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SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Electronics, which maintained its No. 1 spot in the global TV market for eight straight years, kept its lead in the global commercial display, or large format display, market for five consecutive years.
LFD is a term referring to the smart advertising board “digital sinage,” a menu board for restaurants and fast food restaurants, and an electronic black board for conference purposes.
According to market research firm DisplaySearch, Samsung Electronics achieved a market share of 26.3 percent in the global LFD market in the January-September period of 2013, far higher than those of the No. 2 player NEC (10.4%).
Following them are LG Electronics with 5.8 percent, Sharp with 4.0 percent and Philips with 2.5 percent. The market share gap between Samsung Electronics and NEC widened to 15.9 percentage points last year from 8.7 percentage points in 2012 and 4.8 percentage points in 2011.
Since 2009, Samsung Electronics has maintained the No. 1 position in this market. The size of the global LFD market is expected to grow by 17 percent this year to 2.57 million units, although it marked a slight growth last year.


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Before technology became a vital component of our lives, we used to place an order at KFC or McDonalds by simply pointing our fingers at the colourful posters or laminated menus displayed on the counter.
Fast forward to today, many fast-food giants have turned to self ordering kiosks that accept payment via e-wallets or credit and debit cards in order to improve efficiency and avoid overcrowding.
However, not all Malaysians are in favour of this new system, where some say that they miss the personal touch they get by ordering at the counter.
‘When I was young…’
A netizen named Ah Lee perfectly summed up this feeling of nostalgia in a poem-like Facebook post, where she described her thoughts towards the new ordering system adopted by KFC.
It all began when she was unable to place her order at the counter and was forced to do so at a self ordering kiosk.
While lining up, I suddenly thought of my parents and how they loved going to KFC to celebrate my birthday every year. As individuals who weren’t fluent in English and Malay, pointing towards the menu was very simple for them.
She then jumps to modern day restaurants, writing how multiple-paged menus have now been reduced to QR codes and lamented over the lack of accommodation for the elderly unfamiliar with technology.
“Our generation knows how to communicate in English, use e-wallets, and electronic items. But even we at times get frazzled too. How more so it is for the older generation?
We think we’re the experts because we’re currently riding the “boat” of this modern era. But I hope we never forget who exactly built this “boat” — the previous generation. Don’t leave them behind.
Towards the end of the post, Ah Lee urged restaurants such as KFC to be more mindful of elderly customers by retaining some aspects of traditional means of ordering food without compromising on the need to keep up with the times.
She also called upon younger Malaysians to always give a helping hand to the elderly if they were to encounter any difficulties in placing an order via technological means.
Read the post here:
Netizens share the same thoughts
The post has since garnered 24k likes and 14k shares at the time of writing, where netizens were reminded of the simpler days of their childhood and the challenges the older generation face.
One wrote how he was discussing the topic with his girlfriend and came to the conclusion that he would not consider order food with the help of technology as it lacked a personal touch.
Another said that he was deeply touched by the post and vowed to help anyone’s parents who had trouble with self ordering kiosks.
It’s unrelated to the article but here’s our brand-new podcast – Talk Je Lah!

domain: news


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Recently, Facebook just introduced a new feature of supporting GIFs from Google’s Gboard keyboard in its Messenger, and soon after that, it is heard that Facebook will start to test a new GIF button in the posts’ comment section, which told by TechCrunch.
Although Facebook has been a social media giant in the world, the GIFs just start to be available on its Messenger as well as other section of the platform. And now, they are focus on testing on posting GIFs in comments via a new GIF button. When this new feature finish the test and plan to be rolled out, it will only available to a small part of Facebook users at the very beginning, after ensuring it is popular and good to use, it will be available for every Facebook user.
As the popular messaging app which also belonging to the Facebook, WhatsApp also start to support Gboard GIFs in recently.


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What, if anything, can be done to help rebuild Armstrong’s image? Lance Armstrong, after all, isn’t just a man. He’s a marketable brand, too. Since it launched in 1997, his foundation Livestrong (formerly known as the Lance Armstrong Foundation) has raised more than $470 million for cancer awareness and research. So I asked four professionals in brand management, public relations, and consulting what advice they would give to Armstrong to help salvage what’s left of Brand Lance.
Read more. [Image: AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez]
January 16, 2013
RSS feed: http://theatlantic.tumblr.com/rss


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STAR WARS Video Games To Borrow A Page From BATMAN’s Playbook
We know new Star Wars video games are on the way, but it sounds like they will have a rather interesting approach that will owe a debt to Batman and the Arkham series. A new interview reveals that EA is planning to treat their Star Wars video game universe in a similar manner as Rocksteady is doing with their Arkham games. The comparison was made by EA CEO Andrew Wilson in a recent interview with Fortune.
Speaking with Fortune (via CVG.Com), Wilson stated that the upcoming Star Wars games will not be based on any of the upcoming films. He goes on to talk about the company’s new approach to telling story in the video game franchise. That’s where he dropped the big Batman comparison, saying:
What Warner Bros. did with Batman was take the core roots of that IP and manifest that inside the walls of Gotham City and delivered an interactive experience that had real ties to what you would see in the films and what you had read in the comics, while having its own life because it could provide such deep and more immersive storylines. When we look at the Star Wars properties that’s how we’re looking at it. We’re not trying to build a game that replicates the storyline of any particular film.
CVG goes on to point out that EA‘s current Star Wars licensing deal with Disney is set to run for ten years, with DICE, Visceral, and BioWare developing some Star Wars titles like the Battlefront reboot that was announced last year. There is a caveat in the contract that allows Disney to retain some rights to develop games for mobile, social, tablet, and online game categories with EA serving the “core gaming audience.” Disney can, of course, make their games tie into the movies.
Regardless of the finer points, borrowing from the Arkham method is a rather interesting prospect. Going the route of developing new storylines for the Star Wars game could be a huge boost to the franchise, which is really needs right now. There will definitely be a lot of eyes on what EA is doing with the new movie trilogy announced. What do you think about Wilson‘s comments? Do you like the way they’re approaching the Star Wars games now?
This article was submitted by one of ComicBookTherapy’s contributors. Every contributor must agree and abide by ComicBookTherapy’s Site User Agreement. ComicBookTherapy.com is protected from liability under “OCILLA” (Online Copyright Infringement Liablity Limitation Act) and will actively enforce said provisions. If you represent an individual or company and feel as though this article has infringed on any of our terms or any existing copyrights, please contact us for a speedy removal.
Source : ComputerAndVideoGames.Com


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A gun-control group backed by Michael Bloomberg is stepping up its support for background check legislation in Congress with a six-figure ad buy this week, Politico reports. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit formed last year combining the groups Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, will begin running ads in publications including the Washington Post and Politico. It is also launching separate petitions to Congress and gun retailer Cabela's.
Everytown for Gun Safety says it has more than 3 million members and 40,000 donors. After the 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Ct., the mayors group spent $12 million on an ad campaign attempting to persuade senators to back stricter gun-control measures. Last year, Bloomberg spent $40 million to try and elect candidates at the federal, state and local levels who support gun control and other issues the former New York mayor backs. Everytown for Gun Safety is backing legislation from Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) that aims to stop retailers from selling guns to people with incomplete background checks. The prospects of a bill getting through the GOP-controlled Congress appear bleak.


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Posts tagged 'taxes'
This is a reblog from author: Liz Sheld. Original article: http://bit.ly/1MpRzcF
The government revenue-acquiring apparatus, always eager to get a cut of a flourishing new industry, is about to hit "vapers" with some new taxes.
Many "vapers," or folks who use electronic cigarettes, are former smokers who are no longer purchasing highly and punitively taxed tobacco products. The government is not getting tax revenue from this pool of citizens anymore, so it is looking to find a way to recoup the loss.


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// Selected Marks & Spencer stores relaunch work experience programme with The Prince’s Trust
// M&S will encourage the young people to apply for permanent opportunities where they are available across its stores.
M&S stores in West Yorkshire have relaunched a work experience programme to help young people onto the career ladder.
The Kickstart programme, run in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, is now taking applications for the next group of young people aged 16-24.
More than 1,000 applicants came forward across the UK for the scheme’s first intake in April, with 171 placements awarded.
The second cohort will see 189 placements offered at 72 M&S stores, including nine across M&S Leeds, M&S Bradford Westfield and M&S Halifax.
Successful applicants will take up the role in July.
Those successful will join the M&S stores as trainee customer assistants for the six-month placements rotating across food halls, backstage operations, hospitality and clothing and home departments.
As well as gaining retail experience, the young people will have the chance to develop their communication and digital skills and confidence in the workplace.
Following the Kickstart placements, M&S will encourage the young people to apply for permanent opportunities where they are available across its stores.


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Expected DA of January 2016 – AICPIN July 2015 released : First Stage Ends
The first stage of the six-month long calculations for the dearness allowance to be granted in January 2016 has ended.
The dearness allowance of January 2016 will be the last to be issued based on the guidelines of the 6th Pay Commission. The subsequent DAs will be calculated based on the methods prescribed by the 7th Pay Commission.
All India Consumer Price Index for the month of July 2015 has been released by the Labour Bureau and the index increased by two points and stood at 263.


