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Sales of the all-new, all-electric £2 million Lotus Evija hypercar will be handled through the dealership network, according to Lotus Cars chief executive Phil Popham.
Speaking to AM at last night’s (July 17) global unveil of the Evija, which Lotus believes "cements the UK’s position as the world leader in high-performance, advanced technology automotive manufacturing", Popham backed his dealership network to deliver the multimillion pound EV to a new breed of affluent customer for the brand, writes Jim McGill.
"We will actually work with the dealer, either who introduces the customer, or who is nominated by the customer, because we want to have that aftersales link through the dealer,” said Popham, who took up his post at the Geely-owned Norfolk carmaker in May this year.
"We will be training dealers to do that. We certainly don't think the sales will be done online. We think this group of customers is going to require a very, very personal relationship," he said.
"We have taken on a new VIP sales manager, a customer car manager who will be working full-time on Evija with those new customers. We will offer customer service packages and experience packages to allow them to choose their specific needs.
"Remember, we're only talking about 130 very affluent customers around the world. Very discerning customers that we hope are actually going to drive the car, rather than just having it sitting in a garage."
And Popham revealed he has already held extensive talks with his 30-strong UK dealership base to chart out the company's short-term and long-term goals and ambition under the ownership of Chinese company Geely.
"We mapped out our plans for Evija and some other models for the near term future, and they were very well received by the dealers," he continued. "They know what the future holds for Lotus.
"Electrification is now part of our evolution, but the next sports car - which we hope to show in March - will definitely have a combustion engine.
"We shared our aspirations, our growth aspirations, a little bit of our business plan, and they walked away quite excited. But also with the realisation that they are in a partnership with us that means we're investing, and so should they be."
Expanding Lotus network
It is likely that Lotus will need to further expand its dealership network, both at home and abroad, as well as opening up more innovative routes to selling Lotus cars, according to Popham.
Endeavour Automotive’s opening of a new facility in Colchester last September is the brand’s most recent addition to its car retail network.
"We have a number of dealers - 30 in the UK, and 50 covering Europe - but whether I would describe them as active dealers in terms of selling, that's a different definition," Popham said. "But we will definitely need to grow our dealer network.
"However, we can be a little bit more innovative long-term in how we bring our products to market.
"I personally believe, as the team does, that the requirement to actually touch, feel and drive our cars is crucial. Especially when more and more information is being gleamed from the internet and other digital sources.
"There is a need for a physical dealership network. For us to grow at the speed and the magnitude we want, then we're going to have to be quite creative in our routes to market. I don't have all the answers to that at the moment, but we're working towards that."
The all-electric Evija, which will be limited to just 130 models worldwide and will be built at the company's base in Hethel.
The Evija, first unveiled as a simple design sketch at this year's Shanghai Motor Show, will aim mto vbe the world's most powerful production car, with 2,000PS and should be capable of or reaching 62mph in less than three seconds with a top speed of more than 200mph; a range of 250-miles; five driving modes; and can recharge its batteries in nine minutes, according to data published by Lotus.
Order books open today, with a deposit of £250,000 required to guarantee the car.
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Ignition Entertainment has told Eurogamer that King of Fighters XII is still set for European release on 28th August despite an earlier US launch.
As reported on the game's Twitter, KOFXII will arrive on US shelves on 28th July.
Seems a shame to wait - we're keen to see how the game's hand-drawn 2D approach and 15th-anniversary billing do at the difficult job of usurping Street Fighter IV.
Look out for our review soon - hopefully just after the US release.
Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair!

