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With just 100 days to go until the start of their Caribbean Adventure, PokerStars have announced that the Main Event will have a $10 million guarantee.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure has always been one of the “must go to” live poker events of the year, but for 2014, PokerStars have added an extra incentive – a $10 million guaranteed prize pool for the $10,300 buy-in Main Event.
Although it sounds like an incredible amount, PokerStars have based their not-too-ambitious guarantee on the fact that last year´s event (won in almost last-to-first fashion by Dimitar Danchev) attracted 987 players for a prize pool in excess of $9.5 million.
Big Discounts for PCA Early Birds
The Main Event starts on Tuesday January 7th 2014 – two days after the series gets started with the $100,000 buy-in ultra-high rollers – and between the two major competitions, a live Super Satellite into the Main Event is scheduled which will form part of an “early birds” offer currently available.
Until October 20th the PokerStars VIP Store is offering discounted packages with 50% off of accommodation for up to eight nights at the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, plus a seat into the $1,100 buy-in Super Satellite in which you could win your seat into the $10million guaranteed Main Event.
Check out the VIP Store in the PokerStars client for more information, but don´t worry if you take advantage of the offer and then win a seat into the Main Event through one of their other promotions – PokerStars have stated that if this happens, players will have the $1,100 paid towards the satellite tournament credited to their online account.
More than One Way to the Bahamas
For players who do not have Negreanu-esque bankrolls, PokerStars are offering plenty of options for players to win full packages to the Bahamas in January. Several “Mega-path” series of sit n go and multi table tournaments are currently running on PokerStars, with buy-ins starting from just 3FPPs or $1.00.
This coming weekend – Sunday September 29th – also sees a $700.00 buy-in tournament hosted on PokerStars (for which satellite qualifiers are also available) which is guaranteeing five Main Event packages to the winners.
The packages include entry into the Main Event, hotel accommodation and $1,000 spending money, but most importantly, this tournament clashes with the WCOOP Main Event and it could be possible that a little bit of value will be available to the prize winners!


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The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) held its 2014 European Symposium on Food Safety in Budapest, Hungary. From 7-9 May 2014, food safety experts from around the world gathered to discuss pertinent issues and recent scientific development in the area of food safety. For the first time food contact materials (FCMs) featured prominently, with two sessions dedicated to their chemical safety, regulatory enforcement and organoleptic properties. In the first session organized by Thomas Kennedy of the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Jan Petersen from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration discussed his experience with FCM enforcement and highlighted the general lack of basic knowledge concerning compliance requirements in both FCM manufacturing and food producing companies. In a very descriptive presentation, Thomas Simat from the Technical University Dresden, Germany, explained why organoleptic properties of FCMs can affect food quality and how they can be tested. Insights from a recent European enforcement campaign on glass jar closures were shared by Gregor McCombie from the Official Food Safety Control Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, who showed that FCMs are a significant source of chemical food contamination and that around one quarter of analysed samples was non-compliant. In the second FCM session, which was organized by the Food Packaging Forum Foundation, three different perspectives on chemical risks from FCMs were discussed. Firstly, John Peterson Myers from Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. explained why endocrine disrupting chemicals were of concern even at low doses, and asserted that development of future alternative food contact substances should follow principles of Green Chemistry. Secondly, Benoît Schilter from the Nestlé Research Center showed that FCM migration is clearly viewed as a food safety issue by his company and that internal measures exist for ensuring its safety beyond compliance requirements; according to B. Schilter the future use of in silico tools is promising for identifying potential EDCs present in FCMs. Finally, Konrad Grob from the Official Food Safety Control Canton of Zurich, Switzerland discussed FCM compliance from an enforcement officer’s perspective and made concrete suggestions how the supply chain could deal with the many existing knowledge gaps.
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The Food Packaging Forum Foundation is a science communication organisation. The Food Packaging Forum provides independent and balanced information on issues related to food packaging and health. In doing so the Food Packaging Forum addresses all its stakeholders, including business decision makers, regulators, media and communication experts, scientists and consumers.
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Meridian Foods to sponsor Windsor Half Marathon
Meridian Foods, the UK’s leading producer of nut butters, has announced that it will be the title sponsor of the prestigious Windsor Half Marathon in Windsor Great Park on Sunday September 25, 2016. The sponsorship deal will see the race re-named the Meridian Windsor Half Marathon, and will ensure the event continues to grow as it takes to the iconic park for its 34th year.
The Half Marathon is set in the picturesque grounds of Windsor Great Park and is run completely on closed roads as part of the two-day Windsor Running Festival. Hundreds of women will complete the Boudavida Women’s 10k on Saturday 24th September, of which Meridian Foods will support as official Nutritional Sponsor. Thousands of runners from far and wide will line the start of the Half Marathon on the Sunday, which ends with a fabulous final run along the impressive ‘Long Walk’ towards Windsor Castle.
Commenting on the new partnership, Sue McIntosh, Head of Marketing at Meridian Foods comments: “The Windsor Half Marathon is located in such an iconic setting and the event holds such respect with runners across the region. We’re excited about the partnership, and look forward to working with the event to encourage active lifestyles and healthy eating – some of our team will even be taking part, donating £1000 to our chosen charity, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.”
Race Director, Peter Hier, says: “We’re thrilled to have Meridian Foods as the main sponsor for the Half Marathon. We’re proud to align ourselves with a brand which so passionately encourages healthy eating and lifestyles.”


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As the 2014 holiday season indicates, mobile devices are becoming more than just stocking-stuffers. With mobile usage on the rise, companies want to exploit the influence of these devices on shopping behavior. For some companies, that means using mobile to drive physical traffic inside stores; for others it involves enhancing the online shopping experience in an application.
Deloitte research indicates that 72% of smartphone users and 69% of tablet users will use them for holiday shopping, with 50% of in-store retail sales being influenced by digital transactions. Companies are trying to appeal to customers who have adopted mobile as a main way to shop. The goal is to make these experiences fast and easy, said Sumit Mehra, CTO at Y Media Labs, the app developer behind eBay and PayPal.
"People want an experience that's as frictionless as possible," he said. "Companies are minimizing the amount of steps it takes to order something."
From mobile to physical
Sumit MehraCTO, Y Media Labs
It might seem counterintuitive, but some companies are also using mobile devices to drive traffic back into physical stores. Karen Macumber, chief marketing officer at ShopAdvisor, which makes an app that helps customers research products, said that customers use mobile apps in stores to price-match and comparison shop.
"They're not necessarily walking [away from the store] and then purchasing online," Macumber said. "The apps are being used more by customers who want to get their item at the right price in-store."
Macumber cited beacon technology as a means to use mobile devices to encourage customers to shop in physical stores. Beacons placed around stores can sense a device's location when it's in close proximity, enabling companies to push special offers, discounts or perks to shoppers who have downloaded specific apps. But this technology isn't effective when a company lacks insight into its customer base, she argued.
"What's most important is understanding that individual, understanding where they are in the buying cycle and what their brand preferences are," she said.
Customer experience and engagement is a top-three priority for 95% of companies, according to a survey from retail consulting firm Boston Retail Partners, and mobile is a way to achieve that. The same survey found that, over the next five years, 72% of companies plan to have a strategy to identify customers via their mobile device when they walk into a store.
Y Media's Mehra said that the in-store experience is more important for high-ticket items, such as electronics. In those cases, customers use mobile to window-shop, then seek out a physical store to touch, feel and test these kinds of products.
"For some of the lower-cost items, perhaps below $100, people don't really care about going to the store for those things," Mehra said. "Those items are [more conducive] to mobile buying."
ShopAdvisor's Macumber said that customers expect a better experience from an app as opposed to using a mobile website while shopping. But having an app is not a do-or-die proposition. The Container Store, a retail chain that sells household storage and organization products, optimizes its website for mobile devices instead of using an app. To boost mobile sales this year, the company revamped its website layout to be more responsive and mimic the look and feel of its desktop offering, said quality assurance manager A.J. Azzarello.
The company doesn't differentiate between mobile and desktop traffic and uses both to facilitate online sales. But the in-store experience, combined with salesperson expertise, remains paramount, Azzarello said. Using the mobile website to drive in-store traffic while simultaneously making the online shopping experience pleasant was a more appropriate investment than building an app, he said.
"Companies struggle with making apps effective, trying to roll [them] out and getting people to download [them]," Azzarello said. "We know people are going to surf on their mobile devices. We don't want them to take an extra step to download an application in order to serve our website."
Sprinting to checkout
The core issue for companies is reducing the number of steps it takes to make a purchase. Innovations to achieve a streamlined mobile experience are constantly on the minds of executives.
The smartphone app Drizly works with local merchants to deliver alcoholic beverages in metropolitan and urban areas, catering to city dwellers who can afford to pay a little more for convenience. Customers can save their most recent orders and various delivery addresses within the app to facilitate the ordering process.
"Our brand promise is around speed and convenience," said Michael DiLorenzo, Drizly's senior vice president of marketing. "Part of that is how quickly a customer gets to checkout and payment. That creates a lifetime customer."
Along with a points-based loyalty system, Drizly is testing a program that encourages customers to order during off times or to schedule orders several days in advance. The company is building APIs with navigation apps like Waze to help drivers expedite delivery as part of efforts to give customers what they need faster, DiLorenzo said.
"Amazon has conditioned the world [to expect] that you can effectively have every item delivered easily and [quickly] at the touch of a button," DiLorenzo said. "Customer expectations are that this is how business is done."
Y Media Labs' Mehra said that companies are striving to demographically segment their customers and carving them up into different sorts of lifestyle groups to learn their tastes and accommodate them. "There's nothing better than knowing where you are and who you are," he said, adding that many personalization efforts target users' emotional response by making the mobile experience better in subconscious ways, such as using sharp graphics, unique banners or colors. "We don't think about these things, but they really matter," Mehra said.
Chasing the 360-degree view of the customer
Mobile strategies key trend for 2015
Mobile devices could end 'race to the bottom'
CEM hinges on good customer analytics


