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KINLY LAUNCHES INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL APP TO HELP BLACK AMERICA BUILD GENERATIONAL WEALTH

Sam Allcock
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KINLY LAUNCHES INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL APP TO HELP BLACK AMERICA BUILD GENERATIONAL WEALTH

Gabrielle Union, Kevin Durant and Marshawn Lynch Invest in Kinly

Kinly Releases Ad Campaign Featuring Taraji P. Henson

ATLANTA, GA (June 14, 2022) – Kinly, a financial technology company, today launches its new financial app that proudly serves the unique needs of Black America and allies. Kinly’s goal is to empower members to take control of their finances by providing access to financial education, saving and investing tools.

The Kinly app helps members manage day-to-day finances by offering early access to direct deposit funds1, no hidden fees, overdraft protection2, access to over 55K ATMs worldwide3 and the Kinly Visa® Debit Card.

“Our app is a gateway to managing your finances with transparency and quick access to your funds through digital banking. We’re embarking on an ambitious journey to be the trusted financial partner for Black America and for those who want to support Black-led institutions,” said Hawkins, founder and CEO of Kinly.

Hawkins is a serial entrepreneur with years of experience in technology and financial services. He previously founded Griffin Technologies, a fintech company focused on providing real-time, contextual intelligence to community banks, neobanks and credit unions. Hawkins raised over $20 million to launch Kinly, which was previously called First Boulevard during its fundraising stage. Investors include venture capital firms: ForerunnerVentures, Point72 Ventures, Anthemis Group, and Kapor Capital, as well as celebrities like actress Gabrielle Union, basketball star Kevin Durant and former professional football player Marshawn Lynch.

To coincide with the launch of the app, Kinly is kicking off its first brand campaign with award-winning actress Taraji P. Henson. A Kinly member and a long-standing champion of Black-founded companies, Henson encourages potential customers to join the bank Black movement by opening a Kinly account.

Black America represents 13% of the U.S. population but only possesses 4% of the nation’s household wealth. Kinly aspires to reverse this trend.

Kinly believes the first step to building generational wealth is a foundation in financial education. Dr. Melody Robinson Wright, Kinly’s Director of Financial Education, curates practical insights on complex topics to help guide and motivate members to succeed on their personal finance journey.

The Kinly app is available today in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Visit bekinly.com for more information.  Kinly will announce new products and features throughout the year.

About Kinly

Kinly is an inclusive financial technology company that proudly serves the unique needs of Black America and its allies. By developing a platform focused on improving financial livelihood through financial education, Black-focused spending, and wealth building, Kinly helps members manage their money and develop positive financial behavior to reach goals. For more information, visit bekinly.com.

Kinly is not a bank. Banking Services provided by The Bancorp Bank, Member FDIC. The Kinly Visa® Debit Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.

¹ Early access to direct deposit funds depends on the timing of the submission of the payment file from the payer. We generally make these funds available on the day the payment file is received, which may be up to 2 days earlier than the scheduled payment date. The recipient’s name on any deposits received must match the name on the Kinly Account. Any deposits received in a name other than the name registered to the Kinly Account will be returned to the originator. The routing and account number can be used for setting up direct deposit or to pay bills online with the direct deposit feature. Be sure only to provide your routing account number information to your payer, benefits provider or trusted billers.

² Kinly Overdraft is available after qualifying direct deposits of $1,000 or more into the Kinly Account over the past 35 calendar days. Eligible members who are enrolled in Kinly Overdraft will be able to make purchases that would result in a negative balance on the Kinly Account up to $100. Not all purchases are eligible. Eligibility conditions apply for the Kinly Overdraft. See bekinly.com/overdraft for full terms and conditions.

³ There is no fee to withdraw money from any Allpoint® ATM. There is a $2.50 ATM cash-withdrawal fee assessed by Kinly for all non-Allpoint® ATM transactions (out of network transactions). The ATM operator may charge an additional fee.

Interior Design Styles and Inspiration

Sam Allcock
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Interior Design Styles and Inspiration

Interior design can sometimes be extremely confusing- your style might not fit into any of the famous design styles, or you might not know how to label your style. This often leads to an inescapable struggle of trying and error- which can take up a large part of your budget and leave you with a design you don’t like, whether you are searching for glass shower screens for your bathroom, or a perfect fabric for your living room. We have come up with a comprehensive guide, free of particular ‘styles’, to help you design the home of your dreams!

Lighting and Paint

These two elements usually always go hand in hand. Let’s unravel these both individually and together! Starting, Lighting is usually put off as an after-thought in most novice designs, which has a huge (usually negative) impact on the entire design. Professional designers know that lighting can make or break their designs. Lighting is usually divided into two kinds- cool and warm. Usually, a mix of these two in different capacities can work for everyone. The general rule of thumb is that warm light is for relaxing and cooler lighting is for socialising. Based on this, you can choose which rooms will have what kind of light.

