As a marketer, I work extensively with multiple cloud-native applications, and my workflow often feels fragmented. (more…)
Author: blogs2025
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Unique Protein Provides Clues on How to Extend Lifespan Through Diet
A single protein, klotho, extended the lifespan of healthy mice by 20% in a study from Molecular Therapy.1 In addition to longer life, these mice also moved better, thought faster and resisted age-related breakdown in muscles, bones, and brain function. Aging brings more than wrinkles. It weakens bones, shrinks muscle, blunts cognition and raises your risk of disease. Klotho works differently than any single drug or supplement.
It doesn’t just address one symptom; it improves how your body handles stress, repairs damage, and maintains organ function across multiple systems. As your klotho levels drop with age, your ability to regenerate tissues declines, your inflammation rises and your risk for conditions like osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and frailty climbs.
Klotho is a protein your kidneys and brain naturally produce, but only if you’re living in a way that supports that internal machinery. The good news? Your habits — what you eat, how you move, how well you sleep and even how connected you feel to others — all influence your body’s klotho production.
Researchers are calling klotho a “longevity switch,” and one of the most promising ways to measure how well your lifestyle is working. To understand why this matters so much for your long-term health, and what it looks like in practice, let’s break down the latest findings from the gene therapy experiment that helped klotho-deficient animals move, think and live like younger ones.
A Single Injection Extended Lifespan and Rewired Aging from the Inside Out
The Molecular Therapy study tested whether long-term exposure to a specific form of the klotho protein, known as secreted klotho, or s-Klotho, could slow down the aging process in healthy mice.2 Scientists used a specialized virus to deliver the gene that makes s-Klotho directly into the animals’ bloodstream and brain. Unlike many antiaging strategies that target one system, this method aimed to affect multiple organs at once.
• Mice with boosted klotho lived longer and aged better — Treated animals lived longer than untreated mice, but longevity wasn’t the only improvement.3 They also showed fewer signs of age-related decline. Their muscles stayed stronger, their bones remained denser and their brains showed more activity related to regeneration and memory. This suggests klotho extends quality of life, which is what matters most.
• Muscle strength and bone health improved — In strength tests like grip performance and bar hanging, klotho-treated mice performed better, especially when treated during adulthood rather than earlier life. Muscle tissue under the microscope revealed larger fibers and far less scar tissue. After simulated injury, their muscles rebuilt more like those of younger mice.
Bone health improved too. Males who received treatment at middle age had thicker, denser bone structure and smaller gaps in their spongy bone. Females, on the other hand, benefited more when treated earlier, before bone degeneration was advanced. Gene expression testing confirmed more activity in the genes that form strong, mineral-rich bone.
• Brain resilience increased through stem cell activity and immune cleanup — Klotho helped regenerate brain tissue by increasing the number of maturing neurons and maintaining supportive cells called astrocytes. The treated mice also showed more brain immune cells responsible for removing damaged proteins and debris. These were not inflamed cells but highly functional ones, associated with better memory and less age-related inflammation.
• Muscle and brain benefits were linked to reduced inflammation and better cell signaling — Klotho blocked specific age-related pathways known to cause tissue scarring and interfere with stem cell repair. In muscles, it preserved mitochondrial function and kept stem cells capable of rebuilding tissue. In the brain, it promoted neurogenesis — your brain’s ability to grow new neurons — and kept immune cells working efficiently.
• Klotho’s effects showed up in gene expression tied to longevity — Animals that received treatment showed higher expression of genes that build collagen in bone and drive bone formation. They also had lower levels of a gene that typically rises with aging and contributes to poor bone mineralization. In the brain, there was an upregulation of repair pathways and immune functions that target malfunctioning cells.
Your Daily Habits Control Your Body’s Antiaging Switch
A comprehensive review published in Metabolites explored how everyday choices, like how you eat, sleep, move, and manage stress, directly influence your body’s production of klotho.4 The paper proposed using klotho levels as a real-time biomarker to track whether your lifestyle is truly improving your long-term healthspan.
• Klotho tracks with overall well-being, not just disease — Most medical markers only flag disease after it’s already taken hold. But klotho is different; rather than being a disease marker, it’s a health marker. Your levels rise with good habits and fall with harmful ones, making it one of the few tools that could give you feedback on whether your habits are actually helping you age well.
• Moderate, consistent exercise is one of the best ways to raise klotho — Even light daily movement significantly boosted klotho levels, while extreme workouts or stressful conditions — like military training in high heat — lowered them. A 12-trial meta-analysis confirmed that aerobic and resistance training both worked, but overtraining reversed the benefits.
• A healthy diet is directly tied to higher klotho expression — Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fermented foods, and antioxidants — like vitamin A, C, E, zinc, and selenium — were consistently linked to higher klotho levels.
The Mediterranean-style diet, with a focus on minimally processed foods, stood out in large-scale data, while low-carb diets didn’t help and sometimes made things worse. Vitamin D and curcumin (from turmeric) also triggered klotho production in lab studies.
• Poor sleep, loneliness, and chronic stress all push klotho down — Klotho responds to psychological load. Short sleep (under 5.5 hours) and excessive sleep (over 7.5 hours) both lowered levels. Chronic stress reduced klotho in women caring for sick children and in soldiers under high pressure. Social connection, especially emotional closeness, was correlated with better klotho status, even in middle age.
• Risky habits blunt klotho’s protective effects — Smoking, alcohol, and cannabis all showed negative or inconsistent relationships with klotho. In some cases, the body responded to inflammation by temporarily increasing levels, but this wasn’t protective, it was compensatory. Over time, the cumulative damage from these habits appeared to wear down klotho’s regenerative capacity.
Klotho Is Your Brain and Body’s Aging Thermostat
Published in the Clinical Kidney Journal, a comprehensive review examined how klotho influences aging, cognition, inflammation, and longevity through its effects on phosphate metabolism, vitamin D regulation and multiple molecular signaling pathways.5 The authors pulled together decades of preclinical and clinical evidence to outline how declining klotho levels are tightly linked to both chronic diseases and neurodegeneration.
