Monthly Archives: July 2022

Schwazze Will Host A Grand Opening on July 9, 2022 To Debut The Remodeled Star Buds In Aurora, Colorado

DENVER, July 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Schwazze, (OTCQX: SHWZ) (NEO: SHWZ), a vertically integrated regional cannabis company with assets in Colorado and New Mexico, announces the evolution of the Star Buds brand with the remodel of two Star Buds cannabis dispensaries in Colorado. Schwazze will debut the first Star Buds dispensary to display the brand evolution and renovation on July 9, 2022 at its Montview store located at 10100 E Montview Blvd, Aurora, CO 80010.

SCHWAZZE LOGO (CNW Group/Schwazze)

Star Buds is a premier marijuana dispensary that offers a wide selection of products and best-in-class service. The Star Buds evolution is designed to capture a 70s retro persona; fun-loving, easy-going, and one that never lets you down. The Star Buds evolution highlights that each location is more than a dispensary, as they embody a nostalgic presence about the good times, while also helping customers find their way.

The Star Buds brand evolution moves away from a color theme traditionally used within the cannabis industry and incorporates a warmer color scheme of kelly green, yellow, and orange. The dispensaries feature in-store signage that highlight distinctly unique Star Buds phrases such as, "Good Vibes This Way," "Find Your Happy," "The Freshest Greens Served Daily," including brand pillar messaging of the Company's core values: "Top Quality, Widest Selection, Stellar Service." The new design provides an enhanced consumer experience and more space for budtenders to better serve customers.

"We're proud to debut the Star Buds brand evolution, driven by the team at Schwazze, to offer our customers a fun, colorful environment that combines the traditional bud bar model with a shop-the-store, more hands-on experience," said Collin Lodge, Vice President of Retail for Schwazze. "As owners of Star Buds in Colorado, our stores are entering a new era that aligns perfectly with our mission of offering the widest selection of top quality products with stellar service."

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The festivities celebrating the debut of the first Star Buds brand evolution and renovation kick off on Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 11 am. The first 50 customers will receive a backpack filled with Star Buds branded swag. The celebration will feature games, giveaways,a social media scavenger hunt, and representatives from various prominent cannabis brands, such as Wana, O.Pen, Willie's Reserve, Ripple and more. The dispensary, located at 10100 E Montview Blvd, Aurora, CO will offer in-store discounts all weekend.

In late summer 2022, Schwazze will complete the remodel of Star Buds Glendale located at 492 S Colorado Blvd, Glendale, CO 80246. The brand evolution and remodel follows the acquisition of 13 Colorado Star Buds locations in March of 2021. The acquisition and brand evolution of the Star Buds retail spaces are part of a proven integration, which has grown the total number of Colorado dispensaries to 23 along with four cultivation facilities.

Star Buds N. AuroraAurora10100 E Montview BoulevardAurora, CO 80010

Grand Reopening CelebrationSaturday, July 9, 202211 am to 3 pm

About Schwazze

Schwazze (OTCQX:SHWZ, NEO:SHWZ) is building a premier vertically integrated regional cannabis company with assets in Colorado and New Mexico and will continue to take its operating system to other states where it can develop a differentiated regional leadership position. Schwazze is the parent company of a portfolio of leading cannabis businesses and brands spanning seed to sale. The Company is committed to unlocking the full potential of the cannabis plant to improve the human condition. Schwazze is anchored by a high-performance culture that combines customer-centric thinking and data science to test, measure, and drive decisions and outcomes. The Company's leadership team has deep expertise in retailing, wholesaling, and building consumer brands at Fortune 500 companies as well as in the cannabis sector. Schwazze is passionate about making a difference in our communities, promoting diversity and inclusion, and doing our part to incorporate climate-conscious best practices.

Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. was Schwazze's former operating trade name. The corporate entity continues to be named Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. Schwazze derives its name from the pruning technique of a cannabis plant to enhance plant structure and promote healthy growth.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "plan," "will," "may,", "predicts," or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or performance, are based on certain assumptions, and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control and cannot be predicted or quantified. Consequently, actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) our inability to manufacture our products and product candidates on a commercial scale on our own or in collaboration with third parties; (ii) difficulties in obtaining financing on commercially reasonable terms; (iii) changes in the size and nature of our competition; (iv) loss of one or more key executives or scientists; (v) difficulties in securing regulatory approval to market our products and product candidates; (vi) our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy in Colorado and outside the state, (vii) our ability to consummate the acquisition described in this press release or to identify and consummate future acquisitions that meet our criteria, (viii) our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and realize synergies therefrom, (ix) the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, * the timing and extent of governmental stimulus programs, (xi) the uncertainty in the application of federal, state and local laws to our business, and any changes in such laws, and * out ability to satisfy the closing conditions for the private finding described in this press release. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.

Cision

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Schwazze Debuts Star Buds Brand Evolution With The Remodel Of Star Buds Aurora, Colorado - Yahoo Finance

The first time the titular God of Thunder appears in 2011s Thor, the Asgardian hero is obscured by a swirling cloud of dust after landing in New Mexico. As a result, he is struck by a van and knocked out cold before even getting the chance to introduce himself. The next time Chris Hemsworths Thor appears, though, its on the day that the prince of Asgard is to be crowned its new king.

As Thor struts his way through Odins throne room, past a crowd of adoring Asgardians, he flips his ancient, mystical hammer in the air as if it were a toy, roaring back at his fans and relishing the spotlight. When a group of Frost Giants are caught stealing from Asgards weapons vault moments later, interrupting Thors coronation, the prince decides to act against his fathers wishes and leads a small team of warriors to the Frost Giants homeworld to essentially start a war. The God of Thunder acts like a petulant child when Odin intervenes and reprimands him for his disobedience, and in turn, Thor is exiled to Earth so that he can learn to become worthy of his mighty hammer and the power that comes with it.

