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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Ameila McCracken always had an entrepreneurial way of thinking.
“A lot of kids grow up and think, 'Oh, I have to get this eight to five job…' They think that that's the only path, but really entrepreneurship is a viable option for a career," McCracken said.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree for the family of Aggies.
“My dad was class of ‘83,” she said. “I graduated in 2010.”
Every woman in her family, and her father, owned their own businesses, a dynamic not every child is familiar with.
“It was really unique growing up in that,” she said. “I just knew that I was going to have my own business and I've had quite a few.”
She’s worked for herself doing weddings and she’s owned her own photography business.
“I'd have to miss my friends' weddings, or like funerals and stuff that would pop up that I couldn't go to and I was like I'm too young for this,” she said. “I wanted my weekends back.”
That’s when she started MENT, a marketing agency supporting both local businesses and those across the country.
“I knew I wanted to do marketing, but I also love mentorship,” she said. “I wanted to combine both of those.”
She now takes Texas A&M students under her wing, allowing them to gain the necessary experience they need before graduating.
“It's a whole extended family that you become a part of when you're an Aggie,” she said.
If you’re interested in her company or interested in becoming a mentee, you can find her via social media.


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GMC has updated its Acadia large SUV for 2020, but Holden sources tell Wheels that Australia is likely to miss out on the updates – at least those related to the exterior styling.
This is because many of the mechanical and interior changes are already fitted to the Holden-badged Acadia, which went on sale in late-2018.
Despite being a relatively new arrival to Holden’s Australian line-up, the US-sourced SUV is actually three years old, with this mid-life refresh for the US model updating exterior styling, and introducing a new 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.
Australian Acadia owners needn’t worry that they are missing out, with Holden’s seven-seater already fitted with the nine-speed gearbox, larger 8.0-inch infotainment screen, and digital instrument cluster that is now part of the update offered in North America.
Wheels understands that it is unlikely that the updated styling or turbocharged four-pot engine will make it to Australia. However, we are informed that Holden will be included in the discussions for future updates.
The new 173kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine fitted to the GMC Acadia is a retuned version of what is seen locally in the Equinox and Commodore.
Australian Acadias are sold exclusively with a 231kW/367Nm 3.6-litre naturally-aspirated petrol V6. Holden insiders told Wheels at the Acadia launch last year that the company didn’t have the budget to take both the V6 and a four-cylinder variant.
Cars fitted with V6 engines have typically sold well in this segment, with the Toyota Kluger moving over 14,000 units last year, making it the second-most popular vehicle in the class behind its sibling the Toyota Prado, which is fitted with a turbo-diesel four-cylinder.
The Acadia recorded 272 registrations in January, down significantly on key rivals the Mazda CX-9 (534) and Kluger (945).
Holden has high expectations for the Amercian-built SUV, which it hoped would help lift the dwindling sales spiral the company is currently experiencing.
Since going on sale late last year, only 897 examples of the seven-seat Holden have been registered, less than the number of Klugers sold by Toyota in a typical month.
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MICHIGAN (Bloomberg) -- Audi AG, the luxury brand of Volkswagen AG, sold more than 100,000 cars and sport-utility vehicles in the U.S. last year for the first time, the company said.
The gains are part of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler's goal of passing German rivals BMW AG and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz to become the world's No. 1 luxury-car maker by 2015.
Audi, helped by sales of the Q5 SUV, sold 101,629 vehicles in the U.S. last year, a 23 percent gain over 2009, Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America Inc., said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. December sales rose about 17 percent to 10,546, he added.
“We came in with a nice finish for what has been an outstandingly successful year for Audi,” he said.
The brand has been able to improve pricing and resale values while decreasing incentive spending, he added.


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A Boston grower claims to be the first in the UK to have perfected a full face of Frankenstein’s monster on a pumpkin - better known as Pumpkinsteins.
Bell’s Nurseries, of Benington, unveiled the Halloween creation at a pumpkin weigh-off competition on Sunday.
The firm has spent three years developing the pumpkin, which was inspired by a grower in the USA where they sell for $150 each.
Skull versions of the face are currently for sale at the nursery.
Charlotte Aiken, from the nursery, said: “It has taken three years to get our commercial development of the Pumpkinstein to this point and it is amazing that we have achieved a full faced Pumpkinstein in this time.
“It was a real showstopper at our giant pumpkin weigh-off at the weekend and will be on show in our outlet for pick your own pumpkins throughout the weekends of October so come and take a look.”
Retail manager at Bell’s Outlet, Lisa Sulluvan is pictured with the full-face Pumpkinstein.
See this week’s paper, and keep an eye out online for pictures from the nursery’s weigh-off event at the weekend.


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Newly published cyber security report identifies key research priorities
Newly published cyber security report identifies key research priorities for safeguarding the Internet of tomorrow.
Outcome of CSIT's Belfast 2011 Cyber Summit represents a global collective strategy for world's leading research institutes
Developing self-learning, self aware cyber security technologies, protecting smart utility grids and enhancing the security of mobile networks are among the top research priorities needed to safeguard the internet of tomorrow, according to a report released today.
Published by the UK's National Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), the report represents the outcome of discussions held during the inaugural World Cyber Security Technology Research Summit hosted by CSIT earlier this year.
The Belfast 2011 event attracted international cyber security experts from leading research institutes, government bodies and industry who gathered to discuss current cyber security threats, predict future threats and the necessary mitigation techniques, and to develop a collective strategy for next generation research.
The collective research strategy contained in the report identifies four research themes critical to the ongoing creation of cyber security defences:
- Adaptive cyber security technologies - research objectives in this area will include the development of self-learning cyber security technologies; self-awareness in cyber systems; the establishment of feedback in cyber systems to learn from cyber attacks.
- Protection of smart utility grids - research aims in this field will comprise: smart grid requirements gathering methodology; protection technologies for smart grid components; secure technologies for smart grid communications; smart grid and home area network integration that provides privacy and security of collected information; development of smart grid standards.
- Security of the mobile platform and applications - research in this space will target not only malicious applications but also mobile cyber security problems introduced by the configuration and use of mobile networks, including network availability, mobile web browsers and caller authentication.
- Multi-faceted approach to cyber security research - research will take into account social behavioural norms and societal desires in cyber space, cyber space policies, the impact of cyber and other legislation and the economics of cyber space and cyber security.
"Our ambition is that this strategy will help to inform global cyber security research and act as a driver for cyber security roadmap definition over the coming year. We will hold future summits at which changes in cyber security will be discussed and the proposed collective research strategies will be reviewed and developed."
More information: Copies of the World Cyber Security Technology Research Summit Report Belfast 2011 - are available from www.csit.qub.ac.uk
Provided by Queen's University Belfast


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Screen time is a hot topic for many people, whether it’s doctors, educators, or parents. While options for helping reduce screen time continue to increase, so does the concern parents have regarding their children screen use. Vision Monday recently shared survey results detailing what concerns parents most about screen time use, specifically for their teens.
As we’ve talked about before, digital screens have become of necessary part of life. In fact, it has been reported that 95% of teens in the US now have or have access to a smartphone, and 45% of teens admit that they’re online “almost constantly.” These screen time habits are a cause of concern among parents, with 65% admitting they worry their teen spends too much time in front of screens. Six out of 10 parents worry their teen may lose the ability to communicate in-person.
Think about that. Over half of the parents who responded are scared their teen may not communicate effectively because of their device use. With the proven impact increased screen time has on social and mental development, parents have every right to be concerned.
Concern Calls for Action
Parents have devised several ways to deal with the technology increase. Fifty-eight percent of parents admit to checking their teen’s web history, recent calls, and text messages, and 57% set screen time limits and use digital isolation (take away devices/internet) as punishment. Setting times for family interaction sans devices is also a great way to help moderate screen time (no devices during dinner, movie night, game night, etc.).
Beyond social impact, screen time can have physical implications, too, like tired eyes, headaches, and eye strain. For this, nutrition can play an important role, and EyePromise Screen Shield Teen has the nutrients necessary to protect young eyes from the harmful effects of screen time. Screen Shield Teen provides protective ingredients like all-natural zeaxanthin in a simple, one-a-day, fruit punch-flavored chewable tablet. Compatible with a multi-vitamin, this eye health nutraceutical is an easy addition to any child’s daily routine.
Learn more about EyePromise Screen Shield Teen.


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REPORT: iPhone X+ Coming In September, Alleged Pictures Leaked
According to Forbes, the next iteration the iPhone, the iPhone X Plus, will be arriving this September.
The iPhone X itself received a lot flak right out the gate, leading Apple to this past February. Apple is surely hoping that the new versions the phone will help to bring it out purgatory with improved specs and new hardware.
Also in the pipeline is the iPhone X Plus, which Forbes believes — apparently contrary to many other sources — will feature a 6.2-inch OLED display, much larger than the iPhone X’s current 5.8-inch display (the usable space which is actually smaller than the iPhone 8+’s 5.5-inch display). That phone is expected to arrive in September, and will be a direct competitor against Samsung’s Galaxy S9+.
Research firm Atherton Research has created renders what the phone could potentially look like.
For more details, head over to .


