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Clock Ticking on San Jose Worker Contracts as City Council Eyes July Recess

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SAN JOSE, Calif., June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Several months of tense negotiations between the San Jose City Administration and thousands of dedicated City of San Jose workers have now resulted in two of the City’s largest worker contracts set to expire – just as the San Jose City Council leaves for their July recess. On Thursday, June 18, after receiving the City’s Last, Best, and Final Offer (LBFO) and working to reach a deal before contract expiration, San Jose workers represented by IFPTE Local 21 and MEF-AFSCME Local 101 have called for mediation in order to reach a fair agreement.

Last Wednesday, June 10, workers rallied at San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) to call on the San Jose City Administration to secure a contract that will allow the City of San Jose to retain and recruit excellent public workers. While negotiations continued after the rally, the City’s LBFO remains one that does not invest in city services and one that will not retain the city’s skilled workforce.

Members of both unions are concerned that the upcoming budget has proposed staffing cuts to several departments, including the Library, Public Works, and the Housing Department. Instead of investing in our community, city officials have elected to spend taxpayer money on corporate giveaways through massive contracts with ineffective AI companies and an outrageous $351 million subsidy towards hockey arena renovations. The City could develop a strategy that ensures corporations pay their fair share from benefitting directly from city services. Instead, San Jose insists on cutting taxes for some of the largest corporations that occupy the city, while residents and working families pay more.

“We are the workers who keep San Jose running every day. We’ve shown up at the bargaining table ready to negotiate a fair contract every week. It’s time for the City to turn things around in order to retain workers. San Jose workers and the residents we serve deserve better,” said Carlos Murillo, an Associate Engineer at SJC, and IFPTE Local 21 Bargaining Team Member. “It’s time to invest in our city services. It’s time to put San Jose first.”

“San Jose remains already one of the most thinly staffed major cities in California. The City has a real opportunity. With San Jose being a World Cup host city, we have seen our community come together. San Jose has the potential to highlight the amazing public services our city has to offer and the hard-working people who make those services happen,” said MEF Local 101 Chief Steward Heidi Mendiola, a Police Data Specialist.

San Jose workers haven’t gone on strike in two decades. Three years ago, San Jose workers organized a city-wide strike vote that shed light on the city’s dangerous understaffing and retention issues. Workers are disheartened to know that instead of working on revenue, this administration has instead continued to remain one of the few cities to cap its business license tax on large businesses, with its largest only paying $185,532 in taxes. This includes massive Fortune 500 companies, such as Cisco Systems, which reported $56 billion in revenue and $10 billion in profits for Fiscal Year 2025; PayPal Holdings, which reported $33 billion in revenue and $5.2 billion in profits; and Adobe Inc., which reported $23 billion in revenue and $7.1 billion in profits.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/clock-ticking-on-san-jose-worker-contracts-as-city-council-eyes-july-recess-302805005.html

SOURCE IFPTE Local 21

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SMiT unveils UWB-enabled CI+ 2.0 dongle and Presence-Aware TV platform at IBC2026

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Joint solution combines SMiT secure TV-access hardware, TrueSense UWB technology, The Hashgraph Group’s BrandBoost product and Sofia Digital’s TV application expertise.

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SMiT, a global provider of secure TV-access hardware and solutions, will unveil its Presence-Aware TV platform anchored by a CI+ 2.0 USB dongle integrating Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology at IBC2026, which will be held from September 11 for September 14. The solution is designed for Free-TV and Pay-TV operators and broadcasters seeking privacy-conscious audience awareness, richer viewer engagement and measurable advertising opportunities on the main screen.

The platform brings together SMiT’s secure and deployable TV-access hardware, the TrueSense UWB integration layer for precise identity association and precise relative positioning, The Hashgraph Group’s BrandBoost TV Awareness product, and Sofia Digital’s TV application and user-interface capabilities.

As viewing and advertising budgets increasingly move toward digital platforms, Pay-TV operators need a reliable and consent-based way to understand engagement at the shared television screen. SMiT’s proposition turns the television from a reach-only device into an interactive and measurable surface while keeping the operator at the center of the customer relationship.

How it works

The UWB-enabled CI+ 2.0 dongle connects directly to a compatible iDTV without requiring a separate set-top box. Using TrueSense UWB technology, the system can securely associate an opted-in registered viewer’s smartphone or tag with the television and determine the device’s proximity and relative position with high precision. This enables the TV, the operator application and cloud services to coordinate personalized and interactive experiences.

SMiT pairs its hardware with BrandBoost, The Hashgraph Group’s TV Awareness product. BrandBoost combines privacy-conscious viewer awareness, gamification, targeted engagement and reward workflows. Developed around the UWB layer, allowing the platform to link an authorized digital identity to the viewer’s precise proximity and position relative to the television.

Sofia Digital provides the TV application, operator user experience and integration capabilities required to bring these services to screen.

