The year of 2015 was a rough ride for gold, with the shiny metal navigating an unsupportive macro environment. A stronger dollar, a slump in oil prices and the climb in U.S. equities led to a more than 11 percent fall in gold’s value last year. With the Federal Reserve finally ending an era of near-zero interest rates with the December lift-off, gold sank to six-year lows. A steep fall in prices also led to multibillion-dollar write-downs by gold miners.

However, 2016 has started on a positive note for gold. The yellow metal has been the bright spot among precious metals, with prices shooting up roughly 17 percent year to date, making it the most attractive safe haven asset at present.

A slew of factors have contributed to the recent rally in gold prices, including concerns over the global economy, dollar weakness, volatility in equities and the introduction of negative interest rates by several of the world’s central banks (including Japan), which have spurred safe haven demand for gold.

While Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is the industry standard in gold, smaller companies such as Star Mountain Resources, Inc. (OTC: SMRS) should be given a look as well. Star Mountain, a minerals exploration company, pursues the acquisition and consolidation of mining claims, producing mines, mineral leases, and historic mines in the United States. The company explores for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, silica, and zircon deposits and holds interests in the Balmat Mine located in the Balmat mining district of St. Lawrence County, New York.

Gold moved substantially higher in the past few months, rallying from $1,045 to well above $1,250. Gold stocks and silver stocks rallied as well, and many investors and traders claim that the decline in gold that started in 2011 is now over. The answer to the question whether this is the case or not has critical implications for precious metals investors, as the above impacts one’s decision to either invest in the precious metals market or wait to do so at much lower prices.

Gold has always been a solid and stable addition to your portfolio. Companies like Star Mountain Resources search out and acquire precious metal producing properties with proven reserves and production.

For more information, visit www.starmountainresources.com

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Earlier today, Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) offered revenue guidance for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016. This guidance marks a major milestone in Oakridge’s history, as it includes the company’s first ever commercial revenues. For the fiscal quarter ended March 31, Oakridge forecasts total revenues of $250,000. While this forecast will amount to a net loss for the quarter, the company is extremely optimistic about its prospects for financial growth following its full commercial production ramp up, which it completed at the end of 2015. Following its current trajectory, Oakridge estimates that it could attain a break even financial position as soon as the second quarter of 2016, capitalizing on its growing presence in the rapidly expanding lithium ion battery space.

“We started 2016 as a new year with a full commercial production and customer focus,” Steve Barber, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Oakridge, stated in this morning’s news release. “We are excited to announce that we have now begun routinely shipping our ground breaking lithium ion batteries to the golf car market, the motorcycle market, and a number of very significant custom or semi-custom markets. These results are nothing short of game-changing for the Company, which has never previously, in all its past history, shipped commercial product of any kind.”

From July 2014 to December 2015, Oakridge embarked upon and completed a full transition of its existing operations, moving from a research and development company to a fully-fledged ‘Made in the USA’ lithium ion battery manufacturing company. In total, Oakridge has spent in excess of $40 million in research, product development and corporate restructuring since mid-2013.

In recent weeks, the company has made tremendous strides in the domestic lithium ion battery market. In addition to providing a customized battery system that successfully powered Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc.’s Man-Portable Tactical Autonomous Systems in a field trial for a major defense contractor, Oakridge has announced agreements to supply its battery systems to Freedom Trucking to power its fully electric interstate truck propulsion system, demonstrated its Pro-Series Lithium Ion Golf Car battery systems at the Orlando PGA Merchandise Show and introduced its Liberty Series lithium ion motorcycle batteries at the 75th anniversary of the iconic Daytona Beach Bikefest.

Currently, Oakridge employs 57 full-time employees, as well as six part-time employees, from its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Palm Bay, Florida. On April 4, the company plans to increase its employment figures and production capacity through the introduction of a second shift. Oakridge is also finalizing orders for significant new manufacturing equipment designed to increase the company’s ability to keep pace with recent spikes in customer demand.

“We now are in the gratifying position, based on all the hard planning work we have done, of having a growing range of excellent customers and a solid backlog of orders,” continued Barber. “We will have further exciting news as we move into Q2 as the Company is now on a very significant growth curve in the lithium battery space from this point onwards and we will not be looking back.”