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At first cable executives denied the trend, blaming it only on an economic hiccup. But that excuse no longer works as millions of Americans are cutting the cord and moving to the Internet and free over-the-air (OTA) reception.
So far about six percent of U.S. households have cut the cord, and close to sixty million Americans now get their TV for free off antennas. Millions more have completely dropped cable and satellite TV in favor of streaming-only fare over the Internet.
A new study released last week by GfK, a market research firm, found that 19.3 percent of all U.S. TV households get their TV from free OTA broadcasts. This means that 22.4 million households representing 59.7 million Americans get their TV for free, the market research firm estimated. One in five young households never bothered to get a TV subscription to begin with.
The number of households relying on OTA reception only is also growing, GigaOm reported. In 2010, it reported that only 14 percent of all households were getting their TV this way. Growth is especially strong amongst younger households, lower-income families and minorities, and it’s gathering momentum quickly, GigaOM said.
It’s not hard to see why people are looking for ways to ditch their cable bill, USA Today reported. A recent study by the NPD Group determined that the average monthly cost of pay TV in the U.S. hit $86 in 2011 and is projected to rise to $123 by 2015. That’s on top of broadband Internet access, which can chew up anywhere from $20 to $205 per month, when it isn’t bundled with a cable subscription.
In contrast, Netflix and Hulu Plus cost just $7.99 monthly, the newspaper reported. Amazon’s video service is bundled into its Prime membership, which runs $79 per year. Add the three together and you’re looking at about $22.50 for monthly access to a massive combined catalog of movies and TV shows. And these are just the most prominent out of dozens of competing streaming services.
Nielsen, the television measurement company, has begun to pay special attention to what it calls “Zero-TV” households. Though it still refers to them as a “small group,” Nielsen said that these cord-cutters now account for more than five million homes, up from just over two million in 2007.
The GfK study found that minorities represent 41 percent of all antenna households. The majority of Latino households that speak primarily Spanish now use an antenna to get their TV programming, with only 49 percent of those households subscribing to a pay-TV service, GfK said. Also, 28 percent of all households with a head of household under the age of 35 use an antenna instead of a pay-TV subscription.
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Sony's PS4 Outsells Microsoft's Xbox One for February
March 14, 2014 12:36 PM
comment(s) - last by
Sony won by nearly 30,000 sales
Sony's PlayStation 4 pulled out another monthy sales win over Microsoft's Xbox One, although the gap is starting to narrow.
, Microsoft sold 258,000 Xbox One consoles for the month of February. However, Sony sold around 287,000 PlayStation 4s according to market researchers NPD Group.
Overall hardware sales rose 42 percent year over year and 44 percent month over month. The top-selling games for February were "Call of Duty: Ghosts," "The Lego Movie Videogame," "NBA 2K14," "Thief" and "Grand Theft Auto V."
The PS4 ended up
outselling the Xbox One
in January as well, where journalist Geoff Keighley -- who spoke with PlayStation SVP Guy Longworth -- said PS4 sales in January nearly doubled the "nearest next gen competitor," which points to the Xbox One.
But the Xbox One was December 2013's winner with 908,000 consoles sold.
In mid-February, it was reported that Sony had sold
5.3 million PS4s globally
Sales of both consoles are being watched very closely, since many believe the months after the holiday season are more telling of which console wins the race rather than the November-December period, when everyone is spending anyway.
Both Microsoft and Sony released their respective consoles a week apart in November 2013, just in time for the holiday season.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
3/16/2014 6:54:51 PM
Oh come now.
Yes the Xbox is selling better, thanks to the fastest price drop in console history, but it's still not even close to total PS4 units.
I'm not buying either console, I don't have a horse in this race. I just want to make sure Microsoft learned their lesson, and that it was NOT cool what they wanted to do with the Xbox. Not cool at all.
The Xbox has always attracted the lowest common denominator when it comes to gaming. Comically large dudes with an IQ of 40 chainsawing aliens to death in an ara of high-tech projectile weapons, that sort of rubbish. So I'm sure Titanfall will do well.
3/16/2014 7:18:30 PM
Yes, Gears was a pretty stupid game. But you could make pretty much the same complaint with the Final Fantasy series. Effeminate spiky-haired guys swinging comically huge swords in an era of projectile weapons.
Judging a whole gaming system based on one game is pretty short-sighted.
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Apple released the Mac Studio, the new Studio Display, new iPhones, an iPad Air, and live baseball on Apple TV+, but March was overshadowed by war in Ukraine.
Every leaker was adamant that the M2 MacBook Air was the absolute certainty at the start of the month. But you know what Apple is like, the company clearly changed its mind at the last moment.
In case that last sentence wasn’t clear, that’s sarcasm.
Instead, we got the Mac Studio. Hats off to Apple for keeping that a secret until just a few days before the event, though it must be galling for them that they couldn’t keep it quiet until debut.
Curiously, the March 8 “Peek Performance” launch event feels a long time ago now, and it’s equally hard to think that we’ve only had the Mac Studio for a matter of weeks. Or if you weren’t fast enough ordering one, that you’ve now been waiting for a matter of weeks.
That could be because the Mac Studio feels right. It’s a vertically stretched-up Mac mini, or a vertically cut down G4 Cube, and it’s fair to say that it’s been universally well-received.
Mac Studio criticisms
Really the only criticism Apple has received over the Mac Studio is to do with how it’s not meant to be opened up. Despite some folks breaking the seal on release day and screeching that “Apple lied” about users not being able to upgrade the storage after purchase, you can’t replace the SSD storage.
This hasn’t stopped people from continuing to try. There is iFixit, which tears down every new Apple device with the specific intention of discovering how repairable it might be.
But then there are many others who have wrenched open their Mac Studio with the specific intention of getting attention, especially when they prove that actually, yes, you can replace the SSD with a larger one.
It just won’t work if you do.
Among the people who have got a Mac Studio in order to do work with it, though, the machine has come in for little but praise. Which is not what you can say about the Studio Display.
From delightful to unusable
Seriously, if you look across all of the reviews of the Apple Studio Display, you will find one to fit every point in the scale from bad to good. There were many that called it delightful, there were some that said it is entirely unusable, there were some across the entire spectrum.
Sometimes that did seem unfair. It’s long been routine for people to say they wish Apple would take the 27-inch iMac‘s gorgeous screen and sell it separately. But now they’ve done exactly that, few seem all that happy.
That could be to do with the price which, starting at $1,599, is a first-class demonstration of what great value the iMac was.
However, it’s also to do with how there is a problem with the Studio Display’s webcam. Compared to others from Apple, it’s poor, and so much so that the company promised it would fix the issue.
Apple said it would do this through an update, that the core issue is really in software instead of hardware. There was no sign of that update by the end of March, though.
Then there’s the iPhone SE and new iPhone 13
There were some signs by the end of March that the new iPhone SE isn’t selling as well as predicted. This update brings 5G to the iPhone SE, but is otherwise mild, and the predictions of wild success came from analysts who have since been steadily reducing their sales estimates.
Reportedly, production of the iPhone 13 range has been reduced, too, but somehow that’s a seasonal expectation.
Rather than try to fathom out how analysts and leakers work, though, you could also ponder whether Apple deliberately chose to release two different green iPhone 13 models. Or whether they couldn’t quite get the paint to match on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
And then took out any frustration this may have caused by creating the single scariest iPhone ad they’ve ever done. The new iPhone 13 ad’s message is that the phones are now available in green, but the visuals were like the phones were raging mad about it all.
Apart from the color, and from resembling the books eat you in Harry Potter, there was nothing new about the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. Apple seems to have hit on a way to perk up demand half way between one iPhone model’s release and the next.
Good for them, and if you like green, good for you. It all makes sense, and there was no iPhone release this month that made the buying decision more complicated.
The new iPad Air
There were some rumbles before the end of March, about the build quality of the iPad Air 5. Yet overall, it’s been received as possibly the best iPad in the lineup.
It can’t touch the 12.9-inch iPad Pro for size or screen quality. And it can’t touch the regular iPad for cheapness.
But otherwise, the iPad Air is such a sweet spot between those other models that it gives you pause. Get it instead of a regular iPad and there are so many aspects that you’ll know are worth the cost.
There are differences in storage options, and colors, and you might see a difference in the screens if you put the two iPads close together. Only, one of those differences is that the iPad Air has a 10.9-inch display, where the iPad Pro has an 11-inch one.
It feels as if all of the differences between the new mid-range iPad Air and the top-end iPad Pro are like that. They are different, but not so much that you will definitely mind, or even notice.
So on the one hand, Apple introducing the iPad Air 5 has made it easy to decide to buy that instead of the top end model. And on the other hand, you’ve got to be wondering what Apple’s got planned to differentiate the iPad Pro in future.
Complaints against Apple
If you are a sports fan, it was more complicated. For sports fans with Apple TV+ subscriptions, it’s something more to watch.
But it’s also keeping those games from other fans who don’t have that subscription. Sport used to be this nation uniting spectacle, but it’s ever more siloed into different subscription packages.
Speaking of silos, though, Apple did get as much praise as it did criticism for who was on camera during the March event. There shouldn’t really have been any reason to notice this, but more than half the presenters, and all of the interviewee developers featured, were women.
That should have been the biggest shrug of the presentation, but it drew attention because of how it suggests Apple is presenting a public image that doesn’t match what it does in private. Ex-Apple engineer Cher Scarlett talked about the difference in how women are treated in the company and then said it all best in a tweet that read “video representation is great, but it’s not enough.”
Most of the other women I knew in engineering teams at Apple were the only women on their teams.
24% of “tech” workers are women. We found >40% of that were sw/hw engineers.
— Cher Scarlett (@cherthedev) March 8, 2022
Apple’s internal teams
There are different reports of how Apple is improving the balance of women in the workplace, though seemingly not improving pay disparities. But the biggest news about Apple’s teams was a story that leaked in March concerning the lack of a team behind the “Apple Car.”
The story is that this Project Titan team had been all but disbanded in the last few months leading up to March. It’s definitely true that various managers, believed to be involved with the project, have been poached by other car companies.
It fits less well with how Porsche apparently had meetings with someone or other at Apple about cars. And it definitely doesn’t fit with the long-held prediction that Apple would release a car in 2025.
Although you know what Apple is like, it probably changed its mind.
We do tend to assume that Apple has so much money that it can do anything. But it’s true that you cannae change the laws of physics, and often just throwing more money or more resources at a problem is not the solution.
And often a team can get overworked, overstretched. According to some sources, that’s going on with the people behind Apple TV+.
As Apple rightly celebrates “CODA” having won a Best Picture Oscar before any other streaming service came very close, so it’s claimed that the team is stretched to breaking point. It’s claimed that Apple’s lawyers don’t understand entertainment law, and that has a ring of truth since media contracts are so complex, and presumably so different from ones with iPhone component suppliers.
The same sources, though, say that things are so bad that there is one Apple TV+ show that began streaming before Apple had signed the contracts for it. AppleInsider knows of productions that have got underway in good faith before a contract was finalized, but they shouldn’t have.
And there is no production that would deliver the assets for broadcast because they like whoever’s on the phone at Apple.
So it’s hard to know for sure what media leakers know and are just making up, which actually makes them oddly similar to technology leakers. Maybe entertainment and technology aren’t that different after all.
Still, the Oscar win for “CODA” wasn’t just great for Apple, wasn’t just significant because it was the first streamer win. It was also deserved. Watch “CODA” on Apple TV+ or during its celebratory theatrical release — and also read writer/director Sian Heder’s Oscar-winning screenplay.
Apple hosted the screenplay online during the run-up to the Oscar judging, though it has since removed it. You can still find it on multiple script sites and Hollywood business publications, however, including Deadline.
Apple TV+ was announced in March 2019 and it took a long time for it to have any kind of a hit. Just as AppleInsider said early on, though, it only takes a streamer or a network to have one truly big hit and then everything else changes.
By March 2022, Apple TV+ is no longer just the home to “Ted Lasso,” it is replete with strong and successful shows. Also deliciously, disturbingly creepy ones — take a look at the LinkedIn page for the fictitious Lumon Industries in “Severance.”
If entertainment and technology are not so different, then technology and litigation are now practically synonyms.
Some of it was familiar, as March 31, 2022, was the deadline for Apple supporters to file briefs to the court overseeing the Epic Games vs Apple appeal. Things will probably go quiet on that appeal now until a hearing some time in 2023.
Other legal issues were starting to become familiar. With the US seemingly inching closer to requiring Apple to allow third-party App Stores, the company wrote to the Senate Judiciary to explain its position.
As ever, that position is that to allow sideloading of apps onto iPhones is to effectively switch off all of the security that users have come to expect. “There is ample evidence showing third-party app stores are a key malware vector on platforms which support such stores,” said Apple.
It’s hard to argue against that, but plenty of people are trying. Most significantly, the European Union is.
The EU’s Digital Markets Act, which in part would require third-party app stores, passed a key stage in March 2022. There are more steps to come before it can become law, but the EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, insists that it will happen by October 2022.
With the sheer scale of the proposals, that seems optimistic.
Apple and Russia
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still happening as this story goes live for the first time on April 1, 2022, and it’s hardly as if anyone is getting used to it. At the start of the month it felt possible that Apple might even ditch a launch event. Launching new hardware while there’s a war on seemed uncertain.
As it was, Apple carried on the event almost as normal — with the only nod to the situation being Tim Cook dressing in Ukraine colors.
And it was also possible to destroy Apple hardware. One Russian man filmed himself and his son smashing an iPad so old that it probably didn’t work any more.
It was meant to show America that Russia doesn’t need nice things, and as a cutting statement went, it made a point. Because shards from the smashed iPad sliced into the man’s finger.
March ended as it began
Quite clearly more serious than actual war, was the ping-pong style battle that went on between analysts in March 2022. You could lose track of who was saying what, since their positions seemed to change all the time anyway, but Apple is definitely not going to release any devices with mini LED technology in 2022. Or it definitely is.
Or maybe it definitely will introduce new models of existing devices with mini LED. Or it won’t.
One of these positions will turn out to be right and one won’t.
But naturally it won’t be that any analyst was in any way mistaken. It will be that Apple changed its mind at the last minute.


