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Are you ready for another 140 days of summer vacation? Disney announced today that the long-awaited reboot of its animated hit Phineas and Ferb will be back on June 5 for the start of a 40-episode run across Disneys linear and streaming platforms. The action picks up the summer after the shows original run left off, with the kids a year older but not visibly changedexcept for an extra orange stripe on Phineass trademark T-shirt. Co-creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff Swampy Marsh are back at the helm. Originally launched on Disney XD in 2008 (after a 2007 sneak peek), the animated showabout two inventive stepbrothers on summer vacation, their pet platypus, and a bumbling supervillain named Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtzaired for 126 episodes, the longest-running show in Disney TV history. It beat out rival Nickelodeons SpongeBob SquarePants to become the No. 1 animated TV series among tweens (ages 9 to 14) in 2009, and became the most successful animated series for kids and tweens in Disney Television Animation history. The show spawned six one-hour specials, two movies, a soundtrack album, a touring live show, and a really dedicated cult following both IRL and online (Povenmire has 6.8 million followers on TikTok). Its multilevel humor, catchy songs, and lively visuals appealed not only to its tween target audience but also to their parents. Now those kids are in college, their parents are in their forties and fifties, and theres a whole new generation of younger viewers who have discovered the show on Disney+. (Across linear and streaming platforms, more than 13 billion hours of Phineas and Ferb content has been viewed since the shows launch.) Disney has extensive plans to reach all of those viewers where they are. The new episodes will air first on Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Channel YouTubeand the next day on Disney+.
Category:
E-Commerce
At Visas ETA Transact event on April 3, the payments giant introduced three new products designed to simplify and secure payment acceptance. These innovationsAuthorize.net 2.0, Unified Checkout, and the ARIC Risk Huball aim to enhance efficiency and fraud protection for businesses navigating an increasingly complex commercial landscape. By integrating the three new tools, Visa seeks to service businesses end to endfrom integrating with existing platforms to accepting more payments, reducing checkout friction, and managing risk efficiently. Visa is looking to wherever appropriate to invest in next-generation technologies and uplift our products, says Rob Cameron, global head of Visa Acceptance Solutions. Authorize.net 2.0 A major overhaul of one of the first internet platforms for e-commerce payments, Authorize.net 2.0 enhances the user experience while connecting businesses with banks and merchant acquirers across the United States. New AI-driven tools further enhance the platform by automating tasks and optimizing payment strategies. Businesses can now issue invoices simply by speaking to Authorize.net, which will generate the invoice, locate the customer, and prepare the invoice for sendingeliminating manual entry. Subscription-based businesses, such as tutoring services, will benefit from the platforms streamlined setup to accept payments and then charge customers on a recurring basis. This saves time and allows small-business owners to operate more efficiently, Cameron says. Unified Checkout Unified Checkout is Visas next-generation solution for online payments, designed to create a seamless experience for merchants and customers that reduces lost sales at the checkout point. By automatically adapting the checkout page to match a businesss website, the system ensures a consistent look and feel while improving security. Itll look at your existing website, and then itll configure a checkout page so it looks like youre still in the same environment, even though weve insulated the website from the credit card data and all the things that websites dont actually want for security, Cameron says. Businesses can customize the checkout button order based on insights, prioritizing payment methods like Apple Pay to match customer preferences. With 25 out-of-the-box, different payment types, including Klarnas buy now, pay later services, the system helps reduce cart abandonment by ensuring customers find their preferred payment method. The platform also enhances customer retention through tokenization, allowing returning customers to shift from guest checkout to remember me next time for a smoother purchasing experience. ARIC Risk Hub Visas 2024 acquisition of Featurespace led to the development of ARIC (adaptive, real-time, individual, change identification) Risk Hub, a fraud-detection and risk-management tool that enhances acquirers ability to monitor risk and protect merchants. Featurespace’s powerful, adaptive AI helps identify risky transactions and builds profiles around genuine customer activity to increase approvals and stop bad actors in real time. This system enables dynamic settlement, meaning businesses can receive payments based on risk assessments. If I decide youre low risk, maybe Ill decide to settle you instantly and Ill give you money right away, Cameron says, noting that for higher-risk businessessuch as those selling furniture that wont be delivered for monthsreserves can be adjusted dynamically. The platforms ongoing monitoring allows financial institutions to approve more merchants up front. Without it, strict barriers are needed to block risky merchants. However, by continuously analyzing transactions and merchant behavior, acquirers can make smarter decisions over time. Cameron says this can ultimately boost revenue by increasing approval rates. Additionally, ARIC Risk Hub provides fraud prevention through acquirer-backed monitoring services. If a merchant receives a suspicious order, the system can detect risks and issue a warning, which, Cameron notes, allows acquirers to actually provide monitoring services to protect their merchants.
