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Xiaomi, the Beijing-based leader in smartphone, electronics and services, is the latest global company to choose the TRUSTe Assessment Manager platform to bring increased efficiencies and scale to their privacy program. Xiaomi will use the platform to perform ongoing Privacy Assessments and PIAs for the MUIU operating system and other services in the quest to bring Privacy by Design into the mobile architecture and product set.
Under the partnership TRUSTe has also assessed and certified that Xiaomi’s mobile operating system MIUI (and its native apps), cloud services and e-commerce websites all abide by TRUSTe’s privacy standards. The company has had a full review of its privacy practices and worked to ensure all mobile applications that collect sensitive information are encrypted, that all payment pages have the proper encryption to protect users’ sensitive information and application permissions are limited to only what was needed to operate on a user’s device.
The certification process helps to ensure Xiaomi is transparent and accountable to the practices outlined in the company’s privacy statement. TRUSTe Assessment Manager enables Xiaomi to maintain these privacy commitments, demonstrate compliance and assess the privacy impact of new product releases. This will simplify the process of maintaining the certification going forward and help Xiaomi achieve various global compliance targets efficiently.
“With this privacy certification, Xiaomi is demonstrating our deep concern for user privacy,” said Baoqiu Cui, Chief Architect at Xiaomi. “User privacy is always our top priority, and the Privacy by Design approach has been incorporated into our product design process. As of today MIUI has over 200 million users, and our e-commerce website has even more. Getting both MIUI and the e-commerce website certified is a huge milestone, not only for the company, but also for our users. With the TRUSTe certification, our users have even greater peace-of-mind knowing their data is well protected.”
“TRUSTe Assessment Manager and Privacy Impact Assessment process can help us meet our privacy compliance requirements much more efficiently. Efficiency is very important for a fast growing product like MIUI, whose developer’s build is released every week and stable build is released every month.” said Baoqiu.
Read further details in our press release here
New research findings published today, show consumer concern over online tracking for targeted ads has fallen from 65% to 61% over the last year and awareness of the DAA AdChoices icon, has risen to 42% – five points higher than last year (37%). These latest stats show the sustained growth and success of the DAA program but also what’s at stake for the digital publishing industry as 28% report they had used adblocking software in the month prior to the survey.
As consumers become more aware of how they can control the types of ads they see, they are more likely to feel positive about online behavioral advertising in general. Almost 2 in 5 (39%) said the information available through the AdChoices Icon, along with the option of opting out of OBA, would make them feel more positive about the concept of targeted ads. These findings are based on data from an online survey conducted by Ipsos, commissioned by TRUSTe, with 1,000 adults aged 18-75 in the US from December 17-22, 2015. Tracking data is available for the previous four years.
According to the survey, the business impact of consumers’ privacy concerns remains high with 89 percent avoiding doing business with companies they don’t believe protect their privacy and 74 percent of those who worry about their privacy online limiting their online activity in the last 12 months due to their concerns. Of those who worried about their privacy online, 51% did not click on an online ad in the last 12 months – the most common action taken due to privacy concerns.
The DAA program covers online, mobile and video ads and was developed in conjunction with the advertising industry to provide users with more control over their online ad experience and the option to opt-out of personal targeting without blocking ads altogether. Later this week, TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel will be speaking on a Publishers’ Roundtable titled “The Increasingly ‘Relevant’ Ad-Financed Business Model” at the Digital Advertising Alliance 2016 Summit from May 12-13.
Find out more about TRUSTe’s Ad Compliance Manager technology solution here.
IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2016
May 11 – May 12
The privacy landscape is changing at breakneck speed, and your job is becoming more complex by the day. Boasting exceptional education, unmatched networking and a strong community of privacy professionals, the Symposium returns to help you step up your game.
TRUSTe’s Eleanor Treharne-Jones will be speaking on Wednesday, May 11th, 11:45am-1pm on “Are You Ready for the GDPR? Let’s Find Out.”
> Register here
Digital Advertising Alliance Summit 2016
May 12 – May 13
The Digital Advertising Alliance Summit 2016 is a full-day event and provides a unique opportunity for DAA Program participants to learn about the latest developments in industry self-regulation.
TRUSTe’s Chris Babel will take part in the panel, “Publishers’ Roundtable 2016: Congratulations to the Increasingly ‘Relevant’ Ad-Financed Business Model” alongside industry experts at Viacom Media Networks, Netflix, Daily Actor, and the American Advertising Federation (AAF).
> Register here
May 15 – May 17
The Information & Records Management Society (IRMS) Conference brings together information professionals to provide an independent perspective on key challenges surrounding this years’ theme, “Information Superheroes – Enabling Business Excellence”.
TRUSTe’s Ralph O’Brien will be speaking on Tuesday, May 17th, 09.00 – 09.45 on “Hero or Villain? The Evolution of Business Information Management”.
> Register here
Global Privacy Enforcement Priorities
May 19 – 9.00am – 10.00am PT
As the scope of EU law reaches around the world we are also seeing greater international regulatory co-operation. So whether it’s the FTC, the FCC or European DPAs, what are the top priorities on the agenda of global privacy regulators? How is this impacted by the rise of activism and the role of individuals like Max Schrems who have forced legal changes?
In this webinar, experts will review the latest case law and enforcement actions from the last 12 months and share their assessment on what this could mean for the future and how to keep your company out of the regulatory spotlight
> Register here
September 10, 10-10:30 a.m., PDT
Live Demo: Ads Privacy Compliance Technology
Enforcement of DAA principles on interest-based advertising over desktop has been in force for a while now, but mobile enforcement starts Sept. 1. If you leverage interest-based advertising, you’ll need to have the following in place for both desktop and mobile environments across all devices. Learn more about mobile ad compliance in this live demo webinar.
September 14- 16
Information Governance Exchange
TRUSTe is solution provider at this two-day event that attracts senior executives working in data privacy, governance and related fields. Attendees will connect with their peers and have the opportunity to attend numerous strategic information sharing sessions, one-to-one meetings and discussions.
Request an invitation here.
Over the past six months we have given you an inside look at the talented, knowledgeable and friendly people who work at TRUSTe. This week we conclude the series with our CEO Chris Babel.
How long have you worked at TRUSTe? It will be 6 years this December.
Tell us about your role at TRUSTe. As CEO, I’m responsible for setting strategy, vision and direction for the company. This encompasses everything from what markets to enter, what products to deliver to help our customers succeed and how to differentiate TRUSTe. Critical to succeeding is our culture and team, as the best strategy in the world still loses without great execution from people who understand the company direction and are passionate about our shared success. On a daily basis this can vary dramatically from meeting externally with customers or prospects to improve our market knowledge or internally hosting our monthly “Beer with Babel” meeting where employees can directly or anonymously submit any question they have about the company and our direction.
How has your role changed over time? When I started at TRUSTe, we had just transitioned from a non-profit organization with 60 employees and were just starting to build our technology platform. Today, we have about 175 employees with more people in product and engineering than we had in the whole company five years ago. Managing the transition to a full-fledged technology company and transitioning the culture with the market concerns around privacy exploding has been a massive change to TRUSTe and exciting challenge.


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The closure of physical casinos and suspension of sports tournaments in 2020 resulted in a banner year for live casino products. Experts believe that even as we return to normality, the live casino boom will be far from over.
Montieth Illingworth, chief executive officer, and global managing partner at Montieth and Company catches up with Asia Gaming Brief editor Felix Ng on what companies need to start doing as the pandemic starts to move behind us.
How does the Global Chief Information Officer & SVP of Melco Resorts & Entertainment get his inspiration to innovate? Avery Palos sits down with Asia Gaming Brief's Asia Editor, Felix Ng about how he keeps up to date with the latest technological trends...
Artificial Intelligence is still in its early stages, but in gaming questions have already been raised as to whether the industry is losing its person
The time it takes for players to “warm-up” to new gaming concepts has been identified as a major reason why the gaming industry has lagged behind
GameSource, a cloud-based platform offering land-based casinos access to electronic games, has won the Innovation Gold Awards at the 7th Annual Busine
JCM Global has a 65-year history of innovation, and at G2E 2019, that enduring spirit will be on display with groundbreaking solutions, technology, an
JCM Global has been serving customers in Australia and the APAC region for decades. Now on stand 372 at the Australian Gaming Expo, JCM will showcase
Scientific Games Corporation will showcase the gaming industry’s most comprehensive product lineup at the Australasian Gaming Expo. Highlighting
WDTS, known for its Perfect Pay RFID-enabled gaming tables and chip trays, has been showcasing new products alongside PJM3.0 casino chip suppliers. Ne
Novomatic offers a wide portfolio of Electronic Table Games that has seen significant international success on gaming floors around the world. Di
Konami Gaming, Inc. has announced the appointment of gaming technology leader Sina Miri to vice president, innovation and strategic R&D. Miri
Caesars Entertainment has announced a partnership with University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), to create a technology hub where new gaming and hospitality concepts will be developed and tested in a 43,000 square-foot space.
The rising popularity of slots and RNG table games is challenging live casino’s long-held reign as the dominant product vertical in Asia’s online space.
Aristocrat’s commitment to the Asian gaming market takes center stage on the company’s stand 629 at G2E Asia. “Every single game is the culmi
Asia’s online gaming industry, which is forecast for double-digit growth over the next seven years, is likely to be one of the main topics to be talked about at ICE Totally Gaming, with executives keen to explore both the opportunities and learn how...
Over the past ten years, the iGaming business and market have experienced numerous changes and substantial growth. While the iGaming market keeps expa
G2E Asia this year launched the event’s first Game Development Fair, put together in collaboration with Asia-based consultancy Dynamic Partners, to
Meaningful diversification of gaming products will be a long time coming due to the slow turning wheels of regulation, said at panel of analysts at th
Asia Gaming Brief is a news and intelligence service providing up to date market information for worldwide executives on relevant gaming issues in Asia.
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Foroud Asgari, President of the Iranian Customs Administration, says that Iran is a safe corridor for the transportation of goods from north to south and from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean.
(SHADA: TEHRAN) -- During a meeting with the Secretary-General of the World Customs Organization, Foroud Asgari said: There are 149 customs, 8 free zones and 66 special economic zones in Iran, and the country, given its geopolitical position, has a certain position in the transportation of goods.
Iran is a safe corridor for the transportation of goods of different countries from north to south and from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean, he noted.
Asgari announced the successful implementation of the eTIR at the Iranian Customs and said: For the sake of ease of transportation, two projects have recently been operational with the help of the IRU Organization (TIR Convention) and Turkey; the information of goods was exchanged between countries through TIR carnet, but it is exchanged electronically now.
Iran negotiated with Azerbaijan to exchange electronic information, he said, adding: The important thing in cargo transportation is the combination of transportation and Iran was chosen among the 71 member states of the TIR Carnet Convention to implement the pilot project with TIR Carnet from Slovenia to Bandar Abbas for the first time in the world.
Asgari also referred to the change in the system of customs procedures and stated: In the area of electronic customs, we implemented a comprehensive customs system and all customs procedures, including import, export and transit, are currently being implemented on a systemic and electronic basis.


