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Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency that is fork of Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash is a spin-off or altcoin that was created in 2017. In 2018 Bitcoin Cash subsequently split into two cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin SV. Bitcoin Cash is sometimes also referred to as Bcash.
Rising fees on the Bitcoin network contributed to a push by some in the community to create a hard fork to increase the blocksize. This push came to a head in July 2017 when some members of the bitcoin community including Roger Ver felt that adopting BIP 91 without increasing the block-size limit favored people who wanted to treat bitcoin as a digital investment rather than as a transactional currency. This push by some to increase the block size met a resistance. Since its inception up to July 2017, Bitcoin users had maintained a common set of rules for the cryptocurrency. Eventually, a group of bitcoin activists, investors, entrepreneurs, developers and largely China-based miners were unhappy with Bitcoin’s proposed SegWit improvement plans meant to increase capacity and pushed forward alternative plans for a split which created Bitcoin Cash. The proposed split included a plan to increase the number of transactions its ledger can process by increasing the block size limit to eight megabytes.
The would-be hard fork with an expanded block size limit was described by hardware manufacturer Bitmain in June 2017 as a “contingency plan” should the bitcoin community decide to fork; the first implementation of the software was proposed under the name Bitcoin ABC at a conference that month. In July 2017, the Bitcoin Cash name was proposed by mining pool ViaBTC. The change, called a fork, took effect on 1 August 2017. As a result, the bitcoin ledger called the blockchain and the cryptocurrency split in two.
A Hong Kong newspaper likened this to a new version of word processing software saying:
Bitcoin cash is like a new version of Microsoft Word, which generates documents that can no longer be opened via the older versions.
Bryan Kelly, a stock analyst likened it to a software upgrade:
Bitcoin cash is doing a “hard fork” or “effectively a software upgrade,” Kelly said on “Fast Money.” “When you do a software upgrade, everybody usually agrees. But in this particular case, everybody is not agreeing.”
At the time of the software upgrade (also known as a fork) anyone owning bitcoin was also in possession of the same number of Bitcoin Cash units. The technical difference between Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin is that Bitcoin Cash allows larger blocks in its blockchain than Bitcoin, which in theory allows it to process more transactions per second.Bitcoin Cash was the first of the Bitcoin forks, in which software-development teams modified the original Bitcoin computer code and released coins with “Bitcoin” in their names, with “the goal of creating money out of thin air.” In relation to Bitcoin it is characterized variously as a spin-off, a strand, a product of a hard fork, an offshoot, a clone a second version or an altcoin. On 1 August 2017 Bitcoin Cash began trading at about $240, while bitcoin traded at about $2,700.
In 2018 Bitcoin Core developer Cory Fields found a bug in the Bitcoin ABC software that would have allowed an attacker to create a block causing a chain split. Fields notified the development team about it and the bug was fixed.


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|In an annual study of the companies that Americans perceive as the most reputable, online retailer Amazon.com has held the number one position for the past three years. That run came to an end this year.
The study, compiled by the Boston-based The Reputation Institute, is the product of a survey that measured about 800 companies by gauging the perceptions of nearly 43,000 respondents familiar with them. The result saw the Swiss luxury timepiece producer Rolex oust Amazon from its top spot. The top-10 companies are:
9. Fruit of the Loom
10. Barnes & Noble
Last year American Express scored a 77.1 in RI's annual reputation assessment. This year, the company notched 72.7, and did not crack the top-100 most reputable countries list. It saw losses on six of the seven categories RI tracks. "For many years American Express had been the poster child for reputation strength in the financial services community. It’s really led the way with a commitment to diversity in the workplace, innovation of new products, and empowerment of small businesses." But most recently, the company suffered as it ended an exclusive contract with Costco and lost credit card co-branding with Jetblue & Fidelity. Also, the company has not been active in releasing innovative new products and its small-business program has lost steam.
Yahoo! in 2017 went from 'not great' to 'quite bad' in RI's reputation scoring, dropping from a RepTrak score of 71.4 in 2016 to 60.8. The delay in closing its acquisition by Verizon has affected perception, the strength of company governance is in question and a series of data breaches have been a public embarrassment and professional liability. "The very relevance of what is left of Yahoo! is really the question the general public is asking themselves: 'what do I need you for?' And in most cases the general public would say, 'not very much.'"
Respondents to this year's survey, in gauging reputation, were much more positive toward some industries than others. Industries that garnered the most respect came from companies in the consumer goods, food & beverage, transport and automotive spaces. Meanwhile, firms that operate in the financial, healthcare, telecommunications and energy sectors were viewed more negatively.

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The Munster Branch of the IRFU has announced a final extension of its ten-year ticket scheme for the new rugby stadium in Limerick. Read on for further details.
In order to satisfy unprecedented demand, an additional 250 tickets are being made available to Munster fans, following the initial offer of 1,500 tickets released in January of this year which sold out in a matter of weeks.
Ten-year ticket purchasers can secure a place at the state-of-the-art new rugby stadium in Limerick, which is due to open in uutumn 2008, by registering on – www.newlimerickrugbystadium.com.
The tickets are priced at 5,500 euro and the exclusive benefits include:
– Guaranteed ticket for 10 years
– Prime located East Stand seating
– Secured position between the “22s”
– 3 x Heineken Cup pool matches each season
– 4 x Magners League matches each season
– Option to purchase ticket for any other Representative match run by Munster Rugby at the stadium
– Opportunity to purchase ticket for any other home match run by Munster Rugby moved to a larger ground
– First refusal on renewal if the scheme is extended
Pat Whelan, chairman of new stadium redevelopment company, said: “There was an unprecedented response to the initial release of ten-year tickets and we have now secured agreement for an additional 250 ten-year stand tickets in an attempt to satisfy the demands of the many supporters who want to guarantee their places for Munster matches at the new stadium.”
Based on a first come first served basis, the ten-year ticket offer can be secured online at www.newlimerickrugbystadium.com from November 1, 2007.
Enquiries can also be made to The Hospitality Partnership (email: email@example.com; tel: 00353 (0)1 6762728; fax: 00353 (0)1 6766121.


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You would have heard of multinationals unleashing a blitz of publicity to launch products in cities. But in a village? Most likely no.
For the first time in India, a village entrepreneur has decided to promote his Internet centre through launch ads.
The Internet centre, named Jan Suvidha Kendra, will formally start functioning in the Vikhas Khand office of Rampur-Mathura in Sitapur district from May 25.
But the entrepreneur, Devendra Singh, has launched a burst of publicity on Gaon Ki Awaaz, the mobile phone based audio bulletin that is broadcast twice a day to 250 subscribers living in 50 villages around Rampur-Mathura.
The launch ad that goes as a voice call to phone users has a male and female anchor alternating to promote the centre. It invites villagers to get their birth certificates, death certificates, rail reservation, downloading and filling of pension forms, payment of electricity bill etc done from the centre from May 25
In all, Devender has bought five launch ads which started running from May 16. Each ad ends with the entrepreneur asking villagers to call 9415526143, and avail the services.
Quite clearly, the entrepreneur has realised the value of taking his message to his target audience, which happens to be fellow villagers living in a ten kilometer radius of his Jan Suvidha Kendra. “The village is talking about the centre ten days before its opening,” says school teacher Divyakar.
This is a great service for villagers who till now had to queue in front of the tehsil office to get the certificates issued from the none-too-cooperative village officials.
Click here to listen to the ad broadcast on May18noon.


