Newswise — DARIEN, Conn., Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The award-winning CeCe Migraine Management app now offers users an unprecedented level of insight into their migraine treatments with the CEFALY Connected device.
The latest version of the CeCe app pairs with the Bluetooth-enabled CEFALY Connected so users can track CEFALY treatments and log migraine attacks on their mobile device. These insights enable them to understand their unique migraine patterns and optimize their treatments.
CEFALY is a wearable, external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) device that relieves migraine pain and prevents attacks by stimulating and desensitizing the trigeminal nerve. When a user pairs their CEFALY Connected device with the CeCe app, they can:
Monitor their CEFALY sessions in real time so they can adjust the intensity for optimal results
See session time remaining and battery life at a glance
Log CEFALY sessions and migraine attacks to track treatment effectiveness over time
Download a PDF report with their unique migraine patterns and treatment data to share with healthcare providers.
The free CeCe app, first introduced in 2021, can also be used on its own to log migraine attacks, triggers, symptoms, and treatments. CeCe received the 2021 Distinction Award for Best Native Mobile App in the eHealthcare Leadership Awards.
“We designed CeCe to serve everyone in the migraine community, whether or not they use CEFALY,” said Jen Trainor McDermott, CEO of CEFALY Technology. “When used in conjunction with the CEFALY Connected, however, the CeCe app gives users the ability to truly understand their migraine treatment journey. Being able to monitor and track CEFALY sessions in real time helps people commit to their treatment routine and see the progress they’re making.”
At least 39 million Americans live with migraine, which is a complex, debilitating and often misunderstood neurological disorder. CEFALY, which was first introduced in 2008, is the only FDA-cleared migraine treatment device used for the treatment and prevention of migraine that is available without a prescription. CEFALY is safe, well-tolerated, and clinically proven.
About the CEFALY device:
CEFALY Technology is the maker of CEFALY, an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter wearable medical device clinically proven to help reduce migraine frequency and relieve migraine pain. CEFALY is a non-invasive device placed on the forehead to modify pain sensation in the area research identifies as a center for migraine pain, the trigeminal nerve. The device offers two distinct treatment options — a 60-minute ACUTE setting that serves as an abortive treatment for pain relief at the onset of a migraine, which is clinically proven to stop or reduce migraine pain during an attack; and a 20-minute PREVENT setting for daily use to help prevent future episodes.
About CEFALY Technology:
CEFALY Technology is a Belgium-based company with U.S. offices based in Darien, Conn., specializing in electronics for medical applications. CEFALY Technology’s mission is to provide innovative, ever-evolving technology that enables people with migraine to take control of their treatment and live happier, healthier lives.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Mobile apps continue to grow in popularity, which offers little surprise when considering the ubiquitous nature of the smartphone. This scenario leads many companies to consider crafting their own app, likely targeting both Apple iOS and Android platforms. Sometimes their goal for the app involves generating publicity for their business or even driving engagement from their customer base.
However, in many cases, businesses craft a mobile app simply as a source of revenue. In this situation, it becomes critical to fully understand the potential revenue models available to any app. This understanding then informs the process of evaluating which model makes the most sense for the business.
So let’s take a high-level overview of the different revenue models available to entrepreneurs building a mobile app and how to evaluate these models to help you decide on which one provides the best opportunity. Remember, this analysis needs to happen before you design any interface wireframes or write one line of code. In the end, a successful app launch likely depends on making this initial effort.
Embedded ads within a mobile app offer one obvious approach to generating revenue. However, this revenue stream really only applies to free apps, as displaying ads in a paid app likely hampers the growth of the app’s user base. In fact, a common practice in mobile games or other apps involves using an in-app purchase to remove ads.
Notably, the market for in-app advertising continues to generate significant growth across the planet. According to Absolute Market Insights, the in-app ad market reached $66.78 billion in 2018 and is forecast to hit $472.64 billion by 2027. This growth shows a compound annual growth rate of 24.4% over that 10-year period. Again, any app needs a large user base to generate significant ad revenue, so consider making your app free to attract users.
The “freemium” app approach
Somewhat related to in-app advertising, a freemium app also serves to attract a large user base to a compelling app experience. Additional content or features then become unlocked after buying an in-app purchase. In fact, we just highlighted the fact that users take advantage of this approach to turn off in-app advertising.
This revenue stream strategy is common in gaming apps as well as music production and instrument apps, with the latter niche more common on the iOS platform. A user might own a free beat-making app, and get access to new synthesizers or drum machines after buying an IAP. Some music app developers also use this revenue model to provide new sounds and synth patches to their user community.
Additionally, other developers are using subscriptions to provide a repeatable revenue source for their mobile apps typically offered on a freemium basis. Not surprisingly, magazines and comic books sometimes leverage this revenue stream strategy. However, note that Apple and Google Play take a cut of any revenue generated using subscriptions; this also applies to any in-app purchase.
The subscription model can also be very valuable for B2B apps. Creating a mobile app that integrates with a SaaS solution is a great way to expand the platform to a larger audience and deliver more value — which justifies monthly subscription fees.
Monetize your mobile app data
Depending on the nature of your mobile app, its data potential potentially serves as a valuable revenue stream. Of course, this valuation ultimately depends on the size of the app’s user base and the nature of the data. When leveraging data monetization as a revenue strategy, you need clearly note this in the app’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
This is one of the best examples of why you need to determine your revenue model before developing your product. GasBuddy is an example of an app that generated a strong user base with a very sticky venture and zero plans for how to monetize their mobile app. They ended up secretly (i.e. illegally) selling user data and getting into trouble when users started noticing the extra drain on resources and battery from GasBuddy collecting location information.
While monetizing data isn’t the most popular monetization strategy, it can work if it is done legally and you are completely transparent about it from the beginning.
Of course, actually charging for an app provides an easy way to generate revenue. Paid apps need to provide users with a top-shelf experience and compelling functionality. As such, these apps tend to be mobile games, music creation apps (including synthesizers) and productivity apps, like video editing or graphic design software. Leveraging the freemium model with certain features unlocked through an IAP also works, but paid apps also provide IAPs. Once again, this approach depends on the overall quality of the app and the functionality it provides.
Make sure you fully understand the rules of the Apple Store and Play Store and how they will affect your revenue model. Last month, Apple updated their App Store rules to take 30% of sales on “boosts” for social media posts. This is the first time Apple has directly taxed advertising in iOS apps and is just one example of a recent change that could significantly impact your revenue.
What revenue model makes sense for your mobile app?
As noted earlier, before one line of code gets written, you need to determine which revenue model works best for your company’s mobile app. This analysis includes figuring out the potential size of the user community and the amount of revenue you’ll need to break even. Those factors directly influence the potential of using in-app advertising and data monetization as revenue streams.
If your app requires millions of users to become profitable, you need to set realistic goals for reaching those milestones. Personally, we’ve found more success with subscription-based app revenue models that require a lower number of users to reach profitability. But, charging high subscription fees doesn’t work for every app.
In the end, entrepreneurs need to take this analytical approach to ensure their mobile app truly makes an impact. Anything less simply won’t generate enough interest — or revenue.
FYI: WaniKani, our system for learning kanji and Japanese vocabulary in record time, is currently 33% off. Try it out for free.
The year might be drawing to a close, but it’s a perfect time to do something new with your Japanese study! Take a look below at the latest list of Japanese learning resources, lovingly selected by our team, to help supercharge your Japanese study.
Activate Your Japanese!
