text:
JAIA held a Chairman’s Press Meeting on January 30, 2018.
Following is the key speech.
Mr. Peter Kronschnabl
Japan’s automobile market as a whole posted positive year-on-year growth, partly attributable to revival of Kei-Cars from the fuel efficiency scandals of 2016. Despite the negative impact of illegal completion inspections by unqualified personnel at a couple of the domestic manufacturers from October onwards, for the entire year, the Japan’s automobile market as a whole was up 5.3 percent from a year ago, posting the five million mark for the first time in two years since 2015.
Looking back at the results of imported vehicle sales last year, thanks to vigorous efforts of JAIA members to introduce battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), clean diesel vehicles (CDV) and other next generation vehicles, as well as new models including SUV equipped with advanced safety features, connected technologies and the like, the imported vehicles had kept a high level of sales from the beginning of the year.
When the Tokyo Motor Show (TMS) was held in autumn last year, overseas and domestic exhibitors revealed their latest models. TMS2017 was successfully closed with about 770,000 visitors from home and abroad in total. More than half of them were young people of ages between 15 and 39, and females accounted for one in four visitors.
As a result, the imported vehicle sales for entire 2017 were 351,020 units, up 2.1 percent from the previous year, which is the fourth highest figure for the sector.
Of these, sales of foreign-brand vehicles were up 3.7 percent from the year before to 306,088 units for the second consecutive year of positive growth. It is the second highest annual sales and a figure in excess of 300,000 units was last recorded 20 years ago in 1997.
Looking at the breakdown in power-train of the foreign brand’s next generation passenger cars, which were one of the main reasons for significant growth of last year, while battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) were up by 176.5 percent and 11.7 percent respectively from 2016, clean diesel vehicles (CDV) posted a significant increase of 31.4 percent, which accounts for an over 20 percent share in the total annual sales of foreign-brand vehicles.
However, the market share of foreign-brands in the overall passenger car market of Japan (4,386,377 units) stood at 7.0 percent (7.1 percent in 2016), which remains considerably lower than in other countries.
In 2018, JAIA members will further launch new vehicles with diversified and upgraded power-train and introduce additional lineups of new models equipped with a wide-ranging advanced safety features, cutting-edge connected technologies and high-level automated driving-related technologies of higher levels, and the “Imported Automobile Market Outlook” for 2018 is steady growth.
While each JAIA member is responsible for promoting sales of imported cars of their brands, JAIA plans to further make requests for tax reform on behalf of the industry to ensure fair market conditions. In addition, we plan to continue carrying out JAIA joint test ride to support JAIA members.
On tax reform, while LDP Tax Research Council is expected to conduct its comprehensive examinations for reducing burdens on vehicle owners, JAIA is convinced that the outcome of such comprehensive examinations will be vital for sustainable development of Japan’s economy and the motor vehicle market in the future.
The Consumption Tax is expected to be raised to ten percent in October 2019, however growth of the economy and the market will not be sustainable, if tax burdens on vehicle owners are not reduced at that same point in time. We are concerned that the “last-minute boost” in demand before the tax-hike followed by a complementary decline in demand will be repeated, making sustainable growth an “unfulfilled dream”.
JAIA plans to further request for reduced tax burdens and a fair and streamlined tax system in collaboration with JAMA, JADA and other automobile-related organizations, while focusing on the following two requests:
The first is the request for significantly reducing the rates of the Automobile Tax. The level of Automobile Tax on registered cars is currently about 2.7 times higher than the corresponding Tax on Kei-Cars, which is quite unfair. It is a priority request to close that gap by significantly reducing the rates of Automobile Tax to be equivalent to the corresponding Tax on Kei-Cars, which is unanimously supported by European countries and the USA.
The second is the request for abolishing the base rates AND/OR the provisional rates of Tonnage Tax, which has lost any reason for levying.
At the 38th Imported Car Joint Test Ride, 16 JAIA members will offer 77 units of various new models from the European countries and the USA where automobile culture has been developed for many years. Not to mention BEV and PHEV, a lineup of the hottest models will include SUV and crossover models that meet the various lifestyles and needs of customers.
AEBS (Advanced Emergency Brake System), Full-Speed-Range ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control), LKA (Lane Keep Assist), LDW (Lane Departure Warning), Advanced Lighting Systems and Automatic Safety Belt Tightening will be showcased, in addition to wide-ranging safety features such as night vision, parking assist functions and rear collision warning systems. Cutting-edge connected technologies like 24/7 emergency reporting as well as high-level automated-driving technologies will also be presented. As this appropriately indicates, here I like to emphasize that JAIA members will further introduce the models with diverse innovative technologies for safety and comfort in addition to better environmental and driving performance.
In November 2017, the UNECE World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP29) adopted UN Regulation R0 (ZERO), which prescribes procedures for IWVTA (International Whole Vehicle Type Approval). With UNR0 (ZERO) going into effect – although only partially – mutual recognition of type approvals is realized in principle for passenger cars. JAIA highly appreciates the efforts of the officials of MLIT and other persons concerned. Hereafter, discussions will be conducted on IWVTA Phase 2, which will extend the range of technologies and devices covered, and JAIA will be actively engaged in the efforts to achieve broader IWVTA.
In the process of creating a system of mutual recognition under IWVTA, a number of regulations have been harmonized; however, still some Japan-unique regulations and certification procedures remain. We expect to see further reduction/elimination of Japan-unique regulations and certification procedures not only for passenger cars, but also for other categories including heavy duty vehicles.
Other important areas where international harmonization and streamlining of regulations and certification systems are strongly called for are exhaust emissions.
Under the Preferential Handling Procedure (PHP) for Imported Motor Vehicles, in order to check the environmental performance of vehicles, it is required to conduct emission and noise tests based on a certain sampling rate per vehicle type. JAIA welcomes the announcement made by the Government of Japan on November 6 in 2017 that Japan will streamline the procedures relating to noise and emission tests for the vehicles exported to Japan which are certified by PHP. We look forward to a quick start of such streamlining.
In addition, JAIA welcomes harmonization of Japan’s emission and fuel efficiency measurement procedures by starting to apply the World Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) from October of 2018. As soon as the application of WLTP starts, JAIA will be able to make further contribution to sustainable mobility in Japan through the expansion of models launched in the country and early implementation of leading-edge technologies.
The diesel passenger car real driving emission (RDE) tests, to be introduced in Japan in October 2022, will be based on the EU RDE regulations which have already been introduced since September of 2017. JAIA will continue consulting with MLIT to avoid additional excessive certification burdens on the importers.
With regard to fuel efficiency, the deliberations on the Post-2020 Fuel Efficiency (FE) Standards for Passenger Cars at the joint subcommittee meetings of METI & MLIT advisory councils will be conducted this year, and JAIA will actively participate in the deliberations and express its position in a timely manner so as to ensure that the Post-2020 FE standards will be reasonable, well-balanced from the standpoint of technological developments and consumers’ acceptance as well as fair to both imported and domestic automobile manufacturers.
When formulating new Post-2020 FE Standards, we are convinced that careful and comprehensive deliberations need to be conducted, considering technological developments for improving fuel efficiency and for diversifying and upgrading powertrains including electrification, as well as consumers’ acceptance of such technological developments.
Furthermore, in order to promote and expand low-carbon and highly-efficient vehicles like BEV and PHEV, the support by the government will be needed for constructing the required infrastructure and providing consumers with incentives based on reasonable and fair criteria.
First, I will present examples of progress in the activities for international harmonization of motorcycle-related standards and regulations. The Daytime Running Lamp (DRL) issue has remained in Japan; however, in June last year, the Japanese government submitted a proposal to the UN, which is expected to be, in due course, internationally agreed and then, implemented in Japan. JAIA will further carry out activities for achieving international harmonization of motorcycle-related standards and regulations.
Next are the activities for revitalizing the Japans motorcycle market.
JAIA has been conducting the Imported Motorcycle Test Ride since 2015. At the 3rd Imported Motorcycle Test Ride held in April last year, all ten JAIA motorcycle members together provided 100 motorcycles for the test ride. Thanks to participation by representatives of 71 media, the “attractiveness of imported motorcycles had been spread widely through media coverage”.
This year, the 4th JAIA Imported Motorcycle Test Ride will be held at the Oiso Prince Hotel Long Beach on April 4th and 5th. We are now preparing to make sure that the 4th Motorcycle Test Ride will provide opportunities for riding a variety of latest models.
In addition, JAIA will continue taking part in the Bike Love Forum (BLF), which was started in 2012 for the purpose of revitalizing Japan’s motorcycle market.
This year, the 6th BLF meeting is planned to be held in Ichinoseki-city of Iwate-prefecture on a Friday in early August. Following the 6th BLF meeting, JAIA, JAMA and other organizations concerned are now planning a project to let the participants fully enjoy the fun of riding motorcycles in areas hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th in 2011 over that weekend, while at the same time supporting the reconstruction of these areas. Please do not miss this event.
In closing, JAIA will further work to make sure that JAIA members will be able to deliver to more customers in Japan those cars and motorcycles manufactured in various countries of the world that are equipped with advanced safety features, cutting-edge connected technologies and high-level automated driving technologies. We will also continue to carry out activities to create and maintain fair and free market conditions in cooperation with ACEA, JAMA and other automotive associations from home and abroad. Together with the Japanese government and related organizations, we aim at making further contributions to a sustainable development of Japan’s motor vehicle market as a whole.


