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Discover more from The API Economy
Polygon: Sweeping Global Brands Off Their Feet and Into Web3
The Ethereum scaling solution (and more) bringing the likes of Nike, Starbucks, Meta, Adidas, Disney, and more into the Web3 world.
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In 2023, we’ve seen the world’s biggest brands continue to invest in Web3 projects as global lawmakers work on better regulatory frameworks, the NFT market gets back on its feet after a brief hiatus, and Bitcoin makes a surprise run in March (we’re back, baby!)
To meet growing demand, however, the blockchain industry has had to face one of its biggest challenges to date: scalability. Most notably, as Ethereum has ballooned in growth, developers who work on Ethereum have had to ask themselves, “how do we keep our network fast, efficient, and secure?”
That’s where Polygon comes in.
At its core, Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that aims to improve its speed, security, and affordability. With lower transaction fees, faster confirmation times, and the ability to support decentralized applications (dApps), Polygon has quickly gained popularity among crypto enthusiasts and investors.
According to data from Nansen, The number of daily transactions on Polygon surpassed Ethereum transactions in May 2021 and has since eclipsed Ethereum’s daily transaction number with almost 4x as many transactions per day.
Beyond raising $450 million from investors last year, some of the world’s biggest brands (including the likes of Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike) are partnering with Polygon as a blockchain technology service provider. Polygon has become an extremely attractive solution for global giants that want to launch large-scale Web3 projects like NFT marketplaces, where high transaction volumes are expected.
Polygon is also making waves in the gaming industry, including a new alliance with the Web3 gaming firm Immutable to accelerate innovation and adoption in the crypto gaming space. On top of that, the massive South Korean gaming studio Nexon just announced that they will be launching the popular NFT game MapleStory Universe on a dedicated Polygon supernet.
In February of 2023, Polygon outperformed both Ethereum and Bitcoin, largely thanks to skyrocketing rates of adoption and interest over the past few months. Its price has seen some volatility since then, but it remains a strong player in the market.
And as of last week, Polygon launched Polygon zkEVM beta (we’ll get more into this later) showcasing their continued dedication to bringing Ethereum to everyone.
In this essay, we’ll explore the technology behind Polygon, why the biggest brands in the world are partnering with Polygon and its potential impact on the entire digital landscape.
Ogres have layers, crypto has layers
To truly understand Polygon, we first need to understand Ethereum — and its issues.
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform that allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. When you look at market capitalization, it is the second-largest cryptocurrency following Bitcoin.
However, as cryptocurrency has become more mainstream, Ethereum has faced a number of scalability issues. The Ethereum network can only handle a limited number of transactions per second, which can lead to slow confirmation times and high transaction fees during periods of high network usage.
For example, during the height of the DeFi craze in 2020, the Ethereum network experienced significant congestion due to the high number of transactions being processed by popular dApps such as Uniswap and Compound. As a result, transaction fees on the Ethereum network skyrocketed, with users paying as much as $100 or more to make a single transaction.
Confirmation times also increased, with some transactions taking hours or even days to be confirmed due to the network's limited throughput capacity. This made it difficult for many users to participate in the DeFi ecosystem and highlighted the need for scalable solutions such as Polygon.
“third-party Layer 2 solutions, like Polygon are already working to speed up transactions and lower fees by essentially batching transactions off-chain and settling on-chain in one transaction instead of many (there are intricacies, but this is close enough). L2 solutions could increase throughput another 100x, and combining Eth2 and L2 solutions could lead to a 10,000x improvement if the theory plays out in practice.”
Polygon aside, Ethereum has been working on several of its own solutions, including sharding and more recently, danksharding. Sharding is a complex process that involves splitting the network into smaller parts called "shards," each of which can process transactions independently. Danksharding is still a rather theoretical solution but Ethereum developers hope it will be even more secure and decentralized than sharding, allowing Ethereum to continue to scale.
Until these solutions are fully implemented, however, Ethereum has also been relying on Layer 2 scaling solutions, which allow for faster and cheaper transactions by processing them off-chain and then settling them on the Ethereum network.
Polygon is one of the more popular of those Layer 2 scaling solutions. Essentially, Polygon allows developers to create and deploy their decentralized applications (dApps) on a separate network that is connected to Ethereum.
By doing so, Polygon provides faster and cheaper transactions, as the majority of transactions are processed on Polygon's network, and only the final results are committed to the Ethereum blockchain. This allows for a significant increase in the number of transactions that can be processed, with Polygon's network capable of handling up to 7,000 transactions per second (vs. Ethereum’s 20 tps).
Ethereum vs. Polygon: what’s the difference?
Think of the main blockchain network (including Ethereum) as a highway with a limited number of lanes. Just like a highway, when there is too much traffic on the network, it can become congested, and transactions can slow down or even come to a complete stop.
Now imagine a parallel road next to the highway that allows some of the traffic to bypass the congestion on the highway. This parallel road could have more lanes and be designed specifically to handle a larger volume of traffic, making it faster and more efficient.
In the same way, a Layer 2 solution is like a parallel road next to the main blockchain network. It processes some of the transactions off-chain, which allows it to handle a larger volume of transactions without slowing down the main network. When the off-chain transactions are settled on the main network periodically, it's like the traffic from the parallel road merging back onto the main highway.
This way, Layer 2 solutions can help to alleviate congestion and improve the speed and efficiency of the overall network, without compromising the security or decentralization of the blockchain.
Why Polygon is essential in an increasingly Web3 world
To understand why scaling solutions are crucial to the future of cryptocurrency, we should take a brief look at dApps.
The term "dApp" refers to a type of application that runs over a decentralized network, such as a blockchain, rather than on a centralized server. Using them is similar to using regular apps on your smartphone or computer, but with a few key differences.
In a traditional app, a central authority or company controls the app's data and operations. This centralization can lead to issues like censorship, data breaches, or limited access to services. On the other hand, dApps distribute control across multiple computers, or "nodes," in a decentralized network, making them more resistant to censorship, tampering, and single points of failure.
dApps are built for various purposes, including finance and gaming, and are important because they provide decentralized alternatives to traditional applications — offering users more security, transparency, and control.
For example, you may have heard of the popular dApp Uniswap, hosted on Ethereum. This dApp “enables users to trade cryptocurrencies without any involvement with a centralized third party” according to Investopedia.
According to some thought leaders, 2023 is slotted to be the year of dApps. Tony Cheng writes for Coindesk, “While 2022 saw some of the most unprecedented unravelings in crypto history, the fact of the matter is Web3 technology still has the opportunity to fundamentally change consumer behavior. Due to an emphasis on infrastructure throughout 2022, crypto is now at the phase where it is not lacking for infrastructure options. As we look ahead to 2023, what crypto needs is applications that will encourage user adoption and pave the way for Web2's transition to Web3.”
Which brings us to the question: why is Polygon such a big deal? Well, it’s in a perfect position to absolutely revolutionize dApp development by making the process faster, more efficient, and cheaper. Polygon is addressing the problems developers have with Ethereum and enabling a more efficient and accessible environment for building and using dApps.
But the benefits of Polygon go much further than just dApps — we’ll get into that in the sections below.
Where did Polygon come from?
Polygon (formerly Matic Network) was founded in 2017 by a team of experienced blockchain developers and entrepreneurs, including Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani, and Anurag Arjun (who now runs Avail).
Known as Matic Network at the time, the team initially aimed to address issues like slow transaction speeds and high costs, both of which limited the usability of dApps built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Throughout 2018, the founding team worked to create a scalable sidechain and to simplify the process of building and deploying dApps on the platform. They established several strategic partnerships and collaborations during this time, such as working with Decentraland, a decentralized virtual reality platform, to provide scaling solutions. These collaborations helped Matic Network gain traction and credibility in the blockchain ecosystem.
By early 2019, Polygon had launched a beta version of its mainnet. During this beta phase, Polygon focused on demonstrating its capabilities as a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. The platform showcased its potential to provide faster and cheaper transactions using its sidechain architecture, relying on the Plasma framework and a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
The beta launch also allowed developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) on the platform, experiment with various scaling techniques, and test the network's performance and security features.
In June 2020, Polygon fully launched its mainnet to address a major bottleneck in the blockchain industry: scalability. The platform’s user base quickly ramped up from there.
As we mentioned before, networks like Ethereum are powerful tools — but they just aren’t ready for the high transaction volumes and demand they face today. This is partially why Polygon gained popularity so quickly, attracting a sizeable community of developers and users in just a few years.
Going mainstream with the world’s biggest brands
Polygon has had a remarkable journey in the past few years, becoming one of the most prominent players in the Ethereum ecosystem. They’ve attracted a diverse range of projects and users from various sectors, including gaming, DeFi, NFTs, and more.
And as more and more brands have become eager to join the Web3 craze, Polygon’s been there to support their efforts.
Polygon has secured several major partnerships with well-known brands and companies, including Starbucks. At the end of 2022, the coffee giant beta-launched a new NFT-based rewards program called Starbucks Odyssey — and they ended up selling 2,000 NFTs in just 20 minutes.
Since then, Starbucks has continued to roll out the program to customers that have joined the waitlist. Just a few weeks ago, with the help of Polygon, they launched a limited edition collection of “stamps” (NFTs) at $100 each. Once again, they sold out in under 30 minutes.
Members of Starbucks Oddysey can also complete online games like trivia to win more stamps. Some of those free stamps are now valued at over $1,000 on the secondary market. However, mainstream adoption of the program has been slow.
Polygon’s partnership with Nike has also been interesting to watch play out. Late last year, Nike announced they would be launching their first collection of NFT apparel, minted on Polygon.
Nike will be selling these NFTs on a new platform, .Swoosh, which will serve as the epicenter for Nike’s Web3 efforts — and will include future ways for customers to become co-creators and share in digital product royalties. .Swoosh will also allow users to unlock real-world benefits, such as exclusive physical apparel or chats with pro athletes using Web3 technology.
Nike originally announced that they would launch the platform in January 2023, but as of March 2023, it is still in a closed beta phase.
Prior to working with Polygon, Nike released some limited drops with digital apparel startup RTFKT, all of which were launched via the Ethereum mainnet. Nike hasn’t made a formal statement regarding why they chose Polygon for this new venture, however, it’s likely due to Polygon’s fast and affordable infrastructure.
Taking a look under Polygon’s hood
Polygon is shaking up the crypto ecosystem because it’s making Ethereum faster, cheaper, and more developer-friendly. It does this by creating a set of sidechains and shard chains that work together to handle more transactions at once, like adding more lanes to a highway to reduce traffic congestion.
The architecture of Polygon is composed of multiple components, including the Ethereum mainchain, the Heimdall Proof-of-Stake layer, and the Bor block production layer. Let’s break these down a little further:
Ethereum mainchain: Polygon's architecture relies on the Ethereum mainchain for certain functions, such as staking, checkpointing, and finality. This means that Polygon remains closely connected to the Ethereum ecosystem, benefiting from its security and network effects.
Heimdall (Proof-of-Stake layer): Heimdall is the validator layer of the Polygon architecture, which secures the network using a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Validators stake MATIC tokens on the Ethereum mainchain to participate in the network. Heimdall is responsible for the following tasks:
Proposer selection: Heimdall randomly selects a validator to propose a new block for the Bor block production layer, ensuring decentralization and security.
Checkpointing: Heimdall periodically submits a Merkle root of the latest block hashes to the Ethereum mainchain as a "checkpoint." This process anchors the Polygon sidechain to Ethereum's security, providing finality and preventing double-spending attacks.
Staking and delegation: Validators stake MATIC tokens to participate in the network, while delegators can support validators by delegating their tokens to them. This helps maintain the security of the network and provides an incentive for validators and delegators through block rewards and transaction fees.
Bor (block production layer): Bor is the block production layer in Polygon's architecture, where transactions are executed and blocks are created. It uses a consensus algorithm called Heuristic Merkleized Sharding (HMS) to group validators into multiple "shards" that validate and produce blocks in parallel. This design allows Polygon to achieve higher throughput and scalability compared to the Ethereum mainchain.
These three components work together to create a secure and scalable platform that can support a wide range of decentralized applications (dApps) and other Layer 2 solutions. By leveraging Ethereum's security and layering on additional scaling techniques, Polygon is solving some of the most pressing challenges faced by blockchain networks.
NFTs on Polygon
Polygon has gained a lot of attention as a popular platform for creating and trading non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The Polygon network provides a cost-effective and scalable solution for NFT creators and collectors, allowing them to avoid the high gas fees and slow transaction times that are often associated with Ethereum-based NFTs.
As one example, these lower transaction fees make smaller NFT transactions more accessible leading to L2s hitting all-time highs in March 2023 for a total share of Ethereum gas spend (see image below):
Polygon's interoperability with Ethereum-based NFTs also allows for easy migration of existing NFT projects to the Polygon network, and its decentralized network ensures that NFT ownership and transactions are secure and transparent.
The Polygon ecosystem has enabled new use cases for NFTs that were previously not feasible on other platforms. For example, the platform has been used for NFT-based gaming, where players can trade and collect unique in-game assets. Polygon-based NFTs have even been used for charitable purposes, such as raising funds for social causes or disaster relief efforts.
Polygon's scalability, low fees, and versatility have made it a popular choice for creators and collectors alike, driving the growth and innovation of the NFT market — and the popularity of Polygon leading to popular NFT projects like y00ts switching over to Polygon.
Solving the blockchain “trilemma”
Beyond NFTs, Polygon has become so popular because it has helped with many of the pain points associated with the infamous blockchain “trilemma.”