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Our client Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta surprised us with a gift yesterday, 6 gallons of ice cream. And it’s not just your standard ice cream … this stuff was from Jake’s (local Atlanta midtown/Highlands/Emory creamery). There were 6 different flavors. The client literally was thanking us for the wonderful work we did and the success from the campaign we launched this past quarter…rare in the ad biz these days.
As the largest pediatric health care system in the U.S., Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta expects more than 1,200 patients in their hospitals during the last two weeks of the year. In an effort to convey the authentic, emotionally charged stories of their patients, parents and staff, Children’s has teamed up with Atlanta advertising agency BKV, producer Gerald Gentemann, director Bill VanderKloot, as well as the Verizon Foundation, to launch a digital campaign of social sharing during this holiday season.
“The ‘Share the Hope’ video is not about theatrics but instead is an honest look into the lives of these amazing children. The concept was centered around one hospital, during one day, shot on one camera. This is storytelling at its most genuine and emotional level,” said Scott Hodoval, Vice President of Development at Children’s.
Launching today, Children’s is unveiling their “Share the Hope” video on the organization’s customized microsite, YouTube channel, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account. The effort doesn’t stop at just sharing the video, but also includes the opportunity to share a message of hope with the patients who will be spending their holidays at Children’s. Donations will also be accepted digitally during this time, with the initial contribution coming from Verizon Foundation, who has pledged a gift of $1 per view of the “Share the Hope” video.
“Although the campaign will live in traditional media as well, it will be fueled and sustained by social,” said Hodoval. Messages for the patients will be accepted through December 31, 2011 and will be displayed on closed-circuit TVs throughout the hospital during the last two weeks of the year. Visit ShareWithChildrens.org to let a young patient at Children’s know you’re thinking about them this holiday season, and all year long.
That changed this afternoon though, as Obama “pushed the button” on a tweet for the American Red Cross, whose Twitter account and use of text messaging donations to the tune of more than $20 million has been at the center of the disaster recovery efforts in Haiti.
According to the tweet, the President and the First Lady are currently visiting the organization’s disaster operation center:
While perhaps mildly disappointing for those that still thought @BarackObama was actually tweeting with his own fingers, the tweet on behalf of the Red Cross certainly seems to send the right message as rescue efforts continue in the earthquake ravaged country.
Colorado Native Lager, which launches this week, comes from the No. 2 U.S. brewer’s A.C. Golden Brewing Co. unit, which brews craft-style beers in small quantities and markets them exclusively through digital and word-of-mouth channels. The marketer says the brand is brewed from “99.9%” Colorado-grown ingredients, a percentage that includes the locally made glass bottles. It will be sold only in Colorado, at least at first.
With Colorado Native Lager, A.C. Golden is using the model that worked for MillerCoors’ Blue Moon: seeding the brand through word-of-mouth and letting consumers feel as if they “discovered” the beer for themselves, which encourages them to introduce friends to it. To do so, it’s putting the entirety of its tiny Colorado Native budget into mobile and social-media channels.
Every Colorado Native label is affixed with a “SnapTag,” which, if photographed on a mobile device and e-mailed to a specified phone number, allows the brand to begin a conversation with its drinkers.
After e-mailing in a picture of the logo, a drinker will first get a reply asking for their birthday. If they say they’re older than 21, they’ll be queried with Colorado-centric trivia about their hobbies and interests, and the database will remember the answers and use them to craft future communications and offers to each individual drinker.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Hallmark has beefed up its mobile offerings with its new hoops&yoyo application, Fun @ Work, features games and videos, and other mobile initiatives including mobile greeting cards from http://www.mobile.hallmark.com. ￼
Mike Adams manager of mobile says Hallmark is a company that helps people connect whenever and wherever they are, whether it’s through the mail, through the computer or through a cell phone.
Hallmark Mobile Greetings help provide more frequent and meaningful instant communication. Mobile Greetings combine the immediacy of a text message with creative design and editorial, and also allow the sender to add their own personal message.
Hallmark mobile cards
In addition, Hallmark Mobile Greetings work on the majority of mobile phone models and across all major mobile phone networks, making them easier to use and send than any comparable product on the market.
What challenges does mobile address for Hallmark?
Hallmark Mobile Greetings were developed because they recognize that oftentimes people want to connect with one another right in the moment, wherever they are.
There was a gap of “in the moment” communications that this new product can address.
The target demographic is primarily women who are tech-comfy, on-the-go people who value a connected network of family and friends.
Hallmark Mobile Greetings address a consumer-identified need to connect immediately with emotional impact — whether it’s encouragement or a light-hearted laugh. They are a great way to instantly communicate life’s everyday moments. You can send an instant mobile greeting whenever, and wherever, you are.
Research indicates that more than 80 percent of people have their mobile phones with them the majority of the time. The greetings are relevant for everyone, and there is something for all ages.


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The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has released vehicle sales data for the month of April 2020. With the movement control order (MCO) in force, all new vehicular activity was at a complete stop last month. Well, almost, because as it turns out, there were still a handful of registrations despite the Covid-19 outbreak.
When we mean a handful, we mean a handful. The month saw only 141 units being recorded, a drop of 22,337 units or a 99.37% decrease from the 22,478 units in March, which was already 44% lower than the February total. As a result of that, the year-to-date total industry volume (TIV) stood at 106,601 units, significantly behind to the 192,971 units recorded for the corresponding period last year.
Of the total, 131 were passenger vehicle registrations, while 10 were commercial registrations. As to why there were even registrations in April, given that the road transport department (JPJ) was closed for the duration, we were told by industry sources that it remained possible to register a car online during the lock-down, but the cars would not have road tax and full documentation, or be able to be collected.
The sources said that in these instances, the registrations were for vehicle purchases in which car loans had already been approved pre-MCO and a Letter of Undertaking (LoU) had already been issued, and the completion of the registration was so there would be no lapse in the agreement, which would entail needing to go through the whole process again.
The association expects the sales volume in May to be much higher than in April, but much lower than the traditional number of monthly registrations prior to the MCO. It said that automotive showroom traffic is anticipated to remain slow, and with banks being more stringent in approving hire purchase loans as well as reducing the hire purchase loan quantum, it’s not going to be smooth sailing.
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The holidays are about spending time with friends and family while giving gifts to those closest to us. The staff at Michigan International Speedway is getting in the holiday spirit Dec. 7 by giving back to those less fortunate in the area. The community is invited to the track to join in the festivities for the 11th annual MIS Cares Charity Track and Toy Drive.
The MIS Cares Charity Track and Toy Drive is Dec. 7 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Make a difference in someone’s life by donating a new unopened toy or a bag of nonperishable food to a local food pantry, the perfect way to get in the holiday spirit.
All guests who make a donation are welcome to spread some holiday cheer to local charities and take a lap around the two-mile oval.
“The MIS Cares Track and Toy Drive is an opportunity to make an impact during this holiday season,” track President Rick Brenner said. “We continually strive to remember those not as fortunate this time of the year and with the help of the community we can make a huge impact.”
Guests may take a lap in their personal vehicle around the track in exchange for a new, unwrapped toy or a bag of nonperishable food. All food items will be donated to the Brooklyn Food Pantry in Brooklyn, Michigan and the St. Mary’s of Good Counsel in Adrian, Michigan. In addition, the toys will be donated to the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots in both Jackson and Lenawee Counties.
Guests will have the opportunity to visit with Santa in the Michigan Room from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., so don’t forget your Christmas list. Photos with Santa will also be available for purchase. Children are invited to color a holiday card that will be sent to active military members.
The MIS Cares Charity Track and Toy Drive has been an overwhelming success in its first 10 years and continues to grow, thanks to the support of the community. This year, the staff at Michigan International Speedway looks to make it the best event to date.
Toy and food donations will also be accepted at MIS during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday starting on Dec. 2. Toys for Tots and Food Pantry collection boxes will be located in the speedway lobby, but laps will not be permitted to early drop offs due to track activity.
All donated toys must be unwrapped and new. Donated food items should be nonperishable. The food banks are also seeking soap products, paper goods, canned fruits and juices.
The employees of the speedway and Americrown Corp. will provide support for the event and also make a donation to the four organizations with personal support. Americrown will supply tasty treats and beverages to all the guests.
The MIS Cares Charity Track and Toy Drive is weather dependent.
Track and Toy Drive participants should enter the speedway through the tunnel gate off of Brooklyn Highway and follow the signs to the infield entry point. Guests will be directed to follow the signs to enter the racetrack, where they will take a lap at 25 MPH around the two-mile oval.
The track laps are limited to passenger vehicles only, no motorcycles. No passing of other vehicles will be allowed at anytime. The driver of the vehicle must be 21 years of age, provide a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance. All participants will need to sign a waiver before driving on the track. Seatbelts and headlights must be on at all times.