text:
Last week, Blockbuster announced that it was closing all of its brick and mortar stores with the exception of one in Alaska. The company may continue to operate, but it will be virtually unrecognizable. Blackberry also announced that it had failed to find a buyer, is in deep financial and product trouble and is only surviving thanks to investors who have arranged for hundreds of millions of dollars in financing.
And oh yeah, they fired their current CEO who was on the job less than a year. After hearing the news of these two companies, I was immediately reminded of some amazing metrics—close to half of all the companies in the Fortune 2000 in 1980 don’t exist today. In the last three years, we have seen Borders, Syms Clothing, and AMR all go under. There’s more. The average life expectancy for a major corporation in now less than 50 years!
Those of you who have a few grey hairs will remember these once great companies that are now gone—Paine Webber, Eastern Airlines, Compaq and MCI. Now, look at companies that are still around today but may see a similar fate—Eastman Kodak, Dell, and Sears come immediately to mind.
It makes one wonder why some companies thrive over time and others just fade away. To me, it always comes down to the same thing—management. While most senior managers take great pride in their financial acumen, at the end of the day, what matters most is the ability to identify and understand the changes going on all around us.
Companies have to not only adapt, but also lead their firms into new, unchartered territories. That takes courage— a commodity of short supply among many large multi-nationals. It also takes leadership. Managers have to take risks to move their battleships adroitly into new waters. It’s hard to do in this day and age— especially for public companies.
The same holds true of communications firms. Many of the advertising and public relations firms that led their industry in 2000 have either disappeared, been acquired or have merged with others. New firms have taken their place. In 2000, it was all about meeting the challenges of communication via the internet. Today it is social media. Those agencies that fail to adapt and build real social media capabilities will inevitably become the Compaq’s and MCI’s of our industry. To the victor go the spoils.

domain: news


text:
What’s the best borough of New York City? If you said Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx (no one ever says Staten Island), you’re going to be a wee bit disappointed when The Division launches in March. The game is taking place solely in midtown Manhattan at first; creative director Magnus Jansen explained that, “With the level of detail we have, doing midtown Manhattan is a huge open-world experience and more than enough to sink your teeth into.”
Of course, if you like midtown, it’s not an issue. And and you can take heart in knowing that the game’s PC version isn’t just a simple port; the graphics options have been uncovered and include unlocked framerates, depth of field, volumetric fog, all of the good stuff. Yes, you might be stuck in a single borough, but at least it can look very pretty. In a post-cataclysmic environment sort of way, we suppose.


text:
Good news for berry lovers is not so good news for berry farmers.
A strawberry surplus generated by erratic weather in California and Florida has dropped prices, so pint containers that usually go for up to $5 can be found for as little as $1 at some street-corner fruit stands in the city.
“They’re not real sweet,” said Alan Weinerman, who recently took advantage of a two-pints-for-two-dollars deal at a stand in Astoria, Queens. “But they’re better than you would expect for this time of year.”
The bumper crop is a product of a late start for Florida’s strawberry harvest and an early start to the California season. Both peaked at the end of March, Read more…


text:
As the popular saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” or, in the case of competing businesses, “buy them.” This was the joke that Scott Stavretis shared during a recent press conference where the merger of two Australian business process outsourcing (BPO) companies based in the Philippines and Australia was announced. Stavretis is the CEO of Acquire BPO (Acquire), one of the fastest-growing BPO companies in the Philippines with more than 5,000 employees.
During the conference, Stavretis announced that his company recently completed the 100 percent acquisition of Shore Solutions Inc. (Shore), another fast-growing BPO company based in the Philippines with around 2,000 employees. The merger brings together more than 7,000 employees in the quest to provide a full suite of outsourcing operations for major corporations located across Asia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Stavretis, who is also the CEO of Shore Solutions now, said that Acquire’s second acquisition in less than a year further solidifies their strategic plans to accelerate growth as well as increase their market share in the industry. In particular, he said the acquisition “offers several exciting opportunities in diversifying our current offering and bolstering our revenue.” He pointed out that since Shore is a market leader in the BPO side of the business with strong expertise on Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), IT and other professional services, the acquisition would greatly complement Acquire’s outsourcing capabilities.
According to its official website, Acquire was established in 2005 as a captive environment by two Australian entrepreneurs in response to a lack of off-shoring providers with a solution that met their high standards. The company provides contact center and BPO services for a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, banking and financial services, insurance, media, education, and retail. It operates seven facilities in Australia and the Philippines, servicing a global client base of private, as well publicly listed companies, including some Fortune 500 companies. Acquire’s expanded portfolio of services, meanwhile, includes customer service, sales, technical support, retention campaigns, and software development animation, among others. It currently mostly services the Australian and US markets.
Stavretis said his recent acquisition of Shore is also a result of the continuing evolution of the industry. He said, “The voice business component of the industry is not going to go elsewhere. But the actual clients’ interactions are changing. In clients’ contact centers, they’re moving away from the basic voice, they’re moving towards web chats and social media interaction, but its still a contact center.”
With the recent move, Stavretis said he hopes Acquire will eventually become one of the top ten BPO companies in the country. He added that the goal of reaching the top ten is set within a time frame of two to five years. He also said that he is open to the prospect of acquiring more companies, which will help Acquire reach its goals faster.
Stavretis certainly possesses the experience to determine where the industry is headed. Prior to Acquire, he was the chief operating officer and executive manager of Dodo, Australia’s largest private telecommunications company. He is credited for transforming the company into a national consumer brand from a mere consumer telecom provider with the formation of Dodo Power and Gas. He also helped launch the company’s insurance and security arms.
The CEO and founding director of Acquire is also acknowledged as one of the pioneers of the internet industry in Australia, tagged behind the establishment of Connect Direct Internet in 1996, which he later sold.
These days, he said he is focused on expanding his BPO company at a faster rate. This includes plans to open an office in the United States, to grow that side of his business, which currently comprise about 25 percent of his clientele.
With so many things going on, Stavretis admitted that he really does not have much time to pursue other interests at the moment aside from managing his companies and spending time with family. But it is a situation that he warmly embraces. As he proudly declared, “Big business has always been my passion and my hobby. It excites me, gets me up in the morning and keeps me going.” After all, he said that one needs to be aggressive and disruptive in this market, and one cannot just sit back. He said there is a time and place for everything. And, for him, now is the time for putting all his energy into growing his business further. “I want to have some fun and disrupt the place and grow our businesses,” he said. And there’s simply nowhere else he would rather be.


text:
Despite what you may have heard, plastics recycling is not dead. There are plenty of successful companies that recycle post-consumer and post-industrial plastics.
I've been seeing a lot of news stories declaring that plastics recycling is a myth. They are the result of a Greenpeace report, released in October, "Circular Claims Fall Flat Again."
The reports cite low recycling rates and issues facing recyclers. Once you get past the hyperbole, some of the stories are well reported. But the hyperbole is a problem.
The media is telling consumers that it's a waste of time to recycle plastics because most plastics aren't recycled. But the fact is that there's plenty of demand for high-quality recycled plastics.
Paul Gardner, chair of Recycling Association of Minnesota, recently wrote a good column on recyclers' view of plastics.
In "Yes, we do want (some of) your plastic," in Minnesota Reformer, he wrote: "The good news is that three types of plastic containers are highly recyclable and in demand," namely PET, high density polyethylene and polypropylene. That's mostly soda bottles, milk jugs, laundry and shampoo bottles, butter tubs and yogurt cups.
But he added: "When recycling facilities get plastics that aren't accepted for recycling, they must pay to dispose of them. We understand that consumers find symbols and instructions confusing and a bit irritating."
Gardner noted that there is demand for plastic bags, but not from municipal curbside recycling programs. "We can recycle plastic bags into products like plastic decking, but putting them in your recycling is a huge problem. They get caught up in equipment and force recycling facilities to shut down every day to cut them loose. Please recycle clean and dry bags at local retailers," he wrote.
All of those points should be obvious to Plastics News readers, but I'm afraid they aren't to consumers. And it's important to the plastics industry that consumers get this right because brand owners want to keep using plastic, but they will switch to other materials if that's what regulators require.
Supply and demand are cyclical, but over the long term, demand for post-consumer plastic is growing, thanks to both voluntary and mandated recycled-content goals. But quality is important. Processors can't put garbage into their extruder or injection press and expect to make a valuable product.
I'm not blaming consumers for plastics' low recycling rate. That's largely an industry problem. A lot of plastics — even single-use plastics — can't be collected and recycled profitably. That's typically the result of a conscious decision to use or design products based on factors other than recyclability, like cost or convenience.
My advice: When that's the case, don't pretend that the product is recyclable. Because while everything is technically recyclable, life would be a lot easier for recyclers if they only had to deal with plastics that can be collected and recycled profitably. I hope that someday we'll have an infrastructure where consumers can put all plastics in their curbside bins and it will all be recycled economically. But despite hyperbole — this time on the part of industry, not the media — we aren't there yet.
Don Loepp is editor of Plastics News and author of the Plastics Blog. Follow him on Twitter @donloepp.


