Technology

Cell Phones for Soldiers partners with AI reverse logisitics giant Vendidit, relocates fulfillment operations to Austin area

Published

2 years ago

December 19, 2024

The revered charity processes nearly 7,000 devices a month to help veterans, will create new jobs

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Cell Phones for Soldiers, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing cost-free communication services to servicemen and women since 2004 has selected Austin-based Vendidit to handle their fulfillment process.

Under the new partnership, Vendidit will serve as the secure conduit for donations to the nonprofit from both businesses and individuals alike.

“When people send us their devices, they undergo a thorough inspection process to ensure they are in good condition for our veterans. This is crucial work, and we are confident that Vendidit is the ideal fulfillment partner to guarantee that this process is carried out securely and efficiently. By doing so, we can ensure that people’s generous donations reach those Veterans who need them as quickly as possible,” said Rob Bergquist, the founder of Cell Phones for Soldiers.

The organization currently processes about 7,000 devices every month and gets them in the hands of veterans who could not otherwise afford them. For devices that can’t be salvaged for ‘upcycling,’ Vendidit will responsibly recycle them and keep them out of landfills. In addition to cell phones, the charity also accepts portable devices such as MP3 players, tablets and calling cards.

Donations can be sent to the Vendidit warehouse, located at 18919 N. Heatherwilde Boulevard, Suite 125 in Pflugerville, TX, 78660. This location will also be hiring veterans for new jobs.

Vendidit launched earlier this year, as the newest co-creation of reverse logistics leader, Gary Stephens, and one of Austin’s most famous businessmen, John Paul DeJoria, who also co-founded The Patron Spirits Company and Paul Mitchell hair products.

DeJoria is famous for not only his entrepreneurship, but also his philanthropy. Once homeless himself, he continues to find new ways to give back to those who need it the most through the companies he invests in.

The homeless veteran population has surged over the past few years, as has the suicide rate. On average, the veteran suicide rate is 57% higher than the rest of the American population. “With statistics like these, donating to Cell Phones for Soldiers is a literal lifeline to help unhoused veterans who often don’t have a phone or any way to seek vital support, such as calling a suicide hotline,” said Jennifer Gooding of Narwhal Media Group, a spokesperson for the partnership.

The relationship between the two organizations started decades ago when Bergquist’s work caught the attention of Stephens. “I’ve known Rob since he created this incredible nonprofit when he was just a kid,” said Stephens, “The fact that it is still going strong 20 years later is a testament to not only the generous people and organizations that donate, but to his relentless dedication of making sure the charity thrived far past its inception. We at Vendidit are honored to be part of making the next 20 years even stronger than the first.”

About Cell Phones for Soldiers

Cell Phones for Soldiers is a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing cost-free communication services and emergency funding to active-duty military members and veterans. Since 2004, the charity has provided more than 400 million minutes of airtime to servicemen and women deployed around the world, by recycling more than 25 million cell phones reducing the impact on landfills.

About Vendidit

Vendidit is a proprietary, end-to-end software platform that connects qualified secondary market buyers with retail returns sellers to drive maximum value for returns. The platform puts interested parties together seamlessly and simultaneously when returned products have the highest value. It was co-founded by renowned entrepreneurs John Paul DeJoria and Gary Stephens and other reverse logistics industry veterans who saw a problem to be solved: retailers have returns inventory they can’t sell efficiently, and secondary market sellers (who can move inventory for them) don’t have enough of it or an efficient way to procure it. In five words, Vendidit converts limited inventory into cash.

About Gary Stephens

Gary is a visionary technology executive and is an industry thought leader in reverse logisitics. He is the imagineer of both Vendidit, launched in 2024, and Renew Logic, which he started from a single pallet of recyclables in 2016. His previous career includes work on the Windows 95 launch team, being head of Windows NT updates under Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates and building a third electronics recycling company from scratch to $400M. His positive contributions to ethical business practices and industry improvements led to testifying before Congress in 2018 about smart, diverse employment policies. Beyond tech, Gary’s diverse passions include race car driving, piloting and philanthropy – particularly helping dog rescues. He’s a proven leader, blending business acumen with a profound commitment to societal impact.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Gooding
Narwhal Media Group
jgooding@narwhalmediagroup.com
646.981.0278

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SOURCE Vendidit

Technology

Fair Finance Asia Calls on Banks to End Coal Financing in ASEAN and Strengthen Social Safeguards

Published

42 minutes ago

August 6, 2026

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fair Finance Asia (FFA) and Influencing Just Energy Transition in the ASEAN (I-JET) call on banks and investors to stop financing coal expansion and strengthen social safeguards.

