text:
When Facebook announced a revamped mobile page in April, its lead mobile exec Eric Tseng said the social network would focus on using the HTML5 standard for future updates instead of updating individual applications for each mobile operating system. “Project Spartan” is the fruit of those labors, reports claim, and it will be the social network’s attempt to the spill its games and applications into the mobile space. Images and information on Project Spartan were recently posted on a Facebook developer page before being pulled. Thankfully TechCrunch grabbed several of the images and information from the site before it was taken down. The leaked photos clearly display a panel loaded with Facebook Pages, mobile apps and events being accessed from an iPhone’s Safari browser. There also appears to be a notifications component. Facebook will officially announce the platform sometime next week, TechCrunch said. Read on a few additional photos of Project Spartan.
If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.


text:
Here at Coal we are proud to have started 2021 off to a successful start by being named a top B2B Advertising Agency in the UK by Clutch.
Clutch, is a leading market research firm, who recognise the top B2B companies in the UK for their 2021 awards.
They released their list of the top-performing service providers in the United Kingdom across a variety of service lines. The Leader Award winners represent the best in their respective fields and their team looks into a company’s past work, online presence and brand reputation.
We are incredibly proud to have started 2021 with recognition for the hard work of the team and the trust our clients place in us. This is the second time we have been awarded recognition as a Top B2B Agency by Clutch.

domain: news


text:
By Impu Sehgal
How to contact Amazon's customer service after Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases
Need help reaching out to Amazon during the Cyber Week madness? We've got you covered.
How to use Apple Pay on Amazon for Black Friday shopping
Opt for Apple Pay as your go-to payment method for a seamless shopping experience.
Is 'Diablo VI: Season of the Malignant' worth your time?
Featuring new rewards, seasonal characters, and more from the world of Sanctuary
Top 10 streaming services offering free trials in 2023
Despite many streaming services removing free trials, entertainment lovers are still spoiled for choice.
How to sign up for Amazon Prime ahead of Prime Day 2023
Shoppers must sign up for Amazon Prime to access Prime Day deals.
8 BookTok recommendations you have to read in 2023
Hungry for a new read? Take a glimpse at our list of TikTok's most viral reads of the year so far.
Here's what the internet might look like without Reddit
The Reddit blackout is in full swing and Twitter is exploding with memes and frustrated reactions from loyal users.
Spotify is testing an offline mix for bad signal days
Spotty internet connection? Spotify's got you covered.
Diablo IV players are loving the nostalgia, but hating the glitches
Diablo IV is an overpriced mixed bag with nostalgia, beauty, and frustrations galore.
Whoopi Goldberg urges Blizzard to release 'Diablo 4' on Mac
"Blizzard, this really pissed me off," Goldberg said in an Instagram live.
Redditors to shut down communities in response to API price changes
Reddit API prices are reaching the moon, and the website's culture is at stake. Reddit communities promise to go dark in response.


text:
It's good that Disney recognizes the cable business as we know it is dying. It's just not clear it has a plan to address it.
Investors can relax, though, because they don't necessarily have to pick a single winner in streaming services. When thinking about streaming stocks, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is probably the first one that comes to mind. Netflix currently has 238 million subscribers in more than 190 different countries.
Fool.com contributor Parkev Tatevosian evaluates the latest news from Disney (NYSE: DIS) that it will be increasing investment in its theme park segment. *Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of Sept.


text:
James City County — With temperatures throughout Memorial Day weekend in the high 80s and low 90s, the grand reopening of the Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt in Williamsburg’s Settlers Market couldn’t have come at a better time.
With more than 50 people through the doors in the first 20 minutes, some of whom had been waiting almost two hours for the store to open, Menchie’s new owner Phillip Forgit said the store is off to a promising start.
“We’ve been open since late April, but this is our big official ‘we’re back’ event,” Forgit said. “It’s great to already see so many people coming through, and if the summer is anything like today, we’ll be seeing plenty more.”
Menchie’s had closed in February as a result of the previous owner having failed to pay excise food and beverage taxes since April 2018, with the James City County Treasurer’s Office eventually forcing its closure until the back taxes were paid.
Forgit, who was trying to buy the franchise location, stepped in with an offer that allowed the previous owner to pay back the county and sold Menchie’s to Forgit.
The weekend’s opening has been a long time coming, and not a moment too soon, according to longtime customers Sarah McDonald, Shane McCreary and Shannon McCreary, who were the first three customers Saturday.
“It brings back a lot of nostalgia. We were here for the first grand opening and kept coming back after, we have a lot of good memories of this place,” Shannon McCreary said. “It’s amazing that it’s still just as good this time as it was the first.”
Those connections and those memories are in part what drew him to Menchie’s in the first place, Forgit said.
“The job I had before this, I lived in Williamsburg, but I really just slept here. I traveled a lot and I wanted to do something to be part of the community,” Forgit said. “I’d been a Menchies customer before, my daughter had worked here, so I liked the product, but also like how its something people want to get when they celebrate or just need a little pick me up, it’s about being social as much as it is the yogurt.”
Old customers weren’t the only ones either. The opening was the first time Jaden Brown had ever had Menchie’s. With a mango frozen yogurt in hand, he said it won’t be the last either.
“It’s delicious. I think I’ve really been missing out until now,” Brown said. “On a hot day like today, it’s just what you want, so if summer’s like this, I’m going to be coming back a lot.”
Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt is at 4645 Casey Blvd., Suite 100.


