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Info About the Game
Level Up! gets ready for Crazy Kart!
How does the country's leading online gaming publisher, Level Up!, always manage to keep itself ahead of all the other local gaming companies? By tuning up the online gaming industry and boosting its line-up with some turbo-charged new titles like Crazy Kart!
The arrival of Crazy Kart to the Philippines is the result of the recent partnership made by Level Up! and Shanda Interactive China - the developer of Crazy Kart.
In Shanghai China, Shanda is the most successful Internet gaming company; operating 15,000 network servers in 65 cities of China. Last year, Shanda has earned $74 million in sales and is even expected to reach $100 million for this year. Shanda also has the biggest market capitalization as a Chinese Internet company - at $2.6 billion!
The company is co-founded by a Chinese entrepreneur -- Chen Tiangiao -- who is also branded as one of China's wealthiest men. Worth $1.6 billion, Chen has a sense for growing technology trends. Although he admits that he's not into gadgets and doesn't even consider himself as a techie, Chen knows how to tap into the business of online games: by providing players high quality games and excellent service.
As a product of Chen's philosophy, more and more Chinese players are now enjoying many hours of playing games developed by Shanda.
And now, Filipinos will also able to experience a part of Shanda's success with one of its award-winning games, Crazy Kart.
As the newest casual game ever to grace Philippine shores, Crazy Kart is an online kart racing game that will surely create a breed of racing fans among Pinoy gamers. The game features unique racing karts which players can customize its appearance as well as modify its performance; colorful avatar drivers with different characteristics or personalities; and fun, challenging race tracks where players can master and compete other drivers in every lap after lap.
And to make Crazy Kart's arrival even more exciting, Level Up! also plans to further localize the game according to the taste of Pinoy gamers. Imagine, players will someday have the option to race familiar vehicles like the Pinoy jeepney or even race on famous Philippine locations.
Level Up! will begin the beta testing for Crazy Kart very soon. And with games like this just around the corner, it's no wonder that Level Up! will always be ahead of everybody else!
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz
RAM: 256 MB of RAM or above
Video card: 128MB Video Card
OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
HD Space: 700MB HD Space
Internet Connection Speed: DSL


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While Bing isn't exactly the de facto noun-turned-verb when it comes to search, the Microsoft search engine does have its committed followers. And according to the company, those followers really like both American and luxury fashion.
Bing released its list of 2012's most searched fashion brands, and NY-based Michael Kors takes the number-one spot (not surprising considering the impressively successful IPO that closed out 2011 for the brand), followed by iconic (and oft-knocked off) brands like Louis and Gucci. Rounding out the top five are two more U.S. brands known for an Americana bent, Ralph Lauren and J.Crew. The takeaway? People like to wear classic American brands...and expensive European ones, too.
1. Michael Kors
2. Louis Vuitton
4. Ralph Lauren
8. Juicy Couture
10. Tory Burch
Photo: Courtesy of Michael Kors

domain: news


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As per a Keanery report, Bengaluru’s brand penetration per capita is higher as compared to Mumbai, thus making it attractive for retailers.
Manoj Muthu Kumar, Principal, Kearney, says, despite a lower population, Bengaluru has a higher per capita income and much higher level of spending and consumption in key sectors like apparel, footwear, food and groceries, electronics etc. Level of awareness and affinity towards organized retail and e-commerce is also much higher in the city though it offers lower rentals.
More recently, Bengaluru was also named the most liveable city in the country, within a pool of cities with a million plus population. In a recently revealed Ease of Living Index 2020 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, Bengaluru emerged as the most liveable city in the million plus population category in 2020.
The index tracked the potential and attractiveness of over 800 Indian cities for various organized retail categories such as apparel, jewellery, electronics, footwear, food and grocery etc. Kearney’s Index rates each city on a variety of parameters that contribute to the overall retail market attractiveness of a city including economic, demographic, consumption, infrastructure, and ease of operations parameters. In addition to retail attractiveness, the index also factors penetration of modern trade and consumer adoption to e-commerce adoption within these cities.


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A NEW fee could hit customers if a proposed regulation passes and buyers riot.
An ordinance in Athens, Ohio hopes to reduce single-use plastic bags around the city.
It was proposed by Councilor Alan Swank at a recent Athens City Council meeting on Monday.
It’s the latest in a series of regulations addressing the use of plastic in the city since 2016.
After August 1st, no store will be able to provide single-use plastic bags to customers.
They also can’t charge for bags unless they’re listed on a customer’s receipt.
According to the rule, customers can bring their own bags to the store.
A fine for providing single-use plastic bags is no more than $100, with a separate violation for each time the store fails to comply with the regulation.
Swank said the deadline has been pushed back to August 1 to give stores like Kroger time to switch.
The deadline also coincides with the arrival of Ohio University students.
“It’s easier to make a switch during your downtime when you only have two customers than when you have 20,” Swank said.
Milena Miller of Athens ReThink Plastics said many companies are ready to make the switch.
Kroger has previously banned single-use plastic bags, including at a Virginia store last year.
The grocery chain has announced that it will phase out all plastic bags by 2025.
Back in 2018, the company announced its plans to phase out single-use plastic bags in its 2,779 stores and managed to reduce plastic bags in all QFC stores in April 2019.
The company also donated $1 to The Nature Conservancy for every reusable bag sold in stores that month.
Kroger has partnered with other stores like Walmart and Target for the Beyond the Bag initiative, which challenges shoppers to explore reusable options and “reinvent” plastic bags.
The store’s attempt to be more environmentally friendly has been adopted by other stores such as Wegmans and Walmart.
Wegmans said that in stores where it has introduced a plastic bag ban, paper bags are used in around 25 percent of transactions, with the rest of sales coming from reusable bags or no bag.
https://www.the-sun.com/money/7666312/kroger-plastic-bag-ban-athens-ohio-ordinance/ Kroger customers are furious about the new surcharge they’ll have to pay this summer – see if you pay more


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Researchers at cyber security firm Sansec claim to have found evidence to suggest that North Korean state-sponsored actors are planting skimmers on the web stores of many American and European retailers in efforts to steal payment card details of unsuspecting shoppers.
The activities have been ongoing since at least May 2019, the researchers say, and can be attributed to hackers linked with the North Korean-backed Lazarus group.
Sansec's new research shows that in the last year, Lazarus has been able to infiltrate web stores of many retailers, such as international fashion chain Claire's. The group has also developed a global exfiltration network that uses authentic websites to transfer stolen assets to attackers. These websites are first hijacked and then repurposed to mask the malicious activities of the hackers.
The researchers said they have identified many exfiltration nodes in the hackers' network in recent months, including a New Jersey-based book store, a vintage music store from Tehran and a modelling agency in Milan.
In June last year, Sansec found that a US truck parts store that was infected with a payment skimmer. This skimmer used a compromised Italian modelling site to exfiltrate payment cards' data to hackers.
Although the malware was removed from the web store within 24 hours, it returned a week later, with some changes. Instead of using the compromised Italian site, the malware this time used a New Jersey-based book store to harvest customers' payment card data.
In following months, the researchers found the same piece of malware on dozens of other online stores, all using any one of the following hijacked websites as loader and card collector:
Earlier this year, hackers registered some new domains resembling popular consumer brands. Subsequently, they compromised the web stores of three corresponding brands with payment skimming malware and used their anonymously registered domains as loader and card collector.
Lazarus group, also known as Hidden Cobra, gained notoriety in 2014 when it hacked Sony Pictures over the film The Interview, a comedy centring on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
According to cyber security firm Group-IB, this notorious group stole more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2017 and 2018.
Earlier this year, security vendor Kaspersky warned that Lazarus was updating its attack tactics in efforts to remain undetected during cryptocurrency stealing campaigns.
In May, Malwarebyes researchers said that they have identified a new variant of the Dacls Remote Access Trojan (RAT) which was likely designed by Lazarus to target devices running Mac operating system.
The incident is expected to delay Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme by approximately two months
EXIF format enables people to store interchange information in digital photography image files using JPEG compression
Hackers are targeting Australian organisations across a broad range of sectors, according to Prime Minister Morrison
Hackers first sent an exciting job offer via LinkedIn to aerospace executives while posing themselves as recruiters from well-known firms, such as General Dynamics and Collins Aerospace
The company says a 'security incident' caused disruption to its computer network and loss of connectivity


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Farming brothers in Cheshire are hoping to put British saffron back on the menu, more than 500 years after production of the spice departed our shores.
Peter and Douglas Gould run The Cheshire Saffron Company, based in Delamere Forest. Peter told the Northwich Guardian: “Since 2004 I have been researching the biological clock in plants, an internal clock involved in driving the timing of all things in plants including that of flowering and crop production.
“Being a doctor in plant molecular biology and an avid cook I have been interested in the growing of unusual crops in the UK.”
Peter said part of the reason for setting up the business was frustration at the scarcity of high quality unusual food products. This, in turn, led to his interest in the saffron crocus, the flower that saffron is derived from.
In 2015 Peter and Doug began testing the feasibility of growing saffron in field conditions, and by early August 2016 a whopping 320,000 corms were planted. Corms are swollen underground plant stems that serve as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat.
Saffron farming is extremely labour intensive, with around 200 flowers required to produce one gram, which will provide enough saffron for around 100 dishes. But the brothers have chosen a variety which is more flavoursome than most imports, allowing smaller quantities to be used. It is also a distinctive red colour.
Peter added: “To produce our saffron we wanted to minimise our impact on the surrounding wildlife.
“We therefore do not use fungicides, herbicides or pesticides thus allowing the local wildlife to thrive.
“The flowers themselves seem to attract the bees from all around during the later months of October and early November.”
England was once a major producer of saffron, but, over many years, demand and cultivation for the exotic spice dwindled until it eventually disappeared completely from these shores.
The current crop will be ready to pick once they bloom in October.
The brothers currently sell to fine dining restaurants in the North West but they hope to expand.
Find out more at www.cheshiresaffron.co.uk, on Twitter @cheshiresaffron or via Facebook.
More for foodies from Countryside Online...


