text:
Theme announced for 2022 International Credit Union Day
Event scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 20
WASHINGTON, DC (July 27, 2022) — This year’s theme for International Credit Union (ICU) Day is “Empower Your Financial Future with a Credit Union™,” which will take place on Thursday, October 22.
International Credit Union Day festivities include community fundraisers, contests, picnics, and parades. Sponsored by CUNA Strategic Services partner Zogo Finance, the annual celebration aims to help more people improve their financial well-being through accessible and affordable products and services provided by their local credit union.
“Ultimately our goal is for more people to understand the important role credit unions play in their community,” said Megan Crowson, manager of consumer engagement for CUNA. “If we can encourage someone to reach out to a credit union for help on their financial journey, then this program was a success!”
To help credit unions celebrate and further their mission, CUNA offers a wide range of resources including customizable materials as well as no-cost and fee-based creative bundles designed to educate consumers about the value credit unions provide.
No-cost resources include:
- Coloring Page
- Social Media kits
- Press Release
For-fee resources include:
- Design Bundle (allows credit union customization on posters, videos etc.)
- Customized Video
- Celebrations Store (t-shirts, cups, piggy banks and more)
Leading up to International Credit Union Day, World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is hosting an “EMPOWER” fundraiser and story collection campaign during the first 20 days of October.
EMPOWER encourages the U.S. credit union community to look beyond the borders of its local communities to donate to the campaign in support of growing credit union membership through credit union development while sharing stories of empowerment locally, nationally, and internationally.
“There are still 1.4 billion people across the globe who are unbanked. Credit unions truly have the perfect business model to empower their financial future and that is a message we hope our entire global movement will celebrate and promote on Thursday, October 20,” said McCarter Laborde, President & CEO of World Council of Credit Unions.
For more information on International Credit Union Day, please visit cuna.org/icuday.
About Credit Union National Association (CUNA)
Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is the only national association that advocates on behalf of all of America’s credit unions, which are owned by 135 million consumer members. CUNA, along with its network of affiliated state credit union leagues, delivers unwavering advocacy, continuous professional growth and operational confidence to protect the best interests of all credit unions.
For more information about CUNA, visit cuna.org.
To find your nearest credit union, visit YourMoneyFurther.com.


text:
In a page right out of Amazon's playbook, the management of Uber has found that the best use of proceeds now that it may have finally saturated addressable markets, is to use its cash on hand to fund sub-equilibrium pricing losses and in the process, hopefully, put its competition out of business.
Earlier today, the Uber blog announced that UberX is "now cheaper than a New York City taxi." It added the following:
We just dropped uberX fares by 20%, making it cheaper than a New York City taxi. From Brooklyn to the Bronx, and everywhere in between, uberX is now the most affordable ride in the city.

domain: news


text:
28th August 2020
Taking advantage during the pandemic: Patents and innovation behind the boosting of the meat substitute sector
Consumer habits driving innovation in Meat Substitutes
Over the past few months the meat industry has dramatically slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic with social distancing measures hard to stick to in slaughterhouses and meat packing facilities. The US has seen 32% of its pork production capacity offline, similarly its meat production was down by 14% by the end of April 2020.
This is in direct contrast with the soaring meat substitutes market. The sale of plant-based meat substitute analogues surged by 265% over an eight week period ending on April 18th, but how? Large parts of the production of plant-based proteins is automated, thus staff are less exposed and supply chain disruptions are few and far between.
Our analysis on the patents driving the meat substitutes space enables a clear view of this patent landscape – who is doing what, which patented technologies are boosting plant protein-based products and where in the world market demand is soaring.
Download the Cipher report on Meat Substitutes below and find out more about the patented innovations in this space. Headline findings are:
- North America and East Asia leading the way in meat substitute innovation
- COVID-19 seemingly acting as catalyst for shifting consumer preferences
- Record investments for the sector in only the first quarter of 2020 driven by cell-cultured meat companies and start-ups
Using Cipher, we have looked at innovation and patent trends across the meat substitute patent landscape, identifying growing technologies and top players.


text:
The Positive Effects of Antidumping Cases
The Municipal Castings Fair Trade Council (which represents fifteen domestic producers of iron construction castings) found relief from unfair imports by filing antidumping and countervailing duty petitions. Before filing petitions, imports from Brazil, Canada, and China grew nearly six fold between 1982 and 1985. Low-priced iron construction castings imports took away a substantial volume of sales from U.S. producers and caused profitability declines.
On May 13, 1985, antidumping and countervailing petitions were filed on behalf of The Municipal Castings Fair Trade Council with the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) and U.S. International Trade Commission (“Commission”) alleging that the iron construction castings industry was materially injured and threatened with material injury due to less-than-fair-value imports of iron construction castings.
The Commission made a final determination that the castings industry in the United States was materially injured by reason of imports from Brazil, Canada, and China on February 19, 1986 for heavy castings and on April 20, 1986 for light castings.
The Commerce Department issued the antidumping duty orders on imports of heavy castings in March 1986 and on imports of light castings in May of 1986. The duty margins ranged from 6.0 percent to 58.7 percent for imports from Brazil, Canada, and China.
Imports from Brazil, Canada, and China plummeted due to the imposition of orders, as displayed in the chart above, and resulted in substantial improvement in the performance of the U.S. iron construction castings industry.
In 1995, the United States amended its anti-dumping duty statute to include the conduct of five-year, or so-called “sunset,” reviews of anti-dumping duty orders. On May 3, 2010, the Commerce Department and Commission initiated the third sunset review of iron construction castings imports from Brazil, Canada, and China. The Commission voted in the affirmative on October 15, 2010 that revocation of the antidumping duties would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury in the reasonable foreseeable future.
The antidumping duty orders on iron construction castings from Brazil, Canada, and China continue to provide relief to the U.S. industry twenty-five years after being imposed.


text:
After the disaster of Note 8, Samsung is now trying to do its best to regain its position in the eyes of its customers. In the latest event, the company has announced to invest $128 million on its SDI division which is responsible to manufacture batteries of Note 7 and other high end smartphones of Samsung.
Through this investment, the division will be able to solve the manufacturing errors with its new eight-step testing procedure. In fact, Note 7 had two manufacturing errors and both of these critical errors could end lien of any phone.
For various departments of production, development, quality, technology and verification, the company will appoint nearly 100 workers and executives. The company says that it is a critical point for them as they either have to work together for improvement of the company or it will be the end of the company.
The company is closing monitoring the batteries of other major smartphones including the upcoming Note 8 and Galaxy S8 that will decide how much the Samsung learned from the mishap of Note 7.
Samsung has also pointed out that few manufacturers are taking interest in its latest SDI batteries which shows that other players have now forgotten the previous few months of Samsung.


text: China’s top memory chip maker and 30 other semiconductor -related companies on the mainland now find themselves between a rock and a hard place, according to industry experts, after Washington put them on the US government’s trade watch list . State-owned Yangtze Memory Technologies Co and 30 other entities in China’s semiconductor sector were recently added by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency under the US Department of Commerce, to the country’s Unverified List (UVL). Parties whose bona fides have not been substantiated by the BIS are put on this list, which serves as a trade restriction since those on it are ineligible to receive items subject to the US government’s Export Administration Regulations. Under updated rules announced by the BIS on October 7, UVL parties that fail to provide required data for the agency’s verification process may be added to the US trade blacklist , formally known as the Entity List. None of the Chinese companies and institutions added to the UVL – including Vital Advanced Materials, Beijing PowerMac Co, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology – have so far made any public comment on the US action or on what they plan to do next. Top Chinese semiconductor equipment maker Naura Technology Group , however, reported in a regulatory filing in Shenzhen that its subsidiary, Beijing Naura Magnetoelectric Technology, was on the UVL. While Naura downplayed the US action by stating that its subsidiary accounted for only 0.5 per cent of its total annual revenue, its shares were down 10 per cent for the second consecutive day on Tuesday on the back of that news. Naura is unlikely to provide additional data to the US government because of its status as a Chinese state-owned enterprise , according to a company supplier who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. The stakes are high for the Chinese parties on the UVL because Washington is expected to add a number of them to the US trade blacklist, dealing another damaging blow to Beijing’s semiconductor self-sufficiency drive . Tighter US export controls imperil China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency drive The US government’s latest actions to hold China back in the manufacture of advanced semiconductors mark a significant escalation from previous targeted sanctions against individual mainland tech firms, such as Huawei Technologies Co and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). The whole Chinese semiconductor industry is now being targeted by the US government, according to Gu Wenjun, chief analyst at research firm ICwise, in a note on Tuesday. “The US had cited grand excuses to justify its past actions,” Gu wrote. “It cited information security [risks] to target Huawei and military links to target SMIC.” Gu indicated that the US government has been pushing beyond “the red lines”, adding that it has expanded “the list of sanctioned Chinese businesses … using all sorts of strange reasons”. Tech war: Washington takes new steps to frustrate China, advance US chip-making The US government can cite “persistent lack of cooperation by the host country” – in this case, China – as a “refusal to cooperate and misrepresentation by the subject”, paving the way for harsher trade restrictions to be imposed, Kevin Cai Kaiming, a senior partner at multinational law firm Dentons, said in a note on Monday. While this is not the first time that dozens of Chinese entities have been put on the UVL, compliance with the BIS verification process has resulted in nine mainland firms being recently removed from the US trade watch list. WuXi Biologics said in a statement this week that its subsidiary in eastern Jiangsu province has been removed from the UVL, following the US Commerce Department’s on-site visits to the firm’s end users. Most companies on the UVL “can be successfully removed” from the list once an end-user check is conducted, according to Lindsay Zhu Ju, a Shanghai-based partner at international law firm Squire Patton Boggs. Chinese chip firms going out of business in record number this year “The 31 Chinese companies [recently added to the UVL] are recommended to immediately communicate with [China’s Ministry of Commerce] to arrange end-user checks” by the BIS, said Zhu, who has had experience in handling similar cases. China’s Ministry of Commerce has described the US government’s move to add more mainland entities to the UVL as “a typical act of technology bullying”. The ministry said China strongly opposes Washington’s action, which could “seriously jeopardise normal trade [relations] between Chinese and US businesses … and gravely endanger global supply chain stability”.


