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Dailymotion, the video platform headquartered from France and recently purchased by Vivendi, is expanding it’s global presence to include Taiwan. According to the company, more than 1000 videos are uploaded daily to Dailymotion from Taiwan, the stat that demonstrated a budding market for the international video company.
Asia as a market has become of greater focus for expansion for many international companies, but Taiwan, the “7th market for internet penetration,” according to data referenced in Dailymotion’s statement, has not been on the radar as much as China and Singapore. To support the companies positioning in the territory, Dailymotion has built a Traditional Chinese user interface to make for a seamless experience without language as a barrier.
“We are extremely proud to launch Dailymotion in Taiwan, as it represents the vision and strategy we have in mind for Asia : high quality content led by media and creators in dynamic markets. Taiwan is already a key market for us in terms of audience and we have been more than impressed by the quality and depth of its content industry scene,” said Dailymotion’s Head of Content for Asia, Antoine Nazaret. “Providing marketing support, additional reach, tools for monetization and content protection to key partners, our presence will be reinforced here.”
Dailymotion reaches over 300 million viewers monthly and has differentiated its product from competitors in the space as a tools-focused business rather than a strong UGC, consumer streaming destination. It has offices in Europe, the United States, and Asia.


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Apple Is Reopening 100 Retail Stores in the United States
Apple will be reopening 100 stores in the United States, based on easing restriction and data on local COVID-19 spread. The company started opening its stores in the United States starting with Alaska, Alabama and Idaho.
The stores will operate under new health check requirements and some restrictions. Customers will be required to wear a mask to enter an Apple Store. Those who do not have a mask will be provided one from the company. Customers will also have their temperatures checked. There will be a limit on the number of customers that can be in the store at a time, to ensure that social distancing measures can be followed. This means that customers should expect queues and waiting lines at the stores.
Most of these stores will support curbside pickup, however, some will have walk-in service. Users who were waiting for their local Apple Store to re-open so they can pick up their repaired Apple product will now be able to do so. However, if you plan to visit an Apple Store near you, make sure to check online first.
Customers in Apple Stores will be allowed to touch the products and try them as normal, thanks to deep cleaning measures in place.
In March, Apple had announced the closure of all retail stores around the globe, excluding Greater China, until March 27. Despite the closure, the online Apple Store and Apple Support continued to function as normal.
We’re also taking some additional steps in most places. Face coverings will be required for all of our teams and customers, and we will provide them to customers who don’t bring their own. Temperature checks will be conducted at the door, and posted health questions will screen for those with symptoms — like cough or fever — or who have had recent exposure to someone infected with COVID‑19. Throughout the day, we're conducting enhanced deep cleanings that place special emphasis on all surfaces, display products, and highly trafficked areas.
We’ve also taken this time to consider how we can serve our customers’ needs even more effectively, whether online or in our stores. For many stores, that will mean curb‑side pick‑up and drop off. If you choose to buy online, we can ship to your home or make your new items available for convenient pick‑up at our stores. And you can continue to find the same excellent standard of customer service and support online and over the phone to help you with any questions you might have.
Despite the opening of around 100 retail stores in the United States, this represents less than 50% of Apple’s retail stores in the country. Once these stores are open, Apple will have 130 stores open in the United States, out of a total of 271 stores around the country. Apple plans to monitor local health data to make decisions on which retail stores will open next.

domain: news


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Pluto.TV, a Los Angeles, CA-based online video aggregator, raised $500k in funding.
BSkyB (BSY) made the investment as part of its strategy to drive innovation by partnering with pioneering technology companies. The relationship with Pluto.TV will provide Sky with insight into the way new forms of content are shaping emerging trends in the way people find and watch TV. At the same time, the startup will leverage Sky’s experience in packaging and promoting content, particularly through engaging channel brands.
Led by Tom Ryan, CEO, Pluto.TV is an online television platform that aggregates video content from across the web and programs it into themed TV channels. By using a combination of technology, data and a team of specialist editors, Pluto.TV offers viewers online video through a portfolio of TV channels spanning traditional genres including music, news, sports, comedy and entertainment as well as dedicated channels catering to specific interests such as hip-hop, surfing, video gaming, stand-up comedy, art and fashion.
The service is currently available in the US across a range of platforms, including iOS, Android, Google Chromecast, Amazon Kindle Fire and Fire TV, as well as through the web.


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With the release of MultiVersus, people are discussing whether free-to-play fighting games are the future of the genre.
MultiVersus currently has the most concurrent players on steam, well over 100,000 players. This is on Steam alone, MultiVersus is available on consoles as well like PS4/PS5, and Xbox consoles. Many free-to-play fighting games have been offering rollback and crossplay, which fans consider essential. However, games like Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Granblue Fantasy: Versus are still missing them.
So when new free-to-play fighters release, some fans may wonder, is it even worth purchasing fighting games with worse a worse online experience?
Fighting Games still have a dedicated fanbase that is eager for more and a variety of fighting games. Riot Games seems to realize this with their addition to the fighting game genre.
Project L is a fighting game set in the League of Legends world Runterra. Riot Games has been expanding its roster of games, delving into genres such as first-person shooter, and card games genres with Valorant and Legends of Runterra. Project L will fill as an entry to the fighting game community for Riot.
The gameplay reveal shows Project L will be a 2v2 tag fighting game. Taking place in Runeterra, the characters are all familiar and popular champions from League of Legends. Champions such as Ekko, Jinx, and Darius have been prominently shown in a gameplay trailer. The trailer also shows promises from lead developers and co-founders of Radiant Entertainment, Tom Cannon and Tony Cannon.
Tom Cannon, on Aug. 1, announced Illaoi is joining the roster, and that Project L will be free-to-play.
Who are Tom and Tony Cannon
Tom Cannon and Tony Cannon, are twin brothers who are co-founders of EVO Championship Series, and rollback netcode technology, GGPO. The brothers and Radiant Entertainment were previously working on Rising Thunder before its cancelation.
Riot Games in 2016 were able to acquire the team to focus on the new Project L.
Rising Thunder was planning to be free-to-play and Riot Games are known for publishing free-to-play games it’ll likely follow the same model.
Project L might make an appearance at EVO 2022, as one of the major reveals. Reveals such as more champions, an official name, and release date. Or possibly it’ll be on hold until near the end of the year around Worlds.
The fighting game community is expecting Project L to be one of the new big additions to the genre. From the bigger budget Riot Games can provide, the accessibility free-to-play has, and bigger prize pools.
The last major 2v2 assist fighting game was Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle, by Arc System Works. Project L is likely to be very popular at launch, servicing fans of assist fighters and fans of League of Legends.
What Makes Project L stand out?
Just like with their other endeavors, Riot Games are going to want to reach for the widest demographic. Fighting games have been criticized for being too hard to get into, and complicated to learn and compete in. However, Project L also promises to feature simple commands. Removing motion inputs such as quarter circles, and favoring one-button specials that change with different directional inputs.
Tom and Tony Cannon state the game is meant to be “easy to learn, hard to master.” The game will be attempting to target both casual and hardcore fans, promising a new player won’t be able to defeat the pros.
There is no information on how the game will handle monetization. As a free-to-play game, Riot Games will still expect money. As a developer that strictly makes free-to-play games yet still is one of the most successful, they’ll likely rely on skins. It’s also likely they’ll handle it via needing to unlock characters while rotating who is free-to-play, similar to MultiVersus.
Project L won’t be the first free-to-play fighting game attempting to make it accessible for new players either. Fantasy Strike from Sirlin Games is also a free-to-play fighting game that uses simple inputs and easy-to-learn mechanics. However, the game was not able to make much of a name for itself for various reasons.
League of Legends on the other hand has a higher budget, a bigger fanbase, recognizable characters, and two lead developers who are experts in fighting games.
It’s too early to decide whether free-to-play is the future of fighting games, but they exist for a reason. Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Arc System Works may never go free-to-play. However, more will likely come in the future and will expand the fighting game community further. WOW Vegas promo code.
You can find more pieces like “Is Free-To-Play The Future of Fighting Games?” and you can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Alex!
“From Our Haus to Yours”


