Network marketing company Laguna Blends, Inc. (OTC: LAGBF), based in British Columbia, is the first such company to use advanced 3D communication technologies for building a fast growing network of affiliates, driving sales of its hemp food and beverage products. The company’s Pro369 hemp protein drink is a source of Omegas 3, 6, and 9, and has been officially recognized by the Canadian Health Ministry as being a natural source of protein and amino acids. Since these are the things that promote muscle building and tissue repair, it’s catching the eye of professional sports. Just like the sportswear and equipment industry has been able to tap the interest of sports professionals to catapult brands in the marketplace, Laguna Blends is finding sports pros of its own, and has renewed as a brand ambassador Canadian Football League All Star Pro Emmanuel Arceneaux of the BC Lions. The leading receiver has played four seasons with the Lions, with a two-year tour in the NFL.

Arceneaux is more than a spokesman, he is a fan of Laguna’s products, a critical component of any such relation. The company’s press release on the renewal quotes the 28 year old star player as saying:

“Since I have included the Laguna products as part of my daily diet it’s enhanced my training and performance. I am proud to work with Laguna as a brand ambassador. Laguna’s Pro369 is amongst the highest quality plant based protein products in the industry. Laguna has approved health claims from Health Canada. I need to know that I am consuming the highest quality products. Combining hemp and ginseng is a powerful combination. I am down to 220 pounds from 225 pounds. I will continue to use the Pro369, hemp protein as a part of my diet.”

Laguna’s CEO, Stuart Gray, said, “Emmanuel Arceneaux is a class act on and off the football field. Laguna is proud to renew Emmanuel’s contract and have him continue to be part of our Laguna team.”

For more information, visit www.lagunablends.com

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Michael Lewis’s Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game tells the heartwarming story of how the Oakland Athletics baseball team achieved success in spite of financial limitations. General Manager Billy Beane spurned the traditional approach to selection that relied mainly on the expertise of coaches and scouts and, instead, embraced the analytics of big data in an age when the term was still incubating. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. The Oakland Athletics’ budget of $40 million was the third-lowest in 2002, one-third of that of the top-placed New York Yankees with $120 million. Yet, the team made it to the playoffs in 2002 and again in 2003. Made into a 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt, this story dramatically illustrates the potency of ‘big data’. Now, Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC: ALYI) is bringing these capabilities to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) after the launch of its Data Analytics Division. Now, SMEs have a chance to make it to the Big Leagues.

Back in 2002, the power of big data was recognized by only a prescient few. In a 2001 paper (http://dtn.fm/0zVZf), Douglas Laney, working for the META group, now Gartner, wrote of the “Three V’s” of Big Data, i.e., volume, variety and velocity. The first of these variables, volume, is multiplying exponentially. According to Statista, data volume of global consumer IP traffic from 2014 to 2019 (in petabytes per month) is growing at an annually compounded rate of 24 percent (http://dtn.fm/GBav1). It was and is expected to be 58,137 PB in 2015, 71,453 PB in 2016, 88,730 PB in 2017, 111,015 PB in 2018 and 138,415 PB in 2019. To put the size of a petabyte in context: assuming the typical pop song has a digital size of 5 Mb, one petabyte of music would be 215 million songs, enough for many lifetimes of listening.

This huge mass of data prompted economist Francis Diebold to remark in a 2012 paper (http://dtn.fm/UWqR8) that ‘the necessity of grappling with Big Data, and the desirability of unlocking the information hidden within it, is now a key theme in all the sciences – arguably the key scientific theme of our times.’ He goes on to say that ‘Big Data is now not only a phenomenon and term, but also a discipline… Big Data as a discipline is not merely taking us to bigger traditional places. Rather, it’s taking us to wildly new places, unimaginable only a short time ago, ranging from cloud computing and associated massively-parallel algorithms, to methods for controlling false-discovery rates when testing millions of hypotheses, with much in between.’

