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The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has become a beacon of hope and integral to a vital economic upturn for the town of Springfield, Vermont. For generations Springfield, Vermont, which lies close to the border of Vermont and New Hampshire on the Connecticut River, was the home to a booming manufacturing industry.
However, the economic backbone of this community began to falter in the 21st century as the manufacturing business moved overseas.
Bob Flint, the executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation, said that the tax break incentive for small businesses and the newly introduced Opportunity Zones provided by the TCJA, have “stimulated really interesting projects.”
In Springfield, two multi-unit residential properties have already been purchased through this zoning program. Local supporters have suggested that limited regulatory restrictions provided by the TCJA have led to an increased ease in setting up businesses, and therefore the great success of these zones. Going forward, there is continued optimism about the opportunities for these zones provide, including growth of small businesses, job creation and affordable housing projects across the state.
The TCJA is making it easier for every day Americans to pursue the American Dream and start their own businesses. Springfield, Vermont is one of many examples of cities and towns across America being revitalized because of the TCJA.
The effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) continue to ripple through the economy with the U.S adding 130,000 jobs in August. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment remains at the low rate of 3.7 percent while the labor force participation rate rose to 63.2 percent in the past month.
In addition to job creation, August saw the largest gain for average hourly wages in the past year: 11 percent. Wages have now grown 3.2 percent over the past year and are integral evidence of a strong economy. For people across the country wage increases have been a continued result of businesses having more money in their pockets due lower tax rates from the 2017 TCJA.
A year and half after its implementation it is clear that the 2017 TCJA continues to help people all over the nation gain jobs, increase wages and overall, live better lives.
Small businesses are doing better than ever thanks to President Trump’s historic tax cuts. Gallup recently released their quarterly Small Business Index survey. The overall index is +136, up from the +129 in Quarter 2. 58% of small business owners say their revenues increased in the past year, and 64% say they expect revenues to continue increasing.
Small businesses feel optimistic about their businesses, and the survey shows that this is mostly a result of a thriving national economy. 70% of owners think the US economy is excellent or good. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has created an environment that allows small businesses to remain competitive. Not having to worry about paying a high tax bill on top of the many other expenses that come with owning a small business is a major relief.
Businesses are moving back to America as job numbers continue to grow. Last week, pharmaceutical company Mylan announced it would be moving back to the U.S. in a merger deal with part of Pfizer Inc.
This is a continued sign of the Tax Growth and Jobs Act creating a thriving economy in the U.S., and making U.S. businesses more competitive in the international market.
Tax lawyers and analysts say that after the U.S. corporate tax cuts in the 2017 law, the edge between the U.S. and foreign rates is small enough that companies are not wanting to risk the reputational and political costs of moving abroad.
In addition to the announcement of Mylan moving back to the U.S., the July jobs report shows that payrolls increased by 164,000 and wages increased by 3.2%. The U.S. labor force is at a record-high with over 163.4 million people with jobs.
The TCJA continues to be a major success for America and Americans. It’s time for TCJA’s critics to accept that tax reform has been great for workers and businesses alike.
Americans are continuing to benefit from a robust economy nearly two years after President Trump’s historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts (TCJA). This week the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the GDP increased at a rate of 2.1% during the second quarter of 2019.
Disposable personal income also increased in the second quarter by 4.9%, or $193.4 billion. That is $193.4 billion in the hands of the American people to decide how they want to spend it and what they want to spend it on. When the people get to decide how to spend their money, America’s economy thrives.
The TCJA has promoted growth for the U.S. economy by creating jobs, growing paychecks, and strengthening American communities. Americans benefit when they get to keep more of their hard-earned money, rather than paying outlandish tax rates.
The U.S. is in the midst of the longest economic expansion in history, and in order to keep this momentum going, lawmakers must keep tax rates competitive.


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We have a surprising rumour related to the popular Donkey Kong franchise. It seems that a new animated Donkey Kong project could be on the way.
Following rumours that the team behind Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo EPD, was working on a new title, now leaker Zippo, who has correctly leaked information from Nintendo in the past, has claimed that this IP will be transformed into a multimedia project.
Apparently, it would be an expansion of this series with a new animation, the Donkey Kong-inspired Super Nintendo World theme park part (which seems to be all but confirmed) and merchandise. We leave you with the published message:
Several people have told me that Donkey Kong is the next franchise after Mario that Nintendo will be pushing to make their game franchises into multimedia giants.
Donkey and company aren’t just getting a new game, they’re getting an animation (before this went down in flames, my sources didn’t specify if it was a movie or a series, just that an animation with DK characters was beginning development) a major theme park expansion, merchandise, etc. This new game isn’t just a one-off, DK is being taken seriously by the Nintendo again, and that should be good news for fans everywhere.

domain: news


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London, Oct. 23 (ANI): The world's biggest online genealogy search service, Ancestry.com is set to be bought out by a private equity company in a staggering 1.6 billion dollar deal.
The website announced that it had agreed a deal with London-based Permira after having rejected at least three earlier offers as they were not high enough.
The deal will likely make multi-millionaires not just out of the founding pair, but also out of Ancestry.com's chief executive Tim Sullivan and other senior executives, the Daily Mail reports.
According to the paper, Permira's offer of 32 dollars per share is a nearly 10 per cent higher than Friday's closing price for Ancestry.com of 29.18 dollars.
Ancestry.com started out as Ancestry Inc in the early 1980s when CD ROMs had not yet been invented and the only way to conduct research was by going to far flung libraries. It moved online in 1996 and three years ago it became Ancestry.com before going public on the stock market, the paper said.
The firm,w hich was launched by two entrepreneurial students, Paul Allen and Dan Taggart, now has 850 employees in 10 offices in the US and countries such as Britain, Italy and Germany with revenues of around 475 million dollars, the paper added. (ANI)


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Since August when the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) released the findings of the surveillance report for 2017 and 2018, which revealed that up to 54 per cent of the goods on the market are substandard, its officials have been carrying out raids on shopping centres in different parts of the country from where they have seized and destroyed huge volumes of counterfeit goods.
It is commendable that UNBS is trying to do something to rid the shelves in our shopping centres of substandard products, but the action is not sustainable.
UNBS is setting itself up against an iron wall if it assumes that the fire-fighting in the form of impromptu raids on consumer outlets is the silver bullet that will kill the animal called counterfeit products. How many outlets can it possibly raid and with which resources?
First of all, the images of wailing traders, a majority of whom are incapable of telling the difference between genuine and fake products, leaves one wondering whether UNBS is not going for the small fry as the big fish swim on.
During a recent raid on consumer outlets in Jinja, UNBS officials carted away an assortment of locally made goods whose manufacturers are known.
In Masaka, most shops that deal in imported electrical appliances were left half empty because many of their products were said to be dangerous to the end user.
Ordinarily, importers are required to comply with the pre-export verification of conformity to standards (PVOC) programme, which requires goods to be inspected at source before they are exported to Uganda. If fake goods are still finding their way onto the market, then it is because UNBS has failed to ensure compliance to PVOC.
Ms Sarah Nantongo, the UNBS surveillance officer in Masaka, claimed that many of the affected traders did not have Certificates of Conformance, a sign that goods had been inspected and found to be of the required standard, but the traders there insisted that the sources of the goods that were grabbed from their premises are stores in Kampala, which are known to whoever is interested enough to find them.
Why then is UNBS going for the traders and not those who supply those traders?
The war against counterfeits can only be won if UNBS takes the fight to the sources by targeting the importers and manufacturers. Local manufacturers must be compelled to take their products to UNBS for verification and be subjected to constant checks for quality control. That is where the fight will be won.


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Allows customers to monitor and manage their accounts online
Barclaycard, the UK-based card processing company and part of the Barclays Global and Retail Commercial Banking division, has launched a new online account servicing system dubbed, mybarclaycard – reported Thepaypers.com.
It has been reported that throughout the development of mybarclaycard, over 20,000 Barclaycard customers were invited to preview the site and provide feedback on the bank’s new online service.
Reportedly, it allows Barclays cardholders to choose how they want to see their account information displayed on the screen, as well as view their spending by category and visualise their spending on each category in order to analyse their spending patterns. It also gives customers the ability to filter and search all transactions to help trace and confirm spending, request a balance transfer, a replacement card, query or dispute a transaction and manage their credit limits online.