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PUBG: New State is coming to iOS and Android, puts a futuristic and dystopian spin on the franchise
The developer behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for PC and console versions of the game has announced PUBG: New State for iOS and Android, as had been rumored. The new take on the franchise will build on all the original features of the game, including the original premise of having 100 players simultaneously take each other on individually or in teams in a battle royale with the winner taking the spoils. The twist is that it is set in the future on a new map called Troi.
According to the limited information presently at hand, the game will take place in 2051 which means more futuristic weapons and other machinery. A trailer for the game is embedded below so you can check out all the live gameplay action that includes drones and deployable combat shields. Naturally, the new weaponry and other technology means gamers will need to adapt their gameplay and tactics if they are going to have a chance to come out on top.
The game promises ‘ultra-realistic graphics that push the limits of mobile gaming’, which seems an accurate description based on the early sneak peak. The open world is a massive 8 km by 8 km which of course narrows as time elapses thanks to the ever shrinking Blue Zone. Gamers will also be able to customize their weapons during the progression of each game in a new approach that sounds similar to Apex Legends. The game also features more futuristic vehicles to help players get around the map and, of course, drive over unsuspecting victims.
PUBG: New State will land on iOS and Android later this year with pre-registration already open for Android and will be coming soon for iOS.


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San Jose, CA, June 03, 2012 --(PR.com
)-- Jawoco has today released Xtravo 6.3, which is a major release. Xtravo is officially going to be shipping on other websites and vendors, in the following days.
Xtravo's new version offers new user experience plus a facelift to it's user interface. Xtravo 6.3 UI has been voted as the "World's Most Simple UI," according to Jawoco's recent survey conducted on May 1st 2012. UI consist of simple web browser controls, as seen on other web browsers but more light on the eyes.
Besides the facelift to UI, Xtravo has introduced many new features, upgrades, new rendering engine and a lot of improvements. According to Jawoco, it has reduced 70% of bugs and improved under the hood 4 times more than earlier versions.
The new rendering engine is supported by Trident engine 6.0, which supports modern web standards like HTML5, CSS3, SVG, ES5 and more. It will automatically shift to compatibility mode according to the website, if it is supporting old web standards.
Where more new features are included, one of the most anticipated feature is the "Acid Address Bar" which lets users directly land on the right website if a search query is entered. Feature list includes new menu control, auto-update feature, Cococ engine 3 for web apps and much more.
Xtravo will actively update itself seamlessly from today onwards when new upgrades available, according to Jawoco. Following versions will be including more new features and under the hood improvement.


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- China attacks lead Apple to alert users on iCloud threats
- Symantec sees rise in high-traffic DDoS attacks
- Industry can head off IoT privacy rules, former US official says
- Microsoft discloses zero-day flaw, publishes quick fix
- This key drive actually unlocks something: Authentication via USB comes to Chrome
Graphics boards - News, Features, and Slideshows
Games with better special effects and more life-like images are coming to laptops with Nvidia's latest flagship GeForce GTX 980M and 970M graphics processing units.
Nvidia is bringing brighter images and sharper special effects to its new flagship GeForce GTX 980 and 970 graphics processing units.
Nvidia has sued Samsung and Qualcomm for allegedly infringing seven of its patents related to GPUs, and is trying to block the sale of some Samsung products in the U.S.
Advanced Micro Devices has stepped up its supercomputer battle with Nvidia, claiming the graphics performance crown with its fastest server GPU offering yet, the FirePro S9150.
Breaking from the cocoon of the iPhone 5S, 64-bit ARM processors will start delivering breakthrough performance in servers, aided by graphics cards used in some of the world's fastest computers.


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They can live up to 3,000 years. Their wood: Valuable. Chile proposed to fell thousands of false larches but gave way to objections from several Latin American countries at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species. CITES' policy: Only fallen trees can be exported. Chile claims that there are 750,000 acres of false larches, but a Chilean environmental organization says that isn't so and the trees could not survive full commercial exploitation. Chile plans to try again at the CITES meeting in 1987.
Copyright © 2019, Orlando Sentinel


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Citrix opts out of the cloud server business
Citrix has sold its CloudPlatform and CloudPortal Business Manager product offerings to Accelerite on January 11, 2016.
According to Steve Wilson, VP and GM, converged infrastructure at Citrix, “We at Citrix are extremely confident that Accelerite will help nurture our customers, who are heavily invested in running their public, commercial clouds on these solutions, and will allow Citrix to focus on our core priorities around the secure delivery of apps and data.”
Citrix’s CloudPlatform technology is structured on the Apache CloudStack open source project, which the company had assisted in starting. The CloudStack code was contributed by Citrix to the Apache Software Foundation in April 2012. Citrix acquired the technology by acquiring cloud.com in July 2011. The company was a big supporter of its Project Olympus effort at the start; however, it retraced its steps in 2012 for CloudStack.
However, though Citrix may have sold off its CloudPlatform assets, it isn’t exiting the cloud altogether. The company’s aim is towards supporting an array of technologies to enable customers to select public, private or hybrid cloud technologies.


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Microsoft's introduction of Windows 8, a radical rethinking of the world's dominant computer operating system, may not be a do-or-die play. But it's still a roll of the dice that will dramatically affect the company's future leadership in the information technology industry. The outcome may well hinge on the reception of Windows 8 from its crucial business customers, and the early returns are encouraging.
Small business have already endorsed the new OS and are ready to roll out the welcome mat, a new study shows.
A third of U.S. small businesses are considering upgrading to Windows 8, according to a survey of 175 of small businesses conducted by the research division of iYogi, a provider of tech support services. That includes nearly a third (27 percent) of the small businesses that are using Windows 8's immediate predecessor, Windows 7. Currently, 67 percent of all small businesses use Windows 7.
"Small businesses may be the key to Microsoft’s winning strategy with Windows 8, as their size allows for agility and experimentation, unlike larger enterprises," said Vishal Dhar, iYogi co-founder and president of marketing. "The need is for speed, seamless integration and connectivity on the go, as small businesses are often mobile, multi-location and dependent on multiple, interconnected devices. Windows 8 promises to offer all that to users and much more."
The survey has good news not only for Microsoft's Windows team, but also for the folks at the software giant's Office franchise. The iYogi study found that 28 percent of small businesses considering an upgrade to Windows 8 were also considering upgrading to MS Office 2013 as well.
One of the key virtues of the new OS in its many permutations is that it provides a uniform user experience across the device spectrum, from smartphones and tablets to laptops and desktops. This should help Microsoft take advantage of the growing move to mobile in the business world.
Already, more than half (56 percent) of small businesses have made tablets an integral tool at the office, the study found. New Windows 8 tablets are likely to be a major beneficiary of the trend. And it will come at the expense of Apple's iPad and the Android tablet ecosystem.
More than a third (38 percent) of small businesses currently using iPads are considering migrating to Windows 8 tablets, while nearly half (45 percent) of Android-based tablet users are considering making the switch, the survey found.
And of those who have yet to test the tablet waters, 29 percent are considering only Windows 8 tablets, the survey found.


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Musk reveals Apple has halted most of its advertising on Twitter and is allegedly threatening to pull the platform from its app store
Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk has appealed directly to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, after he publicly aired his frustration with the iPhone maker.
On Tuesday Musk in a series of tweets said “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?”
He then accused the company of threatening to remove the platform from its app store but did not say why Apple had allegedly made such a threat.
Apple bust up?
It should be remembered that it is not Apple pulling their advertising spend with the platform.
Elon Musk has previously revealed that Twitter has seen a “massive” drop in revenue, which he blamed on activists putting pressure on advertisers.
Musk directly asked Apple’s Tim Cook “What’s going on here.”
Meanwhile Brian Tyler Cohen, a progressive political host known for curating political content online, had a pithy response to Elon Musk.
Now I know who needs to hear this. pic.twitter.com/FnVZwHfDZl
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) November 28, 2022
Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter according to the Washington Post, spending $48m on ads on Twitter in the first quarter of 2022.
It is clear that Apple’s alleged threat to pull Twitter from its App store has worried Musk, who is seeking to turn the social media app into an “everything” app that includes encrypted direct messaging and payments.
Critics meanwhile will suggest that Musk examine his actions since taking control of the platform a month ago.
Many brands halted advertising on the platform after Musk dissolved Twitter’s board of directors, fired senior management at the firm, coupled with a mass exodus of leading executives from the platform.
Musk’s championing of “free speech” and reinstating the accounts of Donald Trump, US rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), and British-American former kickboxer Andrew Tate, who were both banned for breaking hate speech rules, will have also been noted by advertisers.
Twitter it should be remembered is legally obliged to remove illegal hate speech under laws in jurisdictions including the UK and the EU, and Musk has previously told EU regulators he would abide by those rules.
But Musk axed roughly half of the company’s global workforce, with hundreds more staff are understood to have resigned after he asked the remaining workers to sign up to a “hardcore” work ethic.
Musk then also gutted Twitter’s external contractor teams, whose role was to ensure the platform was free of misinformation and hate, with at least 4,400 of Twitter’s 5,500 contract workers in the US and abroad reportedly let go, without warning or notification.
Despite axing nearly all the content moderation teams, Musk at the weekend claimed that hate speech impressions and reported impersonations have fallen.
Removing checks and balances will have worried advertisers, who don’t want to risk their brands appearing alongside questionable content.
Musk concluded yesterday’s Apple bashing, and he threatened to go public with “the Twitter files on free speech suppression.”
The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022


