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Mérida, February 29th 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – In order to provide “fairer” prices to consumers and to combat inflation, the Venezuelan government has set maximum selling, wholesale, and production prices on a range of basic bathroom, cleaning, and drink products. The new prices come under the law of fair costs and prices, passed in July last year.
The price limits apply to nineteen basic product types, the specific prices of which will vary according to 204 versions of those products, that is, according to the number of units per packet or number of mils or grams.
For example, a package of 48 medium sized nappies are currently being sold, according to the National Superintendency of Costs and Prices (Sundecop), at an average price of Bs 123. Sundecop’s consumer price limit is Bs 95.20, a reduction of 23%.
The price of clothing softener, 1 litre, would go down from an average Bs 25.70 to Bs 24.50, a reduction of 5%, while 400mls of shampoo would go down from an average price of Bs 42.83 to Bs 32.38, a 25% reduction.
Other products, their prices reduced by between 4% and 25%, include, pasteurised fruit juice, toilet paper, soap, detergent, deodorant, toothpaste, baby food, floor polish, mineral water, razor blades, and sanitary napkins.
New prices will come into effect as of 1 April, giving companies time to explain the higher prices they charge, to appeal the maximum prices, as well as to make the adjustments and stamp the new prices on the products.
In setting the prices, Sundecop took profit margins, transporting, and marketing costs into account. Sundecop also said it analysed the products’ measurements or size, packaging, production cost, research, administration personal, and average selling price, among other aspects.
It didn’t include shop promotional discounts, income tax, or exchange rate losses when importing primary materials.
Karlin Granadillo, superintendent of Sundecop, said the costs study was based on information supplied by 15,000 companies and explained that “[the prices of ] personal hygiene products have been behaving strangely, increasing every month without any kind of reason”.
All of the new maximum prices are available in the country’s legal document, Official Gazette 391,614, printed on Monday. Price tables include the maximum sale price to producer or importer, maximum wholesale price, and the maximum price the product can be sold to the public, for all of the different sizes of products.
330mls of mineral water, for example, has a maximum price of Bs 2.15, Bs 3.22, and Bs 3.69, according to the three production-sale stages. Five litres of mineral water are priced at Bs 13,65, Bs 16, 63, and Bs 17,89 according to the three stages.
Likewise, for nappies, there are 15 different price sets for small nappies, according to the number of nappies in each packet, and 15 again for medium, large, extra large, and extra extra large nappies.
As declared in the gazette, the new prices must be marked in some way, in indelible ink in a visible place on the product. Any new product versions that come out- such as those containing an amount of unit numbers not specified in the pricing list- must first be approved by Sudecop.
Those companies who do not apply the new pricing from 1 April, or who contribute to scarcity (by not producing, not selling, etc) will be fined in accordance with the Law of Fair Costs and Prices.
President Hugo Chavez has also said that his government would consider nationalising companies which don’t comply.
Law of Fair Costs and Prices
The Law of Fair Costs and Prices was passed with the aim of a more just pricing structure for consumers, as many prices are “disproportional” to production and distribution costs. Vice-president Elias Jaua also pointed out that many companies have been including the income tax into the price, which was something “the companies [not consumers] should be paying”.
Granadillo countered some comments made by the opposition and private press, saying, “It’s not true that companies are [selling at prices] below production costs, so there shouldn’t be any scarcity, and when there is, it’s a consequence of manipulation by the companies”.
While it has been impossible in Venezuela to buy powdered milk for the last year, and cooking oil has been very difficult to get outside of the black market, other hygiene products such as nappies, sanitary pads, and toilet paper have often been only available in some of the more expensive brands.
As well as a strategy to secure greater profits, hoarding and speculation are often employed as a political tactic by the business sectors to destabilise the government.


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Now, the lockdown
in the state will remain imposed from Friday evening 8 PM to Tuesday morning 7 AM. All markets, private and public offices will be closed during lockdown till further orders. Markets, shopping malls, and restaurants will also be closed.
Only essential services will be exempted from the restrictions including pharmacy shops, hospitals, and other essential services. The government has advised people to remain indoors as much as possible.
Recently, the Allahabad High Court
asked the Uttar Pradesh
government to look for options including lockdown considering the extreme shortage of oxygen and medical facilities in the state.
The total number of active cases in Uttar
Pradesh stands at 3,00,041. The decision has been taken in the wake of the alarming Covid-19 situation, said the government.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
By most accounts 2003 has been a great year for Advanced Micro Devices. Consider the following accomplishments:
First, the Sunnyvale, Calif., semiconductor company beat market leader Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) to the punch by releasing the first desktop-based 64-bit processor.
Second, Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) announced that it will base its 64-bit version of Windows XP on AMD's chip designs -- not Intel's -- exposing for the first time a fissure in the previously unassailable Wintel mountain. Third, AMD's stock price has nearly doubled in the last 12 months.
With that in mind, next year will have to be pretty spectacular to top the one AMD (AMD: Research, Estimates) just recorded. But some elements are aligning that could pave the way for a big 2004 for the company.
Sometime around midyear, Microsoft will release the 64-bit version of Windows XP and a service pack for the program that is expected to include some major security enhancements.
|Recently in Tech Biz
Some of those features will be tailored for 64-bit chips, which means that they won't function fully with Intel's chipset on the desktop. To completely realize the security enhancements, the desktop computer must be running a 64-bit chip, and right now AMD is the only one selling those.
The announcement doesn't seem dramatic enough to beat 2003's gains, but it's quite a coup for the company. "Security is one of the top, if not the top, priorities for our customers," says a Microsoft spokesperson. As such, you can bet on Microsoft calling attention to its enhancements through marketing campaigns.
AMD will also likely promote its security advantages. "You'll see us and our partners out marketing this benefit," says John Morris, desktop product manager at AMD.
Intel used a similar marketing strategy when it introduced its Centrino mobile-computing platform. The company realized that the Centrino chipset's greatest strength was the lifestyle change it enabled, and smartly played that up in its campaign. Look for Microsoft and AMD to do the same with security enhancements next year. "Everyone has been hacked or knows someone who has been affected by a virus attack," Morris says.
Thus you'll be hearing a lot about "buffer overflow," a weakness that hackers love to exploit. While many security solutions put up walls at the server level (where both Intel and AMD have 64-bit solutions and Intel is the dominant player), buffer overflow affects desktop machines. Hackers take advantage of it to commandeer thousands of PCs to crash Websites.
Enhancements that guard against buffer-overflow attacks will provide peace of mind for consumers, and corporate IT managers will be interested in purchasing the technology to prevent their companies from aiding and abetting hackers.
"If your company has a lot of desktops, you might buy AMD to protect your infrastructure," says Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The 64-bit security enhancements are "enough to put AMD on the short list of corporate purchasing considerations," he says.
Intel is keeping mum on its plans to introduce a 64-bit desktop version of its Itanium processor, but don't look for the industry leader to take AMD's affront lying down. "I don't think [Intel's] in a hurry," says Shane Rau, an analyst with IDC. "They'll wait and see how AMD does, but they have their own road map in mind and they're sticking to it."
Should AMD and Microsoft's security message resonate with corporations and consumers alike, however, look for Intel to take a detour in 2004.
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Nearly 25% of US email marketing messages were not delivered to recipients’ inboxes on Cyber Monday, according to an analysis by deliverability specialists Pivotal Veracity.
“Cyber Monday has become a veritable trench warfare of offers, specials and hype in consumers’ email inboxes,” says Deirdre Baird, president and CEO of Pivotal Veracity. “As delivery queues get packed with messages, ISP spam filters go on high alert and many marketers end up with lower inbox delivery rates.”
The data for Pivotal Veracity’s Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2009 Deliverability report is culled from the company’s eDelivery Tracker Solution. This maintains email addresses at hundreds of leading ISPs/email providers around the world, with default spam-filtering settings left intact. eDelivery Tracker customers send campaigns to these ‘seed accounts’ and the system is set up to automatically log in to each account to identify whether the message was received, sent to the spam folder or blocked.
In all, Pivotal Veracity found, only 76.2% of emails sent on Cyber Monday made it to the recipient’s inbox.
“The temptation to mail every Tom, Dick and Harry on your list can be hard for marketers to resist — especially with the holiday shopping season now in full swing,” Baird explains. “But sending out a last minute offer to someone who hasn’t purchased anything from you in the last 12 months is going to shoot you in the foot, and could even have longer term consequences for your reputation in an environment where ISPs are increasingly looking for signs of positive user engagement in deciding whether or not to deliver your mail.”


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*The estate of TuPac Shakur is celebrating the late rapper’s legacy with a newly unveiled NFT (non-fungible token) series entitled “The Immortal Collection,” which drops next week.
As reported by Complex, “the four-piece range was created in partnership with Digital Arts & Sciences and Impossible Brief, one of the world’s leading specialists in digital art and collectibles,” the outlet writes.
“The four-piece Immortal Collection is based on and connected to what Tupac saw in himself, in the stories he felt were worthy of telling, and what connects everyone to each other: ARTIST, ACTIVIST, SINNER, SAINT,” a press release reads.
Take a look at the drop via the Twitter embed below.
NFT series entitled “The Immortal Collection” drops 12/15 on MakersPlace. This drop serves as a first look at some of the personal items that will be shown in the upcoming exhibit, Wake Me When I’m Free. @makersplaceco @tupacwmwif pic.twitter.com/QnOuqrMBlt
— 2PAC (@2PAC) December 9, 2021
According to a press release, the series is based on some of Pac’s personal jewelry pieces, and reflects how he viewed himself as an “Artist,” an “Activist,” a “Sinner,’ and a “Saint.”
As reported by HypeBeast, the “Artist” is represented by his 2PAC ring; the Makaveli bracelet represents the “Activist”; the “Sinner” is symbolized by a solitaire diamond ring; and the “Saint,” is represented by the Euphanasia medallion necklace, which Pac wore in the last photo taken of him before his death in 1996.
“Tupac’s belief that everyone has the right to express themselves honestly through whichever artform they saw fit includes everything from music, to acting, from writing to dance, from photography and culinary art to self-expression through fashion. For Tupac, this included his choice of jewelry,” the press release read. “… In the last year of his life, he had the luxury of not just affording higher-end items, but he started to design them himself, down to the smallest details.”
The Immortal Collection features some of the items that will be displayed at the “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free” exhibit, per the report.
“The Impossible Collection” is set to release on December 15 via MakersPlace.


