Search Engine Optimization & How It Makes Your Business More Competitive

Business News

If you are reading this article because you are still a little bit unsure as to what search engine optimization is and how it can actually make your business more competitive then you are not alone. Every business across the world needs an effective digital marketing strategy and in order for that to happen, you really do need to invest in search engine optimization.

This will be the one thing that will help to increase your brand awareness, allow you to reach out to literally hundreds of thousands of customers every single day and to increase your profits as well using online methods. If this sounds attractive and it is something that you would like your business to experience then keep reading to find out about how search engine optimization can make your business a lot more competitive. The best SEO agency can be found at https://kingkong.co/seo-agency/ and they know their stuff.

An excellent return on investment – No business owner wants to spend money unless they can be assured that they will experience an excellent ROI. If you have been spending your money on the more traditional methods of marketing then you should know that the closing rate is around 2%. When you choose the right kind of SEO strategy however, you will experience a conversion rate of around 13 to 15%.
Your business is more trustworthy – The purpose of search engine optimization is to propel your business website to the top of the popular search engine rankings. Once this is in place, when potential customers use keywords to find what they’re looking for, they will be greeted by your business website at the top of the rankings. They will rightly think that your business is to be trusted and they will click through.
You get 24 hour promotion – Just because your business closes for the evening or on the weekends, search engine optimization doesn’t stop working for you. It is always trying to drive customers to your business website round-the-clock and this is why it is so important that you engage with a digital marketing agency so that your business website is fit for purpose. It’s no good customers visiting if they can’t easily navigate what it is that there are looking for.

There is absolutely no doubt that search engine optimization will create a lot more leads for your business which will convert to even bigger and more profitable sales.

What Are the Biggest Movies Coming Out in 2025?

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Photo from freepik at Freepik

Cinemagoers had a great 2024 with lots of top movies being released throughout the year. From blockbusters and indie films to sequels, remakes and originals, the line-up of new movies for 2024 was as varied as ever. The great news is that there are loads of hotly anticipated titles scheduled to come out in 2025.

People can’t get enough of going to the cinema and watching films on the big screen. The leisure activity has faced stiff competition in recent years from streaming platforms, but it’s held its own and remains popular. If you’re a keen cinephile, why not check out some games based on movies? There are even some online slots inspired by hit films you can play at sites such as GGBet.

Wicked: For Good

Wicked, which is still in cinemas as of the time of writing, was one of the biggest success stories of 2024. Based on the long-running Broadway musical of the same name, the film, which experienced several delays, was a resounding success both critically and commercially. It’s generated more than USD630 million in revenue and has become the world’s highest-grossing musical film adaptation.

Fans will be delighted to learn that the sequel, Wicked: For Good, is scheduled to be released in 2025. Both films stick to the plot of the musical with a few adjustments here and there. Those who have seen it will know what to expect in the sequel, though it will no doubt still be a huge success. Check out the teaser trailer here.

Jurassic World Rebirth

This is set to be the fourth instalment in the Jurassic World series and the seventh in the overall Jurassic Park series. While it’s been touted as a standalone sequel to the most recent movie, Jurassic World Dominion, it’s going to feature a new ensemble cast, led by Scarlett Johansson. 

Jurassic World Rebirth is set to be released in the US on July 2. It follows Johansson’s character, Zora Bennett, as she works on a top-secret mission to source genetic material from some of the largest dinosaurs living in the world’s tropical regions. The material is needed in order to develop a drug that will supposedly save human lives. While on the mission, Zora comes across a family that’s been stranded on an island after their boat was attacked by aquatic dinosaurs. Watch the trailer here. 

M3GAN 2.0

M3GAN is a sci-fi horror film about an artificially intelligent child’s doll that becomes self-aware. It becomes increasingly hostile and violent towards anyone who dares to come between it and the human companion it’s been paired with, a young girl called Cady. Developed on a budget of USD12 million, M3GAN was released in 2022 and went on to gross USD181 million. The producers, Universal, were happy with the film’s critical and commercial success and greenlit a sequel.

M3GAN 2.0 will hit cinemas on June 27. While not much is known about the film’s plot, we do know that Cady will return alongside her mother (played by Allison Williams). M3GAN herself, of course, is sure to play a key role and scare audiences silly. Get a taste of the movie by watching the teaser trailer.