• Lower klotho levels are consistently tied to shorter lifespan, poor memory, and cognitive decline — Mice that lack the klotho gene show signs of accelerated aging, including cognitive impairment, vascular disease, infertility, and early death. Humans with low klotho levels face higher risks for kidney disease, heart problems, and frailty.
One large national cohort study of 10,069 people found that adults with the lowest serum klotho levels had a 31% higher risk of dying from any cause compared to those with higher levels.
• Your klotho levels drop with age, but not just because you’re getting older — Inflammation, poor diet, and chronic illness all contribute to a decline in klotho expression. For instance, diabetic kidney disease, high blood pressure, and even low oxygen levels reduce klotho.
• Klotho helps your brain clear toxins and protect memory — Soluble klotho is produced in brain regions involved in memory and learning. Studies show it reduces oxidative stress, supports nerve cell repair and protects against damage from Alzheimer’s-related proteins.
Even when administered outside the brain, klotho fragments have been shown to boost synaptic plasticity and learning in mice, suggesting it activates neural repair pathways without needing to cross the blood-brain barrier.
• Klotho blocks the destructive pathways that fuel aging at the cellular level — This includes suppressing a pathway that promotes fibrosis and scarring, damping down signaling that raises inflammation and regulating intracellular calcium to maintain healthy cell function. Klotho also helps manage energy metabolism, antioxidant defense, and tissue regeneration, making it a master regulator of healthy aging.
Klotho Decline Reflects Aging and Disease Severity
Research published in Ageing Research Reviews analyzed klotho levels across 65 studies and confirmed that this antiaging protein consistently decreases with age, even in otherwise healthy people. The decline is more severe in those with kidney, metabolic, or endocrine disorders. Researchers tracked klotho in blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), urine and tissue samples, reinforcing its usefulness as a biomarker for both aging and chronic disease progression.
• Klotho loss accelerates disease — Low klotho levels in the brain have been linked to reduced white matter integrity and greater oxidative stress, according to studies on aged rhesus monkeys.
In both animal and cell models, klotho deficiency led to increased susceptibility to inflammation and neurodegeneration. Restoring klotho, on the other hand, improved cell maturation and reduced inflammation in models of Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
• Baseline klotho levels are essential for future therapies — Because levels of klotho vary so widely by age and disease status, researchers emphasize the importance of establishing personal klotho baselines. Understanding what’s normal at different life stages helps doctors better assess risk and tailor future interventions.
• What this means for you — Monitoring your klotho levels could one day be as routine as checking blood pressure. If this protein turns out to be as central to healthy aging as the evidence suggests, it could help detect early signs of degenerative conditions and open the door to customized, preventative therapies. In short, klotho appears to be key to measuring, and maintaining, your body’s biological resilience over time.
Simple Ways to Activate Your Longevity Switch
If you want to increase your klotho levels and keep them high as you age, you need to focus on the lifestyle habits that trigger its natural production in your body. This isn’t about expensive treatments or supplements — it’s about addressing the root causes of accelerated aging: low cellular energy, chronic stress, poor diet, inactivity, and inflammation.
Klotho doesn’t show up when your system is overloaded. It rises when your body feels safe, nourished, and supported. Here’s what I recommend if you want to tap into the same antiaging system that helped mice live 20% longer and thrive in old age:
1. Move your body, but don’t overdo it — Klotho increases with daily movement, especially moderate aerobic activity like walking, cycling, or light resistance training. But if you push too hard, it reverses the benefit. If you’re sedentary or struggling with energy, start with 20 to 30 minutes of brisk walking each day and build up to an hour daily from there. The goal is consistency, not exhaustion.
2. Eat like your life depends on it, because it does — Choose foods that nourish your cells. If you’re still eating low-carb, you’re working against klotho. Build your meals around whole foods like fresh fruit, root vegetables, fermented foods like raw grass fed yogurt or kefir, and minerals like copper and magnesium. I recommend whole-food carbs first, along with collagen-rich protein and tallow, ghee, or grass fed butter as your fats of choice.
3. Give your gut a reason to heal — Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir support gut integrity and encourage healthy klotho levels. If you’re dealing with digestive issues, don’t jump straight to fiber-heavy foods. Start with healing carbs like whole fruit and white rice, and slowly build up. Your gut flora is part of the communication loop that regulates your aging proteins.
4. Soak in sunshine and get your vitamin D naturally — Vitamin D directly triggers the klotho gene, so if you’re inside all day, you’re missing a key switch. Aim for regular daily sunlight with no sunscreen, but avoid exposure during peak hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) until you’ve eliminated vegetable oils from your diet for at least six months.
The linoleic acid in vegetable oils makes your skin more susceptible to damage from the sun. If you’re vitamin D deficient or are unable to get regular sun exposure, use a vitamin D3 supplement, but always check that it’s balanced with magnesium and K2.
5. Stop doing things that age you faster — Smoking, loneliness, and chronic stress send klotho in the wrong direction. Start by building real social connections, creating a wind-down routine for sleep and learning to recognize the signals that your body needs rest, not stimulation.
FAQs About Klotho and Aging
Q: What is klotho, and why is it so important for aging?
A: Klotho is a protein your body makes naturally, mostly in your kidneys and brain. It helps protect against the effects of aging by reducing inflammation, supporting brain function, and preserving muscle and bone health.
Low klotho levels have been linked to shorter lifespans, memory loss and age-related disease. Research now shows it may act as a “longevity switch” that reflects how well your body is aging — more accurately than conventional disease markers.6
Q: Does boosting klotho actually extend your lifespan?
A: Yes, at least in animal studies so far. A 2025 study published in Molecular Therapy found that raising klotho levels in healthy mice extended their lifespan by 20%.7 But it didn’t just help them live longer. They stayed stronger, sharper, and showed fewer signs of age-related decline in muscle, bone, and brain function.