text:
The OnePlus 10 lineup is launching a lot earlier than usual amid the increasing competition. The flagship series is confirmed to launch in January 2022 and the company CEO has now confirmed yet another feature of the OnePlus 10 Pro.
CEO Pete Lau says that the OnePlus 10 Pro will come with an LTPO 2.0 display which will bring an even smoother experience than before in all use cases. These LTPO displays will be provided by Samsung once again.
As a recap, Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) panels are special kinds of OLED displays that can dial down a screen’s refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz and raise it back to 120Hz dynamically. As a result, the phone’s display uses much less power compared to standard high refresh rate OLEDs.
We are yet to see LTPO 2.0’s improvements in person, but it will likely be even better at saving battery and keeping the screen butter smooth.
According to rumors, the OnePlus 10 Pro will sport a 6.7-inch 2K AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. It will be powered by the new Qualcomm flagship, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 80W charging.
The triple camera setup on the back will include a 48MP primary camera, a 50MP ultrawide, and an 8MP telephoto shooter with 3x optical zoom.


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Metalworking and Mechanical Engineering Tech Industry 2017
Members of the Diplomatic Club took part in the opening and viewing of the exposition of the exhibition Tech Industry 2017 which takes place at the International Exhibition Center in Riga from November 30 to December 2.
Viesturs Tile General Director of «BT 1» company of the organizer of international exhibitions at the opening ceremony of the exhibition with invited guests p>
Tech Industry 2017 exhibition of machine building, metalworking, automation, electronics, electrical engineering, tools and new technologies.
On a photo: Irij Rejl the Director of Czech Trade in the Baltic States
Over 270 companies from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Taiwan and other countries.
The industries of Belarus, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Italy, Finland and Germany are represented in the expositions by collective stands.
On the photo: Lyudmila Dragun Deputy Head of the Department of Exhibition and Congress Events of the National Center for Marketing and Price Study of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Marina Dolgopolova the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus, Vilnis Rantins, the President of the Association of Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking Industries p>
The collective stand of Belarus represents 15 industrial enterprises, including the Kalinkovichi Concrete Structures Plant, which already has delivery to Latvia and deserves recognition of construction industry specialists. The General Director told the members of the club about the non-standard designs produced by the plant.
Industrial giants demonstrate in operation metalworking, machine-tool equipment, control systems, measuring instruments, means of labor protection, etc.
On the photo: Vilnis Rantins and the Ambassador of Uzbekistan Afzal Artikov
The Association of Mechanical Engineering and Metalworking Industries (MASOC) presented a joint stand at the exhibition, where Latvian companies showed a wide range of their products.
Within the framework of the exhibition, on December 1, MASOC, in cooperation with the German and Baltic Chamber of Commerce, the Riga City Council and the Ministry of Economy, is holding an international conference «Industry 4.0 in Riga and Beyond»


text:
Uh Oh -- RIM May Have to Change BBX Name Due to Trademark Issues
October 21, 2011 10:30 AM
comment(s) - last by
(Source: Screen Gems)
Issues continue for struggling phonemaker
Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion, Ltd. (
) hardly needs more bad news. The smartphone maker was once growing at a rapid pace globally in the U.S. Now it has seen its
growth slow globally
, and has seen itself
losing market share
and, more importantly, unit sales in the U.S. To top it off, the company forced customers to suffer through days without service, thanks to
a global service malfunction
. With investors calling for either the company to
sell itself or to adopt sweeping management changes
, the time for decisive action is now.
RIM has seemingly taken the type of bold moves necessary, unveiling relatively
impressive new hardware
a slick new OS
based on its recent acquisition QNX. But in an embarassing twist, it maybe forced to change the name of that new OS from BBX.
After announcing the new OS at its fourth annual BlackBerry Developer Conference (DevCon) in San Francisco, Calif., it was revealed that RIM ignored that there was already a preexisting service of this name.
BASIS Technology Corp., a business software firm, owns trademarks internationally on BBx [
BASIS Technology says it is suing RIM to prevent the use of its trademark, commenting, "[A] new BlackBerry operating system (OS) named "BBX" is causing great confusion for the worldwide BASIS community and could potentially harm BASIS' [sic] reputation for enabling cross-platform application development....We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement."
RIM announces BBX... just kidding! [Source: RIM]
RIM claims it did nothing wrong. It
, "RIM has not yet received a copy of the legal complaint described in Basis International's press release, but we do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business."
But ultimately RIM and BASIS Technology both run internet services, so the possibility for confusion is high, especially considering that RIM precisely copied the name of BASIS's flagship product.
This is an unfortunate situation for RIM as retracting the name would create customer confusion and add another item to the long list of company problems. BBX seemed the perfect name as it's a natural word blend of "BlackBerry" and "QNX". But apparently RIM has fallen victim to yet another potentially serious setbak.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Poor RIM
10/21/2011 5:36:34 PM
LOL Pirks must be Canadian. He doesn't know that the WHOLE WORLD is trolling them, not just "JM".
RE: Poor RIM
10/21/2011 5:48:37 PM
That's ok as long as these trolls are insignificant tabloid whores like JM
RE: Poor RIM
10/21/2011 7:06:20 PM
"LOL Pirks must be Canadian. He doesn't know that the WHOLE WORLD is trolling them, not just "JM"."
Yup, JM, Tiffany, sometimes Brandon, the rest of the smartphone industry, wall street, RIM employees, RIM stockholders, and just about everyone else that pays even a little attention to the smartphone industry thinks RIM is in deep trouble, but they are ALL trolls. Especially the customers that are buying all the better phones on hte market. They are the worst trolls of all.
RIM is actually in great shape... Its just the world out to make them look bad. =)
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text:
|Tire Company's Annual Drive Delivers Gifts to North County Teens
|By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
05:34PM / Tuesday, December 26, 2023
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Through community contributions, Gills Point S Tire raised more than $5,000 to make local teens' holidays a little brighter.
"Supporting programs and fundraisers for our children shows that, although we all have our own issues and lives, at the end of the day our community truly cares about each other and the future," store manager Jessica Perin said.
Perin said the program is in its third year, and the Curran Highway tire specialists decided to help teens because they felt they were an underserved group during the holidays.
"It is important to band together to support our teens who are the next generation who will be running this community in the future," she said. "Unfortunately, a vast majority of Christmas fundraisers only support children up to 12 years old. I believe we are the only program in Northern Berkshire to concentrate specifically on teenagers at this time."
The store started collecting donations earlier than it has in past years with a multipronged approach. Perin noted that the number of teens involved has doubled in size in each year the program has run.
Fundraising started with a raffle at Motorama this summer while still maintaining a donation jar, adopt and teen stars, and a giving tree at the store.
She said while owner Eric Gills and store customers have been the biggest contributors, the wider community has also stepped in.
Businesses including Meraki Hair Salon hosted a giving tree and collected donations, and Hometown Tire hosted an adoption stars at its location to collect gifts.
She said other businesses such as Klipper Kingz, Limited Edition and Berkshire Hair Trendz, Ramuntos, Chef'sHat and Adams Pizza House have also stepped up to support the program with gift card donations.
"It is important for local businesses to support the community because as they used to say it takes a village to raise a child," she said. "We feel it is important to band together to support our teens who are the next generation of our community."
Gifts were handed out Dec. 20.


text:
Adept Airmotive wins recognition for digital design and prototyping.A local aero-engine manufacturer has won international acclaim for using computer-aided design and digital prototyping to develop a lightweight piston engine.
Autodesk, the US-based building, manufacturing and infrastructure industry software and services company, recently selected Adept Airmotive from the 800 000 users of its Inventor engineering design software as “Inventor of the Month”. This was in recognition of it using the program to improve the state of the piston engine art.
Adept, based at Virginia Airport, outside Durban, used the software to develop a compact 320-horsepower general aviation engine that offers low vibration levels and high structural integrity.
The 127kg engine is lighter than a traditional piston engine of comparable horsepower, allowing it to pass significant fuel efficiencies to the aircraft operator. It is also less damaging to the environment.
“Digital prototyping was absolutely critical because it allowed us to bring a single digital model through every phase of design and development,” says Adept MD Richard Schulz. “We were able to explore the form, fit and function of our designs, without expending time and resources on physical prototypes.”
He adds the design philosophy allowed Adept to produce accurate three-dimensional models of the 320T before anything was actually built ‑ reducing the number of physical prototypes that needed to be constructed.
Processes that once took hours ‑ such as changing the wall thickness of an engine component ‑ were completed almost instantaneously. This allowed engineers to spend less time constructing geometric models and more time creating innovative designs and then simulating the performance of the designs under real-world conditions.
This optimisation process allowed Adept to minimise potentially expensive downstream changes by catching errors before they reached manufacturing. As a result, Adept ‑ with a core team of only three designers ‑ was able to produce a working prototype of the engine, paving the way for the introduction of a new generation of modern general aviation engines.


