2020 Archives - Frank Magliochetti

Innovative Online Gaming Companies Seize Control in 2021

November 24, 2020 By admin

Here we go! The gaming industry is rising like a phoenix from the ashes that will be left behind from the pandemic, leaving other forms of entertainment in the rubble of 2020 watch out 2021!

It has been a tough year for many industries, as COVID-19 emptied the casinos, concert halls, bars, and other real-world entertainment venues. But as 2020 has been a bust for many industries, the year has been a financial boon for online gaming, as consumers look to spend their money and their free time from the comfort and safety of home. Mobile gaming is expected to capture $77.2 billion in revenue this year, according to Reuters, leaping 13.3 percent over 2019.

To grab a share of the revenue, though, online gaming companies must be innovative enough to attract the attention of the 2.7 billion total gamers out there. This year, some found innovation within their own game categories, such as first person shooter, online casino games, arcade games, sports games, action and adventure games, board games, and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs or MMOs).

For example, Roblox built a platform that not only allows users to play their favorite games, such as Jailbreak and MeepCity, but to develop their own games. In just the past year, Roblox has introduced a variety of tools for their 2+ million developers, such as a translation feature that allows them to publish game titles in different languages and an upgrade that allows up to 800 simultaneous players on a server. In 2019, developers earned about $100 million in revenue through in-game upgrades and virtual goods.

Apple Arcade offered users unlimited access to more than 100 games on their iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple TVs for only $5 a month. While offering customers a great deal is not necessarily groundbreaking, finding new ways to make money on products they already sold is. Another power player, Minecraft Earth, brought their popular augmented reality mobile game into the real world. Users can hook up with other crafters to create small-scale masterpieces, and then take their builds into the real world.

Other online games, like Level Ex and Zwift, ventured outside their categorical comfort zones. Level Ex allows doctors to put their clinical skills to the test while earning the continuing medical education (CME) credits they need to practice. Zwift sets itself apart from Pelaton, which provides run-of-the-mill online spin classes, by turning the user’s stationary bike into a video game controller in a way that allows gamers to compete against other cyclists in massive online races.

What 2021 has in Store for Gamers

Next year’s trends will likely involve virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud gaming, artificial intelligence, mobile gambling, and different payment options, but in ways we have never seen before.

Technologically advanced gadgets will help make online gaming even more interactive and immersive. Oculus Quest 2 offers next-level hardware and redesigned controllers that are easy to set up and PC VR compatible. Some companies are looking to make their products more affordable – Google’s Cardboard VR headset is an inexpensive way to experience virtual reality on a smartphone, for example.

WinQuik looks like it will make great gains before the end of the year. The creator of WinQuik, ClickStream, made a November 2020 announcement that they were entering Phase Two of its business plan by launching a mobile marketing campaign. The ads, featuring Pooch Hall and Amber Theoharis, will appear on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and other digital platforms. The online trivia gaming platform looks towards a rosy future in 2021. ClickStream also recently announced that, in the first four weeks after its launch, more than 21,000 1-vs-1 challenges have been played on the trivia gaming platform; nearly 2500 participants were repeat players. The company predicts the number of 1-vs-1 challenges in the platform’s first month will outpace early estimates by a long shot.

Some companies are innovating how they deliver existing games to new audiences. Rush Street Interactive (RSI) is one of the fastest-growing online casino gaming companies because of its innovative approaches to creating and operating online gaming products and social casino sites that offer real money prizes. RSI has recently announced its partnership with NetEnt Group, becoming the first online casino operator in the US to premier some of Red Tiger’s most popular titles, such as Gonzo’s Quest™ MegaWays™ and Cash Volt.

Other companies are providing immersive experiences for gamers. For example, Hopa Canada New Online Casino now offers the award-winning augmented reality game, Monopoly Live, which mixes video game graphics with real-life interactions with real-life dealers to gives gamers the feeling they are playing in a casino. A few companies are collecting data to help them gain a better understanding of what gamers will want in the future.