text:
Mobile rewards platform RewardMob announces ICO
RewardMob hopes to capitalize on its earlier success
It’s been a busy five months for RewardMob.
Over that time, the mobile rewards platform has increased its user base to over 100,000 users. According to the company’s Medium, in order to increase its exposure and capitalize on this initial success, it will be announcing a public ICO.
According to RewardMob, the ICO will have a hard cap of $10 million, with residents in Canada and the US being able to participate.
RewardMob announces ICO
In March 2018, the company had launched an initial ticket sale, with over 800,000 tournament entry tickets being purchased as a result.
According to RewardMob’s CTO and co-founder, Colin Bracey, the ICO is important to the team, and one that it expects will match the demand seen by the ticket sales in March.
“It was very important to the team to build and test the product first and to demonstrate traction before launching the ICO.” Bracey elaborates.
“I have seen so many projects over the past year that were funded based on a white paper alone that have never come to fruition or failed to get their product to market.”
RewardMob is currently available on Android and iOS with eight games currently featured on the site, with more expected in the future.
Along with giving users the power to compete in mobile game tournaments, RewardMob provides game developers with the tools to turn their game into an esports title, while giving them a direct line of contact with fans of their game.


text:
Export of fruits and vegetables is likely to increase to $4 billion in 2023, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association.
Dragon fruit Tin tức
The country's total export value of dragon fruit so far this year topped 47 million USD, a fall of 48.7% compared to the same period las year.
21/02/2020 - 15:28Five tonnes of Vietnam’s red flesh dragon fruit were recently shipped to Australia in a bid to seek new markets for Vietnamese fruit exports amid difficulties stemming from the novel coronavirus disease.
20/10/2019 - 14:04Hundreds of dragon fruit containers are stuck at the border in northern Lang Son Province with Chinese customs taking longer to clear them.


text:
Users of VKontakte can show these tokens in the form of avatars or in a special showcase in the profile by linking their crypto wallets to their accounts.
Social media platforms worldwide have been adopting non-fungible tokens (NFT) and VKontakte, the largest social media network in Russia, has joined the bandwagon. As per the latest details, VKontakte will allow users to upload their digital collectibles to the platform.
Additionally, account holders on VKontakte will also be able to buy and sell them in the future as the company is willing to soon establish a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As per the local news reports, the platform has also introduced an NFT service along with educational courses on NFTs.
During a presentation in Moscow, VK’s CEO Marina Krasnova and Chief Technology Officer Alexander Tobol announced that the new features will be available to all users within a few days. Using the VK NFT option, owners of digital collectibles will be able to transfer them to their accounts.
Users can show these tokens in the form of avatars or in a special showcase in the profile. However, to do that, they need to link their crypto wallets to their accounts. “Our task is to simplify user interaction with NFT and make it truly a mass technology,” Krasnova commented.
VKontakte to Have an NFT Hub
Russia’s largest social media platform VKontakte said that they would launch their NFT collection in January 2023. In the later stage, they also plan to launch a full-fledged NFT marketplace to offer users an opportunity to purchase and resell collectibles.
VKontakte is planning to integrate the NFT tech into some of its other products including gaming and gifts. The social media platform added that they want to create an NFT hub featuring announcements, news, market analytics, as well as case studies. VKontakte said that its team will use this space to communicate ideas with the NFT community and search for potential partners.
In order to cover more related activities and products, Russian authorities have been working simultaneously to expand the legal framework. In order to regulate the NFT space, Russia’s Ministry of Economy has been working on amendments.
Earlier this year, one of Russia’s largest banking institutions – Sberbank – announced that it would allow its clients to mint their own NFTs on the Sberbank blockchain platform.


text:
Intel reckons its next consumer SSD, code-named Cherryville, will be the fastest SSD on the market when it launches this Autumn.
It briefly disclosed a few details of Cherryville at today's round of technical sessions at this year's Intel Developer Forum (IDF), hidden amongst a sea of enterprise-level announcements.
The Cherryville SSD will be based on 25nm multi-level cell (MLC) NAND memory and, according to Troy Winslow, Marketing Manager of Intel's NAND Solutions Group, will be "the highest performing SSD in the marketplace."
"The Cherryville product will be a no compromise solution," said Winslow. "It will have better sequential and better random than any prior SSD from Intel and will lead the industry."
All those other drives run with the latest and greatest SandForce memory controller, the SF 2281. Intel studiously left off what controller it was using for this newest drive, despite releasing news about the proprietary Intel controller on its later Smart Response-based Hawley Creek mSATA SSD.
So you'd think it wasn't going to be an Intel controller in the Cherryville product; so whose controller could it be?
There's a possibility that it will use a Marvell controller similar to the SATA 6Gbps Intel 510 edition SSD, though that wouldn't necessarily give it the performance lead Winslow is confident of.
More likely Intel is avoiding Marvell or its own controller's for its high-end consumer SSD and jumping on the SandForce bandwagon with some seriously funky firmware to give it that boost.
The drive will be out in a few short months mind – we should have samples in mid-October – and we'll know for sure then, but it could be a landmark moment for both Intel SSDs.
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Get the hottest deals available in your inbox plus news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more from the TechRadar team.