text:
- Title: Pizza brands battle for Russia's far-flung regions
- Date: 21st July 2017
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT - JULY 14, 2017) (REUTERS) DOMINO'S PIZZA RESTAURANT / DELIVERY CAR DRIVING BY CUSTOMER ORDERING MENU SCREEN OVER COUNTER CUSTOMERS AT COUNTER DOMINO'S WEBSITE ADVERTISED ON SCREEN VARIOUS OF COOK MAKING PIZZA IN BACK PIZZA RUSSIAN HEAD AT DP EURASIA, GUVENC DONMEZ, SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUSSIAN HEAD AT DP EURASIA, GUVENC DONMEZ, SAYING: "Russian market is a huge market and we see that especially for the quick service restaurants - we are defined as that. The market is really really huge, especially for our business right now. We are seeing a potential of 1,500 stores in Russia for Domino's in the long term and we definitely want to reach that potential in Russia." VARIOUS OF PIZZA BEING BROUGHT TO CUSTOMER (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUSSIAN HEAD AT DP EURASIA, GUVENC DONMEZ, SAYING: "What I can tell you for this year particularly we are investing out 500 million rubles in total into the Russian business. You know, a big part of this is going for the expansion." VARIOUS OF COOK PUTTING CHEESE ON PIZZA (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUSSIAN HEAD AT DP EURASIA, GUVENC DONMEZ, SAYING: "And going forward I would say that in the mid-term we expect to invest into the Russian business around 300 million rubles every year." VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS IN RESTAURANT (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUSSIAN HEAD AT DP EURASIA, GUVENC DONMEZ, SAYING: "Overall, what's really good with our business, especially for the franchisees is the payback period. The expected payback period is less than three years and given the economic environment this is very attractive return. And secondly, this is a very nice cash business. So, most of the stores, they start making profit from day one because of already existing demand and the already existing e-commerce infrastructure." DOMINO'S PIZZA DELIVERY VEHICLES OUTSIDE RESTAURANT MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) CUSTOMERS AT COUNTER OF PAPA JOHN'S RESTAURANT PAPA JOHN'S SIGN IN RUSSIAN VARIOUS OF COOKS PREPARING PIZZA VARIOUS OF PIZZA GOING INTO COOKING MACHINE COOK REMOVING PIZZA FROM MACHINE SAUCE CANS ON SHELF WORKER CARRYING PIZZA IN BOX TO COUNTER PIZZA BOXES CUSTOMER PICKING UP PIZZA AND LEAVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PAPA JOHN'S HOLDING IN RUSSIA AND BELARUS, CHRISTOPHER WYNNE, SAYING: "We see great opportunity in the Russian regions. First of course we'll focus on the larger cities outside of Moscow and then in the next two years we'll begin to focus on the cities with populations around 100,000 people. We believe that in the Russian regions there is a possibility to open another two to three hundred stores in the next five years." PAPA JOHN'S LOGO IN RUSSIAN ON SHIRT (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PAPA JOHN'S HOLDING IN RUSSIA AND BELARUS, CHRISTOPHER WYNNE, SAYING: "Food delivery is a new concept for a lot of Russians in the regions, so their habits are slightly different than even those habits that we see here in Moscow. So we have to educate the consumer about the product and about the service of delivering pizzas home. Having done that we obviously have a significant challenge in terms of the logistics, getting our product to the regions. The infrastructure in Russia currently is obviously at a different level than we see in a lot of other countries. And maintaining quality across Russia. We want to sell the same quality pizza in Novosibirsk that we sell in Moscow." PAPA JOHN'S LOGO IN RUSSIAN ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PAPA JOHN'S HOLDING IN RUSSIA AND BELARUS, CHRISTOPHER WYNNE, SAYING: "For the next five years we plan to open 60 to 80 stores per year. And again we believe that obviously the number of stores is important, but using the Internet to leverage our fixed assets we believe that we can continue to maximise the sales from each individual store. And we think that the total potential in Russia is around 600 stores currently." DELIVERY BOY PUTTING PIZZA INTO BAG DELIVERY BOY EXITING RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF PAPA JOHN'S DELIVERY VEHICLES
- Embargoed: 4th August 2017 16:03
- Keywords: Russia business Papa John's Domino's pizza Russia pizza restaurant expansion fast-food market
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QNUEK9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Global pizza brands Domino's and Papa John's are preparing an assault on Russia's provinces, betting they can turn a profit far from Moscow as online card payments become more widespread and consumers get to know foreign brands better.
While stay-at-home Muscovites can order an array of international pizza brands from Sbarro to Domino's to Papa John's, regional cities such as Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod are still chiefly the preserve of small local chains.
Multiple challenges have kept global fast food brands wedded to major Russian cities, including patchy transport links, bureaucratic delays, finding an army of chefs who can maintain quality, as well as the sheer cost of shipping often perishable ingredients across a vast country that spans 11 time zones.
Western fast food chains have also had to adapt menus to suit Russian palates better, once the allure of new foreign tastes has worn off. One of Domino's best-selling pizzas is the "Russian" with 13 toppings including potato, beef, pork, bacon, mushrooms, pepperoni and cheese to help ward off the cold.
But Domino's Pizza's Russian franchisee, DP Eurasia, believes the time is now right to expand beyond Moscow, where sales at the 76 outlets it had at the end of March are far outstripping growth in its main market Turkey.
Like-for-like sales in Russia have risen 30.1 percent this year up to May 21, whereas the comparable figure for Turkey was 6.3 percent growth.
Domino's was Russia's third-largest pizza chain last year yet its share of the fragmented market stood at less than 2 percent, according to Euromonitor International.
DP Eurasia's Russian head said he saw room for 1,500 Domino's outlets in the longer term.
For now, the company is using part of the 148 million pounds ($192 million) it raised listing shares in London in June to add 40 outlets this year, venturing as far as Krasnodar, 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) south of Moscow.
Domino's closest rival is not standing idle. The Russian franchise of US chain Papa John's International Inc. sees room for 60 to 80 store openings each year over the next five years.
A Papa John's Russia spokesman told Reuters the company had imported 90 percent of products before the 2014 food ban came in but had replaced all its suppliers within six months.
DP Eurasia acknowledged the restrictions could adversely affect its business, even though it too had managed to replace the banned imports.
It also said there could be challenges in rolling out the franchise in places with less dense populations than Moscow but believes it can stay profitable thanks to greater purchasing power and economies of scale.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None


text:
Sask Lotteries has announced plans to launch a new scratch and win lottery ticket that is only available in Saskatchewan.
The $5 “Only in Sask” scratch ticket officially launches at Lotto Spot retailers on Feb. 12. Sask Lotteries said the tickets are intended to commemorate the organization’s 50th anniversary.
“The Only in Sask ticket is a reminder of a half-century of making a positive impact on our local communities,” reads a Sask Lotteries press release. “Starting February 12, we invite the province to join us in celebrating.”
Lifelong Saskatchewan resident and illustrator Brian Kachur designed the ticket icons in consultation with Sask Lotteries.
Prizes range from $5 to the $50,000 top prince. The overall odds of winning any prize is one in 4.12.
The tickets can only be purchased by residents ages 18 and older.


