Google and Local Business Advertising - Q4Launch

Now that Google places has been replaced by Google+ Local, we are all naturally wondering about the overall direction of Google?s services for small businesses. ?It is now apparent that Google is continuing its focus on the market for local business advertising and making a new push to target this segment. ?Google is expected to roll out a new product or package of products to target the $20 billion market for local business advertising by July.

This new package of products has been called ?Business Builder,? and it will combine?several?existing products and services with new ones. ?Here is an excerpt from a recent Wall Street Journal article documenting the updates by Google to better serve local businesses:

Central to the effort is Google+, the company?s social network, which it hopes consumers will use to interact with local businesses that now have special Web pages on the network. Those Google+ pages will draw traffic from the company?s Web-search engine. When shoppers visit these businesses, Google wants them to use their Internet-connected phones like a digital wallet, earning loyalty points and making payments at stores that sign up for Google?s new servicess?

Google?s Groupon Rival Clams Up, But Partners Lend Help

In turn, Google is hoping stores and other businesses will use their new Google+ pages to communicate with customers, such as by showing them special offers. And it hopes to persuade them to sign up for other Google products.?

The campaign to court local businesses, which is being led by Google executives including Senior Vice President Jeff Huber and Vice President Marissa Mayer, has required buying more than half a dozen companies since early 2011 at a cost of about half a billion dollars, according to Google securities filings and people familiar with the matter. Google hopes to weave some of these acquisitions together with its current products into a portfolio of tools that can serve the needs of local-business owners.

The company soon will begin unveiling the fruits of some of those deals, including services such as TalkBin, which lets customers send anonymous text messages to a store?s manager with complaints or compliments, and Punchd, a smartphone-based loyalty-rewards program, said the people familiar with the matter.

Google also plans to promote a year-old program called AdWords Express, which gives businesses a streamlined way to set up an ad campaign on Google?s search engine, potentially in a matter of minutes, these people said.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on any future initiatives.?

Google?s Mr. Huber said in a statement: ?Helping local business is a big part of our focus at Google, whether it is connecting shoppers with the right store nearby or helping merchants attract and retain customers. In local, our vision is not a one-size-fits-all product, but a range of flexible solutions that make the Web work for all local businesses.?

Internally, Google has assigned a group of employees to focus on developing smartphone apps related to local businesses, the people said. And the company has spent millions of dollars on a nationwide campaign called ?Get Your Business Online.? The campaign includes multiday workshops at which Google helps local businesses set up their own website and a business listing on its search engine free of charge.?

Google already has started testing some of its new services. Last year, it approached the San Francisco branch of housewares and furniture retailer Crate & Barrel to test the mobile-phone service TalkBin, according to store manager Tony Villegas. He said he has used TalkBin, which costs $25 a month per store, to direct customers to use their phones to text him about their shopping experience. When some people complained they ?weren?t being serviced properly or greeted? at the store, he said, he trained his employees to correct the problems.

Google vs. Facebook on Places

?It?s immediate feedback and much more meaningful than receiving a letter a couple of weeks later,? Mr. Villegas said. He declined to comment on whether the company is currently paying for the service.

At the heart of Google?s campaign is a desire to get more merchants to spend money on digital advertising, including on Google?s search engine, where 20% of searches are for local information. Digital-ad spending by local businesses last year reached $21.2 billion, a figure that is expected to increase by more than 12% annually, according to BIA/Kelsey, a local-media advisory firm.

The stakes are high for Google as other Web companies have made inroads into the local-business market. Daily-deals site Groupon Inc. GRPN -8.16% and business-reviews site Yelp Inc., YELP -8.86% both of which cater to local businesses, recently went public.

?The overwhelming majority of businesses are local stores, and that?s a huge pool of money that nobody except newspapers and the Yellow Pages has done a great job of tapping,? said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.

Google has struggled to get a meaningful piece of the market. In 2009, it discussed an acquisition of Yelp, but the effort fell through. In 2010 Google hired hundreds of people to call stores across the country to pitch ads that would appear on Google Maps, but the ads were later discontinued.?

In late 2010, its negotiations to buy Groupon also fell apart. In mid-2011, Google launched Google Offers, a Groupon competitor, but the service hasn?t met Google?s expectations, said a person familiar with the matter.?

A Google spokeswoman said Google Offers has picked up in recent months but declined to provide specific numbers. Google Wallet, a high-profile effort launched in spring 2011 that lets people pay for things at local stores by waving their smartphone at cash registers, remains limited in its distribution because of conflicts with wireless carriers.