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Americans are waking up to some uncomfortable truths. One of these is the fact that government bureaucrats and the corporate media regularly lie about what is going on in the world.
They tell us the Federal Reserve Note “dollar” is strong and price inflation is completely under control. (We use quote marks because a true dollar is 24.057 grams of silver, whereas the Federal Reserve Note is a form of counterfeit.)
Millions of Americans now notice rapid price inflation and a good portion of them are pouring into physical bullion.
To illustrate just how much nonsense is baked into official inflation data, we are presenting three charts…
The first is a chart of the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) over the past year. This one is a favorite of Wall Street and central bankers who want Americans to think the Federal Reserve Note is stable, or even getting stronger.
The DXY is very often cited in the financial press and incorporated in trading algorithms. Anyone who doesn’t dig deeper would have the impression the U.S. dollar got much stronger over the past year. They would, of course, be very wrong.
The trick is that the DXY index simply measures the dollar against other major unbacked fiat currencies around the world. It is not a measure of actual purchasing power. Not in the least!
Read More: Why the Federal Reserve Note’s Decline Is FAR Worse Than Reported


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- Bonuses and Promotions
The indicator of "consumer spending" in the UK in January-February 2018 was the lowest since 2012. Such data was provided by Visa and IHS Markit
According to the statistics, only in February, consumer spending fell 1.1% compared to February of the previous year, with a decrease for the ninth time in ten months. According to Mark Antipouf, the chief commercial director of Visa, the British have been saving since the summer of last year.
"As for March, consumer spending in the first quarter may be the weakest in the history of statistics, retailers are clearly hoping that warmer weather will stimulate buyers' activity," Mark Antipouf added.


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The penny price war: Poundland slashes prices to 97p to undercut 99p shop rivals
Poundland has broken its rigid price structure by dropping prices to 97p in locations where rival 99p stores have opened up.
The discount retailer as diverted from its traditional £1 price in four shops so far, including its East Ham and Dudley stores, according to trade magazine Retail Week.
It is offering customer’s vouchers promoting ‘two for £1’ or one pound off when you buy six items.
Poundland – which has 400 stores nationwide – said it had adopted the new strategy because of ‘tactical’ reasons.
Price drop: Poundland has slashed the cost of all its items in four shops, from £1 to 99p, including its East Ham store.
Jim McCarthy, chief executive at Poundland, said: 'Poundland always aims to offer great quality products for amazing value to all its customers.
'Like all retailers we test competitor response options all the time and this is just one of a number of tactical options. This price point is currently being applied in just 4 stores.'
Poundland declined to say how long the promotions would run for. However, Retail Week reported that 97p promotions have been running for over a year in one store.
99p Stores has 224 branches in England, Wales and Ireland. Chief executive, Hussein Lalani, said: 'It’s a great compliment to and affirmation of our 99p Stores Brand.
It illustrates what an impact we must be having on Poundland that they have had to change their business model.
Mr Lalani said as a thank you he is sending over a case of 99p “bubbly” to Poundland chief executive Jim McCarthy.
Price drop: Poundland has introduced the alternative pricing strategy as a way to battle against rival 99p stores.
A string of high street shops closed in the past few years, but Poundland has continued to grow in strength.
In the year to April 2012, Poundland posted sales of £780million, up 19.3 per cent and pre-tax profits of £18.3million, up from £12.2million in the previous year.
In September last year Channel 4 broadcast, 'Dispatches: Secrets of Poundland’, where it accused the retailer of shrinking products in order to maximise profits.
The programme also highlighted other canny marketing and packaging tricks to encourage shoppers to spend money.
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Apple's Mac userbase has grown to 66 million users, the company announced today at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
The company, which also unveiled new MacBook Pros and a MacBook Air at the event, says that it has sold 26 million copies of Mac OS X Lion since its launch last summer, and 40 percent of its users are running that operating system.
That 40 percent figure proved important to Apple. During its keynote, the company said that it took Microsoft's Windows 7 platform 27 months to hit the same penetration rate as Lion, which needed only nine months to hit the mark.
Moving away from Mac OS X, Apple also said today that it now has 125 million registered iCloud users syncing data across mobile products and computers.
All the latest Apple news, featuring developments on the iPhone, iPad, Macbooks, OS X and much more.
Jun 28The best parts of iOS 11 on iPhone
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Mattress manufacturer The Sleep Company recently introduced Anil Kapoor as its first official brand ambassador while also unveiling the #GoSmartGrid with AK campaign. Priyanka Salot, Co-Founder, The Sleep Company discusses the brand’s latest campaign, the synergies it shares with its new brand ambassador and its strategy to compete with established brands
Q] What was the insight behind The Sleep Company’s ‘#GoSmartGrid with AK’ campaign?
The company was launched around 20 months back. So we’ve been a brand that was born during COVID itself and we know that this has not been an easy time for people. We’ve kind of seen two big trends coming out during COVID – one is that suddenly mental and physical health have become important for people, and there are a lot of conversations on sleep, comfort and health. Second was the insight about how many Indians suffer from back pain issues. In fact, a study done by FitBit shows that more than 75-80% of Indians actually suffer from some kind of back pain. We wanted to address these needs with our patented SmartGrid technology, which can help our customers get better sleep, and enjoy better mental and physical health. So the new campaign, which is ‘Go SmartGrid with AK’, aims to drive awareness of this new technology and showcase how it is better than anything else in the market, be it a foam or a memory foam mattress. So, the intent is to really drive strong mainstream awareness about the product and the technology, and how it can help people get better sleep, better health and comfort.
Q] What does your media mix look like and what budget have you allocated for the overall campaign?
The Sleep Company is a D2C brand, which is currently shipping products from the factory to consumers’ doorsteps directly. So we are leveraging a mix of digital mediums. Our digital campaign with Anil Kapoor is our first commercial, and our digital ad went live just over a week ago on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. We are also leveraging advertising on marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart and Pepperfry. For our campaign with Anil Kapoor, we are also employing digital influencers to create viral content and consumer friendly content. Our main commercial is the ‘raw egg challenge’, a test to see if your mattress is good enough for you or not. So, we are creating digital friendly content, which is getting a lot of visibility.
Q] What was the thought behind roping in Anil Kapoor as the face of your brand? What makes him a good fit for the brand?
There are two big reasons. Firstly, Anil Kapoor is not just the face of the brand, he’s actually a loyal user for us. And he’s been a great advocate for our SmartGrid technology. So that was one critical element that we just didn’t want any kind of face for the brand. We want somebody who understands the technology, who has experienced it and has kind of fallen in love with it. And he’s that face! So we wanted to leverage that trust that he has in our product and our technology, and to spell that out for our customers in a fun, quirky way. Anil Kapoor is both fun and quirky, so we got him to showcase the science behind the product in a fun way to help our customers understand that SmartGrid is the biggest disruption in the comfort space in India. Another thing is that we see a lot of synergies between The Sleep Company and Anil Kapoor, which is why we chose him as the face of our brand. We have a lot of exciting campaigns coming with him even in the future. But everything would be about how The Sleep Company is disrupting the comfort space, with its patented SmartGrid technology, and how that technology can really help our customers.
Q] How would you define The Sleep Company’s journey in the ecosystem? What kind of challenges did you face while establishing the brand?
It’s been 20 months since we launched The Sleep Company in India. In just 20 months, we’ve become the highest rated mattress online. We are one of the top brands on Amazon. Hence our vision is really to keep driving that innovation and become the world’s best comfort technology company. We wanted to really upgrade the way people sleep and sit. If you see this industry, which is let’s say mattresses or any sleeping or sitting products, sadly no innovation has happened in over 60 years. Memory foam was actually invented in the 1960s, way before even colour television. Everything in our lives has become smart, our phones are smart, our TVs are smart. So, we decided that it’s time to make comfort and our sleeping mattresses smart as well. And that is the vision and intent. To be honest, the challenge or I would actually like to think of it as kind of an opportunity is the whole digital ecosystem. It really enables the new age D2C brands to reach customers and delight them in a much more efficient, faster way. And we want to make sure that we continue to leverage this digital ecosystem to reach more and more customers and to delight them by literally improving the way people sleep.
Q] What is your strategy for becoming a mainstream brand and competing with the more established players in the category?
Our focus is to mainly drive three big things. We want to become a Rs 500 crore+ brand in the next three years and the brand is on a strong path to do that. We want to continue to innovate with better products than anyone else in the country. And our superior products versus other brands in the country will help us gain share in the pie. The pie is huge, and the Indian mattress market itself is a $2 billion market. And we are seeing it going through a disruption where consumers are moving from offline to online. There is a shift from unbranded to branded happening. So we want to be at the forefront of that disruption and want to make sure that with our superior and patented products, we continue to win consumers and that’s our first big driver. The second is we would be expanding our product portfolio beyond the sleeping segment. Today our portfolio is into sleeping products. We will be launching a lot of products, even into the sitting comfort space. And the third big driver is international expansion. So we have already filed for patents in multiple geographies in the Asian as well as the developed world, and will be looking to expand The Sleep Company and our SmartGrid technology to other international markets, which will be also a big growth driver for us in the next three years.


