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Samsung has introduced two new Chromebook models to its laptop line-up, adding the same faux leather stitching as its Galaxy smartphones
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In a bid to stave off competition in the low-end tablet and notebook market, Microsoft will be reducing what it charges device manufacturers for its Windows 8.1 licenses, according to a Friday Bloomberg report that references anonymous sources. For devices that retail for less than $250, the cost of a Windows 8.1 install will drop […]
Better gaming controls and a much improved battery, but the Archos Gamepad 2 still can’t replace a dedicated handheld console
Analysts at both Gartner and IDC reported the seventh straight quarter of declining PC shipments, although both firms saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Of the top PC vendors, Lenovo widened its lead over HP and Dell on a worldwide basis during the fourth quarter of 2013, as the Chinese PC maker […]
Price: 330 Rating: 7 Acer’s Aspire V5-122P is an odd laptop, perched rather precariously between an old-fashioned netbook and a flashy new Ultrabook. It does provide some very attractive features for a laptop that costs less than £350, but its appeal is marred by its poor battery life. (We reviewed a slightly more expensive version […]
Acer is trying to push down the prices of Chromebooks, announcing a new laptop with Chrome OS priced at US$199.99. The Acer Chromebook C720-2848 has an 11.6-inch screen, and is targeted at those who do most of their computing on the Web. The lightweight laptop offers 8.5 hours of battery life and runs on an […]
Price: £229 inc VAT Rating: 6 If Apple can sell the idea of a plastic iPhone as a good thing, then HP must be on-trend with its new 11in Chromebook. There are acres of glossy white plastic, including when you open the lid. The lid is featureless save for the thin strip of lit-up Google […]
Dell has updated its XPS 13 ultrabook and XPS 15 laptop with the latest Intel 4th Generation Core processors, as well as ultra-high-resolution displays
PC sales may continue to shrink, but hardware makers can point to a couple of bright spots–Chromebooks and touch-based Windows laptops. Chromebooks, which had negligible market share a year ago, accounted for 3.3 percent of U.S. sales during the back-to-school season, according to market research firm NPD Group. Nearly 175,000 of these low-cost laptops, which […]
High-performance tablets are about to become very, very cheap, if Intel has any say in the matter. The company took the wraps off its newest system-on-chip (SoC) at the annual Intel Developers Forum (IDF) Tuesday. Code-named Bay Trail, the new processor family will power new Windows and Android on tablets priced as low as $199. […]
From mundane 2D devices, integrated cameras in laptops and tablets in the future will change into powerful 3D tools that can sense movement, track emotion, and even monitor reading habits of children, according to Intel.
Although it’s just a small box, this is a fully featured USB and S/PDIF DAC for your PC or hi-fi separates system
We see if Acer’s B-team tablet might be a star player
Staples has a nice deal on a potential back to school laptop this weekend. You can get the Lenovo G500s 15.6” screen laptop with Intel Core i5 processor for $399.99 after using coupon code 24181 at checkout. The specs on this laptop are impressive for the low sub $400 price. You get a 3rd generation […]
It may look like a tablet, but Acer’s budget Ultrabook hybrid is an award winner
Just as tech stocks were starting to rise this week, dismal PC sales reports for the first quarter burst the very short-lived bubble, causing shares of IT companies to fall back to earth Thursday.
Chillblast’s Genesis Mini is a compact 11.6in laptop, no Ultrabook but a mini notebook built for gaming. Here’s our Chillblast Genesis Mini review.
The upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad T431s that we covered earlier this year is creeping closer to an actual release date as new information from leaked slides in the NotebookReview forums indicate an MSRP of $1,149 along with a whole host of other information: The light weight of 3.6lbs should be a crowd pleaser for any fans […]
Microsoft is apparently working on a software update to fix issues in the core applications – Mail, Calendar, Music and Games – found in Windows 8 and Windows RT
The growing use of handheld devices and social media among students is creating a technology tipping point for schools that could completely break down the barriers between teaching platforms within five to 10 years, Bill Gates said Thursday.
HP has a new coupon code available, use coupon PRES100 on any laptop priced $999 or more and you get $100 off. This coupon works on both customized and preconfigured laptops, which is a rare thing, usually HP coupon codes are good only on custom laptops. There are some exclusions to this offer, the HP […]
HP’s Spectre XT TouchSmart is certainly an attractive and well-built laptop. But this large 15in laptop stretches the meaningless term ‘Ultrabook’ to the limit.
This tablet-based eReader has a mostly vanilla installation of Android 4.0, 16GB of storage and a 7in IPS screen
Windows laptops and PCs under full-frontal iPad and Android tablet attack.
Microsoft’s Surface RT will be available from John lewis for the first time, with UK high-street stores start getting demonstration models and stock


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One of the very first events by MopDoppler Entertainment Inc. was at the British E3 event in Cornwall, England, from June thirteenth to June fifteenth. Many say that MopDoppler's official E3 press conference was one of the most enticing, enjoyable and largest, using several of the founders and co-founders as their main presenting base.
Press Conference Tweaks
- Dario: Advanced Planet: hitting stores around October 2029, adapting and taking advantage to the Techno Advanced.
- Zedd: New series planned to be launched, demo version available for download via the MopDoppler eStore, launching planned streak of games
- Infinity to be released mid-December 2030, taking advantage of the INTELLIGENT Systems
- New laptop under development
- Several projects under development for near future
- Project Dust currently active, meaning that all glitches and bugs ("dust") derived by fans are to be fixed and explained as soon as discovery.
- Project Scrap currently inactive, meaning that all older consoles created by MopDoppler Entertainment Inc. were no longer supported
- New Techno console under development
- New Dario game to be released momentarily after the release of the new console
- PuzzlePix HD series to feature its final game in mid-2032
- Collaboration made and signed with Nintendo of America; new Pokémon game under development

domain: news


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Many retailers in Calgary quickly pivoted to online sales and curbside pickup models when their physical stores were forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as they reopen as part of the economic relaunch, they’re finding some of the changes to retail shopping could be permanent.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“This forced businesses to look at other ways of doing business and I think that’s really, really good, because a lot of people don’t think about pivoting or modifying how they do business. But all of a sudden it was, ‘Oh, well, we have this online model that’s totally working. Let’s keep that when we open our doors again,” said Jill Hawker, owner of The Apothecary in Inglewood.
“I think this can be seen as a positive thing through all of this.”
The Apothecary found a new rhythm and frequent shoppers through its online and curbside pickup model during quarantine, and Hawker said it will be sticking around even though the store has reopened. Because of the success of the new model, Hawker didn’t have to lay off staff and will be looking to hire more staff in the coming weeks.


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This story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch examines what happens to big boxes if you can't find another retailer to move in. This is something we touched on in a package of stories last May. In a climate where it seems another round of closings is announced each day, it makes for timely reading.
She's one of a growing number of architects and planners studying ways to reuse such spaces, often in nonretail ways.
Creative reuse, of course, is not a new idea. Cities have been doing it for centuries. Warehouses are now loft condos. Factories become restaurants. Hundred-year-old brick homes get carved up into apartments, and then reassembled as grand homes a generation later.
But, too often, the auto-centric world of suburban retail has been seen differently, Dunham-Jones said.
"Culturally, we have expected our suburbs to remain frozen in whatever form they were birthed in," she said. "The reality is the suburbs, too, are changing. Nothing really ever does stay the same."
Artist Julia Christensen spent seven years traveling the country, studying those changes. Particularly, she visited old Wal-Marts and Kmarts that have been put to new use, often by nonprofit organizations and community groups that wanted lots of cheap space and good road access.
Christensen found schools, libraries and health clinics. And churches, lots of them. Wal-Mart has said at least 16 of its stores have been turned into churches since 2002. "Temples of consumption" turned into, well, temples.


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The money has to go a little further this year. Here are some of our favorite sites to visit for deals on Cyber Monday and throughout the holiday season.
Dollar stores aren’t just for bargain hunters anymore. The down economy is a big reason the discount chains are the fastest-growing retailers in the country right now.
A man got away with some money after robbing a Dollar Tree in White Bear Lake Wednesday evening, according to police.


