Cat-Inspired Catstooth Clothing has Huge Betabrand Fanbase

Betabrand has the fun business model of crowdsourcing its designs by vote. Recently, a cool cat pattern won by a huge margin, and is a hot seller.

Betabrand, a San Francisco-based online clothing company, has received an incredible response to its feline-based designs. “We all know that cats basically power the Internet,” says founder and CEO Chris Lindland, “but damn …”

According to Lindland, not only have Betabrand’s new Catstooth Dress Pant Yoga Pants and matching blazer shattered crowdfunding records, the company cat (see below) has topped Reddit’s homepage, been posted by the likes of Ellen DeGeneris and Kirsten Bell, and is surely on track to surpass total Grumpy Cat and Lime Cat memes any day now.  Still, Lindland says, “we didn’t anticipate that this product would tap into a cat-news-hungry network of millions.

One of the top sellers is this frisky edition of Dress Pant Yoga Pants.

After any product becomes a hit, Betabrand quickly polls its fanbase on related design ideas. So only a week after its Catstooth pants debuted, the company launched a Catstooth blazer.

As this print’s popularity grows, the company will continue to crowdsource new Catstooth prototypes, with concept scarves, skirts and shirts now queueing up in the pipeline. Says Lindland, “If companies are seeking a revenue catalyst during the quarantine, look no further than felines.”

Betabrand has open-sourced Mr. Fred for meme developers.

About Betabrand:

San Francisco-based Betabrand gives consumers a voice in design, inviting them directly into clothing’s creative process. From a product’s first sketch to the last pixel, Betabrand’s fans decide what’s next.

#catsuitnation

Vertical Field’s vertical farms help get Produce to Market in Times of Crisis

In good times or bad, having food grown closer to where it’s consumed can often be a good backup, or even first choice. This is true in urban areas as well as rural, and vertical farms are a great option.

Indoor urban vertical farms such as those created by startup Vertical Fields can grow produce in warehouses with controlled climate and light conditions. These setups are seeing a surge in demand that could signal a lasting change in how we get our fruits and vegetables.

Since COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in supply-chain logistics, food packaging plants and farms have shut down due to sick workers, and trucking routes have been disrupted by lockdowns. Harvests are being left to rot in the fields.

People are more concerned about who is handling their food, where it’s coming from, and how many stops it had before hitting the shelves.

Because a majority of people now live in cities, and very little of our food is produced there, it makes sense to bring the farm to the city

One pioneering agro-tech company, Vertical Field, is harnessing the power of geoponic technology, agricultural expertise, and smart design to tackle all of these issues and more. The Israeli startup – cited by Silicon Review as a “50 Innovative Companies to Watch in 2019” and named by World Smart City in 2019 as “Best Startup” – produces vertical agricultural solutions that help the environment, improve human health conditions, cut down on human handling, reduce waste, and make fresh, delicious and more produce available 365 days a year locally and directly to consumers and other end users.

Vertical Fields offers a revolutionary way to eat the freshest greens and herbs, by producing soil based indoor vertical farms grown at the very location where food is consumed,” said Vertical Field’s Chief Executive Officer, Guy Elitzur of Ra’anana, Israel who is hoping to place his ‘vertical farms’ in retail chains and restaurants establishments in cities throughout the US.

Not only do our products facilitate and promote sustainable life and make a positive impact on the environment, we offer an easy to use real alternative to traditional agriculture. Our Urban farms give new meaning to the term ‘farm-to-table,’ because one can virtually pick their own greens and herbs at supermarkets, restaurants or other retail sites,” he adds.

Vertical Field’s Urban Crops offers an ideal alternative to traditional agriculture, especially in urban settings where space is scarce. The soil-based platform can grow hundreds of types of crops – pesticide-free, indoors or outdoors – and requires no training to operate.

From Wall to Fork

Vertical farming in cities is an energy-efficient, space-saving, farming alternative to traditional crops grown in acres and fields. Thanks to Vertical Field, everyone from city planners and architects to restaurants, supermarkets, hotels are using vertical farming to create lush, green edible spaces in congested areas around the world.