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York Region public health has alerted the public not to consume two products linked to a food poisoning investigation after 12 diners who ate at a Markham, Ont., restaurant last weekend became seriously ill.
Dr. Barry Pakes, the region’s chief medical officer of health, said Thursday that Mr. Right brand Kaempferia Galanga Powder, a common spice in Asian cuisine, and Mr. Right brand Radix Aconiti Kusnezoffii, which may be used as a traditional herbal medicine, should not be used.
He said the suspected products have been removed from known retail locations in York Region, as local public health continues to work with provincial and federal partners to limit exposure to the product.
Twelve people went to local hospitals and four were treated in intensive care on Sunday within about an hour of eating the same chicken dish from Delight Restaurant and BBQ. Three were still in intensive care as of Wednesday, though public health said their conditions were improving. Another person who had been admitted to the ICU had left hospital.
At this point in the investigation, Pakes said there is a “strong indication” the illnesses were caused by a spice product contaminated with aconite, a toxin sometimes called called wolfsbane or monkshood, but lab results are expected later this week.
Pakes has said there is no indication that the contamination was intentional.
Health officials said the restaurant passed a re-inspection on Wednesday and has been cleared to open.
Symptoms of aconite poisoning include numbness in the face and extremities, severe gastrointestinal distress and an irregular heartbeat.
It can also cause nausea, vomiting, cramping and muscle weakness, and can be fatal if consumed in large enough quantities.
In March, B.C.’s poison information centre and the Fraser Health authority warned the public not to consume Wing Hing-brand sand ginger powder after two people were hospitalized and later recovered.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2022.


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NFIB State Director in Indiana Explains Need for Liability Reform This Legislative Session
Barbara Quandt, NFIB’s State Director in Indiana, penned this Op Ed in Indy Politics. Read the reasons why Quandt argues that Indiana legislators need to pass liability reform for small business owners:
Liability Protection is one of the key issues expected to come up in the 2021 Indiana Legislative Session that begins just after the New Year’s holiday. At a time when many Indiana small business owners are on the brink of closing their doors forever, it is imperative that lawmakers take this very important step to protect them from frivolous lawsuits. A recent NFIB survey found that if economic conditions do not improve in the next six months, one in four small business owners will go under. Yes, you heard that right. One in four mom and pop Hoosier stores could be gone forever.
That’s why they need legislators to step in: trial lawyers are licking their chops, eager to take advantage of struggling small business owners who are already strapped thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and don’t have the money to pay for their own lawyer. Our small business owners are doing everything they can to protect their employees and their customers. They’re spending thousands of dollars and following city, state, and federal regulations to keep their doors open and Indiana’s economy humming along. The last thing they need is a greedy trial lawyer showing up and threating a lawsuit and a court trial unless they hand over a quick payment. It’s nothing but a shakedown intended for owners to settle rather than battle it out in court.
NFIB research shows 70% of small businesses are very concerned about liability protections. Small businesses are particularly sensitive to frivolous legal action. Even when doing everything correctly, simply fighting such a lawsuit could put the viability of the business in danger. Frivolous lawsuits can be extremely costly to a small business and its owner, financially and emotionally. The last thing these beleaguered folks need is to fend off a costly frivolous lawsuit. If they are still in business, many may be but one frivolous lawsuit away from closing for good, taking livelihoods and the jobs they create with them.
Liability protection would not be extended to those businesses exhibiting gross misconduct or negligence. Liability protection would only apply to those that follow federal, state, and local guidance. Therefore, if a business makes a good faith effort to follow guidelines to safeguard employees and customers, it should be protected from frivolous lawsuits.
Legislators here in Indiana are smart. Lawmakers in Washington D.C. failed to pass liability protection in the COVID-19 federal relief bill. In the eleventh hour of negotiations it was punted by Congress. That’s why we need Hoosier lawmakers to pass liability from frivolous pandemic-related lawsuits for mom and pop shops as they struggle to recover from the crisis driven recession. This legislation is a no-brainer. Our small business are counting on Indiana lawmakers to do the right thing and keep Indiana’s economy going. That’s why they expect to see this important piece of legislation fly through the legislature this upcoming session.
You can also find Quandt’s Op Ed here.


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The new seven-day auction platform will augment a traditional model where domain names are posted on the site for sale and prices are negotiated.
Sedo.com LLC plans to introduce this week an auction service for domain name sales, a company executive said Monday.
Jeremiah Johnston, COO and general counsel for the online marketplace for buyers and sellers for domain names and Web sites, said the new seven-day auction platform will augment a traditional model, where domain names are posted on the site for sale and price negotiated.
The eBay-like model aims to satisfy requests by businesses, as well as professional investors who purchase high-ticket domain names each year.
"Domain names will be put up for sale using the traditional model," Johnston said. "Someone who has a domain name receiving multiple offers from multiple parties can push the sale to our new auction model."
Sedo boasts six million domains for sale on the site, and more than 500,000 users worldwide, who collectively spent more than $25 million to purchase domains through the marketplace in the past year.
CollectiveX.com founder and CEO Clarence Wooten Jr. has bought and sold names. "I think auctions for domain names offer a viable business model, especially when you're trying to reach a large market" he said. "Today, literally any name you can think of has been registered. So if you're looking for a particular name, someone likely already owns it."
Similarly, Blogger Anthony Citrano owns a small portfolio of domain names. Two years ago, he tried auctioning one on eBay, and would likely not go that route again, but rather look for a site that could assist in the sale.
"What makes the auction site for domain names attractive is when the company co-markets the domain name with you because it provides increased visibility," Citrano said.
Citrano, who has bought about 100 domain names, and sold 25, in the past 10 years, said an auction would pull in buyers that otherwise might not encounter the sale, which is likely to drive up the asking price.
"If you're going to buy domain names, one-syllable names typically do the best to bring in the most money," he said.
Some of the domain names Sedo expects will use the auction feature when the service goes live later this week includes Portals.com, Maid.com, Nerd.com, and Janitors.com. Johnston said some of the top sellers this year have been Bike.com for $500,000; Blue.com, $500,000; WiFi.com, $225,000; and Nasty.com for $200,000.
"The value of these domains can be re-earned quickly," Johnston said. "If you were a WiFi router manufacturer and wanted to buy all the traffic that goes through the keywordWiFi in Overture on the Yahoo network, the amount of targeted traffic going through the domain would pay for itself within two years."
Johnston said popular domain names also include those related to online services, such as travel, video games, and music.
How Enterprises Are Attacking the IT Security EnterpriseTo learn more about what organizations are doing to tackle attacks and threats we surveyed a group of 300 IT and infosec professionals to find out what their biggest IT security challenges are and what they're doing to defend against today's threats. Download the report to see what they're saying.
Infographic: The State of DevOps in 2017Is DevOps helping organizations reduce costs and time-to-market for software releases? What's getting in the way of DevOps adoption? Find out in this InformationWeek and Interop ITX infographic on the state of DevOps in 2017.
2017 State of IT ReportIn today's technology-driven world, "innovation" has become a basic expectation. IT leaders are tasked with making technical magic, improving customer experience, and boosting the bottom line -- yet often without any increase to the IT budget. How are organizations striking the balance between new initiatives and cost control? Download our report to learn about the biggest challenges and how savvy IT executives are overcoming them.


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Police have released CCTV images of two women they want to question after a theft from a store in Dunstable.
Two bottles of wine were taken from the BP service station in High Street, Dunstable on Wednesday, April 8.
Anyone with information that could help identify the people pictured is asked to contact police on 101 or text 07786 200 011.
Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
UPDATE: An identification was made and the CCTV was removed from this website.


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Epic Games, the video game developer behind the hit online video game Fortnite, has received a dismal 'F' rating from the Better Business Bureau. This news comes today from a blog post on BBB Media and News by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
The basement rating stems from a staggering number of unanswered customer complaints, 247 of which have gone unanswered by the developer. The total number of complaints is 279, with 271 of those filed in the past year. The history of complaints, kept track of by the BBB serving Eastern North Carolina, goes back over a period of three years.
Overall, most consumer complaints regard customer service issues and refunds and exchanges. According to one complaint, "Epic Games failed to protect customer security, resulting in several unsanctioned charges over mine and my partner's account."
Another stated, “There is no phone number or proper email response time to return my unauthorized charge of $160. Nobody will answer, and I feel cheated.” Epic has failed to respond to complainants and to the BBB itself.
Besides Fortnite, Epic is known for such popular games as Infinity Blade, Unreal and Gears of War. They grew in the last 12 months, with Fortnite as their most visible brand. The game now has 200 million players and its Twitter account has 6 million followers.


