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Lab-grown diamonds have been making waves in the jewelry industry, offering consumers an ethical and affordable alternative to mined diamonds. The rise of lab-grown diamonds has not only sparked a shift in consumer preferences but also created significant economic impacts. In this blog post, we will explore the economic implications of the lab-grown diamond boom.
Growing Market Share: According to CNN Business, the market share for lab-grown diamonds currently stands at around 7% of the specialty diamond market 1. This may seem relatively small, but it represents a significant increase in demand and sales for lab-grown diamonds. As consumer awareness and acceptance of lab-grown diamonds continue to grow, their market share is expected to expand further, potentially disrupting the traditional diamond industry.
Decreasing Prices: One of the key economic consequences of the lab-grown diamond boom is the downward trend in prices. With more lab-grown diamonds entering the market, the increased supply has led to more accessible price points. Quartz reports that the abundance of lab-grown diamonds has created more demand, resulting in more affordable options 2. This affordability factor has made lab-grown diamonds an attractive option for budget-conscious consumers, further driving their market growth.
Impact on Traditional Diamond Industry: The emergence of lab-grown diamonds has posed challenges to the traditional diamond industry. The implied uncertain resale value and perceived lack of value associated with lab-grown diamonds, perpetuated by the mined diamond industry have affected consumers' willingness to purchase them, impacting the market for natural diamonds 3. Forbes highlights that the lab-grown diamond market's growth has been estimated between 15% to 20% in recent years, further signaling the potential shift in consumer preferences 4. Traditional jewelers have started embracing lab-grown diamonds to stay relevant and cater to changing consumer demands.
Job Creation and Technological Advancements: The lab-grown diamond boom has not only resulted in shifts within the market but also brought about positive economic impacts. As the demand for lab-grown diamonds grows, there is a need for skilled technicians and scientists to produce these diamonds. This has led to job creation in the lab-grown diamond industry, contributing to local economies. Additionally, the technological advancements required for lab-grown diamond production have created opportunities for innovation and research in related fields.
Environmental and Humanitarian Factors: Lab-grown diamonds have gained popularity among young consumers due to their lower environmental impact and humanitarian benefits. Mined diamonds often carry high environmental costs, including extensive land excavation and carbon emissions 5. By choosing lab-grown diamonds, consumers can support sustainable practices and reduce their ecological footprint. This shift in consumer behavior towards more responsible purchasing decisions can further drive the growth of the lab-grown diamond market.
The economic impact of the lab-grown diamond boom is multi-faceted, encompassing market share growth, decreasing prices, challenges for the traditional diamond industry, job creation, and positive environmental implications. Additionally, the FTC's new regulations regarding the language used when talking about lab-grown diamonds ensure clarity and accuracy in advertising practices. As the lab-grown diamond market continues to expand and gain acceptance, it is important for stakeholders to adapt and innovate to stay ahead in this evolving landscape.


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Correction Notice: This story has been updated to reflect what percentage of the budget cuts that Weatherford International has completed.
More layoffs and office closures are around the corner at struggling oil-field services company Weatherford International, which saw its loss widen in the second quarter as the industry continued to reel from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company lost $581 million compared with $316 million in the second quarter of 2019. With the downturn cutting demand for the company’s products and services, Weatherford’s second-quarter revenue declined 37 percent to $821 million from $1.3 billion the previous year.
Weatherford attributed the company loss to a decline in prices and COVID-related restrictions that led to “unprecedented reductions in customer spending in the quarter.” In response, the company trimmed $650 million from its budget, cuts that are now 85 percent complete.
Downturn: Weatherford CEO exits as company faces second bankruptcy
Some of the budget cuts have been completed, but more job reductions and facility closures are on the way, CEO Karl Blanchard told investors Wednesday.
The company had announced layoffs totaling 38 percent of its North American workforce in April but, Blanchard said, future reductions will push that level to 45 percent. He said 35 percent of the company’s North American facilities will eventually be closed. Overseas, the company is exiting a handful of markets and laying off 25 percent of its international employees.
“The second quarter has been unlike any other, even for a cyclical industry like ours that is used to regular change,” Blanchard said.
Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox
Weatherford, which has its principal offices in Houston, endured 20 quarters of losses before the company emerged from bankruptcy in December.
It was a short-lived recovery, as the coronavirus pandemic wiped out demand and exacerbated a global glut of crude. The company lost $966 million in the first quarter after the historic oil crash forced it to write down the value of its assets by $807 million.
Weatherford started the year with 24,000 employees around the world but now has 19,000 people working at 600 locations in 80 nations, the company said Wednesday.
The company has $2.1 billion of long-term but also has $680 of cash and credit on hand. The company announced Wednesday that it also signed a deal that authorized another $500 million in financing.

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Black Friday, the traditional day of spending with all of its hype, secret door prizes and early morning door-side camping rituals, is actually the second-biggest shopping day of the year in the Charlottesville area, coming in behind Panic Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas.
According to Womply, a national software company that provides front-end software for businesses from payment to customer relationship to reputation management, Charlottesville-area retailers see more business and income on the Saturday before Christmas than any other day of the year.
Black Friday runs second in the area, with the Friday before Christmas being the third-strongest sales day of the year for area retailers. In fact, area retailers make 10.6% of their annual sales between Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
The strength of the local Black Friday tradition belies that of the national trend, according to Womply figures. Nationwide, the Friday before Christmas is number one followed by the Saturday before Christmas, the Friday before Mother’s Day and the Saturday before Mother’s Day each beat the sales figures for Black Friday.
“I believe it. The whole last week before Christmas is busy. Last Christmas Eve, we were going to close around 2 p.m., but we had so many customers coming in that we stayed open until 6 p.m.,” said Binki Romeo, of Attic Artifacts, in Albemarle County’s Woodbrook Shopping Center.
“As a shopper, Black Friday used to be really great, but I think it’s overrated. They’ve pushed it back so far into Thanksgiving that there’s no real reason to get up and stand in lane at 5 a.m.,” Romeo said. “And, to be honest, I’m not going shopping on Thanksgiving evening. I’m tired. I’m full of food. I’m not going anywhere.”
Small Business Saturday, which follows Black Friday, is rated 118 out of 365 days for the number of sales in the Charlottesville area. The Sunday after Thanksgiving rates only 342 out of 365 days for the number of sales made.
The worst day to go holiday shopping is Christmas Day and the next-to-worst is Thanksgiving Day, according to Womply’s figures. New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday follow close behind.
“I think the key takeaway here for consumers is that retailers still think of Black Friday as the deals day of the year, so, if you’re a bargain hunter, Black Friday is still Mecca in 2019,” said Ellen Ford, spokeswoman for Womply.
From Black Friday to Christmas Eve, the average retailer in Charlottesville sees $1,279 in daily revenue, about 26.4% over their average daily revenue. They have a third more transactions than an average day during the year and the average sale is $79.24.
Womply’s figures for the Charlottesville area include the city plus Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson counties.
Womply said the town of Orange and surrounding area saw $917 a day in purchases during the Black Friday to Christmas Eve period with the average purchase of $78.36 and 14.6% of retailers’ annual sales.
The Staunton-Waynesboro area saw $1,103 a day in sales with an average $99.29 per sale, making up 12.2% of retailers’ annual sales in that same period.
Retailers in the Richmond metropolitan area saw sales of $1,252 a day with an average sale of $76.73 for 9.3% of their annual sales, the statistics show.
Ford said the length of the shopping season gives everyone a chance to hit the stores.
“If you’re a consumer that hates crowds, and spending a little more is worth your sanity,” she said. “Most retailers still offer great holiday deals throughout the period between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. And, in that case, getting your shopping done the Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend is a smart bet.”
Romeo said Attic Artifacts will open on Black Friday and feature big sales just like the big stores. Just don’t get in line at 4 a.m. — the store won’t open until its usual 10 a.m.
“We always have deals on Black Friday because no one expects a thrift store to do that,” Romeo said. “But we’re not going to open that early. Forget that.”