28 Years Later

First, there was 28 Days Later, then there was 28 Weeks Later. On June 20, the third instalment in the post-apocalyptic horror series, 28 Years Later, will come out. Shot on iPhones, it stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, and is supposedly the first part of a trilogy. The cast and crew shot the sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, back-to-back with 28 Years Later and will shoot the next one at a future date.

28 Years Later, as its title suggests, takes place 28 years after the release of the devastating Rage Virus. It follows a group of survivors who live on an island with a heavily defended causeway. Trouble starts when one of the inhabitants leaves for the mainland on a mission of some kind. Watch the official trailer here. 

Michael

This film will tell the story of the late Michael Jackson, the world-famous and incredibly successful singer who passed away in 2009 at the age of 50. Nicknamed the ‘King of Pop’, he’s one of the highest-selling musicians of all time and made a significant impact on pop culture. Michael is a biographical musical drama that charts the late singer’s life from his time in The Jackson 5 to his untimely death.

Taking on the role of the singer is his nephew, Jaafar Jackson. The film will come out on October 3 and while it will no doubt cover Michael’s many achievements, it’s sure to deal with his controversies too. You can watch the trailer here. 

Superman

Rounding off the list is the first movie in the DC Comics series to be directed by James Gunn, Superman. It focuses on the titular character and his efforts to accept his alien origins and his life as a human being. DC Comics movies were previously part of the so-called DC Extended Universe. Superman will be the first instalment in the new DC Universe series and will also serve as a reboot of previous Superman films.

Superman is set to be released on July 11. It’s actually been in development since October 2014, though it experienced a number of delays and setbacks. Henry Cavill, who had previously played Superman, was attached to the project in its early stages, though it was eventually decided that the role would be recast. Here’s the official teaser trailer. 

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10548174/

https://news.sky.com/story/most-anticipated-films-coming-to-cinemas-in-2025-13260867

https://screenrant.com/megan-2-movie-m3gan-cady-images/

https://www.gamesradar.com/dc-james-gunn-movies-shows-dcu-chapter-one-gods-and-monsters/

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Noubar Afeyan Delivers Notions Of Polyintelligence For AI In Life Science

Science and Health

We can really understand the world better through the application of AI.

All over the world, there’s a sense that we’re at the edge of a precipice, or perhaps more accurately, at the foot of a great ladder, ascending into new echelons of wisdom and capability.

I was reading a recent essay by Noubar Afeyan on the rise of a new kind of intelligence called ‘polyintelligence’ and the context of how we got here.

Afeyan is the founder of Flagship Pioneering who spoke at the MIT graduation last year. He has some very interesting things to say about the application of history to a new era.

The Polymath Principle
Near the beginning of his piece, Afeyan illustrates how Individuals and teams embrace a sort of “renaissance” approach to knowledge, using Leonardo da Vinci as an example.

“The term polymath is fitting for his unique intellect: someone with insatiable curiosity, a capacity to synthesize information from diverse areas, and a knack for connecting seemingly unrelated concepts to create groundbreaking ideas,” he writes. “Polymath seems to only suitably describe human intelligence, but if Leonardo teaches anything, it is that nature is intelligent, too, providing a wellspring of innovation and wisdom.”
Expounding on what it means to be a polymath, Afeyan remarks on the interconnection of different disciplines, and a unified approach to analysis, and then posits a sort of intersection between AI, human intelligence, and the intelligence of the natural world, or “nature‘s intelligence.”

History of AI and Human Intelligence
Midway through the essay, Afeyan goes back to the origins of knowledge – in fact, back to human striving to attain unified knowledge, in the book of Genesis, and then (much) later, the dramatic rise of computing and everything that it represents for human capabilities.

He specifically references the Dartmouth conference in 1956, which I have written about in the past as a landmark in the 20th century, directing us toward the future that we are now in.