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LISLE, Ill. — Navistar Inc. today announced they have secured more than 10,000 orders for International Trucks powered by the Cummins ISX15 engine and Cummins SCR aftertreatment system. The announcement comes seven months after the re-introduction of the industry leading truck and engine combination.
GALESBURG, Mich. — Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton has announced that the company’s lineup of manual transmissions are now available as an option on Freightliner chassis equipped with Cummins Westport ISX-12 G heavy-duty natural gas engines.
LISLE, Ill. — Navistar International Corp. today announced the enhanced benefits of International Advantage, the company’s owner loyalty program. Benefits now include advanced fleet management tools, 24/7 dedicated concierge service and exclusive offers on vehicles, parts, service and more.
NAPA, Calif. —Truck-Lite high visibility LED headlamps are now standard on all Freightliner Cascadia and Cascadia Evolution truck models, Freightliner Trucks officials said at a media event here Tuesday.
MINNEAPOLIS — PeopleNet, a leading provider of fleet mobility solutions that reduce cost per mile, improve safety/compliance and enable profitable growth, Tuesday announced that the U.S. Patent Office has granted a patent to the company that enhances data delivery to meet customers’ mission-critical communication needs.
BURLINGAME, Calif. – Truck operators and fleets using the NORPASS weigh station screening service in seven states and two provinces can soon add mobile-based weigh station bypass opportunities in 15 more states following the announcement today of a partnership reached between Drivewyze and NORPASS, officials from Drivewyze said.


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Sedo hit the proverbial jackpot this week with the $150,000 sale of BettingTips.com. The sale was reported to me this afternoon in Sedo’s weekly public domain name sales report, and NameBio tweeted about the sale when it hit the Sedo RSS feed earlier this morning:
— NameBio (@NameBio) February 19, 2020
According to Whois records at GoDaddy, the current registrant of BettingTips.com appears to be a company called Ribacka Group Holding AB. A Google search shows that this is a “lead generation company” that runs “Sweden’s largest betting and casino community.” At the time of publication, BettingTips.com resolves to a generic GoDaddy landing page.
Once the sale is recorded by DNJournal, it will rank as one of the top five sales of the year to date. I would not be surprised if other gambling and betting domain names change hands this year for big amounts. It looks like a lot of money is being poured into marketing in that sector, and domain names like this one are powerful. In fact, BettingOdds.com sold in 2019 for $487,500.


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YOU may never have heard of Reckitt Benckiser, but you will almost certainly own some of its products.
The cleaning goods group was formed through the merger of Reckitt & Colman and Dutch group Benckiser. The new group owns brands such as Mr Sheen furniture polish, Vanish soap and Finish dishwasher powder. However effective the products may be, the company has had to work hard to clean up its own act since the merger. Last December, the group provided the market with an unwanted Christmas present in the form of a profits warning.
The shares tumbled to a low of 440p, down from a high of over 800p. Since then, they have been steadily climbing, as the company aims to prove that it can deliver the expected synergies from the merger, and work the brands it has a little harder. This week's third-quarter results showed that the strategy is beginning to pay off. Reckitt posted an 8pc increase in sales for the third quarter to £786m, and pre-tax profits were up from £52m to £86m. The cost savings from the merger are coming through more quickly than expected.
Investment in advertising behind the Reckitt & Colman brands is also paying off. When the two businesses merged, Reckitt was reinvesting just 6pc of its revenues back in the brands, while the industry average was 10pc. This has now been rectified. The shares were at 930p last week, off their year high of 977p, and their five year high of £13.00. This is well up from their 440p low. This puts them on a price earnings ratio of 25 compared with Unilever, on 19.
With the company's additional innovation and cross-selling, as well as plans to acquire in Latin America and Asia, it looks a strong proposition. The stock yields 2.7 times earnings, on analysts' forecasts for the next year, and is a long-term buy.
Front office, back pocket
ONE of the current favourites for internet traders on bulletin boards is a company called Northgate Information Solutions. Northgate provides what is known in bulletin board parlance as front office solutions.
That means e-commerce and supply chain management software as well as systems to manage records of customers, patients and even criminals. A new chief executive, Christopher Stone, was appointed from Andersen Consulting last December and this has been seen as a turning point. Northgate reckons the market for its products is growing at 44pc a year and should be worth £40 billion in four years' time, helped by the desire of both companies and governments to make their procurement and management systems more efficient.
The company has good relations with the public sector, numbering 50 of the 52 police authorities and 180 health authorities among its customers. Corporate clients include Superdrug and Whitbread. This is not a market which Northgate can expect to dominate, but it does have the advantage of respected new management and decent-looking accounts. It also has £9m of net cash on the balance sheet.
In the year to April it turned over £165.4m. It made a loss of nearly £20m, but is forecast to make a pre-tax profit of about £3.2m next April. Stockbrokers at Bryan, Garnier & Co have done some comparisons and, superficially, Northgate does not look cheap, with its shares priced at 66 times forecast earnings. However, they say this will fall to 24 times the following year, when pre-tax profits should be over £9m.
The shares have risen rapidly this year from 30p in January to 86p this week, but with a return to profit expected at the interim stage on December 12, and rapid growth thereafter, Northgate is risky, but worth a look.
Sums add up for Abacus
ABACUS Polar has nothing to do with calculating methods, the Antarctic or the Arctic, although it does about a fifth of its business in Scandinavia. The group is a distributor of electronic components, traditionally semiconductors, though it has recently been on a spending spree in order to diversify.
On Wednesday Abacus - it plans to drop its surname - announced it was splashing out up to £13.9m for Silicon Concepts, giving it a foot in the door of the programmable logic device industry. The acquisition followed the October purchases of Trident Microsystems, for £18m, and C&CD Proemach, for £2.38m. All three are profitable and a move away from semiconductors is seen as prudent, with that market expected to wane about a year down the road.
In the meantime, the group goes from strength to strength, giving Martin Kent, who has just taken over from Brian Murdoch as chief executive, little reason to fear. Sales for the year to September, before the acquisitions, increased by 42pc to £153m, while profits before tax more than doubled, from £7.68m to £15.8m. The figures came in above analysts' forecasts, despite a number of upgrades throughout the year.
The shares have proved remarkably resilient, even climbing through February and March while many tech stocks were reduced to counting massive losses on their abacus. Peaking at 536p in October, they have since settled back to around 450p following reports of problems for semiconductor buyers. But they remain cheap, trading at only 14 times projected earnings. The shares are worth a punt.


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In this new role, Manser replaces Ken Wright, president of Beta LaserMike, who has been assuming the role of sales director in Asia. Manser will be responsible for overseeing the Asia-Pacific sales strategy and implementation, as well as working closely with Beta LaserMike’s channel partner network to increase the company’s presence and delivery of measurement and control solutions in China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.
“I am honored to be stepping into the role of director of sales for Asia,” he says. “Asia is maturing and catching up with the West in its use of sophisticated non-contact measurement and control systems for increasing manufacturing productivity, improving product quality and realizing savings. This is an exciting time for the region and I am thrilled to be participating in this development.”


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BCEA LINK Conference Held in Vancouver
The 3rd Annual BCEA LINK Conference was held in Vancouver on November 14 & 15 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The event had another successful year with session topics on smart cities, cannabis in the workplace, robotics, digitalization, economic updates, and a keynote address by Robin Esrok. A special thanks to Swati Patel from EFC who presented findings from EFC’s Digitalization research study–and to Steve Crocker, Wesco and Don Gifford, Signify for engaging in a panel discussion on digital supply chain excellence. The event continues to grow in attendance every year and BCEA expects an even better turnout in 2019. Mark your calendars for the 2019 BCEA LINK Conference on November 13 & 14, 2019!