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Polaris solar PV net news: United States International Trade Commission (ITC) of Taiwan with the Mainland investigation report on the solar industry’s two-handed backhand, may delay publishing. It is understood that the US original local time on January 20 to expose result, finds it necessary to extend the 1-to-21st.
Taiwan part of the industry was optimistic about the outcome, if the anti-dumping duty rate to zero, Yu Jing, Motech is expected, new solar plant is more than profits. ITC scheduled United States local time on January 20 vote on industry injury determination and publish the results, it is understood that at present has been delayed until the morning of January 21, Taiwan will learn that until early hours of 22nd.
Then if the ITC finds that plant to the United States caused no damage to the solar industry, works at the front desk was first United States Department of Commerce to determine imposition of anti-dumping duties between 11.45% and 27.55% will be erased. Conversely, if the ITC believes that factory solar industry does cause damage, then the aforementioned anti-dumping duty is about to put into practice, bad for the plant.
Original title: double reverse delayed publication of investigation reports local time in beautiful 21st


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Could makers reinvent electronics?
The ‘maker’ is the future – or so they say. Those people who used to be seen as ‘hobbyists’ and ‘tinkerers’ are set to change innovation. It is thanks to them that we will have what Chris Anderson calls the new industrial revolution. As maker-designed products move into the mainstream, they’re driving changes that dilute the stranglehold of mass producers. Perhaps more importantly, in doing so there’s a very good chance that they will bring about a change in the very essence of electronics.
Some of the more forward thinking corporates are embracing the movement. Cisco have described makers as the future of rapid prototyping, while GE are working with maker organisations to launch co-branded app enabled gadgets and are providing space and equipment in GE ‘Garages’ for makers to use.
A number of trends have converged which enable the maker in electronics:
– Development kits and single board computers like the Raspberry Pi have put the power of cutting edge semiconductors in the hands of individuals who don’t have access to complex production equipment (believe me, these are not components you can solder in your basement!).
– Open source software stacks and reference designs let the maker leverage and build on others’ learning to programme what they’ve built and avoid reinventing the wheel for common pieces of functionality.
– 3D printing allows them to create the physical form.
– Crowd funding lets them have finance, based on a captivating idea rather than a formal business plan.
However, there is then an interesting crunch point where this brave democratised new world is forced to take its crowd-sourced funds to the big guys in the old world, and that is driving some amazing new innovations, which could mean massive disruption to the status quo in electronics.
Translating a hand crafted electronic prototype into a production-ready design takes some doing. It often means a major redesign, handing things over to a professional design house to create bespoke printed circuit boards (PCBs) and designing-out as much cost in the components as possible. But the maker movement is pushing up the curve; it is hungry to own more of the process, and sooner or later – likely sooner – we’ll hit a tipping point.
There are already some great products out there, which can print simple circuit boards using technology such as conductive inks, that can print on all sorts of materials. Others that can double as soldering ovens are also available.
Right now what they can do is pretty limited compared with conventionally produced multilayered PCBs loaded up with components by robotic pick and place machines. However, they are pushing the boundaries. It’s what’s likely to come next to overcome these limitations that is really exciting.
I’ll give you two recent examples.
Functionalize has just launched a kickstarter campaign to fund a new, highly conductive, substrate that will work with 3D printers. It’s being pitched as letting innovators print their own electronics in one go. Granted this is their Kickstarter pitch, but it’s still pretty interesting.
Even more interesting, as part of the recently launched ESPRC National Facility for Innovative Robotics Systems, the University of Leeds currently has one of just three 3D printers that can print circuit boards better and faster than conventional methods by laying down multiple build materials in a single piece, which is again moving towards the possibility of printing finished electronics.
If we do get there, the traditional processes of mounting components on a PCB become redundant and the maker’s hands are truly untied. Even if only part of that vision is realised, what that could do to a multi billion dollar global industry is staggering.
Posted by Kevin Yapp


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In one word: Since the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony has tried to mitigate its supply problems with slight revisions to reduce grams of weight and production costs. A new shot reveals that the console has received its first shrink, which should help Sony reduce its power consumption and improve its profit margin.
An analysis of the die in Angstronomics’ latest PS5 review reveals which uses TSMC’s 6nm EUV N6 process, transitioned from the launch console N7. The change in the PS5 CFI-1202 model accompanies other alterations to the motherboard and cooling system.
The 6nm chip, codenamed Oberon Plus, has a 15 percent smaller die than the original Oberon. Moving of about 300 square meters. mm to 260 m2 mm should allow Sony to make about 20 percent more chips at the same cost. The N6 chip also draws less power than the N7, possibly reducing how much the console adds to power bills.
Last year, the first revision of the PS5 (CFI-1100) tried to save money by slimming it down, which led to compromises in the cooling system, causing it to run slightly hotter than the launch model. Earlier this month, the CFI-1200 model went on sale, and breakdowns showed it shed hundreds of grams from the launch console with a redesigned motherboard, new heatsink, and smaller cooler. Die shrinkage at 1202 should also reduce power consumption by about 10 percent.
The current generation of consoles has faced unprecedented manufacturing challenges, primarily stemming from the effects of the pandemic on supply chains and consumer demand. The PS5 is still a tough thing to buy as its second birthday approaches.
Last year, Sony said the disc drive-equipped PS5 model had become profitable, but the digital-only version was still selling at a loss. However, Sony raised the price of all models last month in all regions except North America, likely due to increases in production costs, something Microsoft and Nintendo have so far avoided with their consoles. Hardware revisions like CFI-1202 can help Sony maintain profitability and ultimately pass the savings on to consumers.


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Though still running strong, an almost 20-year-old film laminating line needed a helping hand to meet increased demand. As a result, food packaging processor C-P Flexible Packaging added another line from Davis-Standard to its arsenal.
|Gathered at the new lamination line are (from left) C-P Flexible's Steve Tusing, Mike Takis, and Greg Collins.|
"Over half of our business is in extrusion lamination, so the addition of this line was essential," says Mike Takis, engineering manager at C-P. Prior to the recent installation, C-P was running all extrusion laminations on an existing Black Clawson (Fulton, NY) line; Black Clawson is a Davis-Standard brand. Other processors now can view the new line, installed in late 2009, as C-P is allowing Davis-Standard to bring customers into its plant to see the system.
According to the processor, the new line primarily is seeing use for its customers in the snack food industry. It produces laminated structures comprised of extruded polyethylene between two films, including OPP and PET. The films can be clear, printed or metalized.—[email protected]


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Boston Tea Party is close to opening its third flagship cafe in Birmingham.
Watch our video of building work in progress to see a very sneak preview of its new site on Harborne Road, Edgbaston .
The new cafe have the city’s highest cafe ceiling, an orangery, spiral staircase an internal ‘ ghost sign ’ when it opens in mid-July, 2017.
The Calthorpe Estate property is a former bank and office building.
Acquired last year on the corner of Greenfield Crescent, it has required extensive renovation to remodel the building for its new 21st century purpose.
The main wing on the right has had its floor taken out, to create a double-height room that will have the city’s highest coffee shop ceiling.
One current idea is to paint a feint ghost sign high up on the exposed brick wall to make it look like the company has been there for decades.
On the other side of this room, a spiral staircase will be installed to enable customers to reach the main toilets on the first floor.
There will also be disabled access facilities on the ground floor.
To the back, a new orangery is being created with a glass ceiling that will enable daylight to flood into what the company hopes will become a popular family room.
The main serving bar will be in front of the main entrance doors, with the kitchen behind that.
To the left will be two more rooms for enjoying the company’s range of hot meals, sandwiches and luxury cakes, one of which will be a quiet room for people who want to concentrate on using the wi-fi.
Marketing manager Ben Hibbard said: “We are very excited about our new Edgbaston cafe. This area really is going to be the place to be.
“We are surrounded by offices and are sure that many people will come to enjoy our cafe.
“We have become established in Harborne and in Corporation Street and had been looking very hard for another quality site with character that we could develop.
“This site has taken a lot of renovation but we knew it was perfect for us.
“Our core hours will be from 7am to 7pm but we have a flexible licence to so that we would be able to put an event or live music on.”
The general manager at Edgbaston will be Dale Allison, who is moving over from Harborne.
Boston Tea Party jobs boost
The company has recently been recruiting for its Edgbaston site and new staff are currently training in Harborne and Corporation Street.
Around 30 people are being taken on, about half of whom will be working in the cafe at any one time.
With 35 people currently employed at both Harborne and Corporation Street, Boston Tea Party will then employ some 100 people at its three sites.
What is Boston Tea Party?
When it launched in 1995, the company was the first espresso house in Bristol.
Today it has a five-point ‘better coffee’ pledge towards better milk, baristas, beans, flavour and ethical world.
To live up to its core ‘Making Things Better’ motto, every BTP barista must gain an internationally recognised certificate by completing Speciality Coffee Association training at Extract Coffee Roasters.
The company’s website says: “Each of our cafés is designed to be a one-off cherished local.”
A typical Boston Tea Party Menu
The current range includes breakfast, brunch, lighter, mains, salads, toasted sandwiches and sides.
New items include an Ultimate Burger (£9.95), compared with £9.25 for a veggie burger) and a Vietnamese Banh-Mi Sandwich (£7.95), with BBQ pulled jackfruit, pickled vegetables, coriander, vegan mayo, Sriracha chilli sauce, toasted baguette and pickled coleslaw.
Boston Tea Party Edgbaston will be at 30 Harborne Road, Edgbaston Birmingham B15 3AA
What is else is happening in Edgbaston?
Calthorpe Estates began its Edgbaston Village investment programme three years ago to create fresh opportunities for retailers by transforming properties along Harborne Road, Greenfield Crescent, Highfield Road and Islington Row.
Calthorpe Estates’ director of development Ralph Minott said: “By continuing to work closely with Birmingham City Council, we are able to review the mix of outlets, scale and overall balance of Edgbaston Village while making further advancements to the surrounding infrastructure.
“The arrival of new retailers helps boost the Edgbaston economy through the creation of additional jobs and bringing new people to the area.
“This contributes greatly to building a thriving community, as well as resulting in a vibrant daytime, evening and weekend atmosphere.
“By the end of 2017, we estimate that around 500 people will have been employed by the new businesses based in Edgbaston Village.”
Calthorpe Estates is renovating a row of properties that will provide six more retail units on nearby Greenfield Crescent.
SPACE, the specialist retail agency appointed for Edgbaston Village, is currently in talks with a number of interested parties ready for occupation from autumn 2017.


