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Frank Sell shares his journey from manufacturing welder to successful entrepreneur, revealing how he transformed a simple idea into the "Get Shit Done" coffee brand. His story demonstrates that entrepreneurial success often comes from making decisive choices and persevering through challenges rather than waiting for perfect conditions.• Started as a welder with employee number 5331, initially on track for a 30-year retirement program• Purchased a $100 VHS tape to teach himself paintless dent repair after company changed retirement benefits• Still runs his successful hail damage repair business as his main income source• Created Baby Beard Club selling therapeutic beard oils, including a "Get Shit Done" variety• Launched Get Shit Done Coffee after placing a sticker on coffee bean bag, generating immediate interest• Uses coffee as a vessel to share his story of perseverance and inspire others• Integrates his personal philosophy into product messaging like "Make America Grind Again"• Built his business by networking and finding talented people who make him "look smart"• Believes in giving your best effort in everything - "there's no miles left when I'm done"• Emphasizes that entrepreneurship requires making a decision and then making it right through hard workVisit homeofthehustle.com/playbook to download Frank's free five-step process guide and get a discount on Get Shit Done Coffee.Hi This is Brad Weisman - Click Here to Send Me a Text Message ---Welcome to The Brad Weisman Show, where we dive into the world of real estate, real life, and everything in between with your host, Brad Weisman!