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Steve Madden, the legend behind one of America’s top shoe and lifestyle brands, will make a personal appearance at the Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square. Fans and fashion enthusiasts from across the tri-state area will meet Steve on the store’s newly debuted Shoe Salon. Guests are invited to snag face time with the footwear magnate and pose for photos while he autographs branded tees and tote bags. A special gift will also be given with the purchase of any Steve Madden product during the event.
The special evening will be hosted by TV personality, Julissa Bermudez, of the Style Network’s hit-series Empire Girls. Electric tunes will be spun throughout the store by New York-based fashion DJ May Kwok.
Considered the pioneer in creative shoe design and lifestyle branding in the 21st century, Steve Madden has given young, fashion-forward men and women a unique way to express their individuality through style for the past two decades. Madden’s iconic designs will continue to be showcased on a grand scale as part of Macy’s Herald Square’s brand new Shoe Salon debuting this Fall, with 150 styles on display, 35 of which are exclusive to Macy’s. The ground-breaking space will become the world’s largest shoe floor, housing 300,000 pairs of shoes by hundreds of top designers and spanning over 63,000 square feet, making the second floor shoe department the “must shop” destination this season.
WHERE: Macy’s Herald Square, 151 West 34th Street, New York, NY 1000
WHEN: Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 6:00pm
Be sure to upload twitpics for all to see if you attend!!


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From seafarers refusing to get back on ships to truck drivers whose concern over Covid-related border closures trumps the lure of higher pay, the transport industry is bracing for another roller coaster year of supply-chain disruptions.
As omicron infections surge and governments tighten restrictions, logistics companies around the world, from global giants to small businesses, can’t find enough staff. According to the International Road Transport Union, around one-fifth of all professional truck driving jobs are unfilled, despite many employers offering increased wages. Some pockets of shipping are also sounding the warning bell about future hiring prospects.
“2022 is shaping up to be another year of severe disruption, under supply and extreme cost for cargo owners,” said Simon Heaney, an analyst at maritime research consultancy Drewry. “The virus is once again showing it’s in charge,” he said, predicting another 12 months of stretched labor and healthcare-related red tape.
As the mutated omicron variant takes hold, workers who deliver goods on ships and trucks are shouldering the brunt of a supply chain infrastructure still mired in chaos. Faced with long weeks of quarantine combined with the precarious nature of crossing borders and fears of getting sick, some people are refusing contracts while others are looking for work elsewhere, companies say.
In Romania, many truck drivers don’t want to accept long-haul jobs into other parts of Europe, stung by last year’s 30 mile (48 kilometer) traffic jams and waits of up to 18 hours at EU borders. Countries where infections are surging are particularly problematic, according to Alex Constantinescu, CEO of Alex International Transport 94 SRL, which operates 130 trucks that deliver pharmaceutical and food products throughout the continent.
Already faced with a driver shortage before the pandemic, the trucking industry’s labor crisis has become more acute, he said. The company has had to raise wages by about 30% over the past three years.
“Long hours on the road, sleeping in the cab and now not knowing if the people you interact with have the virus — truck driving isn’t very attractive anymore,” said Constantinescu, who founded the company 27 years ago. “I look behind me and I can’t see any new generation of drivers. The pandemic has made this work very unattractive.”
In the U.K., the ranks of heavy goods vehicle drivers slumped by 23%, or around 72,000 people, in the second quarter compared to 2019, data from Logistics UK show. In China, it’s the fear of draconian quarantines due to the government’s Covid-zero strategy keeping drivers away. Just last week the entire western city of Xi’an, population 13 million, went into a snap lockdown after 127 cases.
“China has very strict policy measures to control flare ups and that’s making truck drivers unwilling to go to some areas where they might be quarantined,” said Salmon Aidan Lee, head of polyesters at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “These harsh measures have further contributed to supply chain issues, and some polyester factories have had to shut.”
The shipping industry is facing similar labor challenges.
While the crew-change crisis that prevented seafarers from getting home and being replaced with fresh mariners has mostly eased — fewer than 5% of seafarers were onboard ships beyond the expiry of their contracts in mid-November, a drop from 9% in mid-July, according to The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator — now companies can’t entice them back.
Western Shipping Pte Ltd., a Singapore-based tanker operator, said about 20% of its some 1,000 mariners don’t want to get back onto ships. Around 5% of Anglo-Eastern Univan Group’s 30,000 mariners had indicated as of last month they aren’t interested in a new contract.
Western Shipping is having to hire seafarers from other companies and offer them good bonuses to boot, according to Managing Director Belal Ahmed, who also chairs the International Maritime Employers’ Council.
Some of those delaying going back to sea are senior crew members, such as officers with experience and tenure, said Bjorn Hojgaard, chief executive officer of ship manager Anglo-Eastern Univan.
“Even before Covid it was hard to get the right person with the right experience and training on a ship,” said Hojgaard, who is also chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association. “Today, we have to compromise. That worries me we’re not doing anything good for the safety of ships.”
The shortage may worsen as shipowners and charterers request only vaccinated crew be hired. And with omicron requiring more booster shots, the dearth is intensifying. Less than 30% of seafarers from India and the Philippines, among the top countries providing mariners, were fully inoculated as of mid-November, according to the Neptune Declaration indicator.
“We can’t dictate that seafarers take the vaccination but customers are stating they’ll only use fully vaccinated crew,” Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Mark O’Neil said. “It’s been a challenge keeping these huge cargo ships moving.”
Wilhelmsen Ship Management, which manages a pool of around 10,000 mariners, is troubled by the trend of junior officers refusing contracts, even though it hasn’t affected the company’s overall crew-retention rate yet, CEO Carl Schou said. Still, the pipeline of future officers, who require years of training, could be disrupted.
“What happens then is you bring in people who aren’t qualified, you get them through a shorter training and promote them to roles that require more experience,” Ahmed said. “That could lead to more serious incidents and accidents on ships, groundings, even pollution. I‘m afraid we’re heading toward a disaster.”
© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Author: K. Oanh Ha and Ann Koh (Bloomberg) — With assistance from Jack Wittels, Claire Jiao and Andreo Calonzo.
Photo: A_Lesik / Shutterstock.com


