5 Ways to Generate Leads Through Email Marketing

Jen Lambert on January 4, 2019

These days, most people spend the majority of their free time using the internet. Therefore, it’s no wonder that many companies want to market their products or services to these individuals. Many companies often implement email campaigns to reach online-based customers. It’s important to remember that you’re going to be competing for coveted space in customer’s inboxes. Many customers need some type of incentive to open emails from your company. With that in mind, here’s what DatabaseUSA.com® says to consider when trying to grow your company’s email lists.

Give Away Sample Products

There’s almost nothing better for a potential customer than receiving samples. The recipient doesn’t pay full price to try a product, and your company might gain a new customer in the process. Considering that, it’s wise to offer samples as a potential way to attract online leads. Create a form to obtain the lead’s information and, from there, you can begin sending samples.

Offer a Free eBook

Not all types of incentives require sending physical products to leads. An eBook is something your company’s leads can begin reading right away. Your company doesn’t have to spend the money associated with preparing and transporting physical books. Also, leads receive something valuable from your company. For instance, a supplement company might create an eBook to help leads achieve certain fitness goals. If you want to increase engagement, consider offering books that make up a series. Before long, these leads will be eagerly awaiting the next series installment.

Engage Leads with Starter Kits

Another popular email content idea is to create helpful starter kits. A starter kit is a series of documents that contains reports, frequently asked questions, helpful links, and other information about your company. These kits are also beneficial to send any potential companies your business might partner with in the future.

Present Helpful Videos to Leads

The internet has changed the way people view media. Now, video content is more popular than ever. Therefore, it’s smart to consider using video-based content for your emails. For instance, you can begin sending a series of informational or sales-based videos for your leads to enjoy. If you want to increase engagement even further, consider setting up webinars. You’ll find that webinars allow you to present content while communicating with those watching in real time.

Send Infographics

Not every email lead wants to spend time watching videos. Infographics are a great alternative for reaching those leads. Infographics include pictures, facts, and statistics within a single image. This also provides leads with helpful information without them having to read lengthy blog posts.

In conclusion, it’s important to know how to increase engagement from your company’s email list. It might seem difficult to increase online lead engagement. However, offering these leads something of value often solves this problem. Your company can begin combining these strategies right away. In turn, you’ll have many ways to continue sending value-based emails to your leads. For more information and help, contact DtabaseUSA.com® for direct marketing solutions.

US Military Testing Bug Size Drones

Jen Lambert on August 16, 2018

It’s a Kurt Vonnegut fantasy come true; the United State Military is toying with the idea of using tiny nano drones no bigger than a bumble bee for scoping out enemy positions in Afghanistan and for spying on our enemies in places like Iran and North Korea to see what kind of mischief they’re up to so they can be busted in the court of world opinion.

These minidrones are being tested by US Special Forces in secret testing grounds scattered across the United States. While the testing areas are Off Limits to civilians, word of their diminutive flights has leaked out to local media around the country, and sightings and photographs of the little mechanical snoops are appearing with more and more frequency in both mainstream and fringe media. The military is not going to be able to keep this project under wraps for very much longer.

A Norwegian company called Prox Dynamics is making the tiny drones for the Pentagon, after British soldiers began using similar devices back in 2013 to gather intel on snipers and terrorist suspects in South America. The little drones are called PD-100 Black Hornets — almost a DC comic book title, or Netflix show.

The Black Hornet nano drone fits in the palm of the hand and has a battery life of up to two hours. It can range as far as two miles and features both a regular and an infrared heat camera. It is also able to pick up audio transmissions and even human voices if it can get close enough. It’s four helicopter blades are unusually quiet and unobtrusive when viewed from the ground.  Although the Pentagon is not commenting on it, media sources say that US Special Forces have already been using the little flying snoops to gather intel in Yemen, Afghanistan, Turkistan, and Iraq.