In this episode of Skip the Queue, Andy Povey sits down with Jérôme Giacomoni, co-founder and Chairman of AEROPHILE, the world leader in tethered gas balloons and immersive aerial experiences. Jérôme shares the story of how AEROPHILE began with a simple idea, to “make everybody fly” and grew into a global company operating in multiple countries, including France and the U.S.Tune in to hear about the company's signature attractions, including tethered balloon flights, the innovative Aerobar concept, and high-profile projects such as how you can experience flying the Olympic cauldron in Paris. Jérôme also shares how AEROPHILE has leveraged its unique platform to explore scientific initiatives like air-quality and climate-change monitoring and how he Integrates unique revenue streams from sponsorship and advertising.Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden, with co host Andy Povey and roving reporter Claire Furnival.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on LinkedIn. Show references:  https://www.aerophile.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerome-giacomoni-3074b7/Jérôme Giacomoni is co-founder of Groupe AEROPHILE and Chairman of AEROPHILE SAS. Since 1993, he has led the company to become the world leader in tethered gas balloons and balloon flights, operating iconic sites in France, the U.S., and Cambodia, and flying over 500,000 passengers annually. He also pioneered “flying food-tainment” with the Aerophare and Aerobar. Jérôme is a member of IAAPA, serves on the board of SNELAC, and is a Team France Export ambassador, earning multiple awards for entrepreneurship and innovation. Plus, live from the Day 2 of the IAAPA Expo Europe show floor, we catch up with:Rheanna Sorby –Marketing & Creative Director,  The Seasonal Grouphttps://theseasonalgroup.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rheanna-sorby-seasonal/Sohret Pakis – Polin Waterparkshttps://www.polin.com.tr/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohretpakis/Thomas Collin – Sales Manager, VEX Solutionshttps://www.vex-solutions.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-collin-18a476110/Peter Cliff – CEO // Founder, Conductr.https://conductr.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-cliff/Laura Baxter – Founder, Your CMOhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-baxter-4a756466/Josh Haywood – Resort Director, Crealy Theme Park & Resorthttps://www.crealy.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-haywood-68463630/ Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, the podcast about the world's best attractions and the people that work in them. I'm your host Paul Marden, and with my co-host Andy Povey and roving reporter Claire Furnival, we're here at IAAPA Expo Europe. In today's episode, I go on a trip on Santa's Enchanted Elevator with the Seasonal Group, and Claire meets Peter Cliff from Conductr. But before all that, let's head over to Andy.Andy Povey: Good morning, everybody. I'm joined today by Jerome Giacomoni from AEROPHILE for our French listeners. I hope I've got that right. Jerome is the chief exec of AEROPHILE and has been the co-founder and president of AEROPHILE. And AEROPHILE supply helium-based balloon observation opportunities. I probably got the marketing on that completely wrong, Jerome. So please, can you share with our listeners what AEROPHILE is all about?Jerome Giacomoni: So AEROPHILE is a company I created with Mathieu Gobbi, my partner, 32 years ago, with a very simple idea, make everybody fly, you know, and we use a balloon to fly. So we have a tethered balloon. We have a huge, big balloon inflated with helium, a gas lighter than air. And we go up to more or less 150 meters high. up to 30 passengers. So we are linked to the ground with a cable, and the cable is linked to a winch. So you have to imagine that you have a winch that— when we go up—pulls when we go down. This is the exact opposite of an elevator because the balloon wants to go higher and higher. We have a lifting force of four tons.Andy Povey:Wow.Jerome Giacomoni:Yes, it's a big one. And so we need a cable to keep it. And thanks to this lifting force, we can fight against the wind.Jerome Giacomoni: And so the balloon can swing when you have some wind because the balloon is just pulled by the cable itself.Andy Povey: And trust me, listeners, they look absolutely spectacular. Just before we started recording, I was admitting to Jerome that I'm scared of heights. So I've stood and watched. The dining balloon, Futuroscope, never managed to pluck up the courage to try it myself.Jerome Giacomoni: This is another concept, Andy. So we have built two concepts. One is a tethered balloon, a real one with helium, with a cable, with a winch, and we fly by ourselves. The balloon flies by itself, okay? We did another concept 20 years after we created our company, so 10 years before now, in 2013, which is what we call the aero bar. It's a flying bar, and you have an inflatable balloon. to cover the gondola, but it's a fake. This is a real elevator, and you have a gondola with some winches and a metallic structure, and you go up and down. So what you saw in Futuroscope is not a balloon. It's a real elevator.Jerome Giacomoni: And the one you can see in Disneyland Paris, Disney World, Orlando or San Diego Zoo are a real balloon named a tethered balloon. So I'm glad you fell down into the trick. You caught me. Yes, I'm glad about that. But we have really two different concepts.Andy Povey: But the concept, the thing that the guest is experiencing, isn't really related to whether it's a balloon or a lift.Jerome Giacomoni: No. i think it's very different okay i think the aerobar is fun and you have the feet in the sky you feel the thrill of height and everything but you stop at 35 meters it's it's quite high for a ride but it's not a real flight And I think the balloon is a real flight. We have a balloon in Paris. We have a balloon in Budapest, Berlin. And you see the city from the sky at 150 meters high, which is very high. So you really experience a flight. With the aerobar, you have a ride, okay? So both of them are related to the sky, are related to the view, but one is really a flight, the other one is really a ride.Andy Povey: That makes absolute sense.Andy Povey: It doesn't reassure me on my fear of heights anymore, that I would like to go up three times, four times taller, higher than the one I saw first. Very interesting. So, listeners, we're often talking about technology and attractions. There's a huge amount of talk about augmented reality, about AI, about motion simulators. The reason, Jerome, we asked you to come and talk to us is because you don't do any of that. No—your experience is fantastic and it's new and it's unique, but there's no technology or very little obvious technology.Jerome Giacomoni: Yes, quite little. You know, it's amazing because we do this for now 32 years, as I told you. The first balloon was inflated in 1994. We have sold 120 balloons in more than 40 countries. And each time with the balloon, you have a magical effect, you know, because the balloon itself is very nice— because the balloon itself is a show from people looking at it from the ground. And because... The flight experience is amazing because you are really in the sky. You are really looking at the ground, at the landscape. You have no noise, you know, when you take a helicopter or plane. You have a lot of noise. You are in an enclosed airplane or helicopter. Here you are outside. You are on a balcony flying at 150 meters. And wherever we are, always we have like a magical effect of the flight. And with the flying bar, we decided to do something different— where we say, 'Why drink on ground where you can drink in the sky?'Jerome Giacomoni: So we add the drink to the ride, you know. So you are on a table and you have what we say in French conviviality. So we share a drink. We go at 35 meters and you have the thrill of the view of the height and also the conviviality of drinking. So this is another concept, but both of them are universal. And wherever we do it, we have sold 20 aero bars worldwide.Jerome Giacomoni: Everybody is very happy to have this kind of ride. I would say we are on the side of the main market. You know, we have two niche products. The balloon is a niche product. And the AeroBar is a niche product where we have another experience than a normal ride, like a roller coaster or a flume or a spinning coaster.Andy Povey: You say you're a nice product, but the balloon in Paris for the Olympics, where you lifted the cauldron, had phenomenal numbers of visitors watching. That wasn't something you could go on.Jerome Giacomoni: Yes, it was an amazing opportunity. You know, sometimes life gives you some presents.Jerome Giacomoni: And imagine that we were contacted by the Olympic Organisation Committee one day, and we believed it was a joke. And they said, 'We need to talk to you.' And then we discovered that instead of flying humans, they asked us to fly a cauldron. So the Olympic cauldron. And we have like one year and a half of design and manufacturing.Jerome Giacomoni: And then, at 11 pm, 25, the balloon has to fly in front of everybody. I can tell you it was a very stressful time. But so nice and so amazing to have experiences. So, yes, the balloon suddenly was visible by everybody. And that's back now in Paris, isn't it? Yes. First of all, the balloon has to stay only twice— 15 days. You know, you have the Olympics and the Paralympics. So we were open only 30 days in total. And the success was so huge that every night, you have dozens of thousands of people coming to look at it. That's why the mayor of Paris and the French president decided to keep it.Jerome Giacomoni: And just after the deflation of the balloon, they call us back and say, 'Jerome and Mathieu, we would like to have the balloon back.' So we work again with the city of Paris and the French presidency, and we agreed to put the balloon.Jerome Giacomoni: Three times, three months. So from June 21st, in France, this is a music event, you know, the Day of Music. To September 14th, which is a day of sport. So every year until the Olympic game of LA, we will operate the balloon for three months in the summertime. Fantastic.Andy Povey: So, Jerome, you operate in lots and lots of different countries all over the world. I think it's 14 countries that you've been.Jerome Giacomoni: No, we sold, but we operate only in the US and in France.Andy Povey: Ah, okay. Interesting.Jerome Giacomoni: We own ourselves, we operate ourselves, six balloons in the 120 we have sold. So we operate three in Paris region. One, the Parc André Citroën, where we have the Generali balloon since 1999. One in Disneyland Paris since 2005. So we are in Disneyland Paris for now 20 years. Time is flying. And the last one, the Cold Run, which is a very specific event that we operate now for one year and for the next two years. And in the US, we operate Disney World Orlando in Disney Spring since 2009, and San Diego Zoo Safari Park since 2005, and Irvine. South of LA since 2007. So we operate now six balloons for a long, long time, except the cold run. And we keep selling balloons.Jerome Giacomoni: We sell more or less five to six balloons every year.Andy Povey: And how do you find the differences between the French culture and you're on either side of America, so the differences between the different coasts of America and France?Jerome Giacomoni: Yes, we... We are in the US, but we are also in Mexico, in a lot of countries in Asia. In the Middle East, we have a beautiful balloon in Dubai. We have a beautiful balloon in Seoul. So we work a lot with very different cultures. You know, it's very interesting to sell the same product to different cultures. So I would say... The main difference probably lies in the contract. It's very funny when you make the contract. I would say a 'yes' is not the same 'yes' depending on the culture. But everybody is, you know, you... You love people when you work worldwide. You learn a lot, you discover a lot. You have to learn with different cultures. And I have the chance in my professional life to experience that and to meet people from all over the world. And, you know, my job is to go on site, and discuss with someone, and see if it's possible or not to have a balloon at this place.Jerome Giacomoni: So it's always a beautiful job because I travel in a lot of countries in beautiful spots.Jerome Giacomoni: We don't succeed a lot because, if not, I would have sold thousands of balloons. We have always constraints with local authority, with food traffic, etc. But always, it's a pleasure to meet people. And once... The balloon is accepted by the local authority when the customer has a finance for it. Then start more or less a one-year work together between installation, work on site, inflation, and training of the team. And after... They fly with their own wings, even if we have no wings with our balloons.Andy Povey: Very good. And I imagine that you don't put balloons into ugly places.Jerome Giacomoni: We did, sometimes for specific contracts. Ugly, I won't use this name, but not very obvious, logical site. But it has happened. Sometimes we do for small events or for specific needs.Jerome Giacomoni: But yes, most of the time, the sites are very interesting.Andy Povey: So there are other things you're doing with the balloons. So the air quality messaging that you have above Paris. Tell us more about your opportunities to influence in other areas.Jerome Giacomoni: Yes, you know, the balloon is not only a ride, a passenger ride, but it's also an amazing opportunity for communication and for advertisement. So in the city center, like Paris, Berlin, or Seoul, the balloon is used also as a giant advertising billboard. So you have two revenues. You have the revenue of the passenger, but you have also the sponsor revenue.Jerome Giacomoni: When we started the balloon in Paris, it was extremely difficult to get the authorisation to have a balloon in Paris centre. We are two kilometres south of the Eiffel Tower. But you remember, we had the famous Millennium, the Y2K. uh and and so the mayor faris was looking for a new idea and we propose a balloon And they gave us only a one year and a half contract. And the investment was quite huge. And we told him, OK, we can do it, but we cannot do it for only one year and a half. Except if you accept that we have a name on the balloon, a naming and a sponsor on the balloon. And the mayor say yes. And we start another business where we put sponsor on the balloon. And this is a very good business because it makes a... activity immediately profitable so we did that in Paris in 1999 and in 2008 the balloon was like 10 years old because when you fly you have your the balloon is huge we talk about a 32 meters high balloon we talk about like a 12-story building.Jerome Giacomoni: So everybody knows the balloon in Paris. Everybody can see it. And so, when we fly, we have 400,000 people who immediately see us. So we decided to give citizen aspect. And we start— pour changer le couleur de la balle selon la qualité de l'air. C'était en 2008. Et parce que nous l'avons fait, nous avons des scientifiques... coming to us and say, 'Hey, this balloon is a wonderful platform to measure air quality because you make like a carrot of the air from zero to 150 meters. Jerome Giacomoni:  Can we bring some scientist instrument on the gondola? And we say yes. And then we start to make science. And then we start to make scientific publications, scientific publications. And then we start a new business where the balloon is not only a tethered gas balloon for passenger, it's only... advertising billboard and now it's only a scientific platform and so this is very interesting and the last things we have done in 2024 no this year in 2025 is to use the balloon for global climate change. As you know, we have two main gas pollutants for the climate change, CO2 and CH4. And the balloon is a perfect platform to measure evolution on CO2 and CH4. So we are working with a European group named ICOS. gathering all the best laboratories in Europe, who are making a huge study on how CO2 and CH4 how they are in each city.Jerome Giacomoni: And Paris has been chosen as a pilot city. So we are very glad to work with them. And so now the Balloon is also working on climate change. And we will have big, big, big LED screen. So we make some technology sometime, as you said, to inform people on the temperature elevation in Europe and in the world. And the news are very bad, as everybody knows.Andy Povey: But that's fascinating. I love the integration you've been able to take from this unique proposition and apply it to different markets, different problems.Jerome Giacomoni: You know, Andy, I think we have to exit from the box. My message to... all people who are listening to us.Jerome Giacomoni: Okay, passenger rides is very important. It's a key market for many of us. But sometimes we can use... another way to find new flow of revenue, like advertising, and we can be also helpful to our other citizens, like working freely for scientists to make measurements on pollutants of the air. This helps with both air quality and also climate change.Andy Povey: It's a beautiful concept, Jerome. I love it. Love it.Andy Povey: So, final question. Your experiences are obviously very unique. What advice would you have for a venue and possibly a smaller venue that doesn't have the resources to be able to build something 150 metres high or put something 150 metres into the air? What advice would you give them on how to make a compelling experience for visitors?Jerome Giacomoni: I really believe that you have to stick on your roots, okay? I mean that people want authenticity.Jerome Giacomoni: And as you know, we are very keen on balloons, as you can imagine. So we make in our, you know, Paris, it's in Paris where you have the first flight. Yeah. In 1783. Montgolfier, brothers. Yes, with the Montgolfier brothers, with Charles, the scientist. So we really stick on our roots. And I think where you are in Brittany, where you are in Japan, you have to follow your own road and your own path. By feeling what could be the good idea, but also what is your feeling inside you. You need to have something different that you feel very confident with.Andy Povey: Beautiful final thought, Jerome, I like it a lot. So listeners, stay authentic and be passionate.Jerome Giacomoni: Exactly, the right word is passionate.Paul Marden: Next up, let's get some soundbites from the show floor.Rheanna  Sorby: My name's Rheanna. I'm Marketing and Creative Director for the Seasonal Group. We are curators of Christmas magic all year round. Wow, wow.Paul Marden: So you make Christmas special?Rheanna  Sorby: We're the Christmas elves.Paul Marden: Awesome, awesome. I can see you've got such a great set of stands. What have you got here that you're exhibiting for the first time?Rheanna  Sorby: We have Santa's Enchanted Express, which is a three-minute experience that transports customers and guests from a very festive train station to the North Pole in just under three minutes. So it's quite a Christmas miracle. And it also transports on nine pallets. So it's a great return on investment for customers there if it's 24 people on. We also have our elevator experience, which went viral last year. And then we have VR, animatronics, and a lot of our famous items, like the snowman here, just dressed as a little, it's some sort of operator.Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we don't have a lot of luck with lifts at the moment because the team got stuck in a lift yesterday for about 45 minutes. Stop it. We got rescued by the... Well, I didn't get in the lift. I walked because there wasn't enough room. But two of them had to be rescued by the fire brigadeRheanna  Sorby: Okay, so this might be triggering. Well, you know.Paul Marden: Oh, no, I found it hilarious.Paul Marden: I was hugely supportive on the outside, yelling into them.Paul Marden: But Santa won't let me get stuck in a lift today, will he? Absolutely not.Rheanna  Sorby: No, there's an emergency exit. Excellent.Paul Marden: So what's new and innovative then about the Santa Express? What are you bringing to market?Rheanna  Sorby: So a lot of our clients, we sell business to business. They're struggling to get people into shopping centres and we're finding that we need to create retail theatre. So that is something I see as a massive trend moving forward. People want nostalgia. They want an experience, something memorable. But also our customers need a way to return investment as well. So they hopefully will spend something with us and then ticket the experience. So that's something that we're pivoting our business towards. Trying to create a brand new experience every year. A lot of people are struggling nowadays, cost of living.