Alternet Systems, Inc. launched its Data Analytics Division in January 2016. The company’s Analytics-as-a-Service solutions enable companies to better understand consumer trends and improve their marketing initiatives. These cloud-based solutions are currently being developed in the United States, Colombia, and Peru.

For more information, visit www.alternetsystems.com

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In March, Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: LQMT) closed on a financing transaction outlining an investment of up to $63.4 million from Professor Lugee Li, chairman and majority stockholder of DongGuan EONTEC Co., Ltd. Initial closing related to this transaction occurred on March 10, 2016, in the amount of $8.4 million, with Li committing to an additional $55 million investment pending shareholder approval of an increase in authorized shares. Late last week, Liquidmetal announced that, at its annual shareholder meeting, the company’s shareholders approved an increase in its authorized shares from 700 million to 1.1 billion, allowing Liquidmetal to issue common stock to facilitate the remaining $55 million investment and dramatically strengthen its cash position.

“With the increase in authorized shares, we are now poised to close on the remaining $55 million investment committed by Professor Li,” Thomas Steipp, president and chief executive officer of LQMT, stated in last week’s news release. “We are very excited about the ongoing partnership we are building with EONTEC and look forward to finalizing the investment transaction.”

In addition to the financing transaction, Liquidmetal also entered into a parallel licensing agreement with EONTEC to cross-license the two companies’ respective technologies. Liquidmetal’s amorphous alloy technology, which enables the development of unique materials that can retain random structures following solidification, is expected to offer a number of operational synergies with EONTEC’s precision die-casting operations in the consumer electronics, medical, automotive and industrial fields.

“EONTEC’s capabilities complement LQMT’s focus on production of high-performance parts, allowing LQMT to address a broad range of market opportunities from automotive, medical, and industrial customers,” Li added in a news release. “This partnership positions LQMT well to support design and production globally at a vastly increased pace.”

A post on the Liquidmetal blog (http://dtn.fm/I0WdX) from earlier this year gave investors a glimpse of the possibilities of the company’s innovative technology in addressing a range of automotive applications. In particular, the author states that the use of Liquidmetal alloy may offer “greater design freedom than ever before… [providing] an opportunity to access unique properties with the design freedom of a molding process.” In terms of critical attributes for automotive applications, including precision and corrosion resistance, the blog states that Liquidmetal alloys can “often beat the most precise CNC machining operations” and “have significantly outperformed stainless steel in several corrosion tests.”

As the only company currently producing amorphous alloys in commercially-viable bulk form, Liquidmetal is strategically positioned to make a splash in a wide array of industries moving forward. Look for the company to benefit from both its cross-licensing agreement with EONTEC and its strengthened cash position following the impending finalization of Li’s $55 million investment as it sets its sights on the establishment of a truly global market in Liquidmetal alloy solutions through which to market its core offerings.

“This investment and partnership recognizes the significant advancements in technological and commercial capabilities that Liquidmetal has forged over the last five years,” added Steipp. “EONTEC and Liquidmetal each bring significant capabilities to this partnership, and we believe that result will be a much larger market that develops much more quickly.”

For more information, visit www.liquidmetal.com

In recent years, added sugars have come under increased scrutiny from nutrition activists, and for good reason. According to the Mayo Clinic (http://dtn.fm/hU92i), added sugars, which are introduced to foods during processing, can play a major role in a variety of potential health problems, including poor nutrition, weight gain, increased triglycerides and tooth decay. As a result, dietary guidelines continually warn of the dangers of overconsumption of sugar. The American Heart Association (http://dtn.fm/5AfAf), for example, suggests consuming no more than 100 calories a day from added sugars for most women and no more than 150 calories a day for most men. To put those restrictions into perspective, a single teaspoon of sugar has about 16 calories.

Navigating the grocery aisle to find products that support moderate sugar consumption can be difficult. After all, a 12-ounce soft drink can feature about 160 calories of sugar. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that the majority of U.S. adults exceed their recommended daily allowances of sugar. To this point, uncovering added sugars in products has remained a frustrating and confusing ordeal. Late last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a major step toward improving this issue through the release of a ‘new look’ Nutrition Facts label that places more attention on calories and added sugars (http://dtn.fm/5P2oo).