Activate Your Japanese! is a 24-episode drama about a Vietnamese girl named Xuan who came to Japan to work in a hotel. It comes from Japan’s national broadcasting network, known as NHK, which is known for producing quality video content about all sorts of topics. You can think of them as the BBC or CNN of Japan. In the drama, she encounters a sentient keychain, new friends, and lots of new Japanese. And as with any drama, there are elements of humor and romance that really make it entertaining.
Each video is divided into parts: The main skit, Today’s Strategy, Onomatopoeia, and Welcome to My Japan. The main skit follows Xuan and her time adjusting to Japanese life, all while providing useful communication strategies. Next, the Today’s Strategy section focuses on a useful communication strategy or phrase that Xuan utilized in the main skit. Plenty of examples are provided, making this part of each video particularly useful for learners. Then comes the Onomatopoeia bit, which introduces a common Japanese onomatopoeia. Again, several examples are provided to help reinforce how the word is used in real life. And finally, the Welcome to My Japan bit finishes off each video with a presentation of someone’s life after coming to Japan. Many of these individuals immigrated to Japan for work and have lived in the country for several years. Their work, interests, and hobbies are highlighted in this section.
Every video in this series comes with translated captions and even a transcript, making it ideal for learners at level who want to practice reading or listening skills. But even if learning Japanese is not your main goal, the series can still be enjoyed purely as a drama for one’s own entertainment. According to the site, this series will be available until 2027, so there’s plenty of time to go through each of the 15-minute episodes.
Beyond Activate Your Japanese!, the NHK has a number of other resources for Japanese learners, like the Essential Japanese section, which provides survival phrases, and Easy Japanese: Conversation Lessons, which contains lots of learning content related to conversation practice. There’s something for everyone, so check it out!
あかね的日本語教室
あかね的日本語教室, otherwise known as Akane’s Japanese Class, is a popular YouTube channel produced by a Japanese teacher named Akane. This channel is targeted towards intermediate and advanced learners. However, Akane mentions that this channel is also accessible to beginners who want a bit of a challenge. The difficulty comes from all the videos being entirely in Japanese. The subtitles at the bottom of the screen are in Japanese, and include furigana over more difficult kanji. There are also closed captioning subtitles that can be turned off and on, with an impressive number of languages covered — 15!
The videos on this channel are very educational while also entertaining. The topics surround learning Japanese, travel around Japan, everyday life in Japan, and more. An example of Akane’s videos that Japanese learners may find most useful are “[Business Japanese] Basics of telephone correspondence” and several interviews with non-native speakers living in Japan and studying the language. Each video lasts about 10-15 minutes in length, and they go by quickly. Because Akane speaks slowly, it’s easy to follow the dialogue. If you’re looking for even more content by Akane, you can also check out the podcast and Instagram page she also has.
Japanese Immersion with Asami
Japanese Immersion with Asami is a YouTube channel that, as the name suggests, focuses on teaching via comprehensible input; that is, Japanese made as easy to understand as possible, even for beginners, without relying on English explanations or translations. Asami has been a Japanese teacher since 2015, and with her trusty partner Hyougen, mostly reads stories in her videos, with helpful explanations and commentary; all in Japanese.
The videos are a great way to get your feet wet engaging with Japanese media more, without feeling like you’re alone in the endeavor. In fact, the casual, supportive atmosphere of her videos might be their best feature; it really does feel like a private lesson. And with several series in a variety of genres and titles, such as Kiki’s Delivery Service and short stories, you’re sure to find a narrative that piques your interest.
日本語表現インフォ
One of the most difficult parts of learning another language can be expressions. As language conveys culture, each individual language has different expressions relevant to its own culture, and translating between them is no easy task. Thankfully for Japanese learners, there’s the helpful website 日本語表現インフォ, or “Japanese Expression Info” to make things a little easier.
The site is very straightforward, with various expressions grouped into different categories, like expressions conveying emotions, sensations, or people, for example. From there they’re often broken down even further, like expressions relevant to conveying different degrees of sadness.
While the website states the intent was to be a resource for people aiming to write in Japanese, it’s helpful for Japanese learners as well. Not only will using these sorts of expressions add a sense of naturalness to your own writing, but they might help you while reading Japanese. 日本語表現インフォ is a great resource for learning both Japanese language and culture.
Sail
Sail is a unique approach to Japanese language exchange apps. Available on iOS and Android, Japanese learners first register for an account, filling out some of their interests and a basic self-introduction. But rather than connect with teachers or other language learners, Sail connects you to native Japanese speakers in the form of retirees and senior citizens. Like all similar apps, you’re able to look at the profiles of various exchange partners, and find someone who might be a good fit in terms of interests and availability. Conversations are set to last 25 minutes, offering a contained experience: long enough that you’re able to actually chat, but not so long that you might run out of steam.
It’s a unique concept, and one that works well. Older people make good conversation partners, and are often very cordial and have a lot of free time. They’re excited to get the chance to connect to learners, and share something of their language and culture, and this eagerness is contagious. What’s even better is that Sail allows for unlimited conversations for a simple fee of $14.90 a month, with discounts at longer terms. This makes Sail one of the best bangs for your buck for Japanese learners hoping to converse.
Do you miss the good ol’ days of reading picture books as a kid? Would you like to know more about Japanese children’s books and the colorful images and themes they have inside? With the YouTube channel パパパパパピィ, you can read along, in a bedtime story fashion, to many different Japanese children’s books.
Each story is read front to back by the host of the channel, who keeps you engaged with different voices and sounds, depending on the character or noise. You’ll be able to follow along with the script, as the pages are shown while being narrated. Picture books are a great resource for beginner learners, as they don’t have as many kanji. The readings are very short, witheach video being under ten minutes long. Whether you’re looking to find more resources for your kids, or you’re wanting to bring back the nostalgia of reading children’s books, give this channel a go and watch how you’re instantly transported to the land of cheery Japanese stories!
Megumi’s Daily Japanese Adventures
If you’re wanting to get more listening practice in, the podcast Megumi’s Daily Japanese Adventures could be the right fit for you. This podcast was created for Japanese learners and could be used somewhat similarly to JLPT listening practice. In this podcast, the host, Megumi, talks about various experiences she’s had related to travel, Japanese culture, and more. The way Megumi describes these adventures is story-like, with background music to accompany her anecdotes and detailed accounts. She speaks slowly and clearly, which is good for those who are just beginning to listen to content that’s entirely in Japanese. The targeted audience for this podcast is around the intermediate level.
For listeners who would like to follow along with the dialogue, there are also transcripts on Megumi’s website. At the end of these transcripts, there are English translations for some of the more advanced vocabulary. The episodes are around 5 minutes in length, so they’re quick listens if you want to give them a go.
Human Japanese
Made by the same people who brought us Satori Reader, the Human Japanese apps are basically digital textbooks for Japanese, or as they call it, your “personal sensei in a box.” There is an app for beginners and then an intermediate-level version. The beginner version boasts over 500 pages of content and around 800 example sentences, with breakdowns of each word and particle to boot! When teaching kana and kanji, there are stroke order animations, and plenty of example words as well.
The lessons in this app are truly worded and organized like a textbook. You will find lessons related to food, school, geography, health, work, and the weather. Major grammar points are included as well, including lessons on verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjugations, counting, particles, and more. At the end of each lesson, you can find review quizzes. By default, you cannot move on to the next chapter until you have passed a chapter review quiz, but you can change this in the settings.