Google has hit roadblocks with local businesses because its main service, AdWords, is considered to be too complex for the average store owner to use. Google ?hasn?t had the right products? for local businesses, Mr. Sterling said.

Google?s latest push dates to last year, when Chief Executive Larry Page created a ?commerce and local? group headed by Mr. Huber.

The company soon went on a shopping spree for talent and mobile services, including TalkBin and Punchd, a smartphone app that works like a rewards punch card, and in the summer it rolled out Google Offers and AdWords Express.?

Google is hoping its local push will provide a boost to Google+. Last week, Google began converting all of its local-business listings, which include basic information such as a store?s street address, hours of operation and customer reviews, into Google+ pages.

Sometime this summer, Google is expected to direct business owners to a ?recommendation engine? to help them figure out what new Google services might work for them, said a person familiar with the matter.

Still, it isn?t clear how attractive these new services will be to local businesses. James Wilson, the manager at Maoz Vegetarian, an Israeli restaurant in Berkeley, Calif., tested Punchd last year and wasn?t impressed.

Punchd ?alienated? loyal customers who didn?t have smartphones, said Mr. Wilson. So he discontinued it and started an old-fashioned loyalty punch card. That has ?been working really well,? he said. ?I?m not a technical guy, but it was ridiculously easy to set up,? he said. ?

But Punchd has been a boon to SLO Donut Co., a two-year-old doughnut shop in San Luis Obispo, Calif., that has tested the service free since last year. Co-owner Jake Pickering said 30% of his customers, or several thousand people, regularly use Punchd to earn a free doughnuts and coffee, valued at around $3, after their 10th visit?(Wall Street Journal)

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Study offers hope for more effective treatment of nearsightedness

Public release date: 5-Jun-2012
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Contact: Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
713-743-8192
University of Houston

UH optometrist finds small reduction in progression of myopia promising

HOUSTON, June 5, 2012 Research by an optometrist at the University of Houston (UH) supports the continued investigation of optical treatments that attempt to slow the progression of nearsightedness in children.

Conducted by UH College of Optometry assistant professor David Berntsen and his colleagues from The Ohio State University, the study compared the effects of wearing and then not wearing progressive addition lenses, better known as no-line bifocals, in children who are nearsighted. With funding by a National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute training grant and support from Essilor of America Inc. and the American Optometric Foundation Ezell Fellowship program, the study examined 85 children from 6-11 years old over the course of two years. The results were published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, one of the most widely read journals in the field.

Selected according to their eye alignment and accuracy of focusing on near objects, the myopic children were fitted with either normal single-vision lenses or no-line bifocals to correct their nearsightedness. In addition to observing and testing the children, the doctors obtained feedback from parents and guardians of both the children's outdoor activities and near-work tasks, such as reading and computer use.

Previous research suggested that nearsighted children who do not focus accurately when reading books or doing other near work may benefit more from wearing no-line bifocal glasses than nearsighted children who focus more accurately. Berntsen's study found a small, yet statistically significant, slowing of myopia progression in children wearing the bifocals compared to those who simply wore single-vision lenses. Berntsen asserts, however, that the results do not suggest that children be fitted with no-line bifocal lenses solely for the purpose of slowing the progression of myopia.

"While the small effect found in the group of children wearing bifocal spectacles does not warrant a change in clinical practice, we found the beneficial effect was still present for at least one year after children stopped wearing no-line bifocal lenses," Berntsen said. "This is promising if other optical lens designs can be developed that do an even better job of slowing how fast myopia increases in children."

By understanding why different types of lenses result in the slowing of myopia progression, Berntsen says researchers will be better able to design lenses that may be more effective in slowing the increase of nearsightedness in children.

"Single-vision lenses are normally prescribed when a child gets a pair of glasses, but glasses with progressive addition lenses were shown to slightly reduce myopic progression in our study," Berntsen said. "For any treatment that reduces myopia progression in children to be useful, the effect of the spectacles or contact lenses must persist after children stop wearing them. The fact that the small treatment effect from our study was still present one year after discontinuing the treatment is promising. The results suggest that if newer optical designs currently being investigated do a better job of slowing myopia progression, the effects may be expected to persist and decrease how nearsighted the child ultimately becomes."

An important goal of this study, in particular, was to help them improve their understanding of the mechanism behind myopia progression in children and why no-line bifocals cause this small reduction in its progression. Berntsen says the study results and evidence from other studies suggest that lenses specifically designed to change blur in the eye's peripheral vision may be able to slow the increase of nearsightedness.

"There is support for continuing to investigate new lenses specially designed to change the blur profile on the back of the eye in order to reduce the increase of myopia in children," Berntsen said. "There is still further research to be done, but our work is an important step in discovering the methods needed to slow the progression of nearsightedness."