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Chase Bank has agreed to pay off maximum of $2.5 million in charges consumers say it unfairly charged for cryptocurrency transactions.
A subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase, the financial institution has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit as a result of the financial institution’s choice in 2019 to fee upper charges on Chase bank cards that had categorised the crypto purchases as “coins advances.”
In March, lead plaintiffs Brady Tucker, Ryan Hilton and Stanton Smithin New York that they’d agreed to a agreement with the defendant, Chase Bank. An order signed by way of Pass judgement on Katherine Polk Failla on the time ended in courtroom complaints being discontinued and allowed agreement to continue.
Ason Would possibly 28, in a movement used to be filed to the Ny federal courtroom on Would possibly 26, plaintiffs mentioned the agreement will lead to category participants of the lawsuit receiving about 95% of the charges they allege they had been unlawfully charged.
Chase, in flip, is not going to admit to any wrongdoing to the 62,000 category participants as section of the agreement deal, in accordance to.
“Chase has agreed to input into this Settlement to keep away from the additional expense, inconvenience, and distraction of burdensome and persistent litigation, and to be totally loose of any more claims that had been asserted or will have been asserted within the Motion,” the movement mentioned.
The category motion used to be first introduced ahead in April 2019, when Tucker allegedgreater than $160 in charges and pastime for incessantly buying cryptocurrencies from Coinbase the use of his bank card.
Govt director of pricing processes, technique, aggressive intelligence and buyer enjoy at JPMorgan Chasethat “between April 10, 2019 and the date of this declaration (Would possibly 21), Chase bank card account holders had been assessed $2,567,252 in cash-advance charges, after netting for reversals, in reference to bank card transactions with traders that Chase has recognized as doable cryptocurrency traders.”
The volume to be refunded will come to round $2.4 million.
See the main points of the agreement settlement and unencumber in complete underneath:
The chief in blockchain information, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the absolute best journalistic requirements and abides by way of a. CoinDesk is an unbiased running subsidiary of Virtual Forex Crew, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.


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Apple landed a mighty blow against Samsung in court
Published August 29th, 2012 - 07:47 GMT
The Verdict is out and Samsung took a major hit, for $1Billion and that could triple in damages; President Mohamed Morsi started his visit to China; a deeper look int Syria's crimes; and more from the young authors of Project Pen.
The Verdict is out and Samsung took a major hit, for $1Billion and that could triple in Damages. The verdict didn’t take too long at all, the lawyers have been bickering for months on every little detail but Apple pulled the final punches and sealed the deal for Samsung
President Mohamed Morsi started his visit to China today where he was received officially by Chinese president Hu Jintao in Beijing earlier today. This is the third foreign visit for Morsi after his visit to Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia since he was elected as the President of Egypt.
July is here. Summer has taken over and the colors are different. The beauty in the light colors of summer always gave Sara a fresh feeling of ambition. She’d been working behind a desk at her new job for almost 3 months now and it’s just as good as she expected it to be. It’s funny how anything small or big to her seems like a blessing. But never the less. She had lost so much without a word that she seems to cherish what new things come her way.


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BlackBerry has long been the phone of choice for governmental use due to their mobile encryption and security levels, but now there’s a new kid in town. CACI International, Inc. has taken the iPad and modified it into a “neutered iPad,” making these devices secure for government use by altering the hardware instead of providing software and according to Bloomberg; “thousands” of iPads have been modified.
“It’s a neutered iPad,” Allen said today during a meeting with Bloomberg Government reporters and editors. “We’re working on how [to] effectively brand it.”
In addition, “We’re looking at how do you go chase that market and how do you put partnerships in place,” Allen said. “The things that we’re doing with Apple around mobility – it’s a broad market play.”
Although CACI is hush-hush on what specific modifications were made to make neutered iPads – except the removal of Wi-Fi and camera features, which are considered security risks – it’s apparent that the feds are investing heavily into mobile technology.
For example, the Defense Department announced last year it planned to open its networks to both iPhones and Android-based smartphones.
This move toward mobile technology comes with its share of problems, as in the case of the U.S. Air Force, which withdrew plans to purchase thousands of iPads over security concerns about software originated in Russia.
Even so, mobile technology for the Feds is being used in every echelon, all the way up to President Obama, where the question was raised if his iPad was a “neutered” iPad.
Allen said iPads used by U.S. government leaders are “most likely a product that either came from us or came from someone we work with.”
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The week's top-selling games at retail ranked by unit sales
3ds will break the 16 mil goal well before february
MK7 has already sold a third of the DS game's sales in Japan, and Monster Hunter 3G has already outsold the Wii version. That's pretty decent for a console that supposedly was doomed 2 months ago.
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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Chevrolet sales were increased by 8 percent, partially thanks to Camaro, Aveo, Avalanche, Colorado, and Traverse which all posted better figures than in May. Buick Enclave is one of the models which helped the American giant improve its results, with June sales up 5 percent when compared to May.
“We’re pleased with our retail performance for the month, and it shows consumers’ strong attraction to our products – such as the Camaro, Aveo, Traverse, LaCrosse, Lucerne, CTS, DTS and STS – which all saw retail sales gains compared with May,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing.
“Customers are cautiously coming back into the market, although the industry remains very weak at approximately a 10 million SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate). The reinvention of GM remains on track and we have compelling new offers in July, including 0 percent financing for up to 72 months available through GMAC and the Federal CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System) ‘Cash for Clunkers’ plan that encourages consumers to trade in their old car or truck for a new fuel-efficient GM product.”
As for the hybrids, GM delivered a total of 1,454 units in June, which raises the total annual sales to 8,349 vehicles.
“Camaro is the hottest product in America and probably led the sport segment with more than 9,300 vehicles delivered in June without any incentives. Additionally, we are offering the best selection of crossovers with Traverse, Acadia, Outlook and Enclave and we just announced very affordable pricing on the all-new GMC Terrain crossover. We invite consumers to visit dealer showrooms to shop and compare for themselves. We are confident they will be pleasantly surprised by the compelling designs, segment-leading fuel economy and outstanding value that our new cars, trucks and crossovers have to offer," LaNeve added.


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Oct 19, 2015 10:18 PM IST
Hatchbacks in India are often considered a basic form of four-wheeled personal transport. The last decade has seen some high-end hatchbacks enter the market too, but very few of them serve the needs of the performance junkies. Now, Fiat - a manufacturer who's laid low for quite some time now, has decided to do something about it.
- Sep 07, 2015 02:15 PM IST
"The partnership with Fontana Gruppo would enable the fasteners business of Bagla Group to acquire necessary technological expertise, size and scale, to become the largest fasteners manufacturer in India," the company's chairman Rishi Kumar Bagla said.
- Sep 07, 2015 09:17 AM IST
GM's board rebuffed a merger proposal from the Italian-American carmaker earlier this year. That has not stopped Marchionne from wooing his bigger competitor as he seeks to reduce the number of players in the industry and share the prohibitive costs of building greener and more intelligent cars.
- Aug 14, 2015 02:51 PM IST
The company is targeting to address needs of those customers who are looking for a pure SUV in the compact segment, which at present is dominated by crossover models.
- Aug 04, 2015 10:10 PM IST
The Italian giant Fiat has driven in the Abarth 595 today. The 3-door hatchback which is a replacement of the Fiat 500 has been priced at just below Rs 30 lakh ex-showroom Delhi.
- Jul 31, 2015 08:45 AM IST
The rosy results come as the carmaker will be required to pay millions of dollars to get potentially defective Ram pickups and older Jeeps off the road under a deal with safety regulators to settle allegations of mishandling nearly two dozen recalls.
- Jul 28, 2015 07:38 PM IST
Coming down hard on carmakers found to be restricting sale of spare parts in open market, fair trade regulator CCI on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 420.26 crore on Hyundai Motor India and asked two others -- Reva and Premier -- to 'cease and desist' from anti-competitive practices.
- Jul 27, 2015 09:17 AM IST
The move comes on the heels of Pearson's sale of the Financial Times newspaper to Japanese media group Nikkei, announced this week as its focuses on its education business.
- Jul 27, 2015 08:03 AM IST
US regulators are expected to announce the fine on Monday under a settlement that will require the company to accept an independent audit of its recall process for an extended period, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
- Jul 25, 2015 02:58 PM IST
Fiat Chrysler has decided to recall about 1.4 million cars and trucks in the US just days after two hackers detailed how they were able to take control of a Jeep Cherokee SUV over the Internet.
- Jul 23, 2015 04:55 PM IST
"Based on the vision to sell two million vehicles annually by 2020, we are starting various initiatives. Nexa outlets is one such step lined up in that direction," MSI Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.
- Jul 08, 2015 06:35 PM IST
The S-Cross will be launched in early August and will be sold and delivered at the network of Nexa showrooms, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a statement.
- Jun 09, 2015 10:22 PM IST
Marchionne's proposal was "very much vetted with management and our board, and after we reviewed that we are committed to our planâ€¦and we have strong support," Barra said during a briefing for media ahead of the automaker's annual meeting.
- May 30, 2015 03:26 PM IST
The hatchback crossover segment in India started about a year back and since then it has caught on the fancy of the Indian consumers. So much so that it has even forced global manufacturing giants such as Volkswagen, Fiat, Toyota and Hyundai to join the bandwagon and cater to the whims of the Indians.
- Feb 12, 2015 08:55 AM IST
Overdrive has a hot date with the Abarth 500
- Jan 19, 2015 01:44 PM IST
The direct exports for the company have gone up from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1000 crore in the2014 and would jump considerably in 2015 too, says John Flintham, Senior MD & CEO of Amtek Auto.
- Dec 16, 2014 01:56 PM IST
As the year rolls around to a close, carmakers, like every year, have come out with a slew of mouth-watering discounts in a bid to clear their year-end inventory.
- Nov 15, 2014 04:06 PM IST
Carrying a hatchback with a rugged body kit seems to be an easy route for manufactures to get a peace of the cross over action. After Volkswagen and Toyota it is Fiat's turn and it has done it with the Punto based Aventura.
- Mar 05, 2014 04:25 PM IST
The petrol Linea claims a fuel efficiency of 15.7kmpl and the diesel 20.4kmpl.
- Mar 04, 2014 09:38 PM IST
After a six-year sales slump, Europe's car market is finally showing signs of recovery as even the countries hardest hit by the euro zone debt crisis move out of recession. Industry data on Monday showed car sales in Germany, Italy and Spain rose last month, although they dipped in France.
- Feb 07, 2014 09:46 AM IST
Unlike the Volkswagen Cross Polo which was available as only a single variant Toyota is offering the Etios Cross with a choice of both the 1.2 and 1.5-litre petrol engines
- Feb 06, 2014 08:41 AM IST
Perhaps the most pleasant news of all was the confirmation of the news that Abarth is coming to India
- Nov 26, 2013 04:21 PM IST
Arvind Saxena, who is now looking after Volkswagen's passenger car business in India, spoke to CNBC-TV18 about his journey so far and what lies ahead.
- Sep 24, 2013 08:39 AM IST
The offering will be underwritten by JPMorgan. The size of the offering was not mentioned in the filing papers.
- Sep 17, 2013 04:47 PM IST
Registrations fell to 686,957 cars in August, a slow holiday month, as sales slid further in France, Italy and Germany, taking the European decline for January-August to 5.2 percent.


