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The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US corporations to employ international workers in speciality occupations. The story of Rufus and Charles Dawes who gave the honest a theme and then discovered financing within the worst economic occasions the country had ever experienced. Today James Turk informed King World Information that the United States could also be about to make real money nice again!
This week at CBPP, we targeted on federal taxes, state budgets and taxes, household income help, housing, well being, and the economic system. In his deal with to the annual meetings of Worldwide Financial Fund and World Bank, Arun Jaitley mentioned it is reassuring that financial recovery has gathered pace.
Panduan untuk IPO, OFS daftar yang akan datang dan saat ini di NSE dan BSE India. The economy grew more slowly than forecast in the third quarter, as companies posted sturdy income however shoppers saved wallets closed. The second cause was to hopefully entice critiques and suggestions, that will help me improve alone understanding of the way in which the world works, or at least, this little nook of it.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed buyers India has the capability to implement daring choices and scale them up efficiently. India is shopping for Sri Lanka’s second-largest airport, despite it solely dealing with a dozen passengers a day. The finance minister mentioned India had traditionally been one of many least efficient tax system in the world with a particularly small tax base.
Join as we speak and you’ll easily save your favorite articles, join within the conversation and remark, plus choose which news your need direct to your inbox. Revival of sick firms helps create employment and push financial development of the country, Justice A Ok Sikri stated right now.


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Plumbing supplies group Reliance Worldwide is on the hunt for bolt-on acquisitions in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and in the longer term wants to own a large business in continental Europe.
Reliance chief executive Heath Sharp said on Tuesday that three years on from acquiring the John Guest business in the UK for $1.2 billion, it is now in a position to start seriously looking again.
Reliance made a big bet on the UK market in May 2018 when it acquired the John Guest business.
“We feel that three years in we’ve now got our arms quite well around the John Guest business,” Mr Sharp told the Macquarie Australia conference on Tuesday.
The company is also looking closely at acquisitions in the United States, where it has been performing strongly.
Mr Sharp said expanding the range of products it is able to sell through its networks would be a smart strategy in the United States.
“It’s just increasing the basket,” Mr Sharp said.
“These bolt-ons make a whole lot of sense,” he told the conference.
The group’s Americas business makes up around 45 per cent of total earnings, with the group’s flagship product being the Sharkbite range of brass push-to-connect fittings.
Reliance has benefited from strong demand for plumbing supplies products from both professional plumbers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts wanting to renovate their bathrooms and laundries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Sharp said it would depend on what opportunities came along in each of the UK and the USA and there was no real priority in which region expansion should take place first.
“They’re equal,” he said.
Mr Sharp said Reliance also aimed to eventually own a large business in continental Europe, potentially of a similar size to the John Guest business.
But he emphasised that was lower down the list of priorities right now. “That at the moment I would say is a distant third,” he said.
Reliance shares have risen strongly to $4.87 since late August last year when the stock was below $3.
Mr Sharp said on Tuesday that while the business was generating strong growth and demand was robust in its major markets in both repairs and remodelling, he was careful of becoming too overconfident because the pandemic was still delivering major uncertainty.
“We’re not in any way getting ahead of ourselves,” he said.
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, speaking to reporters Tuesday,… (Evan Vucci, AP )
It's news when government identifies a genuine problem and takes reasoned steps to solve it. So here's news: The Obama administration has a plan to fix the broken U.S. patent system.
The White House outlined the plan last week in a presentation distinguished by its freewheeling use of the term "patent troll," which isn't legalese but vernacular. It would have been a shame if the administration stopped there, but its initiative actually aims to dig down into what makes a troll a troll, and eradicate the problem from the roots.
"What's really smart is that they're looking at specific abuses taking place and providing a solution for them," Colleen Chien, a patent expert at Santa Clara University Law School, told me. The initiatives, which include seven legislative proposals and five executive actions, "are narrowly tailored and practical, and they'll be impactful," she said.
They include proposals to make it easier for victorious defendants to collect their legal fees from patent plaintiffs, such as a "loser pays" rule that could stem frivolous patent lawsuits. Obama also is asking Congress to provide protection for end users — Main Street merchants and consumers whose use of an allegedly infringing product makes them troll bait. One firm supposedly protecting old Wi-Fi patents has been suing coffee shops and hotels that offer Wi-Fi to customers, rather than Cisco and the other big companies that actually make the purportedly infringing hardware. The White House wants to give the coffee shops and hotels a shield.
It's not debatable that trolls are an economic drain. A White House economic study that accompanied the unveiling of its patent initiative cited an estimate that $29 billion was paid by patent defendants, mostly in the software industry, to troll-like plaintiffs in 2011. Only about 25% of that sum was plowed back into research or development. The very process of innovation can be stifled by patent litigation, the study said. Chien figured that 61% of all patent lawsuits last year were brought by plaintiffs fitting the description of trolls.
But the problem isn't merely one of unscrupulous litigants exploiting the legal system. The most interesting aspect of the administration's troll attack is that it aims to tighten up patent issuance. That's good, because the underlying problem is the raw material trolls have been given to work with — patents that have been sloppily written and cavalierly issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. The most ruthlessly asserted patent rights often should never have been approved in the first place.
"Patent trolls are taking the rap for problems with the patent system," Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School and A. Douglas Melamed, Intel's chief counsel, observed in a paper earlier this year. They didn't mean trolls weren't a problem, just that "they are not the problem." Clean up patent issuance, they say, and you've taken a huge step toward eradicating trolls.
First, it's useful to examine the taxonomy of trolls. They're not always what they seem.
Thousands of businesses, large and (especially) small, have become familiar with the garden-variety patent troll in recent years, to their abundant displeasure. (Technically, trolls are known as "patent assertion entities" or "non-practicing entities" to distinguish them from firms or individuals who hold patents with the intention of making things with them.) In their most refined and abusive guise, trolls are firms that buy up patents with the express purpose of threatening others with infringement lawsuits. What makes this a perversion of the patent system is that their goal isn't to support the development of technology or produce goods for sale, which is the point of having patents, but to collect fees.
They also pervert the court system. Their weapon is the threat of litigation, but what they're really after are out-of-court settlements. Each settlement might be nominal, but since the trolls customarily name hundreds or thousands of putative defendants at once, extracting nominal settlements from even a fraction of their quarries can add up to real money.
Not all "non-practicing entities" are trolls. Some can perform a legitimate function. If you're a failing start-up whose only remaining assets are a few patents, selling them to a patent-acquiring firm may be your only option for turning your patents into cash. Indeed, Chien has found that small companies and individual inventors are the "primary source" of patents used by non-practicing companies in bringing infringement cases. That's a double-edged sword, however: Chien observes that the majority of defendants in those lawsuits are small companies, defined as those with less than $10 million in revenue.


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Cloud computing has changed the business landscape and the way organisations operate. Many industries are adopting cloud-based platforms to not only reduce costs but improve efficiency.
Amazon Web Services, a popular cloud service, is currently in its 11-year run as a reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing service. According to zdnet, AWS is expected to reach annual sales of $10bn while in April, it was reported that it had attained a 43% year-over-year growth.
Since its launch in 2006, it has over 30 availability zones in 12 regions worldwide. Forbes reported that 57% of respondents currently run applications in AWS. Financial firms already using this technology include Singapore DBS Bank, Bankinter and eFront.
Gilad Somjen, CEO of Cloud With Me, believes there is a "gap between the old hosting companies and AWS". Cloud With Me is an innovative technology that makes setting up and managing AWS servers easier with their add-ons and simplified processes. In fact, Gilad Somjen's revolutionary technology has encouraged Amazon to make them an official partner.
Other than Google and Microsoft, there are very few companies that can replace Amazon as a leader in cloud computing. Gilad Somjen's company, CWM has already helped refer a total of 2,800 new accounts to AWS. This technology is believed to be the biggest advancement for enterprise computing since the invention of the PC.
Companies operating in the competitive and fast-paced financial industry constantly require new technology. By embracing cloud computing solutions, they can increase productivity and efficiency in their operations. Some firms are hesitant in using cloud due to regulatory compliances, security and control. Nevertheless, the benefits of this technology certainly outweigh any concerns financial companies may have.
Cyber-attacks against financial services reportedly cost consumers £8bn in 2016. These companies deal with the financial information of customers such as debit and credit card details. It is also one of the most regulated industries in the world. For this reason, they must be well-protected from security incidents.
Cloud solutions actually offer stronger security than legacy systems. Handling this technology alone or relying on in-house security systems are not as secure as the level of service cloud computing provides. As long as financial organizations choose a reputable service provider, their sensitive information is guaranteed security and privacy.Convenient and Cost-Effective
Maintaining a financial services company requires modern and updated hardware and software. As a company grows, so does its IT infrastructure needs. Financial services can highly benefit from cloud solutions as they reduce the infrastructure stored onsite and the stress of managing IT resources. Not only will this reduce costs for a financial firm, but it will also guarantee them liability with a certified technology partner.
Companies no longer have to purchase expensive servers. Money spent on in-house storage including the space and utilities required to support that infrastructure will be saved. Cloud solutions manage and maintain systems, taking that weight off of your shoulders.
Financial companies often launch new applications to meet their ever-changing business needs. They must provide timely insight for their customers and always earn their trust. Cloud computing offers agility, scalability and flexibility. Financial businesses can introduce their new applications and develop and test them quickly using cloud solutions.
This technology also provides mobile productivity. Users aren't required to sit at their desks when managing applications and data. The financial sector must always keep up with the constantly changing landscape and this way, users can access data from anywhere at any time, using their mobile devices. This adds flexibility and efficiency to company operations.
Tips When Adopting the Cloud:1. Communication - Employees should be in the loop and informed on updates, which can increase adoption rate.2. Organization - Consolidate and remove unnecessary data that's no longer needed.3. Backup - Create an on-site copy of your data on a network-attached storage device to prevent losses. Here's an example of AWS' cost-effective pricing list (Amazon EC2 Pricing):
For AWS's full price list, please check their website.By migrating to cloud, financial services firms can help their organisations grow, transform and succeed. It's time to drop traditional IT methods and start enjoying secure and reliable data sharing, email and essential IT processes so your financial company can ultimately increase operational efficiency and flexibility.


