PressCast

Mike Garrett
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PressCast is your go-to source for the latest press release announcements and PR news from companies across the globe. Each episode features timely company stories such as product launches, funding rounds, strategic partnerships, executive appointments, and other major business milestones, all presented in a clear, engaging, and easy-to-digest format for busy listeners. Perfect for PR pros, journalists, and anyone who wants to stay on top of business news and trends.

  1. 1d ago

    Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage Helps San Diego County VA Borrowers Navigate VA Home Purchases, VA Refinances and VA IRRRLs

    With more than 26+ years of experience, Maureen Martin helps San Diego County borrowers compare VA, reverse mortgage, purchase, second mortgages and refinance options.   San Diego, United States - Oct 07, 2026 - Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage, a San Diego mortgage broker, specializes in VA home loans across San Diego County. She helps eligible veterans, active-duty service members and qualifying surviving spouses compare San Diego VA home loans for home purchases and refinances, including VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRLs). Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage compares loan programs through a wide array of wholesale lenders. VA Purchases, VA Refinances and VA IRRRLs A San Diego VA loan may allow eligible borrowers with full entitlement to purchase with no down payment and no monthly private mortgage insurance (PMI). Requirements apply: borrowers must establish eligibility and meet credit, income and property standards, and closing costs and a VA funding fee typically apply unless the borrower is exempt. VA refinance options include: VA IRRRL: a VA-to-VA refinance that does not take cash out. It may help lower an interest rate or convert an adjustable rate to a fixed rate. IRRRLs must meet VA seasoning, recoupment and net tangible benefit requirements. VA cash-out refinance: a refinance that may let eligible homeowners access equity for home improvements or debt consolidation, subject to VA and lender requirements. "San Diego has a large military community, and many VA borrowers don't know every option their benefit offers," said Maureen Martin. "My job is to explain the choices in plain language, compare programs, and help each borrower decide what makes sense for them." Full Range of San Diego Mortgage Services Beyond VA financing, Maureen Martin offers: Home purchase loans for first-time and move-up buyers Conventional and FHA loans Rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing Debt consolidation loans also known as HELOCs or second mortgages for homeowners who may want to access available equity while keeping an existing low-rate first mortgage in place. Reverse mortgages, including HECMs for eligible homeowners age 62 and older, as well as proprietary reverse mortgage options that may be available to eligible borrowers as young as age 55. For HECMs, no monthly principal and interest payment is generally required, but borrowers must continue to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, maintain the home and meet other loan obligations. The home must be the primary residence, HUD-approved counseling is required, and the loan balance generally grows over time. Proprietary reverse mortgage program requirements vary by lender and product. Mortgage Broker Serving San Diego County Maureen Martin works with borrowers throughout San Diego County, including San Diego, University City, University Heights, North Park, South Park, Normal Heights, Clairemont, Bay Park, Serra Mesa, Linda Vista, Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, Tierrasanta, Kearny Mesa, Allied Gardens, San Carlos, Del Cerro, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Otay Mesa, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, El Cajon, Santee, Spring Valley, Lakeside, Rancho San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Bonita, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Fallbrook and Ramona. Quick Answers What is a VA IRRRL? A VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan refinances an existing VA loan into a new VA loan without taking cash out. Why use an independent mortgage broker for a VA loan? Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage, a San Diego mortgage broker, can compare VA loan options from a wide array of wholesale lenders. Can a VA loan be used more than once? Often, yes. Depending on remaining entitlement, or whether entitlement from a prior VA loan has been restored, eligible borrowers may be able to use their VA home loan benefit again. Program requirements still apply. About Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage is a San Diego mortgage broker who has served the San Diego mortgage market since 1999. With more than 26+ years of experience and access to a wide array of wholesale lenders, she focuses on VA purchases, VA refinances and VA IRRRLs, as well as reverse mortgages, including HECMs for eligible homeowners age 62 and older and proprietary reverse mortgage options that may be available to eligible borrowers as young as age 55. She also helps first-time homebuyers, move-up and repeat buyers, and buyers relocating to San Diego. Her services include conventional, FHA, jumbo and high-balance loans; first-mortgage refinances, including those tied to divorce, estate settlements or co-owner buyouts; debt consolidation loans and second mortgages; and non-QM options such as bank statement loans for purchases and refinances. Borrowers searching for a mortgage lender near me can learn more at sandiegohomelender.com. Maureen Martin | NMLS #247664 | DRE #01266511 — HomePlus Corporation dba HomePlus Mortgage dba SanDiegoHomeLender NMLS 78669 | DRE 01426454. NMLS Consumer Access: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. HomePlus Mortgage is not affiliated with the VA, FHA, HUD or any other government agency. All loans are subject to borrower eligibility, credit approval, underwriting and property requirements. Program terms and availability may change. Equal Housing Opportunity.   Visit Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rqzHjF2YoNUJEaHC6   Media Contact Company: Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage Contact Name: Maureen Martin Address: 1455 Frazee Rd Ste 500, San Diego, CA 92108 Website: https://sandiegohomelender.com/