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Modern life is one big photo shoot. The glassy eyes of closed-circuit TV cameras watch over streets and stores, while smartphone owners continually surveil themselves and others. Tech companies like Google and Amazon have convinced people to invite ever-watching lenses into their homes via smart speakers and internet-connected security cameras.
Now a new breed of chips tuned for artificial intelligence is arriving to help cameras around stores, sidewalks, and homes make sense of what they see. Even relatively cheap devices will be able to know your name, what you’re holding, or that you’ve been loitering for exactly 17.5 minutes. It’s the latest development in the tech industry’s campaign to build out the internet of things, a slogan for linking everyday devices to the internet so they are interactive and gather data.
Smart cameras with built-in AI capabilities can offer new conveniences, like a phone notification that a child just arrived home safely, or that the dog walker really did walk the dog. They will also bring new risks to privacy in public and private spaces. Companies are exploring how smart cameras can be used to gather marketing data, or assist law enforcement, for example.
A slim wand with twin lenses like bulbous eyes unveiled last week by mobile-chip company Qualcomm heralds this new era. The company built the six-inch-long, half-inch-thick gadget to demonstrate how a new chip can help security cameras and other devices better analyze images. Products based on the chip are expected to hit the market before the end of the year. Qualcomm already ships 1 million chips a day for use in internet of things devices, including products from Google’s Nest.
In demos, Qualcomm’s camera performed tricks like recognizing individuals from their faces, and detecting and tracking a package held in a person’s hands. Thanks to the new chip, the device could do this independently, without tapping a server in the cloud for analysis. Qualcomm and others working on similar hardware argue this will help AI-enhanced cameras sprout in more places, because they won’t need to rely on a home’s or business’s bandwidth, and can react more quickly.
Democratizing automated surveillance could also bring downsides.
One Qualcomm partner, Pilot.ai, offers software that can log how long people of different sexes and ages linger in various parts of a store. The startup says it won’t let the software identify individual shoppers, but others are willing to offer that feature. Chinese startup Horizon Robotics has developed its own smart camera chip that it says can be used to detect when a particular shopper walks in the door.
Marshini Chetty, a research scholar at Princeton, says such uses could breach people’s expectations around cameras in public spaces. “Today people understand that this video is not used unless something goes wrong,” she says. “They’re not expecting their data to be used for advertising or to track people as they go about their day.”
Horizon launched a camera based on its technology at a security expo in Las Vegas last week. The company’s chip, like Qualcomm’s, is customized to run the neural network software that powers recent improvements in image recognition. Horizon says that one of its cameras can be loaded with up to 50,000 different faces, and recognize any one almost instantly, with 99.7 percent accuracy.
Founder and CEO Kai Yu says he is working with government agencies, shopping malls, and stores in China that want to find find the faces of suspects, or VIP shoppers when they enter a store.1 The company raised $100 million last fall from Intel and others, and has plans to open a US office.
Further help for companies interested in ideas like those comes from chip designer ARM. In February the company, which licenses designs to Qualcomm, Samsung, Apple, and others, announced a new design to help devices like security cameras and drones detect people and objects.
Security applications are expected to be a big market for smart cameras. Chinese facial recognition company SenseTime, reckoned by Bloomberg to be the world’s most valuable AI startup at more than $3 billion, has adapted its software to run on Qualcomm’s new chips. Chinese government agencies have been enthusiastic adopters of facial recognition. Earlier this month, police plucked a suspect from the crowd at a pop concert in southeastern China after a facial-recognition system identified him among the 60,000 fans.
Smart cameras can do more than find suspects. Qualcomm executive Seshu Madhavapeddy says customers are talking with the company about using its vision chips in cleaning robots, and smart speakers, for example. Three models in Amazon’s Echo line of home devices, the Show, the Look, and the Spot, already have cameras. Chips like Qualcomm’s could give those devices new capabilities, for example customizing what they say or do to people nearby. A Google patent from 2016 described how cameras in a home could use visual clues like books and musical instruments to learn about a person’s interests, and suggest content they might like. Google declined to comment.
Companies working on smart cameras say they are developing and designing the technology responsibly. Qualcomm says its chip is engineered to secure data stored or transmitted by a device. Yu of Horizon notes that by processing images locally, his cameras offer privacy benefits over more conventional models that send everything to the cloud. Google promotes that as a key feature of its Clips camera launched last year, which contains an image-processing chip designed by the search company.
Many functions envisioned for smart cameras depend on transmitting information they’ve detected, such as faces they’ve identified. Chetty of Princeton worries that smart-home enthusiasts may give up data on themselves, their children, or even passers-by that they didn’t intend to share. Interviews with people who use smart speakers and other smart-home devices show they tend to blindly trust their gadgets won’t betray them, and pay little mind to privacy settings or disclosures, she says.
As Facebook’s recent scandal about misuse of data from a seemingly innocuous quiz app shows, once a person sets their data free, it can be used in unforeseen ways. “People are really bad at seeing connections between things in the moment,” says Chetty. “We’re short term thinkers.”
1 CORRECTION, April 17, 3:55PM: Kai Yu is the founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics. An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified him as Yu Kai.


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Far from being on the way out, mainframes − or the ‘big iron’ as they are affectionately known – are reputed to run 30 billion transactions per day, hold 80% of the world’s business data and handle 90% of all credit card transactions. So, if you performed an online transaction today, it is likely a mainframe made that possible.
The new normal brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has unquestionably accelerated the massive shift to digital, with a boom in virtual interactions and software aimed at minimising physical contact.
Conference calls reign supreme, businesses are hosting virtual events, and consumers have shifted their shopping habits to online for just about everything. All is being driven by the need to diminish or completely remove physical contact, which in turn reduces the risk of infection and spread of the virus. Touchless is now the preferred form of purchasing nearly everything. This trend is the new normal across industries and is also driving demand for the mainframe.
Because mainframe systems become increasingly costly and cumbersome to maintain over time, some firms implement mainframe modernisation initiatives to reduce IT expenses and improve operational efficiencies.
Another reason companies are exploring mainframe modernisation is that developers and administrators with the requisite skills and experience to implement and maintain them are a disappearing breed.
Mainframe operating systems are operated in languages that are difficult to support, and many mainframe specialists are approaching retirement. There is also the risk that a mainframe vendor will discontinue support for certain systems.
One of the greatest drivers of mainframe modernisation is the demand for adopting new technologies, such as cloud computing, big data analytics and connected devices. Forward-thinking firms want to leverage today's most advanced analytics platforms, as well as affordable, scalable cloud services, making modernising their legacy systems essential.
As organisations look to modernise their analytics environments to enable digital transformation, they are embracing a DataOps approach.
Deloitte reports that organisations across all industries are struggling to modernise core systems to support current business demands, while at the same time delivering against a digital strategy roadmap.
It goes on to add that mainframe applications often pose special challenges that can relegate modernisation to the ‘not yet, we’ll do it later’ category; whereas Gartner notes that analytics is key to mainframe modernisation.
Although the mainframe is best utilised for the handling of high-volume transactions with speed and security, using analytics to gain insights from the data being processed can become costly and time-intensive.
If companies are truly invested in unlocking the value of mainframe data, saving time and reducing costs, they must utilise a data integration (DI) platform that can accelerate data analytics, automate the creation of analytics-ready data structures with continuous data delivery, and minimise the impact and cost of replication from key production systems.
As organisations look to modernise their analytics environments to enable digital transformation, they are embracing a DataOps approach, which requires IT and business alignment, along with a modern data strategy and architecture.
DI can efficiently deliver large volumes of real-time, analytics-ready data into streaming and cloud platforms, data warehouses and data lakes. In a hyper-competitive business climate where real-time insights and decisions are critical, the need for agile analytics is driving new data architecture and integration requirements.
Unlike traditional batch movement and ETL scripting approaches which are slow, inflexible and labour- intensive, DI can automate the creation of data streams from core transactional systems, efficiently move it to the cloud and data lakes, and refine it to make it immediately available via an Amazon-like marketplace experience. By quickly delivering data to users without typical business friction, DI enables the agility necessary to drive greater business value.
For many organisations, the mainframe is mission-critical, containing massive amounts of valuable core business data. However, there are challenges in accessing data locked inside mainframes and making it accessible in secure and governed ways.
There are various ways to address this problem, including continuous replication to offload processing. This is where data is replicated continuously and automatically. This cuts the need to move data in periodic batches, keeping it co-ordinated and supplying real-time access to the data in other platforms.
You can also reduce the millions of instructions per second (MIPS) overhead. Log-based queries as opposed to repeated brute-force queries into the data can deliver minimal impact on capturing changes which do not incur the hefty MIPS price tag that results from direct querying.
The next thing needed is to ensure direct endpoints (connectors) to all the major cloud platforms are supported and that each endpoint is optimised for the cloud environment that it supports.
DI can save data engineers’ valuable time by enabling them to automate the availability of accurate, trusted data sets and transform it to analytics-ready data for the business, automating the entire data warehouse lifecycle and the creation of managed data lakes without coding.
It is also vital to have mainframe real-time data streaming − without it, a significant amount of manual tuning and optimisation is required to support the broad, deep and fast analysis demanded by enterprises today, taking away precious time from other essential business tasks.
In my next article, I will outline issues to consider in the drive to modernise the mainframe.


