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Disney is closing its four remaining Chicago-area stores by mid-September, including its location on Michigan Avenue, while expanding its presence at Target.
The Michigan Avenue Disney Store will close on or before Sept. 1, according to the company’s website. Stores at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora and Gurnee Mills in Gurnee are closing later that month.
In March, Disney said it would close at least 60 stores by the end of the year, including three Chicago-area stores that already closed.
At the time, Disney said it planned to shrink its bricks-and-mortar footprint while improving its online store.
The company had also been focusing on “meeting consumers where they are already spending their time” by placing Disney shops in other stores, said Stephanie Young, president of consumer products, games and publishing at Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, in a statement in March.
In the U.S., Disney has been working with Target, which began adding scaled-down Disney shops to its stores in 2019. On Monday, Target said it plans to have Disney shops in more than 160 stores by the end of the year, roughly triple the number it has now.
Target stores in Chicago’s Montclare neighborhood, New Lenox and Mundelein have Disney shops, located near kids’ clothing and toy aisles.
Disney isn’t the only company trying to reach customers at Target. Bolingbrook-based Ulta Beauty is opening beauty shops in more than 100 Target stores, including seven in the Chicago area.
It wasn’t clear how many stand-alone Disney stores remain open, but a spokesperson said the company has more than 600 retail locations worldwide including shops at retailers like Target and stores at its parks.


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Soylent intros in-between meal
Soylent is adding to its portfolio.
The Los Angeles-based company unveiled its latest product — Soylent Bridge, which contains 180 calories per serving and was designed to be a solution for when hunger strikes between meals.
“Soylent was created to fill ‘food voids,’ those times when you either skip a meal or make unhealthy, unsustainable or expensive food choices because you don’t have access to something better. We know that mealtime isn’t the only time our customers are faced with these difficult food decisions, so we set out to create a more complete and nutritious way to get you to your next meal. Our customers have been asking for a lighter, lower-calorie option that still packs a protein punch to satisfy these occasions and with Soylent Bridge, we’ve delivered,” CEO, Bryan Crowley said.
Packaged in an 11-oz. bottle, each product has 15 g of plant-based protein, 36 essential nutrients and only 3 g of sugar, the company said.
In addition, Soylent Bridge has no need for refrigeration until opened. A case of 12 bottles can be found on the company’s website for $24.70 for subscribers and $26 for one-time orders.
Further product information also can be found on the company’s website as well as social media channels.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Eva Longoria partner on campaign
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is launching a new campaign with the help of actress Eva Longoria.
The brand’s new “Spread No Drama” campaign addresses the ongoing habit of dramatic internal dialogues surrounding what to eat and what not to eat, the company said.
Longoria is to star in multiple comedic short-form videos that are aimed at inspiring people to reduce their food drama, and instead focus on a balanced lifestyle.
“Humor and fantastical scenarios are the brand’s DNA,” said Bernice Chao, Senior Brand Manager, Upfield. “We wanted someone who could bring the ‘Spread No Drama’ creative to life with a dose of unexpected humor and we couldn’t think of a funnier actress than Eva Longoria. Eva also is the epitome of a strong confident person who practices a balanced lifestyle.”
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s new campaign also is part of the brand’s new and fully fleshed creative ecosystem that is to feature such pieces as mass awareness plays to culinary credibility builders, and peer-to-peer reviews, the company said.
“I’ve used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® for years because I enjoy the taste,” said Eva Longoria. “I instantly fell in love with the concept of ‘Spread No Drama’ as soon as I read the script.”
Longoria’s campaign will be featured across various digital channels, print, in-store, radio and the brand’s social channels.
Special K intros ancient grains cereal
Fans of Special K cereal now have a new option to try.
The Battle Creek, Mich.-based company, which is part of the Kellogg portfolio, unveiled its new Protein Honey Almond Ancient Grains cereal.
Containing 15g of protein per serving, the product also contains whole grains as a first ingredient, flakes made from a mixture of such grains as sorghum and black rice, honey and almonds, the company said.
“When Special K hit shelves in the 1950s, it was the first cereal to feature key vitamins and nutrients, including protein,” Christie Crouch, Special K’s director of marketing, said. “Today, we continue to look for ways to innovate that stay true to that heritage and do more with both nutrition and taste. That’s why our new Protein cereal recipes include a nutrient bundle designed to help you get more from your protein.”
Special K’s Protein Honey Almond Ancient Grains cereal is currently rolling onto retail shelves. Further information on the product or any of the brand’s other offerings can be found on its website and social media channels.

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The Wi-Fi Alliance, the nonprofit organization that has promoted Wi-Fi technology and certifies products for passing certain Wi-Fi standards, will finally make things simple with Wi-Fi 6.
Wi-Fi 6, the next generation of Wi-Fi technology, was formerly known as 802.11ax. The general public have long been confused with the names of the Wi-Fi versions, but by moving to a numbered scheme, the Wi-Fi Alliance hopes that users will start understanding more about the technology.
Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 802.11ax
Most people would not know the difference between 802.11n and 802.11ac, that the latter is actually an improved version of the former, and that the next version will be named 802.11ax.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, which comes up with these jumbles of numbers and letters, has finally decided to simplify things. The group has decided to change the name of the 802.11ax to Wi-Fi 6, and retroactively rename 802.11n and 802.11ac to Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5, respectively.
"For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi," said Wi-Fi Alliance President and CEO Edgar Figueroa in a statement. "Wi-Fi Alliance is excited to introduce Wi-Fi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and Wi-Fi users easily understand the Wi-Fi generation supported by their device or connection."
Similar to how device manufacturers attach increasing numbers to improving smartphones, each new generation of Wi-Fi will offer features such as faster speeds, higher throughput, and overall better experiences.
The IEEE-defined names will still be used, but they will be mostly behind the scenes. What consumers will see will be the new numbered names, starting with products that say "certified for Wi-Fi 6" coming next year.
Did The Wi-Fi Alliance Do The Right Thing?
Changing names in the tech industry may be tough, as users may take some time before they are able to reconcile the old and new labels. However, when comparing names such as 802.11ax and Wi-Fi 6, it is clear what consumers will likely remember.
The concern now is whether the Wi-Fi Alliance will take things further and eventually give names such as Wi-Fi XS Max and Wi-Fi Creators Edition.


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FDA decision leaves ANSR to face tough question
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Oregon Aesthetic Technologies is mulling its fate after ending up on the losing end of a federal court ruling and U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulatory actions.
The Portland-based company does business as ANSR, the brand name for its handheld beauty devices that use red and blue LED lights to battle acne and wrinkles.
Last week, a federal judge in Portland ruled that the company must cease selling its ANSR: BEAM anti-acne device, the result of a case brought two years ago by Dublin, Calif.-based Tria Beauty Inc.
Also, the FDA last month warned OAT that it was out of compliance with the agency on several fronts, including the conclusion that the company had not received proper clearance to market their products as medical devices.
OAT CEO Spencer Brown this week said he has let go much of his eight-person staff and the company — with annual sales of around $2 million —is in a holding pattern until its board issues new guidance.
It doesn't have a lot of choices. Brown said the board could decide to sell the company, or it could push forward in seeking FDA compliance and continue doing business.
The challenge, though, is that OAT doesn't necessarily agree that it needs FDA approval.
The Tria lawsuit was based largely on that company's contention that the marketing of the ANSR: BEAM led consumers to believe it had acne-fighting capabilities that weren't supported by any clinical study.
Brown said OAT reached a settlement with Tria in April 2011 in which it agreed that if it didn’t get FDA clearance by Sept. 30 it would stop marketing the ANSR: BEAM as an anti-acne device.
Six months ago, OAT voluntarily removed any medical claims from its marketing materials and began positioning the device only as a cosmetic product. It was a move the company believed put it in compliance with both the settlement agreement and the FDA, Brown said.
Erik Siemers is managing editor of the Portland Business Journal.
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Chemicals in Food
Foods can contain many harmful substances, including pesticides, unhealthy additives or contaminants. EWG is working to reduce the threat of toxic chemicals in food.
Exposure to BPA has been linked to cancer, infertility, brain, nervous system and cardiovascular abnormalities, diabetes, obesity and other serious disorders.
A team of scientists at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C. has discovered the first instance of a person living in the U.S. infected with a feared antibiotic-resistant microbe, according to a research report published Thursday (May 26) in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.Read More
Memorial Day is right around the corner, and picnic season is in full bloom. That means lots of people are fixing fruit salads, readying the spinach dip and putting together sandwiches full of cold cuts. Grilling, too, is in order.
A healthy diet begins with lots of fruits and vegetables, but some of your family’s favorites may contain startling amounts of harmful pesticides.
Nothing sets off the chemical agriculture industry like questioning its heavy dependence on toxic pesticides. Every year, when EWG releases our Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, the Alliance for Food and Farming, or AFF, goes on the attack. The AFF is a front group for the major conventional fruit and vegetable growers that produce the crops consistently on EWG’s Dirty Dozen list of foods that have the most pesticide residues.Read More
After years of debate, the Environmental Protection Agency is finally poised to revoke all uses of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which first came on line as a pest control technology in 1965. That action, which could come this year, follows years of accumulating evidence that the organophosphate pesticide poses significant risks to people’s health and the environment. But Big Ag isn’t giving up on chlorpyrifos yet.Read More
This week EWG asked our Facebook followers to thank Driscoll’s, the nation’s largest grower of strawberries, for its investment in organic farming to date and commitment to increasing organic production in the future. Some people took us to task, expressing concern over the company’s labor practices and its incomplete use of organic practices during the full growing cycle.
One of your kid’s favorite fruits is hiding a dirty secret. Of all the fresh fruits and vegetables available for sale in the United States, sweet, sun-kissed strawberries are the most likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, according to EWG’s 2016 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.
Conventional strawberries top the Dirty Dozen™ list of EWG’s 2016 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, displacing apples, which headed the list the last five years running.Read More
National media outlets, public health officials and Congress have all focused recently on lead contamination in drinking water, as they should be. The tainted water in Flint, Mich., Newark, N.J. and many other communities around the country poses a serious, potentially lifelong public health threat to millions. But industrial pollution in people happens long before they take their first sip of water.
Perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel, may be harming your baby’s development – and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing it to happen, even in the face of clear health hazards.
Kraft made headlines a year ago when it announced changes to its famed, kid-favorite macaroni and cheese. The company vowed to replace artificial dyes with natural ingredients and to eliminate artificial flavors and preservatives. Nearly a year later, Kraft has unveiled a massive marketing campaign for what the company calls the “world’s largest ‘blind taste test’.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week (March 23) it will allow farmers to plant a new strain of genetically modified (GMO) corn created by Monsanto to be tolerant of the week killers dicamba and glufosinate without government oversight, a step likely to expand the use of these chemical herbicides.Read More
After a year of trying to conceive a child, several months of infertility treatment and finally a miscarriage, I felt completely out of control over my own body. I learned about EWG and began researching what chemicals I was being exposed to and how I could limit my exposure.Read More
In 2014, federal agencies issued draft recommendations that women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or might become pregnant and young children eat more fish that is lower in mercury. Their advice is based on the fact that seafood consumption is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients.