text:
Electronic Arts Inc.’s quarterly revenue beat its own expectations backed by launches coupled with strong execution in live services, according to a press release by EA on Wednesday.
EA reported net revenue of $1.55 billion in Q1 2022 over its expected revenue of $128 billion. FIFA Ultimate Team matches increase by 48% YoY for the quarter.
Electronic Arts also recorded higher earnings-per-share, which boasted $0.71 compared to the company’s estimate of $0.63.
Battlefield 2042 is set to launch on October 22, 2021, and it is a good boost based on showcase events.
The acquisition of Codemasters is set to bring high-quality racing games into its upcoming stable additions on EA play.
The California-based EA raised its annual sales forecast ahead of the slowdown in gaming as world economies inch back to normal, pushing gamers to drop their consoles and step outside.
Leave a Reply


text:
Foursquare hit the three million user mark over the weekend, less than two months after the location-based service passed the two million users mark in July. This success comes despite predictions Foursquare would be crushed by Facebook’s recently launched location-sharing feature called Places. But Foursquare’s recent user milestone suggests Places may actually be helping Foursquare’s growth by popularizing the concept of checking-in and sharing your location. Foursquare’s three-million-user milestone was first reported by TechCrunch which derived the number based on its own research. Foursquare has not made any formal announcement of its traffic.
Facebook Places: Friend or Foe?
It took Foursquare a little longer than one year to reach one million users after the service launched in March 2009, and then another three months to hit two million users.
Now, with reportedly over three million users, the location-based service is signing up an average of 18,000 new users every day, Foursquare Founder Dennis Crowley recently told the Los Angeles Times.
But questions remain about whether Foursquare can survive against Facebook Places and its potential 500 million users. For the moment, however, it appears that Places may actually help smaller services thrive. Instead of shutting out competitors, Places is serving as a platform where other location-based services can integrate their functionality with Facebook. Foursquare competitor, Gowalla, for example, plans to allow users to import their check-ins and virtual goods into Places.
Facebook’s popularity, combined with the current attention being paid to Places, may also be contributing to Foursquare’s recent success. The day after Facebook launched Places, for example, Foursquare said it received the largest number of one-day sign-ups ever.
Will they check-in?
Foursquare may be going strong right now, but there are also questions about how many users out there are willing to broadcast their location to others in real time. A recent report by The New York Times quoted a Forrester Research study that said only 1 percent of Americans use location-based services every week, and only 4 percent have even tried location-sharing. So while Foursquare may be growing now, it’s unclear whether there will be enough users to sustain its popularity over the long term.
Then again, it took Twitter two years to reach two million users and four years later the microblog hit 100 million users, according to TechCrunch. Foursquare, at least for the moment, is reportedly growing at twice that rate.


text:
Recently, FREAKIN' APPLE partnered up with Malala Fund to fight for the education of girls. Yes, iPhone wala Apple. I KNOW. But here's how far the org...
Qandeel's story has been told through various documentaries and blogs. Moreover, one version of her story is still being narrated through Baaghi. Howe...
Laiba Baig, who is also an artist herself, took to Facebook to accuse Muniba Mazari of copying her work. The medium used is different but the theme is...
Malala, you are a character of the utmost strength, resilience, and spirit. You continue to make Pakistan so proud, and this truly is a wonderful day!
On June 22nd, 2002, Mukhtaran Mai was dragged into the house of a Mastoi tribesman and gang-raped by four men in the Pakistani village of Meerwala.
These students from LUMS are fighting hunger in Pakistan in a very desi way. They're equipped with a Rickshaw that will make sure everyone gets food.
Strategic partnership between Visa and Zindigi-Powered by JS Bank aims to promote financial inclusion and digital transformation, and will facilitate ...
Costa Coffee is elated to announce the opening of its third store in Pakistan, debuting in the vibrant capital city of Islamabad.
hair loss and hair regrowth journey of a 23 year old student. The silent battles ofevery person who faces hair loss at a young age.
The Pak China Friendship Center recently witnessed the grand finale of the Zindigi Prize, Pakistan's premier entrepreneurship program.
JS Bank participated in Global Pinktober Month, dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
evoltt smart watch by ZERO lifestyle has caught the attention of the glitterati turning heads wherever they make an appearance.
© 2023 MangoBaaz. All Rights Reserved


text:
Srdjanpav | E+ | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that it would send thousands of checks totaling more than $822,000 to student loan borrowers who lost money in a debt relief scam.
More than 14,500 consumers who paid money to a company called Student Advocates will receive a check, which the FTC says must be cashed within 90 days of receipt.
The FTC filed a complaint against Student Advocates in September 2019, alleging that the company charged illegal prepayments and lied to borrowers, saying their money would go toward their loans. Customers were also sent to high-interest loans, falsely promising lower payments and, in some cases, debt cancellation.
“The money raised by the defendants has not been paid for consumer student loans,” the FTC said in a statement Thursday.
Student Advocates officials did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC via LinkedIn.
More from Personal Finance:
75% of families do not know a key date to get financial help
Inflation drives tuition prices higher
Would you be included in the student loan waiver?
Red Flags: Upfront Costs, Promises of ‘Immediate’ Results
There are over 44 million student loan borrowers in the US, and the country’s total outstanding loan balance is over $1.7 trillion. The average student loan balance is about $30,000, up from $10,000 in the early 1990s, with many borrowers owing $100,000 or more. Refund issues are common.
For fraudsters, this is an opportunity for scams, consumer advocates say.
Scammers are increasingly promising borrowers cancellation of student loans and lower payments. They often charge up to thousands of dollars upfront for this “service,” which is illegal, consumer advocates say.
“The Credit Repair Organizations Act of 1996 prohibits charging prepayments for credit repair, such as canceling student loans, consolidating student loans, and changing repayment plans,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
Never respond to requests to share your federal student ID except from your administrator or the government, Kantrowitz said.
Also, be wary of any promises of “immediate” student debt forgiveness, he added.
“As we all know, forgiving loans isn’t such a quick process,” Kantrowitz said, referring to one of the most popular — and genuine — programs. “Government loan forgiveness lasts 10 years.”
Look for Legitimate Resources for Student Loan Assistance
These scammers often offer services that you could do yourself online in less than half an hour, lawyers say.
For example, if you’re struggling to pay your student loan, you may be able to switch to an income-driven amortization plan with your administrator.
According to the program, your monthly bills are limited to a portion of your earnings. There are also economic hardships and postponement of unemployment. You can request these forms of care free of charge at StudentAid.gov of the Department of Education.
And remember, until at least the end of August, most federal student loan borrowers will no longer be affected by their payments, thanks to the pandemic-era policies in effect since March 2022.
Consumers who receive a check from the FTC and who have questions about their refund should call the refund administrator, JND Legal Administration, at 877-540-0989, the committee said.
#Federal #Trade #Commission #sends #refund #checks #student #loan #borrowers #scammed #debt #scam