###

Berntsen's collaborators from Ohio State's College of Optometry were Loraine T. Sinnott, Donald O. Mutti and Karla Zadnik. The study, titled "A randomized trial using progressive addition lenses to evaluate theories of myopia progression in children with a high lag of accommodation," is available at http://www.iovs.org/content/53/2/640.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 39,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country. For more information about UH, visit http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.

About the UH College of Optometry

Since 1952, the University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO) has educated and trained optometrists to provide the highest quality vision care. One of only 20 optometry schools in the country, UHCO offers a variety of degree programs, including Doctor of Optometry (O.D.), a combined Doctor of Optometry/Doctor of Philosophy (O.D./Ph.D.), Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). UHCO serves an average of 36,000 patients a year through The University Eye Institute and its satellite clinics.

To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 5-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
713-743-8192
University of Houston

UH optometrist finds small reduction in progression of myopia promising

HOUSTON, June 5, 2012 Research by an optometrist at the University of Houston (UH) supports the continued investigation of optical treatments that attempt to slow the progression of nearsightedness in children.

Conducted by UH College of Optometry assistant professor David Berntsen and his colleagues from The Ohio State University, the study compared the effects of wearing and then not wearing progressive addition lenses, better known as no-line bifocals, in children who are nearsighted. With funding by a National Institutes of Health National Eye Institute training grant and support from Essilor of America Inc. and the American Optometric Foundation Ezell Fellowship program, the study examined 85 children from 6-11 years old over the course of two years. The results were published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, one of the most widely read journals in the field.

Selected according to their eye alignment and accuracy of focusing on near objects, the myopic children were fitted with either normal single-vision lenses or no-line bifocals to correct their nearsightedness. In addition to observing and testing the children, the doctors obtained feedback from parents and guardians of both the children's outdoor activities and near-work tasks, such as reading and computer use.

Previous research suggested that nearsighted children who do not focus accurately when reading books or doing other near work may benefit more from wearing no-line bifocal glasses than nearsighted children who focus more accurately. Berntsen's study found a small, yet statistically significant, slowing of myopia progression in children wearing the bifocals compared to those who simply wore single-vision lenses. Berntsen asserts, however, that the results do not suggest that children be fitted with no-line bifocal lenses solely for the purpose of slowing the progression of myopia.

"While the small effect found in the group of children wearing bifocal spectacles does not warrant a change in clinical practice, we found the beneficial effect was still present for at least one year after children stopped wearing no-line bifocal lenses," Berntsen said. "This is promising if other optical lens designs can be developed that do an even better job of slowing how fast myopia increases in children."

By understanding why different types of lenses result in the slowing of myopia progression, Berntsen says researchers will be better able to design lenses that may be more effective in slowing the increase of nearsightedness in children.

"Single-vision lenses are normally prescribed when a child gets a pair of glasses, but glasses with progressive addition lenses were shown to slightly reduce myopic progression in our study," Berntsen said. "For any treatment that reduces myopia progression in children to be useful, the effect of the spectacles or contact lenses must persist after children stop wearing them. The fact that the small treatment effect from our study was still present one year after discontinuing the treatment is promising. The results suggest that if newer optical designs currently being investigated do a better job of slowing myopia progression, the effects may be expected to persist and decrease how nearsighted the child ultimately becomes."

An important goal of this study, in particular, was to help them improve their understanding of the mechanism behind myopia progression in children and why no-line bifocals cause this small reduction in its progression. Berntsen says the study results and evidence from other studies suggest that lenses specifically designed to change blur in the eye's peripheral vision may be able to slow the increase of nearsightedness.

"There is support for continuing to investigate new lenses specially designed to change the blur profile on the back of the eye in order to reduce the increase of myopia in children," Berntsen said. "There is still further research to be done, but our work is an important step in discovering the methods needed to slow the progression of nearsightedness."

###

Berntsen's collaborators from Ohio State's College of Optometry were Loraine T. Sinnott, Donald O. Mutti and Karla Zadnik. The study, titled "A randomized trial using progressive addition lenses to evaluate theories of myopia progression in children with a high lag of accommodation," is available at http://www.iovs.org/content/53/2/640.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 39,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country. For more information about UH, visit http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.

About the UH College of Optometry

Since 1952, the University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO) has educated and trained optometrists to provide the highest quality vision care. One of only 20 optometry schools in the country, UHCO offers a variety of degree programs, including Doctor of Optometry (O.D.), a combined Doctor of Optometry/Doctor of Philosophy (O.D./Ph.D.), Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). UHCO serves an average of 36,000 patients a year through The University Eye Institute and its satellite clinics.