text:
P3 Logistic Parks (“P3”) announced the extension of the lease agreement with the transport and logistics operator SLS Cargo, which adds another 11,412 sqm to the area already leased, in a transaction brokered by JLL Romania. Thus, less than two years since the collaboration started, the area leased by SLS Cargo in the P3 Bucharest A1 logistics park reaches a total of over 30,000 sqm.
Sînziana Pardhan, Managing Director P3 in Romania, says: “The collaboration with SLS Cargo started in 2020 and has gradually developed over these two years. Despite the volatile economic climate, it has become a trusted partnership, through which we have constantly tried to find solutions together to meet both their expansion and operational efficiency needs. We are honoured to be part of their vision and success story and we would like to thank them for the constructive approach they have always displayed and for the vote of confidence they gave to the P3 Romania team and our park at km 13.”
The forwarding company SLS Cargo, whose main shareholder is FAN Courier since 2020, the leader in the local courier market, and has grown exponentially in recent years by expanding its range of services and attracting new customers from different fields. The integrated service offer includes transport by all modes (road, rail, air and sea), as well as storage and handling services. This created a competitive positioning that allowed them to take full advantage of the rise in consumption and the growth of the domestic market, as well as the changes in logistics chains amid the pandemic.
Mihai Stoica, CEO of SLS Cargo, commented: “The sustained growth of our business over the past two years has required the expansion of operational capacity and, implicitly, of storage space. In 2020 we chose to relocate to P3 Logistic Parks A1 to develop a strategic partnership with a leading company in the field. The collaboration so far has confirmed the choice: we have found in P3 a business partner and real support in identifying solutions for our space and operational optimization requests. We are happy that through this new expansion we are consolidating our presence in the P3 Bucharest A1 park, which becomes our main base for logistics operations.”
Mihai Escu, Industrial Department JLL Romania consultant, said: “The expansion of the storage centre of SLS Cargo within P3 Logistic Parks, a class A logistics park, represents the confirmation of the quality of our services in finding optimal and forward-looking solutions, with strategic positioning in the perimeter of the capital, being next to our customers in their efforts of consolidating their logistics operations. This expansion is also proof that the P3 park on the Bucharest A1 highway is a modern logistics hub, developing harmoniously and sustainably, the company not compromising on the quality of its services. We received all the necessary support from P3 in SLS Cargo’s decision to expand, a decision that is a clear indicator of customer and business partner satisfaction.”


text:
Yesterday, Cult of Mac reported on a claim stating that Apple has no plans to refresh the iPhone SE this year. Today, another article from 9to5Mac reports that a new iPhone SE will arrive in August this year, a couple of months before the iPhone 8. However, the article’s title also states that the source for the report is “sketchy”. Whether the iPhone SE actually receives a refresh this year isn’t what concerns me. What concerns me is if the iPhone SE will have a future at all with Apple or if it was merely a one-time deal. I’m hoping for the former.
We’re used to seeing yearly refreshes for smartphones that matter, so when reports surface claiming that Apple might not release a next generation iPhone SE it’s easy to sound the alarm, especially when the SE failed to make an appearance in March. In my opinion, however, the iPhone SE doesn’t necessarily need a yearly refresh; every two years or so would be just fine, especially if SE users want an iPhone that’s not only small, but also affordable.
Ever since Apple introduced the SE last year, I’ve been a fan. I wanted manufacturers to continue to take compact smart phones seriously once so many of them hopped on the phablet bandwagon. Instead, some manufacturers like HTC and Samsung came up with the “mini” versions of their flagships, which ultimately ended up being expensive flagship namesakes with heavily watered-down specs. More recently, the term “compact” in relation to smartphones has become a total a joke; now you see compact devices with 5 to 5.2-inch screens. I don’t know about you, but back in my day anything with a 5-inch screen or above was a phablet.
Then comes Apple to the rescue with the iPhone SE, a device with the same body as the iPhone 5S but nearly identical internals to the iPhone 6S, a device that came out two years after the 5S. A few compromises were made to get there, but nothing too damning all things considered. Apple even goes beyond the meaning of compact by retaining the 4-inch form factor, which was already considered “too small” by the time the iPhone 5 was released in 2012 – a year after the “massive” Galaxy Note was released with its 5.3-inch display. Today, however, retaining the 4-inch form factor is widely regarded as a good decision considering that Apple also offers 4.7 and 5.5-inch variants of the iPhone as well.
The iPhone SE remains an anomaly of sorts across all smartphones. Although a 4-inch display is on the extreme smaller side of smartphones these days, it’s rare for any manufacturer to produce anything that has a 4.7-inch screen or smaller – and even that is a pretty rare occurrence now. My point here is that there really isn’t anything like the iPhone SE on the market at the moment, and it would be a shame if it never ended up receiving a true upgrade.
With that in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if the SE didn’t receive an update this year. While the idea is solid and much appreciated by many, I think it’s understandable that the demand for phones with 4-inch screens is probably not that high. Admittedly, it is difficult to return to adjust to a 4-inch form factor after using a 5-inch display or larger, and with manufacturers shrinking bezels in order to make screens larger, the need to downgrade to a smaller form factor isn’t as pressing. Then again, the SE is also Apple’s cheapest smartphone, so that likely increases demand as well considering how expensive iPhones have typically been.
Either way, if an upgrade happens this year, great. If it happens next year, that would be great, too. But if it never happens again? That’s not so great, and I, for one, would be kind of disappointed.
Readers, what are your thoughts on the iPhone SE? Would you be sad to see it go, or have you moved on from the old days of 4-inch displays? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!


text:
Dexcom (Nasdaq:DXCM) announced today that it introduced a direct-to-Apple-Watch feature for its G7 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) users.
The company plans a phased launch for all G7 iOS users everywhere by the end of the second quarter of this year. This means G7 soon becomes the only CGM system that can connect directly to Apple Watch without needing to carry an iPhone. Those who use G7 can access this feature as soon as it launches in their country.
On top of the watch feature, Dexcom announced positive data backing its CGMs and their connectivity to automated insulin delivery (AID). Additionally, the company launched Dexcom ONE+ in new geographies and has more data backing its technology.
The company plans to present much of this evidence and data at ATTD this week in Florence, Italy.
“As the pioneer in biosensing, since last year’s ATTD, Dexcom has moved at an extraordinary pace,” Dexcom Chair, President and CEO Kevin Sayer said. “We launched G7 in 16 additional countries, released Dexcom ONE+ and are today announcing the phased launch of ‘Direct-to-watch’, that’s two best-in-class products and a feature designed to empower even more people living with diabetes. Globally, we’ve expanded access to Dexcom products by over 5 million people.”
AID connectivity continues to impress
Dexcom said it plans to present data demonstrating the clinically meaningful outcomes resulting from the use of its CGM with AID system. The data includes results from the CGM with both the Tandem Diabetes Care t:slim X2 pump and Insulet Omnipod 5.
Tandem became the first to connect its AID system with Dexcom G7 in December 2023. Insulet said last month that it began a limited rollout of its Omnipod 5 with G7 as well. According to Dexcom, it expects G7 integration with the new Tandem Mobi pump in the second quarter as well.
One study looked at Omnipod 5 using the previous-generation G6, showing maintained glycaemic outcome improvements for up to two years. Despite the long duration of the study, event rates for severe hypoglycaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis remained low at 2.04 and 0.24 events per 100 person-years.
Real-world evidence from 3,000 people using Tandem’s system demonstrated lower rates for both severe hypoglycaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis over 12 months compared to historic rates. Dexcom also said adult participants spent more than 70% CGM time in range. Pediatric patients achieved 60% CGM time in range.
More good news from Dexcom
In addition to all the AID launches, Dexcom began the ONE+ launch in Europe about a month ago. It says the system has now launched in eight markets within one month of first becoming available.
On top of that, the company has plans to present a first-of-its-kind study linking CGM benefits to mortality reduction in those with type 1 or type 2 diabetes with insulin at ATTD. Dexcom said this indicates broad benefits extending beyond glucose lowering in patients with diabetes on insulin.
New global user data also showed a clinically meaningful reduction in HbA1c for people managing type 2 diabetes with a GLP1 and using a CGM compared to groups not using CGM. Among type 2 populations, the more regularly users wore a Dexcom CGM, the more time they spent in range.
Dexcom also said a study of people treating their type 2 diabetes with basal insulin found the company’s CGM glucose level visualization improved the understanding of the impact of treatment and lifestyle decisions on glucose levels, plus the impact of those glucose levels on additional health issues.
“The breadth of studies and outcomes showcased here at ATTD demonstrates the crucial role that Dexcom CGM can play in the treatment of type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Thomas Grace, head of clinical advocacy and outcomes at Dexcom. “From demonstrating a clinically significant decrease in HbA1c to increasing time in range and generally improving well-being, the results speak for themselves. We also continue to see studies confirm that whilst GLP1s are an effective initial treatment for those living with type 2 diabetes the use of Dexcom CGM can strengthen their impact and provide an alternative for sustained long-term metabolic health improvement.”