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No one enthused as romantically over Enron as did the financial media. But there is little soul-searching among financial journalists concerning the Enron scandal. No financial media organization I know of has announced that it will now mend its ways, or at least review the process that led it to be so utterly wrong time and again. There is no public call for an explanation of the media’s role in this affair.
Journalists are hiding behind the fact that the Enron debacle is so complex that the company’s misdeeds could not be readily understood. As one journalist defensively put it, it was a green-eyeshade scandal. But Enron’s profit margins were visibly weak. Its earnings were rising rapidly while the company’s cash flow was not. How could this be? The media rarely asked, and rarely bothered to report the simple facts.
Enron was also an active manager of the reporting about itself. When Fortune, which for years had pronounced the company the most innovative in the nation, finally published a piece that was critical of Enron by the admirable Bethany McLean, a young reporter with financial training, management called on the brass at Fortune to complain. Fortune stuck with the story, but few others picked it up. At least one other editor has complained about a similar reaction from Enron management. My guess is that Enron did it frequently. This is an old trick in business journalism: Those uneducated and inexperienced reporters could not possibly understand something so complex, executives tell their counterparts in the publishing suites.
How many publishers or CEOs got calls from Enron would make a fine piece of investigative reporting; how many discouraged certain stories a better one still.
Enron also benefited from the financial press’s infatuation with free markets. Deregulation was Enron’s calling card. The full use of the financial markets was its vision. A fine vision, really, except that Enron was so ambitious that it had to cheat on an enormous scale to maintain it. In my view, deregulation is often good and it is often bad. What we need is better regulation. But Enron was a free-markets company if ever there was one, and the media lay at its feet. The media not only missed the Enron scandal, they extolled the company time and again. Why? Because everyone else said so. The press was a fat, helpless calf from Enron’s point of view, and most of Wall Street’s, for that matter.
Misleading claims for Enron were only one manifestation of a broader failure of the business media over this period. They were taken in by, and indeed a party to, the fads that swept the financial world. Enron was very much part of the biggest “big idea” of the past decade, which was that America was experiencing a “new economy”–one in which information was the key asset and “normal” stock-valuation methods no longer applied. Enron’s aggressive use of derivatives made it a classic example of new economy thinking.
This new economy of the late 1990s was an invention of the media and Wall Street. It was certainly not the contention of economic scholars, at least not initially. Over the previous two decades, the American business press, in particular weekly and monthly publications and the increasingly popular financial programs on cable television, had become highly interpretive and increasingly conferred on themselves expert authority. As a result, opposing views were often given short shrift, and the uncertainty that would normally accompany any thesis was minimized.
On Wall Street, the concept of a new economy justified speculative stock prices. Mind you, the new economy, in the minds of its advocates, was not just a revitalization of economic growth, which had occurred many times in America’s past. It was alleged to be a once-a-century phenomenon. A new economy meant that historical precedent was meaningless. It also encouraged enormous business investment in high technology, including Internet services, much of which turned out to be ill founded. Corporate executives leaped into these new technologies so as not to be left out. Many of these decisions were not carefully reasoned. New economy rhetorical enthusiasm simplified their decisions. Everyone can’t be wrong.
The broad faith in a new economy ultimately did a great deal of damage. It encouraged investors to pay prices for securities that could not possibly be sustained and resulted in serious losses for individuals. Hundreds of billions of dollars were invested in new ventures that did not bear fruit; the capital was dissipated on state-of-the-art communications systems, high salaries, fancy office furniture and corporate jets. Meantime, amid the waste, economists wrung their hands in worry over the low level of savings in America. Most damaging, the nation was convinced by the enthusiastic rhetoric that it had solved its central economic problems. Yet in 2000, when economic growth began to slow down, typical family incomes were only slightly ahead of where they had been at the last peak of economic prosperity, in 1989; poverty rates were only slightly lower than in 1989; average wages were still below their 1970s levels; and half or more male workers lost ground as they aged from their 30s into their 40s, 50s and 60s.
In truth, the new economy was not an economic concept but a social metaphor for the times. After two decades of poor economic results, revolution, especially one without cost, was highly desired. So the media, Wall Street and some politicians determined to make one.
BusinessWeek was a widely cited advocate of a new economy in the late 1990s, but many others followed its lead. BusinessWeek had been talking about a new economy in one form or another since 1981. As long ago as the mid-1980s, BusinessWeek, Fortune and U.S. News & World Report put the new economy on its cover. But it was a different version then. It emphasized the high proportion of services in the economy. The idea fizzled after the stock market crash of 1987 and the slow growth of the early 1990s. But the financial media somehow knew its audience wanted a revolutionary new economy as the answer to its needs. Certainly, Wall Street wanted one. The definition of the new economy changed time and again as the economy changed.
There were two cornerstones of BusinessWeek‘s new economy of the mid-1990s. The first was globalization and the rise of America’s exports. (Never mind that imports rose still faster.) Second was information technology. Business investment in such technology, the magazine correctly pointed out, was rising rapidly. But as the economy strengthened in 1997, globalization took a back seat. Eventually, it was businesses’ willingness to take dramatic investment risks, for example, that spurred the new economy, according to BusinessWeek. In the late 1990s, the Internet itself was the new economy, according to many publications.
Eventually, Wall Street economists such as Allen Sinai, and Ed Yardeni of Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, who was increasingly called a “New Economy guru,” provided enthusiastic arguments in support. The leading economic personage in favor of a new economy, however, was Alan Greenspan. He offered little data to back up his occasional contentions, but he argued that information technology could well have made business fundamentally more efficient. Such changes, he said, might come along only once or twice a century. (He also frequently suggested that the data, which were not as strong as in similar periods in the past, were simply wrong.) More important, Greenspan acted on his convictions, or so it seemed. Beginning in 1996, he either cut interest rates or failed to raise them in the face of more rapid economic growth. The more forgiving monetary policy almost certainly helped stimulate more consumer and business demand. By that time, Greenspan had reached idol-like standing, and his comments, if ambiguous and often contradictory, were influential.
Many economic analysts, including Lawrence Summers, shortly before he became Treasury Secretary, used a single illustrative metaphor to describe the alleged unprecedented power of new technologies. One fax machine alone is useless, they said, but two such machines multiply the value of each. Thus, the power of new networks. But one telephone was also similarly useless. The value of television multiplied as it swept through the nation. In truth, networks were always the essence of a mass production economy. Consider the highways, the railroads or even the A&P grocery store chain.
Another illusion was the speed of evolution of the new economy. The Economist, which was admirably more skeptical than most over this period, still fell prey to one of the more serious and frequent historical gaffes. It reported in a September 23, 2000, article that
Electricity achieved a 50 % share of the power used by America’s manufacturing industry 90 years after the discovery of electromagnetic induction, and 40 years after the first power station was built. By contrast, half of all Americans already use a personal computer, 50 years after the invention of computers and only 30 years after the microprocessor was invented. The Internet is approaching a 50 % penetration in America 30 years after it was invented and only seven years since it was launched commercially.
But television reached a 70 percent penetration seven years after it became commercial, and a TV set was relatively much more expensive than a PC. Radio was also a quicker sell than the Internet.
The Economist also claimed that the big difference between the Internet and the railroads, clearly a transforming technology, was that the Internet carries information. This was another misleading but widespread truism of the press. The railroads, of course, also carried information. The US mail was carried by rail, and the federally run system was the envy of the world in the mid-1800s. Not only that: One of the railroad’s most important functions was to carry dozens of newspapers from town to town.
Helping along the idea of the new economy were such futurists as George Gilder, who claimed in the Wall Street Journal on December 31, 1999, that the economy was an increasingly weightless one, as hard goods became less important. Alan Greenspan thought such a claim was also pertinent. But weightlessness, so to speak, was a trend that got under way beginning in the 1800s, as services like retail chains, large wholesalers, the mails and banking were relatively weightless contributors to economic growth. Contributing to the idea were also Wall Street analysts like Mary Meeker, who was quoted in U.S. News on April 3, 2000, saying that “stocks for a new industry have never risen this quickly, and a new industry has never emerged this quickly.” Where did she hear that? Or consider the supposedly scholarly conclusions of an article in the May/June 2000 Harvard Business Review: “Not since the Industrial Revolution have the stakes of dealing with change been so high.” What about the 1920s? In less than a decade, most families owned a car. Many had washing machines, radios and phonographs, and they went to the entirely new cinema in droves.
Such broad contentions commanded the attention of readers. They exploited as well their desire for good news. The media, especially magazines and television, did not want to be bearers of bad news. The major newspapers were generally more temperate. A symbiosis developed between the media and experts, who had to endorse such ideas to be quoted. Such misleading information tended to feed upon itself. I would call it a “symbiosis of misinformation.”
But the new economy was simply good business for the media. The value of ad pages bought to promote Internet services rose by 183 percent in 2000 over 1999, to nearly $280 million. High-technology advertising in general in 2000 increased by 49 percent at the Wall Street Journal, 34 percent at BusinessWeek, 86 percent at Fortune and 85 percent at Forbes. If the media occasionally ran stories that were skeptical of the new economy, that simply seemed to provide a cover for waxing enthusiastic the rest of the time. Only the crash of high-technology stocks in 2000, and later the slowing of the economy and the uptick in the unemployment rate, tempered the rhetoric.
Throughout 2000, even as the stock market began to slide, the media defended the new economy valiantly. The New Yorker insisted in early 2001 that the new economy isn’t a myth. Well, no, it’s not, but only if you deflate its promises sufficiently. Something surely happened, but was it a full-fledged “new economy”? The Economist published a piece in fall 2000 on “How information technology can boost economic growth.” It argued that the true new economy would probably only flower once the Internet was fully exploited. But as of 2001, commerce over the Internet was less than 2 percent of all business transactions in America. So America’s rapid growth in the late 1990s must have had to do with something else.
By 2001, there were inevitable reaction stories. Some claimed that the new economy was indeed a myth. But the media still maintained loyalty to their brainchild, even if recession was imminent. BusinessWeek started writing about “New Economy recession.” The Wall Street Journal wondered about “New Economy-style ‘growth recessions.'” In the first few months of 2001, there were fewer references to the new economy than in 2000 but still vastly more than the number of references in 1999. It would take more to kill this idea than the high-technology crash.
In my view, the most damaging impact of new economy rhetoric was on public policy. By 2000, the nation had only begun to make up for the erosion in living standards over the preceding two decades. Male wages were still historically low. Families, on average, were working much longer. Both incomes and job insecurity were up. Incomes were adequate to buy food, clothing and electronic goods, which American business made with astonishing efficiency, but incomes fell much further back in their capacity to acquire the key goods and services of contemporary times: housing, education, healthcare, drugs, public transit and childcare.
In the swirl of new economy rhetoric, these issues were largely brushed aside. New economy rhetoric was of a piece with two quasi-religious economic beliefs. One is what George Soros and others call market fundamentalism, which argues that unfettered markets can fairly and efficiently distribute almost all goods and services. Enron was the great exemplar. The second is technological determinism. This suggests that as long as technology advances, economies will grow. Thus, new economy rhetoric implied that America had solved its central economic problems. In the case of the new economy, rhetoric reflected the needs and values of the nation, but it also fostered them. America did not seek to do what it had done so often in the past to support economic growth. Once it created grade schools, high schools, highways, subsidized railroads and public health institutions. But it did not create new institutions for today’s new economy, such as daycare or new educational programs.
The business media occasionally, as noted, published pieces that questioned the new economy. Some writers were diligent skeptics. In general, the business media were far more sophisticated than they were in the 1960s, or even the 1970s. But they did not provide a counterweight to the simplistic new economy rhetoric. Yes, information technology is important, will generate jobs and economic growth, and is in general quite a boon–as have been many technologies throughout American history. The business media should have put it in perspective. To the contrary, they carried new economy overenthusiasm along, reinforced it and significantly amplified it.
Now the media have again adopted a new economy idea. Productivity has risen during the current recession, which is a historical oddity. It must be information technology, the new economy advocates on Wall Street and in Washington, including the ever-romantic Alan Greenspan, now say. The media cheerfully repeat the contention with little or no counterargument. A better explanation of the recent productivity data is newly harsh employment practices. Probably never before have so many workers been fired so rapidly, with companies cutting back work hours faster than sales. This is far easier to do in part because there is such a large temporary work force.
Once, American business journalism saw itself as a watchdog in the service of the public. It was appropriately skeptical. There was never a golden age, but there was a sense of proportion. Now, it is susceptible to the rush of the moment, and indulges the optimism its readers and viewers so badly want. The new economy was the ultimate distortion. Everyone knew what the new economy was, and yet no one did. It was what you wanted it to be. The success of Enron was proof it worked. It wasn’t journalism–it was marketing.


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Initially launched in January alongside the Nokia 215, both the phones share common specifications except that the Nokia 215 Dual SIM also features dual-SIM support, as the name suggests. Both the handsets support Micro-SIM cards.
It features a 2.4-inch QVGA (240x320 pixels) LCD display offering a pixel density of 166ppi. The phone supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 32GB). The Nokia 215 Dual SIM packs an 1100mAh removable battery. The company claims that the battery can deliver up to 21 days of standby time and up to 20 hours of talk time on 2G networks.
(Also see: Nokia 215 vs Nokia 215 Dual SIM)
It sports a 0.3-megapixel fixed-focus camera and runs on Series 30+ operating system. Connectivity options on the Nokia 215 Dual SIM include Bluetooth 3.0, GPRS, and Micro-USB.
The Nokia 215 Dual SIM comes with Opera Mini Browser and Bing Search pre-installed. The handset packs a built-in torchlight and also includes stereo FM radio. It is currently available in a choice of colours, namely - Bright Green, Black, and White.
Earlier this week, Microsoft silently launched the Lumia 532 Dual SIM in India at Rs. 6,499. The Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM officially listed last week at Rs. 5,999 was also announced at the same price alongside the Lumia 532 Dual SIM.
On Thursday, the company announced 'guaranteed cashback offers' on its high-end Lumia 930 and Lumia 830 smartphones. The Lumia 830 and Lumia 930 will be now available at new prices of Rs. 21,800 and Rs. 31,600 respectively after the cashback offer starting Friday.


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HAVERHILL, Mass. (March 29, 2010) – Pedro’s announced today the hiring of Jeffrey Bramhall, effective March 17, 2010, as Operations/Logistics Manager. Prior to arriving at Pedro’s, Bramhall was a key member of the Landry’s Bike shop (top 100 retailer-Boston, Mass.) operations team.
“Jeff was a strategic recruit for us. With a pedigree like Landry’s Bike Shop, he comes with a solid understanding of operations and what it takes to delight our customers,” said Matthew Simpson, COO/(CEO ) of Pedro’s, Inc.
Bramhall counts five years in the bike industry and brings the experience, knowledge, and expertise of working for one of the most superlative retailers in the nation.
“It is hard not to admire Jeff already. His energy and knowledge of the day-to-day operations and warehouse is contagious. As we continue to improve our operations, Jeff is our guy,” said Jim Hale, Key Account Sales Manager.
Bramhall will manage the Pedro’s warehouse operations and global logistics at its new Haverhill, Massachusetts’s facility. He is tasked to assure customer fill rates and delivery performance using lean operational practices.
Jeff is also contributing writer and media coordinator for the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross series and Cycle Smart International. He is an avid bike racer on the road and cyclo-cross but before that, he honed his racing prowess as a one-time bike messenger on the streets of Boston.
“It’s been great to see Jeff fit right in. He added value day one. I am delighted to have him on our team,” added Simpson.
Pedro’s is a Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA-based supplier of high quality bicycle tools, lubricants and care products created with a focus on sustainability. Pedro’s is the official tool and lube partner to the Garmin-Transitions Pro Cycling Team and the LUNA Women’s Professional Cycling Team. Pedro’s products have been helping elite champions reach the podium and commuters reach the office since 1989. To learn more, visit www.pedros.com, or email email@example.com
source: Wendy Booher
Booher Media Group