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Amazon to spend millions more on another Irish data centre
Internet retail giant Amazon is planning to spend tens of millions of euro on another data centre at a site in Dublin - just months after completing a facility at the same location, the Irish Independent has learned.
The cost of the project could easily reach over €100m, adding to the huge amount of money being spent by tech giants on infrastructure in Ireland.
Amazon has two data centre buildings at the Blanchardstown Business and Technology Park, where it has had operations since 2010.
"The proposed development involves the development of a new building as part of an enlarged data centre complex at this location," architects for Amazon have told the local council.
Amazon only recently completed what it calls the DUB052 data centre at the technology park, and has another data centre on the same site.
The new data centre building will be built over two storeys and have 16,065 sq m of floorspace.
AECOM Engineers, a Los Angeles-headquartered firm with offices in Ireland, is leading construction of the new centre.
In the past, AECOM has worked on projects including T2 at Dublin Airport and the Grand Canal square and theatre in the capital.
During the summer PlanNet 21 Communications opened a €20m data centre in Blanchardstown that extends over 1,500 sq m, including office space. Other firms also have data centres at the park.
Last November, Amazon announced that it plans to hire 300 more people in Dublin. It already has 1,400 employees in Ireland.
It has a significant presence in Cork, where more than 800 people are employed by the group in customer and seller support roles.
Amazon reckons that since it first arrived in Ireland in 2004, it has invested over €1.5bn in the local economy.
There's been speculation that the pace of data centre construction by US firms in Europe could accelerate following the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice that struck out the so-called Safe Harbour agreement that permits data transfers between the European Union and the United States, saying it violates privacy.
The boom in data centre construction here has seen global technology heavyweights including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google all opt to site facilities in Ireland, lured in part by its temperate climate, which reduces the running costs of the buildings, where huge racks of servers emit heat that needs to be dissipated.
During the summer, Google announced plans to expand its data centre footprint at Grangecastle in Dublin.
It will spend €150m to build a facility about twice the size of the new one being planned by Amazon.
Apple intends to build a huge data centre complex in Athenry, Co Galway. It received the go-ahead for the €850m project from the local council last month.
In July, Facebook got the all-clear from Meath County Council to build a €200m data centre in Clonee that will extend over 18,580 sq m.
A report prepared recently for the Irish Wind Energy Association said that a surge in data centre construction in Ireland means €1.36bn could need to be invested in Irish renewable energy infrastructure to meet the associated electricity demand.
Because of its fibre infrastructure, Dublin has been the traditional target for data centre construction.
However, new global data cables are being linked into cities such as Cork, making it a more attractive proposition for data centres.


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A new study that was published by the Application Developers Alliance showed many interesting things about Android users. One thing the study concluded was that Android users download a lot of apps, and download many apps for the same purpose.
Android Study Reveals Habits of Users
The study looked at what applications users used when they were trying to complete a certain task, such as listen to music or use cloud storage. The study revealed many different things about Android users, such as that Android users use multiple apps from each category and they download several apps onto their device.
When you look at Android, there are over 2.2 million apps that users can choose from in Google Play, which is really a lot. The Application Developers Alliance ended up finding out that over 40% of all Android users have more than 25 apps on their device, and 7% have downloaded more than 60 apps. The reason for all of these apps being downloaded onto Android devices is that users love to have multiple apps for a given task. This means that if they listen to podcasts, they have more than one podcast app. The study looked at 14 specific app categories that included SMS to social media and productivity, as well as music and storage. The results showed that most Android users are not exclusive to one app to get the job done.
The study was able to find out that 47% of Android users do use Google Drive for the Cloud Storage but also 70% of those users use OneDrive or another competing Cloud Storage service as well. Users have an average of 2.5 applications per category and that 10% of people in each of the category ended up using more than 3 applications. Pre-loaded applications were also looked at in this study and it showed that 76% of users rather have a device pre-loaded with various applications. 24% of Android users would rather not have the pre-loaded applications; mostly because they wanted to add the apps they preferred onto the device themselves.
Some specifics of the study results included that the Shopping category is where a lot of people chose to have more than 3 apps. Specifically, only 16% of users had one app for this category while 55% used over 3 shopping apps. Social media came in second with an average of 3 apps, and only 34% of users felt one app was good enough. 63% of users used 2 social media apps while 46% of Android users had more than 3 social media apps. On the other side of these higher categories, you have things like Notes where then average number of apps was 1.6. 42% of people only used one app for Notes, while 10% used more than 3 apps. E-Reading was also a category where Android users used less apps, with 34% of users only having one app. 11% of users had more than 3 reading apps and 26% of users used 2 apps for reading. SMS texting also had one of the lowest ratings with only 1.8 apps used on the device. 44% of people said they used only one app while 17% used more than 3 apps for SMS.
The last part of the study was all about customization and how Android users customize the default user-interface. 89% of users said they have made tweaks to the home screens, and only 11% of users kept the home screen the same. 77% of users wanted to remove the pre-loaded home screen apps and 52% of users grouped the pre-loaded unused apps into folders.


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last mile Headlines
News / As e-commerce sales grow, 'free delivery' becomes more of a myth, says DHL
Ballooning urbanisation and the spread of smartphones has increased the complexity of last-mile logistics, according ...
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Walmart is shifting into ‘Uber’ mode again. Less than three months after its collaboration with ...
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Bangalore-based start-up Locus is using artificial intelligence to overcome last-mile logistics challenges in India. In one ...
News / Amazon set to take on its own last-mile deliveries as supply chain costs rise
Deep in the Q&A session that followed the publication of its latest quarterly figures yesterday, ...
Recommends / Delving into the problems of Amazon's last-mile deliveries
Absolutely fantastic in-depth investigation into working conditions for subcontracted drivers operating the Amazon Flex programme, ...
News / New business and success of e-fulfilment service boosts Wincanton half-year results
UK logistics provider and haulier Wincanton today beat analysts’ expectations, reporting a half-year operating profit ...
Recommends / Carriers seriously thinking of taking last-mile deliveries in-house
The continued growth of e-commerce sales has led to a commensurate increase in last-mile deliveries to ...
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Morgan Stanley analysts believe Amazon’s decision to buy Whole Foods was less about developing a ...
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A report from industrial real estate developer CBRE has highlighted the actual distances of supposed ...
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The Guardian’s coverage of the CitySprint and Deliveroo employment cases has been excellent, and the ...
- 1.Supply chain radar: XPO Logistics 'officially a takeover target'
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- 4.Maersk aims to cover itself with an alternative to cargo insurance
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- 1. Majid R. Pirkeh on Shippers with cargo on Maersk Honam must pay to get it released
- 2. GFERRULLI@GLOBALLOGISTICSANDTRANSPORT.COM on The future of box shipping: less vessel cascading and fewer liner alliances?
- 3. dave g on New EC rules on working conditions may make truck driving more attractive
- 4. Lee on HGV driver shortage is 'a ticking time bomb' for UK logistics sector, say MPs
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We know that Intel has been attempting to break into the mobile market and compete with the likes of Qualcomm and NVIDIA, but so far there have only been a couple of Intel powered smartphones, most notably the Motorola RAZR i. However if hints from a Microsoft executive are anything to go by, it would seem like future Windows Phone devices could be powered by Intel’s mobile processor. During an interview held by Computerworld at CES, Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan did not deny that there could be a possibility of an Intel-powered Windows Phone device. According to Sullivan, he claims that the architecture of Windows Phone is hardware independent and likened the possibility of an Intel Windows Phone to that of Windows 8 tablets which are currently also powered by Intel’s processors.
Apparently the idea of an Intel Windows Phone device is looked upon favorably by Intel themselves as Hermann Eul, President of Intel’s Mobile Communications Group, revealed that the company was open in supporting the Windows Phone platform with its x86 chips, although this plan would be dependent on the success of Windows Phone itself. Basically Intel is waiting to see if Windows Phone is lucrative enough to give them a return on their investment before making a move. While no doubt Windows Phone 8 is doing a lot better compared to its predecessors, we’re thinking this could take a while as Windows Phone is still way behind both iOS and Android in terms of market share.