Q: How do I increase my klotho levels naturally?
A: Daily habits play a powerful role. Research in Metabolites shows moderate exercise, a whole-food diet rich in antioxidants, restful sleep, sunlight exposure for vitamin D, and emotional connection all raise klotho levels.8 On the flip side, stress, poor diet, smoking, and sleep issues cause levels to drop.
Q: Is klotho something to take as a supplement or drug?
A: No, klotho isn’t available as a pill or over-the-counter treatment. Current experiments use gene therapy to increase klotho production inside the body, but these methods are still in early stages and not approved for humans. For now, your best bet is creating the right conditions for your body to make more of it on its own.
Q: Could klotho be used as a routine health test someday?
A: Yes, since klotho levels drop with age and illness, scientists believe it could become a future biomarker, like blood pressure, to assess how well your body is aging. One review of 65 studies confirmed that klotho declines with chronic disease, especially in the brain, kidney, and metabolic systems. Tracking it could help predict disease risk and guide early intervention.9
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10 Items Boomers Bought That Are Now Uninsurable
Image source: Unsplash Baby Boomers grew up during an era of abundance, with many spending decades acquiring prized possessions—from classic cars to antique furniture and collectibles. However, times have changed, and what once seemed like valuable assets are now becoming impossible or wildly expensive to insure.
As insurance companies tighten their risk standards and phase out coverage for specific categories, many Boomers are learning the hard way that their treasured belongings may no longer be protected. This shift is leaving many retirees facing unexpected financial risks and difficult decisions about whether to sell, store, or simply hope for the best.
Here are 10 once-coveted items Boomers bought that are now becoming uninsurable or simply not worth the sky-high premiums.
1. Classic Cars and Vintage Vehicles
Owning a classic car was once a hallmark of American success, and many Boomers proudly invested in vintage vehicles from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. But insuring them has become increasingly difficult.
Many insurers now limit or refuse coverage on classic cars without strict usage restrictions, such as driving only to car shows or keeping the vehicle in climate-controlled storage. Others require costly appraisals and specialty policies with high premiums.
For cars beyond a certain age or in less-than-mint condition, finding any coverage can be nearly impossible, especially if parts are no longer available or repairs exceed the car’s value.
2. Antique Furniture
Boomers often inherited or collected antique furniture, believing it would grow in value over time. However, shifting tastes and shrinking demand have caused insurance companies to view these pieces as high-risk, low-return liabilities.
Fire, water damage, or moving accidents involving antique furniture are difficult to assess for insurers. Replacement costs are subjective, and repairs are expensive. Many companies now exclude antique items from standard homeowners’ policies or require costly riders to cover them.
As the market for traditional antiques declines, many insurers simply won’t cover them at all—especially if they’re fragile or hard to appraise.
3. Fine China and Crystal
China cabinets once symbolized status in Boomer households, filled with ornate dinnerware and delicate crystal. Today, most younger generations have little interest in these pieces, and their resale value has plummeted.
Because these items are extremely fragile and frequently damaged during moves or accidents, many insurers no longer cover them under standard policies. Specialty insurance is sometimes available, but premiums often exceed the value of the items themselves.
Boomers who invested in high-end china sets decades ago may now find them both uninsurable and nearly impossible to sell.
4. Collectible Stamps and Coins
Stamp and coin collecting was once a popular hobby among Boomers and many amassed sizable collections over decades. However, the market for these collectibles has cooled significantly.
Insurers are wary of covering stamp and coin collections due to their high portability and theft risk. Standard policies rarely cover their full value, and specialized policies often come with restrictive terms, high deductibles, and costly appraisals.
As fraud, counterfeiting, and fluctuating market values increase, many insurance companies now simply decline coverage for these once-treasured assets.
5. Original Artwork
Boomers who invested in original paintings or sculptures are also facing insurance hurdles. While high-value art remains insurable through specialty carriers, coverage has become more expensive and difficult to obtain.
Many insurers now require professional appraisals, detailed provenance records, and advanced security measures, such as in-home alarms and humidity control systems. Even then, premiums can be prohibitively high.
If pieces are damaged by fire, floods, or even accidental knocks, repair costs often exceed insurance payouts, leaving owners with major losses.
Image source: Unsplash 6. Jewelry and Watches
Boomers who collected fine jewelry or luxury watches now face growing challenges in securing full insurance coverage for these items. Standard homeowners’ policies typically cap jewelry coverage at a few thousand dollars, far below the value of many heirlooms or designer pieces. Specialty policies are available, but rates have soared in recent years due to surging theft rates and difficulty verifying ownership.
Insurers also increasingly reject coverage on vintage watches or jewelry pieces with limited market liquidity or uncertain appraisal histories.
7. Vintage Firearms and Weapons
Gun collecting was once a common hobby among Boomers, particularly for historical firearms or military memorabilia. However, insuring these items has become a legal minefield.
Many insurers refuse to cover firearms outright, while others severely limit coverage on antique or collectible weapons due to regulatory restrictions and theft risks.
Even when insurance is technically available, the process typically requires detailed documentation, locked storage, and sometimes compliance with additional local laws, making coverage too expensive or impractical for many collectors.
8. Musical Instruments
Boomers who invested in high-end musical instruments, such as vintage guitars, violins, or pianos, are also encountering difficulty finding insurance.
Musical instruments are prone to damage from humidity, temperature changes, and accidental misuse. As a result, many insurers have tightened their coverage, especially for instruments that travel frequently or are stored in non-climate-controlled environments. Specialized musical instrument insurance is available, but premiums are steep, and claims often involve complex disputes about depreciation and replacement costs.
9. Persian Rugs and Fine Textiles
Persian rugs were once status symbols in many Boomer households, with some pieces worth tens of thousands of dollars. Today, insuring them has become increasingly difficult.