The blockchain trilemma, a term coined by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, refers to the challenge of simultaneously achieving decentralization, security, and scalability in a blockchain network. It suggests that optimizing a blockchain for all three properties is difficult, often requiring trade-offs.
Polygon addresses the blockchain trilemma by employing a multi-layer architecture and various Layer 2 scaling techniques to strike a balance between decentralization, security, and scalability.
Decentralization is maintained through the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in the Heimdall layer (which we discussed in the previous discussion). This allows multiple validators to participate in block production and validation.
Security is achieved by anchoring the Polygon sidechain to Ethereum through a checkpointing mechanism, where the Merkle root of the latest block hashes is periodically submitted to the Ethereum mainchain. This process leverages Ethereum's security while benefiting from the PoS consensus in the Heimdall layer to protect the network.
Scalability is addressed through the Bor block production layer, which uses Heuristic Merkleized Sharding (HMS) to increase transaction throughput. Additionally, Polygon's support for various Layer 2 solutions allows the network to scale according to specific use cases and demands.
By using this combination of techniques and architecture, Polygon seeks to create a platform that offers a balance between the key properties of the blockchain trilemma, providing a more accessible and scalable ecosystem for developers and users.
The many advantages of using Polygon
By now, you can probably see why developers around the world are adopting Polygon at rapid speed. Beyond answering the trilemma, we’ve boiled down the main benefits of Polygon into four key areas:
Increased transaction throughput and faster confirmation times
Lower transaction fees
Improved security through the use of PoS
Increased decentralization and accessibility for developers and users
Let’s take a closer look at each of these, get ready for a wall of text:
Increased transaction throughput and faster confirmation times
One of the primary advantages of Polygon is its ability to scale transaction throughput while maintaining fast confirmation times. By using various scaling techniques along with its block production layer (Bor) and Heuristic Merkleized Sharding (HMS), Polygon can process a higher number of transactions per second (TPS) compared to the Ethereum mainchain.
This results in faster confirmation times for users, leading to a more seamless and responsive experience when interacting with dApps built on Polygon.
Lower transaction fees
High transaction fees on the Ethereum mainchain can be a significant barrier to entry for many users and developers. Polygon's Layer 2 scaling solution addresses this issue by offloading transaction processing from the mainchain to its sidechain.
Since the sidechain has a higher transaction throughput, this results in significantly reduced fees for users. Lower transaction fees make it more economically viable for developers to build and deploy dApps, while also allowing users to interact with these applications without incurring high costs.
Improved security through the use of Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
Polygon's Heimdall layer utilizes a PoS consensus algorithm to secure the network. Validators stake their MATIC tokens to participate in the consensus process, which aligns their interests with the overall security of the network. In case a validator acts maliciously, their staked tokens can be slashed as a penalty.
PoS has several advantages over Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus, including reduced energy consumption, a lower risk of centralization due to specialized hardware requirements, and resistance to certain types of attacks (e.g., long-range attacks). Additionally, Polygon's checkpointing mechanism, which periodically submits the Merkle root of the latest block hashes to the Ethereum mainchain, provides additional security by anchoring the sidechain to Ethereum's PoW-based security.
Increased decentralization and accessibility for developers and users
Polygon's architecture promotes decentralization by allowing multiple validators to participate in the block production and validation process. This reduces the risk of centralization and ensures that no single entity can control the network.
Furthermore, Polygon's compatibility with Ethereum's development tools and infrastructure (e.g., Solidity, Web3.js, MetaMask) makes it easy for developers to build and deploy dApps on the platform. This accessibility, combined with lower transaction fees and faster confirmation times, creates a more inclusive and user-friendly environment for developers and users alike.
Use cases and real-world applications
Polygon and its endless benefits are redefining what’s possible across industries. To truly show the power of this innovative platform, let’s take a look at some real-world examples:
Tokenization is the process of converting physical or digital assets into digital tokens on a blockchain. When assets are represented as tokens, it becomes possible to streamline transactions, enhance security, and increase transparency.
All the benefits listed in the previous section, plus Polygon's unique architecture and design, make it an outstanding platform for tokenization. By solving many of the problems that come with Ethereum (the leading platform for token creation), Polygon has the potential to completely transform the way assets are managed, exchanged, and interacted with.
One such asset that Polygon is already touching is the digital bond. A digital bond is a type of debt security that is issued and managed on a blockchain, rather than through traditional, paper-based methods. They function similarly to traditional bonds but leverage the benefits of blockchain technology to enhance efficiency, transparency, and security.
In February 2023, the German industrial manufacturer Siemens issued a digital bond on Polygon’s public mainnet… a bond worth $60 million euros, to be exact. Although the bond was issued on-chain, Siemens opted to collect proceeds from investors through conventional banking channels (mainly due to the fact that the digital euro isn’t available yet).
Siemens spoke publicly about why they decided to leverage blockchain technology with this bond: “[Blockchain platforms] make paper-based global certificates and central clearing unnecessary. What’s more, the bond can be sold directly to investors without needing a bank to function as an intermediary.”
By moving away from paper-based bonds to blockchain-based digital bonds, Siemens has streamlined the bond issuance process, reducing administrative burdens, increasing transparency, and making transactions faster and more efficient.
Most importantly, this pioneering move highlights growing mainstream interest in leveraging blockchain technology for traditional financial processes — and the way Polygon is bound to play a part in the global shift to decentralized finance.
Siemen’s digital bond is also likely to inspire other corporations to explore similar avenues, leveraging the power of Polygon and blockchain technology to reshape the way capital is raised and managed in industries.
Polygon’s role in decentralized finance (DeFi) isn’t stopping here, though.
Recently, the DeFi infrastructure firm Swarm Markets announced the launch of tradable, DeFi-compatible stocks and bonds on the Polygon network. This innovative offering will bring popular stocks like Apple and Tesla, as well as two US Treasury bond ETFs, to the world of decentralized finance.
While these tokenized securities will not be available to US investors, they cater to both retail and institutional investors, with no minimum investment required. This initiative expands the range of assets accessible through DeFi, and Swarm Markets plans to add more stocks and other assets to their offering in the future, further bridging the gap between traditional and decentralized finance.
According to Swarm, “This is the first regulated decentralized exchange (DEX) available on the layer 2 solution, making it one of the cheapest and safest options for people wanting to access DeFi with investor protections.”
Daniela Barbosa, executive director of Hyperledger Foundation, also says, “Tokenizing a wide variety of assets – from equities and index funds to real estate and carbon credits – offers huge potential in terms of not only enhancing transparency, auditability, and efficiency but also access to people who otherwise might not be able to tap into traditional markets. Zooming out, if done at scale, these kinds of transactions are poised to make markets far more efficient.”
Investment bank Citi is betting on the blockchain-based tokenization of real-world assets to become the next “killer use case” in crypto, with the firm forecasting the market to reach between $4 trillion to $5 trillion by 2030 according to Cointelegraph.
Citi argues that blockchain tokenization would supersede legacy financial infrastructure because it is technologically superior and provides more investment opportunities in private markets. The technology negates the need for expensive reconciliation, prevents settlement failures, and makes tedious operations more efficient. According to Citi:
"digitally native financial asset infrastructure, globally accessible, operating 24x7x365 and optimized with smart contract and DLT-enabled automation capabilities, which enable use cases impractical with traditional infrastructure."
Ultimately, by enabling large-scale tokenization of various assets, Polygon's technology is well-positioned to make financial markets more efficient and inclusive, revolutionizing the way we interact with and invest in these assets.
Gaming and virtual worlds
Historically, developers have faced several challenges while building blockchain-based video games, particularly on networks like Ethereum:
Network congestion and high transaction fees: These significantly hinder the gaming experience by causing slow transaction times and making in-game actions expensive for players.
Limited scalability: This leads to performance bottlenecks and a suboptimal gaming experience with latency and capacity issues.
Complexity: The learning curve associated with developing on some blockchain platforms can be a barrier for developers who are new to the technology, slowing down the growth and adoption of blockchain-based gaming.
These challenges remain relevant, but according to VentureBeat, “2023 will be the year that blockchain games deliver quality and fun” — all thanks to Polygon.
And as VentureBeat predicted, Polygon has delivered as they recently announced that they will team up with Immutable on a gaming-focused zkEVM.
Urvit Goel, vice president of games at Polygon, said in the same VentureBeat article, “Specifically in gaming, 2023 will be the year that blockchain and gaming will be judged heavily on all of the promises that are being made about great games. We need to start seeing some of those games. There will be enough to start making a determination about quality. A lot of these builders in stealth mode haven’t launched a product yet.”
Polygon is on track to revolutionize the gaming industry by providing a scalable and cost-effective platform for developers to create engaging, blockchain-powered gaming experiences.
Among its many other benefits, Polygon enables seamless integration of decentralized, player-driven virtual economies, true ownership of in-game assets, and innovative play-to-earn models. This empowers gamers to monetize their skills and time, while also fostering a more interconnected gaming experience through cross-platform interoperability.
In addition, Polygon's developer-friendly environment, with support for popular Ethereum development tools, reduces the learning curve and encourages the creation of cutting-edge decentralized gaming applications. The platform also promotes community-driven development, allowing players and developers to collaborate and shape the evolution of games through decentralized governance. By addressing the obstacles faced by both gamers and developers, Polygon is paving the way for a more immersive, inclusive, and rewarding gaming ecosystem.
Zero-knowledge (ZK) scaling
Polygon recently announced the world’s first zero-knowledge (ZK) scaling solution — fully compatible with Ethereum. According to Polygon, “[This] ground-breaking development of zkEVM is set to dramatically improve the experience of using and building with Ethereum by providing scalability and lower transaction costs.”
So why does this matter? First, let’s talk briefly about zero-knowledge scaling as a concept.
Zero-knowledge scaling is an advanced cryptographic technique that leverages zero-knowledge proofs to increase the transaction throughput and privacy of blockchain networks. It enables the aggregation of multiple transactions into a single proof, which can be verified by the network without revealing the details of the transactions themselves. Ultimately, this reduces the amount of on-chain data and computation required, which improves scalability while preserving privacy.
Zero-knowledge scaling also enhances privacy by allowing transactions to be verified without revealing the details of the transactions themselves. This feature can be particularly valuable in applications that require a high degree of privacy and confidentiality, such as finance or identity management.
Polygon's zkEVM, specifically, is a groundbreaking development that has the potential to transform the blockchain industry. zkEVM enhances the scalability of the Ethereum network, allowing it to process a higher number of transactions per second and alleviating network congestion.
This improvement in transaction throughput will create a more seamless and efficient user experience, which is crucial for the continued growth and adoption of decentralized applications (dApps) and the Web3 ecosystem.
Moreover, zkEVM's ability to reduce transaction fees makes interacting with the Ethereum network more accessible and affordable for users and developers. This cost reduction can further encourage the adoption of blockchain technology and unlock new possibilities for various industries and use cases.
Identity verification and authentication
Polygon is uniquely positioned to revolutionize the way today’s identity management systems are built and deployed. By harnessing the power of blockchain technology, this platform offers a decentralized, secure, and privacy-preserving solution that can streamline the process of identity verification and authentication, making it more resilient to fraud and identity theft while enhancing user privacy and control over personal data.
Just weeks ago, Polygon publicly released its own decentralized identity solution called Polygon ID, powered by zero-knowledge cryptography. This product is groundbreaking and presents a unique way for individuals to verify their identities in a Web3 world.
“Polygon ID is private by default, offers on-chain verification and permissionless attestation. There is nothing in the digital identity space now that ticks all these boxes,” said Mihailo Bjelic, Polygon’s co-founder. “It is also a great showcase for how zero-knowledge proofs can help us create a better world.”
So what are the use cases? Like many Web3 projects, Polygon ID is still under development. But the vision includes a world where users can verify their identities without ever revealing sensitive information — you’d be able to get into a bar without showing your physical ID (and all the details contained there) and use your favorite websites without routinely providing your personal information.
All roads lead to Polygon
Polygon has emerged as a game-changing force in the blockchain and Web3 ecosystem, addressing the limitations of Ethereum and other platforms by providing a scalable, cost-effective, and developer-friendly solution.
Through its innovative architecture and commitment to solving the blockchain trilemma, Polygon has made it possible for an increasing number of brands, industries, and users to leverage the benefits of decentralization.
It’s clear how Polygon has the potential to bring in a world where the blockchain is integrated into our daily life — from our coffee habits to the ID we show to get into a bar. It’s already a top 4 blockchain in terms of the number of active wallet addresses:
As Web3 continues to gain traction and reshape the digital landscape, Polygon's role in empowering developers, businesses, and users is becoming increasingly critical. And if the trend continues and brands continue to build on Polygon, they have the opportunity to become the AWS of crypto.
Over a decade ago, Fortune 500 companies began building on the AWS platform, making it a crucial part of how they do business, which helped AWS become the most popular SaaS tool ever. If Polygon continues in this direction, it might just become an essential blockchain tool for companies who want to stay relevant in a Web3 world.
By fostering an environment where innovation can flourish, Polygon is paving the way for a more inclusive, secure, and efficient digital-first future.
Thanks for reading — until our next adventure.
Special thanks to my friend Haley Davidson for copy help & edits and Mama Schroeder for additional edits (any typos are on them 😊).
Disclaimer: The views in this essay are my own personal opinions and don’t necessarily represent the views of Polygon, those mentioned in this article, or anyone other than myself.