text:
Sprint (S) would like you to get one number out of your mind when you shop for a phone: its price.
Instead, the nation’s fourth-biggest carrier wants you to consider leasing — and not just to get the high-end phones it previously reserved for such programs. Its new Flex option covers every phone it sells.
But while Flex will make it easier to upgrade every year, it will come with costs and limits of its own — starting with an end to installment-payment pricing at the carrier. In other words: Sorry, there will be math.
How it will work
Flex, announced Friday morning, starts with relative simplicity. Pay no money down, then pay a lease fee equivalent to the monthly installment-payment plans on other carriers.
After 12 months, you can turn in that phone and get a new one at no extra cost if it’s a new Apple (AAPL) iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. That’s much like Sprint’s current “iPhone Forever” and “Galaxy Forever” programs — but with Flex, you can reserve an annual upgrade on other phones if you opt into paying $5 more a month at sign-up.
On any Flex-leased phone, after 18 months you can choose to turn it in and get a new one or pay off the balance, either all at once or in six installments. Sprint can then refurbish the phone and unload it in the U.S. or elsewhere (its parent company SoftBank owns the phone-distribution firm Brightstar).
You will still be able to buy a phone from Sprint, but you’ll need to pay the full price upfront.
A separate Flex Deals option will cover some cheaper phones and also permit annual upgrades without the $5 monthly surcharge.
Four low-end models—the Samsung Galaxy J3, LG’s Tribute HD, the ZTE Max XL and the Alacatel Go Flip — will lease for $5 a month and require $25 upfront. Another four—used and refurbished iPhone 6s, the Galaxy J7 Perx and the LG Stylo 3 and X Power—will lease for $10 a month after $30 upfront.
At Apple, an iPhone 7 with 32GB of storage would cost $32.41 a month—including AppleCare+ device protection. After a year, you’d have spent $389. Because Apple sells iPhones unlocked under this program, you could hop from carrier to carrier in that time and use cheap prepaid SIMs when traveling internationally.
At AT&T, you’d spend $27.09 a month for a one-year total of $325. That doesn’t include a device-protection plan and would keep the phone locked. Travel overseas with it, and you’re stuck with extortionate roaming rates that start at $40 for 200 megabytes of data.
Sprint’s $27 lease rate for that iPhone 7 also adds up to $325 after 12 months. And because you’re renting, you also wouldn’t owe sales tax in states that collect one.
It is unclear whether you could get a Flex-leased phone unlocked for international travel. Sprint’s policy as of Thursday reads: “Sprint may be able to unlock some SIM-based devices to allow a foreign carrier’s SIM card to be inserted.”
But you can also sell a used phone after a year yourself, provided you pay up any remaining balance — that’s the only option at T-Mobile (TMUS) and Verizon (VZ), but an impossibility with Sprint’s Flex leases. The device-resale site Gazelle.com estimates that it will pay $300 for an unlocked iPhone 7 with 32 GB in good condition.
So if you bought one on an installment plan from a carrier a year ago, paid off the balance and then collected your $300, your net expense would have been $350—little more than your costs with Apple, AT&T and Sprint’s annual-upgrade plans.
Let’s not go crazy with annual upgrades
Sprint positions this as an equitable way for customers to get new phones when their favorite manufacturers ship them.
As Kohposh Kuda, Sprint’s director of marketing, said Wednesday: “[Manufacturers] bring a new phone every year, and consumers want an upgrade every year.”
But the case for annual upgrades looks increasingly thin, thanks to the slowing pace of evolution in smartphones.
“An upgrade every two years hits the sweet spot between being financially responsible and taking advantage of the new technology,” said Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics.
“Ordinary users will do fine hanging onto a phone for two or three years,” said Jan Dawson, analyst at Jackdaw Research. But he cautioned that this won’t be the case for lower-end Android models.
The case for annual upgrades may be stronger with carriers, Entner added. “Carriers should like faster upgrade cycles, because people with newer devices are happier with their phone,” he said. “And they use it more.”
Meanwhile, remember to consider the carriers’ networks too. Sprint’s continues to trail others’ in such large-scale, third-party tests as those released this year by OpenSignal, PCMag, and RootMetrics. And it’s that, not saving $25 or $50, that should determine which carrier gets your business.
If Sprint’s coverage does work for you, then by all means go ahead with Flex. But don’t pay a $5 premium for an annual upgrade you don’t actually need, and remember that you can turn this lease into a purchase after 18 months of paying rent.
Disclosure: Verizon is the parent company of Yahoo
More from Rob:


text:
Heads up: We sometimes link to sites that limit access for non-subscribers.
- California agency is hiding Uber and Lyft accident reports (San Francisco Public Press)
- Plant-based faux-meat manufacturer to launch Berkeley headquarters (Alameda magazine)
- Berkeley SkyDeck to show off is stuff at CES in Las Vegas (Tech Startups)
"*" indicates required fields


text:
To date, 2021 in markets has been the yr of cryptocurrencies, retail buying and selling and particular function acquisition firms, or SPACs.
eToro is intimately concerned in all three, with the worldwide shares and crypto buying and selling app set to go public later this yr by means of a $10.4 billion merger with the FinTech Acquisition Corp. V SPAC.
However to many novice merchants and crypto followers, eToro is called a key supporter of cryptocurrency buying and selling all over the world. It made headlines when it added dogecoin to its providing in early Could, a transfer which helped ship the meme cryptocurrency hovering round 50% to an all-time excessive.
Dogecoin has a ‘massive, loud, and humorous’ group – and Elon Musk
Yoni Assia, the chief govt of eToro, which he cofounded in 2007, instructed Insider that the actual query was why it had taken so lengthy.
“Frankly, as a result of initially dogecoin was invented as a meme or a joke, it felt, to us, not wise for funding functions.”
But Assia says eToro in the end determined that the keenness of dogecoin’s followers – not least Tesla boss Elon Musk – meant the coin had a future and was value including.
Dogecoin has “one of many largest, loudest and funniest communities within the cryptocurrency business,” Assia says, including that “a robust group is a really robust a part of each cryptocurrency.”
He provides: “And one member of that group is kind of distinctive by itself. And that is Elon Musk.”
The Tesla boss has been one of many driving forces behind the increase in dogecoin, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies normally. A tweet from him can ship belongings hovering or plunging.
“When one member of that group is value $180 billion, that basically adjustments the dynamics,” Assia says.
eToro has just lately added a spate of cryptocurrencies to its platform, on which individuals within the US and all over the world can commerce in digital belongings.
Does it plan so as to add dogecoin copycat shiba inu coin, which has just lately been making waves? “Sadly we don’t touch upon future listings on eToro,” Assia says, “however I’d say that it does appear that shiba has a passionate group round it.”
The buying and selling app tries to coach customers on danger
Though dogecoin has a legion of followers, conventional monetary analysts and regulators have warned speculators that they might get badly burned.
Buying and selling apps akin to Robinhood have come underneath hearth from politicians for the “gamification” of buying and selling and making it simpler to wager massive quantities on comparatively unknown belongings, inflicting many to undergo massive losses.
Does Assia fear about this? “I’m all the time involved about danger administration,” he says, “which is why we attempt to educate our clients.”
When bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies began crashing simply over every week in the past, eToro “educated our clients about diversification, which is the primary and most necessary ingredient of danger administration and managing a portfolio,” Assia says.
Learn extra: BANK OF AMERICA: Purchase these 36 dirt-cheap small- and mid-cap shares that can soar as the worldwide economic system reopens and inflation heats up – together with 5 anticipated to surge at the least 60%
Can the retail buying and selling increase proceed?
eToro is about to go public later this yr by means of a $10.4 billion merger with serial SPAC-launcher Betsy Cohen’s firm, known as Fintech Acquisition Corp. V.
The buying and selling app, which relies in Israel, has benefited massively from the increase in retail buying and selling introduced on by the pandemic, when low rates of interest, authorities stimulus, and lockdowns mixed to push folks in the direction of on-line investing.
eToro’s income grew 147% yr on yr in 2020 to $605 million. Within the SPAC deal, the app was given an implied worth of $9.6 billion.
A key query for potential buyers is whether or not that development can proceed, justifying the lofty valuation, or whether or not the retail increase fades as economies reopen.
Assia argues that eToro’s worldwide footing might be key to its enlargement. It’s predominantly centered on Europe however has clients in additional than 100 completely different nations.
“There may be little doubt in my thoughts that in 10 years, we’re going to see a number of massive fintech platforms which are catering globally to retail buyers,” he says.
Key to eToro’s plans is a push into the US. It at present provides cryptocurrencies within the US however plans to launch inventory buying and selling within the second half of the yr.
The app will finally roll out a full suite of options within the US, together with its “CopyTrading” characteristic through which customers can copy profitable buyers. Assia says the most-copied consumer will get $150,000 a month simply from being imitated on the platform.
“I feel the chance may be very huge,” Assia says of eToro’s plans. “Typically we name 2020 the rise of the millennial investor. We weren’t anticipating that to speed up a lot in 2021.”