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|By Marketwired .||
|October 29, 2009 09:03 AM EDT||
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 10/29/09 -- A new research report released today by PopSugar Media (www.popsugar.com) revealed that two-thirds of Generation X women chose Generation Y women as the most influential age group when it comes to defining trends in popular culture. Gen Y women, in turn, are discovering new brands and getting most of their style inspiration and product recommendations from blogs and social media.
The report, "Why Y Women," is a two-tier study of 1,018 women ages 18-49 conducted by Radar Research on behalf of PopSugar Media, which examines Gen Y women's sphere of influence of lifestyle trends, how technology and social media help them expand their sphere of influence, and how marketers can target and communicate with this group. PopSugar Media is the online leader in original content and social media for trendsetting Y women.
"Gen Y women represent a challenge to marketers. The results of this study underscore how much marketers must think and act differently when addressing this generation of women online. It shows they want to be addressed as individuals, they can be skeptical of marketing messages, and they are inundated by media and advertising," said Brian Sugar, founder and CEO of Sugar, Inc. "As this study and our experience proves, it's crucial for brands to create a trusted relationship and earn their loyalty through honest dialogue about their brand. Once they have a personal connection to a brand, Gen Y women will be passionate advocates and ambassadors. Our goal has been to work closely with brands to help facilitate that relationship."
Why Y Women?
Gen Y women are a major force in determining cultural trends and setting the pace for style. The "Why Y Women" survey found that 92 percent of Gen Y women consider themselves to be the trend leaders. Yet their influence extends beyond that as 67 percent of Gen X women identified Gen Y as trend leaders, too. In the survey, Gen X women cited reasons such as, "This age group tends to discover things first," "They spend more time in venues where they are more likely to be seen" and "They're more creative in terms of selection in fashion, pop culture, cuisine, etc."
Gen Y women are also influential brand advocates. When they discover a brand they love, 61 percent said they "share it with as many friends as possible," and they are likely to share it across a spectrum of platforms, including email, social networks, online reviews, blog comments, SMS/MMS, phone, and face-to-face. They are twice as likely to use online social networking sites to share their recommendations than Gen X women (28 percent vs. 15 percent).
Gen Y women are more brand loyal than many may assume. The research found that Gen Y and Gen X on virtually on par in this area (79 percent vs. 84 percent), though the level of brand loyalty varied by category.
Gen Y Women Redefine "Authenticity" and Widen Their Sphere of Influence Through Technology
Gen Y women acknowledge that, with technology, they have more choices available to them than previous generations. The study's participants believe the infinite numbers of choices they have are both empowering as well as confusing. To break through the clutter, they rely heavily on "authentic" recommendations of their peers for product referrals, brand suggestions, and style cues.
While Gen Y women tend to be skeptical of obvious marketing messages, they do respond to brands and messages they perceive to be "authentic." One of the study's significant findings is how Gen Y women have redefined "authentic." While Gen X women tend to seek insight and brand approval from "experts," Gen Y women rely more heavily on their peers because they believe their advice about brands to be more unbiased and honest. For example, Gen Y women are more likely to turn to online user reviews, with almost two in five women (38 percent) trusting the postings of online users to learn more about a product or brand. Gen Y women tend to be slightly more skeptical of professional reviewers and need to be reassured the reviewer doesn't have a stake in the results of the review.
How Gen Y women define their peer group is a significant change from previous generations. It not only includes their "real-life" friends but also online friends, blog writers, anonymous reviewers, Twitter followers, and other participants in online communities -- many whom they may have never met. As a result, this generation has a wider network of connections than Gen X women.
Blogs and Social Media Are Major Forces of Cultural Influence
Blogs and social media, rather than traditional media, have emerged as key trusted and inspirational sources for Gen Y to discover brands and products. Nearly twice as many Gen Y women than Gen X women said they rely on blogs to influence their decisions to buy a product (28 percent vs. 16 percent). Twice as many Gen Y women than Gen X women reported they discovered a new brand or product from a friend's status update on a social networking site (42 percent vs. 22 percent).
Consumption of new media, such as blogs, reinforce Gen Y women's perception of themselves as more individualistic than earlier generations. They cite blogs as being more accessible, more likely to be honest, on the cutting edge, and more likely to know about trends first. They also believe the "commentor community" on blogs is very important. To them, a healthy commentor community signals approval and trust in a blog. Gen Y women say they often glean new ideas about websites and products from other readers' comments on blogs.
Context Is Vital in Brand Perception and Advertising
Gen Y women are very media savvy and conscious of attempts to market to them. They are not easily swayed to action by advertising, either offline or online. While they aren't likely to click on an online ad, they are influenced by advertising messages and highly aware of brand messages online, such as in online magazines, search engines, blogs, social networking sites, and even ads. When asked if they've ever discovered a new product via an online ad they saw but didn't click on, almost two in five (38 percent) reported they did.
The study's findings demonstrate that context is vital when it comes to brand perception and advertising. The context in which they encounter an ad largely determines their trust in that brand. Their trust in a site translates into trust in an advertiser's brand, particularly for a brand they're less familiar with. Thus, exposure to a brand is more meaningful when it takes place on a website they already trust.
"Context matters a great deal to Gen Y women, so marketers need to be very selective about the sites they advertise on and avoid mass-reach network buys they cannot control," added Sugar. "In addition, Gen Y women rarely click on ads, so using click through as a metric of campaign success simply does not work. In order to win them over, marketers must use multiple digital touch points and offer many opportunities for consumers to engage with their brand. They must reach out to these women in ways that are interactive but nonintrusive, such as contests, games, custom integrated content, and discounts and also offer incentives for their attention."
The "Why Y Women" study was conducted by Radar Research in September 2009 on behalf of PopSugar Media. It consisted of an online survey of 1,018 Gen X and Y women, aged 18-49, from a demographically representative sample who all had accessed the Internet at least once a day. For the purposes of this study, Gen X were defined as ages 35-49 and Gen Y were defined as ages 18-34. In addition to the online survey, in-person focus groups were conducted in October 2009. Three sessions were held with four to six Gen Y women each.
To view the "Why Y Women" white paper, go to www.sugarinc.com/WhyYWomen.
About PopSugar Media
PopSugar Media is the online leader in original content and social media for trendsetting Y women. It helps brands connect, engage, and be discovered by this influential generation. PopSugar Media is a division of Sugar Inc.
Sugar Inc. is a new media company that connects, entertains, and inspires women. The company owns and operates insanely addictive PopSugar Network (popsugar.com), the most fabulous online store ShopStyle (shopstyle.com), content management platform for celebrity, fashion, and lifestyle publishers OnSugar (onsugar.com), Sugar Entertainment (popsugar.tv), and Sugar Games (games.popsugar.com). Founded in April 2006 by husband and wife Lisa and Brian Sugar in San Francisco, Sugar Inc. is proud to delight its audience of over 11 million visitors a month. Sugar Inc. is a privately held company backed by world-class investor Sequoia Capital.
SYS-CON Events announced today that MangoApps will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. MangoApps provides modern company intranets and team collaboration software, allowing workers to stay connected and productive from anywhere in the world and from any device. For more information, please visit https://www.mangoapps.com/.
May. 29, 2016 10:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,030
SYS-CON Events announced today that EastBanc Technologies will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. EastBanc Technologies has been working at the frontier of technology since 1999. Today, the firm provides full-lifecycle software development delivering flexible technology solutions that seamlessly integrate with existing systems – whether on premise or cloud. EastBanc Technologies partners with p...
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In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Bruce Swann, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Adobe, will discuss how the Adobe Marketing Cloud can help marketers embrace opportunities for personalized, relevant and real-time customer engagement across offline (direct mail, point of sale, call center) and digital (email, website, SMS, mobile apps, social networks, connected objects). Bruce Swann has more than 15 years of experience working with digital marketing disciplines like web analytics, social med...
May. 29, 2016 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,451
SYS-CON Events announced today that ContentMX, the marketing technology and services company with a singular mission to increase engagement and drive more conversations for enterprise, channel and SMB technology marketers, has been named “Sponsor & Exhibitor Lounge Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. “CloudExpo is a great opportunity to start a conversation with new prospects, but what happens after the...
May. 29, 2016 04:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,317
WebRTC is bringing significant change to the communications landscape that will bridge the worlds of web and telephony, making the Internet the new standard for communications. Cloud9 took the road less traveled and used WebRTC to create a downloadable enterprise-grade communications platform that is changing the communication dynamic in the financial sector. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Leo Papadopoulos, CTO of Cloud9, will discuss the importance of WebRTC and how it enables companies to fo...
May. 29, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,593
SYS-CON Events announced today Object Management Group® has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
May. 29, 2016 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,661
The IoT is changing the way enterprises conduct business. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Eric Hoffman, Vice President at EastBanc Technologies, discuss how businesses can gain an edge over competitors by empowering consumers to take control through IoT. We'll cite examples such as a Washington, D.C.-based sports club that leveraged IoT and the cloud to develop a comprehensive booking system. He'll also highlight how IoT can revitalize and restore outdated business models, making them profitable...
May. 29, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,975
The IoTs will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, will demonstrate how to move beyond today's coding paradigm and share the must-have mindsets for removing complexity from the development proc...
May. 29, 2016 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,989
Customer experience has become a competitive differentiator for companies, and it’s imperative that brands seamlessly connect the customer journey across all platforms. With the continued explosion of IoT, join us for a look at how to build a winning digital foundation in the connected era – today and in the future. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Nguyen, Group Product Marketing Manager at Adobe, will discuss how to successfully leverage mobile, rapidly deploy content, capture real-time d...
May. 29, 2016 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,686
What a difference a year makes. Organizations aren’t just talking about IoT possibilities, it is now baked into their core business strategy. With IoT, billions of devices generating data from different companies on different networks around the globe need to interact. From efficiency to better customer insights to completely new business models, IoT will turn traditional business models upside down. In the new customer-centric age, the key to success is delivering critical services and apps wit...
May. 29, 2016 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,299
Join us at Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2016 – June 7-9 at the Javits Center in New York City and November 1-3 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA – and deliver your unique message in a way that is striking and unforgettable by taking advantage of SYS-CON's unmatched high-impact, result-driven event / media packages.
May. 29, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,551
In his keynote at 18th Cloud Expo, Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise, will provide an overview of the evolution of the Internet and the Database and the future of their combination – the Blockchain. Andrew Keys is Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise. He comes to ConsenSys Enterprise with capital markets, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for the creation and distribution of life ...
May. 29, 2016 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,043
SYS-CON Events announced today that BMC Software has been named "Siver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. BMC is a global leader in innovative software solutions that help businesses transform into digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive advantage. BMC Digital Enterprise Management is a set of innovative IT solutions designed to make digital business fast, seamless, and optimized from mainframe to mo...
May. 29, 2016 09:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,320
SYS-CON Events announced today that MobiDev will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. MobiDev is a software company that develops and delivers turn-key mobile apps, websites, web services, and complex software systems for startups and enterprises. Since 2009 it has grown from a small group of passionate engineers and business managers to a full-scale mobile software company with over 200 develope...
May. 29, 2016 08:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,773
SoftLayer operates a global cloud infrastructure platform built for Internet scale. With a global footprint of data centers and network points of presence, SoftLayer provides infrastructure as a service to leading-edge customers ranging from Web startups to global enterprises. SoftLayer's modular architecture, full-featured API, and sophisticated automation provide unparalleled performance and control. Its flexible unified platform seamlessly spans physical and virtual devices linked via a world...
May. 29, 2016 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,316
SYS-CON Events announced today that Alert Logic, Inc., the leading provider of Security-as-a-Service solutions for the cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Alert Logic, Inc., provides Security-as-a-Service for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, delivering deep security insight and continuous protection for customers at a lower cost than traditional security solutions. Ful...
May. 29, 2016 06:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,967
Companies can harness IoT and predictive analytics to sustain business continuity; predict and manage site performance during emergencies; minimize expensive reactive maintenance; and forecast equipment and maintenance budgets and expenditures. Providing cost-effective, uninterrupted service is challenging, particularly for organizations with geographically dispersed operations.
May. 29, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,186
As cloud and storage projections continue to rise, the number of organizations moving to the cloud is escalating and it is clear cloud storage is here to stay. However, is it secure? Data is the lifeblood for government entities, countries, cloud service providers and enterprises alike and losing or exposing that data can have disastrous results. There are new concepts for data storage on the horizon that will deliver secure solutions for storing and moving sensitive data around the world. ...
May. 29, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,372
SYS-CON Events announced today TechTarget has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. TechTarget is the Web’s leading destination for serious technology buyers researching and making enterprise technology decisions. Its extensive global networ...
May. 29, 2016 05:15 AM EDT Reads: 3,281
SYS-CON Events announced today that Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Commvault is a leading provider of data protection and information management...
May. 29, 2016 04:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,267