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The weekly average of $4.121 is down 2.4 cents from a week ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is the seventh week in a row the average retail price has dropped, from a high of $4.764 in mid-July.
The highest average retail prices were in the New England region at $4.359. The lowest were reported in the Midwest at $4.066.
The average price is $1.228 higher than it was a year ago.
Originally posted on Trucking Info


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Past news articles relating to electric vehicles.
17 May 2011
PRESS RELEASE – 17th May
Stylish British electric high-performance cars hit the road for 12-month trial programme
Tuesday 17 May 2011 – The very best in British designed and engineered electric high-performance cars have today begun a 12 month test on the UK’s roads. By putting the cars through their most stringent challenges yet, the ‘real-life’ road tests aim to demonstrate the benefits of electric vehicles and at the same time showcase the UK’s manufacturing excellence in this area.
2 May 2011
"The development costs for electric vehicles seem much lower than for gasoline cars, and it would also contribute to the technological development of cars that are already on the market," Masuko told Japan Today, "I'm said to be unenthusiastic about motorsports, but with electric vehicles, I want to promote them!"


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Telstra chief executive Andy Penn says Australia has made more progress in the last three months in becoming a digital economy than in the previous five years.
The technology was always there to digitise the economy but Penn says people were held back by their ability or willingness to use it.
His comments, in a speech to a virtual event organised by the Trans-Tasman Business Circle, came as Boston Consulting Group released a new study on how COVID is giving greater urgency to digital transformations.
BCG managing director and senior partner Stefan Mohr says digital has always been important to business but it is going to matter a lot more "because through the crisis the paradigms that have limited us have shifted rapidly".
Mohr says BCG's research shows about 80 per cent of senior executives around the world are saying digital transformation is more urgent, 61 per cent want to take control of these programs and 57 per cent anticipate increased investment. He says COVID will separate the digital leaders from the laggards.
It so happens that BCG holds up Telstra, which is one of its clients, as a role model for how companies can transform their businesses through radically simplifying products, improving the digital experience of customers and installing a new technology stack.
"We are now rolling out functionality and capability at a material scale which is making a big difference," Penn says.
"A lot of that has enabled us to response to COVID very effectively. In a way, we are slightly fortunate that our digitisation program is landing at this time because things like the MyTelstra app, which we just relaunched, already has had 4 million downloads."
The new app allows Telstra to use asynchronous messaging to handle customer inquiries. This sort of messaging, which is used by Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, doesn’t require constant connectivity to keep the conversation active.
Consumer behaviour has changed
Penn says that several aspects of the T2022 transformation plan are being implemented ahead of schedule including the ambitious target of reducing call centre traffic from 36 million calls a year to 12 million.
COVID has disrupted Telstra's ability to service customers because it forced the shut down of its call centres in India and the Philippines. Penn apologised for delays caused by this.
But he says this has forced the company to move a lot of its service to Australian call centres or online. The asynchronous messaging through the MyTelstra app will help to alleviate the pressure on call centres.
He says COVID has not only changed consumer behaviour it has opened the way for changes in the way people interact with a range of services because of regulatory change.
For example, Telstra Health, which is the largest Australian-based provider of software for healthcare providers, has struggled for years to get traction with tele-medicine.
Patients and general practitioners were reluctant to meet via video. Penn says the key reason it never gained traction was because a video consultation did not qualify for the Medicare rebate.
But COVID meant restrictions were lifted and patients can now claim the Medicare rebate when undertaking a video consultation. To capitalise on this Telstra Health has signed a deal with pharmacy chain Priceline.
Penn says Priceline customers can come into a pharmacy and if they don't have a prescription they can have a medical consultation on the spot via video with a doctor who could then issue a prescription that could be filled immediately.
Faster account activation
Telstra, which is spending $1.5 billion on its digital transformation, is moving ahead with key milestones in its transformation including shifting all its post-paid mobile plans on to a new technology platform. This has cut account activation from 20 minutes to two minutes.
Mohr from BCG says research by his firm shows that digital leaders outperform their peers in key areas including cost efficiency, product quality, customer satisfaction and time to market.
He says a digital leader is defined as a company that combines its human and technological capabilities.
These companies have both business and IT projects that are agile, they invest more than 15 per cent of operating expenditure in technology and data analytics and they transform their core processes to digital.
Companies that fit this definition are focused on having staff with digital profiles.
Penn told the Trans-Tasman Business Circle Australia needs to expand its digital skills. Next week it will announce a new university partnership.
The BCG research shows Australia is well placed to leap forward in digital because cloud infrastructure and services are mature.
Also, consumers are digitally literate as shown by the fact we rank fourth in smartphone penetration and ninth in mobile broadband speed.
This leadership in mobile will be maintained, according to Penn. He says Telstra's 5G roll out is running ahead of schedule. It had planned to connect 35 regional towns and cities by June 30 to 5G and it has actually reached 50.
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Mental health charities have slammed so-called "Blue Monday", branding the day as merely a "yearly PR event". The third Monday of January, Blue Monday is supposedly the most depressing day...
30 March 2017
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Google Bans Third Party Repair Ads, On behalf of the independent repair community I would like to say we understand the reason why Google took the necessary steps to take down third-party repair ads, but Google must recognize the importance of finding a simple solution that prevents further online scams while still allowing third-party repair companies to advertise to their customers. Shops across the country have been negatively impacted by these decisions. Google has an obligation to work with the independent repair community to find a solution.
A little history lesson on advertising
For centuries, business owners relied on word-of-mouth referrals to build their businesses. But in 1450 AD, a man by the precarious name of Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. The printing press revolutionized the way people read, the way people thought but also the way businesses advertised. By the 1700s customer referrals were no longer the only means of advertising a business; printed ads were being adopted at scale. Printing presses and old men sharing business contacts is cool, but our history lesson isn’t over yet. On October 23, 2000, Google changed the advertising world forever by officially launching its ad platform that would allow businesses to target specific keyword searches. For example, if you were a car repair shop you could simply have your website or phone number pop up when someone googled “car repair shop”. Businesses began directly targeting audiences ready to pay rather than attracting the broad masses. This was a radical change in the way businesses market to consumers. Thus from 2000 on, Google became a vital part of every company’s digital advertising strategy.
Today, between 80-90% of all online searches in the United States occur on the Google search engine. This means for every 100 people searching for terms such as “computer repair service near me”, 85 of those individuals are using Google to look for a service provider. These stats illustrate Google’s extreme power over the services that are shown to consumers looking for the most affordable and simple fixes.
In 2018, Google released a blog post stating that the company had decided to ban third-party “tech support services.” Google’s response was a necessary step to prevent scammers from easily hacking and stealing private data from non-tech-savvy individuals. So how exactly were they doing this? Scammers would create fake websites claiming to be windows support experts, they would then run google ads advertising their illegitimate services to consumers looking for virtual help with their PCs. Eventually, the consumer would grant the scammer virtual access to their personal computer which is where these scammers just wreaked havoc. If you have remote access to an individual’s machine you can steal almost anything you want. So there was a problem and it needed to be addressed.
Google promised that they were trying to find a way to allow third-party support services to advertise to the masses, but they updated their original blog post claiming that there really wasn’t any solution, meaning the only real solution for Google was to maintain the status quo of banning tech support related ads. Unfortunately, this meant that thousands of small businesses across the country would no longer have the ability to competitively offer their services to their community.
Even though Google claimed to only ban tech support services, their broad generalization of the tech support keywords magically seemed to include iPhone repair, cell phone repair, computer repair, and many other keywords relating more so to the independent repair community. But to most of the repair community, it felt like just another corporate attack on the consumer’s right to repair. If consumers were searching for iPhone Repair to fix their cell phone, but google didn’t display any ads, in some situations consumers might have been almost misled into thinking that there were no repair services available to them.
The Big Issue
Google bans the use of common keywords used by the independent repair community to target possible customers, thus resulting in many shops being forced to close their doors or lose large percentages of their revenue.
This isn’t the first time Google has run into problems with scammers utilizing their online search engine to facilitate illegal activity. In 2017, Google decided to take down ads targeting locksmiths due to an abnormal increase in scammers creating additional keys to people’s home and then robbing them at later dates.
So how did Google fix the locksmith situation?
Google released a verification program that allowed legitimate locksmiths to apply to become google verified businesses. In order to apply to become a Google verified locksmith, you must first qualify for their verification criteria. Google manually verifies locksmiths based on their credentials and issues licenses when applicable.
Once verified the business listing will appear with a “Google Guaranteed” checkmark underneath the business listing.
So how can Google Bans Third Party Repair Ads situation fix?
The most common-sense solution for Google would be to partner with an industry trade association that routinely audits the integrity of its members. The solution I would propose would be to partner with CTIA’s WISE certification. The industry-leading tech association is a part of the highly respected cellular telecommunications industry association. To be a part of the WISE certification mobile repair providers need to pass rigorous training and maintain certain criteria in order to maintain their certification. Many OEM manufacturers have expressed interest and excitement in the program. Google could easily partner with WISE to offer WISE-certified stores the ability to advertise online.
The alternative to partnering with an industry trade association would be to manually review each repair shop. Google could simply only verify businesses with a physical store so that scammers would have a much harder time creating fake business listings and marketing their shady services.
As a repair shop owner, I was financially impacted by the decisions that Google made, however, I will be the first to acknowledge that I too wish the best for customers around the globe. Something needed to be done to prevent scammers from simply social hacking into customer devices, but the current situation has only prevented some social hacking while permanently dissolving many locally-owned electronic repair businesses across the US. Remember Google, in the words of Peter Parker, “with great power, comes great responsibility” do the right thing and help us create a solution that benefits all parties involved.
XiRepair has been offering affordable, high quality and certified repair services since 2014.
Over the past decade we have repaired over 35,000 cell phones, computers, tablets and game consoles. There is a reason our mail-in repair service has received shipments from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries, our prices and quality of work are just unmatched.