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WE: Women’s Entertainment will debut original special Holiday Home Invasion Monday, Nov. 22 at 10 p.m. (EST).
The network said the special will follow its “skilled team of decorators, carpenters and chefs as they give the Calva family’s home an over-the-top holiday makeover complete with garland, sweets, trees and all of the trimmings.”
Capital One Services Inc., General Mills’ “Pillsbury Ready to Bake! Cookies” and BISSELL Homecare Inc.’s “SpotBot” have signed on as official sponsors of the show, and they will receive tagged tune-ins, 30-second spots and billboards.
“With Holiday Home Invasion, WE offers sponsors the chance for product integration into a program that speaks to a viewer that is the decision-maker in home decorating and holiday design,” Rainbow National Network Advertising Sales president Arlene Manos said in a prepared statement.


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The Future of Gaming: Social Games
We take a look at the future of gaming in three parts: 3D, Social Gaming, and DLC.
Where does the future of gaming lie? Will we all be rocking games in 3D? Will all our game purchases be over the Internet? And will social games take over from more "core" titles? In this three-part feature, GameSpot looks at three topics that promise to change the way we play games. Presented over the course of three weeks, The Future of Gaming will look at the rise of 3D titles, the increasing importance of downloadable content, and social gaming's impact on the games industry. Contributing to the feature are some of the biggest names in games development, who all share their thoughts, aspirations, and reservations about the impact of these three topics in the years to come. The last topic presented is The Future of Gaming: Social Gaming.
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Social gaming can mean different things to different people. Some associate the term with the overnight success of Facebook applications like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Restaurant City; others see social gaming as any system or software that allows for, and encourages, social interaction between players. Whichever way you look at it, social gaming is here to stay.
Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector opened PAX last week with a keynote address calling for gamers to accept the shift happening in the industry towards casual and social games. Spector said that "games are important" and that gamers must be ready to welcome the idea that gaming has become mainstream in order for the medium to move forward.
So how do developers feel about this shift? Do they see it as a threat or an opportunity? Should social games remain outside the gaming industry, or should developers embrace the change and work towards attracting a larger gaming audience? If the Facebook model is anything to go by, the market potential is huge--not only do millions of people get out of bed every morning to plough their virtual farms, but they’re willing to spend money doing it. In their very short lifetime, social game developers like Zynga and Playfish have made millions, leading many industry analysts to predict that the future of gaming lies somewhere between the current games industry model and the one presented by social gaming.
Social games allow users to develop a virtual identity--be it as a farmer, a mafia leader, or a restaurant owner--and expand this identity through other user interaction; this keeps users coming back to interact not just with the game itself but also with other users within it. As more and more users sign up, the phenomenon becomes viral. The question developers are now asking themselves is how will the social gaming boom change the way we play video games? Could shooting bad guys in postapocalyptic wastelands be one day replaced by milking cattle on a farm?
A new gaming audience
A lot of people play social games. A March 2010 report by European investment bank GP Bullhound titled Social Gaming: The Fastest Growing Segment of The Games Market found that the global social gaming sector made $1 billion in revenue in 2009, representing 2 percent of the $50 billion global games market. This number is expected to rise to $3 billion by 2012.
The key players in this rapidly rising industry are social game developers like Zynga, Playfish, Crowdstar, and PopCap, whose games have become viral sensations on Facebook. Titles like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, PetVille, Pet Society, and Restaurant City are consistent record-breakers, reeling in more users each day. Zynga is currently the dominant force in the social games sector, with over 66.4 million active daily users and 42 social games available on Facebook (FarmVille alone boasts more than 30 million daily active users). Trailing Zynga are Playfish/EA, with 10.3 million active daily users and 30 Facebook games, and Crowdstar, with 9.4 million active daily users and 12 Facebook games.
Social game developers make money through the all-too-familiar microtransactions model: a free-to-play business model that relies on users paying small amounts of money for virtual goods and in-game items. The more popular social games can generate between $2,000 and $5,000 in revenue per day--in 2009 alone, Zynga made around $150 million in revenue from its Facebook applications.
The decline of MySpace has led to Facebook becoming the dominant platform for social gaming, with some 400 million active users expected to grow to 800 million in the next few years. According to a recent study by the Information Services Group, the average social gamer is a 43-year-old female--a potential new market to reach for current game developers.
THQ's WWE All Stars creative director Sal DiVita believes that anything with the potential to attract more people to gaming is good for the industry.
"It's good for gaming in general," DiVita said. "Social gaming is attracting an audience that's never had the means or desire to pick up and play a console game. But they do play social games. And hey, maybe they'll graduate to a console or PC. It's up to us, the game developers, to make better and better games to compete with social games and draw in this new audience. Or make them simple enough for the social gamers to play."
Company of Heroes Online producer Greg Wilson says Relic is very aware of the importance of the viral community. The downloadable, free-to-play online installment of Relic's highly regarded WWII real-time strategy series will in fact be driven by the microtransactions model, with players allowed to purchase special units and upgrades as an alternative to earning them.
"I think social gaming is a great opportunity for developers," Wilson said. "There's opportunity to learn within that space. I think it's introducing the world of games to new people that aren't gamers. That's a whole new generation of people who are now exposed to the things that we are passionate about. As game developers we're missing a big part of the potential market. It's like McDonald's--everyone likes it, but then you get sick of it eventually and you want a steak. Our games are the steak that people will hopefully trend towards. We're looking at those people that are playing Facebook games and social games and they're going to get more and more interested and see that gaming is something cool and fun, and eventually they'll want to look for a little bit more. When this happens, they'll look towards our games. So I'm super excited about that."
The new Mortal Kombat is also set to dip its toe into the social market. The game's producer, Hector Sanchez, says the social aspect of gaming helps bring back the essence of the arcade days.
"Social gaming is bringing the community back together. With Mortal Kombat, we're going to have a Twitter feed that will broadcast match results, and we're also hoping to have Facebook integration as well as a robust online mode that brings back the essence of the arcade days. That was social gaming in those days--people went to the arcade to play together. That's where it began. We're trying for the same feeling with our online mode. I think we as game developers need to incorporate more and more social aspects into our games."
A tale of two markets
With so much money to be made in social gaming, it's not surprising that more game developers are looking for a way in. The idea is certainly attractive: social games cost significantly less time and money to develop than console or PC games and present a much lower risk to developers who are working on new intellectual property. Where a AAA title can cost anywhere up to $100 million to develop, an average social game costs $100,000 to $200,000 and can be developed in less than six months. If more developers begin to experiment with this model, a consolidation of the current games market and the social games market could occur in the next few years.
Some developers are not receptive to this idea. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier producer Stuart White sees social gaming as a threat to developers and the industry.
"At the end of the day it's about competing for free time from the player. Over the years my free time has become more precious--I have a wife, kids, a house to run, etc. Facebook and other social media eats into this time, meaning there's less and less of it. Some developers see social gaming as an opportunity, but at the end of the day we're all fighting for the free time of our consumers. We as developers have to make sure the game industry still knows how to keep people's attention."
DJ Hero 2 creative director Jamie Jackson disagrees. He believes game developers should embrace social gaming and evolve with it.
"Social gaming is one of the biggest things to happen to the games industry in the past five years. We were all geeks as kids, and now you look up and you see your mum and dad playing social games. It's the social side of this that has brought people to gaming. I don't see it going away. I think it's a huge opportunity, and I think we as game developers have to grab it, and we have to feed people the games that fit that bracket well."
Mike Fegan from Trickstar Games in Melbourne says he is interested in something else that social gaming can give the games industry at large: female consumers.
"It's a huge opportunity for game creators. The female market is huge, especially in the social networking arena. This means we have the chance to create new IP suited to this market and make a game driven by viral marketing and other users. I think a lot of people underestimate the female market. Trickstar is strongly committed to creating games for this market, particularly through a network like Facebook."
Spec Ops: The Line lead designer Cory Davis sees social gaming becoming part of AAA gaming in the future.
"This needs to happen. Why can't we be more social in the midst of playing a narrative-driven AAA shooter? I think there will definitely be opportunities there when we connect these two spaces together. We as an industry have to evolve, and if people love that sort of thing, and they clearly do, these two things can come together, and I think they will over the next two years." Will social gaming change the future of games? Let us know by leaving your comments below!


