September 23,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Chicago Pride Fest returns for three days: October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. – 2021

Brands . Chicago . social media . Travel

The festival features live music by headline artists and local favorites, three stages, food and drink, 100+ arts/crafts vendors, DJs and dancing, drag shows, pet parade, sponsored presence, games, giveaways, and more. A great line-up in Chicago for Chicago Pride Fest. Admission: $15 Suggested Donation – All Ages Location: Northalsted on Halsted Street from Addison to Grace St. Hours: Fri Oct 1: 4pm-10pm, Sat Oct 2: 11am-10pm, Sun Oct 3: 11am-10pm Weather: Open rain or shine, please be advised that severe conditions may delay or cancel performances Security: No large bags/backpacks allowed; all bags will be inspected before entry. No coolers or outside beverages. Clear plastic sealed bottled water is allowed. COVID-19: Attendees are encouraged to be fully vaccinated or will be issued a mask to wear. Free testing and vaccinations will be offered before and at the festival. Indoor establishments in the area will require proof of vaccination (digital copy allowed) or recent negative test results for entry....

September 23,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Otter’s on the Water to open at former Culinary Outfitters’ site in St. Augustine

Brands . Jacksonville . social media . Travel

A family-style, dog-friendly restaurant will open its doors at the former site of Culinary Outfitters, which recently announced its closure at the St. Augustine Shipyards. The restaurant will feature family-friendly waterfront dining. Rob DeGennaro and son Britt, who live in Vilano Beach, signed a lease and planned to open Otter’s on the Water in the second week of October, Rob DeGennaro said on Thursday. “We’re coming in with a whole new concept,” he said. He said that the casual waterfront restaurant would feature an extensive menu with “a little bit of everything,” including burgers, salads, sandwiches, steaks, kinds of pasta, and lobster. There will also be menus for dogs. “We’ll have a whole section where people can bring their pets,” he said. The restaurant, located at 173 Shipyard Way in St. Augustine, will also feature live music, and space will be available for private events. Otter’s on the Water will be similar to Nervous Nellie’s in Fort Myers Beach, which they developed and sold, Rob DeGennaro said. The family also owns Otter’s Waterfront Eatery in Maine and has held several other restaurants. The team is hiring staff ― people can go to the building to apply, update the décor and launch a website and social media. Rob DeGennaro said it’s one of the best locations in town. “Beautiful view out on the Water. You’re next to the marina. People can come by boat if they’d like,” he said....

September 1,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Saints and the Packers move their season opener to Jacksonville TIAA Bank Field.

Brands . Jacksonville . social media . Travel

A lot of Cheese is coming. Due to the impact of Hurricane Ida, The NFL announced the Saints and the Packers move their season opener to Jacksonville TIAA Bank Field. The game will remain a 4:25 p.m. ET start and be broadcast on FOX. Details on tickets and other specifics, including how fans can continue to help in the recovery effort, will be announced in the days ahead. The Packers last played in Jacksonville to open the 2016 season against the Jaguars on a 90-degree day. It tied for the third-warmest recorded temperature for a game in team history, and the Packers prevailed, 27-23. It was the warmest recorded temperature for a Packers game in 13 years since playing in 102-degree heat in Arizona in 2003, tied for the warmest in team history. Expect an unusual sell-out crowd at the stadium....

August 25,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Mummified human remains discovered at Pompeii

Brands . Applications . Featured . social media . Spiritual . Travel

Mummified remains, along with the hair and bones of an individual buried in an ancient tomb have been found at the necropolis of Porta Sarno, to the east of the ancient urban centre of Pompeii. The partially mummified remains of a freed Roman slave have been discovered within a tomb at Pompeii, offering archaeologists insights into the burial rituals and cultural climate that characterised the ancient city. The discovery was made during an excavation campaign jointly carried out by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the University of Valencia at the Porta Sarno necropolis. The skeletal remains were found in the single cell of a tomb dating to the final decades before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (AD 79). Traces of paint suggest the tomb’s façade was decorated. Initial osteological analysis indicated the deceased was 60 years old at the time of death, and grave goods recovered from the tomb included two glass unguentaria (or tears vessels) and pieces of fabric. The remains have been transported to the Laboratory of Applied Research at Pompeii for in-depth analysis and conservation. Work has begun to ensure the maintenance of the Porta Sarno necropolis, as part of a wider project seeking to restore the area, with a prospective aim of allowing access to visitors. A great experience for travelling....