The Thor that will return for an eighth MCU film appearance (excluding cameo-sized roles) later this week in Thor: Love and Thunder has changed tremendously from the one first seen in those introductory Thor scenes. In his first two solo movies, Thor and 2013s The Dark World, Thor shifts from being an arrogant manchild who cares only about glory and succeeding his father to the Asgardian throne to, well, still being an arrogant manchildbut at least one who becomes capable of subordinating his selfish desires to the greater good, and understanding that he is better suited to be Asgards protector than its king. But while the character was still figuring out what sort of god he wanted to be, Marvel Studios was trying to decide what to do with the Thor franchise after two lackluster films.

In Thor, Marvel chose Kenneth Branagh to set the tone for the franchise and its star, bringing in the noted Shakespearean filmmaker and actor to lend his dramatic touch to the ancient world of Asgard and its royal family. (In an interview with The Washington Post in 2011, Branagh even likened Thor to the reckless Prince Hal and Loki to his Hotspur in Henry IV, and he saw similar themes and conflicts in Thor as Hamlet and Henry V.) For The Dark World, the studio turned to future Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, but she left the project over concerns about the script and was replaced by Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor. Even then, the movie that Taylor made was not at all the one he had envisioned or wanted to see himself. In the first two Thor films, the franchise felt aimless, and the growth of its lead character was stifled. The movies were often too dramatic and self-serious for their own good, caught in a strange tonal midpoint between The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars; Thors story had heavy fantasy and sci-fi elements, unfolding on various planets in modern times. The fact that characters would speak as if they were written by the Bard didnt help, either.

And then, for the third installment, Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel called on Taika Waititi to direct.

[Thor] is the franchise that has the least amount of identity, Waititi told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the release of Ragnarok in 2017. It sort of doesnt know what it is yet. So I came in saying, Well it could be THIS. I ignored the source material and even the first two films and tried to do my own thing.

Even before Ragnarok hit theaters to near-universal acclaim and an improved performance at the box office compared to its predecessors, fans could see Hemsworths Thor in a new light and witnessed the impending tonal shift for the franchise in a pair of mockumentary-style short films directed by Waititi and released in 2016 and 2017. The two-part Team Thor series reveals what the God of Thunder was up to while he was sidelined in 2016s Captain America: Civil Warnamely, how he moved to Australia and roomed with some guy named Darryl. But above all, the shorts were a showcase for the heros underutilized secret weapon: his humor.

Comedy is key to the success of Ragnarok, and Marvel selected Waititi, whose previous credits included What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, to lead the charge in creating this tonal shift. [Marvel Studios] wanted it to be a departure from what they had done before, Waititi told THR in the same 2017 interview. And Chris had wanted to do something that felt less familiar. The secret weapon to all of this was letting Chris be more himself, because he is very funny and that part of Thor was not exploited in the right ways. I know he wanted to do more in the other movies, but there are just so many characters. And the other ones, like Iron Man, have already been established a bit stronger.

Speaking to ET Canada ahead of the release of Ragnarok, Hemsworth expressed similar sentiments about a need for change when asked about his past MCU appearances: They were all a lot of fun, but I just became a little sick of what I was doing, Hemsworth explained. It became too familiar, I felt like Id built these walls on what the characters expectations were and what he could and couldnt do. So in [Ragnarok], we just sort of broke the mold, and anything that was familiar, we just threw it out the window and tried something different.

In Thor and The Dark World, much of the movies comedic relief was entrusted to supporting players like Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings), while Thors chances to be funny were rather few and far between. But Waititi keyed in on those sparing moments from the character, such as when Thor smashed a coffee cup with glee in Thor, or when he casually hung his hammer on a coat rack in The Dark World, both of which were improvised by Hemsworth, according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. In Ragnarok, Funny Thor is unleashed in full force, while characters that never really worked in previous movies, like the Warriors Three, die quick deaths to make room for the likes of Korg, the rock warrior voiced by Waititi, and the Grandmaster, an absurd villain embodied by Jeff Goldblum, whos basically playing himself.

Few moments in Ragnarok serve as a better representation of the difference between the former Thor films and the characters new comedic direction than the early scene that sees Thor returning to Asgard to discover that Loki has disguised himself as Odin. After making a fool of Surtur, the fire demon, Thor arrives in Asgard to find a theatrical production in progress that depicts the death of Loki. With Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, and Sam Neill playing Asgardian actors, the in-world performance is melodramatic and wildly over the top. It also happens to be a spoof of Lokis actual (faked) death from The Dark World, which was unironically just as melodramatic. Ragnarok even goes as far as using some of the same lines.

The reimagination of Thor in Ragnarok brought new life to the franchise, and to the character as well, as Thors new comedic side followed him into Infinity War and Endgame as he left his hyperdramatic image further behind. (Fortunately, the misguided Fat Thor phase that transpired between Waititis films comes to an end early in Love and Thunder.) Its also a big reason, with Love and Thunder, Thor will become the first MCU franchise to earn a fourth installment.

Even with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) gone, Hemsworths Thor remains, and the latest entry in the Thor saga looks to recreate everything that worked in Ragnarok while reinventing itself in new ways. There are flying goats and new gods, and Natalie Portman returns as Jane Foster after sitting out Ragnarokand this time, she plays a role that allows her to be much more than Thors love interest. In Love and Thunder, Foster is set to pick up Odinsons broken, famed hammer and become the Mighty Thor herself.

