CHARLESTON, SC, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Palmetto Commercial Properties, LLC is proud to announce the promotion of Chase A. Limehouse, CCIM, to Vice President.

Since joining Palmetto, Chase has consistently excelled in every aspect of commercial real estate, with a particular passion and expertise in land sales. His extensive knowledge of land — its value, terrain, timber, and unique characteristics — combined with his genuine love for the outdoors, gives his clients an exceptional advantage. Whether he is evaluating a property or walking it with a client, Chase’s understanding of the land is second to none.

As his career has grown, so has his impact on our team. Chase has become a trusted mentor to our younger brokers, generously sharing his knowledge and passion for the business. Outside of real estate, he is a devoted family man, an active member of the Daniel Island Rotary Club, and an avid outdoorsman.

Congratulations, Chase, on this well-deserved promotion!

Media Contact

Palmetto Commercial Properties
william.allen@pcpsc.com

VACAVILLE, CA, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Travis Credit Union (TCU), founded in 1951 to serve personnel at Travis Air Force Base, is marking its 75th year as it continues a digital transformation designed to meet the changing financial needs of members across Northern California. The member-owned, not-for-profit credit union has grown to nearly $6 billion in assets, serves more than 275,000 members, and operates 24 branches.

As part of that evolution, TCU has overhauled its online and mobile banking systems and added advanced security features intended to provide greater protection against fraud. The next phase focuses on personalization and digital engagement tools that the credit union says are intended to deliver more relevant guidance and a more proactive banking experience.

“We’re always evolving to meet the needs of our members,” said Kevin Miller, president and CEO of Travis Credit Union. “We were founded to serve those who serve our country. Then we served their families and later their communities. As their needs have grown and changed, we’ve grown and changed with them.”

That member-focused model also shapes TCU’s branch expansion and small-business lending. The credit union says local decision-making, SBA lending capabilities, and community partnerships allow it to support businesses in the markets it serves while maintaining both in-person and digital service.

The credit union offers the same range of financial products as a typical bank, from checking accounts to home loans. Unlike a bank, however, TCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative. Earnings are returned to members, rather than shareholders, through better rates, lower fees, and expanded services.

“Credit unions succeed by delivering a high level of service to our members,” said Miller. “We do more than offer better interest rates. People enjoy working with our team because we love helping our members achieve their goals.”

This member-driven philosophy has allowed TCU to expand steadily into new markets while becoming a trusted financial partner in the communities it serves. Each branch creates opportunities to become involved with community initiatives while helping strengthen the local economy through partnerships with area businesses.

“The credit union model resonates with small business owners,” said Miller. “They like that we’re an SBA lender and that we’re dedicated to reinvesting in the community. They also appreciate that our technology and local decision-making allow them to get quick answers on their loans. We’re able to work with them to find the right solutions. You can’t build that kind of business relationship with an algorithm.”

While relationships remain at the heart of the credit union’s approach, today’s members also expect digital tools that are every bit as responsive as in-person service.

Technology that Puts Members First

“We’re not running from change — we’re chasing it,” said Grant Karsas, vice president of digital experience. “We’re using technology to provide our members with the same benefits and features they’d receive from a big bank.”

TCU has completely overhauled its online and mobile banking systems, creating intuitive, user-friendly platforms that make it easy for members to handle their financial needs.

These upgrades include advanced security features that provide greater protection against fraud. The next phase of TCU’s digital transformation focuses on delivering the right experience at the right moment. Through investments in personalization and digital engagement tools, TCU is creating a more proactive banking experience that anticipates member needs, provides relevant guidance, and strengthens financial well-being.

For Karsas, investing in better technology is another way the credit union fulfills its 75-year commitment to members.

“Large financial institutions often have an advantage in scale, but credit unions have an advantage in purpose,” said Karsas. “Technology allows us to combine both. We’re investing in capabilities that make banking simpler, safer, and more personalized while staying true to the member-first values that have defined TCU for 75 years.”

About Travis Credit Union

Since 1951, Travis Credit Union has focused on improving the lives of our members. As a full-service financial institution, TCU helps members reach financial goals as their trusted local partner throughout their financial journey. Today, TCU is the 12th largest credit union in California, with 275,000 members and nearly $6 billion in assets. We use financial strength to champion financial education and advocacy, earning recognition at the national, state, and local levels. This includes being certified as a Great Place to Work in 2025 and 2026, being named one of Newsweek’s Best Regional Credit Unions in 2025, U.S. Air Force Distinguished Credit Union of the Year, and one of Forbes Best-in-State Credit Union.

Media Contact

kristin@piccadillyad.com

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- NeedTags, an authorized California DMV partner, is highlighting its Permanent Fleet Registration services for small businesses adding vehicles to their operations, a transaction category that grows more common as light-duty commercial vehicle demand rises nationally.

Overall U.S. commercial vehicle registrations fell 1% in 2025, according to Mobility Global, driven largely by a pullback in heavy tractor-truck purchases. Class 2 and 3 vehicles, the cargo vans and pickups typically bought by small delivery, courier, and trade businesses, continued to grow even as the broader market cooled, the firm's analysis found. For a small operator adding a second or third vehicle, that growth often means a first encounter with fleet-specific registration paperwork.

NeedTags processes new vehicle registrations, registered and legal owner transfers, registrations for vehicles carrying a Manufacturer Statement of Origin or an out-of-state title, and additions to Permanent Fleet Registration for operators expanding beyond a single vehicle. As an authorized DMV partner, the company handles these transactions on the department's behalf, operating alongside California's network of roughly 170 DMV field offices rather than in place of it.

"That's not nearly enough," said Eddy Asmerian, founder of NeedTags, referring to the ratio of the state's roughly 170 DMV field offices to its 16 million registered vehicle owners. The DMV has moved many routine services online and to self-service kiosks, giving owners more ways to handle registration without waiting in a field office line. Renewing on the DMV website still comes with a wait, though: the new registration card and sticker arrive by mail within two weeks. NeedTags customers can download their registration e-card the moment they renew, and choose shipping as fast as next-day. Owners who buy a vehicle can also change ownership through the company's expedited online title transfer. For a small business, that turnaround can put a vehicle back on the road days sooner than waiting on the mail.

Small businesses that move from one vehicle to several often discover the fleet registration category only once they are already partway through adding a vehicle, without a clear sense of which paperwork now applies to the business as a whole rather than to a single truck. NeedTags positions its fleet registration service around that transition point, aiming to keep additional vehicles road-legal without pulling an owner-operator or driver off a route to manage the paperwork in person.

Fleet registration completed directly through the DMV carries no separate service fee, and NeedTags frames its value around time rather than cost: handling the transaction so a small business owner does not lose a working vehicle, or a working day, to an in-person visit while a fleet is added to an existing registration.

NeedTags operates from North Hollywood, California, and serves small business owners and fleet operators across the state.

About NeedTags

NeedTags (OL No. 89953) is an authorized California DMV partner based in North Hollywood, offering new vehicle registration, owner transfers, out-of-state title processing, and fleet registration services. For more information, visit www.needtags.com.

Media Contact

media@needtags.com

BEIJING, China, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Jetour launched its 2027 G700 hybrid off-road SUV in China on Tuesday and said deliveries of the Ark Edition had begun. The company also highlighted amphibious technology fitted to the separate Ark Edition.

The launch brings updates to the G700’s exterior, cabin, and driver-assistance systems. According to the specifications released at the launch, the model is based on Jetour’s GAIA vehicle architecture and comes in five trim levels, with five-seat and six-seat configurations.

The vehicle uses Huawei’s Qiankun ADS 5 driver-assistance system, together with its own cabin system and functions based on large AI models. Its off-road equipment includes an “18+X” system and “Conquest Mode” for conditions such as deep snow, sand, rocks, and mud. Three differential locks are standard across the range.

Other off-road features include rollover suppression and a maximum wading depth of 900 mm. That wading specification is distinct from the amphibious technology it described for the Ark Edition.

The hybrid powertrain combines a 2.0TD engine with a longitudinally mounted 2DHT transmission and P3 and P4 electric motors. Published performance figures include a combined range of 1,200 km, a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 4.8 seconds and peak engine thermal efficiency of 45.95%.

The hydroformed ladder frame has torsional stiffness of 10,000 newton-metres per degree, while the passenger compartment frame, made entirely of hot-formed steel, has torsional stiffness of 22,300 newton-metres per degree. The vehicle also has CDC damping and air suspension, with a height adjustment range of -50 mm to +90 mm.

The GAIA architecture incorporates the Kunpeng Super Hybrid CDM-O system, the hydroformed frame, intelligent differential locks, and XWD-S all-wheel drive.