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely.Rheanna  Sorby: It's difficult, so we're trying to find a way that brings the Christmas magic to people's doors.Paul Marden: We are, where are we at the moment? We're in September, so we've still got a couple of months left before Christmas 2025, but that must be over for you.Rheanna  Sorby: No, the quality of the street is on the shelves. It's already happening. The install season starts literally on Monday for us. Really? Yes. When we get back, we land and then we start installing.Paul Marden: And so this is the busy time. So let's talk about Christmas 2026. What are the trends that you see coming along at that point?Rheanna  Sorby: Whimsical, whimsical. So we've got Wicked number two coming out. And we've also had all like the Whoville, that sort of style, the Grinch. So imagine pastels, furry trees, things that don't quite make sense, a lot of whimsical wonderland, I would say, trend-wise. But equally immersive experiences and how we can bring magic to you.Paul Marden: Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you ever so much. Rheanna, it's been lovely to meet you. Thank you for coming on the podcast. And let's go and visit Santa in his lift, shall we? Yeah, excellent.Paul Marden: And here it is. So we are surrounded by suites in an old-fashioned lift. And there's our doors closed.Paul Marden: Oh, how amazing is this? We're going up.Paul Marden: Ice like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Great Glass Elevator. This is amazing. We're up over the clouds. Just stunning. There's a train there. I think we're going to follow into the tunnel after the train. Yes.Paul Marden: Got cold, now we're underground. Now we're in the tunnel.Paul Marden: And I think this might be Santa's factory.Paul Marden: Let's get ready.Paul Marden: Merry Christmas. The big man's chair as well. Can I take a seat in the big man's chair? Ho, ho, ho.Sohret Pakis: Hi, Paul. My name is Shorhet Pakis. I'm the brand ambassador for Polin Waterparks.Paul Marden: What are you launching this year at IAAPA? What's new for you?Sohret Pakis:Last year, we have won two big awards for a themed water slide, which is... Stingray it was in Nantes in France and it was something big because you know it was like Europeans best water slide number one and I have a brass ring award winner about two million number one but last night in Porta Ventura Stingray has won the second time best water slide of Europe award. But we have something new about it. Last year when I was telling about Stingray, it was an eight-person slide. This year we have something new. Now the capacity went up to 10, especially when we're talking about all these queue management issues. So that's something wonderful. And also, you ask, what is new? This year, we have something very exciting. A parrot-themed stingray. It's the same slide, but it's parrot-themed.Sohret Pakis: It's coming to Dubai by January. It's going to be open.Paul Marden: So can I ask you, what makes that innovative? What's new about that?Sohret Pakis: Actually, it's a very specifically themed waterslide. You know that POLIN has been pioneer in RTM manufacturing and U-texture. It's kind of a composite material technology which we can make waterslides look.  Look like a character, actually. We are the company who did this first because we said that storytelling is very important. Yes, but you know, slides are just slides. So we just wanted the slides look like the characters in that story. Of course, behind that, there is huge material technology, composites technology, design technologies. Actually, that's the time when we introduced King Cobra years ago. And now with Stingray, we took it much further. So actually, the team looks perfectly like a Stingray, but at the same time, it's a water slide with so many features. It has two big towers and between the towers, there's a bridge. From each tower, two slides start with a very special mist roofing and very special bridge where you can just see what's happening all over the slide.Paul Marden: So the queuing experience is enriched so it doesn't feel quite so long and boring because you can watch what everyone is doing.Sohret Pakis: It is, yes.Paul Marden: Super impressive. So we have been asking everybody to think about what are their predictions for 2026?Sohret Pakis: Everybody is talking about AI. Everybody is talking about immersive. So AI, of course, will make a huge difference in operation, especially.Paul Marden: In what way?Sohret Pakis: Actually, in guest satisfaction, because personalisation is very important in our industry. Whoever comes to the park, they are the heroes at the park. And so actually, if the park can make them feel that they are the heroes, truly— if that's their birthday, if that's their wedding anniversary, so whatever. If the park can make you feel that you're special, and thanks to technology, now it's possible.Paul Marden: Absolutely. That's so interesting. Thank you so much for your insights and for joining us on Skip the Queue. Thank you.Thomas Collin: I'm Thomas, I'm from VEX Solutions, so we are a VR company at the start, and now we're going to the arcade with mixed reality as well. Okay, so that's a nice link. What are you launching here at IAFA? So here for the first time we are introducing VEX Party Dash. The Party Dash is a mixed reality arcade machine. So automated, people can go on it, play on it. You have two huge screens that are really highly interactive. You can walk on the screen, you can touch the screen. The goal is really to make you moving. So that's what we want to do with the Dash.Paul Marden: That's amazing, isn't it? So we're watching people at the moment. You can see lights up on the floor that they're stepping on and on the wall.Thomas Collin: What is really the key aspect of this product is that it's highly attractive. People, they just go around, they stop by it, they want to try it. Actually, we can say, 'Hey, come and try it,' because we watch you, we see you. So we can say, 'Hey, come and try it.' And people stop by, they play it. It's highly immersive, but also highly active. Yes. You're just not standing on an arcade, sitting down. No, you're really moving around. So, this is really good for kids and families. Absolutely. That's what we see.Paul Marden: So, where do you see this being used? What sort of attractions will take this?Thomas Collin: Actually, with this product, it can go either in the attraction side or either at the arcade side. So, you can play it as one game, and you can play a three-minute game like an arcade, or you can actually book for 15 minutes. Since there is not a single game, but multiple games, you can play different games, you can play different levels inside the main gate. So you have a high replayability. Because we want you to come back, we want to attract the gamers, and then make them come back.Paul Marden: 15 minutes with this much activity sounds like quite a tall order. It's a workout.Thomas Collin: It's a workout. It's a workout. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Peter Cliff: Hi, my name is Pete Cliff. I'm from Conductr. We're here in Barcelona and it's so exciting to be back at IAAPA. Now, what we're super excited about this year is talking about our collaboration with Norwegian Cruise Lines on Great Stirrup Cay. It's their new water park. It's a great project. We're excited to talk to people about it. It's also lovely to be back in Barcelona. It's been, I think, about six years since we were last back here, and it's always one of my favourite European cities for IAPA. It's great to meet with people from the industry, reconnect with old colleagues and friends, and really see what's happening. There's a huge amount of innovation and special projects that are launching all over the show floor. So yeah, great to be back, and can't wait to see what the future of the themed entertainment industry has to offer.Laura Baxter: My name is Laura Baxter. You may know me as the girl with the purple jumpsuit on LinkedIn. I am the head of marketing for Black Gang Shine, but have most recently just announced that I've gone into freelancing and I've launched your CMO.Paul Marden: And I have to say, the jumpsuits work because I was about 50 metres behind you earlier on and I spotted the Your CMO logo on the back of the jumpsuit, so well done for that. We've talked to a lot of suppliers with stands that are exhibiting. From your perspective, this is your first time stepping over to the dark side and coming to an IAPA. What's the experience like for you? What are you here to get out of the show?Laura Baxter: I'd say it's twofold. Mainly it is for networking. Obviously anybody who's anyone in the industry is here. But also, it's inspiration because I want to be able to talk about new and exciting stuff with... Potential clients that I may have and ideas still for Black Gang as well. So, when you walk around show floor, which is just so vibrant and there's so much going on everywhere—you turn, you can draw inspiration from so many of the suppliers here.Paul Marden: What have you seen that's innovative?Laura Baxter: There's a huge amount of stuff being done with tech and it's very interesting because I think that's where a lot of people are going to think that they need to go, because that's the way of the world now, and the next generation don't know life off of a screen and they're expecting to have these incredible digital experiences.Laura Baxter: I'm not convinced that is the way to go. But yes, it's still impressive tech. So for me, there are things that I stand back out and look at and I'm like, 'Whoa, that's really, really cool.'Laura Baxter: I'm not so sure it's potentially what consumers want, though, controversially.Paul Marden: It's really hard, isn't it? Because as a parent of young kids, you want them off the tech as much as you possibly can. But you need a hook. To be able to attract them, don't you? So there's been some amazing stuff here that bridges that gap between the real world and the tech world. So, summer season 2025 is over. What are your predictions about summer 26 and what operators should be thinking about right now?Laura Baxter: It's a really tough market, we all know that. Budgets are tight for households, so there is an awful lot more thought going into their spending and what they're doing and where they're choosing to take that little bit of disposable money that they do have. Therefore actually I don't think next year operators should be thinking about huge innovations or new attractions. I think they need to strip back to basics and nail their customer service. I think guest expectations now are so high. because they're parting with money that is a little bit more precious to them than perhaps if they don't leave at the end of that day having had a good experience they feel ripped off they're going to go straight to review platforms they're going to let it all out and actually you need to be focusing on making sure that every single touch point with that customer is bang on and we're talking pre-visit as well from the your website journey to buying it to the follow-up emails to the pre-visit emails to that first person they meet on front of house to the ride operators to the events team if you have that kind of entertainment on park if you are not nailing your experienceLaura Baxter: You are going to lose out well.Paul Marden: I think we should end it right there. That there is a nugget of gold.Paul Marden: So I am here with co-host Andy Povey and our good friend Josh Haywood from Crealy down in Devon.Josh Haywood: Hello.Paul Marden: It's the end of day two. What have you seen, Josh? What's blown your socks off?Josh Haywood: Good couple of days so far. We're probably into 40,000 steps, which is great. I think technology is the thing that struck me this week so far. Just the small changes that some of the operators and some of the manufacturers are putting into their existing kits. So, for example, I attended a seminar this morning about bowling. and normally temping bowling is temping bowling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But now there's augmented reality, and they've got features on the lanes, and it's not about just taking all the pins down, it's taking pin one and six out, and all those things they're trying to do to reinvent older, more traditional attractions, which I think I find really interesting. Yeah. I think some of the seasonality stuff, the Christmas and Halloween stuff has been really good. We sat on a train and went on a journey and the seats rumbled and the sound and the visual effects, they were great.Paul Marden: I saw that. There was no room for me to go and sit on that train. It was amazing.Josh Haywood: I thought that was really good. And, you know, I've been really impressed with generally the show. I think you can get around it all as well. It feels really friendly. I think the sun shining always helps as well. It's not too tough, is it?Paul Marden: I mean, the last time we were in Barcelona, we were all wearing face masks. Absolutely, yes. So it's really refreshing to be back here. And not have that.Josh Haywood: Absolutely. And not have to queue to get in as well. I think that was interesting on the first day.Paul Marden: Oh, did they see you and then just wave you through?Josh Haywood: Red carpet was up for, of course, award-winning theme park and resort. Paul Marden: Mr. Hayward. Did you say award? Winnie and obviously you're on the back of your two awards in the theme park awards last week. How was that? And then we've got some really exciting news from Creeley.Josh Haywood: I saw it at the press this morning. Yes, so a couple of things happened last week. So first of all, we had our anniversary 25 years of Maximus the Coaster. The Vekoma Coaster, 25 years. The first coaster in Devon. It was Devon's first coaster, over half a million riders later. It's done 2 million miles around the track. It's great. So we did a sort of event for that, and we used it to sort of make some announcements about future attractions, which I'll tell you about in a minute. But then we went to the Theme Park Awards last week at Wickste Park, where... We've been the recipients of a few bronze and silvers, and we go being little old us and hope for the best. And then the award I really wanted to win was one of two: the best for families and the best for value. And when the family award came up, they said, 'In bronze is such and such, in silver.' And I was like, 'Well, there you go.' That's all that's left for another year. And then when they said the win at gold was cruelly for best for families, we were delighted. I got a bit emotional about it. I think we would just work so hard over the years to be the best in the Southwest, certainly. And certainly since we put Sootyland in as well. We won the award for Toddlers.Josh Haywood: So it was a double wham. And within 10 minutes as well. It wasn't separated. Within 10 minutes, I just got my breath back from the first one. And then we were up on stage again taking that second award. Oh, it's tough, isn't it? Which was great, yeah. Multi-award winning. Multi-award winning theme parking resort. Devon's finest. Most right in Devon. We're just going to... absolutely bleep the hell out of this for the next 12 months because who knows we may not win it again so we'll just shout from the treetops about this and then we also won thanks to martin rose and rose events uh silver for best entertainment event for the city show It's still very popular, the legacy brand. People love the Sooty show. And as I said at the awards, we sell loads of those puppets. People love a Sooty and a Sweep. So it's been a really good collaboration for us.Paul Marden: We were at our first away day for our Merak team back a few months ago down at Creeley, and I found a little sooty puppet underneath the lectern. I was absolutely chuffed to bits. And there he was, just sitting at the front of the away day, watching everything going on with Sue next to him.Josh Haywood: He's still popular. We understood when we put Cityland in, it wasn't going to be Peppa Pig. world and we didn't think for a minute we'd even sort of get to those heights of Thomas Land at Drayton Manor but it certainly hit a chord with the older market certainly the nannies and the granddads who remember such from when they were kids and you know it's a legacy brand and it works but what we have done really well is sort of corner that market for younger children and toddlers and we Sort of took some comments over the last 12 to 18 months that we may be missing the mark when it comes to the 8 to 12-year-olds, which we were pretty good at five or six years ago. So we've decided this year that we're going to invest in some thrill attractions. So we've just launched news that we've got two new rides going in next year. One, I can't tell you exactly because we're still going under. Got some planning issues, but we're going to have the Southwest tallest ride and the Southwest first inverted ride. So a multi-million pound investment going in and hopefully that will give us another boost that we need to kick on again. We've still got new accommodation going in. We'll still be doing new events and shows for next year.Josh Haywood: So it's going to be a bumper year for Crealy. Absolutely.  I really look forward to that.Paul Marden: I look forward to you being on the launch ride.Paul Marden: Me down on the ground watching and videoing.Josh Haywood: What they have said, which is really interesting, we spoke to an operator, there's only one other ride like it in the UK, and that operator said, whatever you do, make sure when you put the ride in, you fit a hose pipe and a tap right in. Because you may be washing the seats down more than you would usually on your current ride. So, yeah, it certainly will add that next level of ride experience to our family market.Paul Marden: Yeah, I think that's super important, isn't it? Mr. Povey, what have you seen today that has blown your socks off?Andy Povey: I'm really looking for the place to go and get some more soft, comfortable socks. I've walked so much. I've stood around and listened to so many fantastic talks, had so many brilliant conversations. I'm done. My feet hurt. I need to sit down and have a beer.Paul Marden: Well, I hate to break it to you, but there's another day left. And there's still more interviews to do. Still more opportunities for us to get some interesting stories on Skip the Queue.Andy Povey: Look forward to that.Paul Marden: Gentlemen, I think we're about done. So thank you ever so much. It has been a joy. And Mr. Povey, see you back here tomorrow. Josh, wonderful as always.Josh Haywood: Maybe see you at OrlandoPaul Marden: Oh. Absolutely, yeah.Josh Haywood: We'll do it againPaul Marden: Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you liked it, leave a comment in Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If you didn't, let us know on hello@skipthequeue.fm. Today's episode was a team effort for Sami and Emily from Plaster, Steve from Folland Co., as well as Claire and Wenalyn from Skip the Queue HQ. We're back again tomorrow for more fun from IAAPA, including Andreas Andersen from Liseberg, one of Scandinavia's most visited parks. See you all tomorrow. The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Send us a textJoin hosts Alex Sarlin and guest co-hosts  Matt Tower of Whiteboard Advisors,  & Kate Eberle Walker, CEO of Presence as they break down the latest headlines in education technology and from Big Tech's AI push to the evolving future of school models. ✨ Episode Highlights:[00:00:00] Kate Eberle Walker on parents' concerns about AI chatbots and student mental health [00:03:20] Apple integrates OpenAI and Gemini into Siri, reshaping the AI race [00:04:15] Global AI shake-up: Microsoft shifts to Anthropic, Baidu gains ground, Google antitrust update [00:14:45] Edtech funding slowdown and investor focus on regulated markets like special education [00:18:07] OpenAI launches certifications for frontline workers; Google gamifies AI literacy with Stanford [00:27:43] First NAEP results post-pandemic show continued learning loss and lack of political focus on academics [00:39:01] Accountability challenges in education: attendance, wellness, and equity in public vs. private models[00:43:46] Debate on Alpha Schools' “two hours of AI per day” model and its implications for learningPlus, special guest: [00:50:17] Chris Walsh, Chief Product and Technology Officer of PBLWorks on scaling project-based learning