On Friday, Thors journey continues, and the evolutions of both the character and the franchise are ongoing. Those bleached eyebrows may be long gone, but if Love and Thunder can build off of the success of Ragnarok, and if Hemsworth gets his wish to remain in the role, Thor might just stick around for whatever apocalyptic crossover event awaits the MCU in the years to come.

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The Evolution of Thor, Marvels Mainstay - The Ringer

BetMGM opened a private live dealer studio in Michigan late last month, built in partnership with itslive casino partnerEvolution. BetMGM Casinolaunched its Michigan live dealer offeringin July 2021 as one of the nine operators that went live from day one with Evolution, and currently holds 39% market share in a jurisdiction that keeps setting new revenues for online casino revenue.

"Were thrilled to finally be able to deliver the opportunity to sit exclusively among other BetMGM Casino players at branded tables, inspired by the iconic branding and iconography of MGM Resorts," Oliver Bartlett, Director of Gaming for BetMGM, tells Yogonet in an exclusive interview. "Aside from building a beautiful environment for our players to enjoy, a private studio offers us specific control on operational hours, table limits and player promotions, which will only serve to enhance the overall BetMGM gaming experience."

Michigan online casinos and poker sites generated $127.4 million in revenue in May, falling 3.8% from the Michigan record $132.4 million in April. The state has 15 online casino operators, of which 9 went live from day one with Evolution's third studio in the U.S. Bartlett who before joining BetMGM in March 2021 served for over two years and a half as Evolution's Business Development for US & Canada says that through BetMGM's relationship with Evolution, "the leading B2B supplier of live casino content," the operator was again able to work closely together to design and construct the studio with its players preferences in mind: "The studio is adorned with the iconic golden lion and the familiar black and gold BetMGM color scheme. Comprised of six blackjack tables of varying bet limits, a roulette table, and a speed baccarat table, were confident that it will amplify our market-leading casino offering in Michigan."

Also last month, BetMGM announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Television and IGT to launch Wheel of Fortune Casino, the first full brand-led online casino in North America, initially in New Jersey. "Our partnership with Sony and IGT is the latest example of our dedication to building the industrys largest and strongest game portfolio," Bartlett tells Yogonet. "BetMGM often looks to strengthen our own brand by developing partnerships and leveraging established IP that we know players recognize and trust. Weve done it with MGM Resorts properties and countless popular land-based titles in the past, and were doing it again through the Wheel of Fortune brand and our partners Sony and IGT. Were thrilled to bring Wheel of Fortune Casino to New Jersey, where players will feel the excitement of their favorite gameshow paired with real money wagering in the palm of their hand."

When asked about BetMGM's recent deal with Carnival Corporation to deliver retail and mobile sports betting and iGaming in over 50 ships ported in the U.S., the executive says the company will share more details closer to the technology implementation.

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BetMGM: "We're confident that our private studio with Evolution will amplify our market-leading casino offering in Michigan" - Yogonet...

Threat modelling is the process of visualising vulnerabilities in software from the design phase through the software development lifecycle. A relatively new software security practice, it has gathered significant traction over the past few years.

Historically, threat modelling was literally conducted by security professionals using whiteboards. Today, though, its becoming more integrated into software architecture design, with developers increasingly able to take it on in collaboration with the security team, complementing the DevSecOps model.

And its continuing to evolve. Open source threat modelling is arguably the next step, with tool agnosticism meaning it can be much more widely adopted.

The practice of examining the design of a software system to identify potential security problems, the ultimate purpose of threat modelling is to anticipate and proactively address how an attacker might compromise an application.

Fundamentally, it involves answering the following questions during the design phase. What are we building? What can go wrong? What are we going to do about it? And did we do a good job?

By finding vulnerabilities in this way early in the software development lifecycle, developers can build protections into the code from the start, thereby saving considerable time and money on tackling any security breaches that occur further down the line.

Any threat model built during this early stage should then be used to inform all downstream security activities, including implementation, testing and beyond. In many cases, however, the model is only used during the design phase, becoming less relevant as the project progresses.

But, by embracing threat modelling, developers can build valuable relationships with their organisations security team. Such relationships are ever more important with security joining the shift left movement and becoming an increasingly essential part of the application build pipeline development and security teams need to work closely together to create repeatable processes that result in secure software.

This, then, is DevSecOps, an extension of the DevOps model in which security has a seat at the table through every phase of the DevOps process. And, given that its inherently a collaborative activity involving the security and development teams, threat modelling closely lends itself to this model. In fact, the iterative nature of the threat modelling methodology fits the DevOps process well. Each time a new plan phase is reached, for instance, there is an opportunity for threat modelling. Then, with each new sprint or iteration, that threat model can be further reviewed and revised.

With its importance as part of the DevSecOps model now recognised, its likely that the evolution of threat modelling will soon see the practice becoming more widely adopted.

At its most basic, threat modelling can be carried out by experts and engineers using a whiteboard.

Over time, though, software development has become increasingly about moving fast with a culture of continuous integration and deployment. This, coupled with development teams working on dozens or even hundreds of services simultaneously means the manual whiteboard method of threat modelling is largely untenable. Its often not practical and its certainly not scalable.

Threat modelling has had to evolve to keep up with the pace and demands of software development. With security now a board-level priority for most organisations, its become a critical capability for business leaders. Indeed, its now recognised as critical software security practice. In the US, for example, the National Institute for Standards and Technology recommends that threat modelling is undertaken as part of its Recommended Minimum Standards for Vendor or Developer Verification of Code.

