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From now on, residents of the Madrid region who use their UberX app to book a ride may get a traditional taxi instead of the usual private vehicle for hire, known in Spain as a VTC.
The added service has been available since Friday of last week, and it was made possible through a change to industry legislation, which now allows for a normal taxi to be booked in advance at a fixed price.
It’s not a zero-sum game
Juan Galiardo, director Uber Spain
“Incorporating taxis into our platform is a huge step forward for us, and we firmly believe that the alliance will be beneficial for everyone,” said Uber Spain director Juan Galiardo, who announced the initiative a month ago.
When booking a vehicle through UberX, the algorithm will offer users the closest car and inform them whether it is a VTC or a regular taxi. The process will be the same in either case: a fixed price, payment via the app, the chance to rate the driver and the choice of adding a tip or sharing the fare.
This is the essential difference between Uber and Cabify, Uber’s main competitor in Spain, which has been offering the possibility of booking a normal taxi in Madrid and Valencia since last summer, but without offering a fixed fare.
When it launched the initiative on Friday, Uber had around 50 licensed taxis available through its app, thanks to a collaboration agreement with Ciudad del Taxi, a company whose owners have both taxi and VTC licenses. Galiardo noted that the service is open to the entire taxi sector. “It’s a good example of how there is enough of a market for everyone. Any taxi driver can download the app.”
Although Uber is not ruling out other collaborations, Galiardo explained that the agreement with Ciudad del Taxi is somewhat unique, and he is convinced that when there is a minimum number of taxis signed up to the platform, no further promotion will be needed. “The idea is to start on Friday and keep growing,” he said ahead of the launch.
The company will charge taxi drivers a 12% fee on the fare without demanding any commitment in terms of length of collaboration or number of trips, the attraction being that Uber has a high rate of occupancy. “It is over 60%, compared to the 30% or 40% of a taxi,” said Galiardo. And this, in a city where the combined number of taxis and VTCs per 100,000 inhabitants is lower than in other European cities.
Galiardo declined to detail how much added income Uber expects from the new initiative, which is already underway in Paris and in several Scandinavian cities, although he did confirm that it will be one of its engines of growth in the Spanish market, which the company considers to be of strategic importance.
The new Uber service has been launched in the wake of a bitter standoff between traditional taxi owners and VTCs. In January, taxi drivers took to the streets of Madrid and Barcelona to protest over what they viewed as VTCs encroaching on their territory. The price of a taxi is regulated and in many areas of Spain, the stipulated ratio of one VTC for every 30 taxis is ignored. In Madrid alone, there are 15,636 taxis and 8,239 VTCs, according to the Public Works Ministry. The taxi sector also wanted the VTCs to be regulated, a task that the central government devolved to regional authorities more than a year ago.
“Don’t give the enemy an inch”
“Don’t give the enemy an inch!” This is the punchy message delivered by José Miguel Fúnez, a member of the managing board of Madrid’s Professional Taxi Federation, concerning the possibility of their taxi drivers being booked through UberX. The two private transportation systems, taxis and VTCs, have been at odds for years, and Fúnez sees little possibility that the new dual system offered by Uber and Cabify will attract a lot of taxi drivers.
“The launch [of the service] is the product of almost a year’s work,” said Galiardo. “We sat around the table with a lot of associations, companies, taxi drivers and with the authorities to adapt the operation to legal requirements. It has been said that the taxi was going to disappear. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is a cornerstone of urban mobility, and the way to go is to make the service more flexible and put the consumer first.”
The taxi strike had differing degrees of success. In Barcelona, VTC activity was restricted while in Madrid, the demands from the taxi drivers were ignored. “It’s not a zero-sum game,” said Galiardo. “The more alternatives there are in a city, the more mobility increases. We want to become a long-term partner in Spanish cities, working with the taxis and the authorities.”
Uber insists that the taxi drivers who sign up to their platform will benefit from their technology and consequently get more work. The technology includes maps predicting demand and the possibility of new fares coming up near destination points.
Moreover, they will be exempt from the code of conduct required of VTCs. According to Uber, the possibility of being assessed by the user will be sufficient incentive for the provision of the best service. Nor will they have to have distinctive stickers on their taxis, unless they want to.
“The launch is a milestone that hopes to relegate this tale of conflict to history,” said Galiardo.
English version by Heather Galloway.


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One of the challenges financial institutions face in today’s marketplace is how to address consumer authentication, especially when it comes to providing merchants and other financial institutions with sufficient protection against potential fraud. Unfortunately, data breaches continue to increase in frequency, as do other types of fraud, rendering traditional methods of consumer authentication less effective than they once were.
These traditional methods generally consist of passwords and knowledge-based authentication methods such as challenge questions (“what was your first phone number?”). Unfortunately they’re just not good enough for today’s mobile-driven world, in which there are more devices carrying more information – financial and otherwise – than ever before. Security professionals suggest a multi-layered approach to security as a way to reduce data breaches and card fraud. This approach entails having consumers provide something they know (a password, PIN number), something they have (a security token or smartcard) and something they are (fingerprints, iris scans). The theory is, that while any one of these three items may not be secure enough on its own, combining two or all three items together exponentially increases the level of security, particularly with the rise of mobile payments and the Internet of Things (IoT).
EMV, which was introduced in the United States in 2015 and has yet to be fully adopted by all merchants, is a powerful tool in the fight against card-present fraud. Statistics show that card-present fraud has decreased dramatically in countries that have adopted EMV. Unfortunately EMV alone is not enough, because its security doesn’t extend to card not present (CNP) environments, in which customers make purchases online, over the phone or through mobile devices.
To be effective, a fraud prevention strategy should combine EMV with encryption, tokenization and other methods, creating a multi-layered approach to security. The key to EMV is the chip embedded in the card, which can store far more data than the magnetic stripe on traditional credit cards, and, unlike the magstripe, it encrypts the information when it communicates with POS terminals and payment networks. It can even be remotely updated by issuers with new data and security commands. Chip cards are especially secure when used with a PIN number, but even the U.S.-based cards, which have a signature instead of a PIN, are far more secure against fraud than traditional magstripe cards.
To help mitigate the lack of security for online and CNP transactions, EMVco (the governing body for EMV) announced it is working with the payments industry in supporting security and authentication for new and emerging technologies in the payments space. This endeavor, called 3D Secure (3DS) allows ecommerce merchants access to interfaces controlled by issuers that enable cardholders to confirm their identities directly with their banks via a one-time password or code.
While EMV will have a significant impact on card-resent fraud, it is not a panacea – although it is far more secure than standard magnetic stripe cards, it is still not foolproof. Combining EMV with encryption and tokenization methods to authenticate the card is an excellent strategy that will help protect payment data as it is transmitted and prevent fraudsters from obtaining what isn’t theirs.

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text: The Norwegian wool clothing specialist Devold of Norway, with its European subsidiary in Buchenberg near Kempten in southern Germany and its Lithuanian factories, today commented on the measures it is taking in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Since the company is not dependent on deliveries from any other factories – in China or elsewhere in the world – and since inventories and supplies in Lithuania are secured, Devold can take the effective measures to prevent the spreading of the virus while maintaining production and operations. “Our top priority is to contribute to slowing down the spread of corona,” said Herbert Horelt, managing director of the company’s German subsidiary. The measures include home-office work for all employees who are able to work remotely (except customer service), suspension of all business trips, 100 percent digital administration, no external or internal meetings, extensive hygiene and disinfection procedures and sufficient distance between those staff still working at the factory or one of the company’s offices. The brand’s customer service can still be reached as usual.


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As both an avid bicyclist and 3D print enthusiast, my calves salivate at the thought of the innovation that this emerging technology could provide to my favorite (and probably only) form of exercise. Already, we have seen end-parts for bikes manufactured with metal-based 3D printing, some of which were even produced to fit the measurements of the specific rider. Now, coming just a month after launching their 3D printed aluminum, Shapeways is joining in on the ‘tour de 3D print’ by helping the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Montague Bikes prototype their new foldable bicycle.
The use of Shapeways 3D printed Aluminum has numerous advantages for those in the bike industry, considering that most bicycle parts and accessories are traditionally made of aluminum. But it’s more than just the metal-based material capability that makes 3D printing technology a valuable asset to Montague Bikes’ bicycle production. Before printing the bicycle in aluminum, the parts are first prototyped in 3D printed plastic, allowing for a quick evaluation and modification of the bike parts to ensure a flawless design before moving onto the metal 3D printing stage.
“Before, it would take months to CNC complex parts, often to find they did not fit the bill,” said Mark Walker, the head of Montague Bikes’ R&D team. “Now, in a matter of days, Shapeways prints our parts initially in plastic – enabling us to quickly evaluate the form and fit of the concept.”
The aluminum material, which is printed with a DMLS system, helps Montague Bikes to test the function of their bicycle much faster than traditional metal prototyping typically allows for. Montague Bikes has been able to perform post-machining on the aluminum 3D printed prototype, such as tapping threads, which helps the bike manufacturers to test their prototypes to the fullest extent. Basically, the 3D printed aluminum allows Montague Bikes to test out their products faster and more efficiently than ever before. The 3D printed aluminum parts are also able to be welded onto existing bike frames, which is an impossible feat for most other 3D print materials.
“Having the ability to print in aluminum has been tremendous because it accelerates our path to production,” said Walker. “It allows us to test the function of new designs without either the long lead time of traditional metal prototyping or the inherent weakness of 3D-printed plastic.”
Thanks to the new 3D printed Aluminum services provided by Shapeways, Walker and Montague Bikes can continue to enhance their unique foldable bicycles. Their aluminum material is both industrial strength and lightweight, making it a prime candidate for the prototyping and production of new bicycle parts. I’m looking forward to seeing what other innovations can be created and enhanced from the Shapeways 3D printed Aluminum in the near future. More information on Shapeways 3D printed Aluminum can be found here.