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The Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) has made significant changes to the scheme of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles II (FAME II).
In a notification issued late Friday, it was stated, “For Electric 2 Wheelers, demand Incentive will be @ Rs 15000/- per kWh.” The incentive for e-two-wheelers is being hiked to Rs 15,000 per kWh, a 5,000 per kWh rise from the previous subsidy rate.
The notification also mentioned that the cap on incentives for electric two-wheelers will be 40 percent of the cost of vehicles, twice the previous limit of 20 percent.
This will reduce the cost of electric scooters and motorcycles in the country and persuade more riders to convert from a combustion-engined vehicle to an electric one. It will directly benefit customers who buy electric two-wheelers in India. By increasing subsidies for electric two-wheelers, the government aims to lower the burden on EV manufacturers.
Shortly after the notification was issued, Ather Energy, one of India’s fastest-growing electric two-wheeler manufacturing company, announced an incentive to its customers by a price drop of ₹14, 500 in its 450X electric scooter.
— Ather Energy (@atherenergy) June 11, 2021
To qualify for FAME II advantages, electric two-wheelers must meet certain criteria, including a minimum top speed, range per charge, acceleration, and energy consumption efficiency. To qualify for the subsidy, the electric scooters must have a minimum range of 80 kilometres on a single charge and a max speed of at least 40 kilometres per hour.
According to Hindustan Times, Tarun Mehta, CEO and Co-founder of Ather Energy, said that the revision in the FAME policy of increasing the subsidy by 50% per kWh is a “phenomenal move”. Stating that the sales of electric two-wheelers have grown despite the pandemic, he mentioned that with additional subsidy, the electric vehicle sales may disrupt the market and clock 6 million+ units by 2025. He also stated that the government’s continuing support for EV adoption, with an emphasis on locally-built electric two-wheelers, will make India the “EV manufacturing hub.”


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Yet many well-known multi-national companies do not recognise trade unions, and do not negotiate with trade unions on pay and working conditions.
The International and European Trade Union Confederations (ITUC and ETUC) are joining forces for Human Rights Day (December 10) to name and shame two multi-national brands and household names that refuse to negotiate with trade unions.
The ITUC & ETUC is naming and shaming:
Samsung –Â has a no-union policy in its factories and workplaces, and intervenes to prevent the formation of unions at its suppliers. Samsung accumulates billions in profits at the expense of its workers. It has a wellâdocumented history of labour abuses in its supply chain â from union busting, poverty wages, insecure and unsafe work, to forced overtime, informal work and modern slavery.
Workers are working in such distressed circumstances that in some countries the company has had to remodel its dormitories to prevent employees from committing suicide. It is time for the Giant Tech to âEnd Corporate Greedâ and guarantee a fair living wage and trade union participation and representation for its workers.
McDonaldâs â the fast food giant does not bargain with a trade union over working conditions for workers in the UK â but it does in Denmark, France and Germany. In Denmark and Germany the collective agreements cover franchised stores as well as well as McDonaldâs own corporate stores.
With the European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and other institutions increasingly recognising the need for wage increases to drive economic growth, and tackle inequality, the right to collective bargain is vital not only for working people, but for the economy and social justice.
âThere should be no place in a modern economy for companies that do not negotiate with trade unionsâ said Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC. âCollective bargaining between employers and trade unions is the best way to get sensible pay rises that benefit workers, company productivity and the economy as a whole.â
âSamsung and McDonaldâs like to promote themselves as modern, family-friendly brands, but their attitude to trade unions is strictly 19th centuryâ said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the ITUC. âWe will not rest until workers get a fair deal in these companies.â
Thanks to Barry Camfield.


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According to a survey of 532 organizations from across 68 countries and 14 industry sectors, conducted by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), supported by the Zurich Insurance Group. “outsourcing failure is now a significant cause of supply chain disruption.”
In a bulletin on its web site Zurich said: “Service issues attributed to outsourcing jumped to third place in the causes of supply chain disruption at 35 percent, up from 17 percent in 2011, highlighting the importance that outsourcing decisions have in supply chain resilience. It also showed that 73 percent of organizations recorded at least one supply chain disruption in 2012 with 39 percent of analyzed disruption originating from below the immediate supplier.”
Other findings and conclusions from the survey include the following:
— The leading cause of supply chain disruption is unplanned IT or telecom outages with 52 percent of organizations surveyed experiencing some or high impact disruption as a result, followed in second place by adverse weather, experienced by 48 percent of firms
— Currency volatility rises to fourth place in this survey of disruption. While not traditionally seen as a business continuity area, it shows that the business continuity thinking can be more widely applied
— Disruption is also becoming more consequential – financial costs are higher than in 2011 with one in five companies registering a single incident loss of more than €1 million [$1.277 million]
— The UK leads the USA in considering supply chain disruption within continuity programs with 75 percent doing so in the UK, but only 44 percent of US-based respondents
The survey report concluded that “effectively managing supply chain continuity is critical not just because of the immediate costs of disruption, but also the longer term consequences to stakeholder confidence and reputation that may arise following a supply chain failure.”
Nick Wildgoose, Global Supply Chain Product Manager at Zurich’s Global Corporate, commented: “The BCI Annual Survey has consistently shown that over 70 percent of respondents suffered significant supply chain disruptions. In the latest survey, the costs associated with just a single incident are in over 20 percent of cases in excess of €1 million rising to €100 million [$122.7 million].
“It is therefore critical, especially in the current economic climate, that organizations invest the right amount in their supply chain due diligence and risk management treatment. This should include organizations setting out robust business continuity plans that include consideration of dependency on key suppliers and customers.
“These plans need to consider what should be needs to put in place prior to the disruption event taking place , what can be done while it is in progress and the improvement lessons post the event. There are a number of encouraging aspects to the survey including the benefit that organizations have got out of carrying out joint business continuity exercises with their suppliers.”
Lyndon Bird FBCI, Technical Director at the BCI, pointed out that the “jump in disruption caused by outsourcer service failures underscores the importance of viewing service chains differently from traditional product supply chains when it comes to resilience planning – service chains are more complex, and can be harder to unwind or replace quickly when they fail.
“In-house skills are also lost over time, so dependency on the outsourcer increases, and thirdly decisions to award contracts are often based on transferring a problem or cost savings, not necessarily the criteria for selecting a product vendor”.
Source: Zurich Insurance
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AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content.
Apple's latest iOS 11 beta release, issued on Monday, contains a few graphical tweaks that bring a fresh feel to the operating system, including a new Maps icon that appears to feature Apple Park's main "spaceship" structure.
Seen above in an image of old and new iOS icons aggregated by iCulture, the new Maps asset appears to show a car indicator passing over Interstate 280 as it heads north on Wolfe Road past Apple Park. A corner of Apple's circular office building can be seen in the top-right corner of the icon.
First-party app icon updates are relatively rare for Apple, though the company consistently releases major software revisions with each new version of iOS. The Maps icon goes beyond the usual graphical adjustments, however, and represents something of an "Easter egg" for those familiar with the company.
Aside from Maps, Apple has updated the main components of the iOS App Store icon for the first time since its release in 2008. Replacing the pencil, paintbrush and ruler are three overlapping lines with rounded ends. The updated graphics complement major changes to the app itself, which will also see its first major redesign since launching nine years ago.
Finally, the Clock app icon benefits from bolder numbers done in Apple's bespoke San Francisco font.
The icon changes are just a small part of iOS 11, which is due to arrive alongside new iPhone hardware this fall. Previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, the next-generation operating system comes with a host of new features including a revamped user interface with updated Control Center and 3D Touch support, person-to-person Apple Pay transfers, AirPlay 2, ARKit, a new Files app and much more.
Apple earlier today released the sixth beta version of iOS 11 to developers for testing, which was immediately followed by a public evaluation iteration.