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TOKYO-- Sony Corp. today announced that it has sold its Sony City Osaki office building and premises to Nippon Building Fund Inc. and a Japanese institutional investor. The sale was structured such that Sony placed the office building and premises in a trust and then sold the trust beneficiary rights. Sony and other Sony Group businesses will remain in the building for a period of five years after the sale under a lease agreement entered into separately.
The sale price is 111.1 billion yen (US $1.21 billion in today’s exhange rates). After deducting expenses related to transaction costs, Sony received net cash proceeds today of 110 billion yen (US $1.198 billion). As a result of the sale, Sony expects to realize a gain on the sale of approximately 41 billion yen (US $446.5 million), to be recorded as operating income, in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.
As stated on Feb. 7, 2013 in the announcement of Sony’s forecast for consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, Sony has identified certain assets for possible sale as part of an initiative to transform its business portfolio and reorganize its assets. This sale was conducted as a part of that initiative. While this sale was aniticipated and the potential gain on the sale was taken into account at the time of the forecast, Sony is currently reevaluating the aggregate impact of this sale and other factors on the forecast.
The sale was conducted as a part of a corporate reorganization.
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Frasers Group snaps up luxury clothing website Matches Fashion for £5 …
Frasers Group has snapped up luxury clothing website Matches Fashion for £52million.
The company, which is controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, will buy Matches from private equity firm Apax Partners, its owner since 2017.
It marks a further expansion of Ashley’s empire, with Frasers owning retailers including Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Flannels as well as Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes and bike shop Evans Cycles.
The move into luxury is part of the ‘elevation’ strategy under chief executive Michael Murray (pictured), who is married to Ashley’s daughter Anna.
Murray said: ‘This will strengthen Frasers’ luxury offering, accelerating our mission to provide consumers with access to the world’s best brands.’
Matches, which sells designer brands such as Gucci and Valentino, suffered a £33.5million loss last year.
Its chief executive Nick Beighton said: ‘Being part of Frasers, with their utter commitment to luxury, will give this business the financial stability it needs.’
Frasers Group snaps up luxury clothing website Matches Fashion for £52m


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Red meat consumption linked to invasive breast cancer riskOctober 8, 2019
Lo JJ, et al evidenced a potential risk of invasive breast cancer with increased consumption of red meat. The researchers examined the association between the consumption of different types of meat, meat mutagens and incident invasive breast cancer. 42,012 participants were involved in the study. Exposure to meat type and meat mutagens was calculated, and associations with invasive breast cancer risk were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. During follow-up (mean, 7.6 years), 1,536 invasive breast cancers were diagnosed at least 1 year after enrolment. Increasing consumption of red meat was associated with increased risk of invasive breast cancer (HR highest vs. lowest quartile:1.23, 95% CI: 1.02–1.48, p trend = 0.01). Conversely, increasing consumption of poultry was associated with decreased invasive breast cancer risk (HR highest vs. lowest quartile: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.72–1.00; p trend = 0.03). In a substitution model with combined red meat and poultry consumption held constant, substituting poultry for red meat was associated with decreased invasive breast cancer risk (HR highest vs. lowest quartile of poultry consumption: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.58–0.89). No associations were observed for cooking practices, estimated heterocyclic amines or heme iron from red meat consumption with breast cancer risk. The researchers suggest that substituting poultry for red meat could reduce breast cancer risk.
Source: International Journal of Cancer 06 August 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.32547


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IPhone Xs and Xs Max Price, Specifications and Release Date in Pakistan
- Author: Delia Davidson Sep 15, 2018,
Sep 15, 2018, 1:49
Apple's event comes with the global smartphone market largely saturated, without a major catalyst for sales ahead of a likely rollout of 5G, or fifth generation, wireless networks, expected in 2019.
But as the assembled reporters and analysts were starting to zone out, and as Apple's stock price slipped, the company unveiled what will prove to be its sleeper hit.
The XS Max has a significantly larger screen size than the iPhone 8 Plus, previously Apple's largest phone, despite the two devices being nearly exactly the same size.
"At 1,099 dollars it's the most expensive iPhone to date, but I have little doubt that it'll be a huge success".
Apple also claims it has improved the speaker system so if you fancy talking to your wrist like Dick Tracy that's going to become a lot easier.
The iPhone 6 Plus and 6S Plus, which were released in 2014 and 2015, respectively, topped out at $949. However this feature will be given after some time.
Due to its size, no older cases will fit the iPhone XS Max, meaning you'll need to buy a new one if you don't like walking around with your phone naked. But it didn't, due to the product's steep R18,000 price tag.
Apple just announced its new lineup of iPhones - the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.
Apple Watch Series 4 First Look: A Medical Wearable in Pretty Disguise
The range now starts with the iPhone 7 and is followed by the iPhone 8 and the new iPhone XS as well as iPhone XR models. After countless rumors, we've now seen the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max at the big Apple Event Wednesday in Cupertino.
But the XR is a wholly new model. The only potential hiccup to a record-breaking quarter is the fact that the iPhone XS won't launch until October. This time around, the iPhone XS will stay at the $999 mark while the iPhone XR will use cheaper materials and sell for about $750.
What's more, it comes in a rainbow's assortment of colours.
The photo shows the alleged iPhone 9 or iPhone Xc in real. Fortunately, except for an additional sensor, iPhone XR retains all of the software and hardware features like optical image stabilisation and 4K video recording at 24 fps, 30 fps or 60 fps.
The A12 Bionic chip has an 8-core design - allowing it to run more advanced machine learning.
The biggest aesthetic shakeup is that the iPhone XR will arrive in no less than six new technicolour finishes, including blue, yellow and red. The device kills the 3D touch feature but added some haptic feedback, so the screen vibrates a bit in response to touch. At $750 in the United States (around R11,000 - but the official South African price has not yet been released), the XR isn't exactly cheap.
Like the regular Retina display found in other iPhones, the Liquid Retina Display relies on a higher level of pixels-per-inch to create a paper-like screen effect where pixels are not visible to the naked eye.
Apple with the launch of its latest line-up of iPhones has taken a step further into the future, in means of how upcoming phones would be.
To be sure, the XR doesn't have all of the bells and whistles in the XS.