August 25,2021ByDAVID VEGA

OnlyFans reverses policy change in sexual content

Brands . social media

The billion-dollar Brand OnlyFans will suspend a policy change to prohibit “sexually explicit content,” following backlash from its adult content creator community, and stop the Exodus. In a tweet from the OnlyFans official account, the company said, “Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard. We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change. OnlyFans stands for inclusion, and we will continue to provide a home for all creators. “The decision to ban sexually explicit content would ostracize a massive portion of the company’s creators—the people who have made OnlyFans the billion-dollar company it is today. According to this tweet, OnlyFans heard the backlash from these creators and changed course. OnlyFans was forced to ban porn from the service as of October 1 because it said it was difficult to enter into partnerships with banks and payment processors. Now the company reports that it has already received enough promises to continue offering pornographic material. So is cryptocurrency coming as a payment processor? That would be my guess....

July 26,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Syfy and USA Network’s upcoming TV series Chucky revealed.

Brands . Featured . social media

San Diego’s Comic-Con International streamed a ton of juicy content this year, giving an inside look at what fans can expect to see in Syfy’s rendition of the cult-favorite series. It was announced that the new Chucky series would show Ray’s childhood origin. Lead character and newcomer to the franchise Jake Webber (Zachary Arthur) begs the question of how Chucky ended up the way he did, to which he responds, “Great question. Let me tell you the story of my first time.” Albeit short, the clip that followed showed young Ray slicing a cake with a big butcher knife while wearing a big grin on his face. Horror fans who grew up with these films have embraced Chucky’s raunchy style in the Child’s Play series. In its effort to dive deeper into the psychology behind Chucky’s madness, the show may end up humanizing the outspoken and outlandish doll in a way viewers haven’t seen yet. It’s unknown if Dourif himself will make an appearance in the series, but it will be interesting to see Ray as a child before he becomes the infamous serial killer. #chucky...

July 10,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Google PPC Trends For Smarter Business 2021

Brands . social media

We make it our business to keep our readers informed on the latest PPC trends and features to help your business grow and reach its objectives. As a Google Partner, we have the privilege of staying informed on changes in the industry and offering them to our clients and partners. For this reason, we hope to extend this to our readers as well in our blog posts. Looking to extend your PPC Digital Marketing? Below are some of the latest announcements by Google on new products; learn about features that can support your campaigns and boost your business. Audience Signals If you are eager to reach your ideal audience, audience signals are one of the features you’ll want to implement immediately. Google announced audience signals in GML recently and is expected to be publicly available in Q3’21. Like all of the features we’re reviewing, audience signals leverage automated targeting technology to accelerate learning. The feature uses indicators such as Life Events to flag and analyzes user behavior. Google Ads Signals Explained: Affinity Signals aggregates people with a strong interest in a given topic. This is great for creating awareness in your target market’s community. Demographic Signals: You can target people based on advanced criteria like marital status, education, and age. In-Market Audience Signals: There are users that Google has inferred are in the market to buy – these signals could be researching products and services you and your competitors offer. Remarketing Lists: This is done from your own input, using a pixel – RLSA reach people who have engaged with your website or YouTube channel in the past. Similar audiences: help you find new customers by building a model of your retargeted audience’s behaviors and characteristics and then applying them to potential new customers. This layering of audience sentiments on top of keyword searching can enhance your ad strategy through variable bidding, where you can bid more or less on certain audiences than the keyword itself. Stay tuned for more on this feature. Subscribe to my channel. Performance Max Campaigns Performance Max leverages automation to help advertisers to reach customers more accurately and drive more remarkable results. Automation technology is applied to bidding, targeting, creative ads, and attribution to achieve increased conversion and value. Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type. It accesses all of Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. Google explains, “it is designed to complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels–YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.” Performance Max is an ideal campaign type that supports: Specific advertising and conversion goals such as driving online sales, lead generation, among others Maximizing the performance of your campaign when you are not limited by which channel your ads appear on Accessing Google’s advertising channels through a single campaign Achieving additional reach and conversion value beyond keyword-based search campaigns As an advertiser, you will have the opportunity to tailor your ads in real-time to reach consumers across channels and devices. Google Tip: Do not replace Search keyword campaigns with Performance Max campaigns as you may risk losing reach and performance, given Performance Max does not utilize keywords. Run Search and Performance Max alongside each other for best results. Google explains some of the benefits offered by Performance Max campaigns: Tapping into new audiences across the Google platform Driving better performance related to the goals you assign Acquiring transparent insights Steering automation with your campaign inputs Simplifying campaign management Easily optimizing your ads Customer Match For example, customer Match is a Google advertising tool that helps you apply first-party data. First-party data is data that you collect directly from people who interact with your business. This information reveals behaviors, actions, and interests recorded by your website and apps. Analyzing this data allows you to learn more about the users engaging with your business and opens the opportunity for you to address any needs that they may have. Whereas this feature was once limited to certain advertisers, Google has now opened this up to all. However, specific requirements are still necessary for certain features. Learn more about creating customer match lists. Image Extensions in Search Instagram/Snapchat/TicToc has taught us all that a holistic approach to ads goes a long way. Rich visuals paired with the right copy can make a world of difference when getting your audience to take action. In addition, image extensions are an automated feature that pulls visuals to complement search ads, further driving the message in your text ad and improving results. The extensions do not interrupt the anatomy of the text ad. It continues to include headlines, descriptions, a visual URL, and a final URL. The image component is served at the bottom right of the ad and is clickable to the final URL. Google shares, “Early results show advertisers see up to a 10% increase in CTR when image extensions or dynamic image extensions show with their mobile Search ads in absolute top positioning. Do you need Social Media Content or Image/Graphic Design? Then, schedule a discovery call at Tridence. Conclusion We make it our business to keep our readers informed on the latest PPC & SEO trends and features to help your business grow and reach its objectives. Let’s work together! 22+ years helping brands and businesses grow!...