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A search engine that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to “read” through millions of online documents could help privacy researchers find ones that are related to online privacy. The researchers who designed the search engine suggest it could be an important tool for researchers trying to find ways to design a safer internet.
In a study, the researchers said that the search engine, which they dubbed PrivaSeer, uses a type of AI called natural language processing — NLP — to identify online privacy documents, such as privacy policies, terms of service agreements, cookie policies, privacy bills and laws, regulatory guidelines and other related texts on the web.
Rather than attempting to search for privacy documents themselves, researchers could type their queries into the search engine to efficiently identify and collect the correct documentation.
Ultimately, though, the search engine could help researchers better understand online privacy in general and examine…


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It’s always interesting to me to see stories about the worldwide hops shortage continue to pop up in strange places – the most recent of which hit me when I opened the most recent issue of Inc Magazine which arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. The story, which is also available on inc.com, certainly didn’t reveal anything new about the crisis, and used the same old recycled story of Jim Kock’s generous donations of hops early in the year. I wonder how much longer the same old story will continue to pop up. Until prices start to drop?
Occasionally though, someone will release a story with a new twist on the same ol’ same ol’. Take a recent Wall Street Journal article, for instance, which profiles a number of small American farmers who, when hearing about the soaring prices of hops, planted hops beds for the first time and are now harvesting their crops. From the Wall Street Journal,
Mr. Polley is among a small but rising number of newcomers to attempt to grow hops on a commercial scale outside the Pacific Northwest, America’s haven for hops.
“I’m convinced we have a chance to do something to help out the craft brewers” and make some money, says Mr. Polley, who also runs a legal-research firm.
While the WSJ article does still use the same recycled explanations of why hops prices are so high, at least they’re spinning a unique perpective into it. And the article does shed a little light on the history of growing hops — especially in the U.S. — with some new and unique information, even for me. I would certainly recommend giving it a read.
[image via the Wall Street Journal]


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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – For months, Tonya Pool had been looking forward to her cruise on the Norwegian Epic ship.
“We got in the middle of the ocean and started moving very, very slow,” Pool told Call 12 for Action. “Then we were notified that the engine had failed.”
The ship canceled its stop at the first destination and was docking in Puerto Rico for repairs when it crashed into the dock.
The February incident was caught on camera and posted to social media.
Norwegian Cruise Line said nobody was injured, but the cruise never got back on track with its planned itinerary.
“We were told we weren’t going to go to the next island because there were still issues with the engine,” Pool recalled. “Then they made another announcement that we weren’t going to go to the third island.”
“It was just one thing after another,” she said.
In a letter to passengers on the ship, the cruise line originally offered a 50% credit toward another cruise. Then the company upped its offer to a 100% credit.
“Who’s to say that we wanted to cruise with them again?” Pool said. “How come we can’t have our money back and make that choice if we want to cruise with them or not?”
A spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line told Call 12 for Action passengers are only entitled to a refund if the cruise is canceled. In Pool’s case, though the ship never made it to its destinations, the cruise technically lasted the full seven days.
Norwegian reiterated its offer for a cruise credit and said, “We recognize the disappointment and inconvenience our guests experienced and we offer our sincerest apologies. Our team worked diligently to assist all guests while onboard as well as after disembarkation.”
Norwegian said it also covered the cost of a hotel stay and airline change fees the Pools incurred.


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For all the hype surrounding the emergence of the digital business, most business-to-business (B2B) transactions conducted today still revolve around electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. The challenge with EDI is that each transaction is cumbersome to set up and expensive to manage on an ongoing basis.
Ken Yagen, vice president of products for MuleSoft, says that while it’s unlikely that organizations will be getting rid of billions of dollars in investments in EDI applications, the rise of the digital economy has proven that there is a tremendous amount of interest in making EDI processes more accessible. In fact, Yagen notes that MuleSoft is trying to bring together all the attributes associated with the API economy and the robustness of the EDI frameworks that most organizations have relied on for decades to conduct transactions.
As a byproduct of that endeavor, Yagen adds that organizations can also reduce their dependencies on value-added networks (VANs), which are often employed to reduce the complexity of conducting transactions over a B2B network. In their place, REST APIs make it simpler for many of those organizations to expose their EDI backend services to partners and suppliers without having to rely on a third-party network to provide that higher level of abstraction.
In effect, MuleSoft is making a concerted effort to apply a modern platform—that is considerably lighter weight than legacy integration frameworks that were developed to support more point-to-point approaches—to integration. It seems that the days of trying to conduct transactions by exposing EDI protocols and services to customers may finally be giving way to a much nimbler API approach.


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Lebanon: Can Nahr al-Bared’s Market Make a Comeback?
By: Zaid Shteiwi
Published Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Now that security passes to enter North Lebanon’s Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp have been revoked, local merchants report that their businesses are still on the edge of bankruptcy.
Nahr al-Bared – Before the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp was almost completely destroyed in 2007 following a months-long battle between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, it was a popular shopping destination for many in the North.
Here, you could find everything from pharmacies to gold shops to tile distributors. Lebanese farmers in the surrounding area benefited by selling their produce in the camp. Some estimate that thousands of dollars were spent daily at the local shops.
Today, the few camp merchants remaining have nothing but complaints about the state of their business, despite the fact that it has been months since the army lifted its security pass system for those who want to enter the camp.
“Nothing has changed,” complains Abed Sharif, who sells housewares, “because the camp remains surrounded by checkpoints. It is true that the security pass system has ended, but the Lebanese don’t come here anymore.”
“Those who used to shop here,” he continues, “have found alternatives outside the camp. Even some of the big Palestinian merchants have relocated elsewhere, and we used to benefit a lot from their customers.”
Bashar Nassar, a clothing shop owner, agrees with Sharif, saying that revoking the passes made little difference. “Quite frankly, if the situation remains this way, most of the stores will close – we can neither cover our rent nor pay off our debts to those who provide us with the merchandise.”
Next door to Nassar, Abu-Samir Badr sits in his lingerie store. Before the camp’s destruction, he owned the largest lingerie outlet in the camp.
“Our daily income was around $2,500 back then,” he explains, “and we employed between four and six women to help us out. Our business with Tripoli’s merchants would reach $20,000 a week. On the big holidays, we would would sell everything in the store.”
Close by, in Abu-Ahmad al-Abed Issa’s store, the situation is the same. When asked about shoppers from the surrounding area, he wonders, “Where are they? Is there anyone even coming into the camp these days? They can all be counted on one hand.”
As for compensation from the government, he says that the nearby Lebanese villages have received thousands of dollars, but the camp’s merchants have seen nothing yet.
Following the camp war, local merchants formed a committee to follow up on matters related to reconstruction and compensation. Ali Awad, who is an executive member, explains that the committee has sent appeals to the authorities asking for compensation, but to no avail.
He says that the committee worked with UNRWA to complete a survey of destroyed stores. “UNRWA paid small shop owners between $2,000 and $4,500, while the bigger merchants received amounts ranging between $5,000 and $9,500.”
Abu-Nimr, a camp Popular Committee official, says, “Ending the security passes did not produce the desired result due to the fact that the military checkpoints remained, leading many to believe that the camp is still a military zone.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.