These rugs are vulnerable to stains, water damage, and moths—common risks that insurers no longer want to cover under homeowners’ policies. Some companies even explicitly exclude textile coverage from policies altogether. Those seeking protection must often purchase specialized insurance, which may cost more than the declining resale value of the rugs themselves.
10. Recreational Vehicles and Vintage Campers
Boomers who embraced the RV lifestyle or invested in vintage campers are discovering that insuring these vehicles is more complicated than ever.
Many insurers now avoid covering older RVs or campers, particularly models without modern safety features or those that are difficult to repair due to obsolete parts. Specialty coverage is available but often comes with high deductibles, limited liability, and strict usage rules. For retirees looking to cash in on RV adventures, these insurance challenges can be a major roadblock and leave them financially exposed in case of accidents or theft.
Why More Boomer Belongings Are Becoming Uninsurable and What to Do About It
The shrinking availability of insurance for once-popular Boomer purchases highlights a hard truth: many prized possessions lose their financial security as markets change and risks evolve.
From vintage cars to fine china, insurers are increasingly unwilling to cover these high-maintenance, low-demand items, leaving many retirees exposed to financial loss in the event of damage, theft, or natural disasters. For Boomers holding onto these valuables, it’s crucial to take proactive steps:
- Get professional appraisals to understand the current value
- Research specialized insurers while comparing costs carefully
- Consider selling or donating items before they lose further value or become impossible to cover
- Discuss your situation with a financial advisor to understand the long-term risks
While some treasured items carry deep sentimental value, it’s essential to balance emotional attachment with realistic financial planning in retirement.
Have you tried to insure any collectibles or valuables recently? Were you shocked by the cost or the denial of coverage?
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Stop Hoarding This 10 Items and Let Them Go Already
Riley Schnepf is an Arizona native with over nine years of writing experience. From personal finance to travel to digital marketing to pop culture, she’s written about everything under the sun. When she’s not writing, she’s spending her time outside, reading, or cuddling with her two corgis.
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3 Tips to Crush Your First Week of SSU
You’re signed up and ready to go! Here are 3 tips to completely CRUSH your first week of our Summer Shape Up Challenge!
Choose one thing you want to focus on this week. Maybe it’s showing up for every workout, staying consistent with your meals, or drinking more water. Keep it simple and stick with it. Momentum starts with one small win.
Everything you need to know is in your playbook (emailed to you when you signed up for SSU) but here are the key things to remember to get the best results possible!
Workouts:
All your daily workouts will be available on our MOVE app. Plus, if you’re new to MOVE, you can get 7 Days FREE!
Check under the “challenges” tab for your Summer Shape Up workouts. You will see the main Sweat Sesh workout, Daily 10, and Bonus Move. I recommend you do all 3 for best results!
Nutrition Details & Schedule
July 7th- 20th: Follow the 14 Day Shape Up
July 21st – August 17th: Follow the 4 week Hot Body Meal PlanLose up to 10 pounds this summer following this 6 week plan. Enjoy this easy-to-stick-to meal plan designed to burn fat, tone your body and help you slim down while still enjoying the foods you love!
Track Your Wins, every small win counts. Write down what went well each day—whether you got your workout in or said no to something that didn’t align with your goals. Progress comes from consistency, not perfection.
You’re not doing this alone.
When I went through my own weight loss journey I felt totally alone. Like no one REALLY understood what I was going through or WHY I was making so many changes. I truly believe having a solid support system and women to help hold you accountable is the key to successfully creating and maintaining change and that’s where the Teamlsf community comes in!
How to find LSF Babes:
Looking through the tagged photos on @Teamlsf and @lovesweatfitness is a great way to find LSF girls to connect with. Make sure to scroll through our tagged photos and find new girls you might not know and follow and DM them!
Engage!
Post your progress, comment on LSF Babes posts, hype each other up, shoutout girls on your story, DM motivation. Being part of this community will keep you going when you start to give up on yourself and lose motivation. The LSF Community is ready to connect, motivate you, hype you up, keep you going, and so much more!
Good luck, you are going to crush Summer Shape Up 2025!!
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Why Is KULR Technology Stock Trading Higher On Tuesday? – KULR Technology Group (AMEX:KULR), Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN)
KULR Technology Group, Inc. KULR saw its stock move higher on Tuesday after announcing a new $20 million credit agreement with Coinbase Credit, a lending subsidiary of Coinbase Global Inc. COIN.
The facility, structured as a multi-draw loan, gives KULR Technology immediate access to capital secured by its Bitcoin BTC/USD holdings.
The company plans to use the funds to further its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, highlighting a deepening commitment to digital assets amid its broader energy management mission.
Also Read: Coinbase Stock Is S&P 500’s Best Performer For June: How It Got There
The credit facility allows KULR Technology to tap up to $20 million without diluting shareholder value. The company labeled this its first Bitcoin-backed credit agreement and emphasized the favorable terms of the deal.
According to CEO Michael Mo, the agreement offers “non-dilutive capital at a competitive financing rate,” helping KULR Technology pursue long-term growth while safeguarding equity interests.
KULR Technology had previously selected Coinbase’s Prime platform in 2024 for crypto custody and wallet services. That move aligned KULR Technology with the majority of public companies holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets.
The funds drawn from the facility will be collateralized with a portion of KULR Technology’s current Bitcoin holdings.
The company has been steadily positioning itself as a “Bitcoin First” enterprise, blending its clean energy technology roots with blockchain-based financial strategies to broaden both reach and revenue channels.
Price Action: KULR shares are trading higher by 6.89% to $6.931 at last check Tuesday.
Read Next:
Photo by Rido via Shutterstock
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© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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Deniega loses IBO World Youth title bout to South Africa’s Malajika
Charlton Malajika (left) and RV Deniega (right) await the decision of their IBO championship bout. | Photo from Sanman Boxing
CEBU CITY, Philippines — RV Deniega suffered a one-sided unanimous decision loss to South Africa’s Charlton Malajika in their International Boxing Organization (IBO) World Youth bantamweight title clash on July 5 in Kempton Park, South Africa.