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The textile sector reviewed a number of initiatives implemented through 2015 to boost the health of the entire sector. At its year-end review, the Textiles Ministry listed the initiatives it undertook in 2015.
The handicrafts sector benefited a lot under the Government's revised handicrafts schemes and strategy, which included infrastructure development, such as a Common Facility Centre in every cluster, development of design and training, through schemes under Office of DC (Handicrafts), direct assistance to artisans, such as online assistance through their bank accounts and linking up with market (including e-commerce) with participation of private sector.
The handlooms sector also received a major thrust with the Government launching 'India Handloom' brand for promoting high value handloom products with new design, zero defect in fabrics, zero effect on environment and assurance to consumer to about genuineness and quality of the product. As far as the power loom sector is concerned, the Textiles Ministry launched a pilot scheme to upgrade existing plain powerlooms to semi-automatic looms by providing additional attachments and to enable the power loom weavers to improve the production and quality of fabrics to face the competition in domestic and international markets.
In the silk sector, production targets for the year 2014-15 were achieved, the review said. The amount of Rs 297.58 crores allocated for the year 2014-15 for plan developmental activities has been fully utilised. For the year 2015-16, an allocation of Rs178.10 crores has been approved, against which, an amount of Rs 145.74 crores has been released as on November 3, 2015.
According to the review, to safeguard interests of domestic cotton growers, a well-planned, largest ever Minimum Support Price operation was carried out by the Cotton Corporation of India in the 2014-2015 cotton season, in all 11 cotton producing states. This operation was highly successful, with procurement crossing 86 lakh bales up to March 30, 2015.
In the wool sector, the Central Wool Development Board, Jodhpur (CWDB) has implemented different schemes for development of the sector with various schemes such as Pashmina promotion programme, Sheep & Wool Improvement Scheme and Angora Wool Development scheme in Himachal Pradesh and Manipur. To safeguard interests of producers and manufacturers of jute and jute products estimated at about 4.35 million families, the Government in January 2015, approved orders for mandatory packaging of food grains in jute bags and subsidy to Jute Corporation of India to support MSP operations in jute. The validity of the order was later extended up to December 31, 2015.


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Investment in PACA Foods puts more on the table
Positive national manufacturing trends visible for ingredient maker
- Jane Meinhardt, Staff Writer
TAMPA — PACA Foods is cooking up millions and will soon make significant investments designed to spice up its growth.
PACA’s plans echo a recent manufacturing statistic. Overall manufacturing nationally grew more in January than it has in nearly seven years, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s index of factory activity.
PACA develops and manufactures dry blended food products such as spices, beverage mixes, flour-based items, gravies and marinades for private labels.
It raised $2.5 million in a stock offering last month, but the overall transaction involving six new investors involved much more, according to Michael Shepardson, the company’s new president and chief executive officer.
Shepardson, a private investor from Winter Park, declined to disclose more financial details about the transaction other than to say it involves an offering of founder Robert Cabral’s equity in the company.
Cabral, a food scientist who launched the company 20 years ago, remains a partner and general manager. He referred questions to Shepardson.
“We have big plans and high expectations,” Shepardson said. “We have a really strong customer base and are undertaking a strategic review of core competencies to grow the business.”
PACA’s success in raising growth capital is good news for locals because it means a profitable company is expanding its footprint and employment.
PACA has 50 employees now. Shepardson said it is “hard to tell” at this point how many more will be added.
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It has been discovered that paracetamols, vitamins and other medicines in Bangladesh have poison in them.
After 24 children died after taking medicine manufactured by Rid Pharmaceutical Company, representatives of the Drug Administration visited the company and took samples for testing.
The Health Minister AFM Rahul Haque said that the pharmaceutical company used poisonous chemicals that are meant to be used in tanneries and rubber industries.
The company has been suspended from further manufacturing and their drugs have been prohibited from sales.
Matiur Rahman Chowdhury has more on the story.


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Walmart, world’s largest retail company is finally taking over an Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart suggests the story American supremacy in the business industry. Flipkart is a venture of Sachin and Binny Bansal, the two former colleagues of Amazon, that once posed a threat to the American Retail Giant, Walmart, and now the same Walmart has bought whooping 73% of the stake in the Flipkart becoming one of the major stakeholders of the biggest Indian E-commerce company. What is the reason behind the hostile takeover of the company by US Retail Giant, and why the co-founder of Flipkart Sachin Bansal has decided to quit the company? To know more read the complete story…
Who Doesn’t want to Get Rid of Their Debt? Every one of us sometimes or other has surely taken a loan or spent the money on Credit Cards to do the shopping. All of us have only one agenda in our life, how to get to rid of the debt and become tension free. If you are not one of them, then there is no point in proceeding with this article further but, if you really want to get rid of all your debts, then this article is for you…
LinkedIn is the foremost social media platform, organizing business and social media related information and building industrial connectivity on a user-friendly portal. Highlighting opportunities for employers and job-seekers, it lists out the most sought-after companies and positions, accessing information to all its users. The platform educates, engages and inspires audiences globally.
Remodelling your house is not just a change in the space you live in, but a transformation in the way you create your comfort zone. Treeium is recognized as one of the foremost construction and remodeling businesses, not just for the quality of its work, but because of the unique reformation it brings to the forefront.
WHILE MOST OF THE YOUTH AT HER AGE WERE STILL UNDECIDED AS WHAT TO DO NEXT, 23-YEAR-OLD NIDHI GUPTA ALONG WITH HER BROTHER HAS SUCCESSFULLY BUILT A BUSINESS EMPIRE OF RS 500 CRORE. THE MOST INTERESTING THING HERE IS, NIDHI BELONGS TO A MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILY AND HAVING NO BUSINESS BACKGROUND.
In India, people have learned to invest in claiming the tax benefits under various tax savings schemes. Due to this, a number of insurance companies have started mushrooming in the country. As per the income tax regulations, presently each individual has the limit of 1.5 lakh towards the tax benefits. But do you know, now you can also claim the tax benefits on the tuition fees, especially if you are sending your children to some high standard schools that charge you very high tuition fees? According to the sources, Sending kids to school has an inbuilt tax advantage for the parents as the tuition fee qualifies for tax benefit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.


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Is Diablo Immortal coming to Nintendo Switch?
Now that the open beta release of Diablo Immortal is right around the corner, it's no surprise that players are wondering if the free-to-play, MMO action RPG will be coming to their preferred platforms. Here's the breakdown of whether or not Diablo Immortal will be available on Nintendo Switch.
Is Diablo Immortal Coming to Nintendo Switch?
Unfortunately, it does not appear that Diablo Immortal will be offered on Nintendo Switch for the foreseeable future.
At the time of publication, Blizzard has dropped a "roadmap to Hell" developer blog to fill players in on all the important information surrounding the Diablo Immortal's open beta launch, and there's still been no official announcement made in regards to it coming to Nintendo Switch just yet.
That's not to say that an eventual Switch release is out of the question entirely, however. After all, Diablo Immortal was said to be a mobile-only upon its reveal in November 2018, and ultimately added Windows PC to its shortlist during development on April 25.
At the time of publication, there are also plenty of Blizzard's Diablo titles available for the Switch, including Diablo III: Eternal Collection and Diablo II: Resurrected.
Diablo Immortal is set to release in Open Beta for iOS, Android and Windows PC (via Battle.net) on June 2, 2022.
For more on Diablo Immortal, feel free to check out our guide on how to pre-load the game on PC.


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In just two days, Nvidia is expected to unveil its next-gen graphics architecture, Ampere. Technically, Nvidia hasn't confirmed this, but it told us to "Get Amped" for its GTC keynote coming on May 14.
Today, Nvidia uploaded a video to YouTube showing CEO Jensen Huang cooking up something spicy (the video is unlisted at the moment, so kudos go to Andreas Schilling for spotting it):
In the brief clip, Jensen wants to show us something and pulls it out of the oven while the cameraman is hardly able to contain his laughter.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, what we've got here is the world's largest graphics card," the exec says.
There's little point in speculating at this point, but this is almost certainly an Ampere-based Tesla graphics card packed with eight GPUs and tied together with an NVLink interconnect. We suspect the GPUs are Nvidia A100s, which haven't been formally announced but are expected to succeed the Pascal-based P100 and Volta-based V100.


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It's official: Google's Pixel 4 will have a large, square camera bump on the back.
We don't know its exact dimensions or just how big of a bump it'll be, but judging from the company's own render of the device (above), it'll definitely rise above the phone's back surface, and it won't be small.
Camera bumps are not a new thing, and neither is the trend to increase the number of rear cameras on phones (the Pixel 4 will, for the first time, have two). But this look will likely become a big trend soon, because all signs are suggesting that the upcoming iPhone 11 will have a similar, square-shaped camera bump on the back. Read more...More about Iphone 11, Pixel 4, Square Bump, Tech, and Smartphones


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Gigantic Retailer Coming to the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga
This is easily the busiest time of the entire year for retailers.
The holiday shopping season is upon us, which means that many people are flooding into stores to buy Christmas presents and other goodies in time for December 25th.
Despite online shopping being as popular as ever, many still venture into stores themselves, because let's be honest, nothing replicates the experience of going into a store to buy those gifts.
The Walden Galleria a busy place these days, because of that holiday shopping, but also because of the influx of new stores this year.
Five Below is one of the latest new tenants at the Walden Galleria, as is Lovisa and Wetzel's Pretzel's.
There's another major retailer, which will be opening its first ever location in Western New York. That will be at the Walden Galleria.
Buffalo Business First is reporting that Primark is coming to the Walden Galleria by May of 2023.
Primark is an Irish fast-fashion retailer, who will open a 35,000 square feet space at the Walden Galleria. This will be the Buffalo region's first location for the growing retailer.
Primark only has 13 current stores in the United States, so it's a big deal that they will be coming to Buffalo at the Walden Galleria.
The mall in Cheektowaga also has a new Starbucks location, which just opened in September. They also just opened a remodeled Lululemon's in November.
I haven't been to the Walden Galleria in a few months, so it will be exciting to see all these new stores in there.