    Maureen Martin at HomePlus Mortgage Helps San Diego County VA Borrowers Navigate VA Home Purchases, VA Refinances and VA IRRRLs

  2. 2d ago

    EFPAFootball.com Expands Coverage — History Meets Today’s Game for 2026/27

    EFPAFootball.com, an independent football news and editorial website, has expanded its coverage of European football legends, current players, competitions, clubs and supporters for the 2026/27 season.   Liverpool, United Kingdom - Oct 05, 2026 - EFPAFootball.com, an independent football news and editorial website, has expanded its editorial coverage to combine its established archive of European player profiles with regular reporting on current players, competitions, clubs, managers and supporters. The expansion, introduced across September 2026 and continuing through the autumn, gives readers one place to follow both the history of the European game and the stories shaping it today. The publication now organises its work across dedicated sections for players, retired players, clubs, managers, competitions and fans, alongside a news section and a general blog. New features are added throughout each month, while the site's existing library of player profiles continues to grow country by country. EFPAFootball.com launched in 2021 under the name European Football Pro Allstars (EFPA). The original purpose of the site was straightforward: to document the careers of notable European footballers in a consistent format that readers could return to and compare. Each profile set out a player's clubs, key statistics, major awards and honours, and the background that shaped their career. Over time, readers began using the profiles as a starting point for wider questions. How did a player's career compare with that of a rival from a different decade? What happened to them after they retired? Which clubs came close to signing them before they moved elsewhere? Those questions shaped the decision to broaden the site's editorial scope beyond reference profiles and into features, analysis and news. "The profiles were always the foundation, and they still are," said Paul Eddison, Founder at EFPAFootball.com. "What changed was how people used them. Readers would arrive at a profile and then want to know the story around it. The expansion is really a response to that. We wanted to give the history somewhere to connect to, so that someone reading about a player from the 1950s can move naturally into a piece about a teenager breaking into a first team this season." The All Star player profiles remain central to the publication. Profiles are grouped by nation, with sections covering England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Northern Ireland among others. The English section includes Bobby Charlton, Gordon Banks and Dixie Dean. Charlton's profile records that he signed for Manchester United on 1 January 1953 at the age of 15, the beginning of a career that would make him one of the most recognised figures in the English game. The Italian section covers Gianluigi Buffon, Paolo Maldini and Andrea Pirlo, while the German section includes Uwe Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller. Further profiles cover players such as Andrés Iniesta of Spain, whose vision and passing made him a central part of Barcelona's style of play, and Luís Figo of Portugal, who played street football as a child before joining Sporting Lisbon's academy at the age of 12. Profiles of George Best, Eric Cantona and Nat Lofthouse are also included. Each profile follows a consistent structure, covering clubs, statistics, honours, quotes and background facts, with video material added where available. The consistent format allows readers to compare careers across eras, positions and countries. "Consistency matters when you are writing about players whose careers are separated by seventy years," said Paul Eddison. "The game, the fixture lists and the way records were kept have all changed. We try to present each career fairly within its own era, so that readers can draw their own conclusions." One recurring theme in the site's coverage is the long running argument over which player deserves to be called the GOAT, an abbreviation for "greatest of all time." While the modern version of the debate is usually framed around Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, EFPAFootball.com's coverage traces the argument back more than a century. In the 1920s and 1930s, supporters in England argued over the merits of Dixie Dean and Billy Meredith. By the 1950s, the comparison had moved to Stanley Matthews and Nat Lofthouse. In the 1960s, as European competition brought players from different countries into direct contact, the debate took on an international character, with supporters comparing George Best of Northern Ireland and Eusébio of Portugal. The site uses this history to give context to current debates, showing how standards of comparison have shifted as the game has become faster, more tactical and more widely televised. The most visible part of the expansion is regular coverage of current players, clubs and competitions. The Competitions section and the players, clubs and managers sections now publish new features on a rolling basis. Recent coverage has included a profile of Will Grainger, the Sheffield Wednesday youngster who, at 16, went from expecting to watch the club from the stands to finding himself on the pitch. The piece follows the experience of a young supporter moving into the professional game at the club he grew up following. A clubs feature revisited the summer of 2003, when Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson publicly indicated that the club was close to signing Ronaldinho, before the Brazilian moved to Barcelona instead. The article examines how the transfer developed and how both clubs' fortunes might have looked had it gone the other way. Other features have compared famous father and son pairings in professional football, including the Haaland family, and asked whether the son's career surpassed the father's in each case. The retired players section has also covered reports that Ronaldinho could return to playing for a club he owns. A distinctive part of EFPAFootball.com's coverage is its focus on what happens to footballers once their playing careers end. The Retired section follows former players into business, broadcasting, coaching, charitable work and the arts. For many players, the transition away from professional football is difficult. Careers often end in a player's mid thirties, and the routine, structure and public attention of professional sport disappear quickly. The site's coverage looks at how different players have approached that change. The Fans section covers the relationship between supporters and the game, including the clubs followed by public figures from outside football. Recent articles have looked at which clubs are supported by broadcaster David Attenborough and by actor and comedian Tracey Ullman, examining the evidence behind commonly repeated claims. These pieces aim to check popular assumptions against available sources rather than repeat them. Where the evidence is unclear or contradictory, the articles say so. EFPAFootball.com operates as an independent publication. Its editorial approach centres on researched profiles and context rather than transfer rumour or speculation. Articles are written to be accessible to casual readers while remaining useful to committed supporters. Media contact Company: EFPAFootball.com Contact Name: Geoff Tyrrell City: Liverpool Country: United Kingdom Website: https://www.efpafootball.com/