The second component, which is the colour or the paint, is a major factor in every design. The colour pallet of your room depends on the way your paint looks in the light you have selected. The light in the room can affect the colour and tone of your paint- which means your emerald green can end up looking forest green in some lights and a dark, move green in others. You must pick your lighting before you pick your colour! Before you decide on a final colour and light, order samples so you can experiment by mixing and matching these elements.

Layering

Layering is one of the most important things when it comes to ensuring that your design has visual depth. The best way to layer and add dept is by starting from the ground up. Decide on your floors first- do you want them to be hardwood floors, want to add rugs, or want end-to-end carpets? A tip here would be to go for more natural and neutral colours. They give you a lot of opportunities to add more elements. If you are unsure, you can go for hardwood floors and add rugs on them later, depending on your style. If you want to start with a rug that has an assortment of colours, you can use them to draw inspiration for the colours you will add around the room. The next thing you need to select is your furniture. This should ideally be selected before you select your paint for the room. This ensures you pick up furniture items that you like. When you decide to display your technology, you will need to check if it adds any depth to your room or not. One of the best ways to ensure that your TV is adding a layer to your room is by getting it wall mounted. This can be done by professionals. If you need more advice on wall mounting or how you should get it done, click here for Free Advice.

As you start building your home from the ground up, you will find that it is way more systematic and easier to do so!

Mood Boards

One of our suggestions to style your home would be by using mood boards- this makes the process easier and fun! Mood boards are visual presentations or collages that can be used when designing a room. You can collect pictures from different places- social media like Pinterest and Instagram, interior design magazines, or photographs you clicked- and put them together to create multiple mood boards. The next step would be to find the similarities between these mood boards- the colours, furniture designs, and décor pieces. This will help you understand a bit more about what you would like your rooms to look like. The rule of the thumb is to make at least 3 mood boards for each room and have at least one common element throughout each room- whether in the form of fabrics, colours or ornaments. This will make the room design look more cohesive and a part of each other!

You can assemble the essence of your dream retreat by meticulously compiling a bedroom mood board that captures your style, blending colors, textures, and inspirations for a personalized haven of tranquility. Transform your bedroom oasis with the sleek and stylish Grey TV Beds, creating the perfect focal point for relaxation.

Your mood boards can also be inspired by your wardrobe. By taking a look at the kind of style you prefer on yourself every day, you can easily tell the kind of elements you will prefer in your interior design. For example, if you have a more classic style that doesn’t change a lot, it probably means that you prefer timeless styles over trendy ones. Similarly, if you usually go for minimal, and neutral accessories, then it probably means that you prefer minimalism over maximalism.

Once you have figured out the basics of what kind of colours and styles you like, it is only a matter of layering everything together to make your masterpiece!

Best and most secure payment methods to use online

Sam Allcock
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Best and most secure payment methods to use online

Introduction

Bingo is a game of chance that is also known as Lotto. It is played with cards that have a grid of numbers on them, and when you select the numbers at random, a row of those numbers make a win. Bingo is one of the most well-liked and widely played low-stakes gambling games all over the world. This game is also popular in the UK with flexible and dynamic payment methods for you to be able to enjoy your participation in the game. You can check smartbingoguide.com for more.

In general, if you want to offer bingo to players in Great Britain for the purpose of making a profit, you will need a license from us. If you want to run any kind of online or ‘remote’ bingo, such as through the use of gambling websites or apps, you are required to have a license for your business. Your license needs to include coverage for the relevant activities. Even before the Internet was invented, people who played bingo could already consider the United Kingdom to be their home. This is due to the fact that brick-and-mortar bingo parlors were dispersed across the country and that they offered local players the ideal environment in which to enjoy the game.

Some great sites in the UK.

There are a lot of fantastic opportunities to play bingo online in the United Kingdom, but we have combed the internet to find the very best bingo sites for you to choose from. The bingo websites JackpotJoy, Bucky Bingo, Glorious Bingo, Mecca Bingo, and Double Bubble Bingo are all of a very high quality and are recommended to players in the UK. If you want to find the best bingo site for you, you should look through a lot more of the sites that we feature. These sites will offer you the chance to participate in Bingo online and enjoy the benefits and profits available.

Payment Methods available in the UK

You can participate in Online bingo in the United Kingdom with the following categories of payment methods among others; they are, Online Prepaid cards such as MasterCard, Visa, Maestro, Visa Electron, PaysafeCards and more; Online payment methods such as Boku, Wire transfer, Ecopayz etc; e-wallets such as Neteller, Skrill, eChecks, PayPal, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance, and more, as indicated on the site.