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For those who follow Microsoft’s giant steps in the gaming industry Xbox Mobile Store‘s arrival was not a big surprise. An official date has been announced for this giant step, which has been rumored for a long time and gamers have been eagerly awaiting.
Xbox Mobile Store: New Competitor in Mobile
Xbox Mobile Store is part of Microsoft’s strategy to further expand its presence in the gaming market. In March, Xbox head Phil Spencer stated their desire to be active on both desktop and mobile. However, for this big move, it was necessary to wait for the completion of the huge $68.7 billion deal with Activision-Blizzard.
The Verge writer Tom Warren gave important information about the Xbox Mobile Store in the latest episode of the Iron Lords Podcast. He pointed out how valuable the mobile market is with the new agreement. He also said that the Xbox Mobile Store is targeted for next year. However, it is still a matter of curiosity which games the store will support or what innovations it will offer.
Referring to games such as Resident Evil Village offered by Apple on the iPhone 15 Pro, Warren said, “The mobile gaming market can become more attractive and host not only cloud games but also local games.” he stated.
Activision Blizzard has popular games such as Diablo Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush Saga. Considering the presence of Xbox Cloud Gaming, it seems that Microsoft is preparing to enter the mobile gaming market strongly. But we have to wait until 2023 for all the details of this exciting development.


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The new Q5 will replace the ageing current-gen model which has been in production for seven years now.
The teaser image, shows off the new design for the tail lamps of the new Q5 which hints at a more evolutionary than revolutionary design change for the new Q5. The new SUV is expected to borrow from the design changes seen on the Q7 and Q2 SUVs.
The new Audi Q5 will sit on the Volkswagen Group's MLB platform which is expected to help the new SUV cut around 100 kilograms of weight compared to the current Q5.
The four-wheel-drive variants of the Q5 will also be fitted with the latest Quattro system which only sends power to the front wheels when the SUV is being driven around normally to save fuel.
The engine lineup is expected to be the usual mix of four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines seen under the hood of the A4. The more powerful six-cylinder engines will also be seen under the hood of the new SQ5 SUV.
A plug-in hybrid variant is also expected in the future along with the successor to the SQ5 performance variant. A hardcore RS Q5 variant is also expected to appear next year.
The new Q5 will feature the latestversion of Audi's navigation system, along with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility as well.


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OnePlus recently started rolling out the stable Android 12-based OxygenOS 12 update for the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro. A week later, the update has reportedly been pulled. It is suggested that OnePlus has stopped the rollout due to the presence of numerous bugs post update.
OnePlus Suspends Android 12 Update
A report by Android Police reveals that OnePlus has provided confirmation on this. In a statement, the company said, “We are aware of the issues caused by the OxygenOS 12 update and our software team is fixing them. We will suspend this software update and roll out a new iteration as soon as possible.“
The decision came in after users reported numerous bugs that plagued the Android 12-based OxygenOS 12 experience. It was revealed that the new update causes performance issues, crashing menus, the inability to customize icons, and more glitches. However, one thing to note is that OnePlus is yet to make an official announcement on this.
It was further revealed (via XDA Developers) that a factory reset after the update can solve the issue. Although, this solution isn’t really recommended. OnePlus is expected to re-release the update (hopefully with improvements) but a timeline isn’t known.
To recall, the OxygenOS 12 update has a major chunk of ColorOS elements due to the recent Oppo-OnePlus merger. More OnePlus phones are confirmed to come with the full unified OS experience in 2022. Apart from this, the update included adjustable dark mode, new desktop icons, improvements to the Shelf section, some Android 12 features, and more.
For those who don’t know, the Android 12 updates are appearing to be rather buggy. Samsung recently released the Android 12-based One UI 4 update for its current Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 foldable phones, and it is also proving to be bug-riddled. It remains to be seen how these issues are resolved for users to get a clean and smooth Android 12 experience.
Did you install to OxygenOS 12 update on your OnePlus 9 or 9 Pro smartphone? Are you facing the said issues too? Do let us know in the comments below.
Purchased 2 OnePlus 9 pro and after updating one of them to Android 12 have not been able to send MMS since. Meanwhile phone with Android 11 work fine.
Tried resets, called carrier but no use. Basically have a useless new phone as need to send work pics often.
The most difficult part is not finding support from OP or Android.
Yes absolutely facing problems. The phone restarting is frequently. Apps are crashing. Starting to get fed up with mobile. I hope One plus does something about it ASAP.
It’s a good decision from OnePlus
Yes. Did the update on the 8th and lost mobile network connectivity on both SIMs in Nigeria. Contacted OnePlus online service center and was told to do a factory reset. It did not resolve the issue. Presently, I had to put my sims back in my old 5T while my 9 Pro 5G sits idle and useless
Yes after the update my mobile network is not working but still i get incoming call and sms. Is there is any way i can downgrade to android 11. Currently I can’t visit any service center because currently i am not available in india(current location qatar)


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- The central bank will include an additional nine cities and four other institutions later.
- Participants in the trial will be limited to a select set of consumers and retailers.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated on Tuesday that it would begin testing its retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar with the first cooperation of four banks: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank. The central bank has said that the pilot programme would be expanded to include an additional nine cities and four other institutions.
Since the e-Rupee will be recognized as legal money. It will have the same trustworthiness, security, and conclusiveness as traditional currency. The RBI has also been quite precise in clarifying that the e-Rupee would not be an incentive-bearing currency. And one will be able to exchange it for other forms like bank deposits.
Pilot Test in Controlled Environment
Participants in the trial will be limited to a select set of consumers and retailers. In the same denominations as paper money and metal coins, the CBDC will be distributed. QR codes will be used to make purchases, and much like cash, the digital rupee will not accrue interest.
The decision to launch the pilot on Dec. 1 was revealed in October. In her budget address in February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that a digital rupee will be issued in the fiscal year ending in 2023.
The purpose of the pilot is to determine the resilience of the technology and also the process of digital rupee generation, distribution, and storage in real-time. In the future, RBI plans to conduct experiments with the e-functionality Rupee’s in a variety of contexts.
CBDC allows for P2P (Person to Person) and P2M (Person to Merchant) transactions. This is via the scanning of QR codes at stores or in digital wallets.


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EV subsidy increase in Germany green lit by EU
Brussels has given the green light for an increase in the EV subsidy scheme, the Environmental Bonus in Germany. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the European Commission today announced that it has no objections to greater financial support for electric vehicles in Germany.
The adjusted subsidy guideline will be published in the publication for Federal German government notifications, the Bundesanzeiger, in February and thus become effective. The new subsidy rates are to apply retroactively to all vehicles registered after 4 November 2019, according to the Ministry for Economic Affairs.
The date was set retroactively for 4 November last year because this was the date that a car summit took place in the German Chancellery when politicians and companies generally agreed to increase the subsidy rates and extend the subsidy measure. Later in November, the German cabinet had also officially initiated the change.
Among other things, the decision was made to increase the existing environmental bonus for purely electric cars with a netlist price of fewer than 40,000 euros from 4,000 to 6,000 euros, while 5,000 euros will still be subsidised with a netlist price of up to 65,000 euros. Plug-in hybrids will also continue to be subsidised, with the rate rising from 3,000 to 4,500 euros up to a netlist price of 40,000 euros. The only small change compared to the press release after the car summit: The subsidy for PHEVs with a netlist price between 40,000 and 65,000 euros will only increase to 3,750 euros instead of the announced 4,000 euros. This extension and the increase have been approved in principle in today’s announcement, as communicated in the most recent press release.
As before, the federal government and car manufacturers will share the subsidy equally. The federal government is making 2.09 billion euros available for the extended subsidy – the environmental bonus will be paid until the end of 2025 or until the budget is exhausted. In November, the cabinet also decided on a purchase bonus for young used cars, which are to receive an environmental bonus simply and unbureaucratically in the event of a “second sale”. The ministry is still not giving further details about this scheme – such as the amount of the used car subsidy.
According to the Minister for Economic Affairs, Peter Altmaier, the new funding guidelines will come into force “soon”. Altmaier iterated: “I am pleased that the European Commission has today given the green light for adjusting the environmental bonus for electric vehicles.” He insisted, “This is a good signal, as the new subsidy can now be launched shortly.”
The approval now granted from Brussels under state aid law was preceded by a political kerfuffle. For some time now, it has been said that Germany is virtually only waiting for the approval of the EU Commission. At the beginning of January, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), which is responsible for the Environmental Bonus, announced via Twitter that the EU Commission still had to examine the new regulation in terms of state aid law. “The @BMWi_Bund is optimistic that the EU Commission will approve the eco-rebate quickly,” the authority continued. It was thus suggested that the ball is in Brussels’ court.
However, as reported by the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, the EU Commission had not been able to even begin the review because important documents from Germany had not yet been submitted. “At present, this regulation has not been notified by Germany and is therefore not being assessed by the Commission services,” a spokesperson for the EU competition authority told the weekly newspaper in mid-January. In December, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) had already informed the German news site golem.de that the EU Commission was already examining the matter under state aid law.
The delay had apparently caused some customers in the retail sector to hold back with their purchase decision – after all, this makes an individual difference of 2,000 euros more subsidy for low-priced electric cars. For this reason, some importers such as Renault, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan had announced that they would grant an additional 2,000 euros in discounts until the new regulation came into force.
With reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany


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LANSING, Mich., April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As Michigan businesses prepare to reopen safely under government requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will need access to a supply of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) that will be in high demand for the foreseeable future.
"Governor Whitmer's Executive Orders make it mandatory that businesses provide employees with the proper safety equipment to reopen operations," said Bob Thomas, Chief Operating Officer for the Michigan Chamber. "Finding PPE will be the hardest part for small businesses that do not have access to a supply chain. The Michigan Chamber assembled a list of Michigan businesses that can provide locally sourced, manufactured, or distributed PPE to organizations across the state."
Member companies voluntarily indicated they have sources, manufacture or distribute PPE as part of the list. While the Michigan Chamber cannot guarantee immediate supply stock or service availability of PPE, it is providing links to businesses looking for supplies as quickly as possible and from local sources. Buyers should contact companies directly for product information, availability and warranty. The current list of manufacturers and vendors who can take or accept aggregate orders from the public can be found at https://www.michamber.com/personal-protection-equipment
The Michigan Chamber is a statewide business organization that represents approximately 5,000 employers, trade associations and local chambers of commerce. The Chamber represents businesses of every size and type in all 83 counties of the state. It was established in 1959 to be an advocate for Michigan job providers in the legislative, political and legal process.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michigan-chamber-of-commerce-launches-webpage-for-personal-protection-equipment-301048509.html
SOURCE Michigan Chamber of Commerce


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It’s not too late to get discount tickets to the Miami Open Tennis in Miami Gardens. We’ve found discounts for a number of the events, at up to 60% off.
The tennis tournament, previously known as the Sony Ericsson Open, runs March 19 through April 2. Regular ticket prices range from $35 to $455, depending on the seat and the match.
Groupon is offering discounts on 21 events, with up to 60% off.


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According to reports from Techradar GoDaddy are partnering with eBay and launching a new integration that will let UK SMBs who use the web hosting company easily sell products on eBay through the platform.
The integration which is already available for users in Canada will help UK-based business owners build their customer base and further expand on their capabilities and offerings. The feature requires no additional add-ons or plug-ins users can list and sell their inventory on eBay through GoDaddy.
There will also be automatic syncing in place meaning when a business sells an item on eBay, GoDaddy will automatically adjust it on their end to avoid the overselling of unavailable stock.
“We know how important it is for small and microbusinesses to have a strong online presence and we continue to support small businesses and entrepreneurs across the UK, with an integrated suite of online tools and solutions to help them grow their business online.”
“Small business owners can have their own online store with GoDaddy, as well as sell their products and services via additional outlets too, so they are visible to more people.
“The new integration with eBay makes it easier and quicker for busy business owners to keep track of, and manage, orders all from one central place. It is the latest in a series of our partnerships in the UK, following our integration with Instagram just three months ago.”
– Ben Law, Head of UK and Ireland, GoDaddy


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By JOHN T. WARD
The ever-fluid mix of stores in downtown Red Bank continues to churn with the disappearance in recent days of Heritage Liquors from the corner of Broad and East Front Streets.
Eric Eremita, a television personality who bought the building from store owner Ktae Sun Pae last November for $700,000, says Pae “left very abruptly” about 10 days ago, taking her inventory of wine, beer and spirits with her.
Pae could not be reached for immediate comment. According to broker JoAnn Clark, of Blue Winn Commercial Realty, Pae “chose to close the store just short of the expiration” of a use-and-occupancy agreement.
Eremita did not acquire the store’s liquor license, he said.
Eremita, a Staten Island resident and interior designer now appearing in a sibling rivalry show on HGTV called ‘Brother vs. Brother” – he’s on Team Drew – has been on a mini buying spree downtown. Sixteen months ago, he bought the former Fameabilia building at 42 Monmouth Street for $900,000, according to Monmouth County property records.
The building, vacated by Fameabilia in late 2008, won approval for a 162-seat restaurant, in May, 2013, but remains vacant. A deal with prospective tenant who wanted to put an Indian restaurant in the space didn’t pan out, Eremita tells Retail Churn.
As for his latest acquisition, at 1 Broad, Eremita is hoping for high-end retail.
“I’d love to to get the likes of a Gucci or Louis Vuitton in here,” he said. “These are the kinds of businesses that should be in Red Bank.”


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Director Tetsuya Nomura is “not confirming or denying either way”.
Amidst the latest gameplay trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3, which showcased the new Toy Story world and confirmed a release in 2018, director Tetsuya Nomura has been dropping some new information. He already noted that the team is looking into another playable character along with Sora and while speaking to GameSpot, Nomura also discussed the possibility of downloadable content.
Basically, as Nomura notes, “Nothing is set in stone, and I’m afraid we can’t go into details, but I have told the team: Just be prepared to be able to accommodate for something like that.
“We can’t suddenly develop a system where we’re accommodating for downloadable content. So it’s not confirming or denying either way, but just so that the development team will be prepared, I have informed them of making the preparations.”
Kingdom Hearts 3 is targeting a 2018 release for Xbox One and PS4 with the possibility of Nintendo Switch release (not confirmed, of course). What are your thoughts on possible DLC for the game? Let us know in the comments.


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BioZyme, manufacturer of Amaferm, Sure Champ, VitaFerm and other proprietary, natural feed supplements for horses, cattle, commercial poultry and swine, and show livestock, broke ground last month on a $1.2 million warehouse and dock addition to its main supplement production facility in St. Joseph, Missouri.
The 14,000-square-foot addition, under construction at 6010 Stockyards Expressway, is expected to be completed in Spring 2016 and will provide much needed space for the increasing number of trucks needed to pick up orders. BioZyme relies entirely on outside carriers to transport its products to customers.
Increased demand for BioZyme’s natural feed supplements domestically and internationally prompted the facility expansion. BioZyme’s products are formulated to promote animal health, digestion, production and reproduction.
“BioZyme has grown approximately 30% annually over the past couple of years, so additional room was desperately needed to transport our products more efficiently,” said Lisa Norton, BioZyme Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. “The end goal of the expansion is providing better customer service.”
In addition to the warehouse expansion, BioZyme has expanded the facility’s office space to accommodate its growing staff. In the past 18 months, BioZyme has hired 25 people, in addition to initiating a double shift in March. In September, BioZyme announced the addition of a new commercial LiquiFerm brand to its Supplements Division.
BioZyme Inc., founded in 1965, develops and manufacturers natural, proprietary products focused on animal nutrition, production, microbiology and reproduction. With a continued commitment to applied research, BioZyme offers a complete line of high density, highly available vitamin, mineral, trace mineral and protein supplements for a variety of animals including cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, goats, horses and dogs. BioZyme brands include Amaferm, Amasile, VitaFerm, Vita Charge, Sure Champ, Vitalize, LiquiFerm Digest More and Peet’s Feed. Headquartered in St. Joseph, Missouri, BioZyme reaches a global market of customers throughout the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. For more information about BioZyme, visit www. biozymeinc.com.


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According to a source officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have contacted Amazon asking them to remove fake police IDs, wallets and warrant cards currently available on the website. At the time of going to pixel the police-style paraphernalia is still available for purchase on amazon.co.uk. Impersonating a police officer is an offence, Amazon enabling the offence is not…
In a move that absolutely no one could have predicted, Amazon have announced the government’s 2% Digital Services Tax is to be passed straight onto consumers. Guido presumes the government line on this one will be full Brass Eye: ‘This is the one thing we didn’t want to happen’…
A post on the Amazon Services forum announces that, while the legislation was being passed, the company “absorbed this increase”, however now the law has been implemented they
“will be increasing Referral fees, Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) fees, monthly FBA storage fees and Multichannel Fulfilment (MCF) fees by 2% in the UK to reflect this additional cost”
UK businesses who rely on goods from Amazon will now have to fork out for the rise, with the government not getting a penny from Amazon’s coffers. The government should take this tax policy failure into account before considering the rumoured online sales tax for a moment longer…
Guido doesn’t want to pay extra taxes “to save the High Street”. In fact it seems quite obvious that millions of people like getting cheaper goods delivered direct to their door. Of course rivals want to handicap their competitors in their own self-interest. Perhaps politicians should side with consumers rather than producers for once?
Converting high streets into residential streets might even help with high-priced housing costs in urban areas. Which will please younger voters!
Margaret Hodge is calling for people to join her in boycotting Amazon over their tax arrangements:
“I hope people take a leaf out of my book and stop using Amazon. I don’t use them at all… If we stop using Amazon then they may understand how angry their customers are.”
You can read more about Hodge’s strong and principled views on Amazon in her book Called to Account, for sale on Amazon:
“I don’t use them at all…”
— Ian Sherwood (@ian_surewould) February 28, 2017
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the plumbing that makes a lot of the internet work, not just for Amazon but for a lot of other big companies – our daily Guidogram email didn’t go out last night because it relied on AWS. It was by one of those cosmic ironies also the day Amazon’s marketing people had decided to call “AWSome Day”. The above video is of a hapless Amazon booster discovering he can’t make his presentation about the brilliance of the AWS cloud because it was down. Even the geek’s website isitdownrightnow.com, used for checking if internet services are down, relied on AWS:
Rivals have not wasted any time, in Guido’s inbox this morning was an offer from Google Cloud Services:
AWS going down for a few hours reminded people that there is no such thing as “the cloud”. There are just other people’s computers…
Amazon has released a beta of Lumberyard, a free game engine and software development tool that runs on Amazon’s AWS cloud computing platform. AWS is a multi-billion revenue generator for Amazon and most tech start-ups use it.
Clause 57 of the terms and conditions deals with a common video-game scenario. It has a few acceptable use exceptions that don’t read like the usual legalese:
However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.
It seems that in the event of a properly certified zombie apocalypse the platform will be available to actually shoot ’em up…