To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Acer Iconia W ? Windows 8 Tablet with Versatile Docking Stations

Acer isn?t missing the Windows tablet train with their Iconia W Series. They are launching the Iconia W510 and W700 Windows 8 tablets. The W510 comes with an interesting tri-mode which allows for touch, type and view. It has a conventional tablet mode and a productivity mode. It also comes with a detachable keyboard dock can be connected to the tablet for optimal typing as well as extending the battery life up to 18 hours. Multimedia hasn?t been forgotten as the tablet rotates 295 degrees if you want to do some presentations or watching a video, browsing a webpage or viewing a PowerPoint presentation.

The W700 is a 11.6 inch Full HD Windows 8 tablet that comes with a multipurpose cradle that allows for several viewing options. When using it in landscape, it can be tilted up to 70 degrees for better viewing, or 20 degrees for convenient touch. Furthermore, it can be used vertically like a portrait for easy browsing and reading. The W700 also has three USB 3.0 ports for expansion.

If you?re keen on checking out a bit of the press event here is a short clip.

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Building a Profitable Internet Network Marketing Business ...

A large amount of folk enter the internet marketing business with stars in their eyes and most fail inside a quarter of starting. They roam around getting bits of information here and there, and cobble together some kind of unproven strategy that is cursed to failure from the start .

Internet Network Marketing Business Planning

Most internet network marketing businesses are run from home, and many of us just cannot disciple themselves good enough to be well placed to concentrate on their business and avoid distraction. If you?ve worked in any type of business before, especially in an office, there might have been music playing but definitely not a television on all the time, no-one would ever be well placed to concentrate, so don?t try and do that when you work from home. Go from the bedroom to the kitchen and get some breakfast and plan your breaks and what to do at lunchtime, in most situations it?ll be a sandwich made in the same kitchen. Then back to work until a time you set yourself. It?s easy to burn out telecommuting also , as the work is always there calling to you.

Understand the last three words in the term ?internet network marketing business? and accept that it involves networking and marketing and it?s YOUR business and that is what will pay the bills.

Joining ?network? and ?marketing? together no longer means simply getting a website together and hoping folks will come. It is not like that. Initially you?ll have to put lots of effort into list building and getting leads, and there are plenty of ways of going about that, some downright useless and others really successful, but the most important thing straight from the start, is to have a system that you can follow, mentors which will help you, and a certain amount of data and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Leads and lists are the seeds that get you sales and high quality, centered leads are what you are looking for, and without them you simply do not have an internet network marketing business!

And there are hundreds of courses on the topic on the internet, and it can be very hard to select the right one.

It is obvious if you need to find out about something, you wish to learn from folks who know what they are talking about, and those that earn amounts of money from network marketing you can only fantasise about now.

Hmmm, a whole bunch of experts pooling their collective concepts for the benefit of fighting marketing consultants and those just setting out on that road. Sounds rather like a sensible idea does it not? A system that?s continuously updated and added to, bringing the newest ideas and strategies in internet network marketing. Does something like that exist?

It definitely does. It is really well-regarded and has helps loads of people to become successful each day. Click to learn more.

a href=?http://stevekrivda.com/the-best-way-to-build-a-successful-internet-network-marketing-business/? target=newTo Get The Real Truth About Network Marketing CLICK HERE/a

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Unsecured Personalized Financial loans With Terrible Credit ...

Since the economic climate continues to be so undesirable for so prolonged, chances are you?ll be one of the some people with broken credit. You?ll want to realize that it is possible to however get yourself a personalized bank loan even with bad credit. This will be unique to what you have heard on television and over the internet. After all, the economy is struggling and also the information is filled with stories of the way it is far far more hard it is actually for getting any type of financial loan these days even with excellent credit score. You need to picture that it can be a lot more durable to get a personalized loans if you have bad credit. Though that is accurate, you?ll be able to still have an own bank loan regardless if your credit is quite undesirable. You only need to know wherever to seem.

The No Credit score Bank loan Possibility

What on earth is a no credit financial loan? It?s a loan you may get where by your credit will not be checked to be a condition of the bank loan. Do such financial loans nevertheless exist? The short solution is sure. Having said that, nearly all of these financial institutions will be shell out day mortgage creditors. These would be the only preference in the event you just have to have a couple of hundred dollars to obtain you through for your following fork out day and you intend to pay the money back again easily.
Although this is actually a no credit loan, you should even be informed that it?s going to do nothing to rebuild your credit score, as these companies really don?t report to the important credit score bureaus if you spend promptly. They only report if you do not pay promptly, so unless you?d like to wreck your credit score more than it previously is, treat these financial loans extremely carefully. Be certain you spend them back again on time to keep your credit score from getting a lot more destroyed. When you decide to go this route, you will discover lots of no credit score loan options and are available pretty effortlessly with couple of demands.

