyday home care including cleaning, lawncare and more. Bailey earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BS in Business Administration and Accounting from Washington and Lee University. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 01, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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PRophet Announces Exclusive Partnership with Podchaser, Using AI to Pitch Podcast Creators

PRophet

MDC Partners’ (NASDAQ: MDCA ) PRophet, the first-ever AI-driven SaaS platform to help predict earned media interest, sentiment, and spread, announced today an exclusive partnership with Podchaser, the world’s most comprehensive podcast database. The companies also agreed to a referral relationship whereby users will have an opportunity to have access to each other’s platforms at favorable terms. The integration of Podchaser’s robust data — including audience reach, creator and guest credits, detailed metadata, and more — into the PRophet platform will enable PRophet to apply its proprietary AI-driven analysis against thousands of high authority and highly ranked global podcasts, predicting for PRophet users which podcasts would most likely be interested in covering a pitch or interviewing a guest. This addition to PRophet’s smart database of active, validated journalists from high authority media outlets further expands the ground-breaking platform’s predictive capabilities, deployed through a proprietary combination of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) AI techniques to help users better assess prospective targets and improve placement rates. Before PRophet, assessing the likelihood of a reporter writing a story rested on professional experience, instinct and some guesswork with no data-driven insights or analysis to guide and backstop pitch strategies. “With the creation of PRophet, we sought to provide the PR industry with a real-time, advanced technology solution specifically designed to assess the likelihood of story pickup, sentiment and spread,” said Aaron Kwittken, founder and CEO of PRophet. “I see both sides of the supply and demand equation, as both a PR professional and a podcast creator myself. I receive dozens of pitches daily, with most of them being relegated to my trash because they are not relevant to my show or listeners. The combination of PRophet and Podchaser will bring new levels of targeting and certainty to PRophet users interested in generating interest from high-value podcasters.” “As the podcast market grows at a breakneck pace and continues to shift the media landscape, our goal is to keep powering the industry through insights and discovery,” said Cole Raven, co-founder of Podchaser. “PRophet is at the forefront of transforming the relationship between PR professionals and journalists and we are excited to join forces and be part of their revolutionary platform.” Since its launch at the end of 2020, PRophet’s customer base continues to grow and expand, including major brands and agencies large and small. In March, the platform became available to agencies and their clients through PRophet’s Agency Partnership Program, allowing account teams and their clients unlimited access and use of the platform together. Agencies and brands can contact PRophet at sales@prprophet.ai for a demonstration of the platform’s capabilities and request a complimentary trial. For more information on PRophet, visit www.prprophet.ai. ### About PRophet PRophet is the first-ever AI-driven software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform designed by and for the PR community that samples past stories to better predict future media interest, sentiment, and spread through natural language processing and machine learning. PRophet is owned by Ahteed, LLC, an MDC Ventures company, and was founded by marketing industry thought leader and entrepreneur Aaron Kwittken alongside former political strategist, technologist, and author Mark Penn, currently President of Stagwell Group and chairman and CEO of MDC Partners and formerly with Microsoft. To learn more, visit prprophet.ai/home. About Podchaser Podchaser is the world’s most comprehensive podcast database — collecting, enriching, and distributing podcast insights to power discovery for listeners, podcasters, and brands. Learn more at https://www.podchaser.com Contact Details Julie Strickland +1 917-860-7414 jstrickland@kwtglobal.com Company Website https://www.prprophet.ai/home

July 01, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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CSG Powers New, Innovative TV Experience with Leading Malaysian Telco

