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Going retro: Hollywood Theatre produces Movie Madness VHS tape
Hollywood Theatre pays homage to videos of yesteryear and iconic store Movie Madness, releasing a 30-year anniversary VHS tape — yep, you read that right — of Movie Madness commercials, mixed with old-school Portland commercials and news footage from the past three decades.
The "Movie Madness: 30 Years of Movies to Die For," an original VHS tape, will be released on International Independent Video Store Day, Saturday, Oct. 15.
It also includes footage of the store's virtual 30th anniversary party and interviews with store founder Mike Clark, who sold the store at 4320 S.E. Belmont St. to the Hollywood Theatre in January 2018.
"This project was inspired by the virtual 30th anniversary party we threw for Movie Madness in early 2021," said co-producer Alison Hallett, the Hollywood Theatre's director of education and community engagement. "We did a ton of research for that event, and uncovered just an incredible trove of old news articles, TV footage, commercials, and more. A lot of that material went into the production of our book, 'Movie Madness: 30 Years Behind the Counter of Portland's Iconic Video Store,' which came out late last year. And a lot of it found its way into this VHS tape."
She hoped the film captures the "vibe" of something that was taped from late-night TV, commercials and such, "like an old VHS you might find in your grandparent's basement."
Matt Parnell, Movie Madness managing director and head curator, co-produced the film with Hallett. Josh Lunden directed.
"Movie Madness is one of the last video stores in the country, and one of the biggest," Parnell said. "And over the last 30 years it's been an important part of so many people's lives, in ways little and big. Hundreds of people have worked at the store over the years, and thousands more have picked up movies for movie night, or finally found the missing film in their favorite director's filmography, or tracked down their classics from their childhood to share with their own kids. We're hoping to pay homage to that legacy with this tape."
Tapes will be sold for $30 at the release party Oct. 15 at Movie Madness.
For more: www.hollywoodtheatre.org and www.//www.moviemadness.org.
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Planning Commission OKs rezoning for food manufacturing plant
A major hurdle was cleared Wednesday in the process to bring a new small-scale food manufacturing facility to Battle Creek.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve conditional rezoning of the property at 166 E. Goodale Ave. The approval is a step toward opening the door for a food-manufacturing facility that would produce granolas, cookies, nutrition bars, snack bars, snack mixes and nut clusters, among other products, for distribution to retail and food-service vendors.
The proposed rezoning goes to the Battle Creek City Commission for a first reading Oct. 6 and possible final vote on Oct. 20.
The applicant, Jeff Grogg of JPG Resources, outlined a plan to the commission for a new contract manufacturing plant that would act as a producer of food for companies not interested in opening their own facility. Grogg, a longtime employee at Kellogg Co., said he has experience in this model after co-founding contract manufacturer, Bridgetown Natural Foods, in 2010 in Portland, Ore.
The property currently is owned by Bronson Battle Creek and houses Bronson at Home, a healthcare service offered through the hospital. Grogg said his next step is to see if he can purchase the property.
"We just have to see if we can secure the property, as we're still in negotiations with the property itself," Grogg told the Enquirer after the meeting. "We don't have any commitment yet. We wanted to get this done before we go down that path.
"Hopefully, it will go through the City Commission and we'd like to start work on it as soon as we can."
Conditional rezoning allows property owners to use a site in ways other than what is allowed by current zoning restrictions. The property at 166 E. Goodale Ave. is zoned C-2 — General Business district, which allows for hotels and motels, laundry facilities, print shops and theaters, but prohibits manufacturing establishments "not selling their entire output at retail on the premises," according to city documents.
Grogg detailed a plan that includes using 10,000 square feet of the property for food production with another 10,000 square feet used for warehousing. His plan is to eventually grow to a "24-hour, five day-a-week" facility using the property in its entirety; at first, some space would be leased to other businesses allowed by current C-2 zoning restrictions.
The property's existing loading dock would be used, but only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. No outdoor storage is planned, though there might be "infrequent" parking of refrigerated trailers in the southernmost part of the parking lot, away from a residential area to the north.
Grogg, who told the Enquirer he sold his interest in Bridgetown Natural Foods, said the company employs about 300 associates in Portland. If his company opens in Battle Creek — a timetable has not been set — he told the Planning Commission that over the course of 3-5 years, "we might be talking about 100 jobs over three shifts."
Lynn Ward Gray, Battle Creek's vice mayor and a member of the Planning Commission, said when Grogg presented the proposal at a past Neighborhood Planning Council meeting, he answered questions about "aroma, delivery, trucks and anything else we came up with."
Gray said she was "very, very impressed" with the proposal and thanked Grogg for what the facility potentially could bring to the area.
Contact Dillon Davis at 269-966-0698 or firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow him on Twitter: @DillonDavis

domain: news


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Have money, will gasp in style
Mask is the new style statement in delhi
- Published 9.11.16
New Delhi, Nov. 8: While Delhi is coughing its lungs out, a fashion accessory has leaped out of the thick smog: respiratory masks.
In the smog-blanketed capital, masks in hues of hospital green and blue have now become so last year. This year, vibrant patterns and paisley prints are the colours to keep pollution at bay.
The most popular in the past week appeared to be Vogmask, a brand from California that has made a name for itself in Asia with its eight bright colours and patterns.
In Vogmask's Khan Market outlet in central Delhi, queues for its triple-filter mask stretched for miles today. The clientele included youngsters, foreigners and grandparents.
"Last year this time, we used to sell around 200 to 300 masks a day. Now we are selling around 1,000. We are running out of stock," said store manager Meena Thakur.
The store also sells masks designed by Manish Arora, which debuted in the Paris Fashion Week last year, the demand for which is high. She said the Arora masks go out of stock before the ordinary ones.
Thakur said the masks were designed to filter out most particulate matter, including the PM2.5 that is known to cause serious respiratory diseases. These masks were a big hit in China in 2014 when air pollution hit toxic levels.
Protection of the trendy kind comes at a price. The basic Vogmask mask costs Rs 1,800 a piece for children and goes up to Rs 2,200 for adults. Arora's five varieties - vivid butterfly, paisley and star prints, among others - cost Rs 2,500 each.
Are the affluent being blasé in the face of grave danger?
"I can't wear something that makes me look dowdy. I bought three varieties, so I can match them to my outfits. While I am concerned about the condition of the air in Delhi, there is no reason why I cannot protect myself stylishly," giggled Sunanda Jha, a student who bought one Arora mask in paisley prints and two others in basic colours.
Ordinary masks are available for Rs 90 to Rs 100 but they need to be changed every three days. The ones Jha bought have a shelf life of five months.
Such is the craze for one-upmanship over who has the better mask that people are sharing their masked faces on Twitter to show off their purchases.
"My mask is in purple and black and I got it from a local pharmacist. It costs Rs 2,000. I think it's a good investment as there is no point buying something cheap and compromising one's health. Also, whatever I wear should look good, just because there is pollution doesn't mean I cancel my social events," said entrepreneur Komal Arya.
Even the affordable masks are not easy to find. Small pharmacies are finding it difficult to meet the demand.
"While we sold around 2,000 masks in three months on average, we sold 5,000 pieces last week," said Vinod of Vinod Medical Stores in Gole Market.
Then there are those who don't want to stand in queue to get their masks. E-commerce giants Amazon, Snapdeal and Flipkart are stocking up to meet their demand.
Sumit Bedi, vice-president marketing with India Mart, India's largest online marketplace that assists manufacturers, suppliers and exporters to trade with each other, said e-tailers had made a killing this season.
"The demand for air purifiers has gone up five-fold from 100 enquiries a day to 500 enquiries, while the demand for anti-pollution masks has gone up to around 1,300 per day," he said.
For Preet of Preet Pharmacies in Khan Market, the Delhi smog has given an entry into a segment he hadn't even considered venturing into last year.
"I had zero sales last year because there was no demand. However, from November 3 this year, I have sold as many as 1,200 pollution masks that cost Rs 2,000 each. They come in different colours and people are excited about matching them with their outfits. For me, it means 100 per cent profit," he said.


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It wasn’t a wardrobe malfunction or dancing sharks, but this year’s Super Bowl halftime show featured a special surprise: 300 drones. For many, it may have been the first time they had seen that many drones flying in synchronized formation. They transformed from hovering stars into a giant American Flag hovering in the Houston sky behind Lady Gaga, who began her halftime performance perched on the top of NRG Stadium.
The drone technology was put together by Intel, and although their part it wasn’t live (it was filmed in the days prior to the big event) the result was impressive.
Wired reported that each of the UAVs respond to a central computer, “oblivious to what the hundreds of machines around it are doing.”
The drones are each about a foot end to end, and weighs just over eight ounces. The distinguishing feature is the LED orb attached to the centre, which boasts a whopping four billion colour combinations.
The performance was the drone’s biggest single audience to date, with approximately 160 million people worldwide watching. But these kinds of drone shows have been around for a while.
Intel recently wrapped up a weeks-long light show at Disney World. Last year in Sydney, Australia, the company put on a 500-drone show, breaking the record for the most UAVs airborne simultaneously.
Image credit: Intel


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Shinji Mikami, best known as the creator of the Resident Evil series and expert at all things survival horror, is currently working on a new game with his new Tango Gameworks studio.
The game is currently codenamed “Project Zwei,” and will be, no surprise, a survival horror title. Mikami tells Famitsu that he wanted to stick with this genre because he wanted to meet players’ expectations and sticking to what he’s best at was the smartest choice. The game isn’t related to the German
Zwei is currently well in development, and Bethesda is providing support as a publisher. There is still no word on what platforms the game will be released for, but Mikami said it would probably be for HD consoles.
Tango has also released a teaser site for the game that provides a collection of art, but no actual game details are revealed aside from what was mentioned in the Famitsu interview.