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Mobile device users are acquiring ever more discretion about the Apps they use, with 26 percent of Apps only ever getting used once after being downloaded. Analytics firm Localytics makes the claims in a report first picked-up by VentureBeat. The analytics firm uses the stats to stress that developers must focus on first impressions within pleasing user exeperiences.
Localytics studied the thousands of Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 apps using its real-time app analytics service. It found one-time use rose considerably across 2010, from 22 percent in Q1 to 28 percent in Q4.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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Ford Motor Company U.S. sales for April totaled 204,651 vehicles, a 4.7 percent decline, but Sales Analyst Erich Merkle says the F-Series posted its best April results in 18 years while the new Expedition was up 29 percent at retail.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) today published its 2018 Proxy Statement and announced the date for the company’s Virtual Annual Meeting. In addition, Ford published its 2017 Annual Report highlighting its progress toward becoming the world’s most trusted mobility company.
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Joe Hinrichs, Ford Motor Company executive vice president and president, Global Operations, will participate in the Goldman Sachs Industrials Conference 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ford sales increased 6.2 percent last month, with 200,436 vehicles sold. According to Eric Merkle, Ford Sales analyst, retail performance was up 3.5 percent versus a year ago, with trucks and SUVs leading the way.
Ford Motor Company today is providing a strategic update to investors, detailing plans to leverage its unique product strengths, trusted brand and global scale to refocus and thrive in an evolving and disruptive period for the auto industry.
Customers drove a record 406,464 Ford brand SUV sales in the first half of this year, with Explorer sales increasing 23 percent in June. F-Series continues expanding its sales and share this year, with customers opting for high-series pickups and investing in class-exclusive features that only Ford trucks offer.
Ford F-Series sales grew 10 percent in March, but overall Ford Motor Company U.S. March 2017 sales totaled 236,250 vehicles – a 7 percent decline versus a year ago. Here to reflect on those numbers is Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle.
Ford and its joint ventures in China sold 64,641 vehicles in February, up 2 percent compared to February 2016. Sales in the first two months for Ford, including JVs Changan Ford Automobile and Jiangling Motor Corporation, totaled more than 153,000 vehicles, a 21 percent decrease.
Ford Motor Company’s total December U.S. sales of 239,854 vehicles were up 0.3 percent. Retail sales increased 5 percent last month, with 183,454 vehicles sold – the company’s best December retail performance since 2004.
Growing demand for Ford’s passenger cars and SUVs as well as continued strong sales of commercial vehicles drove Ford total vehicle sales in Europe for the first 11 months of the year to their highest level since 2009.
Ford and its joint ventures in China have sold more than 1 million vehicles in 2016, reaching the milestone one month faster than in 2015. Monthly sales hit an all-time November high of 124,113 vehicles, up 17 percent compared to November 2015.
Ford Motor Company’s overall sales totaled 197,574 vehicles in November – a 5 percent increase versus last year – driven by a 10 percent retail sales gain with 154,114 vehicles sold. Here to explain is Eric Merkle, Ford Sales Analyst.
On Thursday, Nov. 17, Bob Shanks, Ford Motor
Company (NYSE:F) executive vice president and chief financial officer, will host a “Let’s Chat” forum to discuss key items of interest to the investment community.


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Man, it seems like Sochi 2014 was forever ago, doesn't it? Yet, it's the most recent Winter Olympic Games. Before we go full-on feverish for PyeongChang 2018, we're going to take a look back at some of the stories from the Sochi Olympics.
Ever since the beginning of the modern Olympics, pins have been around--and every Games, they are a hot commodity to buy, sell and trade. This week, we crash the Olympin Pin Collectors Convention at Lake Placid, New York and meet some of the characters behind this incredibly popular hobby.


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By Mark Hawthorne and Senior Editor
Thousands of Volkswagen owners in Australia caught up in the Dieselgate scandal have received letters from the company notifying them of a recall, but the carmaker is still unable to tell customers just how or when their cars will be fixed.
Letters from Volkswagen Group Australia have been sent to owners of impacted Golf and Polo models, as well as owners of new Tiguan, Jetta, Passat and Caddy cars that have the EA189-series engine at the heart of the scandal.
Volkswagen Australia has confirmed at least 78,000 Volkswagen vehicles have been sold in Australia with a so-called "defeat device" fitted to engines, including an estimated 61,000 passenger cars. The device allow cars to pass strict emissions testing.
The letter from Volkswagen Australia managing director Michael Bartsch was sent out in the first week of November, more than month after the local arm of the automaker announced the recall after the global emissions-rigging scandal.
The letter identifies the model and VIN number of the affected vehicle, and tells the owner "the type EA 189 engine built into your [vehicle] is affected by software that causes discrepancies in the values of oxides for nitrogen (NOx) during laboratory testing. This means Volkswagen Australia has initiated a recall on your vehicle."
Owners, however, are given no timeframe for that recall.
"Our parent company, Volkswagen AG, is working to design a technical solution for each vehicle," states the letter. "Once the technical solution is ready, we will contact you. Rest assured Volkswagen will cover the cost of all necessary measures to rectify the issue."'
There are three generations of the 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine that will be recalled, and all will require different fixes. According to reports in the United States, these could range from simple software updates to potentially performance-crippling replacement of engine parts.
The company has given owners no indication of what work needs doing, or when it will begin.
The letter was dated November 4, just days after the first class action in Australia against Volkswagen was lodged with the Federal Court.
Sydney-based Bannister Law filed two class actions on October 30. The first was against Volkswagen Australia and the second was against its sister company, Audi Australia.
Rest assured Volkswagen will cover the cost of all necessary measures to rectify the issue.Volkswagen Australia managing director Michael Bartsch
Class action firm Maurice Blackburn Lawyers has announced it will also lead a class action on behalf of consumers.
Volkswagen sales in Australia have slumped since the Dieselgate scandal broke in early September.
According to industry data from VFACTS, Volkswagen diesel sales in October were down 27 per cent on the year-to-date average.
Sales of petrol variants also notched their third-lowest monthly total in the past year.
While Audi also recorded a drop in diesel sales, down 21 per cent on the yearly average for the month of October, sales of its petrol cars have more made up for that.
Registrations of petrol Audi variants were up 45 per cent in October, to give the car company its third best month in the past year.
Impacted Volkswagen cars
Volkswagen Passenger Cars – 61,000
Volkswagen CC (2011-2015)
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles – 17,200