Until recently, threat modelling was still primarily the domain of an organisations security experts. Now though, the advent of open source tools the next logical step in threat modellings evolution means it is accessible to developers, too essential as part of the DevSecOps model.

There are offerings currently available in the market which are designed to be used by security teams and developers, and contain templates, pre-defined databases of common threats and easy-to-use dashboards, as well as the ability to gather threat intelligence from open global libraries.

Threat modelling has come a long way from the manual whiteboard approach. Open source tools are set to transform the threat modelling process. By making it an increasingly simple and widely adopted practice, they will have a significant impact on secure design. As the delivery pipeline becomes faster and more complicated, and as the threat landscape continues to grow in its sophistication, the benefits of open source threat modelling tools in enabling an effective DevSecOps approach represent a huge step towards achieving true secure software design.

Stephen de Vries is co-founder and CEO of IriusRisk

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The evolution of threat modelling as a DevSecOps practice - ComputerWeekly.com

Data management is key to turning random touch points into a better customer experience.

Brian Atkiss

To stay competitive, organizations need to speak to the customer through content and listen to the data collected throughout the customers journey. Its often a struggle to digitize business operations, deliver connected customer experiences and gather actionable customer insights across multi-experience customer journeys. However, a solution has emerged over the last several years to address this struggle; a solution that isnt user-interface based but relies on data.

Digital experience platforms (DXPs) are an evolution of content management systems (CMS) and web content management (WCM) systems used to deliver user interfaces for corporate marketing and commerce systems. At the heart of the DXP process is its ability to listen to the data collected throughout the customers journey. Data captured through the listening process will ease customer journeys by providing context, personalization and analytics to drive a better experience; but it needs proper management first.

The management and flow of data within a DXP are crucial to its ability to drive the users digital journey. When you look closely at the evolution of the various technology solutions from CMS and WCM into complete DX platforms, youll see evolutionary commonalities, e.g., the addition of an underlying data management layer within the architecture. From Adobe to Liferay and from Salesforce to Acquia, some aspect of a customer data platform underpins every DPX solution.

Before leaping into a DXP creation, IT teams need to understand the standard user profile, where the data resides, how to collect it and how to move it into a DXP data lake. Once this knowledge has been attained, IT can move into the architecture phase, which requires vital components, such as:

Data is what separates DXPs from standard CMS and WCM solutions. DXPs empower organizations to consolidate and understand user profile data. This rich data lake of knowledge comes from an IT architecture that promotes listening through a targeted digital experience using segmentation, personalization, content targeting and relevant marketing campaigns.

DXP isnt just a UX project; its identifying customer journeys vis--vis data and integration. Data distinguishes DXPs from CMS and WCM solutions by turning random and individual user touch points into an orchestrated journey.

Brian Atkiss is director of applied intelligence at Anexinet. He has more than a decade of experience building analytics solutions that generate actionable insights for the Fortune 500 and has an extensive background in social listening and advanced analytics solutions around data integration, machine learning and artificial intelligence. You may follow him on LinkedIn or @anexinet on Twitter.

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Data Integration and the Digital Experience Platform Evolution - Channel Futures

The acquisition strengthens Whereowares capabilities as a full-service digital experience agency

MCLEAN, Va., July 07, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Award-winning digital experience agency Whereoware today announced that it has acquired LookThink, a user experience consultancy and digital services provider based in Washington, DC. The move accelerates Whereowares growth and continued strategic transformation into a full-service, strategically-led solutions partner.

Together, Whereoware and LookThink advance as a digital experience agency with a full range of digital strategy and activation capabilities that can drive sustainable growth by attracting larger clients, increasing retention rates and upsells, and delivering impactful results. Clients will benefit from a broader strategy offering, deeper UX and design expertise, and a wider array of supported technology platforms, including Salesforce, Optimizely, Acquia, Drupal, WordPress and Acoustic.

The two companies have complementary capabilities, similar business approaches, and a shared focus on driving measurable results for clients, which include Cuisinart, Yamaha Motor Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Marriott Inc., and League of Women Voters. With more than 20 years in business, Whereoware is widely known for helping clients build profitable digital experiences through meaningful personalization and automation, data maximization, and custom technology solutions. Likewise, LookThinks practical approach to UX design and delivery sets the agency apart, with projects characterized by valued-based metrics, such as clients employee time-savings, increased engagement rates, reduced call center volume, and improved customer retention.

"The addition of LookThink greatly expands our capabilities and resources to help our clients achieve their objectives, creating intuitive solutions that make a positive impact," stated Michael Mathias, Chief Executive Officer of Whereoware. "Together with LookThink, we can deliver even stronger results for our clients through deeper expertise and a broader technology stack."

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Joe Mallek, President of LookThink, will assume the role of Chief Strategy Officer and oversee client strategy, UX, and design for Whereoware. "Both Whereoware and LookThink remain committed to building great companies that make a difference for employees and clients, with an unwavering focus on doing the right thing for all stakeholders," stated Mallek. "Combining our talents creates a stronger, diversified foundation of opportunities."

Whereoware recently incubated and successfully sold a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business to International Market Centers, a Blackstone portfolio company, in early 2020. Through 2021, the company prioritized investment in adding executive, management, and subject matter experts, improving systems and processes, and creating a scalable, strategically-led engagement approach for clients.

The combined companies bring together a cross-functional team of over eighty digital marketers, strategists, technologists, UX consultants, experience designers, business analysts, project managers and solution architects. As the companies join together, the first priority is to quickly build a business that helps clients and employees grow and succeed. Both offices will be maintained and evaluated in normal course as teams, systems, and processes are integrated to bring out the best from each company and provide industry-leading strategic guidance and digital implementation.