While it is hard to know exactly what 2021 will bring, it is fairly easy to predict that online gaming will become even more popular in the upcoming year. Companies brave enough to think outside the box will likely attract the most attention (and money) with innovative hardware, expanded platforms, and ingenious advertising approaches.

FRANK MAGLIOCHETTI

Frank was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Designer Genomics International, Inc. The Company has accumulated a growing body of evidence that highlights a link between alterations in the immune and inflammatory systems and the development of chronic human disease. The Company is visionary and has established itself as a leader in the field of inflammatory and immune genetic DNA and RNA biomarkers that play a causative role in debilitating conditions, such as atherosclerosis/heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and cancer.
A proprietary state-of-the art data mining bioinformatics program, called ‘cluster analysis’ will be used to measure disease development susceptibility with potential for earlier diagnosis and intervention. The company is developing a healthcare program based on its proprietary genetic panels that will allow people to be their own healthcare advocate and take an active role in their health status as well as longevity.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is frankmagliochetti_FrankMagliochettiNews.jpg — **Mr. Frank Magliochetti MBA**
Managing Partner
Parcae Capital
www.parcaecapitalcorp.com
www.frankmagliochetti.com

SOURCES:

https://www.reuters.com/article/esports-business-gaming-revenues/report-gaming-revenue-to-top-159b-in-2020-idUSFLM8jkJMl

https://www.apple.com/apple-arcade/

https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/about-earth

https://www.levelex.com/

https://zwift.com/

https://www.onepeloton.com/

https://www.oculus.com/quest-2/?locale=en_US

https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/get-cardboard/

http://www.itnewsonline.com/news/ClickStreams-WinQuik-App-to-Enter-Phase-Two-of-Business-Plan-With-Launch-of-Digital-Marketing-Campaign-Featuring-Hosts-Pooch-Hall-and-Amber-Theoharis/1946

https://www.streetinsider.com/Accesswire/ClickStream+Shatters+1-vs-1+Trivia+Challenge+Feature+Projections%2C+Topping+Over+21%2C000+Games+Played+in+First+Month/17604660.html

https://rushstreetgaming.com/interactive/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201124005552/en/Rush-Street-Interactive-Announces-Third-Quarter-2020-Results-and-Raises-Full-Year-Guidance

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rush-street-interactive-partners-with-netent-group-to-debut-in-the-united-states-online-casino-games-from-its-red-tiger-game-studio-301177104.html

https://ca.hopa.com/live-casino

Filed Under: ClickStream, Featured, Frank Magliochetti, Gaming, Media, Mobile, News, Online Gaming Tagged With: 2020, CLICKSTREAM, FRANKK MAGLIOCHETTI, GAMING INNOVATIONS, SMARTPHOINE GAMING, WINQUIK

Online & Smartphone Gaming

October 20, 2020 By admin

Online & Smartphone Gaming: Today and Tomorrow

Humans have been playing games since the dawn of civilization. Games have come a long way since the Ancient Egyptians played Senet – they’ve moved from wooden boards and tokens of yesteryear to the online platforms and smartphones of today.

Games remain incredibly popular, especially since the coronavirus pandemic sent people scrounging for home entertainment that wouldn’t cost them a fortune. To fill the void, many turned to online games using their smartphones. In fact, games now account for 43 percent of all smartphone use.

Statistica reported game sales skyrocketed 63 percent in just one week back in March of 2020, suggesting that people were turning to home entertainment to fill the void created by self-isolation during the pandemic. During that same month, Steam hit a peak of 23,434,674 concurrent players, smashing their record set a week prior by more than a million players and an enormous increase over the 20 million concurrent Steam players recorded at the beginning of March.

Mobile gaming accounted for more than 58 percent of the gaming market in 2019, and the global pandemic is fueling its growth. In fact, experts think the global mobile gaming market will likely reach $165.9 billion in 2020.

Players can choose from several different types of games, including action games, adventure games, card and casino games, puzzles, role-playing games (RPGs), first-person shooter games, sports and strategy games. Trivia games are especially hot these days.