Malajika controlled the fight from the opening bell, earning convincing scorecards of 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92 to deny the 25-year-old Filipino the title.
Deniega, who fights out of the Sanman Boxing Gym in General Santos City, dropped to 10 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw, with 7 knockouts.
The win improved Malajika’s record to 8-1, with 3 knockouts. It was his eighth straight victory since 2023—all fought and won in South Africa.
The bout began as a tactical affair, with both fighters cautiously probing each other. But as the rounds progressed, Malajika found his rhythm, using his jab to dictate the pace and disrupt Deniega’s timing.
Malajika repeatedly launched well-timed combinations that kept Deniega on the defensive. The Filipino boxer struggled to let his hands go, often relying on counterpunching while Malajika stayed busy with jabs and crisp one-twos.
Deniega’s left eye began to swell midway through the fight, the result of Malajika’s consistent targeting with sharp jabs and sneaky straight shots. The South African also showcased superior hand speed and movement, slipping Deniega’s punches and controlling the ring.
By the later rounds, Malajika had fully asserted control, landing the cleaner, more accurate shots. Deniega showed signs of frustration and managed to land a few significant blows, but it was too little, too late.
In another undercard bout, Filipino boxer Richard Garde (11-3, 9 KOs) also suffered defeat, falling to Zimbabwe’s Beaven Sibanda (9-1, 3 KOs) via fifth-round knockout in their battle for the vacant IBF International minimumweight title.
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Amazon Prime Day Faves – The Fitnessista
Sharing a full roundup of the best finds from Amazon Prime Day!
Hi friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful week. Thank you for all of the your amazing entries in this week’s giveaway!
For today, let’s put on our shopping pants — Prime Day is here!
I look forward to this sale each year, and use as a chance to stock up on holiday gifts (I try to buy as early as possible to simplify my life), get things we need for the house, and other items I’ve had my eye on, but have been waiting for the price to drop.
I scoured all of the days early so I could find the best of the best to share in today’s blog post. These are all items that we either use and love or things I’ve had my eye on and the deals are SO good. This is a friendly reminder that affiliate links are included below, which don’t impact purchase price and enable me to earn a small kickback. Amazon’s commissions are low compared to other companies that I’ve partnered with, so every little bit genuinely helps our family. Thank you thank you to those of you who choose to shop through my links.
I’ll be adding to this post throughout the day and everything will be live on my Amazon storefront here too.
Ok friends, let’s get into the deals!
Amazon Prime Day Faves
* = things we already own, use frequently, and love
** = ordering it for ourselves during the sale
For her:
*A Bogg bag! I got a giant one for the pool a few years ago and it still looks brand new. It holds a TON and is extremely durable and cute!
*Kendra Scott necklaces. The girls have many of these, and they’re our go-to gift for birthday parties. Going to stock up on a few.
*Adhesive pasties for when you don’t want a full bra, but just a lil coverage.
This gorgeous embroidered dress.
This dress that looks way more expensive than it is.
For him:
*Epic deal on this 7-pack of boxers.
Household goods:
Away luggage. I’ve been lurking this brand FOREVER, so it might finally be time to go for it.
*Hatch! We’re obsessed with ours and it’s so peaceful to wake up to a gentle light and nature sounds instead of a blaring iPhone alarm. Liv has a Hatch wannabe but I think it’s time to upgrade her to the real deal.
AMAZING price on the Ninja Creami if you’ve been wanting to make healthy ice creams!
*I bought this back in 2016 and still use it multiple times a week. It’s especially amazing for rice, beans, sweet potatoes, and soup.
*I LIVE for this contraption. My only regret is that I didn’t buy the self-cleaning version, so if you can swing it, I would do it. This is how our floors stay clean; I just run this every other day or so.
*I can’t believe I waited so long to get Little Green. With dogs and kids, it’s a must.
*We switched to a stainless steel air fryer (similar to this one that’s on sale) and I’m so so happy we did. I didn’t like our food exposed to the nonstick coating at high heat.
Electronics:
*Kindle paperwhite. If you’ve had your eye on one, now is the perfect time to get it. These make amazing holiday gifts for fellow reader friends, too. I have one and carry it around with me in my purse since it’s small and lightweight.
*This is the mic I use to record the pod 🙂
**This wasn’t on the list, but I’m planning on ordering this. It’s going to help me organize my work schedule, the Pilot’s travel schedule, and the kids’ activities and school stuff.
For the kids:
*Picasso tiles. P played with these for YEARS. I would keep them in a bag in my car and they were so perfect when we were somewhere with a wait or lobby and she needed to be entertained. I took them into the dance studio with us every Saturday and she’d play with them for a solid hour. These are a great gift for preschool-aged kids. We also had a ton of Magnatiles mixed in; they’re pretty much the same thing.
Tonies! I’m kind of sad that these came out when the kids were past the age for these. I love this idea.
This looks like my Kindle dream come true.
If you have a kid who is into gymnastics or dance, this is how Liv got her aerial and back handspring back when she was itty bitty.
This digital camera would make a fun Christmas or birthday gift.
*These detangler brushes are amazing.
Beauty:
*Liv and I both use and LOVE these tarte lipglosses. Shiny, not sticky, and the colors are sheer with a little pop.
*I bought this back in 2017 and it’s stood the test of time.
*One of the few sunscreen brands I’ll use on the kids.
*Part of the reason why I only wash my hair 1-2 times a week. I style it, spray it with this, and it LASTS.
I did laser hair removal (the full series) and NO ONE told me that the hair grows back if you get pregnant because of hormonal changes. I had P, and while it’s definitely way less, I was still annoyed because I paid so much to have it done. Wondering if I need to DIY this whole thing.