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Xybernaut Corp.'s former chief financial officer has agreed to rejoin a team of executives attempting to turn around the troubled Fairfax company.
John F. Moynahan left the wearable-computer maker in 2003 after almost a decade with the firm. He helped Xybernaut conduct a public stock offering in 1996, but he said that toward the end of his tenure he grew disappointed with the company's progress and the conduct of its executives.
"In the early days, it was a company of practical visionaries. We could see where the world was going and we were excited about getting us there," Moynahan said. "That's the key thing that brought me back -- being able to pick up that vision and execute."
Xybernaut has been operating in turmoil since April, when the company disclosed that its audit committee was investigating the actions of Edward G. and Steven A. Newman, the brothers who served as chief executive and president.
The following month, the Newman brothers were forced to resign when the audit committee concluded that they used company funds for personal expenses, hired family members despite an anti-nepotism policy and impeded the committee's investigation. The company's unraveling continued as its stock was delisted from the Nasdaq index, its auditor, Grant Thornton LLP, resigned, and the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. attorney's office began investigations.
In July the 15-year-old company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Perry L. Nolen, who took over as chief executive in April, said the company's executives and directors considered several options for Xybernaut's future and ultimately decided to try to restructure the firm, which now has about 30 employees.
"We're going to clearly define the business and we're going to gain our reputation back as a leader in the mobile solutions marketplace," Nolen said.
Last month the company said it landed a $5 million "debtor-in-possession" loan to fund its operations through bankruptcy and help it sell some of its intellectual property.
Nolen said he recruited Moynahan back to the company because he wanted a chief financial officer who could, "come in and help me get a jump start knowing the industry and market that we're dealing with."
After leaving Xybernaut, Moynahan served as the chief financial officer of CardSystems Solutions Inc., a Chantilly electronic payment processing firm.


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Bringing you the best stories from Columbus business owners, cbuzz is presented by the Columbus Chamber in collaboration with the Columbus Dispatch and CD1025. Our host, local comedian Dan Swartwout, talks with entrepreneurs every other week in Columbus’ first business-focused podcast.
With origins in Switzerland professional volleyball, toilet sales, and the pork market, Watershed Distillery is one of Columbus’ most interesting businesses. Started by Greg Lehman and Dave Rigo, Watershed began operations in 2010, and has been on a steep incline of growth ever since.
“We make booze for a living,” Rigo joked as the two business partners began discussing where Watershed originated from.
As two guys who brew vodka, gin, bourbon and its newest product, nocino, all day long at their Columbus distillery, neither Rigo nor Lehman grew up in families that were big drinkers.
Interestingly enough, Lehman’s own great grandmother was a major figure during the Prohibition movement in Ohio.
“My great grandmother was part of the dry movement,” Lehman said. “She worked at the printing presses in Westerville that printed stuff for the dry movement.”
“So I think she would be turning in her grave if she knew we were distilling product here in Central Ohio. [laughs]”
And distill they do.
Two guys with a big entrepreneurial background, Lehman and Rigo, who met one another through their wives, came together in 2008 in aspirations of starting a business.
“We decided to flip houses in 2008 right as the market was crashing,” Rigo said sarcastically. “So perfect timing. But we did flip one house in Upper Arlington and made a little bit of money, and took some of that money and traveled around the country and visited several distilleries to figure out this next project.”
Intrigued with the business side of the distilling industry, Lehman and Rigo would start from scratch with Watershed. As neither business partner had a background in distilling, Lehman and Rigo would have to teach themselves the tricks of the trade in order to grow a local product.
“We were two guys with an idea and were definitely inspired by what was going on in the brewing industry and the local movement,” Lehman said.
It was a local movement in a remote part of the world that inspired Lehman in the most unlikely way.
Playing professional volleyball overseas right out of college, Lehman, who attended Ashland University, was exposed to a fierce support of local business in Switzerland. Lehman noted that seeing that type of local support for small business has had a major influence on Watershed.
Coming back to the states, Lehman spent some time in the pork market before banding together with Rigo, who was involved in sales in the toilet industry for nearly 10 years.
Working for themselves and their own product has always been a dream of both Rigo and Lehman, and Watershed has been a chance for both of them to love the work that they do.
“It’s just a different thing working for yourself and doing something that we really love,” Rigo said. “We started from the business side and started to fall in love with the distilling process.”
As one of two distilleries in Columbus, Watershed has seen great growth over the past five years in an industry that is exploding.
Raising the money that they needed from investors in just two months, much shorter than what they had expected, Rigo and Lehman found a way to attract customers from the community.
With the help of promotion from local restaurants and media, Watershed launched its initial marketing ploy of giving free tours to people in the community, a decision that has paid off tenfold.
Giving more than 10,000 people tours since the distillery’s launch five years ago, Watershed Distillery has built tremendous brand awareness and word of mouth support.
While Watershed’s primary products are vodka, gin, and bourbon, its newest product, nocino has been drawing rave reviews. One of two companies in the country that make nocino, Watershed has seen a great reception from the community since the product’s launch.
Growing its staff to eight full-time employees, Watershed Distillery continues to expand under the ambitious leadership of Lehman and Rigo.
As two guys that enjoy their jobs of ‘making booze for a living,’ Lehman and Rigo have Watershed Distillery in a tremendous position to grow and expand, and Columbus is fortunate to have them right here in the heart of the city.
July 23, 2015
Dan Swartwout, cbuzz Host; Greg Lehman & Dave Rigo, Founders of Watershed Distillery
Thanking our partners


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Anything Apple announces makes big news, so when the tech giant shows up at the Geneva auto show with something to say, the car world listens. Today, Apple’s big reveal is its new CarPlay technology, which will soon crop up in new vehicles across the industry, starting with the new 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-class and the 2015 Volvo XC90—both due later this year—and many others.
CarPlay essentially takes smartphone integration to the next level for iPhone users by bringing its iOS user interface—squircle-shaped app icons and all—into each car’s center-stack controls, once a properly updated iPhone 5s, 5c or 5 running iOS 7 is connected via a Lightning cable. In the case of the Benz, for example, CarPlay goes through its remote dial-and-screen-based COMAND system, while the Volvo tranforms its vertical center touch screen into an enlarged copy of the iPhone, only with digital climate controls on either side. See CarPlay in action in Volvo’s demo video here:
Commonly used apps—including music, maps, and podcasts—are among those that will appear at launch, as well as third-party streaming apps such as Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, and Beats Radio. No specific details were provided about social-media apps such as Facebook and Twitter, although they could certainly have some functionality in the future. Apple says that in-car Wi-Fi—where available—also may be added to the CarPlay system as an option.
Apple says that CarPlay also will transfer navigation functions from the Maps app to the car, anticipating destinations based on recent trips via contacts, e-mails or texts, and providing routing instructions, traffic conditions, and estimated times of arrival.
Siri, our favorite femme-bot, will play a prominent role as your trusty in-car assistant, and can be summoned by pressing the voice-activation button on the car’s steering wheel in the event you want to access your contacts, make calls, return missed calls or listen to voicemails. When incoming messages or notifications arrive, Siri can read those aloud and allow you to dictate responses.
In addition to the aforementioned XC90 and C-class, Apple says that CarPlay will be available later this year in some Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, and Jaguar models. BMW, Ford, GM, Kia, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan plan to embrace the technology in the near future.