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Dear EarthTalk: We must really be swimming in electronic waste, what with all the iPhones and other devices that are so common. How is this all being dealt with? -- Mary Shufelt, New Bern, NC
With electronic equipment and gadgets the fastest growing waste stream in many countries, how to deal with so-called “e-waste” may in fact be one of the most pressing environmental problems of the 21st century. According to BCC Research, consumers around the world purchased 238.5 million TVs, 444.4 million computers and tablets and a whopping 1.75 billion mobile phones in 2012 alone. Most of us discard such items within three years of purchase, and this is driving the global growth in e-waste by some eight percent a year. Meanwhile, a recent study conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on behalf of the United Nations found that the growth in demand for and manufacturing of new electronics will result in a 33 percent increase in e-waste globally between 2012 and 2017.
But why is e-waste any more of a problem than old fashioned garbage? “Some of the materials in personal electronics, such as lead, mercury and cadmium, are hazardous and can release dangerous toxins into our air and water when burned or deposited in landfills improperly,” reports the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “And throwing away metal components, like the copper, gold, silver and palladium in cell phones and other electronics, leads to needless mining for new metals.”
Today some 80 percent of unwanted electronics are disposed of improperly. “E-waste is either discarded or exported to emerging nations, where open-air burning and acid baths are used to reclaim precious metals and other elements,” reports Maureen O’Donnell in EHS Journal. The lack of proper controls in such countries, she says, has led to elevated lead levels in children and heavy metals pollution of soil and water. As a result, she adds, “we now stand at the forefront of a growing environmental catastrophe.”
The good news is that many nations have enacted new laws to hold manufacturers responsible for the future e-waste created by their products. The European Union has led the way with its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which calls on electronics makers to “take back” their products for recycling when consumers upgrade to something new, and restricts European countries from exporting or importing e-waste. Japan and China are among other countries that have passed similar laws.
The U.S. government has yet to follow suit, but the Electronics Takeback Coalition (ETC) reports that 21 U.S. states have implemented their own “take back” laws, and several other states are considering similar legislation. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to pressure Congress to consider similar legislation at the national level, given especially that Americans’ are the world leaders in generating e-waste.
Additionally, many manufacturers are adopting voluntary e-waste recycling certification standards. One is the e-Stewards program, which helps those looking to dispose of obsolete electronics identify recycling options that adhere to high standards of environmental responsibility and worker protection. Another program, R2 Certification, run by the non-profit SERI, is supported by several large manufacturers, including DirecTV and Microsoft. Consumers can do their parts by choosing manufacturers that embrace so-called “producer pays” electronics recycling through participation in one of these programs.
EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: email@example.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
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The Oscars of the region, as far as ad campaigns go, are happening in Dubai this week.
As part of creative festival Dubai Lynx, a glam awards ‘do will take place on Wednesday, where the very brilliant campaigns from the last year get special recognition.
And with the awards just days away, here are just a snippet of the shortlisted campaigns, (see the full list here) that made you think, made you laugh and even possibly made you cry in the last year.
Shout out to the ad people
1. #StubSugar – the campaign that made you reconsider adding sugar to your coffee
With a focus on health, this is the brilliant campaign by Aster Clinics that transformed sugar packets to look like cigarette stubs. The packets were strategically located across coffee shops in Dubai to make people seriously consider the damaging effects sugar can have on health. Aster also offered people free diabetes checks and resulted in a 39% increase in check-ups. Amazing.
Sugar is the new #Tobacco. It’s time to cut down on both
— Aster Clinic (@AsterClinics) April 24, 2018
2. The Atlantis Fan Suite
Bypassing the million follower mark is a superb achievement for any brand, but Atlantis used the milestone to further promote the brand with a brilliant stunt.
Transforming a suite at Atlantis The Palm, into a millennial dream, (think Candy Crush in interactive mirrors, Palm Jumeirah views and the chance to ‘poke’ for room service) they offered mega-fans the chance to win a night stay in the room resulting in a worldwide news and PR and $3.2 million in earned media (from a campaign that cost Atlantis $200,000).
3. “We’re here for the losers”
Being there for the little guy.
McDonald’s targeted the fans of the losing teams of the FIFA world cup. Using their Facebook page, they posted over 100 pieces of content and in one month they hit at the emotional journey of football fans with quick, reactive content bringing eyeballs back to McDonald’s (a hard feat to achieve when McDonald’s isn’t a traditional world cup outlet as it doesn’t show matches).
Engaging fans with offers and promo codes, they saw +213% more engagement vs. category benchmark, an average increase of 77% in guest counts from June 2018 versus June 2014 leading to an 89% increase in sales versus the same period last year.
4. A social media black out from Mo Salah
When Egypt’s golden boy Mo Salah turns off his social media, people pay attention.
The footballer left 40 million people reeling when he posted a mysterious tweet ‘2019 resolution: Time to get in touch, for real’ on his feed before disappearing entirely from social media. But follow up posts have revealed it was the brainchild of DHL Express the global logistics firm and J. Walter Thomson who were sending the message of the importance of the ‘human network’.
The campaign was spotted worldwide, with an organic PR value listed at over $3.7million dollars, 90 million impressions, a reach of 31 million and $0.01 average cost per view (five times below the industry average).
5. One for the dogs
Dubai is a transient city and too often people leave and up sticks, leaving behind their cars, furniture and (this is the worst) their pets.
A brilliant campaign for K9 Friends by Saatchi & Saatchi wanted to raise awareness about people abandoning dogs in Dubai before leaving the country. They flooded the classified listings on Dubizzle with ‘second-hand-dog’ listings, highlighting the issue.
The campaign tackled the issues of pet abandonment and led to 24 dogs being adopted after being labeled as second-hand objects. Through further engagement, 219 dogs were adopted in the past year and earned $500k in earned media.
The next Dubai Lynx Festival is 10–12 March 2019 with the Dubai Lynx Awards on 13 March.
For more info, click here.


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Allstate Insurance Co. said Thomas V. Ealy will become president of its independent agency unit, Encompass Insurance, on Sept. 12.
Ealy will replace Cynthia Young, president since 2006, who has left the company.
Encompass, which sells home and auto policies through about 3,000 independent agents, writes about $1 billion in business, or less than five percent of Allstate’s total premiums sold by its 12,000 contract agents. The Encompass book of business has been shrinking in recent years.
Ealy joins Allstate from Willis Group Holdings, where he most recently served as national partner of the Midwest region for its North American retail operations. Earlier in his career at Willis he served as chief operating officer of its $750 million revenue North American division. Prior to Willis, he was with national broker USI.
Ealy will report to Donald J. Bailey, executive vice president for emerging businesses.
Young’s departure comes after the July exit of Joseph Lacher, president of Allstate Protection, its property/casualty subsidiary, who left the company after being in his job for only two years.
Allstate also announced in May it is spending $1 billion to boost its online sales by acquiring two popular online insurance sellers — Esurance and the associated site, Answer Financial.
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Ableworld bucks the trend as it outlines ambitious growth plans and three store openings for 2020
As many in the mobility retail trade consider the next best course of action following yesterday’s lockdown extension announcement, Ableworld has set its sights to the future and has confirmed plans to open more stores across the country by autumn 2020.
Undeterred by the impacts of the coronavirus on the sector, the UK’s largest mobility retailer has revealed that it will be boosting its network across the UK, with new operations on the South Coast, Manchester and London preparing to welcome customers.
The announcement comes whilst a wide proportion of the mobility retail sector have closed their showrooms in the wake of the lockdown measures introduced by the government in a bid to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
According to industry sources, up to 70 per cent of mobility retailers are predicted to have temporarily shut their doors.
Recently, Mike Williams, Managing Director of Ableworld, confirmed that the national mobility retailer received backing from the government to keep it showrooms open, emphasising its importance in supporting local communities and the NHS.
Alongside remaining operational, the company has been planning its future strategy.
Ableworld highlighted that a key element to its strategy will be the launch of “at least three new stores by autumn 2020.”
Aiming to bolster its presence on the South Coast, Ableworld will plan to open a new 3,000+ sq. ft outlet in Blackfield, located on ‘the other side of the water’ to Southampton on the edge of the New Forest and next to a Tesco Express.
The new store will be opened by the present business partner of Ableworld, JCS Southern Ltd, wholly owned by Jeff and Steven Newman.
Commenting that times may be more difficult at present, the pair underlined that they have built “very strong foundations” in the area and are ready to build on seven years of sustained growth by expanding their company.
Following the Blackfield site, Jeff and Steven will set their sights north of their present stores, including the Portsmouth and Fareham areas.
“We are really excited about our new store. We have a fantastic company with lots of strengths, including a strong and loyal team of staff,” commented Steven and Jeff.
“The Ableworld model we have worked with has been great for us and as the franchise world says, work with the model and put in a lot of hard work and you will have a successful business – this has certainly proved true for Ableworld Southampton.”
In addition to ambitions in the South, the company’s business partner in the North West, Barry Pearson, is also planning to increase his store portfolio in the region.
With five stores currently located in the region, just above Ableworld’s main base, Barry’s sixth store will be located in Hyde in North Manchester.
Situated on a retail park next to B&M and The Food Warehouse, owned by the Iceland Group, the showroom will also be over 3,000 sq. ft and will house Ableworld’s comprehensive product range.
Almost all work on both the Blackfield and Hyde sites have been completed, says Ableworld, and “will open as soon as sensibly possible in the summer/early autumn.”
“Hyde is already a very busy site with Iceland and B&M already there,” said MD Mike Williams.
“Once opened, it will work closely with the Ableworld Stockport store, working our way around the Manchester perimeter. We are looking more and more to be on retail parks, where we already have another two probable new sites in 2021.”
As well as the two new sites, Ableworld has also welcomed a new franchisee and is set to move into East London with a new store.
According to the company, the property is still going through the legal process but Ableworld says it is confident it will complete soon.
Expected to stand at approximately 2,500 sq. ft, the property is slightly smaller than what is usual for an Ableworld store, pointed out Mike: “We have had a few potential franchise partners who would like to open in the London area, but the difficulty we have had is finding the right property at the right price!
“The property, presently going through the final stages, will open in Essex, in July. It will be our first venture into this region but hopefully not our last; we have had a lot of interest in the London area but have always fallen down with the property investigation.
“So, although it will not be able to take the full ‘Ableworld range’, it will certainly have a much bigger range than any of the competition in the region.”
Focusing on the future, Mike emphasised that beyond the current coronavirus situation, he is confident in the growth prospects of the mobility retailer.
“It’s times like these which will make or break companies and we are seeing daily companies closing down for various reasons and we will, unfortunately, see more,” he concluded.
“However, Ableworld has a very strong brand and after the dust settles on the present pandemic, we see the company expanding and being an even stronger nationwide brand in the future.”https://thiis.co.uk/ableworld-bucks-the-trend-as-it-outlines-ambitious-growth-plans-and-three-store-openings-for-2020/https://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ableworlds-new-outlet-in-Blackfield.jpghttps://thiis.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Ableworlds-new-outlet-in-Blackfield-150x150.jpgNewsroomRetailer NewsTrade NewsAbleworld. mobility retailer,Blackfield,COVID-19,east London,Essex,Growth,Hyde,JCS Southern Ltd,lockdown,London,Manchester,Mike Williams,pandemic,store openingsAs many in the mobility retail trade consider the next best course of action following yesterday’s lockdown extension announcement, Ableworld has set its sights to the future and has confirmed plans to open more stores across the country by autumn 2020. Undeterred by the impacts of the coronavirus on the...Calvin BarnettCalvin email@example.com Magazine