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This morning a Capcom video briefly popped up online confirming Street Fighter 5 and that it would be a PlayStation 4 and Windows PC exclusive, according to a NeoGaf thread.
The video, which has since been removed, talks about "rising up" and breaking through your ceiling. It concludes with a shot of the logo for the game and the words "exclusively on PS4 and PC." It also includes a link to what appears to be the future landing page for the new game, though the page isn't live yet.
Of course the word "exclusive" has so many different meanings in the video game industry that it's hard to tell if this game will never show up on an Xbox platform, or if it will just show up there later.
It appears the video was set live accidentally a bit early. This weekend two events promise to have a number of new trailers, news and game reveals. The first ever Game Awards kick off tonight in Las Vegas and the PlayStation Experience officially starts on Saturday. Street Fighter executive producer Yoshinori Ono tweeted early this morning that he had just arrived in Las Vegas for the PlayStation Experience.
We've reached out to Capcom for more details on the game and will update this story when they reply. While Capcom hasn't commented on the leak officially, Katsuhiro Harada, game director of Tekken, seemed to react to the link with this tweet. (Though he later said — perhaps as a joke — that it was a reaction to a July leak of Tekken info.)
Oops— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) December 5, 2014


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A NAKED man standing in a shop window has been startling customers in Harpurhey.
Putting the ‘man’ into mannequin, the ExtraCare Charity Shop’s dummy has been left bare in a bid to advertise the lack of men’s donations.
The shop is desperate for donations of men’s clothes, shoes, books and films and while the women of Harpurhey are very generous, it would seem their male counterparts are falling behind.
"We desperately need men’s donations." said shop manager Barbara Dunn.
"We have a lot of women’s things but men do not seem to donate as much stuff, but we really need a wide range of clothes, books and films in the shop."
Barbara took to leaving the shop’s male mannequin bare in a bid to advertise the shortage of clothes.
"We have had quite a good reaction since we put him in the window," she said.
"So far, a few people have come in with some men’s things but we need more."
ExtraCare, who have charity shops across the country, run activities and village communities for older people.
To make a donation or volunteer at the ExtraCare shop, contact Barbara on 0161 205 0651.


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Our friends at Speed By Design have just started on an ambitious twin turbo 2015 Mustang GT development and we have your first sneak peek at the awesomeness of this turbocharged V8 build.
After putting the new platform through its paces, SBD knew it had to develop a turbo kit with the goal of running 9’s with its daily driver street car. This meant sparing no expense in its design — SBD decided it had to replace the factory headers and move to true purpose-built, tubular turbo v-band headers for maximum flow and less restriction.
Using custom tubular headers, SBD was able to position the turbochargers directly off the engine for the fastest response possible and reduce engine bay heat by moving the turbochargers away from the factory fans and molded plastic components.
Following along the full twin-turbo build as SBD plans to have its development car on the road in the next three weeks.


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Teva Pharmaceutical Gets $3 Billion Credit Line to Replace Debt
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, got a $3 billion revolving credit line to replace a smaller loan.
Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Bank Plc arranged the five-year revolver replacing a $2.5 billion financing pact, the Petach Tikva, Israel-based company said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire.
“We took another step on our recently announced new strategy and secured ample liquidity to support Teva’s future growth,” Eyal Desheh, Teva’s chief financial officer, said in the statement.
Teva, which generated $18.3 billion of revenue last year, will focus on developing drugs for respiratory and central nervous system illnesses as it seeks to replace medicines set to lose patent protection in the next three years, the company told investors in a Dec. 11 briefing.
Teva last week dropped the most in 16 months in New York on concern the drugmaker’s strategy under new Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Levin won’t be enough to sustain profit growth. The company’s American depositary receipts rose 27 cents to $38.66 at 12:45 p.m. in New York.
Earlier this month, the company sold $2 billion of dollar- denominated bonds for general corporate purposes.
Money under a revolving credit line can be borrowed again once it’s repaid.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Idzelis in New York at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Faris Khan at email@example.com


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PNC Bank, the 9th largest bank of United States has joined RippleNet, the enterprise network of Ripple to tap the blockchain solution for cross-border payments and settlements. Now the customers of PNC Bank will be able to receive cross-border payments in real time.
PNC Bank is ranked as the 9th largest bank in the United States by assets and 6th largest by deposit has become the latest member to join RippleNet. Ripple has developed several blockchain based solutions which enable cross-border monetary transaction in a faster and cheaper way than the current payment system. Over 100 institution including banks, remittance forwarders, payment providers, and other financial institutions from all over the world have already joined RippleNet to enable instant money transfer and end to end tracking on the blockchain. According to RippleNet the addition of one of the top ten banks of United States like PNC will fuel the network’s positive momentum. RippleNet is continually growing and reached to over 40 countries of six continents.
Ripple is also working on developing new products, in the next month Ripple is going to launch its new XRP-based product, xRapid for money transfer. Ripple’s chief of regulatory relations in the Middle East and APAC, Sagar Sarabhai said that next month the company is going to launch its new product. According to the chief executive officer of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse by the end of 2019 dozens of banks and financial institutions will start to use XRP based products for money transfer. In May, the company revealed the results of the first pilot project of XRapid. According to the results, the institutions which are using xRapid are saving between 40 and 70% on service charges. xRapid transactions are much faster than traditional cross-border transactions. xRapid cross-border transfer takes minutes while traditional transactions take 2-3 days.
Such fast services of Ripple will help the PNC Bank to receiver cross-border payments in real-time. PNC is the biggest banking client of Ripple which is ranked 5th by a number of branches and 4th largest by number of ATMs. The bank serves over 8 million customers in 19 states in areas of retail, corporate, and consumer ended banking.
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Wisky is Chinese company who had a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo and Kickstarter for their EE Write E INK writing tablet. They raised over a million dollars and actually shipped their users the product. Since the product was released in 2019, the company has been quiet and has not announced a new product, until now. Wisky has developed a dual screen e-reader, with one side having a high resolution LCD screen on one side and the back of it has an E INK panel.
The Wisky Epad-X will likely be announced sometime next year in April 2022. It is similar to to the Hisense A6L, except this is a tablet and not a smartphone. It looks to have a 10.1 to 10.3 LCD and E INK display. Would you buy this device if it was available on a crowd funding campaign?
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