Category:
E-Commerce
Walking around the factory floor of Twincraft Skincare, outside Burlington, Vermont, there is the unmistakable scent of soap. The general manager points out the luxury lines and designer labels for whom they manufacture soaps and lotions, as well as the basic, inexpensive bars and bottles left on hotel room sinks. The factory runs two 10-hour shifts per day, four days a week, with an overtime option as needed. At over 400 employees, Twincraft is one of the top employers in the state. In the last few years, theres been a boom in skincare products and, to meet demand, Michele Asch, Twincrafts chief people officer, says theyve had to hire over 180 people over the past 18 months. But, pre-pandemic, Asch had begun to notice a problem in hiring workers: People couldnt find local childcare. One standout employee, she recalls, spent an hour driving each morning to drop her kids off in two different towns before driving to workthough she lived only 15 minutes away. In 2020, Asch met with Aly Richards, the director of Lets Grow Kids, the organization responsible for spearheading the decade-long campaign to provide a comprehensive fix for the states childcare shortage. Via Zoom, Asch recalls asking, Aly, we make skincare. Cant I just pay into a system so we can get this childcare fixed? But fixed isnt so simple for childcare. Childcare is an industry in crisis, where the demand is high, the supply is low, and market forces alone cannot correct it. The high teacher-to-student ratios required for childcare mean that parents pay high costsoften more than they can reasonably affordwhile providers are compensated little. Many providers rely on public benefits or are unable to afford sending their own children to the childcare locations in which they work. Like Aschs employee who had to drive an hour to find care, half of the country is living in childcare deserts, where no workable care options exist. Vermont is in a deep demographic crisis now, says Richards. With a dwindling and aging population, Vermont was losing potential workers and the tax base that accompanies it. Many women with education and careers would work if they had access to affordable childcare. And if businesses, like Twincraft, wanted to stay, grow, and manufacture products in the state, they needed to find a way to retain young employees and bring new ones in. Richards appointed Asch to the board of Lets Grow Kids and to the CEO Task Force, a group assigned to devise a funding plan for childcare that business leaders in the state could get behind, facilitated by a former state tax commissioner. Initially, the task force was adamantly against a payroll tax to finance childcare. But after exploring every funding optionincluding an income tax and property taxthe payroll tax emerged as the solution that checked every box, according to Asch. A payroll tax allowed the payment burden of the childcare program to be placed on workers, not retirees. As more people took advantage of the program and went to work, the revenue stream would grow. Asch began speaking one-on-one with business leaders on the need to invest in childcare. She personally invited other manufacturing leaders in the state to meet with Richards, vet the proposal, and ask any and all pointed questions. The Twincraft conference room was filled with business leaders of Vermonts most recognizable brands: Bag Balm, Runamok Maple, Birrn Chocolates, Vermont Creamery, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Burton’s Snowboard, and Mamava. Those peer-to-peer conversations were critically important, explains Richards, because you have a trusted business partner running a successful business. They can literally say, Ive studied this deeply with my values and my prowess and Im here to tell you, [this] is the deal with childcare in summary form. ‘Childcare is necessary infrastructure for doing business’ Childcare has long been a social policy issue without a designated home. It is part education, part parenting, part economicsas obstacles to childcare remain one of the top reasons that parents cannot access paid work. Even in message testing surrounding childcare, arguments about the economic and workforce benefits are considered the most persuasive. Data from Lets Grow Kids and the University of Vermont estimated that with the additional childcare funds in the state, 5,000 additional parents could participate in Vermonts workforce, and by parents paying less for care and receiving more income as wage-earners, and providers receiving more, there would be a $375 million annual boost to the states economy due to such influx. Aschs biggest challenge wasnt that her business colleagues disagreed with the need for childcare, but that they didnt fully understand why this state-organized effort funded by the payroll tax was the proposed solution. Once they understood [the childcare plan] they would enthusiastically or reluctantly support it, she said. I dont pay individually to have our roads done. I pay into a system to have the trucks come in to pick up the soap. [Childcare] is necessary infrastructure for doing business. In January of 2023, Vermonts business leaders testified in support of the childcare legislation, now named Act 76, in front of the states Senate Economic Development Committee, both for the need for childcare to support their employees and hire more, and to show their willingness to shoulder the payroll tax that accompanied it. Cara Tobin, a chef and mother of two whod opened the restaurant Honey Road in Burlington and become a James Beard finalist, testified that it was easier to open a restaurant than find childcare. Tobin was one of 10 business leaders who testified in support of Act 76, including a cross-section of business interests of the state: a solar company, an entrepreneur, a ski resort, and, of course, manufacturers. In June 2023, the legislation passed with bipartisan support, and after a veto from the governor, passed with a bipartisan veto override. The payroll tax took effect in July 2024: 0.44% split between employees (0.11%) and employers (0.33%). Some employers, Twincraft among them, have opted to cover the entire tax for their workers. In January 2024, childcare providers began seeing a change in compensation, and since the legislation has taken effect, childcare supply has boomed in the state: 90 new childcare programs have opened, with a net gain of 1,000 new childcare spots. For the first time since 2018, more childcare programs have opened in the state than closed. Asch has noticed that more of her employees can find chidcare closer to where they work, and have more affordable options and therefore less stress, she said. Shes exploring opening a childcare center adjacent to Twincraft. Tobins youngest child went to kindergarten when Act 76 took effect; she hasnt been able to personally take advantage of the program, but her restaurant employees have. I see it working for other people for sure, Tobin said. This completes the circle: You are supporting your workers who can make money, then spend money in the community, and it keeps coming back around. When we support the community, they support us.
Category:
E-Commerce
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