"This move not only accelerates our advancement as a full-service digital experience agency, but also allows us to better serve our clients with the expansion of our offerings and expertise. Im very excited to lead us into this next chapter of growth and highlight the combined talents and experiences of our teams!" stated Michael Mathias, Chief Executive Officer of Whereoware.

For more information about this acquisition, please visit: https://www.whereoware.com/lp/whereoware-welcomes-lookthink

About Whereoware

Leading digital agency for 20 years, Whereoware drives smart growth through digital strategy and activation. We specialize in successfully guiding brands through the ever-changing digital landscape, through customer acquisition, retention, and maximization; marketing optimization; and e-commerce solutions. Pioneering online personalization and holistic digital experiences, we design and build award-winning websites and email campaigns, and generate impactful results with data integrations, analytics, digital advertising, and SEO/PPC services. To learn more, please visit http://www.whereoware.com.

About LookThink

LookThink is a Washington, DC based User Experience Consultancy, providing design and development expertise optimizing internal systems and processes, improving customer experiences, and increasing operating efficiencies. Success is measured based on the impact that the work delivers for clients. Distinct from typical digital agencies, projects are characterized by value-based metrics such as employee time savings, increased rates of adoption, completion or engagement, reduced call center volume, and improved customer retention.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220707005212/en/

Contacts

Bonnie MossMoss Networksbonnie@mossnetworks.com 818-995-8127

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Whereowares Evolution as a Digital Experience Agency Continues with Acquisition of LookThink - Yahoo Finance

Gabriel Jesus joins Arsenal after making 141 goal contributions in 236 appearances for Manchester City.Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

After 5 years at Manchester City, Gabriel Jesus will begin a new chapter in his Premier League career after completing his 45 million transfer to Arsenal this summer.

Jesus signed for City from Palmeiras in the summer of 2016 for around 30m but didn't join up with his new team until January 2017, when the 19-year-old was finally freed up to make the switch to the Premier League.

He first arrived at the Etihad as an energetic, versatile, all-action forward who had scored 26 goals in 67 senior appearances for his boyhood club prior to joining City. He leaves having scored 95 goals in 236 games in all competitions (and also registering 46 assists) while playing his part in four Premier League title wins, one FA Cup, three EFL Cups and a run to the 2021 Champions League final.

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However, the Brazil international was restricted to just 20 starts in the league last season, and while he still pitched in with eight goals and nine assists, the time is obviously right for Jesus to seek a fresh challenge elsewhere -- especially with City bringing in Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund this summer.

During his early career at City, Jesus was mainly deployed as a specialist goal poacher in a central role. He was undoubtedly effective, and quickly made a habit of scoring from close range with one-touch finishes. In fact, only one of his first 14 Premier League goals was scored from more than 8 yards out, and that was a penalty against Leicester in May 2017.

Since then his game has evolved and Jesus has adapted to become a much more rounded, Pep Guardiola-style forward, playing off either flank or down the middle when required. As such, he has added many more adept passes, touches in the penalty area, assists and even goals from outside the box to his repertoire.

With the 25-year-old on his way to the Emirates, here are the stats for Jesus' goal contributions and all-round play and a season-by-season look at precisely how Jesus has changed his game.

A 19-year-old Jesus first started life at City operating mainly as a classic out-and-out No. 9, specialising in instinctive bursts of movement, close-range manoeuvering and one-touch finishes.

His very first goal for the club emphasises the point, with the striker opening his account by scoring City's third goal in a 4-0 victory over West Ham at the London Stadium on Feb. 1, 2017 -- a tap-in from the edge of the 6-yard box to finish off an incisive passing move, i.e. the textbook Guardiola goal.

In his first half-season, Jesus continued in much the same vein and ended the 2016-17 campaign with seven goals in his first 11 games for City. While two of those goals came via his left foot, four via his right and one via his head, all seven of them were scored from inside the penalty area.

Jesus' first full season under Guardiola at City saw the forward make 42 appearances in all competitions, with 34 of them coming as a central striker.

Demonstrating an impressive efficiency in front of goal, Jesus scored 17 goals in all competitions from an xG rating of just 17.72. Once again, all 17 of his goals came from inside the box (eight from inside the 6-yard box). He also averaged just 4.2 touches of the ball inside the penalty area per 90 minutes -- the lowest season tally of his City career.

- Vickery: Jesus move has World Cup implications for Brazil- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)- Don't have ESPN? Get instant access

As well as returning his lowest single-season pass completion rate (80.3%), the Brazilian also completed fewer dribbles per game (0.8) and registered fewer assists (three) in 2017-18 than during any other season he spent at the Etihad, thus demonstrating the heavy emphasis on goal scoring rather than goal creation.

Jesus' crowning moment of the 2017-18 season came in the 94th minute of the final league game of the season when he scored deep into stoppage time to secure a narrow 1-0 victory over Southampton. City were already champions by that point, but the Brazilian's strike ensured that Guardiola's side became the first in history to reach 100 points in a top-flight campaign, leading to them being dubbed the "Centurions."

City powered to a domestic treble in 2018-19 by winning the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup as Jesus improved on his output once again by scoring 21 goals and creating seven assists in 47 games across all competitions. While used as an auxiliary left winger on a smattering of occasions, the Brazilian was mostly deployed at the spearhead of City's attack and averaged a goal every 107.3 minutes he spent on the pitch as a result.