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Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys has officially re-signed with Twitch, which ensures that one of the most popular female streamers in the industry remains on the Amazon streaming platform where she built her fame.
With around 8.9 million followers, Pokimane is among some of the biggest content creators on Twitch.
Pokimane seemed to take a dig at fellow creator Ludwig, who made the announcement to leave Twitch and sign with YouTube Gaming by posting a skit where he gets out of a purple car just before it explodes before, and enters a red car before making a comment about music copyright as he announced his official move.
about that platform announcement…
instead of choosing between a red or purple car, I’M GIVING ONE AWAY 😎
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) February 8, 2022
Details of Pokimane’s new deal with Twitch have not yet been reported.


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I was so, so keen then to project some kind of image of a good parent who had her shit together click here to look at my Pinterest boards of craft and baby led weaning and desperation.asics ladies gel fuji attack shoes ss12 abetone The advancement of new trade policies will expand opportunities for American businesses and workers in a way that is extremely beneficial for our economy, and I look forward to the opportunity to vote for this important, bipartisan TPA legislation, Congressman Cuellar said. The sheriff's department in Greenville County, South Carolina got a 911 call on Wednesday from a two year old girl.
You basically follow along with the content and workouts for the 21 days, then continue on afterward.asics ladies gel fuji attack shoes ss12 abetone I designed and built a website for a construction company, and then another site for a nursery and it sort of when on from there. Microsoft Plans to Combine Xbox One and PC with UWAs Justin Horner March 2, 2016 0 Microsoft has announced that it plans to combine the Xbox One and PC gaming applications under a single all encompassing system.asics ladies gel fuji attack shoes ss12 abetone
There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. The poll took place shortly after the week of Black Friday, during which we a delivered record number of parcels. In a new study, researchers show that by the end of the 21st century, warmer oceans will cause populations of these marine microorganisms to thrive near the poles and shrink in equatorial waters.asics ladies gel fuji attack shoes ss12 abetone


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It’s not always easy to know the right kinds of pillows to purchase to meet your needs now and in the future. Purchasing the right pillow can make a world of difference to the comfort and quality of your sleep. It can also greatly impact your physical health and help you deal with allergies – especially when you choose to purchase hypoallergenic pillows.
A recent study has uncovered a significant relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and sleep disturbances. According to the study, the relationship may be bidirectional with sleep disorders serving to induce gastrointestinal disturbances and GI issues or symptoms acting to worsen the problem of fragmented sleep.
Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD) is a medical condition that causes you to fall asleep two or more hours later than the average person, and results in you staying asleep for longer in the morning. According to the American Sleep Association, approximately ten percent of chronic insomnia cases are a result of Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder.
Choosing the right, or wrong, mattress can have serious implications on your ability to get a good night’s sleep consistently for years to come. It’s important to take your time and make a choice that’s right for your needs. That includes taking a little time to consider all the smaller details too – like temperature.
The Eco Institute, located in Cologne, Germany is a highly respected organization responsible for testing products to determine their pollutants and emissions. The institute has more than 25 years of experience testing products for trace amounts and even residues of hazardous chemicals as well as the testing of emissions or outgassing created by the products.
Narcolepsy, the rare and long-term sleep disorder, may have a new way to be diagnosed — with the help of a unique type of blood test. The findings come from Alberto De la Herran-Arita who published a paper after discovering distinctions in the blood of people who have narcolepsy. The Huffington Post reported that his team of researchers found that autoimmune diseases may be linked to narcolepsy and that in the future, a simple blood test might indicate narcolepsy for that individual.
Memory foam mattresses have gained a great deal of popularity over the years due to their many benefits. Part of the reason they’ve been so popular is because they are constructed in many layers of varying density. These layers respond to weight and temperature in order to mold to the shape of the individual bodies sleeping on them.
When it comes to luxurious cotton sheets, Egyptian cotton is the gold standard. Some refer to it as the perfect combination of comfort and luxury you can find in bed linens. These are just a few benefits Egyptian cotton sheets deliver.
The closer you sleep to your significant other, the closer you are as a couple. At least this is the case according to a number of studies, including a recent sleep study from the University of Hertfordshire. The Edinburgh International Science Festival conducted a survey that discovered partners who sleep further than 30 inches apart weren’t as happy in their relationships as those who slept much closer.


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New Delhi: Tomato prices have increased to Rs. 60-70 per kg in the National Capital as supplies have dropped due to rains in northern parts of India.
Onion prices are also ruling at Rs. 40 per kg in retail.Mother Dairy's Safal outlets are selling tomato at Rs. 55 per kg and onion is available at Rs. 29 per kg, whereas local vendors are charging Rs. 60-70 per kg for tomato and selling onion at Rs. 40 per kg.
According to the Department of Consumer Affairs data, the highest price of tomato was Rs. 85 per kg in Bhopal, followed by Rs. 80 per kg in Kanpur and Portblair.
The wholesale prices of tomato are ruling at Rs. 45-50 per kg at Azadpur Mandi in Delhi. Onion prices have slumped to Rs. 20-25 per kg at the wholesale market, traders said.
"There has been substantial drop in supplies of tomato from Himachal Pradesh, which is the main supplier to the National Capital Region," Mother Dairy's Fruit and Vegetable Business Head Pradipta Sahoo told PTI when asked about the reason for a surge in price of the commodity.
Tomato Merchants Association President at Azadpur Mandi Darshanlal Arora attributed the rise in prices to drop in supplies from northern region and high prices at other supplying regions in anticipation of drought.
"This year there is around 25 per cent drop in supplies of tomato from northern regions and in addition to that prices from another key suppling stations Nashik and Bangalore are higher compared to last year in anticipation of drought.
"Tomato prices are higher in southern and eastern regions than in northern parts of the country, the official data showed.Onion prices were the highest at Rs 45 per kg at Dimapur, according to the data.
Image: Free Digital Photos


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Tying the Knot with Disney
By the time most little girls turn 3, Disney is part of their lives. Few homes are without a Princess play set and plush Pooh bear. By the teenage years, Disney is an old friend, the photos from Magic Kingdom and Disney DVDs counted as treasured possessions. But by their twenties, Disney is an artifact, packed into a box and buried away in the basement.
This June, Walt Disney (DIS) Consumer Products will launch its first line of designer wedding gowns, a hint that the media and entertainment giant wants to play a bigger part in the lives of its consumers as they mature into adulthood. The "Fairy Tale Collection," by Los Angeles bridal designer Kirstie Kelly, is priced moderately, between $1,100 and $3,000, and draws inspiration from the costumes of fictional characters Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and Jasmine. By October, matching bridesmaid and flower-girl outfits will be added to the line. Sorry guys: No mention yet of Prince Charming tuxedos.
Disney is taking a bold step into a market dominated by designers like Vera Wang with high-end cachet. But Mickey Mouse is no stranger to the altar. In 1991, Disney World in Orlando, Fla., launched its Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons service. The popularity of the program and the number of available options and extras have grown over the past 16 years. Disney now plans and hosts more than 2,000 unions a year—typically costing between $8,000 and $45,000—in both Orlando and at Anaheim (Calif.)-based Disneyland.
"They found a business that they probably didn't even know was there," says Katherine Rizzuto, publisher of Condé Nast Bridal Media. Many of these weddings are elaborately themed around Disney characters and movies, such as the popular Cinderella's Royal Court wedding, in which the bride and groom parade down Main Street USA in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage and say their vows on the steps to the iconic Cinderella Castle.
Due to their convenience and the association with a familiar brand, these one-stop wedding packages are becoming more appealing to people in their twenties, according to Elise Mac Adam, a writer on contemporary wedding etiquette currently under contract with book publisher Simon Spotlight Entertainment. "I think there's something that's comforting about Disney [because] you know what you're getting," she explains. "Weddings are scary, and if you have something prefabricated, you can reduce the number of unknowns."
With the launch of the gowns, Disney hopes to carry the wedding success of its parks over to its Consumer Products Div., which last year generated 6.4% of Disney's $34.3 billion in total revenues, vs. the 30% contributed by its Parks & Resorts Div. Though the gowns will be available to Fairy Tale Weddings brides-to-be, they also will be sold in bridal boutiques around the country, and their sales will be operated as a separate business entity. Magazine publisher Rizzuto estimates that the average wedding dress costs between $2,600 and $2,900, and believes Disney is right on target with its price point.
However, the dresses will be the among the biggest-ticket items offered by the company's consumer products division, and aren't likely to fly off shelves as quickly as mouse ears at an Epcot Center souvenir stand. But more important than individual sales, the dresses will serve as a billboard that asserts that Disney can be relevant and cool in the social circles of young adults.
"Disney at its finest will take an existing product, like a character from a film, and continue to feed it into new channels in hopes of finding other revenue streams," says UBS analyst Arieh Bourkoff, who's not surprised at this latest brand extension. From toys to television shows to parades and apparel, Disney is a prolific cross-pollinator of its properties.
Last year, even peaches, apples, and grapes bearing the likenesses of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Goofy appeared in supermarkets in an attempt to lure kids from the junk-food aisles. "Disney Garden," a promotion with Indianapolis-based Imagination Farms, looks to be a successful venture, though some media outlets dismissed it as more of a short-term publicity stunt following the termination of Disney's long-term relationship with hamburger-flipper McDonald's (MCD).
To market to twentysomethings, Disney needs to be a little more cunning—a wedding dress bearing the face of Goofy isn't going to cut it. Instead, the company has homed in on the dreams young girls have of an ideal, "fairy-tale" wedding, connecting this to the happily-ever-after endings of their own princess characters. Gown designer Kelly has added her own sensibilities to the subtle references in each princess's outfit. The Cinderella dress, for example, will be offered in delicate champagne and ivory colors, as opposed to the bright blue frock seen on screen, but the dramatic flourish of the skirt is true to the original.
Making Dreams Come True
Critical reviews of the design sketches for the wedding line has been mixed. Writer Mac Adam says "poofy princess dresses" are a big trend right now, and expects them to be received well. But Disney most likely hopes to outlive current fashion trends and occupy a permanent page in wedding catalogs. Young girls aged 3 to 6 currently fuel a $3.5 billion Disney Princess merchandising market, and Disney wants to be around decades from now when they say "I do."
Branding experts believe that as long as the design and retail model is executed properly, Disney will find a built-in audience among those who have grown up with the brand. "[Disney] is one of the best emotional brands in the world," says Marc Gobé, author of the newly released Brandjam: Humanizing Brands Through Emotional Design (Allworth). "They're saying, 'We aren't only an entertainment company, but we can help you bring that dream into your life.'"
Robert Sprung, CEO of New York-based branding consultant Tipping Sprung, points out that marriage represents a crucial turning point not only in a young person's social perspective but in the relationship they have with the brands of their youth. "The nature of a wedding is looking backwards wistfully, giving up some things of your childhood, and looking forward to uncharted territory," he says. By choosing a Disney wedding gown as the centerpiece to this occasion, a bride and groom recognize that the brand is accompanying them into their married life.
And with its Disney Couture clothing line, iTunes movie distribution, and adult-friendly theme park destinations, Disney looks intent on keeping these couples happy forever after.
Click here to see a slide show of Disney products.