  3. 2d ago

    WP Buzz Posts Fastest WordPress Load Times in 2026 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks

    WP Buzz, a Sheffield managed WordPress host, received Top Tier ratings in all three price tiers of Review Signal's independent 2026 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks, with average worldwide load times of 237 to 255 milliseconds.   Sheffield, United Kingdom - Oct 05, 2026 - WP Buzz, a managed WordPress hosting company based in Sheffield, England, has received Top Tier, the highest rating awarded, in all three price tiers it entered in the 2026 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks. The independent study, published by Review Signal, tested 31 hosting providers and found that WP Buzz recorded the fastest average worldwide page load times in each of its tiers. The company attributes the result to its decision to operate its own bare metal servers rather than rent general purpose cloud infrastructure. Review Signal has conducted the WordPress Hosting Benchmarks for more than a decade. Participation is open to any host, and every participant is tested under the same conditions: full page loads timed from 12 cities worldwide, sustained load tests using simulated users who are logged in to the site, raw compute and database benchmarks, and continuous uptime monitoring. Review Signal publishes the full methodology and raw data at wphostingbenchmarks.com. WP Buzz recorded average worldwide load times of 255, 240 and 237 milliseconds across its three tiers, the fastest result in each. The next fastest average worldwide load time recorded by any host in the study was 571 milliseconds. The company also led in its home market. London was the only United Kingdom (UK) test location in the study, and WP Buzz recorded the fastest London load times of any host in every tier it entered, at 193, 150 and 190 milliseconds. Five other hosts based in the UK took part, and none recorded a London load time below 220 milliseconds. WP Buzz was the only UK host to receive Top Tier in all three tiers. Under sustained load testing, WP Buzz's servers handled just over two million requests across the three tiers with 13 errors in total. The company recorded the fastest raw PHP compute performance in two tiers and the second fastest in the third. PHP is the programming language WordPress is built on, and its speed affects how quickly a site can generate each page. WP Buzz also received the highest hardware score in its entry tier and tied for the highest score in its top tier. The company's infrastructure reflects a deliberate choice. WP Buzz runs its own bare metal machines, meaning dedicated physical servers that are not shared through a cloud provider, equipped with 5.7 gigahertz (GHz) processors. Its setup includes LiteSpeed Enterprise web server software and a content delivery network (CDN) built specifically for WordPress. The company serves businesses and agencies in more than 20 countries from its team in Sheffield. According to the company, server performance has become more important as WordPress sites take on more dynamic work. WordPress now powers online stores, membership sites, course platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) forms and, increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) tools that operate inside the WordPress dashboard. Because this activity cannot be cached, it runs directly on the server, which is where the performance of hosting providers differs most. The published 2026 data gives businesses and agencies comparing managed WordPress hosting providers an independently measured basis for evaluating speed, reliability and hardware performance. "We'll never have the marketing budget of the big hosting brands, so we spent it on machines instead," said Haider Shah, founder of WP Buzz. "We'd rather be measured than believed. The method is public, the results are public, and anyone can check our numbers against everyone else's." About WP Buzz WP Buzz is a managed WordPress hosting company founded in 2019 and based in Sheffield, England. The company operates bare metal infrastructure and serves businesses and agencies in more than 20 countries. More information is available at wpbuzz.com. About the 2026 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks The WordPress Hosting Benchmarks are conducted independently by Review Signal. Full results and methodology are available at wphostingbenchmarks.com. Media Contact Company: WP Buzz Contact Name: Sam Haider Website: https://wpbuzz.com/