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India's Sun Pharma has a lot of new products on its hands after buying a block of Novartis drugs earlier this year, and it wants Mitsubishi Tanabe to get them on the radar in Japan.
The 14 brands--bought in a $293 million deal announced in March--cover a broad range of therapeutic categories and had annual sales of around $160 million. Sun Pharma says it will take responsibility for the products from October, marking its first foray into the Japanese market.
The brands covered by the Mitsubishi deal include Parkinson's disease treatment Parlodel, antifungal Lamisil and angina patch Nitroderm, which are due to go on sale in November. The other products will roll out in December and early 2017.
Sun Pharma is in the throes of an expansion drive aimed at boosting its presence in international markets and in specialty pharma. The company has already absorbed Ranbaxy Laboratories in a $4 billion deal--which brought its own problems, but gave Sun Pharma an immediate boost in the U.S. market. The drugmaker also wants a slice of Japan, where Indian companies are generally considered to be under-represented.
At the time the Novartis drug buy was first announced, Sun conceded it would need to enlist the aid of a local marketing partner. With Mitsubishi Tanabe, it has recruited a top 10 pharma company with an established presence in the specialty pharma category.
A Livemint report notes that Lupin Laboratories is the only Indian pharma group that now has a significant presence in Japan, with the country accounting for 12% of its annual revenues.
That is surprising at first glance, given the Indian drug sector's export focus and Japan's status as the third-largest drug market, accounting for around 10% of global pharma sales. Japan remains primarily a proprietary drug market, however with generics--Indian's main pharma export--still prescribed much less than in other countries.
Government incentives to boost the use of generics and peg back rising healthcare costs are handing an opportunity to companies that can build distribution networks in Japan, something that Teva recently tapped into via its generics joint venture with Takeda.
Now that Sun Pharma has set up a beachhead in Japan with its Mitsubishi Tanabe deal, local press reports have suggested other Indian companies--including Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Glenmark--are looking in that direction as well.
Lupin's new M&A deals to strike at Indian rival Sun's perch in Japan
Takeda-Teva JV 'could be a trendsetter' as Japan pushes for generics: analyst
Japanese firms eye sale of patent-expired drugs to fund new blockbusters
Indian drugmakers eye Japanese market for acquisitions
Special report: Sun Pharmaceutical/Ranbaxy Laboratories
Novartis follows brand offloading trend, selling drugs in Japan to Sun


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It's Christmas in July for Amazon Prime subscribers.
The third annual "Prime Day" kicked off at 9 p.m. Monday. Amazon said it will offer new deals every five minutes for 30 hours.
One retail expert compared Prime Day to Black Friday or Cyber Monday in July. But he said before you hit "add to cart," make sure you're really getting a deal.
To get the deals, you need to be an Amazon Prime member, which costs $99 a year. But there are ways to avoid paying the full fee.
RELATED: How to save big on Amazon's Prime Day
"Two adults - or as Amazon calls it, a household - can share a single account, so that's about $50 each," said Mark Ellwood, author of "Bargain Fever."
You can also sign up for a free 30-day trial of service. But one retail expert thinks many people choosing that option will pay the price.
"Prime Day for Amazon is all about capturing as much market share as they can. I think they're going to be up to 83- to 85 million Prime members by the end of the day," said expert David Weiss.
And Weiss has advice for current Prime members, new members, and those trying it out for free.
"Definitely price compare. Make sure that you are getting the best deal by checking, not just in the belief that you are. Amazon has everyone believing that they win on best price. They aren't always doing that," he said.


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VendScreen, Inc., inventor of the VendScreen Revolution™ smart device for vending machines, has added new vision to its board of directors.
Jim Brinton, former chairman of the NAMA, past president and chairman of Unified Strategies Group (USG), president of Evergreen Vending and CEO of Avanti Markets, joins VendScreen as a member of the executive board. Brinton has extensive industry experience from the operator-side and is committed to advancing the industry. “I believe that technology will be what determines the market leaders as our industry moves forward. Evergreen has been an early adopter of the Revolution device and we are rolling this out to all of our machines. Cashless acceptance is very important and loyalty programs and increased user interaction via cell phones, and alternative payment solutions will become more important. The VendScreen platform is built to meet the needs of our consumers now, and will handle our needs going forward,” Brinton said in a prepared statement.
Glenn Butler, founder and CTO, and Brinton are aligned on this vision. Butler commented: “VendScreen Revolution™ is the most exciting product that I have ever worked on. Our goal is to transform the consumer experience to bring consumers back to vending and drive more revenue through existing machines. Jim’s guidance and support will help us meet these goals faster.”


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Schumer: FDA drops rule on spent grains
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer said Monday the FDA has revised its proposed rule regulating "spent grain" from the brewing industry.
Schumer was at Upstate Brewing in Horseheads in April to point out the problem with the suggested rule that was being considered by the Food & Drug Administration that would impact the way 90 percent of the state's beer brewers dispose of their spent grain.
Spent grain is created after dry grains are soaked and cooked during the beer-making process. The spent grain is the soggy, leftover product after the liquid has been drawn off. Many brewers, including Upstate Brewing give the spent grain to farmers, who use it as livestock feed.
According to Schumer, brewers can continue to donate or sell the grains directly to farms as they have done in the past.


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Friendly's Franchisee Purchases Five Additional Central New Jersey Restaurants
June 21, 2011 // Franchising.com // Wilbraham, Mass. -- Friendly Ice Cream Corporation, which operates more than 500 company-owned and franchised full-service, family dining restaurants, announced today that Jim Yanucil has purchased an additional five restaurants from the company, effective June 13.
The restaurants are located in Moorestown, Deptford, Wenohah, Mt. Holly and Burlington. A franchisee since 1999, Yanucil owns seven other Friendly's restaurants in Central New Jersey. Along with the purchase of these five restaurants, Yanucil has agreed to open an additional five restaurants by December, 2016. Friendly's locations can be found online at www.friendlys.com/locations.
"Jim and his team have been a part of the Friendly's family for a long time," said Friendly's Senior Vice President, Development and Franchising, Jim Sullivan. "They know the company well and we are happy to have them managing our brand in Central New Jersey."
"I'm excited to add five additional restaurants to our family. We will renovate all five restaurants before the end of the year and will add 75 to 100 associates to maximize our guests' experience," said Yanucil. "The Friendly's Brand is something we strongly believe in and we look forward to being a part of the company's growth for a long time to come."
Friendly's recently announced the purchase of an additional 32 restaurants in the Tri-State area by New Jersey franchisee J&B Restaurant Partners of NYDMA LLC, as well as the purchase of two additional restaurants in Northern New Jersey by franchisee Will Haiback.
About Friendly Ice Cream Corporation
Friendly Ice Cream Corporation is a vertically integrated restaurant company serving signature sandwiches, entrees and ice cream desserts in a friendly, family environment with system-wide sales of $700 million and distribution through more than 6,200 retail locations. With a 75-year operating history, Friendly's enjoys strong brand recognition and is currently revitalizing its restaurants and introducing new products to grow its customer base. For additional information please visit www.friendlys.com.
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In the Volo Auto Museum in Lake County, Illionis State, you can see a pink Cadillac which, many years ago, belonged to rock and roll legend Elvis Presley. The car, manufactured in 1974, was discovered by chance by the museum director Brian Grams, when he was looking for new exhibits.
The car was bought 40 years ago by an avid collector, and was kept away from the public eye until now. It is rumored to be the only car that was owned by Elvis Presley and had not been found so far. It can be seen by anyone who enters the Volo auto museum.
An auto expert, from Sidney, Allan Levinson believes that the car is a four-door Sedan de Ville specially customized for Elvis Presley. Changes have been made by the american company Sunroof, same that built a car for Dean Martin also. The vehicle was purchased by Presley in 1974, but remained in his possession only for a few months, Elvis selling the car after that.
It still has license plates from Tennessee and original documents and also can be seen in a series of photos from the ’70s, made in Graceland. Cadillac is not the only car that belonged to Elvis and passed on to several owners over time, is currently owned by Volo Auto Museum.
Another Cadillac from 1972, which had once been also in the possession of the rock and roll king, was put on sale at an auction in Santa Monica in 2013, but not sold. This model, like the one in ’74, was modified by the american Sunroof company. But unlike the pink copy, the latter was kept by Elvis until his death.
The car was at Graceland until 1995, when it was auctioned along with other collectibles that were related to Elvis Presley.