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SAN FRANCISCO — Start-up Moff has brought to U.S. retail its Moff Band, a wearable smart toy aimed at kids under 10 that interacts with a free app to create sound effects through gestures.
The Moff Band is worn on the wrist like a snap bracelet, and with a touch of the app kids can generate sounds such as air drums, electric guitar, a tennis racket hitting a ball, the crack of a baseball bat, clanging ninja swords and others by swinging their arms. A new sound is added to the app each week.
CEO Akinori Takahagi told TWICE that the Moff Band’s initial funding goal on Kickstarter was met within 48 hours and the product is currently the No. 2 best-selling electronic toy for kids on Amazon in Japan.
He said parents who received Moff Bands through the Kickstarter project have observed that their kids are more active physically when playing with it and also do not tire of it because of the new additions each week. “When kids play with the Moff Band, they are physically more active, exercising their imagination and increasing faceto- face interactions,” said Takahagi. “Moff Band gives kids a fun and active alternative to staring at their smartphone or tablet screens and encourages creative playing and physical activity.”
It is powered by a standard replaceable coin battery, included.
The Moff Band is debuting on Amazon.com for $54.99. It is compatible with iOS devices but an Android version “will be available shortly.”


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“I went from goods receiver to Group Manager in two years”
Everything is possible – as long as you believe in yourself and surround yourself with the right people. That attitude enabled Jasmina Mujcinovic, in two years, to advance from goods receiver to Group Manager at the logistics reception at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna.
At the logistics and waste centre at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, 14 Coor employees receive, register and deliver everything that is sent to and needed at the hospital – medicines, consumables, textiles, food and mail – and the Group Manager in charge of the entire department is 30-yearold Jasmina Mujcinovic.
“I started here as a goods receiver and had no thought of becoming a manager. But life has taught me that you shouldn’t settle for being comfortable,” she says.
It was a friend that recommended that Jasmina apply for a job as a goods receiver at Coor’s logistics reception at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. Since she has always had an interest in technology, she was attracted by the prospect of working with robots, which are an important tool in the department’s work. Jasmina got the job. After that, it took barely a year before the group leader in the department decided to leave and the manager at the time then asked if she wanted the position.
“I remember so well when I received the question. My boss and I were talking to each other in one of the hospital corridors. Then my boss said, ‘Jasmina, when the train is at your station you have to get on.’”
"We all motivate and encourage each other."
Jasmina felt unsure – was she really ready to take on such a big responsibility?
“It felt scary, but then I thought, what’s the worst that can happen? So I decided to accept.”
She had only just stepped into the role of group leader when the group manager in the department suddenly quit. An ad was posted for a new manager.
“It was far too big a step, and too soon. But then a colleague said to me: why don’t you apply – you already do everything here?” Jasmina hesitated, but her colleagues kept encouraging her, and finally she decided to apply.
“I really like that about Coor. We all motivate and encourage each other, and there really are a lot of opportunities for development."
Jasmina eventually got the job as Group Manager at the logistics reception.
“I can honestly say that at the beginning I had second thoughts many times: am I really the right person for this job? But you have to remind yourself that you are there for a reason. Someone else has chosen to believe in you, so you have to believe in yourself. Today, three years later, I feel comfortable in my role.”
Lives in: Stockholm, Sweden
Job: Group Manager at the logistics and waste centre at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna.


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No shortage of food: Most charities hold their galas at hotels, but not the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.
Its 80,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Miramar works just fine, thank you. It both showcases the cause and accommodates program flexibility, says CEO Jim Floros.
San Diego Lexus dealers have donated a lease on a Lexus GS 350 F-Sport for Saturday night’s auction. Rather than flash an image on a screen, co-emcees Kimberly Hunt and Billy Ray Smith plan to drive the car into the warehouse past dinner guests, jump out and introduce the live auction.
“Try doing that at a hotel,” says Floros.


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The results of a poll, conducted by the ROMIR research organization in October 2003, showed that 34 percent of Russians approved of the arrest of YUKOS Executive Board Chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Answering the question of their attitude to this arrest, 34 percent of the respondents said their attitude was positive, the attitude of 20 percent of the respondents was "rather positive." The answers "rather negative" and "negative" were given by 9 percent and 4 percent of the respondents respectively. The attitude of 29 percent of the respondents to this arrest was indifferent, and 4 percent were undecided.
As for the question of the reason for the arrest, 28 percent of the respondents mentioned "personal violations of law by Khodorkovsky" and 24 percent mentioned "violations of law by the company." 11 percent remarked on Khodorkovsky's political activity, and 9 percent of the respondents thought the arrest was a result of a campaign against "oligarchs."
Fifty percent of the respondents believe that Khodorkovsky's arrest will have no effect on the Russian economy, 21 percent expect this arrest to have negative economic consequences, 20 percent expect positive economic consequences, and 9 percent of the respondents were undecided.
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The Russian forces destroyed a column of NATO armoured vehicles that had been delivered to the Ukrainian army.


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Retail earnings for the holiday period have gotten underway in earnest this week, which for the most part were disappointing when you consider Walmart’s (WMT) guide down for the current year and Nordstrom’s (JWN) disaster this morning.
Next week we will get results and guidance from Best Buy (BBY), Dillards (DDS), JC Penny (JCP), The Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s (LOW) Macy’s (M). Office Depot (ODP), Target (TGT) and TJ Maxx (TJX).
It’s been my view that U.S. consumers, while showing healthy relative strength to those in other countries have not had the windfall that many economists might have expected from the crash in oil prices, as the unintended consequences from commodity deflation has reared its ugly head in many other parts of our economy, and the savings at the pump have merely offset other adverse factors affecting U.S. consumers.
Despite all that, the secular shift in consumer behavior as it relates to how they shop has done a number on many retail business models, causing massive investments in omni-channel selling models to better compete with the likes of Amazon.com.
And what if oil prices were to go up for the wrong reasons, like the often rumored production cut? That would not be the result of greater demand so it wouldn’t mean an uptick in economic activity. And that means the perceived tailwind of lower gas at the pump (which was never realized by most U.S. retailers) could very quickly become a headwind.
It’s my view that U.S. retailers are a short at current levels, and the chart of the XRT, the S&P Retail etf, looks downright horrible. The 2 year chart below shows the sharp downtrend the etf has been in since July, the recent bounce off of a short term double bottom and the etf now bumping up against the downtrend:
More distressing is the 8 year chart showing the recent break below the uptrend that has been in place since its lows in 2008 during the financial crisis. A rejection here at the downtrend from the 2015 highs could mean a test of the recent lows at $38 and possibly a move to the mid to low $30s as there is an air-pocket below:
Short dated options prices have been in a steady uptrend since last Summer, with 30 day at the money implied volatility at 26.6% (blue below, the price of options) but have recently come off of multi-year highs and are approaching that uptrend. What’s interesting is that realized volatility (how much the etf has been moving, white below) is above that of implied at 28.7%. This suggests to me that in the near term, given the plethora of retail earnings upcoming, that option prices could be cheap:
So what’s the trade?
*XRT ($41.30) Buy the March 41 puts for 1.15
Break-evens on March expiration:
Profits: below $39.85
Losses: of up to 1.15 above $39.85 with total loss of 1.15 above $41
Rationale – A slew of earnings are on deck for components of XRT. From a technical perspective, bad earnings and guidance in the group means XRT likely fails at this downtrend and revisits recent lows if not worse. We’d look to spread this put on a move lower, perhaps by selling the 36 put if it became a little meatier, but it doesn;t seem worth it to spread until we saw a move lower. On the upside we’d look to cut our losses at about half of the value of the put if the XRT was able to break through the resistance to the upside.


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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that Indonesia has handed over a luxury yacht allegedly bought with money stolen from the multibillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund.
In a Facebook video, Mahathir thanked Indonesia’s government and President Joko Widodo for returning the $250 million yacht, Equanimity, which was seized by Indonesia off Bali in February in co-operation with the U.S. FBI.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“We believe that this yacht belongs to the Malaysian government because it was bought with Malaysia’s money that was stolen,” Mahathir said, citing an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the yacht has set sail from the Indonesian island of Batam near Singapore and is expected to arrive in Malaysia’s Port Klang on Tuesday.
“At the end of the day, the yacht must be sold off” so that Malaysia can recover as much money as possible from it, Lim said.


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Sweden's household consumption went down 0.6 percent from a month earlier in November of 2020, following an upwardly revised 0.2 percent increase in the prior month. It was the first decrease in household consumption since April last year, as spending fell markedly at restaurants, cafes, hotels and other accommodation services (-21.5 percent vs 4.5 percent) and for clothing & footwear (-9.6 percent vs -0.4 percent). source: Statistics Sweden
Household Spending in Sweden averaged 0.15 percent from 2000 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 3.50 percent in June of 2020 and a record low of -7.10 percent in April of 2020. This page provides - Sweden Household Consumption MoM- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Sweden Household Consumption MoM - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on January of 2021.
Household Spending in Sweden is expected to be 1.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Household Spending in Sweden to stand at 0.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Sweden Household Consumption MoM is projected to trend around 0.30 percent in 2022, according to our econometric models.