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The market ate up CNET Networks'
I was able to catch up with CEO Neil Ashe yesterday afternoon. He took the helm at CNET three months ago, after former CEO Shelby Bonnie stepped down in the aftermath of the company's unfortunate stock options backdating scandal.
The diversified media empire -- and it really is so much more than the "online tech publisher" tag that so many journalists use to describe CNET -- is doing pretty well these days. It is drawing 136 million unique visitors a month, a 17% advance over the past year. The company is earning more on every page that it is serving up, except for its Webshots.com photo-sharing site, where it is losing traffic.
Cynics figured that the level playing field of tech bloggers or the launch of Yahoo!
Its Crave blog on CNET launched just three months ago, but drew 800,000 unique users last month. The site was drawing 350,000 daily page views during the Consumer Electronics Show, dovetailing nicely into the company's ZDNet stronghold. ZDNet has been blogging away since 2004, attracting two million technology decision-makers a month.
As for Yahoo! Tech, CNET Reviews has seen its traffic climb 30% over the past year, greater than CNET as a whole. "You can't serve passionate users part-time," Ashe notes.
CNET is currently the 12th-largest Internet network in the world. Now it's just looking for a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
The potential upside
To me, the beauty of CNET -- and the reason why I have recommended the stock twice to Rule Breakers subscribers over the past two years -- is that CNET looks good, yet we still haven't seen everything that it's got.
Its Search.com search engine and its MySimon.com comparison shopping site appear to be stuck in a time capsule, oblivious to the success of their larger peers. The domain-rich company has barely scratched the surface of some of its valuable virtual real estate. Chat.com will simply direct you to chat software available on the company's Download.com site. CNET also owns domains like Kids.com and Community.com, which are little more than landing pages loaded with paid-search links.
The company outsources the selling of those contextual links, whcih comes as a relief to me. Minutes before our interview, I clicked on "Childrens Toys" at Kids.com and was surprised to see an ad by adult novelty store Adam & Eve promoting a "Sex Toy Super Sale."
Ashe checks it on his end, and assures me that it will be gone within the hour. It is. Yet even then, Ashe uses that as a point to stress why the company's bias is to sell its own ads. CNET is pretty good at that. This past quarter found all but four of its 100 largest advertisers renewing their site campaigns. The company has a working relationship with Google
In to win
CNET has made recent divestitures -- in areas like print magazines, live event conferences, and overseas properties -- that haven't panned out. But that doesn't mean the company is going to quit on all of its struggling properties. Webshots has been dragging down overall page views, and sites like Download.com and MP3.com seem to rely on chunky bandwidth that isn't as cost-effective to monetize as its text-driven bulwarks -- but Ashe isn't giving up.
"We can't shrink our way to greatness," he says.
It doesn't seem as if CNET is looking to cash out as a whole, either. Ashe may have cut his teeth at Smith Barney's Mergers & Acquisitions group in the early 1990s, but his hire isn't an exit strategy. If anything, Ashe has been using his earlier experience to assemble and acquire the pieces that make up the growing CNET puzzle. He's been working on that since he joined the company in 2002.
CNET's expanding empire has taken it far from its tech-heavy roots. The company recently launched Filmspot, a site for movie buffs that incorporates the features of its TV.com and Metacritic properties in its own celluloid-specific platform.
Ashe sees games, television, music, and film as the four legs of the entertainment stool. He can now flip that stool over and grab a seat as the marketer-magnet youth audience redefines CNET's potential.
"A different kind of media company," is CNET's tagline. The editorial-driven nature of CNET sets it apart from content aggregators like Google, Microsoft
Other media giants, like News Corp.
In short, CNET's got community. It's got Community.com. Just wait until the community-building process bears fruit.
CNET is an active recommendation in the Rule Breakers growth stock newsletter service. To see all the reasons why, just click here to take a free 30-day trial today. You can chow down on all that the newsletter has to offer without any obligation to subscribe.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of CNET and of Chow.com's Chowhound community. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.


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A US legacy airline is shopping around the idea that it’s planning to create an “economy minus” cabin in a move to a new model of domestic four-class service.
RGN spoke extensively and off the record with the airline at the recent APEX Expo in Anaheim, California. The front-to-back domestic US model mooted to us would comprise a premium cabin, enhanced economy, regular economy and “economy minus” offering.
The big economy change — which may well be a fishing expedition to provoke comment in the industry or see whether its two primary competitors are interested in showing their hands — would be truly groundbreaking if implemented. Economy would come in three flavors – enhanced economy with around the 35-38” pitch range, regular economy at 30-31”, and the new “economy minus” at 30” and below.
Some US carriers are already quietly offering an “economy minus”-type product similar to what the airline is mooting.
Frontier Airlines has been at the forefront of this trend, providing amenities most other airlines include in every economy fare exclusively for passengers booking through the airline’s own website. Delta, similarly, launched a Basic Economy fare in 2012, coded as the E fare bucket, lacking any refund or change options whatsoever or any seat choices. Delta this week made further amendments to its Basic Economy fare, with The Points Guy blog noting that the offering now entails:
- Non-refundable/changeable fares
- No advance seat selection (prior to the check-in window)
- No Same Day Confirm or Same Day Standby
- No Complimentary Medallion Upgrades
- No Preferred Seating or Economy Comfort
- No paid upgrades allowed
Meanwhile, overseas, Air New Zealand has experience offering fare families on its flights to Australia and the Pacific Islands, and is experimenting with the “seats to suit” fare family model domestically, where it dominates flight bookings.
The big economy change mooted to us would be a significant change from the status quo where an economy seat sold by the global distribution systems is the same as every other economy seat, so far as pricing and amenities are concerned. A significant part of the value proposition of online travel agents and metasearch engines is that they compare economy fares like-for-like. Any observer of the OTA and meta end of the industry would instantly highlight the exceptions to that rule. Would it be too far to go to suggest that an airline might create a model to profit from those loopholes? If the airline were to distribute the “economy minus” fare as its standard economy option, it would naturally be undercutting its competitors.
If the airline’s concept of US travel came to pass, flyers and the entire airline distribution ecosystem would need to adjust to what this airline hopes will be the new reality. It would be a bold move from a legacy airline that clearly has money to spend battling the bottom-dollar LCCs like Spirit Airlines, which recently announced an eyewateringly yellow livery that has all the hallmarks of an early 2000s Ryanair “cheap and nasty” brand positioning.
Clearly, the full-service airline would hope to leverage its brand positioning — especially the halo effect in in the premium service category, where it advertises extensively — to woo customers who might otherwise be a “hate flyer”, the category that Spirit has cleverly dominated within the US.
For prospective travelers at the cheapest end of the market, the move would reopen the question of whether to travel back of the bus on a legacy carrier, or on a low-cost airline. The passenger experience (#PaxEx on Twitter) will likely be slightly better than an LCC overall, but there will doubtless need to be some differentiation compared with the current state of a “domestic three-class” offering, with first, enhanced economy and regular economy.
Regardless, the airline wouldn’t be making an unprecedented move. Already, carriers are making significant shifts to pull travelers towards their home-brewed ticket distribution systems, which allow for myriad options at the time of purchase, while attempting to reducing their reliance on GDS, metasearch and OTA sources of ticket bookings (though, it should be noted that GDSs still account for 50% of all bookings).
It’s an interesting model — and the airline will be on top of the world if it steals a march on its two primary competitors.


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Is Apple really environmentally friendly?
Ranging from them using 100% renewable energy in all of their facilities to goals for being completely carbon neutral by 2030, it’s clear that they’re working hard on this; so compared to most of their competitors in the smartphone, tablet and computer industries, they are definitely the environmentally friendly choice …
Does Apple contribute to pollution?
The pollution comes from all the factories that supply Apple with the parts it needs: batteries, chipboards, phone casings and screens. … These factories produce around four times the pollution it takes to just assemble the iPhone.
Are Apple orchards bad for the environment?
Apples and other tree fruit crops inherently have a minimal environmental footprint, says David Granatstein, WSU sustainable agriculture specialist. … In fact, the process might have a positive environmental impact because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the wood.
What does Apple do for the environment?
To support a clean and healthy environment for all, Apple actively takes steps to improve its product design, manufacturing, energy use, and recycling programs, including: Selecting environmentally acceptable materials and substances. Reducing waste from the manufacturing process.
Does Apple use child labor?
The Cupertino, California-based firm said improvements include a reduction in major violations of its code of conduct and no cases of child labor.
Is Apple really carbon neutral?
Apple’s own operations have been carbon neutral since April 2020 (h/t setteBIT). The 2021 report reviews the significant steps towards lowering environmental impacts of its products over the last year, and projects Apple’s progress towards net zero emissions from now until 2030.
How can apples become environmentally friendly?
Apple has pledged to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030, meaning every device it sells will have net-zero climate impact.
Do Apple Trees absorb CO2?
In the process of living and growing, apple trees take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis, and in the process, they release moisture and evaporatively cool the air. … The trees and grass take up about 20 tons of carbon dioxide and release 15 tons of oxygen.
Are Orchards good for the environment?
Besides the negatives of energy use, and possible environmental degradation (erosion, pesticide drift), orchards have many positive effects. They fix CO2 from the air rather than give it off. Plants in the process also give off oxygen, and when they evaporate water, they cool the environment.
How much CO2 do apple trees absorb?
According to research from Cornell University apple trees can absorb between 10-20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per acre every year and release 15 tonnes of oxygen.