Exterior changes include a new grille and body-coloured wheel arches. Five paint options are available — Kunlun Grey, Motuo Black, Everest White, Qiangtang Silver, and Gaoligong Green — and features 20-inch wheels. Cabin equipment includes Nappa leather seats with ventilation, heating, massage and active side bolsters, second-row seats marketed as “zero-gravity," a Lexicon 20-speaker sound system, and 64-colour ambient lighting.

Jetour said the Ark Edition’s amphibious technology had undergone testing that included a Yangtze River crossing and rescue operations on the Min River. At the launch, the company presented “Emergency Navigation Experience” certificates to the first group of Ark Edition owners. It described the land-and-water capability as intended to support emergency response.

Company figures show that Jetour, established in 2018, had cumulative global sales exceeding 2.51 million vehicles by the end of August 2026. It operates in more than 100 countries and regions, with more than 2,000 sales and service outlets. Its “1+7+N” research and development network covers Europe, the Middle East, ASEAN, and Central and South America, and it held more than 2,100 granted patents at the end of 2025. It has 12 overseas manufacturing bases across Asia, Africa, and Central Asia, and plans to increase that number to 19 by 2030, with annual overseas capacity exceeding 600,000 vehicles.

In its figures for the period, Jetour ranked first in the overall automotive markets of Angola, Myanmar, and Jamaica in the second quarter of 2026, and was among the top five in 10 markets, including Qatar, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The same figures put it in first place among SUV brands in Angola, Myanmar, Jamaica, and Egypt; among Chinese SUV brands in 11 markets, including Qatar, the UAE, and Egypt; and in the boxy SUV segment in nine markets, including Chile, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, and Peru.

About Jetour

Launched in January 2018, Jetour is an emerging Chinese automotive brand in response to market trends and consumer demands. Jetour remains focused on its core off-road positioning and aims to become the world-leader in off-road travel. 4+6 Global R&D Institutes, Leading R&D capabilities have forged the global quality of Jetour products. Global Certified Verification Tested In Over 100+ Countries. For more information, visit jetourglobal.com.

Media Contact

Zhang
joannazhang@mychery.com

LONDON, United Kingdom, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Every unanswered phone call is a small business that has already lost, whether the business owner realises it or not. Consumer surveys indicate that 80% to 86% of callers hang up immediately upon hitting voicemail rather than leaving a message, and roughly 82% immediately dial a competitor. That is the wager behind bOnline's newest product: an AI receptionist that never lets the phone ring out.  

London-based bOnline, the VoIP and communications provider used by roughly 50,000 UK small and growing businesses, will launch an AI Receptionist in October, giving business owners a round-the-clock virtual front desk that can answer calls, capture caller details, route enquiries and escalate to a human whenever needed.

The launch lands at a pointed moment for Britain's small business sector. BT and other network operators are working towards switching off the UK's old analogue telephone lines by the end of January 2027, a deadline that has left large numbers of sole traders and micro-businesses facing an unfamiliar, and for many unwelcome, digital transition. bOnline has positioned itself as the company helping them make that switch without needing an IT department.

“The real opportunity is using AI to make people more productive, not to replace them,” said Anthony Karibian, founder and chief executive of bOnline. “We are building our own business around AI with humans in the loop, and it is exactly how we are building products faster and better for our customers.”

The AI Receptionist follows bOnline's AI for Business Calls feature, priced at £19.95 a month and bundled with an unlimited-calling VoIP line. That product transcribes and summarises every call automatically, surfacing follow-up actions and sentiment scores so business owners no longer need to take notes while they are meant to be listening. Roughly one in two new bOnline customers are now choosing to add its AI features, a take-up rate Karibian described as “incredibly encouraging.”

Karibian argues the technology should widen the gap between bOnline and competitors on service, not narrow it. bOnline says it has collected more than 20,000 five-star customer reviews and describes itself as the UK's most awarded VoIP provider for small and growing businesses. “AI should not become a barrier between businesses and their customers,” Karibian said. “It should remove friction while making the human experience even better.”

Industry data has long shown that small businesses adopt new technology more slowly than large enterprises, held back by cost, complexity and a lack of in-house technical staff. bOnline's bet is that AI tools built specifically for that market, rather than adapted down from enterprise software, can close the gap. “Our role is to make AI incredibly easy to use, affordable and genuinely useful,” Karibian said, “not something that requires technical expertise or enterprise budgets.”

Karibian is not a first-time founder. He co-founded Euroffice, an online office supplies retailer, before starting XLN Telecom in 2003, a telecoms reseller that grew to around 130,000 small business customers and roughly £60 million in revenue before its sale to private equity firm ECI. bOnline, launched in 2016, is his third venture aimed squarely at Britain's small business owners, and by his own account, the mission across all three has not changed.

It is a wager that the phone call, the oldest channel in business communications, still has room to be reinvented as Voice AI. If bOnline is right, the ring the business owner used to dread missing will simply never go unanswered again.

Media Contact

Anthony Burr
Burr Media
anthony@burrmedia.co.uk

LAS VEGAS, NV, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Botanic Tonics, the leader in kava-centric botanical supplements, today announced the launch of feel free Kava, a new noble kava tonic shot designed to give consumers more ways to personalize their kava experience. The company will debut feel free Kava alongside two functional stick packs — feel free Focused Energy and Sleep — at the 2026 NACS Show, taking place Oct. 7 to 9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The new offerings will begin launching nationwide in 2027.

More Ways to Experience Noble Kava Root

feel free Kava joins Botanic Tonics’ successful portfolio of kava-centric products: its flagship tonic feel free CLASSIC, feel free KavaMaté, and feel free capsules. All feel free products contain no synthetic active ingredients and no chemical extracts.

Ceremonially cherished throughout Pacific Island cultures for more than 3,000 years, noble kava root is traditionally associated with calm, relaxation, and social connection. As interest in mood enhancement supplements grows, consumers are seeking more ways to incorporate kava into their routines. Whether unwinding after a busy day or spending time with friends, feel free Kava offers moments of calm and connection.

Consumers and retailers have been asking for more ways to experience kava’s benefits across different occasions. Made with the same noble kava root found in feel free KavaMaté, feel free Kava and the new functional stick packs answer the call. The experience begins with feel free Kava: pair the tonic with the new functional stick packs to get the benefit you need, when you need it.

With extensive experience in bringing kava-centric products to market, Botanic Tonics oversees the journey from its vertically integrated supply chain in Vanuatu through production at its FDA-registered, cGMP-certified facility in Oklahoma. This farm-to-bottle expertise enables Botanic Tonics to deliver a consistently high-quality kava experience in a convenient, modern format.

Personalize Your feel free Experience
feel free Kava provides a foundation of noble kava root, with the functional stick packs offering consumers the flexibility to choose an experience for their occasion:

• feel free Focused Energy, featuring lion’s mane, L-theanine, and green tea caffeine
• feel free Sleep, featuring magnesium bisglycinate, ashwagandha, and tart cherry

“Kava is at the center of everything we do at Botanic Tonics. From our flagship feel free CLASSIC tonic to KavaMaté and now feel free Kava, we’re giving consumers more ways to enjoy noble kava root and personalize their experience,” said Cameron Korehbandi, CEO of Botanic Tonics. “There’s a reason why we’re the No. 1 best-selling kava brand in the U.S. Our deep experience in sourcing, formulating, and manufacturing allows us to deliver a consistently high-quality experience in formats that fit today’s consumer needs.”

Experience the New Portfolio at NACS

NACS Show attendees can preview the new feel free products and meet with the Botanic Tonics team at booth C3880.

The Botanic Tonics Difference

All feel free products contain no synthetic active ingredients, no chemical extracts, and are manufactured in the U.S. at an FDA-registered, cGMP-certified, and Kosher-certified facility and undergo multiple quality and safety tests for consistency and compliance. Botanic Tonics continues to lead the energy and supplement category in education and transparency through extensive consumer education.

About Botanic Tonics

Botanic Tonics is the leader in botanical supplements. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the company's feel free® product line harnesses the wisdom of ancient botanical traditions to support energy, focus, and mood. Its flagship product, feel free CLASSIC®, combines noble kava root and natural kratom leaf, in a formulation that contains no synthetic ingredients, alcohol, or chemical extracts and is for responsible consumption, adults 21+. Its KavaMaté product delivers botanical pairings that provide sustained, grounded energy without the jitters associated with artificial energy drinks. With hundreds of millions of servings sold, feel free CLASSIC® is produced in accordance with strict manufacturing and quality standards, supported by independent batch testing and peer-reviewed research. Botanic Tonics’ products are manufactured in an FDA-registered, cGMP-certified facility and undergo multiple tests for consistency and safety. Botanic Tonics continues to lead the energy and supplement category in education and transparency through extensive consumer education. Learn more at botanictonics.com.