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Washington, D.C, District of Columbia Jul 17, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - Fonbnk, a distributed and decentralized finance company, is pleased to announce the release of its white paper. This white paper provides an overview of Fonbnk's unique technology solution and its social impact benefits. The company has built a marketplace that offers a mobile internet access solution, democratizing the participation of Sub-Saharan Africans in the digital economy.
Fonbnk informs that despite an impressive mobile penetration rate in Africa, a digital divide still exists in Sub-Saharan Africa. The cost of accessing the internet is too high in this region, particularly for the low-income population. This is where Fonbnk is making a difference by providing free and subsidized internet access in a transparent and user-centric way.
Leveraging the revolutionary blockchain technology, Fonbnk's unique proprietary ecosystem allows users to generate additional income by completing simple micro-tasks that don't require any relevant skill. Just by using the Fonbnk application on mobile devices, users can become market makers for the ecosystem.
Regardless of their Mobile Network Operator (MNO) or country, users can exchange airtime credits using the MIN token. These tokens can be exchanged back into airtime, cryptocurrencies, as well as fiat currencies. By enabling cross-border micro banking, Fonbnk brings interoperability in the field of broadband data. As a result, even individuals without a bank account can access the internet freely and participate in dollar-based investments.
"Decentralized finance technologies are the missing link to expanding broadband access worldwide and unleashing a slew of economic opportunities to the under-represented," said Christian Duffus, Founder & CEO of Fonbnk.
The whitepaper reveals that in Fonbnk's micro-work trials, participants have generated an additional income of $5 to $10 per week. This amounts to a surplus income of over $400 per annum for the users. Interestingly, a 1.05% increase in per capita GDP is realized by each free GB of data provided to Fonbnk users. Moreover, by eliminating data costs, Fonbnk is helping increase the per capita GDP in developing economies by an additional 4.82%.
Fonbnk's just-released white paper shares a real-life example of the platform's life-changing impact on its users. A student/entrepreneur at Kaduna Polytechnic in Nigeria, Bashir Sani has been a market maker on Fonbnk for almost a year. In this period, he has earned 150,000 Naira (approximately $360) using Fonbnk's ecosystem. Sani's success has inspired many of his peers to join the Fonbnk platform and become market makers.
To find out more about Fonbnk, please visit https://www.fonbnk.com/
About Fonbnk: Fonbnk is a decentralized and distributed finance company providing a frictionless and transparent onboarding of the under-represented in developing economies into the digital age. The company's mission is to drive financial inclusion through leveraging existing distributed and decentralized financial technology as well as a network of mobile phone accounts to enable free access to the internet.
This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.


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Why London will be an electric vehicle only city by 2021
Last year I started making a strong prediction. London would be an electric vehicle only city in under five years time. Today I’m as certain as ever, and here’s why…
I truly believe the majority of the population just don’t understand how quickly certain technology is going to advance. Autonomous cars, AI and blockchain are three which are currently in a tidal wave of development.
1. The ethic shield.
In London alone 10,000 people die a year from Pollution. In-fact London blew through it’s pollution allowance in 2017 in just 5 days! For those companies that want to make big money in this space, having media headlines like the aforementioned is gold dust.
2. Political Pressure
Mayor Sadik Khan is on nothing short of a war-path against pollution. Introducing two new Pollutant related charges to central London in 2018 alone. For many years drivers have paid a £10 charge to drive in central London. In 2017 a toxicity charge of £11 was added. In 2019 a ULEZ charge of £10 will be added. For many it will become unaffordable to run or own a car in central London.
Oxford Circus is due to be completely pedestrianised by 2019, for similar reasons.
3. The Technology
This isn’t even the early adoption stage of the technology, we’ll be looking at switching to the early majority stage in the next couple of years. The Renault Zoe is just £12,000, the BMW i3 £25,000, in-fact nearly every major manufacturer has electric cars in the showrooms today.
4. The Future (Solar)
It blows my mind sometimes how short-minded some are. When the talk of ‘range’ is brought into the conversation. Firstly, electric cars are not built with the demand for range in mind currently, as all are selling geared to cities. Buyers of electric cars just aren’t asking for 500 mile ranges. When we get to the early majority stage, this will change.
Secondly, it almost seems like some have forgotten about the source of all energy. The Sun. When each electric car has a beautiful glass solar panel roof, and possibly solar absorbing body, and it never needs to be charged or plugged in it’s going to not only change society forever, but quite possibly have infinite range.
5. The Black Cab effect.
In their war against Uber, the black cab drivers have proven they can mobilise. But also that they find it hard to adapt to technology. There are currently 21,000 of them in London today, if just 50% of them move to the new TX ECity model by 2019 it’ll be a huge shift.


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Consumers who saw or heard ads in the latest awareness campaign from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) were more than twice as likely to trust the ad industry and most advertisements compared with those who weren’t exposed to the campaign.
That is according to the latest results from the campaign, revealed at a webinar hosted by the ASA and the Advertising Association (AA) on Thursday.
The findings also revealed that consumers who saw or heard ASA ads had higher trust across all media types.
For example, trust in online ads jumped from just 15% among those who weren’t exposed to the ads to 36% among those who did. Trust in TV, meanwhile, rose from 31% to 46%.
The multi-channel campaign was developed by the ASA in partnership with the AA’s Trust Working Group. Media planning was by EssenceMediacom, with creative by Leith. Brands including Tesco, Marmite, Irn-Bru, Lloyds and Churchill were featured in the activity, which ran on TV, print, online, cinema and OOH.
Chaired by the IPA and Isba director-generals Paul Bainsfair and Phil Smith, the AA’s Trust Working Group has an agenda that includes rebuilding public trust in UK advertising.
The ASA campaign has become a key part of reaching that goal, given research from ad industry think-tank Credos has identified that people are more likely to trust advertising when they are aware it is regulated.
“We’re delighted that our UK-wide cross-media ad campaign continues to drive trust in the ASA and, by extension, trust in the ad industry,” said ASA chief Guy Parker. “Awareness and buy-in of the ASA system is a key strand in our new five-year strategy and our ad campaign plays a crucial role in helping achieve our ambitious targets.
“The ongoing support of our partners, agencies, brands and media is invaluable. Our ads resonate with audiences and help land our messages, including that the ASA regulates advertising claims on social media and companies’ own websites. Crucially, trust in the ASA continues to be significantly higher among those who say they have seen or heard our ads than those who haven’t. That’s more reason to look forward to the next phase of our campaign.”


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The Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio says that critically acclaimed Brazilian chef, Yara Roberts, will serve as a visiting instructor in the college’s Latin Cuisines Certificate Program. She will be here Aug. 10 and 11.
In addition to teaching students in the program about the cuisines of Brazil, she will offer food lovers a unique opportunity to taste her cuisine with two special dinners at the college’s restaurant NAO: New World Flavors. These will be Friday, Aug. 10 and Saturday, Aug. 11.
A five-course tasting menu will be offered for $65 a person, some of the dishes include: chicken with cerrado sour heart of palm and Brazilian truffled béchamel rice, stuffed pork loin with creamed beans and crispy collard greens and seasonal greens, mango and baru nuts with a passion fruit vinaigrette.
NAO: New World Flavors, is at the Pearl, adjacent to the CIA. Reservations are encouraged. Reserve your seats today on opentable.com, or by calling Nao at 210-554-6484.


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Sony has announced plans to bring classic PlayStation 1 games to Android phones and tablets before the end of 2011. Users will be able to download the classic games via a new PlayStation Store, which is part of Sony's PlayStation Suite mobile gaming platform.
No titles have yet been announced, but Engadget posted a pic from the conference where the new PlayStation Suite and PSP2 were announced showing five games (platform game "MediEvil," third-person shooter "Syphon Filter," snowboarding game "Cool Boarders 2," racing game "Rally Cross," and RPG "Wild Arms").
One requirement: You must have Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") or higher.
Assuming all goes right, this seems like good news for Google, especially with the Verizon iPhone on the way. As one person commented at Engadget: "Google can thank Sony for bringing gaming to Android."
The Original Search Marketing Event is Back!
SES Denver (Oct 16) offers an intense day of learning all the critical aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). The mission of SES remains the same as it did from the start - to help you master being found on search engines. Early Bird rates extended through Sept 19. Register today!


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If investors can get their hands on the stocks that are building something much bigger, there's usually an outsized opportunity to benefit. There are plenty of reasons why Amazon might deserve a spot on your current buy list, but I think one of the most compelling is the company's Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business.
From Amazon to Mercadolibre to Shopify, many long-term stock winners have come from the online retailing industry. Enter Coupang (NYSE: CPNG). The online retailer is running a similar playbook to Amazon but in South Korea, and is gaining market share rapidly within the country.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) warns that second-quarter revenue will be lower than previous estimates. Why Nvidia's long-term thesis appears to be intact. Does the former highflier have enough of a moat to fend off the likes of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)?


