One of New Mexico's top-grossing medical cannabis producers, The Verdes Foundation, implemented Wednesday a new system to help cut energy use at both of its locations.

There simply isn’t a better way to get your finger on the pulse of what’s hot in innovation than to get out and go see what’s going on at the trade shows. With cannabis trade shows, expos, and conferences beginning to circulate in the new year, the latest products and innovations are revealed to consumers and industry professionals alike.

This year, the cannabis industry is fixing to see a massive explosion in technological innovation as legalization continues to spread at a staggering pace. Lighting technology, grow room automation, soil amendments, extraction hardware, and seed to sale software are on the list to see major overhauls in the coming months. Let’s take a look at a few of the most interesting innovations to look forward to this year.

Are you guilty of living in the past? Using methods that were once tried-and-true can be alluring, but it can also prove dangerous to your search strategy. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand spells out eight old school SEO practices that you should ditch in favor of more effective and modern alternatives.

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we're going to chat about some old school SEO practices that just don't work anymore and things with which we should replace them.

Let's start with the first one — keywords before clicks.

Israel has built world-class businesses in cyber security, agricultural technology and big data analysis. Now it has global ambitions in medical marijuana.

Last week an Israeli government committee took the first step towards advancing legislation that would allow the export of medical marijuana products. Officials hope it will encourage new investment and innovation in the field and boost its agricultural sector.

There are a number of Israeli companies aiming to tap this niche but growing industry. They range from farming groups, taking advantage of Israel’s sunny climate and relaxed regulatory environment for cultivating cannabis for medical use, to companies such as Syqe Medical.

A company that specialises in the use of cannabis as a form of medication have come up with a revolutionary pain patch that can be used to treat diabetic nerve pain and symptoms of fibromyalgia. This could change the way cannabis is viewed in the medical world forever.

The new medications are designed to be administered as transdermal patches, which are basically adhesive patches that are stuck to the skin and release certain chemicals over time to help combat neurological nerve pain associated with diabetes and fibromyalgia. Using this medium means a controlled dose of the medication can be administered on a daily basis, with no negative side effects discovered so far.

Cannabis Science, the company who originally designed the patches, said:

There's no shortage of innovation in the cannabis industry, and anyone that tells you otherwise hasn't been paying attention. It seems that almost every day, a cannabis entrepreneur is coming out with a new way to consume, a better vaporizer, or a never-before-seen business model designed to succeed in the industry's complex web of regulations. It seems that the space as a whole is changing on a day-to-day basis, and there's no sector of the cannabis industry that's seen more growth and innovation than the technology space, be it in product design, data processing, or Bluetooth integration. 

Thanks to the city of Berkeley, California’s first licensed medicinal marijuana research facility, BAS Research, opened last summer. With now over four million dollars invested, they have gone to great lengths to welcome cannabis clients seeking testing, formulaic research, and high-grade oil for their products. The one-stop shop also packages and labels, providing a business, collective, or dispensary with everything they need for their cannabis product to hit the shelves.

The marijuana industry is scorching hot right now, and it's no wonder that investors are seemingly champing at the bit to get their hands on a company, or series of companies, with strong double-digit growth potential.

According to cannabis research firm ArcView, the legal marijuana market could grow by roughly 30% per year through the end of the decade. Investment firm Cowen & Co. shares a somewhat similar sentiment, forecasting growth from $6 billion in legal pot sales in 2016 to $50 billion by 2026. That's good for a compound annual growth rate of better than 23%. You'd struggle as an investor to find an industry that could consistently grow its sales for an average of 23%+plus each year for a decade.

"Do you even vape, bro?" In California, the answer is increasingly, "Yes."

Vaping is an alternative to smoking that involves inhaling vapor from an electronic device. Between 2015 and 2016, sales of marijuana oil cartridges, which are used for vaping, soared 400% among customers who use delivery service Eaze, dubbed the "Uber for weed."

Vaporizers' explosive growth may be a key driver in the falling sales of marijuana flower, the fluffy, green stuff you smoke, according to Eaze's second annual "State of Cannabis" report.

The global medical marijuana market is expected to reach a value of USD 55.8 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It has been identified that, in 2016, Washington D.C. along with 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical uses. In 2016, states such as Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were approved to use the drug in medical applications such as chemotherapies and pain management. The growing number of states and countries getting approval for using it in therapeutic applications is one of the crucial factors driving the demand over the coming few years.