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|By PR Newswire||
|March 20, 2014 04:55 AM EDT||
DUBLIN, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hbtkks/global_breast) has announced the addition of the "Global Breast Implants Market 2014-2018" report to their offering.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )
One of the emerging trends in this market is the launch of new products. The product developers and providers are focusing on technological advancements and product innovation to try to gain an edge over their competitors. Thus, the Global Breast Implants market is experiencing a significant increase in the number of product launches. For instance, Allergan Inc. launched Natrelle 410 highly cohesive anatomically shaped silicone-filled breast implants in February 2013. Then, Mentor Worldwide LLC launched MENTOR MemoryShape breast implants in June 2013. These product approvals will have a positive impact on the growth of the market.
According to the report, one of the major drivers is the increase in product innovation, which has led to the launch of advanced products for breast augmentation. Product innovations will encourage market expansion by providing greater product choice to patients and physicians.
Further, the report states that one of the key challenges in the market is the side effects of breast implants. These side effects include implant rupture, wrinkling, bleeding, asymmetry, anesthesia reaction, scarring, pain, and infection.
The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. List of Abbreviations
3. Scope of the Report
4. Market Research Methodology
6. Market Landscape
7. Market Segmentation by Product
8. Geographical Segmentation
9. Buying Criteria
10. Market Growth Drivers
11. Drivers and their Impact
12. Market Challenges
13. Impact of Drivers and Challenges
14. Market Trends
15. Trends and their Impact
16. Vendor Landscape
17. Key Vendor Analysis
18. Other Reports in this Series
- Allergan Inc.
- Mentor Worldwide LLC
- Sientra Inc.
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hbtkks/global_breast
Media Contact: Laura Wood , +353-1-481-1716, [email protected]
SOURCE Research and Markets
SYS-CON Events announced today that the DevOps Institute has been named “Association Sponsor” of SYS-CON's DevOps Summit, which will take place on June 9–11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. The DevOps Institute provides enterprise level training and certification. Working with thought leaders from the DevOps community, the IT Service Management field and the IT training market, the DevOps Institute is setting the standard in quality for DevOps education and training.
Mar. 30, 2015 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,170
Even though it’s now Microservices Journal, long-time fans of SOA World Magazine can take comfort in the fact that the URL – soa.sys-con.com – remains unchanged. And that’s no mistake, as microservices are really nothing more than a new and improved take on the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) best practices we struggled to hammer out over the last decade. Skeptics, however, might say that this change is nothing more than an exercise in buzzword-hopping. SOA is passé, and now that people are ...
Mar. 30, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,293
Wearable technology was dominant at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , and MWC was no exception to this trend. New versions of favorites, such as the Samsung Gear (three new products were released: the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit), shared the limelight with new wearables like Pebble Time Steel (the new premium version of the company’s previously released smartwatch) and the LG Watch Urbane. The most dramatic difference at MWC was an emphasis on presenting we...
Mar. 30, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,440
SYS-CON Events announced today the DevOps Foundation Certification Course, being held June ?, 2015, in conjunction with DevOps Summit and 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. This sixteen (16) hour course provides an introduction to DevOps – the cultural and professional movement that stresses communication, collaboration, integration and automation in order to improve the flow of work between software developers and IT operations professionals. Improved workflows will res...
Mar. 30, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,677
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch ...
Mar. 30, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,239
The WebRTC Summit 2014 New York, to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 16th International Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, Big Data Expo, and DevOps Summit.
Mar. 30, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,620
SOA Software has changed its name to Akana. With roots in Web Services and SOA Governance, Akana has established itself as a leader in API Management and is expanding into cloud integration as an alternative to the traditional heavyweight enterprise service bus (ESB). The company recently announced that it achieved more than 90% year-over-year growth. As Akana, the company now addresses the evolution and diversification of SOA, unifying security, management, and DevOps across SOA, APIs, microser...
Mar. 30, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,069
The webinar, hosted by XebiaLabs, will feature 4 experts including Special Host Gene Kim, author of The Phoenix Project, along with IT thought leaders Gary Gruver, Randy Shoup and XebiaLabs' Andrew Phillips. The panel brings more than 30 years of collective experience surrounding microservices transformations at major companies including Google, eBay and Tripwire. "The story around microservices and containers is pretty compelling and the attraction of more flexibility is obviously alluring,"...
Mar. 30, 2015 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,300
SYS-CON Events announced today that Creative Business Solutions will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Creative Business Solutions is the top stocking authorized HP Renew Distributor in the U.S. Based out of Long Island, NY, Creative Business Solutions offers a one-stop shop for a diverse range of products including Proliant, Blade and Industry Standard Servers, Networking, Server Options and...
Mar. 30, 2015 07:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,847
SYS-CON Events announced today that FierceDevOps will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. FierceDevOps keeps software developers and IT operations personnel updated on the latest news and trends around the rapidly evolving role of the traditional IT worker.
Mar. 30, 2015 02:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,506
GENBAND has announced that SageNet is leveraging the Nuvia platform to deliver Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) to its large base of retail and enterprise customers. Nuvia’s cloud-based solution provides SageNet’s customers with a full suite of business communications and collaboration tools. Two large national SageNet retail customers have recently signed up to deploy the Nuvia platform and the company will continue to sell the service to new and existing customers. Nuvia’s capabili...
Mar. 30, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,487
WHOA.com has announced the newest addition to its data center footprint with the expansion into Equinix's newest state-of-the-art facility: DC-11 Washington, DC IBX+. Located in Ashburn, VA, this data center expands Whoa.com's presence to meet rapidly expanding customer demand for secure cloud solutions. Equinix, Inc. operates International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in 32 markets across 15 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. Equinix is committed to operating faciliti...
Mar. 30, 2015 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,170
SYS-CON Media announced today that @WebRTCSummit Blog, the largest WebRTC resource in the world, has been launched. @WebRTCSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @WebRTCSummit Blog can be bookmarked ▸ Here @WebRTCSummit conference site can be bookmarked ▸ Here
Mar. 29, 2015 10:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,828
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Cisco makes amazing things happen by connecting the unconnected. Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by becoming the worldwide leader in transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborat...
Mar. 29, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 5,255
WSM International is launching a DevOps services division that offers assessment, consulting and implementation to large enterprises and organizations with complex infrastructures. This is the first independent services company to create a dedicated practice to help organizations looking to transition to the DevOps model. The concept of DevOps is to blend information technology (IT) software development with operations to optimize the computing infrastructure according to the specific needs of ...
Mar. 29, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,551


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- General Motors on Thursday reported its first annual profit since 2004, capping an impressive turnaround by the once-troubled automaker.
The profit stemmed from a rebound in U.S. sales, strong growth in China -- now GM's largest market -- and a much lower cost structure after a 2009 trip through bankruptcy.
GM's bankruptcy, financed by the U.S. and Canadian governments, allowed the company to shed debt, excess factories, four of its weaker brands and many other costs.
The nation's largest automaker, GM earned $4.7 billion for the year. That ends a string of five years of losses during which the cumulative red ink topped $100 billion. The profit was the biggest at the company since 1999.
In the fourth quarter, the company earned $510 million, or 31 cents a share, compared to a loss of $3.5 billion a year earlier. But excluding a charge related to the purchase of preferred shares, the company earned 52 cents a share in the quarter, which is better than forecasts of a 46 cent a share profit from analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The profit is good news for the nearly 50,000 hourly workers at GM's U.S. factories who will get profit-sharing bonuses averaging $4,300, the largest in the company's history and a bit better than had been promised to them in a letter last week.
Workers at rival Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) received bonus checks of about $5,000, and Chrysler Group expects to pay yet undisclosed performance bonuses to its workers, despite continued losses there.
Shares of GM (GM) gained slightly in pre-market trading following the report, but were down 3% in morning trading on higher oil prices. Shares had already tumbled 5% in the last two days on the spike in oil prices sparked by unrest in Libya.
Shares are only slightly higher than its initial public offering last November. The IPO, the most lucrative in U.S. history, returned $13.5 billion to U.S. taxpayers.
Lucas will finance 100% of the project at Grady Ranch and wants Marin County teachers and police officers to be able to live there. More
It's the second big layoff at Schlumberger this year. The oil services company cut 9,000 workers in January. More
The Smokio e-cigarette pairs with an app on your phone to keep track of how much you smoke, and how much money you've saved by not buying tobacco cigarettes. More
Employers in New York City can no longer use credit checks to screen potential hires. More