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If you liked using the Wii, the PlayStation Move or the Kinect, keep an eye on The Realm System. Like the Wii and PS Move, it has a pair of handheld motion controllers but it also has rubber resistance bands that are tied to a waist strap.
Google and toymaker Mattel are taking the classic View-Master toy to its logical evolution by relaunching it as a virtual reality headset for kids. Instead of holding cardboard disks, the new View-Master holds a smartphone and has a pair of lenses built-in.
If you have a cache of LEGO, you can skip Google’s Cardboard VR headset and do what Redditor lordrothschild did. Just add a couple of lenses from magnifying glasses and a cloth strap and you’re ready to go.
Last year, Microsoft Research made headlines with its IllumiRoom concept, which extends video from a console or media player to the walls and objects around the TV. A company called Catopsys is working on an similar but theoretically much better version of IllumiRoom called Immersis.
Leap Motion, the company behind the eponymous hand motion sensor, have come up with a clever way to let Oculus Rift users see what’s in front of them without taking off the headset. It’s called Quick Switch, an app that switches the feed from the Oculus Rift to the infrared cameras of the Leap Motion sensor and vice versa with a simple gesture.
Mobile phone 3D or virtual reality headsets are one of the newest tech accessories. Like Google’s Cardboard, the Viewbox is on the cheap and low-tech side. But instead of paper it’s made of neoprene, a synthetic rubber used in many products, from wetsuits to laptop sleeves.
While the world awaits for the prophesied Oculus Rift to rise, we’re seeing more and more virtual reality headsets that use smartphones as their brain. However, most of these peripherals are content to provide you a case and a pair of lenses.
Step into the surprisingly floppy robotic body of a Pokémon trainer with Pokémon VR. YouTuber misterbunbun – there’s a 90% chance he’s a 4-year old’s pet rabbit – made the short virtual reality game for the Leap Motion 3D Jam.
If you’re like me, you’re probably champing at the bit to get your hands on some sweet VR action. Smartphone-based VR is the quickest to the market, and the Carl Zeiss VR One has now launched with support for the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5.
Virtual reality headsets are not just great for games. They’re also great for viewing 360º videos, which are the video equivalent of Google Street View. In fact, there’s already a 360º documentary about virtual reality. It remains to be seen whether the technology will be a hit with consumers, but vcemo is betting that it will.
You may have heard of The Internet Arcade, a collection of about 900 classic arcade games that you can play right in your web browser. If you’re looking for a more authentic arcade experience, check out Digital Cybercherries’ NewRetroArcade.
We’re all anxiously awaiting plug-and-play, consumer-grade virtual reality. We can’t wait to see the final version of the Oculus Rift, and try that other VR goggle that beams light directly into the user’s eyes, just like the real world does.
One of the coolest features of the Nintendo Wii U was the fact that the Gamepad allows for game designers to give information to one player without giving it to the others. The Oculus Rift can do this, but to a much greater extreme.
Here’s an app that adds another meaning to Ghost in the machine. Currently in development, VRClay lets you create 3D shapes in virtual reality with the help of the Oculus Rift and the Razer Hydra controllers.
This is Totem, yet another VR headset on Kickstarter. I’m posting about it, however, because it can do some really cool things that other VR goggles we’ve seen can’t, and I don’t think the developers have even realized all of the potential they have with this hardware design yet.


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12/08/2011 // WPB, FL, USA // Injury Lawyers News // Nicole Howley
Lexington, KY — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), along with Bella Bliss has announced a nationwide product recall of children’s Henley Pima Cotton Pajamas for failure to meet the federal flammability standards, which results in a burn injury risk to children. The CPSC announced the recall on December 8, 2011.
The product recall was issued after discovering that the pajamas failed to meet the federal flammability standards for children’s sleepwear, which poses a risk of burn injury to children.
“The pajamas are a two-piece, cotton sleepwear set sold in sizes 2 to 12. The pajamas are white, blue, pink or red. ‘Bella Bliss’ is written on the neck tag,” reported the CPSC.
Consumers are advised to return the sleepwear to the place of purchase for a refund.
For more information concerning the product recall, consumers can contact Bella Bliss toll-free at (866) 846-5295 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit www.bellabliss.com.
Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for product liability lawyers.
Url: West Palm Beach Personal Injury Lawyer News


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At prices of up to $27,000, Hogs aren’t cheap.
But, ironically, that’s exactly why you can now get a discount on shares of Harley-Davidson
I think you should take advantage of the stock discount to get some exposure to this classic American brand.
Harley-Davidson shares crashed earlier this week for a bunch of reasons, but the bottom line is this: It’s all about the company’s refusal to budge on pricing. Here’s more on the dynamic that’s creating a sale on Harley stock — if not its bikes.
One problem for Harley is that the strong dollar makes motorcycles from Japanese competitors, like Honda
“ ‘This is not the first time we’ve experienced a period of extreme discounting by our competitors. However, we will continue to protect our premium brand.’ ”
Next, in a move that would make any biker steaming mad, these competitors are just piling on. Japanese and European motorcycle makers have bloated inventories because their economies are weak. To deal with it, they’re offering U.S. buyers steep discounts of up to $3,000 on a bike.
Harley-Davidson could cut prices to keep up. But, instead, it’s holding fast and refusing to get suckered into price wars, to protect its premium brand.
The upshot: First-quarter Hog sales got hit hard. They fell 1.3%, and Harley-Davidson lowered its forecast significantly for the whole year. This has investors dumping the stock, sending it to $56 from $62-$63 before the news.
Here are six reasons why it makes sense to take the other side of this trade and buy Harley stock.
Reason No. 1: Harley-Davidson is smart to dodge price wars.
Sure, it hurts to see competitors steal market share with price cuts, aided by the strong dollar. And this could last for a few more quarters.
But Harley-Davidson is making the right move here. It needs to protect its coveted premium brand status. Harley is also doing what any good biker would do. It’s staying loyal to the Harley cult by supporting prices in the second-hand bike market. That matters to Harley owners, and they won’t forget.
“This is not the first time we’ve experienced a period of extreme discounting by our competitors,” said finance chief John Olin in the company’s first-quarter conference call. “However, we will continue to protect our premium brand.”
Some potential Hog buyers may be miffed. But let ’em buy Yamahas. Analysts liked the move. “Stuffing the retail channel with inventory during periods of heavy discounting would have done more harm than good,” says Morningstar analyst Jamie Katz, who thinks the shares look attractive in the pullback. “We applaud the management team.”
Reason No. 2: Harley has been here before, and it did just fine.
Harley-Davidson, which controls more than half of the market for heavyweight motorcycles in the U.S., has seen plenty of ups and downs in the 112 years it’s been making bikes.
Thanks to its powerful brand and dealer network, which set up a protective moat that would have Warren Buffett reaching for the Cherry Coke to celebrate, it has survived them all. It will do so again.
Let’s look at recent history. Twice in the past 15 years, Harley lost market share due to price discounting by competitors. It lost 3 percentage points worth of market share in both 2000 and 2008. But then what happened? In the first scenario, Harley got it all back by 2002. After the 2008 hit, the company captures 8.5 percentage points of market share in 2009.
That suggests Harley-Davidson will sooner or later recapture the 4.7 percentage points lost in the most recent quarter. That hit took its portion of the U.S. heavyweight motorcycle market down to 51.3%. “History shows that market share will come back in a short period of time,” says Olin.
The brand strength that helps set up these spectacular rebounds is a good reason to own the stock. “We like the brand, and we like the brand’s ability to grow worldwide,” says Michael Cuggino, portfolio manager at the Permanent Portfolio Family of Funds, which owns Harley-Davidson stock. That brings us to the next reason to own this stock.
Reason No. 3: Hogs are not just for old white dudes.
The most recent quarter may have been bleak, but there was also good news: Harley offered more evidence that its bikes aren’t just the domain of aging, white baby boomers, which has been a knock on the company.
Harley-Davidson, for example, just posted its strongest quarter ever in India and China. And it announced that last year that it continued to make progress winning over younger motorcycle riders in the U.S. (ages 18-34), women, African-Americans and Hispanics. Compared to the next competitor in the heavyweight motorcycle market, Harley-Davidson sold more than three times as many new motorcycles to the 18-34 crowd, more than seven times as many to women, and more than five times as many to African Americans and Hispanics.
Harley-Davidson is also having success with new models. Last year, the company introduced its narrow-chassis Street motorcycles, and it reintroduced a model called Road Glide. Sales have been strong for both. Wells Fargo analyst Timothy Conder thinks an upcoming refresh of the Sportster and Custom product lines will help too.
Reason No. 4: Harley-Davidson has been boosting profit margins.
By streamlining manufacturing, Harley-Davidson boosted first-quarter gross profit margins to 39.1% from 37.7% a year earlier. That was the highest level in well over a decade. This may not matter too much now, when sales are swamped. But it will pay off for shareholders once the pricing onslaught is over and sales growth picks up again.
Reason No. 5: Harley-Davidson has room for bigger share buybacks.
The company repurchased 2.9 million shares in the first quarter, or $182.5 million worth. But given its strong balance sheet and solid cash flow, it has room to do a lot more, says J.P. Morgan analyst Kevin Milota, who has an “overweight” rating on the stock, and a $66 year-end price target.
Harley-Davidson has about $1.23 billion in cash. And it should produce more than $5.3 billion in free cash flow over the next five years, predicts Morningstar’s Katz.
“Buybacks and dividends should continue to rise,” says Goldman Sachs analyst Patrick Archambault, one reason he has a “buy” rating on the stock and a six-month price target of $66.
Harley-Davidson is currently authorized to buy back another 18.6 million shares. But details of plans to possibly lever up the balance sheet to support more buybacks, at an analyst meeting on April 27, might move the stock higher.
Reason No. 6: Harley-Davidson stock looks cheap.
Harley-Davidson trades at about 12.5 times forward earnings, compared with an average of 16.4 over the past five years, says Milota, at J.P. Morgan. That’s also well below the forward P/E of about 17 for the S&P 500. But Harley-Davidson posts better growth than the overall market.
That’s why the company has a price-to- earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio of about 0.9. According to this yardstick, popularized by investing icon Peter Lynch, which compares a company’s P/E to its medium-term growth rate, anything under one for a company with Harley-Davidson’s potential growth looks cheap.
So the bottom line here is the following: Hogs are still expensive. But don’t try to say the same about the stock of the company that makes them.
At the time of publication, Michael Brush had no positions in any stocks mentioned in this column. Brush is a Manhattan-based financial writer who publishes the stock newsletter “Brush Up on Stocks.” Brush has covered business for the New York Times and The Economist group, and he attended Columbia Business School in the Knight-Bagehot program.