text:
QikServe and Kafoodle have launched a joint report introducing Generation COVID to the corporate catering industry. Download the report and sign-up for the exclusive follow-on webinar now.
From next week Manchester Central will team up with Preoday to launch a brand-new digital ordering service.
Our resource centre has useful insights and advice
The Aviva Stadium in Dublin has won the “Best Use of Technology” category at this year’s Foodservice Cateys for its use of digital ordering technology.
Partnership gives clients access to its pre-order and pay functionality alongside allergen management, stock information and promotion software.
Canteen Collective, which runs the popular cafe, W11 Canteen, in West London, has launched a click and collect service, with the implementation of new EPOS and digital ordering technologies. The two solutions, provided by Centegra and Preoday, will strengthen the cafe’s friendly customer experience.


text:
‘Vegan-curiosity’ has been growing in popularity in recent years, and not just amongst celebrities. Since 2014, going vegan for January, dubbed Veganuary, has led to more than one million people in 192 countries trying veganism1 and there are an estimated 600,000 vegans today in the UK2.
Overall UK sales of vegan foods have risen by 40%, from £582 million in 2014 to an estimated £816 million last year and are expected to be in excess of £1.1 billion by 2024, according to the latest consumer research from analyst firm Mintel3. The findings also highlight that 88% of the population still eats red meat, so for the majority, this is about variety and flexibility rather than strict veganism.
This shift away from animal products has been driven largely by health concerns, as well as animal welfare issues. However, there has also been a rising awareness of the environmental concerns linked to the production of red meat and dairy.
The livestock sector contributes 14.5% of global greenhouse gases, including a high proportion of methane and nitrous oxide4, which are many times more potent than carbon dioxide. An Oxford University led study concluded that a meat-rich diet is responsible for over twice the emissions caused by a plant-based diet, with beef as the most polluting food, globally5.
Red meat production is inefficient on two levels. Firstly, livestock requires on average 3 kg of human-edible material, mostly grains, to produce 1 kg of meat, and secondly, it takes a huge footprint, providing just 18% of calories consumed globally but using over 80% of farmland6. Cattle-farming has also been cited as one of the major drivers of deforestation of tropical rainforests. This leads to biodiversity loss as well as releasing carbon dioxide stored in trees and soil into the atmosphere7.
Meanwhile, the situation looks set to worsen: Population growth continues, with increasing food requirements, and economic development often leads to increased meat consumption8.
It is important to note that the figures concerning meat are global and based largely on a mass-production approach. Sustainably managed, grass-fed livestock can bring environmental benefits, even playing a role in the capture and storage of carbon through improvements to soil quality9.
Nevertheless, the spotlight is falling on alternatives to red meat. According to Mintel, the UK market for meat alternatives could be worth more than £1.1billion by 202410. Research released in July last year by trademark law firm, EMW, found the number of trademarks for vegan products more than doubled in 2019, and then particularly soared as demand for vegan options increased during the first lockdown11.
Yet what about synthetic or cultured meat, grown in a laboratory? Recently, the US company Eat Just’s ‘no-kill chicken bites’, cultured in a bioreactor, have just been approved for sale for the first time, having passed a safety review by the Singapore Food Agency12. The current methods of production are small scale and carbon intensive. However, manufacturers hope that scaling up will lead to lower emissions, as well as requiring less water and land than for conventional meat13.
Lab grown meat also removes the need for antibiotics in meat production, which is a leading cause of antimicrobial resistance in humans14. Globally, the food industry is the largest consumer of antibiotics, used to prevent disease or promote growth in otherwise healthy farm animals. Meat may also be entwined with pandemics. From wet markets potentially leading to Covid and chicken rearing being strongly linked to bird flu, human treatment of animals has often had dire consequences15. Lab grown meat comes without these concerns.
Over recent years, Holden & Partners has been aware of the environmental and demographic challenges that have arisen due to global population growth as well as increasing demand for meat products. That’s why related issues such as climate change, water management, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are key themes within our Sustainable portfolios.
We have companies in our portfolios which are engaged in tackling the eco-issues affecting agriculture. For example, Xylem, a provider of water technology with a specialisation in precision irrigation, enables farmers to use water more efficiently. Also, Vitasoy, an 80-year-old, family-owned Hong Kong based company produces meat alternatives, such as soy and tofu, with a strong focus on sustainability. The stock is a holding within the First Sentier Asia Pacific Sustainability Leaders, one of our Asia Pacific equity holdings within our investment strategies.
Feeding a growing population in a sustainable way will only be possible with significant changes, not only to our diets, but also to the global agricultural model. It is likely that it will need to include more plant-based foods, as well as sustainable meat and technological alternatives, to build a healthy, ethical and equitable food supply, beyond January’s resolutions.
We have received lots of positive feedback about our updates. If you’ve found them useful and informative, we would be delighted for you to share them with friends, family and work colleagues. We are always keen to spread the word about our unique approach to financial planning and investing.
Please note that any thresholds, allowances, percentage rates and tax legislation stated may change in the future. The content of this communication is for your general information and use only; it is not intended to address your particular requirements. This communication should not be deemed to be, or constitute advice. You should not take any action without having spoken with your usual adviser.