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Talc is a natural substance used in the manufacture of more than 44,200 cosmetic and medical products sold in the United States today. Unfortunately, asbestos—a toxic substance that is also found in the Earth—naturally occurs in talc mines. Although the asbestos is typically removed before making it to market, it can taint talcum powder if it is not properly harvested and quality control standards aren’t met.
Exposure to the asbestos found in talcum powders can lead to numerous health conditions. Mesothelioma is well known to be associated with exposure to asbestos, but a link has also been established between the regular use of talcum powder in the genital area and the development of ovarian cancer.
Many women who developed the disease after using products containing talc have gone on to file talc ovarian cancer lawsuits against the manufacturers of the products that harmed them; however, despite these suits and evidence from scientific journals that show the link between talc use and ovarian cancer, there are very few laws in place to protect consumers from these risks.
An article from Cold Truth explains the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has very few regulations in place to protect consumers from contaminated talcum powders. Furthermore, the agency has paid very little attention to the allegations regarding talcum powders and ovarian cancer cases.
At Colbert Cooper Hill Attorneys, we recognize the struggles victims of defective products face in their battles for justice and our Oklahoma defective product lawyers are hopeful the suits that have been filed in connection to talcum powders will result in justice for those who have been harmed.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that’s used in many construction materials because of its insulating and fire-resistant properties. However, exposure to asbestos can lead to the development of a deadly form of cancer known as mesothelioma.
This risk of developing cancer has led to millions of sickened workers filing lawsuits against the companies who failed to warn them about the risks involved with handling materials tainted with asbestos. One such case recently resulted in a Moore, Oklahoma, man being awarded a total of $6 million in compensation.
According to an article from Tulsa World, the 51-year-old victim claims he was exposed to asbestos throughout the 1970s and 1980s through dust on his father’s clothes, who was a homebuilder and remodeler at the time. The exposure continued when the victim worked as a construction laborer and auto mechanic after that.
The man was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2012 and filed suit soon thereafter, claiming three companies were responsible for his exposure to asbestos and his development of cancer. A jury agreed and awarded the man compensatory damages to cover medical and hospital expenses, as well as pain, mental anguish, and physical disability. No punitive damages were awarded in this case.
At Colbert Cooper Hill Attorneys, we recognize the difficulties that can accompany a diagnosis of mesothelioma. That’s why our Oklahoma defective product lawyers are hopeful the decision that was reached will bring the victim a sense of peace and closure.
Two weeks ago, auto parts manufacturer Takata Corporation expanded a massive vehicle recall stemming from faulty airbags the company manufactured and installed in several makes and models of vehicles in the U.S. Our Oklahoma defective product lawyers at Colbert Cooper Hill Attorneys explain that it seems as though the recall may have taken a twist.
The Takata airbag recall was launched after it was discovered that the propellant used to inflate the airbags in the event of an accident had a defect that allowed it to degrade over time. If this occurred and the airbag was activated, the reaction could be strong enough to cause debris from the unit to be launched toward occupants in the vehicle. This can be considered a safety hazard, with six deaths and more than 100 injuries linked to the problem.
Since the Takata airbag recall has been initiated, Takata has come forward to say that vehicles that previously had faulty airbags replaced may need to have the new airbags replaced as well due to the same problem. According to an article from KOCO News, officials are concerned motorists may ignore this fact, thinking they have already addressed the problem.
At Colbert Cooper Hill Attorneys, we know the risks that are posed by driving a vehicle with defective equipment. That’s why our Oklahoma personal injury lawyers encourage you to have your vehicle inspected if you receive a recall notice. Also, you can stay informed on the latest recalls involving your vehicle by regularly checking safeercar.gov for information about recalls affecting your vehicle.
When a product introduced to the market in the United States is found to be defective, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) has often worked with manufacturers to conduct a voluntary recall on the affected product. The Oklahoma Defective Product Lawyers with J. Colbert Injury Lawyers explain that for the past 39 years, these recalls have not been legally binding agreements between the government agency and companies; however, that may soon change.
An article released by Mondaq News states that CPSC Vice-Chairman, Bob Adler, has proposed amendments to the voluntary recall notice rules that would make “corrective action plans” established for defective products legally binding agreements between the government agency and companies. This move would allow the CPSC to enforce any recalls that are made by taking the company to court if they do not uphold their part of any agreement that is made.
The changes were approved in a 3-1 vote, with those opposing the reforms saying any alterations are unnecessary, considering the current system is working well and has for the past several decades.
The changes could also affect the way civil litigation regarding defective products is handled in the future. That’s why J. Colbert and his team of Oklahoma Personal Injury Lawyers encourage anyone who has been harmed by a faulty product to discuss their legal options with a reputable attorney immediately.
Manufacturers in the automotive industry have a responsibility to ensure the products they bring to the market are safe for consumers to use. The Oklahoma Defective Product Lawyers with J. Colbert Injury Lawyers explain any failure to do so can lead to costly recalls. The company may also be potentially held liable for any damages caused by accidents resulting from fault products.
Such a case recently resulted in the Toyota Motor Corp. being ordered by an Oklahoma jury to pay a $3 million award to the family and victim of a crash caused by a faulty electronic system in one of their vehicles.
According to an article published by the L.A. Times, the incident occurred in September 2007, when a 2005 Toyota Camry sedan’s electronic system failed, resulting in the vehicle accelerating out of control and the vehicle’s brakes malfunctioning. The Camry crashed a short time later, killing the driver and leaving a passenger seriously injured.
The victim and the family of the driver later filed suit against Toyota, claiming they were negligent in failing to ensure the electronic system was in working order. A jury agreed and awarded $1.5 million to each of the plaintiffs.
J. Colbert and his team of Oklahoma Personal injury Lawyers recognize how difficult losing a loved one to another motorist’s negligence can be and hope the decision that was reached brings a sense of closure to the victim and their families.


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Jumla apples push out imports from marketUntil a few years ago, apples produced in Jumla had to be dumped for lack of buyers while the market was flooded with imported fruits, particularly from India.
Until a few years ago, apples produced in Jumla had to be dumped for lack of buyers while the market was flooded with imported fruits, particularly from India.
Things are very different now, as organic apples grown in this far western district of Nepal have become widely popular among Nepali consumers. Bablu Raini, who has been selling fruits for the last 18 years, said that Jumla’s apples had displaced imported products. “Nowadays, an increasing number of customers prefer apples from Jumla. They don’t even ask for Indian products.”
As Jumla’s organic apples are relatively cheaper and of better quality compared to Indian apples, they are becoming increasing popular. After the unofficial trade blockade imposed by India, imported products have stopped arriving in the market.
However, Raini said that some fruit sellers had been passing off apples from Jumla as imports from Shimla, India. Jumla’s organic apples cost Rs80 to Rs120 per kg in the retail market depending on the quality. In the wholesale market, their prices range from Rs70 to Rs80 per kg.
Another fruit trader Prabal Shahi said that he was busy shipping Jumla apples to market these days. He has supplied 400 tonnes of apples to Pokhara, Kathmandu and Surkhet so far this season. “Demand is growing at a fast rate,” he said. However, due to the highway blockade, he has not been able to fulfil the requirement. Last year, Shahi had supplied 152 tonnes of apples to different markets.
“Due to the widening road network in Nepal, apples from Jumla can now be shipped to different parts of the country,” Shahi said, adding that he had stopped selling Indian apples for the last three years. He said that he had kept 60 tonnes of apples in stock for the upcoming Dashain and Tihar festivals.
Similarly, traders said that demand for Jumla’s apple had swelled after the unrest in the plains and highway blockades.
Narbir Rawat, central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and immediate past president the Mugu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that apples from Karnali had been gaining popularity due to the extended road network, and that growers had been able to get a fair market price too.
“In past years, apples produced in the Karnali region used to rot on the trees due to lack of market access,” he said, adding that now they had become a key source of income for the region’s people. Rawat has decided to plant 700 apple saplings this year.
The farm gate price of apple is Rs50 per kg. Last year, the Karnali region produced 14,000 tonnes of apples. The production in Jumla, Mugu and Kalikot amounted to 3,990 tonnes, 2,923 tonnes and 5,115 tonnes respectively. Likewise, Humla and Dolpa produced 1,438 tonnes and 532 tonnes of apples respectively.


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XpertSea allows farmers to track and manage their aquatic populations with greater speed, accuracy and insight than ever before, using artificial intelligence and computer vision to count and size early-stage aquatic organisms such as shrimp larvae and live feed. The XperCount is a smart IoT device that connects to a portal where customers can access data and analytics from any device, anywhere. As of 2017, XpertSea’s customers in 48 countries have counted more than 17 billion organisms and uploaded over 100,000 counting and sizing sessions to the data portal.
“The smartest route to excellent aquaculture and healthy fish is reliable data, which has been sorely missing in the industry to date,” explained Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz, co-founders of Aqua-Spark. “Farmers can’t make accurate judgments, particularly about feed, if they don’t know the number of organisms in the water or distribution size. Aqua-Spark takes an industry-wide approach, meaning we invest across the value chain. XpertSea is the first company with a successful product to focus on smaller organisms suitable for hatcheries, which is where the farming process begins. Their ability to solve production challenges in aquaculture is limitless and makes them a key value-add for our portfolio.”
The funding will allow XpertSea to expand its technology offerings and continue to build its team. The company is currently hiring for positions in Quebec City, Montreal and in its international markets.
"This investment will help XpertSea take the guesswork out of aquaculture inventory management, which will drive profits for aquaculture producers and deliver positive environmental returns for our planet,” said Valerie Robitaille, CEO and Co-Founder of XpertSea. “Precision aquaculture technology is the key to bringing transparency to transactions and standardising practices across the industry, which benefits everyone along the aquaculture food chain.”


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Twitter shares fall after earnings show up early…on Twitter
Published 7:00 am Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Twitter remorse has become a commonplace problem in the modern age; it seems like, every day, there’s a company that regrets something hastily shared on the social networking site. Tuesday, that company was Twitter.
Twitter shares fell dramatically Tuesday afternoon when its first quarter earnings report was posted early and was shared on Twitter by a financial intelligence firm, Selerity. Twitter had planned to release the report, which showed it badly missed revenue expectations, after the markets closed.
Shares plunged more than 18 percent to about $42 a share on the news. Trading was briefly halted, at Twitter’s request.
Selerity made it clear that it pulled Twitter’s results from the company’s own investor relations page and had not illegally accessed the information.
On an earnings call with analysts, Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said that the company’s investor relations website is hosted and managed by Nasdaq and that it is “continuing to investigate with them exactly what occurred.”
Nasdaq spokesman Joe Christinat confirmed that Twitter’s earnings were inadvertently published at 3:07 p.m. EDT Tuesday on Nasdaq’s Shareholder.com website. Other clients, he said, were not affected, and Nasdaq is investigating the root of the early release.
The timing fumble capped off a quarter of disappointing earnings, as several design changes and product launches over the past year apparently failed to jump-start growth and income. The company reported $436 million in revenue, vs. expectations of $456.52 million. Losses grew to $162 million compared with $132 million in the same period last year. The company’s growth was in line with expectations — 18 percent in user growth over the same period past year — bringing the company to 302 million active monthly users.
That puts even more pressure on Costolo, who has spent the last year shuffling his executive staff and rolling out several initiatives to make the network more palatable to first-time users.
Twitter also announced that it has acquired a marketing technology company, TellApart, which focuses on e-commerce and retail advertising between mobile devices and desktops. It also announced a partnership with Google’s DoubleClick advertising platform.