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In the world of major league sports, licensing team trademarks for their use in merchandise and apparel has become big business. The international licensing industry group Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA) has reported that sports licensing revenues in 2013 grew to $698 in revenues on $12.8 billion in retail sales, making 2013 the fourth straight year of revenue growth in this sector. The collegiate category, which includes colleges and universities competing in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sporting events, accounted for $209 million in licensing royalties during 2013. A LIMA survey for 2014 shows that retail sales of licensed sports merchandise and apparel rose to $26.2 billion, a sharp spike up from 2013 which accounted for more than 10 percent of all retail sales of licensed merchandise in 2014. A survey of the U.S. market for licensed sports merchandise released this March by Market Research Reports shows that sports apparel is enjoying the highest growth rate in the sector, outpacing video game and sporting equipment segments.
Of course, success breeds competition, and competition in the world of licensed merchandise often means counterfeits. Last January, representatives from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office announced that an operation to seize counterfeit merchandise featuring National Football League (NFL) team logos had netted $19.5 million worth of counterfeit hats, jackets and other apparel. The enforcement action, dubbed Operation Team Player, resulted in the seizure of more than 326,000 pieces of phony sports merchandise and led to 52 arrests. This February, ICE announced that another Operation Team Player sting resulted in the seizure of more than 450,000 counterfeit items worth about $39 million. The NFL counterfeit item crackdowns were scheduled to coincide with the Super Bowl championship game.
It’s not just football which attracts interest from counterfeiters looking to make a quick buck on the use of a team logo. In late September, media reports indicated that the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball (MLB) had filed a court order which would give law enforcement the right to seize counterfeit or trademark-infringing goods being sold outside of Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The Cubs filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (N.D. Ill.) and names seven individual defendants as well as 30 John Doe defendants.
There are a large number of trademarks owned both by the Cubs and by MLB which are being infringed upon, according to the suit. The Cubs want to prevent the sale of goods including indicia associated with the team including famous former players like Ryne Sandberg and Ernie Banks; references to team successes like 1908, the last year in which the Cubs won the World Series; traditions like the “W” flag or “Go Cubs Go”; broadcast personalities; and famous Cubs managers. The Cubs are also looking to block goods depicting Wrigley Field as the Cubs own word and design marks related to the stadium, its iconic marquee and its ivy-covered red brick walls.
The filed complaint includes pictures of both vendors and counterfeit goods being sold with marks owned by either the Chicago Cubs or MLB. These images show T-shirts, fishing hats, towels and other merchandise which either infringe upon trademarks by using identical or similar Cubs and MLB logos; the complaint also mentions merchandise which incorporate the Cubs’ trade dress blue-and-red color scheme. The suit includes eight claims for relief related to trademark infringement and unfair competition.
The prayer for relief in the Cubs’ complaint spells out the ways in which they’d like to prevent sales of counterfeit goods around the stadium in the future. If the case were to go the Cubs way, defendants would be permanently enjoined from marketing infringing goods, using any trademark or logo which is likely to cause consumer confusion for being similar to the plaintiff’s trademarks or circumventing the prohibition on sales through assignments or transfers. The complaint also asks that plaintiffs or their representatives will be able to seize and sequester infringing goods or devices used to produce the infringing goods, including silk screens, heat transfers and printers, which are in the possession of defendants with the help of law enforcement officials.
The fact that law enforcement officials could be used to seize counterfeit goods which infringe upon trademarks held by the Chicago Cubs is unusual in U.S. trademark law. Typically, defendants are given notice from a court that their goods are accused of trademark infringement Ex parte seizure orders, in which a court authorizes such seizures of goods without notifying defendants, are typically only issued in an effort to protect trademark owners from counterfeiters who would either destroy or hide evidence if given advance notice from the court. This is sometimes used at trade shows when a foreign entity without a business presence in the United States brings such infringing products for sale.
One example of this was seen in January of this year when federal marshals seized self-balancing electric skateboards being marketed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The seizure order was issued on behalf of Future Motion, a company which has developed and markets a one-wheeled electric skateboard known as the OneWheel. Federal marshals went to CES to seize Trotters, skateboard products infringing upon Future Motion’s patent rights and being sold by Chinese firm Changzhou First International Trade. Many attendees at the trade show, including Changzhou representatives, were taken by surprise at news of the seizure. Although the parties selling Cubs merchandise outside of Wrigley Field seem to be mostly American citizens, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Cubs argue that the ex parte seizure order is required because those selling counterfeit goods aren’t doing so at a permanent place of business and can get rid of infringing goods after the event if given notice by a court of the infringement allegations.
It’s not unheard of for the MLB and its franchises to involve themselves in litigation designed to protect their trademarks. Over the past few years, both the Cubs and the Washington Nationals were involved in a trademark dispute against online financial service startup WalletHub over concerns that WalletHub’s white “W” on a green background logo could cause customer confusion over similar design marks held by the Cubs and the Nationals. WalletHub was able to settle the dispute by filing a new trademark application which specifically noted that the mark would be used on services “not relating to baseball or softball or a baseball or softball team.” This June, MLB filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) against video game developer OneUp Games over the use of player likenesses in a mobile-based baseball application designed as a head-to-head bingo-style game. Although OneUp Games did enter into a licensing agreement with MLB, the league alleged that OneUp broke the terms of that agreement by proceeding towards sale or distribution of the game past a stage at which it needed the express written approval of MLB, which it did not procure.


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Whoops! Fujitsu says it applied for a trademark in 2003 on the name iPad — which just happens to be what Apple is calling its latest piece of tech-crack. The electronics marketer put out a bar-code reader for commercial use under that name in seven years ago; a beef with another company arose over the name, reports the Times, and Fujitsu dropped the application, then revived it last June. Fujitsu says it “cannot really comment” on the issue at this time, but no one expects them to just walk away and forget it.
PCWorld reviews some previous Apple trademark disputes — with the Beatles’ record company, with Cisco over the name of the iPhone, etc. — and says, ” Apple has a history of naming its products first, and worrying about trademark litigation later.” GadgetCrave finds that Mag-Tek has an IPAD trademark, and STMicroelectronics owns “Ipad” in Europe.
The track record suggests Apple will pay some money and keep the name. What interests us more is that Funny or Die got on this whole thing already.


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Live sheep export trade on track to reach three-year high at more than 600,000 head
Live sheep exports have bucked the trend in 2023 and are on a trajectory to reach a three-year high by the end of the year.
According to Meat and Livestock Australia’s LiveLink October Monthly Trade Summary, live sheep exports have risen 58 per cent from January 1 to October 31, to reach 535,179 head.
A Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said there had been “a general increase in livestock exports to all markets” in 2023, and consignments that met the regulated requirements continued to be approved.
There were 55,144 sheep exported in October alone, up six per cent year on year.
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Pastoralists and Graziers Association livestock committee chairman and Eneabba sheep producer Chris Patmore said it was a “good news story” for the industry and sent a “strong message to the Government” of how valuable the industry can be.
Matt Dalgleish, co-founder of market analysts Episode3, said the Middle East was “price sensitive” and the low Australian sheep prices were attractive to importers.
“It was no surprise to see a return to trade in October with a good volume going through again,” Mr Dalgleish said.
“September was not as strong as I thought, given how low sheep prices were.”
He said with Saudi Arabia looking to re-enter the market after pulling out in 2012, it would be “interesting to see how much they engage” in the trade.
The majority of sheep exports have been supplied to Kuwait, Israel, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which have all seen numbers increase this year.
Kuwait received 243,458 head, up 15 per cent year on year, while Israel took 91,100, up 139 per cent. Jordan has bounced back with 67,444 head — making it the highest in three years — while exports to the UAE were up 44 per cent to 59,500.
While Oman received just 47,946 head, that was its highest number since 2017 and was up 140 per cent year-on-year.
The live sheep trade declined in numbers from 1.8 million head in 2017 to 502,758 in 2022.
In 2023 up to 99 per cent of the trade was from sheep sourced from WA.
According to MLA research based on a five year average from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022, the annual value of the live sheep export trade was $143 million, with a total value of $71 million added to the WA economy.
The trade accounts for about 17 per cent of WA sheep turn-off each year, with about 95 per cent of sheep being wethers.
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Last week saw a very significant announcement from JP Morgan, with the launch of the new JPM Coin, a central bank backed cryptocurrency designed by JP Morgan.
Who are JP Morgan
JP Morgan Chase & Co is a US based investment bank that has operations across the globe. Whilst they are mostly based within New York, JP Morgan operate from offices on a multinational level and are considered to be the biggest banking group within the United States. Moreover, JP Morgan are considered to be the sixth largest bank in the world, with assets last year racking up to an incredible $2.543 trillion.
JPM Coin is the first US bank backed cryptocurrency and came through an announcement from JP Morgan officials last week, during which they said:
“The JPM Coin is based on blockchain-based technology enabling the instantaneous transfer of payments between institutional accounts. Exchanging value, such as money, between different parties over a blockchain requires a digital currency, so we created the JPM Coin.”
JPM Coin is not a standalone cryptocurrency designed for use as an adopted currency, rather, JPM Coin makes up a portion of their new blockchain network designed to facilitate fast and cheap payments between the bank accounts of many of JP Morgan’s institutional customers. So no, this isn’t a currency that has been built to rival Bitcoin, rather this is a cryptocurrency that has been set up to help institutional banking customers make the most of blockchain technology and to allow JP Morgan to provide a working platform for the fast and cost effective transfer of money between their customers accounts.
Because JPM Coin is backed by the bank, the value of JPM Coin sits alongside the US Dollar:
“As a globally regulated bank, we believe we have a unique opportunity to develop the capability in a responsible way with the oversight of our regulators. Ultimately, we believe that JPM Coin can yield significant benefits for blockchain applications by reducing clients’ counter-party and settlement risk, decreasing capital requirements and enabling instant value transfer. JPM Coin is 1:1 redeemable in fiat currency held by J.P. Morgan.”
This is still in it’s prototype phase, though it’s still a very exciting announcement that promises big things for the institutional adoption of cryptocurrency. It’s clear that when JP Morgan’s big customers use JPM Coin, they are going to be exposed to a number of blockchain benefits which in turn, could encourage them to go on to explore other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. Will this spur on a new wave of institutional investment? We hope so.