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If You Have This Dirty Habit on Vacation, Your Risk for Bed Bugs Goes Way Up
You might not be able to avoid bed bugs in hotel rooms, but you can stop them coming home with you.
Akos Nagy/ShutterstockNobody wants to give much thought to the question of where bed bugs come from, but it’s important to know how to keep them out of our homes. It’s not just our bedding they love—according to new research from the University of Sheffield, UK, they’re pretty keen on our dirty, sweaty laundry too. (Here’s how to tell if you have bed bugs.)
The study, led by Dr. William Hentley from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences and published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that leaving dirty clothes on the floor or otherwise exposed in sleeping areas when traveling may lead to some of the critters coming home with you. (Here’s how to spot bed bugs in your hotel room.) Yes, it’s not only humans who have been enjoying an increase in low-cost international travel—scientists believe this is partly to blame for the recent global resurgence of these pests.
Hentley and his team carried out experiments in two identical, temperature-controlled, infested rooms. Four tote bags of clothes were placed in each room, two containing soiled clothes and two with clean clothes. Each time the experiment was carried out, one of the rooms received an increase in the concentration of CO² to simulate human breathing. They found that when there was no human in the room, critters were twice as likely to accumulate on the bags containing dirty clothes than on the bags containing clean clothes. The scientists also discovered that in the room with increased concentrations of CO², bed bugs were more likely to leave their refuge and look for a host—which may well be dirty laundry left in an open suitcase, or on the floor of an infested room. If you’re not worried about bed bugs on vacation, learn how to make your clothes smell better without a washer.
“Bed bugs are a huge problem for hotel and homeowners, particularly in some of the world’s biggest and busiest cities,” says Hentley, as reported on ScienceDaily. “Once a room is infested with bed bugs, they can be very difficult to get rid of, which can result in people having to dispose of clothes and furniture that can be really costly.”
According to Hentley, keeping dirty laundry in a sealed bag when staying in a hotel could reduce the chances of taking bugs home with you, which may then reduce the spread of infestations. Of course, you could always wash your clothes as soon as they are dirty—but what kind of vacation is that?
Here are the best tips for getting rid of bed bugs.


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Garage Inc., TransGaming Studio’s latest title, which launched to critical acclaim last week, is now available for the PC. The strategic time management game can be purchased at GamersGate for $9.99 USD. Now PC gamers can experience the challenge of operating an auto repair shop as Italian immigrant Angelo while dealing with finances, prohibition and the mob in 1920’s era Chicago. Earn money and live the American dream while keeping your customers happy, hiring new automotive specialists and dealing with special jobs for the local Mafioso.
Bioware has released information on another region in the Dragon Age 2 world. Sundermount is the highest mountain the range surrounding Kirkwall, and folklore gives the mountain a fearsome reputation. Legend says that Sundermount was the site of a vicious battle where both sides unleashed horrors into the waking world, and unholy creatures prowl the heights to this very day, unaware that the war for which they were summoned is long since over.
bnotions is inviting people to sign up for the beta of their upcoming location-based squad espionage game Urban Ops. According to the game’s blog, bnotions is hoping for a Toronto launch around February 15th, when they hope to add some fun for the users of FourSquare and other location-based services. The premise behind Urb-Ops is to turn your city into a game board complete with teams, upgrades, competitions and prizes. The company also states that they have some cool long term plans built around: real-time, augmented reality, minigames, sponsorships, playing cards, social media integration.
Developers are invited to enter the Content 360 Digital Creativity Festival Competitive Showcase to pitch your newest concepts in audience engagement to the global TV & media industry at MIPTV 2011 in Cannes, France this April 4th – 7th. The competition features four categories and offers your company the unique opportunity to win international recognition, meet new business partners and secure development contracts from prestigious media groups. Entries will be accepted until February 14th 2011
Interactive & Cross-Media Digital Entertainment Formats: FremantleMedia and RTL Group are looking for ideas that are strongly anchored in the digital space and fully adapted to the all-digital, all-connected world of today. Ideas should go beyond a TV experience with an online extension, focusing on multi-platform implementation and transmedia consumption. Submissions can include online apps, mobile apps, social media and gaming concepts.The winner of this category will be awarded €10,000 (approximately $13 000.00 CAD) in funding to further development and jointly exploit the winning idea.
Smart Phone App For Youth Engagement: The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is looking for apps to be developed as a companions or standalone products in relation to the NFB documentaries “Sexy Inc.” and “Staying Real,” which explore sexual stereotypes and hypersexualisation of preteens and teens in media. The winning app should demonstrate that smart phones and rich media tablets can be effective educational tools while being entertaining and engaging through the use of the latest digital technologies. The winner of this category will also receive a €12,000 (approximately $15 000.00 CAD) development contract.
Online & Social Game: Showcase your original social and online gaming ideas with innovative game design and similarly creative business models. Submissions should employ interactive features, social media elements and in-game revenue sources that engage the player community, such as play-along or pay-along content. Ideas can be based on a TV programme, film, toy character, or an original concept with a strong focus on a social, online or mobile experience.
Rich Media Tablet & Social TV Apps: Showcase the latest rich-media applications for smartphones or tablets that create deeper interaction with TV content through dual-screen viewing. These TV Apps can be downloadable on rich media tablets and smart phones or can be accessed online through web browsers. Concepts can be innovative new TV/Web interfaces, ideas and apps that create communities around TV programmes.
Loud Crow Interactive has announced that the studio has partnered with bestselling children’s author and illustrator Sandra Boynton to develop and publish digital interactive versions of Boynton’s popular children’s books. Boynton has written over fifty books including four that reached the New York Times best sellers list, and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
The partnership will see Loud Crow develop and publish interactive digital books under a new imprint, Boynton Moo Media. The digital books will be based on Boynton’s titles, which include the popular Moo Baa La La La, The Going To Bed Book, and Barnyard Dance. The book apps will be produced for a variety of devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Boynton is also a Grammy-nominated songwriter and record producer, with three gold record albums, and future plans also include musical apps that will feature Boynton’s well-known recordings.
Boynton Moo Media joins the PopOut! line of digital books including PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit which has earned industry awards for design and innovation. “As soon as I saw Loud Crow’s exquisite PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit, I knew I’d at last found the perfect collaborator for bringing my books into the digital realm, says Sandra Boynton. “It’s so exhilarating to work with Loud Crow’s elite team of wildly original developers. Plus they all have very cool Canadian accents.”
“Loud Crow has been seeking partnerships that would build upon the early success of our PopOut! brand of books. We’re extremely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Sandy and her team to bring her line of popular children’s books to the digital medium. The Boynton Moo Media imprint allows Loud Crow to further diversify its catalog with quality interactive content that will provide a unique and rich reading experience to Sandy’s already wonderful books,” says Calvin Wang, Founder and President.
The first Boynton Moo Media title that will be produced is The Going To Bed Book which Publishers Weekly names as being one of the best selling children’s books of all time. The digital book will feature innovative interactive elements including touch and gesture-based animations, audio, and narration. Like all of Loud Crow’s books, The Going To Bed Book app will offer the educational read-to-me mode and word-repeat-by-touch functionality and will be narrated by British invasion singer, Billy J. Kramer. The Going to Bed Book app is currently scheduled for release in February of 2011.
The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) has announced that Chris Arsenault – Managing Partner at iNovia Capital Inc. – will become the third Co-Chair of Canada’s principal innovation conference. A veteran early-stage investor and technology entrepreneur, Mr. Arsenault will join standing Co-Chairs Rick Nathan and Robert Montgomery in overseeing the organization and execution of CIX.
“We are thrilled to welcome Chris Arsenault to our leadership team,” said Rick Nathan, Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners Limited. “As an experienced technology investor and proven entrepreneurial success, as well as major figure in the Quebec innovation community, Chris brings an invaluable perspective and a wealth of expertise to CIX.”
“An active Advisory Board member for several years, Chris has already made a profound contribution to the success of CIX,” continued Robert Montgomery, CEO of Achilles Media Ltd. and First Maximilian Associates. “We’re looking forward to seeing Chris take an even more integral role in directing the conference. With his help, I am confident CIX will deliver an even greater value to the innovation community in the years to come.”
Chris Arsenault is Managing Partner at iNovia Capital and has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for seventeen years. In addition to CIX, Mr. Arsenault currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Airborne Technology Ventures, DFT Microsystems, Fixmo, Plastic Knowledge, Reflex Photonics, and Woozworld. Mr. Arsenault is an active board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and of the Silicon Valley-based C100 Organization (the Top Canadians in the Valley).
The FIFA President had the pleasure of welcoming a special guest to the Home of FIFA this week when Nenad Stojkovic, FIFA Interactive World Cup Champion 2010, joined Joseph S. Blatter to celebrate the tournament’s entry into the latest version of the Guinness Book of Records.
The FIFA Interactive World Cup is now officially the largest gaming tournament in the world, with 775,000 competitors taking part in the 2010 edition of the event. This event climaxed in Barcelona in May 2010 when Nenad was crowned champion after defeating all challengers at the Grand Final.
“The FIFA Interactive World Cup is of great importance to FIFA’s portfolio of events” said Mr Blatter, “the tournament gives us the opportunity to engage with a wider target audience through a platform which is of high relevance to the next generations of football fans”.
These words were echoed by the Chief Editor of the Guinness World Records, Gaz Deaves, who congratulated FIFA and its Partners EA SPORTS™ and Sony Playstation, saying “The strength of the FIFA Interactive World Cup is a hugely impressive achievement and its 775,000 participants are a testament not only to the popularity of sports videogames but also to the incredible effort it takes to organise the biggest gaming tournament in the world. We are pleased to award this record to FIFA and look forward to seeing it broken in 2011.”
This year’s edition of the FIFA Interactive World Cup now promises to be larger than ever, breaking its own record for the number of competitors. The tournament has a new format this year, with six online seasons making the event more accessible than ever. FIFA Interactive World Cup Champion Nenad has also committed himself to helping to improve the skills of fellow players all over the world. Every Friday a selection of Nenad’s favourite tips and tricks will be hosted on the FIFA Interactive World Cup section of the FIFA web site.
Pennsylvania-headquartered iPipeline®, a leader in on-demand software that supports marketing, selling, and processing solutions for the nation’s top insurance companies, has acquired the assets of Vancouver-based GaleForce® Solutions. GaleForce is a market leader in providing advanced CRM with client management, productivity, compliance and security tools, and industry-specific integrations to broker-dealers, banks, wealth management advisors, insurance agents, and other financial services professionals. The strategic acquisition establishes iPipeline’s immediate Canadian presence and brings additional key employees with CRM and related experience in financial services. iPipeline currently does business with a significant number of Canadian customers.
“The acquisition of GaleForce supports our strategy to establish a presence in Canada and penetrate the wealth management, banking and broker-dealer markets, while expanding our capabilities in the insurance industry. With diversified customers in Africa, Asia, Canada, Central America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and the US, we have taken the first step in creating a global footprint in the financial services industry,” said Tim Wallace, CEO, iPipeline. “GaleForce provides their target markets with comprehensive CRM solutions designed to enhance advisor and agent productivity, ensure regulatory compliance, and safeguard transactions, delivering a 360-degree view of all business activities with customers. GaleForce’s SaaS-based model and solutions portfolio mesh perfectly with iPipeline’s vision to transform ideas into solutions that revolutionize the financial services industry. The integration of their products with iPipeline’s Velocity platform will enable straight-through processing for Canadian as well as global financial services clients. We are thrilled to have the GaleForce team join the iPipeline family and are excited about expanding our solutions portfolio.”


