A few years ago, I decided to venture into a new venture; as a technology enthusiast, I decided to set up an online electronics store, unlike my father, who had a physical store, with the costs and difficulties of attracting new customers that this implies. This got me thinking, what better way to offer technology than through it?

I propose that you take a quick journey to the past, more precisely to the year 2000, the euphoria for technology was total; everyone wanted to acquire their personal computer, a cell phone or even electronic agendas, and everyone wanted to join this trend. The internet was reaching millions of people around the world, and in case you don’t remember it or don’t know it, “The Million Dollar Homepage” was one of the most famous pages at that time. An idea that was so original and revolutionary that it knew how to express a concept so simple that anyone could understand it, selling pixel by pixel from the website to advertise; whoever had their ad on this page had an “identity” on the internet.

This is why I wanted my store to be online, to allow me to reach new customers, and with the help of social networks, I achieved this in a simpler and more effective way. A few years ago, surfing the net was not an easy task; imagine creating a web page. Today it is something totally normal to open an application on our device and look for our favourite store. Little by little, the internet made its way through us to the present day; basically, everything we do now requires an internet connection, from apps to websites, and they have hundreds of categories, blogs, magazines, chats, online stores, presentation pages, just to name a few.

After 2020, with the unfortunate health event, I came to the conclusion it is indispensable for entrepreneurs or companies to have a website, either to work as a platform or a presentation page. A very accurate phrase is, “if it’s not on the internet, it doesn’t exist” it was Bill Gates who made this pronouncement, and now I understand the vision he had at the time. Is this the online identity? My head kept thinking about how complex it could be to create an online store that works properly, is simple for all users to use and looks professional since my knowledge in this area is not the best. For a moment, I thought about hiring a web developer or just following some YouTube tutorials, but surfing the net a bit, I found Wix.com (NASDAQ: WIX), a company that allows you to design and create websites with a very simple interface so anyone can do it.

Platforms that are intuitive facilitate this task, and Wix.com (NASDAQ: WIX) has developed a system that is “modular,” in which a website is born after dragging and dropping different objects into the template we have created, achieving maximum customization without the need to know HTML5, a code used in web programming. Another great advantage I found developing my store is that everything is in one place; that is, Wix.com (NASDAQ: WIX) provides all the necessary services like hosting, domain, certificates and, of course, user support for those that, like myself need professional assistance from designers to help us with the web design even though we’ll be missing all the fun and the opportunity to be creative with my own ideas.

Company websites are what social networks are for us individuals: our online identity, our letter of introduction to the world. Nowadays, one of the first questions we ask when we meet a person is, what is their WhatsApp or Instagram, and the same happens with companies when we talk about one of them. Regardless if they are small or big, we ask about their social networks or website; they identify them, project their image and allow them to connect with their clients.

These tools are a great help for those who, like me, still don’t have the necessary knowledge to carry out our own web pages and designs, removing all barriers to entry and opening the doors to a lot of entrepreneurs who want to venture into the digital market and offer their services at a low cost and without borders, something that is very useful in countries like the one I currently live in, Argentina.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 13, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

Online identity was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Wine has been a very special beverage that has been present in important moments of mankind. Wine has been present in immortality, life and its pleasures and the pleasures and the sacrifice of the human being in the moments of the history of the world. In my personal experience, I have enjoyed since I was a child my father’s gatherings with his friends, enjoying the best wines with good music and listening to conversations about interesting topics that marked my passion for knowing the culture of the moment. That combination of good music, people with a certain cultural knowledge conversing, plus the aroma of wine attracted me to the plus the aroma of wine, attracted and delighted me in a great way.

Those memorable spaces, in the company of a good glass of wine, many call them encounters with the language of wine, and so much so that I have met friends who are so fond of wine that they see it as a religion. They know every element and characteristic of the world’s most and characteristics of the most precious wines in the world and, for them, it is truly a pleasure to do wine tastings and visit the best restaurants appreciating that experience with a great wine of a good brand. One of the wines that have impressed me for its aroma, texture and taste is the Cabernet Sauvignon wine from the Peter Mondavi series of Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ). The Peter Mondavi wines are classified as high-end. Experiencing the ritual of tasting with a sense of pedagogy and taste orientation of these wines is truly spectacular. And if you complement it with a turkey dinner with the subtle woody aromas of this wine, it generates a sign of distinction and good taste.