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US VAM exports rise 29% on more shipments to Belgium
06 September 2013 20:14 [Source: ICIS news]
HOUSTON (ICIS)--?xml:namespace>US vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) exports in July rose by 29% year on year on an increase in shipments to Belgium, according to data released on Friday by the US International Trade Commission (ITC).
US VAM exports totalled 55,304 tonnes in July, compared with 42,716 tonnes in the same month of 2012.
Shipments to Belgium - the largest destination - totalled 21,838 tonnes, almost tripling 7,492 tonnes shipped in the same month of 2012.
Major US VAM sellers include Celanese, Dow Chemical, DuPont and LyondellBasell.
By: Lane Kelley+1 713 525 2653
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Josh Duhamel "Checks Out" Diet Pepsi Fans
This summer, Diet Pepsi is teaming up with Hollywood actor, Josh Duhamel to bring the fun to fans. Unsuspecting Los Angeles shoppers who chose Diet Pepsi on July 12 were surprised to have Duhamel check them out ... at the register, of course.
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AeroVironment Inc. shares jumped 13 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday when the drone aircraft maker reported higher quarterly sales and profit that beat Wall Street expectations.
After the markets closed, the Monrovia company reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $11.5 million (52 cents a share) for the quarter ended Jan. 29, compared with $6.5 million (30 cents) a year earlier. Revenue rose 39 percent to $84.4 million, with strong sales of both its unmanned aircraft systems and a separate business that makes charging systems for electric vehicles.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected the company to earn per-share profit of 38 cents on revenue of $78.5 million.
As of the end of the quarter, the company had a funded backlog of orders totaling nearly $104 million. The company now expects to achieve revenue growth of 12.5-15 percent for fiscal 2011, which is the upper half of its prior outlook range.
“Strong third quarter financial performance and sufficient backlog keep us on track to achieve our fiscal 2011 revenue growth and profitability goals,” said Chief Executive Tim Conver in a statement. “I believe we remain well-positioned for long-term growth.”
Shares earlier closed up 36 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $28.61 on the Nasdaq, and gained another $3.75, or 13 percent in after-market trading.
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TUI has canceled trips to Turkey and eight other destinations until June 27
Tui canceled trips to Turkey and eight other destinations until June 27 due to uncertainties about travel rules. The other countries affected are Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Egypt, Cape Verde, Morocco, Tunisia and Bulgaria. Turkey and Cape Verde are on the "red list" of the United Kingdom, and the others are on the "yellow list".
Under the government's "traffic light" system, only citizens and residents of the UK and Northern Ireland will be allowed to come from the countries on the red list. Upon arrival in the UK, they will have to stay in self-isolation in a government-approved hotel, and the costs will be borne by the traveler.
TUI has canceled trips to Turkey and eight other destinations until June 27 due to the uncertain situation.
Those who want to travel from a country on the yellow list, will have to self-isolate at home for a period of 10 days and perform no less than 3 tests. The Foreign Ministry has advised the British population to avoid non-essential travel to as many of the destinations on the yellow list as possible, with the exception of the Canary Islands and some Greek islands.
"We are constantly reviewing the holiday schedule and cancellations according to government updates every three weeks. The next update will be released in early June. Due to the continuing uncertainty, we decided to cancel all trips to the following destinations until June 27, including: Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Turkey, Egypt, Cape Verde, Morocco, Tunisia and Bulgaria. All customers affected by these cancellations will be contacted directly and will be able to request a full cash refund or be able to change the ticket at a later date or receive an incentive for another holiday booking. ”, a TUI official said.


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T-Mobile USA Once Again Eying Cell Tower Sale
T-Mobile USA has hired a New York City-based financial firm to help it explore the sale of its cell towers in order to raise revenue, reports Bloomberg. The company sought to sell its towers last year, but put the plans on hold after it agreed to be purchased by AT&T. Now that the AT&T deal has been struck down by the U.S. government, T-Mobile is once again seeking sources of funding for its network expansion plans. T-Mobile is in the process of refarming its 1900MHz spectrum for 3G so it can use its 1700MHz spectrum for LTE 4G. It could earn as much as $3 billion by selling its towers and allowing them to be run by another company.
Samsung Makes the Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J3 Available Unlocked
Samsung today added the Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J3 to its list of unlocked smartphones. The two inexpensive handsets will be available to purchase directly from Samsung's web site as well as select retailers starting July 28.
Apple Watch Series 3 Supports Carriers' One Number Calling and Messaging
Apple this week announced the Apple Watch Series 3 with an optional cellular radio. The LTE radio makes it possible for the smartwatch to connect to cellular networks on its own, without a nearby iPhone.
Google Intros 'Zero-Touch' Android Enterprise Deployments
Google today made it easier for businesses to configure and deploy Android handsets to employees with a new tool called zero-touch enrollment. Google says zero-touch lets companies configure purchased devices and ship them directly to employees completely preconfigured with corporate policies and controls all in place.
Asus Brings ZenFone 4 Lineup to U.S.
Asus recently announced plans to bring its ZenFone 4 series of phones to the U.S. unlocked market this year.


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The Tide has run out for one grocery store in Washington, D.C.
In a city where violent crime is up, one Giant Food market in the District announced that it is clearing out brand names from many of its aisles, meaning brands such as Tide, Colgate or Advil will no longer be available, according to The Washington Post.
The store will carry its own brands of such items.
“We want to continue to be able to serve the community, but we can’t do so at the level of significant loss or risk to our associates that we have today,” Giant President Ira Kress said.
The grocery store is the last one in a neighborhood in the district’s Ward 8.
In May, Giant Food tried increasing security at its 165 stores in D.C., Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. High-theft items were removed from shelves and locked away. Security guards were hired.
Kress said at the Alabama Avenue SE store where national brands are going away, “it’s actually worse, not better. And we’ve invested a significant amount of money here, even more security here than any other store.”
“We have no other choice,” Diane Hicks, senior vice president of operations, said Thursday as she brought local officials through the store.
“I’ve been leaving it out for our customers, and unfortunately it just forces all the crime to come to us,” she said.
Kress said he’s hoping ridding the store of products with high resale value will lower theft.
“I don’t want to do this — I’d like to sell [those products],” he said. “But the reality is that Tide is not a profitable item in this store. … In many instances, people stock the product and within two hours it’s gone, so it’s not on the shelf anyway.”
Councilmember Trayon White had warned last month that theft might doom the store, according to WTTG.
“Taking from this store is really taking from yourself. We are home to a lot of senior citizens and elders who must eat at this store. And the more we take from this store, we put the store in jeopardy of closing down,” he said.
In June, Kress said he was trying to find a solution to the problem.
“We’re not a bank; we don’t have vaults,” he said then, according to WTTG. “I don’t want to create an environment where everything is locked up in the stores. But I do not see today anything occurring which is going to significantly impact positively, the escalation that’s occurring in either theft or violence.”
“It makes me feel like I live in a different world than where I used to live,” Giant customer Damion Lynch said.
“I mean, it used to be you could go to any place you wanted to go, and you could feel safe and go shopping, do whatever you need. Now, you’ve got to watch over your shoulder. I love Giant. I come here all the time. I like their products. When you come to a store though, you need to be able to feel free and safe to come. So, I don’t feel it’s just Giant’s problem. I also feel it’s the law enforcement and those who make the law,” he said.
The Post noted that other retailers are also battling rampant theft. “Our team continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime,” Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said last month. “During the first five months of this year, our stores saw a 120 percent increase in theft incidents involving violence or threats of violence.”
A National Retail Federation study released last year said organized retail crime incidents rose 26.5 percent.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.


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Amid a flurry of other developments this weekend, Google has launched stadia.com ahead of Tuesday’s launch. It’s how you play games on the web, and also serves as an introduction for prospective customers.
Ahead of the streaming service’s launch on Tuesday, Google is getting ready to send out Founder’s Editions to the first pre-orderers. The process begins with a Google payment charge for Stadia before the first shipments tomorrow.
In this week’s top stories: Google Camera 7.2 arrives on older Pixel phones including Pixel 3, Google officially begins the rollout of their carrier-bypassing RCS service in the US, Google Photos gains a new image actions carousel, and more.