Then there’s the human genome project in the 2000s, and other stations in this quickly evolving world where we’re starting to use the products of LLMs and neural networks as independent cognitive agents.collageNoubar Afeyan
A New Chapter
“Polyintelligence creates the potential to unify the organic, the human, and the technological,” Afeyan writes, describing processes of applying AI and human intelligence to life science. “It invites us to reimagine intelligence as a network of connections that transcends boundaries, enabling us to think, create, and innovate at a depth and scale that can produce solutions to some of the world’s most intractable, contemporary challenges.”
As concrete examples, he references sperm whales, and the application of AI to their communications, and I’ve also written about this based on some of the experts I’ve heard at conferences.
Another example is very different, and impacted our world immensely. It was the struggle for a Covid vaccine as the pandemic ravaged global society.
In his graduation speech, which I heard, Afeyan talks about his work on vaccines at Moderna, and how leveraging state-of-the-art capabilities led to a quicker process to inoculate people against the dreaded respiratory disease.
That should stand as an example of why this kind of work is important.
He talks about “mission impossible,” and embracing these big tasks, using all of the tools that are disposal.
The Rise of Agentic AI
Later on, Afeyan also talks about agentic workflows, which is front and center in the research that many teams are doing now. I’ve been hearing about single-agent and multi-agent AI systems more as 2025 begins. Part of this has to do with game theory – computers understanding how humans work – but other aspects of it involve tackling complex tasks, and being able to create sophisticated results without human prompting or detailed human oversight.
Ruminating on such developments, Afeyan tells us to “buckle up” and talks about “what if” scenarios.
“The ultimate reward,” he writes, “is a collaborative future in which the boundaries of knowledge continuously expand, reshaping human health, planetary health, and the very nature of discovery itself.”
All of this is worth thinking about as we move into a new year that’s going to be its own fulcrum for cutting-edge technologies and their impact on our world.

Spreading a love of books among the community

Arts & Culture, Books

By KIANA BROOKS-AMOR

TWO local women are defying the odds and spreading the love of reading throughout the Latrobe Valley.
Despite Australia’s poor reading skills according to the Grattan Institute, Stephanie Ridding built her ‘Yeah Nah Library’ community box on Hammond Street, Yinnar in April last year.
Just a few months ago, she met and inspired local high school teacher Tierney Evans to create Rogers Reads Library.
The two libraries welcome regular visitors and create opportunities for social connection.
The Yeah Nah Book Club evolved from there. Its members had never met each other in person before, but now encourage each others’ reading enthusiasm and catch up outside the book club.
Local resident and Yeah Nah Book Club member, Zoe Ryan visits both libraries fortnightly.
“I only just started reading books when Steph put hers [library] in,” Ms Ryan said.
“My husband’s always joking, ‘You’ve just learnt to read’.”
The success of these libraries is partly due to their modern style. Ms Ridding and Ms Evans accept book requests, use social media as well as guest books to engage with visitors, and allow visitors to take or donate.
“The goal of it is not to have it always functioning: taking one and leaving one. It’s more about inspiring people to enjoy reading in my community,” Ms Ridding said.
“If someone comes, never donates a book to my library, but grabs a bunch, takes them home and develops a love of reading, then that’s the purpose of my library; that would make me so happy to hear.”
Furthermore, the owners supply books they would recommend to friends rather than relying on donations alone.
Ms Evans said she hopes that free, good quality books attract and excite people back into reading.
“Everyone wants to be able to read. It’s just, you fall out of love with it because you haven’t read a good book in such a long time,” she said.
Local resident Leigh Albon, Ms Ryan, Ms Riddling and Ms Evans agree that readers feel less pressure to finish books they do not enjoy when the books are free.
Also, Ms Ridding said that the traditional size of the libraries meant visitors are “overwhelmed” with choices.
Mr Albon said that the community library format allows new readers to learn what genres they enjoy and what authors or series to look out for in bookstores.
Yeah Nah Library particularly caters to mums.
“For busy mums, it’s really hard sometimes to participate in hobbies and you can lose yourself in the early stages of motherhood. It was something I loved so much I wanted to share with others, particularly mums and women in my area,” Ms Ridding said.
She said that about three mums visit Yeah Nah Library every day.
Ms Ryan said that she wanted to commit to reading when she became a mum and Yeah Nah Library supported her goal.
“Now that I have a one-year-old, one of my favourite things is sitting down before bedtime and reading to him,” she said.