I think it was an excellent decision by Constellation brands (NYSE: STZ) to acquire Peter Mondavi’s wine series, as it is in line with their mission to have and develop wine brands that make brands that make a difference in the world. Today, Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) is one of the leading companies in the production and distribution of brands such as prisoner, the same Peter Mondavi, Casa noble, Meiomi and Kim Crawford.

How is it that wine has managed to stay popular throughout the ages and across generations? We can relate that, since genesis, one of the earliest references to wine and its consumption, was by Noah, since he was the first to cultivate wine and even Cam caught him inebriated receiving mockery from him. If we go back to the time of Jesus, in the Eucharist, the blood of Christ is represented through wine as a symbol of spiritual renewal. And in the Middle Ages and until the middle of the 20th century, wine was related to religious rituals, quotations of relevant poets and accompanied famous painters to achieve pauses and greater inspiration at the moment of being creative with painting.

One of the literary connotations that have attracted my attention is the one that Homer wine when he warns us about the danger of abusing too much wine in literary works like the Odyssey. According to Homer, wine caused the wisest of men to sing and smile like a child, attracted, deceived and pushed to say abruptly what should remain silent. In today’s times, companies like Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), seek to promote wine as something unique and differentiating. Wine lovers relate their lives to wine to tell and relate their dreams of greatness; you can even read them on social media recounting their vacation stories and visits to famous restaurants while enjoying a special wine. Others connect with the taste, texture and aroma to enhance romance and seek an environment for eroticism, as well as the search for integration into social culture.

Current generations, such as millennials and generation z, are beginning to enter the target audience for wine sales. These generations are more curious to know what is behind a bottle of wine, demanding environmental certifications, as well as knowing the amounts of alcohol. In this aspect, Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) leads the way by developing environmental care programs, as well as programs to raise awareness of the risks and consequences of the harmful use of alcohol.

Finally, the future of wine lies in achieving sustainable production by incorporating new resource-saving technologies, with data analytics, to achieve greater traceability and efficiency in the use of water and crop protection in the face of climate change.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 14, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

Wine and humanity was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When we hear the name Jack Daniel’s by Brown-Forman Corp (NYSE: BF), we all know what it refers to; some like me, will say on the rocks, others might say “straight” or “pure,” but there will also be those who are more into cocktails and prefer an “old fashioned” or simply a “Jack and Coke” for example. That’s what Jack Daniel’s is all about — versatility.

Whether it’s a wedding, Christmas party, graduation, the birth of a child, or business dinner to close a contract, any occasion can be the perfect occasion to enjoy this spirit; even just enjoying it with your father’s company makes for a majestic moment. Jack Daniel’s is not bourbon as many believe, but a whiskey, which differs due to an additional step in the production process, in which the new spirit passes through a saccharine maple charcoal filtration for a few days to smooth the distillate before aging in the barrel.

Jasper Newton Daniel, the creator of this iconic Tennessee whiskey, was apprenticed to Reverend Dan Call and Nearest Green at the Lutheran minister’s distillery. As a young boy, Jack left home because of problems with his stepmother, and in the late 1850s, he went to live and work on Reverend Call’s farm. Call ran a distillery on his farm under the command of the then-slave Nathan “Nearest” Green, who also served as a distiller. The latter was an African slave who taught young Jack how to distill, but these contributions had been erased from history.

The Reverend had to sell his business, “the distillery,” to Jack after receiving an ultimatum from his congregation demanding that he stop producing whiskey or stop being a minister, by then Nearest was a free man, and so he was hired by Jack as Master Distiller, who apart from being an employee became a great friend of Jack and even his children were also friends and employees of Jack Daniel’s distillery.