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This column first was published in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. This is an update to correct a typographical error in the fifth paragraph.
SAN DIEGO (MarketWatch) -- Stock analysts have long been criticized for issuing very few "sell" recommendations on stocks they cover. If you want to know why they still often are reluctant to be publicly negative, spend a few minutes with Eric Wold, analyst at the San Francisco investment-banking boutique Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. His reward for slapping a sell rating on Nautilus Inc.? He says the company won't return his phone calls anymore.
It wasn't always that way at least not while he was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Vancouver, Wash., company, best known for its Bowflex exercise machine.
"They haven't talked to me in over a year," says Wold, who in 2004 was ranked as the No. 2 restaurant-industry analyst by The Wall Street Journal. "They won't return my phone calls or e-mails." Over the past five quarters, he says, he has been allowed to ask a question just once on the quarterly conference calls executives hold with analysts to discuss results.
Their lack of response, he says, appears directly related to the increasingly critical nature of his reports, which culminated in June 2006 with his downgrade to a sell "on heightened concerns" over a variety of issues. That was one month after Wold wrote that he was "unconvinced" the company, which had a series of missteps and disappointments, "has turned the corner."
Wold began his coverage of Nautilus
Still, Wold remained a fan, even though the shares eventually lost more than half their value amid weakening sales and earnings growth.
Things started looking up in July 2003, when Gregg Hammann was hired as chief executive, succeeding longtime boss Brian Cook. Hammann, with a background that included stints at Procter & Gamble Co.
At first, Wold says, the retail strategy helped reinvigorate sales. By early 2006, sales growth had started to stumble. Wold says it was then he realized the new strategy was "cannibalizing existing sales and shifting sales from high-margin channels to low-margin channels."
As the quarters rolled on, and the company stopped responding to his inquiries, the tone of Wold's reports became more ominous. He red-flagged such things as undershooting on earnings forecasts, increased competition and retail checks that showed "Bowflex sales down to zero in some stores."
Two weeks ago, Tim Hawkins, president of the Nautilus Fitness Equipment Business, departed. That was a "significant blow to the company's ongoing turnaround efforts," Wold wrote.
Ron Arp, Nautilus's senior vice president of corporate communications, says the analyst "is entitled to his opinion." Arp also says it is "not true" that the company won't talk to Wold. "We've assigned a person at an investor-relations firm to arrange or respond to any appointments or calls and to assure that multiple people can be on the line and there would be no questions about our accessibility." He adds that Wold "turned down an opportunity to spend some time with management in the first quarter to compare our points of view."
"That is hilarious," Wold responds. "I would jump at the chance to meet or speak with them, but they will never give me the chance." He says he did get that invitation, after he had briefly upgraded the stock to "neutral." After an earnings conference call the next month, he again chopped his rating to a sell. After that, he says, he asked the company's external investor-relations representative if the offer still stood. "He said they pulled the offer," Wold says. Nautilus's stock was about $18 at the time. As of 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, the stock was at $12, up 17 cents, reflecting continued flabby performance.
In looking back, the lack of access forced Wold to rely only on publicly disclosed numbers and outside resources for his analysis, and in doing so he got it right. Maybe that is the moral of this story: Let the numbers do the talking, not the company.


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WASHINGTON, Feb 25 – General Motors said Wednesday it would end its celebrated and scorned Hummer brand of sport utility vehicles after a deal to sell the nameplate to China-based Tengzhong could not be finalized.
"We are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed," said John Smith, GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances, without elaborating.
"GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."
GM said it would continue to honor Hummer warranties, and provide service support and spare parts to current owners around the world of the military-style sport utility.
The plan to sell Hummer to the Chinese maker of heavy equipment, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., was first announced in June as the Detroit auto giant underwent a massive bankruptcy restructuring with support from the US and Canadian governments.
Although GM did not comment on the reasons for scrapping the deal, Tengzhong said Thursday it withdrew the offer because it was "unable to obtain clearance of the transaction from the Chinese regulators within the proposed deal timeframe."
Tengzhong said in a statement that it was "disappointed" that it was unable to pursue the "tremendous opportunity" to help transform the gas guzzlers into greener vehicles.
"Following talks with GM, both sides have decided to discontinue discussions on the transaction and terminate their definitive agreement," the company said.
GM and Tengzhong said in October a deal had been "finalized" in which the Chinese company would acquire an 80 percent stake and Suolang Duoji, a private entrepreneur with holdings that include the Hong Kong-listed industrial chemical producer Lumena, would hold the remaining stake.
Last month, Tengzhong said it had agreed with GM to extend an original deadline of January 31 to the end of February, as the company sought the go-ahead from Chinese regulators.
China\’s commerce ministry said Wednesday that since October, when the two firms said the deal had been "finalized," it had never received an application from Tengzhong to buy Hummer.
A GM spokesman said fewer than 3,000 jobs would be affecting by shutting down Hummer.
"We have about 3,000 employees directly employed in the design, production and sale of Hummer," spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. "That would not include suppliers. Some of these employees work on other brands as well, so the actual impact on jobs will be significantly less than that."
For some Hummer was a symbol of GM\’s glory days, but others saw it as an example of wasteful opulence. The gasoline-guzzling vehicles were adapted from the military Humvee and launched commercially in 1992.
GM acquired full ownership of Hummer in 1999 and expanded production of the original Hummer or H1 and H2. In 2005 GM introduced the H3, which was a mid-sized version but still more fuel-thirsty than most vehicles on the road.
Celebrity owners have included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the "Terminator" movies.
But as fuel prices rose and economic conditions worsened, buyers abandoned the Hummer. In 2009, GM sold just 9,000 Hummers, a 67 percent drop from a year earlier.
GM has had difficulty reorganizing its global operations. A deal struck last year to sell its Opel brand, the jewel of its European operations, was scrapped and GM decided to keep its European division.
After plans to sell the Swedish nameplate Saab fell apart, GM said it would end that brand. But a last-minute deal was struck to sell the operations to Dutch-based Stryker in a deal completed this week.
In the United States, GM decided to end its Pontiac and Saturn brands, focusing on four remaining core brands — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.


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A slick sleight of hand
At the launch of new diesel engines for Toyota’s Etios and Liva cars on September 9, a company spokesman said that India’s auto companies had to either shift to diesel or perish. Murad Ali Baig writes.india Updated: Sep 18, 2011 23:56 IST
At the launch of new diesel engines for Toyota’s Etios and Liva cars on September 9, a company spokesman said that India’s auto companies had to either shift to diesel or perish. He said that the last petrol price hike of Rs5 on May 15 had been too much and that the ratio of diesel car sales, that had earlier been about 40%, had now gone up to 70%. Now another price hike has made the disparity between petrol and diesel prices even worse.
This disparity is pushing down the sales of the entire auto industry that, according to the Society of Indian Auto Manufacturers (Siam), now accounts for 12% of India’s GDP. There are long waiting periods for diesel-powered cars while petrol car sales are languishing. Larger hatchbacks, which usually offer diesel engines, are now outselling the small petrol hatchbacks. All the car makers except Honda now offer diesel mills even for their small cars.
A barrel of crude contains 158 litres that at $40 (R1,880) a barrel in 2004 would have cost Rs 11.90 a litre. It now costs about $115 or Rs33 a litre. The government hides the fact that the cascade impact of taxes more than doubles the retail prices of fuels. The actual cost of petrol after refining and transport in Delhi is almost the same. The retail prices contain customs duty, a hefty excise duty, state sales tax, educational cess, etc., accounting for over 55% of the price consumers pay. The taxes on diesel are lower but they, too, carry a big tax element. These taxes are also unjustly multiplied with every increase in crude prices because these are levied on an ‘ad valorem’ (percentage) basis and increase exponentially with every increase in the costs of crude. The central and state governments should secure the tax income with tax at a flat (specific) rate per kilolitre. Their revenues will continue to grow with the growth in fuel consumption without cascading on the consumer.
Petrol prices bear the burden of high taxes because India’s politicians and planners wrongly believe that hiking diesel prices will be inflationary. Few people realise that every Rs1 increase in diesel prices only affects freight transport costs by a minuscule 0.6 paise equivalent to a measly 6 paise on every R100 you spend on your purchases. The impact is more on bus and taxi fares. But even here the impact should be just 7 paise for every R1 increase in diesel prices.
The cost of diesel is estimated to be about 35% of the costs of running a truck or bus. India’s 5 million trucks and 2 million buses have to also pay for finance costs, depreciation, staff salaries, tyres, repairs, taxes, bribes, etc.
Transportation costs average just 5% of the cost of most goods. So the cost of diesel is about 35% of this 5%, making the cost of fuel just 1.75% of the cost of the goods you buy. In the case of buses or taxis, every Rs1 price increase will have a 35% impact. So even if the cost of diesel goes up by a whopping 10% from say Rs42 to Rs46 a litre, the impact will only be 35% of Rs4, that is, Rs1.40. The cost for a taxi doing 12 kms per litre will be only 12 paise per km. The impact on a bus doing 4 kms per litre will be about 35 paise per km.
The government has been evasive about revealing fuel consumption patterns. But available data suggests that more than 56% of diesel consumption is by the transport sector and it is estimated that less than 8% goes for tractors and diesel pump sets. The total cost of this diesel is less than 0.5% of the value of India’s farm output. So the impact on poor farmers is minuscule.
This skewed government policy seems to be triggered by the belief that petrol vehicles are luxury toys for the elite. It unfairly hits the owners of about 60 million petrol-engined two-wheelers and 12 million petrol-powered cars. Very few of these cars are SUVs or luxury saloons; over 75% are small hatchbacks. Why should these users, who are usually middle class salary earners, be so unfairly punished? Diesel consumption is also nearly four times more than petrol. So taxes on petrol will not be able to cross-subsidise diesel, kerosene and LPG for long.
The main beneficiaries of the continuing subsidy on diesel in relation to petrol are the fuel adulterators. Though they mostly use subsidised kerosene and naphtha (raw petrol without additives and most taxes), they can add up to 10% diesel to the petrol without any problem. Low cost diesel has also benefitted the affluent segment of the diesel gensets that consume roughly 10% of all India’s diesel for offices, malls, cinemas, condominiums and industries that surely deserve no subsidy. They can get bulk supplies that can be easily monitored at full prices.
Perhaps Rahul Gandhi should now get on a motorcycle to show the people that opposition politicians, who can’t do simple arithmetic, are unfit to lead the country.
Murad Ali Baig writes on automobile-related issues. The views expressed by the author are personal.
First Published: Sep 18, 2011 23:53 IST


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Readers of MASSAGE Magazine may now choose to read the publication in electronic format, and current print subscribers will soon also have access to the digital edition as well as their print editions. The printed version of MASSAGE Magazine will still be mailed to subscribers every month.
“Our readers are becoming more technologically savvy, and creating a digital edition was the obvious next step in putting MASSAGE Magazine right at their fingertips,” said Associate Editor of Integrative Media Jennifer Whalen. “Subscribers can enjoy a pleasurable reading experience, and they can access the latest issues whenever and wherever they want.”
MASSAGE Magazine has long been a proponent of environmentally sound lifestyle and practice management—the magazine offers a Green Living Resource Center on its website, along with regular articles on this topic—and this addition of an electronic version of the magazine is another step toward serving as a leader in the area of environmental sustainability in the massage field.
The digital edition will be available for the discounted rate of $9.95 per year; $17.95 for two years; or $26.95 for three years.
For more information, visit www.massagemag.com and click on the text stating, “New Digital Edition Available Subscribe Now and Start Reading this Issue” found directly below the photo of the issue cover; or click here.