The overall design of the app is sleek and nice, but can feel a little dated to some seeing as it was originally created over a decade ago. Some pages are a little intimidating because of their word count, which some may find annoying. And there are no romaji to help you out; the app assumes you will learn hiragana and katakana. So if this kind of electronic textbook is just what you’re looking for, then Human Japanese may be for you. For readers looking to give it a try, they offer a lite version free of charge.
YomuJP
For the Japanese graded reader junkies out there looking for more material, you might want to check out YomuJP. This website is dedicated to providing Japanese learners with easy, level-appropriate reading content in a simple layout.
There are tons of writings in their database. Each article contains pictures, and even audio recordings of a native speaker reading the material. This means you can use this site for listening practice as well. The stories are separated by reading difficulty. There are six categories, from N6 to N1, with N6 being the easiest (introductory level Japanese) and N1 being the hardest (advanced Japanese). According to the site, this scale is based on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) with N6 being an even easier level than the JLPT’s lowest level of N5. You can browse articles by difficulty level or by tag.
The site also regularly posts to their Twitter page, often highlighting articles. New articles seem to be consistently released as well. If you are interested in practicing your reading (or listening) skills, or if you are thinking of studying for the JLPT, then consider YomuJP as one handy-dandy tool in your toolbox.
Thanks so much for following along with us to the end of the year, and the end of the article! We hope it’s been a helpful journey. From all of us at Tofugu, hope you have a relaxing 正月, and spring is right around the corner.
David Honeycutt, Ian J. Battaglia, and Rachel Grant
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Some fifteen years in the making, the mobile app economy has become an essential contributor to global GDP and a true force to be reckoned with for both technologists and advertisers alike. More than $320,000 flowed through app stores every minute of 2021, an increase of nearly 20% from the year earlier. In addition, consumers are downloading more than 435,000 apps per minute — a truly astonishing figure — according to Data.ai, and things don’t seem to be slowing down.
Given all the buzz, what should you be watching if you’re set on capturing the hearts and minds of consumers, who are already spending a third of their waking hours consuming app content in an increasingly mobile-first world? Here is my list of top emerging mobile app trends as I take stock of 2022 and look ahead to the new year:
1. Augmented Reality looks set to continue its meteoric rise
Maybe it’s because the reality of the state of the world is so grim, or because seeing a dystopian world we live in through colored lenses has always held a certain appeal, but for whatever reason, augmented reality (AR) is becoming more and more popular. An increasing number of apps are launching new AR-based features. Even IKEA has started leveraging AR technology to allow shoppers to virtually “try on” furniture, using 3D models of their homes within the IKEA Place app, before making a purchase.
Back in September, an iOS 16 release saw the cutout feature being added to iPhone photos, where people can take the subject of a photo out of an image and place that subject — be it a person or a particularly scenic tree or whatever else — in different backgrounds.
Video background editing and even face-swapping tech are also growing in dominance, with these technologies becoming more advanced and easier to use as we’re quickly moving away from the days of blurry backgrounds and superimposed people in TikToks. Popular meme communities are taking full advantage of AR-enabled face-swapping tools to facilitate quick, easy and fun meme editing. Various video editing apps have also hit the market, allowing people to use AR to place animated 3D models on their surroundings — something businesses can use to create fun and appealing videos of their products.
Thanks to the winning combination of accessibility for fast-improving AR technology and users’ creative potential, we will likely see almost studio-quality content coming from lesser-known sources shortly. The democratization of content creation is well underway, and new developments on the AR front are likely to further this trend.
2. Consumers are finding new ways to monetize their app-based activities
The idea of making extra cash is not new, but the cost-of-living crisis keenly felt across geographic and generational divides, and the rise of social networking is providing additional incentives for gamers, content creators and app users of all stripes to find new ways to monetize their activities.
Meta’s Instagram rolled out its ‘subscription’ features in August 2022 for creators to monetize exclusive content, and we’re likely to see more mobile apps attempt this to help users make money as compensation for their creative efforts. In the memes niche, Yepp launched earlier this year and began offering to share its advertising revenues with its users for consuming and creating memes content within the app. Given the current economic situation, I would not be surprised if this revenue-share model gains popularity in the coming months.
We will also likely see more ecommerce or peer-to-peer sales being rolled into social media apps as digital marketing evolves – so people may buy more clothing, artwork and other goods and services outside of established ecommerce platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Etsy or Depop, which were specifically set up with buying and selling (and not content creation) in mind.
3. Users are becoming an integral part of the mobile development process
With beta testing, app developers and companies are becoming increasingly focused on growing communities as there is a growing realization that a more diverse range of voices is essential for feedback and product tweaking.
User-driven innovation has long been the holy grail for tech companies trying to guess the next big thing on the horizon. Increasingly, management and marketing gurus have been trying to map out what firms can purposefully do to generate consumer innovation efforts.
I am betting that we will start to see more users and customers being brought in at the early stages of the app development process, resulting in products that are increasingly made by the people and for the people.
4. Mobile wallets and rewards are set to get bigger and better, both for customers and for the planet
The 2021 Mobile Wallet report claims that usage will increase by 74% from 2021 to 2025, reaching 4.8 billion mobile wallets by the end of 2025 — as comfort, security and responsiveness grow in importance for users while faith in traditional banks and financial systems erodes amid worrying and uncertainty-inducing financial headlines.
We are already seeing consumers growing more careful with their finances, so 2023 might bring a renewed surge in wallets and apps that offer greater benefits and rewards to win over customers (just not crypto exchanges!).
In this environment of budget consciousness, we are also likely to see more social and ESG-focused apps. These apps will likely inspire consumers to save or spend less while also benefiting their communities by promoting the greater social and environmental good. This trend of socially conscious, waste-reducing, economically and environmentally sound initiatives within app models will likely continue its upward trajectory in 2023 and beyond.
THE BELOVED TEXAS ICEHOUSE LAUNCHES BRAND NEW APP WITH REWARDS AND BENEFITS FOR LOYAL CUSTOMERS
Press Release –
Dec 7, 2022 11:36 CST
HOUSTON, December 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Willie’s Grill & Icehouse is kicking off the holiday season with the gift that literally keeps on giving! Customers are invited to download the restaurant’s brand new app to redeem free menu items and rack up points to enjoy perks and giveaways all year long at all of their locations across Texas.
The free app is downloadable via the App Store and Google Play store on mobile devices by searching for “Willie’s Rewards” or “Willie’s Grill & Icehouse”, and the sooner customers download it, the sooner they can earn points to be used toward mouthwatering prizes. Each order receipt will have a barcode that app users can scan to add their points to their account. Once they’ve earned enough points to redeem a reward, they will find the available reward within their app. From here, they will be prompted to click the “Redeem” button and a QR code and promo code will appear. Their server will then enter the code into the point-of-sale system and the discount will be applied.
Customers will receive a free appetizer when they download the app and create a user profile. App users will receive one point for every dollar they spend that will be applied to their rewards. Rewards are available as follows: 30 Points earns a Free Fountain Beverage or Upgraded Side, 45 Points equates to a Free Small Appetizer, 60 Points earns a Free Dessert or Kids Meal, 100 Points equals one Free Large Appetizer (excluding Sampler and Nachos), 150 Points earns a Free Sandwich, Burger, Soup, Salad, Chicken, or Wings, and 250 Points rewards customers with Free Tacos, Any Coastal Catch Choice, Entrée, or Wings.