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Tesla (TSLA) confirmed that it is increasing its planned capital spending to $10 billion this year as it tries to achieve its next growth phase.
Lately, Tesla has described itself as being “between two major growth waves”. The first wave was the ramp-up of Model 3 and Model Y production, which appears to be now plateauing.
The second wave is expected to be the ramp-up of its next-generation vehicles, which are coming in late 2025.
In the meantime, Tesla is stuck with its current lineup, which can still grow a bit, but at nowhere near the pace of Model 3/Y.
In order to prepare for this next phase of growth and other products in the work, Tesla has disclosed upcoming record spending, according to a new SEC filing.
In its 10-K SEC filing today, Tesla confirmed that it spent $8.9 billion in capital expenditure in 2023:
Capital expenditures amounted to $8.90 billion in 2023, compared to $7.16 billion in 2022, representing an increase of $1.74 billion. Sustained growth has allowed our business to generally fund itself, and we will continue investing in a number of capital-intensive projects and research and development in upcoming periods.
That was a new record of spending for Tesla in 2023, but now the company says that it will be even higher this year.
Tesla disclosed that it plans to spend more than $10 billion this year:
Owing and subject to the foregoing as well as the pipeline of announced projects under development, all other continuing infrastructure growth and varying levels of inflation, we currently expect our capital expenditures to exceed $10.00 billion in 2024 and be between $8.00 to $10.00 billion in each of the following two fiscal years.
The company doesn’t disclose exactly where this money is going to go, but the automaker is always heavily investing in manufacturing operations and it is still growing Gigafactory Texas and Berlin.
It’s possible that Tesla will start spending more on Gigafactory Mexico this year – although the company is not committing to a start of construction any time soon.
One of the categories that could be driving Tesla’s higher spending this year is EV infrastructure. Tesla is growing the Supercharger network at an incredibly fast pace, and it’s a capital-heavy category. You have to build the stations and install them at full cost while seeing the return over years, if not decades, as EV drivers start to use these stations.
In 2024, Tesla needs to grow the Supercharger network faster and bigger than ever, especially in North America where it will finally start to on-board non-Tesla drivers in a more meaningful way for the first time.
Tesla also continues to invest billions in computing power to support its AI initiatives. The company recently disclosed a new $500 million Dojo computer cluster coming to New York. CEO Elon Musk also confirmed that Tesla will spend even more money on NVIDIA and AMD processors this year.
Interestingly, the company guides that spending will go down in 2025-2026 compared to 2024.
Where else do you think Tesla will spend a lot of money in 2024? Let us know in the comment section below.


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The minute-long film showcases women across different age groups, different body profiles and different geographies, indulging in sweet moments of liberation and joy
NEW DELHI: Online lingerie retailer Zivame has rolled out a new brand campaign encouraging women to give shape to their inner desires and promote body positivity. Zivame’s Dekho Maine Kya Kiya (Look, what I’ve done) campaign captures the confidence and freedom that comes with wearing the right intimate wear for one's body type.
The minute-long film showcases women across different age groups, different body profiles and different geographies, indulging in sweet moments of liberation and joy.
From a mother enjoying playful moments with her kids, a woman indulging in her love for dancing, a mature woman stepping out of her comfort zone to try something new, to young girls breaking norms and celebrating in their own style, the campaign brings alive how the right intimate wear can add to one’s body confidence.
Amisha Jain, chief executive of Zivame, said that the brand has always played the pivotal role of a catalyst in growing and changing perceptions in the intimate wear category in India. The new inclusive campaign encourages women to embrace their true selves.
"It's one of the larger campaigns marking our 10th year anniversary as well. The meaning of intimate wear and lingerie is changing from an imposition to being a true enabler of a personal style. Seeing this confident look, women are inspired to do what they wish to, explore new and exciting things and push boundaries. Here, Zivame is looking to lead the change through this campaign and expecting to further advance the conversation around the category and inclusivity," she added.
The campaign is currently being promoted across social media and digital platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The company plans to expand to mainstream media platforms over a period of time.
Puneet Kapoor, regional creative officer, Lowe Lintas Bengaluru, said, “The genesis of the idea ‘Dekho Maine Kya Kiya’ comes from the liberation and confidence that the right intimate-wear allows. Intimate-wear that is uniquely made for different body-types. It celebrates women who push the boundaries with their unique ways as they go about their everyday with aplomb and tenacity."


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MUMBAI, INDIA — Paytm – India’s leading mobile payments & financial services company, in association with Dentsu Impact, a dentsuMB company & the creative agency from dentsu India, has rolled out a thought-provoking campaign, nationally. The campaign consists of a digital film that both young women and men can relate to.
It throws light on how amidst the New Year celebrations a common phenomenon is often trivialized, thereby inviting the audience to challenge their perception of women and their financial dependency. The film also takes forward Paytm’s belief to be an enabler for women’s financial autonomy. It is pertinent to note here that this uplifting positioning was also previously seen in the brand’s earlier social experiment film, launched by Dentsu Impact on Women’s Day in 2021 – The Divide.
With the onset of this campaign, Paytm sparks a conversation about rethinking what treating women respectfully means. It also paves the way for women to be more in control of such difficult social situations while staying completely secure.
Commenting on the campaign, Anupama Ramaswamy, National Creative Director & Managing Partner, Dentsu Impact said, “Giving it back, by paying it back makes the intent of this campaign palpable for both women and men. The New Year campaign demonstrates how it pays to challenge the conventions of how we think of finance and gender. And any challenge to the traditional way of accepting things makes the brand and the message it conveys modern and aspirational, striking a chord especially with a younger generation.”
Agency: Dentsu Impact
Managing Partner: Anupama Ramaswamy, Ajit Devraj
National Creative Director: Anupama Ramaswamy
Films Head: Suprotim Day
Group Creative Director: Monish Gupta
Creative Director: Vedansh Kumar
Films Team: Aamir Khan, Kriti Khandelwal, Swapnil Kulkarni
Account Management: Hindol Purkayastha, Sheeraj Sengupta


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Florida-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (CSE: TRUL) (OTCQX: TCNNF) had a busy 2022 expanding and finishing off its blockbuster acquisition of Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation. By contrast, this year the company plans to spend more time keeping its head down and focusing on making money.
“We’re coming off of a multiyear investment cycle, primarily focused on building supply chain and distribution capacity,” CEO Kim Rivers explained during an investor call this week, referring to Trulieve’s $246 million in overall losses last year, noting that a lot of that was due to finalizing details on the acquisition of Harvest Health & Recreation in late 2021.
Rivers said Trulieve’s two top goals for 2023 are “one, maximize cash generation and preservation; and two, make strategic investments to support future growth.” The company will also add more retail stores in various states to its footprint, she said.
To that end, CFO Alex D’Amico said the company plans to open 15-20 new stores in 2023, compared with the 25 it opened last year, and will relocate another six. And capital expenditures are projected to be down by about 50% the coming year, he said, which will save the company millions.
Trulieve’s plans include getting new facilities open in Georgia and Connecticut, and the company has hopes that recreational markets will launch in Pennsylvania and Maryland, which are both dependent on the state legislatures to act, Rivers said.
But she also made clear that bankrolling the Florida adult-use campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, is one critical “strategic investment” because of how much it could change the industry landscape in the Sunshine State. Trulieve has already invested $25 million into the ballot measure, and Rivers said the company won’t be stopping there.
“The most impactful upcoming opportunity for Trulieve is the potential launch of adult-use sales in Florida,” Rivers told shareholders. “As such, Trulieve intends to continue financial support of the Smart & Safe Florida campaign for an adult-use ballot initiative. … With 22 million residents and 138 million annual tourist visits, we believe Florida will be a top legal cannabis market reaching $6 billion in annual revenue.”