Demonstrated use cases include:

Live sports ‘Guess & Glory’: prediction and polling experiences with rewards for correct answers.Ad Trivia: interactive overlays during commercial breaks, with credits, vouchers or other operator-defined rewards.Presence-aware personalization: content, menus and offers adapted to an opted-in registered viewer.Location-based authentication: an additional proximity signal supporting account security and password-sharing controls.

Where required by the operator, engagement and reward events can be recorded using Hedera DLT, supporting transparent campaign measurement and tokenized reward models. The combined platform is designed to help operators progress from broad audience estimates toward permission-based, outcome-oriented engagement and advertising metrics.

Live at IBC2026

Visitors to SMiT Stand 2.C36 will be able to experience a live demonstration in which an enabled smartphone approaching the television is associated with the TV session through UWB. The demonstration will show the combined hardware, viewer onboarding, TV interaction, gamification and operator cloud-management experience.

The architecture is extensible to personalized operator interfaces, live sports interaction, targeted advertising, loyalty programs and other presence-aware services. SMiT positions the dongle as a practical add-on for existing Pay-TV operators and conditional-access providers, supporting new services without requiring a complete replacement of the installed TV platform.

More information: www.smit.com.cn/engr/

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/smit-unveils-uwb-enabled-ci-2-0-dongle-and-presence-aware-tv-platform-at-ibc2026–302874587.html

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Reinvented & Upgraded: Kuailu AI CRM into the 2.0 Era

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HONG KONG, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Industry research reveals that 68% of sales data remains untracked outside of CRM systems, with sales representatives spending an average of 2 hours daily on manual data entry and report preparation. The limitations of traditional CRM workflows have become increasingly glaring.

As Generative AI steps into autonomous execution, AI Agents are completely rewriting software architecture. As a pioneer in smart workplace solutions, Kuailu Smart Office introduces the newly upgraded Kuailu AI CRM—built natively on an AI-first architecture.

By deeply embedding AI across the complete end-to-end business lifecycle—from lead acquisition and nurturing, opportunity follow-ups, and deal closing, to revenue collection and post-deal reviews—Kuailu AI CRM proactively derives insights, evaluates risks, and executes tasks. It elevates the CRM from a mere add-on utility into an enterprise-wide intelligent operating hub, restoring CRM to its ultimate core purpose: driving closed deals and revenue growth!

Not Just a Software Tool, But a Strategic Growth Partner

Most legacy CRMs rely on plugged-in AI overlays that only deliver isolated optimizations—such as basic chat interfaces or knowledge base search—failing to fundamentally address core enterprise growth goals. In contrast, an AI-Native CRM leverages holistic, end-to-end pipeline data combined with LLM-powered analytical reasoning, fundamentally shifting CRM management from “process-driven” to “insight-driven.”

As an AI-native platform, Kuailu AI CRM constructs an enterprise-wide intelligent data computing hub powered by a proprietary three-tier architecture:

AI Data CenterAI Intelligence HubAI Core Business Engine

Looking through a holistic operational lens, the platform delivers real-time sales dynamics, proactively evaluates business risks, and automatically formulates tactical strategies—achieving a complete closed loop of Intelligent Insight — Intelligent Decision-Making — Intelligent Execution — Intelligent Review.

For Decision-Makers: Comprehensive Business Control at a Glance

Data is an enterprise’s most critical moat. However, data in conventional CRMs is often fragmented and poorly correlated, failing to record true operational reality—let alone guide executive decision-making. For leadership, this creates a scenario of “data overload with zero actionable clarity.”

Kuailu AI CRM solves this with a Management Command Cockpit equipped with an AI Diagnostic Engine, Real-Time Revenue Board, and Multi-Dimensional Operational Dashboards. Core metrics—including revenue performance, client distribution, deal conversion rates, activity levels, and customer churn pre-warnings—are visible at a single glance. By combining full-process visual monitoring, proactive risk alerts, and intelligent revenue forecasting, executives can officially say goodbye to blind management and reactive post-mortems.

For Sales Reps: AI Models Delivering Direction and Actionable Plans

Traditional sales planning relies heavily on reps’ subjective “gut feelings” and personal judgment tracked in manual Excel sheets—a process that is time-consuming, labor-intensive, prone to inaccuracy, and incapable of offering clear execution guidance.

Kuailu AI CRM leverages authentic enterprise master data, buyer intent stages, historical engagement logs, and win probabilities. Powered by advanced AI models, it automatically generates a personalized, high-priority daily follow-up task list.

These plans align perfectly with live business scenarios, dynamically adapting to each rep’s workflow rhythm and the client’s current status. By clearly outlining daily target accounts, key actions, and milestone goals, the system completely eliminates blind follow-ups and unproductive busywork—allowing sales teams to focus 100% of their energy on high-value, deal-closing activities.