In a new report, Phasing out Coal, Phasing in Justice: Roadmap for Financing a Responsible Regional Coal Phase-out in Asia, FFA and I-JET assess the transition landscape in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Thailand, and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), more broadly.

While ASEAN member states have introduced coal moratoriums, updated Nationally Determined Contributions, early-retirement plans for coal-fired power plants, green taxonomies, and carbon pricing, the report finds that these still fall short of a Paris-aligned 1.5°C pathway.

International coal finance restrictions have expanded, yet funding persists through corporate lending and upstream mining. Meanwhile, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being positioned as a bridge fuel despite high costs, price volatility, stranded assets, and fossil fuel lock-in.

To achieve a credible, just phase-out, the report recommends:

No new coal development, including for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital demand.Time-bound, enforceable phase-out plans with zero unabated coal.Permanent retirement or conversion of all units, with site remediation.An end to coal financing, including for false solutions.Binding just transition commitments.

The report also calls for strong social safeguards:

Income support, reskilling, and decent green jobs for affected workers.Meaningful participation, free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and secure land rights for Indigenous Peoples.Gender-responsive policies.Protection of civic space and environmental and human rights defenders.

Bernadette Victorio, Program Lead, Fair Finance Asia, said: “The test is not only whether coal-fired power plants close, but whether the energy transition reduces inequality by protecting the rights and amplifying the voices of workers, communities, women and Indigenous Peoples.”

Shubert Ciencia, Energy Justice and ASEAN Influencing Program Manager, Oxfam in Asia, said: “The ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2026-2030 signals ASEAN’s intent to accelerate decarbonization while maintaining energy security. Member states must now restrict investment in existing coal projects and prohibit new ones.”

Victoria Fanggidae, Executive Director, The PRAKARSA, said: “Climate commitments are meaningless if financial flows continue to support coal. Indonesian financial institutions must stop enabling coal expansion, redirect capital to renewable energy, and embed human rights and just transition principles in financing decisions.”

Genalyn Arcayera-Aquino, Economic Rights Program Manager, Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), said: “Fossil fuel incentives without a clear phase-out plan create a chicken-and-egg problem: reliance on imported fuels keeps electricity costs high and delays a domestic renewable energy industry.”

Yuki Tanabe, Program Director, Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES), said: “Governments should drive early retirement of coal-fired power plants with stricter environmental regulations and higher taxes on coal generation.”

Read the report: bit.ly/4wsaWt7

Media contacts:

Kyle Cruz

Influencing and Campaigning Manager

Fair Finance Asia

kylejuliene.cruz@oxfam.org

Shubert Ciencia

Energy Justice and ASEAN Influencing Program Manager

Oxfam in Asia

shubert.ciencia@oxfam.org

About Fair Finance Asia

FFA is a regional network of Asian civil society organizations working to ensure that financial institutions’ funding decisions respect the social and environmental well-being of the communities where they operate. Learn more: fairfinanceasia.org

About Influencing Just Energy Transition in ASEAN

I-JET is a multi-country initiative advancing a gender-just and socially inclusive energy transition. Learn more: https://x.com/ijet_project

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SOURCE Fair Finance Asia

Technology

Longsys Showcases End-to-End AI Storage Solutions at FMS 2026

Published

42 minutes ago

August 6, 2026

Edge AI Storage Fusion is the theme for this year’s booth at the Silicon Valley exhibition

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Longsys(301308.SZ) is presenting its “Edge AI Storage Fusion” showcase at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) 2026, spanning three core scenarios: AI Agent Hosts (AI BOX), AI PCs, and AI Mobile embedded devices.

AI Agent Hosts: Co-Optimized with AMD

To address memory bottlenecks, KV cache expansion, and latency challenges in local LLM deployment, Longsys has partnered with AMD to integrate AIDIMM™ high-bandwidth memory, the iSA™ (Intelligent Storage Agent), and AISSD™. A live demo, jointly developed with SixUnion, showed a system running 70B-, 80B-, and 122B-parameter models smoothly using just 64GB of AIDIMM™ memory, with significantly lower memory usage and higher inference efficiency. Longsys also unveiled an AMD Ryzen™ AI Halo platform integrated with AISSD™ and iSA™, now AMD AVL-certified and ready for mass deployment.