CSG

BRISBANE, July 1, 2021 — CSG ® (NASDAQ: CSGS) today announced a new multi-year deal that expands its relationship with Maxis, Malaysia’s leading converged solutions provider. As Maxis’ cloud-based digital monetisation provider, CSG enabled the recent launch of Maxis TV 2.0, and is poised to help drive future growth of Maxis’ portfolio of anytime, anywhere digital lifestyle services through the launch of new experiences. “As customers, like Maxis, move into the 5G era, CSG is enabling operators to innovate and become successful ecosystem players with agile solutions that deliver exceptional experiences for their customers,” said Ian Watterson, head of CSG’s Asia-Pacific business. “It has been a privilege to work with Maxis over these many years to enable their business to evolve and thrive as they deliver innovative ways for Malaysians to connect with each other and access the content they want to consume.” CSG’s award-winning digital monetisation platform has helped some of the world’s most innovative companies compete and thrive in today’s digital economy. Using CSG’s monetisation engine, Maxis TV provides consumers with a single, converged user experience to discover and consume content from several providers including Viu, iflix, DimSum, Mubi and iQIY. The platform also provides the scalability needed to add additional content providers, while offering new and innovative TV services to its customers. “At Maxis, we have a mission to give our customers an immersive, personalized, end-to-end experience that allows them to connect and consume content on-demand,” said Gokhan Ogut, CEO, Maxis. “As such, we are pleased to be working with CSG, who not only supports this mission but also enables us to provide our customers with an unmatched personalized experience that aligns with this new age of converged connectivity.” CSG’s Revenue and Customer Management suite of end-to-end capabilities supports over 500 companies globally, providing them with the flexible, configurable solutions they need to monetise and digitally enable customer experiences. Recognised as an industry leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Integrated Revenue and Customer Management for CSPs, CSG delivers game changing solutions that put the customer first and helps them solve their toughest business challenges. # # # About CSG For more than 35 years, CSG has simplified the complexity of business, delivering innovative customer engagement solutions that help companies acquire, monetize, engage and retain customers. Operating across more than 120 countries worldwide, CSG manages billions of critical customer interactions annually, and its award-winning suite of software and services allow companies across dozens of industries to tackle their biggest business challenges and thrive in an ever-changing marketplace. CSG is the trusted provider for driving digital innovation for hundreds of leading global brands, including Airtel Africa, América Móvil, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, DISH, Formula 1, Hutchison 3 Indonesia, Inmarsat, Mastercard, Maximus, Microsoft, Mobily, MTN, New Leaf Service Contracts, State of California DMV, TalkTalk and Telstra. To learn more, visit our website at csgi.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Copyright © 2021 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved. Contact Details CSG Tammy Hovey +1 917-520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Company Website https://www.csgi.com

June 30, 2021 03:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time

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The Future of Lawn Care: All About Robotic Lawn Mowers from Husqvarna

YourUpdateTV

Over the past few years, we have experienced the emergence of smart home technology and automation. We have access to various gadgets and tools that make our lives easier or help us do tasks more efficiently, like turning the lights on, locking our doors, or setting the thermostat to the desired temperature. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiA35fgftEc Our lawns are also now incorporating this type of technology. We can utilize innovative and time-saving devices and applications to help us cut our grass and tend to our lawns. Robotic lawn mowers are a cutting-edge technology that Husqvarna has spearheaded since 1995 with their best-selling Automower® lineup. The Automower® is a time-saving technology that automatically maintains your lawn at all times, rain or shine. Currently, there are more than 2 million Automower® units in operation around the world. The Husqvarna Automower® is a robotic lawn mower that is fully automatic and will maintain your lawn. What’s great is that various models can be controllable by a smartphone app or integrated into your smart home system that uses either Google Home or Amazon Alexa. Husqvarna offers eight residential models to choose from, so you can customize your experience based on your lawn care needs. One way to think about robotic mowers is that you’re not just getting another lawn mower— instead, you’re getting a perfect lawn 24/7. With traditional mowing, grass grows tall before being cut off all at once. With the Automower® by Husqvarna, it clips just a little grass at a time regularly. This helps you get a lawn that always looks like it was just freshly mowed and one that is constantly fertilized by the tiny grass clippings returned to the soil. You can also set up a weather timer and integrate Automower® into your family’s smart home schedule, so it will only cut the grass when scheduled, preventing any interruptions in your family fun outside. Automower® by Husqvarna is a smart, time-saving technology, and you can head on over to Automower.com to learn more, watch videos of the Automower® at work, and see our latest models to decide which robotic lawn mower is right for you. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports, and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