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Rick Nease illustration (Picture: MCT)
Speak about a tricky, cash-grab deal to empty a huge selection of bucks through the bank records of struggling customers.
Simply tune in to just just just how this 1 goes: a customer goes online to check into a cash advance. And maybe even got such that loan on the web within the past.
The financial institution buys that customer’s information that is personal through some other information broker â€” after which quickly deposits $200 or $300 in to the customer’s banking account minus the consumer really authorizing that loan, based on regulators that are federal.
It isn’t something special. It is a gotcha. The online lender begins automatically taking right out $60 or $90 every single other week in “interest charges” indefinitely. Customers allegedly destroyed tens of vast amounts in unauthorized costs on unauthorized loans, based on regulators.
It is a warning worth hearing, specially, on the financial edge if you find yourself. The Federal Trade Commission in addition to customer Financial Protection Bureau took action this thirty days regarding two different payday that is online outfits. And regulators pledge to help keep an eye fixed on other deals that are such.
The buyer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit that alleges that the Hydra Group utilizes information it purchased from online generators that are lead illegally deposit payday advances â€” and withdraw costs â€” from checking records without having a customer’s permission. About $97.3 million in payday advances were created from 2012 through March 2013 january. About $115.4 million ended up being obtained from customer bank records.
The FTC alleges that Timothy Coppinger, Frampton (Ted) Rowland III, and a group of companies they owned or operated used personal financial information bought from third-party lead generators or data brokers to make unauthorized payday loans and then access customer bank accounts without authorization in another case.
The FTC problem lists names of organizations including CWB solutions, Orion Services, Sand aim Capital, Anasazi Group, Mass Street Group among others.
Regulatory actions represent one part of an instance. Phillip Greenfield, the lawyer in Kansas City, Mo., representing Rowland, stated their client’s entities’ involvement had been restricted to funding the loans authorized by CWB Services and getting the debtor’s payment of these loans. Rowland denies the FTC allegations, noting that the mortgage servicing dilemmas into the instance focus on parties maybe perhaps maybe not connected to Rowland.
Patrick McInerney, the Kansas City lawyer representing Coppinger, stated Coppinger denies the allegations into the FTC’s lawsuit and can reduce the chances of each one of the claims raised.
During the FTC’s request, a U.S. region court in Missouri has temporarily halted the web payday financing procedure.
Michigan regulators report that customers dealing with financial hardships right here have now been targeted, too.
Their state Department of Insurance and Financial solutions stated it offers gotten two complaints regarding businesses mentioned in the FTC action.
Catherine Kirby, director associated with the working office for customer solutions during the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, said customers have to be incredibly careful whenever trying to get a loan on the web.
Some customers don’t realize they are working with a lead generator that could be supplying that information to lenders that are various.
Whenever lead generator sells your details up to a loan provider, you will possibly not have the ability to research the financial institution fast sufficient in certain among these regulatory instances.
Customers could have trouble shutting their bank records to quit the costs from being withdrawn, or if they did shut the accounts effectively, most of the time their information will be offered to third-party collectors, the CFPB claimed.
Both regulators talked about non-existent or loan that is false relating to invest in costs, re re re payment schedules and final number of re re re payments.
For instance, the FTC stated, the defendants would not reveal that customers could be needed to spend indefinite finance fees without having any re re payments reducing the balance that is principal.
A disclosure box offered a photo to make it appear to be a $300 loan would price $390. But extra fine print suggested that brand new finance costs would strike with every refinancing associated with the loan.
The truth is, a $300 loan price a lot more than $1,000 in biweekly debits for many customers.
Speak about one amazing solution to grab money right away from somebody’s paycheck come payday.
More warnings on payday advances
â– before you take away a short-term loan, give consideration to all other choices. Be extra cautious with sharing personal banking information whenever trying to get a loan online that is payday.
â– In Michigan, you need to see in cases where a loan provider is licensed very very very first to complete company into the http://cash-advanceloan.net/payday-loans-wv state.


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Maryland Book Bank van stolen in Baltimore
Someone stole a van that collects book donations for kids throughout Baltimore.
The theft happened outside the Maryland Book Bank on Union Avenue in north Baltimore.
When the van isn't being driven around, picking up hundreds of donations a day, it sits outside the book bank, telling people where they can drop off and pick up books for free.
It was stolen sometime between Monday afternoon and early Tuesday morning.
Kimberly Crout, Maryland Book Bank program manager, came into the Maryland Book Bank warehouse Tuesday morning, thinking her biggest concern would be unpacking and stocking books.
But that was before she looked outside.
The van that picks up thousands of book donations a week so they can be delivered to kids was gone, stolen from right outside the warehouse loading dock.
"I can't reiterate enough how important it is. It's an item that we utilize every single day," Crout said.
The van displays the Maryland Book Bank motto: "Donate a book, change a child's life."
And it travels all over the Baltimore area, picking up book donations from homes, schools and libraries.
The book bank is on track to distribute more than 400,000 books this year.
"When you go out into the field and you see these kids and how much (they appreciate) having books in their home, and you know, just being able to interact with books means to them, it just makes it all the more disappointing that, you know we would be hit with this blow, considering how important our mission is," Crout said.
Employees last saw the van parked outside when they left the warehouse at around 2 p.m. Monday.
There isn't a camera pointed at that spot. As of now, police don't have any suspects.
"It hurts our ability to do our day-t- day operations. It hurts our ability to bring books to the kids that need them. Nothing is ever going to stop us. We're going to find a way, but it still hurts in the interim," Crout said.
The book bank also sells books to help support the children's program. They use the van to take those books to the post office.
As of now, Crout said she doesn't know how that's going to happen.
The license plate on the van is "8-BK-45-57." Employees are pleading with anyone who knows about the case to call 911.


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Gas price gouging law in effect in NC: What it means for consumers
North Carolina’s law against price gouging is in effect due to limited supplies of gasoline caused by a leak in a pipeline that carries gas from the Gulf Coast to North Carolina and other southeastern states.
As of 11 a.m. on Monday, more than 400 consumers had filed complaints online, or via a toll-free hotline to report potential gas price gouging.
Attorney General Roy Cooper is urging consumers to report gas prices that seem unreasonably high.
“Consumers are our eyes and ears on the ground, and we want to know if you spot potential gas price gouging,” Cooper said.
Price gouging is against North Carolina law when a disaster, an emergency, or an abnormal market disruption for critical goods and services is declared or proclaimed by the Governor. The law applies to all levels of the supply chain, from the manufacturer, to the distributor, to the retailer.
The price gouging law is currently in effect due to a market disruption for gasoline declared late Friday.
How does the law define price gouging?
North Carolina law (Chapter 75-38) defines price gouging as charging “a price that is unreasonably excessive under the circumstances.” There is no set price or percentage increase defined in the law, so the law can apply to different products and services in times of crisis. In this case, the law has in effect specifically to prevent gas price gouging. If a gas price looks excessive, report it and we will look into it.
How can I report price gouging?
You can report price gouging three ways:
Attorney General's Office
Mail Service Center 9001
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001
- Call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM (toll-free within North Carolina) or 919-716-6000.
What should I report?
It’s helpful if you can provide receipts if you purchased gas, or photos of gas station price signs you spot.
How do officials investigate price gouging?
The Consumer Protection Division follows up on complaints of potential price gouging to determine if the law has been violated. They use information provided by consumers, including first-hand reports, receipts, and photos of gas station price signs. They contact gas stations about reports they get and also look at the costs gas stations are charged by their suppliers.
What happens to price gougers?
Price gougers can face fines of up to $5,000 for each violation under North Carolina law. According to our state Constitution, all fines go to support the public schools.


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Clearwater, FL (PRWEB) January 13, 2005
A video service which eliminates the need to download any third party players before viewing streaming videos in email messages and web pages is now available from KOTW.
With this solution, a full-length video can be included in any email message. Once the email is opened the video plays immediately without the need to download or open a separate browser. ÂSince our videos are not sent as email attachments, people are less concerned about viruses and more likely to open them. In addition, the video arrives as a small text file.Â cited KOTWÂs President, Michael Murray. To receive a sample video email visit: http://www.kotw.net/directmail/directmail.cfm
Before a video can be included in an email or website, KOTW encodes it in Real Time Streaming Protocol (as opposed to HTTP streaming which does not use video servers) and then stores it on their video server. It can then be included in emails or, an HTML code fragment of the video can be placed anywhere on a web site allowing multiple viewers to play the video immediately without pauses. And, since the videos cannot be downloaded, the risk of copyright infringements is reduced.
As internet accessibility migrates to faster connection speeds, industry experts feel that consumers are ready to visit internet websites for products advertised on television.
KOTW's Murray believes that by empowering companies with the ability to stream videos of products and services directly to a customer's email, it enables them to reach target markets quickly and effectively. ÂWe offer a tool which has far-reaching applications both for personal and commercial applications.Â said Murray. ÂAnything from full length movies; music and Âhow-toÂ videos; special-interest, travel, training and other videos can be placed in any web page or email for immediate viewingÂ he added.
KOTW was created by Michael Murray and specializes in web development services such as Custom Web Applications and Integrated Web Video solutions including Video Conferencing, Video Training, Video-On-Demand and Video Recording Studio to name some. For more information visit http://www.kotw.net/?pageID=techsupport.
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Tom Stankewicz, Co-Founder of cryptocurrency indices provider AltDex, reported on 04 April about the launch of industry-first benchmark blockchain gaming index.
Tom commenced by highlighting that the AltDex Gaming Index (ALTGME) is now accessible with thirteen altcoin components. He touched upon the prominence of blockchain adoption in the video game industry. Tom emphasized the benefit of gamers to be able to own in-game assets as part of their recreation.
Tom cited on the buildup of cryptocurrencies in the gaming domain as –
“As such, we’ve been tracking the rapidly growing cryptocurrency category that focuses on blockchain gaming. In recent months, many of these coins have started to gain mainstream attention. Names like Enjin Coin (ENJ) have become household names in the crypto space thanks to Samsung partnering with the project.”
Tom conveyed that the launch of the industry’s first benchmark index for the blockchain gaming category was well-timed. He expressed that the focus of this offer would be on coins and tokens of blockchain projects directly related to gaming or esports. There would also be support for other allied decentralized applications.
Tom shared information on the enlisted coins of the index include – Theta Token (THETA), Enjin Coin (ENJ) , WAX (WAX), Decentraland (MANA) , Kin (KIN) , Loom Network (LOOM), MobileGO (MGO), DMarket (DMT), Refereum (RFR), GameCredits (GAME) , Unikoin Gold (UKG), Plair (PLA) , and BitGuild (PLAT) .
Tom further added that the AltDex Gaming Index has started evaluating the list for the rest of the AltDex constituents. The latest evaluation had been added to the platform and more information about the cryptocurrencies added or removed could be found in the respective portal.
In March, Animoca Brands Corporation Limited shared information about a global licensing agreement with Formula 1 (F1) to develop a blockchain game based on the world-famous racing series. Likewise, there were reports that the world’s most powerful blockchain game development platform, Enjin would be rolled out on the largest game engine, Unity.
Tom concluded by highlighting an important point that the list does not feature established smart contract platforms like Ethereum, TRON or EOS. He clarified that such an inclusion would dramatically impact the rankings and would digress from blockchain gaming. Tom noted that although the quoted blockchains could be extended to support gaming applications, it was not their primary area of work.