AIDIMM™ delivers a native 256-bit interface, up to 307.2 GB/s peak bandwidth, and up to 128GB capacity per module, with a plug-and-play design suited for scaled manufacturing. iSA™, Longsys’ proprietary scheduling engine, uses MoE offloading, tiered cache management, and predictive prefetching to dynamically balance memory and storage resources in real time.

AI PCs: Next-Generation SSD Innovations

Longsys’ 5nm SPU™ (Storage Processing Unit) powers a DRAM-less PCIe Gen5 SSD achieving 14.8 GB/s sequential read and 13 GB/s write speeds — flagship-class performance at ≤6.3W, roughly 10% lower than comparable controllers. Built-in lossless compression (up to 2:1) expands usable capacity without impacting speed. Longsys’ PCIe Gen5 mSSD reaches 11 GB/s read, 10 GB/s write, and 2200K/1800K IOPS. With flexible form factors (M.2 2230/2242/2280 and more) and manufacturing capacity exceeding one million units monthly, Longsys supplies various partners including Lenovo and ASUS.

AI Mobile: HLCache™ and AILPBGA™

Longsys’ HLCache™ UFS technology intelligently offloads cold data from DRAM to storage. Tested on a Google Pixel 7a, a 4GB LPDDR5 device saw background app capacity rise 64% (17 to 28 apps) and DRAM usage drop 20% (3.1GB to 2.5GB) — performance approaching a native 6GB configuration, while supporting 13B–20B parameter models. AILPBGA™ complements this with a 256-bit, 307GB/s embedded memory solution in a compact 22×22mm package, purpose-built for space- and power-constrained devices.

Global Operations

Longsys operates a multi-brand strategy — including the consumer brand Lexar and South America manufacturing and operations center Zilia — supporting localized production, delivery, and technical support worldwide.

Looking ahead, Longsys will continue advancing its proprietary technologies and collaborating with global ecosystem partners to deliver efficient, scalable, and customized Edge AI storage solutions, accelerating the adoption of intelligent computing.

Product performance data is based on Longsys internal testing; actual results may vary.

About Longsys

Founded in 1999, Longsys (301308.SZ) is a globally leading branded semiconductor memory enterprise, integrating R&D, design, packaging and testing, manufacturing, and sales services. For more information please visit https://www.longsys.com/, and follow Longsys on LinkedIn and Facebook.

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SOURCE Longsys

Technology

Menu-Order AI Names Dr. Leigh-Anne Dale as Founding Medical Advisor

Published

42 minutes ago

August 6, 2026

Physician specializing in Transplant Nephrology, will support educational initiatives for GLP-1 users, physicians and clinicians.

BOSTON, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Menu-Order AI, an AI-powered dining companion that helps consumers identify high-protein, lower-carbohydrate and GLP-1-friendly restaurant choices, announced that Dr. Leigh-Anne Dale has joined the company as Founding Medical Advisor and a member of its Medical Advisory Board.

Dr. Dale is a physician specializing in Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation. She practices at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and serves as an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She earned her medical degree from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She went on to complete residency in Internal Medicine at New York Presbyterian Columbia followed by Nephrology and Transplant Nephrology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is double board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology.

In her educational and advisory role, Dr. Dale will help develop resources for GLP-1 users, physicians and clinicians focused on prioritizing protein and making thoughtful lower-carbohydrate choices in everyday situations.

“Weight-loss success is more achievable when healthy choices are easy, convenient and become part of a person’s routine,” said Dr. Dale. “Menu-Order AI helps people navigate difficult moments, stay on track and receive real-time support without feeling isolated. By making everyday food decisions more manageable, the app can support both initial weight loss and long-term weight maintenance.”

“Dr. Dale brings an important perspective on education, consistency and sustainable daily choices,” said Melissa Butler, Founder and CEO of Menu-Order AI. “Her experience will help us better educate users and healthcare professionals.”

Dr. Dale’s role is educational and advisory. She will not provide medical care through Menu-Order AI or replace guidance from a qualified healthcare professional.

About Menu-Order AI

Menu-Order AI helps consumers navigate restaurant and delivery menus with personalized GLP-1-friendly, high-protein and lower-carbohydrate recommendations and Smart Tweaks. Visit www.menuorderai.com.

Website Apple App Store Google play store

Melissa Butler
Founder / CEO
Menu-Order AI
melissa@menuorderai.com

This release was issued through WebWire®. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com.

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SOURCE MENU – ORDER AI