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We’ve already seen the Nokia Lumia 1520 a bunch of times ahead of the launch event taking place on October 22nd. This is a 6 inch phablet that has leaked in both press renders and various other pics on the web. Today we get a new shot from @Moroleaks.
The source tweeted a cyan colored Lumia 1520, a device with a front panel that’s colored black, while the back is all cyan. The device will feature a quad core Snapdragon processor, a powerful 3390 mAh battery and a 6 inch Full HD screen. We already knew all of those, but now we also get some intel on a new feature called Glance Background.
The info comes from Martin Jansky, senior product manager at Nokia. Glance Background is the area behind the functional features like clock or notifications, that can be customized with a new image in the background. The idea is to show an image when the handset is pretty much off. You can even tweak the effects that are associated to the image popping up!


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Previously couple of years, we’ve seen a rising pattern of creators adopting digital and social media, not simply as a complement to their media presence but additionally as a cornerstone of their private model.
The pandemic has absolutely accelerated creator economic system tendencies. Many widespread artists and figures have needed to postpone live shows and stay occasions, subsequently utilizing social media to hold out these actions and have interaction their followers. Proliferating by means of Western and much East markets, the creator economic system bug, which has made platforms like Cameo and Patreon unicorns, is starting to take centre stage in MENA.
As we speak, Minly, an Egypt-based creator economic system platform, is asserting that it has closed a $3.6 million seed spherical to permit stars throughout the MENA area to create genuine, customized connections with their followers.
The spherical, which Minly says was oversubscribed, was co-led by 4DX Ventures, B&Y Enterprise Companions, and World Ventures. It additionally included participation from unnamed regional funds and angel traders like Scooter Braun, founding father of SB Initiatives and Jason Finger, co-founder of Seamless and Grubhub.
Consultants say time spent viewing social media surpassed time spent viewing TV throughout the MENA area. However one shortcoming with social media is that its content material usually feels mass-produced. When creators make posts, it’s most instances void of personalization to the totally different classes of followers they possess. In a manner, this dilutes the fan expertise and limits the extent and variety of methods the creator can monetize.
That is the place Minly is available in. The corporate was based final 12 months by Mohamed El-Shinnawy, Tarek Hosny, Tarek ElGanainy, Ahmed Abbas, and Bassel El-Toukhy. It supplies instruments for creators to craft what it calls ‘genuine connections’ with their superfans and viewers at scale. “In brief, our objective is to ultimately ship tens of hundreds of thousands of distinctive, unforgettable experiences to followers annually,” El-Shinnawy stated to TechCrunch.
Shinnawy, who brings greater than 15 years of media and know-how expertise to the desk, is the chief know-how officer at Minly. He offered his first firm Emerge Expertise to a U.S.-based media firm. He has additionally delivered work for Hollywood’s prime studios, reminiscent of Sony Photos, Common, Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers, whereas taking part in a task within the world enlargement of Apple TV+, Disney+, and Netflix to the MENA area.
Minly has skilled fast progress since launching late final 12 months. It has greater than 50,000 customers and a powerful listing of widespread regional celebrities starting from actors and athletes like Fifi Abdou and Mahmoud Trezeguet to musicians and web influencers like Assala Nasri and Tamer Hosny.
On the platform, customers can purchase customized video messages and shoutouts from these celebrities, they usually, in flip, join with their followers on a extra private degree. “We predict that we now have already differentiated ourselves from different creator economic system platforms within the area. We do that by providing the very best catalogue of stars and person expertise. And our complete crew is working onerous to develop this hole even additional,” stated El-Shinnawy on the crop of celebrities
Among the situations the place celebrities related with their followers on Minly embody when actress and dancer Fifi Abdou despatched a private message to certainly one of her largest followers who has Down syndrome and when Egyptian singer Tamer Hosny made a shock look at two followers’ engagement celebration in March.
Minly takes a small fee on transactions made by means of its platform. Nonetheless, the majority of the transaction worth, a determine Minly didn’t disclose, goes instantly to creators. And on the identical time, Minly urges celebrities to mechanically donate a portion of their earnings to associate charities on the platform.
Minly’s knack for creating a customized expertise is why Pan-African VC agency 4DX Ventures invested. The agency’s co-founder and common associate Peter Orth, who will probably be becoming a member of Minly’s board, stated the corporate is basically altering the connection between celebrities and followers within the MENA area. “The crew has each the ambition and the experience to construct a full-stack digital interplay platform that might change the way in which digital content material is created and consumed within the area,” he added.
The creator economic system market surpassed $100 billion in worth this 12 months and continues to be rising at a powerful charge. The tempo of content material creation will solely velocity up since surveys counsel that being a YouTuber or TikTokker or the most typical time period, a Vlogger is one probably the most fascinating careers amongst Gen Zs. VC heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Companions, and Tiger World have additionally heralded this progress significantly, contributing to the greater than $2 billion invested in creator economic system platforms this 12 months.
In MENA, there’s an enormous alternative for Minly. The area has over 450 million folks, of which 30% are between the ages of 18 to 30. This demography is thought to have a deep reference to social media, and El-Shinnawy believes MENA will quickly contribute to a big a part of the whole creator economic system.
For Minly, the objective is to seize an enormous portion of that spend and grow to be a multi-billion greenback category-leading firm. The creator platform has a case to take action. Because it stands, the chance to construct a creator economic system one-stop-shop in MENA is large in comparison with different areas that have already got a number of entrenched incumbents. Additionally, Minly is without doubt one of the few platforms within the area with significant enterprise funding.
“The creator economic system is in its infancy and rising at lightning velocity. We’ve got the chance to construct this class’s first unicorn in MENA,” the CTO remarked.
With this funding, Minly is doubling down on constructing native superstar acquisition groups in Egypt and different elements throughout MENA and the GCC, the place it has seen vital traction. The corporate may also scale its engineering crew to churn out extra merchandise to construct a horizontal creator platform.


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Reddit has become a hub for social-media driven traders and investors that have proven their ability to maneuver the markets, injecting huge volatility into stocks like GameStop and AMC. But what stocks are grabbing attention on Reddit today?
Below may be a list of the highest 10 most mentioned US stocks on the WallStreetBets thread on Reddit over the last 24 hours on September 28, 2021, consistent with data from Quiver Quantitative. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are excluded.
Clean Energy Fuels
Tesla has rocketed to the highest of the list overnight after reports surfaced over the weekend that CEO Elon Musk had sent an email to staff stating this may be the company’s ‘most intense delivery week ever’. That was followed by reports from Reuters that Tesla’s factory in Shanghai in China is about to supply 300,000 cars during the primary nine months of this year. Tesla exports the bulk of its China-made cars but also sells them domestically. Separately, Tesla said it’ll release its Full Self Driving software , but only to people who achieve a high enough safety score, every week on Friday. Tesla shares ended up 2.2% yesterday and closed at their highest level since February.
Canoo shares closed down 8% yesterday, sliding back after rocketing on Friday as investors piled-in amid a possible short-squeeze.
SmileDirectClub is another potential short-squeeze candidate and closed up over 4% yesterday, but the stock remains down over 49% since the beginning of 2021.
Clean Energy Fuels shares surged 12.5% yesterday to finish at their highest level since early July.
Alibaba shares bounced back yesterday and rose 3.5% after ending last week at their lowest level since January 2019. Investors are going to be closely watching to ascertain if the Chinese giant has finally bottomed-out after being hammered by the regulatory crackdown in China, or whether the stock will continue to hit new lows.
Palantir shares closed down 4.4% yesterday to bring an end to its three-day streak , having did not breach past its highest level since February.
GameStop saw its price target move $24 from $25 by Ascendiant Capital Markets yesterday, with brokers believing the stock is heavily overvalued at $188 before the opening bell today.
TMC Metals shares rebounded yesterday after closing last week at their lowest level since going public through a SPAC deal earlier this month. Its highly ambitious decide to produce battery metals by scraping nodules off the ocean floor initially sparked excitement when it first listed but the stock has lost considerable ground as questions are raised about the value of its plans.
Logistics and transportation firm Ryder System may be a new entrant overnight as shares climbed to their highest level since May yesterday.
Retail investors realised their potential power in early January 2021 when a loosely-coordinated strategy was formed on Reddit’s WallStreetBets chatroom to shop for shares and out-of-money call options on stocks that were being targeted by short-sellers to push the worth higher. the thought was to make a short-squeeze.
A short-squeeze does what it says on the tin – it tries to squeeze short-sellers out of their positions. Short-sellers, mostly big institutional investors and hedge funds, bet that the worth of a stock will fall but, as retail investors pile in and push the share price higher, they’re forced to start out buying the stock to undertake to limit their losses. The buying by the large players only fuels the share price higher.
The fact many of the stocks being targeted are fundamentally flawed or failing adds increased risk into an already volatile picture. GameStop is an out-of-favour retailer that sells physical video games during a time when games are mostly being bought online, while others like Blackberry also are laggards from the past.
With this in mind, it’s unsurprising they were within the crosshairs of short-sellers that search for failing companies to bet against.
But why are retail investors banding together to shop for shares in flawed companies? This disconnect is partly explained by a growing resentment among the smaller players within the market, which afflict the thought of huge institutions taking advantage of a company’s failure through short-selling practices, creating what has been described as a ‘David vs Goliath’ battle.
It is important to notice that not all the foremost actively-discussed stocks on Reddit are struggling or being targeted by short-sellers. Many of the foremost mentioned stocks, like Apple, are simply popular among the community.
The stark movements in stocks like GameStop has demonstrated the facility and influence that social media-driven investors and traders can wear the market, having injected severe volatility into several stocks. Volatility presents opportunities for traders, and it doesn’t get more volatile than Reddit stocks immediately – even during an epidemic .
For example, we saw GameStop – the primary heavily-shorted stock to be targeted by social media-driven investors – go from below $19 at the beginning of 2021 to a replacement record high of over $347 by January 27, and therefore the share price has remained highly volatile ever since.