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German premium car maker Mercedes Benz will put on display its new GLA concept at the fast approaching Shanghai Auto Show that begins on Saturday. The production spec GLA will make its public debut in the later-half of this year at the Frankfurt auto show.
A few details and a sketch of the Mercedes GLA concept were today revealed by the car maker on its social media website and it can be seen that the GLA concept has taken quite a few design cues from the A-class. Overall, the GLA has an aggressive exterior design and looks every bit a modern Merc.
The GLA will play the baby brother to the much bigger GLK and will be offered in a front-wheel drive layout. Underpinning the new GLA is the much publicized MFA platform. The new GLA concept measures 4,440mm in length, 1,800mm in width and is 1,500mm in height. The new GLA concept has a wheelbase of 2,700mm and will have a really decent boot space (for a small SUV) of 500 litres.
Powering the car will be a set of petrol engines that will have a cubic-capacity of 1.6L and 2.0L respectively. Also on offer is a set of diesel engines that consists of a 1.8L and a 2.1L oil burner. The top end variant is expected to get the new 4Matic all wheel drive system that has been tailor made to suit the MFA platform.
The GLA is in-line with the upcoming Mercedes Benz vehicles that should enable the carmaker to re-gain the lost territory from BMW and Audi. These cars will be suited to developing markets such as that of India and will battle it out against the highly popular BMW X1 and Audi Q3.


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Final 12 months the Georgia-based gun producer Daniel Protection tweeted an image of a younger youngster with a rifle – about the identical measurement because the youngster himself – in his lap. “Prepare up a toddler in the way in which he ought to go, and when he’s outdated, he won’t depart from it,” the caption learn.
The submit got here simply eight days earlier than an 18-year-old shot and killed 19 college students and two lecturers in Uvalde, Texas – utilizing a weapon made by Daniel Protection.
The tweet was swiftly decried by Democratic lawmakers and gun violence prevention teams, who argued that the advertisements had been incendiary and promote violence among the many nation’s youngest residents, for whom gun violence is now the main reason behind loss of life.
The ways in which youngsters are uncovered to firearms by television and video games has been studied for many years. On-line ads grew to become a central a part of this dialogue final 12 months, across the similar time because the Daniel Protection tweet, when WEE1, a Chicago-based gunmaker used photos of two cartoon skulls with pacifiers of their mouths and targets of their eyes to market their JR-15, a .22 rifle that’s “geared towards smaller fans”, in response to the corporate’s web site.
Now, Joe Biden is calling on the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) to look at the methods gun producers market their weapons to People, particularly youngsters underneath 18.
It’s one of many a number of government actions the White Home introduced Tuesday geared toward increasing final 12 months’s bipartisan Safer Communities act, a sweeping gun management regulation that strengthened background checks, helped states put in place purple flag legal guidelines and boosted psychological well being applications. Right here’s a have a look at what the order does – and doesn’t – do.
How are gun corporations promoting to children?
Ads for firearms should not as ubiquitous as ones for vehicles or snack meals, and people who do exist are principally present in locations akin to gun magazines. Most of those advertisements are geared toward adults as a result of folks underneath 18 can’t legally purchase a gun.
Ads explicitly meant to enchantment to youngsters are uncommon, however invocations of militarism, patriotism and gender stereotypes that gun producers have lengthy leaned on are being geared toward youthful audiences above the age of 18, in response to a 2022 Senate joint economic committee report.
Gun producers and retailers are additionally counting on paid gun social media influencers to place their wares in entrance of latest audiences, as a option to skirt tech conglomerates Meta and Google’s ban on advertisements by gun corporations. In July, California grew to become the primary state within the US to ban gun manufacturers from advertising their weapons to minors.
What’s in Biden’s government order?
Biden’s government motion will end in a report that analyzes the gun trade’s broader gun advertising practices. In his announcement of the order, Biden emphasised inspecting ads geared toward youth and advertising that includes navy imagery and themes.
Earlier than the president tapped the FTC to look into gun advertisements, Democratic senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced the protective children from gun advertising act, which might require the FTC to ban gun corporations from promoting to children. Beneath the invoice, gun corporations could be prohibited from utilizing cartoon characters, memes, photos of kids holding weapons, or firearms designed for youngsters in promoting, and from providing branded merchandise to children.
“There are restrictions on cigarette and tobacco promoting, on alcohol promoting, and on hashish promoting, but the firearms trade is just not topic to any particular restrictions or limitations on their advertising practices,” mentioned a press launch asserting the invoice.
Markey cited WEE1’s advertising for his or her JR-15 for instance of the kind of advertisements the brand new coverage would doubtlessly prohibit.
What comes subsequent?
As a result of Republicans at present management the Home, and Democrats solely have a slim majority within the Senate, any laws proscribing the way in which gunmakers promote is unlikely to succeed in Biden’s desk. Markey’s proposed laws does, nevertheless, put strain on tech corporations to maintain gun advertisements off their platforms.
It’s unclear if a report ensuing from Biden’s government order, if printed, will result in new tips for the gun trade and their promoting practices. The FTC didn’t reply to requests for feedback.
Adhering to Biden’s request means the FTC would, for the primary time, analyze and report the way in which gun producers promote. The company at present has tips on advertising geared toward minors and carefully screens on-line advertisements for privateness violations. Nonetheless, the company doesn’t have any express guardrails to tell the methods gunmakers and adjoining corporations and organizations, together with youth capturing sport applications, market to younger audiences.


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Soft drink giant and component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average The Coca-Cola Company (KO) is one of the eight "dogs of the Dow" for 2018. The stock closed last week at $45.92, up just 0.1% year to date and down 5.5% since setting its all-time intraday high of $48.61 on Jan. 26. The stock is up 10.8% since setting its 2018 low of $41.45 on May 15. From its Jan. 26 high to its 2018 low, the stock fell by a correction of 14.7%, and this range is being consolidated since then. Meanwhile, the Dow 30 is 8.4% below its Oct. 3 all-time intraday high of 26,951.81 and is 5.8% above its 2018 low of 23,344.52 set on April 2.
Analysts expect Coca-Cola to post earnings per share of 55 cents when the soft drink giant reports results before the opening bell on Tuesday, Oct. 30. The company continues to diversify away from sugary sodas. This includes waters, teas, coffees and energy drinks. My favorite is the Coke Zero Sugar brand, which I stock up on whenever Publix Supermarket offers coke brands on BOGO (buy one, get one free).
The daily chart for Coca ColaCourtesy of MetaStock Xenith
The daily chart for Coca-Cola shows that the stock has been above a "golden cross" since Aug. 13. A "golden cross" occurs when the 50-day simple moving average moves above the 200-day simple moving average, indicating that higher prices lie ahead. When this signal is in play, the trading strategy is to buy weakness to the 200-day simple moving average, which was tested on Aug. 31 at $44.66 and Oct. 11 at $44.67. On Oct. 10, the stock failed at my quarterly risky level at $46.42, which is the upper horizontal line on the chart. My semiannual value level is $44.23, setting up a tight trading range.
The weekly chart for Coca ColaCourtesy of MetaStock Xenith
The weekly chart for Coca Cola will become positive if the stock ends this week above its five-week modified moving average at $45.78. The stock is above its 200-week simple moving average at $43.41, which is the "reversion to the mean," last held on June 29. The 12 x 3 x 3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 60.69 this week, up from 57.84 on Oct. 26.
Given these charts and analysis, traders should buy Coca-Cola shares on weakness to my semiannual and monthly value levels at $44.23 and $41.37, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my annual risky level of $52.35. My quarterly pivot is $46.42.


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Dishonored's first post-release add-on content will bring 10 challenge maps to the game in December and Bethesda officials say two story-driven campaign add-ons are expected next year, according to the company's blog.
The Dunwall City Trials pack will cost $4.99 and includes 10 challenge maps presenting new and unique trials. These include a battle arena match against hordes of AI opponents, an assassination rush mode, and a timed challenge. The pack also includes a new set of achievements, trophies, and a global online leaderboard.
Two additional content packs are set to hit in 2013 with story-driven campaigns.
"Daud, the leader of a group of supernatural assassins known as ‘The Whalers', will be the focus of the second add-on pack, scheduled for release in early Spring 2013," according to the post. "Make your way through new Dunwall locales and discover Daud's own set of weapons, powers and gadgets in this story-driven campaign. How you play and the choices you make will impact the final outcome ... "
No details were released about the third add-on pack.


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FOR decades, WeightWatchers devotees have gathered in church halls and community centres across the country to encourage each other to live a healthier lifestyle.
But now the organisation, which was founded in New York in 1963, is moving on to the high street and opening a chain of shops.
The radical shift in thinking is designed to pull in working mothers and anyone else who is keen to fit in a weight loss consultation during their busy day.
The Lifestyle Centres will offer group sessions as well as one-on-one support, including “express weigh-ins”, to help dieters stick to their weight loss plans. Visitors will also be able to buy products such as “grab and go” meals.
Spokesman Chris Stirk said: “The centre will offer a more personalised and flexible service for busy people like working mums and office workers who can pop in when they have time.
“With many of us working longer hours and demanding a more personalised, flexible service, we continue to adapt and enhance our products and services to meet the needs of the community.”
The first WeightWatchers centre has now opened in Reading in the UK and is selling meal deals and 150 other food products that meet the rules of the company’s point system plan.
Weightwatchers already has stand-alone stores in the U.S., Australia and China and there are now plans for a chain in the UK with sites in London, Birmingham and Leeds.
The Weightwatchers regime is based on a points system that allows people to identify the healthiest food choices.
A recent independent study published in The Lancet medical journal found people using the WeightWatchers programme lost twice as much weight as those who relied solely on advice from a GP.