It is interesting to note that Jack never owned slaves; he worked with them side by side, where all the workers were hired men, and at the age of 16 Jack was already a master distiller, officially establishing his Jack Daniel’s distillery in 1866, the first registered distillery in the United States. Jack Daniel’s was a man of good taste and a stickler for detail, which is why he was so meticulous with the blend “the recipe for producing whiskey”, 80% premium corn, 12% barley and 8% rye, a blend that has been used for 150 years without being changed and is the same as the one used today.

Such was the success of this blend that in 1904, Jack’s infamous Old №7 whiskey won a gold medal at the St. Louis World’s Fair; in fact, it had no difficulty in standing out and winning the first gold medal for best whiskey. Mr. Jack never married or had children, so in 1907, he left the company to one of his nephews, Lem Motlow, due to health problems, after injuring himself one morning at work by kicking his safe in anger when he could not open it, so he suffered from sepsis and died on October 10, 1911, in his homeland of Lynchburg.

Lem takes over the management of the business, and his younger brother, Jess, takes over the whiskey production. Both experienced the greatest challenges the distillery could face: Prohibition and the Great Depression. In 1942, in the midst of World War II, supplies became scarce, making Old №7 harder to come by but even more prized and tasted by those who could find it, so demand soared. In 1957, Brown-Forman Corp (NYSE: BF) bought the distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It was bottled in two formats: the classic rectangular bottle, black label with 45% alcohol content, and the green label with 43% alcohol content. In 2004, the alcohol content was reduced to 40 % to facilitate production in several jurisdictions.

With worldwide sales volume exceeding 13.5 million 9-liter cases in 2021 (which equates to 162 million 750ml bottles when you do the math), it’s a clear indicator of how incredibly popular Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is, so much so that Frank Sinatra himself was a die-hard fan of Tennessee whiskey. Frank Sinatra tasted it in 1947 in a bar and became its biggest fan to the extent of calling it “the nectar of the gods” and asking for a bottle to be kept backstage at his performances, at the base of his microphone on stage, in his private jet, in his jacket pocket, he even asked to be buried with a bottle, such was his devotion to old №7.

Jack Daniel’s Old №7 Tennessee whiskey is as cool as his own story.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 10, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

From the distillery to the glass was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Have you ever wondered what our life would be like today without the existence of airplanes? Without a doubt, everything would be completely different. Vacation trips would be delayed, and package shipments would still be a challenge. Aviation has marked a before and after in our era and is one of the most important industries in the world, as it has a great impact on the global economy, tourism and people’s mobility.

With the development of increasingly advanced technologies, aviation has become an essential tool for progress and economic growth worldwide. One of the main advantages of aviation is the mobility it offers. With flights crossing the globe, people can travel anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. This has led to an increase in tourism and trade, which in turn has driven economic growth around the world.

When I lived in Colombia, I was part of the Colombian civil defence as a volunteer, and among all the training we had, one of them was the transfer of injured people by helicopters, so you could save much more time than going by land in the middle of a road accident, where maybe there are dirt roads and no second level hospital around or in cities where there is so much traffic that it would be useless to try to go by land and arrive in time to save the life of a patient.

Personally, being in the health area, more precisely in medicine, I see colleagues who already work in the field of emergency medicine and general surgery here in Argentina and in neighbouring countries where they make health brigades and use air transport on a daily basis to meet the objectives of their practices. It makes me think that, without a doubt, medical transport aircraft are essential to transfer patients urgently to specialized hospitals, and rescue aircraft are a vital tool in emergency situations.

In addition, it has also improved efficiency in the industry. Commercial flights allow companies to transport their products and supplies across the world in a short period of time, which has led to an increase in competitiveness and productivity in the industry, thus having a positive impact on safety and medical care. Amid this era of aerospace technology, Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) has emerged as a leading manufacturer of aerospace and high-tech components. The company specializes in the manufacture of gas turbine components, combustion engine components, aircraft structures and cast aluminum components.

With more than 75 years of experience in manufacturing high-quality aerospace components and a highly skilled and experienced engineering and design team, Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) has invested in advanced manufacturing technologies to increase its production capacity and improve efficiency in its processes. For example, the company has implemented 3D printing technology in the manufacture of gas turbine components, which has enabled greater design flexibility and a significant reduction in manufacturing time. In addition, the company has developed high-strength coating technology to improve the durability and corrosion resistance of its components.