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Snakes not on a plane
A rattlesnake tastes the air.
From the Marketplace Datebook, here’s a look at what’s coming up Friday:
- In Washington, the Labor Department reports on unemployment for February.
- The Federal Reserve is scheduled to issue consumer credit data for January.
- And if snakes are your thing, and why wouldn’t they be, Sweetwater, Texas hosts its annual Rattlesnake Roundup. Billed as the world’s largest.
Featured in: Marketplace for Thursday, March 6, 2014


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With Apple and Samsung publicly attacking one another and in serious legal litigation, consumers tend to forget that both companies are key partners in their respective business strategies. Most recently, Samsung has opened a plant in Austin, Texas that is responsible for manufacturing the A5X CPU for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. It comes as no surprise, that Apple is expected to announce the new iPhone 5 and most likely an iPad Mini next month. This investment only further legitimizes that an announcement is near. Samsung”s investment will go to improving and increasing production of their Austin plant. This is speculated to be in preparation for Apple’s new models.
Considering this amount is on top of the original $3.6 billion investment by Samsung (to get the plant opened) and you get that Samsung is ready to make this a priority for their business.
It truly is amazing that 2 companies that have made such harsh claims of one another, are still able to maintain such a great business partnership. However at the end of the day, if both companies are going to make substantial amounts of money off a new Apple platform, this speaks less to their professionalism and more to profit margins. As noted yesterday, the jury has begun deliberating on what is easily one of the biggest cases in tech history.


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Try Microsoft Edge, a fast and secure browser that's designed for Windows 10
January 21, 2013
Company showcases Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 on Windows Azure, announces new apps and services, and highlights impact of technology on helping businesses deliver amazing experiences to their customers.
Company announces broad availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and introduces Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, emphasizes impact of technology on helping businesses connect with their customers.
At Build 2013, Microsoft announces Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Release Preview, Windows Azure enhancements and new partner offerings.
Company highlights innovations to help businesses unite their organizations, connect with their customers and get the most value from their information technology investments.
Visual Studio 2012 and .NET 4.5 have been released to the Web — the simplified toolkit enables developers to build modern apps across the Microsoft platforms and for the cloud.
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The rise of on-line buying has harm Mahendra Chowdhary, whose hole-in-the-wall pharmacy in a suburb of Mumbai is full of every little thing from drugs to chocolate.
On-line pharmacies are slashing them by 20 % to 30 % and clients are more and more flocking to them like sachets of shampoo for the worth of some bucks. Something larger they usually flip to their on-line rivals. “I can not provide reductions like they do,” he mentioned.
However for six months, Mr. Choudhury has been a guinea pig for a brand new service he hopes will flip his fortunes; Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, head of oil, retail and telecom conglomerate Reliance, makes an attempt to tackle the likes of Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
In keeping with analysts, Reliance is the one Indian firm that has the sources to enter the web buying house, simply because it revamped the nation’s telecom sector by providing ultra-cheap cellular knowledge.
Commenting on Reliance’s foray into e-commerce, Arvind Singhal, chairman, consultancy Technopak, mentioned, “Whether or not it will likely be profitable, whether or not it will likely be launched nationally, stays to be seen. “But when they’re able to crack it . . . they would be the solely boys on the town.”
The brand new platform, JioMart, which has began signing up clients for a tender launch in suburban Mumbai, plans to faucet hundreds of thousands of smaller retailers in India, similar to Mr. Choudhary. Grocery,
Clients order groceries and staples by way of JioMart, which can then be delivered to them from close by shops. Consumers can use a handheld Jio terminal to enter the products out there with them, and can even use it to order recent inventory from Reliance’s community of wholesalers.
To lure consumers, JioMart will provide free supply and returns, and reductions of as much as Rs 3,000 ($42) for early clients. The promise of extra clients and cheaper wholesale merchandise to get customers to enroll.
The enterprise is one other a part of Mr. Ambani’s technique to construct a home digital large. Analysts mentioned Reliance’s ambition is to make use of the information it receives from JioMart to supply different companies, together with serving to companies with sources like cloud computing.
It needs the 350 million folks utilizing Jio’s cellular community to make use of its app for every little thing from on-line buying to streaming music and films. “That’s the holy grail for us. , , You come straight to us,” mentioned an individual acquainted with the corporate’s technique.
In keeping with consultancy AT Kearney, on-line grocery supply is among the quickest rising segments of India’s $60 billion ecommerce market, with annual gross sales progress of 87 %.
Days after Reliance signed up clients, Amazon introduced a tie-up with Indian retail conglomerate Future, by which it already holds a stake. The US platform mentioned it’ll start delivering groceries from Future Supermarkets to clients in main cities inside two hours, in an effort to fulfill the problem posed by Reliance’s new platform.
However Amazon and Flipkart face different hurdles. A regulatory change final 12 months restricted foreign-owned firms’ means to promote their stock, not third-party items, to customers, decreasing a profitable a part of their companies.
Mr Ambani first revealed plans to launch a “new commerce” enterprise in January final 12 months, solely weeks after the regulatory tightening was introduced. Being Indian, Reliance will not be topic to restrictions, leaving its wholesalers free to produce Grocery With the identical juice or detergent that customers will ultimately purchase on JioMart.
“It’s not an equal taking part in area,” Mr Singhal mentioned. “There are large losses for worldwide retailers”.
A part of Reliance’s e-commerce pitch is that it needs to assist the nation’s many smaller retailers moderately than compete with them. In August, Mr. Ambani mentioned, “These extremely energetic and self-motivated entrepreneurs have suffered.” “At Reliance Ethos, we’re working in direction of enriching and empowering them.”
One other individual acquainted with Reliance’s technique mentioned these shops have already got loyal clients, which can save Reliance from constructing its community of couriers from scratch. ,Grocery Huh [very] Related to the shoppers round them,” the individual mentioned.
However analysts say Reliance’s technique additionally has logistical challenges and dangers, similar to the opportunity of high quality lapses.
“There may be little or no scope to ship unfresh merchandise. When you do that as soon as, the shopper by no means involves you once more,” mentioned Mrigank Gutgutia of consultancy Redseer. “They must do one thing very totally different from what they’ve achieved prior to now to make this work on a big scale.”
In Navi Mumbai, an industrial satellite tv for pc metropolis about an hour from India’s monetary capital, customers have been managing funds and stock with Jio units, however have been but to ship. They could discover it tough to alter their underlying habits, together with leaving present suppliers.
Laxman Jawal’s pharmacy not too long ago ordered its first batch of products from a Reliance wholesaler: a consignment of cleaning soap, deodorant and different merchandise delivered in giant Jio-branded containers. He mentioned the order was straightforward to make and delivered effectively, and he was eager to do it once more.
However Bhagwan Lal, who didn’t have a card machine earlier than signing up, finds the system complicated. When he not too long ago wished to order some biscuits, he waited for a Jio consultant at his store to return and do it for him. Within the meantime it makes use of its present suppliers as an alternative. “I’ll study,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, Mr Choudhary mentioned he doesn’t see any vital good points as of now. “I do not know if it’ll profit us,” he mentioned. “I am glad in the event that they work with us. But when they solely take into consideration their very own profit, it will likely be disappointing.”
Extra reporting by Andrea Rodrigues


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The Secret World developer Funcom has announced that it is set to restructure the company, leading to studio closures and layoffs.
“Funcom has initiated a process of restructuring the company around its core products and technology,” the developer said on its website. “The restructuring of the company will involve cost reductions through the closure and the consolidation of offices with the goal of creating a stronger unified organization that can take full advantage of the exciting opportunities that face the games industry as it steps into 2013 and beyond.”
Funcom promised to focus strongly on support for Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and The Secret World. Dubbing the latter’s recent buy-to-play switch as a huge success.
“We are building the basis of a very sustainable business” said Funcom CEO Ole Schreiner. “With a restructured organization, we will have a joint team of the best-of-the-best working together to expand our existing online worlds and to create new, exciting and memorable online experiences.”


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Apple iPhone 5 users consume the most cellular data, while owners of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S III upload more data than any other smartphone, according to a survey conducted by Arieso.
The content distribution market is getting increasingly competitive, as vendors expand the number of devices that can access movies, books and music, and Amazon wants a piece.
Apple shows no signs of wanting to settle with Samsung as the two companies continue to battle over smartphone and tablet buyers.
Citrix Systems has released an enhanced GoToMyPC app for Android devices allowing anyone with an Android phone or tablet, including Amazon's Kindle Fire family, to access their Internet-connected Mac or PC over a mobile network.
Nokia announced on Thursday that it has filed patent claims in the U.K., Germany and the Netherlands, again taking aim at Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Three men found guilty of being accessories to crimes against copyright law for their part in running The Pirate Bay have lost their appeal, while a fourth man...