Manipulating Quantum Entanglement at the Nanoscale: A Breakthrough in Science

Science and Health

In a groundbreaking study published in Nature Photonics, researchers have unveiled a novel technique for generating pairs of entangled photons using a unique arrangement of layered semiconductor materials. Quantum entanglement, a fundamental phenomenon of quantum mechanics, allows particles, such as photons, to become correlated in ways that remain mysterious to classical physics. Albert Einstein famously dubbed this “spooky action at a distance,” a concept that continues to intrigue scientists and engineers alike. The study, led by a team of researchers from Columbia Engineering, focuses on improving the efficiency and scalability of photon-pair generation. Until now, creating such pairs typically involved the use of bulk crystals, which not only consume significant energy but also require considerable space—often preventing integration with microtechnology. As quantum technologies advance, the demand for compact and efficient systems capable of producing entangled photons has surged. The newly proposed method involves stacking thin films of molybdenum disulfide, a layered van der Waals semiconductor. The researchers rotated each layer by 180 degrees to facilitate a technique known as quasi-phase-matching, which aligns the light’s phase velocity with the material’s properties, dramatically enhancing photon generation efficiency. This advancement marks the first instance of using this technique in van der Waals materials, effectively unlocking a new realm of nonlinear optics. The implications of this research extend well beyond the laboratory. The ability to efficiently generate entangled photons on a silicon chip hints at a future where quantum devices become more practical for applications in communication technologies, particularly in secure quantum communications. As entangled photons play a critical role in quantum key distribution, the advancements presented in this study could bolster efforts toward secure digital systems resistant to eavesdropping. Additionally, the research team’s findings present a significant step forward in nonlinear optics by offering methods that promise higher performance while consuming less energy. The researchers demonstrated that their device, which measures just 3.4 micrometers thick, could open up new possibilities for integrating with current telecommunications infrastructures. As traditional electronics face limitations in speed and efficiency, the rapid advances in quantum optics and information science may provide an essential alternative. The team recognized the material’s impressive properties but faced initial challenges when light waves interfered with one another during transmission. This phenomenon, known as phase mismatching, posed significant hurdles for practical implementation. To resolve this, they applied periodic poling, allowing for the control of light propagation within the layers. By manipulating the optical characteristics of the light, they enabled the generation of photon pairs at telecommunications-relevant wavelengths. P. James Schuck, the study’s lead author, articulated the broader significance of the work, emphasizing the device’s potential to bridge macroscopic and microscopic realms of optics. With the continuous push for miniaturization in technology, the ability to condense entangled photon generation to the scale of a silicon chip is crucial. Schuck envisions that such innovations could be the backbone of future quantum technologies, including tunable entangled-photon pair generators, significantly impacting future communications and computational devices. As the research highlights, van der Waals materials like molybdenum disulfide could become essential components of next-generation quantum devices. The properties of these materials suggest they can outperform existing bulk solutions, providing an ideal foundation for future on-chip quantum technologies. This evolution towards miniaturization also aligns well with current trends in creating smaller, faster, and more efficient electronics. In summation, the research team’s exploration not only advances the field of quantum optics but also paves the way for innovative approaches to secure communication technologies. These excited developments signal a potential revolution in how photon-based technologies are designed and implemented. The prospects of this work suggest a future where quantum devices become as ubiquitous as classical electronics, fundamentally transforming our understanding and utilization of quantum systems. As we look towards the horizon of quantum technology applications, this achievement stands as a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. The ability to create entangled photons efficiently and at a smaller scale could ignite a new wave of research and development that brings us closer to harnessing the full potential of quantum mechanics. Researchers are eagerly anticipating the practical applications of this work in not only communication systems but also in quantum computing, where entangled states lie at the heart of the quantum advantage. Research like this empowers academia and industry alike, suggesting that our understanding of fundamental quantum phenomena could soon culminate in revolutionary technologies. The team’s breakthrough cements the status of van der Waals materials as a cornerstone of modern optics, opening up pathways to previously unimaginable applications. As quantum technologies evolve, initiatives such as this one could chart the course for the next generation of secure, efficient, and powerful electronic systems that leverage the principles of quantum entanglement and nonlinear optics. In conclusion, this research is a pivotal step in realizing the dream of scalable quantum technologies and encapsulates the ongoing quest to merge theory with practical, applicable advancements in the field of quantum science. The breakthroughs achieved by the Columbia Engineering team illustrate the profound potential embedded in the realm of nonlinear optics, which promises to redefine our technological landscape. Subject of Research: Quantum Entanglement and Photon Pair GenerationArticle Title: Quasi-phase-matched up- and down-conversion in periodically poled layered semiconductorsNews Publication Date: October 18, 2023Web References: Nature PhotonicsReferences: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13987619Image Credits: Ella Maru Studios Keywords Quantum Entanglement, Quantum Optics, Nonlinear Optics, Quantum Communication, Photon Pair Generation, van der Waals Materials, Molybdenum Disulfide, Quasi-Phase-Matching, Telecommunications, Quantum Science, Scalable Quantum Technologies, Optical Devices.