If you're looking for ways to further expand your virtual life in the metaverse, maybe consider fostering a dog.
Pet food maker Pedigree is offering metaverse users a chance to foster a pet from the real world — in the comfort of the virtual one. It's being dubbed as the 'FOSTERVERSE' and the goal of the virtual activation is to find sheltered pets forever homes.
In order to be eligible for virtual fostering, a user must be a "landowner" on the metaverse platform Decentraland. Landowners will be given access to the pet adoption site 'Adopt a Pet' and will be able to choose the furry friend they want. Those that do not own land can still interact with pets but cannot adopt.
As part of the activation, Pedigree is also set to match donations to its Pedigree Foundation up to $100,000. The organization specifically focuses on helping dogs find forever homes.
Jean-Paul Jansen, the vice president of marketing for Mars Petcare North America, said that virtual fostering is an expansion of the company's mission to end pet homelessness.
"Both the Pedigree brand and Pedigree Foundation have long histories of supporting animal shelters and promoting dog adoption, and this program enables people to support deserving dogs in a new way through virtual fostering," he said in a statement.
Auction-based advertising infrastructure startup Topsort
raised $8 million in a seed funding round. Topsort says companies like Google and Amazon have been making huge profits from auction-based advertising for decades, but that the technology is complicated, exclusive, and hard to build. The company is trying to be a solution, by offering an auction-based advertising API to smaller retailers and marketplaces. Regina Ye, CEO and co-founder of Topsort, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Lance Ippolito, Head Trader at Future of Wealth, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the President's executive order on crypto is a step in the right direction even though investor sentiment cooled off on Thursday.
After a week of headlines that ranged from a potential criminal investigation by the Justice Department to a 20 for 1 stock split, Michael Pachter, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, joined Cheddar News to shake out what wild week means for the tech giant and what he thinks is behind possible government antipathy towards the company. "If you look at Amazon, Capitol Hill hates them," he said. "And maybe it's just because Bezos looks like Dr. Evil, but I think part of it is that a lot of constituents of these legislators just don't whine at Congress, 'leave my company alone,' the way they do with Disney or Microsoft."
The ongoing semiconductor chip shortage has been impacting everything from the purchase of cars to smartphones. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke with Cheddar about the Biden administration's efforts to combat the issue and if the current crisis in Ukraine will have any impact on the global supply chain problems for semiconductors. "We're working very closely with all of our partners and allies around the globe, just as we have on the export controls and sanctions that we've applied to Russia to deal with that needless aggression," he said. "We're also working with them on the challenges of raw materials for a range of industries, including the semiconductor industry. We believe that we are going to be able to meet the demand for the for the near term."
Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves spoke to Cheddar's Alex Vuocolo about the ongoing semiconductor shortages and the push from the Biden administration to cover the supply chain problem as well as look ahead to future-proofing it.
Card Issuing Platform Marqeta blowing past Wall Street expectations in its Q4 earnings report, with revenue jumping to $155 million, up significantly from the $86 million it reported last quarter. Vidya Peters, Chief Operating Officer, Marqeta, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the company's strong growth as well as her tips for female leaders.
Apple wrapped up its first product event of the year called 'Peek Performance.' The event showcased Apple's new affordable iPhone, an iPad air update, and the most powerful mac chip yet. Ian Sherr, editor at large at CNET, joins Cheddar News to discuss the highlights of the event.