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Mercedes-Benz pledged to add over 10 electric cars to its global lineup by 2022. We've already seen some of them, and we know the identity of others, but the company surprised everyone by confirming it could bolster its electric car offensive with a battery-powered variant of the G-Class.
Sascha Pallenberg, the head of digital transformation for Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler, quoted new company boss Ola Källenius as saying "there will be a zero-emission EV version of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class" during a speech made at the Automobilwoche Kongress.
#Daimler CEO Källenius: ”There will be a zero-emission #EV version of the #MercedesBenz G-Class. In the past there were discussions whether we should eliminate the model, the way I see things now I'd say the last Mercedes to be built will be a G-Class" #AMWKongress #eMobility pic.twitter.com/tAS6tzpR3Y— Sascha Pallenberg 潘賞世 (@sascha_p) November 7, 2019
Mercedes could use its hydrogen technology to build a zero-emissions G-Class, but Källenius clearly stated the upcoming model will be electric. EQG it is, then, at least if it follows the naming system used by other electric Mercedes models like the EQC, the upcoming EQA, and the EQS we discovered as a concept. He didn't reveal when the model will make its debut, precisely what will power it, or which markets it will be sold in. Odds are the battery-powered G will be sold alongside the gasoline-burning (and, in Europe, diesel-powered) variants rather than instead of them, however.
Electrifying the G will be easier said than done. At nearly 5,500 pounds, the current truck is one of the heaviest cars available new, and powering it with electricity will bump that figure closer to 6,000 pounds. Moving such a heavy vehicle quickly while giving it an acceptable driving range will require using a huge battery, which will in turn add weight; it's a catch-22. Escaping it will entail putting the G on a diet, and using lighter battery technology. In other words, don't expect to see it in early 2020.
If this sounds familiar, it's likely because we've been here before. In 2017, actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked Austrian firm Kreisel Electric to help him build a late-model, first-generation G that runs on electricity. He drove the SUV -- which Kreisel described as a one-off prototype -- around California, but there's little indication that production started as planned.
It's a small wonder that we're even talking about the G's future. Ten years ago, the truck looked like a bad hangover from a different era, and most assumed it was living on borrowed time. Fast forward to 2019, and its star has finally risen thanks in part to the Hollywood dwellers, the Russian oligarchs, and the Middle Eastern oil barons who are addicted to it. SUVs and crossovers outsell sedans, and the second-generation G-Class represents that branch of the Mercedes-Benz family so well that the brand considers it one of its most important icons. Sorry, R-Class fans.
"In the past, there were discussions whether we should eliminate the model. The way I see things now, I'd say the last Mercedes to be built will be a G-Class," summed up Källenius.


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Americans are turning to grocery apps and digital payments for their weekly food supplies amid the coronavirus outbreak. However, restaurant food delivery apps are taking a hit as fewer Americans are opting for delivery of prepared, takeout food.
According to research from Apptopia, Instacart, Walmart Grocery and Shipt have seen respectively 218, 160, and 124 percent increases in average daily downloads compared to the previous month. Each clocked record days in March. Target also reported a 98 percent increase in average daily downloads in March.
“This makes sense as shoppers want to come into contact with less people but still need to accumulate supplies and groceries to hunker down during a period of intense social distancing,” said Adam Blacker, vice president of insights with Apptopia.
Food delivery apps, on the other hand, have witnessed a downturn in activity. Daily downloads of delivery apps including DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub and Postmates declined from about 240,000 as of Feb. 15 to about 190,000 on Sunday, according to Apptopia.


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Networking isn't about how many people you talk to or for how long — it's about making...
After spending a month meeting with the tech community across four African countries,...
Apple CEO Tim Cook says that you don't have to give up your privacy for technology to get...
Absa, Old Mutual, Eskom and SAA are among the companies looking for new CEOs.
CEOs in the mining sector get the biggest remuneration.
At least eight major South African companies are currently without a CEO.
Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele resigned this week from the Reserve Bank.


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The group said today it has 1.1m customers (100,000 in the UK) and, with a profit margin of around 9%, had pre-tax earnings of £9m in its third quarter.
After a shocking two weeks in September when almost every major soccer and American football match went with the favourite, nine-month profits at £3.3m, are nearly double the same period in 2002. That lifted the shares 2p to a 15-month high 54 1/2p.
Chief executive Nigel Payne says growth potential is exponential. 'We have less than 1% of the global betting market and online betting even now only represents 5% of the total market.
'Out of all the countries in the world, there are only five which have retail betting shops. You have to ask where all these other people are going to have a bet.'Reuse content


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Ofgem has launched an investigation into four energy companies amid concerns of mis-selling to consumers. The energy regulator said it was prepared to take "strong action" if it found that npower, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy and EDF Energy were failing to comply with new obligations to prevent mis-selling.
It has set up a hotline – 08454 040506 – for consumers who are concerned about the sales approach employed by suppliers to sell energy contracts, either face to face or by telephone.
The move follows tougher obligations imposed on suppliers in October as part of Ofgem's investigation into the energy retail market. Its spokesman Andrew Wright said: "Suppliers have existing obligations to detect and prevent mis-selling, and new licence conditions were brought in following our probe to further increase protection for customers. We expect all suppliers to comply with these tougher obligations, but if our investigations find otherwise we will take strong action."Reuse content


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As support for Tizen OS goes down – Samsung Plans to stick with Android OS
Just a month back the reports of Samsung working with Tizen OS project was unleashed, and it seemed that Samsung was pretty much interested in switching from Android to Tizen on its upcoming devices, including Galaxy Series Smart phones. But it seems that deal of Tizen OS is going down, and this is mainly because Samsung has realized that Tizen needs some time to grasp the market, as they don’t have any apps with them while Android is filled with thousands. Tizen needs to attract more app developers towards them in order to grasp the spot, and it would surely take time for this OS to actually make its place in Smartphone industry, and this is one of the reasons why Samsung has planned to stick with Android OS till the time Tizen takes a little control in the market, else adopting Tizen in its initial stage will drastically hit its Smart phones sales worldwide, and that might become a downward spiral for Samsung. But it is evident that Samsung is planning to switch, not know but later for sure. Up till now, Tizen has been grown to 36 companies, but still they are way behind than Android. In contribution, Samsung has merged its “Not – So – Successful” Os Bada in Tizen Project. One of the biggest reasons Samsung stated of its migration from Android to Tizen or any other operating system is that the Android is “Least Open” Open source platform, which offers only a limited number of scope to the manufacturers. Now let’s see what future a waits for Samsung and Tizen.


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Michael Eisner's successor, Bob Iger, is off to a good start
EVEN as Michael Eisner works his last summer as boss of the Walt Disney Company, his successor, Bob Iger, is rapidly solving the problems that Mr Eisner helped to create. Disney announced last week the end of its damaging feud with Roy Disney, nephew of the firm's founder. As a result, the company's executives and board members will avoid having to go to court in Delaware for a second time this year (the evidence phase of their trial over the severance pay of Michael Ovitz, a former executive, ended in January).
Mr Iger, who formally takes charge on October 1st, was a controversial choice by Disney's board. He was Mr Eisner's preferred candidate, whereas some investors and board members wanted a clean break from Disney's difficult recent past. So far, however, Mr Iger has shown that he is his own man and that he is prepared to change Disney's corporate culture.
Mr Disney and his investment adviser, Stanley Gold, resigned from Disney's board in 2003 and ran a campaign against Mr Eisner which resulted in 45% of shareholders withholding their votes from him at the firm's annual meeting in 2004. When Mr Iger was chosen to succeed him, they sued Disney's directors, accusing them of rigging the selection process in favour of the sole internal candidate. The trial was to begin in August.
The rebels have now agreed to drop the lawsuit and have promised not to run a rival slate of directors or to submit shareholder resolutions for five years. All Mr Iger had to do was show some respect to Mr Disney—who will become a consultant and, symbolically, “director emeritus”.
An important first step by Mr Iger, earlier this year, was to disband Disney's central strategic-planning department—hated internally for vetoing most ideas from Disney's divisions. Mr Iger said that he wants the heads of Disney's businesses to have more say in their strategy, not least to help make Disney nimbler.
Now Mr Iger is busy wooing Steve Jobs, founder of Pixar, a successful animation studio, and boss of Apple, a computer company. Mr Eisner fell out with Mr Jobs. Last year Pixar broke off talks about extending its current five-film deal with Disney beyond 2005. Much of the problem, it is said, was that Pixar, on a hot streak of films, made a surely impossible demand: that to get a new deal, Disney had to forgo hundreds of millions of dollars due on movies covered by the current one.
Disney now has a far stronger negotiating position says Lawrence Haverty, a fund manager for Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust, owing to the current weakness of the DVD market. In June, Pixar cut its second-quarter profit forecast after weak sales of “The Incredibles” on DVD. This week Dreamworks Animation, another small studio, cut its forecasts and cancelled a secondary offering of shares after disappointing DVD sales. Pixar, heavily reliant on DVD revenues, will probably now offer Disney more favourable terms.
Mr Iger's longer-term challenge is how to refine Disney's wider strategy. His current plan has three parts: creating attractive content; pursuing opportunities in new media; and expanding international profits. On profits, Mr Iger has been specific: he aims to increase overseas profits from 35% of Disney's total operating profit today to half within the next five years.
On current trends, that is likely to be difficult. Mr Iger is emphasising China, India and Russia as the high-growth markets that will help to achieve his goal. But competitors estimate that these three markets together generate revenues of barely $200m each year (Disney does not provide a breakdown). If these countries are to propel international profits to half of Disney's total profits by 2010, the company will have to nearly double their contribution each year for the next five years. Mr Iger must be aware that a more realistic way to reach his target would be to make a large acquisition in a developed market such as Germany, Britain or Japan. That may provide the true test of whether he really has the magic touch.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Restoring magic"
From the July 16th 2005 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition
Is the worst over for Mark Zuckerberg’s social-media empire?
Meet the small short-selling firm that picked a fight with a giant
What questions do technologies like ChatGPT raise for employees and customers?