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Nov 29 2019
An industry’s profitability is influenced by various factors, including pricing pressures, input price fluctuations, demand conditions, start-up costs, and initiatives introduced by operators within an industry to enhance efficiencies. IBISWorld has looked at the five most unprofitable industries of 2019-20, analysing the key reasons why they are unprofitable and discussing what trends are expected for these industries over the coming years.
The Urban Passenger Rail Operations industry’s operating loss is estimated to be equivalent to 20.3% of industry revenue in 2019-20, allowing it to take the top spot as the most unprofitable industry. The industry is loss-making primarily because the largest players are owned by the government and generally provide services to the public at a loss. For instance, the industry’s largest operator, Transport for London (TFL), with a market share of approximately of 88.7%, reported a loss of over £1.9 billion in 2018-19, which translated to approximately 33.8% of the company’s revenue. The industry’s operating loss stood at 18% of revenue in 2014-15, indicating that its profit performance is expected to deteriorate over the five-year period through 2019-20. Fare freezes are anticipated to be responsible for the widening of the operating loss. However, rising passenger numbers and efforts by TFL to slash expenditure are likely to prevent the industry’s loss from expanding further. IBISWorld expects the industry to continue reporting losses over the next five years, though losses are expected to narrow somewhat, as TFL is set to introduce further cost-cutting measures over the coming years.
The Financial Technology industry is expected to report an operating loss equal to 5.4% of industry revenue in 2019-20, making it the second-highest loss-making industry. The industry is in the growth stage of its life cycle and has recorded significant revenue expansion over the past five years. However, high start-up costs and large sums invested in research and development activity have been the primary driver of the industry’s adverse profit performance. Although the industry is expected to operate at a loss in the current year, IBISWorld analysis reveals that losses have narrowed over the past five years, as the industry’s fixed costs have been absorbed by a growing revenue base. In fact, some firms in the industry have already turned profitable after reporting steep losses in prior years. TransferWise Ltd, a London-based money transfer service which holds a market share of approximately 2.7%, is one such example. The company reported operating losses in every year since being incorporated in March 2010 before becoming profitable for the first time in 2017-18. IBISWorld expects the industry’s profit margin to turn positive over the next five years as more established firms become profitable. In addition, industry revenue is projected to expand at a robust pace, allowing major costs to reduce as a proportion of revenue, supporting industry profitability.
The Hard Coal Mining industry is anticipated to record an operating loss equivalent to 2.5% of industry revenue in 2019-20. The industry has been in decline for decades, primarily because the reliance on coal for electricity generation has fallen dramatically. In fact, coal was responsible for over two-thirds of electricity generation in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, but this share has plunged over the years and it is now estimated to account for less than 5% of electricity generation. Various government efforts to phase out the use of coal for electricity generation due to its high emissions have been largely responsible for this decline. In addition, demand for coal mined by industry operators has also declined due to the availability of cheaper coal mined overseas. The fall in demand for coal mined in the United Kingdom has caused production levels and revenue to tumble over the past five years. These factors are mainly responsible for the industry’s profit margin turning from positive in 2014-15 to negative in the current year. IBISWorld expects the industry’s operating loss to worsen over the next five years, as production levels are forecast follow a downward path, fuelled by the government’s commitment to the closure of all coal-fired power stations in the United Kingdom by 2025.
The Personal Trainers industry is estimated to report an operating profit that is equivalent to just 0.5% of industry revenue during the current year. The industry’s profitability is heavily depressed because it is dominated by personal trainers, who function as owner-operators and take the majority of the revenue left over after expenses as their wages. As a result, wages are expected to absorb over 70% of industry revenue in the 2019-20. However, the average amount withdrawn from profit as wages fell during the past five years. Escalating levels of competition between personal trainers and waning demand for industry services, partly due to the rising popular of budget gyms that provide similar services, meant that personal trainers had less revenue less left over after deducting other expenses. IBISWorld expects the industry’s profit margin to remained low over the next five years, with wages continuing to absorb the largest chunk of industry revenue.
The Fuel Wholesaling industry operates on extremely tight operating profit margins, and is estimated to report an operating profit equivalent to 0.5% of industry revenue in the current year. The high level of competition between industry operators, transparent pricing of petroleum products at the refinery gate, and the availability of imported products are primarily responsible for keeping the profit margin depressed. The industry’s profit margin is expected to remain fairly stable during the five-year period through 2019-20. Comprehensive hedging techniques employed by operators to dampen the effects of volatile input prices and currency fluctuations have ensured that margins remained stable. IBISWorld expects the industry’s profit margin to remain low in the coming years as competition, especially in terms of price, intensifies further. In addition, agreements made by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to restrict supply could also increase input prices and hamper industry profitability.
For a printable PDF of Top Five Unprofitable Industries in 2019-20, click here.
IBISWorld industry reports used in this special report:
B05.100 - Hard Coal Mining in the UK
G46.710 - Fuel Wholesaling in the UK
H49.311 - Urban Passenger Rail Operations in the UK
UK0.027 - Personal Trainers in the UK
UK0.036 - Financial Technology in the UK


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Although is not scheduled to close, the same can't be said for , another store owned by Sears Holdings Corpration, which is shutting down more than 100 locations nationally due to increased expenses and underperforming sales.
The Sears Holdings Corporation announced 70 stores officially marked for closure, including the Crestwood Sears, and plans to announce an additional 30 to 50 stores soon, according to the company. Sears Holdings Corp also heads K-Mart, Lands' End and The Great Indoors.
While Sears has not yet announced how many employees will be impacted by the closure, typical stores employ between 40 and 80 people.
The only other Missouri store listed is the Grand Essentials in Lee’s Summit outside of Kansas City, according to the list.
Sears has not announced plans for the three other local Sears stores in South County Center, Chesterfield Mall and Mid Rivers Mall.


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The Railmaster joins other previously-unveiled new classes in the upcoming Torchlight Frontiers. Players can return to the world of Torchlight when the game, currently in closed alpha testing, releases later this year.
Tagged: Torchlight Frontiers
Torchlight’s hack-and-loot formula is returning next year, courtesy of a new developer. Now, the Dusk Mage hero class has joined the game’s ranks.
Alert! Alert! Torchlight’s new class has a primary function to obtain loot. Proceed to discover the methods by which it will achieve this goal.
A new trailer has arrived to follow-up on the recent announcement of Torchlight Frontiers. Though the video is dubbed a gameplay reveal, there is a distinct lack of any UI elements.
Torchlight is set to return next year with Torchlight Frontiers. Though original developer Runic Games is no more, a familiar name is leading new studio Echtra Games.


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| ||Thread Tools|
|18th April 2014, 06:38||#1|
Join Date: May 2010
Yahoo wants Apple to knife Google
Yahoo's Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is working on a cunning plan to persuade Apple to ditch Google as its default search engine in favour of Yahoo.
Word on the street is that Mayer's effort is in advanced stages and she has a PowerPointless demo already prepared for Apple executives.
Yahoo senior vice president of mobile and emerging products, Adam Cahan, is behind the plan.
Mayer, who used to work for Google, has enough support from Apple executives, including Jonathan Ive, who she has known for a while.
Ive gave the world the rounded rectangle and exerts enormous influence over Jobs' Mob with his equiangular quadrilateral ways.
Google search, which has been the default search engine in iOS and powered Apple's Safari Web browser used on iPhones and iPads for quite some time. Jobs' Mob collects $1 billion per year for traffic driven to Google servers and subsequent ad network.
While Apple and Google hate each other with a passion, after Google practically knocked Apple from its rule as king of the smartphone business, Apple stuck with Google's services over the years to keep things looking the same.
Yahoo's results were not great and depended on business investments in China. Mayer needs to pull a few rabbits out of hats to make some serious cash.
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Yahoo's latest acquisition points to a Google Now rival||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||31st January 2014 07:35|
|Hackers nick Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo passwords||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||6th December 2013 06:39|
|NSA tapped fiber backbone to spy on Google and Yahoo according to report||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||26th November 2013 09:19|
|Yahoo gives search a redesign, unveils Google-esque nav bar||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||6th June 2013 08:22|
|Google, Yahoo Accused Of Funding Piracy||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||3rd January 2013 07:41|
|Yahoo hires Google exec Henrique de Castro as COO||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||16th October 2012 08:11|
|Yahoo appoints former Google exec Marissa Mayer as CEO||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||17th July 2012 09:13|
|Now Google Wants a Piece of the Yahoo Pie||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||24th October 2011 07:21|
|Google, Yahoo spiders can now crawl through Flash sites||jmke||WebNews||0||1st July 2008 18:53|
|Google Condemns Microsoft Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!||jmke||WebNews||0||5th February 2008 10:36|


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Customer service continues to evolve, which marks one of the main trends for 2015 throughout many industries that rely on data from consumer interaction. Managers in various departments must pay attention to recent trends in order to save costs related to keeping customers happy through a service center.
Statistics and surveys show just how important customer service interactions can be for a company's profit margin. Up to 71 percent of customers do not return to a company due to poor customer interactions. As many as 39 percent of consumers avoid a company for two or more years due to a negative experience, resulting in 62 percent of companies that view a viable customer experience as a key competitive advantage.
Huge amounts of money go into customer service departments. Companies spend an average of $108 billion per year, or about $750 per customer. Large amounts of money, coupled with customer losses due to poor interactions, mean department managers must pay attention to trends for 2015 unless companies lose market share due to a lack of improvement with regards to customer interactions. Businesses must start with analytics that show where weaknesses occur in the service department.
More customers could access the Internet through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers than through a wireless-enabled computer in 2015. As many as 63 percent of customers are more likely to return to a company that has live chat for a customer service portal. Businesses that want a larger market share should consider a live chat option on their websites.
Videoconferencing with customers has also become a major trend. Amazon.com created a "Mayday Button" on its Kindle products in September 2014 that directly connected customers to an agent via video technology already embedded in the device. The service has become so popular that as many as 75 percent of Kindle customers take advantage of videoconferencing.
Another trend to watch includes self-service options due to the Internet. Companies can create FAQ pages, video tutorials and online forums for customers to find answers they need when the service department is closed. This model rings particularly true for companies that have online retail operations in addition to brick-and-mortar stores.
Until companies invest in these technologies moving forward, managers must still grapple with customer service issues right now. One of the best things department heads can do revolves around training individual agents through strategic training initiatives. Although the return on investment can be enormous, these new technologies take time to implement due to beta testing, redoing software platforms, and upgrading computer systems to handle more workloads.
Customer service trends continue to embrace even more technological aspects. Yet companies should not veer away from traditional service principles, such as taking care of existing customers, as returning business forms the lifeblood of revenue streams.
Photo courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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The latest Pokemon Unite leak has revealed that Leafeon will be added to the game in the near future. The leak comes from a data miner who has been digging through the game’s code and has found references to the Grass-type Pokemon.
Leafeon is a Grass-type Pokemon that was introduced in the fourth generation of the Pokemon franchise. It is a mammalian creature that resembles a fox and is known for its ability to absorb sunlight and convert it into energy.
The leak suggests that Leafeon will be added to the game in the near future, although no specific date has been given. It is likely that the Pokemon will be added as part of a future update, although this has yet to be confirmed.
Leafeon will join the other Pokemon that have already been added to the game, such as Pikachu, Charizard, and Snorlax. It is unclear what role Leafeon will play in the game, but it is likely that it will be a powerful addition to any team.
The addition of Leafeon to Pokemon Unite is sure to be welcomed by fans of the franchise. The game has already been praised for its unique take on the Pokemon franchise, and the addition of Leafeon will only add to the game’s appeal.
It is unclear when Leafeon will be added to the game, but it is likely that it will be soon. Until then, fans of the franchise will have to wait and see what other surprises the game has in store.