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Amazon reveals number of Prime members for first time
Aimed at students, Samsung launches smartphone without internet connectivity
Telegram chat app blocked in Russia
Spotify working on new version of free music service
German court bails former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont
Google Audiobook launched in India, available on Play Store
25 January 2018, 01:47 | Ricardo Garza
Head of Industrial Design for Home speaks about the Google Home Mini during a launch event in San Fra
Any device compatible with Google's voice-controlled virtual assistant can play your audiobooks for you with a simple command of "OK Google, read my book". The audiobook launch is being kicked off with some incredible discounts to attract users onboard and start listening to their content. Titles including Ready Player One sell for $6.99, Fire and Fury goes for $8.99 while Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is up for $7.77. As the name suggests, you can now instruct your Google Assistant - regardless of the device you're using - be it your Android phone, tablet or Google Home to read a book of your choice.
Google is now into audiobooks.
Google's decision to launch an audiobook store has therefore increased its ability to compete. Amazon-owned Audible, the top provider of audiobooks, has not been supported on Home and other speakers with Google Assistant.
Audiobooks are available on many platforms such as Android, iOS, Chromecast, Android Wear, Android Auto and the web. Google has confirmed that it has started selling audiobooks on the Google Play Store. Each audiobook title ranges in price from $35 to $15 per title and you get 50% off your first purchase. There is a good chance that you only think of the Play store as Google's app store for Android, but it has long features support for movies, TV shows, magazines and ebooks, too.
Unlike some audiobook services, you don't need a subscription to be able to listen to the titles that you want. You will be able to also purchase the books without a subscription, which is how it works using other platforms like Audible.
Prior to this leak, we'd heard nothing about Google's plans to enter the audiobook space.
Adding Google Assistant to the mix only makes things that much more appealing.
I listen to a lot of audiobooks, 99.9% of them via Audible, so while I am interested in this development, I can't see myself changing services - it's sort of like when Apple Music landed.
South Africa's ANC debating Zuma's exit, no date agreed
The end to the USA government shutdown implied a shift to risk-on trade, said Rand Merchant Bank currency strategist John Cairns. Zuma could be removed through a motion of no confidence in parliament or by the ANC's National Executive Committee.
Durant stars in warriors' win
And we wanted to share our insight on what we felt was going on and what we felt like we could do to help. "So we know. Kevin Durant led the way for the Warriors with 32 points, 16 of which came in the third quarter.
Justice Department Wants to Re-Try Mendendez
Another was a dispute over port security equipment involving a company Melgen owned in the Dominican Republic. On Friday the senator's office issued a statement batting away the case against Menendez as baseless.


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The broader issues of how we automate is important. As methods like AI start to be inserted into the business process, clear choices will have to be explored, made and continually monitored and improved. A good article in McKinsey:
" ... Automation is happening, and it will bring substantial benefits to businesses and economies worldwide, but it won’t arrive overnight. A new McKinsey Global Institute report finds realizing automation’s full potential requires people and technology to work hand in hand. .... "


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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on a problem that's reached "an epidemic proportion:" the growing use of e-cigarettes and vape pens by young people.
The flavored devices are commonly marketed as an alternative to cigarettes to help adult smokers quit. But one local school resource officer says Treasure Valley teenagers are becoming regular users, even causing nicotine addictions in middle school kids.
"It's become... It's almost like fidget spinners," said Meridian Police Officer David Gomez. "Everybody has to have one."
In only four weeks of the new school year, the Mountain View High School Resource Officer says he's given out at least 20 vape violations.
"Man, I'm getting 4.0 students who have never tried it before, who are trying it and getting hooked on the nicotine."
He says kids and teens are even smoking them in class.
"Parents don't understand that these actually have nicotine in them. So kids are getting nicotine addicted. They cannot make it through a class without having to smoke on a vape."
And as the devices get smaller and sleeker, they become easier to conceal.
"[Students] take a rubber band and they rubber band it around their risk with a long sleeve shirt. And they'll take a puff on it, and as long as they let the smoke out nice and slow-- nobody's gonna see it."
One of the most popular vape products, the Juul, recently raised their legal purchasing age from 18 to 21. But Gomez says, in the Treasure Valley, the trend has seen no signs of diminishing.
"We are seeing it in the middle schools, this summer we were getting kids, ya know, 12 years old, 13 years old, who have their own vapes already."
How are these kids getting their hands on these things?
Officer Gomez says it's pretty simple: he says, more often than not, they'll have a friend or a contact who is of legal purchasing age, to go into a store or online, purchase the product, and then redistribute them to minors.
"I would say 90% of the kids are buying them from 18-year-olds that they know."
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has declared youth vaping an "epidemic," and is stepping up efforts to thwart the illegal use of these products by minors.
"The best way to stop this is just going to be parents being on top of things," said Gomez. "Do car checks, do phone checks, do room checks. Because this is not something you want your kids starting."


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During the sale, customers can get huge discounts on leading smartphone manufacturing companies like Redmi, Oppo, Realme, OnePlus, iQoo, and Xiaomi, among others. This is another chance to grab your favorite tech products if you missed last month’s Amazon Prime Day sale.
Check top discounted items during Kickstarter early deals 2022
Realme’s Narzo 50A
The leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme’s Narzo 50A has been listed during the sale. Interested customers can purchase the feature-loaded handset with a flat discount of Rs. 2,500 at a price of Rs. 10,990.
In order to provide the extra discount on handsets, the firm has introduced the exchange offer on this deal, where customers can enjoy up to Rs. 10,350.00 by giving their old phones to the company.
Tecno Spark 9
Launched at the starting price of Rs 13,499, the Tecno Spark 9 (6GB RAM variant) can be purchased at the discounted price of Rs. 9,499.
Feature-loaded smartphone Redmi Note 11T that comes with 6GB RAM is available at discounted price of Rs 14,999. Customers can save up to Rs 6,000 on this deal during Kickstarter early deals sale.
For those, who are looking for the latest laptops, Amazon is offering a huge discount of up to Rs. 44,701 on top laptop brands including HP, Asus, Dell, and more. All the discounted laptops will come with the latest chipset and 11th generation Intel Core i7 processor that will allow users to work smoothly on heavy applications like Lightroom and Premier Pro.


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A little over a month ago, I snapped up a bargain FTSE 100 business. That’s what I thought at the time, anyway.
The company in question was Diageo (LSE: DGE). The shares were near a two-year low – down 22% from a recent high – and it struck me as an attractive price to buy into the Guinness and Tanqueray seller. I was pleased with my purchase and expected good things from my shares.
You can imagine my chagrin to see the firm announce a profits warning last week, which saw the shares plunge 15% in only a day. It was the biggest one-day drop in the company’s history and I opened a position only days before. Deary me.
As irritating as I found it, we Foolish (capital F!) investors know that this kind of thing is par for the course. Sooner or later, you get a bit unlucky with timing.
Either way, the situation now is that I’m looking at a company I thought was underpriced and is now 15% cheaper. Is this a massive opportunity to snap up more cheap shares? Or did I get it all wrong and Diageo is not the bargain I thought it was? Let’s explore.
I’ll address the big news first. Last Friday, Diageo warned operating profit growth will slow in the six months until the end of December. Slowing sales of its whiskies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) seems to be the root cause.
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like it should be a massive issue. LAC makes up only 11% of total revenue and the sales are expected to be down about 20%. The slowdown is a tiny portion of sales and growth is expected as normal in its four other divisions, namely Asia Pacific, North America, Africa and Europe.
Those aren’t earth-shattering numbers and, from this news alone, it seems like the sell-off might be an overreaction. However, there are other causes for concern.
Firstly, I’m not impressed with how the firm has handled its investor relations here. The 28 September trading statement was upbeat. Sales outlook was good. I bought my shares shortly after, so it irked me to see a profits warning so soon after.
Erratic communication like this is not what I want to see as an investor, and it makes me wonder what’s going on in the boardroom. New CEO Debra Crew only took over this summer, and it’s hard not to see this as a poor reflection on her. Is this a taste of what to expect under her stewardship? Let’s hope not.
Time to sell?
A second issue is why sales have pulled back. The company blamed the slowing global economy, which makes sense on the surface. But alcohol stocks are seen as defensive. Historically, alcohol sells throughout recessions and economic crises as people don’t give up their drinking habits.
Some speculation that interested me is that Diageo’s focus on premium spirits is the issue. People are still drinking. They’re just opting for low-price spirits rather than the top-shelf stuff that Diageo primarily sells.
Taking it all in, last week’s sell-off seems a touch overblown to me. I wish I had bought in a few days later of course, but I’m still happy to hold the shares.


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Aiming to become the ‘Shopify for NFTs’, Berlin-based technology company FUEL has raised €1.5 million. The pre-seed round saw the participation of investors, including NYC-based FintechCollective, London-based Seedcamp and Notion Capital with their pre-seed vehicle, Pioneers. Angels and experts, including Bitstamp CTO David Osojnik, Gumtree co-founder Michael Pennington and Indeed founder Paul Forster also joined the round.
Founded by Csongor Barabasi, Thanh Binh Tran, Stefan Tietze and Patrice Deckert, the platform aims to bring NFTs further into the mainstream - in the hands of millions of creators and their fans. Creators can now launch, manage and grow their NFT collection using a broad range of tools seamlessly integrated under the roof of the FUEL platform.
Talking about the potential of the segment, Stefan Tietze and Patrice Deckert, co-founders, FUEL, said: “Last year, $25 billion worth of NFTs were traded globally, up from $95 million in 2020, and artists like Steve Aoki, Nas, Grimes, and brands like Lamborghini entered the space. The art establishment also sees value in the space, with brokers like Sotheby’s entering the market.”
According to Csongor Barabasi, co-founder, FUEL, even though there has been a growing adoption, NFTs are still in an early phase. “Currently, the barrier of entry for creators is very high. The market has outgrown the basic sales functionality of aggregation platforms like OpenSea, and creators need more tools to succeed in the next phase,” he said.
Talking about the company’s plans in the near future, Thanh Binh Tran, co-founder, FUEL added: “The company is already working with “Tomorrowland-DJs Mat.Joe and several other yet-to-be-announced top artists and labels. We will launch several NFT drops in the next couple of weeks.”