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Scunci to sponsor The American Ballet Theatre summer program
STAMFORD, Conn. Scunci, a Conair Corp. brand, is once again sponsoring The American Ballet Theatre?s Summer Intensive Program.
As part of the sponsorship, scunci will award a full scholarship to one of the 1,100 students accepted into the 2009 program. All of the students in attendance will receive a collection of scunci no-slip grip hair accessories from the “beautiful blends” line.
In addition to monetary support and sponsorship, scunci will be hosting a media reception at Lincoln Center in New York to celebrate the partnership with ABT.
The final performance of the Summer Intensive in New York will be held July 24 at noon and 4 p.m. at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City.
Whole Foods Markets to reformulate its exclusive personal care line
AUSTIN, Texas Whole Foods Market has announced that its exclusive 365 Everyday Value shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and shower gel will be reformulated to meet its Premium Body Care Standards.
The company’s Premium Body Care Standard launched in February 2008. The standard and seal of approval label is designed to help consumers decipher which body care products in Whole Foods Market’s Whole Body department contain the most natural and highest quality ingredients.
The reformulated 365 Everyday Value products will be available in the summer in the Whole Body departments, and will not contain any of the more than 300 ingredients banned on the Premium Body Care Standard list. The company stated that consumers will not see a price increase associated with the reformulation.
Procter & Gamble’s Arnold to retire
CINCINNATI Procter & Gamble’s Susan Arnold, president of global business units, who has been an integral part of P&G’s leadership team and an architect of the company’s beauty strategy, is retiring after 29 years of service.
Arnold will retire effective Sept. 1, and will step down as president on March 9. She will continue to serve in a special assignment, reporting to chairman and CEO A.G. Lafley until Sept. 1. According to P&G, it has long been her intention to step down upon her 55th birthday, which she celebrated on March 8.
Effective immediately, the vice chairs of P&G global business units who have reported to Arnold will report to Lafley, reducing a layer of management as part of the company’s ongoing simplification effort.
“She’s led the transformation of P&G into one of the world’s leading beauty companies with vision, creativity, consumer understanding and game-changing innovation,” Lafley said. “Under Ms. Arnold?s leadership, P&G’s beauty business has nearly tripled in size from about $7 billion in 1999 to $20 billion today.”
When Arnold assumed the role of president 10 years ago, the beauty company had only one $1 billion beauty brand, Pantene. Today, there are eight such brands in the company’s beauty and grooming portfolio (Pantene, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Wella, Mach3, Gillette, Fusion and Braun) and eight more with sales between $500 million and $1 billion a year.
In addition to her business leadership, she has also been instrumental in the development of top talent throughout P&G and has served as both a role model and coach for women inside and outside of the P&G, Lafley noted.
“She has held positions at P&G that no other woman has held before; the first female leader of P&G’s global beauty business, the first female vice chair and the first woman to be company president,” Lafley said of Arnold. “She has also been a supporter of organizations outside P&G such as Catalyst that help expand opportunities for women in business. Ms. Arnold has been on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list for the past seven years and Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list since 2004.”
Most recently, Arnold has played a key role in the company’s focus on sustainability.


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Japan is putting effort on V2G to Stabilize the Grid
Japan is working on promoting the use of renewable energy sources as a measure to reduce greenhouse gases and is aiming at a ratio of 22 – 24% renewables in 2030 . (Obviously, this is lower than the ratio achieved in Germany already, namely 33.3% ). However, Japan has seen a rapid adoption of solar power over the last years and is putting effort now on wind power, too. The implementation of renewables made apparent challenges like the stable running of the power grid.
This can be seen as one of the reasons the Japanese government and Japanese companies now pay attention to the creation of virtual power plants (VPP). The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has recently elected seven companies, namely TEPCO, TEPCO Energy Partners, TEPCO Power Grid, Hitachi Systems Power Service, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Shizuoka Gas and Hitachi Solutions, to receive grants under the “Sustainable open Innovation Initiative” (SII) for a demo projects that utilize consumer energy sources like electric vehicles.
Also with governmental support started a joint project of Toyota Tsusho, Chubu Electric Power and Californian Nuvve, claiming to be (Nuvve’s) first V2G project defined for Japan. The companies will build a V2G control system that groups together several vehicles batteries and they will install bi-directional chargers at parking facilities in Toyota city for demonstration tests. While Toyota seeks to generate new value for their EVs and PHVs, Chubu Electric will evaluate the influence of V2G on electrical grids from the perspective of a Transmission Operator.
Yet another player, Nissan, has announced a V2G demonstrator project, this time in Great Britain and with support of the British government. Apparently, Nissan targets 1,000 vehicle-to-grid installations across the UK. In cooperation with the Newcastle University and the Imperial College London, Nissan seeks to understand technical characteristics of multiple V2G charging, as well as the challenges for the grid. Given this development, it comes as no surprise that Nissan started to offer an “all in one solar storage package”, combining solar panels, a storage battery and, of course, a charger for the “Leaf” e-vehicle. Currently, Nissan’s solution is only available in the UK -while Tesla is selling in Japan, too.
It’s an interesting race with new cooperations across boarders!
This year’s ESSJ deals with these topics in a session dedicated to "smart and resilient cities" on Oct. 17, 2018, our "Energy Storage and Smart Mobility Day". Stay informed and join ESSJ! Register Now
- Japan backs role of nuclear power in 2030 energy plan
- Renewable Energy in Germany
- METI fundings for V2G demonstator projects: Using EVs as VPP resource
- Toyota Tsusho, Chubu Electric Power and Nuvve tie-up for V2G test project
- Nissan targets 1000 V2G installations in UK
- Nissan offers all-in-one solar storage package


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Today is the last day to meet us at Semicon China and Productronica in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. These exhibitions are xyztec’s first trade fairs of 2021 and […]
After some viral exhibitions this year, you have the chance to meet us in person this week at the Semicon Taiwan from 23th until 25th of September at the TaiNEX […]
This week, Xyztec was at InterNepcon in Japan, Asia’s leading exhibition for electronics R&D, manufacturing and packaging technology. It was a successful exhibition with 140 speakers from the industry front-runners.
Xyztec is exhibiting at the Productronica this week from November 12th till November 15th in München, Germany. At our booth in Hall A2.316 we present the Sigma HF, the world’s […]
This week, Xyztec was at EuWoRel at Fraunhofer-Forum Berlin to present improvements in the comprehensiveness and efficiency of experimental reliability tests and methods for characterizing the physics of bond failure.
Sigma and Magazine Loader in action Find out what is new about the industry. Come to see the Sigma and Sigma with Magazine Loader live in action. Visit us this […]
This week xyztec is exhibiting at EMPC 2019 in Pisa (Italy). Additionally, xyztec’s Bob Sykes was there to provide a half-day course on The Science of Bond Testing. The course […]
Come and visit us this week at the SMTconnect from May 7th until May 9th at the Nuremberg Messe in Germany. At our extended booth in Hall 4A/147 we present the […]
SMTconnect 2019 May 7-9, 2019 in Nuremberg – Hall 4A, Booth 147 The trade fair SMT Hybrid Packaging takes place this year under a new name SMTconnect with the new […]
Xyztec is at Semicon China this week from March 20th until March 22th. This leading exhibition for China’s semiconductor industry is held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.


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If your garage harbors hazardous materials you’ve got company in Laura Walker, environmental administrator for the Savannah Water Resources Bureau.
“Some people, like me, are in a 100-year-old home and the garage wasn’t completely emptied when they bought it,” Walker said. “I inherited things.”
Things like fertilizers and paint thinners. Plus she bought some harsh cleaning products years ago but won’t use them now because she has a young son.
To help residents safely dispose of these items, ranging from antifreeze to swimming pool chemicals, Savannah is holding its first collection of household hazardous materials from 9 a.m.- noon Saturday at the National Guard Armory on Eisenhower Drive.
The items need to be in leak-proof secure containers that are labeled. If the original label is missing, Walker asks that homeowners provide one, even if it’s something generic, such as “fertilizer” or “insecticide.”
The event is co-sponsored by JCB and Nexeo Solutions, which bought Ashland, the company that’s assisted Savannah with paint collection on Earth Day. Like the Earth Day collection, the hazmat one will be a drive-thru. The collected hazardous materials will be incinerated, Walker said, at a cost she’s estimating will be between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on the amount and types of materials collected.
Walker has fielded dozens of calls already about Saturday’s event. Residents have herbicides, insecticides, and glue for laminate flooring. One man even called about dioxin and arsenic in his garage.
“I expect to see a lot of old termite poison as well,” Walker said.
Many have called about paint, which will not be collected again until Earth Day next April.
It’s legal to dispose of household hazardous materials in ordinary trash, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But such disposal isn’t ideal.
Hazardous materials can leach from landfills into waterways or wetlands, Walker said. Karen Grainey, a local environmental activist who heads up Clean Coast, is concerned that a one-time collection could inadvertently lead to a spike in landfill disposal. People who arrive too late for the event, or who otherwise don’t quite make it but have collected their hazardous materials and are motivated to get rid of them may very well dump them in the trash.
“I hope this is a precursor to a more permanent year-round program people could take advantage of all the time,” Grainey said.
There could be a repeat collection, Walker said. “It depends on the turnout, but it needs to be part of our services to the community,” she said.
Walker encourages residents to buy only the quantity of hazardous materials they need and see if friends or neighbors can use up excess when it exists.
For now, she’s pleased to get rid of whatever she can collect Saturday.
“They’re a potential public safety threat if a home catches fire or if there’s a hurricane,” she said. “It’s just that they’re waiting hazards.”
Household hazmat collection
Households hazardous materials will be collected at a drive-though from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the National Guard Armory, 1248 Eisenhower Drive. All chemicals must be in legibly marked containers. Traffic will be routed into West MacArthur Drive and exiting down Seawright Drive.
* Lawn/Garden-Care Products: Bug spray, fertilizer, insecticide, fungicide, herbicide/weed killer, rodent poison,
* Automotive Fluids: Gasoline, diesel, kerosene, auto body repair products, windshield washer solution, antifreeze, brake and transmission fluid, metal polish with solvent
* Beauty Products: Alcohol-based lotions, isopropyl alcohol, nail polish, nail polish remover, hair relaxers, dyes and permanents.
* Products in aerosol cans
* Household Cleaners: Ammonia-based cleaners; oven and drain cleaners; floor care products; window cleaners; furniture polish; metal polishes and cleaners; tub, tile and toilet bowl cleaners
* Miscellaneous: Fluorescent lights, mercury thermometers, photographic chemicals, lighter fluid, turpentine, paint stripper, rust remover, paint thinner, varnish, shoe polish, fiberglass, epoxy, swimming pool chemicals, moth balls, glue
Items NOT accepted: explosives, radioactive wastes, biological/infectious wastes, medical wastes, paint, tires, batteries, electronics, appliances, smoke detectors.