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Victoria Hislop has received four Specsavers Bestseller awards for her bestselling titles: The Island, The Thread, The Return and The Sunrise.
Her 2005-published novel, The Island, which was inspired by a visit to an abandoned Greek leprosy colony, receives a Platinum award for selling over a million copies. It became a 26-part Greek TV series and win Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards.
The Thread, The Return and The Sunrise, the last of which about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus published in 2014, received Gold awards for sales of over half a million copies.
Hislop was presented with the awards, celebrating the most successful books in Britain based on actual sales measured by Nielsen Book, at a ceremony at the Hachette offices in central London.
Her publisher, Mari Evans, managing director of Headline, said Hislop was “fast achieving national treasure status as a novelist”. She continued: “Her unique brand of storytelling, which is wholly immersive and so very evocative of place, has always resonated strongly with readers – and not only in the UK. Her domination of bestseller lists around the world means she is beloved by millions. Victoria encourages the most creative approaches to publishing in the teams that work with her and as one of those team members, I couldn’t be more delighted to see this tangible recognition of her bestseller success.”
Andre Breedt, managing director of Nielsen Book, added: “We are delighted to be able to recognise great sales of any title, but to be able to recognise four bestselling titles from the same author is an amazing achievement. And with her latest novel, Cartes Postales from Greece, at the top of the charts at the moment, an award for Victoria’s fifth bestselling novel can’t be far away.” (read the full story at The Bookseller)


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Su Zhu, CEO of Three Arrows Capital, called Dogecoin the cryptocurrency of “blue-collar” traders and also made his very optimistic prediction for the price of DOGE.
The passion for Dogecoin
According to what he said in an interview conducted by “The Game Theory of Crypto Podcast,” Zhu has a real passion for Dogecoin, especially because it manages to attract traders’ attention.
“The best way to understand DOGE, I think, is that if you look at Robinhood, which is sort of the most blue-collar style of cryptocurrency investing, DOGE is 60% of their cryptocurrency revenue. And cryptocurrency is 40% of Robinhood’s revenue, so Robinhood is basically a DOGE proxy.”
By “blue-collar traders,” Zhu refers to that category of trader that is more hybrid than “white collar finance” traders.
In mid-August, Robinhood released a report regarding its second-quarter data, stating that Dogecoin accounted for 62% of its crypto revenue.
That’s a substantial increase in the exchange’s revenue, considering that cryptocurrency transactions in Q2 were $233 million, compared to just $5 million in Q1 2021.
During the interview, Zhu also refers to the latest news in late July from the Coinbase Commerce platform, which announced to its users that it would accept DOGE as a payment method.
And, in fact, The American platform that facilitates cryptocurrency payments for merchants, in addition to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), USD Coin (USDC), and DAI, now also accepts payments in DOGE.
Zhu: “Dogecoin is the people’s crypto.”
Continuing with the interview, Zhu then commented on Dogecoin in various speeches with descriptive phrases such as the following:
“[DOGE] receives four times the brand name recognition compared to Ethereum.”
“Dogecoin is the people’s crypto.” “Anyone can own whole amounts of DOGE.”
It’s inevitable to think then that the CEO of Three Arrows Capital is an avowed fan of the crypto meme, along with the infamous Elon Musk.
Not only that, the idea in which Zhu is reflected is exactly the same as that declared at the beginning of 2021 by Musk himself:
Dogecoin is the people’s crypto
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2021
Recently, then, Musk also mentioned his beloved cryptocurrency in another of his tweets, comparing it to the outstanding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
According to the Tesla CEO, basically, while BTC and ETH are pursuing a multilayer system but resulting in transactions that are still slow and expensive, on the contrary, DOGE is fast and has very low fees.
Dogecoin and animal-related initiatives
Zhu’s talk describing DOGE traders is not far from the initiatives users are undertaking involving the crypto meme.
Just this week, in fact, Dogecoin was used for a charitable initiative: the “Dogenation,” launched by PAWS Chicago together with the creative agency Leo Burnett to activate a cryptocurrency donation campaign to save animals.
Also, in this case, Dogecoin has been chosen for its testimonial symbol, the Japanese Shiba Inu dog, that with its memes, continues to attract more and more users. But also for the ease of purchase and use to make transactions.
Another association between Dogecoin and promotional initiatives has also been made in Brazil, albeit with Burger King.
At the end of July, in fact, the fast-food chain would have announced to accept DOGE as payment for its dog cookie, with the idea of associating animals and cryptocurrency here as well.


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News CVS Health plans to shed 5,000 jobs across the country comes in the wake of the retail drugstore giant’s billions of dollars in spending to add healthcare services to its stores and medical care provider networks.
Several national and Rhode Island news outlets Monday night reported that the drugstore giant, which has more than 300,000 employees across the country, would be notifying the 5,000 impacted employees in the coming weeks, according to a memo sent to workers on Monday. In a statement Tuesday, CVS said the company and the industry are “evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations.”
“As part of an enterprise initiative to reprioritize our investments around care delivery and technology, we must take difficult steps to reduce expenses,” the company said. “This unfortunately includes the need to eliminate a number of non-customer facing positions across the company. We do not expect there to be any impact to our customer-facing colleagues in our stores, pharmacies, clinics, or customer services centers.”
CVS, which is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and is that state’s biggest company, reports second quarter earnings on Wednesday. The company is expected to disclose more details about the cost-cutting plan in its earnings report.
CVS, which owns the nation’s third-largest health insurer in Aetna, has in the last year taken even more steps to transform into a major provider of healthcare services in markets it already serves as a retail drugstore and community pharmacy.
CVS has made two huge acquisitions this year. In May, the company completed its $10.6 billion acquisition of Oak Street Health, adding a large network of doctor-staffed clinics primarily used by seniors. CVS reportedly beat out several other suitors for Oak Street.
And CVS Health in March of this year closed its $8 billion acquisition of Signify Health, bringing the drugstore giant in-home medical services from a national network of clinicians.
CVS isn’t the only retailer making big investments in healthcare that is also shedding jobs and cutting costs. Rival Walgreens, too, is spending billions of dollars on everything from doctor-staffed clinics via its investment in VillageMD to home care and technology.
But to maintain growth and improve operations, Walgreens in June said it is taking “immediate actions” that include another $600 million in cost-cutting across the company. Thus, Walgreens “transformational cost management program” target is now $4.1 billion by fiscal 2024 compared to an earlier goal of $3.5 billion, executives said.
Walgreens this year has cut hundreds of jobs, including more than 500 positions in its corporate offices, the company disclosed earlier this year.


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Originally set to debut before the holiday season, it’s no surprise now that AMD is delaying their R9 Gemini Fury X2 to 2016. AMD is officially confirming that the delays in shipping and launching the Fury X2 are not due to supply issues but rather due to their perceived market being unready.
According to AMD, the Fury X2 is meant to be targeted towards VR (Virtual Reality) users like those using Oculus Rift or Steam VR. Those project however, have faced delays that pushed them into 2016. Because of this, AMD has decided to hold back Fury X2 so they can launch their dual-GPU at the same time as VR headsets are released. AMD probably wants some of the synergy the VR headsets will bring since it requires a higher level of graphics power to properly utilize VR. AMD has confirmed that various press and engineering samples are already in circulation.
The product schedule for Fiji Gemini had initially been aligned with consumer HMD availability, which had been scheduled for Q415 back in June. Due to some delays in overall VR ecosystem readiness, HMDs are now expected to be available to consumers by early Q216. To ensure the optimal VR experience, we’re adjusting the Fiji Gemini launch schedule to better align with the market. Working samples of Fiji Gemini have shipped to a variety of B2B customers in Q415, and initial customer reaction has been very positive.
While AMD undoubtedly did their own calculations, it seems that holding back Gemini may hurt AMD int he long run. The firm has been bleeding market share for the past while and a new launch with Fury X2 could have given them vital sales. A late Gemini launch also runs smack into Pascal and Greenland, both set to feature copious amounts ofHBM2, while Gemini remains limited to the 4GB of HBM1. With this in mind, it really seems that AMD should have launched Gemini earlier if they could and when VR did launch, there would be nothing stopping users from picking up Fury X2 then as well.


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PARIS (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault on Tuesday announced a big overhaul to split its operations into five businesses, deepen ties with China's Geely and list its electric vehicle unit on the market from next year.
Here are the main planks and financial targets unveiled in a strategy presentation to investors.
Renault will become an industrial holding gathering five different businesses:
- Ampere, the electric vehicle unit
- Power, housing combustion- and hybrid-engine assets
- Alpine, the sports-car brand
- Mobilize, built around a financial services company for new mobility, energy and data-based services
- The Future Is Neutral, focusing on recycling
THE EV BUSINESS
For Ampere, Renault plans an IPO in Paris in the second half of 2023 at the earliest, subject to market conditions, with Renault keeping a "strong majority" and the support of potential strategic cornerstone investors including Qualcomm Technologies.
Nissan, Renault's long-standing Japanese partner, is expected to take a stake in this business, with negotiations ongoing. Ampere is expected to produce 1 million vehicles for the Renault brand by 2031.
JOINT-VENTURE WITH GEELY
Renault also announced a 50-50 joint venture with China's Geely to focus on gasoline engines and hybrid technology. The venture will aim to maximise sales by supplying both companies' brands as well as other automakers.
Renault is targeting EBIT margins above 8% in 2025 and above 10% by 2030 from around 5% in 2022; and free cashflow above 2 billion euros per year from 2023-2025 from 1.5 billion euros in 2022, rising to above 3 billion euros per year between 2026 and 2030.
The company is also planning to restore dividends from 2023 after a three year hiatus, at up to 35% of group net income, and aims to grow employees' shareholding to 10% by 2030.
THE ALLIANCE WITH NISSAN
Renault and Nissan are also in talks about the future of their alliance.
Nissan has long bristled over the unequal ownership structure, with Renault owning 43% of Nissan and the Japanese automaker holding only a 15% non-voting stake in Renault.
People with knowledge of the talks have said the two sides have been discussing a reduction in Renault's stake, potentially to 15%, and the terms under which that could happen.
But the talks have been dragging on, amid Japanese reservations about sharing technology with others, including a Chinese rival like Geely, sources have told Reuters.
(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Mark Potter)