Launched by ClickStream on September 30, 2020, WinQuik is the latest and greatest entry into the online trivia market. This innovative real-time gaming platform pays users money and prizes. WinQuik pops out up to five multi-player quiz games ever day, featuring well-known hosts, including boxer/actor Pooch Hall, Emmy award-winning journalist/ documentary filmmaker/tech executive Amber Theoharis, chef/TV personality Jordan Andino, and NFL quarterback/aerospace engineer/NASA intern Joshua Dobbs.

WinQuik platform offers a wide variety of new and fascinating topics to keep the games interesting. Quiz categories include survival, crime, history, the human body, cars, food, gaming, geography and more.

Using famous hosts isn’t the only thing that sets WinQuik apart from other gaming apps – it also targets a completely different audience. Unlike apps that hope to attract fantasy players or sports betters over the long haul, ClickStream caters to those casual users who prefer spending just a few seconds to interact with a gaming platform in order to win prizes and real money. Users can get involved in as little as 20 seconds and receive their game results via push notifications.

WinQuik is also free, at least for now. ClickStream will monetize the app with corporate sponsors and advertisers.

Future of Online and Smartphone Gaming

Until quite recently, substandard graphics and slow speeds were the hallmarks of online and mobile games, particularly in comparison to games for PCs and consoles. Because of improvements and advances in technology that provide better support for graphics, though, many notable titles are making the leap from PCs and consoles to mobile platforms. League of Legends: Wild Rift and Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall went mobile in 2020, and many other titles are set to follow. The seismic shift from PCs and consoles will likely shake up the mobile gaming market to create an entirely new experience over the next decade.

A number of factors will shape online and smartphone gaming in the near and far future.

Better graphics

Graphics are significantly more immersive and sophisticated than they were in the days of Pong and Leisure Suit Larry – today’s graphics are smooth and realistic.

Advanced VR And AR Tech

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology will play an increasingly important role in video gaming in the future, especially as the price of virtual headsets drops and their quality rises. A number of online platforms are adopting VR and AR technologies to make their games more exciting, realistic, and immersive.

5G

Slow internet speeds have been the bane of gaming since the dawn of the internet. 5G will change all that with blistering fast speeds and reduced network congestion. Download speeds of 5G will be around 10 times faster than 4G speeds, which will increase download times and accessibility.

Cloud Based Gaming

In the past, users had to store games entirely on their PCs or laptops. Hardware storage demands a significant amount of memory, of course, and this limited the potential power of the game. Local storage also limited where the users could enjoy their favorite games. Cloud-based technology changed all that – users can now play anywhere they can use their phone, and because games are now stored on expansive cloud-based servers, they are no longer limited by the size of their home computer.

It’s hard to say where we’ll be in a few years, when the pandemic is over and technology will have advanced even more, but one thing is certain – we’ll still be playing games.

FRANK MAGLIOCHETTI

Sources

https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-gaming-statistics

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109977/video-game-sales-covid/

https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/22-million-users

http://clickstream.technology/index.php

https://www.winquik.com/

Filed Under: ClickStream, Featured, Frank Magliochetti, Gaming, Media, Mobile, News, Software Development Tagged With: 2020, CLICKSTREAM, FRANK MAGLIOCHETTI NEWS, ONLINE GAMING, SMARTPHONE GAMING, WINQUIK

Covid-19: The Race for a Vaccine Continues

July 25, 2020 By admin

Covid-19: The Race for a Vaccine

The race to save lives has begun. Scientists around the world are speeding to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, a disease that has claimed the lives of more than half a million lives worldwide, and sickened millions of others. Vaccine development usually takes 10 to 15 years, and the long, involved process takes a tremendous amount of public and private involvement. At the current rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections that cause COVID-19 disease, though, the world does not have 10 to 15 years to wait.

On July 18, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed 23 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation. Many were still in Phase 1 to establish their safety and dosage at the time of the WHO review, while others were in Phase 2 to establish their performance under ideal and controlled performance. As of that mid-July WHO review, three clinical trials had entered Phase 3 for testing on large numbers of people, although one vaccine trial had not yet recruited candidates.

Why Must We Wait So Long?