Cat & Cloud Coffee makes a mean breakfast burrito — and, of course, a great cup of java.But that's not the main reason Jared Truby founded the Santa Cruz, California, coffee shop.“I like creating things that people can feel connected to and authentic in,” Jared says. “What ended up spawning from that is just how can we create authenticity and a unique connection for not only the people who come in, but for the people who work together?”At Cat & Cloud, “authenticity” and “connection” aren't just buzzwords. They're the foundation of a business that strives to care for and develop its employees — all employees, full or part-time, get paid vacation, benefits, and autonomy grow into the roles that are right for them — as well as serve its community.It's less about running a coffee shop and more about being a leader. “One of our jobs as leaders is to show people that there is value outside of the workplace if you learn and dive into the things that we're trying to teach you,” Jared says. “And I think when it clicks, people start saying, ‘Oh, nice. Like, it doesn't suck to work here, and I'm actually becoming a better person.'”Listen in as Jared shares more about the origin of Cat & Cloud coffee, its mission, and the challenges and rewards of building a small business centered around growth and connection. –Cat & Cloud: https://catandcloud.com/–Infinitely Scalable Podcast: Helping entrepreneurs, creatives, and humans everywhere find freedom.

Preview: AI. Colleague Brandon Weichert of National Interest comments on how he integrates AI into his work. More later. 1955

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Mirakl. In today's Retail Daily Minute:Macy's Media Network becomes the first major retailer to partner with Amazon Retail Ad Service, allowing advertisers to buy sponsored product ads through Amazon's platform while maintaining customer data privacy.Walmart launches next-day delivery for third-party marketplace orders in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta as competition with Amazon intensifies.Amazon plans to extend new employment offers to Whole Foods corporate employees on November 10th, completing the integration with changes to benefits, discounts, and compensation structure including Amazon stock grants.The Retail Daily Minute has been rocketing up the Feedspot charts, so stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights. Be careful out there!

In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on a question that landed in my DMs: How do I plan to incorporate my shamanic training into my hypnosis work in the future? The short answer: I already do. The deeper answer? That's what this episode is all about. Many people think of the subconscious as just a storage bin for beliefs and programs. But this mindset is limited. The subconscious is far more—it's a convergence zone where identity, neuroscience, and consciousness meet. And when you bring shamanic principles into ethical, client-led hypnosis, you're no longer just clearing blocks... you're helping someone remember who they truly are.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! Visit timeline.com/DRG and use code DRG to get 20% OFF Visit https://jaspr.co/DRG and use code DRG for $200 OFF for a limited time Sign up for our newsletter! https://drchristiangonzalez.com/newsletter/ True healing addresses energetic disruptions in our multi-dimensional bodies, where disease begins as electrical pulse disruption between mind and organ. By integrating our shadow and aligning with source consciousness, we reclaim wholeness. In this episode, spiritual healer Igor Galibov shares his transformation through spiritual surgery in Brazil at age 24. During an out-of-body experience, he witnessed the procedure from behind the healer while simultaneously being operated on. Within six months, all physical ailments - polyps, allergies, rashes completely disappeared, and his consciousness expanded to see energy, travel dimensions, and perceive future events. Disease originates in five energy bodies before manifesting physically. The key to healing? Befriending our darkness, the ignored aspects of ourselves needing awareness. When we invite these traits in with love and curiosity, darkness transforms into light. Igor explores Jesus and Mary Magdalene as twin souls whose sacred union created dimensional portals through unified masculine-feminine consciousness. The path to wholeness: heal fragmented aspects, unite inner energies, and remember we are the universe experiencing itself. Be sure to like and subscribe to #HealThySelf Hosted by Doctor Christian Gonzalez N.D. Follow Doctor G on Instagram @doctor.gonzalezhttps://www.instagram.com/doctor.gonzalez/ Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction & Personal Roots in New York 04:38 - Igor Joins the Show + Rapid Fire Questions 06:14 - Spiritual Awakening in Brazil 09:39 - Experiencing Energy and Multi-Dimensional Travel 12:14 - Deep Meditation, Higher Beings & Inner Schooling 14:56 - Chakras, Emotional Imprints & Origins of Illness 17:40 - Full Activation & Reset After Brazil Surgery 21:30 - Emotional Programming and Cancer as a Teacher 28:16 - Jesus, Christ Consciousness & True Healing 42:59 - Time, Timelines & The Causal Body

Coinbase integrates DEX trading into its app. Octant introduces Streaming Quadratic Funding (SQF). And Ethereum.org opens applications for the 2025 translatathon. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/758 Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.

Google Cloud integrates Self Protocol. Hasu outlines MEV tradeoffs in Glamsterdam EIPs. Safe Research introduces Cosigners. And the Ethereum validator withdrawal queue length approaches three weeks. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/746 Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.

AI Weekly News Rundown From July 13 to July 20 2025:Calling All AI Innovators | AI Builder's ToolkitHello AI Unraveled Listeners,In this Week of AI News,

Meta's new data centers could gobble up millions of gallons of water per day, but not to worry because Meta says it's cracking down on Facebook creators who steal content, and Claude AI now integrates with Canva. It's Tuesday, July 15th and here's a quick look at tech in the news this morning from Engadget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Reedy welcomes Dr. Alexa Altman where she discusses how psychedelics bring the unconscious material into consciousness. She talks about the importance of integration. Dr. Altman's Website: https://www.i-psychedelic.com 1. Single-dose psilocybin (25 mg) with psychological support for MDDJAMA – “Single-Dose Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder” psychiatryonline.org+15sunstonetherapies.com+15pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov+15 Summary: Demonstrated strong antidepressant effects and good tolerability over follow-up. Email: info@hopkinspsychedelic.org 2. One-Year Follow-Up of Psilocybin for Depression Study: Long-term effects of psilocybin therapy for depression Johns Hopkins – “Psilocybin treatment for major depression effective for up to a year” Summary: 67% of participants remained in remission one year post-treatment. 3. MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Severe PTSD Randomized, placebo-controlled MDMA-assisted therapy Nature Medicine – “MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD” Summary: Significant reduction in PTSD symptoms, well‑tolerated in a diverse cohort. Contact (MAPS / Lykos Therapeutics): Email: info@maps.org 4. Psilocybin for Cancer-Related Anxiety & Depression Psilocybin in patients with life-threatening cancer PMC – “High-dose psilocybin produced large decreases in depressed mood and anxiety…” Summary: 80% of participants maintained significant symptom relief at 6 months. Website: heffter.org (contact via site) en.wikipedia.org 1. Johns Hopkins University Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research Psilocybin for depression, anxiety, addiction, and end-of-life distress Why it's top-tier: The first major U.S. institution to receive regulatory approval for psychedelic research in modern times.

Welcome to episode 287 of the Grow Your Law Firm podcast, hosted by Ken Hardison. In this episode, Ken sits down with Kenny Eliason, Co-founder and CEO of Quilia, a legal tech startup revolutionizing the personal injury space.   Kenny is a Las Vegas native with extensive experience in law and technology. Having spent a decade refining his skills in client relations and tech management at a law firm, Kenny founded a marketing agency to support law firms nationwide. His latest endeavor, the Quilia app, is designed to empower clients by streamlining the management of personal injury cases, allowing them to efficiently track appointments, pain scores, and case progress. Kenny's vision for Quilia focuses on enhancing client engagement and communication, which not only boosts client satisfaction but also enables attorneys to concentrate on their legal responsibilities, ultimately improving case outcomes and operational efficiency for law firms. What you'll learn about in this episode:   1. Efficiency and Client Engagement: - Streamlined communication between clients and attorneys - Accessible on iOS, Android, or web platforms 2. Client Empowerment and Consistent Reporting: - Prompts clients to track pain scores and case details - Ensures consistent and accurate client reporting 3. Flexible Pricing Model: - Flat rate for each case with no user license fees - Monthly billing option for cost flexibility 4. Extensive Functionality Beyond Basic Case Management: - Features daily and weekly reminders, appointment tracking, and more - Integrates with partners like Attorney Sheryl Examica 5. Client-Centric Approach and Client Empowerment: - Focus on helping clients through tech solutions - Empowers clients to actively participate in their cases Resources:    Website: https://www.quilia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyeliason/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyquilia Twitter (X): https://x.com/heyquilia   Additional Resources:    https://www.pilmma.org/aiworkshop https://www.pilmma.org/the-mastermind-effect https://www.pilmma.org/resources https://www.pilmma.org/mastermind

01st July: Blockchain DXB podcast

A daily Chronicle of AI Innovations in June 2025: June 26thRead Online | Sign Up | Advertise | AI Builder's ToolkitHello AI Unraveled Listeners,In today's AI Daily News,

This week, Marc Boiron (CEO, Polygon Labs) and Sandeep Nailwal (CEO, Polygon Foundation) joined Yano to dive into all the happenings at Polygon, their comeback plan, how the industry has shifted since last cycle, the best business models currently for chains and how Katana and the Agglayer will push not only the project, but crypto forward. -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Follow Marc - https://x.com/0xMarcB Follow Sandeep - https://x.com/sandeepnailwal Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks.Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto.Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.- Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens- Summarize market-moving news instantly- Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The TieGet started today: https://askfocal.com -- Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space.Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more. -- Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:58 The Industry Today, As A Builder 06:45 Easier/More Difficult Than Last Cycle 15:36 Ads (Skale) 16:28 Sandeep + Polygon Foundation 21:52 2 Business Models For Chains 36:54 Ads (Skale) 37:47 Katana Explored 46:03 Why Katana 55:26 Ads (Falcon x,LEDN) 01:09:53 Polygon's Future Vision — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week, Jason is joined by Shiliang and Josh to discuss derivatives, perps, trade ideas, the state of the overall market and Public Crypto Vehicles' impact on the market.  -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Follow Shiliang: https://x.com/ShiliangTang Follow Josh: https://x.com/joshua_j_lim Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto.Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.- Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens- Summarize market-moving news instantly- Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The Tie Get started today: https://askfocal.com -- SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork -- Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space. Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more. -- Chapters: (00:00) Intro (02:47) Arbelos Founding Story (09:25) Still One Big Trade? (12:14) Ads (Skale) (13:07) Derivatives Market Explained (18:26) Perps Explained (20:53) Venture & Liquid Funds (23:41) Inefficiencies In Crypto Market (24:56) State Of The Market (29:49) Impact Of Liquidity Drains (32:54) Ads (Skale) (33:46) Public Crypto Vehicles + Risks (48:27) Ads (Falcon x,LEDN) (50:15) Does The Cycle Still Exist? (51:38) Deribit Deal (57:38) Bitcoin ETFs (01:03:34) Hyperliquid (01:07:42) Trade Ideas — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week, Jason and Santi are joined by Rob Hadick (Dragonfly), and Diogo Monica (Anchorage/Haun Ventures) to dive into the evolving crypto venture landscape. -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts-- Follow Diogo: https://x.com/diogomonica Follow Rob: https://x.com/HadickM Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork -- Marinade Labs develops staking technologies that strengthen Solana.In 2021, our protocol was the first to bring liquid staking to the network; today, our sophisticated, high-performance staking delegation platform brings billions in liquidity and security to the SOL market. We have solutions for both DeFi and TradFi, including liquid and native staking, as well as direct enterprise integrations.Our best-in-market features include user downside protection (through protected staking rewards) and optimized delegation (via our automated auction marketplace). Crypto asset investors worldwide, from individual traders to global institutions, use Marinade to earn rewards on their SOL treasuries and holdings. We are headquartered in New York, with offices in the European Union, including Prague. To learn more about Marinade, visit https://www.marinade.finance. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks.Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM. Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens. Summarize market-moving news instantly. Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The Tie. Get started today: https://askfocal.com -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app.By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods.Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space. Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more. -- Chapters: (00:00) Intro (02:50) Current State of Venture (11:29) Ads (Skale Marinade) (13:07) Crypto Company IPOs (26:15) Crypto Treasury Companies (36:06) Ads (Skale Marinade) (37:44) How Does Hyperliquid's Success Impact Venture? (41:27) Exploring PumpDotFun's Raise (48:05) Ads (Falcon x, Aptos, LEDN) (50:36) Crypto's Most Exciting Opportunities Today (01:01:42) X & Polymarket Join Force (01:04:42) Ripple's Strategy — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Gm and Happy Monday! This week, Dan Smith, a Lead Blockworks Researcher and Jonah Weinstein, a Portfolio Manager of SkyCatcher, join Jason to dive into the timely conversation about which metric is better/best to evaluate L1 tokens – REV or RSOV? Start your day with the Empire newsletter by Katherine Ross: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- SKALE is the next evolution in Layer 1 blockchains with a gas-free invisible user experience, instant finality, high speed, and robust security. SKALE is built different as it allows for limitless scalability and has already saved its 50 Million users over $11 Billion in gas fees. SKALE is high-performance and cost-effective, making it ideal for compute-intensive applications like AI, gaming, and consumer-facing dApps. Learn more at https://skale.space and stay up to date with the gas-free invisible blockchain on X at @skalenetwork -- Marinade Labs develops staking technologies that strengthen Solana.In 2021, our protocol was the first to bring liquid staking to the network; today, our sophisticated, high-performance staking delegation platform brings billions in liquidity and security to the SOL market. We have solutions for both DeFi and TradFi, including liquid and native staking, as well as direct enterprise integrations. Our best-in-market features include user downside protection (through protected staking rewards) and optimized delegation (via our automated auction marketplace). Cryptoasset investors worldwide, from individual traders to global institutions, use Marinade to earn rewards on their SOL treasuries and holdings. We are headquartered in New York, with offices in the European Union, including Prague. To learn more about Marinade, visit https://www.marinade.finance. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.  - Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens - Summarize market-moving news instantly - Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The Tie Get started today: https://askfocal.com -- Ledn is the leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way to unlock liquidity without selling your Bitcoin. Ledn has issued over $9 billion in loans since 2018 and has never lost a single satoshi of client assets, earning a reputation as the name you can trust in the crypto space.Visit https://www.ledn.io to learn more. -- Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 02:31 - Why Do We Need Better Valuation Frameworks? 05:00 - What's Wrong With The Metrics Today? 08:07 - What's The Proper Reference Point To Understand Value? 09:33 - Are L1 Tokens Money? 11:10 - Ads (Skale Marinade) 12:48 - Is A L1 Token A Commodity Or Company? 19:32 - Why RSOV Valuation Is So Important 23:48 - Ads (Skale Marinade) 29:07 - Valuation Litmus Test 31:38 - RSOV & Capital Inflows 37:53 - What's REV? 42:58 - RSOV's Valuation Mechanism 44:43 - Where RSOV and REV differ 47:27 - If Native Assets 10X, Do The Hotspots? 49:05 - Ads (Falcon x, LEDN) 50:52 - Monetary L1 Premium Factor In? 55:36 - RSOV vs REV Valuation Trends Over Time 01:00:49 - How Does Staking / DeFi Deposits Impact Valuation? 01:02:47 - PE Values In RSOV 01:05:25 - Audience Question From Telegram — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week is an exploration of social marketing, challenging misconceptions, and driving meaningful behaviour change with one of the field's most respected practitioners, Nedra Weinriech. Nedra is founder of Weinreich Communications, and an editorial board member for Social Marketing Quarterly. She has been practising social marketing for over 30 years. Highlights: Nedra's Personal Productivity Hack:- Discovered virtual co-working- Uses "body doubling" technique- Increased focus and productivity through intentional work sessions What is Social Marketing? - Not social media- Systematic approach to behaviour change- Focuses on audience insights and making desired actions easier- Integrates psychology, design, and marketing principles Case Study: California Teen Suicide Prevention Campaign- Campaign: "Never a Bother"- Target: Low-income teens- Innovative co-design process with youth- Addressed key barriers to seeking mental health support Social Marketing vs. Behavioural Science:- More than just awareness- Systematic research-driven approach- Audience-centered design- Scalable behaviour change strategies Quote:"Social marketing is applied behavioural science at scale." - Nedra Weinreich Free Resources: Social-Marketing.com (or to go directly to my library of articles including my free ebook: https://Social-Marketing.com/library The Social Media for Behavior Change Toolkit can be downloaded from my website above or here is the “official” page with more resources: https://preparecenter.org/site/sm4bc-toolkit Creative Mornings - their "virtual field trips” are where I first encountered the idea of virtual co-working, but they have lots of fun free online events - https://creativemornings.com/fieldtrips/brows Flown - they give you a free month to try it out, and after that it's subscription based. Nedra's referral link includes 25% off (and she gets a free mug if someone signs up ): https://flown.com/join-flown-referral-page?referral=nedra-weinreich-fb9c2 The Never a Bother campaign - https://neverabother.org/ Don't forget your 10% saving: BrainFuel10 World Social Marketing Conference