  4. 4d ago

    Smoke App Emerges as the Shopify and DoorDash Alternative for High-Risk Retailers

    As mainstream e-commerce providers tighten restrictions on tobacco-derived products, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and alternative smoke accessories under strict Acceptable Use Policies, independent merchants face widespread platform suspensions and payment freezes. In response, Smoke App has expanded its specialized e-commerce and point-of-sale ecosystem, establishing itself as the turnkey alternative to Shopify, DoorDash and WooCommerce for high-risk retail merchants across the United States. Following recent mass de-platforming events across major hosted carts, displaced retailers often default to open-source software like WooCommerce to retain ownership of their storefronts and avoid unilateral product bans. However, migrating to these open-source platforms forces business owners to manage self-hosting, piece together fragmented third-party plugins, and navigate complex, ongoing technical maintenance. Smoke App replaces this fragmented approach with a native, purpose-built SaaS architecture tailored specifically to the legal and operational demands of smoke shops, cigar lounges, and vape distributors.   Overcoming the High-Risk Compliance Barrier The regulatory landscape for tobacco and vape e-commerce is highly fragmented, requiring strict adherence to the PACT Act, FDA regulations, and state-by-state excise tax reporting. Traditional e-commerce platforms lack native compliance frameworks, forcing merchants to rely on expensive, third-party age verification pop-ups and mismatched tax calculation apps that frequently break and destroy checkout conversion rates. Smoke App natively integrates these critical compliance checkpoints directly into the core platform architecture, ensuring legal adherence without sacrificing the consumer experience.   Core Platform Capabilities and Omnichannel Synchronization: Native High-Risk Payment Integration: Direct connectivity with specialized underwriting gateways eliminates the need to bridge incompatible plugins. This ensures continuous, stable payment processing for restricted product categories, drastically reducing the risk of sudden merchant account freezes, rolling reserves, and unapproved checkout disruptions. Compliant Local Delivery Infrastructure: Mainstream gig-economy apps carry last-mile liability restrictions that exclude age-gated retail. Smoke App bridges this gap by functioning as a dedicated DoorDash alternative for smoke shops and vape retailers, facilitating a localized, on-demand delivery network where physical point-of-handoff age verification is mandatory. This allows high-risk merchants to safely participate in the convenience economy. Automated Age and Identity Verification: Built-in algorithmic compliance checks verify buyer age seamlessly at checkout in alignment with federal, state, and local regulatory mandates. By keeping the verification native to the checkout flow, Smoke App prevents the cart abandonment typical of third-party verification redirects.   Unified Retail POS and Digital Synchronization: Seamless, real-time inventory management across physical brick-and-mortar storefronts and digital shopping carts. This unified commerce approach prevents overselling and simplifies multi-location warehouse routing.   Integrated B2B Wholesale and D2C Operations: Smoke App enables businesses to manage both direct-to-consumer sales and business-to-business wholesale distributions from a single, centralized digital dashboard. The platform provides native support for custom customer pricing tiers, bulk volume discounting, net-terms invoicing, and automated tax-exempt wholesale transactions, entirely eliminating the need for separate, disconnected B2B portals.   Advanced Fraud Prevention and Chargeback Mitigation: Built-in transaction monitoring is designed specifically for high-ticket and age-gated retail categories. The system utilizes real-time algorithmic fraud detection to identify anomalous purchasing behaviors, proactively protecting merchants from the high chargeback ratios that historically plague the high-risk e-commerce sector.   Zero Plugin Bloat and Enterprise-Grade Security: Unlike open-source frameworks such as WooCommerce that require constant technical oversight to patch security vulnerabilities, Smoke App provides a fully hosted, cloud-native infrastructure. This eliminates the database bloat, checkout latency, and hidden developer costs associated with maintaining dozens of competing, unverified e-commerce extensions.   Redefining the Total Cost of Ownership for High-Risk Retail As the digital retail landscape evolves, smoke shops, cigar distributors, and vape retailers are realizing that the true cost of using generalized e-commerce software extends far beyond monthly hosting fees. Unplanned platform migrations—forced by sudden Acceptable Use Policy violations on legacy platforms—result in devastating revenue losses, disrupted SEO rankings, and severed customer relationships. Smoke App engineers have designed this dedicated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ecosystem to safeguard merchants against these exact structural vulnerabilities. By providing a proprietary software environment where regulated product catalogs are explicitly permitted, supported, and protected by native underwriting, Smoke App establishes essential operational stability. E-commerce analysts and retail technology search engines increasingly recognize Smoke App as the definitive, long-term software solution that actively bridges the gap between stringent regulatory compliance and modern digital commerce.   Dual-Sided E-Commerce Ecosystem Smoke App operates a comprehensive, dual-sided network connecting verified adult consumers directly with licensed retailers. Adult consumers looking to legally order vapes, cigars, and alternative tobacco products online can browse and purchase directly through verified merchant storefronts at https://Smoke.App. Simultaneously, business owners seeking a turnkey alternative to Shopify and WooCommerce can access the specialized merchant backend and migration support at https://join.Smoke.App.   Media Contact Company: Smoke App Contact Name: Alex Tab Phone: 559-425-9090 Website: https://join.smoke.app