Most vaccines in development never make it to licensing – in fact, many vaccine candidates never make to clinical evaluation on real humans because they fail to produce the desired immune response in the pre-clinical stages of testing in cell cultures and lab animals.

Regulators set a high bar for vaccination approval and often require years’ worth of safety data because, unlike medicines that treat diseases, vaccines are administered to healthy people to prevent illness. Releasing a vaccine could potentially do more harm than good, so many regulatory bodies set stiff guidelines for approval.

It is not yet clear what data federal regulators would accept as proof that a vaccine is safe and successful in the middle of the pandemic. On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said a vaccine must prevent COVID-19 or decrease the severity of illness in at least 50 percent of people who receive the vaccine. The FDA may consider some vaccine candidates for its Accelerated Approval pathway, but that the vaccine candidate must demonstrate an identifiable immune response or other measure that shows it is reasonably likely that the vaccine would provide clinical benefit. Regulators in other nations have not yet announced what they would consider acceptable criteria for approval, which creates a challenge for vaccine makers trying to gain approval.

More Challenges for Vaccine Makers

Vaccine makers also face challenges determining the best way to trigger the immune response. Vaccines typically work by exposing the body to the antigens of a particular pathogen to activate the immune system without causing disease. Made with weakened or inactivated form of the pathogen, these vaccines are often difficult to develop and produce quickly. Because of the urgent nature of the pandemic, researchers are looking for innovating ways to introduce antigens and otherwise activate an immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Four of the 23 vaccine candidates in clinical testing use an approach that involves engineering messenger RNA (mRNA) that tells human cells how to create the antigens themselves.

Moderna is one of those four companies. On July 15, 2020, the biotech company published data from an early-stage trial that shows its vaccine caused patients to generate an immune response by developing antibodies, although it caused some side effects. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the study showed volunteers who receive the vaccine produced substantially more neutralizing antibodies than do most patients who have recovered from COVID-19. A second injection administered four weeks after the initial vaccination was necessary to produce a dramatic immune response. Vaccine experts were not impressed, however, concerned that the data was long on text and short on proof.

Other research teams, such as University of Oxford/AstraZeneca are using viral vector vaccines to speed up the process. Viral vector vaccines use a harmless virus as a kind of Trojan horse that carries the pathogen’s genetic material into cells in order to trigger an immune response. The team released more information about its coronavirus vaccine candidate, AZD1222, on July 20, 2020.

Developing a COVID-19 vaccine will be one of the most exciting and important events in human history, with the potential to save millions of lives around the world. Join us next month when we review the next leg of the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.

To View Frank Magliochetti Press Releases Please CLICK HERE

Frank Magliochetti owes his professional success to his expertise in two areas: medicine and finance. After obtaining a BS in pharmacy from Northeastern University, he stayed on to enroll in the Masters of Toxicology program. He later specialized in corporate finance, receiving an MBA from The Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University. His educational background includes completion of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and the General Management Program at Stanford Business School. Frank Magliochett i has held senior positions at Baxter International, Kontron Instruments, Haemonetics Corporation, and Sandoz. Since 2000, he has been a managing partner at Parcae Capita l, where he focuses on financial restructuring and interim management services for companies in the healthcare, media, and alternative energy industries. Last year, he was appointed chairman of the board at Grace Health Technology, a company providing an enterprise solution for the laboratory environment. Most recently; Frank was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Designer Genomics International, Inc. The Company has accumulated a growing body of evidence that highlights a link between alterations in the immune and inflammatory systems and the development of chronic human disease. The Company is visionary and has established itself as a leader in the field of inflammatory and immune genetic DNA and RNA biomarkers that play a causative role in debilitating conditions, such as atherosclerosis/heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and cancer.
A proprietary state-of-the art data mining bioinformatics program, called ‘cluster analysis’ will be used to measure disease development susceptibility with potential for earlier diagnosis and intervention. The company is developing a healthcare program based on its proprietary genetic panels that will allow people to be their own healthcare advocate and take an active role in their health status as well as longevity.