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Did the Anti-LGBTQ Bathroom Boycott Hurt Target?
Anti-trans organizations boycotted retail giant Target over the company’s LGBTQ-inclusive restroom policy. Did it have any effect?
Last year, Target posted a statement on their website saying the company would permit trans customers to use the restrooms that correspond with their gender identities.
In response, conservative anti-LGBTQ groups like the American Family Association launched a boycott.
But things got even more extreme. Transphobes vowed to send men into Target’s ladies’ rooms to
terrorize women prove some sort of vague point about gender roles. An anti-LGBTQ activist belonging to the Liberty Counsel threatened to bring a gun with her to the bathroom to guard against trans people. Religious extremists launched a campaign to invade the store and scream bizarre screeds and threats at shoppers.
This isn’t the first time right-wingers have launched boycotts on questionable grounds. When Wal-Mart took Confederate flags off the shelves, shoppers threatened to leave and never return, but the big box juggernaut is still standing.
Homophobes boycotted the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which still had a healthy box office debut all the same. And there have been plenty more ridiculous, ill-fated anti-LGBTQ boycotts.
Boycotts of massive corporations are hard to pull off. On the other side, the pro-LGBTQ boycott of Chick-Fil-A doesn’t seem to have accomplished much.
Has the Boycott Hurt Target?
The experts are mixed regarding whether or not the boycott has hurt Target’s bottom line.
Some say it hasn’t. A Target official told the Wall Street Journal, “Any lost sales from the boycott weren’t significant enough to require reporting to investors.”
But Business Insider reports that Target lost millions due to the boycott, thanks to a 6% sales slump and the cost of installing single-stall bathrooms in their stores. It’s not easy to say whether the flagging sales were purely the result of the boycott or whether they’re due to a mix of factors.
At any rate, the company does not plan to change its policy. Target CEO Brian Cornell said, “We took a stance, and we are going to continue to embrace our belief of diversity and inclusion.”