Diehard Willie’s fans will vie for three different levels of membership based on the amount of points they collect. The Bronze Level (0-149 Points) will grant guests a Free Fountain Beverage every 90 Days, the Silver Level (150-499 Points) awards a Free Large Appetizer every 60 Days, and the prestigious Gold Level (500+ Points) will reward guests with a Free Large Appetizer every 30 Days. All menu items are available to redeem with points, with the exception of Nachos and The Sampler appetizers unless otherwise specified.
Last, but not least, the quintessential Texas icehouse will continue to offer benefits to customers while celebrating life’s milestones via the brand new app. Users will receive Free Birthday Meals, Free Half-Birthday Desserts, and Free Anniversary Meals. The app is now available for download, so customers can begin racking up points and redeeming prizes, ending the year with a head start on New Year’s savings.
Relai, a Swiss company that provides a non-custodial bitcoin wallet app, has reported that November 2022 was its best month in terms of volume and revenue. According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, the app saw an increase of 60% compared to the previous month of October 2022.
The company also reports that November 2022 was its best month for both active users and new users, saying that more people downloaded the app in November than in September and October combined.
Simultaneously, the director general of market infrastructure and payments at the European Central Bank and an advisor released an article on November 30 titled “Bitcoin’s Last Stand,” that described Bitcoin as on the “road to irrelevance.” The paper criticized the investment thesis of bitcoin, the technology’s importance and its relevance as a payments mechanism. This stance isn’t necessarily new as the ECB has expressed its contempt for Bitcoin before.
In response to this and the recent data, CEO and Co-Founder of Relai Julian Liniger said, “If Bitcoin is doomed to fail, why is the ECB spending so much effort attacking it over and over? To me, it seems that it boils down to either not understanding Bitcoin and mixing it up with ‘crypto,’ or that the ECB in fact understands and fears it. Looking at our numbers and the positive long-term sentiment in the Bitcoin community shows that the ECB is just out of touch with what is happening in the real world. In fact, the ECB is on the road to irrelevance and Bitcoin is just getting started.”
A recent update covered in Bitcoin Magazine means Relai now has support for 24/7 bitcoin purchases on Visa, Mastercard and Apple Pay. With this, and further expected investment into the user-experience of the app, the company continues on its stated mission of being Europe’s easiest and quickest way of acquiring bitcoin.
Newswise — A vision for building sustainable, self-driven healthcare spanning primary care, secondary care and the wider health and social care system has been set out by medical innovators writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Self-driven healthcare (SDH) is an umbrella term introduced by Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, to conceptualise aspects of healthcare delivery that can support people in becoming more engaged in managing their own health and wellbeing, rather than being passive receivers of healthcare.
In their paper, the authors, from Imperial College London and Innovate UK, describe an SDH ecosystem that supports individuals to take more ownership of their health and wellbeing and in recording their own data (e.g. weight, blood pressure) using a phone app, tablet, computer or Bluetooth device. This self-generated data would then be uploaded onto a secure online SDH portal which holds all their health records, including those generated in the wider healthcare system.
Lead author Dr Austen El-Osta, Director of the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) at Imperial College London, said: “Individuals would also enter other data such as what medication they had taken that day, the food they had eaten or the exercise they had done. They may even have a range of other devices that automatically record and upload useful information, such as environmental data about local air quality that day.”
A personalised dashboard would automatically present the user with their ‘digital twin’ and the portal may also be enabled to routinely offered insights and actionable advice, including microlearning and behaviour change interventions and a holistic picture of the person’s overall health and wellbeing status.
Dr El-Osta said: “The vision for SDH is that these personal healthcare management systems are integrated with the wider healthcare system, including the NHS.” He added: “SDH would support better online interaction with healthcare professionals and improve the exchange of information, including shareable personal healthcare records and self-generated data.”
Dr El-Osta and his co-authors believe that by building a personal healthcare infrastructure capability that connects people to the wider healthcare system, SDH also has the potential to integrate a wider range of activities, such as AI-guided clinical coaching, preventative medicine and home clinical trials.
When applied at scale, SDH ecosystems could, say the authors, help governments and health organisations, including the NHS, to achieve their ambition of improving health outcomes while controlling costs and addressing priority areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion, levelling up and net-zero.
The authors caution that the SDH approach must create better access to all sections of the community rather than just wealthier and more technically literate individuals. It is also crucial, they say, that the SDH movement does not exacerbate inequalities due to the digital divide.
Dr Chris Rowe, Medical Technology Innovation Lead at Innovate UK said: “How SDH is adopted in the future is very important, especially when it is applied to help enhance the consumer health system by trying to link it effectively with state-funded NHS health and social care systems. It will be important to determine if these online environments will be provided by expanding the NHS App, for example, or by commercial companies.”
The flexible work app, Instawork, matches a network of on-demand hourly workers with Florida businesses.
Press Release –
Dec 1, 2022 08:00 EST
SAN FRANCISCO, December 1, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Instawork, the leading platform for connecting businesses with skilled workers, announced today the platform’s availability to hourly workers in the Tampa area looking to earn higher wages as holiday and end-of-year travel are expected to be the highest in years.
In Tampa, the average hourly pay rate on the Instawork platform is $16.52 per hour, a vast improvement over the state’s minimum wage of $11 per hour. That steep increase gives Sunshine State residents a way to pay for expensive additions to their household budgets during the holidays.
It also comes as New York Fed researchers recently reported that credit card balances in the third quarter were up $38 billion – the biggest annual increase in more than two decades. Florida residents can remedy this and start paying down their holiday bills by downloading the Instawork app, creating a profile, and finding work opportunities with businesses across the Tampa area.
While Florida recently increased the state minimum wage by a dollar as part of its six-year plan to bring the minimum wage to $15 by 2026, flexible workers who join Instawork can achieve an increased level of income without delay. Immediate access to higher pay rates are also crucial with current inflation and a recession looming.
More than 60,000 people in Tampa have already downloaded the Instawork app and are working to staff business locations across the area. Common roles for Instawork in Tampa include general labor, counter staff/cashier, warehouse associate, line cook, and event servers. Local workers can easily create a profile, find a shift that matches their skills and interests, and start working in as little as 24 hours.
“I love Instawork and will likely never go back to a full-time job again,” said James Morter, an Instawork Pro and Tampa resident. “It gives me the flexibility I need to take care of my kids and pick and choose when I work. It’s by far the best work platform I’ve tried.”
Tampa businesses that rely on Instawork range from nationally-recognized hotels and restaurant groups to some of the area’s favorite local hot spots and sports venues. They have easy access to quality, reliable workers, following Instawork’s announcement that over 1 million people have joined the app in recent months leading up to the holiday season to fill shifts in the first post-Covid holiday season.
“Instawork has been a blessing for us. We would not be able to operate without it. Instawork has completely changed the staffing landscape for the better,” said Steve Andress, President of Florida Statewide Logistics.
Instawork is currently staffing businesses in more than 30 markets across the U.S. and Canada. Those interested in learning more about Instawork should visit www.instawork.com or download the app.
About Instawork Founded in 2016, Instawork is the leading flexible work app for local, hourly professionals. Its digital marketplace connects thousands of businesses and more than three million workers, filling a critical role in local economies. Instawork has been featured on CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Associated Press, and more. In 2022, Instawork was ranked in the top 10% of the country’s fastest-growing companies by Inc. 5000 and was included in the Forbes Next Billion Dollar Startup list. Instawork was also named the 2022 ACE Award recipient for “Best Innovation,” one of the “Best Business Apps” by Business Insider. Instawork helps businesses in the food & beverage, hospitality, and warehouse/logistics industries fill temporary and permanent job opportunities in more than 30 markets across the U.S. and Canada. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Newswise — University of Oregon faculty members from our School of Journalism and Communication who research social and mass media trends and developments are available to discuss the recent developments involving Twitter and its new ownership: from a business perspective, what it means for the social media landscape, as well as the broader cultural reverberations it may have.