These payment methods will facilitate your easy of playing Bingo with real money, and you can as well receive your profits to the same source of funding, or as the case maybe. Interestingly, you can carry out these payment methods from your phones as long as you are connected to the internet.

In Conclusion

The good news for you is that, Bingo is supported in the UK as it is regulated by law. Therefore, you will be happy to engage with this game with the multiple ways to participate and fund your account.

How can you save some £1,300 when setting up a business

Sam Allcock
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How can you save some £1,300 when setting up a business

There are plenty of services targeted at people with aspirations to set up their own business. It is tempting to just outsource the process because you are short of time or fear that you have no idea where to start. We worked out that if you take the plunge and do it yourself, you can save hundreds of pounds if you follow our tips.

Registering your business

There are a number of ways you can form your business – sole trader, limited company or a partnership. All three you can set up very easily yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you that you need to pay for this service.

Sole traders don’t need to do anything special other than ensure they’re registered for tax. If you paid tax before, you already have your UTR (unique tax reference) assigned to you by HMRC thus you don’t need to do anything more other than name your business and ensure you file your self assessment every year. The same applies to partnerships.

The process of setting up a limited company might seem a bit daunting which is why there are plenty of websites on Google offering to do the setup for you at a charge. However, the reality is that you’ll still have to do a lot of work yourself like supplying your company name, address, personal information and more.

Why not do it yourself directly on the government website? Started on https://www.gov.uk/limited-company-formation and it will take you about 30 mins to apply for a company formation. Less than two hours later you’ll have a UK limited company set up. The exercise is about £12 in total and you’ll save about £30 by not outsourcing this simple task. It’s also much faster than giving it to a third party.

Setting up a business bank account

If you’re a sole trader, you can probably start with setting up a personal account which is fast – especially if applying with your existing bank – and free as many banks these days don’t charge any fees for personal bank accounts. Don’t use your own personal account. Mixing your personal outgoings with business income and expenses will make it hard for you to keep up with your finances. Keep things tidy from the start.

As a limited company or a partnership you might like to have a business account from the start as well as some method to keep on top of your finances. The best approach is to combine the two and approach either an accountant who can do your books for a monthly fee, including setting you up with a business account for free. The business accounts usually come with a startup deal of the first 18 months being free. That’s a saving of £126. A business account usually costs about £8 a month these days. The accountant will usually throw in a good bookkeeping software such as FreeAgent which can be integrated with your bank account to save you the time of having to type in your incomings and outgoings every month.

That’s another saving of £174 you’ll pocket by choosing this route. Be careful however when being offered a business account. Some are not bonafide bank accounts which means that your deposits may not be FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) protected. Always asks questions.

Finding an accountant

If your business is straightforward, then it pays off to find an online accountant as opposed to one local to you working in old fashioned ways. Sure, you’ll have to do some work yourself such as uploading expenses to the bookkeeping system the accountant will provide but that’s only an hour or two a month saving you on average £25 a month, yearly saving you about £300 a year. There are plenty out there and the one recommendation we have is to look on Trustpilot before you sign up. Make sure the customer service is up to scratch. Pick up the phone, see how quickly you get an answer. The onboarding team is always quick but can you get through just as fast if you call in as an existing customer?

Getting flexible business insurance

Every solopreneur needs some business liability insurance and when shopping around, it’s important to be on a watch out for extra charges like APR on monthly payments or unexpected fees for changing or cancelling your policy. You can save £20-40 a year by choosing the right business insurance provider. Some offer pay as you go business insurance that can be bought online without any extra charges. Make sure your cover can be changed or cancelled anytime and, if you can, get one with a holiday mode switch to help you save more money when work is scarce. There are always new business insurance players on the block willing to go the extra mile.

Creating online presence

If you outsource this part, it will cost you anything from £600 and more. Social media isn’t difficult, just a little time consuming. Ensure you set up on all major platforms even if you don’t plan to use all of them. You don’t want your competition to steal your name. That could cost you later.

There are plenty of ‘how to videos’ to help you optimise each platform – Facebook, LinkedIn or whatever channel you decide to use for your business. You’ll just need to get some images ready, content and decide on how visitors can contact you.

Website building isn’t for everyone but before spending money on a web developer, consider two ideas. Do you need a website? A lot of businesses can thrive perfectly well on social media only which of course is free. Instagram in particular has grown into a lead generating platform.

If, however, you think a website is important for your business, explore tools like Wix which have made website building very easy. The subscription fees are very low, hosting is usually included with your package and if your plans are not complex, you should be able to publish something within a day or two.

Why are the Costs of Kids Go Karts Rising?

Sam Allcock
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Why are the Costs of Kids Go Karts Rising?