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Based on our data, the Cougar's value has remained strong despite plunging 401(k)s
Past News ReleasesRSS
San Diego (PRWEB) December 9, 2008
Cougar hunting, defined loosely as younger men prowling for older women, enjoyed another strong year in 2008 according to newly released data from Manvite, the first online invitation service designed for men.
Users of the free Manvite service, who average 31 years old, were more likely to go Cougar Hunting this year than bowl, golf, or even go out for lap dances. Only a few other activities core to the male lifestyle, such as drinking beer and watching sports, remain more popular than going out to seek the company of an experienced older female who desires a no-strings-attached relationship with an eager young hunter.
"Based on our data, the Cougar's value has remained strong despite plunging 401(k)s," noted Founder and CEO Jonathan Sills. "Sugar daddies lost a lot of sugar this year, but the value young men place on companionship with older women seems to be recession proof."
Manvite was born out of necessity when founder Jonathan Sills wanted to invite some guys over for football, and his only online options featured bubbling martini glasses and flowery fonts. In response, Sills developed Manvite, the first online invitation service for men. Manvite combines the convenience and functionality of traditional online services with a basic, straightforward design and just-for-men features. For more information, visit http://www.manvite.com.


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A charity in the U.K. is trying to help homeless people by trialling vending machines that dispense essential items like food and clothing.
At present, the first machine is being tested in Nottingham, with a plan to expand to other major cities including Manchester, London, Birmingham, and Brighton next. “We’ll be installing machines in the United States from February 2018,” Khaled said. “New York will receive the first machine, and Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle will follow. We’ve had a deluge of interest from many cities across America, and we’re working hard to reach as many people as possible. We’re also exploring locations across wider Europe.”


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New Campaign Debunks Misleading 'Natural' Labels, Highlights Organics Benefits
A public education campaign was launched this week to highlight the benefits of organic food and to help consumers understand the difference between products labeled organic and those that are labeled as “natural.”
“Foods made with the use of toxic persistent pesticides and even genetically engineered (GE) ingredients are being labeled as natural,” said Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Stonyfield Farm. “Only organic guarantees that food is produced without the use of toxic persistent pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or genetically engineered ingredients. Only organic gives you complete piece of mind.”
The public education campaign will include videos to help consumers understand the how the “natural” label can be used to confuse shoppers. The videos were developed by the recently launched agency Humanaut with help from advertising icon Alex Bogusky.
Organic foods are subject to stringent environment and animal welfare standards enforced by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and USDA discourage companies from including “natural” claims on processed foods containing synthetic or artificial ingredients, there is no official definition of “natural” and little enforcement of misleading claims.
“Only organic is produced in a way that Mother Nature would recognize as natural,” said Sarah Bird, chief marketing officer for Annie’s, Inc. “Many products that claim to be 'natural' are made with ingredients you couldn’t find in nature—including artificial flavors or colors, synthetic preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and genetically engineered ingredients."
Natural claims have been added to everything from cooking oils made from genetically engineered crops to ice cream made from cows pumped full of growth hormones.
“Many consumers mistakenly believe that foods labeled as ‘natural’ are better than food that has been certified as organic,” said Lewis Goldstein, vice president of brand marketing at Organic Valley. “Organic food starts with organic farming, from the ground up. Only organic is subject to tough, enforceable standards created by the USDA designed to insure that our families can count on their food being produced in ways that protect their health, the environment and the welfare of farm animals.”
The public education campaign is being launched by Organic Voices, and is supported by organic companies and other companies, including AllergyKids, Annie’s, Earthbound, Happy Family, INFRA, Late July, Nature’s Path, NCGA, Organic Valley, Rudi’s, and Stonyfield.
“Many products carry the ‘natural’ claim when there is nothing natural about them,” said Darren Mahaffy, vice president of marketing at Nature’s Path Foods. "As a result, many consumers are buying products they think are the same—or even better—for their families and the environment than organic.”
A recent survey found that consumers commonly believe that “natural” foods do not contain artificial ingredients.
“The public needs new tools to understand the benefits of organic and to be able to distinguish between organic foods and all other unverified claims,” said Laura Batcha, executive director of the Organic Trade Association.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Jared Kaufman
Eating a better diet has been linked with lower levels of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately 821 million people — about 1 in 9 worldwide — face hunger, and roughly 2 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, according to the U.N. World Health Organization. In addition, food insecurity is associated with even higher health care costs in the U.S., particularly among older people. To help direct worldwide focus toward solving these issues, the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals call for the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and undernutrition by 2030.
mevans / E+ / Getty Images
Calls for Radical Climate Action Grow Louder as NOAA Reports Last Month Was Hottest June Ever Recorded
By Jessica Corbett
As meteorologists warned Thursday that temperatures above 100°F are expected to impact two-thirds of the country this weekend, U.S. government scientists revealed that last month was the hottest June ever recorded — bolstering calls for radical global action on the climate emergency.
By John R. Platt
For years now conservationists have warned that many of Madagascar's iconic lemur species face the risk of extinction due to rampant deforestation, the illegal pet trade and the emerging market for the primates' meat.
Yes, people eat lemurs, and the reasons they do aren't exactly what we might expect.


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Off-topic, but has anyone else noticed a real increase in electric cars out on the road of late? Feels like we see a Tesla every 10 minutes at the moment. Anyhoo, WRC Generations is including an interesting new gameplay wrinkle with the addition of Rally1 Hybrid cars.
The press release reveals: “Experience driving sensations with much greater engine torque, delivering up to 30 per cent more power when accelerating. Drivers must also think about their strategy before the start of the stages to optimise the management of electrical power and the battery.” That does sound like fun.
The game’s due out on PS5 and PS4 from 13th October, and will be Nacon’s last officially licensed WRC effort, with EA Sports – and, specifically, its Codemasters teams – poised to take the wheel moving forwards.


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When the National Football League yesterday struck a trio of eye-popping deals with big TV networks, the focus was rightly on just how valuable live sports have become to broadcasters today.
But buried in the press releases heralding the agreements (which will bring the NFL $24bn over nine years) was some rather revolutionary news: the TV networks also secured the digital rights to the most popular sport on television.
The US television industry is in the midst of a bumpy transition to the web. While the overall number of pay-TV customers is flat or slightly down, those with TVs are watching more than ever. At the same time, Netflix and Hulu are providing new high-quality viewing options on the web, even as the industry’s own online initiative — TV Everywhere — gets off to a slow start.
In theory, TV Everywhere allows pay-TV subscribers to authenticate themselves online and then watch live programming on computers and tablets. Not every cable company has embraced the initiative, however, and turf wars are breaking out over fragmented rights. The result is slow consumer adoption.
But if NFL games — consistently among the highest rated broadcasts each week, but not yet widely available for online viewing — were available to watch live on laptops and tablets, that could give TV Everywhere the kick-start it badly needs.
In a note about CBS, one of the networks in yesterday’s deals, Macquarie Capital analyst Tim Nollen zeroed in on the importance of digital rights. ”The CBS deal comes with digital streaming rights that could pave the way for live online broadcasts,” he said. “We would not be surprised to see tablet broadcasts emerge at some point as well.”
This could also allow networks including CBS to ask more from the local stations that carry their signals. “We believe this deal can help CBS in negotiations for high-margin retransmission fees from affiliate stations, especially considering the new streaming rights,” Mr Nollen said.
There are some wrinkles in the deals. Namely, the digital rights do not seem to include streaming to smartphones, according to a statement from Fox, another one of the networks that renewed with the NFL: ”The agreement also includes fully authenticated ‘TV everywhere’ rights, which enables Fox Sports to offer games it broadcasts . . . on FoxSports.com, tablets and other digital platforms, excluding mobile phones.”
Even without smartphone rights, these digital rights deals could be a boon for the big broadcasters, and set up a breakthrough moment for TV Everywhere. And for consumers, it means that the most popular live programmes on TV might not have to be watched on TV at all, but on a desktop, laptop, or tablet.