June 30, 2021 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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iTradeNetwork Welcomes Bianca Buckridee as Vice President, Product Marketing

iTradeNetwork

iTradeNetwork, the global provider of supply chain management solutions for the food and beverage industry, announced Bianca Buckridee as its new vice president of product marketing. Prior to joining iTradeNetwork, Buckridee worked for Blue Yonder, BMC Software, The Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and SunTrust Banks in progressively responsible customer service operations and product marketing roles. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southeastern University. In this role, Buckridee will be responsible for building and scaling the product marketing function, especially how teams interface with product positioning and messaging. She plans to embed storytelling into iTradeNetwork’s “DNA” to share diverse and meaningful perspectives. “Product marketing is vital to enabling sales and accelerating adoption,” explained Buckridee. “We are the connective tissue across the organization. We have an incredibly strong mission here at iTradeNetwork and I hope to give a voice to all of our users across their journey with us.” ABOUT ITRADENETWORK iTradeNetwork, Inc. is the leading global provider of supply chain management solutions for the food and beverage industry, with more than 8,000 active customers. Suppliers and resellers connect on iTradeNetwork’s technology platform to create active partnerships and easily transact. The platform also provides one-stop-shopping for freight, food traceability, fresh inspection and supply chain compliance, which creates efficiencies for buyers and sellers alike. For more information, visit: www.itradenetwork.com. Media please note: Visual assets, photos and interviews are available by contacting Robin Carr at (415) 971-3991or itn@landispr.com. ### Contact Details Landis Communications Inc. Robin Carr +1 415-971-3991 itn@landispr.com Company Website https://www.itradenetwork.com/

June 30, 2021 09:27 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Announces 60% Reduction in Call Rates as Part of Extended Agreement with GTL

GTL

GTL, a trusted partner that connects those affected by incarceration with the resources and support necessary to achieve success, today announced that individuals incarcerated at Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) will pay significantly lower rates for phone calls as part of a new contract. Going into effect July 1, the new contract has the potential to last for 10 years and will: Reduce phone call rates by 60%, allowing for more frequent communication between incarcerated individuals and their family and friends. Provide every new incarcerated adult entering ODRC with 60 free minutes of phone time at intake to communicate with family and friends. Continue the free calling program that was initiated during the pandemic. Significantly reduce transaction fees. In addition to the rate and transaction fee savings, ODRC will also deploy the latest version of the GTL tablet for all incarcerated adults in its facilities at no charge. These new tablets include nearly 200 apps which incarcerated adults can use at their leisure. This deployment will occur in late 2021 or early 2022. “Family engagement and communication between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones help to significantly increase the rate of future success and significantly decrease the rate of recidivism, and that is why we decided to lower the costs shouldered by families and friends,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. “We are also focusing on providing more resources to assist incarcerated individuals in realizing their potential through the deployment of tablet services focused on programming, communication, and entertainment.” The cost reductions were negotiated to encourage incarcerated individuals to connect more frequently with loved ones. Such communication serves as a vital source of positive support, and studies have shown that successful reentry is tied to more frequent contact with family and friends. “We have been a partner with ODRC since 2005, and we are excited to continue working together,” said Jon Walker, GTL Executive Vice President, Business Development. “The technology and resources that we provide can transform incarceration into a rehabilitative experience for the individuals at ODRC. Providing positive content through tablets will go a long way in boosting morale and increasing the focus on a life after release.” ### About GTL For over 30 years, GTL has worked side-by-side with correctional facilities and government agencies to provide imperative technology solutions to over 1.2 million incarcerated individuals across the globe. These solutions facilitate meaningful connections, provide educational opportunities, enable successful reentry, and strengthen operational efficiency. GTL is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with an employee presence throughout North America and was recognized as a 2021 Top Workplace USA by Energage. To learn more about GTL, please visit www.gtl.net, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Contact Details GTL Stephanie Putt +1 814-414-4113 media@gtl.net Company Website http://www.gtl.net/

June 30, 2021 11:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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DoorDash and Albertsons Partner for On-Demand Delivery