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Tadbik NJ, Inc.
18 Madison Road, Fairfield, NJ, USA 07004
Ten years ago, L&NW profiled Logotech, a pressure sensitive label converter in Fairfield, NJ, USA, who, at the time, was just hitting its stride and enjoying growth after a decade in business.
A lot can change in ten years. For starters, the business formerly known as Logotech is now Tadbik NJ, Inc., identifying with its parent company, Tadbik. Based in Israel, Tadbik has evolved to become a comprehensive packaging company with a global manufacturing presence, as well as a strong export business.
The formation of Logotech was just one part of Tadbik’s active growth history since its founding in 1983. In the early 80s, Ilan Drory, working in his family’s offset printing business, realized there was no PS label production in Israel. Seeing an opportunity, he purchased a Gallus letterpress label press and would sell labels during the day and run the press at night. Drory found success in the Israeli label market, and in 1993 he merged with his biggest competitor, Devikol, who also happened to manufacture label applicators. With the merger, Tadbik controlled 80-90% of the Israeli label market and was also able to offer a comprehensive labeling solution. However, Drory’s plan was to take Tadbik beyond both Israel and labels.
In 1995, looking to enter the US label market, Drory started Logotech. Realizing there were product-decorating options apart from PS labels, in 1997 he established Tadbik Pack in Israel to focus on shrink sleeves and IML. With regard to equipment, Drory’s philosophy was to have the “best of the best,” and Tadbik Pack became one of the first companies in the world to operate an offset and gravure combination press, manufactured by Drent Goebel.
Tadbik invested in CLP in 1999, Israel’s largest flexible packaging company. With the acquisition, annual sales jumped tripled. Two years later, Tadbik TAT (Tadbik Advanced Technologies) was formed, with a focus on smart label technologies. Also at this time, in 2001, Drory launched – under the CLP name – a pouch-making division in Russia.
In 2004, a state-of-the-art factory was built in Tadion, Israel to provide comprehensive support for labels, shrink sleeves and IML. In 2007, Tadbik purchased the remaining shares of CLP. The company had established a healthy export business, with South Africa becoming a particularly strong market. In 2008, a Tadbik manufacturing facility was opened in South Africa.
After more than four decades of growth, Ilan Drory remains Tadbik’s majority shareholder and CEO, overseeing 950 employees at seven manufacturing sites around the globe. For the last three years, the growth rate is about 25%.
From Logotech to Tadbik NJ
While the parent company has been busy growing and evolving, its US label operation, now known as Tadbik NJ, has done the same, with some major changes on the horizon.
Rewind to 2005, and Leslie Gurland was at Logotech, serving as vice president. Today, Gurland is senior vice president and Aryeh Silbert is CEO of Tadbik NJ and chairman of Tadbik USA.
Much like how the label industry as a whole has evolved, ten years has brought some sweeping changes to Tadbik NJ. From the markets served to the equipment used to production areas of focus, the business continues to grow.
“The core markets that we serve have moved from food to HBA (Health & Beauty),” Gurland says. “We lost some of our bigger customers – on the food side in particular – but have gained in other areas. Today, many of our customers also want smaller quantities.” In addition to HBA and food, which remain strong, the company also serves the beverage, pet, industrial and nutraceutical markets.
Tadbik’s printing technology and machinery have undergone notable changes over the last decade. In 2005, Logotech had four presses: three Gallus letterpress machines and an Arsoma flexo press While two of the Gallus presses remain, so too does the Arsoma. However, a major technology shift came with the 2014 addition of a Mark Andy Performance Series P7 press.
“Tadbik was known as a Gallus house, but we decided to try something new,” explains Gurland. “To go with the Mark Andy P7 was one of the best decisions we have ever made,” she says. “Mark Andy has excellent follow up and gave us tremendous support. And they turned the press around very quickly when we finally came to an agreement. They have a great training program and have been an outstanding partner. And they’re right here in the US. It was a win-win.”
In addition to its flexo and letterpress capabilities, Tadbik NJ also has an HP Indigo ws4050, installed in 2006, which is complemented by an AB Graphic finishing unit. Gurland says plans are in the works for an upgrade to a WS6800, HP Indigo’s latest digital press for pressure sensitive applications. Tadbik is HP Indigo’s biggest customer in Israel, where both companies are headquartered. The flexible division of Tadbik (CLP) just installed the wider width HP Indigo 20000 digital press for flexible packaging.
In line with the Tadbik philosophy of having optimal equipment, the company in New Jersey has upgraded to two Prati rewinders, both of which are equipped with AVT 100% inspection equipment. A third AVT system is installed on the Mark Andy P7.
“When we installed the AVT systems, even though at the time we were heavily into food labels, it made perfect sense,” Gurland says. “Imagine running a job like a pine nut label, for example, and then the roll is spliced with another product and something goes wrong – a consumer could have an allergic reaction, and then you’ve got a recall on your hands.”
The AVT inspection system is a component of Tadbik NJ’s overall commitment to quality. “You have to have quality assurance (QA),” Gurland adds. “In 1995, we were ISO certified but did not have a full-time QA person; our QA from Israel supported us. We made a strategic decision to hire a full time person.
“You have to have a QA manager – and it’s about more than quality,” Gurland adds. “QA is part of our sales team. Every interaction the QA team has with a customer during an audit, or dealing with an issue, allows us to shine as a company and that supports our sales growth. As label and packaging supplier, you have to deliver quality, especially if you want to go after some of the bigger players. And we’re worldwide, so securing business from some of the big brands has been part of our success.”
In 2014 Tadbik recorded the amount of customer-rejected labels at less than 1%. “We had an audit done by a customer and they were in shock. We track not just dollar value but also how many labels – and it was nothing. And that’s where you want to be. Because when you do have a quality issue, all of the departments in the company get involved and you spend time on that issue versus growing your business. And something that we’ve learned from our customers is that they know there will be issues, and the key is not to hide or run from them, but to bring them up. You shine when you stand up and face issues versus running and hiding. When you do have an issue, don’t hide, bring it up.”
The Problem Solvers
While QA is critical, another key component of Tadbik NJ’s business is its role as a problem solver for its customers. While Gurland jokingly calls her staff the “problem busters,” referencing the classic movie “Ghostbusters,” and the iconic “Who’re you going to call…” line, Tadbik takes pride in finding solutions to customer problems.
“We just catch stuff, especially in our prepress department,” Gurland says. “Our customers may sometimes get annoyed that we’re asking so many questions, but invariably we find an issue. We recently had a customer that wanted something run quickly, without following procedures and without getting the proper person to sign off. Sure enough, there was a problem and the customer’s QA department contacted us. After looking at the email chain and identifying what went wrong, we built a new protocol specifically for them, which totally diffused the situation. What’s more, they are now using the system we designed in working with their other vendors,” Gurland says. “So often, our customers are understaffed and under pressure. If we can be to some extent their internal account manager, we’re a big help to them.”
Gurland emphasizes that Tadbik NJ’s ability to solve customer problems is due to the people who put in many years of service growing Logotech. Several people have been at the company for over a decade, and have moved into greater roles. The operations manager, who moved from the creative side as art director to the manufacturing side, applies her right-brain mind to a relatively left-brain area of the workflow. The promotion really helped transform us and changed how we work with people,” Gurland says.
“Every successful company is successful because of the people on the floor,” she adds. “If you don’t have good men and women working for you, you will not succeed, regardless of how good your managers are, or how advanced the equipment is.”
A New Hub
A lot has changed since Logotech first opened its doors 20 years go. And as the company enters its third decade, it’s a new beginning with a big shift imminent.
“In 1995, we were a print house – putting ink on paper. Now, we’re so much more than that, as we’re able to provide solutions and add value,” Gurland says.
In addition, in 2009, the company was ISO 14001 certified. To complement this, in 2010, Logotech was awarded TLMI LIFE certification. The LIFE program is designed specifically for the narrow web marketplace and addresses four key elements of the narrow web printing and converting industry: clean production, energy and greenhouse gases, product and environmentally preferable materials and management practices.
Tadbik’s converting capabilities include hot stamping, cold foil, silkscreen, special effects labels, security labels, re-sealable labels, ECLs, narrow web flexible packaging and a lot more. Through Tadbik in Israel, the company can supply shrink sleeves, IML, flexible packaging pouches and roll stock, lids, inserts, RFID, printed electronics, in-pack promotions, label applicators, shrink tunnels and even insulation.
The New Jersey operation, Logotech, which is now Tadbik NJ, has always been the smallest of Tadbik’s several divisions. Its 34 employees account for a small fraction of the company’s global workforce, and its product offering, while continuously expanding, has primarily focused on pressure sensitive labels.
This is about to change. In 2015, the company is expanding in New Jersey to bring shrink sleeve and IML manufacturing to the US. The new facility will still be called Tadbik NJ, but the company will be looking at further expansion and streamlining of the business coming from Israel; and this will be done under Tadbik USA. Aryeh Silbert, the former president of Logotech, has returned to the company to run the entire Tadbik USA operation. He is officially chairman of Tadbik USA and CEO of Tadbik NJ. Gurland will focus on business development and sales and is now senior vice president of business development and sales for Tadbik NJ.
When Silbert left Logotech, Gurland became president, and for seven years she ran the company on the operations side. She’s happy to be back focusing on development and sales and is looking forward to start offering her customers shrink and IML, from Tadbik’s new US hub for packaging. “Aryeh is an amazing leader and I am thrilled to partner with him once again,” she says.
“This is the big shift – us adding more production here and acting as the hub at Tadbik USA,” Gurland adds. “Ayreh and I, and the entire team, are looking forward to the next 10 years.”