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Who IBM’s Server Group Turns To for Machine Data Analytics
IBM’s engineering prowess is second to none, and its Systems and Technology Group builds the computers that run the world’s biggest companies. But when IBM’s STG unit went looking for a way to predict failures by analyzing log data returned by its customers’ servers and storage arrays, it looked externally to a little-known machine data analytics startup from Santa Clara.
Glassbeam got its start five years ago, before the Internet of Things (IOT) became the industry’s hottest buzzword and out-hyped even “big data.” Since then, the small company has carved a niche for itself by providing an end-to-end machine data analytics service for device manufacturers in the IT, networking, and medical fields.
“We have customers from storage, networking, and medical device verticals, and these manufactures then sell devices to their customers,” explains Puneet Pandit, CEO and co-founder of Glassbeam. “They are using it for all kinds of log data from these devices, which is extremely useful to understand the supportability of these devices, what’s breaking, what’s working, and how to predict certain device failures.”
Glassbeam’s cloud-based service, called SCALAR, runs on Amazon and is based on the Cassandra NoSQL database. After the loosely structured machine data is uploaded into Glassbeam’s system, it’s parsed and transformed into more highly structured data with programs written in its proprietary Semiotic Parsing Language, or SPL, a high-level language designed specifically for working with machine-generated data.
SPL is about 10 times more efficient than writing in Perl or Python, Pandit says. “So what might take a week to write a [program] to parse log data from a Cisco router, we can do that in less than an hour because we have high-level constructs to understand machine data,” he tells Datanami. “Once the SPL is defined, then the whole system just wakes up and starts running analytics on the data.”
The company’s Glassbeam Explorer interface lets users explore and search raw data and events using a Lucene-powered search engine. It then provides two stages of analytics, including reports built from historical data, which is useful for capacity planning and license usage, as well as more in-depth data science engagements, where the company aims to predict devices failures.
IBM’s STG group started using Glassbeam a few years ago. The multibillion-dollar group builds and sells high-end hardware, including System z mainframe and Power servers that run Linux, AIX, and IBM i operating systems, and various storage devices, such as the enterprise-class DS8800 storage array, which scales well into the petabyte range.
“IBM is one of our largest customers,” Pandit says. “When they sell devices to top enterprise accounts, like Citibank or JP Chase Morgan, they’re under constant pressure to make sure the uptime is high, there’s no unplanned downtime, they are proactive in front of customers, telling them what features are coming down the path, and they should upgrade features.
“We help IBM in a big way because the machine data that comes from every device every day–we parse it in our cloud and provide the analytics and reports back to the IBM [customer service] organization,” he continues. “Five hundred people within IBM use Glassbeam solutions on a daily basis. They can figure out what customers are using what models, and what firmware and what OS, what kind of errors are happening in these environment, in 24-hour, one-week, one-month slices. All that makes them more proactive and predictive in front of their customers.”
IBM, of course, sells its own big data analytics software solutions under the InfoSphere HDInsight brand. IBM Software Group sells Hadoop solutions and real-time streaming solutions and is very much attuned to the IoT opportunity. Many of these solutions run on the Power platform, as well as the mainframe too.
Just the same, when STG needed an end-to-end solution for analyzing the phone-home data coming from its customers’ machines, it didn’t mind looking outside the Big Blue box. “At end of the day we are a best of breed analytics provider,” Pandit says. “When we go to big companies like Siemens, GE, and IBM, we’re talking to different business units, and many times, as you can imagine in these companies, the business units have the budgets and the pain points.”
“They are primarily in the IT data center market,” he says. “We are not in the IT market. We don’t sell solution to the IT managers or CIOs or operations people. We sell our solutions to the manufactures of those devices. Our buyers are typically VPs of support or engineering in product companies. We have seen certain instances where our customers have played with Splunk or Sumo Logic, but they come away after a few weeks saying the analytics they can provide is not as deep or structured as we can provide.”
Glassbeam yesterday announced a $2 million round of venture funding, bringing its total venture funding to more than $8 million. The company plans on using that software to continue funding R&D and also to expand sales and marketing, which is critical considering the immense interest right now in anything connected to the IoT.
The company appears well-poised to capture its share of the emerging market for machine data analytics. “Many manufactures think they can build their own analytic solution in house. But the reality of the situation is, it may look easy to start a project, but it becomes a pretty enormous project as they start doing that in-house,” Pandit says.
In addition to $2 million, the company announced that Kumar Malavalli, a Glassbeam co-founder, has taken an expanded role as its chief strategy officer. Malavalli has worked in the region for years and is in the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame. He was a co-founder at Brocade Communications before its IPO, and was widely considered to be the visionary behind Fiber Channel storage fabrics. Most recently, he led InMage, which he founded in 2001, to a successful acquisition by Microsoft.


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The publisher of the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, says he’s resigning next month to start his own company.
Forty-year-old Chris Voccio did not discuss his new venture in a memo to his employees, but said he will remain in Johnstown. Voccio says the new company won’t conflict with the newspaper’s mission.
Voccio was named general manager of the Tribune-Democrat in February 2004 and publisher in July of that year. He directed development of Johnstown Magazine in January 2005 and started the Johnstown Business Weekly last month. Before going to Johnstown, Voccio was publisher of the Greenville


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They furnished Facebook, Box and Brocade. Now they're merging
Two office-furniture suppliers that outfit companies including Facebook Inc., Box Inc. and Brocade Communications Systems got hitched.
San Carlos-based Inside Source, and San Francisco-based Young Office completed a merger on Dec. 27, executives said in a news release. The combined company will be known as Inside Source/Young and have about 100 employees. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Inside Source was founded in 1992 by Dave Denny, and today counts some of the Bay Area's biggest tech companies as clients. It's bringing clients Facebook, Box, Shutterfly, RocketFuel, Fire Eye, Evernote and Palo Alto Networks along.
Young Office was formed in 2006 by industry veterans Rose Young and Paul Stier. Its corporate clients include Bank of the West, Brocade, Charles Schwab and Morrison & Foerster. Both firms were major Allsteel furniture dealers and worked with companies, architects and general contractors.
Denny will serve as president of the new company, according to a news release.
“With Silicon Valley and San Francisco experiencing phenomenal growth, the timing of our merger with Young office could not be better," Denny said. "It will allow us to better serve tech companies in both San Francisco, Peninsula and Silicon Valley regions who want a single source for office furniture and related products and services."
The merger comes as office interiors and workspaces undergo major changes, with many tech companies and professional services firms going toward more collaborative, open-office build-outs.
The new company will continue operating from its two locations: 985 Industrial Road in San Carlos and 733 Front Street in downtown San Francisco, officials said.
“We’re excited to be part of a larger and locally-owned entrepreneurial company as a result of the merger and we firmly believe it will give us a leg up in the San Francisco business community," Young said in a statement. "Paul and I built a strong organization in a relatively brief period of time and becoming Inside Source/Young will give us a bigger platform from which to work with expanded services and product lines."
Nathan Donato-Weinstein covers commercial real estate and transportation for the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
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Question: What are the 10 biggest sources of sodium in the diets of American schoolchildren?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention named the salty 10 as part of a “Vital Signs” report, released today, on sodium consumption among U.S. kids.
The report concludes that more than 90 percent of U.S. children, ages 6 to 18 years, eat more sodium than recommended. This puts them at risk for developing high blood pressure and heart disease later in life, the CDC says.
Those schoolkids consume an average of about 3,300 milligrams of sodium per day even before adding salt at the table, the CDC says. The recommended amount is less than 2,300 mg per day.
About 65 percent of their sodium comes from store foods, 13 percent from fast food and pizza restaurant foods and 9 percent from school cafeteria foods.
So here’s the list of foods responsible for 43 percent of the sodium American children consume, according to the CDC:
- Bread and rolls
- Cold cuts/cured meats
- Savory snacks
- Chicken patties/nuggets/tenders
- Pasta mixed dishes
- Mexican mixed dishes
Contact John Lundy at: firstname.lastname@example.org.