The company has operations around the world, including factories in North America, Europe and Asia, enabling it to offer a wide range of products and services to its global customers. Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) has established strategic alliances with other leading companies in the industry to develop new products and technologies and to enhance its global market presence. All these points make it a company that will continue to grow over time and with great strength in aerospace technology.

Aviation has had a significant impact on our lives, and as technologies advance, it has become an essential tool for progress and economic growth around the world. Howmet Aerospace (NYSE: HWM) is an example of how leading aviation companies are investing in advanced technologies to improve their processes and products. Commercial aviation remains an essential industry in our modern era and will continue to be a vital part of our daily lives.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 9, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

Flying without borders was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The beginning of the 20th century has marked a before and after in the history of mankind; this is due to various events of different kinds that led to a huge conflict, the first world war. One of the greatest advantages that an army could have at this time was the performance power of its vehicles for the most extreme situations. An engineer named Max Friz was primarily responsible for the successful water-cooled 4-cylinder engine that powered German aircraft during combat. The company behind Max’s work was dedicated to the manufacture of aircraft engines and was founded during the war in March 1916.

Various feats that German pilots achieved during combat were mainly due to the great performance of this product. Once the war was over, the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the manufacture of aircraft engines in Germany, so the company we know today as BMW (BATS EU: BMW) was forced to reinvent itself and start producing something new. They applied their aeronautical expertise to produce motorbikes that proved to be a success in two-wheeled racing, providing the ideal marketing to generate a significant increase in sales.

Years later, the brand’s first automobile was produced, which achieved great performance for the time with a top speed of 74 km/h (74 mph). Aircraft remained a focus for BMW (BATS EU: BMW), and the company’s reputation in the aviation sector was a great help in gaining the trust of those who bought its motorbikes and automobiles, so they increasingly sought to emphasize the relationship between wheeled vehicles and aircraft in their designs and commercials. In fact, for this reason, the logo depicting the blades of an aeroplane is still used today. Like any company in its beginnings, not everything could be rosy. In 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War, the company was forced to suspend the production of cars in order to use all its resources in the confrontation, its motorbikes transported the armies, and the planes flew with their engines.

As a result, its factories became a target for German enemies, suffering fierce bombing that left its production plant in ruins. After the war, BMW (BATS EU: BMW) had to rebuild its facilities from scratch and without capital, and motorbikes seemed to be the best way to resume business. Some six years after the end of the world conflict, precisely in 1951, the company was back in full operation, launching its first post-war car. Since then, BMW (BATS EU: BMW) has become a very successful company over time thanks to its flexibility to adapt to the context, a key for any entrepreneur who wants to move forward with a personal project.

I dare say that any change, challenge or problem that arises without having foreseen it before will make us move towards our goals with greater speed and maturity; even if we do not see it this way at the time, we will later understand that this situation was necessary to be able to grow. If we avoid blaming the context and overcome the obstacle, we will become more capable people. The next time you think of undertaking something, don’t torture yourself by trying to have everything perfectly calculated before taking action, because it could happen to you like BMW (BATS EU: BMW), which in less than a decade had to reinvent itself several times, and as far as we know, they have been successful at it.

None of us can overlook a vehicle of this brand today; even my mother, who knows absolutely nothing about cars, can spot one of them on the street and would be scared just by imagining a drive on the motorway at 250 km/h, which, by the way, is the speed that some of the models with sports packages can exceed without the slightest difficulty. For engine lovers like me, whenever we think of speed and performance, to a greater or lesser extent, we will always have a BMW in mind.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 7, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

Adapt to overcome was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I was nine years old, I was about to start the fourth year of the school cycle. Every year the teacher in charge of each class sent a note to the parents of the students with the list of utensils we would need for the whole cycle. That year the list had a particularity; one of the items said, “A fountain pen.” Writing with a fountain pen was intimidating for a young child, but the school program introduced the subject of penmanship at that time. In retrospect, I am thankful that I paid special attention to those lessons, as being introduced to the different typographic styles as a child greatly shortened my later education in graphic design.