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The move helps Longhouse, founded in 2017, continue expanding throughout San Diego and Orange County. According to a press release, the company recently increased production 232% over 2019 production levels to meet demand.
“We are thrilled to have Longhouse Wines join the Scout Family! Their styles are a perfect complement to our portfolio as we continue to curate a high-quality, approachable wine program. They share our passion for bringing the best product and memorable customer service experience to our accounts,” said Scout director of accounts Lisa Penwell Govenar.
Founded by brothers Ryan and Andrew Jacobson, Longhouse Wines produces wines sourced from small “mom & pop” vineyards around California, with an emphasis on premium AVAs like the Sierra Foothills, Sonoma, and Monterey.
“Scout Distribution represents everything that a distribution partner should be. Their ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ approach is what separates them from the rest. From brand awareness to product positioning, they are constantly pushing to further the advancement of their entire portfolio. We are excited to work with the Scout team as we build together,” said Ryan Jacobson.
Longhouse will initially offer three wines through Scout, with plans to release a new wine every three months. The initial offerings include:
- 2016 Monterey County Pinot Noir – An old vine Pinot Noir with concentrated red fruit notes and bright acidity.
- 2017 Sierra Foothills GSM Red Blend – A Rhone-style French blend, 70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre.
- 2019 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc – Produced in 100% Stainless Steel with notes of lemon zest, stone fruit, and tropical undertones.
In addition to Longhouse, Scout now distributes local brands Bivouac Cider, Harland, Claxton Cellars, 32 North, Societe, JuneShine, and Abnormal.


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There was lots of new tech to check out at CES 2016, but you could argue that the majority of the big-ticket items weren't the most unique things in the world. Thankfully, there were a few innovative, unconventional ideas on display, and here are some of our favorites.
There's been a whole lot going on at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, from the latest in virtual reality gear to televisions that continue to slim down while producing higher quality images.
The Creative Lab at Samsung, also known as their C Lab, is trying to make wearable fitness devices more inconspicuous with its wearable smart belt, the WELT, but that might not be all.
Three smart devices shown at CES 2016 are making it easier for you to make stupid decisions. PicoBrew, Somabar, and 10-Vins demonstrated their systems for beer, mixed cocktails, and wine, respectively, and each one is attempting to change the way we enjoy our favorite potent potables at home.
LG literally rolled out a prototype of its cutting-edge flexible display at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The company showed off an 18-inch screen with 1,200 x 800 pixel resolution that you can roll up like a magazine or newspaper and take with you. And while an 18-inch HD screen that rolls up is already pretty impressive, LG plans to build them up to 55 inches and beyond, with 4K resolution.


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Greenfield health officials eye stricter tobacco regulations
Published: 03-27-2024 5:24 PM
Modified: 03-28-2024 9:30 AM
GREENFIELD — The Board of Health is drafting new tobacco regulations that, if approved, would increase penalties for businesses caught selling tobacco products to underage customers, and would put loopholes used to sell flavored tobacco products up in smoke.
The proposed regulations, which will be discussed at a public hearing in the coming weeks, ban the sale or distribution of all flavored tobacco products or flavor enhancements, bringing the city up to speed with the state’s current tobacco laws. It also amends the definition of tobacco flavors to include menthol flavorings and other non-menthol “flavor enhancers” in tobacco that are commonly used by tobacco companies to circumnavigate the state’s 2020 flavor ban, the first and only prohibition of menthol cigarettes in the country.
“After the menthol ban, they’ve come out with a number of new kinds of cigarettes, some even called ‘non-menthol’ menthols … that’s what our regulation will be addressing. It’s really any flavor enhancement, anything added to tobacco products that will make it taste like anything other than tobacco,” Health Director Michael Theroux said.
According to Board of Heath Chairman Glen Ayers, the regulations are intended to push back against tobacco marketing toward children and young adults by combating the loopholes used by tobacco manufacturers to legally sell flavored nicotine.
“It’s really an arms race of marketing or a game of whack-a-mole … we’ll come up with a definition of what flavored products are and then the industry will change their descriptions or wording, so that instead of calling it ‘grape flavored’ they’ll call it ‘purple,’ ” Ayers said. “We’re trying to implement regulations that reflect what the intent [of the flavor ban] really is, which is to stop marketing tobacco products as if it’s candy.”
In October, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ Communities That Care Coalition unveiled results after surveying 1,439 eighth, 10th and 12th graders in the nine public school districts of Franklin County and the North Quabbin region on their unhealthy habits. The results showed a sharp increase in youth vaping during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a decrease in 2023.
Ayers said the industries’ motivation behind marketing flavored tobacco lies in getting young people addicted to nicotine so that they would have “customers for life.” The regulations also dramatically increase the fines and other penalties for retailers caught selling nicotine to customers under the age of 21 or violating other terms of the regulation, aligning Greenfield’s regulations with state tobacco laws.
Under the proposed 2024 tobacco regulations, any business found to be in violation of the law faces a $1,000 fine, along with a three-day Tobacco Sales Permit suspension for underage sale violations. For second offenses, businesses would face a $2,000 fine with a three-day permit suspension.
Third offense violators face a $5,000 fine and a seven-day permit suspension and businesses who violate the law four consecutive times or more with each violation within a three-year period are subject to a Board of Health hearing in which the board maintains the right to revoke their permits.
Currently, the city’s tobacco regulations impose a $100 fine for first-offense violations, a $200 fine with a seven-day permit suspension for second-offense violations, and a $300 fine coupled with a 30-day suspension for third-offense violators.
“The amounts and the fines are increasing because it seemed that the previous fine amounts were no longer a deterrent,” Ayers said.
The regulations also limit the nicotine content of electronic cigarette liquids or cartridges to 3.5% nicotine, and make exceptions to its flavor and nicotine content regulations for on-site consumption at smoking bars, or adult-only tobacco stores, in which all patrons must show a valid ID upon entry.
Comparing Massachusetts’ regulations on tobacco to historical efforts to regulate the use of lead products, Ayers said that tobacco use, and its burden on the health care system, remains one of the state’s largest public health challenges.
“The point really is that this is one of those areas of public health where we can really make a difference for people long-term. That’s what these regulations are really about — creating a healthier future for the population,” Ayers said.
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at email@example.com or 413-930-4429.


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A clerk was thrown to the floor, but she wasn't seriously injured. The store owner was pistol-whipped and was hospitalized with serious head injuries.
The two robbers took approximately $100,000 worth of jewelry from Rita's Jewelry.
The suspects were described as African-American, and one of them was described about 6 feet 3 inches tall.
Investigators believe the suspects also robbed a jewelry store in Laguna Niguel on Jan. 20.


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WHILE high prices of essential commodities in the open market have already made the life of a common man miserable, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) at its meeting on Friday approved an increase in the rates of sugar, wheat flour and ghee at the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).
The price of sugar has been jacked up from Rs 68 to Rs 85 per kilogram, ghee from Rs 170 to Rs 260 per kg and wheat flour from Rs 800 to Rs 950 per bag.
Ordinary people mostly turn to the utility outlets for purchase of essential items and increasing prices there amount to further adding to their woes.
Increasing gap between the subsidized prices offered by the USC and the prevailing market prices has surprisingly been cited as the reason behind the increase in the prices of essential commodities at the USC.
This only indicates that the government has surrendered before the profiteers and hoarders.
Instead of taking firm action against profiteers, the common man has been once again overburdened.
The very impact of increase in sugar, ghee and flour prices at the USC will soon be visible in the form of further increase in their prices at the open market
. The USC was also established with the main purpose of providing necessities of life to the people at reasonable rates and protecting them from inflationary trends in the open market.
We, therefore, will suggest the government to review its decision and bring the prices of essential items to their previous levels at the USC. Even if it has to increase the price, it should be minimal.
We have been stressing in these columns for putting in place a strict price control mechanism and despite the government’s repeated assertions in that regard, nothing has been done towards that end.
The absence of a price control mechanism has given a free hand to mafias to rob the pockets of poor consumers with both hands.
The PTI government must understand that the problem of price hike is seriously denting its popularity and one saw its manifestation in the recently held by-election.
The government must do course correction and undertake concrete steps that not only keep the prices at stable level but also increase the purchasing power of the people.