Gm! This week we're joined by Tyler Evans & Josh Solesbury to discuss the Bitcoin treasury playbook. We deep dive into Michael's Saylor's Bitcoin strategy, NAV/premium, how to structure a treasury company, is this a BTC only strategy or do other assets work as well & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Tyler: https://x.com/tylev Follow Josh: https://x.com/joshsolesbury Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Marinade Labs develops staking technologies that strengthen Solana. In 2021, our protocol was the first to bring liquid staking to the network; today, our sophisticated, high-performance staking delegation platform brings billions in liquidity and security to the SOL market. We have solutions for both DeFi and TradFi, including liquid and native staking, as well as direct enterprise integrations. Our best-in-market features include user downside protection (through protected staking rewards) and optimized delegation (via our automated auction marketplace). Cryptoasset investors worldwide, from individual traders to global institutions, use Marinade to earn rewards on their SOL treasuries and holdings. We are headquartered in New York, with offices in the European Union, including Prague. To learn more about Marinade, visit marinade.finance. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

Safe integrates a DeFi Lending solution. Over 69,000 users were affected in the Coinbase data breach. And Circles UBI V2 goes live on Gnosis Chain. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/707 Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.

Anthropic Integrates Claude with Popular Apps Like PayPal and Zapier. This new functionality brings automation and transactions into chat. Claude's expanded integration means more powerful workflows.Try AI Box: ⁠⁠https://AIBox.ai/⁠⁠AI Chat YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JaedenSchaferJoin my AI Hustle Community: https://www.skool.com/aihustle/about

How can you protect yourself as a freight broker from fraud and preserve relationships with trusted carriers? Tune in to this episode with Solomiya Tomkiv to learn more about WireBee and its power to streamline brokerage operations!   Here's What to Learn From This Episode: WireBee's Mission & Background: WireBee's launch post-COVID to combat freight fraud, leveraging co-founder Andre's VoIP expertise. Targeting fraudulent actors to protect carriers is a core focus. Fraud Detection Mechanism: WireBee's system provides unique phone numbers for brokers, ensuring inbound calls are processed with real-time spoof detection. Integrates with tools like Highway and Carrier411 for compliance checks and alerts on suspicious multiple MC associations. Market Engagement Strategy: Building strong carrier relationships as a fraud defense. WireBee's future roadmap includes attending FreightWaves in November for customer feedback and engagement. Focus on phone-system agnosticism to accommodate all users, enhancing market reach.   About Solomiya Tomkiv Solomiya grew up immersed in the world of trucking, witnessing firsthand the challenges that carriers and brokers face daily. Her family's trucking business gave her early exposure to the complexities of logistics, from managing freight operations to navigating the industry's financial and operational hurdles. With a degree from JCU, Solomiya combined her industry knowledge with a strategic mindset, leading her to take on leadership roles in logistics and transportation. She co-founded FreightRate, a company focused on providing tailored logistics solutions, further deepening her expertise in freight management and supply chain optimization. Recognizing a major inefficiency in the freight brokerage space—reliance on manual phone calls for booking and tracking shipments—Solomiya saw an opportunity for innovation. She co-founded WireBee, an AI-powered communication platform designed to help freight brokers automate routine phone calls, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. Under her leadership, WireBee is revolutionizing how brokers interact with carriers, improving response times, and streamlining operations across the industry.   Connect with Solomiya Website: https://www.wirebee.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirebee/  

Gm! This week we're joined by Tom Dunleavy & Ryan Berckmans to discuss the bull case for Ethereum. We deep dive into Ethereum's big pivot, how to value the L1, should L2 tokens exist, the role of Etherealize, what's next for ETH & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Ryan: https://x.com/ryanberckmans Follow Tom: https://x.com/dunleavy89 Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

These excerpts highlight a busy day in the field of artificial intelligence, showcasing major developments from leading companies and broader industry trends. Key updates include Anthropic reportedly preparing a new advanced "Claude Neptune" model and enhancing existing ones with increased autonomy, while OpenAI integrated its new GPT-4.1 models into ChatGPT, improving capabilities for users, especially in coding. Google DeepMind's AlphaEvolve AI demonstrated the ability to autonomously discover novel mathematical advancements, solving long-standing problems and optimising algorithms. Other notable points cover new AI-powered tools for document creation, OpenAI's launch of a Safety Evaluations Hub for transparency, and a US legislative proposal for a 10-year ban on state-level AI regulation. Additionally, Google Cloud introduced a generative AI certification program for business leaders, Databricks made a significant acquisition to bolster its AI agent platform, and a report questioned the immediate replacement of human radiologists by AI, underscoring AI's role as an assistive tool rather than a full substitute in complex medical fields.

This week's EYE ON NPI is a follow up to one we did a few years ago on the similarly-named BQ25792 (https://blog.adafruit.com/2021/05/06/eye-on-npi-ti-bq25792-i2c-controlled-1-4-cell-5a-buck-boost-battery-charger-eyeonnpi-adafruit-digikey-adafruit-digikey-txinstruments/). The BQ25798 (https://www.digikey.com/short/vnr279pz) builds on the '92 by adding selectable dual inputs and true MPPT solar support. This chip is inexpensive, powerful and can handle almost any battery and power source matching you desire. Let's look at some specifications: High power density, high integration buck-boost charger for 1-4 cell batteries supporting USB PD 3.0 profile – Integrates four switching MOSFETs, BATFET – Integrates input and charging current sensing Highly efficient – 750-kHz or 1.5-MHz switching frequencies – 5-A charging current with 10-mA resolution 96.5% efficient: 16-V battery at 3A from 20V Supports a wide range of input sources Autonomously sampled open circuit voltage (VOC) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for charging from a photovoltaic panel – 3.6-V to 24-V wide input operating voltage range with 30-V absolute maximum rating – Detects USB BC1.2, HVDCP and non-standard adapters Dual-input power mux controller (optional) Narrow voltage DC (NVDC) power path Backup Mode with Ultra-fast switchover to adjustable voltage Powers USB port from battery (USB OTG) – 2.8-V to 22-V OTG output voltage with 10-mV resolution to support USB-PD PPS – OTG output current regulation up to 3.32 A with 40-mA resolution Flexible autonomous and I2C mode for optimal system performance Integrated 16-bit ADC for voltage, current, and temperature monitoring Like the '92, the BQ25798 (https://www.digikey.com/short/vnr279pz) supports any size battery. We have lots of battery packs in the Adafruit shop, and in particular we use 1S batteries – if there are more batteries, they are wired in series. But there's lot of folks who are building robotics that require higher voltages, so they have 2S, 3S, or 4S batteries. This charger can handle any of 'em, and you can configure the battery pack size using a simple resistor on the PROG port. In this case it also allows the chip to run in 'standalone' mode without the use of I2C to configure. The biggest improvement you get with the BQ25798 (https://www.digikey.com/short/vnr279pz) is true solar MPPT support. The BQ25792 had VINDPM and IINDPM – the ability to track the input voltage to make sure it is not drooping from overdraw. While this lets you get pretty-close-to-MPPT it isn't true power-point-tracking which requires perturbation around the voltage to adjust as light and temperature affect the solar panel's efficiency. The '98 does this 'right' and even has a K Factor adjustment register - you can tweak this to get the best results based on different weather/temperature (https://www.ti.com/video/6287049638001)- or stick to the default value for good results. Another new feature is 'selectable dual-inputs' what this means if you can set up two power inputs - say DC plug and Solar - and then have the chip switch between them. This is particularly useful because you can't just use two OR'ing diodes to select the power source: the solar panel might have a higher initial open-voltage but can't supply as much current as a DC plug. I2C lets you select which one is priority! The BQ25798 (https://www.digikey.com/short/vnr279pz) also has many of the cool features we liked in the BQ25792: On-The-Go mode where you can turn the buck-boost around and have it generate a variable voltage output, say 5V for powering other USB devices. Another thing that works is powering over USB where you can have the BQ negotiate 'high voltage' support from USB 3 ports. Note that this isn't USB Type C power negotiation, for that you'll want to get a separate USB Type C PD negotiation chip like the TPS25750D (https://www.tij.co.jp/jp/lit/ml/slpp103/slpp103.pdf)...we're hoping there's a future version with PD built in! There's also a built in 16-bit ADC that you can use to monitor various voltages and current draw. While you can charge the battery in 'standalone' mode - you really do need I2C to get the best performance and capabilities. Thankfully there's not a huge number of registers, and SDA/SCL can be 3 or 5V logic signals so you should be able to get it working on anything from an ATmega328 to a Raspberry Pi. We like the high integration: you really only need a few passives and an inductor to get a fantastic all-in-one charger for any lithium ion battery pack. If you're intrigued and would like more information, you've come to the right place! DigiKey has the BQ25798 (https://www.digikey.com/short/vnr279pz) in stock right now for immediate shipment. Order today and you can start designing your solar-powered products of the future by tomorrow afternoon.