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Socialspiel recruits former Rockstar Games veteran, raises further EUR200K
Austria's Socialspiel was founded by ex-Rockstar Games employees. The social game startup announced a small additional funding valued EUR200000. The funding was led by German angel fund FLOOR13. Social game veterans, Clemens Beer and Mike Borras, also participated in the funding of Socialspiel.
On the other hand, Mike Borras was recruited Chief Executive Officer for the 2010-founded company. He would take over the post of co-founder Helmut Hutterer who would sit as the company's COO. Prior to his new role at Socialspiel, Mike Borras co-founded local search startup Tupalo. Borras was also a part of Rockstar Games before he established Tupalo. The legacy of Rockstar Games did not end there. The other new investor, Clemens Beer, was also a lead developer at Rockstar Games and is currently the CEO of Tupalo.
Beer and Borras would take individual seats in the board of Socialspiel. Meanwhile, the new funding is intended for general corporate purposes including the growth of the company's development teams.


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Syakomon and Miu Shinonome join Digimon Survive
Posted on 1 year ago by Daire(@OrangeLight7895) in News, Switch | 0 comments
This week’s Weekly Shonen Jump has revealed that two new characters, Miu Shinonome and Syakomon will be introduced in Digimon Survive.
Miu is the little sister of the previously revealed character Kaito Shononome, who is voiced by Misaki Watada. She is described as “an eccentric sixth grade student who often speaks in riddles” and “dislikes her brother’s interferences and always rebels against him”.
Syakomon is Miu’s partner Digimon and is voiced by Asami Tanako. She is described as “a bivalve monster covered by a hard shell”.
The Weekly Shonen Jump scan can be seen above.
Warface reaches one million players on Switch in a month
Posted on 1 year ago by Daire(@OrangeLight7895) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Publisher My.Games has announced that the free-to-play first-person shooter Warface has reached one million players on Switch worldwide in just over a month since its launch on February 18th, 2020.
Today’s press release mentions that players have completed 495,387 PvP matches. Total playtime is also at 83,000 days while the most popular modes are PvE missions (1,285,309 played) and co-op Special Operations (148,507 completed).
Warface franchise lead Ivan Pabyarzhin says that it wants to keep the Switch version fresh with “constant updates.”
Source: My.Games PR
Risk of Rain 2: Hidden Realms update launch trailer released
Posted on 1 year ago by Daire(@OrangeLight7895) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
Gearbox Software have released a trailer for the new Hidden Realms update for Risk of Rain 2, launching for free today on Switch.
The trailer can be seen below.
MazM: Jekyll and Hyde footage
Posted on 1 year ago by Daire(@OrangeLight7895) in Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments
Footage of the first 20 minutes of MazM: Jekyll and Hyde has been released, the title is releasing on Switch on April 2nd. Check the gameplay out below.


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World food prices stabilised in February near a seven-year low as rising vegetable oil and meat prices offset declines in cereals, sugar and dairy, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
Food prices have fallen for four
World food prices fell to near a seven-year low in January, weighed down by declines for agricultural commodities, particularly sugar, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
Food prices have fallen for four straight year
Favourable worldwide conditions for cereal crops will lead to better-than-expected production this growing season at the global level, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
That is despite continuing app
Global food prices fell in June, continuing an almost uninterrupted slide since April 2014, led by falling dairy and sugar prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO)
Global food prices fell 1 per cent in February to their lowest in more than four-and-a-half years, with cereals, meat and sugar declining, oils steady and only dairy prices rebounding sharply, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (UNFAO) Index declined in December, after three months of stability, declining for the third consecutive year, according to a report.
The 1.7 per cent fall was credited to cont
World food prices edged lower in October, after a series of sharp declines, as prices of oils and sugar rose while dairy and meat prices fell, the UN's food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation's
World food prices fell to their lowest since August 2010 in September as prices of all major food groups except meat dropped, led by a sharp decline in dairy prices, the UN's food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agricult
Global food prices hit a six-month low in July led mainly by sharp declines in grains, oilseeds and dairy, which balanced out rising meat and firm sugar prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agricul
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has given its initial approval to conduct a feasibility study on Bahrain's farming project in Sudan.
Under-Secretary for Agriculture and Marine Resources Shaikh Khalifa bin Isa Al


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Mega Man 11 Announced, coming to PC and consoles in late 2018
Capcom have announced that a brand new entry in the popular Mega Man series to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series. Mega Man 11 launches in 2018 for PC and consoles.
It's hard to believe the Mega Man is 30 years old this year, he's had countless games over the years and been the star of many platformers during his life. To celebrate his anniversary, Capcom have announced a big pieces of Mega Man news, including word that a new entry in the series "Mega Man 11" will be releasing next year. This new entry in the series will focus on classic gameplay elements, with modern style graphics (don't worry it's still 2D). Mega Man 11 is currently looking at a late 2018 release date for PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Mega Man has been known for his run and shoot mechanics for 30 years, and now they are giving him some updates to add in some extra moves to the mix. The first teaser of Mega Man 11 can give players an idea of how the new game will look, as well as the gameplay style the game is focusing on. Mega Man is able to run, jump, slide and shoot his way from level to level - with faithful companions like Rush giving you a boost to even higher hard to reach areas, as he turns into a trampoline for Mega Man to use.
Capcom have still yet to reveal much on the upcoming game, and the release is rather vague with a "Late 2018" tag so we may not see it until a year from now. While we wait for the release, fans are able to get their hands on the previous entries in the series with the Mega Man Legacy Collection which includes Mega Man 1-6, or get the Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 which features Mega Man 7-10. Each Legacy Collection adds a number of features including a Museum Mode, Rewind Mechanics, time trials and much more! If you've played all the Mega Man games and still want to scratch the itch, perhaps give the likes of Mighty No. 9 a try.


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Mexico's Urbi posts 63 percent drop in Q4 profit
* Earnings fall to 293 million pesos
* Sales drop 40 percent, financing costs rise
MEXICO CITY Feb 27 (Reuters) - Mexican homebuilder Urbi reported a 63 percent fall in fourth-quarter profits on Wednesday due to a slump in sales and higher financing costs.
The company reported a profit of 293 million pesos ($23 million) compared to 797 million pesos in the October-December period in 2011, according to a press release posted on Urbi's website.
Urbi reported 303 million pesos in financing costs during the quarter compared to a financing gain of 114 million pesos in the year ago period.
Sales fell 40 percent to 3.045 billion pesos during the quarter compared to 5.092 billion in the year-ago period.
- 'Weird Al' Yankovic still trying to wrap head around No. 1 album
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- French warplanes search Mali desert for crashed Air Algerie plane |
- Crunch time for Gaza truce talks as death toll passes 800 |
- Wreckage of Air Algerie plane carrying 116 people found in Mali |


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11/10/2019 7:46:49 μμ
Chang Li, a 39-year-old orthopedic surgeon in Beijing, receives three intradermal injections to improve his facial skin each year. To his satisfaction, he looks much younger than others his age. Chang says that men are under the same social pressures as women and their confidence and competitiveness would be somewhat weakened by facial and body defects. “Why not reduce the signs of aging if you can?” he asks.
Make-up and plastic surgery are no longer just the realm of women, with society’s growing tolerance of beauty seeking men.Chinese news agency Xinhua interviewed 86 people randomly chosen online. Around 77 per cent said it was a personal choice for men to undergo cosmetic procedures and their choice should be respected. However, experts point out the risks of cosmetic surgery.
On an online lifestyle sharing platform, 21-year-old blogger Chen Jingwei shared his experiences of plastic surgery including a nose job, facial implants and a chin operation in the past three years. Quite a few male fans of Chen follow his posts and leave questions asking for details of his operations. “How much does the eyelid surgery cost?” In a Chinese online survey, 77 per cent of respondents said cosmetic surgery was a personal choice and should be respected. “I am a guy and I want to change my nose, which hospital should I choose?” “Did you have jaw implants or simply have fillers injected?” “Whether to have cosmetic procedures is a personal choice, but people should not develop an addiction to it,” Fan says. “After all, a rich and beautiful inner world is far more important than a pretty face.