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Verizon, Parrot, and Skyward have announced an exclusive partnership to bring the first out-of-the-box 4G LTE connected drone solution to the United States. The Skyward Connected Drone Solution, with Parrot’s ANAFI Ai, will be available in the second half of 2021 through Skyward.
Parrot ANAFI Ai has a lot to offer commercial drone customers. ANAFI Ai features autonomous photogrammetry, an open source app, new levels of security, obstacle avoidance, and more. ANAFI Ai is also “the first and only off-the-shelf drone to connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network,” says the partnership announcement.
“Verizon 4G LTE connectivity is provided exclusively to Skyward subscribers at no additional cost. The Skyward Connected Drone Solution gives enterprises one complete experience for planning, flying, data transfer and processing data.”
What 4G LTE Connected Drone Really Means
“Parrot ANAFI Ai’s embedded Secure Element secures the 4G LTE link between the drone and the user’s device. Parrot’s implemented streaming software is adapted to the 4G situation to quickly optimize the definition and frame rate to the network quality,” says the announcement.
When Parrot ANAFI Ai pilots subscribe to a paid account – or a free trial – of the Skyward Connected Drone Solution, they can not only utilize Skyward’s airspace and fleet management tools, but transfer data during flight over 4G LTE: which means faster, more seamless live video streaming and data transfer.
Having the 4G LTE connection integrated into the drone solution provides ease of use – users don’t have to subscribe separately to a wireless service.
Once activated through Skyward, Verizon 4G LTE connectivity provides a seamless backup connection to the flight controller in case of interference or interruption. It paves the way for near real-time data transfer, remote deployment, and Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight operations — which are allowed today with a waiver from the FAA.
“Enterprise drone programs are pushing the limits of technology available today and advanced operators are ready for a connected, trusted, and capable drone to take their drone programs to the next level,” said Mariah Scott, Head of Verizon Robotics Business Technology. “Parrot ANAFI Ai connected to Verizon 4G LTE marks an industry milestone toward distributed, remote, persistent operations that lets users fly to anywhere from anywhere with near real-time data transfer.”
“Cellular connectivity is the new communications standard for the professional drone industry and Parrot ANAFI Ai seeks to set new standards for drones at work” said Henri Seydoux, Founder and CEO of Parrot. “We designed ANAFI Ai’s 4G LTE connectivity, which enables precise, robust and secure control at any distance with a 4G LTE connection that avoids obstacles. Advanced artificial intelligence, autonomous flights, best-in-class imaging, photogrammetry accuracy and reliable 4G LTE connectivity on the Verizon network, put powerful new tools in the hands of professionals like never before and we truly believe it is a game changer for the professional drone industry.”
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
Subscribe to DroneLife here.