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TuSimple, the autonomous trucking startup, released a plan to create a network of routes and terminals that would be purposed for self-driving trucking. According to the plans, the autonomous trucking network would extend across the entire United States before the year 2024. Additionally, a number of other organizations will partner in the autonomous freight network, including UPS, U.S. Xpress, Penske Truck Leasing, and a supply chain company named McLane Inc.
The autonomous freight network would contain four main components to successfully function, including autonomous trucks, digitally navigated routes, and freight terminals. If successful the network would drastically reduce transportation costs, as well as increase efficiency, as the trucks could be running at all times year-round.
Image Credit: TuSimple


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Material ConneXion named Netherlands-based DyeCoo Textile Systems as the winner of the third annual MEDIUM Award for Material of the Year. Material ConneXion has cited the company for the development of revolutionary commercial dyeing machine technology. Its ability to use supercritical CO2 as a replacement for water is an innovation that will make enormous contributions in terms of reducing energy consumption, environmental pollution and pioneering water stewardship.
With climate change threatening harsher droughts and water scarcity for nearly 60% of humanity, water is critical to any vision of sustainability. The global textiles dyeing market is expected to reach $15.5 billion by 2015, and is one of the biggest consumers of water. In conventional dyeing, large amounts of water are used both in terms of intake of fresh water and disposal of wastewater.
DyeCoo uses supercritical CO2 gas rather than water to infuse fabric with color. Special temperature controlled pressure chambers force the carbon dioxide to act as a fluid similar to water (the supercritical fluid CO2) which causes the polymer fiber to swell allowing the dispersed dye to easily diffuse within the polymer, penetrating the fibers, and carrying the pigments into fabric bolts and dyeing them. DyeCoo is believed to be the first company to successfully apply the SCF CO2 process to the commercial dyeing of polyester fabric (the most used fabric in the world), and research is already underway to apply the technology to other natural and synthetic fabrics.
"DyeCoo's new process has the potential to significantly lower the environmental impact of dyeing. The elimination of process-water and chemicals are a breakthrough for the textile dyeing industry. Combine that with the reduction in energy use, and the process is twice as fast. The technology can also improve the quality of the dyed fabric, allows for greater control over the dyeing process, enabling new dye capabilities and transforming fabric dyeing so that it can take place just about anywhere," commented Dr. Andrew H. Dent, VP Materials Research at Material ConneXion. "We chose DyeCoo as the winner of this year's award because it embodies the direction that materials and processes are taking: sustainability and high performance."
The ten materials and processes are handpicked according to the far reaching results they can achieve and to Material ConneXion's innovation parameters which include: being a new process, an advancement to an existing material or process, technology transfer and sustainability. Significant advances in sustainable material innovation can be seen in materials such as Arnitel Eco which uses an alternative source for plastic and rubber products that can now be manufactured from rapeseed oil and harvested industrial oil. With equivalent properties to existing nylon-based plastics and rubbers,it has a lower carbon footprint and reduces reliance on oil.
Other honorable mentions, such as Eastman Chemical Company's Perennial Wood, are recognized for increasing construction capabilities, improving performance, and lowering costs in a wide range of applications-from furniture to buildings and structures-all while lowering toxicity and increasing sustainability. Cutting-edge processes such as DyeCoo's and PURETi are recognized for their significant contribution to the environment. PURETi, a photo catalytic coating based on TiO2 that offers an effective self-cleaning surface, reduces cleaning maintenance costs by 50% and reduces water and energy consumption, chemicals and labor.
From anti-theft wallpaper to thermo chromatic fabric, the winner and the nine finalists will be on view at Material ConneXion's headquarters in New York from May 21st until July 13th, 2012.


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TweakTown NewsRefine News by Category:
The Home Depot suffered from a recent data breach targeting customer debit and credit card information, and the fraudulent transactions are currently taking place. Most major banks issued their customers new debit and credit cards, with JPMorgan Chase, Capital One Financial, and other companies sending out new account holders.
It appears the malware was on point-of-sale (POS) terminals from April to September, with an estimated 56 million customers affected. It's a costly proposition for banks to send out new cards, which can cost up to $5 per card to mail out. Capital One didn't say how many account holders will receive a new debit or credit card, but it's a proactive approach to keep customers safer.
There is at least one class-action lawsuit filed in Canada and another in the United States, with other legal actions expected in the future.
The Taiwanese government is investigating Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi over possible cybersecurity concerns, with a decision expected within three months. Xiaomi provides low-cost smartphones in Taiwan - but data being sent from Taiwanese customer devices to Xiaomi's Beijing headquarters has investigators worried.
Xiaomi was recently harshly criticized due to unauthorized data access, so Xiaomi provided users the chance to reject data collection.
Political tensions between the United States and China over cybersecurity-related matters have intensified as of late - but many tend to forget about the political battles between China and Taiwan.
Auction website eBay has been urged to take action against more than 100 fraudulent listings that reportedly put users at risk, tricking them to turn over personal information. Cybercriminals hijacked accounts, targeting users with 100 percent feedback over hundreds of transactions, as bank account information was requested.
eBay was hacked in May and auction website users were urged to change their passwords as soon as possible - and yet another security threat will only hamper the company further.
Lizard Squad, a hacking group, has claimed responsibility for taking down various low servers for Destiny and Call of Duty: Ghosts yesterday. The attack left some gamers unable to play the two games.
Last month, the group took credit for the DDoS attack on Sony's PlayStation network, as well as calling in a bomb threat on the president of SOE's plane, requiring it to be diverted. Players of both Destiny and Call of Duty: Ghosts took to Twitter to complain about the server outage, as it happened during peak times: the weekend.
The recent Home Depot breach has proven to be larger than retailer Target's breach late last year, with as many as 56 million credit card uses at risk. Former employees accuse the company of leaving data vulnerable, a charge that executives have denied, but there were alarm bells reportedly dating back to 2008. An estimate of the stolen data, which is becoming available online, could lead to $3 billion in illegal purchases over time.
This is a huge bungle by Home Depot," noted Jeff Macke, Yahoo Finance analyst. "It's more than an inconvenience... it's a huge, ridiculous hassle. We need an upgrade of the whole cycle."
Indeed, security experts are calling on banks to embed credit cards with microchips rather than rely on magnetic strips. Home Depot uses EMV chip-based technology for Visa and MasterCard in Europe and Canada, and plans to introduce it into the United States later in 2014.
Google said it was not hacked and a Gmail username and password list with more than 5 million accounts was harvested over time. It seems most likely that the email usernames and passwords were taken due to phishing scams and by trying to log into hacked websites, according to security experts.
"We're always monitoring for these dumps so we can respond quickly to protect our users," the Google security team said in a blog post following news of the username/password leak. "We found that less than 2% of the username and password combinations might have worked, and our automated anti-hijacking systems would have blocked many of those login attempts. We've protected the affected accounts and have required those users to reset their passwords."
Google recommends two-step verification anytime a Gmail user logs into an account from a new device or IP address. Users should also regularly change passwords and ensure they are using different passwords for their online bank accounts, email, and social networking websites.
Home Depot was recently compromised in a cyberattack that could number more victims than Target's data breach last year, but security experts warn different types of attacks were used. Home Depot was hit by FrameworkPOS, a clever piece of malware that stole data from store registers while being masked as anti-virus software.
Also, the Home Depot malware had lines of code that mentioned U.S. influence in Libya and growing support for the Ukrainian government against a growing regional conflict. It seems likely that Russian hackers were responsible for stealing the data for two purposes: to generate revenue from the stolen data, and to send a political message to the United States.
"The development of a new piece of malware is not something you take lightly - this required some engineering," said Dan Guido, Trail of Bits information security company CEO. "It's probably not the same group that (hit) Target."
There are now more than 15 million smartphones running with some type of malware, and security threats continue to emerge, according to Kindsight Security Labs, an Alcatel-Lucent company. At least sixty percent of infected phones are running Google Android, with around 40 percent of Microsoft Windows PCs accessing mobile networks making up the rest of the reported threats.
Four out of the 10 top threats facing smartphone owners is now spyware, with criminals able to monitor phone calls, text and photo images, GPS location, and Internet browsing history. However, most Android malware isn't overly sophisticated and cybercriminals are adjusting how to develop their attacks for smartphones and other mobile devices.
Even though Android and PCs running Windows make up most infected devices spotted by Kindsight Security Labs, criminals have shown greater interest in trying to compromise Apple iPhone devices. Security experts recommend users run anti-virus and anti-malware software on their phones, which offers an additional layer of protection.
Salesforce, a company specializing in enterprise CRM, warned that its customers are being targeted with the Dyreza malware designed to steal data and credentials. Specifically, Dyreza was known to target financial institutions, and aims for larger companies. Salesforce was careful to ensure its customers that this isn't a security vulnerability within its platform.
"We currently have no evidence that any of our customers have been impacted by this, and we are continuing our investigation," Salesforce said in a statement. "If we determine that a customer has been impacted by this malware, we will reach out to them with next steps and further guidance."
To counter this threat, Salesforce urged customers to deploy IP range restrictions from corporate networks and VPNs only - along with using two-factor authentication to ensure only approved users are accessing CRM databases. As more information is stored - and accessible - in the cloud, security concerns such as this incident can make it even more difficult for businesses to keep data secure.
The U.S. Army has steadily improved its Army Cyber Command abilities, and needs to double the amount of cyber-related positions in the next two years. Each cyber team is about the same size of a traditional platoon, with combat missions slightly larger. The teams consist of enlisted soldiers, NCOs, warrant officers, officers and Army civilian employees.
"These soldiers are so unique, and they're so skilled and they're so few," said Command Sgt. Major. Rodney Harris, Army Cyber Command, recently noted. "The chief of staff of the Army has asked us to focus hard on what we're doing for talent management..."
It's difficult to accurately determine what foreign militaries are doing to staff their cyber-related positions - but with select countries using their military to help launch cyberattacks - this is a major initiative for the U.S. military. As weapon systems are increasingly connected to systems that open up the possibility of cyberattacks, the military's cyber teams will be responsible for ensuring they aren't accessed by foreign enemies.