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Specifically, the SIG will announce a "Generic Alternate MAC/PHY (AMP) that will enable Bluetooth profiles to take advantage of 802.11 speeds," she said.
Details on the Bluetooth 3.0 spec were actually discussed in detail a year ago, when SIG chairman Michael Foley disclosed that the Bluetooth spec would be able to ride both the Wi-Fi specification as well as the ultrawideband protocol, which has since shut down its standards group and seen UWB firms like TZero go under.
Bluetooth 3.0 will include a new feature, however, known as "Enhanced Power Control," which will reduce the incidence of disconnects caused by movement such as placing a phone in a pocket or purse, the spokeswoman said.
The Bluetooth 3.0 specification was originally slated to be released last year, with products scheduled to be released early in 2009. The spokeswoman said that chip companies were "already lined up to roll this out," an indication that products might not be far behind.
The idea behind Bluetooth 3.0 is that while Bluetooth can transfer media files, it's not nearly fast enough even at the 3.0-Mbits/s data rates of the Enhanced Data Rate protocol. Wi-Fi is much faster, especially with the 200 Mbits/s or so bandwidth that 802.11n promises.
Bluetooth 3.0 will allow both generic Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-encoded Wi-Fi data packets to coexist in the same network, simultaneously, through time-slicing. Under the Bluetooth 3.0 scheme, a Bluetooth radio will contact another using the Bluetooth protocol. Once a connection has been established, the Wi-Fi radios will be enabled for data transfer; the Bluetooth radios will then unclasp the handshake between the two devices.


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If you suffer from nut allergies, then you might want to put down that sachet of Santa Maria seasoning and take it back to the store.
The food and agriculture ministry, Fødevarestyrelsen, is encouraging shoppers to return their Santa Maria spices for a refund or to throw them out if they contain the contaminated paprika that is found in many of the company's blends.
Santa Maria, the largest producer of spices in Scandinavia, announced over the weekend that it is recalling two dozen of its seasoning and spice mixes due to the fact that its paprika has traces of almonds in it.
The company said it is “unlikely” that all the recalled products have almond traces, but wants to be “comprehensive” since nut allergies are serious and can be fatal.
Last week, Coop took another product – Sydlandsk Oliven Mix – off its shelves due to almond traces.
And in the UK, there are investigations currently being held into the undeclared use of nuts in spices, especially with cumin, which is experiencing soaring prices globally as India's cumin crops only brought in half their normal yield, causing companies to substitute cheap peanuts and almonds into seasoning mixes.


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In June 2012, the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) found that mis-selling of financial products to small businesses had indeed taken place. It estimated that around 40,000 such products had been sold.
The findings from its pilot study showed that around 90% of claims received from firms were upheld, asserting that they had been mis-sold these products.
The financial products causing most harm to SMEs are known as ‘swaps’ and were a form of hedging against a potential rise in interest rates payable on loans. In some cases, when interest rates actually fell, businesses found that they were trapped in the high cost ‘swap’ policy, which they had n ot properly understood.
Victims have reported that in many case, taking out a ‘swap’ policy was a bank condition of being give a loan they were seeking.
Banks are now substantially upgrading their former estimates of what compensation to those mis-sold these products would cost them.
The mis-selling focused on the complexity of the products in question, beyond the ability of most SMEs to understand, leaving them vulnerable to the claims of salesmen which they were in no position to challenge.
Martin Wheatley, chief executive designate of Britain’s new market regulator and the FSA official in charge of the compensation scheme, has described the ‘swap’ products as ‘absurdly complex’. The FSA’s worst estimate of the total cost to the banking industry of the compensation scheme is £18 billion.
The worry with the compensation scheme has been that local businesses might slip through the net and remain uncompensated.
Following the FSA report and aware of this particular concern on the position of local SMEs, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has put a process in place which aims to deliver help and advice to the firms affected.
The FSB is working with three companies to provide professional guidance and support through the process of accessing redress for its members.The companies are:
- Slater & Gordon
- Mayo Wynne Baxter Solicitors
- Mr Brian Hurst, 39 Park Square Chambers
The FSB will not be responsible for the legal process or the financial outcome. It will not be directly involved in the litigation.
What the FSB wants to do is secure a speedy solution for its members that have been affected by this mis-selling. It is keen to give support and advice to help thousands of small firms to navigate the FSA Scheme, accessible here online.
Rory MacKail, Chaiar of the Argyll and Islands Branch, says: ‘We felt that it was important for the businesses that have been affected to be able to take appropriate and professional advice, to ensure they get the redress they deserve. They now have a choice of support to help them through this process.’
Note: Read the FSB’s response to the FSA pilot scheme report.


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Sirius XM satellite radio is the core business of Sirius XM. Out of this world content delivered to consumers via satellite seemed revolutionary when the concept was dreamed up, but here in 2010 there are many ways that consumers get audio content. Some, like AM and FM radio have been around for decades, while others such as Pandora, Slacker, Last FM and Jelli are newer to the audio entertainment field. The discussions about how these various services compete has been and will continue to be an ongoing debate, but what Sirius XM investors want to know is whether Sirius XM's Internet Radio service can be competitive in the arena of Internet Radio.
The biggest threat to Internet radio did not happen last week with AT&T's announcement of charging for data, but rather two years ago when new and more expensive royalty rates were announced. It was then, in 2008, that Pandora was seriously threatened with having to close their doors. Owner Tim Westgate announced July 7, 2009 that Pandora had reached agreements with the record labels which would significantly reduce the royalty rate, making it possible for Pandora to stay in business. The company had adapted their business model by limiting listeners to 40 hours per month for free. That 40 hours can be extended to unlimited for that particular month for $0.99. Additionally consumers cam upgrade to Pandora One which offers a higher bit rate (192kbps) and a dedicated music player. The cost of Pandora One is $36 per year.
Pandora adapted their business and thrived. Today the company has over 48 million subscribers that tune in an average of 11.6 hours per month. The question is not whether Pandora will survive. They most certainly will. They adapted before and will adapt again. With seamless integration with Facebook, and one of the nations to websites, Pandora is in a much healthier situation now than they were two years ago. According to Alexa Pandora is the 72nd moist popular website in the U.s., and the 388th most popular globally. The survival of Pandora has little to do with satellite radio. Pandora appeals to a younger set of listeners. Their core listeners are between 18 and 34 years old. By contrast, Sirius XM's core group is 35 to 44. Simply stated, the respective services are catering to the listening habits of different demographics.
So what should Sirius XM do. The threat of cell phone data changes impacts all services that stream over the phone. Slacked developed caching, and the capability is quite slick. This solution allows for users Slacker channels to update when in Wifi rather than over the cell network. Users can still skip songs and ban songs as they did before, they are simply listening to cached content that is updated with ease. Pandora has not followed Slackers lead as yet, but chances are strong that they will. For Sirius XM fans, the question is how Sirius XM Internet radio will adapt, and whether it is even important to do so.
In my opinion, the company needs to adapt. The mere fact that Pandora has 48 million subscribers (24% through mobile devices) listening 11.6 hours per month demonstrates not only a demand, but that Pandora is offering something that people 34 and under appreciate. Sirius XM is seeing growth through the OEM channel, but think of the potential they can see in attracting those that are 34 and under. This segment is important because consumers build an affinity for brands that they use when they are young and impressionable. This means that services like Pandora, Slacker, Last FM, and Jelli are building brand strength in users that satellite radio will be seeking to garner as subscribers in 3 to 10 years.
What Sirius XM should consider is emulating some of the features that people like about other Internet Radio providers in an effort to build Sirius XM brand awareness at an earlier age. Perhaps a strategy that makes Sirius XM Internet radio much more different than currently available is something the company should consider. I have seen the dynamic of what this age gap means. There will certainly be staunch Sirius XM supporters that will argue that everything on Sirius XM is better, and that no change is required. I understand the passion about the content Sirius XM delivers that other services do not. Believe me, I get it. What I see here however is an opportunity to to BUILD into something that crosses a much larger demographic. Sirius XM Internet Radio and Sirius XM Satellite Radio are not going to bury these other services as currently constituted. These services have thrived and are still growing.
For many, I would suggest taking the time to explore some of these other services. Jelli takes things a step beyond even what Slacker and Pandora are doing. Jelli is an immersion of the ultimate in music democracy combined with social media. Jelli launched in 2009, and while not available on cell phone apps, has introduced some very interesting concepts. Users choose the whole play list. People are chatting live. People rocket songs to the top of the charts, or bomb them to the bottom. The service takes advantage of social media, and the chat rooms on their channels are active and building.
What could Sirius XM do to become more relevant in the Internet radio business. They have already taken some steps into social media, but there is more potential there that the company could take advantage of. Customizable radio stations is another facet the company could consider. It is this ability that is a key component of some of these services. Sirius XM Internet Radio could become a huge extension of Sirius XM if the company decides that it is a viable business. In the longer term, one problem of Sirius XM is that they do indeed lack an appeal to the under 34 age demographic. The Internet service could potentially be one of the best avenues available to the company to break deeper into that market. Satellite radio has been around for years, and the company has been unable to dent this age group in a meaningful way.
The bottom line is that services like Pandora are indeed thriving and these businesses are faced with a new challenge that they can and will overcome. Sirius XM has to deal with these same issues, and in doing so, has an opportunity to revamp the Internet service to gain some additional share from the other Internet radio services. Pandora has managed to get a massive number of listeners and continues to grow. There is a tendency of some to ignore it and pretend it is in trouble, but all REAL indications point to a growing business that investors need to be aware of, as it is indeed competition for the ears of consumers.
Position - Long Sirius XM Radio