Go karting is the latest trending outdoor sport for kids. They’re fast, they’re fun, and they’re a great way to get outdoors and burn off some energy. But go karts can also be a great investment. In addition to providing hours of fun, go karts can help develop important skills like balance, coordination, and spatial awareness among kids. They can also teach kids the basics of vehicle maintenance and physics. But finding affordable go karts are becoming tough these days. It seems that their prices are going up every year. For example, brand new karts cost approximately £1900 or more. On the other hand, second-hand karts may cost around £1200.

Factors that contribute to the cost

There are several factors that contribute to the cost of kids go karts. Here are some of the factors that you need to keep in mind before buying:

1. Type of go kart

The type of go kart you choose usually decides the amount of money you finally have to pay. A few common models that you may come across are as follows:

● Pedal Go-Karts – Pedal go-karts typically have four wheels and a simple frame and can reach speeds of up to 15 miles per hour. They are ideal for kids between 4 and 12. Some models also have features like hand brakes and gearing, which allow the user to control their speed and direction more precisely.

● Off-Road Go-Karts – Off-road go-karts are a type of vehicle that is designed for use on rough terrain. It may be suitable for a teenager who has some experience in go karting. They have large tires and a more powerful engine than a standard go-kart, which allows them to handle the challenges of an off-road environment.

● Electric Go-Karts – Electric go-karts use an electric motor instead of a gas engine. They are reputed to be quieter, more environmentally friendly, and easier to maintain than gas-powered karts. Electric go-karts typically have a top speed of around 23 mph, making them well-suited for use on indoor tracks for kids or other short racing circuits for adults. Most electric go-karts use lead-acid batteries, although some newer models are powered by lithium-ion batteries. This is one of the reasons why the cost of these karts is more than their counterparts.

● Gasoline-Powered Go-Karts – Gas-powered go-karts are small, four-wheeled vehicles powered by gasoline engines. They are often used for racing and recreational driving. Go-karts vary in size and power, but most are able to reach speeds of up to 60 mph. They usually have two-stroke engines, which are lightweight and provide high power-to-weight ratios. However, four-stroke engines are becoming more common in go-karts due to their increased reliability and lower emissions and as a result, the prices of the karts are going up.

2. Purpose

Why are you buying a go kart in the first place? Is it for your kid’s recreational purposes, or do you want him to become a professional and race on go karting tracks? The answer will decide how much money you have to spend. Go-karts can be powered by a variety of engines, including gasoline-powered engines and electric motors. These models are quite expensive, and it would be better if you assess the features and functions of different models before buying. On the other hand, some go-karts have pedals, like a bicycle, which makes them environmentally friendly. These are for recreational purposes and don’t cost as much as an electric or gasoline-powered model.

3. Size

Go-Karts come in a variety of sizes to accommodate riders of all ages and sizes. The average go-kart is about five feet long and three feet wide, with a weight capacity of around 200 pounds. However, there are also mini go-karts that are just three feet long and two feet wide, with a weight capacity of around 100 pounds. These are ideal for small kids. And then there are larger go-karts that are six or seven feet long and four feet wide, with a weight capacity of around 300 pounds that are suitable for teenagers.

Needless to say, the bigger the size of the kart, the more you have to pay. Moreover, the type of engine also plays a crucial role. Make sure you consider the size and the type of engine because these two factors contribute heavily to the price of the kart.

4. Brakes

The brakes on a go-kart are essential for safety and performance. There are two main types of brakes used on go-karts: mechanical and hydraulic. Mechanical brakes are the most common type of brake used on go-karts. They work by using a friction material, such as pads or shoes, to create resistance when the brake is applied. This resistance slows down the wheels and eventually brings the kart to a stop.

Hydraulic brakes work in a similar way, but they use fluid pressure instead of friction to create resistance. As a result, hydraulic brakes are typically more effective than mechanical brakes and are often used on higher-performance go-karts. Karts with mechanical brakes are more affordable than the ones with hydraulic brakes.

5. Mileage

Go-karts are notoriously difficult to get an accurate mileage estimate for – many factors such as terrain, the weight of the driver, and tuning of the engine can affect how far the kart will go on a full tank of gas. However, it is possible to make some assumptions based on the size of the engine and the type of Go-kart. For example, a standard two-stroke engine that is 200cc will have a range of anywhere from 15 to 25 miles per gallon, while a four-stroke engine of the same size will have a range of 10 to 15 miles per gallon.

The type of Go-kart also makes a difference – off-road karts typically have shorter ranges due to their higher ground clearance and wider tires, which create more rolling resistance. Conversely, karts designed for racing tend to have longer ranges as they are tuned for higher speeds and usually have lighter bodies. But the bottom line is that the kart that provides the maximum mileage will have a higher price. If you want to invest in a go kart for racing purposes, you will have to spend on a model that has high mileage. This means you will end up spending much more than someone who buys a go kart for recreational needs.