Gm! This week we're joined by Christine Moy, Carlos Domingo & Tarun Chitra to discuss the launch of crypto largest onchain credit fund. We deep dive into what is private credit, the future of tokenization, onchain vs tradfi risk management, finding product market fit & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Christine: https://x.com/cmoyall Follow Tarun: https://x.com/tarunchitra Follow Carlos: https://x.com/carlosdomingo Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM. :small_blue_diamond: Screen, chart, and analyze 1300+ tokens :small_blue_diamond: Summarize market-moving news instantly :small_blue_diamond: Integrates data from CoinGecko, Kaito, Token Terminal, Tokenomist, The Tie Get started today: https://askfocal.com -- AO Mainnet is LIVE! Experience the future of decentralized computing: infinite parallel processing, secure TEE-powered computations, and LLMs in smart contracts. Built on Arweave, AO's modular design shatters scalability limits. 100% of tokens are distributed to Arweave holders and bridge depositors, with a fixed supply and halving. Explore AO today: https://ao.arweave.dev -- Token.com is a social-first crypto platform transforming how people discover and trade through crypto content. The revolutionary in-feed trading turns complex crypto into intuitive investments, while content creators earn from every trade and projects amplify their stories through native tokens - creating a new era of social media-powered crypto discovery. Just scroll to watch and tap to invest. Download the app! -- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:02) What Is Private Credit? (06:32) The ACRED Levered RWA Strategy (09:29) How To Bring TradFi Onchain? (20:51) Ads (ZKSync, Zenrock) (22:30) How Does the Levered RWA Strategy Function? (32:14) A New Era For Tokenization (36:32) Ads (ZKSync, Zenrock) (38:11) Onchain vs TradFi Risk Management (42:47) How To Avoid Leverage Unwinds (49:36) Ads (Falcon x,Arweave, Token.com) (51:50) Finding Product Market Fit (01:04:57) The Future Of Tokenization — Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Gm! This week we're joined by Jeff Dorman to discuss his recent tweet on the bear case for Coinbase. We deep dive into the Coinbase business model, the rise of DEXs (Hyperliquid), who is best positioned to win the exchange wars, the opportunity for DeFi & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Follow Jeff: https://x.com/jdorman81 Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app. By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods. Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

It's In the News.. a look at the top headlines and stories in the diabetes community. This week's top stories: A new Austrailian study aims to prevent type 1, the new twiist pump will integrate with Eversnse CGM as well as Libre, diabetes deaths are down in the US, Dexcom U is looking for college athletes, and more! Find out more about Moms' Night Out  Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Learn more about Gvoke Glucagon Gvoke HypoPen® (glucagon injection): Glucagon Injection For Very Low Blood Sugar (gvokeglucagon.com) Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom   Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Twitter Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.com Episode transcription with links: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and every other Friday I bring you a short episode with the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now. XX A world-first human trial of a drug designed to treat the underlying cause of type 1 diabetes has begun in Australia. University of Queensland researcher Ranjeny Thomas said the experimental drug — dubbed ASITI-201 — was designed to retrain the immune system so it no longer attacks the insulin-producing pancreatic cells, known as beta cells. The drug, given as an injection under the skin, combines fragments of a protein found in the beta cells of people with type 1 diabetes and vitamin D to calm the immune response. She said if effective, the drug would initially be given to patients with type 1 diabetes as soon as possible after diagnosis to preserve remaining pancreatic cells and reduce the amount of insulin needed. But eventually, if screening programs can be developed to pick up people at risk of developing type 1 diabetes, it may be possible to "prevent the progression of the disease altogether". The first in-human trial of 36 participants will test the safety of the drug, but blood tests will also determine the impact of the therapy on a patient's immune system and glucose tolerance. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-29/type-1-diabetes-drug-trial-auto-immune-disease-science/105223022 XX   Diabetes deaths in the U.S. have fallen to some of the lowest rates in years, according to new preliminary figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reversing a surge in mortality that was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.   There were 26.4 deaths per 100,000 people from diabetes, according to early death certificate data for the third quarter of 2024 published this month by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.   Death rates from diabetes peaked in 2021, according to CDC figures, at 31.1 deaths per 100,000 people for that year. Diabetes was the eighth leading cause of death in 2021. The CDC says the link between COVID-19 and diabetes may be to blame for that increase.   "Data show an increase in mortality rates for all people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and research shows that people with underlying conditions, including diabetes, are more likely to become very sick from COVID-19 and have a higher risk of hospitalization and death," Christopher Holliday, head of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, told CBS News in a statement.   Holliday added that research shows the pandemic may also have made it harder for Americans to properly manage the disease, ranging from interruptions to physical activity to disruptions to routine medical care diagnosing and treating the disease.   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/diabetes-deaths-lowest-levels-years-early-cdc-figures/ XX Big news for the Eversense CGM – they have their first pump partner. Sequel Med Tech says the twist pump will integrate with Senseonics Eversense 365 continuous glucose monitor (CGM). This collaboration would make twiist the first AID system compatible with Eversense 365, the world's first and only one-year CGM. Sequel and Senseonics say they have already started their work to integrate the latest-generation, 365-day implantable sensor with twiist. They expect to make the integrated offering available in the third quarter of this year. This marks the second CGM integration for Sequel, which partnered with Abbott and its FreeStyle Libre platform earlier this year. This week we also got a peek at the packaging and delivery of the twist as the first people posted about wearing it. We'll follow up and learn more about this newest insulin pump in the us. Senseonics, meanwhile, brought the first year-long CGM to market last year, launching Eversense 365 with its global distribution partner, Ascensia Diabetes Care, in October 2024. The system also received clearance as an integrated CGM (iCGM) system, meaning it can work with compatible medical devices. Those include insulin pumps as part of automated insulin delivery systems. https://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/sequel-senseonics-integrate-cgm-insulin-pump/ XX Medtronic has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the Simplera Sync sensor for use with the MiniMed 780G system. With this approval, the MiniMed 780G system now offers more flexibility for users of the company's most advanced insulin delivery system featuring Meal Detection technology with both the Guardian 4 sensor and Simplera Sync sensor.   The Simplera Sync is a disposable, all-in-one sensor that requires no fingersticks with SmartGuard or overtape and features a simple, two-step insertion process. It is the company's newest addition to its CGM portfolio, which expands options and provides greater flexibility for users.   The MiniMed 780G system's adaptive algorithm automatically anticipates, adjusts, and corrects glucose levels every 5 minutes, 24/7 – working around the clock so users can focus on what matters. It's the only system featuring Meal Detection technology, which detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help users keep glucose levels in range more often – even when users occasionally forget to dose insulin for snacks or meals or underestimate their carbs.   The system uses a “treat to target” approach and flexible glucose targets as low as 100 mg/dL, which, combined with its adaptive algorithm allows it to more closely mirror the glucose levels of someone not living with diabetes.   Real-world data of the system shows global users consistently achieve time in range above international targets of 70% when using optimal settings (active insulin time of two hours and 100 mg/dL target glucose). It is also the only system that works with the world's only infusion set that lasts up to 7 days so that users only have to change their infusion set once per week and can experience 96% fewer injections compared to multiple daily injections.   “We're committed to driving innovation that makes life easier for those living with diabetes so they can forget about their diabetes as much as possible throughout the day,” said Que Dallara, EVP and president of Medtronic Diabetes. “Our MiniMed 780G system delivers advanced diabetes technology for so many around the world, and we're excited to continue evolving this experience with expanded CGM options —including our Simplera Sync sensor, which we look forward to bringing to people living with diabetes in the U.S.”   A limited launch of the Simplera Sync sensor will begin in the U.S. in the fall of 2025. Today, the MiniMed 780G system can be used with the Guardian 4 sensor.   Like this:https://med-techinsights.com/2025/04/29/simplera-sync-sensor-for-minimed-780g-now-fda-approved/ XX Front office changes at Insulet.. The former head of Johnson & Johnson's worldwide medtech business, Ashley McEvoy will take over as president and CEO from Jim Hollingshead, who has led Insulet since 2022. In its announcement of the leadership change, Insulet said that Hollingshead and the company mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately. McEvoy served as worldwide medtech chairman at J&J from 2018 until her departure in late 2023, the culmination of nearly 30 years at the company and several executive roles—including president of its Ethicon division and group chairman of vision and diabetes care. Since then, she has also served as a board member at Procter & Gamble. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/insulet-taps-former-jj-medtech-head-ashley-mcevoy-be-ceo XX New free mobile game launched this week to make type 1 diabetes onboarding faster easier and less overwhelming. It's called Level One.. created by Level Ex (Powered by Relevate Health), the studio behind award-winning medical games for medical professionals. Level Ex CEO Sam Glassenberg created the game after a – quote  - brutal onboarding experience when his daughter was diagnosed five years ago He says  It took a year to understand how to manage this disease. So we fixed it. We built a game that can train your brain to do it in a matter of hours." The game is launching in partnership with leading diabetes organizations Beyond Type 1 and Breakthrough T1D Play, who are integrating Level One into their outreach and educational campaigns to support newly diagnosed families worldwide. Download Level One on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/level-one-a-diabetes-game/id6739605694 Learn more: https://playlevelone.com   https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/level-ex-launches-level-one-a-free-mobile-game-to-redefine-type-1-diabetes-onboarding-302440929.html XX   Collagen is widely recognized for its role in maintaining healthy skin, but its importance extends far beyond that. As the most abundant protein in the human body, collagen provides essential structure and support to nearly all tissues and organs.   Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon's Feinberg Lab have made a major breakthrough using their novel Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) 3D bioprinting technique. This method enables the precise printing of soft, living cells and tissues. Leveraging this technology, the team successfully created the first-ever microphysiologic system, also known as a tissue model, constructed entirely from collagen. This advancement opens new possibilities for studying disease and engineering tissue therapies, including potential treatments for conditions like Type 1 diabetes.   Traditionally, small-scale models of human tissue, referred to as microfluidics, organ-on-chip devices, or microphysiologic systems, have been fabricated using synthetic materials such as silicone rubber or plastics. These materials were necessary due to limitations in earlier manufacturing techniques. However, because they are not biologically native, they fail to fully replicate natural tissue environments, restricting their effectiveness in biomedical research and therapeutic development.   “Now, we can build microfluidic systems in the Petri dish entirely out of collagen, cells, and other proteins, with unprecedented structural resolution and fidelity,” explained Adam Feinberg, a professor of biomedical engineering and materials science & engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. “Most importantly, these models are fully biologic, which means cells function better.”   Building Complex Tissues with FRESH Bioprinting In new research published in Science Advances, the group demonstrates the use of this FRESH bioprinting advancement, building more complex vascularized tissues out of fully biologic materials, to create a pancreatic-like tissue that could potentially be used in the future to treat Type 1 diabetes. This advancement in FRESH bioprinting builds on the team's earlier work published in Science, by improving the resolution and quality to create fluidic channels that are like blood vessels down to about 100-micron diameter.   “There were several key technical developments to the FRESH printing technology that enabled this work,” described Daniel Shiwarski, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh and prior postdoctoral fellow in the Feinberg lab. “By implementing a single-step bioprinting fabrication process, we manufactured collagen-based perfusable CHIPS in a wide range of designs that exceed the resolution and printed fidelity of any other known bioprinting approach to date. Further, when combined with multi-material 3D bioprinting of ECM proteins, growth factors, and cell-laden bioinks and integration into a custom bioreactor platform, we were able to create a centimeter-scale pancreatic-like tissue construct capable of producing glucose-stimulated insulin release exceeding current organoid based approaches.” https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-bioprint-living-tissues-that-could-revolutionize-diabetes-treatment/ XX Another study showing the blood sugar benefit of walking after a meal. Skeletal muscle plays a central role in glucose uptake. Exercise stimulates glucose transport into muscle cells through insulin-independent pathways, notably through the action of glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4), which is responsible for transporting glucose from blood to skeletal muscles.4 This means that even without a robust insulin response, physical activity can facilitate glucose clearance from the bloodstream. These effects also occur without requiring high-intensity exercise, making postprandial walking accessible to a broad range of individuals, including those with limited exercise tolerance. multiple studies show that starting activity within 30 minutes after a meal is optimal. https://www.news-medical.net/health/Walking-After-Meals-Small-Habit-Big-Metabolic-Gains.aspx XX Dexcom brings back Dexcom U for a 4th years. This is a name, image and license program for college athletes with diabetes and includes a nationwide open call for passionate and inspiring college athletes to join its roster. Now through May 23, athletes, coaches, friends and family members can nominate candidates through an online submission. Those selected, along with the eight returning athletes from last year, will be invited to attend the Dexcom U Signing Day Camp this summer, hosted by Dexcom Warrior and Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews. https://www.hmenews.com/article/dexcom-u-returns-for-fourth-season

Various developments on this day including Google's broader rollout of an experimental AI search feature and a study challenging the impartiality of a prominent AI benchmark called LMArena. It also covers Microsoft's introduction of compact AI models designed for efficient reasoning on limited devices, a guide on using ChatGPT and its Canvas feature to build websites, and Amazon's launch of a powerful multimodal AI model named Nova Premier. Further topics include Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's comments on global AI talent, a Texas school's application of AI in core lessons, and a lawsuit against Meta concerning AI-generated defamation, alongside Microsoft's reported plans to host xAI's Grok model on its Azure platform and a range of other AI-related business news, product releases, funding rounds, research insights, and events from the same day.