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According to Adobe boss Shantanu Narayen the long-running spat with Apple, and Steve Jobs in particular, about Flash support in iOS is a thing of the past.
Yet we can't help but feel there's a little favouritism going on when Narayen predicts that the flash-friendly Android will achieve market dominance over iOS in the tablet arena, just as it did in the smartphone game.
“What you saw with smartphones hitting an inflection point with Android, you’ll see it again with tablets,” Narayen said in an interview last week.
The Adobe CEO also named HP's TouchPad and RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook as worth watching, both of which also fall on the right side of the fence as far as Adobe is concerned when it comes to Flash support.
The very public mud-slinging match between Apple and Adobe kicked off around the launch of the original iPad last January. Adobe claimed the lack of Flash support on the iPad was due to Apple's inflexibility; Apple said it was because Flash was buggy and a hog on system resources.
The issue dragged on for much of the year, but Adobe has now moved on, Narayen says, though he claims “it’s an argument that the press likes to continue bringing up”.
The Adobe boss says the tablet market will be an exciting place by the end of year, offering real market differentiation and versatility for the end user.
“There will be another 20 tablets that will come by the end of the year that will push the industry in different directions,” Narayen says. “I think the community is vibrant. I’m really excited.”


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Published on Apr 24, 2012
From the http://advertising.microsoft.com Digital Showcase in New York in April 2012, Ross Honey who heads up Entertainment and Advertising on Xbox LIVE talks to Mel Carson about the event, why the future of TV is today and how he persuades brands to try and keep up with all the technology and innovation the Xbox team is generating.


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Did you know that the UK’s luxury market is worth £6.6 billion and is expected to double over the next three years? More importantly, did you know that most of these spenders are from China, Russia and the Middle East? In fact, Arab shoppers spend £4.5 million a day in the UK and nearly £6 million a day if you add the Local Arab community, which lives in London.
As the UK continues to diversify, so does the consumer market. We believe that marketers need to acknowledge that as different cultures enter the UK market, their methods need to change accordingly.
The luxury market is in a league of it’s own and whilst this is recognised by marketers, this ‘league’ needs to be further segmented. The market needs to be based on the styles and preferences of its major consumers as the UK continues to develop into a cultural hub.
In fact, retailers and designers have already begun to adapt according to these preferences. For instance, luxury department store, Harrods, became the first store to stock a designer of modest fashion from the United Arab Emirates, DAS Collection. What’s more, Temperley London, described as ‘a feminine, effortless and timeless designer collection’, has recognised this growth in Middle Eastern luxury shoppers and now includes modest pieces suited for the Muslim lifestyle in its collection.
Having paved the way, it is now up to us, as marketers, to encourage other brands to further segment their luxury marketing. And over at Mediareach, we feel that digital is one of the ways to target these groups going forward. A study by Global Blue, found that 90% of luxury buyers from China, Russia & Brazil plan their purchases prior to their arrival to the UK. These plans are based on social networking and video adverts, making these platforms key.
So go on fellow marketers, make the most of it… we sure are planning to!


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As you might remember from Wednesday’s Fast Money of all the sectors in the S&P, tech was the only one to close out the first quarter of ’09 in the green – it was up 4%.
Will stocks in this sector continue to outperform? For insights we turned to widely followed tech analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray.
Here’s a synopsis of what he told us:
- Q1 revenues will likely come in about 5% lower than last year, which is slightly below consensus.
- The firm appears poised to win more dollars from paid clicks.
Munster’s Conclusion: I’d be long Google ahead of earnings. At the end of the day the advertising market isn’t as bad as most people think.
- Both Mac and iPod sales should be strong.
- New iPhones in June and a more affordable AT&T plan could provide catalyst for the stock.
Munster’s Conclusion: We think the stock is going to pull back after Apple's earnings report. I’d look to own it going into the summer.
In case you’re wondering, Munster also told the desk Microsoft still faces a hard road ahead and he expects them to face pricing pressure from netbooks.
In addition, Munster said chip stocks are starting to improve but it’s hard to say whether the improvement will be sustainable.


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Don't let the Dell Vostro V131 laptop's low price fool you: it's state of the art
The Genesis gaming PC is arguably worth the arm and leg that Origin is asking
The midtower variant of Origin's Genesis is every bit as potent (and pricey) as its larger sibling.
hardware systems in pictures
UNICEF is best known for its children's aid efforts, but it turns out that the U.N. agency has an small arsenal of surprisingly innovative gadgets that it uses to improve the lives of underprivileged kids and families worldwide.
The 'little rice' that could
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has a lot more on his mind these days than running the giant hardware and software company -- a fact made evident by his recent last-minute decision not to deliver a highly anticipated speech at Oracle's most important user conference. Here's a look at the many, mostly pleasant distractions in the billionaire's life.
Consumers outside of China don't think of Lenovo much beyond laptops, but in that country the company has a wide reach including a growing line of mobile devices. Explore the hidden -- and larger -- side of Lenovo in this slideshow
IBM is looking to boost its mainframe business with a Linux push that includes new hardware, software and the founding of the Open Mainframe Project. The company is also contributing mainframe code to the open source community.
The deadly explosion that rocked the Chinese city of Tianjin has caused the country to shut down a nearby supercomputer, also one of the fastest in the world.
Dell has toughened up the Google Chromebook for the business market.
People who pre-ordered the Surface Hub from Microsoft were notified Wednesday that their mega-display and conference room collaboration tool won't arrive until 2016, at least four months after Microsoft originally planned.
IBM's year-long partnership with Apple took a new turn on Wednesday with the PC giant's announcement of new cloud services designed to help large companies incorporate Macs into their IT infrastructures.
Building a computer is a great way to get a custom configuration, save some money and have fun. In a how-to video, we'll show you how to build one in less than two minutes.
Jailbreaking--the process that enables you to install unauthorized-by-Apple third-party apps and additional features on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad--has been in a largely dormant state since the release of iOS 6. But it's back again.
The iOS 6.1 update fixes some bugs, but also introduces brand new ones, like potentially crippling your iPhone’s built-in speaker.
Struggling to read small text on your iPad mini? There's a fix for that.
Among other things, the iPad is a great way to save paper: It lets you carry around all kinds of digital documents that you might otherwise have had to print.
After an eternity of hype, innuendo and rumors, Intel's Core i7-6700K, code-named "Skylake," is finally here--and it's actually worth the wait. But only if you have realistic expectations, not those built up on months of leaked "performance" numbers ...
For 50 years, Moore's Law has paved the way for faster, smaller and cheaper devices. The observation focuses on the economics and scaling of silicon chips, which are at the heart of computing devices.
Microsoft has lost more than $1.2 billion so far on its Surface tablet business, an expensive experiment that makes tomorrow's revelations of new hardware an important milestone for the "devices" side of its corporate-refashioning strategy.
Can robots steer students towards careers in science and technology? Melissa Jawaharlal thinks so and she's built a robotics kit to prove it.
For decades, scientists have fantasized about creating robots with brain-like intelligence. This year, researchers tempted by that dream made great progress on achieving what has been called the holy grail of computing.
This month, two PC World readers are going to be the lucky recipients of Huawei’s latest smartwatch, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro, valued at $499.
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SoftBank shocked VCs worldwide last October when it announced plans to raise a $100-billion “SoftBank Vision Fund“.
After record funding rounds, it's time for a reality check in Startup Inc as investors demand results
Experts believe that although exciting new startups will continue to be created, it will be at a much tougher climb this year compared with 2015.
A distinct feature across the office— apart from the lime and grey tone—are messages all over.
These firms — most of which are less than 2 years old, employ fewer people and offer negligible discounts — are growing their revenues by over a quarter every month as they benefit from the rise of online shopping across urban India.
Are you looking forward to join the wedding shopping jamboree of a cousin or relative ? Hold your excitement. For all you know, she may have finished her shopping on Skype and all you get to do is be part of the conference call.