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Five startups began working in April on rapid prototyping, branding, user validation and go-to-market planning as part of Tallwave’s High Tide startup commercialization program, which is a joint venture with Hansji Corp., owner of the Luhrs City Center. Two were eligible for $50,000 in seed funding.
Scottsdale-based HumansFirst Technology (and AZTC member) developed its HER app that lets people shop, book travel and check out using voice or text as a solution to shopping cart abandonment. “Think Amazon meets Siri” said HumansFirst Technology President and Co-founder Gregory Goehner. HER app is available now on iTunes and Google Play (http://www.hershoppingapp.com/) and generating revenue with Amazon, Expedia, Nordstrom, TOMS, Walmart and more than 50 affiliate partners.
HER app was just named a finalist in Smart City App Hack, a global program launched in Barcelona this year to empower people to create apps and solutions for cities around the world. “It’s like the tech-Olympics,” Mayor Greg Stanton said. “Our strongest team will represent Phoenix at the final competition in Barcelona and demonstrate to the international community that our city is harnessing human capital for the greater civic good.”


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Google has won what appears to be a major legal victory in German (and so probably the rest of Europe) on the question of whether image search and showing thumbnails violates copyright law. The Google European Public Policy Blog succinctly describes the facts and holding:
We are heartened by the German Supreme Court´s ruling today that Google Image Search does not infringe copyright. The case was brought to court by an artist who had uploaded photos of her work (large paintings) to her own website. She then claimed for copyright infringement against Google as the images were displayed in our image search results.
This holding and policy will probably be adopted by other European courts. In the US Google has successfully defended against similar claims under the “fair use” doctrine in the past.
In addition, Google has apparently won a trademark case involving AdWords and the educational company Rosetta Stone (which sells language learning software and courses). The case involved Rosetta Stone’s claim (made by others in the past) that the use of its trademarks as “keyword triggers” infringed trademark law and confused consumers.
The judge granted what’s called “summary judgment,” which ends a case before trial. However an opinion has not been issued yet.
Summary judgment is granted in a lawsuit when, if all the facts in the case are assumed to be as the other side argues, there’s still no legal claim. In other words, the judge is saying: even though AdWords keywords invoking Rosetta Stone’s trademarks were used and competitive ads were shown as a result consumers weren’t likely to be confused and there’s no violation.
News agency AFP quotes Google on its rationale for allowing this, which infuriates many advertisers (hence the lawsuits):
“We allow trademarks to be used as keyword triggers in AdWords because users searching on Google benefit from being able to choose from a variety of competing advertisers,” said Google spokesman Andrew Pederson.
“Just as it’s reasonable to expect a range of brands on any shelf in a grocery store, providing users on Google with more than one option when they search for a brand name or other trademark helps them to find the best product at the lowest price.”
All true and useful in many respects for consumers. However the policy also creates a more competitive bidding environment and forces advertisers, in effect, to continue bidding on their brands and trademarks “defensively.” The decision excuses Google from having to police use of trademarks in AdWords, which would be a huge headache other than in the current “notice and takedown” context.
Rosetta Stone can appeal the decision and potentially have its case reinstated but I will speculate it’s unlikely to prevail on appeal. This decision and the subsequent legal opinion could put the “competitive use of trademarked keywords” question to bed in the US. We’ll see.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


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The ongoing pandemic saw millions losing their jobs, major corporations declaring bankruptcy, small businesses closing permanently, and forced an entire world into the confines of their homes, yet having a beneficial impact on the mega-rich of America. In roughly eight months, 650 U.S. billionaires saw their wealth approach a combined $4 trillion as the Dow peaked at the 30,000 mark.
Although the pandemic has meant that strict lockdown regulations had to be imposed globally by national governments to help curb the spread – these markets managed to keep thriving.
With brick-and-mortar stores closed, and limited freedom of movement, people were simply forced to take their shopping online. Online retail spiked at the beginning of March and April, with Amazon reporting over $70 billion in profit in Q1, while Walmart’s online sales rose by 75%.
Jeff Bezos – dubbed the richest man on earth, the CEO of Amazon had his wealth increase by 64.42% between March and November 2020. His wealth grew by $64.4 billion, and his current net worth is $1.82 trillion.
Alice, Jim, and Rob Walton – the trio from Walmart increased personal wealth by 29.23%, 28.21%, and 28.84% respectively. On average, they grew their wealth by $15.3 billion as online shopping surged mid-March.
Tech & Software
With offices closed, some permanent employees were pleased to find themselves working from home. Overall, the performance of tech and software such as Zoom, Skype, Microsoft, and others saw a steady rise throughout 2020.
Bill Gates – the founder of Microsoft has seen his wealth grow year-by-year, and in 2020 his net worth grew by 21.84% as millions were forced to work remotely.
Eric Yuan & Family – as the founder of Zoom, and the most used video conferencing app during the pandemic, Yuan managed to increase his wealth by 243.8% and managed to bring his total net worth up from $5.5 billion to $18 billion.
The recent rollout of global vaccinations had dozens of companies in the health industry scramble as the race was on to start development and trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. The Biomedical Index concluded that stocks in this industry increased by 321%
Thomas Fearn Frist Jr. – co-founder of HCA Healthcare and physician, made a pretty penny as the demand for healthcare, PPE, and related services soared with coronavirus hospitalizations. In total, he halted a staggering $6.1 billion, increasing his wealth by over 80%.
Carl Cook –CEO of the Cook Group, Carl received his piece of the billionaires’ pie – making an additional $2.5 billion as the pandemic raged on.
Home and personal entertainment
Being stuck at home during 2020 wasn’t too bad, especially if you had access to a computer, television, a mobile device, and unlimited internet. As demand for home entertainment spiked in March, April, and May, companies such as Netflix, Disney, Facebook Inc., and various gaming developers had their market shares increase by more than 70% respectively.
Mark Zuckerberg – the debated founder of Facebook managed to put millions at ease, as Facebook offered “Shop” a portal for small businesses to sell their good during store closures. Zuckerberg made $47 billion from March to November 2020.
Laurene Powell Jobs – although she is the heir to the Apple dynasty left behind by her late husband Steve Jobs, she managed to bring in more than $3.7 billion all via shares and stock in Apple and Disney.
Elon Musk – the one person who seemed to play it cool as his billions kept growing during the pandemic, Musk accumulated more than $128 billion during March and November 2020, raising his wealth by 524%. This is as stocks and support on the S&P 500 for both Tesla and SpaceX soared, with Musk looking to have the first humans sent to Mars in the coming year.
Dan Gilbert – the co-founder of Quicken Loans had his wealth increase by a staggering 575%, raising his total net worth from $6.5 billion to $37.4 billion by the end of 2020.
Yet, while an entire globe of people is feeling the burdens caused by the pandemic – those who are fortunate enough to have seen their wealth grow exponentially have quickly toppled records, and shattered the light on their net worth.
The post Billionaires Who Profited Most During The Pandemic: An Analysis appeared first on ValueWalk.


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From FT.com – “The marginal cost of water is rising around the world,” says Christopher Gasson, publisher of Global Water Intelligence. “Previously, water was treated as a free raw material. Now, companies are realising it can damage their brand, their credibility, their credit rating and their insurance costs. That applies to a computer chipmaker and a food company as much as a power generator or a petrochemicals company.”
From Knowledge@Wharton – Does disruption kill core business models? “Not necessarily,” Robertson says. “Does that mean you should anticipate how it is going to affect the core business? Of course you should. You should always be looking for that next big thing, as well. In the late 1990s, [LEGO] moved away from core business and stopped focusing on bricks. Everything was out-of-the-box innovation, and it almost put them out of business.” Christensen saw disruptive innovation as the kind that comes from behind and develops a new market that eventually displaces the old one.
From FT.com – A look inside the world of modern energy – a sector being driven by new technology and environmental concerns to rethink its business models
From Forbes – ” Thomas Edison, who was a methodical inventor, once said “to invent you need an imagination and a pile of junk” (aka stimuli). One of the very best forms of stimuli comes from looking at other industries for ideas, relevant analogies, and problem solving. The trickiest part is to figure out which industries to benchmark. That, in itself, requires brainstorming sessions. Biomimicry is an area that has proven extremely fruitful across a range of industries, as nature has solved many problems through evolution, and the best solutions in nature often determined which creatures and plant life survived and thrived. What follows are 10 examples of bio-mimicry and other types of benchmarking outside of nature that have proven highly relevant for new product and service development.”
From The Economist, Schumpeter – “How do businesses go about reviving old technologies in the face of so much innovation? Mr Raffaelli argues that the key to success lies in redefining the product’s value and meaning. Swiss watchmakers redefined their products as status goods rather than a means of telling the time. That they are so much harder to make than digital watches added immeasurably to their desirability. Independent booksellers are redefining themselves as communities where people who care about books meet and socialise. Trams are re-emerging as a green solution to both pollution and urban sprawl: a striking number of the cities that are adopting them are formless sunbelt cities.”
From Knowledge@Wharton – “The reshoring trend is rocking global business, with hundreds of companies working to bring their manufacturing operations back from China to North America”
From Washington Post- “The lion’s share of corporate innovation projects are not making it to the market, according to a survey from Fahrenheit 212. The innovation consulting firm asked 100 chief innovation officers from multinational corporations what percentage of their innovation projects make it to market. Forty-five percent of respondents said fewer than 10 percent of their projects did. Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said between 10 and 25 percent of their projects made it to market.”
From Stanford Business Re: Think – A strategy professor explains how globalization created a laboratory for new business models.