The FCC is not liking the proliferation of military grade mini drones, which might fall into the hands of nosy civilians or even homegrown anarchists bent on destruction. So far the huge price tag of the Black Hornet nano drone has kept it out of civilian hands — it retails at forty-thousand dollars each, according to Ole Aguirre, the business development VP of Prox Dynamics in Norway. But since the Pentagon plans on spending several billion dollars on drone technology in the next few years, that’s really no problem for the soldier on the ground who wants eyes in the sky to tell him or her where the enemy is lurking and in how big a group.

Some other uses of military nano drones that should be operational soon include flying them across flooded rivers to find safe passage areas for troops, and flying them right into the cones of active volcanoes to take samples, gauge the temperature, and send videos of magma activity — this is something that the Hawaii state government has specifically asked the Armed Forces to do for civilian safety on the Big Island. Mini drones are also being considered for MP duty at military camps, keeping soldiers and sailor with itchy feet from going AWOL and also guarding the parameters of camps looking for suspicious activity that might lead to an outside attack.

The one thing the military is NOT talking about is arming mini drones with any kind of weapon — but that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about it, or have actually already got nano drones that can shoot poison darts or something equally deadly.

When Biohacking Goes Wrong

Jen Lambert on July 11, 2018

Biohacking can be defined simply as performing experimental procedures on your own body for the purpose of enhancement. Operating outside the traditional lab or medical environment, biohackers exploit cutting-edge scientific theories and technologies to do things like ingest newly-synthesized drugs, perform self-surgery and even reformulate their DNA. While some experiments appear to be harmless, others can pose a risk to participants and the wider public if and when they go wrong.

 

It seems that just about any experiment related to body modification or health can be labeled as a “hack” these days. New and questionable diets that push the limits of scientific credibility are sometimes pushed by proponents as biohacking, for example. Dave Asprey, the CEO of Bulletproof Coffee, believes he has discovered a certain fountain of youth by supplementing foods and beverages with a coconut oil derivative called medium chain triglycerides, or MCT oil. Asprey claims that in addition to longevity, consuming MCT oil and following complementary measures like avoiding mycotoxins can lead to weight loss, more energy, a higher IQ and even cure infertility in women (e.g., his own wife). Critics who have tried eating and drinking the concoctions containing this dietary blend, however, report that they were instead left with a gross slick feeling on their tongue and nausea leading to vomiting.

 

Dietary fads aside, biohackers are fond of implanting devices in their bodies. These cyborg wannabes take wearable technology to the extreme, going under the knife to permanently or semi-permanently integrate accessories under their skin. Some of the more creative examples include implants like a magnetic compass for directional sensitivity and a device to help a man overcome his color-blindness by stimulating his occipital bone to resonate in his skull. Any surgery is potentially dangerous, but especially so if performed by untrained individuals operating in their bedrooms and garages.

 

Stepping up the risk factor, another biohacker has made a name for himself by injecting an experimental herpes treatment into his rear-end live during a conference. Josiah Zayner, the CEO of a biohacking firm called The ODIN, has also injected himself with a muscle-growth solution based on a DNA therapy called CRISPR. Zayner now regrets the direction of his work and its influence on others, saying in one interview with The Atlantic, “What it’s turned into now, people view it as a way to get press and get publicity and get famous. And people are going to get hurt. There’s no doubt in my mind that somebody is going to end up hurt eventually.”

 

Finally, one group is saying they have purified a virus to help people overcome lactose intolerance. Manufacturing viruses without proper oversight can obviously backfire in ways that put society at large in harm’s way.

 

It should go without saying, but DIY medicine, surgery, and body modification is just a bad idea. Independent “hackers” do not have the time, money and resources to dedicate to proper research to ensure safety. “The best medical providers will invest time in studying these new surgical options and analyzing which processes may ensure the safest results for their patients,” says Rich Newsome, a surgical malpractice lawyer. But it turns out that, for some people, that lengthy time invested in research is exactly why they take matters into their own hands.

Combat Aging with Science Based Medicine

Jen Lambert on June 29, 2016

The body is made up of trillions of cells whose functions are to keep our body operating and working in proper healthy condition. Because of the importance of the health of these cells, research into science based medicine that improves cellular functions, communications, and connections has increased over the years. ASEA has focused on finding skincare solutions down to the cellular level by studying redox signaling molecules and their effects.