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US merchants adopt Chinese app payments to draw big spenders
A display promotes WeChat Pay and Alipay during the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. © Reuters
NEW YORK — In China, Zhang Youtian does not carry cash or credit cards. Instead, he pays for everything using the Alipay and WeChat Pay apps on his smartphone. When he heard that merchants in New York, where he has lived for seven years, were adopting those forms of payment, the recent college graduate was excited.
“If I saw that they had it in a store, I’d definitely try it,” Zhang said. “It’s convenient. You don’t have to sign. Just scan and finish the transaction.”
That convenience has made Alipay, run by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, and WeChat Pay, run by Tencent Holdings, the two most popular forms of mobile payment in China. The apps have 540 million and 650 million users, respectively, and control more than 92% of the Chinese market. Nearly half of China’s smartphone users are expected to make payments on these apps by 2020, making the country an increasingly cashless society.
Now, Ant Financial and Tencent are looking to achieve similar success internationally. Earlier this year, both companies inked deals with payment processors that enable merchants to accept payments across North America and in parts of Europe and Southeast Asia.
Chinese students, who account for the largest proportion of international students in the U.S., are one target of the rollout. An even bigger target is Chinese tourists, who are the largest spenders worldwide. Nearly 3 million traveled to the U.S. in 2016, placing China fifth in terms of visitor arrivals after Canada, Mexico, the U.K., and Japan. However, the Chinese spent $33 billion — more than visitors from any other country.
“Chinese consumers seek overseas goods because the items are cheaper than in China, [or] they can’t buy them in China and they want authentic products,” said Souheil Badran, Alipay’s president for North America. “Alipay is the superhighway for North American merchants to unlock the China opportunity.”
Alipay and WeChat Pay work with authorized payment partners in overseas markets. In the U.S., these include Verifone, Stripe and Citcon — a Chinese-funded Silicon Valley payments startup — which provide merchants with a device that can connect to customers’ smartphones to deduct payments from their app accounts. Chinese consumers pay in yuan via their app accounts, and transactions are settled in dollars.
More than 120,000 U.S. merchants currently offer Alipay through its partners. Chinese tourists can use their smartphones to pay at venues from LanYu Couture, a high-end boutique in New York’s Flatiron District, to VR World, a virtual reality arcade across the street from the Empire State Building. Even Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages will soon accept the Chinese mobile payments, according to Citcon regional manager Jean Kany.
Many horse-drawn carriage drivers in Central Park will soon accept Alipay and WeChatPay. (Photo by Elisabeth Rosen)
“I wanted to jump on this bandwagon as fast as I could, because it was a no-brainer,” said Jonathan Elkoubi, VR World’s senior director of business development.
Over two weeks in early November, about 60% of customers who were Chinese nationals had used Alipay or WeChat Pay to buy their tickets, which start at $39 for a standard two-hour pass, Elkoubi said. Since the arcade began accepting the Chinese mobile payments — through Citcon — the number of Chinese visitors has risen to about a quarter of all international visitors, up from roughly 10%
In the past year and a half there’s been a shift in behavior,” Elkoubi said. “It’s not just that Chinese nationals are coming in greater numbers — it’s that they’re becoming more independent. They don’t just come in tour groups anymore. You can’t go through the classic channels to cater to them.”
This means that for merchants, the advantages of accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay extend beyond facilitating transactions. While the apps may have begun as digital wallets, they have evolved into lifestyle apps, allowing users to book flights, rent bicycles, review restaurants and more.
Users engage with the Alipay app as many as 15 times a day, according to the company. When a New York merchant accepts Alipay, the app’s geolocation-based “discover” function lets the merchant send out promotions via push notifications. The app also reveals the merchant’s location on a map along with a two-line blurb that it can edit.
“I don’t have the bandwidth to have Chinese speakers on staff all the time, so that enables me to explain what we are so this place doesn’t get lost in translation,” Elkoubi said.
Since signing deals with Alipay and WeChat Pay in February, Citcon has partnered with more than 1,000 U.S. merchants, primarily in the retail and hospitality sectors. The company also worked with Stony Brook Village, located 60 miles from Manhattan on Long Island, to make the shopping hamlet the first community in the U.S. to accept Alipay and WeChat Pay.
“There’s very strong demand,” Citcon CEO and founder Chuck Huang said. “Three years ago, when we’d go to some industry conference and talk about WeChat Pay or Alipay, a lot of people would say they’d never heard of it. But this year, you can see a drastic change.”
Huang said that Caesars Entertainment, a casino resort operator and Citcon client, initially launched these payments in 16 locations in August, and had planned a wider rollout early next year. But just a month after the pilot launch the company decided to roll the payments out to 89 more locations, including high-end restaurants, shops and box offices.
At the entrances to Leez Department Store and the LanYu Couture boutique in Manhattan, signs in Chinese state that Alipay and WeChat Pay are accepted. A third of Leez customers are Chinese, and nearly all use the payment systems.
Mr. Bing, a shop that sells jianbing — savory Chinese rolled crepes — in New York’s trendy East Village neighborhood, implemented Chinese mobile payments in October. Within two weeks, more people each day were coming to the store and using them, said owner and founder Brian Goldberg.
A customer uses WeChat Pay to make a transaction. (Photo by Elisabeth Rosen)
“Roughly 30% of our customer base is Chinese, so for them to be able to come to our stores and use WeChat Pay or Alipay — systems that they’re comfortable with — is important to making the customer experience smoother and easier,” he said.
Along with expanding retail partnerships, Alipay plans to focus on adding travel services, aiming to guide consumer planning and purchasing decisions “pre-trip, mid-trip and post-trip,” said Badran, the North America president of Alipay.
According to Badran, the average Chinese traveler starts planning for a trip 57 days in advance. Alipay’s goal, he said, is to act as “the Chinese traveler’s local guide to any foreign city” — facilitating discovery as well as payment.
“Lots of people traveling right now are individuals. They want to be able to research what they do and eat. But if places don’t take their payment, what can they do?” said Xiao Song, a New York-based tourism professional. “I get a lot of customer feedback saying they want to use [Alipay and WeChat]. When you travel, it’s a lot easier.”
For merchants, however, the discovery aspects of these apps provide reasons to be nervous. With reviews fully integrated into the app, store and restaurant owners cannot simply cross their fingers and hope that visitors will not share feedback.
“Obviously, if you’re not very reassured about what you’re offering, you don’t want to [offer these payments]. It can make or break a business very fast,” Elkoubi said.


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Orchard Supply Hardware credit cards are issued by Comenity Capital Bank and can be managed online at Comenity.net/osh or through the Prism smartphone app developed by the bank, according its website. As of January 2016, Orchard Supply Hardware credit cards cannot be used at the Orchard Supply Hardware website, notes Comenity Capital Bank.Continue Reading
Comenity Capital Bank manages credit card programs for many retailers, and the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took action against the company for deceptive marketing to its credit card customers. In September 2015, Comenity settled charges that it had violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and agreed to pay a $2 million fine and refund $53 million to its customers. Refunds are scheduled to be made to affected customers in 2016, and no claims need to be filed, explains the settlement website. Detailed information about the settlement is available at ComenityRemediation.com.
Orchard Supply Hardware is a California chain of neighborhood hardware and garden supply stores that began in 1931 as a cooperative in San Jose, California. It was purchased by Sears Holdings in 1996, reports Peter Truell for the New York Times. Sears sold the company in 2012, and it was then purchased by Lowe's in 2013, states Google Finance.Learn more about Credit & Lending


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Apple's been in the headlines over the past few months, for all of the wrong reasons. According to TechCrunch, their PR losing streak isn't going to stop any time soon.
TechCrunch reports that an IOS software development house has discovered that two unicode symbols, when inputted into a number of popular iOS apps, will cause the apps to crash. In many instances, once the apps crash, it's impossible to open them again. TechCrunch was able to recreate these crashes on a number of pieces of hardware running iOS and a Mac running the latest version of MacOS:
The bug crashes apps including Mail, Twitter, Messages, Slack, Instagram and Facebook. From our testing, it also crashed Jumpcut, a copy and paste plugin for Mac. While it initially appeared that the Chrome browser for Mac was unaffected and could safely display the symbol, it later crashed Chrome and the software would not reopen without crashing until uninstalled and reinstalled.
This isn't the first 'text bomb' issue that Apple's been confronted with. In January, it was discovered that it allowed a specific web address to crash any iPhone it was texted to.
Given that this bug effects so many different devices (all of which I use) I'm hoping that it gets sorted out fast.
Image courtesy of Pxhere
A museum’s worth of prototype Apple devices–computers, ipods and more–is being auctioned on eBay. Plain, who spends his days working at a Lexus dealership in Monterey, California, is part of the vintage Apple collector community. But where most collectors are trying to accrue a wishlist of machines sold to the public, Plain prefers the prototypes. […]
I remember Sneakers as being far, far more exciting than it apparently was. So much for memory.
Bloomberg: Apple Inc. is preparing to release a trio of new smartphones later this year: the largest iPhone ever, an upgraded handset the same size as the current iPhone X and a less expensive model with some of the flagship phone’s key features The Munster Coefficient: the number of paragraphs into a news item that […]
The Nintendo Switch is king when it comes to gaming on the go, but it’s tough to lose yourself in Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Skyrim if your battery dies out. That’s where this Nintendo Switch Battery Charger Case comes into play. Built exclusively for Nintendo Switch, this pack allows for uninterrupted charging while you play, […]
Creative designers play a pivotal role in engaging target audiences and customers, and while companies are eager to bring more of these professionals on board, you’ll have a hard time getting your foot in the door if you’re not using the industry’s best tools. From Adobe to Maya, the eduCBA Design & Multimedia Lifetime Subscription Bundle […]
As more companies aim to reel in costs and boost productivity, project managers are becoming an essential part of many operations, and they’re paid handsomely for their expertise. But, while demand is high, you’ll have a hard time getting your foot in the door if you’re not toting the right certifications. The Official Lean Six Sigma […]


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Bitcoin price crashes after Tesla stops accepting the currency
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices retreated in the overnight session as traders reflected on the decision by Tesla to stop accepting the digital currency. In a statement, Elon Musk cited the substantial energy consumption needed to mine the currency. It is still unclear whether Tesla will sell its remaining Bitcoin holdings. Also, it is not known whether the number of people buying cars and accessories using the currency was significant. In the statement, he added that the company will be looking to use other cryptocurrencies that use a proof-of-stake consensus. Bitcoin and other digital currencies also retreated after the rising US inflation data.
The US dollar rose against other currencies after the latest US inflation numbers. Data by the Bureau of Statistics showed that prices rose by 4.2% in April, the highest jump in 13 years. This annual gain was mostly because consumer prices crashed in April last year as the government started to implement lockdowns. Other top contributors were the fact that shipping and commodity price have jumped recently.
For example, the price of lumber has more than quadrupled, pushing the house prices higher. Similarly, the price of iron ore has jumped to an all-time high, pushing appliances and electronics higher. The recent stimulus by the United States also contributed to the gains. Later today, the currency will react to the latest initial jobless claims and producer price index (PPI) data.
The euro retreated even after the European Commission boosted its economic outlook for the region. In a note, the commission said that it expects the bloc’s economy to grow by 4.3% this year and by 4.4% in 2022. This was an upgrade from the previous estimate of 3.8%. The upgrade came after the bloc published weak industrial production and inflation data. It also reflects optimism that the bloc will manage to sharply boost its vaccination process.
The EUR/USD price retreated to a low of 1.2065 after higher US inflation data. This drop happened a few sessions after the pair formed a double-top pattern on the hourly chart. The price also declined to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level. It also moved below all moving averages. Further, the pair seems to be forming a bearish flag pattern while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved from the oversold level of 23 to 38. Therefore, the pair will likely resume the downward trend, with the next target being at 1.2000.
Like the EUR/USD pair, the GBP/USD dropped sharply after the latest US inflation numbers. It fell to a low of 1.4068, which was the lowest level since Monday this week. The pair also broke out below the lower side of the bullish flag pattern that had been forming. It is still slightly above the 25-day and 15-day exponential moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has declined from the overbought zone. The pair will remain in a bullish trend if the price is above the moving average.
The BTC/USD pair declined sharply after news that Tesla would stop accepting the digital currency. It fell to 45,882, which was the lowest level since March 1. It then bounced back to the current 50,500. On the four-hour chart, the pair has dropped below the moving averages while the RRI has moved slightly above the oversold level of 30. Therefore, the pair will likely resume the upward trend as investors rush to buy the dips. However, a drop below the overnight low of 45,882 will invalidate the bullish thesis.