Go karts are a great way for kids to have fun and get some exercise. If you’re in the market for a go kart for your kid, be sure to consider all of your options and remember to buy kids go karts from a reputable dealer. There are some great online suppliers with lower cost than stores.

Sergey Matsotsky — Curriculum Vitae: a passion for IT and travel

Sam Allcock
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Sergey Matsotsky — Curriculum Vitae: a passion for IT and travel

Career:

1984 to 1990 – Head of the Unit, Central Geophysical Expedition of the Ministry of the Oil and Gas Industry of the Soviet Union

1990 to 1992 – Director of Commerce, JV “Intermicro” (Moscow city)

1992 to 1997 – Founder and executive director of IBS

1997 to 2012 – CEO and Chairman of the Board of the IBS Holding

2012 to 2020 — Strategic management of IBS

2020 – Withdrawal from IBS, creation of the GS-Invest holding

Education and the first job

Sergey Matsotsky is a born Muscovite, born on February 25, 1962. He got interested in software programming as early as his school days. The specialized school No. 444 was the first in the USSR ever to train software programmers. “In high school, we wrote some programs on punched cards. We dreamed of writing a software set for the card game of preference”, recalls Matsotsky.

After school, he entered the Moscow Institute of the Petrochemical and Gas Industry for a degree in Applied Mathematics. After graduating from that university, he immediately started a job working along the same business line – a system software engineer (programmer) in the USSR Minneftegazprom (the Ministry of the Oil and Gas Industry). He headed a division of the Central Geophysical Expedition there later on. “The unit was called “expedition”, but in fact it was a giant computing center. What is geophysics? – it is actually computer accounting”, says Sergey Matsotsky.

From the Ministry into business

While the oil and gas industry was actively developing in the 1980s, Matsotsky took part in some large projects, including international ones – some with India, Malaysia and other countries. With the beginning of the “Age of Change” of the late 80s, stagnation began in the state-owned entities. Many employees started moving to the newly established commercial companies.

Sergey Matsotsky went on to join the Intermikro joint venture in 1990 along the same trend. As head of the commercial department, he gained his first experience in business there. The company was dealing in publishing systems and the Kommersant daily newspaper became one of their first customers.

At the end of 1992, Matsotsky became an entrepreneur himself – he established the Information Business Systems (IBS) Company with a partner, which later became the largest system integrator and it is still in the market.

Matsotsky at IBS

Initially, Sergei Matsotsky, whose professional career has been associated with IBS and its projects for 27 years, held the position of an Executive Director. Then, since 1997, he was appointed General Director and Chairman of the Board of the Holding company. In 2012, he moved away from the operational management, focusing on the business development strategy. Later on in 2020, he left the business, while giving priority to the new projects of his own.

In the late 1990s, the company successfully managed to attract large international investments, and in 2005 went public generating an additional $113 million.

“In the 2000s, the country’s economy grew rapidly. People began to realize that information technology, while not being a great thing in itself, could be very useful for the businesses. We started learning how to use the IT to manage finances, supplies, supply chains, procurement and marketing. The whole thing was very interesting,” says Sergey Matsotsky.

The first decade of the new century was an eventful one for the IBS. One of the companies within the holding, the DEPO Computers, launched its own production of computers in 2002. The business was later sold to its top management. At the same time, IBS was successfully developing on the international markets: the Luxoft, a division for corporate software development, started working for global corporations. The company’s customers were Deutsche Bank, the US Department of Energy, Boeing, the IBM. The business was sold in 2019 for $2 billion.

New business

In 2020, Sergey Matsotsky (Wikipedia) left the IBS business and its management to pursue his own projects within the GS-Invest Holding, a new company of his own. He believes that the time of big slow bulky companies is over. What is really needed is small flexible teams that can operate quickly and with the maximum concentration of resources along the same business line.

“All the companies within the GS-Invest are very different. In addition to specializing in various services and technologies, there are different corporate cultures and values, and different leadership styles. It is simply impossible to combine them into one living entity. And this is good: they are successful in their original form, as they exist now”, Matsotsky believes.

Matsotsky’smanagement philosophy is partnerships with the top management of his companies. He is often giving advice, but he does not impose instructions and does not insist on any decisions. At the same time, the founder of all those companies shows vivid interest in projects and likes to be creative with the team.

Hobbies

In addition to IT,Matsotsky’spassion is travel. The entrepreneur has visited a total of 91 countries and is not going to stop. His wish list includes the Maghreb in Morocco, Petra in Jordan, Socotra Island in the Red Sea, Madagascar and Northern Australia.

Sergei Matsotsky admits that he does not like business books. “They are boring to me. It is probably not fashionable to say that. However, usually you catch the main idea of the book from the first pages, and then it repeats constantly. I don’t see the point in wasting time on this”, says Matsotsky.