For more information, visit www.oakridgeglobalenergy.com

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Late last week, 2050 Motors, Inc. (OTCQB: ETFM) announced the successful launch of its preorder marketing campaign for the all carbon fiber e-Go electric vehicle. Within one hour of the launch of the campaign on March 17, the company had already received more than 25 preorders, and additional preorders continued to come in throughout the first day. 2050 Motors is offering special introductory incentives to customers who participate in this launch event, with options including a 10-year unlimited mileage warranty on the e-Go’s battery pack and participation in a free lottery of two carbon fiber e-Go cars. At the conclusion of the two week preorder event, participants will receive a priority number and additional details about their standing on the preorder list.

“We are very happy with the initial results since 2050 Motors only advertised this campaign in Las Vegas, which meant that this was only offered to localized customers in Nevada, parts of California and Utah,” Michael Hu, president and chief executive officer of 2050 Motors, stated in the news release. “We were surprised that some of these pre-order customers included multiple orders from an automobile dealership and an order from the owner of an NBA basketball team.”

Before releasing the e-Go, 2050 Motors will need to attain U.S. Department of Transportation approval, complete all requirements regarding the importation of the e-Go into the United States and complete crash testing in accordance with U.S. testing standards. The e-Go previously passed preliminary crash testing in accordance with European, Japanese and Chinese test standards at the China Automotive Technology & Research Center Institute. 2050 Motors expects the marketing and customer data attained from its ongoing regional preorder launch program to play an instrumental role in its nationwide campaign, which it plans to commence later this year.

According to data from EV Obsession (http://dtn.fm/Uu42h), demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. is on the rise. In January 2016, plug-in electric car sales in the U.S. were up 15 percent over the comparable period of the previous year. While the electric market is led by automotive giants such as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), General Motors (NYSE: GM), Nissan (OTC: NSANY) and Ford (NYSE: F) – which, combined, accounted for roughly 70 percent of all electric vehicle sales in January – rapid innovation within the market ensures an approachable barrier of entry for newcomers offering pioneering new models and features, such as 2050 Motors with the all carbon fiber e-Go.

For more information, visit www.2050motors.com

2050 Motors, Inc. (OTCQB: ETFM) is a development stage public company formed to import, market and sell electric cars manufactured in China. Through a partnership with China-based Jiangsu Aoxin New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd, the company maintains United States distribution rights for a new electric automobile leveraging a revolutionary approach to the ever-evolving world of electric vehicles. Upon commercialization, the e-Go EV, which is currently in its final stage of development and ready for mass production, will be the only production line electric car constructed with a carbon fiber body and parts manufactured through a groundbreaking process that significantly reduces fabrication time and, as a result, cost.

In February, 2050 Motors gave investors an update on the status of the e-Go EV, announcing that the vehicle had commenced crash testing in China. In the tests, which were conducted in accordance with European, Japanese and Chinese test standards, the e-Go EV passed with impressive results, absorbing the full force of the collision and returning to its original shape. These results will serve as a solid foundation when, later this year, 2050 Motors proceeds with the U.S. Department of Transportation crash test program, which is required before the e-Go can be sold in the United States.

“This means that the carbon fiber body absorbed the full force of the collision and returned to its original shape,” Michael Hu, president and chief executive officer of 2050 Motors, stated in a news release regarding the crash test results. “I believe that no other automobile for the consumer market has ever displayed such a frontal crash resilience and shock absorbance of energy.”

While the company plans to initially sell and distribute e-Go vehicles manufactured in China, it has also announced a strategy to commence manufacturing in a new facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the future. In a January press release, 2050 Motors estimated that its long-term expansion plans could create more than 3,000 jobs over the next few years. If these plans come to fruition, the company could find itself in direct competition with leading electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), whose high capacity ‘Gigafactory’ is currently under construction outside Sparks, Nevada, as well as automotive giant General Motors (NYSE: GM), which currently markets the all-electric Chevrolet Bolt.

“2050 Motors cannot allow Tesla to corner the commuter market in the same way they cornered the high-end market four years ago,” Hu continued. “It’s not 2050 Motors’ intention to competitively out sell the e-Go against the Model 3 from Tesla or the Chevy Bolt because of their already existing name recognition. However, it’s also true that 2050 Motors does not need to sell a significant number of vehicles for the company to become profitable.”

In preparation for the commercial launch of the e-Go EV, 2050 Motors began accepting deposits for the carbon fiber body electric automobile on March 17. The company is offering significant incentives to individuals who preorder the e-Go, including opportunities to win free automobiles or to trade in their e-Go vehicles for the highly-anticipated Ibis four door carbon fiber luxury sedan if and when it becomes available to the U.S. market.