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BALTIMORE — With snow and ice accumulated across the state, the United States Postal Service is reminding residents to keep walkways, sidewalks, and approaches to mailboxes as clear as possible, for the safety of both postal carriers and neighbors.
Keeping a clear path to porches, walkways, and mailboxes will allow for timely delivery of mail and packages. Postal carriers are not allowed to attempt deliver if there is too much snow or ice built up on walkways and porches, the USPS said in a statement. If an item can’t be delivered, carriers will attempt to make the deliver the following day.
Postal customers with questions can reach out to mail service at 1-800-ASK-USPS/1-800-275-8777.


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Canada intends to sign onto Mexico’s complaint against the United States over its interpretation of rules of origin in the automotive industry, Trade Minister Mary Ng said on Thursday.
Mexico asked last week for a dispute settlement panel under the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade pact. It wants to clear up disagreements over how to apply automotive sector content requirements under the treaty.
The USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in July 2020, says 75% of a vehicle’s components must originate in the three nations to quality for tax-free status, up from 62.5% under NAFTA.
Mexico and Canada favor a more flexible interpretation of the regulations than the United States, which sought an overhaul of NAFTA in order to protect U.S. manufacturing jobs.
“The interpretation that the United States adopted … is inconsistent with USMCA and the understanding shared by the parties and stakeholders throughout the negotiations,” Ng said in a statement.
The panel should produce a report “in the summer of 2022”, the statement added.


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Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, reacted to the Vodafone Cash customer crisis, saying customers who lost their funds should file a complaint with the the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
The Vodafone Cash system experienced a failure which resulted in many Vodafone customers losing their funds and removing their balances from Vodafone Cash wallets.
Customers whose money has been withdrawn due to the failure of the company’s electronic system must file a complaint with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, so that the agency can investigate the complaints and return the money. to customers, Talaat said.
Official Vodafone sources have confirmed that the Vodafone Cash system has been disrupted, adding that the company is addressing the issue.
The sources added that a malfunction has occurred in the Vodafone Cash system, similar to that which occurs in banks, and all transfers are being reviewed one by one, to resolve the issue.
Many Vodafone customers in Egypt have complained that they suffered financial losses following a disruption of the Vodafone Cash system.
The company’s customers have clarified, via Facebook, that the Vodafone Cash service does not display messages confirming the transfer of funds, although the money is withdrawn from their wallet and reaches the person to whom it is sent.
While other customers said that the entire funds were withdrawn from their Vodafone Cash wallets when transferring a specific amount of money to other people.
Other customers said that 1,000 LE was withdrawn without the customer transferring it.


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OLYMPIC VALLEY, CALIF. — Vinyl window profiles now will have to be deemed virtually lead-free to pass muster with the American Architectural Manufacturers Association.
Effective the week of June 21, window lineal extruders pursuing AAMA certification will not be allowed to use vinyl compounds with more than a 0.02 percent lead content. That figure meets standards included in proposed legislation in California. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Council has a 0.06 percent guideline for lead content in children's toys.
The independent testing laboratory used by AAMA will include a check for lead in its semiannual inspections of plants making certified products.
AAMA's Vinyl Material Council Chairman Ray Garries, a product technical manager for the Summit Window and Patio Door division of Jeld-Wen Inc., said AAMA is ``trying to be proactive'' in adopting a strict lead standard in advance of any legal requirements.
``We took the lowest value that was proposed out there,'' Garries said during AAMA's midyear committee meeting in Olympic Valley.
One intent of the new standard is to provide help in marketing vinyl windows as being lead-free by CPSC standards, he said.
Vinyl window producers in attendance expressed confidence that few, if any, window lineals contain any lead. They added that any amount of lead in the windows is safely encapsulated beyond the prying teeth of any lineal-hungry children.
But not all parts of a window are covered by the current AAMA standard. Laminates, weatherstripping and glazing beads in some cases are supplied by companies outside AAMA's inspection regime.
Several members suggested adding outside suppliers' products to those already certified, but others urged caution.
``We don't want to legislate ourselves out of existence,'' Chuck Gilderman, director of technical services for Mikron Industries Inc. of Kent, Wash., said at the June 16 meeting of AAMA's material safety task group.
Task group members elected to ask their suppliers to send lead data to AAMA's independent laboratory for confidential review by Aug. 1. The lab will report if there could be a problem with compliance if AAMA requires all extruded parts of a window to meet the lead-content requirement.


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Nursery retailer and brand Mamas & Papas has been fined £20,000 for selling almost 150,000 unsafe car seats over a period of 39 months.
The Mercury car seats, which were sold by Argos, have been declared unsafe after a three-year investigation by Milton Keynes Council’s Trading Standards department, according to a recent report by Which?.
Mamas & Papas was ordered to pay a further £50,000 in costs to Milton Keynes Council, while profits of £275,000 will be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The investigation also resulted in a 12-week jail sentence and confiscation of £236,000 profits for Christine Mitchell, director of car seat distributors Jeenay (UK) Ltd. Both parties pleaded guilty to supplying unsafe car seats.
“No parent will compromise the safety of their child,” said Judge Rochford during the hearing. “They are entitled to expect products they buy to accord with safety regulations…. Both defendants have let down parents and put children at risk.”
Sue Crawley, head of Trading Standards said: ‘We spent a lot of time investigating this case and hope the prosecution sends a message to other businesses large and small that Trading Standards takes a hard line on the supply of unsafe and potentially dangerous goods.’
Although the car seats were sold through Argos, the retailer – which issued an urgent and immediate recall – has not been accused of any wrongdoing in this matter.


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Virgin Cruises will launch its first luxury liner in 2020 from Miami, British tycoon Richard Branson announced this week, placing his bets on medium size “boutique” ships.
True to his flamboyant style, Branson arrived amid fireworks at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, descending from a helicopter dressed in a captain’s uniform and short pants.
“Virgin Cruises plans to make some waves with an original and intimate experience,” he said at a news conference.
He promised “a world-class cruise line that will redefine the cruising experience for good. The Virgin Cruises approach will appeal to cruisers and non-cruisers alike.”
A joint venture with Bain Capital, the cruise line will be the latest addition to the 62-year-old Branson’s Virgin Group, which includes an airline, railroad, bank and cable operator among its more than 400 holdings.
The amount invested in Virgin Cruises was not disclosed.
Branson said he has ordered the line’s first three ships from Italy’s Fincantieri, which will deliver them in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“We made the decision to sail against the current trend of building these big megaships,” Virgin Cruises president and CEO Tom McAlpin said. “We are going to be constructing smaller, more boutique vessels.”
“We have deliberately chosen a size of ship that allows us to offer an excellent variety of experiences but in a more intimate environment,” he said.
He said the ships will weigh about 110,000 tons each, and have capacity to carry some 2,800 passengers and a crew of 1,150.
“These are highly technological machines,” said Vincenzo Petrone, the president of Fincantieri. “The level of the entertainment … envisioned is extremely complex with technological challenges. But we are sure we can together develop a very special type of platform.”
Roger Scoble blogs about the latest gadgets, travel and luxury news. A graduate of UCLA, Roger loves to travel, drive luxe autos and have amazing adventures.