text:
Tesla vehicle engineer Doug Field will not return to the automaker. Electra Meccanica plans a new e-Roadster. Oil companies begin fighting for a share of electric-car charging dollars. And financing for lithium may be more of an issue than supplies. All of this and more on Green Car Reports.
Field, formerly Tesla's chief engineer for vehicle production, will not return from his leave of absence at the company.
Electra Meccanica will produce a new (old) e-Roadster based on the design of a 1955-1959 Porsche 356 Speedster.
Oil companies fear declining profits when electric cars become more popular, and have begun fighting for a share of electric-car charging dollars.
Lithium prices have tripled since 2015, and financing the material may be more of a problem than the supplies.
Supermarket chain Kroger will begin testing self-driving vehicles to deliver groceries.
Finally, we give an update on the 2018 Nissan Leaf and think it's all the daily driver one needs.


text:
Mazda Motor Corporation announced that cumulative production of the Mazda CX-5 surpassed one million units at the end of April 2015. Taking only three years and five months since production commenced in November 2011, the CX-5 is the second fastest Mazda model to reach the milestone one-million-unit mark, following the Mazda3.
Production of the CX-5, which was the first of Mazda’s new-generation models that feature SKYACTIV Technology and KODO-Soul of Motion, began at Ujina Plant in Hiroshima – Japan, but has since been expanded to include manufacture in China Russia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mazda CX-5 was launched into the growing global crossover SUV market in February 2012 as a new core model for the Mazda brand. It has since won more than *60 different awards around the world as of April 2015, including the prestigious Car of the Year Japan in 2012-2013.
Mazda’s Managing Director, David Hughes said, “The new-generation Mazda CX-5 has proven very popular among South African customers since the re-launch in October 2014. With the introduction of the 2015 Mazda CX-5, we have seen continued sales success. One million units produced in only three years and five months is an inordinate milestone and we are excited about what the future holds for the Mazda CX-5.”


text:
How data can help keep employees happy and productivity high!
You only have to quickly scan the financial section of any mainstream media to find reports of labour shortages, rising salaries and declining worker output. Around the world, companies are struggling to retain employees and keep production to a profitable level. In the US during Q1 of 2022, we have seen Nonfarm Productivity fall a whooping 7.5%, that is the biggest drop since 1947.
NIVY Watch releases NIVY Data Factory 2022 based on Azure Cosmos DB and embedded Power BI analytics
Bratislava, March 15, 2022 – NIVY Watch s.r.o. announces the release of the NIVY Data Factory 2022 now with the added support of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and embedded Power BI analytics. Thanks to Cosmos DB the latest version of the Data Factory provides better scalability even for large companies with multiple branches as well as powerful analytics with familiar Power BI tools.
How to send a message with NIVY.
Sending messages to NIVY Watches is only one of the groundbreaking features built into our technology. Here, we show you just how easy it is to get started!
NIVY Watch in Hospitality
The travel & tourism industry is everywhere and makes up for a whopping 10.4% of the world's GDP in 2019 (statistica.com). Whenever we visit another city, we are contributing to that number. In the US alone, 13.13 million people work directly in the hospitality and leisure industry. With all the changes over the last few years in hospitality, it is an industry that has to constantly innovate. According to Binwise.com 60% of restaurants fail within the first year and a scary 80% within the first 5 years. Clearly not an easy industry, this use case report will look at how technology such as NIVY can help.


text:
Ubisoft’s decision to delay the long-awaited platformer Rayman Legends to September in order to share its unique style of whimsy across all platforms is being challenged by a petition.
Wii U owners have been waiting patiently for a new Rayman title to grace the multi-screen console, but sadly, the wait only seems to be increasing. Originally planned as a Wii U launch title, Legends is now scheduled for a September release, but a core group of fans is doing its best to fight this change.
“Fans have been patiently waiting for Rayman Legends for the Wii U since it was announced as a launch game since June of 2012, and for many it was going to be one of the highlights of the Wii U’s launch due to the critical success of Rayman Origins,” John Smith, the author of the petition, writes. “Legends was, and still is, being used worldwide as a major tool in showing the creative capabilities of the Wii U in stores.”
The document, which currently sits at 1929 of a required 2500 signatures, isn’t exactly light on content, but the overall message to Ubisoft is clear: Keep the original Rayman Legends release date for the Wii U, and keep to the promises made to Nintendo and the company’s fans. That’s the whole point of this movement.
Whether or not this petition will actually make a difference, though, is yet to be seen.
What do you think about petitions like this? Do they ever have an impact? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!