text:
It is a next-generation technology designed from the ground up to be the data.All these industry giants have the ability to trigger an IOTA revolution by integrating the coin into their.Even with the founders stating claims that they are fixing the issues,.This may not be unconnected with the recent controversy among the IOTA founders.
IOTA is a cryptocurrency that has no transaction fees and requires no miners in order to process transactions.Advertisement Heated Discussion Between IOTA (MIOTA) Founders Leaked In the latest IOTA news,. ethereum, initial coin offerings, ICOs,.A statement seen by Cointelegraph explains that following a period of uncertainty over IOTA founders Serguei.
The IOTA Foundation Joins the Mobility Open Blockchain
Sign up, tune into. everyone again of the fact that in IOTA, none of the Founders got tokens. news are not better than holding own coins lol. 9.IOTA began selling coins on their slack channel. IOTA Founders Reactions.In the latest IOTA news, the IOTA Foundation has just received some bad press as a heated discussion between the founders of the project.
Dom Schiener: "None of the [IOTA] Founders - twitter.com
Binance - Blockchain and Crypto Asset ExchangeIOTA, The Sleeping Giant. This gives IOTA an added advantage over the bigger coins.
How the Cryptocurrency IOTA Fell Victim to the FOMO. creating a psychological atmosphere of doubt and causing further dumping of IOTA coins.The IOTA protocol is a Distributed Ledger Technology developed by the IOTA Foundation.What I like about IOTA is that their founders are not doing this for the money.IOTA is initially focused on serving as the backbone of the Internet-of-Things (IoT).In terms of New Zealand based. had the two founders operating. and is usually the testing ground for brand new coins.
Bitcoin Forum – IndexPATRON, a Japanese sharing economy platform for influencers all over the world, to launch premium ICO sale.
Intellectual Dishonesty or MIT IOTA "Researchers" & Forbes
A statement seen by Cointelegraph explains that following a period of uncertainty over IOTA founders Serguei Popov and Sergey Ivancheglo.Bitcoin Price Gains: Tokens and Small Coins Start to Rebound as Crypto Volume Explodes. IOTA (IOTA) Tron (TRX).
No Blockchain Needed: Fujitsu Helps IOTA (MIOTA) TurnBNC delivers cryptocurrency market data, analysis, blockchain industry resources and a wide range of crypto data solutions.IOTA is known as the coin for IoT (internet of things) devices.The reasons for the overall growing numbers are that the founders,.
New Zealand bitcoin exchange. Instantly buy and sellIOTA that was in BETA testing is now being launched real time. x. Cointelegraph covers fintech,.
PATRON, a Japanese sharing economy platform forIOTA: Update on the development of the IOTA. the founders of IOTA had to notice this as well and have hired two more developers to.The reasons given by the founders for not using blockchain is that blockchain cannot handle micro payments and.
Bitfinex - StatisticsOn 8th August, an update released by the IOTA Foundation revealed that in a heated argument between the two co-founders Serguei Popov and Sergey Ivancheglo.
LockTrip (LOC) price, charts, market cap, and other
IOTA Foundation Undergoes Overhaul After Founders Shut Out of Directors Board The IOTA Foundation released a public.Binance Exchange is one of the fastest growing and most popular cryptocurrency.What is IOTA - discovers the. which many coins currently use. The devs and founders as well had to participate in the crowdsale as nothing was held back for a.


text:
- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Tumblr
In August, streaming platform Twitch lost its biggest star: Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. After years on the Amazon-owned streaming platform cultivating an audience of more than 14 million followers, Blevins opted to jump ship for Microsoft’s Mixer as part of an exclusive deal worth an undisclosed amount.
Two months later and it seems the breakup had no impact on Twitch. According to data compiled by streaming analytics firm Arsenal and published by StreamElements, Twitch accounted for more than 75 percent of the total hours watched from live streams of the four major streaming platforms (Twitch, Mixer, Facebook Gaming and YouTube) in Q3 2019 (July through September).
YouTube accounted for the second largest slice of total viewership hours at 17.6 percent, while Facebook Gaming and Mixer came in at 3.7 and 3.2 percent, respectively.
Overall, Twitch amassed roughly 2.6 billion hours viewed over the three-month period, while YouTube produced 595.3 million hours, Facebook Gaming produced 124.1 million and Mixer had 107.5 million.
“Ninja’s move to Mixer turned out to not be the game-changer they probably hoped when comparing their market share with Twitch’s,” said Doron Nir, CEO of StreamElements. However, when looking at new data (shared by StreamElements on Friday) covering the same period in 2018, Mixer has more doubled its viewership numbers year-over-year in Q3 2019.
“One thing worth noting about Mixer’s signing of Ninja is that regardless of his impact on hours watched, it was a smart move to promote the Mixer brand, especially with Ninja doing extensive interviews about it,” Nir said in a new statement on Friday.
Originally launched in 2016 as Beam, Microsoft’s streaming platform was rebranded to Mixer in 2017. In the two months since his signing, Blevins has amassed 2 million followers on the site, the most of any streamer on the service by a wide margin. Shortly after the Ninja split, Twitch lured YouTube star Nicholas “Nick Eh 30” Amyoony to its platform with an exclusive deal in August.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear told The Hollywood Reporter at his company’s annual convention, TwitchCon, this weekend that it is “incredibly important for us to have stars” on the platform. Still, he didn’t see the departure of Blevins as a particularly worrisome split.
“Any media community needs its stars, but I don’t think of it so much as having the ones that exist because neither Shroud nor Ninja were huge celebrity stars four years ago,” he said. “What I’m excited about is the ability to build up tomorrow’s stars and to really figure out how Twitch can help people find their audience as streamers.”
Though Facebook’s viewership numbers still lag behind Twitch and YouTube, the tech giant was the only platform to grow its numbers over the quarter. “It helps to apply a global filter to the data, since Facebook is also strong in a lot of overseas markets,” said Nir. “That being said, Twitch’s percentage of the pie chart illustrates that they have slightly increased their market share.”
Oct. 4, 2:27 p.m. Updated with new Mixer data from StreamElements, statement from Nir and new chart.


text:
ScuttleMonkey from the tough-finding-a-fueling-station dept.
caffeined writes "Well, it looks like Honda is doing a real test of their fuel-cell car. A family in California is renting the car for $500/mo. Honda is charging them so that they take it seriously - an executive explained that if it were free they might not get the kind of feedback they want. If someone is paying for something and they're not happy - then you're going to hear about it. This is apparently the first fuel-cell car on the road anywhere in the world, according to Honda."
Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings:
(7) Well, it's an excellent idea, but it would make the compilers too
hard to write.


text:
See a fashion icon take on Google Glass →
Just a few blocks from Google’s New York offices, the company held an event today that marked the launch of a partnership with fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg. Partnership rumors have been floating around the still-young Glass brand since its inception, and there's a reason: Google considers this an important step in expanding the reach of the product, which has seen its fair share of detractors. Von Furstenberg herself is no stranger to the tech after using Glass at a runway event in 2012, and she was seen at today's event wearing many of the new designs throughout the afternoon while she maneuvered through the crowd.
It’s easy to see what Goole is trying to do with these partnerships. They want celebrities and fashion icons to endorse Glass in order to lift the general public’s negative perception regarding the product. I am curious to see if they will succeed, because I don’t see it happening.
It is an intersting gadget, I agree, but nothing I would want to wear on my face everyday. It looks intrusive in itself, but what is even more repellent to me is that I would feel like an idiot wearing these glasses.
Maybe, I’ll be proven wrong.


text:
Although prior rumors had suggested that Google/YoutTube might purchase popular streaming service Twitch for $1 billion, no such deal actually took place. Instead it was online retailer Amazon who stood up to the plate and acquired Twitch for a final sum of $970 million.
Shortly after news of the acquisition broke, many gamers began to speculate as to how Twitch might change post-sale. But rather than let those gamers' imaginations run wild for too long, Amazon Vice President of Games Mike Frazzini and Twitch CEO Emmett Shear came forward to answer just a few questions.
First and foremost, Twitch and Amazon want gamers to know that there will be no drastic changes in the short term. In fact, the acquisition will actually "help Twitch do what [they're] doing today, only faster."
Shear also wanted to stress that he will continue as head of the streaming service. Some had thought that the sale might lead to an outright takeover by Amazon, but as Shear explains in a town hall discussion Monday afternoon, that is not the case.
Rather, Shear believes that the deal will give Twitch unfettered access to Amazon's relationships and infrastructure while still operating independently. More specifically, this will allow Twitch to "improve quality of service."
How exactly that might come about, however, isn't entirely clear just yet. There was talk of potentially adding an Amazon affiliates tie-in to Twitch and even offering special features to Prime members, but nothing is set in stone. For now, Twitch users should expect business as usual from their streaming service.
Well, business as usual except for the recent copyright crackdown on unlicensed audio and limitations on archived videos, which Shear says was not influenced by the upcoming sale. It turns out that Amazon had no idea that Twitch was about to change their policies. And apparently the negative reception the change drew did not scare them away either.
“In the case of the audio recognition change, no. Amazon was surprised by that. We might have made some mistakes on release, but it was something that had to be done for the good of the community and the long term health of the platform. Amazon didn’t even know of that.”
While Twitch has drawn a fair amount of criticism as of late, it sounds like the Amazon acquisition could help boosts the service's appeal in the long run. There's obviously no telling whether Amazon will change Twitch for the better or the worse, but Shear believes his company will improve under the online retailer's watch. We'll see whether that holds true in six months time.
Do you think Amazon buying Twitch will be a good thing in the long run? How do you see Amazon changing Twitch?
Source: Game Informer
Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina


text:
The days when our phones and computers were our only connected devices are gone. Now, everything from our watches to our refrigerators has an internet connection, and smart devices are an integral part of modern life. This has opened a whole new realm of possibilities and risks for cyberattacks, with consequences ranging from inconvenience to devastation. With predictions that the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices will reach 50 billion by the end of 2030, it is vital to ensure the ongoing integrity and safety of these devices.
With these devices comes stored data, and a lot of it. IDC predicts the world’s data will grow to 175 zettabytes in 2025. For context, if you were to store 175 zettabytes on DVDs, your stack of DVDs would be long enough to circle the Earth 222 times. This again is causing a real need for security solutions that can keep data from individuals and enterprises safe from harm.
A great deal to lose
Of course, the more devices we have connected to the internet, the higher the risk of attack. There are more entry points for hackers to take advantage of, allowing them to infiltrate, damage, and disrupt. Someone looking to infiltrate one of your connected devices may not necessarily be interested in the data stored by your smart fridge, for example. Still, it may offer them a gateway to the rest of the network. This is what happened at a casino in 2018, as reported by Business Insider. Attackers used a connected thermometer inside a fish tank to get a foothold in the network. They then found the high-roller database on another system and pulled it across the network, out the thermostat, and up to the cloud. No matter how secure the rest of your network is, one vulnerable device can give attackers the opportunity they are seeking. When you consider that the average American has access to more than ten connected devices, the risk is evident.
Not only are there more entry points, but more data for hackers to target. While phones and computers have always posed a risk, the recent explosion in connected devices offers so much more to those who have access to the network. Devices like smartwatches obtain highly personal data about our health, while household items like smart televisions and kitchen appliances know our preferences and habits. Moreover, any device with a camera or microphone has a direct, visual, or audible gateway into our lives and may pose a very serious risk to privacy.
For businesses, cyberattacks can lead to devastating financial losses and irreversible damage. The 2020 attack on SolarWinds saw attackers access the infrastructure of SolarWinds, which produces a platform called Orion. They then used Orion to distribute trojan updates to software users, gaining access to the systems of security organizations, universities and colleges, telecom operators, and US government departments. Not only does this kind of attack cause financial damage, with recent reports claiming cybercrime is now a trillion-dollar cost to the global economy, but it has the potential to seriously harm a company’s reputation and impact the future of the business.
Incorporated attack prevention
There are ways to mitigate the risk of these kinds of attacks. Prevention methods built into devices are the best bet to protect the system throughout its entire lifecycle. With the implementation of proper definitions, architectures, and scenarios, the risk of attack to any number of connected devices can be greatly reduced. The Cyber Resilient Technologies (CyRes) work group at Trusted Computing Group (TCG) has released a new draft specification titled Cyber Resilient Module and Building Block Requirements, which provides a new layer of protection against cyberattacks.
By implementing the specification, vendors can develop a solid foundation for cyber resilience, mitigating the risk of potential attacks and protecting not only their consumers’ assets but their reputation and relationship of trust with those consumers. With the volume of IoT products currently on the market, and this number expected to rise, it is important to build these security measures into devices. Security cannot be an afterthought.
Recovering a compromised device
The CyRes specification also provides the detection of malware and enables the recovery of a device once it has been compromised. This double layer of security means that if a device has already been infiltrated, users can quickly recover it without the need for time-consuming, manual efforts. For the average user without a deep understanding of cyber security, this makes cyber resilience accessible and provides a new level of assurance.
In business, when time is money, quick and simple recovery of connected devices is vital to minimize downtime and allow the continuation of activity. When you consider the number of connected devices due to enter the market in the next few years, individuals and businesses do not have time for frequent manual intervention.
Future devices are guaranteed to be configured using imperfect software that is already available. On top of the number of devices that will be either physically inaccessible or will not have an interface appropriate for performing a manual repair, this means that as time goes on, manual restoration will only become less feasible.
The future of IoT
The future of IoT is dependent on having cyber resilience. This is why the CyRes work group has designed the concept of a Cyber Resilient Module for the protection and recovery of connected devices. The module could be implemented as part of a system on a chip that is the main hardware in a device or inside a microcontroller unit which is a subcomponent installed within a larger, more complex system. The Cyber Resilient Module approach can recover successive software layers and individual components that can be found within a device, with the servicing of code and configuration potentially needed for multiple layers sequentially. The specification is applicable to a multitude of simple IoT devices and more complex systems like those with storage or peripheral device controllers.
With a minimal set of capabilities or mechanisms, the specification is easy to implement. This means that devices can be built securely, even when there are significant limiting factors such as cost, form factor, power needs, or availability of an out-of-band management channel. The automated recovery means that the need for manual intervention is mitigated, saving the end-user time and money, as well as making the specification accessible for those without the expertise to do so. The structure of the document also allows for further development and additions of architectures and platform-specific requirements in the future.
Ensuring Cyber Resilience for IoT
This specification marks a significant step forward in the security of billions of devices and the subsequent protection of data stored by individuals, organizations, and government bodies worldwide. As the number of connected devices continues to soar and more data is collected than ever before, end-users deserve the assurance that their devices are as secure as possible when it comes to cyber-attack. By building cyber resilience architecture into connected devices, this assurance is provided from the outset, preventing attacks and protecting the ever-increasing amounts of data that we choose to store.
- Protecting a Connected World with Cyber Resilience - March 2, 2022


text:
Frito-Lay, the snack-food division of PepsiCo, has been a longtime participant in advertising’s biggest night. Last year, the brand ran separate ads for Cheetos and Doritos. The Cheetos ad saw celebrity couple Aston Kushner and Mila Kunis bickering over whether Kunis was stealing Kutcher’s Cheetos Chunch Pop before her orange-dusted fingers give her away, as Shaggy’s hit “It Wasn’t Me,” played in the background.
The 60-second Doritos ad promoted its 3D Crunch variety and showed actor Matthew McConaughey getting trapped in a vending machine.
A 60-second ad in the 2020 Super Bowl featured Grammy-winning rapper Lil Nas X and Oscar-nominated actor Sam Elliott squaring off in a dance contest. That game also featured Cheetos' first Super Bowl ad in 11 years, as it starred 80s-era rapper MC Hammer.
A spokeswoman for Frito-Lay said additional details about its plans for Super Bowl LVI—including the ad's length, placement, frequency and stars—would be revealed at a later date.


text:
The rise in domestic tourism, Zimbabweans visiting Zimbabwean resorts, is providing a solid stream of revenue for many in the hospitality industry and creating new business opportunities for those who have both the skills and the right product for the market.
At one stage, a lot of support as Zimbabwe moved out of Covid-19 lockdowns was from the large business sectors, the conferences, seminars and the like at major hotels with conference facilities.
Read More: Top 3 Most Visited Countries in Africa
Many major firms, plus the big trade associations, like to have their annual meetings and special sessions away from the big cities.
Many of the facilities and the sort of services wanted in this market are close to what the same hotels and centres need to offer outside tourists, so the readiness of the rest of the Zimbabwe business sectors to rally round the hospitality sector was appreciated, and needed until international travel started returning to normal.
But there is now another market, Zimbabwean families and couples going on holiday and the welcome rise in this particular market was seen over the festive season when business travel is rare so any increase in numbers comes from holidaymakers, not business people.
Average occupancy rates at hotels reached 55 percent during this season and in resort areas touched 98 percent, basically totally full. Some of this would be international travel, but a lot the industry says is from Zimbabweans.
This growth in local tourism needs to be nurtured and built up. There was a time when few Zimbabweans visited their own resorts, any travel being largely to visit relatives, which is all very well, but hardly lets Zimbabweans see some of the glories of their own country.


text:
CHINA: Piaggio lays out plans for restructured sccoter joint venture
Italian Vespa motor scooter maker Piaggio plans to produce as many as 10 scooter models at a restructured joint venture in China, according to Forbes magazine, which noted that the troubled firm aims to crank out 300,000 scooters per year within three years - some two-thirds as much as its global shipments last year.
Get full access to all content, just $1 for 30 days
A Message From The Editor
just-auto gives its paid members access to the very best automotive market coverage.
And now there’s just-auto plus, our premium membership that gives you exclusive component forecast data, company profiles and extended news coverage - just for premium members.
Today I can offer you 30 days access for $1 - and that includes just-auto plus.
Dave Leggett, editor of just-auto
* plus VAT if applicable


text:
Pickens High School held a ceremony during the football pre-game on Friday, September 28th to announce the winners of the Mr. and Miss PHS school-wide election.
Hillary Wheeler and Christian P. Gibson were chosen by their peers as Mr. and Miss PHS. Hillary is the daughter of Billy and Tina Wheeler and Christian is the son of Stephen and Melanie Gibson.
See rest of story by Steven Wilkie, faculty advisor for PHS student newspaper,
and more photos by Ellyn Duncan in this week's print edition
From the Georgia Retail Association
ATLANTA – Starting today, Internet retailers with nexus – meaning an in-state presence as defined by state law -- are required to collect Georgia’s state and local sales taxes. Georgia’s retailers welcome the implementation of the “e-fairness” legislation passed during the 2012 Session of the Georgia General Assembly, saying it creates a level playing field for tax collections that is long overdue as Internet sales have taken larger share of purchases.
"This is not a new tax, it’s just the same old sales tax we’ve been collecting all along,” said Rick McAllister, president of the Georgia Retail Association. “Most retailers who have Internet sales already collect sales tax on their sites, but there are some who don't. Starting today those online retailers with nexus should be collecting the sales tax from their customers and sending it to the state of Georgia just like any store would."
The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the preliminary unemployment rate in the Northwest Georgia area declined to 9.4 percent in August, down three-tenths of a percentage point from 9.7 percent in July. The rate was 10.4 percent in August 2011.
The rate decreased because there were 2,974 fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, trade, transportation and warehousing, professional and technical services, administrative and support services, educational services, and accommodations and food services. Also, the area’s labor force declined by 2,740, partially because some students left summer jobs to return to school.