Shark hair dryer. I might need to finally go for it…
*This is the gua sha tool that I use. I love that it’s so easy to clean.
*Liv has been asking for a straightener so I’m going to order her this one.
Amazing price on bows for back to school.
Fitness:
*If you’ve been wanting a Peloton bike, I would swoop one during the day! We’ve had ours for about 7 years now and it’s still one of my favorite tools for at-home cardio.
*A walking pad has totally changed my work life. I walk in between calls and on Zoom calls when I don’t have to talk/present and it feels SO good to shake out my legs during the workday. I also use it for phone calls, IHP modules, and watching Netflix. It’s the only way I’m able to get more than 10k steps per day.
This athletic romper is SO cute.
If you’ve been wanting to add in a weighted vest, they’re part of the sale.
*Love adding wrist and ankle weights for Sculpt Society classes.
I’d love to add this to the garage since our pull-up bar broke.
4-pack of biker shorts for less than $20.
*If you’ve been wanting an Oura ring, I’d snag it now.
So tell me, friends: are you shopping on Prime Days?? What’s on your list this year?
xoxo
Gina
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End of Financial Year
If it’s your first year in business – Here’s what you need to know about EOFY.
The EOFY for first time business owners means the first time you will need to submit your financial information to IRD. This means supplying all your financial information to your accountant (if you have one) or to collate this yourself to file in your tax return to submit. .
Given the intricacies of tax law we recommend that you consult a qualified advisor. As no one expects first-time business owners to understand all the relevant legislation well enough to get everything right the first time. Accountants can save you from making costly mistakes and supplying the wrong information to IRD. They can also ensure that you have claimed all appropriate expenses for your business.
The NZ income tax year starts on the 1st April and will run through to 31st March. If you are registered with a tax agent (accountant) you will normally get extension of time this allows for your tax return to be filed by the 31st March the following year. E.g. for EOFY ended 31 March 2020 your return would need to be filed by 31 March 2021. If you are not registered with a tax agent your returns will need to be filed by the 7th June. E.g. EOFY 31 March 2020 your return will need to be filed by 7th July 2020.
Online accounting and payroll software
Using a cloud-based accounting software does a lot of the work for you, saving you a lot of stress, and makes it easier for your accountant to access your information. It provides a place to save all your invoices, receipts, wages records and asset registers. It also helps to calculate your GST if you are registered also gives you a clear picture of your cash flow, profit & loss and balance sheet. Check out my other articles to see a comparison of accounting software (Xero, MYOB, quickbooks, invoiceninja) and other helpful apps like Hubdoc.
Ensure that you have backups of your files as hardware can be corrupted especially if you are using a desktop based system.
Finding out how much tax you owe
By using an accounting system this not only gives you a real time view of your business, it also means at the end of the financial year you will be able to work out your business and personal income tax. This will also help to determine if you are due to pay provisional tax the next year.
An accountant can easily do this for you however if you want to DIY your return IRD has a range of calculators to simplify this process.
Claiming expenses
You can claim back any business purchases you’ve made throughout the year. This can include costs such as rent, power and internet for any home office space you’ve used to work from, travel for business purposes, office equipment, motor vehicle expenses and or anything you’ve personally paid for that went towards running your business.
Remember not to claim back any personal expenses against your business. Check out the article on business expenses to ensure that you are claiming all the business expenses you can.
End of Financial Year is also a great time to ensure all your accounts are up to date and ready to send to your accountant. The faster you have the information in the faster you should get your results back. Once you’ve got your file ready for your accountant you can then take a minute, relax and then get ready for the new financial year ahead.
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How to Improve your eCommerce Strategy
Shopping has fundamentally changed over the last 30 years. Sites like eBay have given rise to Amazon, and now every store has its own digital storefront, giving unprecedented access to products from around the world.
All this action has led to a crowded market, which makes it hard for SMBs to stand out among the competition. In this industry, you can’t just phone-in success (well, phones do play a big part, but we’ll get into that later). Today, it’s more important than ever to provide a high quality customer journey to keep your customer base loyal. Below are a few tips that can help SMBs maximize their conversions by creating customer-focused customer journeys.
B2B? B2C? Try B2H!
It’s estimated that 21% of all retail purchases in 2025 will be online. That’s big business that companies of any size, from Enterprise to SMB, can’t ignore. And while eCommerce is found across a range of business types, whether that’s B2B, B2C, or some other acronym, eComm success can be measured best across B2H (or Business to Human).
In business, your eCommerce platform should make the customer journey as frictionless as possible, which means understanding that the end-user wants a consistent user experience – no matter the industry. According to Accenture, 82% of B2B buyers expect the same level of convenience as B2C shoppers. This includes simple navigation, smart design, a fast checkout, and most importantly, all the information they need in order to answer their questions and feel comfortable purchasing a product online. After all, whether it’s a holiday shopper or a top decision maker for IT, we’re all human and deserve the same level of user experience across the board.
Some easy ways to implement this are by providing easy-to-use tools that make the entire eComm experience more effective. Tools like advanced search, one-click reordering, and real-time inventory visibility will provide the same level of care for your B2B customers that B2C customers experience daily.
Prioritize Phone-First Thinking
Over 30% of the global population shops via mobile. That equates to 1.65 billion online shoppers globally. In the B2B market, 80% of buyers use mobile devices. It doesn’t take a mathematician to tell you these are big numbers, just like it doesn’t take a marketing expert to tell you where SMBs should be investing their resources.
Mobile offers a unique need for shoppers and buyers. As busy as people’s lives are, both at work and at home, mobile access to your products and services is crucial. It’s imperative for end users to be able to research and place orders on the go. SMBs should optimize their eCommerce offerings to include simple user interfaces, fast mobile responsiveness, and quick load times. That’s right, today’s shoppers and buyers have a need for speed. Studies show that even a
Make Product Information Crystal Clear
To facilitate more conversions, SMBs should provide detailed product information so customers can make more informed decisions. According to a Sana survey, 37% of users cite poor product information as the number one reason not to trust a web store.