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Videoconferencing app maker Fuzebox raises $20 mln
* Index Ventures' new 350 mln euro tech fund led round
* also Khosla Ventures, Insight Ventures invest
* Index' Mike Volpi to join Fuzebox board
July 12 (Reuters) - FuzeBox, maker of videoconferencing app Fuze, said on Thursday it has raised $20 million from venture firms to expand its sales, marketing and engineering teams.
Fuzebox competes against larger rivals Cisco, Polycom and Logitech in the corporate video conferencing market. It offers visual collaboration service at a fraction of the cost of traditional equipment providers.
Fuzebox has around 2.5 million users, which are holding 78,000 online meetings a day.
The firm was founded as CallWave in 1998. It was a public company from 2004 to 2009 when founders took it private and renamed it FuzeBox.
Index Ventures led the round, making one of the first investments from its new 350 million euro ($431 million) early stage technology fund, with Index partner Mike Volpi also joining the board of Fuzebox.
Index is perhaps best known for backing Skype, now owned by Microsoft Corp, at its early stages. Other investments include mobile-payments company Boku, online-music service Lastfm, and online-storage company Dropbox.
Also Khosla Ventures and Insight Ventures invested in Fuzebox.
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DAVOS, Switzerland - Central banks have done their best to rescue the world economy by printing money and politicians must now act fast to enact structural reforms and pro-investment policies to boost growth, central bankers said on Saturday.
Trending On Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama ended a landmark day in India on Monday with a pledge of $4 billion in investments and loans, seeking to release what he called the "untapped potential" of a business and strategic partnership between the world's largest democracies. Full Article | Slideshow


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A lot of residents try not to research rates for a mortgage, the largest part of of a lot family unit members budgets, and also in the very last high economic crisis millions of people lost their houses because of fund they decided not to afford having terminology it decided not to know
Due to the fact unemployment approaches accounts history viewed in the Higher Depression, and you may requests financial forbearance boost each week, the consumer Monetary Safeguards Bureau keeps continued doggedly ahead in the undermining user defense. The new CFPB has suspended administration of most of legislation demanding home loan servicers to aid homeowners who’ve fell trailing within payments; alleviated revelation standards to possess remittance transfer organization; and you can shorter range and you can reporting from vital fair financing investigation. Apparently unhappy that have moving back regulating criteria in the exact middle of a good pandemic-motivated financial crisis, the fresh CFPB is also investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to a tiny “taskforce” out of conservative academics and you may community solicitors whose constitution would be to lso are-believe every facet of individual safeguards.
Regardless of if Congress specifically mandated the CFPB’s advisory committees pursue federal sun laws, the CFPB features greeting the newest taskforce to get to know without warning at the rear of finalized gates. The first social glance of its arrangements is a sweeping request for pointers awarded inside later February. Because the other countries in the nation is actually incapable of target brand new spiraling financial dangers posed because of the COVID-19, the newest taskforce asked questions relating to weakening fair financing guidelines and you will deregulating individual funds places. Following CFPB’s questioned repeal away from user protections on payday loan and reassurance to banks to make their own high-listed, short-identity fund, brand new taskforce inquired about “impediments” so you’re able to increasing for example credit. They questioned if individual positives such as for example confidentiality and you can precision inside borrowing reporting can be worth the price so you’re able to business and you can implies that enforcement punishment dissuade race. In the course of the new pandemic, the brand new CFPB activity push try supplying the personal just 60 weeks to help you discuss important issues eg “the perfect blend of control, enforcement, oversight, and consumer financial training,” how best to measure even when individual safeguards is effective, and and therefore segments is always to and should not feel controlled.
Brand new taskforce explicitly locations “advised possibilities” and you can “competition” as well-known means of bringing user security, with enforcement merely just like the good backstop. Kept unchallenged, which build threatens a risky future. Lenders, not users, prefer loan companies and you will financing servicers, and you can many years out of race in those areas has not reduced new amount of user issues about bothering and you will abusive behavior. Inside areas where people normally, the theory is that, find the product and merchant, abusive lenders will generate one option for her or him.
The newest taskforce alludes to the latest National Commission for the Consumer Finance as its inspiration. But instead of the five-representative, ideologically homogeneous taskforce, bad only to the manager of the CFPB, the brand new National Payment on User Loans is actually specifically authorized and you may financed of the Congress; its work are bipartisan; a majority of its a dozen participants, supported by those personnel and you can scholar experts, was indeed members of Congress responsible on the public; the really works spanned couple of years and you can drew towards the several personal hearings which have era out of testimony regarding top consumer supporters plus private users and you may lenders. Where in actuality the Federal Commission alarmed in itself with “market excesses,” the fresh new taskforce asks only about “advised choice.” Where the National Percentage accepted one customers might be strained with excessively obligations, brand new taskforce’s simply mention of load is that of the pricing out of conformity with individual defenses.
I’ve https://www.paydayloanexpert.net/title-loans-ar only up to June step 1 to submit statements with this pointers consult. Then it our very own merely possible opportunity to weigh-in up until the taskforce circumstances the report. Whenever we believe — due to the fact Congress did this year if this created the CFPB, mandated individual protections, and put brand new parameters to have computing the effectiveness of consumer protections — that individual defense means over advised choices and you will battle; you to administration, and you may supervision, and you will control was vital items of making certain energetic consumer defense; hence training alone is not rather than is enough, up coming we have to opinion.
From the wake of 2007-08 property foreclosure drama together with High Recession, Congress accepted new main character one to vigilant, centered individual safeguards plays from inside the making sure monetary balances. They developed the CFPB so that never once more do slipshod user shelter derail financial prosperity. One to attention and the ones user protections try endangered now.
Informed option is a fantasy in most modern credit avenues, with costs driven by the rare formulas and you will marketers worried about exploiting user weaknessespetition in several individual economic locations may benefit organizations and buyers yet not the normal people who legs the balance and you may lose their houses
Diane Thompson try an open Area Fundamentals Frontrunners into the Government Fellow. In earlier times she was Deputy Secretary Director and you will Pretending Secretary Manager out of any office out of Rules in the User Monetary Safeguards Agency.


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For the first time, NASA will be sending a probe to the far side of the moon ahead of its Artemis mission.
Read the full article: https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/nasa-moon-far-side-prism//
This article originally appeared on Digital Trends on 2021-06-12T15:15:39.000Z and was written by Georgina Torbet.


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Australia recorded a seasonally adjusted trade surplus of A$670 million (about US$615.9 million) in May, increasing 292 percent or $458.7 million on the revised $157.2 million surplus in April, marking the nation’s fourth consecutive monthly trade surplus.
The value of exports rose 3.6 percent or $840.2 million month-over-month to $24.3 billion. Non-rural goods rose $626.9 million or 4 percent, and rural goods rose $53.3 million or 2 percent, while net exports of goods under merchanting remained steady at $11.0 million. Imports increased 1.6 percent or $380.6 million to $23.7 billion.
The gain in exports was driven by demand from Asia, with goods exports to North Asia up 9.5 percent in May to $13.5 billion. Exports to China climbed nearly 10 percent to $7.4 billion, while exports to Japan surged 14.2 percent to $3.8 billion. Exports to South Korea jumped 12 percent to $1.6 billion.
“The continued recovery in the trade balance shows again just how important [exporters] are to Australia’s prosperity in this challenging global economy,” said Richard Marles, Australia’s trade minister, in a written statement.