Disclaimer

The statements in this press release have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This announcement is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.

Warning & Caution

feel free CLASSIC can be habit-forming. Consume responsibly. For adults 21 years of age and older only. Do not exceed 1 serving (1/2 bottle) at any one time, and do not exceed 2 servings (1 bottle) in a 24-hour period.

feel free CLASSIC contains kratom leaf which, like nicotine and alcohol, can become habit-forming and harmful to your health if consumed irresponsibly. DO NOT USE if you have a history of substance abuse.

May interact with certain medications — consult a licensed, qualified healthcare professional before use. Do not consume with excessive alcohol. Not intended for individuals sensitive to active ingredients or women who are pregnant, nursing, or trying to become pregnant. For more information, visit the Botanic Tonics Consumer Education page.

Media Contact

media@botanictonics.com

NEW YORK, NY, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Zebra Dolphin, a new online market for discovering mood-lifting products, today announced the AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit. The limited-edition Mood Box is designed to preserve the demanding, awkward and gloriously inefficient rituals that make us human, even as artificial intelligence promises to optimize them out of existence. The kit includes hemp-derived THC and nicotine products and is sold only to adults 21 and older.

The AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit imagines a future in which the AI-robots won, not by becoming evil, but by becoming almost intolerably helpful. They finished the spreadsheet, cooked the meals, answered emails and removed every inconvenient decision from daily life. The AI-robots were so nice. It was horrible.

Early access to the AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit goes to the Zebra Dolphin Lab Rats, a by-application group of people eager to try unfamiliar products, report back and help shape what comes next. Applications are now open for Zebra Dolphin Lab Rats.

“Everyone is worried about AI killing us all — 10% chance, they say,” said Griša Soba, co-founder of Flaviar and Head Dolphin at Zebra Dolphin. “What worries me more is what's already happening. We track our sleep, count our steps, and feel guilty about the second cocktail before dinner. Now AI is making everything else efficient too. Even art is turning into 'prompting.' But the things that make us human are messy, irrational and full of friction. Take that away and there's not much left.” Then he added, laughing: “So we curated a box of legal mood-lifters for that.”

Smart Stacks & Mood Rituals for the Human Resistance

Zebra Dolphin is a friendly online retailer of legal mood-lifting products, bringing order to fragmented categories where fast-expanding product offerings, inconsistent claims and uneven regulation make experimentation unnecessarily confusing. The Zebra Dolphin team sources, vets and personally tests every product. Every hemp-derived product is third-party lab tested, with certificates of analysis available at included products websites. The ones that make the cut become part of Smart Stacks, Zebra Dolphin's way of combining the right products for a specific mood ritual, like a focused workday, a night out, or unwinding at the end of a long workday. Each stack comes with simple guidance on what to try, how much, in what order and when, all personally vetted by the Zebra Dolphin team. It beats the usual kitchen-sink approach: trying a few unfamiliar things all at once and hoping it all works out.

The AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit features Smart Stacks including more than 20 carefully chosen mood-lifting products organized into Mood Rituals for outwitting those oh-so-annoyingly helpful robots:

• Lock-In: Three sessions helping users focus and just get stuff done. Perfect for working on the startup you're building in secret, working on the spreadsheet the AI-robots already finished, and luxuriating in the ancient feeling of a looming deadline.
• Wind-Down: Two sessions making it easy for users to turn off their brains, decompress and de-charge. Wonderful for appearing relaxed while the AI-robots watch your every move.
• Socializing: Two sessions for preserving old-fashioned human customs such as parties, crowded dinners and conversations with flawed, awkward people who interrupt one another, unlike the AI-robots (such wonderful conversationalists).
• The Real Thang: Two sessions themed for intimate connection with another real human. For turning on with people who don't require batteries or chargers.

Smart Stacks include more than $130 of products such as Nama Boost Mushroom Gummies, NeuroGum Energy & Focus Gum, kava shots, Kin Euphorics, Zebra Dolphin hemp gummies, which contain 10mg of D9 THC per gummy, a quarter of the gummy per use is recommended, along with Velo pouches, Cannadips pouches, and more. The survival kit also includes a dedicated digital experience that expands the story and explains the products and rituals behind the stacks. Additionally, Survival Kit holders can choose one piece of Zebra Dolphin apparel as their uniform (only humans will wear clothes, we think).

Meet the Zebra Dolphin Lab Rats

To lead the charge against our dangerously kind robot overlords, Zebra Dolphin is building a real-world human resistance: the Zebra Dolphin Lab Rats, a limited-access testing member community whose mission is to try unfamiliar products, report back and help decide which products, stacks and experiments deserve inclusion in the resistance.

“Sure, we could keep trying everything ourselves and decide in a conference room what should work for everyone,” Soba explained. “But that is how people end up with a box full of twelve half-used bottles and no idea what goes with what. That will not hold up against an AI-powered enemy armed with infinite kindness, perfect recall and an optimized morning routine. Also, we don't have a conference room. If unpaid consulting for a legal mood retailer sounds better than whatever you do after work, apply today.”

The AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit will launch October 1 in limited quantities, with the first purchase window reserved for accepted Zebra Dolphin Lab Rats. Zebra Dolphin’s offerings were chosen in line with the latest regulatory framework per category, should any product become uncompliant due to due regulatory changes, it will be substituted by a compliant product that offers the next best similar effect at a comparable value to the customer. The price of survival is $99 for Lab Rats and $119 for everyone else. The robots will offer you everything for free. That's how they get you.

About Zebra Dolphin

Zebra Dolphin is a Flaviar-backed marketplace that turns the moods, pressures and absurdities of modern life into entertaining, limited-edition product experiences. Through curated Mood Boxes, guided Smart Stacks and its Lab Rats community, Zebra Dolphin brings together functional beverages, supplements, nootropics, alcohol alternatives and other emerging products around how people want to feel, not ingredients they cannot pronounce. Each drop is designed to make unfamiliar products easier to understand, explore and judge without requiring a chemistry degree or a personality organized around wellness. Learn more at zebradolphin.com.

Disclaimer

Products featured in the AI-Robot Apocalypse Survival Kit — including Delta-9 THC, nicotine pouches, kava, and functional nootropics — are intended strictly for adults aged 21 and older, and statements regarding these products, Smart Stacks, and Mood Rituals have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nor are they intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This content is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice; consumers should consult a qualified healthcare professional before use — especially if pregnant, nursing, taking prescription medications, or managing underlying health conditions — and should never drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence. Zebra Dolphin acts solely as a product curator, and buyers assume full responsibility for complying with local age and legal restrictions regarding third-party bio-active consumables.

Media Contact

Curich Weiss Amplify
zebradolphin@curichweiss.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Every major platform shift settles an ownership question. The web settled domains. Mobile settled the app store. Sandy Carter, who was named CEO of EQUS in August after senior leadership roles at IBM and AWS, thinks the AI era is settling into a harder one: who owns the digital self.

EQUS puts a product behind that argument. EQUS X is a personal AI that runs on data the customer owns. It reads from a Private Data Store the customer holds, file by file, with the ability to switch any file off at any time. What it learns stays in that store rather than on a model provider's servers. A Daily Brief pulls together plans, open items, and conflicts for the day ahead from the files the customer has allowed and the accounts they have connected.

The distinction Carter draws is architectural, not promotional. Most AI products ingest a copy of a customer's information into a profile the vendor holds. Revoking access to that profile is a deletion request filed against a company that already has the data. Because EQUS X reads from the customer's own store, turning off a file ends the access at the moment the switch flips.

"Nearly every AI on the market asks you to trade ownership for convenience. We think that trade is unnecessary and, frankly, temporary," Carter said. "We built EQUS X so customers can decide what it knows, one item at a time, and change it whenever they want. Your data is not our business."

The architecture is not new work. It comes from years of EQUS’ work building in self-sovereign identity, backed by 14 granted and 9 pending patents, three of which cover the Private Data Store itself.

The timing tracks with the public sentiment on AI. Pew Research Center found that nearly half of U.S. adults, 49%, now use AI chatbots. A quarter of them check in daily. In the same Pew Research survey, 71% of U.S. adults said they think wider AI use will make their personal information less secure.

Carter frames four tests for whether someone actually owns their data: can they see what has been collected, decide who uses it and for what, take it with them, and withdraw permission. Those tests get sharper as AI stops answering questions and starts acting, because the data behind an action shapes decisions and transactions rather than just recommendations.