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The announcement of the 2014 New York debut of the 2015 Dodge Challenger came from SRT boss Ralph Gilles as he met with a handful of people from Motor Trend for a video roundtable to discuss the 2014 SRT Viper, the new Viper TA and the Motor Trend tests that first found the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 victorious over the new Viper GTS followed by a second test where the new Viper TA bested the Corvette ZR1. After Gilles and the rest of the crew in the video were done talking about the Viper – during which time the new Chevrolet Camaro Z28 came up – the discussion turned to the Challenger and SRT’s answer to the new high performance Camaro.
“The Challenger is about to go under the knife…its actually under the knife as we speak,” said Gilles. “We’re doing a lot to [the Challenger] and we're going to come with an answer for [the Camaro Z/28] and for our friends at Ford.”
Ralph Gilles ended the discussion on the 2015 Dodge Challenger by saying that “this time next year, you will see exactly what I am talking about.” With that simple comment, the longtime bigwig of the Chrysler Group and the current head of the high performance SRT brand has essentially confirmed that the next generation Dodge Challenger – presumably a 2015 model year vehicle – would debut at next year’s New York Auto Show. This doesn’t come as a huge surprise as the updated business statement released by Chrysler earlier this year revealed that there would be some new models coming to both Dodge and SRT that many of us believed would be the new Challenger but Ralph’s comment to Motor Trend all but confirms a 2014 NYIAS debut of the next generation Challenger.
Nothing is known about what to expect from the next generation Dodge Challenger but with Gilles’ comment about having an answer for the Z/28 and Ford, we would presume that the 2015 Challenger will be far more vicious than the current models. While the 470 horsepower Challenger SRT8 will make short work (stock versus stock) of the Camaro SS or the Mustang GT in terms of straight acceleration, Dodge and SRT don’t have a real answer for the likes of the Camaro 1LE, the Camaro Z/28, the Camaro ZL1, the Mustang Boss 302 or the Shelby GT500 Mustang. There have long been rumors that SRT is working on a supercharged Hemi that will make substantially more power than the current offering with the help of a factory supercharger and this new blown Hemi is supposedly codenamed the Hellcat.
Realistically, to compete with the 662 horsepower Ford Shelby GT500, the 505 horsepower Camaro Z/28 or the 580 horsepower Camaro ZL1; the bigger, heavier Challenger is going to need some serious power. Many Mopar fans expect that the next generation Challenger lineup will look very much like the current layout with a base V6 and an affordable R/T model but it has been long rumored that there will be an SRT branded (like the Viper) Challenger that would offer extreme levels of performance that could get into the range of 650 horsepower.
A supercharged 2015 SRT Challenger with 650 horsepower and maybe a little weight reduction would more than easily compete with the less powerful Camaro Z/28 and ZL1…although the 662 horsepower GT500 might still be a stretch. That is, of course, unless SRT packs even MORE power into the top of the line performance package for the 2015 Challenger but in competing with the GT500, SRT also needs to make sure that they aren’t stepping on the toes of the mighty Viper.
This story about the Dodge Challenger SRT8 is updated on May 18, 2018.


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Group buying is one of the hottest areas of e-commerce, thanks in part to sites like Groupon. Now charity is getting in on the deal.
Ideal Network is a Seattle-based startup offering deals on products and services provided by local businesses. Not only are the products and services offered at a discount (because they are sold by the local business in bulk), but the site will give between 20 percent and 25 percent of the cost to a local charity.
The concept is an interesting one because some small, local businesses shy away from group buying because it eats into their profits, even if it might generate more sales volume. But apparently charity is a motivator for local companies — 17 of them have agreed to sell through Ideal Network, which also has recruited seven local charities to receive donations.
“I get a little less on the percentage, but I think it will make it up in volume because people will want to do it. I think that is a great motivator,” said Rob Bradley, owner of Frame Up Studios in Seattle's Fremont district.
Ideal Network was started by Ronny Bell, former owner of Pioneer Organics, a Seattle- and Portland-based food delivery company, and Jon Ramer, founder of the nonprofits Compassionate Action Network and The Interra Project, a system of rewards that benefits consumers who buy at local businesses and the charities and schools of their choice.


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If you have been following the airline industry, you recognize that things are not exactly huge. United Airlines recently said it expects its flying potential to lower by two-thirds this quarter.
And more than the weekend, United said it will for ever quit charging fees to make changes to domestic flights. That’s a big deal: Change fees have been a $2.8 billion company for domestic airlines in 2019. United’s fees are typically $200.
But getting customers to actually buy airline tickets today is a major deal, as well. That brings us to another slice of news. Chase and Mastercard are actually launching a new credit card with a great deal of cash back rewards for shelling out on things such as dining out and travel.
Though he is interested in the new Chase card’s three % money back from drugstores and 5 % cash back for groceries.
“I am ordering in a number of grocery stores. That’s among the biggest invest types now for me personally,” Crouvisier said.
For credit card companies, the thinking is, “We’re in it for the long term. Buyer needs are changing. We can’t sit not and back offer brand-new credit cards to customers,” Davidson said.
U.S. Bank recently launched a card with perks for takeout as well as streaming services.
Yet another new card, called Grand Reserve, offers factors once you buy wine.
“The high-speed is on, really, to create the ideal credit card which demonstrates the kind of changing consumer needs,” Davidson said.
Credit card marketing and advertising decreased at the beginning of the pandemic, he mentioned, though it’s beginning to pick up all over again.
Freelance musician Khrys Williams has seen, especially when he checks the mail of his.
“The only details I receive are credit card offers,” Williams said. “Normally I just, like, throw them in the trash.”
Credit card companies need to have guys to invest far more and pay interest on balances they have.
Matt Schulz is actually chief credit analyst with LendingTree.
“Businesses realize they need to come up with a few significant motivator to test and shake individuals to invest a little bit more,” he said.
Earlier this month, the brand new York Federal Reserve Bank mentioned credit card balances dropped by seventy six dolars billion in the second quarter.


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Canadian producer Aurora Cannabis has struck a $40 million stock deal to purchase U.S. hemp firm Reliva, checking off a long-stated ambition for the Alberta company’s executives to enter the United States market.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Aurora will pay $40 million of its common shares. The company will pay an an additional $45 million in cash and stock if certain financial targets are met.
The Edmonton company has long had an eye on the U.S. market.
Last September, an Aurora executive told Marijuana Business Daily the company expected to announce a “significant” entry into the U.S. market “within a very short period of time.”
Natick, Massachusetts-based Reliva sells hemp-derived CBD products. Aurora’s planned purchase marks a reentry into the U.S. for the Canadian producer.
In 2018, Aurora spun off its U.S. subsidiary, Australis Capital.
That came after Canada’s TMX Group – the nation’s largest stock exchange operator – warned that publicly traded cannabis firms with holdings south of the border could be delisted because of the plant’s federally illegal status in the U.S.
But the passage of the U.S. Farm Bill in December 2018 opened an legal avenue for companies to invest there without breaching Canadian stock market rules, sparking a flurry of investments from Aurora rivals Canopy Growth and Cronos Group.
Analysts viewed the Reliva deal in a positive light.
In a note to investors, CIBC Capital Markets said Reliva provides a platform for Aurora to access a large base of customers but warned that the American CBD landscape is crowded and competitive.
Reliva’s CBD brands can be found in more than 20,000 retail stores, according to a company news release.
Reliva, which carries no debt, is profitable. That makes the deal consistent with Aurora’s stated objective to turn its soaring losses into profits by later this year.
BMO Capital Markets noted that Reliva generated 14 million Canadian dollrs ($10 million) in revenue over the past year.
The deal also brings Reliva CEO Miguel Martin into Aurora’s fold.
Martin is a veteran consumer packaged goods executive, which analysts noted as a benefit for the Alberta company.
Martin held senior positions at tobacco giant Altria Group from 2007 to 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile.
However, the acquisition of Reliva adds to Aurora’s M&A spree that includes more than a dozen deals in recent years, causing some experts to say the company lacks focus and discipline.
Those deals – valued at a cumulative CA$4.5 billion – include “the world’s largest cannabis industry transaction.”
The deal to acquire Reliva is expected to close in June.


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Mumbai: Casual wear and apparel brand The Souled Store on Monday said Bollywood actor Sara Ali Khan has invested an undisclosed amount in it.
In August last year, the start-up had raised Rs 75 crore in a Series-B funding round led by Elevation Capital.
Commenting on Khan’s investment, The Souled Store co-founder Rohin Samtaney said, ”Her quirky and experimentative styling best reflects our brand image. We couldn’t have found a better investor and partner. We expect this collaboration will lead to great things together.” On her association with the brand, Khan said that in a short span of time, The Souled Store (TSS) has carved a niche for itself in the casual wear space.
”Being an ardent pop-culture lover, and a firm believer in originality and comfort being as important as fashion, I see the brand as a perfect fit to invest in. I look forward to being part of the TSS family,” she added.
My personal belief is my personal matter: Sara Ali Khan on being trolled after Mahakal temple visit
Didn't want to be a blotch in his beauteous career graph: Karan Johar on not directing Irrfan
Primarily an online brand, TSS’ current product portfolio includes top wear, bottom wear, innerwear and activewear for men and women. It has over 180 licences, including Disney, Warner Bros., WWE, IPL and Viacom18. It also has five offline stores with the company planning to add more going forward.