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Is Google Analytics Now Legal in the EU? Not Necessarily…
The Danish data protection authority (DPA) has issued a press release in response to some misleading news reports about Google Analytics.
“Several media outlets have recently written that, according to the (Danish DPA), Google Analytics has become legal again,” reads a translation of the Danish DPA’s statement.
“However, the Data Protection Authority has not decided whether Google Analytics is legal,” the statement continues.
So is Google Analytics now legal in the EU? Was it ever illegal? What’s changed? Let’s clear up the confusion.
How did this Google Analytics confusion arise?
Some publications have been making oversimplified claims about the status of Google Analytics in the EU and the wider European Economic Area (EEA) over the past few years.
The issue began after the “Schrems II” case at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in July 2020.
Following the CJEU’s Schrems II judgment, most transfers of personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the US became illegal under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
A privacy group called “noyb” (None of Your Business) submitted 101 complaints accusing European companies of violating the GDPR by using the popular tracking tools Google Analytics and Meta Pixel.
Since then, regulators across EU countries—including Austria, France, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—have determined that website operators broke the law by using Google Analytics.
What happened in the Google Analytics decisions?
These European regulators investigated whether Google Analytics broke the GDPR’s rules on “international data transfers”.
Simply put, an international data transfer occurs when an organisation in the EEA shares personal data with an organisation outside the EEA.
When a website or app operator uses Google Analytics, they collect various pieces of personal data from visitors. That data is sent to Google and can be analysed on Google’s US servers.
Is it illegal to transfer personal data outside of the EEA?
No, making an international data transfer is permitted under the GDPR under certain conditions, most importantly:
- If the recipient is in a country that has received an “adequacy decision” from the European Commission, or
- If the parties have put safeguards in place to protect the personal data.
As noted, most transfers of personal data to the US were made illegal after the July 2020 “Schrems II case”, which: 1. Invalided the US adequacy decision and 2. Found that most safeguards were ineffective for data transfers to the US.
This meant that every company fully investigated for using Google Analytics was found to be breaking the law.
The Swedish DPA says Tele2 violated Article 44 of the GDPR, which provides the general rule that international data transfers are only allowed under certain conditions:
For violating this part of the GDPR, Tele2 received a €1 million fine.
So was Google Analytics illegal in the EU?
At the time of these DPA decisions it was practically impossible to use Google Analytics legally in the EEA.
But regulators stopped short of banning Google Analytics, and they were generally careful when discussing their views on the tool.
For example, look at this September 2022 statement from the Danish DPA:
The DPA said that Danish companies “cannot use the tool in its current form without implementing supplementary measures”. However, the regulator also found that the default settings provided by Google did not enable the tool to be used lawfully.
The French DPA even suggested a convoluted method of modifying Google Analytics, by using a proxy server to avoid transferring personal data to the US (while admitting that the process could be “costly and complex”).
So is Google Analytics now legal in the EEA?
Again, it’s complicated.
In July 2023, the European Commission adopted a new “adequacy decision” in respect of the US.
EEA companies can now legally transfer personal data to companies that have signed up to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) - including Google.
But the Danish DPA points out that it’s an oversimplification to say that Google Analytics is now “legal”.
But does the EU-US DPF fixes the Google Analytics data transfer problem?
Yes, thanks to the DPF, using Google Analytics to transfer personal data from the EEA to Google is no longer illegal in itself—for now.
The DPF is the third attempt at a data transfer framework by the European Commission and the US government.
The previous two US adequacy decisions were invalidated by the CJEU (which is why Google Analytics had been violating the GDPR for nearly three years…)
Max Schrems, who brought the cases that killed the previous two US adequacy decisions. And he is planning to challenge the EU-US DPF in court, too.
So the legality of data transfers via Google Analytics might only last a couple of years.
And as the Danish DPA points out, you can use Google Analytics illegally in other ways, too. The GDPR covers all processing of personal data—not just data transfers.
But does Google Analytics collect personal data?
Yes, or rather, Google Analytics users collect personal data.
Google Analytics collects information such as IP addresses and information about a visitor’s browser, device, and website activity.
Such information is not always personal data. But information is personal data when used to identify an individual, as is the case with Google Analytics.
But doesn’t Google Analytics anonymise IP addresses?
Google Analytics users can delete part of a visitor’s IP address before Google receives it.
But enabling this setting doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t collecting personal data — an “anonymised” IP address can be personal data when combined with other information.
Here’s how the Swedish DPA explains this in the Tele2 decision:
If even part of the IP address is used, in combination with other data, to identify an individual, then it is personal data and is covered by the GDPR.
What are some of the other Google Analytics GDPR concerns?
The Danish DPA points out that there are many other legal issues you must consider before using Google Analytics.
The Danish DPA mentions, “among other things”:
- Legal basis
- Data processing agreement
- Shared responsibilities
- Data subject rights
Let’s consider how each of these GDPR concepts applies to Google Analytics.
Legal basis for Google Analytics
The GDPR requires “data controllers” (which includes any company using Google Analytics) to have a “legal basis” for processing personal data.
There are six legal bases under the GDPR, including:
- Consent: You have a person’s informed, unambiguous, freely given permission to process personal data.
- Contract: You need to process personal data to meet your contractual obligations.
- Legitimate interests: You can process personal data in your own company’s interests under certain conditions, as long as your interests are not overridden by people’s rights and freedoms.
Because of the GPDR’s interaction with another law, the ePrivacy Directive, it is well-established that Google Analytics requires consent. This means “real” consent: No “dark patterns” are allowed under the GDPR.
Google Analytics data processing agreement
Under the GDPR, you can appoint a “processor” to process personal data on your behalf. But you must have a “data processing agreement” to ensure the processor complies with your instructions and the GDPR in general.
If you use Google Analytics, Google is your processor—for some data, in some contexts.
Google has a standardised data processing agreement. But as the data controller, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the agreement complies with the GDPR.
Shared responsibilities with Google
The Danish DPA mentions “shared responsibilities” under the GDPR.
When Google acts as your processor, you’re liable for whatever Google does with the data you share via Google Analytics (provided that Google sticks to the data processing agreement). These responsibilities are not shared with Google—they’re yours.
But Google also acts as a separate controller—and, possibly, a “joint controller”—in other contexts.
To enable Google to use personal data collected via Google Analytics for its own purposes (Google Analytics is free for a reason, after all…) users can enter into the company’s “Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms”.
“This means Google can access and analyse the Analytics data customers share with us to better understand online behaviour and trends, and improve our products and services,” says Google.
But according to a German court decision from 2020, Google is also in a “joint controller” relationship with its users.
This decision (which has been suspended pending an appeal) could have major implications for Google Analytics users.
Joint controllers must establish which aspects of GDPR compliance are carried out by which controller. If it is established that Google Analytics are “joint controllers” with Google, then the absence of such an agreement could be a significant problem for both parties.
Data Subject Rights
Because Google Analytics collects personal data, you must comply with the GDPR’s data subject rights in respect of this data.
If a person visits your website and you collect their personal data via Google Analytics, they are entitled to request that you provide a copy of the data or delete the data, among other things.
For most companies, receiving a data subject rights request for Google Analytics data is relatively unlikely. But you must be prepared for this possibility, and you must explain people’s rights in your privacy notice.
The bottom line: There are still GDPR concerns around Google Analytics
The recent progress on EU-US data transfers means it is no longer illegal to transfer personal data to the US.
But as the Danish DPA indicates, you must consider many other aspects of the GDPR before using Google Analytics, including:
- What types of personal data do you intend to collect via Google Analytics?
- Are you using Google Analytics to collect unnecessary personal data?
- Do you have a legal basis for using Google Analytics?
- Have you reviewed the mandatory agreements with Google?
- Are you prepared to facilitate people’s data subject rights over Google Analytics data?
- Do you have a backup plan in case the EU-US DPF is invalidated?
Try Wide Angle Analytics!


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Despite the frequent complaints from consumers and media reports about self-checkout lanes, grocers are continuing to push forward with the technology as labor challenges persist and consumer shopping habits evolve. Catalina noted that more retailers are pivoting from manual to self-checkout lanes.
Self-checkout lanes are becoming more popular due to social distancing measures sparked by the pandemic and the availability of automation technology, the firm said. A few retailers, such as Walmart, Kroger and Dollar General, have even started testing self-checkout-only stores, per CNN reporting cited by the firm.
itim Group plc (LON:ITIM) is a SaaS-based technology company that enables store-based retailers to optimise their businesses to improve financial performance and effectively compete with online competitors.


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Posted 1 year ago | by @devadmin
Our Chainlink Proof of Reserve integration will bring secure, reliable, and efficient minting and auditing of Fuse Network’s collateralized stable coin FuseDollar (fUSD), ensuring it is 100% backed by USD Coin (USDC) deposited in a dedicated Ethereum smart contract.
Fuse Network is developing into a strong and independent decentralized finance (DeFi) institution now with over 5 million total transactions and reaching an all-time high in total value locked (TVL) of $8.6 million. However, interoperability with the wider blockchain ecosystem remains a core part of our strategy. Part of doing so means leveraging the best innovations in the space to provide an optimal user experience.
One of these innovations is stable coins, which have been game-changing for industry growth. The top two stable coins by market capitalization — Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC — have grown exponentially in utilization and quality of issuance over the last few years, with total values at the time of writing of $32 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively.
As announced in a recent article, Fuse is launching its own network-native stable coin to bolster ecosystem growth, boost liquidity, and power Fuse Cash — the upcoming mobile payments wallet intended for the consumer market.
Original article published on Fuse Network’s Medium.


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The NFL season is literally right around the corner and it looks as though YouTube TV is getting itself ready for the upcoming 2020 season.
According to The Streamable, it looks like YouTube TV is going to be adding NFL Network, as well as NFL RedZone, which is a channel that enables you to see every touchdown every Sunday instead of just watching the game play-by-play.
NFL RedZone will be added to a new Sports Plus package, which will include FOX College Sports (FCS), FOX Soccer Plus, GOLTV, MAVTV, TVG and Stadium.
The Streamable also predicts the new Sports Plus package will cost $9.99 a month as an add-on to the service.
However, NFL Network will be added to the basic package of YouTube TV.
This comes at a time where YouTube TV recently added a plethora of Viacom channels this summer and increased its price from $49.99 a month to $64.99 per month. The service also added other channels like Court TV this summer too.
Right now, the only other streaming services that have NFL Network are fuboTV for $64.99 and VidGo for $39.99 a month.
YouTube TV is available to stream on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple TV and can be streamed on the Mac via the Google Chrome browser. At this time, it does not currently work on Safari.