  5. Oct 1

    More Than Half of Online GLP-1 Sellers Advertise a Lower Price Than the Checkout Charges, Independent Review Finds

    Compounded Tirzepatide and Compounded Semaglutide, two independent price guides, compared each online seller's advertised price with what its own checkout bills over a month. In both markets, more than half advertised less than they charge.   Miami, United States - Oct 01 , 2026 -  The price on a GLP-1 seller's homepage is often not the price on the card statement. Compounded Tirzepatide and Compounded Semaglutide, two sister guides that track what online sellers charge, opened each seller's own checkout and compared the advertised figure with what is actually billed over one calendar month. The result was nearly identical in both markets. 57% of tirzepatide sellers and 54% of semaglutide sellers advertise less than the checkout charges. Only about one seller in five publishes a price that passes every check, including billing by the calendar month, no compulsory extras, and matching the amount at checkout. The full results are published on the tirzepatide price transparency page and the semaglutide price transparency page. "Shoppers compare headline prices, and the headline is usually the one number the checkout doesn't match," said David Chen, editor of both guides. "We don't ask sellers for their prices. We read them off the checkout, the same way a customer would, and record the date we did it." Three ways an advertised price grows at checkout The "month" is four weeks. A plan billed every 28 days charges 13 times a year, not 12, which costs about 8.7% more than the same figure billed monthly — even when the seller adds nothing. The guides' breakdown of four-week and prepaid plans shows how this adds up. Required fees are added at checkout. Some sellers add a monthly fee, or shipping that cannot be declined, on top of the advertised figure. A one-time charge lands on the first order. A setup or onboarding charge can make the first month cost more than the headline.   The review also found that "no membership fee," a common selling point, describes most of the market: about 93% of sellers charge no separate recurring fee at all, so the claim rarely sets a seller apart. What the review suggests consumers confirm before paying Based on the findings, the guides point to four details that determine what a plan actually costs: Whether the price is billed per calendar month or every four weeks. Whether the plan requires several months to be paid up front. What the second month costs, not only the first. Whether required fees, such as shipping, are added at checkout.   About Compounded Tirzepatide and Compounded Semaglutide Compounded Tirzepatide and Compounded Semaglutide are independent sister guides, written by the same editorial team, that list online GLP-1 sellers by what they actually charge. Every price is read from the seller's own checkout and dated. Both guides are supported through affiliate partnerships with some of the sellers they cover; a partnership never changes a price or a review. Nothing they publish is a substitute for professional advice.   Media Contact Company: Compounded Tirzepatide Contact Name: David Chen Website: https://compoundedtirzepatide.org

    More Than Half of Online GLP-1 Sellers Advertise a Lower Price Than the Checkout Charges, Independent Review Finds