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CEO Brian Farrell has indicated that publisher THQ will look to take the lead in changing the standard price point policy which is employed by most game publishers at the present time.IndustryGamers.com
has reported on how, and why, THQ want to introduce a new approach:
[It's not] how high a price can we get, [but] how many users... If you can capture everyone under that economic curve, that's where you can make the most money
Accordingly, the plan is to release new games at around $39.99 rather than the usual $59.99. This should, in theory, convince more people to purchase an AAA title at the time of hitting the shelves.
THQ believes this strategy will allow them to provide DLC, to increase the life-span of their games.
I may be a cynic, but this will ultimately be more financially beneficial to THQ - obviously they have chosen to be very subtle about that aspect of the strategy!!


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As the dollar increased against the rupee, the local automakers plan to increase the car prices, and which is why Toyota IMC has stopped booking of its cars till the company releases the new price sheet.
In a notice published in a local newspaper, the company has asserted that after the rupee has devalued further, the duties and taxes have increased on cars, and it has stopped booking of the vehicles and is evaluating the overall situation as of now.
After the company fully grasp the situation, it will revise the prices of the vehicles accordingly and will once again open the car bookings. The notice also reads that it is the policy of the IMC that it only takes initial sum at the time of booking of the car and discourage the buyers to pay full amount while giving booking order. That’s why it is to be noted here that the customer will pay the price of the car at that time’s rate, even if they had paid the initial sum or full payment at the time of booking.
Read Also: Toyota IMC cars to look out for in 2019
See the notice below:
One of the local Toyota dealers, while speaking to PakWheels.com, said that the company has halted the booking of its vehicles for the past 5-10 days, and will resume it after another price hike.
Aside from Toyota IMC, Atlas Honda has already increased the rates of its bikes by up to PKR 4,000.
That’s it from our side, drop your thoughts in the comments section below.


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Resident Evil 4 Remake is one of the most anticipated video game releases of 2023. Fans are curious if they'll be able to get their hands on a demo before buying the game in March.
Resident Evil 4 Remake follows Leon S. Kennedy as he's matured since the Raccoon City incident working as a US Agent tasked with rescuing Ashley Graham, the U.S. president's daughter, who's been abducted by a cult in Spain. Leon travels to the unnamed village encountering the Los Illuminados in a new survival horror experience in the franchise. The original is widely considered a groundbreaking title and spawned a new era in the genre much as Resident Evil 7 did in 2017.
This is the third Resident Evil remake released in the last four years following 2019 and 2020's Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake respectively. Here's everything you need to know about a potential demo making its way to online stores before release.
Is There a Resident Evil 4 Remake Demo?
There's been no confirmation of a Resident Evil 4 Remake demo coming to PlayStation, Xbox or PC, as of writing. Though, there's still hope that Capcom will release some sort of demo in the buildup.
Capcom released a Resident Evil 2 Remake demo, the "R.P.D. Demo," and a Resident Evil 3 Remake demo titled "Raccoon City Demo." The RE2 Remake demo was released in Dec. 2019, 11 months after the game was released, but the RE3 Remake demo was released two weeks before that game was released. So, there's still some hope that Capcom might release a teaser for players to try out.
Capcom debuted a gameplay demo of Resident Evil 4 Remake showcasing the game's fateful encounter at the beginning between Leon, hordes of villagers and the Chainsaw Man. So, perhaps Capcom offers this scenario up as a brief demo for RE fans before jumping into purchasing the title.


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Competition regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was told by a judge it may have to step back and re-consider what its cases against Coles were and what allegations they were trying to prove, according to newspaper reports.
In a directions hearing on the second case against Coles held the Federal Court in Melbourne last week, Justice Gordon told the ACCC’s counsel that she would not allow the ACCC’s “large-scale litigation” against Coles to turn the court into a “royal commission”.
Lawyers for the ACCC will be in court again this week where they will be asked to present a distilled legal case against Coles, while Coles has been reported as saying it will fight a move by the ACCC to merge the two ‘unconscionable conduct’ cases into one.
In the first case of unconscionable conduct, investigation instituted by the ACCC against Coles on 5 May 2014, in respect to Coles’ Active Retail Collaboration program, the ACCC alleged that Coles developed a strategy to improve its earnings by obtaining better trading terms from its suppliers with a target to obtain $16 million in ARC rebates from smaller suppliers.
In the second case of ‘unconscionable conduct’ on 16 October this year, the ACCC alleged that Coles took advantage of its superior bargaining position by demanding money from suppliers that it was not lawfully entitled to, and was, in all the circumstances, unconscionable.
The ACCC affidavit filed against Coles alleges that once a year, there was a day known as ‘Profit Day’ or ‘Perfect Profit Day’ on which Coles’ managers demanded payments from suppliers to make up purported “profit gaps”, even though Coles “had, and knew that it had, no contractual or other lawful entitlement to the payments”.


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November 26, 2015
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Donald Trump's gold-plated luxury condo tower
in Las Vegas is set to open on March 31.
The Trump Organization says the 645-foot tower will open with a spa, a signature restaurant called "DJT," a heated outdoor pool and 2,400 square feet of meeting space.
The organization says the boutique property is understated because it lacks a casino despite being on the Las Vegas Strip near the Fashion Show Mall.
Its 1,282 suites range in size from 515 to 3,500 square feet.
The hotel will join sister properties in New York and Chicago as the founding hotels of the so-called Trump Hotel Collection.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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NVIDIA has just released a very interesting set of software for its dazzling TV Shield Box in China: Wii games that work in 1080p resolution, including New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Legend of Zelda: Aurora Princess and Punch. “It’s only in China, where TV Shield is first launched, it is a formal link between NVIDIA and Nintendo, which can offer some hope, albeit narrow, and this can reach other hardware shields around the world.
Wii remastered games in the TFS shield store cost about $ 10 per address, and other games like the Head Mitroid and the Super Mario Galaxy will also reach the platform.
NVIDIA and Nintendo partnership before, of course: the graphics hardware manufacturer created a processor that compels Nintendo to switch the handheld game console hybrid. China has also been a complex market for Nintendo to work under the ban on video game boards created for the first time in 2000, and raised in 2015 only.
So do not expect the TV shield play with Wii can be a sign that the ports come to Android on a wider scale, note that the Nvidia TV Shield is selling in China “fully translated” with its own store and local content and Dirus and Ike from the Baidu media service, So there is a lot of this to be absolutely exclusive to China.


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Manufacturer Andre Michael has seen a surge in online sales of diamond jewellery to retailers via its website www.andre-michael.com since the end of the lockdown.
“We have upgraded our website to add more images and videos, as we have seen more retailers buying on the site,” said Hatton Garden-based Andre Michael.
Retailers have responded with a sharp increase in enquiries and orders since Andre Michael added product to its website, including offering bespoke items.
“We plan to make the Andre Michael website more dynamic and add special pieces and clearance lines,” said Andre Michael, which has increased the items on its website by some 50 percent since the start of the lockdown.
Best sellers online have included earrings, rings and bracelets.
Andre Michael plans to issue regular newsletters to retailers across the UK and Ireland, showcasing new collections and extensions of existing lines, such as new styles in its 50-point diamond studs collection.


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Many weedheads have made November journeys to Holland to attend the High Times Cannabis Cup.
The Cup is happening again this year, but there is now an alternative marijuana evaluation and celebration event that sponsors believe will rival and even exceed the HT Cup.
Haarlem hempster Nol Van Schaik, the coffee shop owner and pot activist whose shops in Haarlem near Amsterdam are among the most lauded in Holland, has created an event that celebrates the thirty year history of the Dutch marijuana experiment. He intends for this to be the first year of an annual harvest celebration that will set higher standards for marijuana testing and entertainment events.
“We have scheduled a weekend of events to take place directly after the Cannabis Cup,” says Van Schaik. “Part of these events will honor Wernard Bruining, Henk De Vries, and other early pioneers who first created coffee shops and the weed business in Holland all those years ago. We will also be running a Holland-wide weed and hash competition that will include shops and growers who have not participated in the Cup, many of them from outside Amsterdam.”
Van Schaik says that while he respects the good in the High Times event, he wanted to design a cannabis judging situation that better reflected the evaluations of a larger audience who first test the products in their home coffee shops across Holland.
“We have the commitment from many shops that they will have their customers voting on cannabis products, and then they will bring their best to our competition in Haarlem at the end of November, and we will have a blind judging situation that cannot be influenced by anything other than the quality of the products,” the ganja guru explained. “We believe we will have a more broad range of products than has been available at any other cannabis competition, and we are excited about the prospect of making this event more international and scientific, with participation from America and Amsterdam as in the High Times event, but also from many more places and people.”
Many people do not yet know about Haarlem, Holland, but they should know. It is only 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam, but is a far more charming and scenic city than its bigger neighbor. It is surrounded by canals, forests, a national park, and beaches. Van Schaik has three primo shops in Haarlem, and there are other potshops, museums, gourmet restaurants to make the town exciting for people of all age groups.
The Haarlem November event will feature an awards ceremony that brings together the early pot pioneers, including the famous American named “Old Ed” who first brought the idea of seedless, all-female marijuana to Holland.
For Van Schaik, who has recently seen his friends held hostage in English prisons during an attempt to create a Holland-style coffee shop there, the November cannabis contest and banquet may be his last public work before he retires from full-time activism.
“We have done almost everything we wanted to do in this industry, and it is a good time for us to relax a bit and take it easy for a while,” Van Schaik said while supervising the mailing of 4000 invitations to his event. “We have been fighting hard for this cause for ten years, at a big risk to us, with sometimes a lot of pain. There are always going to be battles to fight and cannabis to celebrate, and I am not intending to go away completely, but I want to see other people making the public stand for cannabis, to make it more legal in Europe, and to improve the quality of the products and experiences for our customers. So many millions use cannabis, but not enough of them are willing to work to make it more available and to change the laws. This is probably the last big party I am going to do here, and I would like to see all the friends of cannabis come to celebrate peace and pot in this crazy world.”