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How Brands Can Use Storytelling to Propel Sales
When it comes to social media, just like traditional advertising, consumers want to hear the stories behind their favorite brands. The Washington Post points to the recent Jeremy Lin phenomenon, in which the New York Knicks player received an enormous amount of press and attention through social media channels. On Facebook and Twitter, people raved about “Lin-Sanity” and rooted for the underdog, learning about his background and closely following his story.
What’s even more impressive, though, is that due to Lin fever, Knicks jersey sales are up 200% compared with this time last year, placing the Knicks and Lin at the top for NBA jersey sales.
Kenneth C. Wisnefski writes that as demonstrated by the Lin events, “consumers still crave a feel-good storyline.” If businesses, especially small ones, put their history out there, consumers will react positively if it’s compelling. “Lin’s case is an example of building brand loyalty through unique storylines and leveraging it on social media,” the author says. “Since small businesses typically have a unique story as to how they came to fruition, there is an opportunity to leverage pathos and create a similar emotional attachment to their brand. Simply put, telling their story can be a strategic approach to appealing to customers and establishing their own sort of emotional excitement. Brand loyalty is the result.”
On social media sites, marketers can see who is involved in the conversation and identify their target consumers. Wisnefski says that if the people talking are not regular customers, companies now know what tactics work to get new customers. And for those who are loyal customers, the company can identify and reinforce the attachment.
Telling your brand’s story is easier than ever thanks to Facebook’s new Timeline interface for company pages. As Jamie Tedford of Forbes puts it, “every brand has a story.”
Blogger Bernie Borges explains that in order to successfully tell your story, you must be personal, positive, and spell out your values. In his example, he discusses how he attended night school and learned the importance of hard work, even though he couldn’t afford a full-time college education.
Who doesn’t like to hear the story of the underdog, or of someone overcoming adversity to achieve great things? By telling your brand’s story, you’re likely to develop a more involved and interested consumer base.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Jay Santiago


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Cardboard box maker Smurfit Kappa and warehouse owner Segro are expected to deliver booming profits this week as both companies continue to benefit from the shift to online shopping.
Analysts expect Dublin-based Smurfit to post pre-tax profits up more than half to €919m (£800m) on revenues of more than €9bn.
Along with fellow FTSE 100 rivals DS Smith and Mondi, the company has ridden a surge of demand for paper-based packaging over the last five years that is expected to continue as brands seek out alternatives to plastic.
Its strong performance is set to come despite its decision to abandon its relatively small Venezuelan business, at a cost of €66m, after it came under fierce attacks from the South American country’s increasingly unstable government.
Shares surged in March after it received a takeover approach from US giant International Paper but talks eventually came to nothing.
While retail landlords are braced for a tough year amid talk of more store closures on the horizon, property group Segro, whose clients include Amazon, has cashed in as online retailers and delivery companies seek out more storage space.
The company, which is in the process of building 900,000 square metres of new space, is expected to report profits of £230m on Wednesday, up 20pc on last year. Founded almost 100 years ago as the Slough Trading Company, it now has more than 100 sites across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and eastern Europe.


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Apple sent billions offshore to avoid Australia tax: report
By Martin Parry, AFP
March 7, 2014, 12:09 am TWN
SYDNEY--Apple shifted billions in untaxed profits from its Australian operations to Ireland over the past decade, a report said Thursday, as the government vowed to stop global companies from dodging their fair share of tax.
An investigation by the Australian Financial Review obtained 10 years worth of financial accounts for Apple Sales International — an arm of the organization it described as the "secretive" Irish company at the heart of the group's global tax arrangements.
The newspaper said the U.S. tech giant moved an estimated AU$8.9 billion (US$8.1 billion) in untaxed profits from Australia to a tax haven structure in Ireland, paying just 0.7 percent of its turnover in tax.
Last year, Apple declared pre-tax earnings in Australia of only AU$88.5 million after sending an estimated AU$2 billion from its Australian sales to Ireland via Singapore, it reported.
Apple in Australia declined to comment to AFP, but the company has previously said it has complied with the law and done everything required by the tax office. There is no suggestion it has done anything illegal.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said in response to the report that the government was determined to recover tax that companies have inappropriately avoided and that Canberra was pursing the issue through the G-20.
"Businesses operating around the world are not necessarily paying their fair share of tax where they're earning their profits," he said, without naming any firm.
"Our view is, and that is a view that's shared around the world, businesses should pay their fair share of tax where they earn profits."
Trade Minister Andrew Robb added to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "In most cases the companies are doing what is legal, but is it fair?
"Is it what they should do as companies that are benefiting greatly from the Australian commerce?
"No they're not, and we've got to look in a global sense at how to tackle this problem, that's why it's on at the G-20."
MOST POPULAR OF THIS SECTION


text: Latest News Steven Fusco Joins Bruder Healthcare as National Account Director By Staff Wednesday, September 13, 2023 12:18 AM Steven Fusco.ATLANTA—Bruder Healthcare, a Hilco Vision Company, and a leading provider of innovative health care solutions, has announced the addition of Steven Fusco to its team as national account director. In his new role, Fusco will develop initiatives, foster partnerships, and accelerate growth opportunities to expand the company's reach and impact within the eyecare sector, the company said. "Steven’s eyecare industry experience combined with his ability to drive growth and innovation align perfectly with our company's mission and message, where we encourage doctors and patients alike to “Open Your Eyes to Bruder”, said Brent Jones, general manager of Bruder Healthcare and global head of dry eye at Hilco Vision. Fusco has a proven track record of building revenue growth and commercial success in the eyecare industry. Prior to joining Bruder Healthcare, he served as the senior director of business development at Lexitas, an ophthalmic product development company and co-founder of MYZE, an eyecare patient engagement platform.He also held sales management positions with Santen, an eyecare pharmaceutical company, and Eyevance, an ophthalmic products firm later acquired by Santen. Fusco's experience also includes sales and business development roles for medical lab company Quest Diagnostics. Bruder Healthcare designs and markets therapeutic and ophthalmic products to health care professionals and consumers around the world, including the #1 doctor-recommended moist heat eye compress. Its product line provides relief for millions who suffer from muscle pain, dry eye and other ocular conditions.


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- Small missiles, especially grape, canister, fragments of iron, and the like, when fired, as upon an enemy at close quarters.
- To fire mitraille at.


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Here we see how iRacing fans can have better accessibility on how to get into championships. With Sim Racing booming, the popularity is growing at a fast rate.
With the growth of sim racing and in particular iRacing, virtual sports and championships reached a new gear over the last couple of years, with a boom of new fans and competitors flooding the scene.
The advancements in gaming tech increased accessibility of spectator platforms, and an increase in coverage from news outlets have all helped to make iRacing very popular, particularly in countries like Sweden following the break out success of local competitors.
Still, there’s plenty of room to grow for the scene, and the world of online gambling might just be an avenue that could assist in that growth.
Getting fans stuck into the action away from live events
Professional racers Olli Pahkala and Felix Rosenqvist competing in sim racing.
A key element of modern sports upholding an audience is to be engaging even when the all-important live games and competitions aren’t taking place. While social media activity is one way to achieve this, the main modern method is to offer gaming options.
Naturally, almost any fan can play an iRacing game, but due to how they’re constructed, they can be very difficult to just sit back and enjoy as a newcomer just looking for some fun. This is where online casino platforms can come into play.
Among the myriad of casino games available in the likes of Sweden, where iRacing is really taking off, there are specialized racing games. Sitting in amongst the likes of Ramesses Rumble, Mad Max Fury Road, and Dragon Tiger is Respin Racer and Street Race, which strive to deliver the race day thrills but on their slot reels.
Having the options of these immersive but hands-off games in the theme of virtual racing can help to keep fans engaged, particularly if a licensed slot was to be produced – see more on that further down.
After all, the total global gambling industry (land-based and online) is forecast to hit a market size of over $266 billion in 2021, proving its popularity and reach.
As noted, Sweden has become a significant iRacing market, which is why integrating the racing games of their popular online casinos could further strengthen the audience, fan base, and even the player pool from the nation.
The rise in iRacing fans in Sweden can be put down to many things, such as the country having several online-based celebrities and eSports professionals already, but for iRacing, the success of Swedes is certainly a factor.
In the virtual America Red Cross Grand Prix, Felix Rosenqvist – who’s also a real-life IndyCar driver – placed second, with that being the opening event of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.
The Swedish iRacing League also helped to lay the groundwork for the future bustling fan base for virtual racing in the country. Over a few seasons, it crowned several iRacing champions, with home-grown talent Henrik Lindoff even landing the second spot in the GTE Cup of 2018.
The main event runner itself, famed for its inch-perfect racecourses on which it stages events, also features Scandinavia-specific tournaments, such as King of Vikings.
It’s more than a mere game
Kelvin van der Linde discussing the GT driver’s take on simulation racing.
The iRacing simulation games have been praised all over the world for their accuracy and each competition’s emphasis on having the player’s point of view being from behind the wheel in a virtual vehicle.
As detailed by the platform itself, they have more officially licensed, laser-scanned tracks than any other simulation game or company, with over 100 tracks and 350 configurations available.
As the specs for the tracks are incredibly accurate, they’ve attracted the attention of professional racers looking to home their skills or experience the tracks. As has come to light in recent years, several racers compete in the virtual world as well.
We saw it in Formula One with the likes of Lando Norris, George Russell, and Nicholas Latifi all partaking in the eSports competitions. Outside of F1, there’s Laurens Vanthoor (GT), Kelvin van der Linde (GT), William Byron (NASCAR), and Nicki Thiim (Le Man’s champion) have all taken part in iRacing competitions.
While professionals may, on occasion, turn to the best of the best simulations to get to grips with tracks and racing maneuvers, fans of iRacing and those even looking to home their virtual driving skills can turn to other gaming options.
This kind of racing doesn’t require safety measures, so virtual racers can focus purely on enhancing their strategic thinking, focus, and reactions, all of which are mindsets that greatly help in iRacing.
For this, people can turn to the ultra-strategic and focus requiring card games at online casino tables. In live games of Caribbean Stud Poker or Blackjack, players are required to react in real-time, against a round timer, and all while working out the mathematics and applying strategy to ensure a win.
Essentially, learning the strategies and likelihood tied to each hand of these card games will improve one’s capacity to think strategically and keep focus throughout – made especially important as there’s money on the line.
Creating ever-lasting immersion to grow the sport
Recap video of iRacing in 2020
The iRacing scene is burgeoning, and while it does have a rather large audience when you include viewers and racers, its ceiling is much, much higher. Some figures project that iRacing boasts some 100,000 active members and an average of around 12,000 players online at any time, making it the most popular racing sim out there.
Still, a sport needs avid and engaged fans because those are the people who will increase their viewership figures, thus make advertising spaces more valuable, and subsequently increase revenues.
It’s yet to hit mainstream sports news proper yet, even though we do cover iRacing extensively here. So, another way in which iRacing could raise its profile is to branch off into another realm of entertainment that doesn’t depend on schedules or meets – online casino.
A prime example of a sports brand growing its visibility through an online casino is Nitro Circus. Before, the action sports brand was little-known in Sweden, but thanks to the Nitro Circus slot, far more people know of the brand, have looked it up, and some may have even gone to a show.
Were iRacing to license and official slot, it’d certainly get the name out there to increase its reach.
There are many ways that gambling platforms can help iRacing to enhance its player base and viewership, and it already might be doing exactly that for some fans.