YourUpdateTV

DoorDash, the nation’s leading last-mile logistics platform and Albertsons, one of the nation’s top grocers, announced a national partnership to offer on-demand grocery delivery across nearly 2,000 of their banner brand stores nationwide through DoorDash including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Acme and more. Consumers can now order groceries and essentials on-demand for delivery within an hour through DoorDash's top-rated marketplace with no time slot, queues or minimum order size required. Albertsons will offer more than 40,000 grocery items from stores for delivery via DoorDash, including fresh and prepared food, core grocery, floral and convenience items at select stores. Whether shopping for a week's worth of groceries, including dairy, eggs, bread, local produce, fresh meat and seafood, or grabbing a few fresh ingredients for the perfect weeknight meal, consumers can shop right on the DoorDash app to fulfill all of their grocery needs conveniently, quickly and affordably. All Albertsons stores are also available on DashPass, DoorDash’s membership service that offers members unlimited $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees from thousands of restaurants, grocery, and convenience stores nationwide. DashPass members can enjoy these benefits on all eligible orders of $25 or more from Albertsons. Download the DoorDash app to your mobile device or visit DoorDash.com to get started. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

June 30, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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New Plugin updates from BEE give its SaaS Customers a more powerful content creation builder

BEE

BEE, a business unit of Growens and premier digital content design platform, has released a set of product updates to its embeddable visual builder for SaaS companies (BEE Plugin) furthering BEE’s mission of content design democratization. In 2020, BEE released several product updates for the Plugin including: Landing Page builder: users can build both emails and pages, with the same user experience Custom add-ons: Development teams can build their own content blocks into the editor Commenting: Users can provide content block-specific comments Co-editing: Allows for Google Docs-style real-time collaboration Advanced permissions: Gives Product teams complete freedom in showing & hiding features and UI elements to different end users Over the course of 2021, BEE has continued to enhance its Plugin product, most recently releasing updates for: Mobile Design Mode: which saves lots of time by allowing content design directly in mobile view, a game-changer for mobile-first campaigns. Improved text editor: which makes it easier and faster to work with text within an email or a page, including when copying & pasting from other apps In the coming months, BEE will unveil a new digital content type to add to the portfolio that sets the stage for an All-in-One offering of content builders for SaaS. BEE Plugin is embedded in over 600 SaaS applications who have customer communication and ecommerce as part of their core offerings. While the spectrum is broad, many of these customers fall into the category of email sending platforms, CRM platforms as well as Marketing Automation platforms. Customers like Iterable, BlueShift, Customer.io, and Samba.ai have chosen BEE Plugin as their digital content builder because of the ease of integration into their application tech stack and the benefits that come with BEE’s focus on continued feature development. These are features that each customer chooses when to make available to their end user. The features are powerful and speak for themselves, but the value of buying a third party product like Plugin instead of developing one like it is the golden nugget. The logic is clear - you can integrate Plugin under 30 days for a fraction of the time and cost it would take to build in-house, which is roughly 18-24 months and a $1.5-2.5M price tag. "There were around 4.4 million sessions of our visual builder across hundreds of SaaS applications last month, which is truly exciting," said Massimo, CEO of BEE. "As the need for designing high-conversion, mobile-ready emails and pages grows bigger across industries and across roles within an organization, we are thrilled to help companies not have to worry about that piece of the equation. For example, we have many SaaS applications in the talent acquisition & engagement industry as customers: is email & page design their core? No. Do they need a great tool for that? Yes. So it’s a clear win-win: they can double-down on their core value, and we grow fast by filling a need they would otherwise struggle to address." BEE leans heavily into its vision to democratize content design through no-code tools that empower users to quickly create content that resonates. BEE Plugin is the conduit that offers its SaaS customers the ability to pass this vision on to their customer base. About BEE: BEE provides no-code design tools that empower everyone to quickly create content that resonates. BEE’s visual builders are used to design emails, landing pages, one-page sites, and more. They deliver fantastic design flexibility and a great user experience, combining granular control on design elements with handy features like editing content directly in mobile view. BEE is building on its vision to help democratize content design, with millions of monthly users in over 20 languages and from over 150 countries. BEE’s design tools are available online at beefree.io and embedded in 600+ SaaS applications. Contact Details Angelina Kaliszak angelina@kitehillpr.com Company Website https://beefree.io/

June 30, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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