An Out-of-the-Box AI Toolkit Unlocking End-to-End Productivity

Beyond solidifying the four foundational CRM modules—Leads, Accounts, Opportunities, and Orders—Kuailu AI CRM seamlessly embeds intelligence across every operational node. It introduces 9 out-of-the-box AI Smart Tools covering acquisition, engagement, quoting, team collaboration, and pipeline management.

Case Study 1: AI Generated Quotes

Value: Deliver precise quotes in 1 minute with real-time profit visibility, preventing loss-making deals.Step 1: Upload custom quotation templates. Input applicable discounts, and the AI automatically calculates final totals, eliminating human calculation errors with template-level precision.Step 2: Deeply connected with CRM opportunity data, the system auto-populates required details from the deal pipeline with a single click—no manual typing required—generating standardized, professional quotation documents.Step 3: Export quotes directly for download or printing, unifying client-facing formats and establishing a standardized, high-efficiency quoting workflow.

Case Study 2: AI Customer Insights

Value: Generate 360-degree client intelligence reports in 10 seconds, doubling ice-breaking efficiency and turning junior reps into domain experts overnight.Step 1: Simply enter an account name to scrape comprehensive web intelligence and generate pre-visit briefing decks.Step 2: Automatically consolidate public corporate records, AI-analyzed target buyer demographics, product lines, sales channels, commercial models, and competitive landscapes.Step 3: Synthesize current industry pain points and generate 3 tailored ice-breaking conversation topics to maximize discovery call impact.

Powered by AI, Winning Digital Value Together

Evolving from a passive data repository into a self-deciding, self-executing AI Growth Engine, Kuailu AI CRM transforms software from a tedious operational burden into an indispensable business growth partner. By redefining the value of commercial platforms, Kuailu Smart Office converts raw, flowing data into actionable revenue opportunities—driving sustainable enterprise growth in the AI era.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/reinvented–upgraded-kuailu-ai-crm-into-the-2-0-era-302874592.html

SOURCE Kuailu Technology

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Aulumu Introduces the A18 Series for iPhone 18: Lightweight Protection Meets Next-Gen Design

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SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Aulumu introduces the new A18 Series, a collection of smartphone cases that brings together advanced materials, everyday protection, and distinctive design. At the heart of the lineup is the A18 Armor Shockproof Aramid Fiber Case, Aulumu’s latest take on lightweight protection.

Built with 1500D aramid fiber and TPU in a one-piece construction, the A18 Armor combines the refined texture and lightweight feel of aramid fiber with TPU’s flexibility and cushioning properties. Unlike conventional ultra-thin aramid cases, it is engineered to provide enhanced everyday drop protection while maintaining a slim profile.

Its full-wrap structure protects the phone’s edges, while reinforced corners help distribute impact from drops and bumps. The case is designed for up to 2m drop protection, with a 1.36mm raised edge around the screen and a 1.3mm raised camera frame providing additional protection for key areas.

The A18 Series also expands into a more expressive approach to aramid fiber. The A18 Ultra-Slim Gradient Aramid Fiber Case uses 800D aramid fiber with a grayscale gradient woven directly into the material, creating depth without relying on printed patterns. At just 1.2mm thick and from 26g, it maintains a minimal presence while adding a distinctive visual character.

For a more futuristic aesthetic, the A18 Ultra-Slim Pixel Aramid Fiber Case combines 1500D plain-weave aramid fiber with a UV-treated gradient particle pattern inspired by digital structures and tactical technology. It is 1.2mm thick and starts at 27g.

The collection is further complemented by the A18 Ghost Lumen Transparent Case, featuring high-transmittance PC, an IML-laminated luminous array, and a one-piece full-cover design, as well as the A18 Particle Vegan Leather in five colors.

Beyond phone cases, Aulumu also introduces the C05 FKM Sport Watch Band, combining sweat- and water-resistant FKM rubber with a lightweight titanium alloy buckle, and adds a new color to the A39 Geometric Case for AirPods Pro 3, designed to complement the latest iPhone color palette.

With the A18 Series, Aulumu continues to explore how materials, protection, and visual identity can work together in everyday carry.

About aulumu

Founded in 2022, aulumu is a design brand focused on high-performance gear, drawing inspiration from the functional aesthetics of cyberpunk and the philosophical roots of ancient Greek thought. Since its inception, the brand has launched dozens of digital accessory products, secured multiple utility and invention patents, and received the 2025 Red Dot Design Award. Today, aulumu products serve hundreds of thousands of users across more than 20 countries and regions, positioning the brand as a growing presence in the global high-performance accessories market.

For more information, visit: https://aulumu.com/, or follow aulumu on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aulumu_official/

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aulumu-introduces-the-a18-series-for-iphone-18-lightweight-protection-meets-next-gen-design-302873379.html

SOURCE aulumu

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