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The Nashville Walls Project took the local art community by storm last May when successful artists from all around the world converged on…
Some Nashville community members came together today to celebrate Tennessee with a free food giveaway at the Catholic Charities' Fresh Food…
A group called Strings for Hope has set up shop downtown selling used guitar strings repurposed as jewelry.
One way to not only taste but also see Music City is through walking food tours.
The days of watching your kids struggle to find summer jobs may soon be over, and it's all thanks to a new Nashville program that will…
For a songwriter, crafting a song is more than trying to write a hit, it's telling a story that means something.
A school bus mechanic for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System is being honored for helping a students and her mother after…
A Nashville-based production company helped the many Gatlinburg wildfire victims create new memories with a free portrait session.
The Friends of the Brentwood Library hosted a book sale to support their educational activities.
A Nashville woman has helped give more than 6,000 hearing tests to strangers across the country through her charity called Songs for Sound.
To Celebrate Tennessee we took a look at a huge shoe giveaway for kids.
Typically when someone has been wanting a pair of shoes, they take a trip to the store or order some online.


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Salamander Designs’ first-ever “design:tech connection” event on Feb. 21 at its Bloomfield, Conn. factory and headquarters brought together around 70 AV/IT integrators, architects and designers, as well as technology vendors whose partnerships support the efforts of this specialty furniture company. Tech furniture and how it can aesthetically fit into modern office environments was showcased – an apt focus for the evening, since Salamander has deep-seated expertise in both the residential and commercial tech furniture arenas. The event’s co-host was Connecticut-based ACT Associates, an audio/visual consultant that specializes in the design, engineering and management of corporate AV and video conferencing spaces.
“Between AV guys and designers, relationships have been forever contentious. We very much want to build bridges,” Salvatore Carrabba, Salamander Designs’ founder and president, told us. Which is why this event really was an inaugural one, with future such gatherings certain to follow.
The company’s current business, Carrabba explained, skews 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial, but the split is trending toward 50-50 – and, truth to tell, the line between the two sectors is blurring.
“Things are becoming more ‘resi-mercial,’” Angela Babowicz, Salamander’s marketing director, said. “The workplace, such as it is defined, is changing; people are working from home offices. There are more and more collaborative spaces, more video conferencing, more facial recognition technologies at play. And what is happening is that in the connected space, people are really interested in something we can provide – greater ease of installation and reduction in installation time.”
Key to Salamander’s success has been partnerships with vendors whose products work synergistically with the company’s furniture designs.
On the evening of our visit, the facility was set up to showcase four “experience rooms.” On display in the main showroom was a short-throw projector cabinet occupied by a Sony model, projecting onto a Screen Innovations screen. In that category, Salamander also supplies cabinetry for Hisense, Vivitek, Epson and Dell projectors. Displayed in the showroom area as well was NEC’s new 75-inch Infinity Board, on a Salamander stand.
An adjacent room was set up to spotlight a full solution for a meeting room: a customized Salamander 10-foot-by-four-foot conference table containing embedded Crestron products sat beneath a Shure Microphone Ceiling Array system, and across from a Sharp 4K 70-inch interactive display system. In the same area, supporting this conferencing space were a Logitech camera and Yamaha speakers.
About the table, Salamander’s Scott Srolis, senior vice president of sales and marketing, noted that its design “addresses all the pain points of integrating a table into a commercial space. We’re able to put everything into and under the table for easy serviceability, including four wire banks that are brought up from below and configured for Crestron.” The point he drove home was that the table is customizable – a chief selling angle for much of Salamander’s furniture.
The Factory Tour
Attendees at the event were treated to a look inside Salamander’s 94,000-square-foot factory, which is powered by a solar field on the roof, enabling the company to operate so environmentally efficiently that it sells power back to the local electric company, said Director of Engineering Michael Babowicz, who performed the role of tour guide for the evening.
End-to-end assembly line production is equally as efficient, he said, having been winnowed down from two-and-a-half hours to 40 minutes using a “triage” method of manufacture, to build an average cabinet. Employees are rotated onto different lines, which both broadens their knowledge base and earns them more while also benefiting the company. “It holds their interest, too, as they’re not doing the same things over and over,” he added. All furniture parts, save for the nuts and bolts and for some entry-level residential furniture SKUs, are produced locally. “We build fresh to order, with no stock just sitting here and waiting to be assembled,” says Babowicz. “Everything’s built with a purpose.”
One overarching philosophy serves to connect the diversity of products available through Salamander. As Carrabba explained it, “Our specialty is integrating the furniture that is able to support technology of today, but that is also retrofittable for the future.”


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Varun Dhawan announces partnership with health brand to support India’s frontline warriors
Varun Dhawan has stepped up to help the frontline workers amid the coronavirus pandemic by partnering with ‘Fast&Up’ – a nutrition brand
Bollywood star Varun Dhawan has stepped up to help the frontline workers amid the coronavirus pandemic by partnering with ‘Fast&Up’ – a nutrition brand. Their alliance will work on several health and nutrition initiatives, starting with a campaign supporting India’s frontline warriors.
‘#HealPrayLove’ is an initiative by the brand to help, support, and energize those who have been affected and those who have worked tirelessly to bring people back to health. With Varun Dhawan commencing the initiative, every reel made using the ‘#HealWithReels’ will support the ‘Heal-Pray-Love’ cause wherein each reel will be equal to a single dose of electrolytes that will be sent to hydrate frontline workers pan India. Varun Dhawan took to Instagram and shared a post confirming his association with the brand. In the post, he also extended greetings on the occasion of Eid-Ul-Fitr.
His post read, “Hi Guys!I hope everyone is safe at home. Recently, a lot of people have been coming forward to help amplify COVID resources. The way the country has stepped up to help each other is such an inspiration. “
“As a part of the entertainment industry fitness has always been an integral part of my life. But in the last year, I have realized the importance of health, not only for me but also for my loved ones. And it was in this quest, I found Fast&Up. I could feel the difference after using the products for some time. It helped in maintaining my good health and made me feel great. Finally, I decided, why not spread the good vibes with everybody?” added Dhawan.
Announcing his association with the brand, the ‘Dilwale’ actor shared, “I am happy to announce that I have joined the Fast&Up family as their Good Vibes Officer. It has been a year of challenges – let us all heal together and spread the good vibes. Keep watching this space to see my daily habit for my good health! Eid Mubarak! May this Eid bring health and happiness along with good vibes.”
Speaking spout his partnership with the brand for a noble cause, the Varun Dhawan said, “I admire the work that Fast & Up has done in the health space and also all the work they are doing to support our front liners. I’ve joined hands with them and formed a partnership. With a shared vision: Health first. India first.”