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With an easy tutorial and tons of ways to play, Hearthstone is a must-have game.
An update to the popular messaging app doesn't require you to hold down your finger to view snaps. It also includes an extra layer of security and new ways to add friends.
If you're in the market for this size TV anyway, why not score a big helping of Dell gravy while you're at it? Plus: an iPhone with a free year of service!
Video sharing has become the newest battleground in the social network wars. Facebook new tool lets your friends add to the videos you create.
How does Apple's streaming service stack up against longtime favorite Spotify? We lay it all out here.
The free app is currently available only on Android but will land on the iPhone somewhere down the line, says its creator.
The Nvidia Shield is the most potent Android TV device yet, bringing 4K video, solid gaming and plenty of horsepower to the streaming platform. But it's still a niche product.
A new section in the Google Play app store is designed to help parents find appropriate apps, games, movies and books for their kids.
Nvidia announced a new flagship graphics card delivering smoother 4K graphics for PC gamers, plus new G-Sync screen technology for smoother gaming on laptops.
The search giant's new project aims to make phones more secure by loading a microSD card that serves as a security powerhouse.


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2020 Portland Thorns away shirt review
100 Word Reviews – The latest shirts in bitesize chunks
Nike has really embraced Portland Thorns’ name in its design vision this year and it pays off big time in the away shirt.
The switch from a black-tipped V-neck to the integrated white round neck is a vast improvement on last year’s offering and really ups the style stakes. As too does the understated but hugely effective white and grey colourway.
But there’s no getting away from the main attraction of this shirt – the thorns that criss-cross the entire design and create its standout look.
I’m not especially keen on the lines down the side but that’s a mere anomaly in this success story.
The new Portland Thorns away is available to buy at the club shop.
For more stunning shirts from the U.S., check out our review of the new Forward Madison third shirt, which scored a perfect 5/5.


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Around the end of August, 2013, a Walton County, Georgia mother went to her local Walmart pharmacy to pick up her son’s prescription. She unknowingly was given someone else’s prescription—a prescription meant for another patient who happened to have the same initials as her son. Unfortunately, the pharmacist didn’t catch this error, and then explained to her how the medication should be taken.
Margaret Johnson returned home and gave Justin Johnson, her 15-year-old son, the medication. He was supposed to receive a prescription for antibiotics after getting a tick bite; however, the pharmacy gave him the wrong prescription. He was actually given 400 milligrams of Quetiapine, a generic version of Seroquel, which is an anti-psychotic medication used to treat severe psychiatric disorders in adults.
After Justin took the wrong medication, his mother alleges that he had an immediate reaction. Margaret Johnson said her son was dizzy and vomiting, and she had to take him to the emergency room twice. The doctors informed her that the dosage could have killed her son.
Johnson stated that a woman from Walmart called her the following day. “After apologizing, she offered me a $250 Walmart gift card,” said Johnson, who also stated that the store tried to get her to sign a form to waive their responsibility.
Walmart released this statement, “We have apologized to Ms. Johnson and are disappointed something like this could occur despite systems and controls we have built to prevent it. Even one event of this nature is unacceptable and we deeply regret that it happened.”
Johnson said she wished she would have checked her son’s prescription more carefully, which is why she is now warning others to check their prescriptions.


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It sure looks like Apple is planning to introduce its own HiFi music plan, giving audiophiles a higher quality streaming option to go with their pricey hardware while taking on competing services like Spotify’s and Deezer’s high-fidelity audio options. A couple of new leaks reinforce the potential, while one teases a particularly tantalizing perk not offered by other services.
We saw the first leak surface yesterday and, well, it wasn’t terribly reassuring. The report came from Hits Daily Double, which claimed that Apple will soon announce a new Apple Music HiFi plan alongside its next-generation AirPods — and, the leak alleges, this new high-fidelity option will come at the same $9.99 price as the existing service.
While that may be too good to be true, it seems there is some substance to the leak, with 9to5Mac detailing a new discovery in the iOS 14.6 beta 1 build that hints at future Apple Music high-fidelity audio support.
The code, which isn’t found in subsequent builds, allegedly includes mention of Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos, as well as the term ‘lossless.’ Assuming this was the accidental reveal of a big upcoming change, it’ll mark the first time Apple Music has supported the Dolby offerings.
A lossless audio option will give subscribers who, for example, have high-end headphones the opportunity to maximize their listening experience by streaming audio that doesn’t have lossy compression. Whether Apple will actually launch this new option in the coming weeks — and at the same price — is yet to be seen.


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Looks like EA will be releasing a roster update this Saturday morning. The update is NOT for Connected Careers or Offline play, it’s only for online play and play now. The roster that the 2k OLF league is waiting for is supposed to drop next week on September 11 along with an unconfirmed game update.
FROM EA SPORTS –
The second Madden NFL 13 roster update will be available for download on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on Saturday morning. The update will reflect the final 53 man rosters of all 32 NFL teams. Details regarding the update will be available Friday morning.
The initial 75 man preseason rosters that were released with Madden NFL 13 will continue to be available for offline and online Connected Careers so that fans who want to manage the final roster of their team can do so. Final 53 man rosters will also be made available early next week for offline and online Connected Careers giving users the choice to use either roster when starting their Connected Careers experience.


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We have outlooked several promising Forex pairs and the result can surprise you!
USD/CHF: pick your entry level
Information is not investment advice
In April, USD/CHF broke above the resistance line connecting 2018 and 2019 highs in the 1.0130 area. This was a significant resistance and now will be significant support. The pair may find demand around 1.0300 and then turn up to 1.0250 and 1.03. Here are 2 trade ideas: one involving buying at lower levels and another buying on the break higher.
Great Britain released retail sales data on May 20, 9:00 GMT+3. The reading outperformed expectations greatly (+1.4% actual vs. -0.3% forecast).
The stock market has reversed, and now it’s going lower and lower…
Walmart is one of the biggest retail corporations in the US, with $244 billion in total assets. Does it worth buying amid rising prices and supply concerns that shatter the world economy?


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A balanced diet helps children get the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development. An unhealthy diet, on the other hand, can negatively affect short and long-term health outcomes as well as school performance.
About a third of parents say their child is a picky eater and a third don't think they eat enough fruits and vegetables. Thirteen percent worried kids weren't getting enough of certain vitamins and minerals while 9 % said their child needed more fiber in their diet, according to the nationally representative report based on responses from 1,251 parents with at least one child ages one to ten.
Another potential barrier: cost. Half of parents agreed that it was more expensive to provide their child with a healthy diet. We know that fresh, healthy foods can be more expensive than processed or packaged items that are often higher in sodium and added sugars. This can make it especially frustrating for parents when children waste or refuse to eat healthy foods.
The use of dietary supplements in children is an important health decision to discuss with doctors, but less than half of parents who have given their child a supplement talked to their child's health provider.
Source: University of Michigan


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BEIJING: China Hongqiao Group , the world's biggest aluminium producer, said on Friday lower costs boosted net profit by 12.7% in 2019 despite a sharp drop in output, as it announced its intention to boost production from scrap metal.
Net profit came in at 6.095 billion yuan ($862 million) last year, versus 5.407 billion yuan in 2018, the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing, warning the coronavirus will have a "profound impact" on global supply chains.
The rise in profit came even as Hongqiao saw an 11.3% fall in production of aluminium alloy products to 5.644 million tonnes, and a 6.7% drop in revenue to 84.18 billion yuan last year as Shanghai aluminium prices averaged 2.4% lower.
The company attributed the higher profit to lower purchase prices for raw materials such as coal, higher efficiency and greater sales of fabricated aluminium products.
It said lower primary aluminium production was due to China's winter restrictions on industrial output in 2019, as well as its switch to more advanced facilities and an outage caused by flooding near its Shandong headquarters in August.
Hongqiao had said at the time its annual production would fall by 200,000-300,000 tonnes as a result of that incident.
The company is moving around 2 million tonnes of annual aluminium production from Shandong to Southwest China's Yunnan province to take advantage of cleaner hydropower, but doing so will not increase its licensed capacity of 6.5 million tonnes per year of primary aluminium.
However, Hongqiao said it would "dedicate itself to increasing the primary aluminium production capacity through secondary aluminium," or scrap aluminium, and "plans to add new production lines for secondary aluminium," without elaborating.
The company currently makes its aluminium using alumina, a substance refined from bauxite ore, but recycling scrap aluminium - such as used cans - could help it save costs, especially with Shanghai aluminium prices falling to their lowest since 2016 this week.
"It is expected that the aluminium industry will face greater challenges and opportunities" in 2020 due to the epidemic, Hongqiao added.
Alumina sales rose 29% in 2019 to 5.28 million tonnes after the company "seized market opportunities" to sell more material domestically when its own usage decreased, Hongqiao said, adding that the 1 million tonnes per year second phase of its alumina project in Indonesia is expected to start up the end of 2020.
An advanced 125cc urban scooter tailor-made for those riders who prefer to make an impact reflecting their youthful and fun persona, Grazia will be available at Honda's two-wheeler dealerships across India.
The new Magnite SUV stands out on many counts. In a short span after its launch, it has garnered over 30,000 customer bookings. It is also the torchbearer of the beleaguered Nissan’s future in India. The average of 1000 units booked daily since the debut on December 2 manifests the brand’s strength and new vigour. It will, Nissan hopes, empower it to discard legacy issues and open a new chapter in India’s mobility landscape.