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Fitbit has a surprising new release coming out later this fall: a set of workout-ready wireless headphones called the Fitbit Flyer.
The Flyer is Fitbit’s first product without any sensors or fitness-tracking features, a significant departure from the company’s signature line of largely wrist-based activity trackers.
The Flyer is closely tied to the company’s other big fall release, the Ionic smartwatch, which offers 2.5GB of on-device music storage and a Pandora app — so wireless headphones are a must to enjoy the tunes while you work out. The Flyer works with more devices than just the Ionic, too, and Fitbit hopes the headphones will catch on apart from the smartwatch.
The Flyer is a fairly standard set of wireless headphones (although it pairs automatically with the Ionic), though, so Fitbit is banking on its reputation in the fitness community to stand out from the countless other workout headphones on the market today.
Fitbit gave me an inside look at the Flyer’s development, which revealed some more about the headphones and where they fit within the company’s larger strategy.
CEO James Park says the development team noticed that most of the wireless workout headphones on the market didn’t actually perform well in the gym: some weren’t as sweat-proof as advertised, while others couldn’t maintain a proper fit through exercise. The development team felt that they could do better, so Fitbit set out to build a pair of its own to accompany the new smartwatch.
The Flyer team was focused on creating a product that addressed Fitbit’s four main points of concern. The headphones had to be sweat-proof and durable, fit a wide range of ear shapes to stay in place during workouts, and had to connect wirelessly to multiple devices at once, so users could conceivably switch between a wearable and their smartphone for playback. The price couldn’t be too high, either (the Flyer will launch at $129.95, or about $30 cheaper than Apple’s AirPods) — which is partly why Fitbit left sensors out of the equation.
The company then set out on an extensive development, design, and testing process to get the headphones ready to launch alongside the Ionic, which took a bit over a year from start to finish, according to Director of Product Management Ryan Krems.
Once work on the Flyer was underway, Fitbit was able to test every aspect of the headphones on a wide-ranging group of willing guinea pigs: employees from across the organization, which Krems says represents a diverse spectrum of people.
The development team asked testers to run on treadmills wearing different iterations of the Flyer and even some headphones from competitors and rate the experience, just to get a baseline for the performance, no matter how tough the response. “When we’re doing those tests, we’re looking for people who haven’t been part of the [Flyer design and development] program so that you’re getting that raw, true feedback,” Krems said. Since the respondents here were Fitbit employees, that feedback might not be exactly be totally unbiased — but Krems seemed pleased with the process.
The biggest challenge was getting the fit just right. Krems said there were “huge discussions internally,” right up until the right up until the design was finalized.
Finding the right tone
Since Fitbit didn’t have experience building audio equipment, it turned to a new partner to help with the Flyer’s sound. Waves Audio, a company known best for its high-end studio equipment, was tapped to give the Flyer some extra thump.
Waves had never made a set of wireless headphones either, but the company’s engineers worked closely with Fitbit’s over the course of several months to fine-tune the sound, according to Fitbit Director of Marketing Michael Polin. The Flyer’s Power Boost sound feature, which Polin claims can pump out higher bass and more amplified sound in a smaller package than other earphones, was a direct result of the collaboration.
I was pleasantly surprised by my first impressions of the Flyer’s sound. The bass comes across deeper and richer than in some of the other exercise-first headphones I’ve used, and the quality of the audio doesn’t flag at high or low volume.
Jonah Becker, Fitbit’s head of design and the former design chief at HTC, created a brand new profile for the Flyer, which has a distinctive “wing” that keeps the earbuds flush to the wearer’s head, or an optional fin attachment that wraps more snugly into the ear.
The first step in Becker’s process for creating the Flyer was designing something distinctive, yet widely applicable. That’s where the wing shape came into play.
“We wanted to have a couple different variations because one design in multiple sizes doesn’t necessarily address the broadest range of people,” he said. The wing nests inside the upper ear, instead of wrapping inside, which Becker thinks provides a more universal fit.
CEO Park says the Flyer’s release doesn’t necessarily mean Fitbit will be making more hardware outside of the company’s calling card, activity tracking. That’s the main focus for Fitbit moving forward — but within that fitness-first structure, he stressed that there’s room for other opportunities as they arise.
The Flyer is the first of those opportunities, so for Fitbit’s sake, hopefully someone is listening.


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Pharma.Aero gains new associate partners with the addition of three cold chain packaging solutions providers.
Cold Chain Technologies, Sonoco ThermoSafe, and Tower Cold Chain Solutions have all joined the pharma-focused industry association.
“The market knowledge and expertise of our three new Associate Partners in terms of their cold chain packaging solutions, service and product offerings will strengthen the entire Pharma.Aero family and further enhance our thought leadership in the pharmaceutical supply chain management,” says BRU Cargo’s Nathan De Valck, chairman of Pharma.Aero.
Niall Balfour, CEO of Tower Cold Chain Solutions adds: “Tower are globally recognised as being one of the most innovative providers of reusable cold chain packaging solutions to the Pharmaceutical industry. We are therefore delighted to be accepted as a member of Pharma.Aero which will allow us to further enhance our relationships and collaborate with some of the largest providers within this market.”
Similarly, expressing his pleasure at joining the Pharma.Aero collaborative community, Ron Haub, segment director at Sonoco ThermoSafe adds: “Together with the other key stakeholders in the air cargo supply chain, we look forward to contributing our longstanding technical depth in temperature-controlled packaging to further drive continuous improvement in the pharmaceutical and life sciences air transport ecosystem”.
Kristian Williams, regional sales director of EMEA at Cold Chain Technologies noted the importance of striving to achieve excellence throughout the temperature-controlled supply chain.
“Joining Pharma.Aero gives us the platform to effectively collaborate with partners and stakeholders to ensure we continue to meet the specific requirements for transporting lifesaving temperature sensitive products to patients across the globe,” she says.
“The platform for collaboration that is available to the Pharma.Aero members will support the innovation and growth goals that we have within Europe and globally,” Williams adds.


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Apple has been awarded a patent for a depth-mapping technology for a Kinect-like 3D gesture interface, adding to the intellectual property inherited from its acquisition of Israeli firm PrimeSense in 2013.
Using a combination of cameras and software, the technology would identify major features of the human body, such as the hand, and judge their relative positions in space. An image in the patent depicts a sensor bar sitting on top of computer monitor.
Unlike the Kinect, though, the Apple concept granted by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday is oriented specifically towards identifying hand and finger gestures, rather than whole-body movements. The patent complements another one issued earlier this month which dealt directly with analyzing hand gestures.
The patents and the acquisition of PrimeSense may suggest that Apple is exploring 3D gesture interfaces for Macs, and possibly other products, such as the Apple TV. An overhauled Apple TV is expected to be announced at WWDC 2015 in June.
To date, though, such interfaces have not had much success. The Kinect has been unbundled from Microsoft's latest console, the Xbox One, and third-party controllers such as the TrackIR and the Leap Motion Controller have remained niche products. Apple's native gesture options for Macs currently include the 2D, touch-based Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse, as well as the trackpads on MacBooks.
PrimeSense helped create the technology behind the Kinect — which originally debuted for the Xbox 360 — by licensing its designs to Microsoft. Apple's takeover of PrimeSense was confirmed on November 24, 2013, just two days after the Xbox One shipped.


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Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors ad campaign a casualty of Corn Syrup War
The Corn Syrup War, launched with a snarky ad during this month’s Super Bowl, may have destroyed an uneasy alliance between Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors to reverse sliding beer sales with a broader industry campaign.
The commercial for Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light, which employed the brand’s now-familiar medieval theme, fired a catapult over the castle walls at Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup in the brewing process.
MillerCoors was not amused, pulling out of a long-planned collaboration with Anheuser-Busch and other beer makers to win back drinkers, many of whom have drifted to wine and spirits.
“Obviously since Anheuser-Busch used the largest marketing platform in the United States to demonize the beer category, we’ve decided to put that work on pause,” Pete Marino, chief communications officer for Chicago-based MillerCoors, said Monday.
In the works for more than 18 months, the campaign was still in the planning stages, with Anheuser-Busch, Miller Coors, Heineken and Constellation Brands among the beer makers at the table, along with industry organizations such as the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
An ad agency had not yet been selected, but the campaign was likely to be in the “Got Milk?” mode of the dairy industry, trying to boost the broader beer category. Marino said he expected a test campaign to launch as early as this summer.
Cesar Vargas, vice president of legal and corporate affairs for Anheuser-Busch, said in an emailed statement Monday the beer industry ad campaign is still on.
“We, along with other members of our industry, remain fully committed to strengthening the beer category and our joint efforts to highlight the very positive impact that beer has on our economy and in our communities will continue as planned,” Vargas said.
Bjorn Trowery, director of communications for Heineken USA, said Monday that “it’s too early to tell” what the impact of the feud between Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors will mean to the campaign, but the beer maker remains “committed to growing the category.”
Constellation Brands’ beer division, based in Chicago, makes and imports Mexican beers like Corona and Modelo. The company did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Both Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors may have something to gain by working together, as the beer category loses ground.
Beer sales, which peaked at 214.7 million barrels in 2008, have fallen 4 percent since then to about 206 million barrels last year. The growth of wine and spirits has drained some of beer’s market share, but demographic issues are in play as well.
“Younger drinkers drink less…and less beer,” said Benj Steinman, president of Beer Marketer’s Insights, a beer industry trade publication. “So that’s a problem.”
Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite are the three largest-selling beer brands in the U.S., and all are losing market share faster than the industry.
Steinman said Bud Light sales dropped 6.7 percent last year, while Coors Light fell 6.2 percent and Miller Lite dropped 3.8 percent.
Beer drinkers are shifting to craft beers, imported beers and hard seltzers, Steinman said.
“To a large extent, they are trading up,” he said.
MillerCoors has been on the defensive since the Bud Light Super Bowl spot aired on Feb. 3. The beer maker has run full page newspaper ads, social media campaigns and even went to Iowa to buy beers for farmers in support of corn and other crops that contribute to making beer, Marino said.
Marino said many beers use corn syrup as a fermenting sugar in the brewing process and it has no effect on the final product. MillerCoors does not add high fructose corn syrup, which some consumers avoid as a potential health risk, to its beer, he said.
He considers the Bud Light campaign misleading, but Anheuser-Busch has no intention of backing off.
“Consumers are demanding more transparency around the food and drink they consume and Bud Light is leading the transparency movement for beer,” Vargas said. “We will continue to lead the effort toward increased transparency as it benefits the entire beer industry.”
MillerCoors, meanwhile, did not rule out returning to the fold before the beer industry campaign rolls out – but only if Anheuser-Busch ceases its own campaign and calls an immediate truce in the Corn Syrup War.
“We’re keeping the door open to coming back,” Marino said. “We think the work on category health should be paused until there are concrete actions that correct AB’s aberrant and reckless behavior.”