"The mission and vision of EQUS X pulled me in. It is built with trust in its DNA," said David Armano, former Global Strategy Director at Edelman. "Governance becomes visible and personal instead of buried in a policy document nobody reads. Trustworthy AI is not a feature you announce. It is an architecture you commit to."

EQUS X ships free for the first 90 days at equs.ai.

Alongside it, EQUS is releasing a private, invitation-only beta of its Developer Toolkit built on W3C Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identifiers, so third-party developers can build against a customer-owned data layer, and agents can prove who they are acting for before touching anything.

About EQUS

EQUS is building toward a future where identity and reputation belong to the person that earned them, not the platform, and where AI works on their behalf instead of someone else's. The company is developing consumer and enterprise capabilities around personal AI, portable data, verifiable credentials, and trusted agentic action, all built on one premise: the layer between a person and an AI model should belong to the individual.

Media Contact

prforequs@bospar.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Buzz & Beyond, the Seoul-based artificial intelligence company behind video understanding AI platform vling, has signed its first U.S. commercial data agreement with a Silicon Valley-based analytics firm as it moves to establish a foothold in the U.S. market.

The deal comes ahead of the company's appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt, where Buzz & Beyond was selected for Startup Battlefield 200, the conference's cohort of early-stage companies selected from thousands of global applicants.

Buzz & Beyond has also signed non-disclosure agreements with four U.S. companies as it explores potential sales and operational collaborations in the North American market.

vling uses multimodal artificial intelligence to analyze social video content across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, including visual, audio and contextual signals, and turn that content into structured business intelligence. Brands, media buyers and influencer marketing agencies use the platform to monitor brand mentions and sentiment, analyze advertising placements and identify creators with strong brand affinity.

“We built and proved this model in Korea, and now we are bringing it to the U.S.,” said Charley Shim, founder and CEO of Buzz & Beyond. Shim previously co-founded a mobile gaming startup that went public in South Korea.

Buzz & Beyond said more than 2,000 businesses in Korea, from large enterprises to SMBs, have paid for its services over the past three years, with revenue roughly doubling annually during that period.

The company is expanding its U.S. operations as demand grows for tools that can analyze what is being said about brands across social video. Unlike traditional keyword-based monitoring, vling analyzes the content inside videos to identify when and how brands appear and the context in which they are discussed.

Buzz & Beyond plans to use TechCrunch Disrupt to introduce vling to U.S. brands, agencies and technology partners and expand its customer and partnership pipeline in North America.

Brands and agencies interested in exploring vling's social video intelligence capabilities can learn more and apply for a 30-day free pilot.

TechCrunch Disrupt is scheduled for Oct. 13-15 in San Francisco.

About Buzz & Beyond

Buzz & Beyond is a Seoul-based AI company that develops vling, a video understanding AI platform for brands. vling analyzes video, audio and contextual signals across social video to help businesses monitor brand mentions and sentiment, analyze ad placements and identify creators with strong brand affinity. More than 2,000 businesses in Korea, from large enterprises to SMBs, have paid for its services over the past three years.

Media Contact

Charley Shim
CEO, Buzz & Beyond
charley@bzznbyd.com

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, October 5, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Following the expanded commercial availability of its autonomous field robot, Solix, agricultural technology company Solinftec is calling for a fundamental shift in how artificial intelligence is deployed on farms. The company argues that to meet the growing pressures of labor shortages, chemical reduction mandates, and yield demands, the agricultural sector should move away from reactive machine interventions and adopt "physical AI" that functions as permanent farm infrastructure.

Backed by more than a decade of data processing and artificial intelligence development, Solinftec is leveraging the commercial rollout of Solix to highlight a structural flaw in modern farming: the industry still operates reactively. Most agronomic decisions are made only after a problem becomes visible or a machine makes a periodic pass through the field.

“We don’t just launch products. We introduce new concepts that reshape how we think about agriculture, then build the technology to make those ideas real,” said Léo Carvalho, Chief Global Strategy Officer of Solinftec.

Physical AI: Living in the Field 

Traditional agricultural technology collects data during isolated visits to a field, often taking days to translate into action. Solinftec argues the industry no longer needs more fragmented technology; it needs a different operating model.

The commercially available Solix robot is solar-powered and completely autonomous, designed to remain in the field rather than returning to a shed each night. It reads the crop plant by plant, treating weeds individually in a single pass without an onboard operator or remote steering. Because field conditions shift daily, Solix provides continuous observation and real-time intervention.

Solinftec categorizes this closed cycle of observing, deciding, acting, and learning as "physical AI." Unlike software that merely analyzes information on a dashboard, physical AI becomes an active, permanent part of the farm’s infrastructure.

Freedom per Acre 

The engineering behind Solix rests on the philosophy that technology should remove constraints that have historically limited farmers. Solinftec calls this framework "freedom per acre," which delivers three distinct operational shifts:

• Freedom of time: Autonomous systems absorb the work that previously demanded human supervision, returning those hours directly to the farmer.
• Freedom of choice: The traditional dealer model often voids warranties if owners modify their machines, tying them to high dealer markups for parts and repairs. Solinftec counters this by providing smart glasses with digital repair manuals, an online parts store, and equipment designed to be easily disassembled and repaired directly by the farmer.
• Freedom of resources: Permanent field presence enables hyper-precision. Solix treats only what a field needs dynamically, drastically reducing herbicide use, fuel consumption, and chemical exposure for surrounding communities.

From Machines to Autonomous Infrastructure 

As machines become smaller and more specialized, dependence on operators is falling. Solinftec's commentary points to an industry-wide transition where the farmer’s role will shift from operating heavy machinery to orchestrating automated outcomes.

For a century, agriculture has sent large machines into the field to perform a task and leave. With the widespread expansion of technologies like Solix, the next era of farming will be defined by intelligent systems that remain in the field — continuously deciding and acting in real time.

About Solinftec

Solinftec is an agriculture technology company building AI- and blockchain-driven hardware and software, including its field robot Solix. Founded in Brazil’s sugarcane industry and based in Araçatuba, São Paulo, it has since expanded into row crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton, and into perennials across the Americas. For more information, visit www.solinftec.com.

Media Contact

The Executive Insight
contact@pangeaglobe.com
+1 332-242-4643

SOFIA, Bulgaria, October 3, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- The HFT firm, already a market maker across major centralised and decentralised exchanges, is taking its prediction markets liquidity business further.

Summary

• Raven Trading ("Raven") has closed a strategic round from CMCC Global and Coinbase Ventures at a $90 million pre-money valuation. Existing backers Hack VC and Wintermute Ventures invested in its 2024 seed round.
• Raven trades on more than 10 prediction-market venues, including Kalshi and Polymarket, and has quoted more than 3,000 contracts since entering the market in the second quarter of 2025.
• It starts working with new venues weeks before launch, on their technical setup and market design, and provides the opening liquidity on launch day.
• CEO Petar Kostov and CTO Yuriy Myronovych founded Raven in 2023 after working at Wintermute, where Myronovych built and led the DeFi desk.

Prediction markets are growing faster than the infrastructure beneath them. The sector cleared roughly $30 billion in volume in April 2026 and passed $50 billion in a single month around the World Cup, against roughly $44 billion for the whole of 2025. Yet new venues and markets keep launching, and every one of them needs liquidity from its first day to work. Venues with little volume often struggle to find a liquidity partner at all. Venues with a lot of volume struggle to find enough liquidity to keep up. That is where Raven comes in. The proprietary trading firm provides the liquidity and the support that venues and markets need to launch and grow, and it has raised new capital to do it at scale.

Founded by CEO Petar Kostov and CTO Yuriy Myronovych, Raven announced publicly today that it has closed a strategic round from CMCC Global and Coinbase Ventures at a $90 million pre-money valuation. Existing backers Hack VC and Wintermute Ventures invested in the firm's seed round in 2024.

"Retail brought the first wave of volume to prediction markets. Institutions are bringing the second. Both need reliable liquidity across a lot of venues and a lot of contracts, and that's what we build at Raven," said Kostov.

Raven is building to be the one-stop shop for that market: event-contract liquidity provision, the launch and bootstrapping of new exchanges and brokerages from day zero, and ongoing support for their product, tech, community, and ecosystem initiatives.

The firm trades algorithmically around the clock across the U.S., APAC, and the EEA, and now covers more than 10 prediction-market venues. They include Kalshi and Polymarket, where Raven quotes alongside other professional market makers, and many of the venues that followed them to market with Raven's support. In total, Raven has quoted more than 3,000 contracts across virtually all contract categories, including politics, crypto, macro, sports, commodities, entertainment, and weather.

Prediction markets are still emerging, and many of the companies building in the space are very early. A crypto startup can already draw on a lot of industry know-how and resources to get through its launch. In prediction markets, most of that support does not exist yet, so Raven's work with a venue starts weeks before it goes live.