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|By Business Wire||
|February 5, 2013 08:45 AM EST||
Immersion Corporation (Nasdaq:IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced that the recently released “docomo NEXT series ELUGA X P-02E” smartphone manufactured by Panasonic, has launched with Immersion technology. The smartphone, which includes Immersion’s TouchSense® 3000 embedded control software and Integrator software, is the first to market as a result of a new license agreement between Immersion and Panasonic.
“We’re excited to add Panasonic to our growing list of licensees in Japan,” explains Dennis Sheehan, Immersion’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “By incorporating Immersion’s Integrator software into their design, Panasonic is providing a consistent high quality tactile experience and the ability for users to customize the feel of their device to meet their unique preferences.”
The ELUGA X smartphone is only available in Japan through NTT DOCOMO. The ELUGA X boasts a thin, waterproof design, using Android 4.1.2.
For more information on Immersion’s TouchSense technology and Integrator Platform, visit http://www.immersion.com/markets/mobile/index.html.
About Immersion (www.immersion.com)
Founded in 1993, Immersion (NASDAQ: IMMR) is the leading innovator in haptics, or tactile effects; the company's touch feedback solutions deliver a more compelling sense of the digital world. Using Immersion's high-fidelity haptic systems, partners can transform user experiences with unique and customizable touch feedback effects; excite the senses in games, videos and music; restore "mechanical" feel by providing intuitive and unmistakable confirmation; improve safety by overcoming distractions while driving or performing a medical procedure; and expand usability when audio and visual feedback are ineffective. Immersion's TouchSense technology provides haptics in mobile phone, automotive, gaming, medical and consumer electronics products from world-class companies. With over 1,300 issued or pending patents in the U.S. and other countries, Immersion helps bring the digital universe to life. Hear what we have to say at blog.immersion.com
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Immersion Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
All statements, other than the statements of historical fact, are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Panasonic’s and/or NTT DOCOMO products.
Immersion's actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with Immersion's business, which include, but are not limited to: unanticipated difficulties and challenges encountered in product development efforts by Immersion and its licensees; adverse outcomes in any future intellectual property-related litigation and the costs related thereto; the effects of the current macroeconomic climate; delay in or failure to achieve commercial demand for Immersion's products or third party products incorporating Immersion's technologies; and a delay in or failure to achieve the acceptance of force feedback as a critical user experience. Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the control of Immersion.
For a more detailed discussion of these factors, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially, interested parties should review the risk factors listed in Immersion's most current Form 10-Q on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect Immersion's beliefs and predictions as of the date of this release. Immersion disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of financial, business, or any other developments occurring after the date of this release.
The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" in this press release does not mean a legal partner or legal partnership.
Immersion, the Immersion logo, and TouchSense are trademarks of Immersion Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
(IMMR - C)
An IoT product’s log files speak volumes about what’s happening with your products in the field, pinpointing current and potential issues, and enabling you to predict failures and save millions of dollars in inventory. But until recently, no one knew how to listen. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Dan Gettens, Chief Research Officer at OnProcess, discussed recent research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and OnProcess Technology, where MIT created a new, breakthrough analytics model for s...
Dec. 11, 2016 02:45 AM EST Reads: 895
SYS-CON Events has announced today that Roger Strukhoff has been named conference chair of Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo 2017 New York. The 20th Cloud Expo and 7th @ThingsExpo will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. "The Internet of Things brings trillions of dollars of opportunity to developers and enterprise IT, no matter how you measure it," stated Roger Strukhoff. "More importantly, it leverages the power of devices and the Internet to enable us all to im...
Dec. 11, 2016 02:30 AM EST Reads: 1,044
Complete Internet of Things (IoT) embedded device security is not just about the device but involves the entire product’s identity, data and control integrity, and services traversing the cloud. A device can no longer be looked at as an island; it is a part of a system. In fact, given the cross-domain interactions enabled by IoT it could be a part of many systems. Also, depending on where the device is deployed, for example, in the office building versus a factory floor or oil field, security ha...
Dec. 11, 2016 02:00 AM EST Reads: 774
Data is the fuel that drives the machine learning algorithmic engines and ultimately provides the business value. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Ed Featherston, director/senior enterprise architect at Collaborative Consulting, will discuss the key considerations around quality, volume, timeliness, and pedigree that must be dealt with in order to properly fuel that engine.
Dec. 11, 2016 01:30 AM EST Reads: 1,742
In his general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Manish Dixit, VP of Product and Engineering at Dice, discussed how Dice leverages data insights and tools to help both tech professionals and recruiters better understand how skills relate to each other and which skills are in high demand using interactive visualizations and salary indicator tools to maximize earning potential. Manish Dixit is VP of Product and Engineering at Dice. As the leader of the Product, Engineering and Data Sciences team at D...
Dec. 11, 2016 01:15 AM EST Reads: 1,333
What happens when the different parts of a vehicle become smarter than the vehicle itself? As we move toward the era of smart everything, hundreds of entities in a vehicle that communicate with each other, the vehicle and external systems create a need for identity orchestration so that all entities work as a conglomerate. Much like an orchestra without a conductor, without the ability to secure, control, and connect the link between a vehicle’s head unit, devices, and systems and to manage the ...
Dec. 11, 2016 12:00 AM EST Reads: 1,129
Financial Technology has become a topic of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York, June 6-8, 2017, will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech.
Dec. 11, 2016 12:00 AM EST Reads: 2,400
The Internet of Things will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform and how we integrate our thinking to solve complicated problems. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, demonstrated how to move beyond today's coding paradigm and sh...
Dec. 11, 2016 12:00 AM EST Reads: 938
"We're a cybersecurity firm that specializes in engineering security solutions both at the software and hardware level. Security cannot be an after-the-fact afterthought, which is what it's become," stated Richard Blech, Chief Executive Officer at Secure Channels, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 10, 2016 11:15 PM EST Reads: 1,222
"Once customers get a year into their IoT deployments, they start to realize that they may have been shortsighted in the ways they built out their deployment and the key thing I see a lot of people looking at is - how can I take equipment data, pull it back in an IoT solution and show it in a dashboard," stated Dave McCarthy, Director of Products at Bsquare Corporation, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 10, 2016 09:15 PM EST Reads: 1,356
Everyone knows that truly innovative companies learn as they go along, pushing boundaries in response to market changes and demands. What's more of a mystery is how to balance innovation on a fresh platform built from scratch with the legacy tech stack, product suite and customers that continue to serve as the business' foundation. In his General Session at 19th Cloud Expo, Michael Chambliss, Head of Engineering at ReadyTalk, discussed why and how ReadyTalk diverted from healthy revenue and mor...
Dec. 10, 2016 07:30 PM EST Reads: 1,825
Whether your IoT service is connecting cars, homes, appliances, wearable, cameras or other devices, one question hangs in the balance – how do you actually make money from this service? The ability to turn your IoT service into profit requires the ability to create a monetization strategy that is flexible, scalable and working for you in real-time. It must be a transparent, smoothly implemented strategy that all stakeholders – from customers to the board – will be able to understand and comprehe...
Dec. 10, 2016 07:00 PM EST Reads: 4,159
The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to simplify and streamline our lives by automating routine tasks that distract us from our goals. This promise is based on the ubiquitous deployment of smart, connected devices that link everything from industrial control systems to automobiles to refrigerators. Unfortunately, comparatively few of the devices currently deployed have been developed with an eye toward security, and as the DDoS attacks of late October 2016 have demonstrated, this oversight can ...
Dec. 10, 2016 06:30 PM EST Reads: 1,552
You have great SaaS business app ideas. You want to turn your idea quickly into a functional and engaging proof of concept. You need to be able to modify it to meet customers' needs, and you need to deliver a complete and secure SaaS application. How could you achieve all the above and yet avoid unforeseen IT requirements that add unnecessary cost and complexity? You also want your app to be responsive in any device at any time. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Mark Allen, General Manager of...
Dec. 10, 2016 06:30 PM EST Reads: 1,973
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables – activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what “IoT” means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be. We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smar...
Dec. 10, 2016 06:15 PM EST Reads: 1,111
"ReadyTalk is an audio and web video conferencing provider. We've really come to embrace WebRTC as the platform for our future of technology," explained Dan Cunningham, CTO of ReadyTalk, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at WebRTC Summit at 19th Cloud Expo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 10, 2016 05:30 PM EST Reads: 1,015
Bert Loomis was a visionary. This general session will highlight how Bert Loomis and people like him inspire us to build great things with small inventions. In their general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Harold Hannon, Architect at IBM Bluemix, and Michael O'Neill, Strategic Business Development at Nvidia, discussed the accelerating pace of AI development and how IBM Cloud and NVIDIA are partnering to bring AI capabilities to "every day," on-demand. They also reviewed two "free infrastructure" pr...
Dec. 10, 2016 05:15 PM EST Reads: 1,429
As data explodes in quantity, importance and from new sources, the need for managing and protecting data residing across physical, virtual, and cloud environments grow with it. Managing data includes protecting it, indexing and classifying it for true, long-term management, compliance and E-Discovery. Commvault can ensure this with a single pane of glass solution – whether in a private cloud, a Service Provider delivered public cloud or a hybrid cloud environment – across the heterogeneous enter...
Dec. 10, 2016 04:30 PM EST Reads: 1,934
WebRTC is the future of browser-to-browser communications, and continues to make inroads into the traditional, difficult, plug-in web communications world. The 6th WebRTC Summit continues our tradition of delivering the latest and greatest presentations within the world of WebRTC. Topics include voice calling, video chat, P2P file sharing, and use cases that have already leveraged the power and convenience of WebRTC.
Dec. 10, 2016 04:30 PM EST Reads: 1,842
"At ROHA we develop an app called Catcha. It was developed after we spent a year meeting with, talking to, interacting with senior citizens watching them use their smartphones and talking to them about how they use their smartphones so we could get to know their smartphone behavior," explained Dave Woods, Chief Innovation Officer at ROHA, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 19th Cloud Expo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 10, 2016 03:30 PM EST Reads: 950