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The 2020 holiday season will end the most tumultuous year many of us have ever seen. What 2020 has shown us is that there is no constant or normal, and holiday shopping will be no exception.
No doubt COVID-19 has caused a surge in online spending — in fact a recent Power Reviews 2020 Holiday Consumer Survey shows that 64% of respondents will spend more online this year than they did in 2019. And that increase in online spending will not fizzle after COVID-19, as people get used to the speed and convenience online affords.
Aside from the increase in online spending, this year has brought on the swift emergence and growth of several online shopping trends, and they are here to stay.
1. Live streaming and video
With COVID-19-induced social distancing, retailers have an opportunity to create customer experiences virtually through live streaming video, enabling up-close-and-personal connections with customers that will be nearly impossible in person come December.
Retailers will be able to customize content and produce live experiences such as events, promotions, demos, product introductions and live fashion shows. Using this technology to attract consumers to look closer at products and services through a different lens, combined with a convenient purchasing mechanism will be a win for both retailer and customer.
2. Online appointments
Pre-pandemic, outside of the Apple Genius Bar, online appointments were barely a thing. But with the onset of COVID-19, more retailers are investing in appointment technology, especially those merchants selling big ticket items with complex buying features.
Online appointments are on the rise because of the personalization, tailored experience and up-close engagement it offers customers. The beauty of the pre-arranged appointment is you can either be in-store or online, and control the environment for the best and safest experience.
3. Click and collect/curbside pickup
There will be no downtick in this trend as the holidays approach: no fuss, no parking issues and way fewer hassles. According to Power Reviews 2020 Holiday Consumer Survey, blended cross-channel purchase methods will increase, and 55% say they will use curbside pickup more this year than they did last.
The thought of shopping online and waiting for your packages to be delivered touch-free curbside to your warm car will make the holiday season — and your ever growing “to do” list — much more manageable.
4. Contactless payment
Even pre-COVID-19, banks and retailers were making investments in contactless payments. With the hygienic risks of handling money, and the risk of person-to-person payment transactions, contactless payments will become more commonplace as we wait this pandemic out.
5. Mobile device purchasing
According to eMarketer, 73% of e-commerce sales will take place on a mobile device by the end of 2021. Retailers must be prepared to make holiday transactions as seamless to do in a car, train or soccer field as it is done on your laptop.
6. Social spending
For Gen Z and millennials, who grew up on social media and are basically tethered to their mobile devices, social purchasing is a done deal. Being constantly connected to all forms of social media, whether Instagram, Snapchat, Monkey, YouTube and especially TikTok, embedded shopping links are the “new black” of online purchasing.
With this generation pioneering cultural trends, and the increase of influencers and Hollywood constantly logged on, retailers need to immerse their brands in social media, keeping in mind that relevance, authenticity and being socially and politically aware are factors that could make or break their brand.
7. In this crazy world, keep traditions alive
No matter how tech savvy we are, keep in mind that many of the traditions we have grown up with and know and love will be altered this year. You may need to book an appointment to see Santa and hope he photographs well with a mask on; caroling may have to happen over video.
Above all, remember it is all about the relationship. For retailers, building and continuing on with long lasting relationships and improving upon the customer experience is the ultimate goal, even if technology has to help get you there.
John Federman is CEO of JRNI, a company designed to facilitate powerful personalized experiences that increase conversion and revenue, customer loyalty and lifetime value, both in person and remotely. Companies rely on JRNI’s scheduling platform to deliver personal actions across touchpoints — appointments, events, queuing — and optimize resources to deliver superior quality experiences.
For retailers, the holiday season is here. Succeeding in the next few months and into 2024 requires analyzing and understanding shoppers. Here to help retailers strategize, RIS presents our fourth annual guide to peak selling season.


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In our first piece covering January’s new car sales, we looked into overall sales across the industry as well as a breakdown by vehicle segment. This time around we’ll focus on how different makes and models fared last month.
New car sales by brand
The story of the new car market has practically continued from last year, with the numbers pointing to similar fortunes for most of the nation’s leading car brands.
Toyota, as ever, was out in front, selling 14,809 vehicles last month, a comparable decrease of 7.2% versus January 2019. Mazda and Hyundai were the next most-popular brands, despite sharp falls in each of their respective sales. Mazda posted a sales decline of 29.5%, falling to 6,695 units. This was still far in front of Hyundai, which could only muster 5,443 sales amid a fall of 12.3%.
However, Mitsubishi was arguably one of the hardest-hit manufacturers, with its sales slumping 23.4% year-on-year. That was enough to ensure that the brand fell out of the top three, despite faring better than most of its peers last year, even reporting the odd month where sales grew.
Once again, however, the sole bright spot of the new car industry was Kia, which defied all the odds and saw its sales increase once again! The company recorded sales of 4,705 units in January, which was 1.2% higher than the corresponding month from 2019. Kia remains the only brand among the top-ten that has consistently grown sales in recent time, a feat that cannot be described as anything other than extraordinary given the state of the market.
The other consistent result we saw play out was yet another disastrous month for the Holden brand, as sales dived 36.6% to just 2,641 units. It’s no surprise that just a few weeks since that result, word has come through that the brand will be retired from Australia at the end of the year.
New car sales by model
Another month, another first-place finish for the Toyota HiLux, which remains atop the chart for Australia’s best-selling vehicles. The gap between it and the second-place Ford Ranger was more than 10%, however, it’s worth noting that sales for the HiLux actually fell sharply year-on-year by a significant 24.9%. Meanwhile, Ford actually saw an increase in the number of Rangers that left its showroom floors, up by 2.3%. Is a change of guard looming at the top?
Surprisingly, across the top-ten models sold last month, five of them recorded an increase in sales. The other positive results not already mentioned include the Toyota RAV4, up 27.2% as the new-generation continues to win over motorists, and the Mitsubishi Triton, with sales increasing by 22.3%. The Hyundai i30 and Kia Cerato round out the winners list, up 7.8% and 5.2% respectively.
Meanwhile, Mazda’s poor month became clearer courtesy of the company’s sales data, with sales of the CX-5 and Mazda3 tumbling 20.8% and 53% respectively. Much has been made of the company’s decision to change tact last year with respect to pricing, and suffice to say, the market has not responded favourably in any shape or form since that move.


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An analysis conducted by Marie and Jerry Thursby for the National Academies Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable titled Here or There: A Survey of Factors in Multinational R&D Location records the findings of a survey of US and European firms that recently established, or plan to establish, R&D sites in an emerging economy. The top 10 reasons for choosing a selected location were the country’s growth potential, followed by the availability of highly qualified personnel, the existence of local customers, the strength of intellectual-property protection, the ease of negotiating intellectual-property rights, the inherent cost of conducting R&D, the ease of collaborating with local universities, the availability of university faculty with scientific or engineering expertise, the absence of regulatory and other restrictions, and the suitability of the country as an export platform.
The bottom line is that the United States is today a net importer of high-technology products. It took slightly less than a decade for the US trade balance in high-technology manufactured goods to shift from a positive $40 billion in 1990 to a negative $50 billion in 2001. In fact, Americans now pay almost as much to foreign firms for imports as they pay to their own government in taxes. In a recent article, Business Week asks, “Why is that important?” and then answers its own question: “Because for the past 70 years Washington has been the 800-pound gorilla, more powerful by far than any other force in the US economy. That’s not true any more.” As USA Today (speaking of foreign financial reserves) puts it, “Developing nations have gone from beggar to banker.” Indeed, in just 7 years the United States has tripled its foreign debt. And although a great deal of attention has been focused on China and India because of their size and potential, The Economist reminds us that “these two together made up less than one-quarter of the total increase in emerging economies’ gross domestic product last year .” Such is the magnitude of the competitiveness challenge that is sweeping the globe in this chaotic new-world disorder.
But is it not good that other nations prosper? In the view of the National Academies’ competitiveness committee, the answer is a resounding “Absolutely.” In a world in which half the population lives on less than $2 per day, a prosperous world will almost certainly be a safer world, not to mention a more humane world. Similarly, a prosperous world will provide more potential customers for US products and cheaper and more diverse products for US consumers. Prosperity is not necessarily a zero-sum game, but there will inevitably be winners and losers. The National Academies’ Gathering Storm committee, in its work on competitiveness, sought to ensure that America would remain among the winners.


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Back in 2017 when Apple launched the all-new iPhone X, it was heralded as a brave step forward for the company. It was the first of a new generation of devices that ditched the home button in favor of Face ID, letting people unlock their phones with a glance. Apple had done its homework. Despite peoples' reservations about the replacing a reliable button with something new and unknown, people agreed the new technology was faster, easier, and it "just worked." Then the pandemic arrived in 2020, and suddenly a lot of people, your humble author included, wished we could go back to having a home button, or some sort of in-display fingerprint sensor, since Face ID wasn't designed to be compatible with a face mask. The only reliable "workarounds" were removing your mask so it could see your face (not always easy to do), typing in your passcode after Face ID failed (time consuming), or using an Apple Watch to unlock the phone (not everyone has one of those). Now it appears Apple has found a middle-ground: allowing Face ID to work while wearing a mask. There's one big caveat though; according to 9to5mac, it only works on iPhone 12 and newer models.
The feature was trotted out with the latest iOS beta, version 15.4, and instead of scanning your entire face, the phone will scan the "unique features around the eye area to authenticate.” 9to5mac(Opens in a new window) also notes that in addition to details around your eyes, it can also identify several pairs of glasses. Wearing different sets of glasses in different locations will not be a problem.
Despite adding this feature to the beta, Apple states, "Face ID is most accurate when it’s set up for full-face recognition only." Still, if you have a newer iPhone and want to live life dangerously:
Upon installing the beta software (available only for developers(Opens in a new window)), the OS will prompt you to set up Face ID with a mask. The new setup routine also lets you check a box saying you wear glasses, so it will scan your face both with and without your spectacles on, to get a complete picture.Setting up Face ID with a mask in iOS 15.4 beta. (Image: 9to50mac)
This newest addition to its software by Apple is an admission of two things: Masks will probably be a thing for quite a while longer, and it's definitely not bringing back the home button despite people asking for it since COVID-19 arrived in 2020. Apple is also obviously not going to be adding an in-display fingerprint reader like its biggest rivals, including Samsung and Google, much to the chagrin of many Apple aficionados. Still, if Face ID is just as effective with a mask as without, then Apple's solution might just be a best of both worlds scenario - no expensive hardware upgrades that would increase the price of an already pricey phone, and the same functionality as it had previously with full-face ID.
According to 9to5mac, it does appear to work quite well. They write: "In our use so far, Face ID With a Mask has been totally consistent at unlocking iPhone and as fast as using Face ID without a mask (quite a bit faster than using Apple Watch to unlock iPhone)." One additional benefit to the new version of Face ID is you can toggle it on and off without having to rescan your face again.Now Read:


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Sun Life tailors client engagement innovations to fit the cultureBy The IJ Staff | November 14 2017 07:00AM
Operating in diverse markets around the world, Sun Life Financial’s client engagement innovations are often tailored to suit local cultures, says Dean Connor, president and CEO of the insurer.
In the Philippines, for example, Sun Life has created a mobile app game that educates people about critical illness insurance. He described it as similar to Snakes and Ladders. The player gets points as they play the game and various life events happen throughout the game. While he does not think such an approach would fly in Canada, in the Philippines the gamification of critical illness has been “very successful” as a way for Sun Life to engage clients and get them to think about the product. “It has helped grow our business a lot…We’ve got the number one market share in the Philippines. That’s just an example of how we tailor to different markets.”
Teaming up with Telcos
Connor says that in Asia another innovative approach to distribution has been to team up with telcos. Sun Life works with telcos in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and will soon work with one in India. Custom-designed Sun Life products and solutions can be purchased by the telco subscribers via their smartphone or even on a simple mobile phone. The fee for the products is added to the subscriber’s telco bill or deducted from their prepaid card.


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What’s Driving Cannabis Stock Cronos Group?
The stock price of Canadian cannabis producer Cronos Group (TSE:CRON) has seen a stellar run over the last year, rising from levels of roughly CAD 1.80 in June 2017 to about CAD 9 currently. The uptick in the stock price has … In this note, we take a …
Aurora Cannabis Makes a High-Margin Product MoveSmallCapPower (press release)
The US MJ Market is Bigger than Canada’s, even with Federal ProhibitionChasing Markets
all 9 news articles Continue Reading


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ThatGameCompany, the developers behind Flow and, of course, Flower, will be free to develop for consoles other than the PS3 once their next game is out, according to MCV. The recently expanded crack team of coders, now associated with innovative, mainly motion controlled titles, only have PlayStation exclusivity for three games, and they’ve already kicked out two.
There’s nothing stopping them staying with Sony after the next game, mind. Creative Director Jenova Chen only has good things to say about Sony and the PlayStation Network. “At Sony we would like to think we have the foresight to take well-calculated risks which provide us content players cannot find anywhere else and production schedules which make such risks viable.”


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After the cancellation of the 2020 edition, Monaco Yacht Show 2021 came back with a splash. The event may not have experienced record attendance but with 100 superyachts on show, worth a total of $3.6 billion, and a strong roster of exhibitors reporting keen interest from clients, it surpassed most expectations. After a week reporting on the ground at show, several learnings emerged.
Yacht ownership is back – in a big way
Many shipyards are anticipating their most successful year for decades. Italian builder Ferretti Group, for instance, revealed that in the first six months of 2021, its revenues represented around 75% of the entire 2020 turnover. They’re expecting to end the year on a +50% high. Meanwhile, Dutch builder Heesen reported a strong order book with 97% output capacity.
The reason for an increase in demand, suggests Heesen CEO Arthur Brouwer, is the strengthening of a global economy and a 32% increase in the number of billionaires worldwide. Alberto Galassi, CEO of Ferretti Group, echoed this sentiment, adding that during the pandemic, owners and potential owners have realised the value of a yacht as their own “private island”.
Hybrids are set to be the new normal
‘Hybrid’ was the word on everyone’s lips, with numerous announcements across the board. Heesen Yachts announced it will, for the first time, make its entire fleet capable of featuring hybrid solutions. Likewise, Italian builder Benetti, which made a promise to increased its commitment to electric-diesel propulsion, also announced its intention to offer hybrid options across its entire range.
Hydrogen is coming – slowly
During the show, Italian superyacht builder Baglietto unveiled an ambitious BZERO project which converts seawater into power. The innovative propulsion system will integrate hydrogen fuel technology into its hybrid hybrid yachts, which can be activated in zero-emissions mode. The aim is to launch a hybrid seawater-powered yacht by 2025 – the prototype is anticipated to be revealed in 2022.
Design trends remained unaffected by the pandemic
Design was impacted less by the pandemic and more by growing trends which the crisis simply exacerbated. We’re talking lots of glass – from the frameless glass that serves as outer walls on the owner’s deck on Artefact by German builder Nobiskrug, to the 270-degree uninterrupted views in the owner’s cabin, unusually set in the hull of the WHY200 by Monaco-based Wally – and proximity to the water – this year we saw a number of flush aft decks create a fluid inside-out experience. Wellness is also key. Italian builder Tankoa Yachts’ new concept yacht Apache, designed by Alberto Mancini, features incredible water features such as a “flying pool” on the upper deck. Meanwhile the 85m Victorious, available for sale and charter through Burgess, features a beach club that’s more impressive than many hotel spas.
The charter market is booming
Today, there are about 2,900 yachts above 24m available for charter in the world. Demand for chartering was strong in 2020 and figures show it’s been stronger yet this year – although insider reveal that bookings are often more last-minute than usual due to uncertainty over travel restrictions. Fraser reveals that in 2021 so far, its fleet (which comprises 84 yachts of 24m and up) has seen an increase in bookings of 46% on last year – up just over 20% on average. They’re anticipating a busy winter season with almost 2,000 days booked onboard its fleet already.
Some of the best charter yachts on display at the show included Ragnar and Victorious, managed by Burgess; Moskito and Tatiana, managed by IYC (International Yacht Collection); K2 and Yersin, managed by Fraser; and Tranquility, managed by Camper & Nicholsons.
Monaco Yacht Show organisers listened and learnt
The 2021 show was purposefully smaller than usual. SYBAss (Superyacht Builders Association) secretary general Theo Hooning revealed that following the events of previous years, a number of key participants and brands came together to write a letter to show organisers Informa in which they demanded several changes. It appears that organisers listened. Multiple brands we spoke with confirmed the calibre of attendees had improved on previous years, with the bulk of visitors comprising clients and suppliers. On the ground, meanwhile, there was more space to move around, although restricted onboard visits meant less flexible schedules and reduced access. Likewise, Covid regulations meant many of the usual events – a key part of the networking aspect of the show – were unable to take place. Companies such as Ferretti Group made up for this by hosting owners’ events in advance of the show.
Is there a bubble on the horizon?
Insiders tell mixed stories of concern over a 2008-style pending bubble burst – perhaps within two years, one contact suggested – while others boast of strong demand and increasingly sustainable businesses practices set to secure the industry for decades to come. But one thing is for certain: the superyacht industry is on the cusp of an upwards curve which will lead to unprecedented success, in the short term at least.


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After spending more than a decade in development and rotating through multiple directors, Sony’s “Uncharted” movie, based on the popular PlayStation video-game series, is finally set to hit the big screen on Feb. 18, much to the delight of gamers everywhere. For the film’s crew, the challenge was to keep key aspects of the movie true to its source, which has sold more than 40 million copies, making it one of the most popular titles for Sony’s PlayStation console.
Envisioned as playable “Indiana Jones” adventures, the game revolves around Nathan Drake, a bold treasure hunter obsessed with finding ancient prizes and firing off hilarious one-liners. In the film adaptation, Drake is aged down and played by “Spider-Man” star Tom Holland, opposite Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali and Tati Gabrielle, in an original tale about his early, action-packed days.
“Fans will feel the inspiration pulling from what’s genius about the franchise,” says Alex Gartner of Atlas Entertainment, who produced the film alongside Charles Roven, Avi Arad and Ari Arad. “Our gut said to tell a fresh story so there’s something for everybody, whether or not you’re familiar with the IP.”
For gamers, Drake is almost as recognizable as Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog, and for costume designers Marlene Stewart and Anthony Franco, creating his outfit was a balance of paying homage to the games, while also crafting an original look. “There is no game that reflects this particular chapter. It’s kind of a new world and yet we wanted to be very conscious of all the fans who have played this video game,” Stewart says.
In nearly every version of the game, Drake is dressed in a white henley shirt, cargo pants and shoulder harnesses for his weapons, which Franco says was the most challenging costume to design, not only because it was the most iconic to fans but because they needed to have so many of them for the production. “It wasn’t easy to find,” he says. “We had three people constantly on different shopping sites.”
Just like its “Indiana Jones” inspiration, the “Uncharted” games have a sweeping, adventurous musical score that greets players every time they boot up the main menu. However, the film’s composer, Ramin Djawadi, says he wanted to wait until the final, swashbuckling action scene — where Drake battles mercenaries hired by a rival treasure hunter (played by Banderas) aboard an airborne pirate ship — to incorporate the recognizable theme.
“We thought, ‘What would be a good spot to drop this in? The battle at the end,’” Djawadi says. “Visually there are things very close to the game and we could make it fun for the people who know it.”
Yet the composer says knowledge of the PlayStation original isn’t required to enjoy the film. “If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a fun adventure movie for everyone,” he explains.
In addition to adapting the pirate ship battle, the movie features an instantly recognizable action sequence from the games, where Drake is fighting aboard a cargo plane and must hang on for his life after its luggage is jettisoned miles above the ground.
“You have this guy bouncing around, and everything is frenetic energy,” says stunt coordinator Scott Rogers. “We created this arch and used a lack of gravity to our benefit. The scene is broken into two parts. It’s this death-defying climb, and then it becomes a race to hurry up to get back into the plane.”
To balance the breakneck action, Rogers says moments of humor and calm helped give the film a rhythm. “Action, much like comedy, has to have a pace to it, like a roller-coaster,” he says. “You want the audience to hold their breath for a moment, then exhale. You go through a sequence like that, then you let them breathe.”
In adapting the games for the big screen, the “Uncharted” team was sure to keep the video game fans in mind at all times. “My godson, who is 14 years old, plays the games,” says Franco, “and I thought his head was going to blow off when I told him I was doing this movie.”