Jesus also significantly diversified his means of goal scoring by notching four goals with his left foot, 11 with his right and six with his head. His hat trick against Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages of the Champions League is also notable for containing, along with two penalties, the one and only goal Jesus ever scored for City from outside the 18-yard box. When you look at his delicious 20-yard lob, scored in the 92nd minute, you wonder why he didn't score more.

The season after that treble proved to be the most prolific season of Jesus' City career, thanks at least in part to a succession of injury issues that regularly kept first-choice striker Sergio Aguero out of contention. Jesus capitalised and scored 23 goals in 53 games for City -- his best return for the club -- while also chipping in with 11 assists.

While City had to make do with the EFL Cup as their only silverware after finishing runners-up behind Liverpool in a COVID-mired Premier League campaign, their Brazilian striker achieved several career highs in statistical terms.

As well as his best goal and assist return, Jesus enjoyed more touches inside the area per game (5.7) and a better pass-completion rate (85.9%) than at any other point during his City stint, and also saw his average completed dribbles rank rise to 1.3 per game -- signifying the beginning of a subtle shift in his style of play.

Jesus also became only the second player in Champions League history to score for an English club in both legs of a knockout tie against Real Madrid after Ruud van Nistelrooy did likewise for Manchester United in 2003-04.

Minor injuries, a positive COVID-19 test and a suspension all combined to reduce the amount of time Jesus spent on the pitch throughout 2020-21, with his stats suffering accordingly. The striker made just 42 appearances for City in all competitions (down from 53 the previous season), scored 14 goals and laid on four assists -- his lowest goal contribution return in any of his five full seasons at the Etihad.

Exactly half of Jesus' 14 goals were scored at close range inside the 6-yard box -- five with his left foot, seven with his right and two with his head. Compounding his struggles, the striker's average for touches inside the area fell almost 20% from 5.7 per game in 2019-20 to 4.7 per game in 2020-21.

On the upside, the Brazilian's total of 14 goals were scored from an xG rating of just 14.2, his pass-completion rate remained steady (84.6%) and he also successfully completed more dribbles on average (1.6 per 90 minutes) than during any other season at the Etihad. In short, he carried and moved the ball more effectively in the build-up of attacks, but at the cost of being in the right place at the right time to convert chances. The fact that midfielders Ilkay Gundogan (17 goals), Phil Foden (16) Raheem Sterling (14) and Riyad Mahrez (14) emerged as the club's top goal scorers in 2020-21 suggests a more holistic approach to sharing the goals around.

City once again shared the goals around in 2021-22, with Mahrez emerging top of the club's scoring charts in all competitions with 24 goals to his name, followed by Kevin De Bruyne (19) and Sterling (17). Jesus made the fewest appearances for City (41) in any of his five full seasons at the Etihad and also amassed his lowest goal tally (13), though he was able to ramp up his assist count to a joint-high of 11.

Of the forward's 13 goals, just one came via his left foot and one other with his head, with all 13 being scored from inside the 18-yard box. However, only four were scored from inside the 6-yard box, which represents Jesus' lowest yield of close-range tap-ins since his first few months at City in 2016-17.

Jesus' reduced participation will have naturally had a negative effect on his productivity in terms of goal contributions, but it is perhaps worth noting that he enjoyed a spike in average touches inside the area (5.8 per game -- a career high), pass completion (85.1%) and minutes per assist (233.7 -- again, a career high).

Last season saw Arsenal ship Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the club on a free transfer to Barcelona in February, Aubameyang having been stripped of the club captaincy and frozen out of the squad two months earlier, while Alexandre Lacazette left as a free agent in a more dignified exit when his own contract expired at the end of the campaign.

Given that the Gunners' top scorer in all competition in 2021-22 was 19-year-old winger Bukayo Saka (12 goals), and that only three members of Mikel Arteta's squad successfully reached double figures in terms of goals, the Gunners will no doubt be hoping Jesus can revert back into the ruthless poacher of yesteryear.

Whether the Brazilian is able to bring those qualities back to the fore and re-adapt to life as a penalty-box predator capable of scoring 20-plus goals a season remains to be seen. Perhaps a mix of both wouldn't be a bad thing either, especially as the Gunners aren't overly blessed with an abundance of seasoned, Premier League-proven goal scorers.

Young academy product Eddie Nketiah has been rewarded for his late-season form -- when he scored five goals in the final seven games -- with a new contract, but the 23-year-old is still far from the finished article. And, with Fabio Vieira joining the ranks of attacking midfielders and wide forwards at Arteta's disposal, actually having someone in the area to finish chances with reliable regularity will be key to Arsenal's hopes of finishing in the top four next season. No pressure, Gabriel.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report

Originally posted here:

The evolution of Gabriel Jesus: Arsenal's new striker went from pure goal poacher to all-round attacker at Man City - ESPN

Humans are, undoubtedly, an absolutely weird and unlikely species. But what makes them that way? In my latest book, Growing Up Human (17.99, Bloomsbury), I explore a critical aspect of human evolution that all of us have experienced but somehow never makes the headlines even though it may be the very thing that makes us the single most successful primate on the planet.

In the book, I look at the evolutionary science behind human childhood and our unique adaptation in drawing childhood out for a lot, lot longer than other animals. I explore where we fit in the primate system of finding a mate, our unimpressive attempts at making babies, the evolution of our difficult, dangerous births and why we make milk like a zebra. What we do with these amazing, strange childhoods, is the result of the critical choices our species has made down the line; all to give ourselves a shot at being forever young.