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"Steve Jobs Dies, Apple Products Stop Working" Millions of Apple... more »
"Steve Jobs Dies, Apple Products Stop Working"
Millions of Apple products, including iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Mac computers, suddenly stopped working on Wednesday when Apple founder Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer late that night. Apple issued a statement saying that they are working 'round the clock to devise and implement a solution, though they said it is proving difficult to devise and implement anything very successfully without their genius leader.
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 -- October 5, 2011) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
On October 5, 2011, Jobs died in California at age 56, seven years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On his death he was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius—perhaps one of the foremost— in the field of business, innovation, and product design, and a man who had profoundly changed the face of the modern world, revolutionized at least six different industries, and who was an "exemplar for all chief executives". His death was widely mourned and considered a loss to the world by commentators across the globe.
~Wikipedia/Ernie « less


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In the challenging and changing retail landscape today, companies are finding new ways to minimize delivery costs, integrate customer shopping experiences, reward brand loyalty and capture market share to stay competitive.
In CBRE’s 2018 U.S. Retail Holiday Trends Guide, researchers identified four key trends that will impact the holiday shopping season. We dive into the trends and their implications below.
- Optimism and Omnichannel: According to the National Retail Federation, consumers will spend 4.1 percent more this holiday season than they did last year, for an average of $1,007 each. NRF anticipates that record-low unemployment levels and high consumer confidence will be reflected in shopping activity.
With swaths of customers ready to spend, companies are gearing up to meet their demands. The ominchannel approach continues to reign supreme as retailers look for ways to integrate the online and in-store experiences for shoppers. “Retailers should expect this holiday shopping season to be more interconnected than ever,” CBRE’s report said. After years of experimenting with new omnichannel strategies, companies are finally seeing the approach pay off: “Retailers are learning to leverage online channels to drive store sales and vice versa.”
One downside to this integration is the challenge retailers can face on the accounting side – nailing down exactly how a sale was made. For example, an item bought online can be shipped to a store, returned in a store and exchanged for a different item. How is that sale categorized? This distinction difficulty is passed along to landlords, who rely on sales information to gauge tenant “health” and set rents.
- Retail gets BOSSy: A theme in last year’s holiday forecasts was the BOPS strategy – buy-online/pickup-in-store. That model is still in heavy use, but retailers are also using a similar concept – BOSS, or buy-online/ship-to-store. “Craft retailer Michaels foresees its BOPS and BOSS programs accounting for almost half of its online sales this holiday season,” the report stated. As consumer demands for faster shipping increased retailer logistics costs, these BOPS and BOSS models allow for retailers to forego the high cost of delivery, while also offering more merchandise that they don’t need to keep stocked in-store. And getting customers in the door to pick up an order can lead to more impulse buys. “Kohl’s found that … the company generates 20% to 25% in additional in-store ‘attachment sales’ from its BOPS and BOSS programs,” CBRE added. The chain is adding an additional incentive for shoppers to use those programs this year by offering “Kohl’s Cash” rewards for in-store pickups.
- A New Approach to Loyalty: “Customers today have more shopping options than ever before, forcing retailers to increase their efforts to both gain and retain business,” the report said. To remain competitive, retailers are introducing or amping up their loyalty programs – and offering more than just discounts. VIP access and experiences are the perks du jour: from cooking classes with famous chefs to trips to fashion week to exclusive passes to the New York City Fourth of July fireworks show. CBRE predicts these “members clubs” will play an important role in meeting customers’ growing expectations for loyalty rewards.
- The Amazing Race for Toy Share: CBRE’s report specifically called out the toys category for being a “battleground for market share,” as retailers fight to step into the space left by Toys R Us following the company’s bankruptcy. That void means that there’s an estimated $1.3 billion in revenue up for grabs, and the segment is expected to see growth above the total retail sales average – nearly 4 percent. “The few national toy chains left to compete – large mixed-merchandise retail chains – are sensing an opportunity. Kohl’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Target and Walmart have all announced plans to expand their toy offering for the holidays in hopes of capturing toy spend,” the report stated. Online sales in the category have also grown, and are expected to increase 19 percent year-over-year, with 35 percent of total toy sales taking place online.


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Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, as well as the OHA, will and has already profoundly changed the wireless landscape in the US. We’re getting a glimpse of just how radical the change is going to be. Verizon has just announced that it will be opening up its CDMA network to allow any phone and any application to access Verizon’s airwaves in 2008. The announcement marks a radical change in policy from the stodgy CDMA carrier.
Verizon customers will be able to use any wireless device and any application on their network – products not sold by Verizon. The move echoes the OHA‘s “any app, any device” mantra that has garnered a healthy following and support. With Sprint and T-Mobile already on-board the OHA’s bandwagon, and AT&T considering the jump as well, it makes sense for Verizon to revise its stance on network lock-down and allow non-Verizon branded handsets onto its network.
According to the press release, “In early 2008, the company will publish the technical standards the development community will need to design products to interface with the Verizon Wireless network. Any device that meets the minimum technical standard will be activated on the network.”
Verizon is calling their locked-down network a “full-service” offering, whereby the carrier can control all aspects of the mobile experience and offer “full service” to all its customers – we’re going to read “full-service” as “controlled service.” The company claims that most people prefer the “full-service” experience, but will be accommodating the “small but growing number of customers who want another choice without full service.” Right. Only a small group want more choice at the expense of less control.
Still, come next year, fans of Verizon’s network should be seeing a whole new world of handsets and applications open up before them. Now, that doesn’t mean the iPhone is coming to Verizon – the iPhone is an AT&T exclusive that Verizon already missed out on. But, the door’s still open for Verizon pick up any future Apple wireless products. We’re eager to see how this shapes up.


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Golden girl of harp world inspires new collections from brand.
Welsh jewellery brand Clogau Gold has joined forces with Welsh harpist Claire Jones in a partnership that has helped drive a new SS12 collection.
Jones, known as the “golden girl of the hard world” is a former royal harpist to the Prince of Wales. She says she is delighted to be working with the brand as an ambassador.
“Clogau is a business firmly rooted in the culture of Wales and inspired by our landscape. It is also successfully growing a strong international reputation.”
The harpist and Clogau have teamed up to produce a new collection of jewellery called Heartstrings to be formally launched at The Jewellery Show next month, with harp and heart motifs.
She joins the ranks of Bryn Terfel and 737 Challenge pioneer Richard Parks who have also supported the brand in recent years.
Ben Roberts, managing director of Clogau said: “Clogau is proud to work with an artist so committed to the preservation of Welsh heritage, high standards of excellence and global expansion; values and vision that also make Clogau one of the most successful jewellery brands in the UK and overseas.”
The collaboration with Clogau has come at a suitable time for Jones, who will be getting married this year, making jewellery a large part of the next 12 months and a beyond.
Clogaur’s brand manager, Sonia Menezes feels that the partnership has legs to be a long-term project.
“We see this as a long-term partnership with Claire and it’s a two way thing. It’s one of our most exciting collaborations to date.
“We plan to work on a variety of projects with Claire. One of the first and most important will be to help Claire and Chris create some very special wedding rings, forged in Wales.”
Jones has already been photographed for the Heartstrings campaign alongside her Salvi harp during a recent shoot at Fonmon Castle in South Glamorgan.
The images will be used for a marketing campaign and film that will follow Jones’s life as an international musician.
In 2010, Jones released 3 albums. She has just returned from a short concert tour in Austria with internationally renowned flautist, Sir James Galway and is preparing to record some new albums this spring, and a concert tour of America later this year.