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Sidebar: Healthy Candy – Is This Oxymoron a Smart Idea?
- All but 2 percent of U.S. households buy candy every year.
- Candy makers have been creating bigger, more expensive candy in toy form to stay on shelves.
- Novelty candy has to keep changing form and gimmick to attract new buyers.
- Novelty candy has growth potential.
The novelty candy category is rarely absent from any retail venue since it can boast impressive penetration statistics. Ninety-eight percent of households in the United States purchase candy every year.
“Confectionary has enormous potential for increasing store profits and identifying a retailer as a solution center for consumer needs,” according to Larry Graham, president of the National Confectionary Association (NCA).
At The Toy Store in Atlanta, Ga., Kevin Hart keeps the candy displays by the front counter. “We have made a decision not to go too far in the candy category to take some pressure off of the parents,” he says. “When we do, we definitely use the toy candy combinations that are mostly a candy item in a toy.”
A long time employee at a West Coast toy store in San Luis Obispo, Calif., says she has not seen the size of the candy area changing, but has seen a move to more novelty candy from straight candy. “Parents easily say ‘no’ when a child asks for candy, but when they are asking for a candy product that does something, they are more willing to consider it.”
More Expensive Products
Although 99 percent of consumers might be inclined to buy candy, Marty Faierstain, president of Sportsline Distributors, Inc. (pictured to the right standing to the left of Vice President Bill Gausselin) (ToyShow) says margin is the issue for retailers. “They have to sell a list of candy bars like Snickers and M&Ms, the big ones that are favorites and customers expect, but retailers are giving up sweet shelf space for more profitable items,” he says.
For this reason, Sportsline Distributors, Inc. has entered the candy category with licensed products like the Star Wars Giant Musical PEZ Dispenser that sells for between $20 and $25 and gives a retailer a better margin than traditional candy.
Novelty Means “Novel”
Faierstain believes manufacturers have to give retailers and consumers something new every year. NCA reports that in 2004, more than 1,400 confectionary products were introduced in the United States alone.
Sportsline’s licensing expertise gives it an edge over other brands, according to Faierstain. “Our strength is that we can react quickly and bring a new product to the stores sometimes in a matter of weeks,” he says.
This year, his company will introduce a retro line of candy, including Gold Nuggets Gum and rock candy.
Jeri Dorsey, manager of Kits & Kaboodles in Indianapolis, sees the toy candy section in the store maintaining its space, not shrinking or growing.
“We do try to keep it new every year,” she says. “As a parent I know I am drawn to the unique candy stores and areas in stores that display something new.”
Gary Evans of Captain Muddy’s admits that novelty candy is a driver of growth in the candy segment for retailers. “There is very little change in the top 25 candy bars from year to year, but toy candy is always evolving. There are a lot of players, but novelty and interactive candy has to stay novel. There are always multiple places for novelty candy as longs as it stays novel.”
Captain Muddy’s has two new products for 2005 filled with dirt, worms and ants, a combination of chocolate cookie meal, gummy worms and red ants, which retails in a Bug Tube with tweezers for $1.99 and in a Bug Box with magnifying glass for $3.99. Evans says these products can fit into a toy aisle, a summer/spring seasonal aisle, a toy aisle or any end cap display.
Something new to try might include candy false teeth held in your mouth with bubble gum. That is the new product from Bubbagum. Bubbagum’s Rick Leier reports an easy entry into the category. “We are brand new here in October of 2004 and are having an excellent response from retailers, exceeding our wildest expectations,” he says.
Susan Fussell, director of public relations of NCA, agrees about the potential for growth. “As a consumable item, candy and candy novelty has a great potential for growing. It’s not like toilet paper where there is a certain amount each house will buy every year. If you have a well-merchandised and innovative display, it will draw attention and there is no particular limit to how much it can grow.”


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PayPal on Thursday laid out plans for its future as an independent company at an event in San Francisco it called the Commerce Rewired Event. The San Jose-Calif.-based payments company is set to be spun off of eBay some time during the third quarter and plans to trade its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker PYPL, which it had used when it first went public in 2002.
At the event, PayPal announced a new partnership with Bigcommerce, an e-commerce platform for retailers, as well as the fact that it will be linking One Touch -- its service to keep a user logged in on apps and sites for payments --across mobile devices and the Web. The latter development fits right in with the company's focus on mobile innovation.
"You're going to see a fundamental change over next three, five, 10 years, more of it to mobile and point-of-sale checkout," Dan Schulman, PayPal's president and future CEO, said at the event. "I'm not going to be the next person to talk about the demise of cash and be wrong, [but] you are beginning to see the digitization of money. PayPal is well positioned to be a leader in that transition."
During the event, Schulman shared some figures to show how the company is a leader in the payments space and specifically in mobile. PayPal accomplished a billion transactions in the first quarter of 2015, a third of which were mobile. Schulman also said that 1 out of every 3 U.S. adults uses PayPal and that the company processes 4 billion transactions last year, showing 25% growth year over year, driven largely by mobile.


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Paper goods giant Kimberly-Clark Corp. announced plans Thursday (Dec. 13) to shutter its Conway factory that employs nearly 350 workers as part of a companywide restructuring that will close or sell at least 10 manufacturing facilities globally, and force thousands of workers into unemployment.
According to a statement released by Kimberly-Clark through the Conway Development Corp., the global paper goods conglomerate came to an agreement with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) that will enable the company’s sister manufacturing facility in Wisconsin to remain open while the Conway factory will close no later than 2021.
That decision comes nearly five months after Kimberly-Clark surprised Arkansas economic development leaders and local officials in Faulkner County when the company revealed the Conway facility had a “50-50” shot of being closed. Kimberly-Clark’s Conway plant has been in central Arkansas for nearly 50 years and produces feminine hygiene products.
“This difficult decision was made after the company agreed to the terms of an incentive agreement through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation that will enable the company’s Cold Spring facility in Wisconsin to remain open,” company officials said in a statement. “We do not take these decisions lightly, and our primary focus at this time is our employees.
“Accomplishing the objectives of our global restructuring program is challenging, and requires us to make tough business choices. Kimberly-Clark and all our operations here, which includes a manufacturing facility in Maumelle and an office in Bentonville, remain committed to the state of Arkansas.”
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the state had worked to keep the company’s doors open in Conway, but felt Wisconsin offered too much to win the battle between the two plants.
“We have all worked very aggressively to retain the Kimberly-Clark Conway facility jobs. I am disappointed for the Conway workers and families that the company made the decision to close the Conway facility. It appears the historic ties of the company with Wisconsin along with union wage cuts and cash incentives from the state tilted the balance in favor of Wisconsin,” he said.
“The central Arkansas labor market has thousands of job openings and I am directing my Department of Workforce Services to provide maximum assistance to Kimberly-Clark employees in any needed training or job location assistance,” Hutchinson added.
Wisconsin is home to a Kimberly-Clark manufacturing plant that makes similar products to Conway’s. It was notified in January it could be closed, and since then Wisconsin leaders have worked on an economic incentive package that potentially includes $101 million to $117 million in wage incentives, state payments for 15% of factory upgrades, and sales tax waivers on equipment upgrades. The Wisconsin plant employs 600 workers.
Earlier in January, Kimberly-Clark first announced a global companywide restructuring initiative that is ultimately expected to generate annual cost savings of $500 to $550 million by the end of 2021, accelerate the company’s return to profitability by streamlining and simplify its manufacturing supply chain and overhead.
“Although we expect market conditions will remain challenging in the near-term, we plan to deliver better results in 2018 while we begin to implement our new restructuring,” Kimberly-Clark Chairman and CEO Thomas Falk said earlier this year. “We expect organic sales to return to growth while improving our margins and delivering double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share.
“In addition, we will increase investments in our brands, our growth initiatives and the capabilities we need for long-term success. We will also continue to allocate capital in shareholder-friendly ways,” Falk said.
In the third quarter, the Dallas-based consumer goods company reported net income of $62 million on sales of nearly $4.6 billion. In 2017, Kimberly-Clark reported total profits of $3.3 billion on sales of $18.3 billion.
Kimberly-Clark is only three years removed from an earlier job reduction program in 2016 that eliminated thousands of positions worldwide and cut the company’s global workforce by 2%. At the time, when the paper goods giant’s employee count topped 58,000, company officials did not address speculation that dozens of Arkansas production workers were laid off, but noted those job cuts largely impacted salaried hires.
According to Kimberly-Clark officials, the international paper goods giant and its well-known global brands are sold in more than 175 countries. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 market share positions in some 80 countries.
Company officials said the $2 billion global restructuring program will generate annual pre-tax cost savings of $500 million to $550 million through 2021. Those cost savings will be largely driven by job cuts, officials said, which are anticipated to be in a range of 5,000 to 5,500, or 12% to 13% of the company’s employee count of 43,000 in 35 countries.
Other savings will come from manufacturing supply chain efficiencies. The company expects to close or sell 10 manufacturing facilities and expand production capacity at several others to improve overall scale and cost, officials said. As part of the program, Kimberly-Clark expects to exit or divest some low-margin businesses that generate approximately 1% of company net sales concentrated in the consumer tissue business segment.
RECENT MOVES IN ARKANSAS
In the past decade, the company’s plants in Conway and Maumelle have invested millions of dollars to add new jobs and make those facilities more cost-effective and efficient. In July 2010, Kimberly-Clark and the Conway Development Corp. announced the company had planned a three-year investment from $25 million to $65 million at the company’s Conway plant. The expansion project added capacity for products that were not formerly produced by Kimberly-Clark in the U.S.
According to local officials, that expansion project added 100 new jobs at the company’s longtime facility in Conway that at one time employed up to 400 workers. Employees at that location on Exchange Avenue produce a variety of feminine, personal hygiene and adult care products.
Down the road at Kimberly-Clark’s newer manufacturing facility in Maumelle, the company announced a similar $68 expansion of its baby-wipes facility in 2015, bringing that plant’s workforce to nearly 500 workers. That expansion project was largely funded by two locally-approved bond issues that Kimberly-Clark was supposed to pay off later at a low interest rate. According to city officials, that incentive package was expected to add 45 new full-time jobs over a three-year period and expand the company’s sprawling 400,000 square-foot facility by another 40,000 square feet.
Earlier this week, Kimberly-Clark announced a voluntary product recall of its Kotex brand feminine products sold throughout the U.S. and Canada for a quality-related defect that could impact the performance of the product.