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CDB DGM – Finance Hasitha Dassanayake and DGM – Liability Portfolio and Sales Isanka Kotigala exchanging the sponsorship cheque with CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe and CEO Aruna Alwis
PLC CEO/General Manager D.P. Kumarage and DGM – Finance and Administration Sanjeewa Bandaranayake exchanging the sponsorship cheque with CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe and CEO Aruna Alwis
First Capital Chief Executive Officer Dilshan Wirasekara, Senior Manager – Business Development and Corporate Planning Kosala Liyanagedara and Manager Branding and Marketing Services Nisansala Munasinghe exchanging the sponsorship cheque with CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe, Vice President Jagath Perera, Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe and CEO Aruna Alwis
Three top companies, Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB), First Capital Holdings PLC and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC (PLC) has come onboard to power the 37th National Conference of Chartered Accountants with Gold sponsorships.
The annual flagship event, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) will be held from 19 to 21 October, under the theme ‘Unleashed Thinking: Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship.’ The conference which has built a reputation as a leading business summit in the country, is expected to attract over 1,500 business leaders including chartered accountants and leaders from other professions.
CDB CEO/Managing Director Mahesh Nanayakkara said that drawing on a legacy driven by an entrepreneurial mind-set galvanized by challenge, innovation being the best and, the CDB ethos aligns well with the fundamentals embedded in the CA Sri Lanka National Conference this year which centres around ‘unleashed thinking’ to promote entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.
“Our overarching platform of financial empowerment and inclusivity is thus driven by this spirit of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, which to us syncs brilliantly with CA Sri Lanka’s ultimate goal of driving this nation to unleash our thought processes, removing ourselves from stereotypes and becoming formidable forces in the region. We at CDB are extremely happy to join CA Sri Lanka in making this a reality,” Nanayakkara said.
First Capital Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Dilshan Wirasekara said that First Capital is delighted to sponsor a benchmark event such as the National Conference of Chartered Accountants for the third successive year. “We see the impact that national level events such as this conference have on the maintenance of high professional standards and practices across the industry as Sri Lanka’s capital market enters the next phase of growth,” he said.
PLC Chief Executive Officer/General Manager D.P. Kumarage said that his company was pleased to be onboard to sponsor the conference for the sixth consecutive year.
“This year’s conference is expected to focus on the potential of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, specifically on how it can benefit Sri Lanka to drive the country to the next level, boosting its standing as a global player in the international business arena.
Reputed as a business summit, the conference aims to stimulate vibrant innovative entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs whilst establishing high profile market leading companies to be ready for the new challenges that they will have to face as a result of disruptive technology, consumer demand and the aspirations of millennial workforce,” he said.
Welcoming the companies onboard, CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe said as a highly respected professional organization, the institute takes it upon their responsibility to give the necessary boost not only to enhance the standing of the accounting and finance professions, but also to be a catalyst in helping Sri Lanka’s achieve its growth goals.
“As a country, we have great potential to be a global player, and we believe this summit which attracts a significant representation of corporate leadership, will be the perfect platform to promote and stimulate upon the importance where both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs can take the lead to help Sri Lanka achieve it’s true potential,” Wickremasinghe said.


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The company additionally sought to deal with growing privateness considerations over personal knowledge being used to coach AI techniques, saying that “no customer knowledge is being shared at any time”. The firm said its new chatbot would supply “informative responses about holiday locations and personalised recommendations for excursions, actions and attraction tickets”. It can be exploring using the expertise in post-holiday buyer communication, language translation of its content material, and in coding.
The German travel firm Tui has began using ChatGPT in its app to supply vacation recommendations, in the newest signal of traditional businesses racing to harness AI. With August being National Black Business Month, there is no higher time to assist the town’s Black-owned bakeries, eateries, food trucks, art galleries, present retailers, boutiques, and tour corporations. It’s with that mentality that the 2023 version of the information, published in June, was created. FDLE officials beforehand informed NBC News that safety will increase were not because of elevated travel and a presidential campaign and that they have been needed compensations to make up for prior shortcomings. Health officers say you can protect your self from dengue and different mosquito-borne diseases through the use of insect repellent.
Helen Skelton Scolded By Fans For Blunder On New Travel Show With Dan Walker
When you consent to information collection on AMP pages you’re consenting to permit us to show personalised adverts that are relevant to you when you’re exterior of the UK. For a chance to safe a three-night stay for as much as six in the signature “B&Burrow” – complete with tunnel entrance – members should go to right here and submit details of their “innocent travel mishap” before midnight on August twenty seventh. And one in five have missed a practice after going to the wrong platform, while 16% have missed a connecting journey because of not leaving themselves sufficient time. The prospect of generative AI chatbots that can comb by way of large amounts of data in seconds has led to predictions of job cuts as humans turn out to be too expensive.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism regulates which countries Chinese tour operators can visit, saying it’s carried out to safeguard citizens travelling overseas. Canada has been left out as China lifted a restrictions on group tours to a quantity of nations, including the US and the UK. We use your sign-up to offer content material in ways you’ve consented to and enhance our understanding of you. This might embody adverts from us and third events based mostly on our data of you. But now, Brits might be rewarded for their blunders, because of a contest the place you could win a keep at a unusual new B&B – designed to resemble a wombat’s burrow.
“Dengue is spread by the bite of an contaminated mosquito and isn’t normally current in Florida. However, contaminated travelers can convey the virus again to Florida mosquitoes,” the Florida Department of Health-Broward mentioned in a health alert. South Florida is the area of the state where most cases of dengue are clustered. Miami-Dade has the vast majority of the worldwide travelers who returned with dengue fever in 2023 with 114 instances; Broward has had 13 cases and Palm Beach has had six instances in 2023.. The company is also answerable for providing protection for out-of-state dignitaries who visit Florida on private and official business, if requested by the governor’s office.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated quickly earlier this yr. It occurred amid a sequence of leaks to Canadian media of stories from home intelligence companies that laid out accusations that China meddled in recent federal elections. Along their journey, the pair tried out plenty of new issues, including canoeing by way of a tunnel. But Helen made a little bit of a blunder as she was describing this a part of their adventure to viewers. Tui’s function has been released to half of UK app customers, with the purpose of introducing it to all “in the subsequent weeks”, a spokesperson said. Of that $9.four million, about $6.three million went toward safety salaries whereas the remaining $3.1 million paid for transportation, the report states.
The number of mentions of “generative AI” in company calls and regulatory filings surged from 214 in November 2022 to 842 by May 2023, based on the info company AlphaSense. It was able to handle a request for “best destinations in France”, providing Paris, Nice, Bordeaux, Lyon and the French Alps as choices and asking the user’s most popular metropolis. “I apologise for the confusion, however I am an AI travel assistant and do not have personal preferences,” it stated.
You may be asked to set these preferences again if you go to non-AMP BBC pages. It additionally emerged that, of those that have had to cough up the cash to fix their travel blunders, this prices customers £143 each time – although some unlucky travellers had to stump up £1,000 or extra. “Despite his best intentions, our character Carl the Wombat generally doesn’t get it fairly right. Our research exhibits lots of us can relate on some degree – from by chance getting on the wrong bus, to forgetting our passports for a world flight. In reality, nearly half (46%), of the two,000 holidaymakers polled, admit they have made a travel mistake – with 47% of those being left out of pocket in consequence. Other high blunders embrace one in three having boarded public transport which is travelling in the incorrect path, while 23% have gone the mistaken way after not paying attention to directions.
The list of protected guests includes dozens of governors from around the country, their households and a few foreign officers. In complete, a hundred ninety circumstances of dengue have been reported in 2023 by Floridians with travel history Travel & Leasuire News to a dengue-endemic areas, including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. Just in the week ending August 5 alone, forty three circumstances of dengue had been reported in individuals who had traveled internationally, in accordance with the Florida Department of Health.