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Wandering for about an hour in order to dry your clothes off might be troublesome when you are in a rush and require something. But an Indian-American scientist has found a solution for this situation.
Viral Patel and his squad of scientists in Tennessee at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed a dryer that might make the process of laundry much faster.
Named as the ultrasonic dryer, it is anticipated to be up to 5 times more power efficient as compared to most of the traditional dryers and capable of drying a huge bunch of clothes in almost half the time.
“It is a totally fresh method. As an alternative to evaporation, it is theoretically conducting automatic extraction of the wetness present in the clothes,” Patel claimed to the media in a statement.
Patel claimed that conventional dryers normally utilize clear-cut technology. As air gets sucked in from the nearby environment, it moves via a gas burner or heater and into the drum where the fabric stumble around permitting the heat to soak up the humidity with the air departing the dryer.
On the other hand, the ultrasonic dryer utilizes piezoelectric transducers to get rid of moisture. When high frequency current is imposed on the transducers, they shake at a high frequency resulting the trapped water to depart the clothes with no heat.
Fundamentally, the dryer vibrates the water off the clothes, accelerating up the process.
Patel cited that GE Appliances is in the procedure of designing a deal with the scientists to move toward commercialization.
“We are making an effort to design the technology that has effectiveness more than or equal to the normal dryers but with an affordable cost, so it can be traded in the U.S. market. If you go to a Big Box store and you need a dryer, usually the first thing users seek is the cost and not the energy efficiency factor,” Patel added further.
“GE comes with the knowledge in that sector that we are not aware of,” he further added, claiming that it will take minimum 2 to 5 Years prior to the ultrasonic dryers to become available in the industry.


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By the beginning of 2015 the largest developers sell apartments in Prague for a few percentage points more than in the previous year. According to the ČTK survey among residential developers, the average selling price for new flat has increased by 250 000 Kc (czech crowns). They also predict the future price growth for the real estate in Prague.
The Central Group company’s representatives anonces that the average price of actually sold flat by them increased during the year for about 7%. However, this is a three times cheaper than the prices of new flats before the economic crisis in 2008.
A larger amount of capital for buying new flat have to arenge clients of the Skanska Reality as well. “Making the price of new flats, we take into account the market prices in a given area, so in comparison with the previous year, we can begin to set prices by an average of 3% – 5% higher,” said CEO Nadia Ptachkova. She believes that even with the best prognose for the reale state market, prices for the purchase of new flats in Prague will continue to grow in a similar pace.
Following the example of other developers, Ekospol has incresed flat prices, in about 3%. “Parcial impact on the rise of prices for new apartments has a VAT exemption on the land since the beginning of this year. Another factor is a greater interest to the small apartments among investors, “shared CEO of Ekospol, Evžen Koretz. In addition, Mr. Koretz expects a similar price growth in the next year. “The increas in prices, first of all, has impact the demand growth for smaller apartments, as well as for apartments purchased for the investment purposes. Mortgages currently are at their lowest rate, the Czech economy is growing, which means that the conditions for the purchase of new apartments will be at least as good as in the previous year, “predicts Mr. Koretz.
Among the five biggest developers Trigema a Finep have not increased their prices yet. “According to out estimates, the prices of new flats in Prague during the year remained at the same level, or practically did not changed,” said chief financial officer of FINEP holding, Stepan Gavlas. We can assume that the Prague real estate market prices will gently increase in 2015, due to the rise in prices of construction work. According to CEO of Trigema Marcel Sourala , currently it is rather difficult to determine the prices of apartments for sale. “Looking at the average apartments there is a well known trend that the cheapest apartments is usually are sold faster. The average price per square meter is going to smaller immediately after the launch of a new project at the initial stage of the sales, than by the end of the project. Therefore it follows, that “the average price per square meter of an apartment throughout the year is unstable and depends on thу competition level, especially on the number of apartments in the project at the initial stage of construction”, pointed out by M. Soural.


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Although for many years they suffered from water shortage, when it comes to consumers paying their bills, Kolonja is a role model for the rest of the country.
The long-debilitated network has left much of the area in drought. But it seems that this has not affected the citizens' consciences, a fact confirmed by the Erseka Water Supply Office.
Institutional lawyer Tomi Pashko says that 96% of costumers have remained up to date in the payment of their bills, despite missing services and economic difficulties.
"Kolonja has problems with unemployment but the citizens of Kolonja have been as regular in paying for their water as ever," said Tomi Pashko.
Kolonja is known as one of the districts where the only income of residents remains medicinal plants and emigration. Meanwhile they remain role models in the community in regards to paying their obligations.


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Sean Portnoy covers HDTVs, Blu-ray, home theater equipment, and anything else that turns the living room into your media center.
Sean Portnoy started his tech writing career at ZDNet nearly a decade ago. He then spent several years as an editor at Computer Shopper magazine, most recently serving as online executive editor. He received a B.A. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Southern California.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
- 1 How does Vizio keep its TV prices so low? Lots and lots of outsourcing
- 2 Walmart preps price cuts on Vizio HDTVs starting this weekend
- 3 Verizon FiOS plans to eventually kill off set-top box with home media server
- 4 Sonos killer? Yamaha unleashes MusicCast2 multiroom audio system
- 5 CES 2012: Samsung's 55-inch Super OLED HDTV will debut in second half of 2012


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Bostik, Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of adhesives and sealants, introduces Hydroment® Vivid™, a rapid curing, premium grade, cement-based grout for the most demanding kitchen and bath projects.
Daltile, in partnership with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation, is excited to announce Kristina Tribell as the winner of the fifth annual Daltile Interior Design Scholarship.
The Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF) has launched a new website to better communicate the value of ceramic tile education and certified tile installation to homeowners, architects, design specifiers, dealers, distributors and tile installation contractors.
In response to increased product demand, M S International, Inc. (MSI) recently redesigned and expanded its Dallas showroom. Revamped floor to ceiling, the state-of-the-art showroom was carefully planned with the consumer experience in mind.
Laticrete, a manufacturer of globally proven construction solutions for the building industry, recently announced the release of three new product specific Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and updated Health Product Declaration (HPDs).
For this issue, we are excited to share with you four features that focus on using compact and ultrathin slabs in both residential and commercial projects. As these products continue to gain popularity, we wanted to share different ideas of applications, including an upscale dining environment in the interior of a Saks Fifth Avenue.


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The plastics industry is one of the frontrunners in the business sectors of Pakistan, clocking a growth rate in excesses of 15% per year. There are however, rampant violations of laws and regulations taking place within the plastics industry that need to be addressed urgently by the relevant authorities especially when it comes to the processing, manufacturing and recycling of hazardous plastic materials in the country. Negligence in this regard puts not only the environment, but also the lives of citizens at stake. Local plastics manufacturers use the imported plastic scraps and waste to produce finished plastic goods and articles for sale to and use for end consumers in the country.
The plastic scraps used for manufacturing are in no way tested for contaminants before being cleared for manufacturing. It is a clear and blatant violation of the import policy order put in place by the government. Furthermore, it violates the Basel Convention that draws out the scope of end-of-life plastic products which contain contaminants and constituents that fall under Hazard Class 6 & 9 of the Convention and are to be sent back to the country from where said plastic waste was imported from.
The most worrying fact is that in the year 2017, plastic scraps imports jumped over a staggering 200% to 46,992 mt compared to 13,682 mt in 2016. Several countries like the UK, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Saudi Arabia regularly export this scrap to Pakistan. Imported plastic scrap contains higher amounts of contamination residuals, pest dumps, germs and infections, pesticides and food particles among many other harmful chemicals and additives. Many countries including China, have totally banned such imports.
According to the Import Policy Order 2015 of Pakistan, it states that the waste parings and scrap of plastics that are imported by local manufacturers for their use are subject to the condition that a certificate from the relevant government agency of the exporting country be furnished to Pakistan’s custom authorities, clearing the plastic scraps as non-hazardous and that they comply with the provisions of the Basel Convention. To strictly execute the said policy, however, the role of customs authorities and environmental inspection agencies stands very crucial as it is a matter of health and environment for the masses. If these plastic imports go unchecked the hazardous plastic scrap would cause very serious diseases and infect humans.
The import policy is comprehensive and provides clear guidelines about effective regulation of hazardous plastic imports but lack of proper enforcement raises a number of red flags. Despite the aforementioned comprehensive import policies, local plastics manufacturers in Pakistan are heavily producing those plastics and plastics-based items for both domestic and industrial consumptions that contain higher amounts of several hazardous elements and components. That is because the hazardous products are being released without detailed pre-shipment laboratory analysis in violation of the laws of the country.
The unabated import of hazardous plastic scrap, due to lack of proper implementation of laws, has increasingly become a source of concern for the local industry and EPA in Pakistan. Such a lax regulation mechanism virtually nullifies the very reason the import policy was put into place by the Ministry of Commerce followed by the order passed in the Lahore High Court in 2015. Countries like China, India and Malaysia have outright banned the import of such hazardous PVC materials and every consignment coming into their countries is tested on different levels by relevant authorities before being released into the country. China was considered the biggest importer of garbage, but after it announced that it will halt the import of such waste, there has been a considerable increase in the imports of plastic waste in Pakistan.
The regulatory authorities need to ensure strict enforcement of this policy so that, the import of this hazardous material can be stopped and our nation can be saved from the use of this hazardous PVC scrap material which is being used amongst the masses, before it is too late.