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The New York Times Co. says its advertising revenue stopped falling for the first time in years during the second quarter. Digital ad sales helped offset another decline in print.
It's a significant milestone because the publisher of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune and 15 other daily newspapers pays most of its bills by selling ads.
The company's net income fell 18 percent from a year ago, when it booked a big one-time tax gain.
It earned $32 million, or 21 cents per share, in the latest quarter. That compares with $39.1 million, or 27 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue climbed 1.2 percent to $590 million.
© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Harvard Law admins accused of buying sex toys & iPads with disability fund
Two Harvard Law school administrators are accused of embezzling a reported $110,000 from a fund intended to support students with disabilities. Sex toys, iPads and iPods are amongst some of the items they are accused of purchasing with the money.
The purchases allegedly made by Meg DeMarco, 33, and Darris Saylors, 32, came to light after a new administrator took over their role in November 2013, and noticed some discrepancies in the accounts, reported WBZ. An investigation into some of the purchases led to the electronics being traced by Apple to the homes of the two women and several of their friends.
“It was big job and I made mistakes.” DeMarco told WBZ. “I never intended to harm the university and that I am very sorry and will do everything in my power to rectify the situation.” DeMarco is scheduled to be arraigned on on April 5.
Saylors was arraigned on Wednesday when she was charged with two counts of larceny over $250, two counts of false entry into corporate books, uttering a false writing and forgery of a document in connection with an alleged theft from Harvard Law School, according to a statement from The Middlesex District Attorney.
The total amount of funds allegedly syphoned by Saylors is estimated at $47,793.
DeMarco allegedly deposited school money directly into her bank account to spend, while Saylors is accused of using the Dean of Students purchasing cards to buy items online at sites including Amazon. The purchases, including DVDs, jewellery, laptops and X-rated items were then listed in school documents as items including “textbooks for disabilities accommodations.”
Harvard Law School released a statement to WBZ saying: “As a result of this matter the Law school implemented additional layers of controls governing the use of its credit accounts and purchasing protocols.”


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Gold Winner Attica Furnishings
Silver Winner HomeSense, Bayers Lake
Bronze Winner Thornbloom
Attica had its 17th birthday this summer, and Coast readers celebrated by awarding the store gold in this new category. Getting up there in years might make some sluggish, but it just gives the great people at Attica more energy---they are still going strong, bringing you the clean lines of the best modern home accessories that local and international artists have to offer. It’s “where dreams come true,” says one voter---a statement that’s hard to argue with considering Attica’s now offering fancy Vi-Spring luxury mattresses, so technically, it’s not just where dreams come true, but where you can buy them, too.


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High-Profile Retailer Data Breaches Prompt Security Discussion, Say Providers
Retailers are reviewing their security postures following the massive Target Corp. data breach, according to security experts who say the high-profile incident has helped raise the security awareness in a market that is traditionally slow to adopt and deploy new technologies.
In a Monday interview on CNBC, Target CEO Greg Steinhafel acknowledged malware had been installed on the retailer's point-of-sale systems and said the company would make significant changes. He stopped short of indicating what security improvements would be made, if any, citing the ongoing law enforcement investigation into what happened.
Hackers stole the personal information of at least 70 million customers at Target stores during the busy holiday shopping season. The breach included names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. Target initially reported the scope of the breach as being limited to 40 million credit and debit card numbers, but it recently acknowledged the additional customer data.
Once the details about the cause of the Target breach are better known, service providers can better address the weaknesses that prompted the breach with their own clients, said John Garner, president of iMedia Technology. Garner said that most small and midsize businesses take an "it won't happen to me" approach to data breaches.
"We'll see more concern when there is a greater impact to the small business community," Garner said. "Our role is to educate them and make them realize they are just as vulnerable and susceptible to the same risks as the big guys."
At least four other retailers may have had a data breach, according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources who declined to name the businesses. The news comes during the National Retail Federation's annual industry conference in New York City.
Reuters reported that malware discovered on Target's systems was designed to scrape the memory at the store's point-of-sale systems before the data was encrypted and sent to the credit card processor.
Another retailer, Neiman Marcus, disclosed on Friday that it was warned about a possible breach in mid-December and that an outside forensics firm confirmed a breach on Jan. 1, saying it found evidence that some payment card data may have been compromised.
Smaller merchants typically outsource credit card processes with security conscious payment processor, said Dan Tervo, president of Tervo Systems, a Clermont, Fla.-based consultancy that specializes in VoIP, cloud backup, and security. Ultimately the merchant is responsible for protecting the customer's data and needs to take stock of the systems and processes they have in place, Tervo said.
"These breaches increase awareness across the board," Tervo said. "Business executives want to know that their customers can trust what they do with their customer's information."
Version 3.0 of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS), released in November, is the credit card brands' response to containing credit card breaches. While merchants that have a high volume of transactions must have an onsite assessment, many smaller firms must pledge to adhere to the document's 12 requirements.
The latest version of PCI DSS requires service providers to have separate authentication credentials for remote access to clients, following breaches that stemmed from he use of stolen or default remote access credentials. The document also places point-of-sale systems into the scope of an assessment. Cybercriminals and local thieves can find ways to tamper with the credit card reader or figure out a way to steal the swiped data before it is encrypted and transmitted to the payment provider, Tervo said.
Most businesses are committed to protecting their customer's data, but they struggle with balancing an investment in the right technology with the right policies and processes, said Rob Delevan, information technology consultant at Wasatch I.T. It's about making it difficult for cybercriminals to carry out an attack and having the forthright to plan an effective response when a breach takes place.
"More people understand and accept the risks associated with using their credit cards," Delevan said. "Businesses understand that there is brand risk associated with the fallout from a breach."
PUBLISHED JAN. 14, 2014


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Facebook offers up a slick visual breakdown of the new console and controller.
By Lucas M. Thomas
Updated: 28 Jun 2016 10:24 pm
Posted: 7 Jun 2012 12:48 am
Nintendo has taken to social media in force for this year's E3, and visitors to their Twitter accounts and Facebook pages have been treated to a few extra goodies throughout the past few days. Late last night, in particular, the company uploaded something especially fun for Wii U fans – a handsome infographic detailing the new system's features in a pleasing visual manner.So we're borrowing it. Check it out just below, and be sure to hop over to Nintendo's Wii U Facebook page and toss them a Like in appreciation.


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(ABC4) – Taking an Uber? Don’t ditch the mask, even if you’re fully vaccinated.
Uber is notifying riders that there is currently a federal CDC mandate requiring travelers to wear a mask. The company adds that it will keep its mask policy in place.
Uber drivers are now being offered enforcement tips from the company regarding its mask policy.
Drivers have been told to:
- Keep doors locked until they have verified that the riders are wearing a mask.
- Do not start the trip until the rider(s) have a mask on. Remember: riders can’t rate trips that have not been started.
- Use “No face cover or mask” cancellation if any riders are not wearing a mask.
During the trip, Uber is telling its drivers to remind riders to keep their masks on. Additional, drivers can:
- Tell the rider they’re putting your health and the health of your loved ones at risk if they’re not wearing a mask.
- Ask the rider(s) to get out at a safe location if they refuse to comply with the mask requirement.
Uber says it developed these driver safety tips after surveying 2,500 drivers in Chicago, New York City, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, D.C., Boston, Minneapolis, and Tampa.
In March, Uber added new precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic, including suspending the accounts of drivers and riders who, at the time, had the virus. Two months later, Uber, and Lyft, began requiring passengers and drivers to wear masks.
Last year, Uber announced riders reported by drivers for not wearing a mask would be required to take a selfie with the Uber app – with a face covering on – before they’re able to take another ride. Between May and September, the company reported that more than 1,250 riders had had their access to the Uber app removed following multiple reports from drivers.
Multiple states, like Utah, no longer have mask mandates in place.


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Jay-Z's unintentionally ironic Occupy Wall Street T-shirt — and more in our collection of topical message tees
Jay-Z (briefly) lent Occupy Wall Street some visibility with a new T-shirt sold by his Rocawear clothing line — a shirt that was dropped just a day after it went on sale. The shirt, which Jay-Z wore on his Watch the Throne tour, reads "Occupy All Streets," with a scratched out "W" playing off the populist protest. The hip-hop mogul didn't plan to share any profits with the anti-bank movement — and that caused an outcry. "The irony!" says Karlee Weinmann at Business Insider. "He's got 99 problems, and now 'the 99 percent' might be another one."


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Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ended 2011 as the best-selling current-generation console in the U.S., outselling the second-place console by more than 2.7 million units, according to report from NPD Group.
According to NPD data “with a strong holiday sales period finishing a banner year, in Dec. 2011 Xbox 360 was the fastest-growing console, and it captured 49 percent of consumer retail spending, with an industry-leading $6.7 billion in sales in the U.S. for the calendar year–more than $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games and accessories.”
“Xbox 360 was the must-have gift this holiday season with about half of December’s retail spend on games, consoles and accessories going toward Xbox 360 products, totaling more than $1.5 billion,” NPD data shows.
According to internal Microsoft figures, the company has sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and more than 18 million Kinect sensors worldwide, and has nearly 40 million Xbox LIVE members. Here is what the internal Microsoft data shows:
- The hours of video consumed globally on Xbox LIVE increased 140 percent from 2010 to 2011.
- In December, more than 60 percent of U.S. Xbox LIVE Gold members used entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE – for an average of an hour a day each.
- The number of people using entertainment apps on Xbox LIVE increased by nearly 50 percent globally from November to December.
Other NPD highlights from Dec 2011 report include:
- Holding a 46% share of the overall current-generation console market, Xbox 360 sold more than 1.7 million units in Dec, solidifying the number-one console spot in the U.S. for 2011. This marks the tenth consecutive month Xbox 360 has held more than 40 percent of the current-generation console market share, and twelfth straight month Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the U.S.
- Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform (hardware, software and accessories) reached $1.5 billion, the most for any console in the U.S.
- Xbox 360 had seven of the top 10 console game titles including: “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3,” Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Battlefield 3,” “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations,” “Just Dance 3,” “Kinect Sports Season Two” and “Dance Central 2”.
- For 2011, Xbox 360 had six of the top 10 console game titles including “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3,” “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” “Gears of War 3,” “Battlefield 3,” “Madden NFL 12,” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops”.
Also, this week at the 2012 CES, Microsoft showed many of the ways Xbox 360 and Kinect will continue their strong momentum in 2012, including new Xbox LIVE content partners such as News Corp.