June 29,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Apple Phone Products: electromagnetic fields might interfere with medical devices.

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Apple acknowledged after the pressure that under certain conditions, magnets and electromagnetic fields might interfere with medical devices. Recently, a study by the American Heart Association examined the impact of an iPhone 12 Pro Max on a larger scale with various devices, finding that several of those tested had “magnetic susceptibility.” The detailed list of Apple products, which Apple notes contain magnets, that the company says should be kept at a safe distance from your medical device is listed below. AirPods and charging cases AirPods and Charging Case AirPods and Wireless Charging Case AirPods Pro and Wireless Charging Case AirPods Max and Smart Case Apple Watch and accessories Apple Watch Apple Watch bands with magnets Apple Watch magnetic charging accessories HomePod HomePod HomePod mini iPad and accessories iPad iPad mini iPad Air iPad Pro iPad Smart Covers and Smart Folios iPad Smart Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio Magic Keyboard for iPad iPhone and MagSafe accessories iPhone 12 models MagSafe accessories Mac and accessories Mac mini Mac Pro MacBook Air MacBook Pro iMac Apple Pro Display XDR Beats Beats Flex Beats X PowerBeats Pro UrBeats3 These aren’t the only Apple products that contain magnets, though. The company said that certain other Apple products contain magnets, but that those are unlikely to interfere with medical devices. Users can find out more information on these other products in Apple’s user guides for its products. Note: they have not released the offical iPhone 12 lineup to list yet. “To avoid any potential interactions with these types of medical devices, keep your Apple product a safe distance away from your medical device (more than 6 inches / 15 cm apart or more than 12 inches / 30 cm apart if wirelessly charging),” Apple said. “Consult with your physician and your device manufacturer for specific guidelines.” Stay safe. Stay Healthy....

June 17,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Walmart is rolling out its plan and testing cashier-less stores

Brands . Featured . social media

A world without traditional checkout lanes might not be such a farfetched idea anymore. Walmart is rolling out its plan and testing the cashier-less store right now. Cashiers are being replaced as ‘hosts.’ It’s a move towards the future of the American multinational retail chain. In the new layout, all 34 registers are always open. There is no such thing as opening or closing a lane, so adapting to changing traffic patterns is much easier. It’s also easy to maintain a safe social distance within the open area because there’s plenty of room to maneuver. On average, it takes 40 hours of cashier training to operate a register. With the new layout, the training takes less than a day, so Hosts can start helping customers much faster. This is the latest in moves from Walmart to adjust to the pandemic and improve its shopping experience. In addition, the retail chain announced that it would streamline its apps to make online shopping more simple for users....

June 10,2021ByDAVID VEGA

Jacksonville’s Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration Returns in 2021

Brands . Featured . social media . Travel

The City of Jacksonville announced Tuesday that the city’s Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration would return this year at multiple locations throughout Duval County to celebrate the nation’s independence. Join the City of Jacksonville as we celebrate the nation’s independence with the annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration, offering an enhanced viewing experience this year with multiple locations to view from. The spectacular fireworks display will begin at 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, July 4, 2021 – all-around Jacksonville with special events at Riverfront Plaza, including a family fun zone, food trucks, bars, and a concert starting at 5 p.m. “With the success of our celebrations last year, we’d like to maintain that momentum and create an even better experience,” Mayor Lenny Curry said. “Residents and visitors alike will have six locations to choose from to view the fireworks celebration with their family and friends.” Fireworks will be launched from the following locations throughout various communities: Downtown Jacksonville St. Johns Town Center FSCJ North Campus The Avenues Mall Trinity Baptist Church Ed Austin Regional Park Join the City of Jacksonville as we celebrate the nation’s independence with the annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration, offering an enhanced viewing experience this year with multiple locations to view from. The spectacular fireworks display will begin at 9:45 p.m. all around Jacksonville with special events at Riverfront Plaza, including a family fun zone, food trucks, bars, and a concert starting at 5 p.m. For More Information Visit: https://specialevents.coj.net/Special-Events/Fourth-of-July-Celebration.aspx Business Owners looking to advertise around town: Visit Spear by Tridence -Geo Marketing Solutions....