What are Redox Signaling Molecules?

Redox signaling molecules are essentially messengers between cells in the body. Without cellular communication, cells don’t function properly and can eventually break down which can affect multiple process within the body. Redox signaling molecules are so important because without them, cells cannot communicate to rejuvenate, repair, or replenish. Being able to sustain healthy communication of cells through redox signaling helps protect the cells and keep them operating properly.

There are two types of redox signaling molecules: reactive oxygen species which protects the immune system and reduced species which activates antioxidants. These two groups are balanced within each cell and when this balance is disturbed by damage, signals are sent via redox molecules communicating the need for defense and repair. When this process is communicated effectively, the body responds and is able to heal and repair itself.

Redox Signaling and Skin Care

Just as with any other damaged cell in the body, skin is constantly facing damage from the sun and even aging which then triggers redox molecules to communicate the need for repairs. As we age, our bodies are faced with more exposure, wear, and toxins that begin to break down the body’s ability to maintain a healthy balance of redox signaling molecules. When this happens, cells no longer function correctly and the skin can no longer keep up with protecting and repairing itself which is why signs of aging like discoloration and wrinkles begin to appear.

Having researched this connection between redox signaling and the signs of aging, ASEA has targeted redox signaling molecules in their research to create a science based medicinal line of skincare products to combat aging.

ASEA Research Supplementing Redox Signaling Molecule Supplies

The importance and significance of redox signaling molecules is not new to researchers, in fact, early last century it was on the radar of the scientific community, however, until a few years ago it wasn’t discovered how to help supplement these naturally occurring molecules. With the research, and testing conducted by ASEA, a breakthrough discovery has been made and redox signaling molecules can be engineered and stabilized outside the body. This means that redox signaling molecules can be recreated and contained within ASEA products which can supplement and support the sustainability of redox signaling molecule supplies within the body.

This research is backed by the company and by working with third-party dermatology scientific research facilities and professors, ASEA’s findings and ground-breaking results in skincare are validated.  

Combating the Signs of Aging with Redox Signaling Molecules

Although anti-aging creams, moisturizers, and products have been all over the market for many years, ASEA is breaking the mold with products founded from scientific based medicinal research. ASEA is utilizing science to recreate and supplement the redox signaling molecules within the skin that start deteriorating with age which has incredible anti-aging results.

ASEA is at the forefront of skincare health and treatment by addressing the symptoms of aging at a cellular level. There is no need to choose products that hide the signs of aging, fight it at the cellular level with scientifically validated products that contain safe, natural molecules that are native to your body’s cellular functions.

Scientists Have Found a New Way to Transform Sunlight Into Power

Ron on September 14, 2015

Researchers from Rice University have developed a new way to extract more energy from solar radiation, potentially making photovoltaic cells more efficient than ever before.

Their setup harnesses the power of hot electrons, which are highly kinetic electrons created when photons from the sun strike material within a photovoltaic panel. Hot electrons usually decay within trillionths of a second after photons strike the panel, but Isabell Thomann, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of chemistry and materials science and nanoengineering at Rice, has found a way to slow their decay and harness their energy.

Getting Power From Hot Electrons

The biggest challenge with capturing hot electron energy is how quickly these excited particles return to their lower energy levels. They jump out of a lower energy level to a higher one, leaving holes behind. To keep them from returning right back to the lower energy level, Thomann put more distance between these excited electrons and the holes they left behind.

Along with a team of graduate students, Thomann constructed a three-layer setup. The base consisted of a thin sheet of aluminum topped with a transparent layer of nickel oxide. On top of the nickel oxide, the team dropped light-activated gold nanoparticles in discs about 10 to 30 nanometers wide.

When sunlight hit the gold nanoparticles from the top or reflected back up from the aluminum base layer, the photons received a quick supercharge from the nanoparticles, releasing hot electrons. Essentially, the nanoparticles and nickel oxide acted as a filter, letting electron holes through and leaving hot electrons sitting on the nanoparticles. Aluminum drew the electron holes back down, leaving the hot electrons with nowhere to go, which made them available for chemical reactions.