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Bi-Weekly News Recap
News From Our Partners
Spaceship Shuttles, the gateway to exploring the SIDUS metaverse, will be put on pre-sale after the public beta launch (which will offer $10M in rewards to winning teams and contributors). 6 shuttle types with varying seat capacities will be made available in limited quantities. Finally, 20M $SIDUS tokens were burned mid-month as planned.
Single-asset staking for $BLOCK will go live on January 30th. Besides being able to participate in governance voting, stakers will be rewarded with $ASSET tokens. $ASSET will be the only way to obtain custom NFT drops with countless benefits like VIP Discord access, early beta testing, exclusive content and more.
Phase 1A of Genopets’ Private Beta started on January 20th, marking a major milestone for the world’s first move-to-earn game. Testers earn $GENE tokens and XP for staying active, in exchange for giving valuable feedback to the development team. After the private and public beta are concluded, features like $GENE staking, challenges and habitats will be rolled out.
SubQuery celebrated the Encode Club Polkadot Hackathon winners, a 10-week event aimed at bringing more builders to the Polkadot ecosystem. Subquery sponsored 3 challenges (“Build a Bot”, “Dashboard” and “DeFi Dapp”), a great opportunity for developers to familiarize themselves with the project and its data. For more details, click here.
Besides new in-game pets and buildings, DeFi Land will soon have its first NFT sale in the upcoming weeks (more details are expected soon). A short video was also published about a so-called “Secret Spot”, accompanied with “#MultiChain”. This could lead to believe that DeFi Land will be operating on other chains soon.
Seeking to grow and strengthen its community, Aleph Zero launched an Ambassador Program. Details about its staking program were also released earlier last week; click here. Finally, with its Network Revamp complete, the team is now preparing to launch its Smartnet, a secondary testnet aimed specifically at testing Aleph Zero smart contracts.
Major Headlines in Crypto
Andreessen Horowitz Looks to Raise $4.5B for New Crypto Fund
Billionaire Investor Bill Miller Puts 50% of Net Worth in Bitcoin
Brazilian Mayor to Reportedly Invest 1% of City Reserves in Bitcoin
Crocs is Chomping into NFTs
Crypto-Related Job Postings Jumped 395% in 2021
Going Meta: Disney, Second Life and K-Pop
PayPal Explores Launch of its Own Stablecoin
Samsung is Putting NFTs in its Smart TVs
Subscribe to our Medium posts for partnership news & updates.
DISCLAIMER: Content in this article does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile assets. Always do your own research and invest at your own risk.


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If chicken nuggets are on the dinner menu this week, consumers may need to redo their plans. On Jan. 13, Olymel recalled St-Hubert and Cavalier brand chicken breast nuggets over a concerning issue. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the recalled nuggets may contain pieces of wood, making them unsafe for consumption.
Affecting consumers in Canada, the recall only affects St-Hubert and Cavalier brand chicken nuggets. The recalled Cavalier brand chicken breast nuggets were packaged on 2022-09-09, 2022-11-14, and 2022-11-24 and sold in 4-kilogram packages. The St-Hubert brand chicken breast nuggets were sold in 600-gram packages with Best Before dates of 2024 MR 12 and 2024 JL 01. The recall also affects St-Hubert brand products featuring UPC 0 66701 01109 7. The recalled products were sold in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick.
The CFIA gave the recall a Class 2 classification. This classification means that "there is a moderate risk that consuming the food may lead to short-term or non-life threatening health problems." The CFIA did not say if there have been any injuries are adverse reactions reported in relation to the recalled chicken nuggets, though it did advise in its recall notice that these products should not be used, sold, served, or distributed. The CFIA notes that once a recall is issued, "it is the responsibility of industry to remove it from the marketplace immediately," adding that it "conducts effectiveness checks to verify that unsafe food has been effectively removed from the marketplace... If a recalling firm is unwilling to remove the food from sale and appropriately dispose of it, the CFIA may seize and detain the food." After this, the CFIA "continues to work with the processor, manufacturer or importer to ensure that any problems that led to the recall are resolved."
Unfortunately for Canadian consumers, Olymel's recall is just the latest recall to hit the market. On Jan. 16, La Vache à Maillotte Mélo-Dieux – Surface-ripened soft cheese was recalled due to potential listeria contamination. The recall affects those cheeses that were sold in Quebec, and may have been distributed in other provinces and territories, and feature codes R 615 and 22FE2023. Just two days earlier, the CFIA alerted consumers to a recall of Le Cendré de Notre-Dame's Semi-soft Surface-ripened Cheese. The recall was also issued due to listeria contamination.


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E.U. Slams Google With Record Fine
On Tuesday, European Union regulators slammed Google with a $2.7 billion fine for squeezing out competition on its shopping platform and presenting information that would benefit Google first.
It’s one of the biggest fines in history, and has set a new precedent in antitrust litigation. To discuss, we’re joined by Mark R. Patterson, Professor of Law at Fordham University and the author of Antitrust Law in the New Economy: Google, Yelp, LIBOR, and the Control of Information.


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Today Facebook made a major announcement about its messaging system, which could lead to major changes in communication. According to the company’s blog:
You decide how you want to talk to your friends: via SMS, chat, email or Messages. They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them, and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn’t have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message.
While Facebook isn’t the only major company to try and develop a new method of written communication (remember Google Wave?), it has a major advantage: over 500 million registered users.
Facebook’s new messaging system won’t be an overnight success, as a lot of people (especially for business) will continue using their regular email addresses. However, Facebook messages should set off a spark socially, allowing people to communicate freely and easily in whatever method they’d like. The competition here will come from video and audio chat, which Apple is marketing heavily. But it’s really only a matter of time until Facebook ads that option.
What could be the major turning point for businesses, is a built-in for Microsoft office. According to USA Today, Microsoft Office will also be part of the new Facebook messaging system, and in the coming months you’ll be able to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint attachments with Office Web Apps directly in Facebook.
That is a big difference-maker.


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Sega of America earned a record $98 million the day its 128-bit Dreamcast gaming console was launched in North America, but reports of glitches with hardware and software threw a shadow over the event, which was supposed to be a celebration for the arrival of the console. The company admits that a certain run of Dreamcast "GD-ROM" CDs that were shipped with the game consoles had defects, rendering them unusable. The CDs include one that includes Sega's Web browser and two games, Sonic Adventure and Blue Stinger, as well as at least two other games. Sega insists that the problem affects less than 1% of new Dreamcast owners, but even a cursory look around the Web shows a vocal and angry group of people that had been waiting months to get their hands on the new system, only to be disappointed by a system that refuses to play games.
"(We have) massive returns," says Mat Kurwitzky of the Software Etc. store in San Jose, California, host of one of four national launch events. "Sonic \[Adventure\], Blue Stinger, NFL 2000 and Ready 2 Rumble are all \[being returned\]. Probably one out of five of those games are defective. One out of ten easily."
Sega insists that the Dreamcast hardware is not the problem but that individual CDs were simply burned incorrectly. Sega spokesperson Jennifer Walker says that users can call the company toll-free at 1-(877)-383-3291 to trade their defective disks in for working versions.
"This is not a hardware problem," she said.
Problems aside, retailers nationwide are reporting that the Dreamcast units and most games completely sold out within 24 hours. Toys R Us says that all 705 of its stores sold out of the unit the first day it was available


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Professor Robin May called for urgent collaboration between business, academia and government to work an internationally agreed set of standards for eco-labelling, or for what type of data should be measured.
“Transforming the food system into one that is fully sustainable relies on a unified approach to data sharing and food labelling that is both transparent and accurate,” he told ITV News.
"The eco-labelling of foods, for example, can enable consumers to compare the environmental footprint of different products and enable them to make choices about the impact this has on their diet.”
May’s comments ahead of the second week of COP26 echoed those of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ chief scientific advisor, Gideon Henderson.
However, Henderson pointed out that – at this time – there was not a lot of evidence to suggest just how effective eco-labelling actually is.
While older generations may not be so swayed by environmental labels, Henderson believed there was potential for younger consumers to take these messages on board and allow them to influence their buying habits.
“It’s a bit like the Wild West though and it’s threatening to become insufficiently regulated,” Henderson added. “We need to get on top of this and work out how to certify and how to have a unified system for environmental labelling for food stuffs.”
Visibility of labels online
Henderson also highlighted the challenge presented by online shopping – if a consumer doesn’t go to the store for their food, there is little change they will even see eco-labels on their products before they buy them.
May added: “With many large food businesses already developing their own ‘in-house’ sustainability labelling schemes, there is an even greater need for consistency to reduce the risk of misinformation and consumer confusion.
“If we act swiftly and decisively to create an overarching system underpinned by transparent, auditable metrics, we will be able to set the food system on the fast track to sustainability. Consumer choice would be enhanced, businesses incentivised to ensure sustainable production systems and food manufacturing encouraged to invest in innovative, carbon-neutral technologies.”
Meanwhile, a voluntary e-label scheme has been developed by European wine and spirits trade bodies Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins and Spirits Europe enabling wine and spirit producers to communicate nutritional, calorie and allergen information via QR codes. Richard Horwell – owner of Brand Relations – is sceptical.