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Former Silicon Valley executive brought in as GlaxoSmithKline’s top scientist to set out plan for producing more blockbuster drug
The former Silicon Valley executive brought in as GlaxoSmithKline's top scientist will this week set out his plan for producing more blockbuster drugs.
Dr Hal Barron, who became chief scientific officer at the pharmaceutical giant in January, is the former research and development president of Google-owned biotech firm Calico.
Sign of the times: Glaxo's chief executive Emma Walmsley, who has vowed to take the company back to its glory days
Glaxo's chief executive Emma Walmsley, who has vowed to take the company back to its glory days by focusing on science and innovation, will be hoping that the American can help revamp struggling research efforts at the FTSE 100 firm.
Barron, 56, also oversaw the development of hugely successful drugs while at Genentech and Roche, including asthma medication Xolair, cancer drugs Avastin and Kadcyla and vision-loss treatment Lucentis.
On Wednesday, Walmsley and Barron will update shareholders on the group's research strategy.
It comes just days after Glaxo was reportedly considering whether it could spin off its consumer arm – which develops popular over-the-counter products such as Beechams cold and flu relief and Sensodyne toothpaste – to focus on its pharmaceuticals and vaccine businesses.
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The death of George Floyd in police custody sparked national and global outrage, then the revival of a movement against police brutality and racism. People are beginning to take substantial action to fight racism, and the ballet industry is no exception.
Ballet, an art dominated by white artists, started in the 1500s in Italy and eventually spread to the United States. Ballerinas captivate the audience with their graceful turns, jumps, spins, and other movements thanks to pointe shoes.
Pointe shoes are shoes with a wooden box inside that ballerina’s balance on. These shoes are commonly pink because the ideal skin color of a ballerina has traditionally been white. The color of the shoes allows a beautiful picture to be created because the color of the shoes matches the ballerina’s skin tone, making it seem as if the ballerina is dancing on air.
Some people in the early years of ballet believed that dancers who are people of color should not participate in the art because their skin color was “unnatural” and a “distraction.” Luckily, the ballet world started to develop, creating diverse companies like Arthur Murray, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Ballet Black, which treated dancers of color equally. Still, some ballet companies are discriminatory towards dancers of color.
Some of the obstacles ballet dancers of color face daily include being mistreated and getting underpaid. More notably, due to many ballet shoe companies only making pink ballet shoes, dancers of color have to cover their shoes with brown makeup or paint. Many principal ballerinas have done this their entire lives, such as Misty Copeland, Cira Robinson and Marie Astrid Mence.
The nationwide revival of the Black Lives Matter movement, however, has brought change to the ballet community. After years of hardships, ballet dancers of color started to be heard when the movement gain attention.
A petition launched about two years ago to provide diverse shade options for dancers of color began to get more signatures because of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Now, Bloch, a major ballet shoe company plans to release brown pointe shoes in the fall. Capezio, another pointe shoe manufacturer, will also release pointe shoes in darker shades in response to another petition demanding inclusive shade options received over 300,000 signatures.
Both of these point shoe suppliers are taking a step forward in the right direction and are empowering ballet dancers of color to see themselves represented in the art they love.
If we all stand up together and fight for what we believe in, we will begin to change the wrong of our society. Just with one post, one signature and one protest, our future can change for the better, just like how it’s changing the ballet world.


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- Office of Attorney General Maura Healey
Media Contact for Drug Company Ends Face-to-Face Marketing For Its Opioid Product to Massachusetts Doctors in AG Settlement
Thomas Dalton, Deputy Press Secretary
BOSTON — A drug company has agreed to pay $185,000 and stopped marketing its opioids through in-person detailing of Massachusetts prescribers and speaker programs with health care professionals, resolving allegations of unfair and deceptive practices, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
The assurance of discontinuance, filed today in Suffolk Superior Court, is the result of an investigation by the AG’s Office of Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.’s deceptive marketing of its opioid product, Xtampza ER. According to the AG’s Office, Collegium sales representatives misled doctors about the potential risks of the drug by marketing it as a safe and responsible alternative to other opioids, even though Xtampza has the same active ingredient (oxycodone) as other drugs like Oxycontin.
“Drug companies should not be going into doctors’ offices deceptively marketing addictive drugs as we work to combat a growing opioid epidemic in our state,” said AG Healey. “Our resolution with Collegium will put an end to these marketing tactics and provide much-needed resources for treatment and recovery.”
The Attorney General’s investigation found that Collegium sales representatives arranged face-to-face meetings with physicians and other health care professionals and promoted Xtampza more than 5,000 times since May 2016. Collegium allegedly misled Massachusetts doctors about Xtampza’s risks and appropriate uses by deceptively marketing it as a safer and more responsible choice than other opioids and improperly marketing it to treat acute pain. Sales representative also allegedly implied that Xtampza’s abuse-deterrent properties made it less subject to diversion than OxyContin.
Prior to 2018, Collegium also marketed its drug through sponsored “Speaker Programs” at which a physician or other health care professional made a speech or presentation to other health care professionals about the drug.
Collegium ceased in-person detailing about Xtampza in Massachusetts, effective December 1, 2021 and ended its Speaker Programs in Massachusetts in 2018.
Under the AG’s agreement, Collegium will not resume speaker programs and in-person detailing tactics to promote Xtampza in Massachusetts.
The AG’s agreement also requires Collegium to publicly disclose important information online about the doses of its opioids that are sold each quarter, in Massachusetts and the entire nation, to provide real-time information that can be used by policymakers, advocates, and journalists monitoring the opioid epidemic.
The AG’s agreement also includes a $185,000 payment to the Commonwealth, the majority of which will go towards the state’s Local Consumer Aid Fund, the Municipal Naloxone Bulk Purchase Trust Fund, and the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund.
This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Michael Wong and Paralegal Philipp Nowak, both of AG Healey’s Health Care Division and Investigator Marlee Greer, with assistance from Eric Gold, Chief of the Health Care Division.


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The rally in tech shares has taken the number of people with fortunes of more than $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,54,390 crores) to eight.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin joined the exclusive club last week, entering a group dominated by US tech entrepreneurs, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The world's eight richest people together hold fortunes of more than $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 75,41,060 crores) and have added $110 billion (roughly Rs. 8,29,520 crores) combined this year.
In 2017, Amazon's Jeff Bezos was the first to hit the $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,54,390 crores) milestone since Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates back in 1999. Gates's wealth then slumped with the dot-com bubble burst, and he regained the title of centibillionaire only in 2019. Tesla's Elon Musk and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg joined the club last year as the tech industry led a boost in wealth creation with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating a switch to online.
Billionaires with wealth of at least $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,54,390 crores) are mostly US-based. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and other progressive lawmakers recently revived plans to introduce a wealth tax, though the proposal is unlikely to go anywhere in a narrowly divided Congress.
“The US economy is the world's most powerful engine of wealth creation and prosperity,” John Lettieri, president and chief executive officer of Washington DC-based think tank Economic Innovation Group, told US lawmakers March 17. “In spite of this, the lack of wealth at the bottom remains a troubling and persistent fact of life in this country.”
US shares climbed to a fresh record Friday on optimism over the economic recovery. The tech-focused Nasdaq 100 Index has risen more than 7 percent this year, with Google parent Alphabet rallying for the past two weeks as it won a copyright ruling. Page and Brin have added more than $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,50,820 crores) each to their wealth this year, some of the biggest gains.
Warren Buffett briefly reached the $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,54,390 crores) mark in March before hitting it again last week, while Bernard Arnault of France's luxury group LVMH has been part of the elite group on and off since 2019.
- With assistance from Ben Stupples.
© 2021 Bloomberg LP
Why did LG give up on its smartphone business? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (starting at 22:00), we talk about the new co-op RPG shooter Outriders. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.


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VENTURA—If your pup is your first mate, Ventura Village Harbor is the place to be on Oct. 26. Dress up your pooch or dress up with your pooch for a HOWL-O-Ween dog costume contest.
The contest runs from 11 a.m. to noon on Oct. 26. Those participating in the contest and those registering the day of should arrive at 10:30 a.m. to check-in near the carousel. There is no entry fee, but only 75 dog entries will be accepted, so people are encouraged to pre-register online at venturaharborvillage.com. A professional photographer will be on site.
Contest categories include best in show, spookiest, most seaworthy, cutest/prettiest and most creative. Past owner and dog duo costumes include farmer and a cow, bee and bee trainer and fisherman and his first mate. First place winners will get a blue ribbon, a gift certificate to one of the harbor businesses and a complimentary pumpkin.
All dogs that participate will get a treat bag from Ventura Pet Barn and all owners get a bag of scooby snacks and a wooden nickel for a discount at Coastal Cone, which offers ice cream for both humans and dogs. The event is sponsored by Ventura Pet Barn.
The entire harbor is dog-friendly and includes pet-friendly dining patios, boat rentals and waterfront stays. Those without a furry friend are still invited to come and enjoy the parade of pooches at the harbor.
Boaters can visit venturaharbor.com/boaters/transient-2/ for more information about docking. There are complimentary guest docks for two hours at Ventura Harbor Village Marina and day and overnight slips at Ventura Isle and Ventura West marinas. If you’re boating in with your costumed dog, don’t forget to submit your dog aboard photo at thelog.com/submit-photo/.
The Halloween festivities will continue at the harbor with a kids trick-or-treat event in the waterfront village from 1-3 p.m. More than 20 boutiques and restaurants will be participating. Participation is complimentary but kids are encouraged to bring their own bag. There will also be face painting provided by Happy Rainbow, spooky psychic readings by spiritual adviser Polla, and spooktacular photos with tropical birds.