One day I forgot to bring my pen to school, and my teacher sent me to the next classroom to see if a student in another class had a spare to lend me. When I didn’t get a favourable response, the homeroom teacher rummaged through her purse and pulled out a purple pencil case. She handed it to me and uttered a phrase that I remember clearly to this day: “take care of it as if it were gold.” It was certainly a lot of responsibility for a nine-year-old boy looking at that case and trying to figure out what was so special about it. Back then, the word “Waterman” engraved on the case meant nothing to me.

It was many years before I discovered that Waterman, owned by Newell Brands (NASDAQ: NWL), is synonymous with perfection in fountain pens, not only for its functionality but for its aesthetic beauty and use of refined materials in its construction. Today, the Waterman (NASDAQ: NWL) pen has become my gift of choice for those I care about who are graduating from college. Becoming a professional includes signing documents and contracts, and some of them are so important that, in my view, they should not be signed with an ordinary pen.

Its inventor, Lewis Edson Waterman, suffered first-hand the consequences of using a defective pen on an important occasion in his professional career. Lewis was working as an insurance agent and was about to get a new client to sign a very lucrative contract with his company. But the pen they were going to use to sign the document was of poor quality and produced ink stains on the paper, rendering it unusable. Lewis had no choice but to travel to find a new document. Imagine his surprise when he returned to find that his prospective client had not waited for him and had signed a contract with his main competitor.

Lewis’ disappointment and curiosity led him to start working on the creation of a new system that would prevent ink from dripping. In 1884 he patented the capillary action system that allowed the ink to flow steadily from the body of the pen to the nib, thus avoiding the accumulation of ink. The invention revolutionized the industry and became the standard adopted by other brands. Lewis sadly passed away a few years later, but his nephew Frank would go on to honour his legacy, expanding the reach of his products worldwide and introducing important innovations such as the cap and clip.

Today Waterman (NASDAQ: NWL) is the second-largest fountain pen manufacturer in the world, and the overall industry exceeds $1 billion annually. Although the use of digital technology has significantly reduced the use of paper documents, pen manufacturers have adapted and turned them into luxury and even collector’s items, increasing sales year after year while the number of units sold is decreasing. Today we find limited edition designs worth more than $200,000 dollars because they are handcrafted with materials such as gold and diamonds.

On the other hand, they were able to position themselves in markets where handwriting continues to be a traditional and cultural issue, such as the Chinese market, which is currently the largest consumer of fountain pens in the world. The sensation of writing by hand is irreplaceable. The sound of the pen brushing the paper and the texture of the paper in our hands make the experience organic and pleasurable. Calligraphy is an artistic expression that does not seek to compete with current technologies but rather to passively conquer its beauty.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 6, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

Written by hand was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Argentina has the characteristic of making films based on real events with their uniqueness, peculiarity and their own jargon, so when a foreigner can watch films (or series, even) from this country, he or she is absorbed by seeing a world out of the ordinary with the most colourful nuances. In fact, one of the last Argentine films I saw was “The Robbery of the Century” (2020), which tells the story of one of the most ingenious and sophisticated robberies in Argentine history, where the violence was actually staged. In effect, the sophistication consisted of using toy guns, which made the robbery more of a “psychological” type, staging a sort of play so that not only did they have to think about the “technical” of making a tunnel, but also the “psychological,” which was to deceive the hundreds of police officers who would be outside.

I looked up the details of the case, and it turns out that the company guarding the goods was none other than Brink’s Company (NYSE: BCO). For those of you who are not familiar with Brink’s Company (NYSE: BCO), it is a company that specializes in the secure transportation and handling of valuables across the entire logistics value chain, from raw materials and components to final products within the mining, banknote, precious metals, jewelry, art and industries.

But to talk about Brink’s Company (NYSE: BCO), you have to go back to 5 May 1859, the day it was founded, with Perry Brink as its founder. As early as 1900, Brinks made its first bank delivery: 6 bags of silver dollars and thus became the world’s first money carrier. It already had 85 carriages and 200 horses, and the Operations Manager was a veterinary surgeon, but in 1904, with advancements, the petrol-powered Knox model carriage was the first motorized vehicle put into service by Brinks. This vehicle ran at 40 km per hour and replaced 12 horsepower.