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Sales roundup for Kingwood, week ending Nov. 11
There were 20 sales in Kingwood for the week ending Nov. 11, according to Blockshopper.com.
One notable transaction in the area was the sale of 2306 Stately Oak Drive. Lonnie L. Lindsey and Sandra J. Lindsey sold the home to John W. Rood on Friday, Nov. 9.
Built in 1992, the 4,282-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home is in the Kingwood Kings Point Village subdivision.
Other transactions include the sale of 2510 Tinechester Drive to Panda Keller and the sale of 4522 Echo Falls Drive to Tanya Bodo.
Sales volume was 28.5 percent lower than the previous week and 25.9 percent lower than the same week in 2011.
Kingwood has averaged 25 sales per week during the last 12 months.


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Samsung has been trying to defeat TSMC and become the top player in the foundry business. However, it has always been one step behind the Taiwanese firm. However, it now appears that the South Korean chip giant might have a chance to better compete with TSMC as it has reportedly bagged chip orders from Cisco and Google.
According to a new report from South Korean tech publication ETNews, Samsung received a contract earlier this year to design and manufacture a chip that will be used in Cisco's next-generation telecommunication network. An industry insider reportedly mentioned that the South Korean firm is currently working on the development of the chip's design. The company is also said to have bagged orders from Google for designing and manufacturing a semiconductor chip that will be used in a sensor that can measure body movements.
Samsung will design and manufacture chips for Cisco, Google
Usually, foundries only manufacture chips that have already been designed. However, Samsung is taking a different approach for the time being and offering to develop features its customers need and provide customized technologies. So, the company will handle entire processes from design to mass production of chips for Cisco and Google. The company's ultimate goal is to become the largest foundry in the world and, to achieve that, it is taking a slightly different route compared to other foundries.
The exact worth of chip orders from Cisco and Google isn't known yet. However, since Cisco is the world's largest network equipment manufacturer that makes over $50 billion worth of sales every year, the order could be pretty big. Even Google is looking to strengthen its AR, AI-powered smart speaker, and smartphone businesses. It was also reported in the past that Samsung is designing custom SoCs for Google.
A significant part of Samsung's revenue for Q2 2020 came from its foundry and semiconductor divisions, and its chip business has seen an upwards trend. It is the only brand in the world apart from TSMC that has developed 7nm or lower chip manufacturing technologies. It has already received chip orders for Facebook's AR chips, Nvidia's Ampere GPUs, Tesla's autonomous vehicles, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 875G and Snapdragon 735G SoCs.
Currently, TSMC holds a 51.5% share of the contract manufacturing market, while Samsung has an 18.8% share of the market. The South Korean firm recently started the mass production of 5nm chips, but it has reportedly faced issues related to lower yield. However, the company has flat out denied those reports and said that the manufacturing plan is being successfully executed.


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RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) вЂ“ If you have recently gotten an online pay day loan online — you may maybe not understand it, however it is unlawful right right right right here in Virginia. Regardless of the statutory legislation, businesses continue steadily to provide them.
Dana Wiggins causes it to be her concern to simply help customers. It is her task, she actually is a coordinator with Virginia partnership to encourage accountable financing. Main point here, she assists protect your hard earned money.
She actually is warning Virginia’s about online payday loans. “Internet based payday advances are unlawful inside our state and several customers have no clue,” she stated.
Customers may well not understand they may be unlawful, but Wiggins claims the continuing companies offering them do.
“They understand with us, have had conversations with them and let them know that it is not legal in our state,” she said that it is illegal many lawyers that work.
Outlawing payday loans online had been setup to stop the buyer from dropping right into a monetary trap. “the attention prices for online loans can are priced between 180 per cent to at least one thousand %,” Wiggins stated. Read More Organizations providing unlawful payday loans online


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Jasmine Sanders has been heating up Instagram this week. Starting on the weekend, the Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition model — and 2019’s Rookie of the Year — has been taking to the popular social media platform to share a series of snippets from her recent campaign as the new face of new Illuminare fragrance, in addition to several photos from her shoot with the swimsuit edition.
In her most recent snapshot, the model — who also goes by the moniker Golden Barbie — did the former as she shared a photo from the Vince Camuto campaign. In this shot, Sanders is down on a sumptuous fuzzy carpet as she rocks a black bodysuit featuring semi-sheer long sleeves with a snakeskin-like pattern, in addition to a cutout right on the chest, which exposes quite a bit of her cleavage.
Under the bodysuit, Sanders is wearing just a pair of fishnet tights, which puts her toned model legs on full display. The model is wearing her blonde hair up in an intricate high ponytail while large, loose waves cascade down on her back. Sanders is featured in purple lighting, which gives the shot a dreamlike, whimsical vibe. According to the tag she included with her post, the photo was captured by James Macari.
The post, which Sanders shared with her 3.5 million Instagram followers, garnered more than 13,400 likes and upwards of 110 comments within just a couple of hours of being posted, as of the time of this writing. Users of the social media platform who are fans of the model took to the comments section to share their admiration for her, while also praising her fierceness and beauty.
“Uh hello! Forgive me for staring!!” one user wrote.
“So gorgeous as usual,” another fan chimed in.
“Fishnets are never out of style,” a third fan added, trailing the comment with a heart eyes emoji.
As Us Magazine reported, the brand announced that Sanders would be the star of the Illuminare fragrance campaign on August 7.
“I am excited to partner with Vince Camuto to debut the latest fragrance,” the model said in a statement from the brand, according to the report.
“Illuminare’s powerful message to ignite a woman’s inner strength is special to me and I am thrilled to add this captivating scent to my beauty routine.”
Before sharing this photo, Sanders also posted a few snapshots from her Sports Illustrated spread in which she is smoking hot in a sizzling metallic one-piece swimsuit.


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MLA for Lesser Slave Lake
Whether I’m grabbing a decaf coffee at The Fix in Slave Lake on the way to an event, taking in a blockbuster with my kids at Park Theatre in High Prairie, or enjoying a meal at Wabasca Steak and Pizza, I’m grateful for the role small businesses play in making our communities exciting places to live.
It’s always a pleasure to meet with local entrepreneurs, small business owners and those organizations that support them to learn about the terrific work they are doing in our community.
There’s no doubt it’s been a tough couple of years for communities across this province, and those in Lesser Slave Lake are no exception. When the price of oil dropped in 2014, it had a big impact on our economy, and a lot of businesses had to make tough decisions.
Fortunately, the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners in communities like Slave Lake, High Prairie and Wabasca has stayed strong.
And our government has supported those small businesses. We cut small business tax by a third right after we were elected.
Instead of making cuts that would have made things worse, we invested in building roads, schools and hospitals, to keep people working during the downturn. And we created two new tax credits to encourage investment in Alberta-based businesses.
These initiatives, and others, have helped small businesses to weather the storm. And by all appearances, the storm is indeed ending. Things are looking up.
We’re doubling down on our support for small businesses. Last Tuesday, Premier Notley announced MLA Jessica Littlewood would take on a new role, representing small business. I know she will help make sure entrepreneurs and small business owners voices are heard loud and clear.
Our plan is working. Job opportunities are growing. Housing starts are up. Last year private-sector investment was 2.5 times higher than the Canadian average. And we’re on track to lead the country again this year, by a wide margin.
People are investing long-term, and they’re spending in the short term as well. Retail sales in Alberta were at $6.8 billion in July, which is higher than the pre-recession peak of $6.7 billion in October 2014.
Elsewhere in the world, people are spending more on Alberta’s products as well. This province’s manufacturers sold $41 billion worth of goods in the first seven months of 2017, which is 15 per cent higher than the same period in 2016 and well ahead of the national growth rate of 6.6 per cent.
There’s still work to do, but Alberta’s economy is growing faster than expected. In fact, Alberta is expected to lead the country in economic growth over the next two years.
It was an absolute honour last week to share some of this good news with entrepreneurs at the Small Business Awards in High Prairie and the October Slave Lake Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Thanks to both of the chambers for your hard work supporting small businesses in our communities.
Small businesses are vital to the economic development and sustainability of northern and rural communities. I’m so thankful for the dedication of entrepreneurs here in Lesser Slave Lake for making our communities vibrant and dynamic. Let’s all work together.


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Apple has cancelled its London-based Apple Music Festival after a decade of free gigs that included the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and Lady Gaga.
Previously known as the iTunes Festival, it has taken place at the Camden Roundhouse since 2009. The month-long festival allowed Apple to boost its iTunes software in the days before Apple Music or Spotify.
The company rebranded it as the Apple Music Festival in 2015 and scaled back the number of performances that took place. Last year's line-up included Robbie Williams, Calvin Harris, The 1975 and Elton John.
Although Apple hasn't given a specific reason for cancelling the event, speculation seems to be that it plans to focus on smaller, one-off events instead.
"The closure of the Apple Music Festival is likely because Apple is concentrating its resources on one-off events, in addition to its original content efforts in video – which have recently included a Carpool Karaoke spin-off series and a behind-the-scenes documentary on Harry Styles," reported Music Business Worldwide .
The Apple Music Festival website hosts a look back at the festival's "proud history with iconic performances."