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Twitter rolled out an automatic link shortening feature on Tuesday that enables users to paste long URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) directly into messages sent through its microblogging website, without worrying that the message will exceed the serv...
Twitter is becoming an increasingly important tool for marketing and search optimization and experts are learning more about how to best use the service, they said Tuesday during a panel at Search Marketing Expo in Seattle.
I came a little late to the Twitter party. Once I embraced the basic concept, I set out to build a massive Twitter following -- in all the wrong ways, and for all the wrong reasons. If you are new to Twitter, or trying to gain Twitter followers, perh...
Another stolen laptop has been recovered with the one-two punch of laptop recovery software -- which took covertly took photos of the thief, a blog on Tumblr, and Twitter.
The number of U.S. Twitter users jumped in the past year, increasing more than 50 per cent, according to a study from the Pew Research Center.
University of California, San Diego researchers next week plan to demonstrate a solid state storage device that uses phase-change memory to blow away traditional hard drives and even newer flash drives.
The registry operator for the .CO top-level domain, .CO Internet SAS, has exceeded 1 million domain name registrations, a significant milestone for the company in its efforts to position the domain as a safe, attractive Internet presence option for b...
Google is rolling out its +1 recommend button across third-party web sites, as well as to Google properties, a day after Twitter introduced a "Follow" button for third-party sites.
The group of anonymous hackers that posted a fake story proclaiming Tupac Shakur is alive and well in New Zealand on PBS' website might now be targeting Sony.
Twitter has revamped its search engine, improving relevance and adding multimedia content to results, and in a few weeks it will start letting users attach photos to their posts via a new native feature on Twitter.com.
Twitter has developed a button that Web publishers can integrate into their sites to let visitors easily subscribe to Twitter accounts, the company said.
Twitter, which has made generating ad revenue one of its priorities, has acquired AdGrok, a company whose software is designed to simplify the creation and management of campaigns using Google's AdWords search advertising service.
A security researcher has discovered a means of hijacking sensitive information from cookies in Internet Explorer. The 'cookiejacking' technique could expose credentials from Facebook, Twitter, Gmaiil, or other online services, but Microsoft doesn't ...
With some users unable to sign into Skype and make voice calls, the soon-to-be-acquired-by-Microsoft company offered users a multi-step fix to get its service running again.
Twitter is finally acquiring the third-party Tweet organizer TweetDeck, for the neat (rumored) sum of $40 million. But what does this mean for small businesses that use Twitter?
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BookMyShow, an Indian app that facilitates ticket bookings for every variety of entertainment, has fallen victim to netizens’ wrath for promoting a “controversial” artist, Hussain Haidry, by announcing his upcoming show. The ‘Hindustani Musalmaan’ who is also extremely eloquent #HussainHaidry is live on his Insta at 9pm today. https://t.co/piLwKUIAcA#ItAllStartsHere #BookMyShow #LiveFromHQ pic.twitter.com/rNOR3441Md — BookMyShow (@bookmyshow) April 10, 2020 Hussain Haidry is an Indian poet and lyricist who rose to fame after his poem Hindustani Musalman (Indian Muslim) went viral on social media. The artist has been accused of “inciting hatred” by making objectionable comments against the majority Hindu community in the past, as he previously shared posts that used terms such as “Hindu Terrorists” and “state-sponsored Hindu terrorism” that were widely circulated on social media platforms. #UninstallBookMyShow is trending on Twitter India, with tweeples calling on users to boycott and uninstall the app. From the general public to politicians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, people are showing their disapproval for the app’s promotion of his shows. I have uninstalled #BookMyShow#BookMyShow app #UninstallBookMyShow #BoycottBookMyShow pic.twitter.com/ZeYD7lBFpy — ठाकुर सचिन चौहान 🇮🇳 (@Sachin_thakur1) April 12, 2020 I have uninstalled your app @bookmyshow for promoting this Hinduphobic Hussain https://t.co/DDe0bj8NCs pic.twitter.com/BgpWUDqoPk — True Thinker (@sashwat_satya)… Read full this story
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Indian markets turned into consolidation mode after nearing the crucial 16000 resistance level. Both Benchmark indices lost more than 1 per cent in the week. After gaining 291 points on Friday, Sensex closed the week lower at 15689, a net fall of 233 points from its last weekends close. Nifty lost 51 points from its previous weekends close and finished at 4680.
FII"s pulled out Rs.904 crore in the first four days of the week. On global front, US stocks surged on Friday, despite, of Unemployment rate jumped to 26 year high of 9.7 per cent in August.
BSE Auto sector was the top gainer for the week by 4.5 per cent on the back of strong sales numbers in August month, followed by Reality by 0.2 per cent.
Inflation registered its lowest fall in the last three months. It has ended for the week August 22 moved up to-0.21 per cent from -0.95 per cent in the previous week. Inflationary pressures are starting to build up in the economy.
This week focus will be on the technical levels. Much of the domestic positive news factored, markets would continue to look at its international counter parts.
Government handover Maytas Infra to IL&FS
Nearly six months after taking over control of Maytas Infra, the government allowed infrastructure major IL&FS to replace the B Ramalinga Raju family as promoters of the crisis-hit company.
The change in ownership will take place through a mix of direct equity holding and foreclosure of pledged shares. IL&FS is presently holding 14.5% shares directly in Maytas; it has been allowed to foreclose its rights on 22.6 per cent pledged shares, which would become the total holding to 37.1 per cent.
IL&FS will spend around Rs.150 crore to acquire the 22.6 per cent stake and plans to announce an open offer in a day or two. Open offer rate is based on Monday"s close. The company will also provide liquidity support of Rs.55 crore for next three months. It raises fresh capital at appropriate stage through QIP issue.
Tata Motors posts Rs.329 crore consolidated loss in Q1
Tata Motors reported Rs.329 crore consolidated loss for the June quarter as against Rs.720 crore profits in the corresponding period last year. The loss is from Jaguar Land rover (JLR) of Britain and its acquisition in last year June.
Net sales for the quarter increased by 13% to Rs.16290 crore. The company has repaid 150 million dollars out of the 1 billion dollars bridge loan rolled over in May, which has taken to buy JLR.
The company had a total debt of Rs.33850 crore at the end of this quarter. Out of that, Rs.22000 crore was for the automotive business. The rest included debt for the vehicle finance business.
Car sales zoom on festive fuel
Auto companies posted strong Auto sales numbers for the August month on the back of festive demand. Maruti Suzuki sales jumped 29 per cent to 69961 cars in august over 54113 cars sold in corresponding month last year. It also posted highest ever exports, which trebled to 14847 cars.
The growth of sale came from the A2segment cars Alto, Wagon R, Estilo, Swift and Ritz etc.
Hyundai India motor posted 13 per cent jump in domestic car sales to 24401 units, while exports increased by 9 per cent to 25120 cars as against same period last year.
Tata Motors car sales increased by 11 per cent to 17364 units in domestic market. The company sold 2501 Nanos in August and Indica sales went up by 24 per cent to 9598 cars.
Mahindra & Mahindra"s domestic sales for August increased by 17 per cent to 21140 units over 18322 units for the same period last year.
(An article by DAS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & ADVISORS Pvt Ltd)


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Apple has unveiled a new payment product. State that stocks have fallen.
The “buy now, pay later” space is becoming increasingly crowded and that’s bad news for
Affirm (ticker: AFRM) will now face competition from the tech giant
(AAPL), which announced buy now, pay later for a product called Apple Pay Later at its closely watched annual developer conference on Monday.
BNPL’s announcement was sandwiched between Apple unveiling a new range of laptops and updated software for its iPhones, but it was enough to send Affirm shares down 5.5% in trade of Monday.
It’s been a tough year for Affirm as the payments company faces increasing competition from traditional financial firms as well as tech players like Apple.
The company has also been challenged by the broader pullback in shares of high-flying tech companies that have largely benefited from the pandemic. Today, with the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates and the subsequent likelihood of a slowing economy, investor appetite for money-losing companies is diminishing.
Shares of Affirm, which had traded around $170 each, have fallen 76% in the past 12 months and recently changed hands at $23.72.
The company said in a statement that it has more than 200,000 integrated merchant partners and consumers can use Affirm at virtually any retailer through its app.
“Consumers, especially now, are looking for more transparent and flexible alternatives to credit cards. Affirm has been offering this for nearly a decade in a very differentiated way, with personalized payment plans with terms ranging from six weeks to 60 months,” the company said. “Even as more vendors join the bandwagon we’ve started, the price tag is still huge, and we believe no one can do what our team and technology can do.”
Apple’s new product will be managed through its Wallet app on the iPhone. Customers will be able to use the BNPL service on items purchased where Apple Pay is accepted. Rather than paying for the item all at once, customers will make four payments over six weeks and incur no charges.
Other companies offering BNPL products, such as
(PYPL) and Block (SQ), formerly known as Square, saw their shares change little during Monday’s trading session and actually ended the day up 0.3% and 0.4 %, respectively.
Apple, meanwhile, saw its shares climb 0.5% on Monday.
Write to Carleton English at [email protected]