“You will no longer need a microscope, a calculator, or a degree in nutrition to figure out whether the food you’re buying is actually good for our kids,” First Lady Michelle Obama stated at a conference announcing the new rules.

Though these changes are a step in the right direction, they also highlight the relatively slow speed at which these updates take place. Not only has the current nutrition label stood unmodified for more than 20 years, it took more than two years for the FDA to agree upon the updated design, which was originally developed back in 2014. Furthermore, large-scale food and beverage manufacturers now have more than two years to implement the changes on their products, with manufacturers totaling less than $10 million in annual food sales receiving an additional year to comply. Luckily for consumers in search of a better way to uncover the sugar content of their favorite products, one company is ahead of the game.

Content Checked Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: CNCK), the company behind a family of mobile apps for individuals with specific dietary requirements and preferences, is taking aim at added sugars with its app SugarChecked. With a sizable database including more than 70 percent of all food products in the United States, SugarChecked helps users quickly uncover potentially unwanted ingredients such as added sugars, artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols and natural low-calorie sweeteners. When a product contains an undesirable amount of these ingredients, the SugarChecked app suggests suitable and related alternatives.

“Sugar intake in America has increased dramatically over the past few decades at the expense of our health,” Tory Tedrow, RD, CNSC, stated on the Content Checked blog (http://dtn.fm/7lyeY). “Now that the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans has recommended limiting sugar intake to <10% of your total calorie intake, it is even more important for consumers to be aware of the sources of sugar in our diets, why it’s so bad, and ways to decrease sugar intake.” As the FDA turns its focus toward excess sugar, Content Checked is positioned ahead of the game with its innovative suite of mobile apps. With recent coverage in a variety of high-profile media and food allergy and intolerance publications and outlets – including Forbes, USA Today, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, among others – the company appears to be primed to build on its recent growth in the $13 billion food allergy and intolerances market in the months to come. For more information, visit www.contentchecked.com

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Visitors to the online Oxford Dictionaries will have noticed a new term, digital detox, defined as ‘a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world…’ This is a welcome entry in many ways, not least of which because it indicates the extent to which we have embraced the use of digital devices increasingly over the past two decades. The new technology has downsides, of course, as the lexicographers at Oxford have recognized. However, the benefits far outweigh those, particularly in what is now known as social media. Social media has, in effect, created a vast virtual world parallel to the one we live in. And as a vehicle to traverse the complexities of cyber travel, Agora Holdings (OTC: AGHI), parent company of Geegle Media, has developed a navigational and management tool, called FRAME, that businesses can hitch a ride on.

FRAME is a social media management platform – the hub of a wheel spinning in the social media sphere. From FRAME’s centralized dashboard, a company can communicate with all of its followers and customers, regardless of which social media sites they use. FRAME shrinks the cyber galaxy, makes it manageable, and is, obviously, useful for any consumer business but ideal for public relations and investor relations firms. With FRAME, businesses will find it easier to engage customers, track and measure social media campaign performance, and execute the strategic distribution of branded content.

According to Nielsen’s ‘The U.S. Digital Consumer Report’ (http://dtn.fm/I7eOn), “Social media usage is now standard practice in our daily lives. Almost two-thirds (64%) of overall social media users say they use social media sites at least once a day via their computer, and almost half (47%) of smartphone owners visit social networks every day. With the rapid adoption of mobile devices, social media has a symbiotic relationship with the mobile consumer. And social media has played a pivotal role, empowering consumers by providing a direct point of contact with the brands they use and the content they access.”