By 1961, international expansion had begun with the installation of new subsidiaries in Europe and in 1966, Brink’s Company (NYSE: BCO) entered the Latin American market, opening a subsidiary in Brazil. In 1970 it opened new subsidiaries in Venezuela and Mexico, and by 2008, the company had invested US$140 million in the expansion of its global operations. One of the variables that have allowed Brinks to stay in business for 150 years is its employees.

The company recognizes their fundamental value in the development of the business and allocates significant resources and efforts to training programmes at all levels through which it tries to ensure that each of the people who work at Brinks returns home safe and sound every day. Specifically in Argentina, since 2005, they have had a collection solution for SMEs, something unprecedented for the market worldwide. In this way, small and medium-sized Argentinean companies were able to access services that were previously reserved only for large companies and banks.

Brink’s Argentina was also a pioneer in the launch of two services that later gained international acceptance. On the one hand, Carga Segura, an innovative service for the transport of valuable or sensitive goods in large armoured trucks. And also CompuSafe, an innovative solution comprising of smart safes with note readers, the collection service in an armoured truck, and a management software that allows the client to monitor the process at any time and from anywhere via the Internet.

But now, a new challenge looms, how to cope with the advancement of technology if cash becomes obsolete in the future or if digital money becomes more prevalent than it is today. Brink’s Company (NYSE: BCO) thought about that too and partnered with digital asset custody startup METACO to transport private keys and store them in Brink’s secure vaults. Brink’s offering is part of METACO’s backup and disaster recovery framework and will help store private keys.

Given that institutional digital asset holdings can have very significant financial value, there is generally no single private key that can be used to recover assets. Instead, private keys are effectively fragmented, requiring multiple pieces to be involved in restoring digital asset holdings. In the case of METACO, these key fragments are stored on smart cards and Brink’s will transport and store the smart cards in multiple vaults. There is no doubt that this innovation can bring great benefits, and probably, those who decide to commit a criminal act must become much more sophisticated, perhaps even more so than the perpetrators of the “robbery of the century” in 2006.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 3, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

The theft of the century was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

For each of us, music has left its mark and left great memories. In my personal experience, I feel that music has been an expression of friendship and true love. Accompanying my father to sing serenades as a child and having met my current spouse in a children’s choir since our childhood has been a great gift that I have experienced. Music has been and will be a part of my personal and family life.

There is no country in the world where music is not ingrained and an important part of its culture. One of the important elements of this expansion of music to all corners of the world in society is due to technology, and Sirius XM Holding (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a company that can give us a clue as to why this expansion is happening. Now, let’s look at how music has evolved since its origins and how humans have adapted it at the most important moments in its history.

There really is no exact date for the origins of music; what is certain is that it has been with us forever as it has to do with the emission of sounds that add some meaning to our relationship with our lives and our environment. This connection with music has inspired human beings to strengthen their beliefs, rituals, and their relationship with important moments of humanity. During prehistoric times music was a form of expression, and it is known that the instruments must have been percussion instruments. People created music with their own voices and materials such as wood, stones, skins, ivory and animal bones. Today, many peoples, especially indigenous peoples, continue with these customs that exalt gods and beliefs related to their faith.

According to musical history, the oldest instrument recognized by science is a flute made from swan bone and was used to make calls. The bow, used for hunting, originated sounds and since then was the beginning of stringed instruments. Incidentally, there was a time in prehistoric times when metals such as copper, bronze and iron were used to create a kind of instrument called the Karnay, which was a kind of trumpet made of upright metal to call for fights and disputes with the enemy. From prehistoric times to the present day, human interaction with music has been a means to achieve its purposes.