Gm! This week we're joined by Samara Cohen to discuss BlackRock's crypto strategy in 2025. We deep dive into the success of the Bitcoin ETP launches, investor demand for crypto, why Samara is bullish on tokenization, how to bridge traditional assets onchain & much more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app. By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods.Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks.Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

Gm! This week we're joined by Edward Woodford to discuss the economics of stablecoins. We deep dive into Circle's S-1 filing, who will benefit the most from the stablecoin business model, how does Circle remain competitive, the end game for stablecoin issuers & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Edward: https://x.com/e_woodford Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app. By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods. Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

Gm! This week we're joined by Felix Jauvin & Quinn Thompson from the Forward Guidance podcast to discuss where markets go next from here. After the market sold off in reaction to the Trump tariffs, we deep dive into the bull vs bear case in 2025, Trump's end game, building the perfect portfolio, Coinbase vs Robinhood, is Bitcoin really a safe haven asset & more. Enjoy! -- Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Quinn: https://x.com/qthomp Follow Felix: https://x.com/fejau_inc Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh -- Follow the Forward Guidance Podcast: https://x.com/ForwardGuidance Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- Petra Earn was designed to make DeFi more accessible for everyone—from seasoned pros to DeFi beginners. Manage your balance, claim rewards and deposit directly from the app. By supplying USDT to Aries lending pools, users have the potential to earn a higher yield compared to some traditional methods. Not financial advice. Participating in Defi carries risks. To learn more visit https://petra.app/earn -- Zenrock is a permissionless, decentralized custody network backed by 1RoundTable Partners, 10T, Maven11, and Spartan. Live on Jupiter, $ROCK is the native token for transactions within the Zenrock ecosystem and secures Zenrock's decentralized custody network. The first application launching on Zenrock is zenBTC – yield-bearing Bitcoin on Solana. zenBTC will be live in April 2025. -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

Gm! This week we're joined by Gavin Wood to discuss has the promise of crypto failed? We deep dive into hype vs fundamentals, why crypto needs more utility, why haven't we seen mass adoption, how to fix crypto's product problem & more. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Gavin: https://x.com/gavofyork Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto, University of Oklahoma, the Census Bureau, and the National Bureau of Economic Research at Stanford reveals a significant productivity pattern known as the J-curve in American manufacturing following AI adoption. The study indicates that companies often experience short-term productivity losses before realizing long-term gains. Initial use of industrial AI leads to increased work-in-progress inventory and investment in robotics, alongside labor reductions and declines in profitability, particularly affecting older businesses. However, those that adopt growth-oriented strategies can mitigate these initial losses and benefit from stronger growth over time.The podcast also discusses the disconnect between public perception and expert opinion regarding AI capabilities. A panel from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence found that a majority of researchers believe public understanding does not align with the reality of AI research, which is hindering progress. Many experts argue that simply scaling up current AI approaches will not lead to achieving human-like intelligence, advocating instead for a cautious and collaborative approach to AI development that emphasizes safety and ethical governance.In addition to AI discussions, the episode highlights the concerning expansion of North Korean IT scams into Europe, targeting high-value sectors such as defense and government. These operatives are using fabricated identities to secure lucrative positions, with the potential to generate billions annually. The FBI has confirmed this shift in tactics, indicating a growing trend of extortion attempts by North Korean operatives. The episode also covers Microsoft's new email security measures aimed at high-volume senders to combat phishing and spoofing attacks, emphasizing the importance of compliance with stricter email authentication standards.Finally, the podcast touches on broader themes of technological advancement and innovation, particularly in the context of competition between the U.S. and China. Notable opinion pieces highlight the rapid technological growth in China, raising concerns about the U.S.'s ability to maintain its innovative edge. The discussion emphasizes the need for businesses to prepare for a fragmented global tech landscape, encouraging investment in automation and AI as part of a resilience strategy. The episode concludes with a reminder of the importance of practical applications of technology, rather than succumbing to the hype surrounding AI. Four things to know today 00:00 AI Adoption: Why the Road to Innovation Is Bumpy but Worth It—According to Experts05:36 North Korean IT Scams Go Global While Microsoft Gets Tough on Spam—Plus DoD's Signal Investigation 08:41 N-able Integrates, TD SYNNEX Finances, and Microsoft Bets on Cloud PCs—What MSPs Need to Know10:46 AI Hype vs. Reality: Are Incremental Gains Enough to Compete Globally?  Supported by:  https://www.huntress.com/mspradio/https://cometbackup.com/?utm_source=mspradio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsorship  Join Dave April 22nd to learn about Marketing in the AI Era.  Signup here:  https://hubs.la/Q03dwWqg0 All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want to be a guest on Business of Tech: Daily 10-Minute IT Services Insights? Send Dave Sobel a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/businessoftech Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessof.tech

  Today we welcome Jesse Butler and Nic Slattery to talk about the Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator, or KRO. Jesse works as a principal product manager at AWS and Nic is a Product Manager at Google. The Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator is a new cloud agnostic tool meant to simplify Kubernetes resources for devs and platform admins.   Do you have something cool to share? Some questions? Let us know: - web: kubernetespodcast.com - mail: kubernetespodcast@google.com - twitter: @kubernetespod - bluesky: @kubernetespodcast.com   News of the week Kubernetes JobSets: An open-source API for managing distributed jobs as a single unit. Integrates with Kueue for better resource utilization. Kubernetes Blog: Introducing JobSet Kueue Project Google Cloud Next '24: Happening in Las Vegas, April 9-11. The Kubernetes Podcast team will be there! Google Cloud Next Kagent: A new open-source AI agent framework built on Microsoft's Autogen, designed for automating operations and troubleshooting in Kubernetes. kagent.dev Links from the interview Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator (KRO) KRO Announcement Blogs Google Cloud Blog- Simplify the developer experience on Kubernetes with KRO AWS Open Source Blog - Introducing kro: Kube Resource Orchestrator AWS Open Source Blog - Kube Resource Orchestrator, From Experiment to Community Project Reddit thread - anyone tried kro for kubernetes resource management yet? The New Stack: Kubernetes Gets a New Resource Orchestrator in the Form of Kro InfoQ: Cloud Giants Collaborate on New Kubernetes Resource Management Tool CRD (Custom Resource Definition): Kubernetes CRDs - A mechanism within Kubernetes to extend the API. Knative: Knative.dev - A Kubernetes-based platform for building serverless applications. Terraform: Terraform.io - Infrastructure as code software. Helm: Helm.sh - A package manager for Kubernetes. KPT (Kubernetes Package Tool): KPT - A tool for packaging and managing Kubernetes configurations. Crossplane: cncf.io/projects/crossplane - An open-source project for managing cloud resources through Kubernetes. Common Expression Language (CEL): cel.dev - A powerful expression language. kubebuilder: kubebuilder on GitHub - A framework to build Kubernetes controllers, details available in Kubernetes documentation.

Gm! This week we're joined by Charlie Noyes & Bam Azizi to discuss Meshs's $82M Series B raise. We deep dive into the Mesh origin story, how to unlock crypto payments, why the world needs stablecoins, crypto's multichain future & the biggest opportunity in 2025. Enjoy! -- Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Bam: https://x.com/bamazizii Follow Charlie: https://x.com/_charlienoyes Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Grab your tickets to Permissionless IV. Use code EMPIRE10 for 10% off: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iv -- ZKsync is the pioneering zero-knowledge technology powering the next generation of builders with limitless scale. Secured by math and designed for native interoperability, ZKsync enables an elastic, ever-expanding network of customizable chains. Deeply rooted in its mission to advance personal freedom for all, the ZKsync technology makes digital self-ownership universally available. To learn more about ZKsync, visit http://www.zksync.io -- Crypto never sleeps. So we built an Al analyst that never blinks. Meet Focal by FalconX: a GenAI insights engine built for institutional crypto. Already used by 80+ funds managing $10B+ in AUM.

Shoot us a Text.Happy Thursday, Troublemakers! Today we're talking about Amazon dipping its toe in the used car market, GM is going all-in on AI with Nvidia, and new data reveals surprising trends about who's actually shopping on Amazon. Amazon has set its sights on used cars. The company, which has already been refining its new car-shopping platform in select U.S. markets, is gearing up to introduce used inventory to the mix.Amazon Autos expanded from 54 markets to 68 since its national ad campaign with Hyundai in January.Amazon's Director of Autos, Fan Jin, confirmed that adding used car inventory is the platform's next big milestone, enabling dealers to sell both new and used inventory in a fully e-commerce environment.Amazon is also exploring ways to offer F&I products in a low-pressure, consumer-friendly format, striking a balance between profitability for dealers and ease of purchase for customers.“More and more customers are comfortable with a fully online car transaction,” Jin said, while noting that many still want an in-person touchpoint before finalizing purchases.At Nvidia's annual GTC conference, GM announced a major partnership with the chipmaker to integrate AI into its vehicles, factories, and robotics.GM will use Nvidia's Omniverse platform to simulate virtual assembly lines, reducing downtime and improving efficiency.Nvidia's AI training software will help GM's factory robots improve at tasks like precision welding and material handling.Next-gen GM cars will feature Nvidia's Drive AGX system-on-a-chip, capable of 1,000 trillion operations per second, to enhance autonomous driving.While GM's Super Cruise is highly regarded, the automaker is looking to Nvidia's tech to advance its self-driving capabilities.Nvidia's automotive division is still small, generating $5 billion in revenue this year, but VP Ali Kani sees a “trillion dollar opportunity.”A new report from Numerator reveals key insights into Amazon's shopper demographics and loyalty, highlighting both strengths and potential areas for growth.Amazon boasts a staggering 99% repeat purchase rate, far exceeding the e-commerce industry average of 28-30%.75% of Amazon shoppers are women, and they are more likely than the average consumer to use the platform.Amazon sees higher engagement from rural and middle-income shoppers, but urban and lower-income demographics are less active, while Black, Hispanic, and Asian consumers all index below the national average.Baby boomers make up 33% of Amazon shoppers, though they are slightly less likely to shop there than other generations.Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email

Imagine spending nearly a decade in big law and never losing a case.This week, I'm joined by Emma Mack, a leading disputes lawyer and former senior associate at the magic circle. Emma shares what it takes to win high-stakes litigation, how AI is changing the future of disputes and why she's using LinkedIn to change the conversation around law.If you want insights from one of the best in the industry, this episode is unmissable. Go give it a listen now and hear about her journey and winning mindset.So why should you be listening in? You can hear Rob and Emma discussing:- Emma's Extensive Background and Career Journey- Her Experience in Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution- What the Role of a Senior Associate Entails- Technology, AI and Their Broad Impacts on the Legal Industry- The Future of Legal Tech and How it Integrates into Commercial LitigationConnect with Emma here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mack-297170114/?originalSubdomain=uk

Welcome back to another episode of the Female EmpowerED Podcast! I'm your host, Christa Gurka, and today I had the pleasure of chatting with Lauren Peachie, a marketing strategist who helps small businesses shine. Lauren shared her inspiring journey from photography to mastering marketing strategy, emphasizing how crucial it is to align your visuals and messaging with your brand and target audience.In our conversation, we explored the core elements of an effective marketing strategy—from understanding who your ideal client is, to choosing the right platforms and creating consistent messaging. Lauren broke down the three main types of marketing: attracting new clients, nurturing existing ones, and retaining current customers. We also delved into the practical side of marketing for small businesses, discussing realistic timelines, tracking meaningful engagement metrics, and distinguishing between mere leads and truly qualified ones.Plus, we got into the role of AI tools in modern marketing. Lauren advises using these tools as a creative aid for brainstorming and analysis—but always with a human touch to verify the results.Some of our key takeaways include...Align Your Marketing: Ensure that your website, social media, and email campaigns consistently reflect your brand, services, and target audience.Consistent Over Quick Fixes: Focus on steady, manageable marketing activities over time rather than searching for overnight solutions.Measure What Matters: Tracking engagement metrics is key to understanding your marketing's effectiveness and knowing when to pivot.Strategic Use of AI: AI tools can be great for generating ideas and insights, but they should complement your expertise, not replace it.If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to connect with Lauren Peachie on Instagram @laurenpeachie or check out her website at laurenpeachie.com. Thanks for tuning in to the Female EmpowerED Podcast—keep empowering yourself and your business, and I'll catch you in the next episode!