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Is a holiday Storm brewing?
- By William Jackson
- Dec 04, 2007
Hanukkah begins this evening at sundown, and with the arrival of a new holiday season comes a reminder that not all e-greeting cards may contain best wishes. Researchers at MX Logic's Threat Operation Center warn of a possible outbreak of new variants of the venerable Storm Worm.
'The Storm Worm developers notoriously release variants around holidays that prey on people's vulnerabilities to open festive greeting cards,' said Sam Masiello, director of threat management at Denver-based MX Logic. 'We consider the Storm Worm variants that hit on the Fourth of July and Halloween as a precursor for another variant this holiday season.'
Internet shoppers spend an estimated $733 million on the Monday following Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the online Christmas shopping season. With this increased online activity it could be easier for suspicious e-mail to get under our radar and for an unwanted piece of code to get into our operating systems.
Masiello said he had not seen any examples of malicious code so far this season, but that 'sending an e-card for the holidays makes sense.'
'Internet users should be cautious of opening e-mails that appear to be sent directly from greeting card companies such as Hallmark,' Masiello said. 'Legitimate greeting card companies offer ways to open e-cards other than clicking an e-mail link. These include a confirmation code within the message. Users should copy and paste these codes directly on the e-card Web site.'
Through frequent variations, the Storm Worm has become one of the most successful delivery mechanisms for malicious code and is believed to be responsible for millions of computers infections. These often result in the installation of spyware on the victim machine and recruitment into botnets that can be harnessed to deliver other attacks. The key to its success has been its ability to induce recipients to click on a link or open an attachment by masquerading as a legitimate piece of mail, rather than huge volumes.
'The key to any malicious campaign is social engineering,' Masiello said. 'The Storm Worm has been very good at that.'
It got its name because the subject line in the original version earlier this year was '230 dead as storm batters Europe,' and it has continued to morph since then. Because signature-based engines have limited effectiveness against this kind of attack, the best defense is education and caution.
So have a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, but think twice before clicking on that link.
William Jackson is a Maryland-based freelance writer.


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Just one Medical is a membership-primarily based primary treatment services that promises prospects “24/7 obtain to virtual care.” The organization operates in a dozen important US markets, according to its website, and is effective with more than 8,000 organizations to provide 1 Healthcare health and fitness gains to their employees.
In a statement Thursday saying the acquisition, Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Products and services, mentioned the e-commerce giant thinks “overall health care is high on the record of ordeals that need to have reinvention.” Lindsay included that Amazon hopes to be 1 of the businesses “that will help significantly strengthen the health care knowledge more than the subsequent numerous a long time.”
Amazon in new yrs has broadened its empire from on the net retail to enjoyment, groceries and a lot more, raising its vast reach into the lives of people in the method. The A single Professional medical acquisition would be a person of the biggest in Amazon’s background. Amazon agreed to get grocery chain Complete Meals in 2017 for $13.7 billion and previously this 12 months closed an $8.5 billion deal to get iconic Hollywood film studio MGM.
With the Just one Professional medical offer, Amazon would get access to bodily overall health clinics and “payer and healthcare facility program relationships,” Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson stated in a be aware Thursday early morning.
The offer continues to be issue to acceptance from One particular Medical’s shareholders and regulators.
Nicholas Economides, a professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Enterprise, explained he is skeptical the offer may perhaps result in significantly official antitrust scrutiny. He as opposed the A single Healthcare acquisition to Amazon’s before acquire of Whole Foods, saying that Amazon’s preexisting marketshare in both equally industries was relatively compact at the time of the respective specials. Ordinarily, antitrust regulators have carefully scrutinized mergers that might remove a competitor from inside the very same industry, but have hardly ever objected to bargains the place a single organization acquires its way into an adjacent business.
“The grounds for intervention are even weaker in this circumstance than in Complete Meals, simply because to some extent Amazon is a marketplace for selling meals, so to a small extent it was a competitor to Total Foods just before the merger,” Economides mentioned. “Right here, I will not see Amazon having a important business in health care.”
But some have been quick to simply call for more scrutiny of the deal. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate antitrust subcommittee, claimed the Federal Trade Commission need to “extensively examine” the proposed acquisition. The e-commerce giant’s bid “raises concerns about prospective anticompetitive results” Amazon could exert through its pharmacy assistance, Klobuchar wrote to FTC Chair Lina Khan on Thursday.
Although Amazon’s most current offer might not raise red flags beneath a common antitrust rubric, the announcement will come as officials at the FTC, the Justice Section and in Congress have sounded a more durable note on substantial tech platforms and vowed to get far more imaginative — and intense — about imposing competitiveness regulation. Some US lawmakers are urgently pushing to move a invoice that could erect new boundaries concerning tech giants’ various lines of company, preventing them from employing their enormous scale in multiple verticals as a type of force multiplier that critics say harms level of competition.
Soon following the offer was declared, some tech marketplace critics also raised worries about the health data to which the enterprise could attain entry.
“Amazon acquiring back doorway accessibility to personal wellbeing care knowledge is frankly a terrifying imagined and phone calls into concentrate how desperately Congress demands to go antitrust reform to avert these tech giants from abusing their monopoly electricity,” Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Task advocacy group, instructed CNN Business enterprise in a statement.
CNN’s Brian Fung contributed to this report.


text: Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) is worried about the long-term ramifications of Coles being allowed to buy two milk factories from Saputo. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on December 2 gave the green light to Coles's plan to buy two Saputo factories at Laverton North, Victoria, and Erskine Park, NSW, for $105 million. "We consider the ACCC's decision not to oppose the Coles acquisition of Saputo dairy plants will be a key turning point that the industry and ACCC will look back upon and regret," ADF president Rick Gladigau said. "We hope that in 10 years' time we are not saying 'we told you so', like we have said about the impact of $1 litre milk that Coles started in 2011. "We cannot see how this deal will result in anything but increasing Coles's already substantial market power, reducing market competition and market transparency and increasing risk to farmers." A group representing Australian co-operatives has also expressed concern at the deal. "We remain concerned the proposed acquisition is likely to significantly reduce competition in the dairy market to the detriment of both consumers and family farmers," the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals chief executive officer Melina Morrison said. "As processing facilities are further concentrated in the hands of a few investor-owned dairy processors and retailers, there is less and less pressure on these businesses to share profits with farmers. "That means farmers will have less capacity to reinvest in the sustainability of their own businesses." But ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said it could not find "a really compelling argument" that the deal would reduce competition for milk at the farmgate nor would it change the ability of other processors to access the retail shelf. The ACCC could only consider the deal strictly under the Competition and Consumer Act. "We just have to look at it from the perspective of what the law requires us to do, and that's what we've done," he said. "And we couldn't see that we could oppose this transaction on the basis of the loss of competition." Mr Glagidau said ADF was particularly disappointed in the missed opportunity to impose additional safeguards or undertakings on Coles. "The ACCC has said that safeguards are already in place as Coles's purchases of raw milk from farmers were covered by the mandatory Dairy Code of Conduct," he said. "Yet we know processors have been lobbying the ACCC and government to have the code reviewed and watered down. "The ACCC further stated that Coles's interactions with processors are also covered by the voluntary Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. "Yet we know the ACCC themselves recommended in the Perishable Agricultural Goods Inquiry that the voluntary Food and Grocery Code should be made mandatory for retailers and wholesalers." Mr Keogh said the ACCC only imposed conditions if it was not satisfied there would be no lessening of competition and it felt measures were needed to give it that assurance. In this case, its analysis did not provide any evidence that competition would be reduced. Mr Gladigau called on the federal government to make the Food and Grocery code mandatory. "It is not lost on us that Coles has dropped the retail price for milk at the same time as the ACCC's announcement, and we wonder what this means for future pricing of milk to dairy farmers." Mr Gladigau said. Mr Keogh said the ACCC did not disagree with that call. "In fact, our submissions in relation to the food and grocery code over quite a few years have always been that we consider it's not effective because it's not mandatory," he said. "And we also have strong concerns about the dispute resolution process because of ongoing evidence that suppliers to those two major retailers, in particular, won't put their hand up and initiate a dispute where they think they've been badly treated because the fear is a retribution. "So we've criticised the dispute resolution processes, in particular, the fact that the dispute mediators are actually employed by the major retailers." But in the case of Coles buying the Saputo factories, the relationship between Coles and dairy farmers was governed by the mandatory Dairy Code of Conduct and it applied to Coles just as it did to every other dairy processor, Mr Keogh said. Want\nto read more stories like this? Sign\nup below (select Dairy\nNews) to receive our e-newsletter delivered fresh to your email inbox\ntwice a week.