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The last thing consumers want to hear is an increase in power costs this summer following the news last week of rising threats of rolling blackouts across half of the US.
Tight supplies of natural gas, crude, and coal have pushed up residential electricity rates this year. A nationwide weather outlook for this summer forecasts extreme heat — all of this will force households to crank up their air conditions, resulting in oversized power demand that could stress national grids.
Bloomberg cites new data from Barclays Plc that says monthly power bills could be 40% more than last year’s. The US Energy Information Administration expects retail residential electricity rates to increase the most since 2008.
Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Miami households spent 38% more on energy in April than a year ago. Power prices in the state have jumped due to the rising cost of natgas.
“Our continued overreliance on gas only sets us up for these burdensome and unnecessary rate increases.
“This business model is unsustainable, and it’s hurting people,” said Natalia Brown of Catalyst Miami, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group.
Besides Miami, parts of Hawaii, Dallas, Minneapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco recorded the highest increases in retail electricity costs last month.
The rest is here: https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/consumers-face-summer-hell-power-bill-costs-set-jump
One thought on “Consumers Face Summer Of Hell As Power Bill Costs Set To Jump”


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Wearable WOW; Powering sensors, Qualcomm standards; Congressional IoT; Identity management; Future smart; M2M; User experience missing.
Wearables are the new tech WOW and not just for holiday feasting. Rich Quinnell, Editor in Chief of IoT World, looks to be tossing a yellow flag for IoT developers, as well as those in the large corporations investing. Is this Wearable IoT Trend Facing Uncertainty? Read views, and a recent study on sustainability value from Endeavour Partners.
Powering sensors to operate with an extremely constrained power profile by harvesting energy from the radio waves that carry messages to the sensors to begin with, writes Dana Blouin, Researcher at Thammasat University. He also talks about Stanford’s “ant-sized” radios at fraction of cost, and more with: Energy Harvesting Sensors to Expand IoT Possibilities
Broadcom’s Chairman and CTO, Henry Samueli addresses the drive for common standards to realize full potential benefits and rewards of IoT. He speaks to rapid growth but only with availability of interoperable standards of products from multiple vendors to connect and interact regardless of brand, operating system, platform, device type or transport layer.
Senators Request Hearing on IoT before year’s end — In a letter to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, and a ranking member of the committee, four members of Congress spelled out why there’s now a need for a general oversight and information-gathering session on the IoT.
Tele2 (with recent capability investments in M2M) connects with Cubic Telecom in a strategic partnership to provide global M2M/IoT solutions to companies in the PC OEM and automotive space. Find out if this is a big deal.
Whether ready or not, living the “Minority Report” (movie) lifestyle, aka the smart future, is just around the corner … so writes James Fields, The Tennessean. Yet how far shall these smart gadgets go since personal data breaches can come from seemingly safe places, i.e. such as the Home Depot data hack through their HVAC monitoring system.
Samsung invests in IoT identity management platform: Evrythng, the U.K.-based outfit building an identity management layer, and authentication of the myriad devices. CEO Niall Murphy calls Samsung’s backing “another endorsement of Evrythng’s technology and vision…”
Harvard Business Review Blogs on “Humans Can Make the Internet of Things Smarter” addressing these two separate environments: the IoT systems of sensors collecting info and transmitting between different devices without human intervention – and today’s mobile infrastructure with devices, the apps which are typically all about human interaction.
Rachel Schramm, SiliconANGLE, hits the nail straight on with a look at “Why the Internet of Things Will Turn Data Computing on its Head”. In this article, Jim Green, CTO for the Data and Analytics Group at Cisco, is candid about expectations on the ‘industrial’ portion of the IoT market (vs personal).
Are we waiting with baited breath for the “smart washing machine”? Drew Harwell, with the Washington Post put a focus on Whirlpool’s newest machine. It boasts Wi-Fi with an iPhone app to start a load and texts when clothes are done. Read why Chris Quatrochi, Whirlpool’s global director of user experience commented … “we’re a little bit of a hammer looking for a nail right now”.


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The Macy’s near my house is closing early next year. The mall where it’s located has seen less and less foot traffic over the years, and losing its anchor store could set off a chain reaction. Cities across the country are facing this uncertainty, with over 6,700 scheduled store closings; it’s become known as the retail apocalypse.
This story is at odds with the broader narrative about business in America: The economy is growing, unemployment is low, and consumer confidence is at a decade-long high. This would typically signal a retail boom, yet the pain rivals the height of the Great Recession. RadioShack, The Limited, Payless, and Toys“R”Us are among 19 retail bankruptcies this year. Some point to Amazon and other online retailers for wrestling away market share, but e-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2017 only hit 8.9 percent of total sales. There’s still plenty of opportunity for retail outlets with physical space.
The real reason so many companies are sick, as Bloomberg explained in a recent feature, has to do with debt. Private equity firms purchased numerous chain retailers over the past decade, loading them up with unsustainable debt payments as part of a disastrous business strategy.
Billions of dollars of this debt comes due in the next few years. “If today is considered a retail apocalypse,” Bloomberg reported, “then what’s coming next could truly be scary.” Eight million American retail workers could see their careers evaporate, not due to technological disruption but a predatory financial scheme. The masters of the universe who devised it, meanwhile, will likely walk away enriched, and policymakers must reckon with how they enabled the carnage.
Sears, once a giant of America’s consumer-led economy, was run into the ground by hedge-fund king Eddie Lampert. In 2005, Lampert, a former Yale roommate of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, arranged the merger of Sears with discount retailer Kmart, and immediately started shifting revenue to shareholders. He spent $6 billion on stock buybacks to reward investors and prop up the share price.
More important, Lampert personally lent billions to Sears Kmart, increasing corporate debt. As in-store sales lagged, Sears sold off major assets like Craftsman brand tools and Land’s End outdoor equipment to service the loans. Lampert also split ownership of 266 Sears and Kmart buildings into a real estate investment vehicle called Seritage. Last year, Sears and Kmart stores paid $200 million in rent on these properties they once owned, eating up operating revenue.
As Sears closes hundreds of stores and considers bankruptcy, Lampert will likely come out ahead. He enjoyed fees from all the lending to Sears, and he’ll recoup more money in any restructuring, even if Sears has to sell off inventory to do it. As a shareholder of Seritage, Lampert’s hedge funds can profit from higher rents charged to new retail outlets that move into the shuttered Sears locations.
The mismanagement of Sears reflects an ongoing pattern: private equity takeover artists that benefit from hobbling the companies they purchase. Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital, the two firms behind footwear chain Payless, paid themselves $700 million in dividends in 2012 and 2013, all on the back of the company. Payless filed for bankruptcy this year, closing 400 stores. Toys“R”Us filed for bankruptcy in September, unable to sustain between $400-$500 million in annual interest payments on $5.2 billion in long-term debt. Buyout managers, including Bain Capital and longtime firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, stripped out nearly $2 billion in cash while debt levels rose.
This is a robbery in progress. Private equity firms borrow massively to buy companies, and use corporate cash reserves to pay themselves back. Workers who supply the value to the business see nothing; in fact, to service the debt, companies usually cut staff. When the retailer collapses under the borrowing weight, all workers lose their jobs. And even when sales go up, like they have by 5 percent annually in the toy sector over the past five years, dominant toy sellers like Toys“R”Us cannot compete because of the debt burden. The company’s profitability was increasing when it filed for bankruptcy.
Private equity firms counter that their business model returns companies to fiscal health through superior management. But the retail apocalypse reflects an epic miscalculation. Typically retail firms roll over debt to buy time, but interest rates have risen since the last set of buyouts several years ago, making that prospect more expensive. The overleveraged companies are finding it hard for anyone to agree to refinance.
As a result, delinquent payments on shopping centers and other commercial real estate have spiked, as high as one-quarter of all loans in some parts of the country. A hundred thousand retail jobs were lost from October 2016 to April 2017; in June, 1,000 stores closed in a week. And this will get worse: Only $100 million in retail debt came due this year, but there’s $1.9 billion next year and $5 billion on average due between 2019 and 2025. That threatens the retail sales and cashiers who make up 6 percent of the entire U.S. workforce, a total of 8 million jobs. These workers are not confined to any one region; the entire country will share in the pain.
Policymakers must also be held responsible for this looming nightmare. Our tax code privileges debt by making corporate interest payments tax-deductible. So the private equity kingpins who pillage companies and walk away get tax subsidies to pull it off, and this incentivizes them to borrow even more to run the game again.
The Republican tax plan actually recognizes this. The House bill proposed a cap on the deductibility of interest payments over 30 percent of a company’s earnings; the Senate bill defines earnings in such a way to reduce that cap even further. This would discourage some debt-fueled buyouts, and private equity firms are screaming about it.
However, the GOP left a gaping loophole: Real estate companies are exempt from this cap. This would benefit President Donald Trump’s family business, but it could also help private equity firms that split the operating side of the businesses they buy from the property side, as Sears did. They could put all the borrowing onto the property side and continue to deduct the interest.
What we need to do is look at these asset-stripping schemes more skeptically. The Securities and Exchange Commission can and should police the designed-to-fail corporate bonds that proceed from these leveraged buyouts. The banks that underwrite the deals should also be slapped for earning fees off the misery of an entire industry.
Instead, the Trump administration is likely to continue aiding wealthy financiers through regulatory neglect. Just last week, Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika broke with a years-long crackdown on high-risk corporate lending, signaling that more debt should be issued. We don’t have regulators willing to take action to protect workers, investors, and the economy. That’s too bad, because private equity is accelerating a decline that will be felt by millions in every major city. Inaction is a choice. This apocalypse didn’t have to happen.