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200 cars and 1000 BMW lovers for weekend in Šabac!
At Saturday, June 11th, second in a row BMW meeting in Šabac took place. Over 200 cars and over one thousand visitors came to this event. BMW cars and motorcycles were stars of the day! Among others, we noticed couple of cars from the region and even from Austria.
Check out our gallery from this event:


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Business opportunities in Guangdong
1. Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone
At the end of 2014, the State Council approved plans to set up the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) spanning over four areas--Nansha in Guangzhou, Qianhai and Shekou in Shenzhen and Hengqin in Zhuhai.
Guangdong FTZ facilitates the long-standing cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and strives to create greater opportunities for free-trade. It is expected to become one of the least restrictive trade environments in the country,which will promote higher degrees of freedom for international business.
2. Strategic New Industries
The strategic new industries that Guangdong Province cultivates and develops include high-end cutting-edge digital information systems, new-energy automobiles, LED technology, bio-tech, high-end equipment manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection technologies, new energies and new materials.
During the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-15), the province invested 22 billion yuan ($3.25 billion) toward the development of new industries and the adoption of modern financial methods such as loan interest subsidies, guarantee interest subsidies, free subsidies, award subsidies, stock right investments and debt investments in order to strengthen the combination of financial and fiscal capital. It also lent comprehensive support to sectors such as technical R&D, industrialization, platform construction, IPR, industry clusters and market cultivation.
3. Service Industries
As of 2015, the proportion of added value between service industries and province GDP has improved to 48 percent. The annual average growth of the added value per capita in the service industry has increased by about 9 percent, reaching over 35,000 yuan.
Priority has been given to the development of modern service industries. Sectors such as finance, modern logistics, information services, scientific and technological services, service outsourcing, modern tourism, culture preservation services and health services have all seen productive developments. Guangdong has taken the lead in promoting further extension of services, such as finance, education, medical care and professional services, to Hong Kong and Macao.
Source: Guangdong Business Guide 2015 (《广东投资指南2015》）released by Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province


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Nvidia has announced that Google Assistant now works on its video gaming and streaming device, Shield. The addition of the virtual assistant technology from the online search giant will present direct competition to Apple TV. However some analysts are of the view that the move is more of Google taking aim at Amazon than Nvidia opening a battlefront with Apple.
“The real story here is happening behind the scenes. It’s the competition between Google and Amazon – so pulling YouTube from Amazon’s Echo Show is a sign that Google is concerned about how integrated Amazon has become,” Netpop Research’s principal analyst, Josh Crandall, said.
With the voice assistant it will now be possible for users of Shield to fast forward, select which shows to watch as well as conduct online searches using the Google search engine. It will also be possible to show on Google Store using the virtual assistant, order ride-hailing services and check calendars just like one would using a smart speaker such as Google Home.
When one conducts a search the answers will be shown on the television screen in various formats and this will depend on the information requested. It will also be possible to ask the virtual assistant to display slideshows and photos from Google Photos on the TV screen. Shield users will also be offered a free trial of YouTube Red for three months. This will come with ad-free playback.
Using Samsung’s SmartThings, it will also be possible to plug Shield into smart homes in order to adjust thermostats, control lights as well in setting up routines in order to carry out functions such as dimming lights. A SmartThings Link will needed in order to use this functionality. While it usually costs $39, it will be offered at $14 during a limited promotional period.
In order to use the voice assistant on Shield, owners of the device will require an Nvidia controller. This controller consists of a microphones and other accessories which are required to operate the device hands-free. The cost of the controller plus Shield is $200. Independently the control costs $60. Last week Nvidia announced that it would be selling the streaming box at $179 which is the same price that Apple is selling its latest streaming device.
Besides Nvidia’s Shield, Google’s voice assistant is expected to become available on Bravia TVs made by Sony in the next couple of months.


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China Unicom, the country’s second-largest carrier, will offer the iPhone starting in mid-October. And in pricing that is rather the opposite of the low upfront cost and high monthly pricing at AT&T, they’ll be selling the device almost at cost and pairing it with plans that make ours look positively extortionate.
According to Xinhua News as reported by Fortune, an 8GB iPhone 3G will start at 2075元 (~$303); previous reports had the 16GB 3G going for 2999元 (~$439), which, if accurate, posits a thousand yuan premium on each successive upgrade. 3GS pricing is still speculative, but if we extrapolate: 3GS 16GB for ~$585 and a 32GB for ~$730. The pricing ends up being a little sloppy when you translate it, but it looks like they’re not afraid to put a big price tag on it. And of course, it’s totally possible that they’ll shift both down by 500元 to ease upsells, which gives slightly more palatable figures.
Of course, then you consider that the plan they’re signing you up for is 126元, or around $18.45. Compared with paying $80 a month for your iPhone (and some pay far more), you’d break even in a couple months, even with the 3GS. Whether that lower price indicates a similarly lowered level of service is beyond my power to determine. And of course, some would say AT&T hasn’t been giving its iPhone users $80 worth of network every month.
With 140 million subscribers, China Unicom is still a midget compared with China Mobile, but as was the case with AT&T, having an iPhone on their side could lure scores of millions over from the other side. There is plenty of demand despite Asian mobile users generally preferring a different kind of handset, and unlike its launch here in the US, the iPhone will be introduced as an established and proven product with a huge amount of resources already available to it. This makes it seem like less of a risk to potential subscriber, and therefore no risk-distribution strategy (like spreading the cost out over two years) is necessary to make it seem reasonable.
In any case, it’s all gravy for Apple. They gets their money and they makes their incremental upgrades. I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said about how much money Apple stands to make over there. And, at the risk of sounding political, they have less to worry about from the Chinese as far as complaints about restrictive licensing and app policies. I dare say that subscribers there are used to such draconian measures.


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By Dave Sebastian
PepsiCo Inc. said its profit rose for the recent quarter as sales grew, despite uneven recoveries across its international markets and weather-related disruptions in the U.S.
The food-and-beverage company Thursday posted net income attributable to the company of $1.71 billion for the fiscal first quarter, compared with $1.34 billion in the prior year. Earnings were $1.24 a share, compared with 96 cents a share.
Adjusted earnings were $1.21 a share, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting $1.12 a share.
For the quarter ended March 20, net revenue rose to $14.82 billion from $13.88 billion, the company said. Analysts were looking for $14.55 billion. Revenue grew 2.4% on an organic basis.
Revenue for Frito-Lay North America rose 4%. Quaker Foods North America revenue rose 2%, and its North America beverage segment's revenue rose 5%, the company said.
In Latin America revenue fell 5%, and revenue in Europe fell 2%, the company said. Revenue rose 40% in Africa, Middle East and South Asia, and it rose 70% in Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and the China region, PepsiCo said.
Write to Dave Sebastian at firstname.lastname@example.org


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In this week’s subscription headlines, The New York Times sports staff writes a letter to management about company turmoil over the future of sports coverage. Also, the FTC says #ad and #sponsored in video descriptions are not considered adequate disclosures, Instagram takes on Twitter with new tools, and businesses in the UK balk at new subscription rules.
Apple Has Declared War on Email Newsletters
Simon Owens on Substack
Copyright © 2023 Authority Media Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.


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Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — Việt Nam’s seafood industry hopes to get a “green card” from the European Commission soon after succeeding in its efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but fishermen’s attitudes need to be addressed, a conference heard in HCM City yesterday.
“Việt Nam got the EC’s yellow card last year after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against IUU fishing,” Nguyễn Thị Thu Sắc, chairwoman of the Việt Nam Association Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP)’s marine product committee, told the ‘One-year evaluation of the programme: Việt Nam marine product companies commit to combat IUU fishing’.
Việt Nam might meet the requirements this year but this could cause fisherman to take the issue lightly, she warned.
Since late last year the Government had addressed a huge number of issues to mitigate the situation, she said.
"The most important task now is to change fishing to make it sustainable and responsible," she added.
VASEP’s worry about fisherman’s attitudes is justified because management of fishing at the province and city levels remains lax.
Việt Nam has a long tradition of having thousands of fishing boats, most of them small, making it unwieldy to manage for authorities.
“Related authorities should focus on improving oversight of fishing and installing GPS equipment on boats,” Sắc said.
According to VASEP, Vietnamese seafood exports have been severely hit by the EC’s yellow card.
The EU accounts for 12 -15 per cent of the country’s seafood exports, and in the first eight months of this year shipments have plummeted by 25 per cent year-on-year to US$252 million.
“Seafood exports to the EU will continue to decrease this year and this year’s turnover will be lower than expected at around US$3.2 billion,” Lê Hằng, deputy director of VASEP Pro Centre, said.
The yellow card is a warning measure given to nations considered at risk of being deemed unco-operative in the fight against IUU fishing.
Though the EU’s trade policy itself does not change with a yellow card, it has badly affected the reputation of Vietnamese seafood world-wide, hitting sales.
Exports from yellow card countries are subjected to intense scrutiny, and all Vietnamese fish export containers have been inspected since it received the card.
The yellow card, announced in October 2017, identified shortcomings in Việt Nam’s efforts to fight illegal fishing, including the lack of an effective sanctioning system to deter IUU fishing activities and a lack of action to address illegal fishing done by Vietnamese vessels in the waters of neighbouring countries, including Pacific Small Island Developing States.
According to the EC, between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish, or at least 15 per cent of the world catch, are caught illegally each year, a figure worth between 8-19 billion euros.
As the world’s largest fish importer, the European Union’s import regulations wield global influence.
To address IUU fishing activities, the EC evaluates exporting countries.
Countries that fail to meet its standards are issued a warning (yellow card) followed by a green card if issues are resolved or a red card if they are not.
A red card can lead to a ban on fisheries products from a country. — VNS