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With close to 75 million OS X distributions reportedly in the wild, triple the number two years ago, Apple has to start taking security more seriously. Fortunately for Apple users, while security researchers regularly demonstrate OS X exploits, the Black Hat community remains rather apathetic to attacking the Mac community.
The latest highlight in a growing picture that OS X may not be as secure as some think came in May when security firm Intego, which makes security software for Macs, warned users of a Java flaw in the OS X Java distribution which could allow Java applets to execute malicious code. Intego complained, “Apple has been aware of this vulnerability for at least five months, since it was made public, but has neglected to issue a security update to protect against this issue.”
The flaw, was originally found by Sami Koivu, who reported it to Sun Microsystems on August 1st 2008. The vulnerability also affected OpenJDK, GIJ, icedtea and Sun’s JRE, which share the same core classes with Apple’s Java SE and J2SE. A patch was issued by Sun on December 3rd 2008, with most of these distributions quickly incorporated it.
Months went by with no action from Apple, though. Programmer Landon Fuller aired proof-of-concept code of how to use the exploit to attack Apple OS X installs in May. Still, Apple did not incorporate the patch. States Mr. Fuller, “Unfortunately, it seems that many Mac OS X security issues are ignored if the severity of the issue is not adequately demonstrated. Due to the fact that an exploit for this issue is available in the wild, and the vulnerability has been public knowledge for six months, I have decided to release my own proof of concept to demonstrate the issue.”
Now a month later Apple has finally released a patch for Java on OS X 10.5 Leopard (the latest version) and 10.4 Tiger. Describes Apple, “Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4 delivers improved reliability, security, and compatibility for Java SE 6, J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X v10.5.”
The patch for OS X 10.5 can be found here, while the patch for OS X 10.4 can be found here.
This is not the first serious door that Apple has left open. Last September a researcher going by the pseudonym “Securfrog” published code to crash Apple’s QuickTime video player after Apple ignored a glaring flaw for months. Similarly, a DNS flaw discovered by Dan Kaminsky was only fixed months later.
In Apple’s defense, Microsoft also occasionally is slow to patch issues — such as the recent patch of a long-standing Microsoft Office bug. However, when it comes to security flaws in web accessible content — such as QuickTime, Java, or Safari — Microsoft’s track record is much better than Apple’s. These are the types of content most frequently exploited to attack machines over the web.


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CHICAGO (Reuters) – “What brand are you smoking?,” could become a more routine question among Coloradans in January, when anyone 21 or older will be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana from a state-licensed retail store for recreational use.
Reuters: U.S. article archive.
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With 3D movies hitting cinemas, and the new screens, broadcasts and games arriving as early as 2010, we ask if TV is really about to enter another dimension
3D is fast becoming one of the buzz words of 2009: thanks to Hollywood's unrestrained enthusiasm for embracing the third dimension, Blu-ray will soon follow suit. And with Sky looking to develop 3D over its Sky+ HD platform, the prospect of 3D TV broadcasts, movies and games is upon us.
Excited? There's good reason to be. The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) will soon ratify a spec for 3D Blu-ray (or is that '3D BD'?), which will guarantee 1080p HD resolution to both eyes, plus backward compatibility for both players and discs - meaning a 3D disc will also include a standard 2D version.
The big hardware manufacturers are also talking a good game when it comes to 3D: at this year's CEATEC show in Japan, both Sony and Panasonic devoted the bulk of their energy to talking up the new technology as the next big thing.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer has recently gone on record as saying "The 3D train is on the track, and we are ready to drive it home."
This is yet another indication of the industry's bullish approach to getting the rest of us to embrace the new format. And Sky is getting heavily in on the act with promises to begin broadcasting TV programmes in 3D sometime next year.
Another format war?
But hang on: haven't we been here before? After all, 3D movies are hardly a new idea, even if James Cameron's upcoming 3D epic Avatar is fast becoming the most hyped movie of all time. In fact, it was back in 1894 that British film pioneer William Friese-Greene first filed a patent for a 3D movie process using an early stereo cine camera.
We also lay out the 3D movies and games that have been promised, and explain the big players and the different technologies they're using.
Which leads us to a word of warning. Sony and Panasonic are currently working on entirely different systems, each hoping theirs becomes the industry standard. Is this another destructive format war in the offing? We sincerely hope not...
3D - Pros and cons
+ Provides a more immersive experience, especially for games
+ Enables you to see new 3D cinema releases as the director intended
+ Depending on the system, discs viewable on existing hardware (in 2D)
+ Sky planning 3D broadcasts
+ 2012 Olympics due to be shot in 3D
- You'll need a new TV
- You'll need a new Blu-ray player
- You'll need to wear special glasses to watch the 3D content
- Not exactly family-friendly: how many pairs of those glasses will you need?
- TVs able to display 3D without glasses are still some years off
Until it's possible for TVs to show 3D pictures without the need for separate left and right eye images to be viewed one after the other, we're going to be stuck with wearing special glasses to watch it.
Things have moved on a bit from the old red and green filters of the 1950s 3D cinema boom, although some movies are still being issued using just that technology – the future is either in lenses with different polarisation, or fast-reaction LCD shutters for each eye.
Panasonic has been showing off a twin-lens camera for shooting 3D, and says its plasma technology is the only way forward, thanks to its fast response time, the ability to switch off picture elements quickly with minimal afterglow, and newly developed LCD glasses with sharper responses.
And it gave a hint of the possible pricing of the glasses, and so the TVs, recently in Japan: four pairs of glasses could sell for around £140, or about 10 per cent of the price of the TV. So £1400 for the TV, then.
Single lens or double lens?
So, Panasonic says back-compatibility is ensured by sending one eye's worth of signal to a 2D TV. Sony has a different plan: its single lens 3D camera prototype uses mirrors instead of shutters, and shoots at 240fps. At that speed, the eye can't see the switching frames when the 3D picture is watched without special glasses, so it sees a 2D image – handy for back-compatibility.
And the single-lens design keeps the image better aligned with rapid camera movement – as in sport – according to Sony.
The Blu-ray Disc Association will attempt to lay down a 3D Blu-ray standard before the end of this year, but Panasonic seems bullishly determined to win people over to its proposals as the only way forward.
Let's hope a standard gets put in place soon: after Blu-ray vs HD DVD, the last thing we need is a yet another format war.
THE MAIN PLAYERS
All the major consumer electronics companies have 3D plans: Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Toshiba were among those demonstrating 3D at the recent CEATEC Japan 2009 show, while both LG and Samsung have demonstrated 3D hardware in the past.
And here in the UK, Sky has carried out its first demonstrations of 3D broadcasts, and says it plans to begin transmitting in 2010.
Panasonic is going big on 3D, with an extensive (and expensive) tie-in with James Cameron's forthcoming Avatar movie, 3D roadshows in both Europe and the States, and a large press contingent flown to Japan recently to be told how the company is planning its 3D attack.
Much of its stand at CEATEC was all about 3D, and the company plans to have both 3D TVs and 3D-capable Blu-ray players on sale next year.
For Panasonic, the future is 3D, and on plasma screens: it won't be drawn on what screen sizes it will be targeting, but the screens on show in Japan were 50in, rather than the enormous 103in models the company has used for previous demonstrations.
Sky prepares to broadcast 3D
Sony, meanwhile, devoted almost all of its CEATEC stand to 3D, drawing on its movie, games and music divisions for content. Not surprisingly, LCD screens play a big part in the Sony 3D push, as for Sharp and Toshiba.
Sky has so far shown a few demonstrations of 3D TV, and says it's experimenting with coverage of live and studio events at the moment. However, it's not yet clear whether it's planning a dedicated 3D channel, or whether it will just offer 3D content on existing channels, or indeed what changes of equipment will be needed.
If you needed proof that the 3D train is gaining speed,look no further than the film industry, which is embracing the new wave of 3D with a gusto bordering on hysteria.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks, has stated that James Cameron's new movie Avatar, will be the 'watershed moment' for the 3D film industry, going on to say the blockbuster will be 'to 3D what The Wizard of Oz was to colour'.
Animation and horror go 3D
In fact, by the end of the year no fewer than 15 3D movies will have been released during 2009, with many more planned for 2010. Up premiered in 3D at Cannes this year, while Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs and horror-fest My Bloody Valentine are also getting the 3D treatment.
Next year will see 3D releases of Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and many more. With so much content hitting cinemas, the home entertainment world will be eager to keep up.
Although there have been no firm announcements from Sony or Microsoft regarding 3D, it's no secret that both companies see it as the future of gaming. Could Gran Turismo 5 be a flagship 3D title? Well, we've already seen a 3D version of the game in action, and it looks amazing.
We've seen a number of other games running in 3D, too, and if we're yet to be convinced by 3D movies, we're sold on 3D games. Motor racing titles do seem to work most convincingly, but LittleBigPlanet's cutesy graphics also pop off the screen brilliantly. And just imagine Call of Duty with bullets flying right out of your TV. Now, that's what 3D was made for.
...AND WHY THEY REALLY WANT YOU TO BUY INTO 3D
* The movie studios and the cinema chains love 3D - they can charge more for seats for the movies, with relatively little extra cost (especially with so much CGI content) in production.
* They also love it because it's virtually impossible to shoot illicit camcorder pirate copies of movies in cinemas – all you get on tape is a swimmy, out of focus image.
* In the home, they're hoping the extra cost model can be repeated, with premium prices for 3D disc releases. But research in the States suggests consumers will only pay a little extra, and would rather not pay any premium, for their 3D movies.
* The consumer electronics companies love 3D because it allows them once more to market premium-priced products, in the face of relentless downward pressure on the retail price of large-screen TVs and Blu-ray players. One US analyst recently suggested BD player prices may fall as low as $50 in the near future _ 3D will, the companies hope, allow higher prices again.
* And the Blu-ray Disc Association? Well, it loves 3D because only BD has enough capacity to hold two 1080P pictures and stream them out simultaneously. Try doing that on DVD! And of course, that means more people will hopefully be tempted to upgrade to Blu-ray, rather than missing out on 3D.