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Playtech backs away from Snai sell plans amid strong iGB trading
Playtech will shelve any plans to sell its B2C Snaitech business – at least temporarily – after the company determined its recent success meant it could offer more value by remaining in the group.
Comments on the matter came from Playtech management following the company’s announcement of its first-half results, in which revenue rose 73% year-over-year to 792.3 millions of euros. Snaitech’s turnover practically tripled to reach 446.0 million euros.
The supplier is said to have considered dismantling its activities, including the sale of the Snaitech branch acquired in 2018, after the failure of the plan to sell the entire activity. Playtech’s board approved an offer from land-based slots giant Aristocrat, but shareholders ultimately rejected the deal.
A group called TTB Partners then announced it was considering its own bid and received backing from Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer (pictured). However, in the face of changing market conditions, TTB ultimately declined to submit a bid for the gambling tech giant.
However, group chairman Brian Mattingley said the time did not seem right for Playtech to sell the division, and instead was convinced the best strategy was to continue to allow it to grow.
“Snaitech’s growth means we are under absolutely no pressure to realize the value there, but we will continue to assess that value, and if the time is right, we will consider returning that value to shareholders,” he said. he declares.
“As a board of directors, we are always committed to realizing value. Right now, we don’t think the market is right. The company is in poor health, each division is trading very well.
“We can generate value by simply ensuring that our exchanges continue to grow.”
Managing Director Mor Weizer, meanwhile, said he was confident in Snaitech’s future as the online sector in Italy still had plenty of room to grow.
“There is ample room for higher-margin, less capital-intensive online businesses to grow in the years to come,” he said.
Instead of a sale, Weizer suggested the opposite: that the company could instead make an acquisition on the B2C side to expand further in the region.
“We would consider targeted mergers and acquisitions to grow Snaitech and take advantage of the B2C opportunities we see in the business,” he said.
Weizer noted, however, that this should not be interpreted to mean that the company was looking to buy where possible.
“People shouldn’t think that Playtech is going on an M&A frenzy,” he said. “We use the term targeted mergers and acquisitions. But we are able to seriously consider it at that time. This gives Playtech a lot of strength to consider this in both B2B and B2C.
However, while Snaitech has been a success, Weizer said the same cannot be said for its other B2C brand Happybet. As a result, this brand was placed under the management of Snaitech.
“It’s no secret that Happybet underperformed,” he said. “Having now transferred the business under the management team of Snaitech, we expect to see things change in the future.”
Live Casino Wars
Weizer also spoke about Playtech’s place in the live casino vertical, which he said was an area that continued to grow rapidly and represented major opportunities.
In response to a question about whether Playtech is taking market share from Evolution — comfortably the leader in the live space — Weizer said the company is doing so in regulated markets.
“If you look at it on an apples-to-apples basis, you’ll see Playtech taking market share,” he said. “We have the largest market share in Spain. We are successful in the UK and Italy.
Weizer also spoke of Playtech’s success in Mexico, with Mexican operator Caliente now representing its biggest customer. The model Playtech found in this country — of partnering with the biggest operator in a fast-growing market — was something Weizer said Paytech wanted to repeat.
“The idea is to select a dominant partner in a country and seek to grow in that country as the market develops,” he said. “The results, with incentives aligned, can be dramatic.”


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12. July 2016
We have carried out our first annual survey to review industry priorities. This included finding out what advertisers, agencies and publishers are expecting from the future, and what they believe the next big technology leaps should be.
The survey, carried out across all regions in April 2016, has highlighted some clear differences between advertisers’ and publishers’ expectations. Overall, industry executives across all businesses highlighted content marketing as the number one focus (from a possible 24), ranking this above anything else.


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A recent report in early January indicated certain members of parliament are seeking expanded regulations that protect investors from being misled into buying risky crypto products. In particular, MPs are seeking a clear differentiation between products or services that function as financial assets and those which they view as more akin to gambling in order to protect the 2.3 million Britons who own crypto assets but might be ill-equipped to understand the technology and risks involved.
The HM Treasury responded on 18 January with a new proposal to regulate cryptocurrency advertising, with these 3 objectives:
- To address misleading cryptoasset promotions
- To align crypto ads with other financial advertising, to ensure they’re “fair and clear”
- To enhance consumer protection while fostering greater crypto innovation
Both the UK and the US have recognized the need to regulate crypto-assets and have taken measures to modernize their respective regulatory frameworks. Interestingly, moves in the US have been welcomed by some crypto-analysts, illustrating a consensus that some regulation is necessary.
Products of concern
The new proposal on crypto advertising is a long way in the making. UK MPs have been pressuring ministers and regulatory agencies to adopt more hardline policies towards cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2022, with some hoping to push crypto into an upcoming comprehensive gambling review. This move is a reaction to the idea that these digital assets are being perfidiously promoted to the youth and could damage their financial futures.
NFTs leverage blockchain technology to prove possession of items like digital images, which allows for a new form of ownership outside of traditional copyright that even gives the originator of the digital asset a cut of secondary sales. They have grown into something of a buzzword in 2021, with artists producing digital images as NFTs and musicians releasing albums through the technology. English footballers such as Wayne Rooney and John Terry have also gotten in on the action by promoting the sale of an NFT that drew the ire of UK media, while giants of the game such as Lionel Messi are now partly paid in crypto and fan tokens.
The Rise of Fan Tokens
Parliamentarians are especially concerned about products like fan tokens and digital artwork, in the form of NFTs, produced by sports clubs and promoted by online influencers.
Fan tokens are cryptocurrencies that enable their holders to leverage memberships perks — like voting on decisions, accessing exclusive rewards/merchandise, or joining exclusive events (imagine a digital, backstage pass). In contrast to NFTs, fan tokens are typically fungible.
Concerns also extended to the plethora of altcoins appearing on the exchanges. While Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate the market — far more volatile and risky tokens are in the mix as well, exacerbating the complexity of the issue.
A lack of clear regulation
Concerns presently center around the lack of regulation governing the sale and marketing of these assets. Indeed, critics argue that such commodities are very similar to speculative investments and gambling but are not as tightly controlled.
Conservative UK MP Richard Holden compared the regulatory situation to the “Wild West,” elaborating that there is little difference between highly leveraged financial investments and purely speculative assets.
ASA bans Arsenal fan tokens
Currently, there is no UK agency responsible for regulating crypto-assets, with the closest relevant entity being the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which banned advertisements for fan tokens produced by the Arsenal Football Club in December of 2021. In a statement, the ASA said:
“Crypto-assets have exploded in popularity in recent years, but there’s a real danger that people may be drawn in to invest life savings that they later lose based on poor understanding.”
Despite plans to publish further guidelines regarding the marketing of digital assets, the agency may not be equipped to handle their proliferation in the UK. This lack of regulation has led MPs to call for the government to do more to regulate the industry.
Such proposed moves include the following:
- Moving crypto into the jurisdiction of an upcoming comprehensive gambling review
- Granting more powers regarding crypto to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which for now is only empowered to combat money laundering and terrorism financing
The UK Treasury is also said to be in the process of issuing its response to a consultation that ended in 2020 on crypto regulation. According to a Treasury spokesperson, the response will focus on how crypto products are promoted as well as ensuring the assets meet the same standards as other forms of payment.
Following the ASA’s ban of Arsenal’s advertisements, the club’s fan tokens fell in value. The question of whether this drop was caused by the ASA’s ban affecting consumer confidence — or the inevitable result of Arsenal selling snake oil — cuts to the heart of the issue regarding cryptocurrency and its regulation.
Looking forward, it is clear that some regulation is necessary to facilitate the mass adoption of cryptocurrency and that using celebrities to sell questionable assets to unknowing youth is problematic. However, last year’s mining ban in China illustrates that overreach only moves business and innovation abroad.
Most people in the crypto ecosystem accept that there are bad actors in their industry that influence consumer and government confidence in what is otherwise a revolutionary and potentially world-changing technology. Despite this, regulation has a known tendency to stifle innovation. With this in mind, the community is cautiously optimistic with regard to the changes taking place in the UK. The proposals so far have been reasonable, but things change fast in crypto.