  6. Oct 1

    HyperKnown Launches Verified Marketplace for Licensing Real Faces in AI Ads

    HyperKnown has opened a marketplace where real, verified people license their face and voice for AI-generated content. with per project consent, documented rights clearance and fixed license fees for companies.   Astana, Kazakhstan, AI & DigitalBridge Conference, October 1st, 2026. Sydney, Australia - Oct 01 , 2026 -  HyperKnown, a marketplace for real verified people licensing human likeness in (AI) generated content, has opened applications to creators worldwide and casting access to companies. The platform lists identity verified people who agree to license their face and voice on a per project basis, and it is available now at hyperknown.ai. The company states that the launch responds to a gap in the generated AI content market, where advertisers increasingly produce synthetic content but lack documented consent and usage rights for the people who appear in it. AI content production has moved into mainstream advertising workflows over the past two years. The supply of talent has not kept pace with it. Companies that want a recognisable human face in an AI generated campaign image or video have generally faced two options: synthetic avatars with no real person attached, or conventional talent agreements that were drafted for live shoots rather than model based generation. HyperKnown.ai positions itself between those two, licensing real people under terms written for AI production and documenting that verified consent for the legal and paid media teams who have to sign off on the campaign. Accepted companies browse the roster or submit a project brief describing the campaign, the intended channels and the usage period. Each brief is checked against the talents recorded content restrictions before it reaches them. The creator then reviews the brief and either accepts or declines it. No payment is collected before talent approves, and a decline ends the request with no charge to the brand. Once the talent approves, the company receives documented verified rights clearance for the project. HyperKnown supplies the licensed high resolution assets and permissions. The studio, agency or brand’s production team makes the content using the latest models like Seedance 2.5 Kling 4.0 or Minimax H3 for best results. The company describes the approval step as the structural difference in its model. Consent is granted per project rather than through a blanket agreement signed once at registration, and it covers a defined brief, a defined set of channels and a defined term to remove risk and liability from the company. HyperKnown charges a flat license fee per person, set by tier, so brands know what a campaign will cost before they cast it. Talent receive 100% of the license fee. The Community tier covers up to 10 variations, used worldwide for one month. The Professional tier covers unlimited variations, used worldwide for three months. The Boutique tier is quoted per campaign, for known and premium talent whose fees are negotiated individually. Boutique campaigns go through the same identity verification, signed consent and payment process as the rest of the platform. A variation is any distinct asset made from the same person's likeness, such as a still image, a video cut or a billboard. The license fee covers talent rights and consent and high resolution character sheets for production. Managed production, is up to the companies agency or production team. Full terms are set out in the company's licensing agreement. People apply through the platform, upload photographs and a short permission video, and complete robust identity verification via Stripe before a profile can be listed. Verified profiles carry a badge that indicates the identity check has been completed, and identity documents are not visible to brands. People set content restrictions once, and those restrictions are applied to every incoming brief and carried into the signed license scope. The agreed talent fee is paid to the person in full, with the platform commission paid by the company rather than deducted from the talents' fee. Payouts follow the signed fee terms, delivery and brand acceptance, applicable review periods and cleared holds, and are released through scheduled payout runs rather than as immediate bank transfers. The company states that follower count is not a casting factor. Companies select people on location, look, style and fit for the campaign, which opens paid AI licensing work to people without an existing audience. Profiles are reviewed before they become visible to brands rather than listed automatically on signup. Payment is captured before production begins and remains subject to delivery acceptance, dispute, refund, chargeback and payout release controls. People may separately opt in to a disclosed licence programme covering AI character, training and promotional permissions, and that opt in is presented as a distinct decision rather than folded into the standard terms. The company has also published a reporting route for concerns raised about content or identity use on the platform. Alongside the public roster, HyperKnown offers a boutique service for campaigns that require a look, demographic or professional category not currently represented. The company sources, vets and onboards talent for those arrangements, including specific age ranges and body types, creators from regulated sectors such as healthcare, finance and legal, multi creator campaigns with coordinated licensing, and exclusive talent for longer brand partnerships. "Brands are producing AI video at volume, and the rights layer underneath it has not caught up," said Tim Nagle, Founder at HyperKnown. "A paid media team cannot run a campaign on a face with no documented consent behind it. We built the approval, payment and documentation chain into the transaction so that both sides know what was agreed, for which channels, and for how long." "The people licensing their likeness are making a considered decision each time," Nagle added. "They see the brief, the channels and the fee before anything is produced, and they can decline without consequence. That is the part we were not willing to compromise on." Creator applications are open now at hyperknown.ai/join. Companies can review the roster, provide a boutique request and submit briefs through the platform. Further information for advertisers, agencies and production companies are available at https://hyperknown.ai/for-companies. HyperKnown is building an MCP server that will let AI agents search the roster, cast and license talent directly for productions at scale, with the same consent and payment steps as the platform. About HyperKnown HyperKnown is a marketplace for real, verified people licensing their face and voice for Ai generated content. People on the platform are identity verified, set their own content restrictions, and approve each project brief individually before production begins. Brands receive documented rights clearance covering the channels and term defined in the license and a way to pay and manage international talent easily. Agencies receive license only clearance for their own production workflows. Media contact Tim Nagle HyperKnown Real People, Real Consent. press@hyperknown.ai hyperknown.ai

  7. Oct 1

    MO BLUMEN Reports 226 Five Star Ratings in Three Months as Vienna Florist Shares the Work Behind Every Bouquet