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Shares of the popular burger chain Wendy’s (NASDAQ: WEN) surged after a filing revealed that Trian Partners, its largest shareholder is exploring a potential takeover deal with the company. Trian, along with its partners, owns a 19.4% stake and said it was seeking a deal to “enhance shareholder value”.
Wendy’s said in a statement it regularly reviews opportunities with the goal of “maximizing value for all stockholders” and would “carefully review” any proposal from Trian. Meanwhile, the firm has said that its currently evaluating strategic options with its advisors and has discussed various scenarios with Wendy’s board.
Wendy’s and its franchisees own about 7,000 restaurants. The company reported quarterly net income of $37.4 million, or $0.17 per share, for the three-month period ended April 3 — nearly 10% down from $41.4 million, or 18 cents per share, during the same period in 2021.
Shares were up 12% during early market hours.


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Maple Ridge council has said no to plans by Qualico Developments to build 285 detached homes, townhouses and row homes, plus a grocery store at the eastern entrance to downtown.
Instead, it wants to hold out for a better use of the 45 acres of Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure lands that straddle Lougheed Highway, just west of Kanaka Way.
“They’re not offering something to the community that’s going to use those lands in a way we really need,” Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read said Wednesday.
“We want to see better. We need living wage jobs in this community. So we’re hesitant to give up property to residential that may actually serve a different purpose down the road.”
That’s not a blanket no to any kind of development for the property that could serve as the eastern gateway to central Maple Ridge.
Council just wants to see a better use of the land, other than for more residential, plus a small grocery store or medical offices, the latter of which already exists nearby, said Read.
She said the commercial component of the proposal that was discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting, “is not big and its not significant,” and it’s not what the public is seeking in the downtown.
Read isn’t sure if the company will come back to council with a new offer.
An April 20 staff report also says that the 38,750-sq. feet proposed for shopping, including a grocery store similar in size to Cooper’s Foods on 240th Street, would threaten the economic viability of the town centre.
The commercial portion proposed for Lougheed Hwy. “could be a threat to the growth, momentum and well-being of the town centre area,” according to the report.
“Success of the commercial centre on the subject site could be at the expense of town centre sustainability.”
The property, is listed in the Commercial and Industrial Strategy as a possible site for a business park, has been considered for a post-secondary institute that Maple Ridge is trying to attract.
According to staff, Qualico Developments’s consultant said it would be too expensive to regrade the sloped and ravined land to make it suitable for commercial or industrial uses.
G.P. Rollo and Associates, another consultant often used by the city, supports that conclusion.
The land is not considered “feasible as business park lands,” staff say.
“However, other employment-generating uses that have not been assessed may be appropriate for this site.”
Instead, staff have offered other options for developing the site involving a smaller portion of commercial.
“Council wants to see a more rigorous exploration of what commercial and industrial [use] is possible on that land,” Read said.


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Telecommunications firm Three have confirmed that they are suspending their £40m a year shirt sponsorship deal with Chelsea following sanctions imposed on Blues owner Roman Abramovich,
Abramovich has had his assets frozen in the UK in the wake of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, although he continues to deny any links to president Vladimir Putin.
Three’s logo will now be removed from Chelsea shirts and from advertising boards around Stamford Bridge with immediate effect and until further notice.
Chelsea have been given a sporting licence to continue playing and trading despite the move, although the measures will put a block on Abramovich’s proposed sale of the club.
Three have been Chelsea’s main shirt sponsor since the start of the 2020-21 season.
A spokesperson for Three has said: “In light of the government’s recently announced sanctions, we have requested Chelsea Football Club temporarily suspend our partnership of the club, including the removal of our brand from shirts and around the stadium until further notice.
“We recognise that this decision will impact the many Chelsea fans who follow their team passionately. However, we feel that given the circumstances, and the Government sanction that is in place, it is the right thing to do.
“As a mobile network, the best way we can support the people of Ukraine is to ensure refugees arriving in the UK from the conflict and customers currently in Ukraine can stay connected to the people who matter to them. Therefore, we are offering connectivity packages to all Ukrainians arriving in the UK, and those in Ukraine.“
Meanwhile a statement from Hyundai, Chelsea’s shirt sleeve sponsor, said on Thursday afternoon: “Hyundai has become one of the strongest partners in football over the years & the company supports the sport to be a force for good.
“We are currently assessing the situation with Chelsea FC.”
Chelsea’s deal with Hyundai is worth £10million per year.


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As promised, Microsoft is offering software that will allow Kin owners to share photos and music between a Mac and the new, .
One new wrinkle, though, is that Microsoft went with a third-party firm to develop that software. Mark/Space, which is known for its software for syncing mobile devices and the desktop, created Kin Media Sync for Microsoft.
The free software download lets users transfer music, photos, videos, and podcasts from a Mac to the Kin, though it won't work with copy-protected songs or videos purchased from iTunes.
My colleague Donald Bell wonders why Microsoft hasn't done something similar for its Zune, given the amount of e-mails he has gotten from readers looking for Zune-Mac support.
Meanwhile, for Mac and PC users alike, Thursday marks the day that the Kin goes on sale at Verizon Wireless stores. Did anyone out there hit the stores and pick one up?
Apple - USE TAG
reading•Microsoft goes outside for Kin's Mac sync
Oct 18•This iPhone XR Qi charging pad is only $5
Oct 18•Twitter releases massive propaganda data vault, Apple offering customers a copy of their data
Oct 18•Turns out, Pixel 3 is pricier than you think when it comes to storage
Oct 17•Samsung carves faster processors with new, sharper light scalpel


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Today, a security researcher has released what is claimed to be a “permanent unpatchable bootrom exploit” for iPhone 4s all the way up to iPhone X that could lead to a permanent jailbreak.
Twitter user, axi0mX shared their iPhone exploit today called “checkm8.” While they call it an “epic jailbreak” it’s important to note it’s an exploit that could lead to a jailbreak with further work. However, if that potential is realized, checkm8 could be a big deal…
axi0mX notes that this exploit can’t be performed remotely but has to be done over USB.
EPIC JAILBREAK: Introducing checkm8 (read "checkmate"), a permanent unpatchable bootrom exploit for hundreds of millions of iOS devices.
Most generations of iPhones and iPads are vulnerable: from iPhone 4S (A5 chip) to iPhone 8 and iPhone X (A11 chip). https://t.co/dQJtXb78sG
— axi0mX (@axi0mX) September 27, 2019
MacDailyNews Take: The impetus to jailbreak nowadays is so greatly diminished that the activity is relegated to extremely niche status. Beyond the fact that it’s limited in requiring a hard USB connection, someday, not too far off, iPhone X will become an “old” iPhone. The majority of people will be using newer iPhones (XR, XS, XS Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, etc.) that aren’t exploitable via “checkm8.”