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MS’s mission Scorpion consoles remains certainly among the trending tech stories of 2017. Expected for launch during this year’s summer, this device hailed as “extremely efficient gaming device in history.” Currently, Gear for Wars creator Cliffs Blessinski, the guy that moved away from Epics Game, establishing Law Breaker Studios, gave his opinion.
During Reedits interview session this morning, the Law Breaker boss got queried on what he made out of Scorpion. Cliffs extolled the giant computer company for “bringing the acts home” as well as revealed the possibility of having Laws Breaker on a different device.
“Micro Soft is bringing the acts closer. They used to place it inside the bag, a shitty collection as well as bringing everything closer,” he stated. “Scorpion has prospects. Micro Soft stacked on Kinetic a bit forcibly during the previous time. Never eliminate the possibility of Laws Breaker, by the way.”
Blesszinski in addition revealed what he thought of Gear for Wars, the premier release made available within the computer giant’s stables. Apart from enjoying the game, the curious inquiry of “the number of innovations that remain mine would matter due the pace of their development”


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A predicted multi-billion pound boom in the domestic tourism sector has been predicted during the coming months as holiday-makers are forced to look towards vacations in the UK rather than heading abroad due to ongoing restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
James Mason, who heads up the Welcome to Yorkshire tourism organisation, has said an increasingly competitive battleground is being laid out for the summer months as tourism destinations across the country are attempting to attract visitors.
Mr Mason told The Yorkshire Post: “We have already seen a massive demand in people wanting to come to Yorkshire, but that is not to say we can be complacent. We are in a battle with other tourism bodies, we are all in the same position trying to capitalise on the summer season and attract as many people as we can.
“It is a challenge, but it is also an extremely exciting time as well, as there are huge opportunities to promote Yorkshire and all that is on offer here.”
The easing of lockdown restrictions has allowed the first elements of Yorkshire’s multi-billion pound tourism industry to re-open, with campsites and self-contained holiday lets able to once again welcome visitors.
Data on visitor numbers is still being compiled by Welcome to Yorkshire, although anecdotal evidence has suggested that the region’s towns and cities have been inundated with customers also keen to take advantage of the re-opening of pubs and restaurants with outside dining areas since last month (April).
Figures for Skipton, for example, have shown that footfall in the North Yorkshire market town’s High Street for the week ending on Sunday last weekend was 36,209 people - a 284 per cent increase on the same week in 2020 when just 9,418 people were counted during the first lockdown.
However, the figure is still dramatically down on the 2019 figure, when 51,699 people visited Skipton’s High Street before the arrival of coronavirus.
Mr Mason confirmed that efforts are now underway to ensure that prime destinations are not swamped with visitors, and he told The Yorkshire Post that a new marketing campaign is underway to market the region’s “hidden gems”.
A weekly newsletter and social media posts are highlighting destinations such as the Yorkshire Wolds, as well as towns such as Doncaster and Driffield and coastal resorts including Filey and Hornsea.
Mr Mason said: “We do need to make sure that those honeypot destinations, such as York, Scarborough, Whitby and the National Parks for the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors are not overwhelmed, as demand really is outstripping supply already.
“We are asking people to consider looking towards those destinations which might not have been at the forefront of their thoughts, as there are so many hidden gems in Yorkshire.
“Driffield, for instance, is a wonderful market town with the Yorkshire Wolds on its doorstep, while Doncaster has the Yorkshire Wildlife Park close by and the Peak District is within easy reach too.
“We are blessed with so much on offer in Yorkshire, and these places are ideal as anchor destinations to then explore what else is in the region.”
Tourism in Yorkshire is seen as one of the key foundations for rebuilding the economy, as the sector is worth £9bn each year and employs 225,000 workers in the region.


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Last Friday, 8 May, nearly 1,700 parcels were distributed to people in need by 80 volunteers. More than 800 individuals from Geneva donated food parcels – by bicycle, car and even truck – during the day – to show their support for this charitable initiative.
The Geneva food bank – Partage – provided 8 tonnes of food products, including rice, pasta, oil, sugar, as well as sanitary products.
They also provided an additional 4 tonnes of fresh products such as potatoes, salad and vegetables collected from local businesses and producers.
The people most in need in Geneva during this period include the ‘invisible’ Latin American and Filipino communities, as well as people from Mongolia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Middle East and sub-saharan Africa.
“At the end of the month, my pockets are empty. We have to pay the bills, the insurance, everything,” said Ingrid Berala, a Geneva resident from Nicaragua who works part-time. “This is great, because there is food for a week, a week of relief…I don’t know for next week.”(From REUTERS)


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Media biz shifts focus in 2017 to explaining ad data
The media and advertising industry is shifting its focus this year from collecting audience data to figuring out better ways to measure and explain the data to advertising and marketing clients, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual Outlook study .
The study finds that 71% of industry executives expect to increase spending on data and related services this year.
Why the change? As media businesses become more sophisticated in collecting data on advertising and marketing, they've lagged in showing what that data means for clients and brands. Also, as data becomes more sophisticated, they have to prove they're measuring it properly. You may recall that Twitter and Facebook faced industry backlash for misreporting performance metrics in 2016.
Why it matters: Accurate measurement and attribution has major business implications. A C-suite agency executive told Axios that their company returned almost $10 million back to publishers last year, in part because of measurement and reporting complications around data-driven ad programs.


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There’s been a lot of talk on the web about Nvidia’s next-gen RTX 40 series. Some rumors suggested that the letters were in test (opens in new tab) and that a release has been scheduled for September if not before (opens in new tab). However, German tech website Igor’s Lab is indicating that there is still a lot of work to be done, suggesting that the previously rumored September release window is highly optimistic.
Igor has produced a speculative timeline (opens in new tab) which estimates the steps Nvidia needs to take before the cards are actually available. Perhaps the main conclusion is that the first GPU to be released is not yet out of the engineering and design phase. If that’s the case, AIB partners have yet to receive GPUs, not to mention a BIOS or driver. In fact, Igor believes that there are currently no working prototypes.
Of course, the real story is known only to Nvidia and its trusted partners. He has a good track record of keeping his pre-release secrets at home—despite hacks (opens in new tab). However, if this information is accurate, there will be a long time before you see it on our platforms.
There are a multitude of steps to take before they hit store shelves. First, prototypes need to be built and tested. This alone will take a significant amount of time. Firmware needs to be finalized and clocks and power levels need to be decided based on TSMC yields. The driver’s work is certainly ongoing and will require extensive validation and testing. Then there is the need to provide sample GPUs to AIBs for their own development and testing. Add in regional compliance testing and certification, mass production, logistics, and additional driver polishing, and it’s pretty hard to see how Nvidia can have the cards ready before the final months of 2022.
All this shows that developing highly complex GPUs is no easy task. Intel’s Arc boards still many weeks away at best (opens in new tab) while the release of AMD RDNA 3 Cards (opens in new tab) certainly not imminent. AMD wouldn’t have released an RX 6000 update if their next-gen cards were close to being ready.
Now that we’re in June, the odds are rising that gamers don’t have a realistic chance of having an RTX 40 card in their system this year. And those that do will be one of the few, especially if Nvidia comes forward with a low-volume RTX 4090 release to start with. A card like a 4070 might not even launch this year.
Take it all with the proverbial pinch of salt. One dishonest tweet could change the entire narrative, but as it stands now, the release of the RTX 40 cards doesn’t seem imminent. That’s okay though – at least we’ll have more time to save for new Zen 4 or 13th Gen systems to house them.


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Volkswagen has consented to pay at any rate $1.2 billion in buybacks and remuneration to settle claims from U.S. proprietors of autos with bigger diesel motors that the organization fixed to undermine emanations tests.
Furthermore, the German automaker could pay considerably more — as much as $4 billion — in the event that it can’t repair large portions of the autos in a way that fulfills controllers.
The proposed settlement recorded late Tuesday under the steady gaze of Judge Charles R. Breyer in U.S. Region Court in San Francisco covers proprietors of somewhere in the range of 78,000 Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche autos with 3.0-liter diesel motors.
Volkswagen has officially concurred on a $15-billion settlement with proprietors of somewhere in the range of 500,000 littler, 2.0-liter diesel motors.
Volkswagen has now settled generally U.S. customer asserts as it tries to repair a discolored notoriety. “The greater part of our clients with influenced vehicles in the United States will have a determination accessible to them,” Hinrich J. Woebcken, head of Volkswagen Group of America, said in an announcement.
The organization still confronts claims from less than 5,000 proprietors of 2-liter diesels who quit the settlement, and in addition some shareholder suits and various claims documented by states for damaging contamination laws.
VW likewise has settled a U.S. criminal examination by consenting to pay $4.3 billion, yet a test of representative conduct proceeds with seven individuals charged in the U.S. On the whole, VW will pay more than $20 billion to settle common and criminal claims in the U.S. alone.
Additionally pending is whether VW can sufficiently settle some more established 2.0-liter motors. On the off chance that it can’t, it should purchase back all vehicles with the littler diesel motors. A March 3 due date is drawing nearer.
Legitimate issues likewise stay in Europe. Previous Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn and 36 others are under criminal examination in Germany, where financial specialists likewise are suing the organization. Volkswagen offers dove after the embarrassment softened up September 2015.
Under Tuesday’s proposed settlement, proprietors of 20,000 more established 3.0-liter models going back to 2009-2012, which can’t be settled to meet contamination measures, would be offered buybacks or exchange ins. Also, they would get remuneration going from $7,755 to $13,880, as per an announcement from proprietors’ lawyers.
Individuals who purchased 58,000 more current autos from model years 2013-2016 would get pay of $7,039 to $16,114. Volkswagen says those autos can be settled so they agree as far as possible.
VW’s proposed repair must win endorsement from U.S. ecological specialists by a concurred due date. In the event that it doesn’t, buybacks could push the cost as high as the $4.04 billion laid out in court reports.
The arrangement still needs court endorsement. Volkswagen said last endorsement would take in any event until May.
Additionally Tuesday, parts provider Robert Bosch consented to pay $327.5 million to settle claims from customers and merchants in regards to 2.0-liter and 3.0-liter motors, without saying it was to blame. Common offended parties say Bosch made the “thrashing gadget” that empowered the conning.
President Volkmar Denner said the organization settled so it could concentrate on its business.
Volkswagen has let it out furnished diesel motors with programming that recognized when the vehicle was experiencing contamination tests and afterward killed the emanations controls amid regular driving. The outcome was autos that transmitted somewhere in the range of 40 times the U.S. breaking points of nitrogen oxides, a toxin that can mischief individuals’ wellbeing. Somewhere in the range of 11 million autos worldwide have the misleading programming.
Regardless of the hit to its notoriety, VW outperformed Toyota a year ago to end up distinctly the world’s biggest carmaker by deals. VW sold 10.3 million vehicles in 2016; Toyota sold 10.2 million.