text:
Cycling enthusiasts everywhere are watching what might be the world’s most famous bicycling event – the Tour de France – this month. They are also watching some of the world’s most expensive bicycles, which often cost as much as a small vehicle.
Pro-cylists are not the only ones buying high-dollar cycles. The U.S. bicycle industry rang in sales of $6.2 billion in 2015 – bicycles, related parts and accessories – through all channels of distribution. The overall size of the industry has remained strong since 2003, with sales between $5.8 billion and $6.1 billion each year.
The growth in the cycling industry and a need to find specialized coverage for high-valued bikes, led to the creation of Velosurance, a national insurance agency founded by two cyclists to address the insurance needs of bicycle riders nationwide.
Dave Williams, co-founder of Velosurance and a mountain biking enthusiast, said after a homeowners insurance client suffered a less than satisfying claims experience with a bicycle theft, he knew something needed to change. “The straw that broke the camel’s back was a client whose $2,000 bike was stolen,” Williams said. “His homeowners insurance company paid the claim, but depreciated the value of the bike, and then took away his deductible, and sent him a check for $183.”
While frustrated with the loss, Williams’ client remained understanding until he received his homeowners insurance renewal policy – $400 higher than the previous year, thanks to the claim.
“We started thinking that maybe there was some coverage out there that would work better, but there really wasn’t,” he said. That’s when Williams reached out to Markel.
“Markel liked the idea of creating a specialty product for bicycles and ran with it,” he said. “We started issuing policies in November 2012 and have been growing every year.”
Now, “all we do is sell bicycle insurance,” he said.
Most business comes directly from consumers but Velosurance also partners with about 2,000 bicycle shops nationwide. The product is licensed in all states except, Hawaii, N.D., S.D. and W. Va.
Williams said there’s “often a misconception about coverage” and owners of high-end bikes often do not understand what they have.
For example, a bike can be scheduled on a homeowners policy but it’s typically actual cash value coverage and will not cover the bike for everything that can happen to it. “Often that coverage costs more than what it would cost through Velosurance.”
The Velosurance policy provides broader coverage including while in transit by airline and other shipping companies, or when carried in or on a car. Also, while covering the bike for theft and accidental damage, the policy extends coverage to cycling apparel, spare parts and accessories – such as a racing wheelset or a bike computer – and provides race fee and rental bike expense reimbursement for those situations where the bike is lost or damaged before an event. Medical coverage is also an option.
It’s not just for high value bikes. “We have $300, $400, $500-bike owners who own policies. The minimum premium is $100 and the minimum deductible is $100.”
Williams welcomes referrals from other independent agents. “Because all we insure are bicycles we are not a threat to an independent agent. If there is an agent who has a client that has high value bikes they can send them over to us knowing that we are not going to prospect their client.”
For more information visit www.velosurance.com.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.


text:
UFC publisher THQ has reported a $30.1 million loss for the first quarter, compared to a profit of $6.4m for the same period last year.
Net sales were down to $149.4 million from $243.5 million, in a period that saw the publisher only release one major title – mixed martial arts fighter UFC 2010 Undisputed. In the first quarter of the previous financial year THQ released UFC Undisputed 2009 and first-person shooter Red Faction: Guerrilla
In a conference call to investors, CEO Brian Farrell blamed lower sales of the latest UFC game for the loss, suggesting users were not willing to upgrade to the latest game as they were still playing the 2009 version.
He also said that the publisher may lengthen the time between new releases in the franchise, although he added that the 2.7 million copies of UFC 2010 Undisputed shipped suggested the series is still a strong sports brand.
In a statement Farrell said the company's goal this year was to position the publisher for growth in 2012, with new technology offering new opportunities.
"We are excited about the opportunity for industry growth provided by rapidly expanding online markets and new gaming platforms such as Kinect, Move and Nintendo 3DS," he offered. " We are developing franchises on these new gaming platforms and we are increasing our investment in online and digital gaming to benefit from these emerging markets."
Titles in development at THQ include Red Faction: Armageddon, Company of Heroes: Online, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium and Devil's Third.


