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YouVersion’s Verse of the Year reflects global trend of seeking peace through prayer

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Bible engagement data shows people call on God to overcome anxiety and daily struggles

OKLAHOMA CITY, Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In a record year for app installs and daily use, YouVersion is seeing more people seek God through His Word and in prayer. Reflecting this trend, the YouVersion Verse of the Year is:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6

In a record year for app installs and daily use, the YouVersion Verse of the Year is Philippians 4:6.

With this Bible verse seeing higher engagement than any other verse this year, YouVersion Founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald believes it shows that people are more likely to turn to God when they face anxiety and daily struggles.

“In many cases, our anxiety comes from holding onto worries that we aren’t meant to carry,” said Gruenewald. “To me, this verse being sought out the most this year is an illustration that our community is seeking God in prayer and choosing to trust Him to carry their burdens—and we’re seeing that supported in the data.”

Praying for Peace

In 2024, YouVersion saw increased interest in prayer around the world. Within the Bible App, people can share Prayers with their Friends, indicate that they prayed for others, and complete Guided Prayer sessions that connect people with God through Scripture and prayer prompts. All together, engagement with these YouVersion Prayer features went up by 46% this year compared to last year.

The words “prayer” and “peace” were among the top in-app search terms this year, two themes that we also see in the Verse of the Year. This year, YouVersion’s Prayer Team volunteers responded to prayer requests in 20 languages. Even as these requests came from different countries, there were many common themes, including prayers for finances, healing, family, marriage, and anxiety. 

One of YouVersion’s more than 4,750 global partners, 24-7 Prayer International, is seeing a similar trend in prayer. In addition to its YouVersion Bible Plans, the ministry facilitates 24-7 Prayer Rooms that enable communities and churches in more than 65 countries to come together in person in an unbroken chain of prayer, every hour of the day and night. This year, they saw a 37% increase in the number of 24-7 Prayer Rooms they’re supporting.

“Throughout 2024, we have seen a rise in the number of people dedicating themselves to night and day prayer in different nations around the world,” said Carla Harding, International Director of Products for 24-7 Prayer International. “Our hope is that through continual prayer, the global church would be ignited in the presence of God and carry His love with greater compassion and power to the communities around them.”

Global Trends

Every month of 2024 is on the list of highest months in YouVersion history for both app installs and daily use. Across its Family of Apps—which includes Bible App, Bible App Lite, and Bible App for Kids—YouVersion saw an average of 11.2 million new device installs per month and about 14 million people engaging in the Bible every day. 

This notable growth points to an increased hunger for God’s Word, which extends beyond YouVersion with partners like Tara-Leigh Cobble seeing similar trends. As the creator of “The Bible Recap”—which is a top-ranked daily podcast and the YouVersion Bible Plan with the most engagement this year—she’s also seeing more people engage with Scripture daily.

“Thanks in large part to our partnership with YouVersion, The Bible Recap community has expanded to every continent, impacting some of the most unreached people and places in the world,” said Cobble. “We’re seeing people in more countries and languages read, understand, and love God’s Word than ever before!” 

Regional Momentum

With Bible engagement on the rise around the world, YouVersion is experiencing the fastest growth in daily use in Central Africa, Eastern Africa, and Latin America.

While daily Bible engagement is growing at the highest rates in Central Africa (54%) and Eastern Africa (56%), the entire continent is seeing increased daily Bible use compared to last year. Specifically, countries like South Sudan (82%), Angola (68%), Mozambique (55%), Guinea (50%), Nigeria (35%), and Algeria (35%), saw a rise in daily Bible use in 2024. 

This year, Africa also saw the highest increase in daily use of the Bible App for Kids. With a 13% boost in daily use across the continent, Cote d’Ivoire (32%), Senegal (31%), and Nigeria (23%) had the biggest engagement spikes among kids in Africa this year. The Bible App for Kids, which is available in 70 languages, saw nearly 90 million Bible stories completed by children worldwide in 2024.

In Latin America, YouVersion has been intentional to add more partnerships and regionally-specific content over the last several years. As a result, YouVersion has seen steady momentum in Bible engagement across the region. This year, many countries across Latin America saw another surge in daily Bible use, including growth in Nicaragua (107%), Venezuela (74%), Bolivia (52%), Honduras (50%), Cuba (45%), and Argentina (30%). 

With this sustained growth in Latin America, YouVersion is currently working to open a Regional Hub in Mexico City to further enhance the Bible experience for its Spanish-speaking community. Earlier this year, YouVersion launched its first-ever Regional Hub in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in support of the roughly 1 million Brazilians opening the Bible App every day. YouVersion’s goal for its Regional Hubs is to have a local team recruit content partners and churches to create a more authentic and regionally-relevant Bible experience that helps people better connect with God’s Word on a personal level.