At the same time, he loves fiction, for example, historical novels, modern prose, and classics

Energy Storage for Renewables – The Pros and Cons 

Sam Allcock
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Energy Storage for Renewables – The Pros and Cons 

Renewable energy needs to be stored, just like any other energy. Wind turbines may capture power from the wind, and solar panels may capture power from the sun, but without effective energy storage, most of that power would disperse before being used.

There are also inherent limitations with most renewable energy. For instance, wind turbines only work when the wind is blowing. Solar panels only work when the sun is shining. Any house or business that relies on that energy will need an effective energy storage system or be left without power when the wind is still, or the sky is dark.

Where things get tricky is that energy storage itself poses sustainability problems. Capturing renewable energy in order to protect the environment does little good if our energy storage creates waste and pollution.

The Current Energy Storage Landscape

Currently, energy storage for renewable devices is dominated by traditional chemical batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are the most common. The issue with these lithium-ion batteries is that they produce massive amounts of pollution to create. The mining process alone creates a lot of carbon emissions and dumps pollutants into local water systems. Lithium is mined from salt brines, and the resulting flow of saline water into local water systems ruins the drinking water for locals.

There are social concerns, as well. Many chemical-batter mining operations are done in countries with little or no worker protections. This means that unethical employment practices abound. Child labor is a serious problem, generally unsafe and miserable working conditions.

Chemical batteries are also not very recyclable. Even the meager recycling that can be done requires a lot of work and, therefore, waste. The batteries need to be physically shredded to get out the recyclable parts. Many would say that an unrecyclable energy storage solution for renewable energy is patently absurd. Fortunately, there is a solution on the market.

Flywheel Energy Storage Technology

Flywheel technology has grown out of the potter’s wheel of ancient Mesopotamia. However, the people of that ancient place would not recognize modern flywheels. The devices are so massive that they use high-powered magnets to help support their weight. They function by using a dual-use motor to spin a mass around an axis and then store the created energy.

Flywheel energy storage has many pros over chemical battery energy storage, including:

  • 30 years of productivity per flywheel (and the technology is still improving)
  • High recyclability
  • Significantly fewer operating and maintenance requirements
  • No need for air conditioning, ventilation, or heating to operate effectively
  • The ability to function efficiently in both extreme heat and extreme cold
  • Greater than 86 percent round trip efficiency
  • No fire hazard posed

Flywheels do not require the harsh mining operations that chemical batteries do. They are, therefore, a kinder environment and socially.

As we discuss the merits of the technology, remember that it is still severely under-adopted. The technology has huge room to grow as it becomes more readily and widely used.

Amber Kinetics is the Company to Usher in the Dominance of Flywheel Energy Storage

Much of the world is just now waking up to the need for flywheel energy storage, but Amber Kinetics has been at it for over fourteen years. The company was founded in 2008 by Seth Sanders (Chief Scientist Dr) and Ed Chiao (Chief Executive Officer).

Amber Kinetics created the world’s first four-hour discharge, long-duration kinetic energy system. As of 2022, they produced over 916-megawatt hours and more than 578,000 hours of cumulative flywheel runtime. They’ve powered more than 302 houses and generated enough energy to power more than 67,000 houses.

Amber Kinetics did all of that while most of the rest of the world didn’t even know what flywheel energy storage meant to create a massive competitive moat around their business. They are a mission-driven company that saw a need more than a decade before the rest of the world started to recognize it.

Many competitors are starting to rise and make their claim to fill the world’s renewable energy storage needs. The world needs any companies that can do so successfully, but the fact is that Amber Kinetics is heads and shoulders with any competitor in the flywheel energy storage space. They have been living there all this time, waiting for when the world would fully realize its need for their solutions.

That time is now.

It’s All About the Song – How to Edit on Beat with Aaron Gibbes, The Head of Video Production at Artistic Initiative Agency

Sam Allcock
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It’s All About the Song – How to Edit on Beat with Aaron Gibbes, The Head of Video Production at Artistic Initiative Agency

Undoubtedly, the right music selection can be the difference between a viral video reel and a video that falls into the dumpster of oblivion of an Instagram page.

Aaron Gibbes, the head of video production at Artistic Initiative Agency, recognizes music’s vital role in creating an engaging video. Over the years, Gibbes has become a voracious consumer of music, and today, his musically attuned ears are an asset for his work at Artistic Initiative.

“Music is a huge part of my life,” commented Gibbes during a recent interview. “I consume music daily. As soon as I get on my car, I connect my Bluetooth and go through my playlists or explore new music. This is what helps me choose the right music to make the perfect video.”