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Much more expensive will be the iPhone 14 Pro Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Whose starting prices will be $1,099 and $1,199, respectively. The data publish by LeaksApplePro suggests that the iPhone Mini will be out of the game . The new Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List range of smartphones from the Cupertino company . Instead, Apple will bet on a larger iPhone, but with less premium features than those of the Pro models.
Characteristics Of Both Models
For its part, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List 14 Pro Max will experience. A price increase of around $100 compar to their direct predecessors. This notable increase in price would be relate not only to the improvement. In the Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List characteristics of both models but also to the chip crisis. Which is translating into a notable increase in production costs.
The Light In September 2022 Equipped
The iPhone 14 would see the light in September 2022 equipped Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List with a design similar to that of the iPhone 4 and could have 2 TB of storage. Generation Z is particularly active on social networks, but that doesn’t mean they have a blindfold and they are Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List perfectly aware of the dangers lurking in the bowels of these platforms. Not surprisingly, 45% of centennials, who pride themselves on being champions of authenticity, believe that there is Afghanistan WhatsApp Number List excessive pressure on social media to fly the flag of perfection, according to a recent GWI study .


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Employees at a coffeehouse chain were allegedly forced to pay £200 for their training
Businesses invest in staff training not only to maintain service and product quality but also to engage employees and keep morale high.
But for staff across Costa Coffee stores in Essex in the UK, training has become a point of contention.
Employees were allegedly forced to pay for the training themselves, with the cost reaching up to £200 (approx. US$244) deducted from a single payout, the BBC reported.
A wave of complaints about salary deductions at Costa Coffee reportedly began with a post on social media. A tweet claimed some coffeehouse employees were made to pay for financial losses arising from a scam that allegedly targeted one of the stores.
Franchise owners are said to have contracts that allow for certain charges to be made against employees’ salaries – not just training costs. Some staff claim deductions occasionally include penalties for tardiness while one worker said she had to pay out of pocket to make up for till discrepancies, the report said.
“Deductions are circumstantial and reviewed on a case by case basis by the partner,” a representative for Costa Coffee told the BBC.
Costa Coffee and its partner Goldex Investments Essex Ltd, which operates franchise stores in the area, said they are taking the allegations “extremely seriously”.
The coffeehouse company has asked Goldex to launch an investigation. The franchise operator, meanwhile, urged staff to communicate their concerns directly with their line manager.
MP Jon Cruddas of Dagenham and Rainham wants to hold both enterprises accountable. Cruddas said he was pushing for the managing director of Costa Coffee to address allegations of “poor treatment of staff – particularly young workers”.


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No company, not even one that is incredibly well managed and participates in secular growth trends, is immune to risks. Microprocessor giant Intel (INTC -2.76%), the world's largest semiconductor company by revenue, is no exception.
In this column, I'd like to highlight three potential risks that investors in this chip giant should be aware of.
1. Intel's fortunes remain tied to the personal computer market
Although Intel has done a good job of trying to find growth beyond the personal computer market -- a market that's proven challenging over the years -- the fact of the matter is that this segment still represents a substantial portion of the company's revenue, operating profit, and manufacturing scale.
Indeed, last year Intel took in $55.35 billion in revenue. Of that hefty sum, $32.219 billion came from the company's client computing group, which primarily sells components that go into personal computers. This segment also contributed $8.165 billion in operating profit, making it the largest profit machine among the company's business units.
If the personal computer market manages to decline slightly, stay flat, or even grow, then Intel's other businesses -- if they grow as expected -- should be more than enough to pick up the slack and help the company achieve some level of revenue growth.
However, if the personal computer market drops significantly in a given year, then not only do the prospects of revenue growth dim, but it could have a significant impact on overall profitability.
2. Intel's data center group is about to face significant competition
Intel's data center group has benefited from both secular growth trends as well as the fact that it has dominant share of the market for server processors.
To be clear, Intel's market share hasn't come by accident -- the company has invested significantly over many years to build best-in-class chips and other technologies in order to grow that share. However, since Intel now overwhelmingly dominates the server processor market, the opportunity to grow its share is limited (though there are non-server opportunities in the data center that Intel is gaining share in).
And, naturally, there are many companies vying for a piece of Intel's very lucrative server processor pie.
If Intel can maintain significant competitive advantages over its competition, then it should be able to continue to grow with the server market (since Intel's share is high enough that it is virtually the server chip market). However, if Intel loses market share, then that could have a negative impact on its growth rate here.
This is something that Intel investors should keep a close eye on.
3. Intel's bet on memory may not pay off
Last year, Intel announced that it would be significantly growing its bet on non-volatile memory technologies such as 3D NAND and a new technology that it developed in conjunction with memory maker Micron (MU -1.94%) known as 3DXPoint that's supposed to be much faster than typical NAND flash memory and can be used as both storage and main memory.
In particular, Intel said that it plans to spend $1.5 billion this year on capital equipment to refit its chip manufacturing plant in Dalian, China, to manufacture both 3D NAND and 3DXPoint. It's also likely that will continue to invest in both capital equipment as well as research and development in support of 3D NAND and 3DXPoint in the future.
If Intel can build competitive products at a leadership cost structure, then it should be able to successfully play in this market. However, if the company's technology winds up falling behind and it is placed at a major cost structure disadvantage, then it might continue to incur significant losses. Right now, the business is losing money but Intel is banking on turning it profitable down the line.


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Fears that Britain could fall into recession have eased after the economy stabilised in July.
Official figures published yesterday showed that output was flat in the three-month period, having fallen by 0.2 per cent in the three months to June.
On a month-by-month basis, the economy grew by 0.3 per cent, beating economists’ forecasts of 0.1 per cent, the Office for National Statistics said.
Most sectors contributed to growth in July, with manufacturing growing by 0.3 per cent and construction expanding by 0.5 per cent. Services output, which accounts for about 80 per cent of the economy, increased by 0.3 per cent after being flat in May and June.
Although the latest figures suggest that the economy has held steady after shrinking in the second…


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The health and nutrition store GNC announced it would close 1,200 of its locations. This announcement comes after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this Tuesday. GNC has also stated that it’s looking for a buyer.
Nail in the Coffin
The 85-year-old company has said that the closures are just an acceleration of a pre-COVID plan. Prior to the pandemic, the company says it had intended to close somewhere between 800 and 1,200 stores. Many of these locations had already begun liquidation sales. As early as July 2019, GNC had announced that all of its shopping mall locations would shutter. The present crisis has only been a catalyst.
The reason for GNC’s downsizing is twofold.
Firstly, like most in-person retailers, GNC has faced steep competition from the online market. The franchise makes much of its profit by selling health supplements, a product that easily sells online.
Many supplement brands have found great marketing success on social media. And most products can be bought directly from the makers or through internet superstores like Amazon. The bricks-and-mortar GNC shop didn’t stand a chance. In recent years, GNC has amounted a debt of close to $1 billion, all due to online competitors.
A Resilient Pandemic
Secondly, the coronavirus has played a major role in GNC’s downfall. The COVID-19 pandemic has kept customers from entering GNC stores, and the resulting recession has caused many to maintain tighter wallets. All of this was enough to push the failing vitamin franchiser over the edge.
Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t mean the end of the road for GNC. The filing will allow the company to reorganize its finances as it attempts to stay afloat.
GNC has about 5,200 locations in the U.S. and 7,300 globally. Closing 1,200 stores would represent about a quarter of its domestic retailers. However, an announcement on the GNC site explains that even the closing locations will remain open at least until they can sell off their products.
Closures Happening Near You
You can follow this link to look up any affected locations in your area. Keep in mind you’ll probably still have a couple months to take advantage of the liquidation sales.


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Subscribers to the UK's top four internet service providers will soon be forced to opt-in if they wish to view explicit sexual content, as a new campaign seeks to protect children from internet porn.
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