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Porsche CEO says it has discussed potential projects with Apple, but no decision has been made yet. Here are more details.
Porsche and Apple could be on to something! Based on a recent report, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said Porsche has discussed exciting joint projects with Apple, but no decision has been made yet. The report also stated that the German sports car manufacturer is also considering an option to enter Formula 1, but no formal decision has yet been taken. Apple has not yet commented on this development.
It has long been rumored that Apple could be working on its own electric vehicle that could get coverage by the end of this decade. While there have been several rumors that Apple might be joining forces with several automakers, there is no official confirmation about it. The only car-related product that Apple offers is the Apple carPlay service. The deal with Porsche could be about developing smart infotainment services in the car.
Apple and Porsche discuss new projects
While Apple is considering projects with automakers, it’s been busy updating some of its more popular mass-market products lately. The biggest news of late is the new iPhone SE which is still the most affordable iPhone you can buy at a starting price of Rs. 43,990. The iPhone SE has the same basics, but gets a new A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13, improved battery life and tempered glass on the outside.
We got our hands on the new iPhone SE and are impressed with what it offers. However, it is not the most advanced iPhone you can buy right now. Apple also announced an update to iPad Air with a new M1 chip, the same chip that powers the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Apple had also announced the Mac Studio with its most powerful chip, the M1 Ultra, at its March 8 launch event. Two new shades of green have also been announced for the iPhone 13 series.
On the other hand, there are reports that Apple is already developing the new iPhone 14 series. The Pro variants are expected to ditch the notch, get 48MP main cameras and a new A16 Bionic chip.


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In morning trade the Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) share price has taken a tumble lower following the release of a business update.
At the time of writing the fintech company’s shares are down almost 4% to $5.70 but were down as much as 7.5% to $5.49 at one stage.
What was in the update?
This morning Afterpay Touch advised that as of the end of the third-quarter of FY 2018, over $1,450 million of total underlying sales were processed through the Afterpay platform.
This represents a 400% increase on the $290 million processed during the first three quarters of FY 2017.
According to the release, during the third-quarter Afterpay Touch generated underlying sales of $530 million, up from $145 million a year earlier.
While this was a 3% decline on the second-quarter of FY 2018, management was quick to point out that the second-quarter includes the Christmas peak season trading uplift.
Furthermore, there were fewer days in the third-quarter. Based on an average daily underlying sales perspective, sales were 2% lower quarter-on-quarter.
I suspect that investors may be concerned that the Afterpay platform is close to peaking in Australia based on this result. After all, a year earlier in the third-quarter of FY 2017 underlying merchant sales grew 41% on the second-quarter despite its Christmas boost.
Which is why its expansion into the United States could be increasingly important for its future growth. In today’s release management advised that the establishment of its U.S. business is going to plan and it intends to provide a further update next month.
Other key metrics from today’s release include:
- Over 7,000 individual shopfronts are now live with Afterpay in-store including all Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) stores.
- Underlying in-store sales were 21% higher than Q2 FY 2018.
- Approximately 14,000 retailers and over 1.8 million customers currently live and transacted on the Afterpay platform.
- Merchant fees, net transaction losses, and net transaction margins remained stable in the third-quarter.
- Afterpay is close to establishing a $200 million warehouse receivables funding facility with a large international bank, on top of its existing $350 million facility with National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB).
Should you invest?
I think Afterpay Touch is one of the most exciting companies to have emerged from Australian in many years.
However, I do have concerns that its Australian business could be close to peaking. In light of this, I plan to wait to see how its U.S. expansion goes before making an investment. If the Afterpay platform can recreate its Australian success in that market, then I suspect the company could continue its meteoric growth for many years to come. But time will tell if that happens.
Looking for the next Afterpay to invest in? One of these up and coming shares could be it.
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That’s why at The Motley Fool we’ve been scrutinizing the ASX to uncover the kinds of companies that we believe could turn into the next Cochlear or REA Group.
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO, National Australia Bank Limited, and Super Retail Group Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.


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Minnesota, USA Five teenagers have been arrested in Minnesota after breaking into a computer security system to fraudulently obtain credit card numbers. They used the cards to buy thousands of dollars...
Companies are challenging Amazon in retail and cloud
Cosmetics firm is undergoing a top-to-toe tech refresh with GDPR compliance thrown in
DFS resorts to cloud to help handle spikes in online demand
Economy and business performance not a problem, reckon small firms
Charity engages Braintree to move away from previous payment system which was in danger of failing and losing millions of pounds of donations, admits CTO


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Although Facebook’s cryptocurrency is shrouded in mystery, some snippets have filtered through about Mark Zuckerberg’s pet project.
Will Brexit be cancelled? Will the UK have a new Prime Minister? Will the UK leave the EU and, if so, when?
In recent years an important phenomenon has been at work, in the finance world as a whole, and in particular on the finance markets.
Cannabis has entered the world of trading and financial markets for some time now. With its legalization in some countries, it has become a financial value in its own right. As a result, online broker Plus500 has launched a tradable cannabis index via its CFD platform.


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Shipping delays in Hong Kong are causing “big trouble” for local manufacturers, tying up millions of dollars in cashflow.
According to Steve Chuang, deputy chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, shippers are waiting up to ten weeks for vessel space, with freight rates reaching $15,000 to send a 40ft container to the US.
“For dangerous goods (DG) it’s $25,000, and you have to wait weeks sometimes for a container or …
The post Major shipping delays tie up millions in our cashflow, say Hong Kong BCOs appeared first on The Loadstar.
Source: The Loadstar


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The Geneva motor show, one of Europe’s premier motoring events, has been cancelled, but most manufacturers are pressing ahead with their planned unveilings.
Geneva organisers had insisted the motor show would go ahead starting on 2 March, but fresh concerns due to a spate of Covid-19 cases in Europe made it impossible to host, so reveals are taking place online or at alternative locations.
The new online format didn't stop us bringing you all the details on every important new model, however, and we even managed to film our traditional video report from the 'show floor':
So, then, it wasn't quite the Geneva motor show, but still one of the year's biggest motoring events. Here's a full list of the unveilings:


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Apple’s App Store started with a measly 500 apps in 2008 and now has grown into a massive online marketplace that generates billions of dollars in transactions every year.
Apple App Store is the most lucrative platform for developers to make a good profit from their efforts and for consumers to get the most out of the services available.
With tight security in place, the App Store sees less fraud compared to other online stores, and this year, according to Apple, it was able to prevent $1.5 billion in transactions in 2021.
Furthermore, it stopped more than 1.6 million risky and vulnerable apps and app updates from fraudulent users.
Key insights from Apple’s App Store Fraud Prevention Report (2021)
— Over 34,500 apps rejected for containing hidden or undocumented functionality
— More than 157,000 apps rejected because they are spam, copycats or misleading users
— Over 343,000 apps rejected for privacy violations
– Nearly $1.5 billion in fraudulent transactions were stopped
— More than 3.3 million stolen credit cards prevented from purchasing
— Nearly 600,000 accounts are banned from re-trading
— More than 170 million fraudulent customer accounts deactivated
— More than 118 million fraudulent account creation attempts have been rejected
— Over 802,000 fraudulent developer accounts have been terminated
What sets Apple’s Application Policy Violation Review process apart from other platforms is that it makes good use of both IT automation and a dedicated human team.
“The App Review team examines every app and every update to ensure they meet the App Store’s privacy, security, and spam guidelines. This process serves as a line of defense essential to help protect users from bad actors,” Apple said.
Apple has blocked over 835,000 new problematic apps and an additional 805,000 app updates have been rejected or removed for various valid reasons.
In addition to eliminating bad apps, Apple was able to integrate new apps developed by 107,000 new developers in 2021.
Additionally, there is a system in place for developers to challenge Apple’s decision to improperly remove/block the app and request to present their case to the App Review Board.
Additionally, Apple device owners can also report instances of fraud against app developers on the Apple App Store.
That said, app developers also face issues with fake reviews from rivals, which hurts revenue prospects. To solve this problem, Apple has also implemented a robust filtering process driven by machine learning, artificial intelligence and a human team, in order to keep an eye on these illegal practices.
Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity and more on personal tech only on DH Tech.