Our faculty experts:
Damian Radcliffe, Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism: Damian Radcliffe is an academic expert in news media trends, social media, community journalism, and media policy. As an experienced digital analyst, consultant, journalist, and researcher, he can speak to media policy and the media landscape. His research focuses on the usage of social media and wider trends in local media, technology, the business of media, and journalism innovation. https://uonews.uoregon.edu/damian-radcliffe-school-journalism-and-communication
Newswise — A lawsuit was filed against Twitter for allegedly violating California’s WARN Act by failing to give enough notice about ongoing mass layoffs.
CathyCreighton is the director of the Buffalo Co-Lab at Cornell’s ILR School and a labor law expert. She can speak to the law, implications for Twitter and possible impacts for the wider labor-management landscape.
Creighton says:
“Musk’s treatment of his workers is very poor in so many ways. Termination of employment is one of the worst things that can happen to a person as it eliminates a means of providing a person and their family with a living. Employees do not expect to be summarily terminated, especially by a person of such wealth and means as Mr. Musk. Since health insurance is often tied to employment in the U.S., employees who are terminated also lose their health insurance, which can be devastating. Shame on Mr. Musk for treating his workers so callously and shabby.
“Twitter may be running afoul of federal and state law. Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), when there is a mass layoff, employers must give 60 days’ notice to employees. It does not seem that employees received such notice. Additionally, California law requires 60 days’ notice and there are higher penalties for violating the law. Failure to give proper notice under the California WARN Act results in a penalty of $500 per day per employee. Additionally, the employer must pay employees’ health insurance claims as if the employee had their employer health insurance plan during the notice period.
“Employees who are unionized would receive notice and an opportunity to bargain over a layoff. Tech workers in the U.S. who are looking at their employers following Elon Musk’s lead might want to consider unionizing their workplaces. A unionized workforce has many protections that nonunion employees do not have – this is just one example.”
Cornell University has dedicated television and audio studios available for media interviews.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
People are spending more time on their phones these days, which means businesses need to meet customers where they are. One estimate finds that by 2025, mobile will account for 44.2 percent of all ecommerce transactions. So, while you’re busy flipping through your favorite apps, it may be time to learn how to make an app for your business, too.
AppMySite
Fortunately, it’s also easier than ever to build an app without having any technical expertise, thanks to AppMySite.
AppMySite claims to be the world’s easiest app builder, with an intuitive app development environment that makes it easy to both turn an existing website into an iOS and Android app, or build a personalized app from scratch. AppMySite gives you the option to upload your own artwork or choose from an extensive easy image library to customize your mobile app to align with your business goals. You can preview how it will look on Google Play Store and the App Store before publishing, and actively use your app before it goes live.
Once it’s live, you can seamlessly manage and update your app with powerful add-ons, real-time sync, smart search, and more cool features. That means when you sync the app with your website, any changes you make to your site will update on your app as well.
With an AppMySite Pro Plan, you’ll be able to build apps for both iOS and Android using AppMySite’s extensive tools. In an age where everything is trending towards mobile, you need to cast a wide net, which is exactly what AppMySite helps you do.
Find out why AppMySite has earned a 4.4/5-star rating on the Google Play Store, 4.7/5-stars from Trustpilot, and 4.8/5-stars from Capterra. For a limited time, you can get a five-year AppMySite Pro Plan for just $49.99.
Changing leaves, cooler weather, the scent of pumpkin spice — break out the flannel, Autumn’s here! For many, that might mean back to school, but even if not, it’s a great time to refocus your Japanese studies. Here’s some of the best Japanese learning resources that were new to us over the past few months. So get cozy and get studying!
Migaku Pitch Trainer
Have trouble getting the pitch of that word just right? This is where Migaku Pitch Trainer comes in! With both a free and paid version, users can take lessons and practice training their ears to distinguish between different types of pitch accents used when pronouncing Japanese words. Unlike some other apps with fantasy words to focus on pitch or computer-generated recordings, Migaku Pitch Trainer uses real Japanese words, and has recordings by native speakers.
The home page contains four main areas: Learn, Train Now, Custom Session, and Achievements. Near the bottom are links to a placement test, as well as a reference guide. Many of these features are free to use to a point, but some (like the Custom Session and placement test) require a paid account from the get-go. Later lessons also require a paid account. For the overall design and quality, it seems like a site worth using. And the audio sound quality is great which makes being able to distinguish between different pitch patterns easy.
Some of the audio files may not play immediately upon being clicked, and some of the recordings may cut off at weird places, but other than that, this site is a great place to get in some pitch accent practice. The addition of a fluid interface and an achievements section really add to the appeal of the site. Going through the lessons is fun, and you can really feel the improvement in your pitch accent skills.
Pokémon Kids TV Japan
Pokémon-loving learners of Japanese, rejoice! If you didn’t know already, there is a Pokémon-themed YouTube channel with lots of great videos in Japanese (and English) that may be useful for listening practice and immersion. Videos are designed for kids, so the Japanese used in each one is relatively simple, slow, and many videos come with Japanese subtitles!
There are a number of different kinds of videos. The channel currently boasts 23 different playlists ranging in content from ASMR, to exercise videos, to stories, and more. The Experience Adventure playlist is also very educational. Ever want to learn more about airplanes and pilots? There’s a video for that! What about sumo or dentistry? There are videos all about those too.
Even though these videos are aimed at Japanese children, they can be very valuable to learners of Japanese as well. The inclusion of subtitles in Japanese helps viewers confirm what they are hearing, and can serve as a way to encounter new vocabulary. It’s fun to use Pokémon Kids TV to learn new words in context. Learners looking to improve their listening skills can use the audio as listening practice, while confirming later with subtitles. But learning aside, the videos on this channel are top-notch quality and overall enjoyable to watch. The abundance of topics also means that there is just about something for everyone to enjoy!
JLPT Grammar List and Example Sentences by Chika Sensei’s Japanese Academy
Chika Sensei’s Japanese Academy is a site dedicated to helping Japanese learners study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at all levels. They offer a range of services, from private classes to grammar explanation videos on YouTube. Now, Chika Sensei has a list of Japanese grammar points into documents differentiated by JLPT level. By submitting your name and email address at her website, you will be sent an email containing links to these grammar lists free of charge.
The lists themselves are high quality, and contain a large amount of grammar structures. In every level, she demonstrates each point with an example sentence. At lower levels (N5-N4), she includes an English equivalent of the grammar structure, as well as an English translation of the example sentence in Japanese. And in the N1 lists, all English goes away and is instead supplemented by multiple example sentences in Japanese. It seems that N1 learners get some tough love here, as they will have to look up each grammar point via other resources if they desire an explanation.
A major plus about these grammar lists is the fact that there is a checkbox for every grammar point. This allows learners to physically check off any grammar structure they think is mastered. Paper-and-pen studiers may particularly enjoy this feature. And arguably the best part about these lists is that they are all free. To create such a nice, useful resource and put it out on the Internet in this way is absolutely amazing.