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There is a backlash to reduce the price of Russian gas, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with RBC.
“It is connected with the Eurasian Union, as we have a common market, and energy resources are very important in the structure of the cost of products. We must ensure that energy prices in Armenia do not have a negative impact on the cost of goods, so that the cost of products in Armenia is equal to the cost of goods in Russia and other Eurasian Union countries,” he noted.
To the remark of the journalist that in Moscow they would like the prices in restaurants to be as low as in Armenia, Pashinyan said: “Welcome to Armenia. Now there are a lot of Russian tourists in Armenia, and they feel very well in Yerevan. When I meet Russian tourists on the street, I always ask them how they feel in Yerevan, and they always say it is very good.”


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Having been revealed back in December 2021, there hasn’t been much information about the highly anticipated Alan Wake 2 from Remedy Entertainment. It is all by design, of course, as the less people know, the more intrigued they would be, but now, it seems like a cat has been let out of the bag, courtesy of voice actor Matthew Poretta, pointing to an October release later this year.
Making an appearance on podcast, Monsters, Madness, and Magic, the actor has helpfully narrowed down the original 2023 release window to a possible month for fans. And it looks like October is going to get spookier with Alan Wake 2 part of the festivities.
“I’ve been working on it, that’s supposed to come out in October,” said Poretta about Alan Wake 2. “We’re in the middle of working on it now. In fact, I was just in Finland last week, that’s where the company is from… Remedy, they’re amazing people.”
Whether that is truly the case remains to be seen, as after all, this is not an official announcement by Remedy, the developers behind the sequel. Then again, October does seem like the perfect month to release a horror title like Alan Wake 2, and after 13 long years since the first game, we are definitely sure fans wouldn’t mind waiting for the return of the writer wrestling with his demons.
Alan Wake 2 is set to be Remedy’s first survival horror game, with less emphasis on action and more on bringing the tension of horror to life. That would make it more in line with the modern horror contemporaries it will now compete with, and there is certainly stiff competition out there.
The likes of the Dead Space remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake have managed to delight longtime fans and grab new audiences, and it would be great to see Alan Wake 2 doing the same so many years later. Eager fans can also go back to Alan Wake Remastered, which brings back the original adventure as a full remaster, including the two expansions.


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The FDA is warning parents not to give children younger than 2 over-the-counter cough or cold medicines unless given specific directions to do so by a health care provider.
The FDA is reviewing the safety and effectiveness of nonprescription cough and cold drug use in children. An FDA panel will discuss the topic in October.
The FDA yesterday issued a public health advisory stating that "questions have been raised about the safety of these products and whether the benefits justify any potential risks from the use of these products in children, especially children under 2 years of age."
In the advisory, the FDA warns that "some reports of serious adverse events associated with the use of these products appear to be the result of giving too much of these medicines to children."
FDA reviewing cough medicine for kids
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 17, 2007 at 10:54 AM, updated October 01, 2007 at 1:17 PM


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Confidence among small businesses has rebounded in the June quarter, with their growth expectations hitting a two-year high.
According to ANZ’s Business Micro Scope survey, 17 per cent of small firms are confident about business conditions over the year ahead, up from 14 per cent in the March quarter.
The rise in confidence is mirrored in other key indicators for small business sentiment and activity tracked by the survey.
The ANZ composite measure – a key proxy for growth based on a firm’s own activity outlook, hiring, investment and profit expectations – improved to +22, its highest since the first quarter in 2015. The most positive outlook was from intermediate businesses (six to 20 staff) which edged up from +27 to +29, while micro businesses (up to five staff) held at +15.
“As we approach the middle of the year, small businesses are increasingly upbeat about investment, employment and profit expectations,” ANZ managing director of retail and business banking, Antonia Watson said.
“Profit expectations are particularly strong with a net 28 per cent of small firms expecting higher profits on the horizon – the highest for the past three years and a sentiment shared by businesses across a broad range of sectors.”
However, the quarterly survey again highlighted a significant problem holding back small business was a shortage of skilled labour with 23 per cent of small businesses reported a lack of skilled employees as their biggest problem, followed closely by regulation on 22 per cent.
According to the survey, lack of skilled staff, regulation, competition and low turnover are the top of small business owners’ concerns.


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|Home > Technology > IT News > Article|
And Myst, a game like "nothing ever seen before", was not the last word in technology but it had imagined a unique game environment.
With major graphics chip maker Nvidia trumpeting a doubling in the number of transistors it squeezes onto a chip every three months, the quality of widely available hardware makes it possible for even small developers to do cutting-edge work, Chesnais says.
A high-end machine can be bought for around $US50,000 ($83,000), which is a lot of money, but not out of reach, he says, and Maya can be bought for a few thousand dollars (Chesnais has retained an interest in AliasWavefront).
And, Chesnais says, with the right internet connections - which he believes are available in Australia - "nobody is isolated from anybody else".
As programmable chips and system architecture improves, the graphics industry will need to find new ways to use them.
Chesnais says while the games and movie sectors are high-profile and a major segment of the industry, total spending is greater in the area of computer-aided design. In the car industry, in particular, a saving of weeks in the design cycle could save makers millions of dollars.
While SIGGRAPH has seen a slowdown in the graphics industry generally, in line with all IT spending, Chesnais forecasts that recovery will come from two areas. First is games - "what a surprise" - which continues to be a strong industry. The other area is web graphics and solutions to the problems of image delivery. The answers in that area will come from "everywhere", he says, as in the graphics industry there is extreme pressure for immediate results.
Chesnais, who is vice-president of engineering at web graphics company TrueSpectra, says the speed of change means the graphics industry has a long way to go before it is fully mature.
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NFT Morning Minute | Frank's Big Day
Take a minute to catch up on the latest in the web3 space. Here are today's NFT market analysis, top movers, and upcoming mints:
Tyler Warner's NFT Market Summary
It was a bit of a hangover day in the NFT markets Monday, as several projects gave back some gains from the holiday weekend as listers were back in action. Volume was lower than the weekend levels as well, with just 5,425 ETH trading volume recorded on OpenSea. The Yuga assets once again led the volume board, with floors all down slightly to 71.5 ETH, 13.8 ETH, and 1.36 ETH for BAYC, MAYC, and Otherdeeds (each down 2-4%). Punks held steady on the day at 65.9 ETH floor.
There were some winners on the day, led by Clone X which reached 9 ETH ahead of Eggsperiences launching today, as Project Animus and its Eggs seem to be coming very soon. Moonbirds rallied to 8.8 ETH (+15%) on more hints at what Project Highrise will be (an art platform). Valhalla rebounded to 0.66 ETH (+25%), Killabears continued their steady rise at 2.2 ETH (+5%), and Helix Founder's Pass continues to do well at 0.72 ETH (+22%). The Memes by 6529 saw big volume and its top-end Memes go nuclear, as NakamotoFreedom is now 24 ETH (+240%), and Sgt. Pepe is at 6.529 ETH (+100%), led by notable collector Von Mises completing a set.
The most notable news and market action of the day came from Solana, where Frank Degods announced staking for y00ts, and the floor instantly rallied 15 percent to 127 SOL, with a notable Nouns glasses y00t selling for 1,666 SOL. The mint t00bs reached 212 SOL on the rise, and DeGods reached 350 SOL floor on the "DeStake" announcement involving a new staking mechanism for Frank's OG project.
In other NFT news, Castaways completed its Genesis airdrop on Monday, with the new NFT holding a 0.43 ETH floor. Finiliar provided a roadmap update, laying out detailed plans for the future of the animated avatars tied to crypto token prices. And the Archipelago marketplace will shut down on Dec. 10, as the founder Dandelion lamented not capturing enough market share.
NFT Total Volume*
- Bored Ape Yacht Club (846 ETH, 71.4 ETH Floor Price)
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club (763 ETH, 13.8 ETH Floor Price)
- Clone X (749 ETH, 9 ETH Floor Price)
- Otherdeeds (785 ETH, 1.32 ETH Floor Price)
- Valhalla (409 ETH, 0.66 ETH Floor Price)
NFT Floor Price Increase*
- CryptoBirbs (80%, 0.2 ETH Floor Price)
- Kith Friends (28%, 0.52 ETH Floor Price)
- Valhalla (26%, 0.66 ETH Floor Price)
- State of the Art by ThankYouX (23%, 0.39 ETH Floor Price)
- Helix Founder Pass (22%, 0.73 ETH Floor Price)
NFT Floor Price Decrease*
- Bit Bears (-17%, 1.11 ETH Floor Price)
- Jenkins The Valet (-13%, 0.35 ETH Floor Price)
- 10KTF Gucci Grail (-11%, 0.38 ETH Floor Price)
- Entropy by Nahiko (-11%, 0.84 ETH Floor Price)
- The Memes by 6529 (-11%, 0.17 ETH Floor Price)
Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
- Multiplicity (3:00 p.m. ET)
Today is a very slow day of new drops. Expect focus on the RTFKT ecosystem with the first Eggsperience event happening today at 4 p.m. ET, as well as the Castaways ecosystem with its new airdrop. Frank's projects on Solana will likely see continued action today fresh off their recent announcements. And of course, the Yuga ecosystem will see volume.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.
*data retrieved at 8:00 a.m. ET. Volume and percentages are based on the last 24 hours. Notable projects are included, typically with a 0.25 ETH minimum on the projects listed in this roundup.