The Nielsen report goes on to say that internet users continue to spend more time with social media sites than any other type of site, sites which can now be accessed from a variety of devices. The typical American household has four. Some 83 percent of U.S. households now own a high-definition television (HDTV) and 16 percent have a smart TV, essentially a big screen version of a PC. Desktops can be found in 80 percent of homes; digital video recorders in 49 percent; and gaming consoles in 46 percent. Roughly 29 percent own a tablet, while the most visibly ubiquitous device, the smartphone, is in third place, with 65 percent of households reporting ownership of one.

As of April 2016, the leading social networks worldwide ranked by number of active users, according to Statista, were:

• Facebook (NASDAQ: FB): 1.59 billion users
• WhatsApp, owned by Facebook: 1 billion users
• Facebook Messenger: 900 million users
• QQ, owned by Tencent (OTC: TCTZF): 853 million users
• WeChat, owned by Tencent: 697 million users
• QZone, owned by Tencent: 640 million users
• Tumblr, owned by Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO): 555 million users
• Instagram, owned by Facebook: 400 million users
• Twitter (NYSE:TWTR): 320 million users
• Baidu Tieba, owned by Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU): 300 million users
• Skype, owned by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT): 300 million users
• Viber, owned by Rakuten (OTC: RKUNF): 249 million users
• Sina Weibo (NASDAQ: WB): 222 million users
• Line, owned by Naver (OTC: NHNCF): 215 million users
• Snapchat: 200 million users

With so many worlds to explore, FRAME by Agora Holdings could become indispensable to public relations and investor relations firms moving forward.

For more information, visit www.agoraholdingsinc.com

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A recent look (http://dtn.fm/PJWt1) at Expedia’s (NASDAQ: EXPE) increasingly dominant share (http://dtn.fm/C6oGP) of the roughly $1.3 trillion and growing travel market by research firm Morningstar forecast global online penetration as climbing steadily through 2020, from around 40 percent last year, with online travel bookings seeing as much as 10 percent growth per year. One of the hottest segments in this massive market is alternative lodging, where the rise of decentralized, peer-to-peer architectures and sharing economy models have helped augment the overall space (http://dtn.fm/1RyI9), with the most notable example being privately owned and operated short-term accommodation marvel Airbnb.

In many ways, Airbnb has offset aggressive pricing by hotels in what is traditionally a cyclical industry, creating a market where consumers have more choice at a better value than ever before. This sharing economy is now able to compete directly with incumbent operators in a major way and demonstrates why, in an industry where increasingly dominant Expedia recently gobbled up HomeAway, with its one million plus vacation rental listings, for nearly $4 billion, players like Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN) are finding themselves increasingly outgunned.

It’s also a reason why alternative lodging-focused Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI), which recently moved to lock down a key partnership with enterprise platform and solutions provider Primero Systems in order to facilitate final integration of its NextTrip.com platform, is such an interesting target. With some 1.2 million homes under contract via the AlwaysOnVacations acquisition that make MKGI bigger than HomeAway, a travel agent-based strategic overlay to supplement its market traction (a distinct feature unlike anyone else in the industry), and a partnership with Recruitergroup.com that gives the company access to a distribution base of some three million people, Monaker Group is well-positioned to benefit as the industry grows.

In a recent and exclusive interview with investor relations firm MissionIR (http://MKGI.MissionIR.com/interview.html), CEO Bill Kerby explained the importance of being the first in the industry to really nail the package deal concept and provide consumers with the best bundled alternative lodging and associated activities deals possible.

For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com

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A look at the short sales (http://dtn.fm/Fk5lI) for Giggles N’ Hugs (OTCQB: GIGL) is showing why it may be time to go long. At the end of last year, short interest in the stock was 3,671. By April 29, 2016, that had declined to 490. Changes in short interest may reflect market sentiment. When short interest climbs, it’s because there’s an expectation that the stock will fall. When short interest declines, it could be the opposite. So why are the shorts getting nervous? The company’s latest 10-Q may have an answer. It shows that revenues were $878,932 for the quarter ended March 27, 2016, which was an increase of almost 10 percent over the fourth quarter of 2015. That’s quite an achievement.