For more information, visit www.2050motors.com

Social media advertising is expected to grow 30 percent or more this year as measurability improves and the number of important platforms and types of units widen, challenging marketers when it comes to deciding where to allocate their advertising dollars. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) still commands social media ad budgets for most marketers, but as Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat prove their worth, they are grabbing a bigger share. The key for marketers is to look at social media holistically and determine which platforms and types of units best meet individual goals. Virtually untapped markets like China and India present an alluring growth opportunity for companies such as Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), which provides social marketing and promotion platforms designed to help merchants accelerate and advertise their business growth through social media.

China is projected to have upward of 525 million social media users by 2017, according to Statista.com, up from just 176 million in 2009. Facebook – which is banned in China – for comparison purposes, has 1.23 billion monthly active users and is worth more than $300 billion. China is home to the world’s largest population, with 1.4 billion citizens, followed by India, with 1.3 billion. As a result, the market for users and merchants looking to utilize an effective social media marketing campaign is effectively limitless.

For local organizations seeking exposure, paid social media advertising can actually be helpful. Facebook’s paid program, for example, allows users to run promoted posts with pay schedules based on ads per impression (how many users see the ad) or per click (how many users click on the ad), letting the user set the goal for the campaign. It also allows targeting by age, gender, location and interests.

Moxian offers targeted advertising campaigns that enhance interaction between users and merchants by using consumer behavior data compiled from the company’s database of user activities. The company has two core products: Moxian+ User App and Moxian+ Business App. The Moxian+ User App is designed for consumers to collect loyalty points from issuing merchants and to play games and win universal MO-Coins, which can be used globally with any merchant in the Moxian ecosystem. Moxian+ User App also provides consumers with a set of social networking features to set up personalized multimedia profiles; look for friends, interest groups, clans and topics; and share and chat with their social circles.

The Moxian+ Business App provides merchants the tools needed to covert customers into members and fans; issue loyalty points and redeem rewards; respond to customer inquiries through instant messaging; conduct targeted marketing campaign to members of the Moxian community in the form of ads and games; list products in a lightweight online shop; and process orders. The app also provides business reports and analytical insights for merchants.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

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Built in Los Angeles recently posted the article ‘Scan For Your Dietary Restrictions With This Fast-Growing LA App’. The piece came to fruition following Content Checked Holdings, Inc.’s (OTCQB: CNCK) outreach to business and tech media with the company’s recent partnership and financial updates.

As a result, Kris Finstad, CEO of Content Checked, scored an interview with Built in LA to discuss the genesis of the company’s app and its continued growth in Los Angeles. The article captured the full story and focused on Finstad’s inspiration to develop this technology.

Built in LA is a growing online community that creates and curates exclusive content on local companies and startups, hosts monthly events and publishes data on the tech sector of Los Angeles – the perfect audience for ContentChecked. Built in LA enjoys a readership of nearly 50K unique visitors a month.

Sometimes, the inspiration for a great startup can come during a dark time. After suffering from two major strokes in 2010, Norway native Kris Finstad was forced to spend his days at home. The unfortunate situation did, however, allow him to spend more time with his nine-year-old daughter while she and her friends were home from school. One of the friends frequently visiting the family’s home had a long list of allergies that her parents had delivered to Finstad. As hard as he tried to avoid the extensive list of ingredients, he eventually made an error, and the girl was rushed to the emergency room.

Frustrated and confused, he searched for his mistake and was unable to find the ingredient that triggered the intense reaction. The doctors eventually revealed that is was an additive that was labeled something entirely different. Finstad contacted the girl’s father and proposed the idea of an app that would thoroughly scan food labels to prevent situations like this in the future.

The girl’s father, a CTO at a large Norwegian cellular phone provider, and her mother, one of Finstad’s neurologists, encouraged him to work on a schematic of what he envisioned as a form of therapy for his recovery. A short while later, Finstad returned with a detailed proposal of the app that would become ContentChecked.

“He came back and said, ‘I’ve quit my job now, how would you like to proceed?’” Finstad said. “It took me by surprise and I tried to reason with him but thought, what the hell, let’s do it.”