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Now Porsche becomes part of Volkswagen for real In May the news about Porsche and Volkswagen merging broke but then a dramatic battle between the owner families and managers raged that has ended with the ousting of Porsche CEO Wiedeking.
It all started when Porsche...
Jul 24 2009, 3:00am CDT
Porsche and Volkswagen to Merge The battle between Volkswagen and Porsche is apparently over. The companies have agree to merge and create a new integrated car company.
The dominating family owners Porsche und Piech have apparently found a basis to...
May 6 2009, 12:46pm CDT
Diesel Porsche Cayenne finally coming How long did that take? Porsche finally jumps across their shadow and announces a Diesel version of its Cayenne SUV. Starting February 2009, the Porsche will offer a Cayenne with a diesel engine.
The advantage of a...
Nov 24 2008, 4:00am CST
BMW X6 SAV ships in May 2008 The BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupe will debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show in January. In Germany the first X6 SAVs will ship in May.
We first reported about the BMW X6 in 2005 and I have been excited about it ever...
Dec 20 2007, 4:54am CST
IAA 2007 Car Show Booth Babes The IAA 2007 car show in Frankfurt is still going on and they expect about 1 million visitors. Besides the new cars like Lamborghini Reventon or Cayenne Hybrid the hot car show hostesses are the reason for the massive...
Sep 13 2007, 10:00am CDT
New Porsche Cayenne GTS debuts at IAA 2007 Porsche will show the Cayenne Hybrid at the IAA 2007, but you cannot buy that one. Porsche will also show the new Cayenne GTS, which you can buy early 2008.
The new Porsche Cayenne GTS has a 8-liter V8 and is the...
Sep 9 2007, 12:00pm CDT
Porsche Cayenne Hybrid at IAA 2007 Porsche will apparently exhibit their current Porsche Cayenne Hybrid prototype at the IAA 2007 in Frankfurt next month.
Porsche announced that they were working on a Hybrid Cayenne back at the IFA 2005. Porsche uses a...
Aug 24 2007, 8:00am CDT
Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia Porsche issues a limited edition of the Cayenne S for the Transsyberia Rallye.
There will be only 26 Cayenne S Transsyberia made. Porsche enhanced the Transsyberia visually and introduced safety measures to make the...
Apr 17 2007, 1:00pm CDT
State of Hybrid Car Development at Korean Hyundai Korean car makers are also playing catch-up like the German and American car makers to the Japanese Hybrid leaders. Hyundai expects to ship hybrid cars in 2009.
Hyundai says by 2009 their hybrid is going to be way...
Mar 25 2007, 9:00am CDT
IAA 2005: Hybrid Porsche Cayenne Coming Porsche said on the IAA 2005 that they plan a Hybrid Porsche Cayenne.
Do not expect a Porsche Cayenne Hybrid SUV anytime soon at your personal Porsche dealer. Around 2010 it might be available.
The German Car makers...
Sep 13 2005, 1:57am EST
I4U News is feeding your Geek Mind. The Geek Mind is concerned with life, in all its different forms and facets.
The geek mind wants to know about societal and financial issues, both abroad and at home. If a Fortune 500 decides to raise their minimum wage, or any high priority news, the geek mind wants to know.
The geek mind wants to know the top teams in the National Football League, or who’s likely to win the NBA Finals this coming year.
The geek mind wants to know who the hottest new models are, or whether the newest blockbuster movie is worth seeing. The geek mind wants to know.


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NORWALK, Conn., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- As summer fun coasts onto the scene -- one in 10 vacationers will visit a theme or amusement park this summer -- the experts at Travelers Advantage have strapped in for the ride, rating the top U.S. theme and amusement parks.
More than 328 million people visited amusement parks and attractions last year, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. In addition, theme park travelers spent an average of $839 per trip, excluding transportation to their destination, compared to just $433 on the average U.S. trip, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. They also included longer overnight stays (5.4 nights) compared to the average U.S. trip (4.1 nights).
"As vacationers bask in the sun this summer, family travel to theme and amusement parks continues to surge in popularity," said Julia Ryan, vice president of Travelers Advantage and TravelersAdvantage.com. "Some of the best summertime memories are created by escaping to the magic of the great U.S. theme and amusement parks."


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Google has allowed Parlor back into the Google Play Store A tweet from a social media platform, after the app was removed in January 2021, due to the platform’s lack of control over posts inciting violence in the US capital. Apple reinstalled Parlor in its App Store in May 2021 after temporarily removing it at the same time Google did.
Parlor, which advertises itself as a platform for free speech, has agreed to moderate posts that appear on the Play Store app. Bloomberg Report. The company previously said to the edge It has a similar agreement that allows it to stay in the App Store — “Anything allowed on the Parlor network but not in the iOS app will be accessible through our web-based and Android versions.” (The Android version, at the time, was available via side-loading and therefore did not have to comply with Google Play’s policies.) The company said its algorithm could detect violent content that violated its guidelines.
Parler isn’t the only social network in talks with Google to get on the Play Store — former President Donald Trump’s social network, Truth Social, has faced similar challenges. The company behind the app, Digital World Acquisition Corp., says it is working “in good faith with Google” to get its app onto the distribution platform as it faces mounting bills. Meanwhile, Trump used the platform to post messages that put Truth Social at odds with the Play Store’s user-generated content policy.


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Programmer and John McAfee has revealed that he will be working on a new privacy-focused cryptocurrency called Ghost, making the announcement on April 11 via Twitter, saying that it will operate on Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus and be available on several exchanges,
McAfee, whose presence in the cryptocurrency world often makes memorable headlines, emphasized the decentralized nature of this venture in a few follow up tweets, saying that the token's availability on a decentralized exchange - referring to his own McAfeeDex - would make it “unable to ever be shut down by governments.”
McAfee, who predicted that Bitcoin would reach $1 million in 2020, also revealed that the whitepaper would be published on May 15.
User reactions have so far largely been skeptical. McAfee has been paid to promote tokens before, and some Twitter users have said that several functional privacy tokens already exist,
The official website for Ghost offers several interesting tidbits about the design of the token. Besides running on PoS, it will feature masternodes like the Dash network and use zero-knowledge proofs. It also states that “transactions are processed on chain in under 60 seconds with just a fraction of a penny paid in transaction fees.”


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A different kind of webinar!
Today we have some very special news from CEO Michael Mathias. Please note this isn’t your usual Wednesday Webinar, it will be available via YouTube.
What’s more, this exciting announcement will be available to the general public at the usual time of at 3 PM UK Time, so don’t forget to notify anyone who may be interested in NetLeaders and DasCoin.
We believe the news will generate positive reactions around the globe! So please spread the positivity.


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Amazon.com Inc. has released a new version of its Echo smart speaker with a twist: The new model includes a camera that can take pictures and video and even provide styling advice.
Called the Amazon Echo Look, the new unit features a depth-sensing camera, LED lighting and computer vision-based background blurring that allows users take pictures or videos of what they are wearing or presumably other things. The Look itself doesn’t feature a display panel, but users can view photos and videos taken on the device as well as being able to view a live stream of the video, which Amazon explains is a way to allow users to see themselves from all angles.
Once pictures are taken, users are able to obtain a “second opinion on which outfit looks best with Style Check, a new service that combines machine learning algorithms with advice from fashion specialists,” the product page for the Look claims. In a demonstration video (below), a user is shown uploading pictures of them wearing two different sets of clothing. The support app tells them which outfit looks the best, meaning quite literally Amazon has created an app that now gives fashion advice based on machine learning.
While Amazon is pitching the Look based on its new features, the unit doesn’t lack for any traditional Echo functionality. It has built-in Alexa support that can deliver on-demand news, traffic information and weather, set alarms, control smart home devices, among other functions. Put more simply, the Amazon Echo Look isn’t an accessory for existing Echo owners but a brand-new Echo in its own right.
In an age where sexism is an oft-discussed topic, gender equality doesn’t seem to be at the forefront of Amazon’s marketing of the device. The Look is being pitched nearly exclusively to women, with the demo video featuring a male only once during its entirety.
The device is available for $199 by invitation only. Those interested can request an invite from the Look page.