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Pebble’s Smart Watch is Here — Will Apple’s be Next?
Startup company Pebble will begin exclusively selling its “smart watch” devices at Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) stores starting Sunday. Pebble, which crowdfunded its product development through the Kickstarter website, has developed a device that is able to wirelessly connect with both Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating systems through Bluetooth.
Pebble has already presold 100,000 of its $150 smart watch devices through its Kickstarter efforts. Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky said to Bloomberg, “We decided to partner with Best Buy because we think Best Buy has a good grip on the wearable-technology space.” Migicovsky also noted that there were already 1,100 apps developed for the Pebble smart watch.
Apple’s so-called iWatch has been rumored to be in development since late last year. But in typical secretive fashion, Apple has refused to confirm the existence of a such a product. Rumors of the tech giant’s smart watch development recently got a boost when it emerged that Apple filed a trademark for the iWatch name in Japan on June 3.
Samsung (SSNLF.PK) has been more forthcoming. It announced in March it was working on a smart watch, though the company didn’t provide much detail.
ABI Research predicts 1.2 million smart watches will be sold worldwide this year alone. ABI senior analyst Joshua Flood attributes the rise of the smart watch market to “the wide availability and low cost of MEMS sensors, energy-efficient connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing app ecosystem.”
Follow Nathanael on Twitter (@ArnoldEtan_WSCS)


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We launched a new 2-year fixed rate holiday let mortgage this week, available throughout the UK.
The bed and breakfast industry in Yorkshire is proving resilient in the face of potentially disruptive developments of recent years - Brexit and Airbnb.
We love any excuse to celebrate Cumbrian businesses, and our customers’ successes.
We invited the team at holiday letting agency Lakelovers to offer some insights into the holiday letting business. They have 40 years experience in the holiday letting market, and have lots of pearls of wisdom to offer!
Ever dreamed of giving it all up and starting again? Tony Guthrie and James Wilkinson didn’t just dream. They did it! Their story takes them from the corporate world to the beautiful Lake District, and a complete change of lifestyle.
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be sponsoring the Inclusive Tourism category at the Scottish Thistle Awards.
We will now lend up to £750,000 on up to 60% LTV, and continue to offer bespoke terms for loans above this level.
The Punch Bowl Inn at Crosthwaite has won national recognition at The Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub Awards.


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11 patents belonging to Apple and Microsoft that Android has been found to have infringed
FOSS Patents has come up with a list of eleven patents belonging to Apple and Microsoft that an Android manufacturer has been found in court to have used illegally. Let's start with EP2059868 which is a patent relating to a "portable electronic device for photo management," which was used by a Dutch Court on August 24th, 2011 giving Apple an injunction against certain Samsung handsets. On March 1st 2012, a court in Munich used this patent to order a permanent injunction in favor of Apple against now Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility.
U.S. patent 7,469,381, relating to "list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display" is actually about the 'bounce' that users see on their phone at the end of a list being scrolled. On December 2nd 2011, The United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that this Apple patent was valid and infringed upon by Samsung.
Next is European patent D1964022 for "unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image". In other words, this is the infamous slide-to-unlock patent, which was used by a Munich court on February 16th 2012 to issue an injunction for Apple against Motorola Mobility. "Generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device," is the subject of U.S. patent 6,370,566 used on May 18th 2012 to order an import ban in the U.S. for Motorola devices that infringe on the patent. European patent EP1304891 is for "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface" and was used to give Microsoft an injunction against Motorola Mobility's Android devices just days after Google closed on its purchase of Motorola Mobility. This patent is already being enforced in Germany.
An Apple iPad related design patent, D504,889 was used by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on June 27th, 2012 to grant an injunction requested by Apple against the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1, a tablet that has already been replaced by the sequel in Samsung's lineup. In the Summer of 2011, a court in Dusseldorf used the European version of the U.S. design patent to give Apple a injunction against the tablet in Germany. Perhaps the most famous of the newer wave of patents being used by Apple in court, U.S. patent 8,086,604 is the so-called Siri patent or '604. It was used on Friday to give Apple its asked for injunction against the Samsung GALAXY Nexus and could be used against the sizzling hot Samsung Galaxy S III.
8,046,721 is the second slide-to-unlock patent. While it was not used to order the injunction on the GALAXY Nexus, in its ruling the court said Google and Samsung both infringed on the patent. Lastly, U.S. patent 8,074.172 covers the "method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendations" which is basically your typical autocorrect patent. In the recent injunction order against the Samsung GALAXY Nexus, the court said that Samsung and Google infringed on this patent.
The list does not include patent cases that were withdrawn or overturned. Of the 11 cited, 9 are Apple patents with the remainder belonging to Microsoft. And while Apple has these victories, the only non-standard essential patent Apple was found in court to infringe on was Motorola's push-notification patent in Mannheim. Google's only win over Microsoft (as Motorola Mobility) also came in Mannheim and is based on two standard-essential patents although it cannot be enforced soon.


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Lines of buyers waiting for the Microsoft Surface.
Unfortunately not backed by figures, NPD vice president of industry analysis Stephen Baker told eWeek the Microsoft Surface is enjoying “healthy sales.”
The sentiment was based on strong foot traffic at the 65 Microsoft Stores selling the tablet as well as lines at launch day. Baker also said a Microsoft Store he recently visited was busy with most everyone there looking at a Surface.
Selling Surface only in Microsoft stores, “allows them to really talk about the value proposition of Surface in a very controlled way and drive a lot of traffic to their stores, he said. This allowed the Surface to shine without competing for attention with other tablets.
“We called or visited all permanent Microsoft Stores this week, and the feedback was that Surface sales have been steady, foot traffic has been above average, and restocking shipments have been consistent,” wrote Phil Winslow of Credit Suisse in a note to clients.
Analyst Brendan Barnicle of Pacific Crest surveyed a number of Microsoft’s stores, and reported “strong” sales of the tablet and that most stores had gone through at least one round of inventory replenishments.
NPD’s Baker thinks lines at stores don’t necessarily transfer into strong sales for a product and that Surface sales do not necessarily come at the expense of other tablet makers like Apple or Samsung.
“It’s always easy to say that X competes with Y and Y competes with Z,” he said. “But the tablet market is pretty immature; it’s growing so there’s plenty of room for new products out there that haven’t been in the market before.”
It’s also not necessarily an apples to apples comparison of the Surface to other tablets he said, saying while many tablets can be connected to physical keyboards, Surface is more of a hybrid tablet/laptop than just a tablet.
Have any of our readers seen a Surface in the wild yet? Let us know below.


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2/23/2012 9:33:18 AM
TTI MarketEye: Counterfeiting: Technology to the Rescue?
Ever since the first combatant started using new technology in battle in an attempt to gain superiority over his enemy, the response by the other side has been an increased effort to reduce the effectiveness of the breakthrough. This same measure versus countermeasure approach seems to be taking place in the semiconductor industry’s attempts to stem the flow of counterfeit ICs and components.
Existing methods of microchip verification including visual inspections, paperwork reviews and reliability testing are proving to be increasingly inadequate. Even near-perfect copies of holograms somehow become available within days of their initial launch.
As a result, although authorized distribution has evolved and developed best practices and standards to keep up with the growing threat of counterfeit parts, there has nonetheless been an increase in the amount of counterfeit chips reported by customers and IC suppliers.


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BIMCO, DCSA, FIATA, ICC, and Swift (The FIT Alliance) have launched the “Declaration of the electronic Bill of Lading” with the hopes of making international trade more efficient, reliable, sustainable, and secure.
The aim of the declaration is to secure commitment from all stakeholders in international trade to collaborate on driving digitalisation, starting with electronic Bill of Ladings (eBLs), within their industries.
Every year, ocean carriers issue around 45 million bills of lading, one of the most important trade documents in shipping.
Currently, many international shipping documents are not standardised, and the majority are still paper based, requiring physical hand-off between participants.
The adoption of eBLs will reportedly enable the trade industry to benefit from faster transactions, cost savings (e.g., reduced administrative cost of cargo holding and document processing), and lowered fraud risks (through the use of digital authentication systems).
According to the Alliance, in 2022, only 2.1 per cent of bills of lading and waybills in the container trade were electronic.
“This is despite the fact that end-to-end digitalisation of trade documentation, starting with eBL, will cut costs, make international trade more efficient, reliable, secure, sustainable and less susceptible to illegal activity or fraud,“ said the FIT Alliance said in a common statement.
In the dry bulk sector, there are some encouraging signs of growth. Four of the world’s largest mining companies are already carrying around 20 per cent of their iron ore shipments on eBLs.
A McKinsey study estimates that if eBL achieved 100 per cent adoption in the container sector alone, it could unlock $30-40 billion in global trade growth by reducing trade friction in the container trade alone.
It could also help save 28,000 trees per year, equivalent to around 39 football fields of forest, and significantly reduce carbon emissions by eliminating paper.
The Alliance continued to note that: “A universal eBL will benefit all stakeholders involved in the global supply chain whether in bulk shipping or container shipping.”
“Achieving widespread adoption of a standards-based eBL will benefit not only the shipping industry, but also the global movement of goods, at a time when supply chain resilience is challenged.”
“This declaration is a significant symbol of our joint dedication to shape the future of shipping. Transforming document exchange through a globally applicable eBL will accelerate trade digitalisation to the benefit customers, banks, customs, government authorities, providers of ocean shipping services and all other stakeholders.”
This push towards digitalisation has been accompanied by many other industry players who have similar goals.
In May 2023, Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) welcomed Ocean Network Express (ONE) as its latest member as according to GSBN, ONE has been a leader in upgrading its enterprise architecture and developing digital solutions.