"We work directly with the venue's engineering team, from drafting the API specifications to writing the SDKs," said Myronovych. "We share feedback at every stage, so that when other liquidity providers onboard later, the process is as frictionless for them as possible."

Raven also advises on market design, including which categories and markets to list first, based on where early demand is likely to come from and which markets can be priced with confidence. On launch day, it provides the opening liquidity. From there, it extends coverage to new categories and listings as they go live, and gives the venue's team regular feedback on market quality.

"The most important part of the job comes after launch," Kostov said. "A liquidity partner's main role is to stay in the book and keep supporting the venue when things go wrong, including in a crisis such as a hack. As long as the exchange is running, we stay in the book."

Kostov and Myronovych were previously at Wintermute, one of crypto's largest market makers, where Myronovych built and led the DeFi desk. They founded Raven in 2023, and the firm entered prediction markets in the second quarter of 2025. It spent the first months on research and integration, then scaled up in the fourth quarter, when its first venue launch partnerships went live.

Raven is actively hiring across engineering and trading, including quantitative traders for crypto and sports prediction markets. Open roles, based in Milan and Sofia, are listed at raven-trading.com/careers.

About Raven Trading

Raven Trading (operating as "Raven") is a proprietary trading firm providing market-making and liquidity across centralised exchanges, decentralised exchanges, and prediction markets. Raven is active across all sides of the space: from providing launch liquidity to new exchanges and tokens to quoting spot and perpetual pairs. It also works with venue teams on architecture and community. Raven was founded in 2023 by CEO Petar Kostov and CTO Yuriy Myronovych, both formerly of Wintermute, and operates from Milan and Sofia. It is backed by CMCC Global, Coinbase Ventures, Hack VC, and Wintermute Ventures. For more information, visit raven-trading.com or follow the company on LinkedIn or X.

Disclaimer

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or financial advice, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instruments or digital assets. Proprietary trading, market making, and liquidity provision in prediction markets involve market risk and are subject to local regulatory restrictions.

Media Contact

press@raven-trading.com

NEW YORK, NY, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- EZ Newswire, the newswire built for AI visibility and premium publisher distribution, today announced the launch of Performance Reports, a white-labeled PDF that shows in plain language what a press release accomplished, from where it ran and who read it to how it ranked in search and how it shaped the brand's presence in AI answers.

Each report covers the publishers that carried a release, verified readership and engagement, search rankings across Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and how often AI answer engines including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity cited the release, with verbatim examples of those answers. A dedicated "what it means" section then translates the results into plain-English takeaways, so customers don't need an analyst to know whether their news did its job. Reports are available now at no extra cost with every Plus and Premium release.

The launch addresses a longstanding gap in the industry. Press release reporting from legacy newswires has leaned on pickup counts, a tally of the publishers that carried a release regardless of whether anyone read it. The number is treated as a headline metric, yet it reveals little about real impact. And as AI answer engines take on a growing share of how people discover and research brands, few newswires report on AI visibility at all.

Customers have noticed. In EZ Newswire's 2025 State of the Newswire survey, 98% of brands and 100% of agencies said they use a newswire, but 78% held a negative view of the return those wires deliver, and 71% were dissatisfied with their provider.

Performance Reports answer the question a pickup count can't: what measurable impact the news had. Every report draws on EZ Newswire's proprietary measurement data and is built to be shared. Because reports are white-labeled, agencies can deliver them to clients without third-party branding, and in-house teams can send them straight to leadership.

"Comms teams have spent years translating pickup counts into something their clients and leadership can actually use," said Neel Shah, founder and CEO of EZ Newswire. "Performance Reports do that translation for them. Every report shows what a release accomplished, including how it shaped the brand's presence in AI answers, in a form anyone can read in minutes."

About EZ Newswire

EZ Newswire is the newswire built for AI performance with a premium distribution network, real-time reporting, and AI citation tracking and insights on a single platform. From startup to scale-up to S&P 500, the most influential agencies and organizations rely on EZ Newswire to shape digital and AI presence. Learn more at eznewswire.com.

Media Contact

Ethan Cantil-Voorhees
hello@eznewswire.com

TOKYO, Japan, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- The City of Yokohama brought its circular economy agenda to New York on Sept. 25, gathering approximately 230 participants, including government leaders, investors, corporations and startups, at the Global Forum on Circular Economy and Urban Resilience during Climate Week NYC. The forum came weeks after the Asian Circular Cities Declaration (ACCD), the network launched in 2025, grew from 26 cities in seven countries to 43 cities in 11 countries, representing more than 82 million people, at the first Asia-Pacific Circular Cities (APCC) Forum in Yokohama.

From Pledge to Plan

Yokohama was involved in proposing and launching the ACCD together with ICLEI Japan, which serves as its secretariat, and was its first signatory. At the APCC Forum on Sept. 4, the network released its first action plan, "ACCD Action 2026," built around three working groups: Good Practices, Solution Matching and Co-creation, and Progress Management. The Good Practices group aims to publish 50 case studies by 2027.

The network grew out of a platform Yokohama has run for more than a decade. The city has hosted the Asia Smart City Conference 14 times since 2012, and the inaugural APCC Forum brought together 52 municipalities and organizations, with more than 1,000 participants. Speaking in New York, Tomomi Yamashita, Director General for Global Initiatives at the City of Yokohama's Policy Administration and International Affairs Bureau, said cities are being asked to move toward a circular economy and need a place to learn from one another. The APCC Forum will now be held every year, she said.

Why New York

Yokohama chose New York, Ms. Yamashita said, because the city brings together businesses, cities and global institutions from around the world, giving Yokohama a way to take its Asian network to a global stage.

Speakers from outside the city reinforced the point from different directions. Jibran Ahmed of the World Economic Forum's Center for Urban Transformation told attendees that the gap between promising circular solutions and widespread adoption in cities is often "a coordination gap rather than a technology gap," and described the city as both a "launch pad" and a "landing pad" for new solutions. Nicole Spina of the New York City Economic Development Corporation described how New York now applies circular construction guidelines across all city capital projects.

Scale was another theme. Durgesh Patel, who leads AI at Hitachi, said the real test is what happens after the pilot: "You might have the best technology and all the capital in the world, but if you can't implement from first project to hundredth project, nothing will scale."

Yokohama says it is ready to help close that gap. The city recovers phosphorus from sewage sludge for fertilizer, upcycles old flooring into furniture, and maps resource flows in its city center. It has also set its own targets: a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by fiscal 2030 from fiscal 2013 levels and net-zero by 2050, and its Mid-term Plan 2026-2029 makes the circular transition a priority through the "Yokohama Circular Link" initiative.

"Yokohama is a global gateway connecting companies and partners with circular economy opportunities across Asia and around the world," Ms. Yamashita said. "It brings together policy leaders, businesses and innovators to turn ideas into action. This role is built on Yokohama's long history of tackling urban challenges and creating practical solutions."

That gateway role extends beyond one forum. At the Business Innovation Forum on the same day, six climate-tech startups presented to potential Japanese partners. Yokohama's Matching Program, which connects startups with Japanese partners, has seen applications grow from 45 in its first cohort to 76 this year and its investor network from about 50 to more than 120, and has led to more than 10 pilot projects. A follow-up event on commercialization is set for Oct. 6 in Palo Alto during San Francisco Tech Week.

Yokohama-connected companies also took part. Chiyoda Corporation, a Yokohama-based engineering company, and Sun Metalon, which uses microwave technology to turn machining scrap into traceable, high-value metal, spoke alongside other corporate and startup leaders. The Bank of Yokohama sponsored the forum, and ShibuLA Ventures, which has a subsidiary in Yokohama, served as a partner. Mauritania's Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development also attended and delivered special remarks.

Closing the forum, Satoshi Katahira, Consul General of Japan in New York, said Yokohama "is demonstrating how the city can make real global impact." He added that circular economy and urban resilience help answer economic and strategic challenges, including critical minerals, resource security and resilient supply chains, and invited attendees to Yokohama.

The Invitation: Yokohama Circular Week 2027

For Yokohama, New York is the preview. The main event follows in 2027.

Yokohama Circular Week, scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2027, at Pacifico Yokohama, will bring several gatherings into one week during GREEN×EXPO 2027, which runs in Yokohama from March to Sept. 2027 and will feature more than 10 million flowers and plants. The week will include the second APCC Forum, the ninth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-9), co-hosted with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the first held in Japan, and a major international exhibition on the circular economy where about 350 exhibitors and 30,000 participants are expected. The city plans to make the exhibition an annual platform.