Of course, the interaction with music throughout history was not for self-defence, ritual or belief. In the most ancient civilizations of mankind, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and ancient China, music found an expression where certain people, such as priests and religious leaders, could only access music to promote their beliefs, Christian rites and praises. It was only during the Renaissance and Romanticism that music expanded, with greater force, from the religious and managed to develop popular music expressed in madrigals and Christmas carols, until reaching classical music where you can witness works and concerts of high relief through musicians of the stature of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven, among others. In this way, music became a symbol related to culture and education. A stage began in which professional musicians who left their mark on humanity itself began to stand out.

This expansion with the popular is happening today, where music connects people of all ages and where technology is a key factor in supporting this massification. Today, music is increasingly portable and integrated into every aspect of our lives, and with every moment we interact with our environment. We listen to music while playing sports when we want to be creative or simply when we want to be in good company with friends and family.

As an example, we can highlight the company Sirius XM Holding (NASDAQ: SIRI), which promotes a satellite radio service in the United States and Canada. Sirius currently provides 69 music channels, as well as sports, news and entertainment channels to listeners. The music channels are broadcast 24 hours a day without commercials. Today, music is expressed through different genres such as Pop rock, country, hip-hop, jazz, and Latin music, among others, and what I really like about Sirius XM Holding (NASDAQ: SIRI) is that, through its platform, you can listen to all kinds of music and music genres with singers from the likes of Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Eminem and many more. It is also an update channel that broadcasts the latest Grammy Awards and the promotion of famous musicians such as Billy Joel.

In the future, I think electronic music will become more famous. Computers will continue to play a major role and in some cases, ultimately replace traditional musical instruments. The new applications that exist will have more influence on the rhythm than the vocal. Finally, the connection of music with urban expression, promoting the realities and experiences of each society, is a phenomenon that will become increasingly important and is already generating great debates in today’s world.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Mar 2, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

The evolution of music was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A few years ago, I moved abroad for work. Although I had brought some of my favourite personal care products with me, I found that it was difficult to find my favourite brand of toothpaste in the country I was in. Desperate to find a toothpaste I liked, I started trying different local brands, but none of them left me with the fresh, clean feeling I liked. That’s when I came across a tube of Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) toothpaste at a local drugstore.

It was an indescribable thrill to find a product I knew and trusted in a place so far from home. Since that day, I have always made sure to have a supply of Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) toothpaste with me, regardless of where I am in the world. That experience made me appreciate even more the global availability of Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) and its commitment to customer satisfaction. It gave me peace of mind knowing that I could always count on a high-quality, reliable product, even in an unfamiliar location.

This experience reminded me of the importance of having a familiar and trusted product in times of uncertainty and made me appreciate the brand even more. Like toothbrushes, the Egyptians used a paste to clean their teeth around 5000 BC, even before toothbrushes were invented! It is also known that the ancient Greeks and Romans used toothpaste and that the people of China and India also used it around 500 BC.

In North America, the first commercially produced toothpaste was introduced in 1873 by Colgate. It was sold in jars and was not a great commercial success. In 1892, a dentist named Dr. Washington Sheffield was the first to put toothpaste in a collapsible tube. In ancient China, a variety of ingredients were used over time, such as ginseng, mint herbs and salt. The ancient Greeks and Romans used crushed bones, oyster shells, charcoal and tree bark.

Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is an American company founded in 1806 by William Colgate, who started out producing soaps and waxes. Over time, the company expanded into the production of personal cleaning products, such as toothpaste, and became a leader in the dental care market. An important milestone in the history of Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) was in 1890 when it launched its first tube of toothpaste, which revolutionized the way people bought and used this product. During World War I, the company began sending toothpaste to soldiers, helping to popularize the product worldwide.

Today, Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is a global brand with a presence in more than 200 countries. In addition to toothpaste, the company also produces oral cleaning products, such as mouthwashes and toothbrushes, as well as personal care products, such as soaps and deodorants. The company has had great success in promoting oral health and awareness of the importance of oral cleanliness. Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) has invested in educational programs and access to dental care in underserved communities around the world.

They are carrying out research and developing new technologies for the near future that allows our teeth to be cleaned using micro-robots and nanotechnology solutions, maybe even during our sleep. Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) continues to focus on innovating dental and personal care, as well as improving their environmental and social impact. As part of this vision of the future, they are also committed to reducing their carbon footprint, increasing recycling efforts and working with sustainable suppliers.