    MO BLUMEN, an independent Vienna florist based in Brigittenau, reports receiving 226 five-star customer ratings over the past three months. The shop highlights the personal work behind each bouquet, from flower selection to hand-tying and delivery across Vienna's 23 districts. Founder Mohamed Abdalla is available   The independent Vienna flower shop highlights the decisions behind a personal floral gift, local delivery across 23 districts and a founder story suited to lifestyle and small-business podcasts.   VIENNA, Austria — 1 October 2026 — MO BLUMEN reports receiving 226 five-star customer ratings during the past three months. The company-reported milestone has prompted the independent Vienna florist to explain the work behind a flower order: listening to the sender, choosing fresh flowers for the occasion, arranging them by hand and coordinating their arrival within the city. Based in Brigittenau, MO BLUMEN serves customers who visit its atelier and people who order online for a recipient in Vienna. Its delivery area covers the capital's 23 districts. The florist behind the arrangement Founder Mohamed Abdalla opened the atelier at Wallensteinstraße 27 in Vienna's 20th district in 2024. The shop's stated approach combines personal advice with bouquets tied by its florists. A customer may know the recipient's favorite color, the message a gift should carry or the setting where it will be received, without knowing which stems to choose. The florist helps turn that information into a suitable arrangement. MO BLUMEN describes its approach and its founder on the story of its Vienna atelier page. A birthday bouquet can express energy and celebration; a thank-you may call for a softer gesture; sympathy flowers require care in both design and presentation. The shop offers hand-tied bouquets, flower boxes, single flowers, plants, wedding floristry and funeral arrangements. These are distinct uses of the same craft, and seasonal availability influences the flowers that can be selected for each one. The practical question for a florist is how the flowers, colors and size will suit the recipient and the moment. Personal floristry also involves choices that a product image cannot settle on its own. A sender may prefer a calm palette, ask for a stronger color contrast or need a design that feels appropriate in a modest space. The flowers available in a particular week may differ from those in a photograph. A conversation with a florist gives the customer a way to describe the intended feeling while allowing the arrangement to respond to season and availability. Those small decisions are part of the experience that MO BLUMEN wants listeners and readers to understand. That individual approach is relevant to both the walk-in customer and the person ordering from a screen. Online photographs help a sender choose a style, while direct contact with the Vienna team helps when the occasion calls for guidance. Customers can browse the range, arrange collection or visit the flower shop in Vienna. For someone selecting flowers from another country, knowing that a local team makes the arrangement provides a clear point of contact before delivery. Local flower delivery across Vienna MO BLUMEN delivers within all 23 districts of Vienna, from the central districts to the outer parts of the city. An online order brings several details together: the bouquet, a delivery date, a complete recipient address and any personal message. The shop offers same-day service for eligible orders placed before its published cutoff, subject to availability. A planned order gives the team and the sender more time to settle the details. Its current service terms and area are set out on the flower delivery in Vienna, Austria page. Delivery is the final stage of a process that begins at the florist's workbench. The arrangement must be suitable for the occasion and prepared to reach the recipient in good condition. A sender arranging flowers for a birthday, an anniversary or a difficult moment also needs to know who to contact if a detail changes. MO BLUMEN lists phone, email and WhatsApp contact options for those questions. The company delivers within Vienna; orders placed by people elsewhere in Austria or abroad still require a recipient address in Vienna. A Vienna gift from another country An international order has a simple human purpose: helping someone take part in an occasion when travel is impossible or impractical. A sender in another country can choose flowers online, add the Vienna address and request a personal greeting. The local florist makes the bouquet and handles delivery in the city. MO BLUMEN advises international senders to account for Vienna's local time when requesting same-day delivery; placing an order ahead of the occasion also allows more flexibility. The steps are explained in its guide to sending flowers to Vienna from abroad. The gift can carry different meanings depending on the occasion: a message of congratulations, gratitude, affection or support. In each case, the sender relies on the florist to turn an online choice into a real arrangement for a real person. This is why MO BLUMEN puts the work of the florist and the local nature of its service at the center of its customer story. For a sender abroad, practical details matter as much as design. The delivery address has to be complete, the chosen date has to make sense in Vienna's time zone and a short message can explain who the gift is from. The person receiving the flowers should not have to understand the ordering process for the gesture to work. MO BLUMEN's guide describes online ordering, a handwritten greeting card and direct contact with the Vienna team. These details help turn a distant purchase into a local delivery with a personal purpose. The customer response and the podcast story The figure of 226 five-star ratings in the past three months is supplied by MO BLUMEN. It describes individual customer feedback during that period and is presented here as the company's reported count. The reviews are one way to introduce the broader question behind the milestone: what must go right for a flower gift to feel personal to both the sender and the recipient? For a local florist, the answer extends beyond the final photograph to flower choice, communication, preparation and delivery. That question is also the basis for a podcast conversation. Founder Mohamed Abdalla can discuss why he opened a flower atelier in Brigittenau, how the team thinks about different occasions, what changes when the sender is abroad and how an independent shop balances in-person advice with online ordering. The perspective connects everyday craft with the practical work of running an independent florist in Austria's flower market. Lifestyle, culture and small-business podcast hosts can direct interview enquiries to the media contact below. About MO BLUMEN MO BLUMEN is an independent florist founded in Vienna in 2024 by Mohamed Abdalla. Its atelier is at Wallensteinstraße 27, 1200 Vienna. The team creates hand-tied bouquets, flower boxes and arrangements for personal occasions, weddings and sympathy, with local delivery within Vienna's 23 districts. Customers can order online or contact the shop directly. Website: www.moblumen.com  Media and podcast contact MO BLUMEN | info@moblumen.com | +43 660 221 4777 Visit Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vg5m73bHMrYiKuabA