Cost of revenue, which includes operational expenses, depreciation and amortization, was $859,659, resulting in a gross profit of $19,273. This was an improvement from the fourth quarter of 2015, when the company experienced a negative gross profit of $17,986 due to increases in labor and occupancy costs. That first quarter performance is an indication that the company can weather a storm.

In December 2015, Giggles N’ Hugs engaged Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, a boutique investment bank headquartered in New York. Under that agreement, Chardan is introducing Giggles N’ Hugs to potential investors and business partners, advising management as they prepare for road shows and performing a wide variety of other financial services. A very likely part of Chardan Capital’s ambit may be a securities offering under Regulation D. Giggles N’ Hugs plans to raise $5 million through a 506(c) offering. The 506(c) provision is new and was introduced to implement Section 201(a) of the JOBS Act with the object of eliminating the prohibition on using general solicitation under, what is now, Rule 506(b). Under Rule 506(c), companies will be allowed to employ general solicitation and advertising to accredited investors.

In its last Annual Report, Giggles N’ Hugs hinted that some of those funds will be used for promotional purposes. So far, the company’s marketing and advertising initiatives have been limited as it has sought to conserve working capital for operations. However, with additional funds, the company plans to market its products and services through a multi-pronged campaign. It will directly engage local preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools in a variety of promotional programs. The company also plans to advertise on television channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon, as well as in additional print publications, radio, and satellite radio. The company’s first store has been frequented by numerous celebrities, which provides free and invaluable publicity, and management’s belief is that a large scale marketing campaign that increases the exposure of Giggles N’ Hugs would result in a significant increase in traffic and revenue.

Giggles N’ Hugs operates kid-friendly restaurants. Currently, there are three Giggles N’ Hugs locations in upscale Los Angeles malls. There’s one at Westfield Mall in Century City on Santa Monica Boulevard; a second at Westfield Topanga Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, Canoga Park; and a third at the Glendale Galleria. Those three fine dining establishments have average revenue of close to $1.2 million.

Learn more by visiting www.gigglesnhugs.com

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Moxian, Inc.’s (OTCQB: MOXC) O2M marketing solution is energizing merchants and their desire to leverage everything the world of social media has to offer and more. The company has a refined expertise in the business of social marketing that’s turning heads of merchants who are steadfast in their commitment to accelerating their business plans and growing the top lines of their balance sheets.

The company’s products and services give merchants the ability to run targeted advertising campaigns and promotions designed to boost interaction between users and merchant clients by using consumer behavior data gathered from the Moxian database of user activities. MOXC’s two flagship products are the Moxian+ User App and the Moxian+ Business App. Developed in Shenzhen, China, the company has created a way to combine social media with entertainment and business intelligence.

Moxian’s Multi-Channel Social Commerce Platform uses a multitude of tools – not the least of which is Moxian’s proprietary Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) system. The system generates knowledgeable data for merchants. Through this process, consumers and businesses can interact with one another and, in turn, capture the marketing magic that’s produced by the highly sought-after online lifestyle. The Moxian+ User App is an app created to introduce consumer users to the platform, and it’s comprised of the company’s proprietary virtual currency (MO-Coin and MO-Points), social networking, a redemption center and a games center. Users enjoy the ability to earn MO-Coins by playing games, and subsequently, trade those coins for prizes sponsored by Moxian and its client merchants. The beauty of this model is that it drives registered consumers to both Moxian and the merchant while delivering merchants the ability to advertise, run marketing campaigns, and gather valuable data about their customers.

Today, merchants are able to set up a store on the Moxian platform through the company’s business app and drive promotions through a variety of channels integrated on its platform. One platform feature is that merchants can view reports customized to their own shops. The company’s management touts over a century of combined experience in this market niche, including management of private and public companies and multi-national organizations.