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New insight from Juniper Research indicates that online payment fraud is expected to exceed $200 billion between 2020 and 2024. One key contributing factor is a rising number of synthetic identities created to perpetrate fraud.
The research focused on emerging threats and specifically noted how the "ubiquity of digital payments provides an ever-increasing attack surface for fraudsters." An increase in digital access points has allowed fraudsters more channels to breach, allowing more sensitive personal data to be exposed online to be sold on the dark web and/or be used to craft entirely new fraudulent identities. Juniper's research also points to the value of machine learning to combat fast-rising fraud trends.
“The rapidly evolving nature of payment fraud and increased sophistication in attack methods requires machine learning adoption at scale, in order to minimize risk. Constant innovation in analytics and data models is increasingly essential to constraining fraudulent behaviors in payments," wrote Nick Maynard, the research co-author of the report Online Payment Fraud: Emerging Threats, Segment Analysis & Market Forecasts 2020-2024.
Machine learning allows for transaction behavior to be analyzed using data analytics that can detect and mitigate risk based on spending patterns. Juniper's research points to the correlation between rising fraud figured and machine learning investments: "The incorporation of machine learning into fraud detection and prevention software will drive spending forward, reaching $10 billion in 2024, a 15% increase on 2020," the report concludes.
Juniper's research highlights how an increase in digital transactions — and the possibility of more PII being exposed across multiple digital touch points — is leading to more data being used for the creation of synthetic identifies. With more access to sensitive personal data, fraudsters have the power to perpetrate more digital fraud, create fake identities and drive up new and existing account fraud.
The problem with identifying synthetic identities is that it can often be misconstrued as other similar types of fraud, such as account takeover fraud or new account fraud. The rise of PII being sold and monetized on the dark web is leading to an increase in each of these types of payment fraud that is getting increasingly difficult for financial institutions to spot and combat on their own.
Industry experts peg synthetic identity fraud as the "fastest growing type of financial crime in the United States." This type of fraud is largely underreported since may victims of this crime are children, the elderly and homeless individuals, which allows fraudsters to scale this type of fraud without being noticed as easily. This has led to bigger payouts and attracted more fraudsters to commit this type of crime.
Three factors have contributed to the rise:
- Digitization and Automation of Services: The digitization and automation of the customer experience allows people to sign up for services without working with an actual person. Fraudsters have taken advantage of this to scale their techniques.
- SSN Randomization Shift: The Social Security Administration made a change in 2011 that randomized the issuance of new SSNs to new applicants. This process made it easier to gain a SSN number with fabricated data. This shift opened the floodgates for fraudsters to create more false identities to exploit at mass scale.
- Major Data Breaches: The scope of personal information exposed during breaches has grown dramatically. In the Equifax breach alone, there were SSNs, DOBs, addresses and credit card information exposed all at once. These vital credentials are being stolen and sold on the dark web on a regular basis.
Why is Synthetic ID Fraud Such a Rapidly-Growing Problem?
Synthetic fraud allows hackers to set up accounts in a person’s name that appear to be authentic, but are in fact fictitious. The construction of new synthetic IDs is based on combining truthful and false information to build a credit file and then open new accounts, which is perpetrated at scale by opening hundreds of new accounts.
Synthetic ID fraud has grown increasingly popular for cyber criminals because of the bigger payoff. The financial gains are much greater since the fraudsters create an identity that is harder for banks to crack down on since there is no actual person to make a complaint over fraudulent activity. Because of this, it’s up to the bank’s own fraud detection mechanisms to spot suspicious behavior.
Since they don’t need as much personal information as credit card fraud, cyber criminals have shifted their attention to this type of fraud. For example, by combining a legitimate SSN with a fake name, or by using an inactive social security number with a real name, or even a fake name and SSN, an entirely new identity can be created. From there, fraudsters begin to open up lines of credit and credit cards under these synthetic identities.


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A Sherwood cyclist has taken it upon himself to collect and redistribute surplus food to food banks after discovering an app called OLIO.
Seb Wilkins said the app allows people to post food items with a picture, a description and a location, and other users can then collect the food products for free by arranging a pick-up.
The 26-year-old then thought of an idea, in that he could collect food from individuals posting food items on the app and deliver it to food banks across the city and beyond.
Mr Wilkins decided to put on his backpack and jump on his bicycle in November last year, and he has since done "10 or 15 collections", with plans to do many more.
He said: "I saw an advertisement on Facebook last November and I thought this could be used for the greater good.
"You can advertise your own waste food or you can collect waste food. The purpose of the app is to minimise food waste.
"It has given me a reason to go cycling, I started around a year ago when I cycled from London to Paris with two friends.
"I'm doing it to help out as food waste is a big problem at the moment. One of the biggest issues is with food with best before dates, as most of it is still edible."
Mr Wilkins has done numerous runs to Clifton and West Bridgford, often in "cold and rainy weather", his partner Ben West said.
It's not just food that Mr Wilkins delivers, as OLIO allows people to post vital items such as sanitary products, books, clothes and toiletries for those in need of them.
He added: "I'm sure there are lots of people who do more than me. I just wanted to raise awareness for the app as there aren't many users in the area."
Olio co-founders, Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, said the average UK family throws away around "22 percent" of their weekly shop, and between "33 and 55 percent" of all food produced globally is never eaten.
They added that more than one million people accessed a food bank in the country last year, with a further one in 9 people starving or malnourished on the planet.
Tessa Clarke, chief executive and co-founder of OLIO said: "We think it's absolutely crazy that UK households throw away £15 billion of perfectly edible food every year, when there are so many neighbours who would be delighted to take that food instead.
"That's why OLIO exists; to connect people to share. We're absolutely delighted to hear about the incredible initiative shown by Seb in Nottingham and believe that actions like this can have a profound impact for individuals, the local community and the planet."
Tessa added around 850,000 users have joined the app, leading to 1.2 million portions of food being shared and not wasted.
They hope the small actions taken by those using Olio will lead to a more sustainable future "where precious resources are shared, not thrown away".


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2 July 2022
We have released two new long-awaited updates to Pealim mobile app in the last several months:
A lot of people have been asking us to do that — feel free to check these out!
Apart from that, we have reduced the prices for users in Ukraine by 80% for the Android version of the app in support of Ukrainian users (unfortunately, iPhone App Store does not support the necessary kind of regional pricing).
Unfortunately your message cannot be sent. We will try to resolve the technical error asap.
In the meantime, you can leave a message at our Facebook page."


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United States financial institutions anticipate a substantial quantity of borrowers to recommit to normal payment schedules once their particular forbearance discounts expire later this thirty days, senior professionals stated, including that many clients had not been as hard-hit by the pandemic because they dreaded.
Between 4 per cent and 22 per cent of consumers across a lot of different financial loans enrolled in 90-day payment breaks built to provide households and organizations breathing space as coronavirus pandemic threatened their particular livelihoods, in accordance with evaluation by Autonomous predicated on community disclosures.
Whether those consumers are able to get right back on the right track with normal repayments is an early on indicator of this level of defaults and loan losings banking institutions will probably face from an emergency that triggered an unprecedented company shutdown that is today just starting to alleviate.
Having put aside tens of billions for loan losings in the 1st quarter, banks have actually invested current weeks learning the earnings patterns of those which opted in the repayment holiday breaks. They usually have in addition begun contacting consumers who have been granted forbearance actions, asking them should they planned to extend for the next 3 months.
We would anticipate an important part of that [forbearance] hopefully to not ever be needed any more, said Brendan Coughlin, head of customer lending at former RBS subsidiary people Bank, in which 7 per cent of small business and customer financial loans were in forbearance agreements at the conclusion of March.
only 10 per cent of people consumers with their particular paychecks paid in to the finance companies existing accounts, and whom availed themselves of repayments breaks, experienced income disturbance considering that the pandemic began. That 10 % includes individuals whose regular incomes were substituted with unemployment cheques. In Citizens home loan business, about 25 percent of the just who requested forbearance proceeded to make their normal loan repayments.
we shall try to have conversations with those clients across the benefits and drawbacks, Mr Coughlin stated. When they certainly dont need it, it may in fact be much better in order for them to reunite on a repayment scheme and start paying down their interest so they dont must press all of it out to the termination of the mortgage.
He included, however, that lender will be quite liberal in permitting folks stay static in forbearance schemes if their incomes are not paid off nevertheless they wished to conserve money as a safety net.
A senior manager at among Americas biggest finance companies stated that their particular very early research proposed a 20 percent fall-in how many mortgage consumers in forbearance measures once preliminary terms expired.
About 40 % of those who had been provided forbearance proceeded which will make full payments on their loans, the executives stated, including that Fridays better than expected jobless data had been another indication that customers were performing much better than anticipated.
the fact the numbers obtaining forbearance were far lower compared to those the lender originally modelled in addition made the senior exec more optimistic than when first-quarter profits had been reported in April, though they cautioned it was prematurily . to anticipate just how loan losings would eventually evolve.
Credit cards might have a great deal larger fall-offs. Synchrony recently stated 75 % of its clients who in the beginning took repayment breaks had already been able to return to existing status and resume payment. Amex stated it had been prone to close its forbearance programme because need had slowed much.
the results for small company loans, the group in which forbearance measures were greatest, according to Autonomouss analysis, is much more uncertain plus some executives pointed to an unexpected blow to companies hit by looting and curfews just as they prepared to emerge from lockdowns.
Across their particular overall publications senior professionals at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and United States Bank have publicly said that between 25 percent and 40 % of the have been granted forbearance carried on making payments. Citigroup main Mike Corbat told a recently available conference that a significant percentage of the whom opted to its forbearance programmes made their complete payments anyhow.
the absolute most interesting thing if you ask me has been that many people who requested and obtained forbearance have proceeded which will make their scheduled repayments, stated Jason Goldberg, analyst at Barclays. Nevertheless, many of these initiatives had been created for a V-shaped recovery. Thats really why its essential this reopening continues therefore the employment photo gets better quickly.
Brian Foran, analyst at Autonomous, stated the styles had been an optimistic indication but that it might be a sugar-high from all of this government stimulation, especially for lower-end customers. Earnings are supplemented by one-off $1,200 stimulus payments to poorer Us americans, and a supplementary $600 per week in unemployment pay, that will be because of expire at the conclusion of July.
Additional reporting by Robert Armstrong