SMBs can build trust with their customers by providing highly detailed product descriptions with plenty of supporting assets for users to peruse. These can include datasheets, informational videos, FAQs, infographics, or really anything that provides a full picture of your product or service. Transparency builds trust, and with millions of products floating in the eCommerce space, a little extra info can really make you stand out among the competition.
NSO: Never Stop Optimizing
Companies that lean heavily on customer analytics are 23 times more likely to outperform their competition. EComm success is about playing the long game, and that means going over your in-house customer data to identify where to improve and devoting resources to optimize the user journey.
This is especially important to SMBs, as larger companies often have whole teams dedicated to improving customer experiences across all channels. One of the ways SMBs are getting ahead is through the use of AI. Today’s AI tools have the ability to analyze data at breakneck speeds, as well as deliver deep insights from customers’ online behavior, like past searches, clicks, purchases, and more. When fed into current data-filtering tools, this data can be used to improve site performance, boost conversion rates, and leverage customer behavior to refine your sales approach.
Keep It Personal
Currently, 84% of eCommerce businesses are making AI the top product in their own shopping carts. And that’s for a very good reason. Through advanced language models and machine learning, AI is already helping to pinpoint customer segments and personalize their customer journeys to their needs, whether that’s in the form of new product recommendations or better pricing.
Within the last year, AI has been helping customers have better interactions with online storefronts with personalized recommendations in ways never thought possible, all thanks to machine learning.
AI smart searching can provide recommendations based on offline buying habits. Don’t worry! AI is not standing behind you at the checkout line. Rather, advanced AI tools can tap into transactional data to help customers find additional products that are in line with their current searches. This can be used to find more affordable or better-quality items during a search and improve overall customer satisfaction.
I had the pleasure of talking a bit about eComm success and the many ways to improve the customer journey with my good friend and cohost, Kat Macomson, Global Digital Marketing Manager here at Cisco. In fact, we dedicated a whole episode of our podcast, 404 Script Not Found, to discussing the latest trends in SMB marketing and technology, from AI to the latest in wearable tech. We hope you give it a listen!
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The guide to generative AI for insurance | Insurance Blog
Insurers that focused on modernizing technology and improving their data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are now able to incorporate generative AI (gen AI) as a natural next step on their reinvention journey.
Gen AI is changing everything. It is being used throughout the value chain to improve customer interactions, streamline operations and support decision-making. Insurers are using it to boost efficiency in operations and corporate functions and improve the speed and accuracy of underwriting and claims processing. Commercial and specialty property and casualty (P&C) carriers are using it to handle huge volumes of broker submissions, quickly extracting data and improving the way they use classical AI for comparative risk analysis and propensity-to-win modeling.
The impact of gen AI is already being felt across the insurance industry, with unique benefits and challenges for P&C, Life, Group Benefits and Reinsurance carriers. Some companies are using gen AI as a catalyst for reinventing their digital core, discovering new ways of working and reimagining how they serve their customers. Each company will find its own path forward with this technology. This paper covers five requisites that must be addressed when crafting a gen AI strategy:
Lead with value
Gen AI opens up new opportunities for natural language interaction, operational efficiency and decision support for insurers. It can drive material impact on combined ratios with contributions across underwriting, claims, service and general expenses. And while it has the potential to impact the full insurance value chain, we see the greatest potential in underwriting/distribution and claims.
Underwriting/distribution
According to our research, 40% of the average underwriter’s time is spent on administrative and other non-core tasks. Those demands are exacerbated by surges in submissions, creating more process churn without capturing commensurate additional revenue.
Gen AI can help insurers win more business and drive greater value by boosting efficiency in underwriting. It uses automation and task augmentation to help underwriters handle more tasks, work more efficiently and reach better decisions faster. For example, gen AI supports intelligent email and ingestion with its ability to extract key data from submission documents and create structured outputs that can accelerate risk assessment and pricing. It supports data enrichment and decision-making, allowing underwriters to augment submission information with data from verified third-party sources. This information is then automatically populated in an underwriting dashboard, eliminating multiple rounds of Q&A between brokers and underwriters.
Gen AI is a win-win for carriers as well as brokers. With gen AI, carriers have the potential to process 100% of submissions, double their submission-to-quote rates and reduce premium leakage from missed underwriting controls. Brokers can expect easier interactions with carriers and can deliver quotes to their customers in hours rather than days or weeks.
QBE, a multinational insurance company headquartered in Sydney, is a prime example. We worked with them to scale industry-leading AI-powered underwriting solutions replicated across multiple regions and lines of business. They are now able to make faster, more accurate business decisions and greatly accelerate market response time. In the first year, these solutions won multiple industry innovation awards. Early results also indicate an increase in both quote-to-bind rate and premium.
Claims
Gen AI can also drive significant value in claims processing and outcomes, both for frequency and severity claims.
The majority of claims volume, but a minority of claims payouts, have indemnity decisions that can be arrived at via parametric or rules-based indemnity decisions. These frequency claims are well suited to straight-through processing using AI and gen AI. The claims can be assessed and resolved quickly, dropping the aggregate cycle time from days to minutes.
Medical management and litigation costs are typically the largest drivers of claims indemnity and expense. For litigated claims, gen AI can ingest unstructured litigation demand packages, enabling comparable file insights to be gleaned from the carrier’s litigation portfolio to help drive proactive resolution. For claims with medical exposure, such as litigated claims with medical damages, bodily injury and workers’ compensation claims, gen AI can ingest and aggregate medical documents to improve multiple aspects of medical management, including developing accurate timelines, categorizing medical expenses and identifying treatments that may be inconsistent with standards of care.
Using gen AI in claims can also improve rating and pricing activities. As a best practice, carriers can incorporate learnings extracted from unstructured claims data into a feedback loop for underwriting to guide future decisions, guidelines and appetite.