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WASHINGTON (AP) - Stronger demand for airplanes and electronics helped orders to American factories bounce back in August after a record plunge. Economists said the report is further evidence the economy is growing at a slower but still healthy pace.
Factory orders rose a surprising 2% in August to a seasonally adjusted $382.5 billion, the third increase in the past four months, the Commerce Department reported.
"The pace of manufacturing acti
vity is sure but slowing," said the National Association of Manufacturers' economist Gordon Richards.
August's increase came after a record 8.1% drop in factory orders in July, an even sharper drop …


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Throughout the Second 421 Moist Season Pageant and Mining Ecology Convention the Chairman of the Bitdeer Group and cofounder of Bitmain, Jihan Wu spoke about establishments flocking to cryptocurrency mining. Throughout the occasion Bitdeer outlined the corporate’s computing partnerships and its plans to make digital forex mining greener.
Bitmain’s Cofounder Jihan Wu Is Optimistic Concerning the Way forward for Cryptocurrencies and Mining
Two weeks in the past, Bitdeer Group, the company group behind the online portal bitdeer.com, introduced the agency has been granted funding for $12 million from the Hong Kong subsidiary of Genimous Technology, Genimous Funding.
The funding goals to be allotted towards the event of Bitdeer’s cloud mining companies. Bitdeer was based by Jihan Wu and is backed by Sequoia Capital, IDG, and different monetary establishments.
On the Second 421 Moist Season Pageant and Mining Ecology Convention, Jihan Wu, spoke to the group about establishments entering into the digital forex mining realm.
Wu mentioned on the convention:
In the long term, the blockchain trade is bullish and is the most important alternative. The improvements on this trade could even surpass the Web itself.
‘Creating Credible Worth’
The Bitmain cofounder stressed on the occasion that well-known corporations coming into the crypto house would proceed and he expects the crypto economic system to swell. Whereas speaking about plenty of positives within the cryptocurrency house, Wu mentioned there might be some challenges and emphasised the trade must construct “credible worth.”
Wu additional defined that digital property aren’t fringe anymore and have change into acknowledged by the world’s monetary powers.
“That is good for the trade because it signifies that it’s being more and more acknowledged by mainstream finance,” Wu remarked throughout his presentation. “Be it as a brand new operational path for the corporate or as a brand new kind of monetary funding, I imagine that increasingly big-name corporations will proceed to enter this trade sooner or later.”
The occasion additionally featured Bitdeer’s Matt Kong, Ye Jiejie, Liang Baoqing, and Matrixport’s Ge Yuesheng, vp at Bit Mining Meng Xiaoni and the CEO of Btc.high Jiang Zhuoer.
“Bitdeer Group has made preparations in an effort to adapt to the mining trade developments and market modifications head-on,” Matt Kong, Bitdeer Group’s CEO mentioned throughout the convention.
What do you concentrate on the statements Jihan Wu made on the convention? Tell us what you concentrate on this topic within the feedback part beneath.
Picture Credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bitdeer Group
Disclaimer: This text is for informational functions solely. It’s not a direct supply or solicitation of a proposal to purchase or promote, or a advice or endorsement of any merchandise, companies, or corporations. Bitcoin.com doesn’t present funding, tax, authorized, or accounting recommendation. Neither the corporate nor the writer is accountable, immediately or not directly, for any injury or loss precipitated or alleged to be attributable to or in reference to using or reliance on any content material, items or companies talked about on this article.


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SALT LAKE CITY, April 12, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Walk through the Mindshare Technologies office and you'll find the face of Kurt Williams, the company's Chief Technology Officer, Photoshopped onto posters of Captain Kirk's body. The caption: "Kurt Williams, CTO of the Year."
The Utah Technology Council (UTC) named Williams Utah's top CTO of 2010 last week at its annual awards banquet in Salt Lake City.
"Kurt distinguished himself because he is seriously valued by his peers. Following each P2P forum, he's always surrounded by his peers," said Richard Nelson, the CEO of the UTC. "His leadership and expertise are in high demand."
Utah has become a technology hotbed, as highlighted in 2010 by articles in Newsweek and Forbes. Members of the UTC include several of Utah's most prominent technology businesses. So to earn the award as the top Tech Exec from a group of national tech leaders shows the impressiveness of Williams' work.
"Mindshare Technologies has always put precedence on technology. Our technology can't be beat. The word is even in our name!" said John Sperry, CEO of Mindshare Technologies. "We are so proud and thrilled to have the state's — and in my estimation, the country's — best CTO in Kurt Williams."
In 2010, Williams and his team created groundbreaking tech innovations for the Enterprise Feedback Management industry (EFM). Mindshare's 3-tiered Text Analytics Suite, Williams' brainchild, is known as the most thorough, easy-to-use Text Analytics product in the industry. Williams also lead the creation of Mindshare CoachTM, the reporting/recommending app that provides customer feedback results in an easy-to-understand dashboard that any manager at all levels can follow.
Later this year, Mindshare plans on unveiling Williams' next revolutionary technology: the industry's first in-house speech-to-text analytics system, which will change the way companies handle their audio survey responses.
"Kurt is dedicated to providing the best technologies to his clients," Nelson said of Williams. "He spearheaded very complex products like the Text Analytics Suite, not just changing the industry, but proving it."
"(Mindshare has) really got more than a Captain Kirk over there."
Zach Zavoral, Public Relations Specialist
About Mindshare Technologies
Mindshare drives operational improvement. Using Mindshare, companies improve operational excellence, foster consumer satisfaction, build customer loyalty, and support employee retention. Our industry experts guide clients in building comprehensive enterprise feedback management (EFM) solutions. Mindshare's proprietary survey technology captures the voice of the customer in real-time and immediately transforms it into actionable intelligence through powerful and incisive reporting. Mindshare serves more than 25 different industries including travel, hospitality, restaurant, financial, salon, automotive, and retail. For information, visit .
This information was brought to you by Cision


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Global demand next year could reach 11 billion to 12 billion units for CD-R discs and 1.5 billion units for DVD-R/+R discs, Ritek CEO Gordon Yeh predicted yesterday.
Demand for CD-R discs will continue to grow until the market becomes saturated in 2007-2008, but prices are expected to remain steady in the coming years due to a stable supply and demand situation, Yeh said.
The outlook is more promising for DVD-R/+R discs, with Hewlett Packard (HP) predicting global demand to hit two billion units in 2004, while other sources predict at 4.2-4.5 billion units in 2005, according to Yeh.
To cope with the increasing demand, Ritek plans to ramp up its combined production of CD-R and DVD-R/+R discs by 25% on-year in 2004, Yeh said. The Ritek group is currently cranking out a combined total of more than 170 million CD-R and DVD-R/+R discs per month, according to Yeh.
The Ritek group’s capital spending will exceed NT$4 billion in 2004, compared with an amount of between NT$3 billion and NT$4 billion this year, based on Yeh’s conservative estimate.
As part of the group’s expansion project, Ritek plans to build a new plant in southeastern China aimed at the Chinese mainland’s vast market, said Yeh, adding that the plan may be finalized in the first quarter of next year.
The projected new plant will have a capacity to roll out between 40 million and 60 million optical storage discs per month, Yeh said.
According to the Japanese research firm Fujiwara-Rothchild, Ritek’s DVD-R/+R discs accounted for 30.7% of the global market in the third quarter of 2003 and DVD-RW discs 24.5%.


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Lady Gaga Models For Marc Jacobs At New York Fashion Week
Lady Gaga hit the runway for the Marc Jacobs Fall 2016 show during New York Fashion Week at the Park Avenue Armory Thursday.
Lady Gaga Walks Runway At Marc Jacobs
Pop icon Lady Gaga, who added TV actress to her resume last year, is now a high fashion model after hitting the Marc Jacobs NYFW show this week. “I’ve adored @marcjacobs @themarcjacobs since I was very young, so I was so honored to be one of his beautiful creatures tonight ?,” she wrote on Instagram.
Gaga posted a number of pictures from the big day, including one that features a closeup of her face, captioning it, “makeup FRANÇOIS NARS.”
She also shared a backstage snap of herself, writing, “I’m a model, you know what I mean.”
“The one and only MARC JACOBS. NY, NY,” Gaga captioned a picture with the designer.
“I told Marc I was disappointed the shoes weren’t taller,” Gaga quipped to Vogue at the show, revealing that she joined the catwalk show relatively last minute. “I was getting ready to do the Grammys, and I told him that I would do it. It’s really wonderful that he brought me in as one of his models.”
“My whole goal is to be here for Marc, making his vision come to life,” she added. “It’s not about me, it’s about the clothes.”
Get the most-revealing celebrity conversations with the uInterview podcast!


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Domino’s Pizza is bringing autonomous delivery to a major U.S. metro market.
The pizza chain will start providing autonomous deliveries to select customers who place online orders in Houston later this year. Domino’s will use the custom unmanned vehicle known as the R2 from robotics company Nuro.
Select customers who order online from one of Domino's participating Houston-area stores will have the opportunity to use Nuro's autonomous delivery. Once they have opted in, customers can track the vehicle via the Domino's app and will be provided with a unique PIN code to unlock the compartment to get their pizza.
Domino’s has been testing the potential of autonomous vehicles to make pizza deliveries for a while. In February 2018, the retailer conducted a two-month driverless delivery pilot in Miami, in partnership with Ford Motor Co. This followed an earlier pilot in Ann Arbor, Mich., that focused on the last 50 feet of the delivery experience, from car to customer.
Now, Domino’s is piloting autonomous delivery with Mountain View, Calif.-based startup Nuro. The company may have selected Nuro at least in part based on successful piloting of self-driving grocery deliveries Kroger has conducted with Nuro vehicles this year in Houston and Scottsdale, Ariz.
"We are always looking for new ways to innovate and evolve the delivery experience for our customers," said Kevin Vasconi, Domino's executive VP and CIO. "Nuro's vehicles are specially designed to optimize the food delivery experience, which makes them a valuable partner in our autonomous vehicle journey. The opportunity to bring our customers the choice of an unmanned delivery experience, and our operators an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush, is an important part of our autonomous vehicle testing."