Sutter Health's integration efforts extend far beyond standard IT system mergers. Jacki Monson, SVP, Chief Integration Officer & Chief Privacy Officer at Sutter Health, focuses on holistic transformation—aligning people, processes, and technology across mergers and acquisitions. “We're not just integrating applications,” Monson said. “We're integrating the entire ecosystem to function as one seamless operation.” Scroll […] Source: Driving Towards Systemness: How Sutter Health Integrates Technology, People & Process on healthsystemcio.com - healthsystemCIO.com is the sole online-only publication dedicated to exclusively and comprehensively serving the information needs of healthcare CIOs.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche outlines how the Gyalwa Gyatso initiation integrates the stages of the graduated path for beings of lower, middling, and greater capacity. Rinpoche shows the parallels between each initiation and the path to enlightenment. For example, he explains how achieving the second initiation (the secret initiation) helps to achieve the illusory body, and the third initiation (the wisdom initiation) makes it possible to achieve the clear light.Rinpoche highlights that all stages of the path to enlightenment rely on the root of the path: correctly devoting to the virtuous friend. This means to see the teacher as the Buddha. Rinpoche admits that it can be difficult to talk about guru devotion when giving a Dharma teaching; however, it needs to be done out of compassion to prevent people from making grave mistakes. If people are left completely ignorant about this subject, then they would make so many mistakes, all the way through, no matter how much Dharma they learn.To show that correctly devoting to the guru depends on the disciple's side, Rinpoche gives an example from the Buddha's life story. The Buddha's attendant could only perceive faults in the Buddha. When he heard the Buddha tell a woman that she would become enlightened due to the karma of offering him a handful of grain, the attendant thought the Buddha was just flattering the woman. He failed to see any of Buddha's qualities because he hadn't trained his mind. Conversely, Milarepa had unshakeable devotion. Even when his teacher gave him a hard time for many years, all he saw was the Buddha.Rinpoche sums up how all the teachings of sutra and tantra support each other without contradiction. All the teachings of the Buddha are for one person to achieve enlightenment. Rinpoche says that having received the initiation, like the continuous flow of the river, we should continuously practice the profound yoga of the two stages based on keeping the samaya vows.Rinpoche concludes the session by emphasizing that taking this time to do the Gyalwa Gyatso initiation has become a very important preparation for death. It will give freedom to use death as a path to achieve enlightenment. He reminds us that this retreat is not just for quietening the mind, it's also for learning various ways to benefit sentient beings because we have to help them in many different ways.From April 10 to May 10, 2004, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extensive teachings during the Mahamudra Retreat at Buddha House in Australia. While the retreat focused on Mahamudra, Rinpoche also taught on a wide range of Lamrim topics. This retreat marked the beginning of a series of month-long retreats in Australia. Subsequent retreats were held in 2011, 2014, and 2018, hosted by the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo.Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/

In this episode of Hashtag Trending, host Jim Love discusses the recent departure of John Shulman from Anthropic, raising questions about the company's dedication to AI safety. Microsoft integrates DeepSeek R1 into Windows 11, improving on-device AI capabilities. Meanwhile, Google's AI tool Gemini makes a notable error regarding global Gouda cheese consumption in an ad, highlighting issues with misinformation in AI-generated content. The episode also touches on the need for critical thinking in AI oversight and collaboration dynamics in the tech industry. 00:00 Introduction and Headlines 00:22 Anthropic's Commitment to AI Safety Questioned 02:04 Microsoft's DeepSeek R1 Integration 03:35 Google's AI Ad Blunder 04:47 The Broader Implications of AI Errors 06:39 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

This week guest host Leah Shaver, President & CEO of The National Transportation Institute, chats with Josh Hankins, senior vice president of safety, security, and driver personnel at J.B. Hunt. Josh is one of the leaders behind the innovation and implementation of technologies and programs at one of the most forward-looking companies in America. As he puts it: One of the core elements of accomplishing the large change management projects he helps oversee and steer is listening — listening to those across the organization, but especially to drivers, as he seeks a deep understanding of their experience with ongoing communication and engagement, as well as jumping in-cab and seeing firsthand how their jobs are shaped by the changes he and his team implement. To celebrate drivers and their families, J.B. Hunt collaborated with Carol Ekster to create a special edition of the children's book TRUCKER KID. Get your copy of this special edition of TRUCKER KID here: https://bit.ly/3Y581XG Special thanks to the show's sponsors! DriverReach (https://www.driverreach.com) Project 61 (https://project-61.org/) Lanefinder (https://www.lanefinder.com/) The National Transportation Institute (https://driverwages.com/) Career Now Brands (https://careernowbrands.com/) Rockerbox (https://www.rockerbox.com/) Appcast (https://www.appcast.io/) Trucksuite (https://trucksuite.com/) Asurint (https://asurint.com/) Arya By Leoforce (https://leoforce.com/) Seiza (https://www.seiza.co/) Drive My Way (https://www.drivemyway.com/) F| Staff (https://www.fstaff.com/) Trucksafe (https://www.trucksafe.com/) Seated Social (https://seated-social.com/) If you're interested in joining the show or being a sponsor, please email jeremy@takingthehireroad.com Follow the Taking The Hire Road Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week guest host Leah Shaver, President & CEO of The National Transportation Institute, chats with Josh Hankins, senior vice president of safety, security, and driver personnel at J.B. Hunt. Josh is one of the leaders behind the innovation and implementation of technologies and programs at one of the most forward-looking companies in America. As he puts it: One of the core elements of accomplishing the large change management projects he helps oversee and steer is listening — listening to those across the organization, but especially to drivers, as he seeks a deep understanding of their experience with ongoing communication and engagement, as well as jumping in-cab and seeing firsthand how their jobs are shaped by the changes he and his team implement. To celebrate drivers and their families, J.B. Hunt collaborated with Carol Ekster to create a special edition of the children's book TRUCKER KID. Get your copy of this special edition of TRUCKER KID here: https://bit.ly/3Y581XG Special thanks to the show's sponsors! DriverReach (https://www.driverreach.com) Project 61 (https://project-61.org/) Lanefinder (https://www.lanefinder.com/) The National Transportation Institute (https://driverwages.com/) Career Now Brands (https://careernowbrands.com/) Rockerbox (https://www.rockerbox.com/) Appcast (https://www.appcast.io/) Trucksuite (https://trucksuite.com/) Asurint (https://asurint.com/) Arya By Leoforce (https://leoforce.com/) Seiza (https://www.seiza.co/) Drive My Way (https://www.drivemyway.com/) F| Staff (https://www.fstaff.com/) Trucksafe (https://www.trucksafe.com/) Seated Social (https://seated-social.com/) If you're interested in joining the show or being a sponsor, please email jeremy@takingthehireroad.com Follow the Taking The Hire Road Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we sit down with John Ward, a seasoned creator of tools designed to help bloggers and content creators monetize their platforms efficiently. Jonathan shares his latest innovations, including Post Magic, Journey Explorer, and the groundbreaking Content Goblin. https://creativesonfirepodcast.com/episode172 Key Takeaways: Post Magic: Captivate and Engage on Facebook A tool designed to create eye-catching, screen-dominating collage-style posts for Facebook. Perfect for announcements, prompts, or engaging posts that stand out and drive interaction. Easy-to-use and optimized for mobile, making it a must-have for boosting Facebook engagement. Journey Explorer: Discover Monetizable Niches Track and analyze websites approved for programs like Journey by Mediavine. Use this tool to explore niche ideas, assess competition, and identify trends in successful blogs. A valuable resource for finding inspiration and understanding what works in monetized blogging. Content Goblin: AI-Powered Content Creation Automates the creation of listicles and social media content with AI-generated images and descriptions. Integrates seamlessly with WordPress, allowing direct publishing to your blog. Saves time spent on platforms like MidJourney and ChatGPT, enabling creators to focus on scaling their content. Links Mentioned in the Episode Content Goblin (aff link) is John's game-changing tool! 153 | Niche Blogging: How It Started vs. How It's Going 162 | How I Got My Second Site Accepted to Journey by Mediavine: Niche Blogging Update 165 | Why is No One Talking About MidJourney for Our Blogs? 2025 Content Planner for Content Creators Free Guide: Start Your Online Business Today Until next time, stay creative! SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW I am honored to share a new Blogging Creative on Fire each week on the podcast to bring you inspiration, behind-the-scenes secrets, and quality tips. I hope it is truly helpful for you. One of the best ways you can bless me in return is to subscribe to the show and leave a review. By subscribing, you allow each episode to be downloaded straight to your phone which helps the download numbers and ensures you never miss an episode. And when you leave a review, you help show others the value of what we provide! You can GO HERE to subscribe and review

In this week's buzzing news, Amazon launches its new Haul program to compete with Shein and Temu. Walmart, TikTok, and Amazon announced their Black Friday sale dates, and LTK is now partnering with TikTok. We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Introducing Amazon Haul—a broad selection of products $20 or less, with most under $10 https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/affordable-products-amazon-20-dollars-and-under When is Amazon's Black Friday sale? Here's everything you need to know. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/when-is-black-friday-2024 Share shoppable videos across global Amazon stores https://sell.amazon.com/blog/shoppable-videos-feature-update TikTok is integrating with influencer shopping app LTK, videos show https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/12/tiktok-is-integrating-with-influencer-shopping-app-ltk-videos-show/ Sellers in Your Community just launched and is dedicated to connecting and championing small and medium-sized businesses like yours that sell in the Amazon store. https://www.sellersinyourcommunity.amazon/?utm_campaign=launch&utm_source=Helium10 Walmart Slashes 50% Off Its Walmart+ Membership for Black Friday https://www.ign.com/articles/walmart-plus-membership-black-friday-deal-2024 TikTok kicks off Black Friday Nov. 13; Nicki Minaj to host livestream https://chainstoreage.com/news-briefs/2024-11-12?article=tiktok-kicks-black-friday-nov-13-nicki-minaj-host-livestream Walmart Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Dates and times you need to know https://www.al.com/shopping/2024/11/walmart-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-dates-and-times-you-need-to-know.html Lastly, listen to Helium 10's new tool updates, which empower sellers with valuable data insights from Cerebro's historical data, and check the sales in your variations with Xray. Our training tip of the week also shows you can create festive holiday images for your Amazon brand using Helium 10's generative AI feature. Tune in to get the inside scoop on the transformative trends and tools shaping the future of e-commerce. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:53 - Amazon Haul Launched 04:54 - Amazon Black Friday 05:59 - Share Shoppable Videos Globally 07:59 - LTK launches on TikTok 08:41 - Amazon Launches SIYC 10:31 - Walmart Black Friday Discounts 12:47 - TikTok Black Friday Deals  13:34 - Walmart Black Friday Dates 14:23 - New Feature Alerts 18:49 - Training Tip: Festive AI-Image Generator Inside Helium 10 ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Talking through Ben's piece on Meta and Abundance, including the past, present and future of Meta's value proposition to e-commerce advertisers, plans to incorporate AI-generated content into news feeds, and questions about augmented reality and the next phase of user interfaces. At the end: An emailer highlights potential downsides of the vision Meta is selling.