JPDB.io
JPDB.io is a web app combining a rich Japanese native material database with an SRS to learn the vocabulary for anime, dramas, novels, and more; before you dive in to immerse yourself. Many Japanese learners are familiar with using reading or other native material to learn Japanese as it’s used in context, from grammar to vocabulary. However, rather than making flashcards from words you don’t know from a book you’re currently reading, for example, JPDB.io allows you to learn and review the words you don’t know before even opening the cover.
Combined with this novel approach to vocabulary building is a full-featured Japanese media database. While other sites offer lists of various recommended books or TV series for Japanese learners, by combining this with an SRS that knows your vocabulary, JPDB.io is able to offer recommendations for media that should already be very comprehensible to you.
It’s still in active development, so it’s not quite perfect yet, but JPDB is quickly becoming a one-stop-shop for Japanese learners who want to build their vocabularies and practice with native media all in one place.
Immersion Kit
Ever find a Japanese word out of context, and want an example sentence you’ll actually remember? Or find a word in a novel, news article, or out in the world, and want something a little more dynamic to make a flashcard out of? Look no further than Immersion Kit!
Immersion Kit is a dictionary site containing over 400,000 different Japanese sentences from various anime series. Additionally, every sentence has a screenshot from that moment in the anime, as well as the audio of the line from the show. From there, users can download entire flashcards to add to their Anki decks, or just the audio or picture if you’d like to make your own.
By default, the sentences are sorted by length, with the shortest appearing up top, but you can filter by JLPT level, WaniKani level, or even the anime it comes from (if you wanted to make a deck with only sentences from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, for example). The anime database is by far the largest, though sentences from dramas, games, news, and literature are slowly being added as well.
All in all, Immersion Kit is a great site for Japanese learners who appreciate seeing words in context to learn.
Speak Japanese Naturally
Speak Japanese Naturally is a Japanese-language learning YouTube channel launched in June of 2020. The host, Fumi, offers a wide range of instructive videos, focusing on grammar, pronunciation, and as the name implies, getting closer to how Japanese is actually spoken rather than “textbook language.”
Fumi uses a ton of different sources, from interviews, music, and anime, to help convey her explanations. These explanations are offered in English, making Speak Japanese Naturally a great channel for even beginner or lower-intermediate Japanese learners.
While pitch accents, pronunciation, and natural phrasing are cornerstones of Speak Japanese Language, the content isn’t quite as honed in as some channels, which might only focus on grammar, for example. But on the other hand, this keeps videos feeling fresh, offering a spread of videos interesting to many different types of learners. If you want to make your Japanese sound a bit more natural, or just want to mix up your YouTube rotation, give Speak Japanese Naturally a try!
週末の酒がうまい、BRUTUSの聞くレシピ
Cooks and foodies alike are in for a treat with the Brutus Weekend Cooking podcast, 週末の酒がうまい、BRUTUSの聞くレシピ. If you’re not yet familiar with BRUTUS, it’s a Japanese lifestyle magazine with articles on fashion, travel, and more. Each of these podcast episodes is around 20 minutes long and focuses on one dish and one beverage that pair nicely together. The podcast hosts and occasional guests discuss how to make the food and drink as well as related topics, like the best place to enjoy these meals.
Unlike a cooking video, where viewers can watch the cooking techniques and mimic them later, the lack of visuals forces you to test your listening comprehension. If you’ve been wanting to learn more cooking-related terminology, this will be a good opportunity for you to hear more about how to mix, chop, or sauté in Japanese. The speed of the conversation is relatively slow despite being a podcast for native speakers. Japanese learners from upper beginner on will be able to enjoy this series.
Each podcast episode is also accompanied by an article on the menu, which you can find on the BRUTUS website under the “Cook” or 料理する section. The articles are in Japanese and include the recipe as well as some beautiful photos of the pairings. Listen before your next dinner party and see how your creation turns out!
AxTongue
Do you learn best through music? Are you a fan of Japanese karaoke? If so, AxTongue could be a resource you want to know about. AxTongue is a website that features YouTube videos of Japanese songs with user-submitted lyrics in both Japanese and English. That means that you can listen to Japanese songs and practice the language at the same time.
While watching a music video, you can follow along with the captions conveniently displayed below. The highlighted portion of the Japanese lyrics will correspond to the highlighted portion of the English lyrics. There’s an added element of learning with some words removed from the lyrics, and later revealed when that part is sung. There are also more detailed explanations in the upper corner for specific grammar and word help.
Currently, AxTongue primarily features songs, but also includes some language learning conversation videos as well. This resource could be used by any level of learner but is particularly good for upper beginners and intermediate learners. Whether you’d like to give these songs a listen or contribute your own lyrics to a video, head on over to their site.
にほんごで働く！ビジネス日本語30時間
Have you ever thought about working for a Japanese company? Does the thought of using honorific speech and strict business mannerisms scare you? If so, you may want to check out にほんごで働く！ビジネス日本語30時間 (meaning Work in Japanese! Business Japanese in 30 Hours). Originally published in 2009, this book was updated in early 2022. Like your standard business Japanese textbook, it makes sure you are well-versed in using honorific speech (keigo) and provides plenty of opportunities to practice through sample conversations and role-play activities.
Separated into eight chapters, you will learn what to do and say at a Japanese company in a number of situations: taking phone calls, asking requests, receiving permission, making appointments, and more. Each chapter begins with a warm-up quiz, special expressions, and business-related vocabulary. Then it goes into short interactions, which become the basis of longer conversations in the following section. After that is a role-play section, a practice section (with an emphasis on honorific speech), and finally, a business column in which aspects of Japanese business culture and manners are explained.
As the title indicates, the entire book can be completed in just 30 hours if you dedicate around 3-4 hours per chapter. The design is minimalistic and completely in monochrome which may not be ideal for some learners. It also does not directly teach you honorific speech in each chapter; an explanation of honorific speech is provided in the back of the book.
That said, it does include a separate word booklet with English, Chinese, and Korean translations of all the vocabulary and phrases, which is convenient for people who dislike having to flip to the glossary in the back of the book when they want to look up a word. Additionally, furigana is used above every kanji, so that every word is readable. Plus, all vocabulary presented in each chapter includes pitch accent information. This is valuable for learners who wish to sound as native as possible. And as with many textbooks, there is an accompanying CD with native recordings of all of the sample conversations.
While the minimalist, wordy design may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the amount of content and features packed into this book is definitely worth the price. There’s a consistent flow throughout, and the business culture information at the end of each chapter is really valuable. According to the teacher information at the front of the book, this text’s difficulty is somewhere around JLPT N2 and above. If you are studying for those tests (or just for business Japanese in particular), then this book may be just what you are looking for.
RiceBurger Studios
If you’re looking for some cute and entertaining videos to watch to learn Japanese, RiceBurger Studios has you covered. These videos can be found on both their YouTube channel and Instagram page, with slightly different content depending on the platform. The main two characters, Oni and Han – derived from the words onigiri and hanbāgā — are a talking riceball and hamburger duo that teach Japanese in a fun and approachable way. This is similar to their creators, two friends whose imagination inspired the voices and animation behind it.
The videos that RiceBurger offers cover various topics like helpful conversational phrases, casual speech, grammar points, and other exercises. Most of these videos are under two minutes in length so you can breeze through them quickly. In these videos, the characters use a mix of Japanese and English. Oftentimes, there are captions to go along with the dialogue in both languages as well. Learners who are around intermediate level will find this the most helpful, but these can be viewed and enjoyed by almost all learners.