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MAN Truck and Bus is to restart its bus and truck plants at reduced capacity from next week, six weeks after halting production in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The manufacturer stopped production in mid-March to protect its employees and in response to broken supply chains and a sharp drop in demand for commercial vehicles. The plants will open from 27 April with a safety plan to protect employees which will ensure distancing between employees, changes in the routing, […]
Circle Express said it was in a strong position to trade profitably after business slowed down last year due to the country’s lockdowns.
Moto’s free food for HGV drivers offer is being extended to an additional 14 sites, with free hot drinks for them too.


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Challenges facing African Telecom Market
Africa is officially the second largest market after Asia in mobile usage. The continents telecommunications industry has been among the best performing industries in recent years and has created millions of direct and indirect jobs. However, this year Telecom companies in Africa will face a myriad of challenges that stem from technology trends and customer demands. Most mobile subscribers across Africa regularly experience dropped calls and have been grappling with poor data services and unreliable voice services that despite advancement in technology most telecom companies have failed to upgrade and improve their services.Mobile industry in Africa has grown from the original private and publicly owned telephone monopolies with exception of Ethiopia where Ethiopian government controlled telecom operator to include a host of new entrants such as competitive access providers, resellers, value-added carriers, cable companies, wireless carriers, direct broadcast satellites and media conglomerates.Such developments have brought new challenges to the industry. I think the convergence of applications, networks and content in this new-age information super highway have become the next path breaking move in core mass market technology providing single connectivity and integrated user experience but that has not been the case in Africa.Over the last few years, the continent has created a resounding success story in telecoms. In countries like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria the rewards of this success have been flowing to customers through intense competition induced price cuts, handset discounts.
Companies are facing challenges with falling voice revenue and this has not been helped by the fact that Other new substitutes to voice calls namely Skype and WhatsApp have taken the continent by storm. Hard economic times has led to revenues falling in the telecom industry in Africa and this year the emphasis is likely to shift to cost cutting measures to help stabilize margins that were witnessed before global economic crisis. In my opinion, long-term recovery and further organizational transformation and a move to leaner and more efficient businesses are paramount to the telecom industry survival in Africa and that could also guarantee growth and rise in revenue.Revenues have been under pressure due to increased competition among operators as well as the ongoing economic uncertainties facing some African consumers.Worse luck for telcos, African consumers would be unlikely to tolerate increases in prices for most fixed and mobile services. This leaves operators limited to pursuing further growth through LTE, fibre services and cloud data centres.Those that still dominates the telecom market has slowly been eroding.Africa’s mobile market is meanwhile reaching saturation point, with penetration exceeding 100% in some countries due to the large proportion of subscribers making use of multiple phones or SIMs.Most mobile service revenue growth fell year on year over the last financial year and experts are predicting slower revenue growth and continuing negative growth from market leaders. Due to the increasing saturation, mobile subscriber growth is likely to slow down over the next few years in some countries like South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. Another trend likely to continue is the increasing consolidation among second-tier telecom service providers. Consolidation will help smaller providers recover in terms of revenue growth.


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One hundred Stormtroopers from the Star Wars Legion 501 will be on parade at the film, comic, board game and video game convention, Ficzone 2021.
The event will take place on 23 and 24 October at the Fermasa congress centre in Granada city, where Granada Gaming and Meeple Factory will also be present.
The official Star Wars Legion 501 group will be in their costumes, in support of the HomoSapiens Association, a charity which helps young people with disabilities in Granada.
The Legion was created by fans of Star Wars who wanted to help with charitable causes, especially those that are focused on children. They are known as "Bad guys doing good things".
HomoSapiens is a not-for-profit association founded in 2008, which designs, plans, implements and evaluates inclusive programmes to improve the quality of life of young people with disabilities.
20,000 participants from all over Spain are expected to attend the two-day gaming event.
More than 350 activities will be held over the two-day event, including KPop concerts, gaming professionals, arenas, e-sports tournaments, free play video game zone, artists and shows.
Tickets are on sale online at www.entradasytickets.com, www.ficzone.com, www.granadagaming.com and www.meeplefactory.es and entradasytickets.com.
Capacity is limited this year and as such fewer tickets are available than for previous events.


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Merill Comeau (@merillcomeau)
LexArts will host “Sparks Fly,” an online conversation with SDA members Jodi Colella
and Merill Comeau on September 17 at 7:00pm. Colella and Comeau will discuss their work and collegial relationship as artists and community instigators. There will be opportunities for attendees to participate in the event. Register at LexArts
to receive a Zoom invite.
Diane Franklin (@diane.franklin)
Diane Franklin had a piece, Deep Waters
, accepted to the virtual H2O show at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts (https://sebarts.org/visual-arts/upcoming-exhibitions-2/
). The online exhibition runs from July 11 - August 22 with an opening reception on July 11, via Zoom.
Virginia Mahoney (@artisteach)
"Transparent" by Virginia Mahoney
Virginia Mahoney's Transparent
are included in "Sizzle!
" an online juried exhibition at Bromfield Gallery
in Boston's SOWA gallery district. The exhibition runs August 1-31. There is no opening reception
"Ravaged" by Saberah Malik
Saberah Malik’s work, Ravaged
, is included in the HGA Small Expressions Exhibit at the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, Knoxville. Exhibit will travel through June 2021.
Ann Ribbens has work in “Here and There” at the Brush Art Galleries and Studios at 256 Market Street, Lowell, MA. The exhibition runs August 4 – September 12 with an opening reception August 22 (exact time to be determined.)


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The US Mint announced that the launch of the Jamestown 400th Anniversary Commemorative Coins will be held on January 11, 2007, 10 A.M., at the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia. Collectors attending the ceremony will be able to purchase the gold and silver collectibles on site. Those unable to attend may order these coins from the Mint’s online catalog starting at noon on January 10.
Images from the US Mint. Click to see larger versions.


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Jolla is priced just a bit more than Mi 3. But then all those frustrated by Xiaomi flash sales might find the smartphone from the land of Nokia to be a great option.
8:35 pm on Sep 23, 2014 by Malavika Velayanikal
6:13 pm on Aug 12, 2014 by Josh Horwitz
Jolla, the Finnish smartphone maker best known for being Finnish, has begun selling devices in Hong Kong.


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Papa John’s tweaks Super Bowl coin-toss contest
Papa John’s International Inc. once again will give away free pizza on Super Bowl Sunday — this time, to customers who correctly predict the game’s coin toss.
Each fan can vote “heads” or “tails” at the Papa John’s Web site or the brand’s Facebook page, and those who correctly call the Super Bowl coin toss will receive a free large one-topping pizza, according to a news release from the company.
The Papa John’s contest this year is slightly different from last year, when Papa John’s (NASDAQ: PZZA) used popular vote to correctly call “heads” prior to the coin toss for Super Bowl XLVI.
This year, customers can call “heads” or “tails” for the Super Bowl coin toss through 11:59 PST on Saturday, Feb. 2. Americans who correctly call the coin toss will receive an e-mail on Feb. 4 with instructions on how to claim their pizza. Fans who vote also will get an offer for 35 percent off their next pizza at papajohns.com through Feb. 2.
For Papa John’s, Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest sales day of the year.
Papa John’s also offers these Super Bowl coin-toss statistics:
• In 46 Super Bowls, heads has been called 23 times and tails 23.
• 25 of the 46 tosses have come up heads, while 21 have been tails.
• The NFC has 25 Super Bowl wins, and has won the coin toss 31 times.
• The AFC has 21 Super Bowl wins, with just 15 coin toss wins.
Andrew Robinson covers these beats: Restaurants, retail, government, human resources, technology, automotive (dealers, services), media/marketing/printing, young professionals, West End, East End and Oldham County.
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According to Joystiq, sometime this Holiday season, Microsoft will launch a new Xbox 360 controller with a unique d-pad. When you rotate the d-pad ninety degrees on this new controller, it will raise up about a quarter of an inch.
Apparently this is aimed at fighting game fans. We aren’t sure if it will be a separate, special controller or will replace the existing controller.
Sounds like a cool d-pad at any rate. We should hear more soon.