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Everything I need to know about lithium-air batteries
What is it?
To reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the environment, scientists all over the world are working to find environmentally sound solutions to fuel the world’s ever-growing transportation needs. Cleaner transport that comes in the form of electric cars is powered by battery packs such as lithium-ion and nickel metal hydride, which promise to provide decent range and speed to vehicles. However, people who need their vehicles to run a bit longer and faster, are still looking for the perfect battery blend that can power their rides. Current researchers in battery technology have helped scientists create next-gen lithium-air batteries that have a potential to provide energy densities up to three times that of conventional lithium-ion batteries used generally. Many companies, including IBM and General Motors look forward to get more out of this technology.
Lithium-air (also known as lithium-oxygen) batteries are similar in principle to lithium-ion batteries. They use an organic electrolyte as a negative electrode (lithium metal) and the electrolyte that is air. This technology is very promising for automotive batteries as theoretically, with oxygen as an unlimited cathode reactant, the capacity of the battery is limited by the Li anode. Lithium air batteries are currently under development and but not yet commercially available. Once available these batteries will have a capacity for energy storage that is five to 10 times greater than that of Li-ion batteries.
Lithium-air batteries are able to have higher energy density because of the lighter cathode and the fact that oxygen is freely available in the environment and doesn’t need to be stored in the battery. The technology has the potential to store almost as much energy as a tank of gasoline, and will have a capacity for energy storage that is five to 10 times greater than that of Li-ion batteries. This will help the cars powered by lithium-air batteries to run longer without needing a recharge.
IBM’s lithium-air battery
IBM has announced that it would develop lithium air batteries for the energy grid and for transportation. The goal will be acquired within the next ten years. IBM executives said the company was unlikely to enter the battery business directly but was looking forward for a partnership that would make full use of their hardware and system design expertise with ultra light battery technology. When the lithium-metal electrode is placed in water, lithium ions leak out and react with oxygen dissolved in the water. According to researchers, while lithium-ion batteries have the potential to deliver about 585 watt-hours of electricity per kilogram and lithium-sulfur has a theoretical potential of about 2,600 watt-hours, and lithium-air batteries might reach targets well above 5,000 watt-hours.
GM’s lithium-air battery to improve EV performance
General Motors believes that electrically driven vehicles, offer the best long-term solution for providing sustainable personal transportation. It has begun conducting research into lithium-air batteries, which may revolutionize electric vehicle technology. These batteries skip metal as a cathode and use atmospheric oxygen molecules to bind directly to lithium. This allows them to be extraordinarily energy dense and therefore obtaining a 10 fold energy density improvement. Since the air we breathe contains abundant oxygen levels, a lithium-air battery does not need to store a supply of oxygen inside itself, which makes the battery much lighter and smaller.
MIT’s lithium-air batteries
A team of researchers at MIT has made significant progress on a technology that could lead to batteries with up to three times the energy density of any battery that currently exists. Scientists at MIT have announced that when they substituted nanoparticles of gold and platinum for the standard carbon electrodes in lithium-air cells, they were able to obtain much higher efficiencies. The find was significant enough for MIT to claim that their research could lead to lithium-air batteries with 3 times the energy density of lithium-ion. That alone would be a big step forward.
K.M. Abraham’s lithium-air battery
In the mid-1990s, K.M. Abraham and co-workers demonstrated the first practical non-aqueous Li-air battery with the use of a Li negative electrode anode, a porous carbon positive electrode cathode, and a gel polymer electrolyte membrane that served as both the separator and ion-transporting medium. The credit for developing the world’s first solid-state, rechargeable lithium air battery goes to the Engineers at the University of Dayton Research Institute. It was designed to address the fire and explosion risk of other lithium rechargeable batteries and make way for development of large-size lithium rechargeables for a number of industry applications, including hybrid and electric cars. A cell design utilizing a non-aqueous electrolyte alleviates the parasitic corrosion reactions of the Li anode that plagued past lithium-air batteries based on alkali aqueous electrolytes. The non-aqueous electrolyte-based cell design also overcomes safety concerns of the Li-air system.
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s lithium-air battery
Researchers in the UK are developing a rechargeable lithium-air battery that could deliver a significant increase in the energy capacity compared to that of currently available lithium-ion cells. The research work, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is being led by researchers at the University of St Andrews with partners at Strathclyde and Newcastle. The four-year EPSRC research project is targeting the development of a Li-air cell that is rechargeable and can sustain cycling. The project is focused on understanding more about how the chemical reaction of the battery works and investigating how to improve it. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences.
Argonne National Laboratory’s lithium-air battery
Researchers at the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory have shown progress in lithium-air battery technology. The center will be developing world-changing lithium-air batteries that have the capacity to store up to five to 10 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries, or almost as much energy as a tank of gasoline of the same size. The laboratory is ideally suited to lead Li-air research and development (R&D) because it has a broad and deep range of experience in the development of Li-ion batteries and also it has an expert staff of scientists and engineers that have led the development of new materials for advanced batteries, including Li-ion batteries and development of a catalyst for fuel cells. Argonne will also maintain existing relationships with start-up companies and other business partners who will be able to collaborate on commercializing the Li-air battery.
Existing lithium-air batteries face the problem of the accumulation of solid products of reactions at the cathode, which degrades the contact between the electrolyte and the air stops to flow. The development costs will be extremely high for these batteries. The current li-ion batteries have a charge-discharge cycle between 300-500 which is not yet known for the lithium air batteries. Even with efficient recycling efforts, the auto industry alone would require huge quantities of lithium to power every car world wide, replacing the gasoline engine.And this can be another limitation of using lithium air batteries.
Lithium metal-air batteries can store a tremendous amount of energy, in theory, more than 5,000 watt-hours per kilogram. That’s more than ten-times as much as today’s high-performance lithium-ion batteries, and more than another class of energy-storage devices such as hydrogen fuel cells. Instead of containing a second reactant inside the cell, these batteries react with oxygen in the air that’s pulled in as needed, making them lightweight and compact. If lithium air batteries equate petroleum with fast recharge, then there wouldn’t be a need of fossil fuels which is a non renewable energy source.
Image courtesy: MIT


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From 1 December, Qatar’s new Hamad Port will become fully operational.
The government announced that, starting 1 December when it becomes fully operational, Hamad Port will formally handle commercial shipments entering and leaving the country.
As operations at Doha Port wind down by the end of this week, all container ships will go to the new QAR27 billion ($7,5bn) port in Umm Al-Houl, near Mesaieed.
From that time, the old port (Doha Port) near the Museum of Islamic Art will be closed to all commercial ships.
It will soon start undergoing a QAR2 billion ($549mn) overhaul to redevelop it as a destination for cruise ships, Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, minister of transport and communications for Qatar revealed, according to a report by Gulf Times.
Nevertheless, before it closes to all vessels, the Doha Port will continue accepting cruise ships until the end of March, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) and the Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani) said.
While Hamad Port soft-launched in December 2014 with its first commercial shipment, it received its first ship last July – the heavy load carrier Zhen Hua 10, which carried a cargo of 12 cranes to be used to unload goods from docked vessels.
Since then, Hamad Port has been receiving cars and livestock as it steadily increases operations ahead of its full launch of phase 1 at the end of this week.
Before the construction of Hamad Port, large container ship had to dock first in the UAE and transfer cargo to smaller ships to travel directly to Qatar.
The immense size of the new port has relieved this as it is now able to receive large shipments directly to Qatar.
The port is expected to be fully up and running in 2020, which would put it 10 years ahead of schedule.
On completion, Hamad Port will cover a site of around 20km² and will be able to handle a combined annual capacity in excess of six million containers per year through its three container terminals.
It is estimated that annually, that its general cargo terminal will be able to manage some 1.7 million tons of general goods, up to one million tons of food grains and a half-a-million vehicles.
Included in the plan is a dedicated livestock terminal, a multi-use terminal, an off-shore supply base and Coast Guard facilities.
The new port is seen as a boon to the construction sector which sees the port’s size and facilities as a quicker and easier method to import raw materials to Qatar, vital to the completion of the country’s many ongoing infrastructure projects.
Speaking last year, Minister of Transport Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti said the port would “modernize the way Qatar handles ocean imports and exports, increasing our maritime trade and facilitate growth and diversification of the country’s economy”.
Once Hamad Port becomes fully operational it will also reduce the number of trucks loads transported on the Corniche near the old port by around 100 a day, officials previously told Doha News.
Heavy vehicles traveling to and from Hamad Port will eventually be diverted away from Doha to use the under-construction 189-kilometre long Orbital Highway.
Built in four phases, the Orbital Highway will connect Mesaieed and Hamad Port to the south of Doha with Al Rayyan in the west and Ras Laffan and Al Khor in northern Qatar and is due for completion by the middle of 2018.
Some northern sections of the new route should however be open to traffic by the end of next year, the public works authority said previously.
Gulf Times and Doha News