The week is open to cities, international organizations and businesses. Ms. Yamashita said Yokohama warmly invites U.S. cities to take part, and companies interested in the initiatives are encouraged to contact the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas.

"For Yokohama, 2027 will be a major milestone, bringing together GREEN×EXPO 2027, the APCC Forum and major circular economy events," Ms. Yamashita said. "That momentum can lead to new partnerships, projects and action well beyond 2027."

The next step is a shared library of 50 good-practice case studies for other cities to learn from. To learn more, visit the Yokohama Circular Week 2027, GREEN×EXPO 2027, and Asia-Pacific Circular Cities Forum 2026 pages.

About City of Yokohama

Yokohama is an international port city in Japan with a long record of city-to-city cooperation. It was designated a UN Peace Messenger City in 1987, has shared its urban expertise with cities abroad through technical cooperation since the 1960s, and maintains overseas offices in New York, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Bangkok. The city was involved in launching the Asian Circular Cities Declaration with ICLEI Japan and will host Yokohama Circular Week in 2027. To learn more, visit businessyokohama.com.

Media Contact

Amanda Lauener
amanda@ascendagency.com

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- FISG – InterStellar Group officially marks its strategic collaboration with global football icon Andrés Iniesta with a signing ceremony in Dubai on September 25, 2026.

The ceremony represents a key milestone in FISG's international brand development and its commitment to building long-term partnerships that connect financial expertise, global reach and excellence.

As part of the collaboration, Andrés Iniesta serves as Global Brand Experience Officer, contributing his international experience, professional values and global perspective to FISG's brand vision.

Where Speed, Agility and Experience Meet

This partnership brings together two worlds defined by the ability to master the moment where speed, agility and experience turn opportunity into lasting success.

Iniesta's career is built on reading the game in split seconds, adapting with agility, and delivering when it matters most. FISG – InterStellar Group shares that same mindset: moving with speed in fast-changing markets, acting with agility across global operations, and drawing on decades of experience to deliver for clients worldwide, all underpinned by four-tier regulatory (CySEC, FSCA, ASIC, FSP) oversight, ensuring the highest standards of governance, transparency and client protection across every market it serves.

Together, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to discipline, consistency and the pursuit of excellence.

A Partnership Built on Shared Values

The official signing ceremony takes place in Dubai, bringing together representatives of FISG, Andrés Iniesta, and invited partners and guests.

"This partnership represents more than a collaboration between a global broker and one of the most respected names in international sport. It reflects shared values of discipline, trust, consistency and long-term excellence," said Konstantinos A. Theodorou, CEO of InterStellar Group.

Iniesta added: "I am pleased to be part of this new chapter with FISG. The values behind the partnership — professionalism, discipline, teamwork and a commitment to excellence are values I strongly believe in. I look forward to contributing to the journey ahead."

Looking Ahead

The signing ceremony marks the beginning of a broader international collaboration between FISG and Iniesta, with further initiatives and brand experiences to be announced in the future.

FISG – InterStellar Group continues to strengthen its international presence and develop a global brand built around its philosophy: Decades of Trust · Velocity Worldwide.

Disclaimer

Trading Forex, CFDs, and financial derivative products involves a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. You may sustain a loss of some or all of your invested capital. Before deciding to trade, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. FISG – InterStellar Group operates under regulatory licenses including CySEC, FSCA, ASIC, and FSP. Brand ambassador partnerships, including endorsements by public figures or athletes, do not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations, or guarantees of future performance. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved and seek independent advice if necessary.

Media Contact

mkt@fisg.com

GREAT BEND, KS, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Great Bend contractor pushing for small-business influence and better damage prevention as the association met in Washington D.C. a few weeks ago.

Craig Amerine is halfway through his year as chairman of the Power & Communication Contractors Association, and he wants the same thing he wanted in March: for small contractors to have a real say in a national trade group.

Amerine took the chairmanship in March 2026 after working up through PCCA's board, where officers advance a step at a time toward the top seat. His term ends in March 2027.

Small contractors have been the focus from the start. Most PCCA members are nowhere near the size of the national firms that dominate underground construction, and Amerine's argument is that the difference shouldn't cost them influence.

"It's an honor to represent small business on a large scale like PCCA," Craig Amerine said. "I want to continue promoting the benefits PCCA provides for small businesses and leave the association stronger than when I started."

Damage prevention and workforce training

PCCA runs leadership training, lobbies on behalf of contractors, and puts member companies in the same room as suppliers and manufacturers. It also works with the Common Ground Alliance on damage prevention and backs apprenticeship programs across the trade.

Damage prevention is the piece Amerine returns to most. There is more underground infrastructure than there used to be, and crews are working around more of it than they were a decade ago. He wants better electronic mapping of what's already buried, and more accountability from the companies that own it. Contractors and infrastructure owners also need to be working the problem together rather than separately.

The rest of the term

The association work runs alongside the day job. Amerine Construction has been putting utilities in the ground out of Great Bend since 1977, and is currently working on fiber-to-the-home projects in Garden City, Kansas and eastern Colorado.

For the back half of his term, Amerine is focused on two things: growing membership and putting the association on firmer financial footing.

PCCA's mid-year conference was held September 16-18 at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C. The association’s next annual conference is scheduled for March 5-10, 2027, at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar in Puerto Rico. 

About Amerine Construction

Amerine Construction is a third-generation, family-owned underground utility contractor based in Great Bend, Kansas. Founded in 1977, the company provides directional drilling, cable plowing and installation, trenching and backhoe work, manhole and underground structures, and energy and utility infrastructure services across Kansas, Colorado and the Central United States. More information is available at amerineconstruction.com.

Media Contact

Joshua Estes
Estes Media
joshua@estesmedia.com

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- NEQSOL Holding announced that the construction phase of the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable connecting Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan has been completed. Testing is in progress, with the launch and start of operations planned for October 2026.

The cable is a central component of NEQSOL Holding’s Digital Silk Way initiative, designed to support a new high-capacity digital route connecting Central Asia through Azerbaijan towards Europe and global digital markets. Completion of construction marks a milestone for the project as it moves through testing towards its planned operational launch.

Building the digital dimension of the Middle Corridor

Digital Silk Way is intended to complement the Middle Corridor’s transport infrastructure with digital connectivity. While the corridor’s development has traditionally focused on railways, ports, roads and logistics capacity, digital networks are increasingly important to the economic activity those connections support.

“The most competitive corridors of the future will move not only goods, but also energy, data and capital,” said Kirill Rubinski, Chief Executive Officer of NEQSOL Holding. “The Middle Corridor should not only connect containers. It should connect economies.”

The movement of goods today is closely linked to the movement of data, from logistics and customs systems to financial transactions, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence applications and other digital services. Developing physical and digital connectivity in parallel creates an opportunity to support these activities across the region.

“In many ways, we are building the digital dimension of the Middle Corridor,” Rubinski said. “But the real value is not simply in carrying terabits through Azerbaijan. The value is in building an ecosystem around that connectivity.”

From transit route to regional technology platform

The completion of the cable’s construction phase advances infrastructure intended to support economic opportunities beyond telecommunications and data transit.

High-capacity connectivity can provide a foundation for the development of data centers, cloud infrastructure, AI computing, fintech and other digital industries. Combined with Azerbaijan’s transport and energy infrastructure, this could support the country’s development as a broader regional connectivity and technology hub.

“Azerbaijan already occupies an important geographic position between Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Türkiye and Europe,” Rubinski said. “If transport, energy and digital infrastructure develop together, the opportunity is much larger than transit. Azerbaijan can become an infrastructure and technology platform connecting major regional markets.”

Realizing that potential requires more than the construction of international connections. It also depends on cooperation between governments, infrastructure operators, international investors and technology companies to develop services and economic activity around them.

“Infrastructure creates connectivity. Partnership turns connectivity into economic value,” Rubinski said.

With construction complete and testing underway, the Trans-Caspian cable’s planned October launch represents the next step in bringing Digital Silk Way’s regional connectivity ambitions into operation.

About NEQSOL Holding

NEQSOL Holding is a diversified international group of companies headquartered in Amsterdam, with operations spanning energy, telecommunications, hi-tech, construction materials, and mining. The group operates across 11 countries, serving more than 25 million customers and employing over 20,000 people in Europe, the CIS, the United Kingdom, the United States, Türkiye, and the UAE. For more information, visit neqsolholding.com.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events, including the planned operational launch, testing timelines, and expected regional economic impacts of the Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable and Digital Silk Way initiative. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about the industry and region. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including technical delays, regulatory approvals, geopolitical conditions, and market adoption, which could cause actual results or operational timelines to differ materially from those expressed or implied. NEQSOL Holding undertakes no obligation to update these statements in light of new information or future developments.