“It’s encouraging to see people throughout the YouVersion Community, in every region of the world, engage with the Bible at such high levels,” said Gruenewald. “These Bible engagement trends highlight the commonalities that can be found throughout the global Church—in the struggles we face and in our need for God.”

For more information and visuals of the global YouVersion Community’s Bible engagement trends in 2024, visit www.youversion.com/2024bibletrends.

About YouVersion
Created by Life.Church, YouVersion designs free, biblically centered experiences that encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day. The YouVersion Family of Apps—including the Bible App, Bible App Lite, and Bible App for Kids—has been installed on more than 875 million devices worldwide. The Bible App offers a Bible experience in more than 2,170 languages and helps people deepen their relationship with God. Bible App Lite is optimized for offline use and helps people access God’s Word in markets with device and data limitations. Developed in partnership with OneHope, the Bible App for Kids helps children engage with the Bible through interactive animations and fun activities. For more information about YouVersion, visit youversion.com.

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SOURCE YouVersion

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Laifen Expands U.S. Retail Footprint with Costco Launch of Best-Selling SE Hair Dryer

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Starting July 18, Costco Members Can Shop Laifen’s Award-Winning Hair Dryer in Select Warehouse Locations Across the U.S.

NEW YORK, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Laifen, ranked the world’s No.1 high-speed hair dryer brand, today announced the launch of its best-selling SE High-Speed Hair Dryer at select Costco warehouse locations, marking the brand’s largest U.S. retail expansion to date and bringing its award-winning haircare technology to Costco members across select U.S. markets.

The launch brings Laifen’s award-winning haircare technology to Costco, making it easier for consumers to experience the brand through one of the nation’s leading membership retailers. Laifen joins Costco’s growing portfolio of premium beauty and personal care brands. The initial rollout includes select Costco warehouse locations across the United States, with a strong presence across the Western U.S., including California, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest.

Costco’s reputation for quality and its highly selective merchandising approach make this partnership especially meaningful. The Costco launch reflects Laifen’s continued expansion beyond direct-to-consumer channels as the brand accelerates its U.S. omnichannel retail strategy. “Costco represents an important milestone in our U.S. retail strategy,” said Romeo, General Manager of International Business of Laifen. “As more consumers seek salon-quality performance at an accessible price, we’re excited to make Laifen available through one of America’s most trusted retailers.”

Engineered to deliver professional-level performance in a sleek, lightweight design, the Laifen SE is powered by the brand’s proprietary high-speed brushless motor, delivering fast drying, reduced heat damage and smoother styling. An intelligent temperature control system continuously monitors airflow to help minimize frizz while protecting hair from excessive heat.

The Costco launch represents the next phase of Laifen’s U.S. retail expansion as the brand continues to grow beyond its direct-to-consumer and online channels. By expanding into one of the nation’s most trusted retailers, Laifen aims to broaden access to its category-disrupting haircare solutions while advancing its mission to bring more thoughtful design and everyday excellence into more homes.

The Laifen SE High-Speed Hair Dryer in White will be available at select Costco locations, while Costco.com shoppers will have access to additional color options including Purple and Pink, alongside the White model.

For more information on Laifen, please visit LaifenTech.com.

About Laifen: 

Founded in 2019, Laifen is a global personal care technology brand combining high-performance engineering with modern design across hair care, oral care, and grooming categories. Ranked the world’s No. 1 high-speed hair dryer brand by Euromonitor International, Laifen first gained recognition for its self-developed 110,000 RPM high-speed brushless motor, the proprietary technology behind its award-winning hair dryers.

Building on this innovation, Laifen has expanded its portfolio to include electric toothbrushes and shavers, delivering premium technology and elevated everyday experiences to consumers worldwide. Today, Laifen products and accessories are used by over 22 million households across more than 60 countries, supported by more than 600 patents and recognized with over 50 international design and innovation awards. Driven by continuous technological breakthroughs, Laifen is committed to making cutting-edge personal care technology more accessible to consumers around the world.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/laifen-expands-us-retail-footprint-with-costco-launch-of-best-selling-se-hair-dryer-302828573.html

SOURCE Laifen

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Pillsbury Notice of Data Breach

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NEW YORK, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (“Pillsbury”) was among many law firms targeted by sophisticated social engineering attempts in an incident last year. While the firm quickly detected and blocked the activity, an unauthorized actor was able to access some of the firm’s documents during a short window of time. Pillsbury notified any impacted clients last year and undertook a detailed process to review the accessed documents for personal information. Pillsbury then began notifying individuals whose personal information was affected. That process is now complete, and today, Pillsbury is publishing substitute notice as a final step.