text:
How to Support Your Local Farmers as Restaurants and Farmers Markets Close
As the virus has small, local farms scrambling for income streams, community-supported agriculture (CSA) is one way to support them.
The global outbreak of COVID-19, and the collective effort to slow down the spread of the virus, has many people reassessing how they should get their food. The crowds passing through grocery stores lead to the stores becoming potential germ-spreading zones, and ordering food is less cost-efficient and comes with the environmental impacts of delivery drivers and packaging.
Meanwhile, as farmers markets and many restaurants have closed their doors, many farms across the U.S. are struggling to stay afloat. In order to fill in the gaps in sales in light of the coronavirus, farms across the country are getting innovative with efforts like drive-through farmers markets and farm-to-car pickup programs. And, many community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs—in which customers pre-purchase shares in local farmers’ crops—are piquing interest.
The CSA model directly connects food producers (farms) with consumers. Typical shares often include a variety of fruits and veggies, and sometimes meats, eggs, and dairy products. CSA members can pick up their shares at a farm or other given locations throughout a season as local farmers harvest and prepare their offerings. CSAs cut out the middle man, in a sense, and connect the public directly with the farmers growing their food.
CSAs in the U.S. took off in part due to the boom of industrialized agriculture following the Great Depression, explains Holly Hutchason, executive director of the Portland Area CSA Coalition in Oregon. While the agriculture boom was effective in feeding the masses, concerns began to grow over some of the harmful techniques employed in the name of quick production in these large, industrial farms—like the use of toxic chemical sprays, seeds bred to resist herbicides and pesticides and monocropping techniques draining the soil of nutrients. As spotlighted by the March Against Monsanto movement, which began in May 2013, many of the same problems of sustainability and health remain rampant in the mainstream agriculture world today. And, the treatment and working conditions of farm laborers, many of whom are immigrants, on large-scale farms are often deplorable, as highlighted by the current international crisis of COVID-19, as farmworkers, essential workers, lack basic protections.
Around the time that many were beginning to question these mass industrialized farming practices in the 1950s, Booker T. Whatley, a black agriculture professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama and early pioneer of sustainable agriculture and regenerative farming, became concerned with an emerging trend of industrialized agriculture forcing black farm owners and laborers off of their land. Several CSA-style cooperative farming programs emerged throughout the ’40s and ’50s, and a simultaneous CSA-like program, Teikei, was born in Japan around the same time. However, Whatley is largely credited with founding the modern CSA model in the U.S., offering this entrepreneurial option to small farm operators who would otherwise be trampled by the emergence of Big Ag.
Hutchason says since the pandemic began, there has been a significant boost in sales of CSA shares throughout the Portland area among the 60 farms that make up the Portland Area CSA Coalition, adding that another local farm joined the very week of our interview. She says colleagues from around the country are reporting similar trends. While she has not done any exit interviews, she says she assumes the spike has to do with the novel coronavirus.
“People are thinking about shorter supply chains, and who is handling their food, what safety precautions are they taking, right?” she says. “I think a big part of it, too, is that in a time of crisis like this… when you know the people that are growing your food, it gives you a lot more confidence. In a grocery store, there’s a lot of anonymity over where the food came from and how it got to you. But with CSA, that’s gone. You know, there’s just no question.”
She says the benefits of supporting local CSA programs are many.
Wen-Jay Ying, who founded Local Roots, a CSA program in New York City, says due to the pandemic, people have been standing outside in lines in the cold for hours at a time to buy groceries since the lockdown due to coronavirus began. She says CSA share purchases have increased noticeably, but her business is scrambling to reshape its model to one based in delivery. Before the pandemic, they’ve traditionally encouraged the community-building aspects of in-person pick-ups. They’ve hired additional staff to pack and deliver their goods and continue to work out the logistics and safety of the new model.
Ying says many of the farms that contribute goods to the Local Roots CSA have lost large portions of their usual revenue streams after restaurants closed down indefinitely.
“A lot of farmers are feeling intimidated because it’s like they’re grounded. It’s like they’re in day one of their business again, and there’s obviously financial loss,” Ying says. “Everyone who’s still operating is really just trying to reinvent themselves quickly, and being optimistic and resilient.”
Ying says Local Roots has begun donating some vegetables to restaurant owners who have been laid off, and customers with the means to do so have offered to donate their CSA shares to people in need, and others have offered to donate packing boxes to her business.
“In a crisis, it feels good to know that there… [is] this close-knit feeling of support we have for each other,” Ying says, adding that supporting local food grown on small farms in nutrient-rich soil is beneficial not just to local economies, but to personal health.
“If we’re talking about staying healthy, keeping our immune system up, we have to also be talking about how food is medicine, how you should be eating really fresh, nutrient-dense produce right now,” she says. “I love New York. I’ve lived here for 14 years, and [Local Roots] is my love letter to the city. I can see that the city that has so much, but the one thing centrally missing is really good food and access to, even, the awareness and knowledge that there is a different kind, the real kind of food that we need to be eating. The more we support local farmers, the healthier our bodies are and the healthier the land is and the healthier our communities.”
Looking to the future, the inevitability of climate change will necessitate more sustainable food models. Rather than shipping mass-produced food thousands of miles, our food systems will likely benefit from more localized and community-supported food sources.
Thea Maria Carlson, executive director of the Biodynamic Association, says the CSA model is naturally self-sustaining and says the first CSAs in the U.S. were biodynamic farms. The term biodynamic refers to a model of farming that incorporates holistic, ecological and ethically-rooted practices, founded on the work of philosopher and scientist Dr. Rudolf Steiner.
“Biodynamics is really the idea of the farm as a living organism and having a co-creative relationship with the Earth and the land, and creating something that is self-sustaining and regenerative,” Carlson says. “The original impulse on the biodynamic farms that were doing CSA, was in the idea that you were making an investment so that the farm could exist, and then the farm was sharing its abundance with you.”
She notes that Temple Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire is an example of this kind of supportive, community-interested CSA model.
Carlson notes that many CSA programs seek to support community members who might struggle financially with concepts like “solidarity shares” in which people with more resources purchase shares not just for their own families but for other families’ shares.
Many CSA programs, as well as farmers markets, accept Food Stamp benefits. In Portland, for example, Hutchason says the CSA Coalition handles the SNAP benefits program (Oregon’s food stamp program) on behalf of all of its farms so that farmers don’t have to deal with the added paperwork and can more easily support low-income community members. They also participate in a state-funded program called Double Up Food Bucks, which allows farmers to offer their shares to SNAP participants at an even more discounted rate.
In light of the current pandemic and increased attention on how and where people get their food, many with the means to do so are planting their own food, and the internet is abuzz with a resurgence of victory gardens.
Carlson says more people planting food is one way to promote long-term local food community resilience.
“In the Biodynamics Membership Association, about 40 percent of our members identify as farmers, about 40 percent identify as gardeners, so we have a lot of people in the organization who are growing their own foods. … I think that’s a really important piece of building that resilience for people, growing their own food,” Carlson says. “Of course there is a place for national distribution of certain things, but we think there’s a lot that could really build resilience, ecologically and socially and economically, by focusing on the localization and relationship building,” Carlson says. “I think CSAs certainly are a piece of that. I think [there are] other interesting models people are developing for larger-scale regional food systems.”
This article was produced by Local Peace Economy, a project of the Independent Media Institute.