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It was an Airbnb nightmare for a couple vacationing in Florida after they say they found their rental unit rigged with hidden cameras ― something experts tell HuffPost is happening more often, but there are ways to detect.
Derek Starnes said he and his wife had already spent a full night at the Longboat Key home listed by Wayne Natt last month when he noticed a small hole on the side of the bedroom’s smoke detector, he told Tampa-based station WFTS.
Being employed in the tech industry, Starnes took the device down and inspected it, only to find a camera inside. Reviews of an SD memory card taken from the device, as well as a second in the living room, revealed footage of them, as well as other suspected victims, according to police.
“My wife and I are distressed by this situation. I hope more victims will come forward,” Starnes said.
Natt, 56, was arrested and charged with one count of video voyeurism, which is a third-degree felony. A since-deleted Airbnb page appearing to belong to him, and confirmed by Starnes to WFTS, shows 42 reviews by guests since 2015, earning him a stellar five-star rating.
Police said Natt has denied wrongdoing, claiming that the camera was there for consenting sex parties ― something local authorities aren’t quite buying.
“If everyone had knowledge, then why hidden cameras?” Lt. Bob Bourque asked Fox 13 News. “His answer to that was, a better angle of video, which we don’t necessarily believe.”
For the record, the Starnes deny they gave any consent to be filmed. Airbnb, in a statement to HuffPost, said hosts are required to disclose whether there are security cameras or other surveillance equipment at or around the listing. They must also get consent where those devices are required.
Airbnb spokesman Benjamin Breit said the company is “outraged” over the allegations and that Natt has been permanently banned from using their services in the future.
A Google search for similar hidden camera cases in the news suggests this Longboat Key case is just a drop in the bucket, which security experts affirmed to HuffPost.
In Thomas Martin’s line of work, handling hidden camera cases is “as common as picking up your pen and writing,” he told HuffPost. Martin is a former supervisory federal agent and current president of Martin Investigative Services in Newport Beach, California.
Martin’s work often protects and serves corporations, banks, attorneys, and high-profile individuals, including celebrities. His company also recently investigated a case of a camera found in a corporate office’s restroom.
Over the last decade, there has been a rise in the number of secret surveillance bugs found during sweeps, he said, with his company finding them in 16 percent of their hunts. That’s up from four to six percent between 1988 and 2005.
“There’s a variety of sick crazy reasons,” he said. Ultimately, he says it’s because the technology has improved and people “are becoming more aware of it.”
Ari Morse with investigative services company Locaters International Inc., in Daytona Beach, Florida, agrees.
“It is more common because the cameras are so affordable nowadays."”
“It is more common because the cameras are so affordable nowadays,” he told HuffPost.
An Amazon search lists a number of hidden cameras that are disguised as alarm clocks, USB chargers, smoke detectors, lamps, light bulbs and pens, to name a few.
“I’m not saying it to scare anybody but there are cameras that come in all shapes and sizes nowadays,” Morse said.
People suspicious of being watched are advised to look around for anything out of the ordinary, including items showing signs of tampering.
“I would make sure that the outlets look normal, that the smoke detectors are not necessarily near another one,” Morse said. “If you’re staying in a lower end hotel and there’s a fancy piece of china there, [ask yourself] ‘well does that fit?’ If you’re staying in a fancy hotel and you see a broken piece of plastic or a book that looks out of place, ‘does it look right?’”
Martin also suggested inspecting the ceiling fan, lamp and dresser drawers. “Usually it’s a small device that’s easily detectable by us but not by the naked eye and it’s put over the bed or in front of the bed,” he said.
“The smoke detector would probably be one of the easiest,” Morse said, reasoning that its power source can be concealed. “You can run the power through the ceiling, though sometimes they are battery powered.”
Battery-powered cameras can only operate for a finite amount of time, making them less desirable. There are ways to attach and hide battery packs, though that requires more time and expertise, which most creeps lack, he said.
“Usually it’s a small device that’s easily detectable by us but not by the naked eye and it’s put over the bed or in front of the bed."”
Both Martin and Morse acknowledged that there are a number of devices for sale that are marketed as able to detect hidden cameras, but they’re not as reliable as one would hope. A glance of such products’ reviews on Amazon appear to confirm that assessment.
For those who have serious concerns about being secretly monitored, both men advise calling in a professional, since they are equipped with sophisticated technology and expertise to sniff out such bugs.
“Most of the time, for people to do it the right way, it’s sometimes cost prohibitive because it takes a team of people,” Morse said.
Martin also warned that not all debuggers are experts like they claim.
“The vast majority don’t have the skill, knowledge, and more importantly, they don’t have the equipment,” he said, while describing that pricey equipment as including room X-rays and scanners that detect electronic signals.
“A lot of guys just have a magic wand, wave it around,” he said of the electronic devices you can buy online. “We bring the real deal.”
“I know that it probably sounds very scary,” Morse said of all of the information and security measures out there. “We’ve seen it a lot because that’s just what we do.”


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Caribbean Islands Leading the Region in Implementing Bans on Plastic and Styrofoam
The fight against single-use plastic and styrofoam has been gathering steam over the past years, and the Caribbean has been one of the regions taking the lead in this area. Eight Caribbean nations have implemented bans on plastics and styrofoam, the latest ones are:
- Grenada has put in place a ban on styrofoam imports effective September 2018, a ban on styrofoam sales effective April 2019 and is finalizing consultations to enact a ban on single-use plastic products by February 2019.
Minister for Climate Resilience and the Environment, Senator Simon Stiell made the announcement stating that the ban is not being instituted arbitrarily, but in consultation with importers and other stakeholders. He further stated that Government is committed to working together with stakeholders to ensure that the transition and economic impact of the ban on Styrofoam and specified single-use plastics are as seamless as possible.
- Dominica has announced its aim to completely ban common plastics and single-use Styrofoam cups and food containers — effective January 2019.
Announcing this intention, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said his government wanted to help preserve Dominica’s famously beautiful natural landscape and be the world’s first climate-resilient nation. The decision to protect the environment goes hand in hand with the country’s commitment to protecting itself against future natural disasters.
A UNEP study maps advances the Caribbean region is making towards banning plastics and styrofoams, currently, 10 nations have implemented or announced bans and 5 are in discussions to adopt them.
To learn more about the Grenada ban click here
To learn more about the Dominica ban click here
To see UNEP’s interactive map on plastic bans click here
Grenada Increases Occupancy Rate Significantly
Testimonial by Jennifer Alexis, Ethical Ideas Consulting; Co-Founder, “Pure Grenada”
St. Georges, Grenada, January 29, 2015 – “I stood up and told everyone the Compete Caribbean Hotel Sector Economic Recovery Project was completed. I reminded everyone that in 2013 we had 47% of hotels saying they would close in three years or less and I said that we obtained a grant from Compete Caribbean and that we ran the project with a mandate to improve a 33% occupancy rate as quickly as possible. Two years later, the Tourism Authority projected an occupancy rate of 60% for 2015 year-on-year growth for 2014-2015 (the years of the project cycle) and we grew by 18.6% and 4.6% respectively.
I told them that WE (the whole team, not just me) had proven that Pure Grenada works, and that Go Pure Grenada remained very important to the bigger picture because that call to action was needed to make sure that Grenada keeps delivering on its product promise.”
Grenada Hotel Cluster – Economic Recovery Programme (Project Type – Support to Clustering Initiatives)
To support the implementation of the Grenada Geotourism Destination Management Plan.


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Dubai, UAE, Aug. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)– One of the initial decentralised tower protection Web3 video games, Convival, has actually revealed a real-time fight video game where gamers would certainly have their favorite Sci-Fi personalities as well as make use of the system without NFT.
Convival.io, which is a combination of blockchain as well as Web3, allows gamers construct fight decks for real-time fights. These fights can likewise be had fun with individuals’ preferred personalities from Robot Sci-Fi. The video game is made to utilize a Play-to-Earn design rather than the conventional approach of marketing and also offering video games.
A firm authorities clarified the video game’s auto mechanics by supplying each gamer with 8 typical cards from its most affordable degree. Each personality as well as each card will certainly be dealt with as a specific NFT system. The video game will certainly additionally have an ERC-20 token money referred to as $Bliss. All purchases within the video game will certainly be performed utilizing this money.
Moreover, Convival strategies to supply an industry where gamers can trade NFTs as well as their personality and also upgrade cards. To make it possible for customers to trade NFTs straight from their metamask pocketbook, they require to link their purse to metamask.
As for the video game’s multiplayer design, Convival described that it is a F2P play-to-earn MetaFi video game that incorporates Cryptoeconomics. As an incentive, gamers will certainly get coins after each suit. According to Convival’s whitepaper, gamers will certainly have the ability to appreciate the video game and also make benefits without equilibrium, unlike typical video games.
As a method to draw in even more gamers, Convival has actually likewise introduced organizations, guild organizations, events, champions, as well as rivalr


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A Wildberries Truck. Shutterstock.
Russian online retailer Wildberries said on Tuesday it expected no negative impact from sanctions Ukraine had imposed on the company last week but said the move would harm Ukrainian entrepreneurs using its platform.
Privately-owned Wildberries, Russia’s e-commerce market leader, offers about 4 million products from 40,000 brands and reported full-year transaction volumes of 437.2 billion roubles ($6 billion) in 2020. It said sales in Ukraine accounted for just 0.01 percent of current turnover.
On Friday, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Wildberries and its divisions in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other countries, a ruling that freezes the company’s assets for three years, bans capital withdrawal, business contacts and exchange of technologies, and also includes other restrictions.
Ukrainian Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko said Wildberries had been banned because it had sold Russian propaganda and uniforms of Russian soldiers on its platform.
“This is another step in the struggle to cleanse Ukraine’s information space of Russian expansion,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.
Wildberries said in a statement it sold goods that other foreign players also sold in Ukraine. It accused Kyiv of double standards and discrimination against its business.
“Wildberries does not expect any negative impact on the company. The sanctions may harm only Ukrainian entrepreneurs and consumers, who will be deprived of a wide range of goods at affordable prices,” it said, adding that it did not ship goods via Ukraine.
Kyiv also imposed sanctions on four members of Wildberries’ senior management team, including co-founder and Chief Executive Tatyana Bakalchuk, Russia’s wealthiest woman in 2020 according to Forbes magazine.
Ukraine has previously sanctioned many Russian companies and citizens. Relations between Kyiv and Moscow plummeted after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
By Olga Popova and Alexander Marrow; Editors: Katya Golubkova and Edmund Blair