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

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Momentous Entertainment Group (OTC: MMEG) is an entertainment and direct response marketing company. The company is focused on creating, producing, and delivering high quality products across a range of media channels. Some of the media channels it uses include: feature film, television, music, the Internet, radio, and other forms of digital media used by people worldwide in day-to-day activities. MMEG produces largely faith-related programs that give viewers a positive outlook on situations and bring forward compelling moral stories. Each topic the company chooses is given from a Christian perspective, and MMEG believes these stories can influence many people by using Christian values to inspire and uplift them.

Since Momentous Entertainment Group was founded back in 2004, the company has grown tremendously from a product point of view. It has developed a number of offerings through a range of channels. Most recently, the company has released two music projects: ‘The Greatest Story Ever Sung Special Edition’ and ‘Tim Storey Presents Daily Reminders’. Upcoming projects include reality shows about race driver Bobby Earnhardt and football coach and trainer Dennis Gile.

With every product, Momentous Entertainment Group puts together a direct marketing plan to promote consumer merchandise. The company uses a marketing strategy that focuses on direct response to promote products to the consumers. Direct response marketing uses calls to action to get feedback from consumers as quickly as possible. These up-selling and cross-selling techniques are said to be some of the most successful techniques for achieving sustainable growth, according to the Direct Marketing Association, and continue to be implemented by MMEG alongside the use of some innovative marketing techniques.

MMEG’s marketing tools do not stop there. The company forms joint ventures with other companies that have potentially successful products. These partnerships enable others to benefit from MMEG’s branding and marketing experts, as well as to use the company’s established distribution channels. Momentous Entertainment Group works with a variety of companies to help them achieve their goals. The company helps to generate powerful responses from both startups and well-established companies to help them grow sales, lower acquisition costs, help them make new products and expand retail distributions.

Momentous Entertainment Group has a very clear objective for every single channel within the company. From music, to film, to reality shows, each sector is supported by an array of partners and offers transparency about the aims and objectives for the future. MMEG has established itself well in a wide range of markets with the help of a cutthroat mentality, which is: “Should the ROI for a particular product not be up to specifications, the product and the marketing strategy will be reevaluated and the product may be discontinued.” The combination of the company’s clear approach and objectives with the incredible partnerships and drive from its Christian faith has allowed it to implement a growth-based strategy that will enable it to flourish further within the entertainment industry while inspiring people worldwide.

For more information, visit www.momentousent.com

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Tautachrome Inc. (OTC: TTCM) is an Arizona-based Internet technology development company focused on applying a new type of verification and social capabilities to the fast-growing world of mobile digital imagery. The company and its subsidiaries offer a variety of Internet and digital technologies and services, with their main priority being the development of their proprietary KlickZie mobile imaging platform. KlickZie software is designed to give any smartphone unique image verification and social communication features.

With free KlickZie software, users can take pictures, as well as videos, that can be instantly cloud-locked for permanent verification that they are original, untampered, and not Photoshopped. It’s a one-of-a-kind technology that offers a previously unavailable level of trust and verification to the massive digital image industry, effectively making everyone a trustable image source.

In addition, the technology makes images and videos interactive and engageable in ways never before possible. Simply clicking or tapping a KlickZie’d image allows the user to communicate with the original author. Users can also instantly communicate with anyone else currently viewing the image. Tautachrome considers the KlickZie platform the ‘world’s first imagery-based social portal network’.

The company details the KlickZie user experience as follows:

• Smartphone users download KlickZie’s free software to take their pictures and videos.
• KlickZie pictures and videos are invisibly marked, stored in the KlickZie cloud and guaranteed free from manipulation.
• The cloud will certify the authenticity of any KlickZie picture or video.
• Consumers get a new space of imagery-based socializing, impossible without KlickZie.
• Enterprises get bulletproof, trustable imagery whenever it is needed.

Tautachrome’s stated goal is to become the world’s number one smartphone imaging system, with its patent pending digital imagery capabilities demanded as a standard by everyone. The company sees the user base growing quickly to cover the capacity of the smartphone user space, driven largely by the inherent viral qualities of KlickZie imaging.

For more on Tautachrome Inc., visit www.Tautachrome.com