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Personal Audio LLC has filed a second lawsuit against Apple. The first lawsuit that was pushed by the company, almost two weeks ago, resulted in a loss for Apple, to a cost of $8,000,000, as...
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In conjunction with international Safer Internet Day Microsoft has conducted a Digital Civility Index study named “Civility, Safety and Interactions Online – 2017,” which measured the perceptions of teens and adults about the online risks they face and how their interactions affect their lives. Some very intriguing findings have come to light.
The study was conducted in 23 countries, up from 14 countries in 2016. The study gauges the attitudes and perceptions of teens (ages 13-17) and adults (ages 18-74) about the state of civility online. Microsoft measured respondents’ lifetime exposure to 20 different online risks – three more than the previous year – across four categories: behavioral, reputational, sexual and personal/intrusive.
According to the latest study, people’s digital interactions and responses to online risks appear to be improving around the world – though perhaps surprisingly, many of those who have been targeted for abuse online say their perpetrators came from their immediate families and social circles.
Indeed, nearly two in three respondents (61 percent) said they had some familiarity with their online abusers. More than a third (36 percent) said they knew the perpetrator personally: 17 percent responded that the perpetrator was a friend or a family member, while nearly one in five (19 percent) said the perpetrator was an acquaintance.
One-quarter of those surveyed said the offender was someone they knew only online, and 37 percent said their online risk exposure came from a stranger. Family and friends accounted for a high percentage of perpetrators among those who said they were bullied online (41 percent) or discriminated against (36 percent).
For the second year in a row, unwanted contact surfaced as the leading online risk that people experienced (among the 20 evaluated) — with 41 percent of respondents reporting being contacted online by someone they did not wish to hear from. This is down 2 percentage points from 43 percent the previous year. The next closest-ranked risk was hoaxes, fraud, and scams as a collective with 27 percent of respondents reporting exposure during their lifetime. This is the first year this risk was included in this survey.


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Coca-Cola just announced they’re killing off TAB . . . which was their first-ever diet soda. It’s part of their push to get rid of, quote, “underperforming” products. So, Tab will be gone by the end of the year.
The 1970’s and ’80’s just took another hit, this week.
Coca-Cola officially announces it’s killing off TaB . . . which was their first-ever diet soda. It debuted almost 60 years ago but really hit its stride in the ’70s and ’80s.
It’s fallen off the radar a little bit since then – and lots of other diet soda drinks have become way more popular. But it’s always been around, because a faithful niche group of about four-million fans have kept dutifully purchasing it, year after year. However, the company has admitted that a shortage of aluminum makes it difficult to keep producing cans. They discontinued bottled TaB, over ten years ago, in the U.S.
TaB fans have been sending letters and posting on social media to protest the kill-off, and to request a switch back to bottles.
Now Coca-Cola is getting rid of it along with some of its other, quote, “underperforming” products, including Odwalla juices and Zico coconut water.
Coca-Cola is getting rid of Tab by the end of the year, so if you’re still a fan, it’s time to hoard it if you see it. But good luck. Most TaB drinkers have already nabbed whatever cans they can. (CNN)


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Tesco’s chief executive Ken Murphy has called on political parties to stand by the country’s net-zero commitments and give businesses more confidence to invest in green innovations.
Speaking at the Reuters Impact event in London, Murphy said green innovation in the food industry could be transformational in cutting food costs, carbon emissions, protecting the UK’s food security and stimulating growth in sustainable technologies.
Murphy warned that the government must do more to support retail’s transition to sustainability solutions, as the UK’s level of investment remains well below the average for OECD countries.
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By Mark Craddock. Published on 21 September 2015
Mark Craddock, who specialises in senior finance and CFO appointments at Eton Bridge Partners, says that although recent focus has been on Greece and the Eurozone, opportunities for growth are much wider.
To read the full article on the CIMA website, please click here
For the time being (when this article was written) the possibility of a Greek exit from the Eurozone has diminished, thanks to a last-minute bailout deal and emergency funding to stave off the most immediate crisis.
In the longer term there are many more hurdles and negotiations to overcome before Greece’s future can be secured. If a Grexit did still eventually occur, what impact would this have on the UK?
In 2013, total UK exports of both goods and services to Greece was GBP2.82 billion*, just 1.2% of UK exports to the EU, or 0.55% of UK total global exports.
Although this is a relatively small figure, the British Chambers of Commerce have warned that many UK businesses may be hit by the resulting market upheaval, changes in trade flows, and payment issues.
Look further afield
Despite that, it’s important to put the statistics into context and recognise that there are many more non-European markets with stronger, growing economies where Britain could be pushing harder to trade.
Britain is now the world’s fifth largest economy, overtaking France in terms of GDP at the end of last year, and it is expected to continue to pull ahead. By 2030, Britain is expected to outstrip Germany to become Europe’s top performing economy, thanks in part to its position outside the Eurozone.
Further afield, in just a decade China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, helped by a massive expansion programme which – while Britain still vacillates over the building of a third runway at Heathrow – has seen more than 100 new airports built between 2011 and 2015.
The world is clearly not standing still and, given the huge amount of talent we have in this country, it’s important to look around and focus more strongly on the world stage.
Even though the UK already has the joint lowest corporation tax in the G20, the Chancellor has said his decision to cut it still further to 18% in 2020 would ‘give businesses the lower taxes they can count on to grow with confidence, invest with confidence, create jobs with confidence.’
He further added that it would send the message around the world that the UK is ‘open for business’. That is something I believe we must all consider when reviewing new career opportunities.
Yes, Europe is closer to home and of course we benefit when the European economy is more stable. But there are plenty more opportunities to be had beyond those borders.
All the time now, I’m seeing businesses invest in major new infrastructure and, as a result, demand for commercial finance people continues to grow. Those with expertise in systems and shared service centres are among the most sought after and the world could easily be their oyster.
Look around, it might be time to spread your wings and grasp those career opportunities while they last.


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Now that it’s been confirmed through the official Pokémon accounts, we are going to run through all details known so far, as well as what to expect from this long-awaited presentation.
Pokémon Presents: What to expect
This time, the spotlight will belong to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as excitement around these remasters of the popular fourth-generation games is high.
So far TPCi has only released a teaser trailer, so we hope they will share more in-depth details on these titles, with a global release date scheduled for 19th November 2021.
Another of the titles we should focus on is Pokémon Legends: Arceus, an open-world spin-off game that has fans of the franchise very intrigued, having a tentative launch window for early 2022.
Although many players have expressed concern over its hasty launch, JC Smith, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing for TPCi, confessed in an interview for GamesBeat its development team "has a lot of interesting things to share."
In addition, we may even see some hints about other projects announced long ago, such as Pokémon Sleep and the Detective Pikachu sequel, revealed back in June 2020.
Likewise, it’s mostly probable we will get more updates around Pokémon Unite, a MOBA that has been quite successful since its arrival on Nintendo Switch, with more Pokémon revealed for its roster and more details about its imminent launch on mobile devices this September.
Pokémon Presents: How to watch and schedule
Prepare yourself for 28 minutes of new announcements and more surprises, as the Pokémon Presents will take place on 18th August 2021 at 6 am PT / 10 pm BST.
‼— Pokémon (@Pokemon) August 13, 202
Tune in to our YouTube channel on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, at 6:00 a.m. PDT for a #PokemonPresents video presentation featuring #PokemonBrilliantDiamond, #PokemonShiningPearl, and #PokemonLegendsArceus! pic.twitter.com/quBEdaCce2
You can check it live from the official Pokémon YouTube channel, though if you can't catch it at the time -- don't worry -- as we will be recapping everything we learned.
You can find more news, guides, announcements and updates in our section dedicated to the Pokémon franchise.


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The Spring Sale is returning to Xbox once again and this year there will be more than 350 games on sale. The discounts have been confirmed to be up to 67% for all users. Xbox Live Gold members may get up to an additional 10% off games.
The full sale list has not been provided yet but the announcement trailer reveals quite a few games. The sale will include Overwatch, Watch Dogs 2, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. Just like with the Winter sale, new Xbox Live Gold members can subscribe for just 1$. The video can be seen on Major Nelsons Twitter feed.
In addition to the games being on sale, the Xbox Design Lab is also having a sale. The custom controllers will be getting a $15 discount for the first time ever as part of this sale.
The Xbox Spring Sale will be starting next week on April 11th. It will be be running until April 17th giving players plenty of time to grab some great deals.


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There has been a change of position at the senior management of Havaş that has become a global brand in ground handling services. Mete Erna, who had been working as Deputy General Manager of Havaş in charge of Sales and Marketing since 2017 and also as the Acting General Manager of Havaş since July 1st, 2020, is appointed as the General Manager of Havaş.
Being a graduate of and also having his post-graduate in Istanbul University Political Sciences Faculty International Relations Department, S. Mete Erna began his professional life in aviation industry in 1995 at Havaş. Undertaking several positions at various airline and ground handling services companies in Turkey, and abroad throughout his career, Erna rejoined Havaş family in 2014 and continued working on sales, marketing and business development operations. S. Mete Erna had been working as the Deputy General Manager in charge of Sales and Marketing since October 2017 and was assigned as the Acting General Manager of Havaş as from July 1st, 2020. Erna is appointed as the General Manager as from October 1st, 2020.