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On January 9, 2014, the board of directors of SolTech decided, in accord with the authority granted at the annual stockholders meeting held on June 24, 2013, to carry out a new stock issue for a maximum of 12,500,000 Swedish crowns (roughly €1,350,000) in order to ensure the capital necessary for continued expansion. The issue is directed to the general public for the purpose of further widening ownership of the Company prior to the planned listing on NASDAQ/OMX during the fall of 2014, at a per share price of 8 Swedish crowns. The issue extends to a maximum of 1,562,500 shares and, if fully subscribed, proceeds to the Company will amount to 12,500,000 Swedish crowns, before deduction of the usual new issue costs.
- The company finds itself in a very expansive phase, with good market acceptance and strong interest in its products, both in Sweden and abroad. More and more building owners are starting to realize that not making use of the energy flooding over their roofs is no longer acceptable.
- During 2013, the system has been sold in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Russia and Greece.
- Directing focus on our own sales: Further development of existing and new collaboration with agents, distributors and other sales channels in Sweden and abroad, requires further capital.
- During 2013, the Company’s products – SolTech Sigma, SolTech Power, and SolTech Flex – for the production of thermal heat and electricity, along with necessary upkeep-heat and ventilation in summer homes, have contributed to segments in the TV do-it-yourself home improvement program “Äntligen Hemma” (Home at last), presented on TV 4.
- During 2013 the Company has held the exclusive right to sell CdTe fine-film solar cells in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland from one of two manufacturers in the world of this type of solar cell. The combination of being more effective in diffuse light, high quality of manufacture, and less sensitivity to high temperatures, allows this this type of solar cell to produce approximately 10% more kWh per installed watt/year in comparison with crystalline silicon cells.
- The year 2014 has begun well with an order from county district that will be building a new daycare center for children. Parallel to this, the installation of two single-home systems is in progress and a number of large offers have been sent out to customers awaiting decision.
A complete information memo and report form is available and can be downloaded as of February 5, 2014 at: www.soltechenergy.com and www.aktieinvest.se.


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Amazon is looking for the perfect place for its new headquarters, HQ2. It's accepting bids from cities across the US. Could Newark be in the running?Read More »
Apple Inc. (AAPL) closed below its 50-day moving average on Wednesday, Sept. 20, according to data from Bloomberg. Shares of the tech titan have closed below this threshold 45 times in the past five years, typically gaining 1.2% in the five days following the dip. Some investors consider the 50-day moving average an indicator for short-term uptrends and downtrends. Apple stock last dipped beneath its 50-day moving average in July. But Apple shares remain well above their 200-day moving average, which is considered a longer-term indicator. July 2016 was the last time Apple stock traded below that threshold. Apple's relative strength index indicates that it is neither overbought nor oversold,
Alphabet Inc.-owned self-driving car company Waymo wants rival Uber Technologies to pay up to $2.6 billion in damages over a single instance of alleged trade secret theft, Uber’s lawyers revealed in court yesterday. Waymo alleges that former executive Anthony Levandowski stole 14,000 files containing trade secrets in the weeks before quitting to start his own self-driving trucking startup, Otto. Uber emails from last year suggest Uber founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick knew about the theft, but warned Levandowski against bringing the secrets to Uber.
Siemens AG is negotiating with Alstom SA as well as Bombardier Inc. about potential rail combinations, giving the German engineering company two options to pursue consolidation in the industry, according to people familiar with the matter. While Siemens has been negotiating for months with Montreal-based Bombardier about creating two rail joint ventures, it has more recently also been speaking to French rival Alstom about various tie-ups, said the people, who asked not be named because the discussions aren’t public. One option being considered is Siemens injecting its rail business into Alstom in exchange for a large stake in the bigger French entity, two of the people said.


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The Creator Economy: Behind the Scenes of a Booming Industry
In the glitzy world of content creation, where influencers reign supreme and viral videos can launch careers, there lies an entire ecosystem of jobs that often go unnoticed. While content creators may be the face of the creator economy, it’s the behind-the-scenes roles that keep the industry humming. According to Goldman Sachs, the creator economy is set to explode, with a projected worth of $480 billion by 2027. This growth has paved the way for startups dedicated to helping creators and brands capitalize on this expanding space.
Creator Economy Jobs, a startup dedicated to tracking and sharing job openings within the creator economy, is a testament to the industry’s rapid evolution. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the creator economy saw a funding boom towards the end of 2020 and into 2021, propelling it into the spotlight. Founder James Creech noted, “The creator-economy space was very hot,” reflecting the surge in interest and investment within the industry.
While some sectors may still be reeling from the economic downturn, the creator economy continues to thrive, with numerous startups actively seeking talent. According to a recent report by Creator Economy Jobs, companies such as Coda Payments, Pinterest, and Figma have emerged as key players with a multitude of open positions. The report, based on an analysis of over 1,500 job posts from 600 companies, highlights the industry’s appetite for growth and innovation.
Engineering roles have emerged as the top contenders in the job market, with 30.3% of the positions posted in the first quarter of 2024 falling under this category. The demand for skilled technical talent underscores the industry’s reliance on innovation and technology to drive its success. Midlevel roles, requiring two to five years of experience, make up a significant portion of the job listings, comprising 43.8% of positions in Q1 2024.
The United States stands out as the epicenter of the creator economy, with nearly 40% of hiring companies based in the country. While Los Angeles and New York City are synonymous with entertainment and content creation, it’s San Francisco that leads the pack in creator-economy jobs. With 7.6% of listings originating from the tech hub, startups are increasingly recognizing the opportunities presented by the creator economy.
As the creator economy continues its meteoric rise, the job market within the industry shows no signs of slowing down. With a diverse range of roles available, from engineering to marketing, the industry offers ample opportunities for professionals looking to make their mark in this burgeoning space. As startups and established companies alike vie for talent, the creator economy remains a dynamic and evolving landscape that promises to shape the future of digital content creation.


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LIVESTOCK, POULTRY, AND DAIRY:
The forecast for total meat production in 2014 is lowered from last month as lower beef and broiler production more than offsets increased pork and turkey production. Beef production is lower ed as the pace of steer and heifer slaughter in the second quarter is reduced. However, carcass weights are forecast slightly higher as feed prices have moderated.
Pork : Pork production is forecast higher due to a combination of larger second-quarter slaughter and higher carcass weights for the year. USDA’s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report will be released on June 27 and provide an indication of producer farrowing intentions for the remainder of the year. Pork imports and exports are raised based on April trade data.
Poultry: Broiler production is lowered from last month as the pace of expansion remains slow. Turkey production is raised on higher second-quarter production. Egg production is raised as strong table egg prices are expected to support increased production. For 2015, no change is made to red meat or turkey forecasts, but the forecast for broiler production is reduced for early 2015. Broiler exports are reduced as production forecasts are lowered from last month. The slower pace of exports is expected to carry into 2015. Turkey exports are unchanged from last month.
Beef: Forecasts for 2014 beef imports are raised as demand for processing grade beef remains strong; no change is made to the export forecast. Cattle, hog, and turkey price forecasts for 2014 and 2015 are unchanged from last month. Broiler prices are raised for 2014 as supplies are forecast smaller, but 2015 prices are unchanged from last month. Egg prices for 2014 are raised from last month as demand remains strong; prices for 2015 are unchanged.
Dairy: Milk production forecasts for 2014 and 2015 are unchanged from last month. Export forecasts are raised on a fat basis for 2014 and 2015 with higher cheese exports. However, growth in 2014 exports is constrained by weaker butter sales as higher domestic prices have made U.S. butter less competitive on world markets. Skim-solids exports reflect strength in cheese and nonfat dry milk (NDM) exports. Imports for 2014 and 2015 are raised on higher imports of food ingredients.
Cheese and butter prices for 2014 are forecast higher on strong demand for cheese and tight supplies of butter. The NDM price is lowered, but the whey price forecast is unchanged. Strength in butter prices is expected to carry into early 2015 resulting in an increase in the 2015 price, but the prices of cheese, NDM, and whey are unchanged from last month. Class III and Class IV prices for 2014 and 2015 are raised on stronger butterfat values. The all milk price is forecast at $22.90 to $23.30 per cwt for 2014 and $19.75 to $20.75 per cwt for 2015.
Source: USDA WASDE


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The electronics giant is betting that consumers are ready to spend a couple grand to up the quality of their home movies.
The device, part of the company's Handycam line, records and plays back video with a resolution of 1,440 pixels by 1,080 lines, the highest in any consumer camcorder, the company said.
Dubbed the HDR-FX1, the device uses MPEG2 compression, which is the same type normally used for digital broadcasts and DVDs. It also features a 3.5-inch, wide-screen LCD display. An image in the display can be enlarged up to four times its original size without any loss of resolution, the company said.
The camcorder will sell for about $3,700, Sony said.
Sony also said it will introduce high-definition videotape for the new camera. The 63-minute casettes will begin shipping next month for about $18 each.
"With U.S. sales of high-definition television sets exploding, along with the availability of high-definition programming, the expectation of having personal content in high definition is growing rapidly," Linda Vuolo, director for camcorder products for Sony Electronics, said in a statement. "The introduction of the HDV-FX1 has been timed and targeted to meet this desire."