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Elon Musk recently became the world’s richest man a few days ago with his fortune passing the one of Jeff Bezos.
Forbes revealed that Musk said that he would never turn down being paid in BTC.
The prestigious online publication noted that responding to a tweet by Ben Mezrich, the author behind the movie The Social Network and writer of Bitcoin Billionaires, that read “I’m never turning down getting paid in bitcoin again,” Musk replied: “Me neither.”
Check out the tweet below.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2021
A follower hopped in the comments and told Musk the following:
“A lesson for @elonmusk Money is simply a tool for moving value across spacetime. Gold was great for moving value across time, but not space. Fiat currency is great for moving value across space, but not time. #Bitcoin is optimized for moving value across both space and time.”
Someone else said: “It’s not too late for you to buy #Bitcoin and get into the next Bitcoin Billionaires book.”
Even Binance’s CZ hopped in the comments and showed some appreciation to Musk after what he just said.
Tesla to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet?
Forbes also made sure to note the fact that back in December, Musk sparked some pretty wild speculation that his Tesla company could be adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet during a public exchange on Twitter.
Forbes also noted that “The value of the combined bitcoin and cryptocurrency market has now surged to over $1 trillion. The bitcoin price smashed through $40,000 per bitcoin this week, with the total value of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency passing $750 billion—and pushing bitcoin up the charts of largest global assets.”
Check out the complete Forbes article.
At the moment of writing this article, BTC is trading in the green, and the coin is priced at $40,313.43.


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Activision is busy behind the scenes coping with massive launch demand for its new social network service, Call of Duty: Elite.
“We are being challenged by a response beyond any of our expectations on day one, but we’re making good headway,” Activision’s Jamie Berger told Kotaku.
“This is like that terrible birthing pains any new online service goes through,” Berger continued.
Stop the analogy right now, I want to get off.
Call of Duty Elite launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 alongside Modern Warfare 3 this week, but the PC version ahs been delayed.


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NFTs and Personality Rights
The Celebrity NFT Boom
It seems that every week there is a new celebrity announcing their exclusive NFT drop. From Snoop Dogg to Rob Gronkowski, it’s no secret that celebrities have embraced the NFT trend and more will surely join as NFTs continue to rise in popularity.
Back in March, a one-of-a-kind digital trading card of soccer player Christiano Ronaldo sold for just under $290,000.
LeBron James is another athlete who has jumped on the NFT bandwagon, first with a video clip of him dunking on NBA Top Shot which sold for over $200,000, and now with 91,000 Space Jam 2 themed NFTs.
NIL and Right of Publicity
NFTs are a convenient and popular way for celebrities to interact with their fans while also commercializing their personality rights. Personality rights are the rights of an individual to control the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, or other aspects of their identity.
Personality rights include the right of publicity, which allows one to keep their image and likeness from being commercially exploited without permission or contractual compensation. Although there are no federal statutes or case laws in the United States that recognize the right of publicity, a majority of states do recognize the right of publicity.
A notable case involving the right of publicity from 2014 involves Michael Jordan in which he sued Jewel Food Stores in Chicago.
Jewel ran an ad on the inside back cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in which it congratulated Jordan for his induction into the Hall of Fame, but also advertised its stores.
The court found that the advertisement was commercial in nature and that Jordan’s case could move forward since the grocery store used Jordan’s identity for their own commercial benefit.
Potential Issues Regarding NFTs and Personality Rights
The Michael Jordan case is an example of how celebrities can and will potentially sue those who use their likeness for commercial benefit without their permission.
This might be an issue in the NFT space at some point since there are literally thousands of NFTs that use celebrity likenesses, and typically without their permission. A prime example comes from William Shatner who tweeted this on March 7, 2021, in regard to tokenizedtweets:
Unfortunately, there is a lot of potential for misappropriation of celebrity personality rights in the NFT space.
For example, if you go to OpenSea and search for a well-known athlete like Tom Brady, there are currently 14,811 results.
It’s more likely than not that most of the accounts that are posting these NFTs do not have Tom Brady’s permission to do so. Similar to the Jordan v. Jewel Foods case, Tom Brady’s likeness is being used for commercial gain through the sale of these NFTs, and Brady could potentially have a claim against anyone who has profited from selling his image.
What Happens Next?
Since NFTs are still so new and there haven’t been many legal cases surrounding them yet, it’s uncertain exactly how personality rights will come into play in the NFT space.
Although bigger name celebrities probably aren’t as concerned with the monetary loss associated with unauthorized NFT sales, this can be an issue for smaller and up-and-coming celebrities. As Shatner’s tweet shown above mentions, “authors, actors, models photographers, etc.. should be concerned.”
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The annual Farmer2Farmer Conference is about local people, local issues and local solutions. It provides powerful networking and learning opportunities for farmers and food producers in the region. This year’s conference on March 1 at the Saanich Fairgrounds will bring together farmers from across Vancouver Island in a day of skill building, networking and ideas that are designed to support local farmers to thrive.
One of the hot topics this year will be exploring how the development of a tech park for agriculture may just be a key ingredient in boosting agriculture and food business opportunity in the region. Ty James will give the keynote on the work underway to create an aggregation, storage and processing service centre for food and agriculture producers. James has been shortlisted by The South Island Prosperity Project to present this idea for start-up investment at their Dragon’s Den style pitch fest called the South Island Open Innovation Challenge.
“In consultation with Island farmers, we have found that on average, large farming operations will waste 40 per cent of the crops they produce each season due to lack of distribution opportunities and value-added services available. Farmers, who have exhausted their distribution channels, as well as freezing and storage capacity, are still left with surplus product that could be transformed through processing into a variety of market ready, shelf stable products” explains James.
He outlines the opportunity as the creation of a “centralized hub for processing, packaging and distribution, where farmers will be able to utilize infrastructure to bring their products to market in an effective and convenient manner without the need to invest in costly infrastructure for their individual farms, while engaging in service options to receive fair, market value for their produce and harvest by-products.” One of the things that Ty is passionate about is the potential for Island farmers to capitalize on their surplus production in peak season through extending the shelf life of their produce, while creating a diverse line of Island-grown and processed products for distribution to local stores.
I wonder if this service centre also may line up nicely with the South Island Prosperity Project (our local economic development commission) proposal for the creation of an Agri-Tourism Cluster in Saanich. Would an agri-tech park that brings it all together be a game changer in our region?
You are invited to be part of this conversation. In addition, this year the lineup of workshops is focused on three workshop streams. The first stream is Hands-on Skills. This includes workshops on managing soil fertility, profitable farming for small-lot growers, and engine trouble shooting. The second stream features best practices that could be models or approaches that would benefit your farm bottom line. This includes a workshop on business practices and marketing tools for farmers selling at farmers’ markets, different co-op models that are working to increase marketing potential, and a roundtable on organic certification. The third workshop stream is around “Closing the Supply Gap”. This is looking at overcoming the challenges and barriers for farmers in supplying retail and institutional markets and the growing opportunities in this area, including the idea of the agri-tech park.
Tips, ideas skill building and networking of all sorts will pack the day. There are always a number of vendors on hand with farm-related goods and services from seeds to irrigation equipment. This year a special feature will be having Sasha Kubicek, a whiz accountant on hand where you can book a one-on-one session to get tips and advice about your farm financial management. We have heard great things about his handy tips on spreadsheets as a total time saver.
Please join us for this yearly event, and help to spread the word. Generous sponsorship from VanCity, the Peninsula and Area Agriculture Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture help to keep the conference really affordable, and of course a delicious lunch always hits the spot, prepared by chef Chris Hammer of the Island Chef Collaborative.
For the program, conference tickets and exhibitor information, visit www.farmer2farmer.ca or call Jasmine at 250 580-5837.
Linda Geggie is the executive director with the Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Smart Bomb blasting PSPs
Puzzle game from Eidos challenges players to diffuse bombs; game will feature single-player and multiplayer action.
Eidos Interactive today announced details on its PSP launch game Smart Bomb. The game is scheduled to ship alongside the North American release of Sony's handheld March 24. Smart Bomb is being developed by British game studio Core Design.
The puzzle game follows Michelle Grace, a member of the Bomb Disposal Unit, as she diffuses bombs laid by a global threat. Grace will disarm the bombs in virtual reality, unlocking various "tiers" before moving on to the next, and ultimately moving on to the detonator.
The game will feature story, arcade, challenge, and multiplayer modes. The multiplayer mode will support four players in head-to-head combat.
Official rating and pricing information were not available as of press time.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
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Canada has never launched an orbital rocket. SpaceHorizon wants to change that, and it knows it faces an uphill battle to make the dream a reality.
This weeks guest on the SpaceQ podcast is Philip Berthiaume the CEO of SpaceHorizon, a Canadian based launch services company operating out of Ottawa.
The company has ambitious plans to become the first orbital launch provider in Canada.
Earlier this month, the company announced it was going to resell launch services from other companies while at the same time it moves forward with developing its own fleet of rockets.
Having just completed the conceptual design stage, the company’s first launch vehicle, called Launch Vehicle 1 or LV1, is planned as a small satellite launcher with an estimated development cost of $50 million.
The company currently doesn’t have the resources to fully fund the development of the rocket and will be reaching out to investors mid-year.
Philip says they eventually want to launch from Canada, but that they don’t necessarily want to build their own spaceport. They would rather be the user of a facility that someone else builds, such as Maritime Launch Services.
Philip provides more insight into the company and its plans then they’ve revealed publicly to date.
Listen to and Subscribe to the Podcast
You can subscribe to the podcast using your favourite podcast app (iOS and Android). For apps like Pocket Cast or OverCast you can search using the podcast title SpaceQ or use the RSS feed URL listed below.
The RSS feed URL is: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:286233381/sounds.rss
The podcast is also available on Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and SoundCloud.