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric-car company is on the road to profitability despite posting a bigger-than-expected loss in the latest quarter.
“We have high confidence we will have a profitable first quarter,” Musk said in a conference call yesterday with analysts and investors. “We’re halfway through the first quarter, and we can say we’re confident.”
His reassuring remarks came after Tesla posted a wider loss in the fourth quarter as high production costs continued to outpace demand.
The loss hit $89.9 million, compared with $81.5 million a year ago.
Excluding some costs, the loss was 65 cents a share, more than the 53-cent loss analysts had forecast.
Tesla shares dropped nearly 6 percent in after-hours trading, to $36.27, on the earnings report. Earlier, the stock closed at $38.54.
The Palo Alto, Calif., carmaker missed bottom-line expectations despite revenue gains that beat estimates. Revenue rose to $306.3 million, topping expectations for $298 million and well above $39 million a year ago.
The earnings report caps a rather rough ride for Musk, who got into a dust-up with the New York Times over a scathing review of Tesla’s Model S sedan that cast doubt on its ability to perform in colder climates.
Earlier this week, the newspaper’s public editor, Margaret Sullivan, appeased Musk by finding that the reporter exercised poor judgment and took sloppy notes during his test drive.
Yesterday, Tesla said it plans to deliver about 20,000 of its high-profile Model S units in 2013, or roughly 10 times its deliveries in all of 2012. The Model S is Tesla’s affordable electric sedan and sells for between $52,400 and $87,400.
In a letter to shareholders, Musk said the company plans to start the year with about 4,500 Model S deliveries in the first quarter after giving the manufacturing team the first week of the year off “to celebrate their accomplishments during 2012.”
Tesla expects to be “slightly profitable” in the first quarter, excluding non-cash option and warrant-related expenses, due to “operational and manufacturing efficiencies” as well as lower research and development expenses.
During the phone call, Musk also said that he is “highly confident” Tesla will also be profitable in the second quarter “and subsequent quarters, too.”


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Supporters rally for the Toxic Free Cosmetics Act, which would protect public health from lead, asbestos and other toxic chemicals in beauty products
JANUARY 13, 2020
Erika Wilhelm, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, 415-215-7251
Laura Deehan, CALPIRG, 415-420-4710
Monica Amarelo, Environmental Working Group, 202-939-9140
Kerry Jacob, Assembly Member Muratsuchi Communication Director, 310-806-0893
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Supporters gathered at the State Capitol today to urge the California Assembly to pass the Toxic Free Cosmetics Act (AB 495). If passed, the law, which will face its first key vote tomorrow, would ban such toxic ingredients as lead, mercury and formaldehyde from the beauty and bodycare products Californians use every day.
“I want my daughter growing up in a state where I don’t have to examine the label, and be an expert toxicologist, to know the soaps, face creams and toothpastes that are safe for her to use,” said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, author of the legislation. “That’s why I introduced AB 495 to get the most toxic chemicals out of the products we use on a daily basis.”
Last spring, the bill stalled in its first policy committee because industry opposition helped to block a vote from taking place. Since then, California has seen more examples of the impact of toxic ingredients in beauty care products.
“A woman recently went into a coma a few miles from here because she used face cream contaminated with mercury,” said joint co-author Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. “And right now, there is nothing stopping that from happening again and again. I call on my colleagues to make sure we don’t wait any longer to address this critical issue.”
Although the Federal Drug Administration is meant to protect consumers from these threats, when it comes to cosmetics, the federal regulatory body lacks any of the same authority it has with food or drugs. The consumer group CALPIRG released a report in 2018 where it found tens of thousands of asbestos fibers per gram of some eye shadow and face powder products being sold at Claire’s stores.
“Asbestos is highly toxic and doesn’t belong in kids makeup, but because of the FDA’s limited legal authority, all they could do is ask Claire’s to voluntarily remove their products from the shelf,” said Laura Deehan, CALPIRG public health advocate. “When Claire’s refused, the FDA had no ability to issue fines or mandate a recall.”
Congressional action is required to increase the scope of the FDA’s authority on cosmetics. But for more than 80 years this has not occurred.
“More than 40 other nations protect their citizens from harmful cosmetics,” noted Susan Little, senior advocate from Environmental Working Group. “Californians should be protected from unsafe products too. A law passed in 1996 to do that was never implemented. AB 495 would update this law to make sure that cosmetics manufacturers stop adding some of the most toxic chemicals to personal care products sold in California.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher, especially for women today, according to supporters of the bill. “Ten out of the 13 chemicals addressed by AB495 are linked to breast cancer,” said Janet Nudelman, Director of BCPP’s Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “One in eight women will develop breast cancer, which is a 40 percent increase since the 1970s. This important bill takes us one step closer to preventing breast cancer before it starts by removing a major source of women’s ongoing exposure to some of the most toxic substances on the planet.”
An NIH study released last month found a direct correlation between women dying their hair or using hair straightener, and their risk of developing cancer. The report concluded that black women are affected most adversely.
“Some of the most toxic ingredients are being aggressively marketed to black women,” said Nourbese Flint, policy director for the Los Angeles-based Black Women for Wellness. “Levels of formaldehyde that could be used to embalm a body are being used in hair straightener and black women who dye their hair are 60 percent more likely to develop cancer. That’s why we demand safe cosmetics now. The legislature should pass AB495 so that we can finally protect women from the toxic exposure they currently face on every trip to the salon.”
The Breast Cancer Prevention Partners is the leading national organization working to prevent breast cancer by eliminating exposures to toxic chemicals and radiation linked to the disease.
Types: Press Release


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DURHAM, N.C. Two executives at pharmacy automation company Parata Systems will be promoted at the beginning of next month, the company said.
Parata announced the promotion of Tom Rhoads to CEO and D.J. Dougherty to CFO, effective Oct. 1. They respectively replace current CEO and CFO Jess Eberdt and Doug Townsend, the company’s cofounders.
Rhoads has worked for Parata since 2004, having previously served as EVP marketing, national accounts, sales and product service, while Dougherty began at the company in 2003, most recently serving as EVP finance and operations.
“Tom has distinguished himself with a bold and creative vision, strategic market insights and a relentless focus on metrics,” Eberdt said. “D.J. consistently applies his tremendous financial expertise to enhance the company’s performance across many functional areas of the business.”
Eberdt and Townsend will move out of day-to-day management of the company, but will remain active on its board of directors, the company said.


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Credit extended not enough to boost consumer spending- Simonis Storm
As business and consumers remain under pressure due to the weak economy exacerbated by limited government expenditure, Simonis Storm has noted that the amount of credit extended so far is not enough to boost consumer spending.
Their view comes in the wake of the Bank of Namibia having released the money and banking statistics for June 2018.
According to the latest data, Private Sector Credit Extension increased at a slower pace of 5.5% at the end of June 2018 compared to a 7.3% registered in the prior year.
Instalment credit was at record low levels of -5.6% year-on-year at the end of June 2018, while overdrafts stumbled to 0.6% y-o-y in June compared to a 16.1% recorded in the prior year.
On the contrary, credit extended through other loans and advances increased by 10.9% y-o-y in June 2018 compared to a 6.8% registered in the prior year.
Household debt increased by 6.4% to N$54.6bn in June compared to an 8.3% in the prior year.
This is the lowest growth since January 2010. Moreover, credit through unsecured lending continued to register a staggering growth of 11.6% y-o-y at the end of June, fuelled by an increase of 112.2% y-o-y in lease contracts by individuals.
Says Simonis Storm Securities’ Indileni Nanghonga, “In our view the credit extended is not ample to boost consumer spending in these tight economic conditions. Consumers will remain under financial pressure which is currently exacerbated by the rise in petrol prices (inflationary).”
Meanwhile corporate debt rose by 4.2% to N$37.3bn in June compared to a 5.9% in the prior year.
Households and corporates totals N$91.9bn in PSCE debt, a 196.5% escalation over the last 10 years.


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Business sentiment dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years amid weak domestic demand and a frozen housing market.
According to the Bank of Korea on Wednesday, the business survey index(BSI) for all industries dropped by one point on-month to stand at 75 for November, marking the lowest in 23 months since December 2020 when it also posted 75.
With a reading below 100 indicating that pessimists outnumber optimists, sentiment continued to slide toward pessimism for the third straight month after rising to 80 in July and 81 in August.
The BSI for manufacturing rose two points on-month to hit 74 in November, while the index for non-manufacturing such as restaurants, wholesalers and retail businesses dropped by three points to 76, the lowest since February 2021.
Meanwhile, local firms' business outlook for December also slipped by two points on-month, coming in at 74, the lowest since January 2021.


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Darryl Strawberry -- Accused of Skipping Out On $3,000 Fruit & Veggie Bill
Darryl StrawberryAccused of Skipping Out On $3K Fruit & Veggie Bill
6/20/2013 12:20 AM PT
Darryl Strawberry's not living up to his name ... because according to a new lawsuit, he stiffed a produce company on a massive fruit and vegetable bill -- to the tune of $2,694.
New V&J Produce Corp has filed a lawsuit against Strawberry and his NYC restaurant Strawberry's Sports Grill, claiming it recently made multiple produce shipments to the establishment worth a total of $2,694.
According to the lawsuit, V&J has made several attempts to recover what it's owed ... but Strawberry has yet to pay up.
V&J is now suing for the full sum, plus $500 in attorneys' fees ... a total of $3,194. That's a lot of produce.