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The House is ready for a stalemate on raising the government’s borrowing authority—which is set to be breached on May 18.. The Republican proposed Full Faith and Credit Act would require the Treasury Department to prioritize its interest and Social Security payments, saying the government can borrow above its limit to cover these expenses.
But the Treasury has already said it cannot prioritize payments if its borrowing limit is reached. The U.S. is set to reach it’s debt ceiling on May 18, then the Treasury will use “extraordinary measures” as long as it can (experts say about two months) to stave off a default. - Read more at The Hill
WHY REGULATORY AGENCIES ARE FURLOUGH-FREE Because of the way they structure their budgets, a handful of federal regulatory agencies including the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Trade Commission are all managing sequestration without furloughs.
The law requires every agency to cut down to the "program, project and activity" (PPA) level within each their budget account. "If a PPA is made up solely of the agency’s salaries (and doesn’t include other items within that PPA), the agency is very limited in how to achieve these savings, and more likely to have to use furloughs," an Office of Management and Budget official told The Hill. "Therefore, the structure of an agency’s budget accounts, and a variety of other factors, also impact whether or not they will be forced to furlough employees to achieve the reductions in spending required under sequestration." - Read more at The Hill
PRIVATE COLLEGES FORCED TO CUT PRICES Private universities are offering record sums of financial aid in order to keep classrooms full and compete with public universities. The average "tuition discount rate" (the reduction off list price after grants and scholarships) hit an all-time high of 45 percent last fall, according to a new survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. And private schools are expected to be even more generous with discounts this fall since enrollment is declining. Early reports from non-top-tier private schools show enrollment targets have fallen 10 percent to 20 percent short. “The jump in aid shows that many colleges are losing pricing power as more families focus on cost and value, with about 65 percent increasing their discount rate in the fall of 2012. Except for the most exclusive schools, private colleges increasingly are vulnerable to the stagnant wages of many families, deepening student debt, the uncertain job market, growing questions about the value of costly four-year degrees and unfavorable demographics,” The Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Simon writes. - Read more at The Wall Street Journal
THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE…PHASED OUT? With ongoing budget pressures, the Marines are becoming an endangered branch. In the age of DOD austerity, they represent low-hanging fruit that could easily be picked from the Pentagon’s tree,” The Fiscal Times’ David Francis writes. They are in the process of scaling down their forces from a peak of 202,100 to 182,100 by 2017 – a drawdown that was quietly announced last year…since the future of warfare is unlikely to require amphibious assault capabilities.” - Read more at The Fiscal Times
COULD AN ONLINE SALES TAX SPLIT HOUSE AND SENATE REPUBLICANS? A bill that allows states to collect online sales taxes is expected to sail through the Senate today, but its fate remains uncertain in the Republican-controlled House.. Currently, states can only require retailers to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state, giving online retailers like eBay and Amazon an advantage since their shoppers’ purchases are often tax-free.
Under the bill, the sales taxes from online purchases would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.
The measure already survived three procedural votes in the Senate before lawmakers left town for a two-week recess. Among the questions for guiding the bill through the House is whether the small business exemption protecting online firms from the tax should be bumped from $1 million in revenues to $10 million, as favored by eBay and News Corp. The measure also faces opposition from anti-tax Republican groups Its fate in the Republican-controlled House remains uncertain. - Read more at The Washington Post


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The telecommunications company Orange has been ordered by the French government. The company will invest 500 million euros in its long-standing copper cable network.
Orange’s copper network, formerly France Telecom, is showing such signs. fatigue. There are quite a few failure reports, and the company cannot provide the same fiber anywhere.
The guarantee of service restoration within 48 hours no longer meets current expectations. From now on, both Orange users and subscribers of other operators will allocate GSM to their fixed-line phones within 24 hours without paying additional fees.
Today, more than 10 million French households are connected to the Internet via optical fiber. According to data from the regulatory agency Arcep, 10.4 million consumers have chosen fiber optics in 2020 alone, including 3.3 million new users.
According to Arcep’s estimates, France has 30.6 million fixed broadband and very fast subscribers (ADSL/VDLS, fiber and cable).


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Week at a glance: SCREENXX 2021 coverage; Festive season - Focus East
Notes from SCREENXX 2021:
Over the last one year, amid the global pandemic and lockdowns, we have all watched fascinated the growth of the digital entertainment sector – OTT to be specific. While the OTT had been burgeoning even before the pandemic hit us, we could say that this sector came on its own during the long months when people remained confined to their homes.
SCREENXX 2021, Adgully’s premier property for Digital Video and OTT, got underway on October 6 to a scintillating start. This year, the event is spread over two days. MX Player is the presenting sponsor and Powered By sponsor is Voot. The event is in association with Inmobi. Gold Partner is PTC Network, while Plum Body Lovin and Park Avenue Grooming are the Gifting Partners.
Day 2 of Adgully’s premier property for Digital Video and OTT, SCREENXX 2021, saw a mix of actors, content creators, OTT platforms, media agencies and brands discuss further fortifying OTT as a space to nurture talent, exploring online video advertising and the rise of audio streaming.
“OTT is at the cusp of becoming a mainstream disruptor of the media & entertainment industry in India,” said Gourav Rakshit, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, while delivering the opening Keynote Address at Adgully’s SCREENXX 2021 Summit & Awards, held yesterday (October 7, 2021).
Subscription video on demand (SVOD) is witnessing a steep growth trajectory in India. According to GlobalData, SVOD service revenue in India is expected to grow at a robust CAGR of 15.9% – from $0.9 billion in 2020 to $1.9 billion in 2025. Day 1 of SCREENXX 2021 saw two leading experts – Ferzad Palia, Head - SVOD and International Business, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, and Louis Boswell, CEO, Asia Video Industry Association – come together for a Fireside Chat on ‘The SVOD play and the Best Monetisation Model’.
India is one of the biggest markets globally for content consumption across screens. The pandemic period and lockdowns saw a tremendous growth in OTT content consumption and we saw families consuming OTT content together. This has led to the requirement of bigger screens to watch digital content and thus the demand for connected TVs with higher specifications and competitive pricing.
As things return to normalcy, there is need to sustain the tremendous growth seen in OTT last year. The panel discussion on ‘Beyond the Pandemic Push – Building on the Momentum’ at SCREENXX 2021 took a look at what kind of growth was seen in the OTT space during the pandemic times and how OTT platforms are strategising to hold on to the large numbers of consumers acquired during this period.
The growing audience base on OTT medium is creating a better field for brands to play and make it a stronger marketing medium. SCREENXX 2021, the largest congregation of the online video industry in India, brought together some leading experts to discuss on ‘OTT: A New-Age Marketing Medium’.
This festive season, Adgully turns the spotlight on the East and North-East markets. As part of this initiative, Adgully spoke to Anand Narang, VP - Marketing and Consumer Experience, Bata India, to find out what the brand has planned for the festive season this year.
In conversation with Adgully, Navarun Sen, President - Panel Division, CenturyPly, speaks about the demand surge seen across India, the company’s online and offline strategies for the festive season and more.
In conversation with Adgully, Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers, speaks about how the jewellery sector is gearing up to meet festive demand this year, how the company is strengthening its omni-channel strategy and making the ‘phygital’ model more seamless, and more.
In conversation with Adgully, Smita Murarka, Chief Marketing Officer, Duroflex, speaks about how the company is ensuring an omni experience for consumers, fortifying national presence through Experience Centers and more.
Other important stories of the week:
After garnering huge traction on Voot with ‘Bigg Boss OTT’, the reality show has begun its innings on television. Meanwhile, Viacom18 is all geared with India’s first entertaining quiz show – ‘The Big Picture’, which will be aired on Colors. In an interaction with Adgully, Mahesh Shetty, Head - Network Sales, Viacom18, speaks about the expectations from Colors’ marquee properties, ad revenue growth expected during the festive season and H2 this year, the strong performance by regional channels and much more.
The drugs and Bollywood nexus once again came to the fore with the arrest of actor Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan and seven others by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) from a cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
To commemorate Gandhiji’s 152nd birth anniversary, BYJU’S, released ‘Bapu Ki Awaaz’, a special film that celebrates the Mahatma’s thoughts and ideals. Featuring veteran actor Padma Shri awardee Manoj Kumar, this film celebrates four real-life heroes who have gone above and beyond to carry forward the legacy and philosophy left behind by Mahatma Gandhi in their everyday lives.
Once again the server issues hit Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram users at 8:40 pm IST on October 3, 2021, according to reports. The Facebook-owned trio of social media platforms went down. All the three platforms, Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram issued an official statement on Twitter, which was inundated with memes and fury about the social media services being down.
While the Facebook-owned trio of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp faced global outage yesterday due to some technical failure, Twitter had become the savior in connecting to the globe.
Amid a 6-hour outage of Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram services around the world, the co-founder Mark Zuckerberg took to the internet to apologize for the “disruption”. The interruption also lost Zuckerberg a lot of money, as his personal wealth plunged by $7 billion in just a few hours.
Zenith forecasts that home-appliance advertising in 12 key markets – Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, which between them account for 74% of total global adspend – will grow ahead of advertising as a whole in 2021, expanding by 12.6% while total advertising grows by 11.5%.
India is home to one of the longest festive seasons across the globe. Kicking off as early as August and continuing till the middle of January the following year, Indians have a reason to celebrate nearly once every fortnight during this period.
In this interaction with Adgully, Abhijit Sanyal, Chief Strategy Officer, Stationery Division at Navneet, speaks about the marketing strategy adopted for the ‘Get Well Soon India’ campaign, recovery and revival of stationery brands in FY2022, Brand Youva’s social media strategy to amp up its engagement with customers and more.
Twitter on Wednesday stated that it has made a deal to sell app advertising speciality firm MoPub. MoPub’s selling amount will be put into building revenue-generating features at Twitter and promoting growth at the one-to-many broadcasting platform.


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The Angry Birds franchise is once again spreading its wings with multiple new titles, and one in particular, Angry Birds Next, is a multiplayer game that will be making its nest on multiple platforms.
In fact, Finnish developer Rovio is creating a total of 10 new games, both in and outside of the Angry Birds series.
A flock of titles
As reported by Gamingonphone, Rovio is soon to release Hunter Heroes, Hunter Assassin 2, and has already soft-launched an idle puzzle game in the Moomins franchise titled Moomin: Puzzle and Design.
Most upcoming titles utilise the Angry Birds IP, such as the Bad Piggies sequel aptly named Bad Piggies 2. The series is an Angry Birds spinoff wherein players play on the side of the pigs, not the birds. Bad Piggies 2 was originally revealed via TikTok last year.
An Angry Birds RPG is also officially in the works, under development by the Copenhagen studio formerly known as Darkfire Games. Little else is known about the game at present.
Similarly, Rovio has teased what seems likely to be a novel-based Angry Birds title as the first game to be developed by Rovio Toronto, a studio first revealed in September 2021 and headed by industry veteran Julie Beaugrand.
The aforementioned Angry Birds Next, meanwhile, has been revealed with slightly more information. It is set to be the next major game in the series, featuring multiplayer and cross-platform gameplay in what may be an attempt to grow the franchise’s fanbase beyond mobile.
One month after Rovio pulled its games from Russia and Belarus due to the conflict in Ukraine, the Angry Birds catalogue of games surpassed five billion downloads worldwide. The company proceeded to show strong financial results despite the mobile gaming industry’s decline in Q1 2022, defying the trend by growing revenue 26 percent. Since then, Rovio's successes have continued with an 8.4 percent year-on-year revenue increase in Q3.
WIldlife Studios recently opened Stellar Core games in Helsinki, Finland, with studio director Serdar Soganci being the former head of studio at Rovio.