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Car sharing as a method for managing the demand for on-street parking: Hoboken, New Jersey
See the city's webpage on Corner Cars and this piece, "Cars at Curbside, Available to Share," from the New York Times. From the NYT article:
The program, called Corner Cars, is based on the rent-by-the-hour model that companies like Zipcar and Hertz have been offering for years. In other cities, however, those cars are stored deep in parking garages or clustered in a few neighborhoods. Hoboken’s shared cars are parked on the street, in special bright green spots that appear every few blocks so they are never far out of sight or mind.
From the city website:
How Do Corner Cars Improve the Parking Situation?
Surveys have shown that for each of these vehicles in Hoboken, over 17 households have given up their cars! An additional 20 or more households have said they delayed or avoided buying a car because of access to these cars. So, every time we put one of these cars on the street, we’re reducing demand for parking. The first wave of this program includes about 50 Corner Cars, so we expect to see over 750 cars removed from the streets!
From the AP story "Car-sharing program finds home in crowded Hoboken":
City officials and the Hertz car rental company, which runs the program, say it's taken cars off the streets and created a few scarce spaces. About a quarter of the nearly 3,000 people who have become members of the program said they had handed in their parking permits, not replaced cars they were getting rid of or opted not to buy new cars, Mayor Dawn Zimmer said. ...
Car-sharing in American cities has existed for at least 10 years. Zipcar, the most recognizable name in the industry, offers cars in 18 metropolitan areas and on 250 college campuses. But Hoboken took a gamble by using only street parking spaces, rather than using garages or parking lots, for car-sharing.
"What's unique is the degree to which the city is involved in the program and that it's all on-street," said Kevin McLaughlin, who publishes CarSharing.net, an industry website.
(Apparently Zipcar is active in Hoboken too, but likely they were outbid by Hertz in terms of the Corner Car program.)
For whatever reason, people in DC--residents and many public officials (who ought to know better)-- don't seem to be able to understand this, that providing and supporting car share is beneficial, and helps to better manage scarce supply.
Instead DC's policies privilege car owners and penalize people who are interested in sharing and using cars collaboratively, rather than owning a car which would be scarcely used and mostly sit on the street in a form of car storage.
Although car owners in New Jersey are still privileged over car users with regard to car sharing. In New Jersey, car sharing vehicles still have to pay the $5/day "Domestic Security Fee" assessed against cars in the fleets of rental car companies. This increases the hourly fee paid for by users of the service. Although the AP story reports that the state is considering legislation to exempt car sharing vehicles from this fee.


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The price floor of Miladys Maker non-fungible tokens dropped about 70% in the past week after rumors that its creators are linked to the controversial online cult.
Miladys exchanged for 0.26 ether, equivalent to $511 in the latest price compared to an ATH of more than $6,000 in April. The trading volumes have similarly fallen 57% in the past day, while one Milady sold as low as 0.037 ETH in the past seven days.
The floor prices of other NFTs like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club normally sold in the past week, affirming that Miladys’ plunge was an isolated incident.
The sentiment was triggered when a pseudonymous, decentralized finance developer 0xngmi alleged that Charlotte Fang, Miladys’ developer, was a Miya. Miya is a pseudonymous online community linked with hatred towards minority groups.


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US vitamin sales slump hits Numico
underlying profit in the third quarter on the back of weaker U.S.
vitamin sales and warned that full year cash earnings would be
Dutch food group Numico NV Wednesday suffered a 10 per cent fall in underlying profit in the third quarter on the back of weaker U.S. vitamin sales and warned that full year cash earnings would be flat. The world's biggest vitamin and food supplement maker said third quarter net profit before amortisation of goodwill and extraordinary items tumbled to 77 million euros from 86 million last year, well below analysts' expectations. This is a sharp decline from the 22 per cent surge in underlying profits in the first half and well under the most pessimistic forecast in a Reuters analysts poll. The consensus forecast of eight analysts was 93 million euros and their range of estimates was 82-100 million euros. Numico, also Europe's biggest baby formula producer and a maker of specialised hospital food, has seen its shares shed 45 per cent of their value so far this year, mostly due to a slump in its U.S. vitamin and nutritional supplement business.


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Once again this year we are pleased to announce our attendance at ARAB HEALTH, which will take place on January 29th to February first in Dubai.
VOE in Arab countries, is a very well-established brand appreciated for its materials and manufacturing quality for three decades already. Doctors and patients value its functionality and quality as the best on the market and we are very grateful for this.
Come visit us at our central stand CB147 and learn about the news we have brought for you. It will be a pleasure to greet you!


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While it’s not a manufacturing plant, SunPower, one of the largest solar PV manufacturing and installation companies in the world, is scheduled to open a corporate operations office in Austin, Texas sometime next year, under a proposed economic development agreement with the City of Austin. Under the proposal, SunPower would agree to invest at least $7.5 million in property improvements at the proposed site, as well as $2.5 million in machinery, and create at least 450 jobs over a ten year period. SunPower says all of those job hirings should occur in the next four to five years. In return, they will be eligible for up to $901,710 in grants, in addition to a grant of $2.5 million from the State of Texas.
The agreement will go to City Council next Thursday at 4 PM for a public hearing and possible action. The proposal is the second involving a solar company and Austin. Earlier this year, Chinese PV manufacturer Yingli Solar announced it was considering opening up an assembly factory in Austin. While City Council did approve that proposed economic development agreement with Yingli, the Chinese company later decided to wait until announcing whether it will go ahead with its plans for a US assembly operations.
Austin is also home to solar companies like Heliovolt, which makes building intergrated solar products, and SolarBridge Technologies, which makes the micro inverters that can go on the back of solar panels.
Analysts say that if the Texas legislature were to approve legislation creating either incentives for solar power, or expanding the Renewable Portfolio Standard to favor solar, many more companies might be willing to locate throughout Texas, creating jobs in the Clean Energy economy.
Recently, as reported here on this blog, a company called Juwi Solar recently opened Texas’s first major utility-scale solar plant, just south of downtown San Antonio.
Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director, Lone Star Chapter


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A new report from Japanese blog Macotakara has claimed that the iPhone SE 2 will likely be called the iPhone 9 since it will feature the same chassis as that of the iPhone 8. The device is expected to feature a 4.7-inch display with bezels along with a faster A13 Bionic chip, 3GB of RAM and could start selling at $399.
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, iPhone SE 2 is scheduled to go into mass production in January 2020 and will be launched at the end of March.
The iPhone SE 2 will utilize a 10-layer Substrate-like PCB (SLP) for its motherboard, the identical technology utilized by the iPhone 11’s variants.
The iPhone SE 2 will not contain the 3D Touch trait, excluded from the iPhone 11 by the organization. Also, it will utilize a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, not Face ID.
The phone will have three color options such as silver, space grey, and red.
Earlier Kuo had said, Apple was preparing to release a new iPad Pro, a new MacBook and an augmented reality (AR) headset by the first half of 2020.


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EDITORIAL | Virtual Reality: The Future Is Finally On!
The day has arrived. After being teased with it under its Project Morpheus name back on 2014, PlayStation VR has arrived for gamers everywhere. With its $400 price tag (minus the cost of two PS Move controllers and the PS Camera), it is now the most affordable virtual reality peripheral on the market. With this, the Oculus Rift, and the HTC Vive, we can now officially welcome in the era of virtual reality.
That is, of course, had it not been for many gamers calling for VR to die already. Yes, we have had many individuals in both the gaming consumer and journalism realms pre-announce the death of virtual reality even before the final participant left the gate. It's not a surprise, though, that they're already calling for another so-called gimmick to bite the bullet. After all, we've been teased with many different forms of "evolutionary" ways of playing video games in our own living quarters, ranging from Nintendo's Power Glove and SEGA'S Activator to the PlayStation Eye camera and both versions of the Xbox Kinect. (In fact, the only cool accessories outside of the usual controllers that actually worked wonders were Konami's Dance Dance Revolution pad and Namco Bandai's Taiko Drum Master peripheral.)
However, unlike these past ones, there's one thing that has kept virtual reality from being an all-out gimmick: longevity. Looking throughout the history of technology, virtual reality has been around a lot longer than one may think. In 1962, the first sort of VR was brought to life via cinematographer Morton Heilig's Sensorama, where participants could see, hear, smell, and even touch certain aspects of its immersive short films. Later, arcade games like Battlezone brought more interactive aspects to virtual reality, with SEGA following suit with its own VR headset to use in both arcades and their consoles.
So if virtual reality has been around for nearly a century, why just now are we getting them in our living rooms? The simple answer: because it's now cheaper. Back then, VR stations were incredibly expensive, with the SEGA VR running $72,000 a unit (hence why the console version was cancelled). Now that it's much cheaper to make virtual reality headsets, we're seeing more and more publishers and developers latching on to the devices. Granted, it's still kinda pricy to own virtual reality, with the HTC Vive running $800 and requiring an entire empty room to work, but it's not crazily high as it could've been many a decade ago.
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
This then leads to an understandable conundrum: what happens if these systems decide to not fully support VR and go the other way? What's going to happen if Sony decides to not make a lot of games for the VR headset, and abandon it like it did the PlayStation Vita? Well...here's the thing: I'm actually not counting on the first-party developers to create new and exciting virtual reality games. In fact, I'm not even going to look deeply into the eyes of the AAA industry and expect them to pop up some unique virtual experiences.
Granted, Batman: Arkham VR and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard sound like awesome games to play in VR, and I'm sure they'll have some neat qualities about them. The same goes for Bandai Namco's virtual aspects for Tekken 7 and Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider: Blood Ties, both of which have potential to bring a new level of gameplay experience to such familiar franchises. And yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm eager to see what Tamsoft is planning for the VR modes in its upcoming Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash, which I'm sure won't be as perverted as what you can now do in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3.
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball
However, what excites me the most about virtual reality is what the indie gaming industry has planned for it. Years ago, I got more excited about the Oculus Rift after experiencing 82 App's Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball and Dejobaan Games' base-jumping simulator AaAaAA!!! It was in these young minds where virtual reality had both its pulse and brains. Looking through the currently-announced list of PlayStation VR titles, a plethora of them are made by indie companies, some of which I've played before and was impressed with that they delivered.
Frima Studios' Fated: The Silent Oath takes a film-like narrative and places us in control of the main protagonist. Owlchemy Labs' Job Simulator tasks us to flip burgers or do an office report, but you can cause hilarious chaos in your surroundings instead. Enhance Games' Rez Infinite combines rail shooting with some beautiful music/rhythm-based visuals and mechanics. Lastly, Ape Law's Albino Lullaby delivers a Hitchcockian horror tale in full immersion, with the things that go bump in the night slowly chasing you down as you attempt to escape.
While I am hoping the AAA industry will deliver some good virtual experiences, I'm honestly keeping most of my watchful eye on the smaller developers with the bolder imaginations. Hell, the fact that Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland has started his own Squanchtendo company solely to create VR games has made me more stoked for virtual gaming than almost anything else announced. However, as a whole, I have high hopes for what can be achieved in the virtual setting, especially now that PlayStation VR has finally hit store shelves (which, by now, are empty because they're all probably sold out).
With all that being said, let me do something that I've been waiting to happen since I was a kid: welcome in the era of virtual reality gaming. It's here, and hopefully, it'll have itself a long, productive life. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna hop into some VR madness while attempting to not break anything in my surroundings.