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- Lithuania told people to trash their Chinese-made phones "as fast as reasonably possible."
- It said some phones, like Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone, can censor terms like "democracy movement."
- The feature is turned off in the phones in the EU but can be turned back on remotely, it said.
The Lithuanian government has told people to throw away their Chinese phones and avoid new ones, claiming some of them had the ability to find and censor certain terms like "democracy movement" in people's texts.
"Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible," Lithuania's deputy defense minister, Margiris Abukevicius, told reporters on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
In a Tuesday report, the Lithuanian defense ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said that Mi 10T 5G phones sold in Europe by China's Xiaomi Corp, for example, were able to detect and censor terms including "free Tibet, "long live Taiwan independence" or "democracy movement."
Discussions about the pro-independence movement in Tibet, sovereignty of Taiwan, and pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong are highly sensitive subjects in China. Those terms are heavily censored on Chinese social media, and people who discuss these topics are punished.
The Lithuanian report said that the censorship function was generally turned off in the phones in the European Union, but that the feature can be turned back on remotely, per Reuters. The report did not say where the feature could be turned on, or by whom.
A Xiaomi spokeswoman told Insider: "Xiaomi's devices do not censor communications to or from its users. Xiaomi has never and will never restrict or block any personal behaviors of our smartphone users, such as searching, calling, web browsing or the use of third-party communication software."
She said the company "Xiaomi fully respects and protects the legal rights of all users" and that it fully complies with European Union data privacy laws.


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Tag: Ford stock
Ford announced that it would offer North America’s largest electric vehicle public charging network, the FordPass Charging Network, to its EV customers.
Institutional holdings in TSLA, F, GM, and FCAU stand at various levels ranging from 30% to 80%. Wall Street is not happy about automakers’ Q3 earnings.
Auto stocks have been slumping in October. Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) have fallen by 6.6% and 8.9%, respectively, month-to-date.
Detroit's Big Three—General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler—are gearing up for price wars to compete for US pickup truck sales.
Leading automakers Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) released their third-quarter US auto sales numbers yesterday.
Ford's Q3 2019 US sales came in at 580,251 units for a 4.9% YoY decline. Wall Street analysts expected a 6.1% decline in Ford’s Q3 sales figures.
Ford is all set to transfer its Indian assets to a joint venture. It will form this joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra, which will hold a 51% stake.


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Apple’s breaks past $100 billion revenue for the first time in history
Apple just released earning data for the fiscal Q1 2021 and announced two major milestones. The company has recorded $111.44 billion in revenue and reported $28.6 billion in profits. This is the first time Apple breaks past $100 billion in revenue of any quarter.
If we compare it with Q1 2020, Apple ended this quarter with $91.8 billion in revenue and $22.2 billion in profits. Apple attributed strong sales of Wearables, iPhone, and Services for this record revenue.
During this quarter, Apple launched several products including iPhone 12 series, iPad Air and Mac mini, and the new M1 MacBook. Apple also released Apple One subscription service.
This quarter also ended with 1.65 billion active Apple devices and 1 billion of these active devices are iPhones.
Apple also reported iPad sales of $8.44 billion. Apple services including revenues from sales of music, digital content, cloud computing, and subscriptions. Here is the breakdown of revenue it earned from different products.
- iPhones: $65.6 billion
- Services: $15.76 billion
- Wearables, Home, and Accessories: $12.97 billion
- Mac: $8.68 billion
- iPad: $8.44 billion
Apple is the biggest U.S. listed public company by market capitalization and has a value for $2.4 trillion. Even during the pandemic when it was forced to close many of its store, the company grew well.


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Two Kerry businesses are finalists in the 2016 Irish Responsible Tourism Awards.
They’re designed to celebrate people making a difference in Ireland and using tourism to benefit local communities, economies, and the environment.
The Gleneagle Hotel Group, which includes the INEC and the Brehon and Gleneagle hotels, has been nominated in the Best for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism category.
Sea Synergy Marine Awareness and Activity Centre in Waterville has been shortlisted in the Best for Natural Heritage Tourism category.
The award winners will be announced at the 2016 Irish Responsible Tourism Conference on the 6th of October in Dublin.


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This innovation sets a new standard in sustainable textile production, offering substantial reductions in water usage and energy consumption during the manufacturing process.
The technology underscores DyStar’s commitment to environmental stewardship and its proactive approach to driving sustainable practices.
DyStar’s Eco-Advanced Indigo Dyeing is a versatile solution applicable in various dyeing processes, including the traditional indigo dyeing process, sulphur dyes, and coloured denim.
By integrating this technology into their operations, DyStar says businesses can achieve reductions in their ecological footprint while maintaining the desired quality and performance of their denim products.
One of the key benefits of sustainable indigo dyeing is its ability to substantially reduce the effluent load in denim production. It has been proven to make a significant positive impact on the environment.
Naceur Azraq, global technical manager of DyStar Denim, highlighted the importance of this innovation, stating: “At DyStar, we are constantly innovating through our research and development. The introduction of an advanced sustainable indigo dyeing technology will help the Denim industry to save valuable natural resources.”
DyStar claims its eco-friendly indigo dyeing process has gained recognition for its ability to deliver consistent quality while reducing the need for extensive wastewater treatment. DyStar adds that by implementing its sustainable dyeing solutions, businesses can streamline their operations, achieve greater cost-effectiveness, and enhance their environmental performance.
Last month, (24 April) DyStar announced plans to restructure its Ludwigshafen facility located in Germany, which it says will involve a diversification of production activity out of Europe and a reduction in manpower.


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With lots of reports in the press linking COVID-19 to hair loss, do we know of any proof that connect the two?
Leading globally recognised trichologist and NIOXIN Ambassador, Mark Blake, says this pandemic has had a major impact on hair loss. However, it is not just those who have had COVID-19 who will be suffering from hair loss, for many people the past year has been incredibly stressful, and stress and hair loss are intricately connected.
Being an all-round hair professional, hair loss is a conversation that we all need to have. But let’s get honest here! The topic of hair loss is very easy to get lost in such a creative industry that we all work. Also throw into the mix the understanding the science behind it, has many of us running for the hills in fear.
But fear not! NIOXIN Editorial Ambassador and one of the hairdressing most inspirational figureheads, Zoe Irwin, says, “Don’t try and be too medical when it comes to talking about hair loss to your clients. Use language clients really understand!” And being able to offer Nioxin, the world’s number one¹ Global Selling Salon Brand for thicker, fuller² hair, gives you the comfort in knowing that you have the solutions at your disposable when it comes to dealing with hair loss many of our clients will be suffering post–COVID-19.
Let’s go to it!
A podcast produced by Hairy Media Productions.
Thanks for Listening
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Thank you to Zoe Irwin and Mark Blake for joining me on todays podcast.
Until next Monday, Peace, Love and Smiles all the way… Goodbye.


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EV maker Easy Power on Monday launched the appointment of Raghunath Subramanian to its board ahead of the launch of its maiden vehicle model in August this yr. In his operate as a result of the board member and an investor, Subramanian will current his expertise inside the strategic dedication technique of the corporate, Easy Power talked about in an announcement.
Easy Power founder and CEO Suhas Rajkumar talked about, “We cordially welcome Subramanian on board. Addition to the board is crucial at this hour as we’re within the essential part earlier than the launch. He will definitely assist in scaling up the corporate’s operations with the quantity of experience and the expertise they carry.”
(Additionally be taught | Easy Power’s first electrical scooter to launch on August 15)
Subramanian, who may be the board member and non-executive chairman of the India unit of the Romanian Software program firm UiPath, has invested an undisclosed amount in Easy Power along with turning into a member of its board, Rajkumar talked about. Apart from being a founding administration member of the Romanian company, he has moreover served as its India president and CEO, the corporate talked about. It added that he was one among many first few executives to be part of UiPath globally. Subramianian has moreover been full of life inside the start-up ecosystem, investing in further than the exact deep-tech and high-growth start-ups, it talked about.
Earlier this month, the Bengaluru-based EV start-up it’s going to launch its first flagship electrical scooter on August 15 this yr, even as a result of it scouts for funding. The flagship e-scooter could have a 4.8-kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery with a claimed range of 240 km in ‘eco mode’ and prime velocity of 100 kmph. It is perhaps priced at ₹1.10 lakh- ₹1.20 lakh, the corporate talked about. The corporate had talked about it’s wanting to extend USD 15 million (higher than ₹100 crore) in a Sequence-A funding spherical inside the third quarter of 2021.
This story has been printed from a wire firm feed with out modifications to the textual content material. Solely the headline has been modified.