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The South African potato industry is appealing to stakeholders to form more partnerships to drive growth and transformation. Potatoes South Africa (PSA) CEO Willie Jacobs has stated that the potato helped ensure food security throughout the pandemic in South Africa last year.
According to Jacobs, if the agricultural sector is to stimulate South Africa’s economy, all-round and continued involvement from all role-players will be required to optimize the industry’s impact. Jacobs notes that, over and above potatoes helping to ensure food security, it has also contributed to better nutrition in communities, considering the multitude of vitamins and minerals packed in the root vegetable.
Per capita potato consumption in South Africa has increased markedly in the last ten years, proving the powerful impact that the staple food has in the country, says PSA. The organisation represents 570 producers across 16 regions of production. The potato industry provides employment for between 50 000 and 60 000 people.
Potatoes, like all other fresh produce, are sold through multiple channels, with national fresh produce markets being the main driver of fresh produce sales. During the Alert Level 5 and 4 lockdown, the restrictive regulations limited trade, thereby inspiring traders and producers to find direct ways of connecting. Volumes recorded by PSA under the levy requirements revealed a migration from national fresh produce markets to direct transacting.


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YO Hotels & Homes, India’s fastest growing hotel chain, announced on Friday it has signed an agreement with Highgate to create its first flagship property in Las Vegas, OYO’s first property in this bustling city – OYO Hotel & Casino Las Vegas.
Located near the corner of the famous Las Vegas Strip on Tropicana Ave., formerly known as Hooters Casino Hotel offers 657 rooms on 19 floors and a 35,000 square foot casino. Additional amenities will include two signature restaurants, four bars, a fitness center and an outdoor pool. The property will undergo a transformation that will be completed this year, which will bring the OYO brand to life in the world’s most recognizable tourist destination. Highgate will take over management of the hotel and Paragon Gaming will continue to operate the casino.
Oyo and Highgate will spend a total of $ 20 million to renovate the hotel, which stay open during transformation, Reuters noted.
“I am truly delighted to announce the start of OYO operations in our new city – Las Vegas. We are excited to be here as we believe Las Vegas is an exciting city to invest in as the market continues to evolve with projects such as the new Las Vegas Raiders NFL stadium and the billion dollar expansion. of the Las Vegas Convention Center. As we continue to focus on implementing our popular concept of ‘comfortable design’ and delivering chic hospitality experiences, we increasingly explore new ways to connect with our guests, from millennials to young executives and families, in every city we enter. With our new hotel in Las Vegas, we are reinforcing our commitment to allowing our guests to experience #Livingthegoodlife, and are confident that we will become their favorite place to stay and truly enjoy Las Vegas in the months to come, ” said Abhinav Sinha, COO and partner, OYO Hotels & Homes USA. “We will be undergoing a makeover and bringing some of the most beloved amenities and experiences that are sure to be enjoyed by visitors to Las Vegas around the world. We look forward to welcoming you to our first hotel in Las Vegas.
“Earlier in June, we announced our intention to invest $ 300 million in the United States. As a next-generation hospitality company, we currently offer stunning living spaces at our 112+ OYO hotels in over 60 cities and 21 states. With our new hotel in Las Vegas, we are excited to cater to a completely different audience segment and are confident this will be the perfect start to OYO’s trip to Las Vegas, ”said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes.
“OYO Hotel & Casino offers Highgate a tremendous opportunity to partner with a visionary company like OYO in one of the most dynamic hotel markets in the world,” said Neil Luthra, Director of Highgate. “We believe that OYO’s philosophy of dynamic hotel experiences, combined with our management expertise, will be a long and successful partnership.
“We have had great success in running Hooter’s Casino and look forward to continuing as Casino Manager and partnering with Highgate to bring the OYO hotel brand to Las Vegas,” said Diana Bennett, President of Paragon Gaming.
Oyo, founded by Agarwal, 25, in 2013, started out as an aggregator of budget hotels in India. It has rapidly grown in markets such as China, Europe and the United States, and now manages more than 23,000 properties around the world.
Valued at around $ 10 billion, it now caters to a growing number of business travelers who frequent its hotels due to affordable rents, protecting the company from the seasonal changes associated with the industry.


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Wired's Clive Thompson's latest column probes the new bioethical conundra of "cognitive liberty" -- the freedom not to have our brains scanned. I first encountered the phrase in relation to mind-altering drugs, where it's also a good fit -- what freedom could be more fundamental than the freedom to choose your state of mind?
We think of our brains as the ultimate private sanctuary, a zone where other people can't intrude without our knowledge or permission. But its boundaries are gradually eroding. Hypersonic sound is just a portent of what's coming, one of a host of emerging technologies aimed at tapping into our heads. These tools raise a fascinating, and queasy, new ethical question: Do we have a right to "mental privacy"?
"We're going to be facing this question more and more, and nobody is really ready for it," says Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist and board member of the nonprofit Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics. "If the skull is not an absolute domain of privacy, there are no privacy domains left." He argues that the big personal liberty issues of the 21st century will all be in our heads – the "civil rights of the mind," he calls it.
It's true that most of this technology is still gestational. But the early experiments are compelling: Some researchers say that fMRI brain scans can detect surprisingly specific mental acts – like whether you're entertaining racist thoughts, doing arithmetic, reading, or recognizing something. Entrepreneurs are already pushing dubious forms of the tech into the marketplace: You can now hire a firm, No Lie MRI, to conduct a "truth verification" scan if you're trying to prove you're on the level. Give it 10 years, ethicists say, and brain tools will be used regularly – sometimes responsibly, often shoddily.
When Zoe Stavri woke up with a yeast infection, she had a strange and intriguing idea: what about adding some of her vaginal candida to sourdough starter?
Nick Sousanis, who delivered his doctoral dissertation in comic book form, has a new comic in the current Nature magazine, explaining the last 25 years’ worth of climate talks, as a primer in advance of the Paris climate talks next week.
Randall “XKCD” Munroe’s Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words arrives in stores today: it combines technical diagrams and wordplay in pure display of everything that makes XKCD brilliant and wonderful in every way.
The Code Black is our top-selling drone of all time—and for good reason. This powerful, palm-size drone is not only insanely fun to fly, but can capture some serious video footage from up above. With a flight time of about 10 minutes and an ultra-smooth ride, it’s a great introductory drone for anyone looking to […]
Don’t get handcuffed by Apple’s standard 3-foot Lightning cord (that you’ve most likely already lost), treat yourself to 10 feet of luxurious charging convenience. The Colossal is certified by Apple for its high-end quality, and designed to support full use of your phone while you power up. You can also get it in a 2-pack […]
Today and tomorrow only we are offering an additional 15% off the entire Boing Boing store (some exclusions may apply). Simply use coupon code: BLACKFRIDAY at checkout! Below are a few of our favorites from the store: First Generation Lytro 16GB Camera: The First Consumer Camera to Capture the Entire Light FieldAdobe Training Videos: Lifetime Subscription: 6,000+ Adobe […]


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YouTube videogamedunkeys (Dunkey) studio Bigmode announced its first video game Animal Well, which was inspired by Zelda and Metroidvania. Animal Well features pixelated artwork, and a twisted setting rumbled with elaborate audio and visual details. Animal Well is a mostly mysterious story, but players take the hand of an orb figure who gets stuck in a weird well.
Animal Well is being developed by Billy Basso, a video game veteran who was a programr for NetherReal Studios. Basso announced that Animal Well in February 2022, but only recently announced that Bigmode Games will publish the game to the first of its titles. Bigmode doesn’t have a date for the game on the official Bigmode website, but players can put the title on their Steam wishlist right now. Animal Well will also launch on the PlayStation 5 but there’s no other console or hardware listed.
The first game of our season was announced today.
BIGMODE Games – “The game” January 8, 2023.
Bigmode Games is a gaming game maker that has been started by Dunkey and his wife. Jason Yevgeniy Gastrow is a web writer known for his humouristic video essays and squits, and is known for his humourist videos. He was the most successful video-game-krist on YouTube. He has more than seven million subscribers. He launched Bigmode Games in September 2022 and helps them succeed well and make them continue to succeed in the future.
Animal Well is about that person that is approaching strange animals, such as large chameleons, a flock of blackbirds and a playful dog that wishes to bite into that at the bottom of the well. Players solve puzzles, and help people avoid animals to unravel the wells secrets. The game is an automatic engine with a built-in renderer for pixel art on modern hardware. Pixelated style has become a very popular aesthetic in games that are built on the NES and Super Nintendo eras. Animal Well is designed to remember the earliest scenes from the Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania games.