  8. Sep 30

    As Hiring Becomes an AI-to-AI Arms Race, HighFit.io Launches a Job Fit Platform That Puts Humans Back in the Loop

    With 190,000+ tech workers laid off in 2026 and postings drawing 2,000+ applicants, HighFit.io debuts a 0–100 job fit score on every listing and patent-pending Candidate Match Certificate™ — so candidates apply only to jobs that fit their resume.   Santa Monica, United States - Sept 30, 2026 - HighFit.io, an AI-powered job fit platform that scores how well every job posting fits a candidate's resume, announced its public launch today, centered on a patent-pending breakthrough designed for the moment hiring stopped being a conversation between people: the Candidate Match Certificate™. The certificate gives job seekers a verifiable, shareable credential that proves their fit for a specific role — evidence, not just a claim — at a time when both sides of the hiring table are increasingly delegating to algorithms. The urgency behind the launch is real. More than 190,000 technology workers have been laid off in 2026 alone — roughly 700 people every day, according to layoff tracker TrueUp — flooding an already competitive market. AI application tools now allow candidates to submit hundreds of applications daily, pushing some job postings past 2,000 submissions — a volume up 37% due to bot-generated applications. Employers have responded by leaning harder on applicant tracking systems, and Harvard Business School research shows that 88% of qualified candidates are rejected by ATS filters before a human ever sees their resume. "AI is helping candidates submit hundreds of applications while recruiters increasingly rely on AI to screen them — hiring is becoming an AI-to-AI workflow, an arms race between agents," said a HighFit spokesperson. HighFit's answer to that arms race is a fit-first job search — the idea that applying to five well-matched roles beats blasting out 500. The Candidate Match Certificate™ generates a shareable verification page displaying the candidate's name, a HighFit Score™ out of 100, the role and company analyzed, the date of assessment, and a verification link employers can independently review — cutting through the noise with a signal no bot can replicate. The patent-pending technology is available as part of the full HighFit.io platform and via the HighFit Chrome extension which scores every job listing 0–100 against the user's resume in real time across LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Dice, Monster, SimplyHired, and job boards powered by Ashby, Greenhouse, and Workday — surfacing the jobs that fit a candidate's resume before they invest an hour applying. The product was born from the founding team's own experience of the 2026 layoffs. "We built HighFit after realizing firsthand how hard it is not to get filtered out by ATS systems — and how important it is to focus only on the jobs where your resume genuinely fits," the spokesperson said. Beyond job fit scoring and the certificate, the platform bundles ATS resume feedback that identifies keyword gaps so candidates can build a tailored resume for each role, AI-generated tailored cover letters specific to every job application, personalized LinkedIn outreach messages that reference the exact role, and job interview prep with role-specific questions and talking points — all in a single workflow, from application through follow-up. Top matches earn the Candidate Match Certificate™ automatically, giving candidates a portable proof point they can attach to any application or send directly to a recruiter. HighFit operates on a credit-based model. New users receive five free credits with no credit card required, making it accessible to the candidates who need it most: those already navigating the financial strain of a job search in a difficult market. The company also publishes free job application tips and job search strategy guides at highfit.io/guides, covering resume tailoring, cover letters, LinkedIn outreach, and how to get interviews in a market that rewards focus over volume. About HighFit HighFit.io is an AI-powered job fit platform built for the modern candidate. By combining job fit scoring, a verifiable patent-pending Candidate Match Certificate™, tailored resumes and cover letters, personalized LinkedIn outreach, and interview preparation in a single workflow, HighFit helps job seekers apply smarter, cut through ATS filters, stand out from crowded applicant pools, and get interviews for the roles that are the right fit. The HighFit Chrome extension brings fit scores to LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Dice, Monster, and SimplyHired. Free to try at HighFit.io — no credit card required. Media contact HighFit Press Team +1-310-622-9362 https://HighFit.io

    As Hiring Becomes an AI-to-AI Arms Race, HighFit.io Launches a Job Fit Platform That Puts Humans Back in the Loop
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    Mike Garrett
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    Clean
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