90 Day Financial loans

On their confront, ninety day financial loans are basically the same point as pay out day financial loans. The main variance getting that you just get yourself a tiny a bit longer to repay them. These loans are sometimes obtainable from spend day mortgage businesses and usually offer much more than the typical $300 to $500. In these scenarios, these unsecured individual financial loans are often from $1,000 to $1,500 as well as the loans usually are 90 times or for a longer time. The loan providers are nicely informed that you will require somewhat time beyond regulation to pay back again a loan of the dimension. Also, the conditions and requirements in the bank loan are much the same as a normal pay day loan.

Private Loans Unsecured from a Financial loan Keep

There are actually nonetheless a handful of bank loan suppliers that offer bigger unsecured private financial loans. These could possibly be just what you are looking for in the event you ought to get a private bank loan for more than $1500 or so. HSBC and Citibank are two companies which have been nevertheless presenting personalized financial loans unsecured to people today with adverse credit in most states. You?ll find also online loan companies that may be capable to help you, likewise. The interest levels are going to be higher on these loans and also your month to month repayments will most likely be substantial, way too. But, it?s possible you?ll be able to get out various thousand bucks or more with very little more than proof of cash flow as well as your signature. In case you must get yourself an own mortgage in the increased amount of money than a fork out day mortgage, this can be the choice you?ll really need to pursue.

High Risk Loans
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How To Generate Leads For Your Multi level marketing Success ...

Network marketing is a good business move in the internet world. It does call for a great bit of effort to earn money. You could wonder exactly how to get started in a business like home based business.

Think outside the box when you are producing content for your media. Ensure to mention anything!

You must psychologically convince yourself that you will definitely be a success. You really should treat this as serious as you might if you were running a business in a real office setting. If you see your business as not being real, it will definitely never ever be.

Avoid slacking when it concerns mlm, since the resulting problems can be fairly significant. There?s no way to prosper at multi level marketing without doing the work. Network marketing is not a get-rich-quick program, so there?s no shortcut to success. When you produce solid work, the payoff is inevitable.

If you do not have the time, then have another company perform your multi level marketing for you. This will definitely save you time and money as you could not have the skills needed at this stage. Outsourcing some duties lets you focus on what?simportant, leaving the outsourcing firm to do what they do best.

Even if you never ever leave your home to go to work, you must make a concerted effort to follow a well-groomed, professional appearance. Even if you plan to work at your home computer all day, this will definitely provide you a professional feeling as you work, while letting you to go to a fast meeting if important.

One method to look at home based business is as a mad dash to recruit the maximum feasible number of people. As an alternative your frame of mind should be concentrated on assisting others prosper.

Attempt to keep your meetings short and under one hr. By having a meeting that lasts longer then an hour, it gives the additional individual the impression that they will have to invest very a bit of both energy and time into it.

Make a vision board so that you can easily see and focus on your multi level marketing objectives. Just what is it you wish to get out of your business? Envision just what represents results for you?a new house, performance car, or anything else that represents accomplishment.

If you are new to your home based business business, it is very important that you remain patient. It is a common risk to come to be discouraged soon after you start. Your 1st few months are remarkably crucial as to whether your business will definitely be successful or not. After a slow-moving start, network marketing will slowly help you pick up both rate and energy in the long run.

By now you may have a much better grasp of the fact that successful network marketing counts on tons of learning and tons of effort. Your work and effort need to continue gradually in order to get good results. Utilizing the strategies contained in this article will definitely assist you to come to be successful in this highly competitive area.

In this visalus sciences scam review you found the secrets to catapult your business to the next level with lead generation. Click this mlm marketing blueprint link to get the exact blueprint used by the top earners to recruit like crazy.

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Pocket God?s Other Success: Digital Comics

Pocket God is best-known as a hit game for iOS and other smartphone platforms, but Dave Castelnuovo, head of developer Bolt Creative, says the story and characters have been embraced in another medium, too ? namely, comic books. Ape Entertainment started publishing the Pocket God comic series (both in print and on iOS) in August 2010, with a total of 16 issues so far, plus a digital-only series featuring bonus content. All told, the series has sold more than 600,000 digital copies, Castelnuovo says, with issue number one seeing more than 200,000 sales.

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