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Star-Lord and crew have one last adventure in them for this season of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series. Season finale "Don't Stop Believin'" debuts November 7th and finds the ragtag group of heroes reuniting to take out galactic adversary Hala. It'll be available on just about every platform under the sun including mobile, PlayStation 4, Steam and Xbox One. Unfortunately, there's no word of a Switch release date just yet.
- This article originally appeared on Engadget.


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To all the friends who participated in CBST2021/CBST2023:
In the middle of spring and April, the three-day CBST2021/CBST2023 China International Beverage Industry Science and Technology Exhibition ended successfully in Shanghai New International Expo Center on April 9th. The exhibition brought together more than 300 exhibitors from 20 countries and regions to display innovative technology and achievements in the beverage industry and technology field, attracting more than 40,000 professional visitors from home and abroad to the exhibition site to negotiate and exchange.
Here, the organizing committee of CBST2021/CBST2023 exhibition would like to express heartfelt thanks to all the people who participated in this exhibition. It is your support that makes the beverage industry event perfect again. Thanks to your support, CBST has once again established its position as a bellwether exhibition for the development of beverage industry technology in China and even Asia.
Thank all exhibitors for their long-term support. Due to the epidemic, this exhibition has been held successfully for more than three years from the announcement to 2023. In the past three years, the exhibitors have devoted all their efforts to the innovation of the exhibits, the technological innovation of the achievements and the effective improvement of the quality. At the same time, for the appearance of this exhibition, I have been traveling to Shanghai and Nanjing for several times since November 2021, and I have worked hard and increased my expenditure several times. Here, to the exhibitors from the bottom of my heart to say: thank you, thank you for our no regrets of trust, understanding and support! It is you who present an innovative and professional industry event for all "beverage people" and make CBST, a brand exhibition that has spanned 20 years, evergreen.
Thank you all for your enthusiasm. The organizing committee of the exhibition knows that the audience is an important cornerstone of the success of the exhibition, and the site has received wide praise and expectations from you. Here, the organizing committee of the exhibition would like to express its sincere thanks to all the friends who come to CBST2021/CBST2023 and pay attention to the exhibition. It is you who have been with us all the way, witnessing the growth of CBST China International Beverage Industry Science and Technology Exhibition; We will live up to our expectations and make every effort to present a more wonderful exhibition of CBST and continue to make everyone harvest.
Thank you for supporting the association and supporting the exhibition of enterprises and people from all walks of life. Since its birth in 2003, CBST has lasted for two decades. We have worked with industry experts, association member enterprises, suppliers and other organizations and individuals to support each other through trials and hardships. The cutting-edge ideas, professional sharing, innovative products and purchasing needs brought by you make the exhibition colorful and lively, and gradually become a professional brand exhibition integrating fruit display, supply and demand docking, trend release and content output. At the same time, we noticed that the majority of beverage enterprise friends continue to participate in the CBST in the form of exhibition and visit in the current production and sales season, which all show confidence in the future development of the industry. The organizing committee of the exhibition will continue to uphold the purpose of "3-day exhibition, 365-day service", to build a bridge for CBST exhibitors, beverage enterprises and professional visitors, and to serve everyone in the beverage industry chain.
Brand exhibition, drink collar innovation; Along the way, and then brilliant! Let's welcome the upcoming CBST2024 and look forward to the second twenty years of CBST with a new pattern of annual sessions!
Organizing Committee of CBST Exhibition
April 17, 2023


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The all-new 2015 Subaru RallyCross STI has broken cover and is ready to compete in the 2014 Global RallyCross Championship.
The all-new 2015 Subaru WRX STI Nurburgring race car is based on the WRX STI production car, or is it really the other way around?
The iconic Subaru performance flagship, 2015 WRX STI is returning to the UK one year after it was axed from the market and demand is high.
Can Subaru continue to set new sales records month after month with the 2014 Forester and 2014 XV Crosstrek?
If you have ever heard of the StickBomb toy, you know how cool they can be, seeing the wooden sticks explode like a bomb.
The all-new 2015 Subaru WRX STI has arrived in Europe at the Geneva International Motor Show 2014.
Who would have imagined a Subaru SUV with gull wing doors? That’s what the new Subaru VIZIV2 Concept comes with.
Imagine entering a contest to be the first person outside of Subaru to drive a new 2015 Subaru WRX, and then getting the chance to drive it hard through a special road course.
Subaru is moving up in brand recognition in the U.S. market and has received an award for the 2014 Subaru Impreza.
Subaru has created a niche market for their all-wheel-drive 2015 Forester SUV, XV Crosstrek crossover, Legacy sedan, Outback wagon, WRX and WRX STI performance models.
Laguna Seca is the ideal place for Subaru and STI to demonstrate the capabilities of the new 2015 Subaru WRX STI and the 2015 WRX STI NBR racecar.
The new 2015 Subaru Forester gets a price increase, but now comes with eight new standard features on the various models.
Subaru builds the best all-wheel-drive hardware on the planet called Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive.
When it comes to the most affordable all-wheel-drive all-weather vehicles, KBB thinks Subaru is the best.
What’s more valuable for choosing a restaurant, dentist, gym, new smartphone or your next new car, an online review or a suggestion a close friend makes to you?
Subaru is certainly moving up in brand recognition around the globe and has received more awards this week.


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North Bay Produce’s member farm in Guatemala has created a direct link from their farms to consumers' tables. This unique approach ensures food safety, social responsibility, and environmentally safe practices, all while utilizing high-tech packaging to ensure maximum freshness. By utilizing the latest technology, efficiencies have been created in quality and freshness of their French beans, which are grown on 650 hectares. Securing the source of their beans not only creates peace of mind for their customers but also ensures accurate production for the growing demand of the product. Additionally, this farm is committed to becoming carbon neutral within the next 20 months, further demonstrating their dedication to sustainable and eco-friendly practices.
“We believe in transparency and partnerships," said John Battle, vegetable category manager at North Bay. "By utilizing high-tech facilities, we're able to bring fresh French beans straight from the farm to our consumers' tables, all while ensuring quality, safety, and environmental responsibility. This commitment to responsible farming along with innovation in the agriculture, allows us to offer customers a unique and sustainable way to enjoy fresh produce.”
North Bay Produce is an international grower owned cooperative focusing on the future of berries, apples and select value added vegetables. “By utilizing cutting edge technology and extensive varietal trials in multiple regions around the world, our objective is to produce the best tasting, and longest lasting fruits and vegetables.”
The company will be in booth 933 at the SEPC show in Orlando and all are invited to visit with team members that will be on hand to discuss their products.


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Singapore enterprises seeking to transform their business and solutions would also gain access to Norwegian innovation and technology, especially in the areas of maritime, food, healthcare and infrastructure.
Across the country, universities are collaborating with each other and industry parties to roll out vaccines delivered through innovation biomedical technologies.
The National Emergency Management Agency in New Zeland provides leadership in reducing risk, being ready for, responding to and recovering from emergencies.
Vietnam will combine the national postal address coding platform with online public service portals to improve the efficiency of delivery.
Research by the UOW scientist aims to make space travel safer by developing wearable radiation detectors so that astronauts can measure their exposure to cosmic rays in real-time.
DTI held a meeting that brought together public and private sector players to discuss paperless solutions for contact tracing.
The MoA will facilitate and accelerate the implementation of free internet access in all public places around the city.
The event will showcase virtual exhibitions, including virtual booths, digital products and services, and solutions of overseas businesses.