**Mr. Frank Magliochetti MBA**
Managing Partner
Parcae Capital
www.parcaecapitalcorp.com
www.frankmagliochetti.com

Sources

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/vaccine-development-testing-and-regulation

https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-takes-action-help-facilitate-timely-development-safe-effective-covid

https://www.fda.gov/patients/fast-track-breakthrough-therapy-accelerated-approval-priority-review/accelerated-approval

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483

Vaccine experts say Moderna didn’t produce data critical to assessing Covid-19 vaccine

https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-and-oxford-university-announce-landmark-agreement-for-covid-19-vaccine.html

Filed Under: CoronaVirus, Covid19 Virus, Healthcare Innovations, Healthcare Trends, News, Pandemic, Vaccine Tagged With: 2020, ASTRA ZENECA, COVID-19, FRANK MAGLIOCHETTI, HEALTHCARE INNOVATIONS, MEDICAL INNOVATIONS, MODERNA, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, VACCINE, VACCINE COVID-19, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Top 3 Challenges in Healthcare in 2020

January 14, 2020 By admin

1. Cybersecurity

The medical and healthcare sector collects highly sensitive patient information, which puts the industry in the crosshairs of cybersecurity attacks. There were 2,546 healthcare data breaches involving more than 500 records in the United States between 2009 and 2018, resulting in the in the exposure and theft of 189,945,874 healthcare records – this equates to more than 59 percent of the nation’s population. In 2017 alone, the medical and healthcare sector experienced more than 350 data breaches that exposed 4.93 million patient records.

While experts are still finalizing the breach figures for 2019, it looks to be the worst year yet. Today, the healthcare industry accounts for four out of every five data breaches, according to HIPPA Journal. The cost of these breaches to the industry will likely reach $4 billion in 2020.

Black Book Market Research LLC recently surveyed 2,876 security professionals from 733 provider organizations to identify the reasons healthcare organizations continue to experience data breaches and cyber attacks. They found that budget constraints prevented the replacement of legacy software and devices, which left them more vulnerable to attack. “It is becoming increasingly difficult for hospitals to find the dollars to invest in an area that does not produce revenue,” said the founder of Black Book, Doug Brown, in a press release. Ninety percent of hospital representatives in the survey said that their IT security budgets have remained unchanged since 2016.

2. Transparency

Transparency has been a hot topic for several years, and will continue to be a burning issue into 2020 and beyond. A 2016 survey by Accenture found that 91 percent of consumers wanted to know their out-of-pocket costs before they received care.

Triggered by the Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First issued in June of 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new rules to increase price transparency.

The first rule, Calendar Year (CY) 2020 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) & Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Price Transparency Requirements for Hospitals to Make Standard Charges Public Final Rule, requires that hospitals provide patients with easily accessible information about standard charges for services and items offered. Standard charges must be available in a single data file that other computer systems can read. Hospital websites must display “shoppable services” information in a consumer-friendly format. This rule takes effect on January 1, 2021.

CMS’s second proposed rule, the Transparency in Coverage rule, would impose price transparency requirements on insurers.

3. Patient-friendly Payment Models

Patient financial responsibility for outpatient, and emergency department care is on the rise, with out-of-pocket costs increasing by 12 percent in 2018, according to TransUnion.

This shift towards patient financial responsibility could bog down invoice and payment processing, particularly for practices that do not have an in-house invoicing and payment processing system geared towards accepting payments from patients. These practices will need to build patient portals, secure payment processing, and other infrastructure to handle such payments and fund administrative costs of maintaining these technologies. Furthermore, they will need to ensure their payment portals and processing systems are compliant with guidelines that protect patient information.

Unfortunately, 90 percent of healthcare providers still use paper and manual payment processes, according to a 2018 InstaMed survey. To make matters worse, 70 percent of consumers said they were confused by medical bills. Not surprisingly, 77 percent of providers said it takes more than a month to collect a payment. To be paid on time, providers must overcome the obstacles of upgrading their payment processing systems and clarify billing.

With a little planning – and a bit of luck – those in the healthcare industry can overcome these challenges and put themselves in a great position for the rest of the decade.

To View Frank Magliochetti Press Releases Please CLICK HERE