Thomann’s team then covered their materials with a thin layer of water to test whether hot electrons could split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. When measuring the current generated by their technique, Thomann’s team reported current efficiencies consistent with far more sophisticated — and expensive — PV technologies.

Solving Frustrating Efficiency Problems

Historically, the biggest obstacle to widespread solar power usage has always been cost. Innovation and government subsidies have made photovoltaics cheaper than ever before, putting solar within the hands of homeowners. Thanks to tax breaks, the U.S. has seen many entrepreneurs form LLCs dedicated to installing solar panels and photovoltaic systems. Even so, solar installations are still costly, and increased adoption depends on making solar cheaper.

When sunlight makes it to Earth’s surface, it’s already lost about one-third of the energy it had when it left the sun. Earth’s atmosphere reflects some light back into space, and it also absorbs some of the energy, which the atmosphere and creates wind currents. One of the best ways to get more from existing PV cells is to make them more efficient. Current solar technology, however, manages to harness between only 5 and 25 percent of the sun’s energy.

Hot electrons dissipate from most current PV cells in the form of heat loss. By capturing these particles and keeping them from going to lower energy levels, Thomann’s team extracts more energy from the sunlight. It’s impossible to say when or how the Rice team’s findings could be incorporated into PV cells, but their research has enormous potential to make solar power less expensive — and more attractive to everyday consumers.

Keeping Costs Down

At MIT, graduate student Qiong Ma has used graphene and hexagonal boron nitride with similar effects to Thomann’s nanoparticle sheet. Her experiments pair sheets of graphene with top and bottom electrodes of different sizes, with a top gate made from dielectric boron nitride.

Electrons from the sun are slow to bond with graphene’s lattice structure, keeping electrons at higher energy levels for a longer period and extracting more energy for electricity. Unfortunately, it costs a lot to isolate graphene from graphite and turn it into usable material. According to the International Business Times, some U.S. vendors sell copper foil covered with a layer of graphene for $60 per square inch.

The Rice University team’s method uses more cost-effective materials, although Thomann readily admits their methods need further study before widespread implementation. Even so, it’s a promising solution that could make solar more affordable, reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Knee Replacements Turn Back the Clock for Patients with Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Ron on September 11, 2015

A recent study shows that knee replacement surgery may significantly improve pain and leg function in patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), thus improving their quality of life.

The surgery will not restore patients to the same level of comfort and mobility as they had in their younger years, but according to the Arthritis and Rheumatology journal reports that knee replacement can turn back the clock to when patients were less affected by pain.

In a six month study, researchers found, according to senior study author Kaleb Michaud, “The vast majority of patients had their symptoms improve dramatically from the surgery, but this procedure is not a cure – RA patients will continue to need to treat their disease outside of the joint replacement.”

Knee replacement is one of the most common surgeries, with about 720,000 people in the U.S. alone getting this procedure last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Recently, there have been recalls of knee replacement products due to complaints of moisture on the instrumentation.

The surgery is much improved in recent years, with replacement knees made from a patient’s own cells. This replacement, NeoCart, is an investigational cartilage tissue implant to treat certain knee cartilage injuries. The proprietary procedure uses regenerative medicine technology to create hyaline-like cartilage tissue from a patient’s own cells.To generate the NeoCart cartilage tissue implant, a surgeon first obtains a small sample of normal cartilage from a patient’s knee through a minimally invasive arthroscopy, or “knee scope.” This small tissue sample, or biopsy, is then treated and placed under special conditions that allow for cell growth, organization and tissue formation. This allows the patient’s own cells to form a hyaline-like cartilage tissue implant before being returned to the surgeon for implantation.  The implant can be trimmed so that it fits the injury site (like a puzzle piece).

Francois Desmeules, a researcher in rehabilitation at the University of Montreal says, “Surgery can help people with severe pain and disabilities that don’t respond to alternative treatments such as weight loss, exercise, physical therapy and medication for osteoarthritis.”

 

(Image courtesy of Flickr user Kenny Holston, under a Creative Commons license.)