Let’s Learn Japanese with Movies Podcast
Any film buffs out there? The Let’s Learn Japanese with Movies Podcast is a podcast designed for people just like you! The way it works is there are three parts to the resource — the film, the podcast, and the transcripts of the podcast. You can choose the order of operations here based on what you’d like to focus on. The films are short, mostly award-winners, and in various languages, including silent films.
Each film is broken down into multi-part podcast series where the host, Aki, discusses the film in slow and simple Japanese. The speed and level of vocabulary makes this a good podcast for beginner learners, which it’s intended for. The episodes are all about ten minutes long and are entirely in Japanese, except for the occasional English translation word used to help listeners. There is also a Q&A session during the podcasts where Aki asks the listener questions based on what’s been said, motivating the listener to pay close attention to the details. Give it a watch, a listen, and a read!
Kanji Adventures for Gamers and Vtuber Fans by Nihongo Picnic
Kanji Adventures for Gamers and Vtuber Fans is an online course by Nihongo Picnic, a Japanese language school that offers a variety of different courses geared towards the JLPT, business Japanese, kanji, and more.
The class is geared towards learners around the JLPT N3 level but can accommodate learners at the N4 and N2 levels as well. Words with kanji that are common in the Japanese gaming and vtuber (short for virtual YouTuber — someone that makes videos on YouTube using a virtual avatar) communities make up the main content of each lesson. And while word meanings and usages are broken down, the real focus is on their kanji. The entire course covers about 140 kanji and lasts three months, meeting once a week. English is often used by the teacher to explain difficult concepts.
A typical lesson will open with a theme and short discussion. The theme for the sample class was ゲームスキル (game skills) and introduced six words made up of two kanji each, totaling 12 kanji to be learned in that session. For example, we covered two words: 連打 (renda, button-mashing) and 裏技 (urawaza, hidden move or life hack).
Learners are first taught how to pronounce each word
using standard pitch-accent based on the NHK pitch accent dictionary.
Then, kanji for each of these words are broken down into their
individual components and memory hints are provided (similar to what WaniKani does). Learners are also given a chance to write each character on the screen. Once each character is broken down and the full word can be recognized, there is a short conversation that utilizes the word in question. Students are given a chance to practice the dialogue with other students and the teacher. When the class finishes going through all of the words for that lesson, homework is assigned. The class also references WaniKani a lot, offering students a coupon code, and optional homework connected to the app; though being a WaniKani user is not required.
We sampled this Kanji Adventures for Gamers and Vtuber Fans class and it was highly enjoyable; the instructor was very understanding and really made sure all the students were accommodated. The colorful slides, and opportunities to use what one has learned are a huge plus that learners of any level will benefit from.
The course can seem a bit pricey, but that stems from the fact that Nihongo Picnic offers small courses with certified professional, native Japanese teachers. If you would like online lessons with a small class size, Nihongo Picnic likely has something you can take for the right price.
While that might be all for this edition, the fun doesn’t have to stop here! Should you happen across any other great resources, send us an email at hello@tofugu.com, or reach out to us on Twitter @tofugu. We love hearing from you, and finding new study resources to share together!
David Honeycutt, Ian J. Battaglia, and Rachel Grant
Sniffies’ “Tech and the New Fluidity of Male Sexuality” panel at SXSW 2022 will feature queer thought leaders and sex educators discussing our evolving sexual attitudes
Press Release –
Mar 9, 2022
NEW YORK, March 9, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Sniffies today announced their participation in SXSW 2022 with a panel titled “Tech and the New Fluidity of Male Sexuality.”
The panel will take place on March 17, at 11:30 a.m. at the Austin Marriott Downtown in the Waller Ballroom DEF as part of SXSW’s Culture Track. The session will feature panelists Jacob Tobia, Zachary Zane, and Alexander Cheves, and will be moderated by Sniffies CMO and Creative Director Eli Martin.
The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as LGBTQ has doubled in the past decade, and 1 in 5 members of Generation Z identify within the LGBTQ spectrum. We’re seeing a record level of queer representation in media, and platforms like TikTok and YouTube have helped shine a spotlight on gender and sexual expressions traditionally thought of as “alternative.” It’s never been more clear: the rigid boundaries we’ve constructed around masculinity are shifting.
Sniffies is proud to partner with SXSW for this groundbreaking, culture-shifting panel that will further the work Sniffies has done to build and promote a dialogue about male sexual expression and exploration. Sniffies has assembled leaders in the field of gender and sexual thought, and is looking forward to challenging and adding to existing discussions about male sexual expression.
“Traditional models of masculinity are fading into obsolescence,” Martin said, “and the time has come to discover how we will redefine masculinity in a world where younger generations are increasingly identifying outside of heteronormativity.”
Zachary Zane (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based columnist, sex expert, and activist whose work focuses on sexuality, culture, and the LGBTQ community. His work has been published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, GQ, Playboy, Cosmo, and many others.
Alexander Cheves (he/him) has been writing about sexual health, queer relationships, and LGBTQ+ culture for a decade. Cheves is a recipient of a 2021 Excellence in Journalism award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and, in 2021, was named to the Out 100.
Eli Martin (he/him) is the CMO and Creative Director at Sniffies. Martin has spent the last two years building Sniffies through content forward marketing, influencer and social advertising and ground-up initiatives activating queer communities throughout the U.S. Martin’s vision for Sniffies imagines a world free of sexual judgment, censorship and full of boundless inclusion and fluidity.
OLYMPIA, Wash., November 28, 2021 (Newswire.com)
– The Tux Paint development team is proud to announce version 0.9.27 of Tux Paint, which adds many new features to the popular children’s drawing program.
Six new Magic tools have been added to Tux Paint. “Panels” shrinks and duplicates the drawing into a 2-by-2 grid, which is useful for making four-panel comics. “Opposite” produces complementary colors. “Lightning” interactively draws a lightning bolt. “Reflection” creates a lake-like reflection on the drawing. “Stretch” stretches and squashes the picture like a fun-house mirror. Lastly, “Smooth Rainbow” provides a more gradual variation of Tux Paint’s classic “Rainbow” tool.
A number of existing Magic tools have been updated, as well. Improvements were made to “Halftone,” which simulates photographs on newsprint; “Cartoon,” which makes an image look like a cartoon drawing; and “TV,” which simulates a television screen. Additionally, “Cartoon” and “Halftone,” along with “Blocks,” “Chalk,” and “Emboss,” now offer the ability to alter the entire image at once. Finally, Magic tools are now grouped into collections of similar effects — painting, distorts, color filters, picture warps, pattern painting, artistic, and picture decorations — making it easier to find the tool you need.
Tux Paint’s Paint and Line tools now support brushes that rotate based on the angle of the stroke. This new rotation feature, as well as the older directional and animated brush features, are now visually indicated by the brush shape selector. Additionally, the Fill tool now offers a freehand painting mode for interactively coloring within a confined area.
Tux Paint Config., the separate program that ships with Tux Paint to provide a user-friendly method of altering the program’s settings, has been updated to better support larger, high-resolution displays. Also, this version introduces support for the Recycle Bin on Windows — images deleted from Tux Paint’s “Open” dialog will now be placed in the Recycle Bin rather than deleted immediately.
The Tux Paint website now hosts a new gallery showcasing fantastic artwork created by Tux Paint artists of all ages. The gallery features over 200 drawings by artists from all around the world.
Tux Paint is available for download, free of charge, from the project’s website: http://www.tuxpaint.org. Version 0.9.27 is currently available for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, Android, Red Hat Linux, various other Linux distributions (via Flatpak), and as source code. Tux Paint is open source software and does not contain in-app advertising.