The two built the company over the next year and launched the Norwegian version of ContentChecked in 2012. The company now offers applications (ContentChecked, SugarChecked, MigraineChecked) that allow users to scan food items and check if a product fits into their dietary restrictions. ContentChecked shows users if products they are scanning contain any of their allergens, SugarChecked helps users stick to a sugar-free diet, and MigraineChecked warns users of potential triggers in food that may cause discomfort.

The following year, after the app had caught on in their home country, the duo decided to take on the U.S. market, relocating the company to Los Angeles. The company continued its growth and went public in April 2015, but their quick success did not come without a few speed bumps. Early on, the company only aggregated public ingredient data and quickly found that the error margin was around 85 percent. They decided to make their own database by contacting the FDA and food producers, creating one of the most extensive food databases in the world.

The company’s apps currently have 2.6 million combined users between the U.S. and Norway, 66 percent of which use the app at least five times a week. The second version of the app, which Finstad calls a ‘game changer’, will feature a shopping list and a recipe list filled with allergy/sugar/migraine friendly meals.

To view the entire article, visit http://dtn.fm/z6o9H

For more information, visit www.contentchecked.com

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Early today, Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG), an energy solutions company dedicated to delivering clean, efficient and reliable electricity, announced its inclusion in a seminal report on the advancements and progress made in commercializing applications for fuel cell technology as a viable source for both baseload and back-up power generation. The report, titled State of the States: Fuel Cells in America 2015, was written by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

In the report, Dominovas is recognized for its progress toward supplying sustainable electricity generation capacity in areas throughout Africa. The FCHEA’s report acknowledges the company’s entry into “three multi-MW, multi-year, and potentially multi-million, even billion, dollar power provider agreements (PPA),” including agreements with the South Kivu Province, the Somico Mine and the City of David, all of which are located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

To view the full report, visit http://dtn.fm/1qDld

“With over 600 million sub-Saharan Africans without basic access to electricity, Africa represents the frontier market with the single greatest need for sustained and reliable clean power production,” Dr. Shamiul Islam, Dominovas Energy’s executive vice president of fuel cell operations, stated in today’s news release. “To date, no other fuel cell technology company has made comparable strides in securing contracts in Africa to deploy utility-scale units for clean fuel cell generated power production.”

Despite remaining relatively quiet on its efforts to continue to expand its presence in various frontier markets throughout Africa and Latin America, Dominovas considers its ability to engineer a reliable platform for delivering power to global communities most in need as its crowning achievement. Likewise, the company takes pride in its progress toward stimulating job creation domestically, as it plans to manufacture and support its proprietary RUBICON™ solid oxide fuel cell systems through the use of a robust supply chain located in the United States.

For more information, visit www.dominovasenergy.com

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The choice between agnostic and exclusive trading platforms has many similarities to the battle between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) over the years. Apple’s Steve Jobs always touted his idea of a closed or exclusive system as being much better than Microsoft’s open or agnostic system. Each has its advantages, but as far as thinking about the customer and taking a utilitarian approach, the agnostic argument wins out every time. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) is following the agnostic approach with its new trading platform, t0.com, and believes it will revolutionize trading platforms moving forward.

Overstock.com announced at the 41st Annual International Futures Industry Conference its plan to complete the world’s first public offering using proprietary blockchain technology. The offering will allow Overstock.com shareholders to purchase Overstock.com blockchain or traditional preferred stock. The blockchain preferred stock will trade and settle exclusively through the t0.com platform and its alternative trading system.

“This is yet another historic event — the creation of a security that will trade and settle entirely on a distributed ledger,” said Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of t0.com, in a press release. “I’ve said from the beginning that blockchain technology is going to change the world of finance forever, and we’re leading that charge.”

t0.com is Overstock.com’s financial technology subsidiary and the leader in developing and deploying blockchain-based financial products to increase efficiency and transparency in capital markets.

Blockchain is a distributed database based on the bitcoin protocol that maintains a continuously growing list of data records hardened against tampering and revision, even by its operators. The initial and most widely known application of block chain technology is the public ledger of transactions for bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the invention in 2008 and released it as open-source software in 2009. The system is peer-to-peer; users can transact directly, without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a publicly-distributed ledger called the blockchain. The ledger uses bitcoin as its unit of account. The system works without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the U.S. Treasury to categorize bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency. Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency, although prior systems existed. Bitcoin is more correctly described as the first decentralized digital currency. It is the largest of its kind in terms of total market value.

t0.com technologies are built upon decentralized, cryptographically protected ledgers, which anybody can access and inspect. This ensures fairness to the entire market, without regard for size or geographic location. t0.com’s radical transparency and true settlement combine to grant real, unambiguous ownership nearly instantly. If you buy it, you own it. It’s that simple.