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A Tamworth pensioner has been reunited with items of sentimental jewellery after the valuables were found dumped on a bridle path.
A walker from Baddesley Ensor stumbled across a huge haul of jewellery and three jewellery boxes on the track near Shuttington, two weeks ago.
Police were alerted and PCSO Lauren Hughes and PC Roxanne Kinsella set about tracing down the rightful owners of the jewellery haul, which included engraved pendants, necklaces, bracelets, a wedding ring and old mining checks.
One item of particular note was a wedding ring in a box marked Co-op Tamworth Funeral Services.
A call to the funeral parlour saw staff there trace the ring back to 1979 and further investigations led the officers to Doshill Boys Club who searched their records and found that the owner of a pendant which formed part of the haul, was connected to the owner of the wedding ring.
PCSO Hughes and PC Kinsella visited the burglary victim, who did not wish to be named, and returned the wedding ring, which had belonged to her late mother, along with 66 other pieces of jewellery items and a jewellery box.
PCSO Hughes said:“The majority of these jewellery items were of very sentimental value, having been passed down generations of loved ones who had sadly passed away including a mining ID tag from many years ago.
“The owner of the items had been the victim of burglary way back in July 2017 and had given up hope of ever seeing or finding her belongings again. She was very thankful and appreciative of our work in tracing the items back to her and was delighted to be reunited with them.”


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Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have joined forces on a project to use blockchain technology to make trade finance transactions faster, cheaper, safer and more transparent, the companies said on Tuesday.
The two multinationals said at the Sibos financial services conference in Geneva that they would build and test the technology and create a blockchain-based framework that could eventually be sold to other businesses.
Blockchain works as an electronic record-keeping and transaction-processing system that allows all parties to track information through a secure network and requires no third-party verification.
Proponents of the technology, which originates from digital currency bitcoin, say that it will make all kinds of transactions faster, more reliable and easier to audit because it does not require manual processing, nor authentication through intermediaries.
Trade transactions using the existing process typically take between seven and 10 days to complete and involve a complicated paper trail that is vulnerable to document fraud.
"The underlying nature of trade finance in its current form is highly manual, it's highly time-consuming and it's paper-based, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to streamline the way trade transactions are processed," BAML's head of global trade and supply chain finance, Percy Batliwalla, told Reuters.
Microsoft's cloud-based Azure platform will be used for the project.
This is not the first move to use the nascent technology in what is viewed as one of the most suitable sectors for blockchain-based innovation. Barclays and an Israel-based start-up said this month that they had carried out the first real-word trade deal using the technology.
(Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by David Goodman)


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Chicago Spot: $2.11 UP 0.0616
Fair price adjustment: 0.7948
Fair Price: 2.7662
Average selling price 2.7150
Margin over cost + profit: -0.0512
We are in dangerous territory. The commodities market is up yet again, this time on a weak dollar. Fair price is at break even, which can mean a spike is close at hand. But, we have already had a spike this week, so another one is not as likely to come. But we just came off a weekend where the margin was thin, and Speedway might not want to repeat that again. But the last time commodities spiked up like this (in May) Speedway lagged behind so much that Indiana gas stations lost money on the sale of fuel. But… well, you get the idea.
It would be prudent to watch the prices as they may climb going into the weekend. Indiana could see $2.75-2.80, Michigan and NW Indiana could be 5-10 cents higher. Or, we could see prices stagnate or drop very slowly… only the people in Ohio know what will happen.


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Polaroid has agreed to put his name behind a Socialmatic concept, which will embody the spirit of Instagram into real form with an instant camera.
With the help of ADR Studios, Polaroid instant camera will perform retro and is expected to be present [...]
A man named Jim Stickley so far recorded more than 1000 bank he had robbed.
Uniquely, the hacker genius was never arrested let alone sent to prison.
Yes, Stickley is a ‘tester‘. His job is to penetrate and break through the security of computer [...]
Microsoft to train their employees to be able to explain the differences in the operating system Windows RT and Windows 8 to consumers.
“We’re trying to make sure our store teams provide explanations to consumers about Surface or PC Windows [...]
Exploration of the universe using telescopes have been done by the experts since time immemorial.
Various planets and outer space Unexplained phenomenon-was discovered using a telescope.
Various types of telescopes were presented by experts in order [...]
New news about the successor to the Galaxy S3 smartphone reappeared. This time, Samsung will release it issued on March 15, 2013.
Quoted from TechRadar, Thursday (2/7), the European market will be the first target and will be available a few weeks after [...]
Will spend 140 days in the mission.
A Russian rocket carrying two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut blasted off into space on Tuesday (10/23). The three astronauts will be on duty on the International Space Station (ISS).
Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin [...]
Basically, do not use the lights too bright at night.
Using iPad or watching TV late at night can make you depressed, according to a study showing that exposure to bright light during the hours of sleep can affect levels of stress and behavioral disorders.
Among users of Android smartphones again got good news. This time, an application that has been available only on devices with iOS platform, will also be present on the platform bearing the green robot.
Snapchat, an application that allows you to transmit [...]
Want to buy the BlackBerry 10 but doubt whether it can be better than Android or iPhone? There are ways to overcome these doubts.
Quoted from Cnet, Tuesday (2/4), you can try this new OS directly either on Android or iOS devices via the browser.
Cats of pure descent tends to indicate the nature of human companionship.
Although not the type of cat that unsightly, Sphynx cats are judged most friendly than other cats, according to a survey conducted by the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Monday [...]
Review TechBoom this time about the arrival of new notebooks from ASUS that has been fully supported Windows 8 OS, VivoBook X202E.
What kind of sophistication? Consider the following short review.
Simple yet beautiful look. That first impression [...]


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Musk gets $7 billion in backing for Twitter bid from tech heavyweights
Billionaire Elon Musk has strengthened the equity stake of his offer to buy Twitter with commitments of more than $7 billion from a range of investors, including Silicon Valley titans like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Other investors include Sequoia Capital Fund, which pledged $800 million, and VyCapital, which pledged $700 million, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But Ellison, who is also a Tesla board member, is making the biggest contribution, pegged at $1 billion.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud has pledged 35 million in Twitter shares in support of Musk, according to the filing.
The new funding comes after Musk in earlier regulatory filings revealed that he has sold roughly $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase. Musk later tweeted that he doesn't plan any further sales of the company's shares, meaning he would need outside commitments to help fund the $44 billion deal.
Gaining additional backers could help smooth the road toward completing the purchase, noted Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a May 5 research note. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has stated that he wants to take Twitter private and remake it as a forum dedicated to promoting free speech.
"In this game of high stakes poker the Ellison and impressive list of backers will remove more of an overhang from Tesla shares as the Musk leverage of shares now becomes less onerous," Ives wrote. "This was a smart financial and strategic move by Musk that will be well received across the board and also shows the Twitter deal is now on a glide path to get done by the end of this year."
That could help reduce the gap between Musk's offer price — $54.20 — and Twitter's current stock price, which closed at about $49 per share on Wednesday, Ives noted. That disparity indicates there are still doubts on Wall Street about whether the deal will go through.
Shares of the San Francisco-based social media platform rose 2% before the opening bell, to $50.10.
Because of the new funding listed in the SEC filing Thursday, Musk will cut the $12.5 billion in margin loans he was leaning on in half, to $6.25 billion. The transaction is also now being funded by $27.25 billion in cash and equities, up from $21 billion.
The Thursday filing also said that Musk is in ongoing talks with other parties including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who is the second largest individual stakeholder in the company after Musk.
for more features.


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DC Entertainment reveals new logo and branding
DC Entertainment (or DC Comics as many of you may know them as) has just revealed their new logo and brand identity makeover and it’s a fairly impressive concept.
“Now that our audience has exploded beyond just a readership, we needed a way of making a more consistent connection between our properties and their parent brands,” says John Rood, DC Entertainment’s executive vice president of sales, marketing, and business development.
“The peel element can tie back to the storytelling content or character we’re showcasing, and leverage those colors. The 'C’ can be a vessel to showcase stories and character. It’s unexpected, requires a little thinking and some storytelling behind that mark,” says Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management.
DC Entertainment is working hard to compete with Marvel Entertainment, who has had tremendous success with transitioning their properties to other mediums, especially in film. With last years lackluster performance of GREEN LANTERN and the underwhelming SUPERMAN RETURNS in 2006, DC has a lot to contend with as Marvel has already seen tremendous success with its franchises, leading directly into this summers THE AVENGERS .
However, DC has a little film called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES coming out and it’s massive built-in audience will absolutely give Marvel a run for its money.
DC also had tremendous success this past September when they “rebooted” their entire comics line, starting with all new #1 issues, called the New 52 (although Marvel still leads the market share.)
The company will roll out the new identity and logo in phases, starting with comics in March and then transitioning to all entertainment products, including film and television, which means we’ll likely see this new logo in action over THE DARK KNIGHT RISES when it hits theaters this summer.
|Extra Tidbit:||Are you a Marvel, DC, or both?|


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StockX, the American online market for sneakers, raised $195 million in a secondary tender offering and an additional $60 million in Series E-1 primary shares at a $3.8 billion valuation. Altimeter Capital led the all-cash offer, with the participation of existing investors and of a new institutional investor, Dragoneer.
The new valuation represents a 35 percent increase over the $2.8 billion appraisal following the company’s $275 million Series E funding round closed in December 2020.
The result of the fund raising “signals the broad recognition and excitement for the long-term value of StockX’s business as well as a growing appreciation for marketplace experiences,” said the company’s CEO, Scott Cutler.
”We are just scratching the surface of what StockX can deliver for the millions of global buyers and sellers who count on the platform for a wide range of authentic current culture products,” he added.
For the year ended Dec. 31, StockX closed more than 7.5 million trades and hit $1.8 billion in gross merchandise value, which resulted in reported revenues of over $400 million. It also achieved break-even in the second half of 2020 and served more than 200 million visitors across 200 countries and territories.
Founded in 2016, the Detroit-based company employs more than 1,000 people in 13 offices and authentication centers around the world.