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The retailers who are more exposed to tariffs may be better positioned to see their stocks move up soon.
That's because there have been fears that the President Trump and Xi Jinping's G-20 meeting would result in increased tariffs on American goods. That didn't happen, and now there's a trade truce, where Trump has agreed not to increase tariffs to 25% from the current 10% on some goods.
This could mean good news for companies that could have gotten hurt by increased tariffs, but now will not get hurt, at least for the moment. "We expect the delay to have a positive impact on the stocks that have the most exposure to the issue," Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow wrote in a note to clients. "FIVE, TGT, DLTR, and WMT are most positively leveraged to this development, in our view," he added. Indeed, Walmart Inc. (WMT) - Get Report rose 1.19% to $98.75 a share Monday. Target Corp. (TGT) - Get Report rose 1.92% to $72.34. Five Below Inc. (FIVE) - Get Report popped 5.19% to $110.23.
Inversely, companies that have been shielded from the wrath of tariffs could see investors move away from their stocks for some time. "We'd highlight the off-pricers (BURL, ROST, TJX) and ULTA as names that investors have favored of late due to their relative tariff-insulation, but now that the tariff overhang has been temporarily lifted, investors may begin to look elsewhere in our group," Boruchow said. TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) - Get Report fell 0.96% to $48.39 Monday. Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) - Get Report dropped 3.25% to $84.75. Burlington Stores Inc. (BURL) - Get Report , a competitor to Ross, rose 3.11%. Relief for those names certainly seem to be on the way. TJX sources 5% of its goods from China, and may see a 5.7% hit to earnings-per-share in 2019, Boruchow said. Ross also sources 5% of its goods from China and could see a 5.9% hit to 2019 EPS. Those headwinds, for the moment, won't worsen.
Still, some on Wall Street aren't so convinced the U.S. and China are beginning to put the trade conflict to bed. "While President Trump described the bilateral meeting with China as "amazing and productive," we believe the rivalry between the U.S. and China will not be easily overcome," said UBS Chief Investment Officer Mark Haefele in a note to clients. "A breakdown of talks will remain a risk for markets and the global economy," he added. UBS has a "moderate risk-on stance." Haefele oversees broader investment strategy for the bank and doesn't comment on specific companies, but he offers a somewhat skeptical stance on potential growth for stocks.


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Trinnov Audio unveils its revolutionary WaveForming™ technology, poised to redefine the audio landscape. In a recent interview with Tom Garrett, a Sales Manager of…
American-based enterprise software titan, Oracle, will acquire South African startup, Nimbula, for an undisclosed sum of money.
In an official blog post, the enterprise software maker said that it has agreed to buy Nimbula, a provider of private cloud infrastructure management software, in a bid to strengthen its own cloud offerings.
Prior to the announcement, there had been speculation that the deal was going through in order to give Oracle a means of joining OpenStack, the open cloud organisation that Nimbula participates in as a member. Heavy hitters such as Intel, Dell, HP and IBM are part of the OpenStack project.
Nimbula describes itself as a “cloud computing company that delivers a new class of cloud infrastructure software for building Amazon EC2-like private, hybrid or public cloud.” The mention of EC2 is intentional as Nimbula’s South African founders Chris Pinkham and Willem van Biljon were involved in building EC2, the cloud-computing platform that forms parts of Amazon Web Services.
Oracle says that Nimbula’s product is complementary to its own, and is expected to be integrated with its cloud offerings. Oracle expects the Nimbula transaction to close in the first half of 2013.
The news comes hot on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that it will be offering virtual private cloud hosting, especially useful in enterprise scenarios.
With the Nimbula deal, Oracle’s spending spree continues. Oracle recently announced its intention to acquire Acme Packet for $2.1 billion, and 2011 saw Oracle announce intentions to pruchase 11 companies.


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Quietly, Vermont has become a cultural, economic, and political force. Its public education system is consistently among the nation’s best. Vermonters weathered the Great Recession better than their counterparts in other states; the state’s unemployment rate is currently around 4 percent and dropping. Then there’s the catch-all distinction of being one of the top places in the country to live for overall quality of life.
In 2009, José Obeth Santiz Cruz, a 20 year-old farmworker from Chiapas, Mexico, had a fatal accident on a small dairy farm in Vermont. Cruz was working on his knees near a gutter scraper–a conveyor belt that pushes manure into a pit–when his clothing got caught, and he was strangled.
Food Industry Has Achieved Only Baby Steps to Improve Nutritional Quality of Foods Advertised to Children on TV (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
Back in the wilds of 2006, a number of the world’s most influential food and beverage companies got together and promised to shift their kiddy TV advertising to include healthier food. Now, a group of social scientists has evaluated the changes they made only to find that this self-regulatory program hasn’t had a noticeable effect on the nutritional value of foods marketed to children. According to a study released today in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 80 percent of foods advertised to kids under 12 are classified in the poorest nutritional category, as specified by U.S. Department of Health and Human services guidelines (think highly processed and full of sugar and salt).
A farmer in Missouri is helping Chipotle take its “food with integrity” commitment one step further—to organic. Steve McKaskle, owner of McKaskle Family Farm, the only organic rice farm in Missouri, supplies a growing number of Chipotle restaurants in his region with organic long grain white and brown rice.
This is the third in a series of four excerpts from The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience, and Farming. Read more about the book and the author here, then check out the first and second posts.
When I visited North Carolina, I heard a lot about Tahz Walker and Cristina Rivera-Chapman of Tierra Negra Farms, who are well known among young food-movement activists and urban gardeners in New York City. So as I pull up the long driveway to the land they are renting outside of Durham, I am excited to finally meet them.
Last fall, at the peak of the contentious, expensive fight over Oregon’s ballot measure to label genetically engineered foods, about 100 people gathered at Portland’s Warner Pacific College for an unusual forum on the topic. Held in the Christian college’s chapel, the event put aside the familiar debates over health and the environment to take up a less-discussed, less earthly issue: What does God think of GMOs?
Not every writer can speak to both seasoned experts and curious newcomers, but that is precisely what Barry Estabrook can do well. In his 2011 book, Tomatoland, Estabrook took a deep dive in the modern tomato industry, shining a light on labor abuse in Florida, and the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. In addition to telling a riveting and complex story full of pesticides poisoning, escape from slavery, and tense court cases, Estabrook helped bring attention to one of the most important American labor struggles of the last few decades.
Last week, Tyson Foods made major headlines when it announced that it was “striving to eliminate human antibiotics from broiler chicken production by September 2017.” The move garnered a great deal of accolades for one of the biggest chicken producers in the world. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has been campaigning to stop the overuse of antibiotics in farming for years, has called this “the tipping point for getting the chicken industry off antibiotics.”
Chefs are a key ingredient to changing the food system; they are influencing the way we eat, what we grow, and are shaping the conversation about how to fix food. For many, they also provide the first point of contact to seasonal food from local farms. And they can have an incredible impact, not on only our palates, but also by raising awareness and changing the way we think about food.
Chances are high that you or someone in your family has at least one piece of nonstick cookware in the kitchen. And if you eat take-out food, you’ve probably encountered packaging treated to resist grease, oil, and moisture. What this means is that it’s extremely likely that highly fluorinated chemicals—which are specially engineered to create these durable coatings—are part of your everyday life.


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Hershey’s Ups the Ante with New Times Square Location
- Jul 20, 2016
By Ioana Neamt
New York—The Hershey Co. has revealed plans for an expansion of its flagship Hershey’s Chocolate World store in New York City. The new store will open in late 2017 at 20 Times Square, and will be three times larger than the brand’s current location, at Broadway and West 8th Street. Featuring entrances on both West 47th Street and 7th Avenue, the store will break ground early next year. The development team includes The Witkoff Group and FRCH Worldwide.
“We are thrilled to expand our Hershey’s Chocolate World presence in New York with a new, larger flagship store in the heart of Times Square, which is truly the crossroads of the world,” Suzanne Jones, vice president at The Hershey Experience, said in a prepared release. “Our vision is to create a destination where people of all ages can interact with our iconic brands and immerse themselves in all things chocolate.”
Hershey’s new store will be conveniently situated within the 39-story, mixed-use development dubbed 20 Times Square, which broke ground in 2013. Located at 701 Seventh Ave., the project is expected to include a 452-key luxury Marriott Edition hotel, expansive retail space and an 18,000-square-foot LED sign—one of the largest in the world.
The location draws more than 300,000 pedestrians each day, and is also set to house the NFL Times Square experience—a four-story, 40,000-square-foot permanent exhibit created by the NFL, Cirque du Soleil and the NFL Players Association, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Founded back in 1894 in Hershey, Pa., The Hershey Co. is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. The company operates eight Hershey’s Chocolate World locations: Hershey, Pa., New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai.
Image courtesy of 20 Times Square