For more information, please visit www.t0.com

Every child has dreams of a birthday party with themed settings that can only be crafted by his or her youthful imagination. Giggles N’ Hugs (OTCQB: GIGL) gets about as close as you can get to delivering on these dreams for youngsters who are part of mall-going families in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles-based company provides a practical mix of nutritional menu offerings set around themes such as superheroes for both boys and girls, mermaid, jungle, princess, pirate, cartoon pups, dinosaur, rock star and many more.

Giggles N’ Hugs was founded by Dorsa and Joey Parsi. The company’s start in 2008 followed the couple’s realization that there were no practical places to take their daughter where the establishment truly catered to the needs of young children. Like the true entrepreneurs that they are, they began to ask themselves questions around the subject and soon found the answers were not so apparent.

The Parsi’s soon realized that all of the “kid friendly” restaurants offered only adult-sized surroundings, from furniture to utensils, and worse yet – unhealthy menu selections. Mrs. Parsi was perpetually thinking of ways to make life more fun for her daughter while making it a little easier on herself, and so the questions continued. ‘Why wouldn’t this make sense for others?’

Giggles N’ Hugs is steadfast in its mission that the ‘going out to dinner experience’ no longer means compromising adult standards for those of children. All of the food at Giggles N’ Hugs is made with the freshest quality ingredients available. The company offers a variety of organic, healthy food which in turn provides parents the peace of mind that their children are eating food that is healthy for them. By weaving nutritional menu offerings in with customized party themes targeted to a child’s imagination, the company sees an avenue pointed toward long term growth, leading ultimately to shareholder value.

Giggles N Hugs, Inc. owns and operates youngster-friendly restaurants with play areas for children up to 10 years old in southern California. Company restaurants are located in the Westfield Mall in Century City, the Westfield Topanga shopping center in Woodland Hills, and the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California. Founded in 2008, the company is based in Los Angeles, California.

Learn more by visiting www.gigglesnhugs.com

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Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) is on a mission to provide safer, zero-maintenance, long-life battery systems. To deliver its high-quality, “Made-in-the-USA” battery systems internationally, the company has made retaining its technological leadership a key priority.

With the recent appointment of IST Co. Ltd. — a leading transnational battery consulting company — Oakridge has made a major move to ensure it remains technologically state-of-the-art. The Tokyo-based IST team will join Oakridge’s advising team in Japan and support the company with two crucial initiatives:

• IST will assist in providing Oakridge with continuing access to joint technology development opportunities for next-generation, rechargeable lithium batteries.
• IST will also help with the commercialization of the Thin Film Solid State lithium battery technology which Oakridge has already successfully developed.

Through a previously established subsidiary in Hong Kong and working closely with IST, Oakridge means to establish a substantial presence in Japan by collaborating with the country’s foremost technical universities and research facilities, materials suppliers and advanced lithium ion manufacturing equipment suppliers. A good relationship with Japan is especially important in today’s increasingly turbulent geopolitical environment, and, in addition to being a technically-proficient nation, Japan is also a strong ally to the U.S. and Australia.

The Oakridge team prides itself on developing and delivering the latest technology and products. In early March, the company revealed that it would introduce its groundbreaking Liberty Series lithium-ion motorcycle batteries to commercial markets at the Daytona Beach Bikefest later in the month.

The Oakridge Liberty Series lithium-ion batteries are extremely powerful. They offer a highly reliable, long-lasting battery solution for all models of the iconic “Made in the USA” Harley Davidson, Indian and Victory motorcycles. These are large bikes with large engines that require a strong battery to start. Utilizing Oakridge’s specialized battery management system and proprietary electro-chemistry, the Liberty Series batteries effectively start these large bikes. These batteries can also go without charging for up to 12 months. Plus, they can remove up to 17 pounds from the weight of the largest bikes, as they are considerably lighter due to the inherent lightness of lithium, the lightest metal in existence.

Oakridge’s goal is to continue to provide cutting-edge technology, the highest quality and reliability and affordable pricing to its customers. With its Liberty Series lithium-ion batteries, it does exactly that.

For more information, visit www.oakridgeglobalenergy.com

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