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Blu-ray Disc (BD) News
Nearly half of U.S. internet-capable home entertainment devices are connected and used
May 1, 2013 – Forty-seven percent of home entertainment devices are currently connected and being used for their online capabilities. But the degree to which these devices are used online varies significantly, according to The NPD Group.
News categories: NPD Group, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Games Console, Market Research, OTT, Set Top Box, Smart TV, USA
Gaming Consoles Lead Global Connected TV Usage
Apr 9, 2013 – With growing interest in streaming content, online gaming, and apps on TVs, households are increasingly finding ways to connect their TVs to the Internet. In several developed countries, game consoles have become the most popular way to make that connection, according to NPD DisplaySearch.
News categories: DisplaySearch, Blu-ray, China, Digital TV, DVD, France, Games Console, Germany, Italy, Japan, Market Research, OTT, Set Top Box, Smart TV, UK, USA
iWedia selected by Google as Software integrator for Google TV
Jan 9, 2013 – iWedia has announced that it has concluded an agreement with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) to provide iWedia integration services to Google partners wishing to deploy the Google TV platform in their products.
News categories: iWedia, Google TV, Blu-ray, CES, Middleware, OTT, Set Top Box, Smart TV
More than 400 Million Devices are Connected in U.S. Homes
Jan 2, 2013 – There are 425 million devices connected to the Internet in U.S. homes, according to a report from The NPD Group. The report found that while computers are still the primary connected device, numerous others are diminishing the computer's relevance to the broadband content marketplace.
News categories: NPD Group, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Games Console, Market Research, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Smartphone, Tablet, USA
Global 3-D Market Flourishes Across Cinema, Home Video and TV VoD Platforms
Dec 20, 2012 – The global 3-D consumer market is thriving in a dynamic environment marked by clear and discernible growth across its major platforms, including cinema, home video and pay-TV video on demand, according to an IHS Screen Digest report.
News categories: Screen Digest, 3D, Blu-ray, Market Research, Set Top Box, Smart TV
Global Blu-ray Disc Player Installed Base to Hit 100 Million in 2012
Nov 7, 2012 – Despite the slower than expected growth in the Blu-ray disc player market, the global installed base of standalone Blu-ray Disc (BD) players will hit the 100 million unit mark by the end of 2012, according to a recent Strategy Analytics forecast.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Market Research
Silicon Image Announces Video Processors for Home Theater Applications
Oct 1, 2012 – Silicon Image (NASDAQ: SIMG) has announced two upscaling video processors, designed to also enhance the picture quality of streaming or downloaded Internet video.
News categories: Silicon Image, Blu-ray, CEATEC, ICs, OTT, Semiconductor
ViXS Media Processor and Dual Stream HD Transcoder Powers Toshiba Blu-ray and CE Products
Aug 29, 2012 – ViXS Systems has announced that the ViXS XCode 4210 powers Toshiba's BD standalone and integrated BD module for HDTVs. The XCode 4210 is a network media processor and transcoding single chip System on Chip (SoC).
News categories: ViXS Systems, Toshiba, Blu-ray, Digital TV, Middleware, Semiconductor, Smart TV
DVDs and Blu-ray Discs Still Consumers' Choice for Feature-Length Movie Rentals
Aug 8, 2012 – According to The NPD Group, rentals of physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs (BDs) from kiosks, brick-and-mortar retailers, and Netflix Movies by Mail accounted for 62 percent of movie rental orders during the first half of this year.
News categories: NPD Group, Blu-ray, Digital TV, DVD, Market Research, OTT, USA
- Liberty Puerto Rico offers ActiveVideo Cloud UI
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- MStar Semi for Videocon d2h HD MPEG-4 DVB-S2 set-top box
- Hisense releases Smart TV 2.0


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Car admirers with lots of banknote — including new Top Gear presenter Chris Evans — accept fabricated a killing over the accomplished seven years affairs supercars whose ethics accept soared. But booty heed.
The rollercoaster could anon about-face into a big dipper, according to one of Britain’s canniest absolute affluence car dealers, Tom Hartley, who thinks ethics are set to collapse by up to a fifth.
And while supercars airy the bottomward bread-and-er trend afterwards banal markets about the apple comatose and consumers were hit by the recession and acclaim crunch, he’s assertive the bang has now accomplished its peak.
Sinking supercar values: Tom Hartley (right) reckons affluence car ethics will booty a dive by as abundant as 20 per cent
He says: ‘I anticipate aing year absorption ante will acceleration and people’s admiration to put money into archetypal cars will diminish; they will put money into added projects.
‘When bodies alpha selling, appeal won’t outstrip accumulation and prices could abatement by as abundant as 20 per cent. It’s been an amazing seven-year boom. But whatever happens to prices in the future, there’ll consistently be a accord to be
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With all segments except adult nonfiction posting increases, unit sales of print books rose 7% last week over the week ended October 24, 2020, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The increase is the biggest weekly bump in months.
This week's sales numbers could indicate that consumers are heeding warnings that they should buy holiday gifts early to avoid missing out on items due to shortages caused by supply chain problems. In its financial report for the six months ended August 31, Bloomsbury Publishing said its sales received a boost because of early ordering by vendors, though third quarter sales fell 9% at Hachette Book Group compared to last year.
Once again, adult fiction had a solid week, with sales up 26.1%. Sales were led by John Grisham’s The Judge’s List, which sold more than 93,000 copies in its first week on sale, easily beating The Wish by Nicholas Sparks, which was in second place on the category bestseller list, selling over 29,000 copies. Attack on Titan 34 by Hajime Isayama was in third place, selling nearly 28,00 copies in its first week on sale.
The young adult category had the largest gain in the week, with sales up 29.6% even without the benefit of a major new release. Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End was #1 in the category, selling about 9,500 copies.
Juvenile fiction also had a double-digit increase, 10.9%, over last year without a big new release. J.K. Rowling’s The Christmas Pig stayed #1 in the category, selling almost 30,000 copies. A new Rowling title, Harry Potter: A Magical Year—The Illustrations of Jim Kay, landed in eighth place on the category list, selling just under 12,000 copies.
After a long slump, the juvenile nonfiction category had a sales gain last week, with sales rising 2.4%. Super Extra Deluxe Essential Handbook (Pokémon) was the top-seller in the category, selling over 9,000 copies.
Adult nonfiction sales dipped 1% in the week. Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman Cooks-Super Easy! sold just over 87,000 copies in its first week on sale, taking the top spot in the category. The First 21 by Nikki Sixx was in seventh place in its first week, selling more than 14,000 copies.


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Vipul Chaudhary, chairman of Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers Union, was today elected chairman of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).
Across the country, GCMMF sells milk and milk products under the brands Amul and Sagar.
Chaudhary, who was elected unanimously by all the 16 board members of GCMMF, succeeds Parthi Bhatol, who served two terms of three years as chairman. Bhatol had nominated Chaudhary for the post. Both Chaudhary and Bhatol are affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While Chaudhary is a former state home minister, Bhatol’s son Vasant is an elected BJP member of legislative assembly from north Gujarat.
With an annual turnover of about Rs 12,000 crore, GCMMF is India's largest food products marketing cooperative, procuring about 11 million litres of milk a day from 3.2 million producers across 16,000 villages in the state.
Chaudhary said, “It is a matter of great honour to lead an institution like the federation founded by V Kurien. The dairy cooperatives of Gujarat have succeeded because of the combination of dynamic farmer leadership and professional management.” He added GCMMF had set a sales turnover target of Rs 30,000 crore by 2020. “We would strive to pay remunerative prices of milk to producers to enable them to increase the dairy business. We will take urgent steps to provide cattle-feed and fodder support to the drought-affected milk producers of Saurashtra and Kutch regions.”
Chaudhary, a dairy farmer with a degree in engineering, started his political career as youth president of the BJP in Mehsana district in 1993. He was also elected member of the legislative assembly and later, a state cabinet minister.
N D Mistry, regional officer of the Anand district collectorate, conducted the elections in the presence of board members (chairmen representing their respective district milk unions in the state). “After the motion was put to vote, Chaudhary was elected unanimously. The proceedings were completed within half an hour,” Mistry told Business Standard.
Bhatol, chairman of Banas Dairy Union, said, “I had not filed nominations for the post of chairman this year. I proposed Vipul’s name. He has significant experience in the dairy industry, and is heading the Dudhsagar Dairy in Mehsana. All of us will together steer GCMMF to new heights.”
On the election results, a senior GCMMF officer said, “BJP accounts for the majority in our board, and the party has taken a decision regarding the post of chairman.” Of the 16 district milk unions, 12 are controlled by BJP, while the remaining are under the Congress fold.
According to the voting pattern in GCMMF, each board member has a vote. This apart, on the basis of the business his/her dairy records every year, every board member is also entitled to additional votes.