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Off-the-record remarks attributed to U.S. president Donald Trump threw a wrench in trade negotiations between the United States and Canada this week – and raised fresh questions about the relationship between journalists and their sources.
According to The Toronto Star, Trump allegedly told a Bloomberg reporter on Thursday that he would make no concessions in negotiating with Canada – but that he couldn’t say so publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”
Trump also allegedly told the Bloomberg reporter that any trade deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms.” He also reportedly acknowledged using tariffs on automobile imports as a weapon to negotiate more favorable terms for the United States.
“Off the record, Canada’s working their ass off,” Trump allegedly said. “And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala.”
That’s a reference to Chevrolets produced
Wait a minute … why is the Star reporting on comments Trump allegedly made to another outlet? Especially after acknowledging it was “not able to independently confirm the remarks?”
Seems like a stretch, right?
Apparently not …
“The Star is not bound by any promises Bloomberg made to Trump,” the outlet’s Washington, D.C. bureau chief Daniel Dale wrote.
Dale also reported that the Canadian government was “confident” the remarks were authentic.[timed-content-server show=’2018-Jan-17 00:00:00′ hide=’2018-Oct-22 00:00:00′]
(SPONSORED CONTENT – STORY CONTINUES BELOW)[/timed-content-server]
Where to start with this story …
First, let’s assess the underlying economic angle. While this news site has been bitterly disappointed by Trump on several fronts, we are by and large pleased with his ongoing unwinding of several deleterious crony capitalist trade agreements.
Trump is playing hardball where previous administrations have rolled over, and we believe his posturing is creating a more favorable economic climate for our country.
This news outlet has always staunchly opposed so-called “free trade” – which we exposed in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election as nothing but a government-rigged game. That’s why we supported Trump’s decision to pull America out of the crony capitalist Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
As we have frequently stated, the bargain behind “free trade” was supposed to be as follows: America would lose some jobs in the short term, but the disposable income freed up by lower consumer prices would stimulate additional investment in the consumer economy – eventually creating more than enough jobs to make up the difference.
The only problem? That didn’t happen … the juice from this mother-of-all command economic calculations simply wasn’t worth the squeeze.
Will Trump’s efforts to reset the trade balance pay off? We don’t know … but continuing down the prior path of economic appeasement was not an option.
Now … as for the other underlying issue here (the relationship between journalists and their sources), this would appear to be yet another object lesson for those in the limelight that they are never truly “off-the-record.” Why such a distinction should matter to Trump given his penchant for on-the-record bombast is unclear – but it is certainly worth remembering if you are (or ever aspire to be) in the public eye.
As for this news outlet, we believe “off-the-record” means off-the-record – and we religiously protect our sources (and any information they provide us). If a quote is provided to us “off the record,” we don’t print it or discuss it with others. Period.
Clearly such standards are not uniform in the business …
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Despite turmoil surrounding the current state of the game industry, EA CEO John Riccitiello had nothing but optimism for the prospects of both EA and the larger video game sector in remarks today.
“It’s easy to lose the thread of just how robust our sector is,” he said during a Q&A at the 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, which Gamasutra listened in on. “By any standard, nearly doubling the business from $16 billion to a $29 billion [over the last five years], software only, is an incredibly positive performance.”
Even more recently, Riccitiello says he thinks a focus on declining in the NPD’s new U.S. video game retail sales numbers has blinded some industry watchers to strong sales growth in areas such as digital content and high definition consoles.
“I think there’s more of a cloud over the industry for the lack of certainty than what those of us in the industry feel is real,” he said. “I really do see opportunity... we really do see 20% growth in the first half on high definition game consoles, where we concentrate our business. We really do see burgeoning digital growth ... It doesn’t feel like a recession to me.”
For EA specifically, Riccitiello presented data showing that the company’s recent strategy of focusing on fewer, higher quality titles each year
had been working for the company.
For the 2010 fiscal year, EA expects to make $66 million dollars in average revenue off each of 54 releases, compared with $55 million in average revenue for 67 releases in fiscal 2009. Looking forward, the company expects that trend to accelerate in fiscal 2011, when a mere 36 titles will each bring in $84 million in revenue, on average.
While this strategy means less overall revenue for EA, it also means the company has been able to reduce costs an estimated $100 million per year, from $2.2 billion in 2009 to an expected $2 billion in fiscal 2011.
Widespread layoffs at the company
have been key to that cost reduction. While Riccitiello said having to let go of 2,000 employees since fiscal 2009 was “very painful,” the efficiencies associated with outsourcing things like artistic work to other countries has been incredible.
“It takes a while to get a team used to not sitting next to the team that’s putting the art together,” he said. “But now they’re pretty happy. They put out two key frames before they go home... they come back in the morning and they’ve got sometimes a man-month of work done overnight as 30, 40 people worked on the art in China.”


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prices are falling in Chicago and lower revenues from medallion leasing have hit San Francisco. Previously: Old meets new: Hertz considers partnering with Uber Previously: Uber raises $1.2B at $17B valuation; GSV Capital rises 1 comment!
Hertz ( HTZ +4.7% ) could partner with Uber to help it grow in new markets, according to exec Michel Taride. Uber has a growing presence in Western Europe which is a target market for Hertz . Post your comment!
LONDON (Reuters) - Hertz , the second biggest U.S. car rental firm, is looking to broaden its business and could allow its cars to be rented via Uber and its controversial smartphone app, Group President Michel Taride told Reuters on Wednesday.
LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - Hertz , the second biggest U.S. car rental firm, is looking to broaden its business and could allow its cars to be rented via Uber and its controversial smartphone app, Group President Michel Taride told Reuters on Wednesday.
Hertz Global ( HTZ +2.7% ) trades higher in early action. The company is the subject of a lot of debate with accounting issues in the mix and activist investors antsy. Despite all the drama, shares of Hertz are only down 2.3% over the last month. Post your comment!
Shares of Hertz ( HTZ +0.6% ) are putting in a volatile session with chatter in the background that the company may replace its CEO. Accounting issues at the company have been a major distraction over the last few months. Post your comment!
(Adds details on accounting issues, analyst comments, background)
worsening situation in Ukraine ; if not that, the 10-yr would be around/over 3%. Hertz Global [ HTZ ] is attractive on its forthcoming spinoff in 2015 of Hertz Equipment Rental [ HERC ], but wait for its weather impacted Q1 earnings report on
albeit on a smaller revenue base, was more impressive at 20% growth. This data suggests the move to operate more than 50 Hertz locations as a source of used vehicle inventory may be paying off. The improvement in used volume, which grew 18%, is important
page/9_0210-investorsentimentreadings.html Bullish stories: Liberty Interactive [ LINTA ; pg 18]; Hertz Global Holdings [ HTZ ; pg 21; see link below]; Trimble Navigation [ TRMB ; pg 22]; 4 stocks poised for fast earnings growth [ AFCE


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British Columbia-based cannabis cultivation firm Choom Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO) (OTCQB: CHOOF) this morning announced that it has signed the first agreement in its retail investor program and welcomes an Okanagan group to the Choom™ brand. Comprised of local investors and business partners, the ‘Thompson Okanagan Choom Group’ (“TOCG”) has exclusive territory rights to open multiple Choom™ branded retail dispensaries in the Thompson-Okanagan region. With decades of combined business experience, TOCG is directed by Debra G Adams, Sherman Dahl, Imre Kovacs and Kent Adams.
To view the full press release, visit http://cnw.fm/jP4LY
Channeling the spirit of Hawaii in the Okanagan, high-grade handcrafted strains by Choom™ are all about cultivating good times and good friends. Choom™ was inspired by the Choom Gang; a group of buddies in Honolulu during the 1970s. Now, after four decades, Choom is bringing the spirit of Hawaii to the Okanagan. The company is planting its flag in the rapidly growing legal cannabis industry in Canada with its own brand of high-grade handcrafted herb. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Choom.ca.
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CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) CannabisNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, CNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. CNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, CNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. CNW is where news, content and information converge.
For more information please visit https://www.CannabisNewsWire.com


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It’s just been days since the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ during the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Spain, now you can
The wait is over. The new flagship phones from Samsung has finally been unveiled; introducing the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+.
The Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro (2018) has launched in the Philippines and is now available in stores nationwide. Here’s what you need to know about
A new Samsung ad was just released. In the video, the Korean giant once again throws shade at Apple and 10 years of iPhones.


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'Blackstone Fortress: No Respite'
February 17, 2020
Games Workshop unveiled Blackstone Fortress: No Respite, a new Warhammer Quest Expansion, for release on February 22.
Column by Scott Thorne
February 23, 2020
This week, Scott Thorne shares his picks for the truly game-changing titles through the history of the games industry.
'Start Collecting!:Adeptus Mechanicus Collection', 'Tech-Priest Manipulus', and More!
June 1, 2020
Games Workshop fired up their product announcements again by revealing Start Collecting!: Adeptus Mechanicus Collection and several Adeptus Mechanicus miniature sets, for Warhammer 40000, which will release into trade on June 6.
June 15, 2020
Games Workshop announced Deadly Alliance, a new expansion pack for Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress, for release on June 20.
'Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar' #1
June 25, 2020
Marvel Comics and Games Workshop revealed Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #1, a new comic based on the Warhammer 40,000 world, for release in October.
Adds Two New Armies
July 30, 2020
Steve Jackson Games unveiled Munchkin Warhammer 40,000: Cults and Cogs, an expansion for Munchkin Warhammer 40,000, for release into retail in August.
Warhammer 40k Expansion Delayed
January 7, 2002
Sabertooth Games, the Seattle-based CCG publisher that has created a collectible card game based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 miniatures game, announced that 85% of the company has been acquired by Games Workshop.