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(KGTV) — A federal judge has denied Stone Brewing's request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against MillerCoors over its Keystone Light product cans.
Stone's motion to dismiss MillerCoors' counterclaims were also denied. The injunction would have prevented MillerCoors from using the rebranded cans during trial, according to IP and craft beer attorney Brendan Palfrey.
More court documents can be read on Palfrey's Twitter page.
Stone Brewing filed the suit against MillerCoors in February 2018, after the beer maker rebranded its Keystone Light products to feature "Stone" on a separate line in bold fashion.
While Stone lost out on the injunction, the judge did say Stone's trademark infringement case is “moderately strong." The judge added that the court agreed with Stone, "especially considering the marks incontestability, [Stone] is entitled to the strong protection afforded to suggestive marks."
The case will likely now move to trial.
Following the ruling, Stone's cofounder Greg Koch issued a statement, saying the court confirmed their case against MillerCoors.
“This is a very big deal. The Court’s order confirms what we knew: that MillerCoors should be ashamed of what they have been doing. All along this has been a clear-cut infringement case, and now we can focus our resources on proving the significant damages done to the good name of Stone Brewing," Koch said.
Stone CEO Dominic Engels added, "We are pleased that the Court recognized the validity of Stone’s infringement claims. MillerCoors has made hundreds of millions of dollars from rebranding Keystone in a way that infringes on our trademark. It also has hurt Stone and our brand."
10News has reached out to MillerCoors and will update this article with any response.


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Leahead Electric Vehicles
One of the two Toyota ventures the Guangzhou-Toyota JV focuses on making cheap electric cars for the masses, the other being Ranz, an FAW Toyota JV. Leahead stands for ‘Leap Ahead’ which in Chinese is Lingzhi (领志).
“They’ll do some token launches and token sales, but I’m not expecting any waves,” said Ashvin Chotai, Managing Director of Intelligence Automotive Asia. “This is just a distraction, an unwanted headache.”
In this week’s Top 5 EV news | BYD launch Tang in Europe | Volta Electric Truck pilot | Byton bites the dust
Top 5 EV News Week 26 2020 | California pushes the world to electric trucks, Britain fast tracks 100% EV adoption, new EV models launched this week.
Top 5 EV News Week 25 2020: Bunch of new EVs launched this week. We look at the Lordstown Endurance electric pick-up to be launched later this week.


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We might not have any Scarlet & Violet updates for you this week, but that doesn’t mean it's been quiet in the world of Pokemon. From a real-life gym to an unexpected new super-fan, we have plenty of news to cover.
However, we open on some of the most exciting news we’ve seen in a while – an update on Detective Pikachu.
A Detective Pikachu Sequel Is Apparently Still "In Active Development"
Detective Pikachu was a hit when it premiered in 2019, serving as yet another reminder that the days of dodgy video game movies are long behind us. So it’s wild to think that we still don’t have a sequel to speak of, with nothing ever officially announced. However, according to comments made earlier this week, a second Detective Pikachu movie is indeed in the works. This news comes from Legendary Entertainment, the production company behind the first film. The Pokemon Company declined to comment, but that might just mean that it’s not yet ready to unveil anything officially.
Pokemon TCG Online's Final Expansion Will Be Crown Zenith Ahead Of Switch To TCG Live
Pokemon TCG Online has received its final update, the Crown Zenith expansion. This comes as the developers hope to move everyone over to TCG Live instead, now that its live beta has rolled out globally. According to this latest development, all code cards from Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will only be available in TCG Live, truly leaving Online behind. The good news is that this should free up resources to work on Live, hopefully addressing any issues that players run into.
YouTuber Opens Real-Life Pokemon Gym In New York City
We all thought Pokemon Go would let us live the dream of being a Pokemon master, but it just wasn’t the same. Gathering around a corner shop that just happened to be a gym didn’t come with the same glory. But now, one incredibly dedicated fan has done something about it. YouTuber and former Pokemon champion Wolfey “WolfeyVGC” Glick opened a Water-type gym in New York, letting aspiring Pokemon masters take him on for the chance to earn a badge. It was only open for a day, but it’s easy to see why. Anyone who made it far enough to battle Wolfey got a badge, and anyone who beat him got a special golden edition instead. They would even bag a $350 pair of shoes – probably the most generous Pokemon gym out there.
Uri Geller Says He's A "Huge Pokemon Fan" After Allowing Kadabra Cards To Be Printed Again
Last week, we covered the exciting news that Kadabra cards are back, following an official endorsement from magician Uri Geller. This, of course, came after Geller blocked the cards for years, not appreciating the fact that the Pokemon was a very obvious nod to him and his work. However, he has now completely changed his tune, proclaiming to be a “huge Pokemon fan”. This means that now rather than hide from the Kadabra card, he’s actually collecting some himself, and is looking forward to the new prints.
Source: Read Full Article


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15 September, 2018
The Apple iPhone XS Max, due in Australia on September 21, will feature major upgrades to its display, its speed, its cameras, and even its colour, but it will cost Australian buyers more than $2000 for the first time, breaking last year's record price for the iPhone X by more than $500.
And Apple didn't stop at one iPhone this year: you'll have to choose between the Xs, the Xs Max (the Xs' bigger brother) and the confusingly named iPhone XR - a cheaper option if you don't fancy dipping into your rainy-day fund.
The phone, which comes with a 6.1-inch screen, will be made available to customers at the lower price of $749.
Apart from its screen specifications, the iPhone XR also uses the new A12 Bionic processor that the XS and XS Max also use, which boasts more cores and faster speeds than previous models. One other perk: The iPhone XR will be available in a variety of colors including black, red, white, blue, coral and yellow.
Tropical Storm Gordon threatens South Florida
Farther west, tides will be 3-5 feet above normal. "With the peak of hurricane season upon us, now is the time to get prepared". The peak wind forecast on the Mississippi Coast on Monday is 15 to 25 miles per hour with wind gusts of 35 miles per hour .
I'm extremely happy at Real Madrid - Modric
Group E also has three former European champions - Bayern Munich, Benfica and Ajax Amsterdam - alongside AEK Athens. However, Begiristain acknowledged that Pep Guardiola's men were more fortunate than some of their Prem rivals.
Pres. Trump Asserts 'No Political Necessity' To Keep Canada In New NAFTA
Canada can sign on until Congress ratifies the deal, which will likely be at the end of November. We were far better off before NAFTA - should never have been signed", he continued.
Like their predecessor, the iPhone X, the name is meant to be pronounced as the number 10. It's also updating the portrait mode feature so users can fine-tune each image.
Both the iPhone XS and XS Max are available in three storage variants.
Superfans of Apple technology were on the edge of their seats as CEO Tim Cook explained all the flashy new phones dropping this year. And some will carry other new features such as two SIMs-microchips that allow smartphone users to connect to a wireless network-making it easier for travelers to use their phones overseas, these people said. Folks here could be forking out as much as S$2,349 - the price of a decked out gaming computer - to get the best iteration of Apple's latest iPhone.
Switching our attention to the iPhone XR, Apple's budget offering gets a liquid retina LCD display and a single camera at the rear. The sensor is the same found on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Apple says the camera along with smarter AI-based algorithms can deliver better imaging capabilities than the iPhone 8. You'll have to wait a bit longer for the iPhone XR, which launches on 26 October, with preorders from 19 October.
But the arrival of the iPhone Xs and Xr phones reminds us that the deal will soon expire, and prices will go up after December 31st.