text:
It looks like the wait for the highly anticipated full trailer for Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi will take much longer than fans originally expected.
The trailer was supposed to be out and about by the end of August, but obviously, nothing came out. This is apparently because Disney and Lucasfilm decided to change the release pattern in promoting the movie.
According to hardworking Star Wars watcher and YouTuber Mike Zeroh, the production giants decided to follow a three-month gap in releasing promotional materials for Star Wars: Episode 8.
Fans will remember that the first teaser trailer for the sequel was shown back on April 14 during The Last Jedi panel at the 2017 Star Wars Celebration. It was followed by the behind-the-scenes reel three months later. That was July 15 to be exact.
This means that the full trailer for Star Wars: Episode 8 will be out by next month. Zeroh said that Disney and Lucasfilm will likely come out with it between October 14 and October 16.
October 14 will be Monday Night Football, which is usually a good place to showcase trailers. On the other hand, October 16 is the premiere of the final season of Star Wars Rebels, which also makes it a perfect venue since many fans are expected to tune in.
While the purported release of the Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi trailer is still a month away, reports and leaks suggest it will be worth the wait as it will finally reveal much more of the story.
It will also at long last treat fans with another look at mysterious new characters like Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) and DJ, also known as the Man in Black (Benicio Del Toro).
According to Zeroh, fans can expect a handful of exciting moments in the trailer. One shot to look forward to shows Rey (Daisy Ridley) in full Jedi getup, complete with the hood over her head, igniting the lightsaber.
There will also be more of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) this time, which is exciting for many since he was barely shown in the first Star Wars: Episode 8 teaser trailer despite his voice being heard in the clip.
Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) will not be featured heavily in The Last Jedi trailer apparently to keep things involving the dark side shrouded in mystery.
Star Wars: Episode 8 – The Last Jedi hits cinemas December 15.
[Featured Image by Lucasfilm]


text:
Warning: The following story contains confronting footage.
A popular bookshop in Melbourne’s CBD has been forced to hire security guards to guard its main entrance after employees were attacked by customers refusing to follow Victoria’s COVID-19 rules, with one worker being pushed down an escalator.
Dymocks Melbourne owners Melissa and Dino Traverso said the move would cost them hundreds of dollars a day, but the safety of staff at the Collins Street store was paramount.
Security camera footage of one of the incidents shows the moment a shopper who allegedly refused to check into the shop using a QR code pushed an employee who had been checking customers’ vaccination status down an escalator.
The worker, who asked to remain anonymous, can be seen hitting his head against the handrail and tumbling down the steps before losing consciousness.
The footage shows the assailant, dressed in a colourful hoodie, walking past the worker’s motionless body before going back up the escalator and running away.
About a hundred customers were in the store at the time, some of who rushed down the escalator to help.
Mr Traverso said the worker, who received a mild concussion and was treated by paramedics, could have easily died if he had hit his head on the sharp edge of the escalator.
“He was quite unconscious. You could see he was out cold. He couldn’t remember anything other than being shoved aside,” he said.
“We, as small business owners never thought that making our staff do this COVID marshalling checking would result in this kind of violence,” Mrs Traverso added.
Mr Traverso said that just hours before the employee was assaulted, another staff member had been slapped by a woman who refused to give her personal details.
Later on Friday, a third worker was tackled by an angry customer who did not provide a valid proof of vaccination, but managed to steady himself and avoid falling down the escalator.
Mr and Mrs Traverso, who employ about 40 staff, said workers had previously been subjected to verbal abuse but never physically assaulted.
Following the incidents, which are being investigated by police, the pair have decided to hire a security guard to protect workers enforcing COVID-19 rules at a cost of hundreds of dollars a day.
“We don’t want our staff to be unsafe, but how is this the responsibility of small business owners that have already suffered enough?” Mrs Traverso said.
She said there was a big divide between essential services and non-essential retail when it came to enforcing the restrictions, with authorities putting less of an onus on essential businesses to follow the rules.
“We are booksellers, we are not security guards. Why are we made to be bouncers?” Mrs Traverso said.
“It’s one week into this mandate. People are just not able to cope with it. They are just sick of it. We are nearing 92 per cent fully vaccinated. Enough is enough. Just give up those stupid mandates.”
Mrs Traverso said the protests at Parliament House had legitimated the violent behaviour of some Victorians who opposed the Andrews government’s handling of the pandemic.
Customers have been increasingly aggressive towards retail staff enforcing vaccine mandates in the past few weeks, with reports of shoppers throwing hot cups of coffee and trolleys being thrown at employees asking for proof of vaccination.
In an incident caught on CCTV obtained by A Current Affair, a maskless customer can be seen throwing underwear and spitting at a Victoria’s Secret employee after being asked to put a face mask on.
The hike in violent incidents prompted Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra to write an open letter to Premier Daniel Andrews last week expressing concern over the situation and asking for an end to the vaccine mandates.
“Our members have reported thousands of incidents of customer aggression, including many acts of significant violence towards retail staff – such as staff being beaten up, an instance of a boiling cup of coffee being thrown over a front-line worker and a shopping trolley being thrown at another,” Mr Zahra said.
“The timing and the stop-start nature of the vaccine checking requirement, following freedoms experienced by unvaccinated Victorians, has been extremely challenging for retailers to manage.”
The jump in violence coincides with the lockout of unvaccinated people from non-essential retail outlets after the state reached its 90 per cent vaccination milestone. Due to a quirk in the state’s road map, unvaccinated Victorians had previously been allowed to shop for non-essential goods.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed officers had responded to reports of a worker being assaulted at Dymocks, but the alleged offender had already fled by the time crews arrived.
“The investigation is ongoing,” she said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
With Sam Cucchiara
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.


text:
Released on mobile and in open beta on PC, Diablo Immortal has several options for control schemes. Now the development team has released a new dev blog on the ins and outs of playing with a controller, features, and a list of supported devices.
During the development phase, the team says they wanted to create a Diablo game that gave players a variety of options and also looked to Diablo 3’s release on console as a bit of a guide. This was the first time the franchise was released on console, and they wanted to adopt various options, both in the name of player choice and accessibility with this new title.
In the decision to also release the game on PC, the development team said that they were building things and adjusting controls to bring the core gameplay and retain the feel of the mobile controls too. In the process, they also noted that they would have controller support for whichever platform you’re on. With full cross-play, this matters since you could choose to go from PC to mobile, and even mobile with controller and the game will just adapt.
In fact, the game will automatically detect whichever input method you're using. So if you connect a controller to your phone or tablet, or even a PC, the game will adjust the input options for you.
The devblog has a list of supported controllers per platform, including their official partner for iPhone. There's a lot of flexibility since you can remap most of the controls (and, if your accessibility needs are even more specific, Diablo Immortal supports the Xbox Adaptive Controller).
For a franchise that has its roots in PC, controller support is something that makes sense when branching out. While the PC release is still in open beta, these options are still available and the team will continue making changes as needed to get to a final launch.
Read the full blog over at Diablo Immortal.


text:
A developer`s agreement to expand part of Hillsboro Boulevard west of Powerline Road has raised hopes of city officials in Deerfield Beach and Coconut Creek who want to see the road widened all the way to State Road 7.
Deerfield Beach Planning Director Mark Leaf said that by requiring the developer, the Baumann Organization of Miami, which is planning to build a regional shopping center at Hillsboro and Powerline, to make the road improvements, state planning officials at least would succeed in trimming the cost of the larger widening project.
``It`s the northernmost east-west arterial in Broward County,`` Leaf said of Hillsboro Boulevard. ``It runs through at least two cities and it`s a two-lane road.``
Steve Magee, Coconut Creek`s director of community development, said, ``To leave the rest of Hillsboro two lanes doesn`t seem like it will work well.``
Existing and planned commercial and residential development along Hillsboro in both cities will only add to the problems, both Magee and Leaf said.
To date, Leaf said, only preliminary engineering studies have been scheduled for the project to widen the road from two to six lanes west of Powerline. The studies are set for the 1988-89 fiscal year, but no time has been picked or money set aside for construction, he said.
Knowing that, Leaf said, he was pleased to learn that the South Florida Regional Planning Council had recommended that the Baumann Organization, which is planning a 450,000-square-foot regional shopping center at Hillsboro and Powerline, expand Hillsboro to four lanes from Powerline Road to Northwest 41st Way.
The shopping center, to be known as the Plaza at Deerfield Beach, is to be built on a 44-acre site at a cost of $35.2 million. Wilson Atkinson, attorney for the developer, said plans call for construction to start at the beginning of the year and for completion within two years.