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The laws, rules, and regulations governing our world aren’t etched into mountains; they can be changed. That’s how we got new rules intended to protect our private information from being used and abused by internet service providers, and how we lost those very same rules just a few short months later. Could the pendulum swing back and restore these privacy guidelines? Not likely. [More]
Medical marijuana is already legal in Illinois, and newly introduced legislation hopes to add the Land of Lincoln to the small but growing list of states allowing the sale and use of recreational pot.
Negative option billing is an especially insidious way to make people keep buying things from you, and it’s an especially big problem online. Most products promising a “free trial” use it, and the method sells products like credit monitoring, college financial aid help, skin care products, weight loss supplements and shoes. Canceling these subscriptions can be a huge hassle, and wouldn’t it be easier if opt-out subscriptions just weren’t a thing? [More]
It’s already illegal for New York residents to list their unoccupied apartments on Airbnb for less than 30 days, but now it’s illegal and it could cost them: Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed into law a measure that penalizes hosts up to $7,500 for such listings. [More]
When you buy a bootleg T-shirt on eBay or some phony concert tickets on StubHub, those businesses aren’t responsible: the seller is. What if that principle also applied to sharing economy businesses like Airbnb? That’s what the company is experimenting with, starting in its home city of San Francisco. [More]
New Yorkers, rejoice: you will finally be able to order a mimosa at brunch without waiting for the stroke of noon. [More]
When exercising your right to vote for the next President of the United States it might be tempting to document the once-every-four-years event with a selfie. But before you hit the camera button, you should know your state laws, because in some areas of the U.S. the now-popular voting booth selfie is illegal. [More]
For nearly two decades, provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have made it illegal in many cases for people to circumvent copyright protections on things like CDs, DVDs, e-books, and MP3s, even when the intended use of this data may be protected by law. A new lawsuit filed today by the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that these aspects of the DMCA don’t stand up to legal scrutiny. [More]
What’s the first thing you do to prepare for a trip to another state? After finalizing your packing list, looking up the law of the land should be on your list — especially if you’re planning on drinking any beer, wine, or liquor while you’re there.
Under federal law, student loan borrowers may be eligible to have their debts discharged if they prove the school they attended deceived them with false promises related to their future careers. However, the measure has been used only sparingly in the past and few clear rules outline the forgiveness process. Now, after nearly two decades on the books, federal officials are finally getting around to crafting rules that could remove one roadblock for students seeking relief. [More]
We are rapidly running out of 2015 left to spend, and so the two houses of Congress have been racing to pass an omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded and the lights on. Because that bill is a must-pass piece of legislation, all kinds of crap has been added, taken away, and snuck back in as we come down to the wire. Among the other bills that have been tacked on is a controversial piece of cybersecurity legislation that has privacy and consumer advocates worried all around.
Each year, thousands of consumers lose their vehicles – often their largest asset – after taking out small-dollar, high-interest auto title loans to cover expenses. Despite hundreds of attempts by lawmakers to rein in the often predatory auto title market, generous campaign donations from the industry’s leaders have created a cycle in which consumers are plunged deeper into debt, while title lenders continue lining their pocketbooks. [More]
Imagine receiving a phone call that 25% of your wages are going to be garnished because of a credit card account opened 14 years earlier that was never paid off. Making things worse, you know you didn’t have a credit card from the bank in question at that time, so it can’t possibly be your debt. This should be an easily remedied error, but not if a court has already granted a default judgment against you, making you responsible for paying back money that you didn’t owe and didn’t find out about until it was too late. [More]


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Tag - Transparency
Apple was the recipient of over 32,000 requests for information about accounts and devices in the second half of last year, the company has revealed. The latest transparency report on Government Information Requests advises Apple received a total of 30,687 requests from law enforcement officials around the world relating to devices, while another 1,813 requests concerned data from user accounts on Apple's services, including iTunes and iCloud accounts.
In a transparency report on its dealings with the US government, alternative ride provider Uber Technologies has revealed that it provided data on more than 12 million riders and drivers to the government -- but that nearly all of it was abstract statistical reports to various US regulatory agencies. The company did, however, show that it would provide details of trips, pickup and drop off areas, fares, vehicles, and drivers to law enforcement when requested, but had just 415 requests from such agencies on just 469 users -- mostly revolving around the use of stolen credit cards. Importantly, Uber said it had not received any FISA orders, or national security letters to obtain data on drivers or passengers.
Amazon is joining the likes of Google, Facebook, and Apple, by issuing its first transparency report. Later than other online giants in providing the information, and only doing so after criticism from civil liberties and digital rights groups, the retailer's first report advises of the number of times the company has received requests from both US and non-US governments for customer data, and how many times Amazon has provided what was requested.
Google is not fulfilling a high proportion of "Right to be Forgotten" requests, with more than half of requests being denied by the search company. According to its latest Transparency Report, Google has evaluated over 922 thousand requests for the removal of search listings since the program began last year, but out of that figure, 58.7 percent of all requests have been rejected.
Carrier AT&T has filed two notices with the Federal Communications Commission that argue against the planned introduction of a proposal by FCC Chair Tom Wheeler to reclassify broadband and mobile data providers as "common carriers" under Title II. The proposal, yet to be formally introduced, would get rid of paid-prioritization deals, ensure net neutrality, cease blocking and throttling users without cause, and require more transparency in dealings by ISPs.
In a public notice to Internet service providers, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reminded business that they cannot lie to consumers about the services they offer. The notice informs business and the general public that "every provider of broadband Internet access in the United States" is subject to the Open Internet Transparency Rule.
Microsoft has announced three new ways the company will improve the security of customer data in the wake of the NSA surveillance revelations. New encryption has been added to Outlook.com, with OneDrive also receiving a similar encryption-based security boost, and the company is also introducing its first "Microsoft Transparency Center" on its Redmond campus, in order to help governments understand and trust the security of the company's software.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has released a report, revealing a number of insights into the activities of the National Security Agency (NSA). The report, posted on Tumblr, comes as part of a DNI directive from August 2013, itself prompted by President Obama in June of the same year, with the report listing how many information requests and surveillance-related activities have been performed by the US government in the entirety of last year.
The world's second-largest carrier has revealed its service is being monitored by government agencies. Following the lead of other technology companies in publishing a transparency report, Vodafone claims phone tapping is being widely used by agencies in a number of the 29 countries it operates in, and in some cases, authorities are able to access customer data without even requiring a warrant.
Now AAPL Stock: 136.66 ( + 0.13 )
Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit
Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj
Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket
The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]
Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera
Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94
Apple employees testing wheelchair features
New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa
SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards
SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If
Apple's third-quarter results due July 26
Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm
Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users
Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE


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The fitness wearables market is poised for huge growth over the next seven years — and companies and investors are taking notice.
Fortune predicted compound annual growth of 15.4% through 2028, up to $114.4 billion. Grand View estimated an even higher growth rate of 18.9%. Startups and major tech companies are enhancing their hardware and software to claim a slice of that market.
Apple Faces Wearables Competition
- Apple rolled out its Watch Series 7 in September. The wearable is required hardware for the company’s $9.99-per-month subscription workout program, Apple Fitness+.
- Amazon rolled out a new line of Halo fitness wearables that same month. Its subscription program costs $3.99 per month after a six-month trial period.
- Meta is focusing on metaverse and VR tech for its fitness push. In October, it acquired VR fitness game developer Within.
Heart rate monitoring and movement tracking are nearly ubiquitous among smart watches, and many now track blood oxygen levels, sleep quality, respiratory rate, skin temperature, and a wide array of analytics derived from those biometrics.
Startups have not been deterred by the tech giants entering the space. WHOOP, which upgraded its hardware and software in September, raised $200 million in August at a $3.6 billion valuation. Oura raised $100 million in May at a valuation of around $800 million.


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YouTube’s Co-Founder to Start Video NetworkingAdded: Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
Category: Bit Torrent Freedom > The Industries Of Records, Gaming, Software, Movies
Tags:ET, p2p, Torrent, Piracy, Peer To Peer, Network, Hackers, Internet, BitTorrent, Google, utorrent, bitcomet, extratorrent, 2010, www.extratorrent.com
Chad Hurley, one of YouTube co-founders, was noticed discussing his plans for the future during the South by Southwest festival last weekend. Surprisingly enough, his plans appeared to include the launching of a video network similar to Facebook.
Media reports reveal that Chard Hurley and Digg’s founder Kevin Rose had an on-stage chat about starting a video network which could focus on creating a place where people could work together and create video content. Moreover, the service is almost there - Hurley admitted they are going to launch it in approximately one month.
The entire operation will take place in a former aircraft hangar that has been transformed into a 41,000-square foot studio. In this studio, everyone can put their minds to work, partner and use the high-end equipment. Moreover, the streaming service considers modifying the comment section on order to enable quite a professional take on the way people rate and feedback the uploaded material. Actually, the idea of making money from video material is not new to the business mind. For instance, Autodesk bought quite a popular mobile video service called SocialCam for $60 million.
In other words, it seems that besides the intention to start a legitimate music streaming service, YouTube is also interested in other areas of business. It will be quite interesting to see what it results into!
March 27th,2013Posted by:
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
|posted by (2013-03-28 03:15:49)|
|Only two typo's.|
|I have a great idea maybe we can have the same groups dumping u doob? .Grrr they all-ready do it||
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