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Apple has reportedly held meetings with Korean financial institutions, including Hana Financial Group, as it looks to launch Apple Pay in the country. “We recently had a private meeting with Apple, and there are some problems that need to be solved,” a card company executive told ET News, adding that issues around tokenization and “commission problems” need to be addressed.
- GlobalPlatform releases secure element specs for system-on-chip deployments
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Apple to Release Next-Generation iPhone in August - Rumors
Yesterday I told you about the possible shift in Apple's usual product update cycle due to the release of the 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 27-inch iMac this Wednesday. Today a new rumor appeared on the Internet that suggests that the guys from Cupertino may release the next-generation iPhone as soon as in August instead of September. The reason for such an early release of the device is probably connected with the good supply of components for the handset called presumably the iPhone 6s or iPhone 7.
According to the same sources, Apple has already begun placing orders for some of the components for the next-gen smartphone and is currently gearing up for the start of mass-production of the device.
As we slowly approach the release of the next-generation iPhone, rumors and reports will become increasingly common. Today, a new report claims that the yield rates for the next generation iPhone components are much better than expected and Apple could possibly release the device in August instead of the usual September release.
As to the specs for the upcoming iPhone, they remain unknown. All we know is that the device will boast of the A9 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 12-megapixel camera. There will be two models of the iPhone with different screen sizes.
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IT’S not often you see grandmother and grandson travelling the country together on a Harley Davidson.
Larger and more upmarket version of Koleos SUV coming this year
1971 Phase III GT-HO Falcon auctioned today by Shannons
Micro Micra, Pulsar hatch and old Patrols get the chop
Suzuki's funky little SUV straps on a turbo
New Civic range arrives this June with prices starting at $22,390
Call 1300 136 181 or post your listing online now.
PRODUCING nearly 280,000 tonnes of meat for Australian tables each month, the Australian livestock industry is a key component of the national economy, one that
FOLLOWING on from their announcement to support the Pilbra Heavy Hau
Volvo Trucks have launched the latest dual-control model of the Euro
RESPECT! We don’t seem to see a lot of it these days.
Truck will will be held from August to September this year.
Here is you’re first look at day one of the truck show in pictures.
WEBASTO will be at the Melbourne Truck Show.


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MANILA - Malls and other commercial centers will be allowed to regulate air conditioning, turn on WiFi and conduct mall sales subject to implementation of strict health protocols, the Trade Department said Thursday.
Temperature in malls were previously regulated, while WiFi were ordered shut in order to discourage lounging in a bid to lessen exposure to COVID-19.
With restrictions eased further, the DTI called for the strict implementation of the "7 commandments" in malls and commercial centers, which include:
- Wearing of proper face masks
- Wearing of face shields
- No talking and no eating (in public transport, similar setting like confined areas and crowded places)
- Adequate ventilation
- Frequent and proper disinfection
- Symptomatic or COVID-19 positives must be isolated
- Appropriate physical distancing
In a memorandum released to the media Thursday, the DTI also echoed the approved task force order that those aged 15 to 65 could now go out of their residences subject to minimum health protocols.
The circular dated Oct. 20 shall take effect immediately upon compliance with publication requirements, the DTI said.


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Delivering commercial benefits with QR customisation alongside event security
Security is a necessary element of planning any event, with appropriate and proportionate measures aligned to risk, operational requirements and budget. As well as being a necessary cost, it can also provide commercial benefits for an event, thanks to the potential to customise hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) equipment with branding or advertising.
The experience of jeweller’s shop, David Christopher, during the 2022 Worcester Victorian Christmas Fayre, highlights just how much of a boost an HVM installation can be to business. The retailer experienced an increase in sales of 18% during the four-day event period, and was able to track which sales came about as a direct result of advertising on the HVM system, thanks to a QR code on the ATG Surface Guard installation.
The David Christopher business is based in the picturesque centre of the historic city, where The Worcester Victorian Christmas Fayre has been held in December for the past 20 years, attracting locals and visitors as it has grown year on year. As a result, the jeweller benefits from increased footfall during the Fayre. The event combines traditional Christmas markets with a range of entertainment and Victorian themed characters to create a festive occasion with something for all the family, and Crowdguard has a three-year contract with Worcester City Council to deliver protection against vehicle incursions, as part of the event security strategy.
Crowdguard’s remit involves efficient and quality assured deployment of the ATG Surface Guard HVM system and Rosehill Security Rapid Defender vehicle security barrier (VSB) system at 11 strategic locations around the public realm locations where the Fayre is based.
We explained the options for customising HVM systems as part of the specification process and Worcester City Council was keen to leverage any opportunities to benefit local retailers as part of their event security strategy. The pedestrian permeable HVM protection close to the David Christopher store not only included branding for the retailer, advertising a special offer, it also included a QR code that people could scan to access the offer online. In this way, the retailer was able to measure the effectiveness of the HVM advertising, with data confirming that 18% of sales during the ATG Surface Guard deployment were thanks to people responding to the HVM advertising and QR code.
Response rates to the David Christopher advertising demonstrate that HVM protection can deliver tangible commercial benefits for local businesses, enabling them to promote their business during periods of increased footfall, while delivering robust and visible event security. Alongside the ATG Surface Guard system, we can also provide customisation across a wide variety of temporary and semi-permanent HVM and perimeter protection systems, including The Claw and RB50 from Highway Security, the ARX Security ARX Stopper!™, The Core from Unafor and the CLD Fencing HoardSafe system.
Michelle Newell, City Centre Manager at Worcester City Council commented: “Keeping people safe while they enjoy all the city has to offer over the Christmas period is important to Worcester City Council. Crowdguard looks after the hostile vehicle mitigation for our Victorian Christmas Fayre each year, providing ATG Surface Guard and the Rapid Defender vehicle security barrier to 11 locations around the city, which means we have more than 200 metres of HVM equipment protecting people and businesses in Worcester during this busy period. They have also worked with us to benefit local businesses, customising the ATG Surface Guard outside a high street jeweller with advertising.”


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National Championships 2010
The 2010 Australian National Rowing Championships were held recently at Nagambie in Central Victoria. The best in the country competed for a range of honours including the prestigious King & Queen Cups. For more information, check out: http://www.rowbust.com/about_us/Nagambie2010
Rowbust Sponsors VIS Rowers
Rowbust Australia are pleased to announce a sponsorship arrangement with the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). Rowbust has decked out the VIS athletes in a unique, custom-made zootie made from a high-tech fabric.
VIS rowers will wear the zoot suit in competitions this year, with the suit having its origins in the original Silver Oars zootie.
New Chicks with Sticks products
Nagambie was the perfect place to release the new additions to the Chicks-with-Sticks brands.
Aimed at rowing women for use off the water, Rowbust has introduced new hoodie, rowing dress, a skirt, 3/4 pants, and a pair of casual shorts.
These new products will be available to purchase online shortly.
End of Season Sale
The first annual, end of financial year/stocktake/clearance sale will be held on Saturday June 18 from 9.00am to 2.00pm. Loads of samples and end of line items as well as gear that we need to sell or count in the stocktake !
We expect there will be rowing clothing, cycling gear, some end of season swimwear and the occaisional tri outfit. In the courtyard at 57 St Hellier Street, Heidelberg Heights 3081 - near the Austin Hospital.
Check out this Article
From The West Australian on March 31, this is a brief story about Olympian Sarah Tait and her drive for the London Olympics. Great Rowbust photo also !http://enewspaper2.thewest.com.au/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=V0FOLzIwMTAvMDMvMzEjQXIxMTEwMg==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom


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- £5.3 million investment in 25 brand new double deck buses
- High-spec vehicles feature free customer WiFi and USB charging points
- 100% British built with latest ‘Euro 6’ clean engine technology
- Buses hit the road from Monday on popular ‘Wave’ routes along the coast
- Ultra-convenient smart phone tickets available
Stagecoach customers along the Kent and East Sussex coast can now enjoy an even more comfortable bus ride as the company launch a brand new fleet of buses.
£5.3 million worth of ultramodern double deckers will be out on the roads from Monday (5 December). Most of the new buses will operate on the popular ‘Wave’ routes between Dover and Hastings. The 25 new state-of-the-art vehicles are designed to accommodate passengers in comfort and convenience. As well as being more environmentally friendly, the buses feature free WiFi and USB charging points for customers to keep connected and fully charged whilst on the move. Each bus is equipped with air-chill technology that maintains a comfortable interior temperature whatever the season.
The new buses are the latest instalment in a £11 million investment in 55 brand new vehicles this year. The company’s managing director, Philip Norwell, said: “This is exciting news for our customers and for people thinking of choosing to use the bus. The Wave maintains important links between coastal towns and with these new buses we hope to tempt even more people to try the service.”
Stagecoach says that the Wave routes carried 2.7 million passengers in the year up to April 2016, saving vast numbers of car journeys.
Mr Norwell added “We know that providing a quality bus service doesn’t just mean comfortable seats. People want to use their travel time to catch-up and stay connected. Our free WiFi and USB charging will allow them to do this, contributing to our customers’ overall journey experience whilst reducing our impact on the environment.”
The British built Alexander Dennis buses have ‘Euro 6’ specification low-noise engines which represent the very latest in clean engine technology. Cummins, the engine manufacturer, have developed an after-treatment system which filters out particle emissions by 98% compared to the previous design standard.
For comfort the buses come with high-back faux-leather seats and tinted windows to reduce the build-up of heat inside. On the outside the buses sport a new and refreshed ‘Wave’ livery featuring a montage inspired by the seaside route. Stagecoach will be running a Twitter competition asking customers to guess how many starfish are featured in the design. The winner, who will be announced on Twitter on Monday 19 December, will receive a month’s free bus travel on Stagecoach buses in the south east worth £84.50. You can follow Stagecoach on Twitter @StagecoachSE
The new buses coincide with the company’s investment in digital technology which is transforming the journey experience for its customers.
This investment has included the introduction of real-time tracking technology on all Stagecoach buses and the launch of mobile tickets earlier in November. Stagecoach also recently announced plans to deliver contactless payments on all of its vehicles in the south east by the end of 2017.
On Mondays to Saturdays Wave route 100, 101 and 102 buses run up to every 15 minutes between Dover and New Romney and every 30 minutes on to Hastings. On Sundays the routes operate every 30 minutes between Dover and New Romney and hourly on to Hastings.