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TCryptocurrency winters, where the prices of most crypto assets have fallen in recent months, shed a stern light on the vulnerabilities of Bitcoin and other crypto assets as a valuable store. Unlike other risky assets, the idea of being unaffected by interest rate fluctuations or acting as a protection against inflation has been shattered. Stocks have certainly been hit recently, Cryptocurrency crash It’s even more drastic. Bitcoin prices have fallen by about two-thirds since their peak in November 2021, and the combined market value of all cryptocurrencies has plummeted from about $ 3 trillion to less than $ 1 trillion.flat StablecoinCryptocurrencies, apparently backed by dollar reserves and other financial assets that help stabilize their value, have proven vulnerable in a recession.
Does this foreshadow the beginning of the end of the crypto revolution? Probably not. In fact, cryptocurrency shakeouts can benefit the sector by identifying some of the rampant speculative aspects and helping to focus on the beneficial elements of technology. Can government regulators, who are already involved in the crypto industry and are undoubtedly doubling their efforts in the light of recent events, thwart innovation? If properly designed, regulatory oversight can prove to be really beneficial to this sector, as it provides greater stability and legitimacy.
The cryptocurrency revolution will reduce the power of large banks and other traditional financial institutions, increase access to basic financial products and services, and enable non-wealthy households to profit from them. By doing so, I promised to democratize finance. However, in reality, many of these benefits remain unrealized.
New technologies have created products that were previously unimaginable, such as digital playsets with little practical value, such as non-fungible tokens and memetic cryptocurrencies. However, there are also useful things such as smart contracts that allow you to buy and sell financial assets directly without the intervention of traditional intermediaries. This can at least reduce costs and improve efficiency by creating competition for established institutions.
The cryptocurrency revolution that has become apparent in recent months has its drawbacks.The appeal of investing in cryptocurrencies has proved to be easy to make money Attracts many investors.. Ownership of many crypto assets quickly concentrated on wealthy investors, who could already widen the large wealth gap. The plunge in crypto asset prices has hit unsophisticated individual investors who may have been caught up in the dazzling new flashy digital products, rather than the sophisticated and wealthy investors who can handle volatility as usual. Gave you not understand or ignore the risks.
Even financial turmoil is far from guaranteed. Large banks and other traditional financial institutions are adopting new technologies in ways that have the potential to establish their influence. For example, a consortium of large banks is using blockchain technology to process transactions between banks more efficiently. This can also be detrimental to small banks, not to mention limiting new competition.
What is the future of cryptocurrencies?
First, there will be more regulations focused on investor protection, transparency and risk-taking limits. Financial literacy remains a major challenge. Private investors should be free to invest their hard-earned savings in any way they like, but at least they need to be open-minded. Cryptocurrency promoters, and their celebrity accomplices who often obscure their own financial interests in the products they advertise, should be restricted from making high-margin, inflated promises with little risk.
Second, as technology matures and functions within regulatory guardrails, it may begin to play a role in improving the functioning of the financial system. In particular, this technology has the potential to make certain elements of finance, including payments, more efficient.
In developing countries, especially those where domestic currencies are not widely trusted, customers and small businesses have easy access to low-cost digital payment systems. International payments are cheaper and faster, helping exporters and importers, and even economic migrants, send remittances back to their home countries. Some of these changes were already made via a simple mobile payment app, but now in countries where the domestic financial system does not meet the needs of consumers and businesses, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. It is supercharged by access to the currency.
Improved national and coordinated international regulations ensure that these new payment channels benefit homes and businesses and are no longer just conduits for funding illegal activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking. Helps to do.
Regulations are also needed to prevent cryptocurrencies from spreading more financial instability. Even Stablecoin, which on the surface is intended to make payments more efficiently within and across borders, has proven to be financially vulnerable. Stablecoin has become virtually similar to money market mutual funds and deposit handling institutions, but neither is regulated. There are concerns about the quantity and quality of the collateral they hold and they are at risk of collapse in the face of numerous reimbursement claims.
Regulatory clarity can actually benefit such innovative products by reducing the risk of causing financial instability and fostering illegal transactions. Innovations in other aspects of payments and finance should not be limited by government intrusions, but there is a legitimate role of regulators to prevent misrepresentation of security, although advertised as a mere payment tool. In fact, it is recognized as a financial asset by many users.
If we act swiftly, the US Government has the opportunity to take the lead in setting standards for this industry and guiding international cooperation. It is also essential to promote digital and financial literacy to better recognize risks for investors who may be enthusiastic about technology. The industry itself needs to acknowledge it, rather than simply offering to the police and shaking off various types of risks to engage with regulatory agencies. For example, Stablecoin issuers must accept being regulated as issuers of financial instruments, not just payment services. You also need to request customer identification to limit illegal financial transactions. In fact, regulatory oversight can help technology enable it to truly disrupt the existing financial system by gaining legitimacy and fixing many of its inefficiencies.
A well-designed amount of Big Brother can be just the right tonic for an industry that aims to evade government.
A more must-read story from time to time


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A game that has a psycho-telekinetic theme it is coming from independent developer Phantom 8. Check out the details inside.
Looks like Team USA and Team USSR are going to go head to head in TankBowl 2018.
Along with some new improvements to the game overall, Turn 10 announces the "Totinos Car Pack".
Check out the newly released video showing off the introductory cut-scene for the Single Player campaign of this upcoming Warhammer 40,000 game.
Those who love their motocross racing games have something to look forward too in this upcoming release with a new track editor.
If you have some extra money lying around, and are a fan of Ubisofts Far Cry series, then this news might be for you.
Those who are looking for more Assassins Creed Origins dont have much longer to wait as the First DLC is coming soon. Check out the details inside.
See News Archives


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How a Winnipeg restaurant used creative technological approaches to beat a pandemic slump
‘Numbers don’t lie:’ Creative thinking and an in-depth knowledge of accounting helped Max’s Restaurant manage the impacts of COVID-19
Hipolito Alibin Jr., who runs Max’s Restaurant as president and operator of Alibin Group Inc. and is a CPA, relied on his accounting skills, creative thinking and the use of technology to fight the slowdown in sales brought on by COVID-19. (Photo credit: John Woods)
Max’s Restaurant wasn’t the first to work with local food-delivery services to recoup lost revenues during COVID-19, but it was one of the few to develop its own digital platform to avoid paying high delivery fees.
Hipolito Alibin Jr., who runs the Winnipeg restaurant as president and operator of Alibin Group Inc. and is a chartered professional accountant, realized in early March that there would be a 75-per-cent reduction in sales that month, while delivery sales through Uber Eats, Door Dash and Skip the Dishes increased 125 per cent and pick-up sales grew by 40 per cent between March and April.
In the midst of restaurant closures and competitors exploring food delivery services, action was required, and it needed to be taken quickly.
As luck would have it, his brother had recently designed an online ordering system, which had launched in early 2020 and could support the restaurant’s shift from dine-in to a customer pick-up model.
To further cut the costs of delivery, he began working with his brother on a new delivery platform that will allow Max’s to reduce its reliance on delivery services. The plan is to have a system in place soon, enabling customers to make their orders online, have them relayed to the restaurant and delivered by one of Max’s own drivers.
“We want to drive away business from those third-party delivery apps,” says Alibin Jr. “We’re trying to develop our own network to do delivery – it gives us an opportunity to be visible.”
In addition to launching the online ordering service and working on a new delivery platform, Alibin Jr. took other measures to save money. Max’s was forced to cut its workforce from 40 to three in the early days of the pandemic, which Alibin Jr. admits was a tough decision. But he wanted to ensure his employees secured government benefits, and he helped them apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
He also kept a close eye on his books, and worked with technology tools that Max’s uses to run its business, including digital inventory management software and purchase order and tracking systems to have a full picture of the operation.
Alibin Jr. at an event in support of one of the various community organizations he supports. (Photo credit: John Woods)
“Numbers don’t lie,” Alibin Jr. says, adding as a business owner he needed “the discipline of having the numbers in front of you and making a decision based on numbers – not on emotions.”
As a board member for the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce as well as a board and finance committee member for Economic Development Winnipeg, Alibin Jr. also wanted to make sure Max’s did its part in supporting the community during the pandemic by donating food to local groups and front-line workers.
“We had had a good year and we felt obliged to give back to them,” he says. “While everyone was shutting down, we were very engaged.”
The payoff came in June, when restaurants were allowed to reopen in Manitoba. Max’s can now hold 70 patrons at a time with social distancing restrictions, and it has hosted about 50 diners a day. Sales went up 16 per cent month-over-month between May and August, allowing Alibin Jr. to hire back 12 employees. And delivery is still going strong, with Alibin Jr. hoping to take it completely in-house in the future.
“In June and July we serviced 6,000 people - it’s a good rebound for us,” he says, adding the restaurant’s success is due in part to the fact that the community Max’s supported is now returning the favour.
Alibin Jr. is now looking at ways to further trim costs while enhancing his operations. He also wants to launch new projects, though he’s staying mum on the details for now.
“There’s a lot of analysis at the moment on how we’re going to go up,” he says. “We’re looking at a number of vertical possibilities, projects that complement the business we’ve built,” he says. “There’s really nothing you can do but be ready. It’s ‘how do we survive until it’s over?’”
As he works to find a way forward, Alibin Jr. is grateful to have the expertise required to help him push ahead.
“I don’t think I would be able to help my family navigate through this without my CPA experience,” he says.
“We could have made other decisions, but we chose to take the higher ground and support our community (and) strengthen the technology to deliver food to our customers. We persevered during hard times.”
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.


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One of Heywood's biggest employers has invested £1.4m in a bid to reduce its carbon emissions.
Cold food storage and distribution company Yearsley Group has taken delivery of state-of-the-art 20 trucks that will help it further reduce the carbon emissions from its nationwide operation.
The Heywood Distribution Park-based company recently announced a £2.2m investment in solar panels at two of its cold stores, including its Heywood headquarters and at Holmewood, near Chesterfield, as it looks to increase the amount of energy it obtains from renewable sources.
The new fleet will be based at five of Yearsley's 12 depots across the UK.
Yearsley Group's head of logistics, Mark Haslam, said: “This represents significant investment and is part of our on-going strategy of replacing vehicles to ensure they remain as environmentally friendly and cost-efficient as possible.
“These vehicles are the first we have ordered from MAN and we believe that they are ideally suited to our operation.”
Other recent green moves from Yearsley Group include the implementation of a new management system to reduce waste road miles, and the company has updated many of its cold stores with state-of-the-art insulation.