Nowadays, Gibbes and the rest of the Artistic Initiative team are pioneers of a new form of social media marketing, the agency coined as “High-End Social Media.” Artistic Initiative is breaking the paradigms of traditional social media marketing by translating the vlog-style format of the influencer world into corporate marketing. This innovative approach led this award-winning branding agency to become one of the fastest-growing social media marketing companies in 2021, opening two locations in less than one year in Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas.

As the head of video production of Artistic Initiative, Gibbes understands that any content creator must be a fanatical consumer of popular culture. For this Curaçao-native creative, his vast knowledge of music has become a critical tool for giving the high-end touch to the videos he creates. Today, the upbeats accompanying the video reels and vlogs produced by Artistic Initiative Agency have become part of the agency’s signature.

In a recent exclusive interview, Gibbes discussed the importance of making the right song selection when editing video reels and vlogs.

Within Artistic Initiative, Gibbes has become infamous for his magic hand for selecting songs and editing videos based on beat. He expresses at times feeling the pressure of upholding the quality that has characterized his videos in the past. Yet, his musical expertise gives him the ability to recognize the right song for each video.

“There are times that it’s hard finding the ideal song for a video, but my background in music has become critical,” said Gibbes. “I used to be a musical engineer back in the day, so I have an ear for music. At this point, I know what feels and sounds good.”

Years of experience have taught Gibbes not to start editing any clip without first selecting the right soundtrack for the video. Using this approach, the song beats become a template that Gibbes can follow to facilitate the editing process, allowing him to meet the face-paced production that characterizes Artistic Initiative.

“The first thing I do to create a one-minute video reel is finding a song,” said Gibbes. “It’s easier to edit on a beat than to edit the footage and then trying to match it to a song.”

Gibbes explains that in editing, music serves the dual purpose of working as a template and setting the video’s tone. The wrong song selection can completely distort the message transmitted in the reel or vlog.

“I see what the event was about and start brainstorming songs,” said Gibbes. “I ask myself, ‘ok, do I need a slow beat, do I need a fast beat, do I need something emotional?’”

However, Gibbes is not afraid of sometimes going off script and challenging established standards. He takes full advantage of the creative freedom that his position at Artistic Initiative grants him to subvert audiences’ expectations by experimenting with different genres.

“Sometimes I try to innovate by picking a beat that technically does not match the video’s subject,” explained Gibbes. “However, it almost always works out, and the end result blows my mind.”

Over the past year, Gibbes and his peers at Artistic Initiative Agency have challenged the canon of social media marketing. With its innovative approach to filming and editing, Artistic Initiative has become the leading figure of a new movement inside the online marketing industry.

Today, Artistic Initiative Agency is working on the development of the Artistic Initiative Academy Project. This multimedia learning experience will teach creative entrepreneurs and business leaders the keys to developing a social media brand and curating content with the Artistic Initiative’s high-end signature touch.

Digital wallets & A2A payments: Token drives growth in Open Banking

Sam Allcock
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Digital wallets & A2A payments: Token drives growth in Open Banking

Token strengthens its position as market leader, driving exponential growth in Open Banking payments 

Token is working with customers from across verticals to power a shift from traditional payment methods to Open Banking-enabled A2A payments in the UK and Europe

London, 14 June – Open Banking payments are going from strength to strength in the UK and Europe as use cases continue to expand, with Open Banking platform Token.io at the heart of developments. 

In the UK, the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) recorded a 210% growth in Open Banking payments between April 2021 and April 2022, with Token driving over 20% of this traffic. By the end of 2021, the cumulative total for Open Banking payments volume stood at 26.6 million – an increase of more than 500% in 12 months. 

Whilst the UK is an Open Banking pioneer, Europe is now keeping pace. Juniper has predicted that Open Banking payments will exceed $116 billion by 2026 – a 2800% increase in five years – with Europe set to account for 75% of this total as Open Banking payments become a key driver of e-commerce growth. 

Against this backdrop, Token has emerged as the clear market leader, enabling the growth of faster, fairer, frictionless Open Banking-enabled account-to-account (A2A) payments across the UK and Europe. 

Following its latest $40 million funding round, Token is further expanding its connectivity network while recruiting additional talent to accelerate the development of its capabilities. In April 2022, the company boosted its executive team with the addition of Chief Product Officer (CPO) Charles Damen (ex-Worldpay, Thunes, Bumble/Badoo) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Artashes Torosyan (ex-Optio Pay). 

Todd Clyde, CEO, Token, said: “We’re seeing a huge, and growing, appetite for A2A payments across the UK and Europe, with the market recognising they represent the future – fast, fair and frictionless.”

Todd Clyde – CEO of Token

“As A2A payments increase, the use of traditional payment methods, such as cards, is set to decline. FIS WorldPay’s 2022 Global Payments Report, for example, predicts that by 2025 cards will account for less than a third of global e-commerce transaction value.”