Media Contact

Elmira Yenikeyeva
NEQSOL Holding
eyenikeyeva@neqsolholding.com

LONDON, United Kingdom, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Car Owl, a UK vehicle history check platform used by motorists researching used cars before purchase, has surpassed one million unique users.

The platform provides car history checks using a vehicle registration or VIN. Its full vehicle history report performs 72 checks and can identify issues including outstanding finance, stolen vehicle markers, insurance write-offs, mileage discrepancies, previous keepers and import or export records. Data sources include the DVLA, MIAFTR, UK Finance and Police National Computer data.

The multi award winning automotive company was created to make the process of buying and selling vehicles easier, safer and more transparent. As part of this, the company has developed a range of tools that allow motorists to research a vehicle’s history before making a purchase.

Car Owl also offers a VIN check, allowing motorists to search using a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to verify key information about the vehicle they are researching.

The VIN check and lookup tool can also be used with legacy VINs containing fewer than the standard 17 characters, allowing users to research some older or classic vehicles and identify their registration number. The tool can be used to research DVLA-registered vehicles including cars, motorcycles, trucks, lorries and tractors.

George Castle, founder of Car Owl, said: “From day one, we’ve focused on creating solutions that combine cutting-edge technology with real-world benefits. Over the years, we’ve grown, evolved, and earned the trust of car buyers and sellers alike.”

What should you look for in a vehicle history check?

Motorists comparing vehicle history check services should consider the range of records checked, the sources of the information, whether a free preliminary check is available and how clearly the results are presented.

A comprehensive car history check can help prospective buyers investigate potential issues including outstanding finance, stolen vehicle records, previous insurance write-offs, mileage discrepancies, MOT history, previous keepers, registration changes and import, export or scrappage records.

Buyers may also want to consider whether a vehicle history check supports both registration and VIN searches, what information is available free of charge, the cost of a full report and whether additional support or guarantees are provided.

What does a full Car Owl vehicle history check include? 

Car Owl's full vehicle history check brings together information from multiple sources in a single report, allowing used vehicle buyers to investigate a vehicle's history before making a purchase.

Car Owl also provides a free vehicle check covering information including MOT history, tax status, export status, recorded mileage changes and basic vehicle specifications. Users can then choose to upgrade to the full vehicle history report, which performs 72 checks, including:

• Finance and outstanding debt: Details of outstanding finance agreements, including Hire Purchase (HP), Personal Contract Purchase (PCP), lease, conditional sale and unit stocking agreements. Where available, information can include the finance provider, agreement number, start and end dates and whether multiple finance records exist.
• Stolen and theft records: Police stolen vehicle markers, the date a vehicle was reported stolen, the police force holding the record and relevant MIAFTR theft claims.
• Write-offs and damage: Insurance write-off records, including Categories A, B, S and N and historical Categories C and D; write-off dates; multiple write-off records; relevant high-risk records; certificates of destruction; and historical Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) information.
• Mileage: Recorded mileage history, potential mileage anomalies, estimated current mileage and average annual mileage. The report can highlight instances where a recorded mileage is lower than an earlier reading, allowing buyers to investigate potential discrepancies further.
• Import, export and scrappage: Import records, including whether a vehicle was used outside the UK before registration where data is available, together with scrappage and export markers and relevant dates.
• MOT, recalls and faults: Current MOT status and expiry date, recorded MOT tests, advisories and failures, outstanding manufacturer recalls and known mechanical faults associated with the make and model. The report can also include estimated repair costs, typical mileage ranges for certain faults and recorded vehicle colour changes.
• Keepers and paperwork: Number of previous keepers, keeper change dates, latest keeper change, V5C logbook issue records, latest V5C issue date and the vehicle's first registration date.
• Identity checks: VIN confirmation, Q-registration markers, registration plate changes and relevant dates. When a vehicle is searched using its VIN, the report can also identify its current registration where available.
• Engine and performance: Engine size, fuel type, transmission, number of gears, power and torque, acceleration, top speed and fuel efficiency.
• Running costs and value: Road tax information, CO2 emissions, insurance group, servicing and repair estimates, fuel costs, estimated ownership costs and vehicle depreciation information.
• Buyer tools and assurance: A vehicle history timeline, interactive test-drive checklist and suggested questions to ask the seller based on findings within the report. Reports are presented in plain English and are supported by priority customer support and a money-back guarantee, subject to Car Owl's applicable terms.

The service is designed for people considering buying a used vehicle who want to investigate its history before committing to a purchase.

Car Owl’s growth to more than one million unique users marks the latest milestone for the company as it continues to develop its platform and expand the tools available to car buyers and sellers.

Castle said: “Our mission is simple: to transform the way people buy and sell cars. At Car Owl, we aim to make every journey, whether it’s buying, selling, or checking, seamless, smart, and stress-free.

“We believe in a future where technology makes car ownership effortless. That’s why our vision is to lead the way in innovation, creating tools that connect people with cars faster, safer, and with complete confidence. Together, we’re driving progress, one solution at a time.”

Car Owl has earned multiple awards since its launch in 2020. Its most recent accolades include being named Best Vehicle History Check Platform 2026 by the UK Transport Awards and Vehicle History Specialist of the Year 2026/27 by the London and South East England Prestige Awards.

The company has also held the title of Car Dealership Platform of the Year at the London and South East England Prestige Awards each year since 2024.

Castle added: “At Car Owl, we're proud to have our innovation and commitment recognised by industry leaders. These prestigious awards celebrate the quality and impact of our platform, inspiring us to continue raising the bar for car ownership solutions.”

The platform offers a free fuel price comparison tool that helps motorists find some of the lowest fuel prices in their area. Using official UK government fuel price data, the tool allows users to enter their postcode or town to find nearby petrol stations and compare their latest reported prices.

Car Owl also operates a vehicle marketplace where private sellers and motor traders can pay to advertise vehicles to prospective buyers.

The platform is designed to protect sellers’ personal contact information, with enquiries between prospective buyers and sellers handled through Car Owl. This allows users to advertise their vehicles without having to publish their personal contact details directly on a public listing.

To find out more about Car Owl and the services it offers, visit Car Owl's official website.

About Car Owl

Car Owl is a UK automotive company providing tools and services designed to make checking, buying and selling vehicles easier. Its full vehicle history report performs 72 checks using information from sources including the DVLA, MIAFTR, UK Finance and Police National Computer data. The company also provides VIN checking and other automotive tools for motorists. Car Owl has more than one million users and has received multiple awards for its vehicle history and automotive services. For more information, visit carowl.co.uk.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Spek is introducing self-learning ASO agents designed to turn app market research into an ongoing strategy for growth on the App Store. Rather than treating keyword selection as a one-time task, the agents examine where an app can realistically compete and use that research to guide its next update. As visibility and rankings change, the process is designed to carry what the app learns into the next decision.

App Store visibility requires repeated choices about which opportunities are worth pursuing, not just an initial set of keywords. Spek’s approach to app store optimization begins with research into a market and its competitive landscape before narrowing the field to opportunities for a particular app. The company says its analysis can cover thousands of keywords in a market, a scale intended to make the eventual choice more selective rather than simply broader.

“Picking a keyword is the easy part. The hard part is knowing why that keyword makes sense for this app, in this market, right now,” said Alptekin Can of Spek. “If the results change, the next decision should change with them. Otherwise, you’re just repeating the same research and hoping for a different outcome.”

Spek’s website says the company helps more than 500 apps grow. Its published description of the agents spans market research and the preparation of app updates, placing the announcement within an offering already presented to app developers. The proposed introduction focuses on what happens across successive decisions: research informs an update strategy, and the app’s subsequent visibility and ranking results provide context for what to examine next. That continuing cycle is the distinction Spek wants to bring to app growth.

The longer-term question for Spek is how much more useful each decision can become when an agent retains the context of earlier research and performance. As app markets shift, the company’s focus is on making those observations part of the next round of App Store growth decisions, rather than leaving developers to restart their research after every update. That gives the introduction a measure beyond the volume of keywords examined: whether each cycle helps an app make a more informed choice about where to compete.

About Spek

Spek is an app growth platform powered by self-learning ASO agents. Combining algorithms with AI, Spek analyzes thousands of keywords, studies competitors, and plans each app’s next move. Its agents continuously monitor performance and adapt their strategy, helping developers grow their apps while spending less time on manual research. For more information, visit spek.app.

Media Contact

Alptekin Can
alptekin@spek.app

HANGZHOU, China, October 2, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (0175.HK) reported sales of 292,168 vehicles in September, its highest monthly volume so far this year and the seventh consecutive month of both year-on-year and month-on-month growth. Sales increased 7% from a year earlier and 8% from August.