Portable Urban Farm

An alternative to the living wall is Vertical Field’s unique Vertical Farm®, which can be placed in either a 20-ft or 40-ft. container equipped with advanced sensors that provide a controlled environment. This technology constantly monitors, irrigates, and fertilizes crops throughout every growth stage. Healthy, high-quality fruits and vegetables flourish in soil beds that contain a proprietary mix of minerals and nutrients.

Advantages of Vertical Field’s Vertical Farm:

  • Bug-free and pesticide-free – healthy, fresh, and clean produce
  • Less waste – uses 90% less water
  • Shorter growing cycles, longer shelf life
  • Plants are “in season” 365 days/year – grow whatever you want, no matter the weather or climate conditions of the geography
  • Consistent quality
  • Modular, expandable, and moveable farm
  • Automated crop management
  • More Sterile Environment
  • Less Human Contact

About Vertical Field

Vertical Field is a leading agro-tech provider of vertical farming and living green wall solutions for urban environments and smart cities. The company is operated by professionals, agronomists, researchers, and a multi-disciplinary team, enabling the development of smart walls that combine the best of design and manufacturing, smart computerized monitoring, soil-based technology, water and lighting technology and more. Vertical Field delivers next-generation vertical farming systems for a global clientele, including Facebook, Intel, Apple, Isrotel, Microsoft, and many more.

 www.verticalfield.com

Apple releases the greatly anticipated new iPhone SE

After years of rampant rumors and pleas from fans, Apple finally releases the greatly anticipated second generation of the iPhone SE, with a starting price of $399.

In addition to a lower, more affordable price range, the main reason that the original iPhone SE was so popular was that it allowed users to hold and use it in one hand, as well as place it comfortably in a front pants pocket. It also retained the front Home button that many found useful, versus the swipe that many of Apple’s later iPhones require.

After Apple began to empty it’s inventory of the original iPhone SE with sales and sold out promotions, there was general hope that this product would launch in April 2019, then Fall of 2019. This did not happen, and many holders of the original refused to upgrade to the larger, more expensive iPhones in Apples lineup.

There were long-running rumors that the new iPhone SE would sport the name, iPhone 9, or Iphone SE 2, but in the end, Apple stuck with the brand name of this unique mobile.

The iPhone SE now uses the of the general body shape of the iPhone 8, along with a 4.7 inch display. It also has an Apple A13 Bionic chip, similar to the iPhone 11 and Iphone 11 Pro. The camera has also been upgraded to a 12MP sensor with 4K video capability. PLUS, you can finally use an SE for Portrait Mode.

According to Apple, “The first iPhone SE was a hit with many customers who loved its unique combination of small size, high-end performance and affordable price; the new second-generation iPhone SE builds on that great idea and improves on it in every way — including our best-ever single-camera system for great photos and videos — while still being very affordable,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone SE features the industry-leading performance of A13 Bionic that enables great battery life, takes stunning Portrait mode and Smart HDR photos, shoots amazing videos with stereo audio, is great for games and super fast web surfing, and is built with the same industry-leading security features our customers expect. We can’t wait to get iPhone SE into customers’ hands.”

Other new features:

Augmented reality

Run the latest AR apps that let you measure real‑world objects, map constellations over the stars, and more.

Faster Wi‑Fi and cellular data

Wi‑Fi 6 and Gigabit‑class LTE can deliver much faster download speeds, whether you’re on Wi‑Fi or cellular networks.

Dual SIM, dual numbers

Dual SIM with eSIM lets you have both a business number and a personal number on the same iPhone.7

Water Resistance

iPhone SE is water resistant to 1 meter for 30 minutes.2 It’s not afraid of a little coffee, tea, or soda either.

See more about the iPhone SE 2020 HERE.

Phone SE is available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models in black, white and red starting at $399 (US). Customers can also get iPhone SE for $9.54 a month or $229 with trade-in from apple.com, in the Apple Store app and Apple Stores.  iPhone SE is available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).

5 Great Additions for the Home Office when You’re Working at Home

If you have to work from home, you want your home office to be as comfortable and geared up as you can, especially if it makes you healthier and more productive. Here are 5 great additions that will step up your work space.