text:
A post office that was forced to close following the resignation of their postmaster has announced a reopening date.
The previous post office was forced to close temporarily in May of this year but is now scheduled to reopen under new management.
Now, with a new postmaster, the building is set to reopen at the same location in Main Street on Monday, November 22.
The opening hours will be Monday to Saturday: 8am – 7pm; Sunday: 8am – 4pm.
Ian Johnson, Post Office Network Lead, said: “We are delighted to soon be restoring Post Office services to Woodborough as we know how important a Post Office is to a community.”
With over 11,500 branches, Post Office has the biggest retail network in the UK, with more branches than all the banks and building societies combined.
To read all of our biggest and best stories first sign up to our newsletter here.


text:
The NADA organized a Zoom meeting earlier this week for automobile trade association leaders from across the country with Hyundai’s VP of Sales & Marketing Sean Gilpin to gather more information from Hyundai on its recent partnership announcement with Amazon.
We’ve recapped some of the key points here:
We will continue to share more once additional information becomes available throughout the beta program.
Chicago Automobile Trade Association18W200 Butterfield Rd.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Copyright © Chicago Automobile Trade Association.


text:
Alapont also will join the board of directors at Southfield-based Federal-Mogul (OTC: FDMLQ). Interim CEO Robert Steve Miller will remain chairman of the board. Alapont had been CEO of Iveco, the Fiat Groups commercial-vehicle business. Before that he was president of international operations and vice president of sales and marketing for Troy-based Delphi. He served on Delphis strategy board, a council of the auto suppliers top executives. Alapont, a native of Valencia, Spain, also has worked at Valeo SA and Ford Motor Co. Alapont inherits an auto supplier trying to wrap up a complicated bankruptcy reorganization. Asbestos claimants will wind up with the majority of shares in the reorganized Federal-Mogul and bondholders 49.9 percent. The largest bondholder, Carl Icahn, was part of the CEO search. A man with Mr. Alaponts record and experience will prove to be a vital addition to Federal-Mogul and will help Federal-Mogul reach its great potential, Icahn said in a statement.
Federal-Mogul names Alapont CEO
Federal-Mogul Corp. has tapped former Delphi Corp. executive Jose Maria Alapont to be president and CEO. Federal-Mogul had been searching for a CEO since Charles “Chip” McClure left last year to take the top post at ArvinMeritor Inc.
Recommended for You


text:
- HempFusion Wellness Inc. is currently in the process of applying for OTCQX listing and DTC eligibility after a swift and strategic move to enter the OTC Pink Market under the ticker symbol ‘CBDHF’
- Wholly owned subsidiary Probulin Probiotics recently released Total Care Immune probiotic, which is expected to reach retailer shelves in February 2021
- Probulin is recognized as one of the fastest-growing probiotic brands in the American Natural Products Industry
- January, HempFusion received USDA Organic Certification for its CBD tinctures
In a strategic move to broaden the United States investor audience, health and wellness company HempFusion Wellness (TSX: CBD.U) (OTC: CBDHF) (FWB: 8OO) has announced that it has secured an OTC Markets ticker, ‘CBDHF,’, its common shares have commenced trading on the OTC Pink Market and it has already begun the process of applying for an OTCQX uplisting and DTC eligibility. According to HempFusion’s Co-founder and CEO, Jason Mitchell N.D., this is an important step for the U.S.-based cannabidiol company, as it enables access to a broader range of U.S. investors (https://cnw.fm/CEvPs).
A leading health and CBD company that utilizes the power of whole-food hemp nutrition, HempFusion is also the first U.S.-based CBD & Wellness products company to list directly on the Toronto Stock Exchange, a process it completed earlier this…
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to HempFusion are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/CBDHF
HempWire (HW) is a dedicated information provider focused on (1) aggregating hemp-related news, (2) issuing HempNewsBreaks designed to update investors on the latest developments in the hemp market, (3) enhancing corporate news releases, (4) providing full-service distribution and social media offerings to public and private client-partners and (5) designing and implementing all-inclusive corporate communication solutions. HW is strategically positioned within the rapidly expanding hemp sector with a team of journalists working to help a growing roster of public and private companies reach a wide audience of investors, consumers and members of the media. We leverage a vast network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets to deliver unparalleled visibility, recognition and content to the hemp industry. HempWire (HW) is where HEMP news, content and information converge.
To receive instant SMS alerts, text HEMPWIRE to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.HempWire.com
Do you have a questions or are you interested in working with HW? Ask our Editor
HempWire is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.


text:
iClapperBoard turns your iPad into a Movie Slate… Again!
Looks like Pomfort isn’t the only company getting into the clapboard business! A few days ago, HHH reported on the MamboFrame, a new accessory from Pomfort that brings physical clapping sticks to your iPad’s virtual movie slate. For many, this will be the much-needed missing link between the analog and digital worlds of film logging. It’s a brilliant, simple idea who’s time has come. And apparently, it’s about to come again (dirty sounding, but accurate).


text:
Having beefed up its high-end server line a month ago, Sun Microsystems shifted gears and did the same for its entry-level servers yesterday, throwing down the gauntlet to Intel and Microsofts Windows.
Sun launched a two-way to eight-way server, the Sun Fire V880, as its entry-level machine yesterday. A server with two UltraSparc III processors costs $29,995, a four-way is priced at $49,995 and an eight-way goes for “just over $100,000,” said John Shoemaker, executive vice president of Suns computing systems division. The UltraSparc III processors run at 750 megahertz.
Sun holds a 21 percent market share for servers under $100,000, according to research firm IDC, a market in which it didnt even have an entry six years ago, noted Shoemaker. In the second quarter of this year, Sun was shipping 6.7 percent more entry-level systems than it did in the same quarter a year ago, he added.
Daniel Kunstler, an analyst at JPMorgan in San Francisco, said no one was more surprised than Sun when it began to gain steam in the entry-level market 2 years to 3 years ago. “The Enterprise 450 was a product that Sun simply threw against the wall to see if it would stick. And it stuck,” said Kunstler.
Its hoping it will have the same luck with the V880, he added, “but the low end will remain a very competitive market” as more Intel-based Pentium, and soon Itanium, servers enter the fray.
The V880 comes equipped with a high-speed, 9.6-gigabytes-per-second internal bus compared to 1.06 Gbps in some Intel 2-way to 8-way servers. It has up to nine hot-swappable PCI slots for server peripherals and 32 gigabytes of hard drive space. The server can be configured as a free-standing tower or a rack-mount model.
Neil Knox, general manager of Suns low-end server unit, said the system was designed as a server, “not a stretch PC” or a server made with industry standard PC components.
Sun also introduced the Netra 20 Ruggedized Server, a telecommunications and government/military-oriented server. Also based on the UltraSparc III processor, the Netra 20 is a rack-mount thin server with 4.8 Gbps throughput. It is available immediately at prices that start at $11,495.
Kunstler predicted the V880s adoption rate would be slow, “due to the mess the telecommunications industry is in.”


text:
Ron Moravek will be donning a new hat for Nexon America, joining the company as senior vice president of live game operations.
Moravek spent fifteen years and served as vice president at the dearly departed THQ, and is credited with helping the company adopt new business models like "games as service" and improve the quality of the published product overall.
His past positions include senior advisor to NuCaptcha, CEO of Sitemasher, as well as both VP and CEO of Electronic Arts’ Vancouver studio.
Nexon did not provide further details about the hire, but it is reported that Moravek will report to Nexon North America head Min Kim.
He is expected to work with the company as it attempts to expand in the mobile and social markets.


text: The new executive management team includes Islam Nahdi as president, Wessel van Tonder as chief executive officer, and Bill O’Connell as executive vice-president. AXI founder, Wout Lisseveld will continue as a consultant to the company, focusing on international business development.As a result of the acquisition, AXI International says that it will be able to expand its worldwide markets and distribution channels greatly – with a particular focus on central Africa where poor fuel quality has challenged progress and economic development. Beyond central Africa, AXI International Holdings will expand its present fuel distribution network, while developing and enhancing new markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia, and Europe. “I see a very bright future for AXI International with a great opportunity at hand for growth. Our mission is to bring optimal quality fuel to every corner of the globe,” said Wessel van Tonder, AXI’s chief executive officer.