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Published: May 20, 2016, 1:16 am
Organization Provides Immediate Charitable Assistance to Those in Need
Discrimination by organizations against individuals with disabilities is all too common in the U.S. It is important for people with disabilities to seek support in standing up against businesses that create barriers preventing or violating their civil rights. It is also all too common that many Americans with disabilities go without items that they need, which thereby prevents them from living their lives freely and actively. As Civil Rights Champions, Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities (AID.org) was formed in order to improve the lives of individuals with (Read more...
Published: May 19, 2016, 1:11 pm
You may have heard about new overtime rules from the Department of Labor. It’s not all about bathroom laws. Michael Kelsheimer, author of the Employer Handbook, broke down the new rules in Federal Changes to Overtime Exemptions Alert.
In a gross over-simplification, employees that oversee others, i.e, manager, were exempt from overtime if they earned more than $23,660 year. Come December 1, that amount is increased to $47,476 per year.
So that means anyone earning less than that can no longer be exempt no matter how many employees they oversee and will be entitled to overtime pay (Read more...
Published: May 19, 2016, 1:00 pm
Branding is one of the major pain points for entrepreneurs.
Small businesses find this the most difficult part of gaining traction with their brands, and most give up within five years of opening according to research.
But this guide is going to help you with that. You are going to learn about some of the major mistakes that small businesses tend to make so you can survive your first year of entrepreneurship.
Related Article: Real Talk: 6 Things No One Told You About Personal Branding
Failing to Understand Brand Power
A strong brand is extremely advantageous, from the perspective (Read more...
Published: May 18, 2016, 4:32 pm
For many persons, a major goal they hope to attain is to become financially successful. However, with a tough economy, this continues to prove difficult, and individuals are now scrambling to find different ways to make ends meet, by venturing into businesses that require minimal capital and are low-risk. Eric Barnes, owner at www.Crizzleinc.com, is one individual who has experienced several frustrating and low-paying jobs, and has now turned to wholesaling real estate as his pathway to financial freedom – an opportunity he shares with readers in his new e-book “How To Make Money With Real Estate (Read more...
Published: May 17, 2016, 10:00 pm
Walk down an aisle in Walmart and you’ll be met with blue signs and yellow smiling faces showing off their “everyday low price” items.
It’s a pricing strategy that’s at the core of their brand. They built their entire business around a bargain pricing strategy.Looking at the Walmart business model alone, it would make sense to assume low prices are what customers want. After all, cheap products have enabled the retailer to open 10,000 retail stores, employ millions of people, and gross $476 billion in sales in 2014.
The strategy, according to Sam Walton, founder of (Read more...
Published: May 17, 2016, 2:00 pm
Apple Music has recently launched an update in its application for Android which gives its users access to music videos previously only exclusive to iOS users.
Now Android users can enjoy Apple Music videos for a monthly fee.
Remembering that Apple Music has only recently launched its official Apple Music application to Android last November; it has taken off and is gaining ground fast in the short time it has been launched.
Why has a giant such as Apple taken such a leap as to allow the availability of its coveted music app to Android in the first place (Read more...
Published: May 16, 2016, 7:45 pm
Operating an online store presents an excellent opportunity for a source of passive income, but many people don’t know where to start. Just a few easy steps can get you off the ground and turning a profit. Read on to find out just how to break into online sales and gain financial freedom.
1. Choose an Awesome Product
There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding what to sell. Personal interest plays a small role — it’s more fun to sell things you are passionate about — but it’s also important to consider the quality of a (Read more...
Published: May 16, 2016, 7:00 pm
If you were given a choice right now, which would you spend money on: a Tiffany & Co. sterling silver bracelet, or a three-day trip to the Bahamas?
This new shift in spending is most evident on social media platforms, where consumers, especially Millennials, post status updates and pictures of, you guessed it, experiences.
From their recent vacation to the Alps, brunch with friends at the famous coffee shop downtown, to snap shots of the pizza delivery guy carrying a bouquet of roses: buyers are getting less concerned with expensive merchandise and opting for more priceless moments.
When did (Read more...
Published: May 16, 2016, 4:59 pm
For well over a decade, music has been an easy commodity to download, copy and pass along to friends for free—and artists as well as record labels have paid a high price. Yet despite attempts—or rather promises—to level the playing field for all stakeholders, no sharing platform has changed that backward momentum, until now.
Edge Music Network—a gamified video syndication platform founded by Elizabeth Vargas and backed by John Paul Dejoria; founder of VH1 Classic, Eric Sherman; lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler; lead singer of The Who, Roger Daltrey; and drummer of Queen, Roger Taylor; amongst others—aims to reverse (Read more...
Published: May 13, 2016, 5:00 pm
In today’s competitive landscape, businesses need to reach their increasingly savvy women consumers amidst a sea of marketplace choices, breaking through the clutter with products that offer up everything from quality to trending styles to cost-effective pricing.
Based on Influence Central’s work with the nation’s top consumer brands, as well as our in-depth consumer research studies, we’ve outlined 10 ways businesses can reach women consumers in today’s connected marketplace.
Related Article: Marketing to the Mobile Man and the Mobile Woman
1. Know the Impact of Social in Influencing Purchase Decisions
As women consumers seek out new products, they now (Read more...


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Google News article The Latest: SMM provider SMM provider has denied making ‘no advertising’ statement on API source Google news article SMM has been denied using the term ‘no advertisements’ on its API, after a spokesperson claimed the company would ‘never’ use the term.
In an email to Google employees, SPMC said it would ‘not ever’ use that phrase.
‘We have a very strict policy of no advertising on our API, and we will never ever use that term.
In the event we do use the phrase, we will continue to ensure it’s clear, and our API is always available and open for all to use.’
The only way we can claim we are using the API is if you provide us with a detailed explanation of what you are using our API for and how we can use it, as it will be of great benefit to us.’SMM said it had not received any such requests from the API provider, and was using its own API instead.
The API is designed to help developers build products that can be used on the web.
The API is also a key tool for the social media companies which rely on it to build their websites and apps.
Google declined to comment on the matter.


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By ALICE FUNG and NICOLE KO
The Associated Press
HONG KONG (AP) — The Lunar New Year holiday is usually a busy period for flower farms in Hong Kong, which gear up to sell plum blossoms, orchids and daffodils at flower markets during the festive season. But the pandemic and restrictions on such festive markets this year has taken a toll on many farms, who worry that they may be left with an oversupply of flowers.
Traditionally, Lunar New Year fairs—known as “flower markets’’ in Cantonese—are held before the holidays, with thousands of florists and festive goods vendors hawking their wares to the public. This year, the Hong Kong government will implement restrictions on such markets, which can only run at half-capacity and shortened business hours.
The policy has prompted concerns from farm owners like Yeung Siu-lung, who runs one of Hong Kong’s largest orchid farms. To prepare for the festive season, he had grown over 30,000 pots of orchids in 10 greenhouses at Hong Kong’s rural New Territories.
Yeung, who had initially planned to have 16 stalls in flower markets, is now planning alternative arrangements to sell his supply of orchids, including selling them online or encouraging buyers to visit the farms directly.
Lunar New Year is traditionally a boost for some businesses in Hong Kong, especially retail businesses. There is usually a big seasonal sale of festive items such as holiday snacks, gifts and household decorations, which often include flowers.
Flower farms like Yeung typically make about 50% of their profits from the Lunar New Year season alone, according to business analyst Francis Lun.
Pinky Chan is one of Yeung’s customers who drove an hour to his farm to buy orchids. Amid the ongoing pandemic, Chan thought it was still important to create a festive atmosphere amid difficult times.
“We Chinese people feel happier if our homes are filled with red and green during the Lunar New Year,’’ Chan said. “Because of the pandemic, we are all not very happy, we are not able to meet with our families. So I hope buying a pot of flowers for my parents can make them feel a bit happier.’’


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Tester bill requires Homeland Security Dept. to buy American
Bipartisan measure will create jobs, spur U.S. manufacturing
(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester’s newest bill would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to purchase its supplies from American manufacturers.
Tester’s bipartisan bill, called the Berry Amendment Extension Act, requires the department to buy clothing, equipment, and other provisions from U.S. producers. The Defense Department has operated under a similar requirement since Congress passed the original “Berry Amendment” in 1941.
“American tax dollars shouldn’t go overseas when American businesses and workers make quality products here at home,” Tester said. “It's common sense that the men and women who protect our country should wear and use American-made goods to do their jobs.”
Tester’s bill covers Homeland Security’s purchases of uniforms, footwear, tents, field packs, and other textile-based equipment. It provides exceptions for small and emergency purchases, products unavailable from American manufacturers, and certain commercially-available textile products.
Dana Gleason, Chief Designer of Mystery Ranch, a Bozeman-based company that specializes in multi-use backpacks, says the change will benefit American manufacturers and create Montana jobs.
“Mystery Ranch would like to thank Senator Jon Tester for his leadership role in promoting American-made products,” Gleason said. “This legislation will add jobs at Mystery Ranch’s newly expanded Bozeman plant by providing the Department of Homeland Security with top-notch American-made equipment.”
Tester’s bill mirrors a provision in the Recovery Act that required Homeland Security to purchase textiles and apparel products manufactured in the United States.
Tester, Montana’s only member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, introduced the Berry Amendment Extension Act with Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). It is available online HERE.