Skilli World is a ‘Real Money Trivia’ app that asks only 5 true or false questions in its $1,000 Daily Mastermind Tournament
Press Release –
updated: Jan 29, 2020
TORONTO, January 29, 2020 (Newswire.com)
– Skilli World, a “Real Money Trivia” app, has announced it’s giving away $15,000 in free tournaments throughout February to celebrate the trivia app’s continued growth since its official launch in September of 2019. Some of these free-to-play tournaments include trivia from Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Marvel vs. DC, and many more. The objective of the campaign is to give back to the existing Skilli World community and to allow new players to win real money without risk.
Skilli World is a trivia app that enables players to test their skill and knowledge to earn real money. Within the app, there are Caribbean space-huts that run trivia tournaments 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Trivia questions are based on exciting topics that include popular movies, TV shows, entertainment, science, history, sports and much more. Users can check out Skilli World’s schedules directly in the app.
Every day, the mystical Skilli hosts a Daily Mastermind Tournament (“DMT”) that is open to all players and starts at 9:30 p.m. EST. The DMT asks five true or false questions per tournament and has a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000 USD. To get paid real money, all players have to do is answer all five questions correctly; and don’t worry if you get one wrong – a SkillUP (second life) can be used to get back in the game. DMT prizes are split equally, so if there are 1,000 players and 100 answer all five questions correctly, those 100 split the prize pool.
Unlike other trivia apps, Skilli World sets a maximum limit on the number of players in its Daily Mastermind Tournament. This allows Skilli World to have one of the best player-to-prize ratios, rivaling the payouts of other trivia apps.
“This February is all about giving back to the players,” says Matthew De Angelis, co-founder of Skilli World. “To our existing community, we know they will greatly appreciate us raising the DMT prize to $1,000 a night with $15,000 in free tournaments. To all new players, February is the perfect month to play without risk, get a feel for the app, and see why Skilli World has become the best trivia app to make real money.”
For more information and to play trivia, download the app at iOS and Android or visit SkilliWorld.com. To view Skilli World’s February $15K Giveaway tournament schedule, visit www.skilliworld.com/2.
About Skilli World
Skilli World was created by technology company Under The Tree Ltd. to bring real money trivia to the real world. More information can be found at SkilliWorld.com or connect with them on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Art education is increasingly cut from school curriculums due to budget cuts, but online learning can reverse that trend. Madcap Logic’s ‘Creativity Express’ apps earn top awards from Lumos Learning Teachers for introducing children to the elements and principles of art through engaging animated lessons.
Tampa, FL, May 24, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– Creativity Express is a multi-award winning Visual Arts Curriculum created by former Disney animators and professional educators. Each lesson features expert animation and engaging characters, followed by hands-on activities to strengthen understanding of the ideas presented. Each App contains a set of four lessons, covering the full 16 lesson Creativity Express Online curriculum.
“Arts education isn’t something we add on after we’ve achieved other priorities like raising test scores and getting kids into college. It’s actually critical for achieving those priorities in the first place.”
Michelle Obama, First Lady
‘Start With Art’ contains the first four introductory lessons from Creativity Express. The lessons in ‘Start With Art’ are designed to begin a child’s journey into the world of art, creativity, and visual learning.
Lessons: ‘Art as a Language’, ‘Messages in Art’, ‘Line’, ’Shape & Form’
‘Start With Art’ received a top 5-star rating. The lesson content is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts: VA:Cr1.1.5a, VA:Cr1.2.3a, VA:Cr1.2.Ka, VA:Cr2.3.PKa, VA:Cr1.1.5a, VA:Cr2.3.1a, VA:Re7.2.3a, VA:Re7.2.4a, VA:Cn11.1.Ka, and VA:Cn11.1.3a
‘Color Smart’ contains the second set of lessons from Creativity Express. ‘Color Smart’ focuses on color theory, the use of color in artwork to create an emotional response, and the chemistry and history of making paint.
‘Color Smart’ received a 4-star rating. The lesson content is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts: VA:Cr1.1.5a, VA:Cr1.2.2a, VA:Cr1.2.3a, VA:Cr2.2.Ka-a, VA:Cr3.1.3a, VA:Re7.2.6a, VA:Re7.2.8a, VA:Re8.1.2a, and VA:Re8.1.5a
‘Envision Art’ contains the third installment of Creativity Express. The four lessons of ‘Envision Art’ use the foundations of the previous apps to explore subtle but sophisticated techniques artists use to convey emotions and communicate through their work.
‘Envision Art’ received a top 5-star rating. The lesson content is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts: VA:Pr6.1.3a, VA:Re.7.2.2a, VA:Re.7.2.3a, VA:Re.7.2.4a, VA:Re.7.2.5a, VA:Re.7.2.6a, VA:Re.7.2.7a, VA:Re.8.1.2a, VA:Re.8.1.4a, VA:Re.8.1.5a, VA:Cn11.1.3a, VA:Cn11.1.4a, VA:Cn11.1.5a, and VA:Cn11.1.6a
‘Charting Art’ contains the last four lessons of Creativity Express. These final lessons make cross-curricular connections to math and history, engaging children in more complex subjects using art as the compass.
Lessons: ‘Time’, ‘Math’, ‘Museums’, ‘Inspiration’
‘Charting Art Art’ received a 4-star rating. The lesson content is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards for the Visual Arts: VA:Pr6.1.4a, VA:Pr6.1.3a, VA:Pr5.1.6a, VA:Pr5.1.3a, VA:Pr4.1.5a, VA:Cr3.1.4a, VA:Re7.2.5a, VA:Pr4.1.1a, VA:Cn11.1.7a, and VA:Cr2.3.3a
Each App Features:
Animated art guides – Tickles, Furnace, and Ruby – who lead children through four fun and engaging cross-curricular lessons designed to enhance your child’s critical thinking skills and unlock their creativity and problem solving capability.
8 ‘Creativity Builders’ art projects that give children hands-on experience using knowledge from each lesson. With two projects per lesson, the topics range from making a time capsule to designing a movie set.
A ‘Parents’ page with a detailed guide to each Creativity Builders project including objectives, vocabulary, materials and procedures.
Idea Gizmo to jump-start your child’s imagination and creative thinking skills.
Doodle Gizmo -A fun, easy-to-use drawing and painting program for your mobile device.
Comprehensive Glossary of art terms and definitions
About Madcap Logic: Madcap Logic, LLC was founded in 2007 by former animators from The Walt Disney Company with a vision to re-define Art Education. Collaborating with professional educators they produced Creativity Express, a multi-award winning online curriculum that meets the National Standards for the Visual Arts. Sixteen cross-curricular lessons teach the elements and principles of art, with an added focus on empowering kids’ inner creativity, imagination and critical thinking skills.
Today, Madcap Logic is known for developing fun, innovative educational products that help kids achieve a new understanding of the visual world around them.
About Lumos Learning
Lumos Learning is a division of Lumos Information Services, a publisher of innovative tools that enhance classroom learning for children in K-12. It has developed learning platforms that combine online and print media to complement classroom learning. Using the Lumos Study Programs, parents and educators can reinforce the classroom learning experience for children and help them succeed in the classrooms and standardized tests. It was founded in 2007 and based in Piscataway, NJ.
Lumos Learning is focusing on developing learning platforms for students to succeed in the new technological age. Their mission is to provide students, teachers and parents with high quality content and collaborative learning platforms by leveraging innovations in digital and print media.