The Post Human Evolution

Glimpse Team on May 15, 2015

[intro]Biohacking is the art of engaging biology with hacker ethic or it is the creation of strategies that exploit the system thinking, biology, science, self-experimentation and technology to let your body, mind and life optimization. Biohacking covers a wide range of practices as well as movements ranging from grinders designing and installing DIY body-enhancement including magnetic implants to DIY biologists performing at-home gene sequencing.[/intro]

Biohacking arose in a growing fashion of non-institutional science and technology development. Many biohackers or biohacking activists identify with the transhumanism, techno-progressivism and biopunk.

Biohacking can also mean, managing a person’s own biology using a mixture of electronic, nutritional and medical techniques. This may incorporate using nootropics or/and cybernetic tools for biometric data recording.

Biohackers majorly identify with biopunk and transhumanist ideologists. Transhumanism is the credence that is possible and desirable to basically alter the human condition by using technology as to initiate a superior post-human being.

Biopunk is an intellectual and techno-progressive cultural movement which supports an open access to genetic data and promotes the liberatory potential of ideal democratic technological environment. Just like other punk movements, biopunk promotes the DIY ethics.

Cyborg theory and cyborgs strongly influence transhumanism and techno-progressivism and are therefore strongly influences the biohacking movement. Some biohackers including Kevin Warwick, the professor of cybernetics from Britain, and Grinders actively design as well as implement technologies which are directly integrated into the organic body. Examples include Warwick’s ’project cyborg’’ or DIY magnetic fingertip implants.

Biohackers apply what is known as ’hacker ethic’’ to biology- they strongly believe in shared democratic access to data and technology and in manipulating the biological systems to improve the human life quality. Biohacking includes a wide spectrum of physiological innovations, from genetic manipulation to magnetic implants. Biohackers work in all kinds of settings, from personal kitchens to rent-able labs.

Nootropics also referred to as memory enhancers, smart drugs, intelligence enhancers, cognitive enhancers, and neuro enhancers, are drugs, nutraceuticals, supplements, and functional foods that ostensibly improve the mental functions including memory, cognition, motivation, attention, intelligence, and concentration. The word nootropic was created by Dr. Corneliu E. Giurgea- a Romanian derived from the Greek words Vuoc nous (mind). Nootropics are believed to operate by changing the brain’s availability for supply of neurochemicals (enzymes, neurotransmitter, and hormones), by improving the oxygen supplied in the brain, or by stimulating nerve growth.

Biohackers that look for techniques to improve the human body with the help of technology, devices, and implants are known as “body hackers’’ or “grinders’’. For instance, with a scalpel and some tools, body hackers can create the “ability’’ to detect electromagnetic fields by putting small magnets near sensitive nerves in the fingertips.

Kevin Warwick, a Cybernetics professor at the University of Reading was among the pioneers of these implants in humans. Unlike grinders operating in garages, Warwick has the superfluity of working in the college setting with medical team and anesthesia, even though his work still carries all the dangers linked to investing into unchartered medical territory. In 2002, Kevin implanted cybernetic sensors in his arm, enabling him control a separate robot hand from a given distance. Kevin’s wife had the implant done, and currently the two can share the sensation including the grasp of a hand, from across the boarders. These hackers are like zealots who implant anything they can get into their skin. However, biohackers, expressly grinders, see themselves as a boost to the future. Even though his work has a medical element, Kevin embraces the philosophy of the hacker, and has started a study about magnetic implants in an attempt to create a baseline of understanding for the future studies.

Recently, biohacking has started to emerge from its concealed subculture. Today, fanatics in synthetic biology and biotechnology can find much different recourse on the web, from forums to discuss and share information, to groups such as DIYbio, communities’ network for DIY biologists. Some organizations have introduced cheap DIY genomics kits, letting fanatics to sequence genes at home. Others, such as Genspace in Brooklyn, offer aspiring biohackers with access to the most modern lab and a community of hackers at affordable monthly fees.

Part of biohacking’s glamor is the lack of a tiered structure or government watchdog. There is no FDA equivalent to monitor and regulates the work of body hackers, biohackers, or grinders. Continentally, these hackers appear like enthusiast who implants whatever they get into their skin.