For more information, please visit the substitute notice on our website at https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/breach-notice.html

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SOURCE Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

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From Remote Racing to Embodied AI: Fibocom and Intedigo Bring 5G Bidirectional Data Transmission into Real-World Applications

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SHANGHAI, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — From July 17 to 20, Fibocom and Intedigo will jointly present a cross-regional, beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) teleoperation demonstration at Booth H3-C408 during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026. Visitors will be able to enter a remote driving cockpit and control a real race car located at HURA PARK in Jiading, Shanghai, steering, accelerating, and braking in real time while experiencing how 5G connectivity enables remote operation.

More than an immersive driving experience, the demonstration provides a live validation of 5G bidirectional data transmission for embodied AI teleoperation. The vehicle continuously sends live track video, vehicle status, and operating data to the remote cockpit, while control commands are transmitted back to the vehicle, creating a closed-loop teleoperation system. Stable, low-latency, and highly reliable connectivity is essential for high-dynamic maneuvers such as high-speed cornering, precision braking, and continuous lane changes.

Developed by Intedigo, the remote driving system connects a real race car with an immersive remote driving cockpit. It supports 1080p@60Hz video transmission, glass-to-glass (G2G) video latency of less than 80 ms, and control latency of less than 10 ms. The demanding racing environment magnifies differences in video continuity and control responsiveness, making communications performance directly perceptible, measurable, and verifiable.

At the joint demonstration, Fibocom’s FM160 5G module provides cellular connectivity for the system. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X62 5G Modem-RF System, the FM160 supports SA and NSA network architectures as well as 3GPP Release 16. On the downlink, it supports NR Carrier Aggregation (NR CA) with bandwidth of up to 120 MHz, delivering peak speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps in NSA mode and 2.5 Gbps in SA mode. On the uplink, it supports UL MIMO and delivers peak speeds of up to 900 Mbps in SA mode. These capabilities support the continuous transmission of HD video and vehicle status data, along with reliable delivery of control commands.

As embodied AI moves into factories, data centers, logistics operations, and industrial parks, robots are becoming increasingly capable of performing tasks autonomously. Yet complex environments, unexpected events, and edge cases still require Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) remote intervention to help ensure safe and reliable operation.

Daniel Liu, CEO of Intedigo, said:

“5G represents the pinnacle of human communications and the starting point of machine communications. In the past, communications connected people to people; in the future, they will connect people to robots and robots to robots. Remote racing is simply the easiest entry point for people to understand this concept. What we are truly validating is a communications system capable of supporting remote collaboration for embodied AI. HURA makes low-latency remote driving a tangible experience, while RoBOX extends this capability to robots and a broader range of intelligent terminals. Together with Fibocom, we hope to enable more machines to receive remote assistance whenever needed while remaining continuously connected and operating reliably.”

Simon Tao, VP of Wireless Solutions Business Group and General Manager of MBB BU at Fibocom, said:

“As embodied AI enters real-world industrial environments, reliable connectivity will become the foundation for telemetry feedback, remote control and operational management. Fibocom’s 5G solutions, represented by FM160, provide the cellular connectivity required for continuous on-site data transmission and reliable control command delivery. Fibocom will continue collaborating with ecosystem partners such as Intedigo to bring cellular connectivity to more robots, autonomous machines and mobile intelligent terminals, enabling embodied AI systems to stay continuously connected and respond reliably in real-world applications.”

From remote race cars to robots, unmanned equipment, and mobile intelligent terminals, 5G is evolving from connecting people to connecting machines. This joint demonstration makes the capabilities of 5G bidirectional data transmission directly perceptible, experiential, and verifiable, helping pave the way for embodied AI to scale across real-world applications.
 

About Fibocom

Fibocom, founded in 1999, is China’s first wireless communication module company listed on both the A-share and H-share markets (300638.SZ, 0638.HK). As a global leading provider of wireless communication modules and AI solutions, Fibocom leverages wireless communication and artificial intelligence as its core technologies to provide integrated hardware and software solutions that empower industry applications. These solutions accelerate the transformation from “Connect Everything” to “Intelligent Connectivity” across diverse industries.

Fibocom’s one-stop solutions encompass cellular communication, AI, automotive, and GNSS modules, as well as AI toolchains, supporting industry-side and mainstream large model integration, and providing AI Agent, global connectivity, and cloud services, driving the digital intelligence upgrades in industries such as robotics, consumer electronics, low-altitude economy, intelligent transportation, smart retail, and smart energy.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/from-remote-racing-to-embodied-ai-fibocom-and-intedigo-bring-5g-bidirectional-data-transmission-into-real-world-applications-302828996.html

SOURCE Fibocom Wireless Inc.

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