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‘Britain’s cheapest chip shop’ is offering portion of fries for 50 PENCE – for a special reason | The SunJune 2, 2023
A CHIP shop thought to be Britain's cheapest is offering a portion of fries for just 50 pence – and it's for a special reason.
Boris Bektashev, 35, the owner of SelFish in Bromborough, Merseyside, has put up a huge "50p chips" banner outside the shop – drawing in hordes of fast-food lovers.
He said: "The 50p chips were put on the menu about eight months ago.
"It was mainly when the cost of living crisis hit, with prices hitting hard and becoming extortionate.
"Elderly people usually want a handful of chips so we made a specific item to make sure they didn't have to choose just one part of the meal.
"We put the sign up five days ago. I made it so big that people could really see it.
Read More UK News
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"Everyone is really happy too and it feels really nice to be able to help people in a small way."
Boris and his wife moved from Bulgaria to the Wirral town in 2009, but only opened SelFish two years ago.
Seeing how people struggled to make ends meet, Boris said he decided to put his best foot forward and offer an unbeatable deal so no one would go hungry.
With soaring costs seeing the average price of a full fish and chips reaching £11.05, the takeaway's budget offering is proving popular as locals reported seeing large queues to snap up the offer.
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It comes after a map revealed the best fish and chip shops in the UK.
The price of a fish-and-chip takeaway has jumped by almost a fifth in a year, with the average customer now getting just £1 change from a tenner.
A group of boffins has claimed that fish and chips should be taken off the menu to protect threatened marine species.
Source: Read Full Article


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Digital Domain's History
Founded in 1993 by film industry icons including director James Cameron, Digital Domain is an Academy Award winning digital production studio focused on visual effects for feature film and advertising production. Among its 80+ film credits are three features that were awarded the Oscar for visual effects, including Titanic, What Dreams May Come and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Digital Domain Media Group launched here in Port St. Lucie in 2009. The company is positioning itself to produce feature animation movies that will rival films created by Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar. Over the next several years, Digital Domain is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs and has the potential to put Port St. Lucie on the map as a major filmmaking center.
Man who offered to buy former Port St. Lucie home of Digital Domain still interested in building
Published 12/2/2013 at 7:07 p.m. 9 comments
The man who offered to buy the defunct Digital Domain studio said he is still interested in the building even though the sale fell through last month.
Purchase of Digital Domain studio in Tradition falls through | Photos; Timeline
Updated 11/22/2013 at 11:09 p.m. 47 comments
Vero Beach resident Richard Friedberg had offered the city $14 million for the building and had been expected to finalize the purchase today.
PHOTOS: A tour of the former Digital Domain studios
Published 11/22/2013 at 4:00 a.m. 0 comments
Port St. Lucie staff and council members toured Tradition Studios in 2012 to better determine how to market the sale of the facility.
Buyer of former Digital Domain studio in Tradition expected to finalize purchase Friday
Updated 11/21/2013 at 6:54 p.m. 0 comments
The controversial Digital Domain building could go to a new owner Friday.
Buyer of former Digital Domain building expected to close on property by Nov. 22
Published 11/11/2013 at 10:26 p.m. 3 comments
Port St. Lucie is close to selling the defunct Digital Domain studio, but the sale doesn't mean taxpayers are off the hook. Find out why.
Port St. Lucie taxpayers will be paying for Digital Domain studio for 30 years
Published 10/29/2013 at 12:27 a.m. 17 comments
The now-defunct Digital Domain studio cost millions to build at taxpayers' expense, but the city is doing some financial juggling to decrease that burden.
One year later — how Digital Domain collapsed and how John Textor hopes to regroup | PDFs
Updated 9/8/2013 at 11:28 a.m. 3 comments
Once upon a time, John Textor dreamed he could save a struggling city and employ its citizens by conjuring up magic beans, beanstalks and giants. We write the story of Digital Domain's downfall and Textor's attempts to remake his image.
Taxpayers projected to foot the bill for some of Port St. Lucie's $981.2 million debt
Updated 9/5/2013 at 1:53 p.m. 10 comments
Port St. Lucie is $981.2 million in debt. Because the city has run out of money to make some debt payments next year, officials will have to use $5.2 million in money alloted for parks, police and staff salaries.
Editorial: Too little transparency in deal to sell old Digital Domain studios in Tradition
Published 8/11/2013 at 4:00 a.m. 2 comments
Questions abound as Port St. Lucie tries to unload former Digital Domain studio.
Port St. Lucie got few serious offers for former Digital Domain studio
Updated 7/28/2013 at 10:40 a.m. 3 comments
The five months of marketing efforts that preceded the deal to sell the former Digital Domain studio resulted in about 30 inquiries from interested buyers but netted Port St. Lucie few serious offers.
One offer for former Digital Domain studio proposed amphitheater, skating rink
Published 7/27/2013 at 10:50 p.m. 0 comments
PORT ST. LUCIE — Before the city signed a deal to sell the former Digital Domain studio in Tradition for $14 million, officials received offers from about five other interested parties. Who they are was a secret but email conversations ...
Digital Domain: Building's buyer wants to turn former studio into museum
Updated 7/11/2013 at 10:28 p.m. 15 comments
Read more about the man who signed a purchase contract for the former Digital Domain studio for $14 million.
Digital Domain: Port St. Lucie City Council to move forward with sale of old studio
Updated 7/8/2013 at 11:50 p.m. 7 comments
The city accepted a $14 million offer to buy the now-defunct Digital Domain studio, which could become a furniture manufacturing plant, an art museum or a food wholesale office.
Digital Domain: Port St. Lucie receives $14 million offer for former studio
Updated 7/3/2013 at 8:29 p.m. 21 comments
Port St. Lucie has received a $14 million offer for Tradition Studios, the old Digital Domain building.
Bevy of GOP names bouncing around as potential District 18 contenders
Published 6/23/2013 at 4:00 a.m. 0 comments
At least nine Republicans are considering a run for U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy's seat, and the primary election isn't until August 2014.
- Newer Stories
- Older Stories


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Working at Groupon doesn't offer the fun or money it once promised, so it's no surprise that its sales people are looking for new jobs, as The Wall Street Journal's Shira Ovide reports. The paper reports that other companies are seeing hundreds of résumés from Groupon sales reps looking to bail on their current jobs. So where did all the fun go?
Back in the early days, the daily deals site was a plush place to work. In 2009 and 2010, before Groupon went public (and before things went south) an entry level 9-5 sales person could earn six figures — hours and dollars most worker bees (let alone just-out-of-college worker bees) wouldn't know how to imagine. Plus, goofy CEO Andrew Mason made sure the work environment involved "frivolous fun," as the Los Angeles Times's Wailin Wong described it. But with Groupon's growth into Big Public Companyland, sales people can no longer get the money or the laughs they once could.
Those six-figure salaries were enabled by high volume sales that are no longer a norm at Groupon. These early workers could boost their modest base pay by selling thousands of deals in big cities with huge populations. "Their base was thirty something [thousand dollars per year], [but] they were making a ton of money, because of cities like Chicago or New York where Groupon thought they'd sell 200 Groupons in a week and they were actually selling 2,000 or 20,000," an anonymous early employee told Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson. But as Groupon has expanded to other cities, most people didn't see these kinds of numbers. "It was kind of first-come first-serve, so no sales rep was going to be put on Boise, there was no Boise — they were all on important cities. So their commission was huge because the volumes were so much higher than what Groupon ever anticipated," that same employee added. The average sales rep now makes somewhere between $35,000 and $85,000, with the average take away annual pay coming in at $59,875, according to employee reviews on Glassdoor. That's not bad. But it's not close to six figures.
Of course, some people value other things besides money when it comes to jobs. Unfortunately, Groupon's fun factor has diminished, too. Following its IPO, the company has gotten more serious, per Bloomberg Bussinessweek's Lauren Etter and Douglas MacMillan, who describe the once practical joke-filled place as "more subdued." Before going public, Groupon's Chicago's headquarters had a room called Michael's Room, which was a big inside joke about a non-existent "monstrous manchild." It was also the type of place where the CEO attempted to play a practical joke on New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. That kind of stuff doesn't happen as much anymore. "You’ve seen the seriousness level notch up, across the board," Groupon Vice President Rich Williams told Etter and MacMillan. (The light in Michael's Room was off when Etter and MacMillan visited.) Without the jokes, a job at Groupon is just another boring sales position. "The work is very repetitive, the quotas you have to meet are a bit zombifying and after a few months you will probably want a different job," wrote one reviewer on Glassdoor.
Grouponers also say there isn't much room for growth within the company and it only looks to get worse. As 45 percent of the company's positions are in sales, there aren't many opportunities for promotion, says Ovide. And, the job security isn't that great either. Last October, just before going public, the company let go of its bottom 10 percent of sales performers. Since its IPO, the company is under more pressure to tighten its financials, as its performance numbers haven't been great. The stock is currently trading at $7.72, down around 70 percent from its original $20 a share IPO price last November. The company will report earnings this week, giving a better picture of how it's doing. Given the choice, workers don't want to stay on that steadily sinking ship.
Groupon hasn't confirmed the mass exodus. Ovide gets her information from Mike Silagadze, chief executive of education-software firm Top Hat Monocle Inc., who says he has seen hundreds of apps from Groupon employees. "Their best people are starting to leave," he told her, adding that he interviews a couple of the daily deals people a day. To that, all Groupon has said is that it "continues to professionalize everything it does, from sales, to process, to organization, to technology," a spokesperson told Ovide, which doesn't sound like a denial. At least some sales people have already left, with eight of Top Hat Monocle's 25 people coming from Groupon. We can see why others would follow.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
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Android Stories of the Week:
If You have been also going through the Political Drama Around the World i.e US, It is possible that you could have missed some latest Android Stories. No worries, we are here to update you with the latest ongoing news and rumors of Android!
There are many interesting Stories like the Latest Leaked Photos of Upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 and we also Learned that it might be possible that LG is going to team up with Google in order to launch two ” Flagship” Android Smart Watches. It is likely to be possible that LG G6 will be unveiled at MWC on February 26.
HTC has announced the new Model U ULTRA at the price of $749 for the US. HTC unveiled two new models which can be better for the future of HTC new range. These two new models U Ultra and U Play can make capture the users and can dance around the Globe.
It has a big display of 5.7-inch QHD LCD. It runs on Android 7.0 with HTC Sense Companion and HTC Sense which is a new Artificial Intelligence for ” Suggestions based on things you do”.
It is a phone which targets the Global markets, Following are the details of HTC U Play.
It has a 5.2-inch FHD Display having MediaTek Helio P10 processor, RAM of 3GB or 4GB with internal storage of 32 GB to 64GB. It has 16 MP of back and rear camera.
Google Is Bringing Android One to the US:
According to the leake Google is bringing Android One to the US as it is the Ultra-Budget line for Google. Which means Phone will be made by others but Approved by Google. It is expected that First Android One will be introduced in the middle of 2017 at the price range between $200 to $400 or in between.
— Android Authority (@AndroidAuth) January 15, 2017