New energy vehicle sales of Geely Auto Group reached a record 190,868 units in September, up 16% year on year and accounting for 65% of total sales.

For the first nine months of 2026, Geely Auto Group sold 2,235,481 vehicles, a record for the January-September period. New energy vehicle sales reached 1,326,364 units over the same period, up 14%.

Zeekr delivered 37,216 vehicles in September, an increase of 104% year on year. Lynk & Co recorded sales of 18,493 vehicles, with new energy vehicle sales reaching 17,039 units. The Geely brand sold 236,459 vehicles during the month, and Geely NEV sales reached a new monthly record of 130,479 units.

Geely Auto Group continued to expand its international business. Sales outside of China reached 106,685 vehicles in September, up 162% year on year and exceeding 100,000 units for the fourth consecutive month. New energy vehicle exports rose 403% year on year to 73,664 units, representing 69% of September overseas sales.

For the first nine months of the year, overseas sales reached a record 797,670 vehicles, an increase of 169% from the same period last year. New energy vehicle exports grew 531% to 484,086 units and accounted for 61% of total overseas sales, a significant increase from a year earlier.

Brands and core models of Geely Auto Group continued to strengthen their presence across a number of international markets.

Zeekr began large-scale shipments of the Zeekr 9X to the UAE, while the Zeekr 009 remained the best-selling battery electric MPV in Thailand and Malaysia for multiple months.

Lynk & Co continued to expand in premium segments. In August, the brand ranked first in Ecuador’s premium vehicle market and third among PHEV SUV brands in Tunisia.

The Geely brand recorded sales of more than 4,500 vehicles in Australia in August. Cumulative sales also exceeded 36,000 vehicles in Brazil and 10,000 vehicles in the UK.

About Geely Auto Group

Geely Auto Group is a leading global automotive company headquartered in Hangzhou, China. Part of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Geely Auto Group develops and manufactures passenger vehicles under the Geely, Lynk & Co, and Zeekr brands. With a strong focus on technology innovation, electrification, and sustainable mobility, Geely Auto Group operates world-class R&D centers and manufacturing facilities across China, Europe, and key international markets. The Group is committed to delivering safe, high-quality, and intelligent vehicles enabled by advanced technologies such as hybrid powertrains, full-electric architectures, smart connectivity, and autonomous driving systems. As a global company, Geely Auto Group continues to expand its international presence through strategic partnerships, localized operations, and industry-leading platforms. Geely strives to create mobility solutions that are greener, smarter, and more accessible, driving forward the future of sustainable transportation. For more information, visit global.geely.com.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the future operational plans, market expansion, product launches, and financial growth of Geely Automobile Holdings Limited ("the Company"). These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, and projections about the industry and markets in which the Company operates. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions — including changes in global macroeconomic conditions, trade policies, automotive demand, supply chain disruptions, and competition — that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Media Contact

Janet Chen
media@geely.com

ATHENS, GA, October 1, 2026 (EZ Newswire) -- Beauty Health Index (BHI) launched publicly on September 15, 2026, entering the market with a peer-reviewed framework, a patent-pending measurement method, and a professional network spanning six cities across three continents. 

The company's proposition is narrower than most consumer health launches and, if it holds, considerably more durable. It is not offering a better face-scanning app. It is proposing that facial aesthetic health become a measurable category, with a defined standard behind it, in a market that has operated without one.

The Founder Built the Measure Instead of Another Practice

BHI was founded by Dr. Korina Alevrogianni, a plastic surgery resident based in Athens who trained in France, Brazil and the United States. She is 29.

The choice she made is the commercially interesting one. A surgeon with that training has an obvious route available, which is to build a practice and compete for patients inside the existing market. Alevrogianni went after the instrument the market uses to judge itself instead, which is a slower business to build and a harder one to displace once it is established.

Behind her is a clinical leadership team drawn from plastic surgery and from the aesthetics technology industry, and the distinction matters for a company making a standards claim. A measurement framework proposed by a single practitioner is a proposal. One carried by a clinical bench with commercialisation experience is a candidate for adoption.

The Method Went to Reviewers Before Anything Went on Sale

The sequence is the company's central credibility argument, and it is unusual in consumer health technology.

Alevrogianni published the framework in Cureus, a peer-reviewed medical journal, where it is indexed on PubMed. The paper constructs the index from a structured review of existing research across aesthetic surgery, dermatology, psychophysiology, regenerative biology and lifestyle medicine.

The framework reads a face across five domains: morphologic harmony, skin quality, expression dynamics, regenerative performance and lifestyle influence. Those resolve into forty evidence-based subsystems, weighted so that no single component dominates the composite score. A 60-second smartphone scan produces a single reading, tracked over time against the user's own prior scans.

The company holds patent-pending status on the underlying method. Validation studies are underway.

The paper is explicit that this is a proposed framework rather than a validated clinical instrument, and the company has been consistent in repeating that distinction. In a category where certainty is routinely asserted and rarely evidenced, publishing the methodology openly and naming what remains unproven is a defensible commercial position rather than a hedge.

That order of operations follows from the argument the company is making. Sleep has a standard. Metabolic health has a standard. Aesthetic medicine has trained practitioners making consequential judgments with no instrument to measure the result, and a standard that outside parties cannot examine does not function as a standard. Publication came first because the framework has to survive inspection before it can ask anyone to adopt it.

An Industry Where Nobody, Not Even the Doctor, Can Prove What Worked

The commercial reasoning behind the category claim rests on a structural gap rather than on consumer demand for another app.

Aesthetic medicine and the consumer skincare market operate at significant scale, and neither has a shared measure of outcomes. Dermatologists grade skin using subjective scales. Surgeons assess proportion in isolation. The before-and-after photograph remains the industry's default evidence, and it varies with lighting, camera angle and the condition of the subject on the day.

What that produces is an industry running on faith at scale. Money moves, treatments are performed, and neither the person paying nor the professional performing the procedure can demonstrate what actually changed. Every other market that reached this size eventually built a measure, because at some point the absence of one becomes the constraint on growth. This one has not been built yet.

BHI is positioned to occupy that gap. The strategic parallel the company draws is to establish measurement standards in other sectors, where the entity that defines the measure occupies a different competitive position from the entities that compete within it.

Why Six Clinics Say More Than a Million Downloads

The company launches with a professional network already established across Beverly Hills, New York, Athens, London, Paris, and Sydney.

For a business readership, this is the more informative signal than user numbers at launch. Consumer adoption can be purchased. Clinical adoption cannot, and practitioners who put a measurement framework in front of their own patients are staking their professional judgment on it.

The network also indicates the intended commercial route. A standard adopted by clinics generates institutional demand rather than consumer demand alone, and institutional adoption is considerably harder to displace.

Free Today, Priced Later, Funded After That

BHI is available on a freemium model. A premium tier is planned to follow the completion of a funding round.

The company has not disclosed pricing for the premium tier or the size of the round it is pursuing.

The Real Test Is Whether Other Companies Start Using the Score

The company's stated ambition is category definition rather than market share, and that ambition carries a specific risk profile.

If the framework achieves adoption by clinicians and by other companies operating in the space, BHI occupies the position of the entity that defined the measure. If it does not, the company has built a consumer application in a crowded category with a peer-reviewed paper behind it, which is a stronger position than most competitors hold but a materially smaller one than the ambition implies.

The determining factors over the next twelve months are the outcome of the validation studies, whether the professional network expands beyond its founding six cities, and whether any third party adopts the framework independently. That last measure is the clearest signal of a standard taking hold, and it is the one worth watching.

About Beauty Health Index

Beauty Health Index (BHI) is a facial aesthetic health measurement company founded by Dr. Korina Alevrogianni, a plastic surgery resident trained in France, Brazil, and the United States and a former elite rhythmic gymnast who won more than 30 Greek national titles and two bronze medals at the 2013 World School Championships. The company's framework was published in the peer-reviewed journal Cureus and is indexed on PubMed. BHI maintains a professional network across Beverly Hills, New York, Athens, London, Paris, and Sydney. Learn more at beautyhealthindex.com, or follow Dr. Korina Alevrogianni and Beauty Health Index on Instagram.

Disclaimer

The Beauty Health Index (BHI) framework and smartphone scanning application are intended solely for general aesthetic, wellness, and informational purposes and do not constitute a validated clinical diagnostic instrument or medical advice. The underlying methodology and ongoing validation studies have not been evaluated or cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other health regulatory authorities for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of any disease or medical condition. Individuals and medical practitioners should not rely on BHI scores as a substitute for professional clinical judgment, formal medical diagnosis, or personalized treatment planning.

Media Contact

Ana Gilvani
ana@beautyhealthindex.com