It is a company that has been able to stay at the forefront of technology and market trends. They have always been pioneers in new product development and social responsibility initiatives, making them a trusted and reliable brand. It has a long history of innovation and leadership in the dental and personal care market, its commitment to sustainability and social responsibility is a great value add, and I look forward to seeing them continue to lead the industry in the future.

The transformation Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is undergoing after 200 years in business is amazing, and they are now looking to use data and analytics to transform and accelerate their growth even further.

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Feb 28, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

A surprise abroad was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How many of you, when you were little, spent hours with your toy vehicles imagining and dreaming about different kinds of situations?

I imagined that I was taking my family for a ride; it was a great feeling even though it seemed the most normal thing in the world. In my mind, I would go shopping at the supermarket, and when I came out, I would see my beautiful car waiting for me in the car park (which I drew on the floor of my house). Today, as an adult, I can relive those dreams just by taking a few steps to the garage to get in my car and drive it away. I enjoy every situation involving my vehicle, and for that very reason, I want to take care of it so that it always looks its best.

This group of people like me, who want to see their car impeccable, represents a niche market for certain companies, a great opportunity for those trying to gain the trust of the most meticulous owners. But today’s story begins not on the ground, but in the air, during the Vietnam War, when the need arose to protect helicopter blades that were suffering from premature wear and tear due to dust and flying shrapnel in the air. The solution had to be discreet and lightweight. A company called 3M created a transparent film that was flexible enough to absorb the impact of the blades and keep the helicopter functioning properly.

After the success of this product on helicopters, 3M realized that it could be placed on private cars. They began to develop a variation to protect the front of the vehicle from the impact of stone chips, which in cars have a similar effect to that of the blades, eventually causing the paintwork to peel off and forcing the part to be repainted, losing the authenticity of the factory paintwork. This was one of the most frequent claims of car insurers, so the product nicknamed “anti-chip” began to gain acceptance and was a major novelty of 3M.

One of 3M’s distributors was XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL). This Canadian company had a very important added value, a software called “DAP,” which cut the film with great precision to achieve a more efficient placement. This film came in rolls, and at first, the fitter had to cut it by hand according to the morphology of each vehicle, copying the shape of the panels, which was not easy, and the errors had a high cost due to the waste of material. The software, on the other hand, made the most of the material and shortened the fitting time. Despite offering something unique, XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL) generated losses from 2001 to 2008.

After some time of development, they created “XPEL Ultimate” as the film that solved the weaknesses of the 3M product. This new film did not yellow over time and regenerated itself, eliminating the streaks on the film. Thus, they went from being distributors to being manufacturers. With a product superior to that of 3M, the pupil surpassed the master. XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL) began to lead the market. In 2016, 3M sued XPEL, accusing it of copying the formula. However, there was insufficient evidence to indicate plagiarism, as although they had the same objective, the product was composed differently, and the lawsuit was dismissed.

The application of the product is crucial. If the film and software are great, but if the technician does not do his job properly, XPEL’s effort is worthless. Some argue that the application is more important than the product itself. In fact, a full-body job of this type can cost $4000 to $5000 USD, but only about 10% of that is the cost of the film. This is why XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL) offers training and rewards the best technicians; the company’s business model is complete, and they sell not only the film but also the training to apply it and the complementary “maintenance” products to improve the life of the film. Thus, they achieved economic growth based on the growth of their product portfolio.

XPEL’s growth from 2009 onwards was exponential, its shares went from being worth pennies to over $100 USD in 2021, and this seems to be just beginning, as the company, through new partnerships and agreements, is venturing into other industries such as construction and architecture, offering protection for different types of materials. Will this be a new beginning that will mean sustained growth for XPEL (NASDAQ: XPEL)?

Originally published in Quantfury Daily Gazette on Feb 27, 2023.

Quantfury is everybody’s honest trading free of commissions and borrowing fees at real-time spot prices of global exchanges.

When the student becomes the teacher was originally published in Quantfury on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.