This book comes from both a career spent looking at the bones and teeth of humans and our relatives to understand the evolutionary history of growth and development. However, it also comes from a much more personal place, as I was expecting a child of my own and realised exactly how many questions about this fundamental part of the human experience were still unanswered.

Why are human pregnancies so dangerous? Why are we (and whales) the only species to have grandmas? What should teenagers be doing all day? And of course, most critically of all, what are we planning on doing with all this extra time?

There are so many books on human evolution out there with a just-so explanation for how we humans ended up the way we have, that I want to share in this little list the books that opened up new questions instead; ones that tell us about how we study the human past as well as giving us inspiration for how to do it better in the future.

All of the best scientific research, after all, starts with inspiration, and these are some of the books that inspired me to take my own shot at understanding our world.

If you fancy browsing more great science reads, check out this list of the best science books to fuel your curiosity.

My specialist subject is teeth how they grow, and what we do with them. Prof Peter Ungar has been incredibly influential in this field for decades and has led some of the pioneering research into what has gone on in our mouths in the last few million years that perhaps doesnt get the attention it deserves.

While the hominid story of walking upright seems firmly fixed in our collective imagination, there is a whole world of evolutionary importance locked down in fossil teeth. Ungar explains how teeth reflect what we eat, and how our teeth have changed as the various species that came before us changed diets, environments, and lifestyles.

While Ungar is an undoubted expert and the book is full of important points about evolution, what I enjoyed most about were the insights from a researcher who has been in the field for a long time, and the first-hand accounts of some of my sciences most exciting discoveries.

This book is close to my heart for two reasons. For one thing, it is an incredibly up-to-date precis of everything our species and all the ones that came before us were up to. Its readable without skimping on detail, and is now my handy go-to for the expansive overview of human evolution.

Of course, I also had the benefit of sitting around the coffee table with both authors when I worked at the Natural History Museum, London. This means that for me, this book captures in print form some of the best aspects of that job: the opportunity to be in the room where people who know evolutionary anthropology are talking about the latest developments in research.

It is my mission in life to help spread the word that teeth are one of the most exciting and undervalued subjects to research. Prof Tanya Smith has written this book with, I think, exactly that same mission in mind.

If you want to know how teeth can be on the cutting (biting?) edge of science, this is definitely the book for you. Smith has done incredible work bringing new imaging technologies to bear on ancient teeth, taking Neanderthals into a synchrotron and coming out with a day-by-day account of growing up.

While the book explores how we can use stable isotopes and synchrotrons to recover the stories of ancient lives, one of the most appealing things about it is the openness with which Smith shares her own journey through the wonder of teeth, something sure to resonate with anyone who has fallen head over heels for science.

There are many ways to tell the story of our hominid past, but none are quite so lyrical as this book by Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes on our last relatives, the Neanderthals.

The best books on human evolution rewrite the tired old tropes of yesteryear, and this book not only rewrites them but sets out such a dense and poetic vision of life for our European hominid cousins that you can practically taste the bitter yarrow they ate.

Far from being the troglodytes of Victorian imagination, Wragg Sykes introduces an entirely new kind of human one that cares, imagines, and creates.

I have to include this wonderful book by Professor Marlene Zuk because it is such a refreshing antidote to the shallow understanding of human evolution that worms its way into popular culture.

Zuk dismisses the mythical ideas of a perfect Palaeo life and exposes the faddish diets, workouts, and dating advice that people have marketed while trying to sell the idea that there is some perfect evolutionarily adapted way to be human.

There is nothing more frustrating for an anthropologist than the idea that humans are evolved to do anything at all when it is so clear that the only way species survive is through adaptation and change. Taking down the protein gurus and nonsense love life advice with humour and fact, this is a wonderful book for anyone who has ever had a suspicion that maybe palaeo life isnt all its cracked up to be.

Growing Up Human: The Evolution Of Childhood by Dr Brenna Hassett (17.99, Bloomsbury) is out on 7 July 2022.

Read more about human evolution:

Read more:

5 of the best books on human evolution - BBC Science Focus Magazine

The way we use words and phrases changes as our knowledge about the world around us evolves. For example, the first use of the term gluten-free appeared in 1927. Over the next 80 years, numerous studies about celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity emerged. And in 2013, almost 90 years after the term was first used, the FDA finally issued rules for labeling gluten-free food items.

Such is the trajectory of language: Words and phrases enter our linguistic periphery before they enter our lexicons with their usage finally solidified and agreed upon at least for a moment.

The term collaborative intelligence is no exception. The concept originated in 1959, with Oliver Selfridges famous Pandemonium: A Paradigm for Learning, but the term itself only became more widely used and accepted following the coining of another, related term in 1994: collective intelligence.

Pierre Lvy, who coined the term "collective intelligence," proposed that collective intelligence encompasses both collaborative and collective intelligence. The two are different, and for the purposes of this article, its important to create clear distinction:

Collaborative intelligence refers to distributed systems where all agents contribute to a problem-solving network (autonomously or not), while the knowledge produced by this network can be referred to as collective intelligence.

Think of it this way: If collaborative intelligence is the hive mind, then collective intelligence is the resulting knowledge this mind agrees upon and applies.

And why does it matter?

As awareness of the term collaborative intelligence continues to push its way past the business periphery, the ideas it involves will make similar usage gains (and vice versa). And in an industry soaked with artificial vs. human intelligence rhetoric and the fear and immobility that rhetoric perpetuates we need to commit to an ideal of collaborative intelligence now.

Doing so can pull us away from debate and toward ARM intelligence that makes a real difference in the way businesses function and communicate with borrowers, debtors, patients, our companies, our data, and yes, of course, our NLP and other ML models. And that way of functioning will also change our results.