Many of the underlying capabilities that provide material efficiency in claims and underwriting, such as intelligent email creation and ingestion, are reusable solutions that can also benefit back-office functions such as invoicing, contracting and employee onboarding. An investment in gen AI can and should be used to drive value across the entire organization.
Reinvent talent and ways of working
Workers across many industries are concerned about being replaced by gen AI. In the insurance industry, the change is far more likely to be in augmenting, not replacing, human activity.
For example, regulation and licensing still require that licensed claims and underwriting professionals make and communicate decisions. In many cases, these professionals must meet requirements for where they are located and must be employees of the carrier. Unless requirements change, these roles cannot be replaced by AI.
In fact, both automation and augmentation with gen AI will create daily benefits for workers. Our research shows that 29% of working hours in the insurance industry can be automated by gen AI, relieving workers of many of their more mundane and tedious tasks. Thirty-six percent of working hours can be augmented by gen AI, which helps workers and insurers as the industry faces staffing shortages due to an aging workforce and competition for talent.
Gen AI will transform how companies build the insurance workforce of the future. Senior underwriters and claims handlers will be able to focus more on higher-level analysis, portfolio optimization strategies and business development. Junior associates will have shorter learning curves for onboarding supported by co-pilot or agent-assisted AI solutions. They will use gen AI in a natural, conversational way to deeply understand and manage business rule taxonomy, generate insights and produce accurate pricing, rating, indemnity decisions and communications.
Close the gap on responsible AI
Responsible AI is vital as the technology matures and becomes more autonomous. AI governance and principles must be in place from the start. For insurers, this means implementing systematic testing and monitoring across both quantitative and qualitative dimensions to manage risk with the highest ethical standards.
Controls focused on data privacy, cybersecurity and sustainability help insurers stay compliant as regulatory requirements inevitably increase. Insurers hold a position of trust when storing and processing sensitive data belonging to customers and partners. Quantifiable measures help demonstrate the insurer’s due diligence amid escalating cyber threats. They also help in aligning the insurer’s AI strategy with Net-Zero and other corporate sustainability goals by measuring impacts related to increased compute and storage use.
Qualitative controls that improve transparency, explainability, accuracy and safety are just as important. For many customers, insurance products can be difficult to understand. This can be compounded in communities where a legacy of discriminatory practices has undermined industry trust. For employees and partners, it’s crucial that insurers evaluate safety concerns and take action to mitigate harm. A Human by Design approach can help create human-like experiences that engender trust by making it easy and intuitive to find information.
A responsible and ethical AI experience is especially important in underwriting and claims. The historical data that LLMs ingest can be biased by previous decisions or may differ across geographies. AI governance can increase fairness and accountability and prevent coded bias and inaccuracies. The risk of “garbage in” needs to be understood and mitigated with documented enterprise-wide governance structures with clear roles, responsibilities and policies.
Build an AI-enabled, secure digital core
Realizing the full power and potential of gen AI requires a strong digital core and a secure cloud. With a simplified cloud infrastructure, insurers can build a data and model backbone that integrates with core systems and supports the needs of AI.
Cloud
For many large organizations, moving more operations to the cloud can create a level of complexity that’s hard to manage. A Continuum Control Plane provides a unified command, control and decision support center to help address that complexity. It orchestrates infrastructure, applications, data, network, people and processes and simplifies cloud integration across a range of vendors. This unified control center delivers stability, agility, speed and certainty for cloud-based companies while improving visibility across the enterprise.
Security
Security is crucial for operational resilience and data protection. The threat landscape is shifting with more bad actors infiltrating and disrupting business operations. This is compounded by quantum computing advancements, which are making traditional encryption methods less effective. Insurers and their partners will need to implement systems that reduce the risk of breaches and adopt standardized algorithms for protecting vital information in a post-quantum world.
Data
Insurers have access to a wealth of data that customers expect them to protect and that can be tapped to create value. This includes organizational data such as policyholder information and claims history, derived or synthetic data such as underwriting evaluation notes and scenario test data, and third-party data such as climate and market data, vehicle records and property details. This data should be held in a modernized data platform leveraging technologies like vectorDBs and knowledge graphs, which can augment existing analytics capabilities and support the processing needs of LLMs.
Models
Foundation models like Claude in Amazon Bedrock or the GPT suite of models on Microsoft Azure can be integrated seamlessly with the primary cloud stack. As needs become more complex, it’s important to reassess how priorities are weighted and fine-tune, retrain or build a new model as needed to address goals and market realities. A model switchboard allows models to be dynamically adjusted depending on the weight assigned to various priorities such as accuracy, efficiency and cost.
Platforms
The AI and gen AI capabilities of core insurance platforms are evolving quickly. For P&C insurers, Duck Creek Technologies and Guidewire have embedded AI into their products. The same is true of EIS and Vitech in the retirement/pensions and group benefits space. At Accenture, we’ve embedded AI and gen AI throughout our Accenture Life Insurance and Annuity Platform (ALIP) with cloud-managed services that include an AI-led user experience with conversational AI navigation and intelligent alerts.
Embrace change and continuous reinvention
Gen AI is already deeply embedded in the insurance industry. Insurers are well past experimentation and defining use cases; many are already seeing material economic gains as they scale their AI and gen AI investments for continuous reinvention.
Continuous reinvention involves disciplined replication and re-use—two keys to scaling gen AI quickly across a large organization. Multiple lines of business in claims or multiple products in underwriting may be able to use the same user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) for gen AI implementations. In fact, investments in UI/UX, front-end and back-end coding, rule and prompt libraries and data modernization can often be leveraged across the value chain.
With gen AI, insurers are accelerating their reinvention journey. They are building both the culture and capability for continuous reinvention by centering every function in the value chain around a modern digital core. They are using gen AI to bring the best of humans and technology together, defining the future of the insurance industry.