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Penang, April 26, 2012
Today Cree Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region visited the management team of Ledzworld Technology in Malaysia and proudly received the Technology Partner award from Ledzworld’s CTO, Mr Ken Chakravarti
For the past years Cree has consistently provided Ledzworld with solid support from both its headquarters in Durham, North Carolina and from its regional offices in Hong Kong and Penang
Ledzworld continues to build world class premium LED retrofit lamps for its globally active ODM customers, thanks to industry leading LED technology from Cree
As Cree’s strategic partner, Ledzworld is given early access to Cree’s latest products to enable Ledzworld to integrate and launch new Cree packages in to its products more speedily than others.
In December 2011 Ledzworld was one of the first 5 LED companies in the world that signed a licence agreement with Cree for its remote phosphor licensing program
From left to right; Soma Sankaran (Cree), Jan Kemeling, Soo Ghee Lee (Cree) and Ken Chakravarti


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Equities research analysts forecast that Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE:ENR) will post sales of $713.05 million for the current fiscal quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Four analysts have issued estimates for Energizer’s earnings. The lowest sales estimate is $708.42 million and the highest is $720.80 million. Energizer posted sales of $457.20 million during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year-over-year growth rate of 56%. The company is expected to issue its next quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, November 13th.
On average, analysts expect that Energizer will report full-year sales of $2.49 billion for the current year, with estimates ranging from $2.48 billion to $2.50 billion. For the next fiscal year, analysts anticipate that the business will report sales of $2.77 billion, with estimates ranging from $2.74 billion to $2.80 billion. Zacks Investment Research’s sales averages are an average based on a survey of sell-side research analysts that that provide coverage for Energizer.
Energizer (NYSE:ENR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $647.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.50 million. Energizer had a return on equity of 60.51% and a net margin of 0.29%. Energizer’s revenue for the quarter was up 64.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share.
In other news, Director John Eddy Klein purchased 840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $35.48 per share, for a total transaction of $29,803.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $278,163.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Timothy W. Gorman purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $35.73 per share, for a total transaction of $357,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 55,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,967,722.56. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 39,153 shares of company stock worth $1,389,776 over the last 90 days. 2.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Energizer by 13.6% in the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 123,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,773,000 after acquiring an additional 14,800 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Energizer by 7.3% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 63,760 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,339 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Energizer by 36.0% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,062,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,584,000 after acquiring an additional 810,576 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Energizer in the second quarter worth $84,000. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Energizer in the second quarter worth $1,712,000. Institutional investors own 98.18% of the company’s stock.
Shares of ENR stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $42.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 429,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 903,020. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 0.59. Energizer has a one year low of $32.54 and a one year high of $61.78. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.12.
Energizer Holdings, Inc manufacturers and markets batteries and lighting products. The company’s products include household batteries, specialty batteries, and portable lighting. Energizer Holdings was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.
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This is an update to an original blog post.
“Network connectivity issues” that sprouted up this morning in Amazon Web Service’s cloud impacted a variety of services in the popular IaaS platform, but the issue has been resolved now.
AWS first reported on its status dashboard that it was investigating the network issues at around 10:30 AM ET this morning. A variety of services were impacted including Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Elastic Load Balancers (ELBs), Elastic Block Storage (EBS), Amazon RedShift (the data warehousing service), AWS Relational Database (RDS), Simple E-mail Service and CloudHSM, which is a security service. The issue was isolated to a single Availability Zone within the US-East 1 region in Northern Virginia. AWS reported that impacted instances were unreachable via public IP addresses, but still may have been able to communicate with other instances within the Availability Zone.
Shortly after 1 PM ET, AWS said the issue has been resolved and the system is operating normally now.
[WE’VE SEEN THIS BEFORE: Amazon EBS failure brings down Reddit, Imgur, others ]
It’s unclear how widespread the fallout was from the incident, but some sites showed signs of disruption. Flickr, the online photo sharing site, was down and some media reported it could have been because of the AWS issues, but an Amazon spokesperson said that Flickr does not run on AWS, so it appears that was unrelated.
TalkingPointsMemo, the online blog, acknowledged on its homepage that it is experiencing “episodic site slowness and downtime tied to problems at AWS.”
Amazon has had issues in its US-East region before, which some believe is Amazon's oldest and largest service region. The outage in late 2012 in that region caused AWS to issue refunds to customers because of an outage in that region.


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Soon, the people can enjoy shopping in a business hub, which is about to develop near the upcoming Jewar International Airport. This business hub spreads across 500 acres of land in sector-29 along Yamuna Expressway and 200 acres are reserved for the textile hub. This major step will definitely give a major boost to the ailing textile industry in the city and it will also house expo mart and handicraft parks in the same facility.
The 500 acres land will also include an apparel park that will house 300 shops and will attract investment of approx. INR 3, 000 crore. This park will offer facilities related to sale and export of furniture, fashion goods, jewellery items, garments, hard goods and apparels.
As per the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the process of identifying a consultant for the textile hub has been initiated. The consultant will work in conjunction with Noida Apparel Export Cluster. The project is expected to kick-start from the next year and tendered will float soon.
Prior to this, the biggest news pertaining to the Jewar International Airport was Switzerland based Zurich Airport International AG won the bid for the building the Jewar Airport in different phases. It is expected that the first phase will operational by 2023 with passenger handling capacity of 12 million every year.


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EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau has said Nintendo's newly announced home console, the Wii U, would be a good fit for BioWare's Mass Effect series.
Speaking with GameTrailers, the exec was asked if Mass Effect 3 would be coming to the Wii U and if any thought had been given to how the controller would be incorporated.
Although he responded by saying he wasn't able to announce anything, he did say the franchise would be a good fit with Wii U and that something will be announced "when the time is right".
"I can't say we are going to do it on the Wii U, but you can imagine what we could do with that controller in the Mass Effect universe. It feels like a really nice fit, but we'll announce that when the time is right."
BioWare's Ray Muzyka has promised Mass Effect's delay to 2012 will pay off in the end.


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Released today on the official Call of Duty YouTube channel, this 43-second video is short on details but it has to hint at zombies or something, right? The video title is "power_on_v1.wav," and while that doesn't provide any direct clues, it might be good to look the main campaign for Black Ops 2 which sees the world thrown into political and military turmoil as a terrorist madman seizes control of an aresenal of automated weapons.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on November 13th with a Wii U version coming sometime near the launch window.
Follow @MTVMultiplayer on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more! And don’t forget to follow our video gaming and TV writer @TheCharlesWebb.


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A new iPhone app lets users tell secrets anonymously to a group of friends, letting users get some relief from guilt while not actually admitting their identity.
The app, called Secret, comes from former Square and Google workers David Byttow and Chrys Bader, and it uses iPhone contacts to spill your guts, according to the Re/Code. The app lets users plug into the network without a username. Using a vertical feed, the secrets are shared without an identity to help with lowering one's inhibition.
The secret is the core of the message and readers respond to the content rather than who sends it, founders told the Re/Code. “Basically, every secret should stand on the merit of its own idea,” Byttow said. “It would be nice, for once, to have a normalizing platform.”


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Some people are reporting that there's a problem with the beta Store app, which might refuse to open or update, preventing you from testing Office Preview apps, but we have an easy fix for that.
...of Apple's Watch, a naughty Android and an Elephone WinDroid
Running Windows 10 on the Surface 3
Our coverage of Windows 10 build 10061 release
Windows 10 logo
Hands on with the $10,000 Apple Watch Edition
apple watch edition
Enter to win a Huawei Watch!
It took thirteen years, but now Neowin has finally been able to secure Neowin.com for the website. The domain had been dormant, or "parked" for around nine years and up for sale at a high cost.
It's quite well known that the popular messaging service Whatsapp is far from secure. And now you can add another issue to that list of concerns that the company consistently ignores.
Alexander Heit, 22, died when his car crashed as he was texting a friend. His parents have released a photo of his incomplete text as a reminder to others not to risk using a phone while driving.
I solved my random and unwanted issues with my PC waking up in the middle of the night, so in a public service announcement I'm sharing the solution with anyone who might have the same issue


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Reject Shop expands MDM to Android
- 10 February, 2016 13:51
Previously relying solely on Windows CE-based barcode scanners, The Reject Shop turned to Android-based Zebra MC40 handheld computers to offer a richer set of features to staff and improve customers' in-store experience.
Key to handling a fleet of mobile devices across the company’s geographically dispersed stores has been a centralised mobile device management tool, according to CIO Ed Tollinton.
The chain now has some 1200 Android devices across 340 stores, the CIO said.
The MC40s offer 1D and 2D barcode scanning, put-to-talk capability and a magnetic stripe reader for POS support, as well as the features of a modern smartphone running Google’s mobile platform.
The company had been employing SOTI MobiControl to manage its Windows CE devices prior to the Android rollout.
The company has expanded the use of the MDM solution to also encompass the Android devices, the CIO said.
“We chose SOTI MobiControl as our MDM tool to manage devices from provisioning through to retirement,” Tollinton said.
“Through SOTI, we are able to secure, monitor, manage and remotely distribute digital enterprise apps and content seamlessly without human intervention. This enables business continuity whilst accelerating strategic momentum.”
The Reject Shop’s entire fleet of handheld devices is managed through a single interface, the CIO said.
“The Reject Shop has had minimal device management overheads and we have been able to apply regular OS and app updates affordably and in a timely manner. We have also been able to resolve any issues in a fast and efficient manner.”