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Cash is king in New York, but that doesn’t stop some residents from getting miffed when a business imposes a minimum for purchases made with credit cards. On Thursday, a pair of City Council members introduced a bill that aims to address that very issue.
Proposed by Councilmen Ritchie Torres and Andrew Cohen, the measure would prohibit businesses in the city from setting a minimum greater than $10 for credit card purchases. It’s not uncommon for NYC's bars and bodegas to impose these kinds of minimums on plastic transactions—they eat a fee for every debit or credit card purchase. But when those fees reach $20 or $30, it’s often seen as a ploy to coerce customers into spending more money than they otherwise would.
If it's passed in its current form, the proposal would levy hefty fines for businesses in violation and force shops to post proper signage when they do have a credit card minimum.
Despite the proposed restrictions on credit card minimums, the law would not affect cash-only businesses, a spokesperson from Torres’ office said. But in the bill’s current language, there is no specific protection for cash-only businesses—that may change as it moves through the City Council.
In any case, New Yorkers ought to be paying cash at small businesses regardless. Doing so helps the business owner and can sometimes come with the added benefit of a tax-free purchase. It also helps us prevent a dystopia in which all of our bodegas are replaced by glorified vending machines.


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River Island is readying to make its first physical footprint across the pond, after online sales have surged in the US.
US sales are now several times bigger than pre-pandemic levels, according to the fashion firm’s chief executive Will Kernan.
After the brand has seen surging popularity in locations such as California, New York, Texas and Florida, River Island sees the US as “a major growth opportunity,” Kernan told The Mail On Sunday.
“Even though the brand is not well known in certain parts of the US, what’s interesting is that the product is resonating strongly,” he told the newspaper.
The retail chief described the plan as “long-term” and said the brand would attempt to “understand the market” more before putting down roots in the country.
River Island managed to recoup lost pandemic sales after swinging back into the black in 2021, posting an operating profit of £73.5m in 2021 versus a loss of £36.2m the prior year.


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Pew warns Michigan: Legal pot an uncertain revenue source
DETROIT (AP) — While recreational marijuana sales in Michigan are expected to initially rocket, a public policy organization is warning that the experiences of other states indicate legal pot is an unpredictable revenue source.
Michigan’s House Fiscal Agency estimates annual sales will approach $949 million when the recreational pot market is fully established after 2020. Those sales are expected to bring in $94.9 million from a special 10% tax and $57 million from the 6% sales tax, the Detroit Free Press reported. But investors at this month’s Capital Cannabis Conference in Detroit predicted sales far in excess of that.
“This is a market that in the next few years could easily eclipse $2 billion,” said Sat Joshi, chief information officer for Rose Capital, a Connecticut-based investment firm that focuses on the cannabis industry.
Yet a Pew Charitable Trusts study released Aug. 19 says taxes — and the black market — could upset revenue goals.
“This is a highly unpredictable revenue source,” said Alexandria Zhang, a member of the Pew research team. “Revenues have varied greatly from state to state.”
Nevada tax revenues were 40% higher than predicted in the first six months of legal marijuana sales, but California’s sales revenues were 45% lower than forecast.
The high taxes in California have allowed the black market in marijuana to thrive, meaning the legal pot market has not met revenue expectations, the Pew study says.
Josh Hovey, a spokesman for the Michigan Cannabis Business Association, said the ballot proposal to legalize marijuana in Michigan deliberately set tax rates low in an effort to avoid that problem.
Growing medical marijuana sales in Michigan indicate the state’s recreational market could be robust. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency reports there has been no decline in sales since legal sales began in October and that sales in July totaled $30.1 million.
Tax revenue from recreational sales has already been assigned in the fiscal 2020 budget, according to Jenni Riehle of the state Budget Office.
The first $20 million in the first two years goes to research on the medical benefits of marijuana. The remainder will be split between cities and counties that host marijuana businesses; the school aid fund; the transportation fund to improve roads; further revenue-sharing payments to cities, townships, villages and counties; and the state’s general fund.
Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com


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MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT » ARCHIVES FOR
How will AmazonSupply.com will play out in the business-to-business marketplace? Here’s Monsoon Commerce vice president of marketing Casey Carey’s take.
Based on the results of the MCM Outlook 2012-13 Survey
Best Buy chairman Richard Schulze will step down from his position after an independent investigator determined he knew former CEO Brian Dunn was having an improper relationship with an employee, but did not report it to the board.
Amazon.com’s launch of its business-to-business marketplace has the potential to alter the landscape for b-to-b merchants. But while some industry experts see the launch of AmazonSupply.com as an all-out game-changer for b-to-b merchants, others see Amazon’s entry as an added plus for b-to-b sellers.
Brian Dunn has resigned as director and CEO of Best Buy. Dunn’s resignation came just two weeks after the electronics merchant announced plans to close 50 big box stores, open 100 Best Buy Mobile stores and grow its online business.
Crosschannel retailer HSN has acquired upscale children’s apparel seller Chasing Fireflies, and will make it a part of the Cornerstone Brands operating segment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but HSN has said Chasing Fireflies will continue to operate as an independent brand.
The Postal Regulatory Commission has approved the United States Postal Service
Outdoors sporting goods and apparel merchant Moosejaw Mountaineering wasted no time in replacing president and CEO Harvey Kanter, who accepted the same role with ecommerce jewelry seller Blue Nile on Monday.
If you rebuild your site using responsive design techniques, all you need is a single template and a separate cascading stylesheet per device type.
Bucking a trend seen by b-to-c retailers, poor sales in its direct channels has hurt apparel merchant Frederick’s of Hollywood. Though company chairman and CEO Thomas Lynch attributed a net sales decrease for the second quarter ended Jan. 28 to post-Christmas clearance sales, it was the second straight quarter that direct channels have put Frederick’s sales in the red.
Posted 3 days ago
by Curt Barry
Posted 7 days ago


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Tencent-affiliated China Music Corp. (CMC), the company behind online music services Kugou and Kuwo, is planning a U.S. listing, possibly before the end of the year.
According to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the company has hired Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley for the IPO which could range between $300-600 million USD.
In January this year Kugou and Kuwo inked a syndication deal with with QQ Music, the leading music streaming service from Tencent. Under the deal the two CMC companies gained the rights to over one billion songs exclusively distributed by QQ Music within China.
Competition between China’s largest musics streaming services has intensified in the last year. Nudged on by government regulations, the industry’s major players have cracked down on piracy on their own platforms, leading to a spate of legal battles between top players. In late 2014 Tencent sued rival Netease over alleged infringements, leading Netease to immediately countersue for similar reasons. Last year Kugou was sued by both Alibaba and Netease, before dutifully countersuing both companies.
Kugou and Kuwo hold one of the largest stakes in the Chinese online streaming industry, due mostly to their impressive presence in the country’s underserved third and fourth-tier cities.
The Chinese market has historically struggled to monetize online music. An increase in proprietary restrictions and a growing number of consumers with disposable income could transform the industry however, and leading services are racing to stake their claim in the industry early.
Alibaba consolidated a collection of their own music investments last year under Alibaba Music Group, including music streaming services Xiami and Tiantian. In December last year Baidu announced the merger of Baidu Music with traditional music company Taihe Entertainment Group.
Related: China’s Music Streaming War: The Era Of Being Squished By Giants Is Not Over


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Xiaomi MI Band 4
The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 has been unveiled at a special event in China, with the fitness tracker featuring a new color display and the same low price tag.
The latest iteration of the device has been leaked consistently over the past few weeks and months, with Xiaomi itself even revealing the tracker was approaching launch in an earnings call back in March. Now, we have all the official details.
Unlike last year’s tracker, which offered a 0.78-inch OLED display with 80 x 128 pixel resolution, the new Mi Band 4 instead brings a 0.95-inch color AMOLED display with 120 x 240 resolution. It’s still touchscreen, coming with 77 different faces to pick between, and also comes with a built-in microphone to enable voice commands (and control compatible devices) and a six-axis accelerometer to aid tracking accuracy.
(The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 will feature a new screen and 77 color faces)
That tracking includes exercise modes for running and cycling, as well as waterproof protection up to 5ATM (around 50 metres) and the ability to identify different swimming strokes, such as breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and freestyle. For swimmers who want advanced metrics, there’s a SWOLF score on-board, too.
All the other features that came packing on the previous generation, such as contactless payment support, notifications and music control, are also here.
(There will be a standard and NFC version of the Xiaomi Mi Band 4)
The battery has even jumped in size from the Mi Band 3, from 110mAh to 135mAh.


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The price cut comes in conjunction with Hulu Plus’ launch out of “preview” mode, and its full-release into the largely unchartered world of paid Web video.
Kilar said that, concurrent with the launch, Hulu will now offer the full current seasons of shows such as “Glee,” “Modern Family,” “House,” “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Hulu launched in July with a $9.99-a-month “preview price.” All current subscribers will be credited the difference on their next bill. “Though the service has only been in preview for part of this year, Hulu Plus is already accounting for a material percentage of Hulu’s overall business,” Kular wrote. Hulu had toyed with a deeper price cut, but ultimately settled on the 20 percent discount — for now.
The move comes as Hulu looks ahead to a battle with Netflix, which is pointedly shifting its business away from physical DVDs to streaming movies and television shows online.
More notes from Kilar:
Today, Hulu Plus launches on Roku. All PlayStation 3 owners with a PlayStation Network account, which is free, can download the Hulu Plus application. In the months to come, Hulu Plus will be coming to Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player, with many more mobile phones, tablets, set-top boxes, and Internet-connected devices to be announced.
We haven’t forgotten about our existing device lineup and applications, either. Over the next week, updates to the Samsung, PlayStation 3, and Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch Hulu Plus apps will be available, bringing a variety of bug fixes and feature and performance enhancements.
And for fans of “Saturday Night Live,” Hulu said that every episode from all 36 seasons will be available by year’s end.