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The billionaire investor appeared to stand up for internet freedom in India, but his comments gained little appreciation.
India, or Republic of India, is a federal state in South Asia. It is the second-largest country by population after China and the seventh-largest by territory in the world. India has a developing mixed economy, which is the world’s sixth largest in terms of nominal GDP. In India, cryptocurrency payments are becoming more and more popular among its citizens. Currently, the government is developing regulations for operations related to virtual currencies. It is aimed to protect investors and users, prevent money laundering, control the taxation of transactions, etc. Besides that, according to the Indian Minister of Finance, the authorities are concerned about digital currencies’ volatility and anonymity and are considering banning all payments in cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, the future of using cryptocurrency in India remains uncertain.
- Ex-CEO of BTC-e Exchange’s Spin-Off WEX Is Arrested in Italy
- ‘Samsung Coin’ Trademark Filing Unaffiliated With Samsung
- Oil Markets Could Save 30% With Blockchain, Data Gumbo CEO Says
- Tether’s Trouble With New York Attorney General — Will Crypto Cope?
- Major Crypto Markets Report Mixed Signals, Gold Slightly Fell


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Nigerian e-commerce logistics startup Africa Courier Express (ACE) plans to offer its service across the whole of Africa one day after securing sizeable funding.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month payments company Interswitch had invested US$850,000 in ACE, formerly know as A-Post, while the startup has also raised money from Africa Angels Network and Savannah Fund.
ACE offers same day and next day delivery, real-time tracking of packages and pay-on delivery services to online and offline retail companies, consumer goods businesses, healthcare companies and banks across Nigeria.
Co-founders Ercin Eksin and Tunde Kehinde told Disrupt Africa the startup had the potential to help drive Africa’s growing e-commerce sector, which meant there were significant expansion opportunities for the future.
“We are focused on Nigeria currently, offering pay-on-delivery services across five cities and pre-paid delivery nationwide. However, our goal is to offer our services across Africa,” Eksin said.
Kehinde said the startup’s vision was to use logistics to enable commerce across Africa.
“Likewise, our goal is to allow the everyday SME and individuals ship packages across the continent affordably, track their shipment and receive payment at the point of delivery,” he said.
Eksin said the startup filled an important gap as logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa is difficult given the lack of infrastructure and poor addressing across the continent.
“These, coupled with the fact that most logistics businesses today need expertise in pay-on-delivery services, and this makes our job quite difficult,” he said.
“However, the growing e-commerce and retail market means there are more consumers and businesses demanding world-class partners to help move goods across the continent.”
Kehinde agreed African consumers do not currently have reliable options to ship, track and monitor their packages.
“Our biggest advantage has been our ability to merge logistics with technology allowing us to achieve speedy delivery and offer a strong customer experience as well.”
Though revenues and funding so far have been strong, establishing the company has not been without its difficulties.
We can never run out of talent so we are always on the lookout for great talent,” Kehinde said.
“Another challenge is the poor road infrastructure we encounter across the markets we operate in. However, the opportunity in Africa is so much larger than the challenges and we are excited to tackle all challenges and help our customers grow and move their goods across the continent.”


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Simplified food label schemes like the UK-style traffic light will provide EU consumers with clear and simple elements and help them make informed choices, Marco Settembri told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Marco Settembri is Nestlé’s CEO Zone Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) and a member of the board of FoodDrinkEurope, which represents the European food and drink industry.
He spoke to EURACTIV’s Sarantis Michalopoulos.
The food and drink trade between the EU and the UK is massive and many predict a possible disruption unless a quick Brexit deal is reached. What is your opinion? What would you advise the negotiators from both sides to do?
We in FoodDrinkEurope understand that there is an emotional political discussion but negotiators need to also understand the economic impact of their decision. Both sides need to be constructive because if we only focus on our own interest, it will never work.
Food and drinks in Europe are the primary industrial sector and it should be a priority both for the UK and the EU to find a common ground. We need free circulation and to avoid the bureaucracy that could be created by customs and different regulations.
The beauty of the single market we have now is, in fact, that we have the consumer in the centre. We created common regulations also in the interest of consumers.
In March, six industry giants, including Nestlé, launched their own push to have UK-style traffic light labels in Europe. Southern European countries oppose this system, claiming it would stigmatise the Mediterranean diet. Are you planning to go ahead with this? Do you think that such a scheme would be “unfair” to the Mediterranean diet?
The action we have taken is not to impose things. What we called for was European nutritional labelling. We pledged for a European nutrition policy.
The single mMarket took centre stage in the creation of the European Community. What we want is one common labelling and we picked this system as a starting point because it was already used in the UK.
There are some advantages in this UK labelling, such as the colour-code. We have to admit that the monochrome GDA (Guideline Daily Amounts) that was introduced was already a step forward but it was not informing consumers enough. All consumer surveys suggest that people do not understand it while on the contrary, the colour-code is helping them [consumers].
The portion is the key element. If I put a gram of sugar in my portion of food, it’s only a small percentage and therefore it will never be red, but green. The Mediterraneans are invited to join the task force we just set up. We didn’t say the process will be the following and that’s it. We pledged for something.
Let me also tell you that there is not a bad diet and a good diet. It’s a question of balance and portion. This is the kind of consumer education and information we need to provide people with. If they wish to consume 1 kilo of cheese every day they should be free to do so, it’s still their choice, but they have to be informed.
So by simplifying food labels, consumers will be better informed?
Yes, the consumer will have a kind of interpretative labelling. We want to empower the consumer to choose based on some clear and simple elements. By simplifying food labels consumers will be better informed.
For instance, you come from Greece and I come from Italy and we are used to some kind of food and diet. What is good for me is not necessarily good for everybody.
In an effort to respond to public health concerns, the food business has committed to reformulating products to contain less salt, fats or sugars. Do you fear an increase of food taxes on a national level in the long term?
I do believe that the industry and the governments together have to play their part in decreasing overweight and obesity. We know that the reformulation and the portions are the two best things to have an effect on consumers’ diet.
We need to continue the reformulation and we have to take a step ahead. That’s why Nestle is committed to reducing the sugar for another 18.000 tonnes in its products in Europe, which represents a further 5% reduction.
In this way, we also see that we are educating consumers to choose products with less sugar and fat. We are investing through this voluntary action in order to find alternative resources to sugar, salt etc.
The regulators should call for action. They should ask the industry to reduce sugar and the rest. Otherwise, the risk is that people who actually do it voluntarily will eventually be penalised in the competitive game.
Could all the SMEs proceed to reformulation, considering the cost you mentioned before?
Everybody can do it. It’s not just a question to find the magic ingredient. It’s a question to accept that you have to educate consumers to less sweet taste.
If you see the formulation of a product today you will see that the level of sugar is much less than 30 years ago.
Because the palate is completely different. If you consume today a product that you tasted 20 years ago you will ask ‘What is this’? It’s not so complex to take out 5% of sugar. You just have to accept that your product is less sweet.
Now we want to reduce sugar up to 40% and we have developed hollow sugar crystals that will allow us in the future to reduce sugar up to 40% and keep a similar level of taste.
If the industry starts going in this direction it means that in the future better products will exist in the market.
Is there a timeline for this 40% cut?
We have said we will look to start using this technology from 2018 onwards.
How do you see the functioning of the EU single market for food and drinks? Do you notice an EU tendency to “over-regulate” or introduce protectionist measures at member state level?
It’s a shame that we don’t understand that we are undermining the construction of the EU. Why did we create the EU? Because we recognised that by working together it was better for the consumer, for the continent, the prosperity, and the economy and freedom. We don’t understand that this a fundamental issue of the EU construction.
If the EU community starts to allow individual countries to take protectionist measures then it’s the end. The fragmentation that is going to be created by this is absolutely undermining the single market and the EU should stay firm in this.
Food and drinks should have a clear common sense of regulation. Protecting some stuff that has specificities is okay, but the regulation should be the same and avoid creating uncompetitive situations.
We need to go back to the EU fundamentals and stay together to face the rising economic competition from the US and China.
Could the food and drink sector be a driver for the much-awaited EU growth? What specific policy steps should be taken in this direction?
Absolutely. The exports to the rest of the world have risen thanks to the uniqueness of Europe’s products. We believe that the food and drinks sector could have an annual value added growth of 2.5-3.5%.
It’s not only the biggest sector but it also plays a critical role in the economy of Europe. That’s why we ask for the commitment of the legislators to create the conditions for this growth.
In recent years, Nestlé has focused on apprenticeships and traineeships for young people, aiming to bridge the gap between school and the workplace. Has this project worked out? Are you already planning any particular initiatives after 2020?
Nestlé needs the youth initiative that we launched in 2013, which has created 20,000 jobs and 12,000 apprenticeships in Europe. We created an “alliance for youth” with more than 200 companies that joined the programme.
In addition, until 2020 we aim to create another 35,000 jobs and training opportunities in our Zone Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. This is part of our DNA. We have always been a company that has recruited people from universities and tried to eliminate the gaps between schools and the labour market.