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PTC to acquire service management firm Servigistics for $220M
Parametric Technology (Nasdaq: PMTC) will put down cash to acquire an Atlanta firm that makes software designed to manage service contracts, warranties and technical information.
The deal for Servigistics Inc., valued at $220 million cash, is expected to close in September, the companies announced Tuesday. Last year, Servigistics ranked No. 3,259 on the Inc. 5000, reporting $70.5 million in 2010 revenue. The firm operates in a niche of enterprise software known as service lifecycle management (SLM). Customers include Maytag, Volvo and the U.S. Postal Service, according to Inc.
The acquisition news release put Servigistics' revenue over the past 12 months at approximately $80 million.
The acquisition increases PTC's non-GAAP earnings per share target for 2013 by 2 cents to 5 cents, to $1.70 to $1.80, the company said.
“Over the past few years, Servigistics has earned a reputation for innovation in helping companies maximize their global service businesses through increased profitability, cash flow, and customer loyalty,” said PTC president and CEO Jim Heppelmann, in a statement. “Their customers are at the leading edge of a global trend to take service from a cost center to a profit center, and SLM technology has been a critical driver. This acquisition should make clear just how serious PTC is about helping its customers achieve lasting service advantage.”
Based in Needham, Mass., Parametric makes software related to product design, product information and product development, including product lifecycle management (PLM) and computer-aided design (CAD).
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By Jim Nelson | December 15, 2023
ORLANDO, FL — Charles Kettering, the 20th-century engineer and inventor who founded Delco Electronics, once famously said, “The world hates change. Yet, it’s the only thing that’s ever brought progress.” Change can certainly be uncomfortable, but it’s not only inevitable, it’s necessary.
Change was the overarching theme of The Past, Present, and Future of Senior Living Food & Beverage panel at the recent 2023 HEALTHTAC Food & Beverage conference at Disney’s Grand Floridian Hotel & Spa. The session gathered four senior living culinary department heads and a pair of food & beverage suppliers for an in-depth discussion about the changes we’ve seen, and will see, in the food and beverage side of senior living.
The conversation got started with some panelists reminiscing about things that they’re happy to no longer see in their kitchens.
“The salad station in the middle of the dining room,” Retirement Unlimited, Inc. VP of Culinary Operations Mohamed Tarawneh began, “I’m glad that thing is gone now.”
“I would say the amount of paperwork we had to manage 10 years ago,” Health Dimensions Group VP of Culinary Excellence Mika Stevenson added. “With POSs — point of care systems — we’re able to digitize a lot of that. And I think that’s been incredibly helpful.”
CareOne SVP of Culinary Services & Procurement Logistics Michael Spector was happy to see the “shift from pencil and paper to technology.”
For RiverSpring Living’s Vice President of Dining Services Shane Kuhnen, it was the transition away from RTU items. “Predominantly in the past, they used the ready-to-use products, and now we have a more fresh-food focus towards senior health.”
Bringing the conversation into the present, the panelists were asked to talk about how they are offsetting inflation.
“It’s been very important to find the pennies wherever you can,” said Kuhnen. “You could do that fillet once a week, but then you need to get a little bit more creative with grain bowls, and stuff like that, during the week.”
“We’re doing disaster menus,” said Jo Miller, the vice president of nutrition at Meals for All, “so we work with our partners to forecast into the future so that we can try and purchase things out of volume to help manage that cost over time and purchase things with a lot of forethought. The challenge is we can’t just change our menus, so we have to think to the future rather than thinking in the now.”
“As costs have risen across the board for everything everybody’s buying,” said ClarkPro Partnership Development Manager Becky Smith, “I think our options and choices are more important. Where we used to be so specific to a brand, to a certain way of doing things, I’ve seen our partners open their minds to the ‘good, better, best’ mentality, making the right choice for the operation, over sticking with what they’ve always done. If we always do what we’ve always done, we’re always going to get what we’ve always got.”
“Everybody — operators and vendors — have had to be really magicians in how they’ve adjusted over the last few years to make do,” CareOne’s Spector added.
What about new gadgets or technology currently helping to make life in the culinary department easier?
“Technology has been the best use of people’s time and energy,” said Spector. “Using a menu and production system would be a gadget accessible to staff by their mobile phones if they want, or a tablet in the kitchen. Those sorts of pieces have become invaluable in the operation today.”
“You think about all the stuff you have to manage,” Stevenson agreed: “temp logs, cleaning checklists, diet rosters, things like that. Now we have an iPad where we can do all that stuff; if you need to present something to a state inspector, or you’re doing an internal inspection, you just run a report right off the iPad. And it also sets a reminder; the chef gets an alert to go make sure that temperature’s taken.”
In The Bronx, RiverSpring’s Kuhnen is doing something unique with purées, which they call Tasteful Textures.
“I’m very proud of taking care of memory care residents,” he said. “I think everybody in this room can relate to a loved one or someone you know that went through memory impairment, and we’ve created a program that gives them the same dignified menu that our IL residents receive. So that same fillet, we do a piping and molding on campus where we present the food incredibly well. We had a resident’s daughter come in and she was, ‘My mom can’t eat regular, she’s on a purée.’ [It was] right after we kicked off the program. We said, ‘That’s a purée,’ and she burst into tears. At that moment I was like, ‘Alright, we’ve got purpose, we’re going to drive this with everything we’ve got.’
The future, of course, also includes the people who will one day work in senior living dining, so the panel was asked what they would say to a chef who’s thinking of transitioning from restaurants or the hospitality industry.
“The senior living environment is morphing into cook-to-serve, much more restaurant-style service,” Spector noted, “and my sell to somebody outside of senior living is the hours are manageable. You have time to share and spend with your family and friends.”
More than a decade ago Tarawneh was one who transitioned from restaurants to senior living. “The only thing I could advise each chef,” he offered, “it’s an opportunity to develop your skill and be better at what you do. Because in this industry we have the kitchen to ourselves, we could experiment on new recipes; in the restaurant lifestyle, you can’t do that. It’s all about revenue, and a really tight budget. The owner would be like, ‘You used my flour.’ But in senior living, you could really experiment on a new recipe and develop new skills for it. I was not a pastry chef before; I knew some, but I really developed so many recipes from scratch when I started with senior living lifestyles.”
And after working at some high-end restaurants as a sous chef, Stevenson received some great advice of his own about making the transition to senior living. “You’re not cooking for you,” he relayed. “This isn’t a restaurant. You’re cooking for these residents, this is their home, check your ego at the door and cook the food that they want. And I took that to heart.”
“I think we’re in a real fun time right now with our business,” Kuhnen said. “The innovation that’s coming up, the young minds that are getting into this industry, it’s a really exciting time. I think you’re going to see a trend in the next five to 10 years [that’s] going to really blow everybody away in the industry: those YouTube videos, those TikTok videos, you have a lot of young chefs out there that are so talented, 15, 16 years old, and they’re doing Beef Wellingtons. These guys at 25 are going to be pretty sharp. I look forward to watching it all blossom.”
And what would these captains of culinary services like to see in their kitchens in the future?
“More staff, actually,” said Tarawneh. “I think we’re all struggling in that.”
“I think with the new generation coming in, standards are going to be higher,” said Stevenson, “so we’re going to need quality to increase. To what Mohamed said, I think we’re going to have to bring in higher-skilled people, or bring in more staff, and I think that’s going to force us to move culinary-wise into a better direction in our communities.
“And server robots,” Stevenson added.
“I think in my 30 years a lot has changed,” Spector said, “but a lot really hasn’t changed. We’re all looking at different levels of technology, whether it’s turbo chef; there’s cook/chill technology; there’s combi technology; ways for us to enhance and be more efficient in how we do things.
“We did have a good discussion about robots,” he continued. “I had a really fun discussion with my table mate this morning about it, and I was able to pick his brain and sort of get an understanding of what he likes about it.”
“I think we’re going to continue to see innovations in virtual reality, augmented reality,” Smith said. “If I want to change my China pattern or my flatware pattern — I don’t know if you’ve all done this, but I do it all the time when I’m shopping on Wayfair: ‘What’s that lamp look like in that corner? What does that place setting look like?’ Right before you’re buying it. So, I think those innovations are right around the corner, and it’s going to help you make decisions quicker and make it easier to purchase.”
“One of the things that I see in the future is more use of 3D printing,” Miller mentioned. “I don’t think that we’re going to get a 3D printed pizza, per se, but maybe our garden chips are interesting ways to utilize that technology and utilize purées and things that you’re doing that could maybe enhance senior dining even more. Could you imagine a 3D printed steak for your purée residents?”
“I think you’re going to see seniors start aging more gracefully,” Kuhnen said. “We’re starting to see 90-year-olds out swimming, walking; you’re going to start seeing that number get higher and people be healthier, longer, because of education, modern-day technology for the doctors. It’s going to be a really interesting thing when we’re serving 110-, 112-year-old residents in our dining rooms. It’s going to be pretty crazy, I think.”


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Since 2019, the International New Rose Competition has been held in Nyon to showcase new varieties of roses from around the world.
Nyon was the only one of the 28 competitions organised by the World Federation of Roses to include in its rules a requirement for zero phytosanitary treatment from the day of planting to the day of the final judging. Specialists from all over the world come to take part in this competition, with flowers from China, the USA and other European countries.
The Competition and the judging of the most beautiful new flowers will take place on 15 June 2024 and only invited guests will have access to the rose garden. The public is invited to visit the Competition rose garden in the company of garden rose specialists on Friday 21 June from 4pm to 7pm and on Saturday 22 June from 10am to 2pm.


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Police say a Fresno woman conned 60 people in a scheme involving the popular Craigslist Web site.
Authorities say 32-year-old Olga Domingo was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 20 felony counts, including grand theft and writing fictitious checks.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Thursday the scam began with someone in Nigeria identifying a person selling an item on Craigslist. He said Domingo would arrange to buy the item but send a bad check made out for thousands too much.
The chief said Sellers who contacted Domingo were told to keep about $100 for their trouble and wire the rest back.
Police say nearly 1,500 fake checks went out and 60 people returned a total of $79,000, of which $65,000 went back to Nigeria.
Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com