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KARACHI: On a consolidated basis, Lucky Cement Limited reported the profit after tax to date of Rs 17.15 billion of which Rs 4.01 billion is attributable to non-controlling interests for the first half ended December 31, 2021.
This translates into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs 40.66 / share as compared to Rs 32.05 / share reported during the same period last year.
Further, on a consolidated basis, the company achieved gross turnover of Rs 154.50 billion which is 24.9 percent higher as compared to the same period last year’s turnover of Rs 123.72 billion. During the half year 2021-22 under review, the company’s consolidated net profit (attributable to owners’ of the Holding Company) increased by 26.8 percent as compared to the same period last year.
The increase in net profit was mainly attributable to the stellar performance of Company’s Chemicals business. Apart from the one-off unrealized accounting gain recognized on acquisition of controlling shares in NutriCo Pakistan amounting to Rs 1.847 billion, the Chemical business achieved considerable improvement in net profitability on account of impressive growth in its Polyester, Pharma and Animal Health business segments.
In the automobile business, Lucky Motor Corporation introduced Kia Stonic in its line up as well as started commercial production of Samsung branded mobile phones during the half year under review. Whereas, profitability of company’s overseas operations increased mainly due to improvement in sales volume and operations of company’s joint venture Greenfield cement plant in Samawah, Iraq, which achieved its COD in March 2021.
On unconsolidated basis company’s overall sales volumes posted a decline of 5.9 percent to reach 4.70 million tons during HY 2021-22. Company’s local sales volumes remained almost in line with the corresponding period last year i.e. 3.63 million tons in the first half of the year 2021-22 versus 3.66 million tons during the same period last year. The export sales volumes of the company declined by 19.7 percent to 1.07 million tons as compared to 1.34 million tons during the same period last year.
The decline in overall dispatches is mainly attributed to decline in export volumes on the back of volatily in coal prices and freight costs internationally, which have adversely impacted the viability of cement exports from Pakistan.
Further, with regards to company’s unconsolidated financial performance, the gross sales revenue increased by 20.2 percent to Rs 50.61 billion compared to Rs 42.11 billion reported during the same period last year.
The per ton cost of sales also increased mainly due to increase in coal prices along with other input costs. Lucky Cement recorded net profit after tax of Rs 5.77 billion showing growth of 27.2 percent. Similarly, the standalone EPS of the company is Rs 17.86/share as compared to the same period last year’s reported EPS of Rs 14.04/share. The company reported progress on its brownfield plant expansion activities in KPK with project completion targeted for December 2022.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022


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Steak n Shake nearly broke even in the latest quarter it reported, no small feat after losing a combined $29 million in 2018 and 2019.
But is the improvement enough to earn some breathing room from lenders as a potentially calamitous deadline looms? On March 19, barely two months from now, Steak n Shake is required to pay off a $153 million loan, something it lacks the financial wherewithal to do.
If lenders are willing to refinance the debt, Indianapolis-based Steak n Shake will have more time to achieve the turnaround that is showing early signs of taking hold.
But lenders will do so only if they conclude that path is likely to leave them with the largest return, attorneys and investors following the company say.
Lenders’ holding firm on the March deadline potentially could propel the chain into bankruptcy, where it could be sold, reorganized or even liquidated.
If lenders refinance, “they are certainly not doing it out of generosity,” said Hannah Joseph, an attorney at JBL Legal who has many restaurant clients but not Steak n Shake. “They are making a calculated decision.”
Companies on strong financial footing typically refinance debt more than a year before maturity, thereby avoiding having to classify it as a current balance-sheet liability, said William Fahy, a senior credit officer tracking Steak n Shake at Moody’s Investors Service.
“Unless a company is challenged, you don’t see companies waiting this long,” he said.
The situation puts Steak n Shake in per- haps its greatest peril since its founding in 1934. The amount the company owes is daunting given its shrinking scale. Steak n Shake had 489 restaurants in operation as of Sept. 30, down 20% from the number in operation when it took out the loan in 2014, and foot traffic at those remaining restaurants has plummeted.
Back then, Steak n Shake was riding high, with its deep discounting strategy fueling $154 million in operating profits over the prior four years.
But the magic soon vanished, as a host of stumbles—including service problems caused by high employee turnover—led to plunging customer counts. In response, hedge fund investor Sardar Biglari, who gained control of the chain in 2008, began shuttering money-losing restaurants and slashing costs.
Sardar Biglari, who as a policy doesn’t speak to the press, did not return calls. A representative of Wilmington Trust, which represents the lenders, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Buying, selling debt
It’s not clear who holds the debt. The loan—originally for $220 million—was issued by a syndicate of banks. But so-called distressed debt often changes hands, as banks seek to cut losses and other investors specializing in that market step in.
Based on publicly available data on debt trades, the $153 million outstanding as of the end of the third quarter was trading at a 48% discount, leaving it with a fair market value of just $80 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
“It tells me there are serious concerns over collection,” Joseph said of the discount. “I don’t think it can mean anything else.”
According to SEC filings, just $51 million of the original $220 million loan flowed into Steak n Shake for use as working capital and other corporate purposes. Another $119 million went to retire a prior loan, and Steak n Shake used the remaining $50 million to pay a dividend to its publicly traded parent, San Antonio-based conglomerate Biglari Holdings Inc.
Steak n Shake chopped the loan down to its current $153 million in part by buying back debt at a discount, SEC filings show. As a result of those transactions, the loan balance has fallen 16% just since the start of 2020.
Reasons for optimism
Despite Steak n Shake’s weakened state, lenders don’t hold all the cards, said Aurelien Windenberger, an investor in Fairfield, Iowa, who has followed Steak n Shake for more than a decade.
He noted that, when Steak n Shake borrowed the money, it did so with the stipulation that the loan was backed only by that business and not by Biglari Holdings’ other assets. Those include insurance companies, an operator of oil fields and a big stake in Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.
That means lenders’ sole collateral is the assets of Steak n Shake, which, because of the pandemic and other performance problems, are worth less than when they extended the loan.
Given the pressures facing the restaurant industry during the pandemic, “I don’t think the debt holders would be very interested in taking over the assets if there is a default,” Windenberger said. “My guess is, there will be some sort of agreement that will come out to extend the debt.”
Windenberger’s optimism stems partly from favorable developments at Steak n Shake. He noted that the company mustered a $4.2 million operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2019, the last quarter before the onset of the pandemic. And despite the pandemic, the company lost just $63,000 in the third quarter of 2020.
‘Gold standard in service’
Longer-term strategies also are encouraging, he said. For example, the company is transitioning company-owned locations to single-store franchise partners.
Such operators don’t have to come up with the half-million dollars or more in upfront investment that owners of the chain’s traditional franchises do, but they must turn over 15% of sales and 50% of profit.
It’s a page from the playbook of the widely envied fast-food chain Chick-fil-A. Analysts say the approach plays a big role in cultivating the chain’s culture of exemplary customer service.
In a letter to Biglari Holdings shareholders last February, Sardar Biglari said Steak n Shake was being exceedingly selective in choosing participants in the single-store franchisee program.
He said their rewards can be great, with potential earnings topping $200,000 in the first year. He said the key to success is treating customers in a “warm, caring, and hospitable manner.”
Biglari added: “The franchise partnership is a federation of individualist entrepreneurs. Our job is to provide central direction to maintain uniformity in product quality, but we rely on our remarkable partners to provide the gold standard in service.”
Windenberger said he is impressed that the number of single-store-franchisee locations has grown from 29 at the start of 2020 to 69 at the end of the third quarter, despite the pandemic.
He also favors a strategy the company unveiled early last year—the conversion of restaurants that formerly offered table service to a counter-service model.
It’s all about keeping costs in check, Biglari wrote in his February letter.
“The combination of labor-intensive, slow production with high-cost table service has led our overall labor costs to be 6 to 8 percentage points above those incurred by our competitors,” he said.
Steak n Shake is pursuing that strategy with great urgency, according to a lawsuit the chain filed in August against Wilmington Trust, which represents the company’s lenders. In the suit, which remains pending, the chain is seeking a court declaration that it has the right to sell more than a dozen shuttered locations to raise money to fund counter-service conversions.
“In light of the unprecedented challenges confronting the industry, time is of the essence for restaurants to generate capital and adapt to consumer demands—especially those like Steak n Shake, which has traditionally operated a dine-in model that no longer appeals to many customers,” Steak n Shake said in a court filing.
Joseph, an Indianapolis native who has observed Steak n Shake’s operations for decades, said shifting to counter service “could be a shrewd move.”
But she said there is no guarantee of success—a reality that lenders will need to factor into their analysis.
“It is another risk,” she said. “It adds another variable to the equation.”•