What does committing to collaborative intelligence look like, in practice?

Collaborative intelligence requires you to:

1) Believe in the inherent value of diverse information, and

2) Redefine transparency

The Inherent Value of Information Diversity

Its a fact: Solving complex problems demands individual expertise, the incorporation of conflicting stakeholder priorities, and the differing interpretations of experts with diverse lived experiences. In a system where that set of perspectives includes an AI model and an automation workflow, the trust you place in that diversity is paramount. You cannot reach collective intelligence and support positive ARM business outcomes without widening your lens.

A Redefinition of Information Transparency

Transparency is a tricky topic in ARM. Who should see what data, and when? While a collections agent shouldnt expose consumer credit information to their social media network, for instance, your notes should expose data that will reshape workflows to your workflow automation model and then expose the results of that automation to your human agents for their own application.

How do the agents in the system (your compliance department, their QA team, your contact center agents, the robotic process automation that augments those agents, your workflows, etc.) know when and where to draw the lines?

Transparency must be redefined. For the ARM industry to continue its evolution past simple human vs. robot conversation, we must allow transparency to act as a driver for business outcomes. What will you achieve when all agents in the network are empowered to both contribute and use the right information, at the right time?

You (or your model) might be able to create a connection between a set of conversations with a borrower and a future QA review workflow. Or a borrower may receive the exact right, personal response for their emotional state through exposure of their contextual data to a human agent. By treating transparency as a driver, you can decide what to correctly expose and when, and give all agents (human or not) the power to do the same.

Collaborative Intelligence is Here. Are You?

Heres the bottom line: A commitment to developing and working within true collaborative intelligence systems will improve ARM.

Consider the virtuous cycle that will occur when all agents within the problem-solving network are enabled with information. That information improves workflows for productivity, training, compliance, and so much more. And those improvements inform person-to-person conversations the data from which informs improvements to workflows.

This virtuous cycle both originates from and becomes the system itself a system that produces the kind of collective intelligence the ARM industry requires to thrive.

See the rest here:

Evolution of ARM: Up Next, Collaborative Intelligence - insideARM.com

The online casino industry has significantly changed over the last ten years. In this blog post, we will look at the evolution of online casinos and see how they have changed over the years.

We will also discuss some of the major milestones that have taken place in this industry during that time.

The online casino industry has its roots in the early days of the internet. In 1994, the first online casino was launched, revolutionizing how people gamble.

The event marked the beginning of a new era in gambling. People no longer had to travel to Las Vegas or Atlantic City to access casinos. They could now do it from the comfort of their own homes.

The early online casinos were quite basic by todays standards. They offered a limited selection of games and were not very user-friendly. Nevertheless, they were a hit with users and quickly became popular. Online casinos became so popular that they began to spring up all over the internet.

The online casino industry began to take off in the early 2000s due to several factors, including the increasing popularity of online gambling, the advent of online payment methods, and the development of more user-friendly casinos.

During this time, many new online casinos were launched, quickly becoming some of the most popular sites on the internet. In 2003, an estimated 15 million people gambled online. This figure rose to 18 million by 2004.

The online casino industry continued to grow rapidly; by 2006, there were around 1500 online casinos in operation, an incredible increase from just a few years earlier.

In 2008, the first real money gambling app was launched for the iPhone as it was a major development for the online casino industry. Therefore, people could now gamble on their mobile phones, anywhere at any time, on various online sports betting sites.

Therefore, the Best online casino reviews provides an online betting platform where you can play various online casino games via your smartphones and win many prizes.

A boom followed the launch of the first gambling app in mobile gambling. Today, hundreds of casino apps are available for iPhone and Android devices. It has made online gambling more accessible than ever before.

In the early days of online casinos, all games were played against the computer by the participants. It was fine for many, but some players craved a more realistic experience. In 2006, Evolution Gaming launched the first live dealer casino, a game-changer for the industry.

Live dealer games are played against real dealers in real-time. Therefore, it gives players a much more authentic and immersive experience.

Live dealer games are some of the most popular online casino games. They are offered by all major online casinos and attract millions of players from all over the world.

The growth of the online casino industry has brought many benefits to players. They include;

With hundreds of casino apps available for iPhone and Android, people can play on their mobile phones anywhere and at any time. Therefore, online gambling has become more convenient and easier to access than traditional land-based casinos.

Players no longer have to travel long distances to gamble. They can now do it from the comfort of their own homes or on the go.

With so many casinos to choose from, players can take advantage of generous bonuses and promotions. Therefore, they can gamble with less money and still have a chance to win big prizes.

The online casino industry has created thousands of jobs around the world. In addition to the people employed directly by online casinos, there are also many indirect jobs such as software development, customer support, and marketing.

One of the biggest benefits is the advances in technology. Online casinos can now offer players a much more immersive and realistic experience due to the development of live dealer games.

Live dealer games are played against real dealers in real-time, offering players a much more authentic casino experience.

When online casinos first launched, they offered a limited selection of games. Today, there are hundreds of different casino games to choose from, including all the classic casino games like blackjack and roulette and hundreds of online slots.

Therefore, no matter your taste in gambling, you will be able to find a game to suit you.

Its fair to say that online casinos have come a long way in the last decade. They have evolved from basic affairs with simple games and rudimentary graphics to becoming one of the most popular forms of gambling worldwide.

With innovations such as live dealer games and mobile gambling, there is no doubt that online casinos are here to stay.

Excerpt from:

The Evolution of Online Casinos Over the Last Decade - Tech Guide