“Our laser-sharp focus on payments has enabled us to develop deep functionality that makes accepting direct A2A payments elegant and simple. We’ve adopted an approach that empowers other players in the payment value chain to bring A2A payments, and the benefits associated with them, to their customers. We’re now processing tens of millions of open payments annually for the UK and Europe’s payment service providers (PSPs), gateways, banks and large merchants.”

With Token’s complete Open Banking toolkit, businesses can create new capabilities and revenue streams, blending API-based payments and data to reinvent financial experiences faster and more efficiently. 

Token is powering A2A payments across the entire payments ecosystem and helping to increase use cases day-by-day. The company is working with Mastercard, HSBC and a host of leading PSPs, such as Trust Payments, Nuvei, Everpay, eCommpay, Straal and Contis. Token is also providing connectivity to Open Banking platforms Volt and TransfrPro. In addition, Token has partnered with ShoppingOS, which has developed an elegant no-code Open Banking payments WooCommerce plug-in for merchants, and Prommt, which delivers slick, branded payment requests across all popular messaging channels and payment gateways.

One particularly prominent use case is A2A payments as a means of loading wallets or digital accounts. Token enables A2A payments for a number of providers, including:

  • Sonae Universo, partnered with Token to enable account top-ups via Open Banking payments for Universo’s flagship credit card product.  
  • Rewire, provides cross-border banking solutions and ensures migrants’ financial services accessibility.
  • Coingate, a Bitcoin and crypto payment processor. 

Token’s technology is also underpinning the emergence of A2A payments in physical stores across the UK and Europe. 

In the UK, Token customer Sway is turning mobile phones into payment terminals to bring A2A payments to retail stores. Merchants simply download the Sway app, connect their bank, and generate a unique transaction QR code. Customers then scan the code and authenticate the payment in their mobile banking app for a fast, frictionless and secure in-store payment experience. In Europe, BNP Paribas’ Instanea solution, with Open Banking connectivity provided by Token, is also delivering A2A payments as an alternative to card payments in stores at Castorama locations across France.

Founded in 2016, Token is driving the shift from traditional payment methods to faster, lower cost and more secure A2A payments. It currently processes tens of millions of live transactions in 16 European countries. By providing API connectivity to banks across Europe, Token delivers rich Open Banking payments functionality to payment service providers, gateways, acquirers, banks and large merchants.

The Benefits of choosing Comodo for your SSL

Sam Allcock
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0
The Benefits of choosing Comodo for your SSL

A crucial part of choosing an SSL is the Certificate Authority (CA). CAs are companies that issue, revoke, and manage the overall SSL certificate ecosystem across the Internet. It’s a pretty big job. But unfortunately, like most things, not all CAs are created equal. In this post, we’ll discuss why that is while recommending you choose Comodo SSL CA for your SSL. Read on to find out why.

The importance of a trusted CA

Let’s take a closer look at what a CA does and why trust is a massive part of that. CAs don’t give out SSL certificates to just anyone, especially if you choose an SSL certificate with a high validation level, such as organization validation or extended validation. CAs need to perform checks into the SSL requestor with these certificate types, investigating their existence through government records and various other means. So when you get an SSL from a CA, they’re not just allowing you to encrypt your site’s connection, but they’re authenticating who you are and authorizing you to have their SSL.  A CA does this by signing your certificate with a unique signature.

This signature is incredibly important for having your site work in major web browsers. Before a browser loads your site, it will perform what is known as the SSL handshake with the server where your site is stored. It’s an authentication and verification process, and part of this is checking which CA issued and signed your SSL. It will check the CA against a database of trusted CA root certificates. If your CA is not considered trustworthy by the browsers, its root certificate will not be in this database, and your site will likely not work correctly in the browser. Basically, choosing a CA that’s not trusted is almost like not having an SSL at all. What’s the point if it doesn’t work? That’s why it’s so important to research a CA before buying an SSL certificate. Your SSL’s issuing CA must be well regarded and considered trustworthy.

Fortunately, that won’t be a problem with Comodo.

Why Comodo?

Comodo is one of the world’s leading CAs with over 20 years in the Internet security business. In this time it has worked with upwards of 70,000 companies worldwide and issued over 100 million digital certificates, accounting for 34% of the SSL market currently. By choosing Comodo for your SSL certificate, you don’t have to worry about trust being an issue. Because of its status as a powerhouse in digital security, global enterprises and web browsers know to trust Comodo. Furthermore, Comodo’s experience in providing cutting-edge digital security solutions means that you’ll get a quality product every time.

Related: Best Laptops For Cyber Security

Wrap up

When choosing an SSL certificate, don’t risk getting stuck with a shady CA. Issuing CAs are more important than people think, and choosing the wrong one could be the difference between your website working or not working. Take away any possible risk by choosing Comodo CA.

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