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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Sunday issued a warning that thousands of leaked resident records are now for sale on the dark web. He also called for enhanced security measures to protect users and their data from malicious actors.
According to the CEO, who is popularly known as CZ, a billion resident records, including not just names and addresses but also national ID, police and medical records from an Asian country, are now up for sale on the dark web. “Our threat intelligence detected 1 billion resident records for sell in the dark web, including name, address, national id, mobile, police and medical records from one Asian country,” his tweet read.
While he did not disclose the country’s name, he mentioned that the leaked data was most likely due to a “bug in an Elasticsearch deployment by a government agency.” CZ called for “security measures” enhancement in “hack detection/prevention measures.”
On top of those, CZ shared that Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, “has already stepped up verifications for users potentially affected.” This is not the first time a treasure trove of sensitive customer data due to an Elasticsearch server was leaked online.
It may be recalled that last month, researchers at Safety detectives, a security product recommendation service, discovered nearly a million customer records exposed on an Elsticsearch server run by Storehub, a Malaysian point-of-sale software vendor.
The security experts described the exposed StoreHub server as “left open without any password-protection or encryption,” adding that it has “potentially compromised the information of thousands of restaurants and retail stores, along with their staff and roughly 1 million customers.”
The cybersecurity team further disclosed that “Storehub had misconfigured one of their Elasticsearch servers, causing it to leak over 1.7 billion records and over 1 terabyte of data.” They said the incident “exposed almost 1 million customers in Malaysia and potentially across Southeast Asian countries.”
Among exposed data includes “full names, phone numbers, physical addresses, email addresses and type of device used.” The security experts also said that other data related to payments and order information of customers were also exposed, including “transaction dates, ordered items and store locations.”


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By: Shanthi Rexaline
Apple confirms the launch event for the iPhone 15 on Sept. 15 and the company has promoted the event with the tagline 'Wonderlust.'
Shanthi Rexaline is a multi-talented writer, poet, planner, quizzer, and avid cricket fan. As a staff writer, she contributes to several publications including Investor Place, NXTmine, Benzinga, Business Insider, and Zenger News. Her articles cover a range of topics including technology, stocks, investing, and politics.
This information evolves through machine learning and human feedback. Improve this profile .


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Scott Shapiro suffered a broken finger and numerous lacerations as a result of the violent robbery.
"As I was holding onto one of the assailants, we fell backwards into one of the display cases," Shapiro said.
Shapiro works at Syd Jerome, a high-end men's clothing store located near the intersection of Clark and Madison streets. Chicago police said four young men entered the store at about 2:15 p.m. and grabbed expensive merchandise. As the robbers attempted to leave, a witness confronted them.
"Patrons helped," Shapiro said. "They jumped in. One of the customers tackled one of the guys. I was holding onto one of them by the revolving door."
The incident was captured on store surveillance cameras.
Shapiro said the thieves managed to get away, dropping some of the merchandise but leaving with plenty more. The four drove west in a red vehicle, according to police.
The heist comes as downtown retailers raise concerns about similar brazen thefts, some saying thieves are emboldened by changes made by Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, who raised the felony threshold for theft from $300 to $1,000.
Foxx said the change has allowed her office to focus more resources on gun crimes.
"It has unintended consequences. And those unintended consequences are that people are coming in, stealing a computer. It's not like when I grew up and people would steal one or two things. People are coming in, grabbing armloads of merchandise and walking out the store," said Michael Edwards of Chicago Loop Alliance.
Shapiro said he'd like to see more cops on foot, especially during the holidays.
He said it's the third time in recent months thieves have attempted or succeeded in this type of theft at his store.
"As a merchant, we shouldn't have to deal with these problems, but it's become more pervasive over the years," Shapiro said.
Chicago police said they're still looking for the suspects who are believed to have fled in a red-colored vehicle.


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Strength in numbers: Consumer confidence, housing market improve
NEW YORK -- Signs of life in consumer spending are sprouting this spring.
A partial rebound in consumer confidence, a positive report on January home prices and an expected strong March from retailers suggest Americans are cautiously perking up.
The Conference Board said Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 52.5 in March, recovering about half of the nearly 11 points it lost in February. Analysts expected a reading of 50 for March, but the index is still far below the 90 reading that's considered healthy.
February's 46.4 marked the lowest level since April 2009, and also erased three consecutive months of improvement. In January, the reading was 56.5.
Economists watch the figures closely because consumer spending, including health care and other major expenses, accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity and is critical to a strong economic recovery.
"We're a lot better off, but we have a lot more improvement to go," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers. He said shoppers have "more willingness to spend" and are starting to trade back up in areas where they had cut back.
Separately, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index showed prices rose 0.3 percent from December to January, the eighth consecutive monthly gain. Among the 20 cities in the index, 12 rose.
But there's some worry the momentum in the housing market won't be sustained. Home sales sank during the winter, and government incentives that have propped up the market are ending.
Meanwhile, merchants are expected to report a 3.5 percent gain for March when they release sales figures next week, according to Niemira's estimate, which was upgraded from his original 2.5 percent projection. The figure is based on sales at stores open at least a year, considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.
Retailers reported a 3.7 percent increase for February, marking the biggest increase since November 2007, a month before the recession began.
The index excludes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, which stopped reporting sales figures on a monthly basis.
Still, as consumers cautiously return to some more expensive brands and stores, they're still buying differently than before the recession, keeping some frugal habits while shedding the more extreme cutbacks.


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SAN FRANCISCOThe Moscone West convention center began to buzz Monday as Apple developers showed up in the hall to pick up their registrations and await Steve Jobs' latest announcement. Would it be a new iPhone? An Apple TV? A music service? Or "one more thing" that none of us have guessed?
The banners at the Moscone entrance give few clues, but they give a few. iPhones and iPads are definitely important here at WWDC - more important, it seems, than the Mac. There's no "OS X" banner; instead, you see the announcements "4 Billion Apps Downloaded," "The center of the app universe," and "200,000 apps on the App Store."
Yes, you still need a Mac to write apps - and you probably will for the foreseeable future. But I think Apple is tending towards the world I described when I asked, "Will the iPad Kill the Mac?" a world where the Mac is a pro tool used by a small group of creators, and iPhones and iPads become Apple's mass computing platform.
Steve Jobs said pretty much that at the D8 conference last week when he described the PCs of the future as like trucks as opposed to cars useful and important vehicles to be sure, but not the average person's way of getting around.
The question still remains, what will Apple announce? We all know there's a new iPhone because Apple acknowledged as much when they tried to get their lost or stolen prototype away from Gizmodo. I'm still betting on what I said back in April: an "iPhone HD" with a high-res screen and lots of features centered around video, including video chat.
Tim Gideon, our audio/video analyst, is joining me here at WWDC and he's made his own suggestions: an Apple TV overhaul, perhaps some sort of focus on gaming, or an integration of the Lala music-streaming service into iTunes.
In any case, we'll know starting at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT on Monday, June 7. Follow our liveblog of WWDC on gearlog.com and watch pcmag.com for analysis afterwards.


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Shares of tech companies rose amid optimism about earnings. Netflix, which has struggled to win government approval to operate in China, said it had struck a licensing deal with Chinese video-streaming platform iQiyi to air its original content. Waymo, the autonomous car unit of Google-parent Alphabet, will dramatically expand its testing efforts by making hundreds of self-driving vehicles available to families and urban commuters in the Phoenix area. Shares of Google parent Alphabet rose to a new high.
-Rob Curran, firstname.lastname@example.org
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 25, 2017 16:47 ET (20:47 GMT)


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s recent Twitter poll asking his followers whether he should sell 10 per cent of his shares may have raised eyebrows - and temporarily lowered the share price - but there may have been a method to the madness.
One of the biggest concerns poll respondents commented on was how Musk's planned sell-off would impact Tesla’s share price.
And true to speculation, the share price fell by 4.84 per cent, wiping around US$60 billion ($80.8 billion) from the company’s value within hours of trade opening following the poll.
It was during this lull in trading that Musk sold US$5 billion ($6.9 billion) in shares. And even though he sold them so that he would be eligible to pay tax in the US, he actually saved US$2.6 billion in taxes because he sold when the market was at a low.
There is now speculation Musk had planned to sell the shares as fair back as September, which would render the November Twitter poll a side-show.
Twitter poll said yes
Musk took to Twitter last week to ask his 62.8 million followers whether he should sell 10 per cent of his Tesla stock so that he would be eligible to pay taxes. Musk does not take home a cash salary, only stock, of which he owns 193.3 million shares, which represents 20.7 per cent of the company. He is believed to be worth US$318.4 billion.
Out of 3,519,252 people who voted in Musk’s poll, a clear majority of 57.9 per cent called for him to sell the shares. Musk later said he would “abide” by the results.
That stock is worth about $28.14 billion.
Musk will need to sell another US$21 billion in shares to meet his pledge in full.
Biden plans to tax billionaires
Debate in the United States has been heating up recently amid revelations about how millionaires and billionaires avoid paying tax, while millions of Americans struggle to earn a living wage.
In the US, the Democrats are increasing pressure on billionaires to pay appropriate taxes in light of increasing media attention on the ways they dodge paying.
The proposed new law would tax tradable assets like shares and property to help pay for the Biden administration’s social and climate policies.
Musk has been a vocal critic of the Democrats' plan, and urged Americans to protest against the proposed bill, tweeting: “Eventually they run out of other people’s money, and then they come for you."
Tesla was recently valued at above US$1 trillion for the first time just last month. On Friday, Tesla’s shares closed at US$1,033.42 each.