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Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) has commenced another busy exhibition season and is on track to mark 2013 as one of its most successful years yet. The 37 high-caliber events on the calendar for the remainder of 2013 are expected to greatly increase footfall to DWTC. Following on the heels of a successful first half of the year, with shows such as Gulfood and Arab Health generating positive feedback, DWTC continues to be an economic catalyst for growth, promoting Dubai’s position as the region’s leading business hub and event destination.
“The exhibition season is a key pillar of the UAE’s thriving economy and a major contributor to the UAE’s tourism industry generating an influx of visitors to the country”, said Ahmad Al Khaja, Senior Vice President – Venues, Dubai World Trade Centre. “The events scheduled for the remainder of 2013 are expected to greatly increase footfall to DWTC. This will bring a positive outcome for the economy of Dubai, as its role as the economic hub of the region is further solidified.”
Concluding this weekend is the hugely successful GITEX Shopper, the largest consumer IT and electronics show in the region. With the UAE consumer electronics market currently valued at US$ 3.9 billion, GITEX Shopper has presented a strong platform for businesses to grow their footprint in the region.
Running alongside the latter half of GITEX Shopper was Cityscape Global 2013, the region’s largest and most esteemed real estate event, which took place from October 8 – 10. For more than a decade, Cityscape Global has provided a platform for real estate investors, architects and designers to share ideas and promote growth in real estate markets worldwide. The event welcomed over 25,000 participants this year.
GITEX Technology Week returns for the 33rd year to “create, disrupt, and re-imagine” the technology industry from October 20 – 24. With IT spend in the Middle East set to hit USD 192.9 billion in 2013, this year’s GITEX promises to be the largest edition yet, confirming its spot as one of the world’s top three information and communications technology (ICT) exhibitions. It will also feature new segments in order to better confer a return on investment for the exhibitors and visitors alike. The event will connect more than 138,000 industry professionals and over 3,500 suppliers from 144 countries across five continents.
Running concurrently with GITEX will be the third annual InfoComm, a leading exhibition covering the crucial integration between audio visual (AV) technologies and businesses. As such, its relevance spans several sectors, including hospitality, retail, architectural design and building, entertainment, broadcast and corporate IT. More than 80 companies from the sectors will be exhibiting their products and offerings during InfoComm.
DWTC’s impressive calendar of events will continue through November with mega-shows, Dubai International Motor Show and The Big 5. As the anchor event in the newly announced Dubai Motor Festival created under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, the Dubai International Motor Show is gearing up for its biggest edition yet. Held every two years, this year’s event is more than 35 percent bigger than the 2011 edition and is expected to showcase over 600 vehicles during the five day show. Two additional events will be launched during the Dubai Motor Festival, complementing the Dubai International Motor Show: the Red Bull Middle East Car Park Drift Championships, which will test the nerves and skill of some of the region’s top drivers, and the Dubai Car Parade which will see the streets of Dubai come alive with hundreds of luxury, sports and classic cars led by the Dubai Police fleet of high performance cars. The Dubai International Motor Show will take place from November 5 – 9.
The Big 5 is the largest construction exhibition ever held in the Middle East, reflecting the Dubai’s central role in the $1.5 trillion GCC construction industry. The Big 5 this year is expected to welcome more than 2,500 exhibitors from 65 countries and more than 60,000 construction professionals. For more than thirty years, The Big 5 has provided exhibitors and visitors alike with the opportunity to conduct business with like-minded professionals and access the most current information on all aspects of the construction industry. The event will run from November 25 – 28.
Concluding the year with glitz and glamour, DWTC will be hosting the Dubai International Jewellery Week, running from December 4 – 7. With almost 20 years at the forefront of jewelry trends, Dubai International Jewelry Week reflects one of the world's most dynamic markets for luxury goods. The event delivers focused forums for traders, consumers and exhibitors from across the globe, with more than 400 exhibitors from over 20 countries expected to attend.
In December, DWTC will also be organising and hosting the Entrepreneurial Ventures of Arabia (EVA) from December 8 – 9. Held under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, EVA is the UAE’s flagship platform to foster the country’s future entrepreneurs.
The events scheduled to take place in the final months of 2013 will set the tone for the region’s largest industries for the coming year. For full information of the calendar of events, visit www.dwtc.com.


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The 2014 BMW i3 is heading to showrooms early next year priced at $42,275.
Read This Article
BMW, which has made common practice of creating new segments and niches to grow its sales numbers, is considering yet another one: a 1 Series sedan.
It's hard to imagine we're already talking about model year 2015 cars already.
Now BMW's just showing off.


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The 3M Company (MMM) is scheduled to post its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings before trading hours on Tuesday, Jan. 29.
The Street expects earnings of $2.27 a share on revenue of $7.94 billion for the three-month period.
In the last three months, 3M shares have improved 4.1% despite the industry decline of 4% on many factors including the China-US trade stand-off.
While 3M has conservatively cut its forecasts when it reported its results last quarter, we are yet to see if the market conditions favored the industrial giant.
3M has a solid product range, and it rightfully invests in innovating it. this and the renewed focus on the company’s productivity might help it perform better than market estimated in the to-be-reported quarter.
Moreover, it also keeps its stakeholders happy with its dividend payouts and share repurchase options.
While higher cost of raw materials due to tariffs might hurt the performance a bit, the impact could be less than 15 cents a share for the entire year.
REVISITING THE PREVIOUS QUARTER
In the previosuly reported third quarter, 3M saw earnings grow 8% on stronger margins and lower income taxes provision. However, the bottom line then missed analysts’ expectations. Additionaly, the industrial mammoth lowered its earnings guidance for FY 2018, sending the stock down soon after. In the same period, sales are inched 0.2% higher.
Total sales grew 1.6% in the Asia Pacific and 1.3% in the US, while it declined 3.9% in EMEA and 5.5% in Latin America/Canada.
Back then, 3M cut its GAAP earnings guidance to $8.78-8.93 per share from the prior estimate of $9.08-9.38 per share. Adjusted EPS was expected to range between $9.90 and $10.00 a share.
3M had expected its full-year organic local-currency sales to grow 3%, while its free cash flow conversion is forecast to be 90-95%.
The IPO market witnessed a boom in 2020, despite the pandemic weakening the macro environment. Many tech companies have witnessed a blockbuster listing this year and few more tech firms
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) reported strong earnings and revenue growth for the fourth quarter of 2020, benefitting from the pandemic-driven digital transformation spree. However, the company's stock dropped during
Mobile game company Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) has seen its stock gain 49% since the beginning of this year. The company registered strong results in the first half of 2020


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc.'s launch of "Google Buzz" is the company's latest attempt to catch up with Facebook and Twitter after one big fail in social networking.
Remember Orkut? The social network was launched with much fanfare by Google in 2004. You had to be invited to use it, the same approach it later followed with the launch of Gmail. It generated hype and "buzz." Now, Orkut is mostly popular in Brasil and India but ranks nowhere near the 350 million active users on Facebook.
After that flop, the Internet advertising behemoth is now trying again to find a way into the social networking arena. So Google
Translation: Google is missing out on some big advertising opportunities on the Web. It looks like consumers who use Buzz will be subjected to more targeted ads based on everything they do in Buzz, whether commenting on friends' activities, posting photos or videos, just as users in Gmail get ads based on topics discussed in their e-mail.
Some of the Silicon Valley technorati were already singing the praises of Buzz over Twitter, without even testing it yet themselves.
But wait and see. Anyone who uses Gmail because it is a clean and easy way to do email may go elsewhere once they see it cluttered up and turned into a mini Facebook.
-- Therese Poletti


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Sweetpalmbn officially launched its latest drink, Sweetpalmbn Kurma Black, during the Sip and Work Out fitness event at Myder Gym in Kampong Mata-Mata last Friday.
The event was organised in collaboration with all women fitness group, the Elitesquad21.
Sweetpalmbn founder Hajah Nuroll Suzela binti Haji Masri said the beverage is a blend of black coffee and dates.
“The drink is a great companion for a person with an active lifestyle by serving as a pre-workout beverage for an instant energy boost,” she said.
“The new beverage is completely different from those already on the market as it enhances inner strength, power, and energy,” she added.
She acknowledged the suggestions and introduced the 250-millilitre bottle in response to requests from customers who are fitness enthusiasts.
Some 40 participants who attended the event were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the new beverage. A lucky draw was also held.
The beverage can be purchased from department stores.


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AMI Tells Congress That Reliance on Corn-Based Ethanol Links Food Prices to Fuel PricesTuesday, May 6, 2008
The mandate by Congress to utilize a key food ingredient as the dominant input for biofuels has inextricably coupled food to fuel prices, driving up costs for consumers and affecting the economy, said AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle in testimony submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. “Valuing food for its energy content instead of nutrition is adding unnecessary inflationary pressure on the US economy,” he said.
Boyle said that the goal of energy security is commendable and should be considered in relative context to risk posed to domestic and international food security. “Congressional and Administration leaders should develop and implement a plan to decouple the increasing price correlation of food from fuel,” said Boyle. Boyle noted that, in 2007, livestock and poultry producers saw their feed prices rise by more than 65 percent and are anticipating an equally difficult environment for 2008. “Food to fuel mandates and subsidies have had a profound impact on the meat and poultry industry and its ability to source affordable feed,” he added.
Boyle pointed out that the The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), its predecessor — the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAC), and existing biofuel subsidies and trade protections have concentrated the adverse impacts on animal agriculture producers and consumers’ food budgets. “When the EPAC was signed, food inflation was coincidently at its ten-year average of 2.3 percent. In January 2008, the CPI food index was 4.9 percent, which is more than twice the ten-year average. Food inflation creates a drag on the economy and reduces the purchasing power of consumers,” Boyle noted. He pointed out that the consequences of this added inflation contribute to an increased food bill of nearly $200 for a household of four.
Boyle added that corn is one of the largest components in the diets of livestock and poultry. Swine rations often contain about 60-85 percent corn, poultry rations contain about 65-75 percent and beef animals often have diets averaging 35 to 65 percent shell corn – although some producers will feed 100 percent corn to beef animals as either shell corn, flaked, or silage. “As a result of a significant increase in ethanol production, animal nutritionists are being confronted with a new challenge in attempting to incorporate a significant amount of ethanol’s byproduct or distillers grains into existing feed rations and maintaining meat and poultry quality and the economic well-being of the livestock and poultry producer,” he said.
“The American Meat Institute is committed to working Congressional and Administration leaders to develop policy that balances our energy security and food security objectives,” he said.
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