text:
We’re only a few weeks away from the premiere of Gen V, the new spinoff of the hit Amazon series, The Boys. Amazon just shared a new trailer for the series in early September 2023, and it looks wild!
Fans of The Boys are waiting patiently for The Boys season 4 to drop, but Gen V will hopefully hold everyone over until season 4 hits Amazon. Because of the WGA and SAG strike, it’s going to be a while before The Boys season 4 premieres.
We shared everything fans need to know about Gen V, and we’ll continue to update this story as we learn more information about the new Amazon original series.
Gen V release date
Gen V premieres on Sept. 29, 2023, only on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon announced the news as San Diego Comic-Con 2023 kicks off. Unfortunately, there’s no panel for Gen V because of the WGA and SAG strikes, but we’ve got the release date for the first season and there’s more good news!
Amazon also confirmed the new teaser trailer for Gen V is coming on Monday, July 24.
Executive Producer Eric Kripke, who is in charge of The Boys, revealed that the Gen V release date will be in the fall of 2023.
The Wheel of Time season 2 premieres in September 2023, so it’s possible that we could see Gen V pushed back, but there’s no reason why both shows can’t be on at the same time. Overall, it looks like it’s going to be a good fall for Prime Video.
Release Date: Sept. 29, 2023
When is Gen V about?
We shared the official synopsis for Gen V below, via Amazon:
"Set at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes (run by Vought International), Gen V explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the school’s top ranking."
It sounds to me like this series is going to be a Hunger Games-like battle royale set a superhero university, and that is incredible, honestly. 10/10, no notes! I can’t wait to see Gen V.
We’ve seen how well an epic, gruesome, and hilarious show works for The Boys, and I think that this show is going to raise the bar to an insane level.
Gen V cast
Amazon announced the full cast of Gen V.
- Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau
- Chance Perdomo as Andre Anderson
- Shelley Conn as
- Maddie Phillips as Cate Dunlap
- Lizze Broadway as Emma Shaw
- London Thor as Jordan
- Derek Luh as Jordan
- Asa Germann
- Patrick Schwarzenegger as Jason/Golden Boy
- Sean Patrick Thomas as Polarity
- Marco Pigossi as Doctor Edison Cardosa
- Jessie T. Usher as A-Train/Reggie Franklin
- Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
- P. J. Byrne as Adam Bourke
- Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy
- Jason Ritter
- Alexander Calvert
- Clancy Brown as Rich Brink
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing some of The Boys cast to appear in Gen V, as well. We haven’t heard exactly what’s to come, but there’s been some speculation about who will be involved. This is an official Vought University after all.
Gen V trailer
On Wednesday, Sept. 6, Amazon shared a new official trailer for Gen V. It’s the longest look at the new series that we’ve seen so far, and it truly looks incredible. If you like The Boys, you’re going to love this show.
Watch the teaser trailer for Gen V!
Amazon shared the first-look trailer at Gen V, and it’s so wild! There’s so much blood. I can’t even describe what just happened (like both because I don’t know and like legally speaking, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say), so you just have to watch it.
Gen V age rating
I can’t confirm the age rating, but from watching the trailer, it is so obvious that this is going to be rated TV-MA just like The Boys. This is not a show for kids.
Gen V poster
How Gen V is connected to The Boys
Gen V is directly connected to The Boys. The series is set in the same world as The Boys, which means there could be crossover appearances from The Boys characters and Gen V characters throughout the series. It appears that is definitely going to happen in Gen V, based on the trailer.
Most of those connections will come through Vought, most likely, since Hughie and the Boys are usually doing their own thing.
When does Gen V take place?
According to Deadline, Eric Kripke mentioned that the first season of Gen V is set during and after the events of The Boys season 3. So, we’re basically going to be following this world chronologically because the release of Gen V is confirmed to be before the release of The Boys season 4.
So, if you’ve seen The Boys season 3, you’re ready to experience Gen V. If you haven’t caught up to The Boys season 3, it might be worth it to avoid spoilers, understand what’s going on, and just enjoy yourself, I don’t know. It’s a great show!
Do you need to watch The Boys to watch Gen V?
I mean, it’s unclear if fans will need to be in the loop with what’s happening with The Boys to understand Gen V. I would say that no, you probably don’t have to watch The Boys to enjoy and understand Gen V, necessarily. Shows these days usually do a great job introducing new fans right into the characters and plot.
But, there are definitely going to be references to Vought, the 7, and everything we’ve seen so far in The Boys, most likely. We know of a few cameo appearances that have been confirmed, too, so knowing those references and who those characters are will be super helpful.
Will there be a Gen V season 2?
As of June 2023, Amazon has not ordered Gen V season 2, but it’s not all bad news. According to a report from Deadline, Amazon liked what they saw from the scripts, production, and the initial look at the first season, and a writers room for season 2 was started in early 2023. By this point, we have to assume that there’s a broader plan in place for Gen V, so we’ll just have to wait and see how season 1 performs.
Amazon often renews shows early if they’re a hit, so fingers crossed that happens with Gen V!
That’s all we know about Gen V so far! Stay tuned for more news about the upcoming series.


text:
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Authorities are looking for suspects in connection to a commercial burglary earlier this week, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) announced Wednesday in a press release. OPD believes three individuals are connected to the incident that happened around 4:15 a.m. on the 3200 block of Martin Luther King Way.
A 1990s four-door and dark-colored Toyota Camry or similar model rammed into a business, causing damage to a brick wall and gate. Police said the car then drove away from the scene.
Seconds later, a light-colored Ford Explorer XLS (pictured below) backed into the front entrance of the business. Surveillance video (above) shows two suspects using a chain to pry open the front security gate, and the suspects were able to enter the business.
Police said the suspects left the area with an unknown amount of items in an unknown direction. One of the suspects was armed.
OPD says if you have information about this incident, call the robbery unit at 510-238-3426 or the TIP LINE at 510-238-3951.


text:
The power of the Internet over our lives is unprecedented. It has pervaded every aspect of life whether online or offline and influences every decision we make. Particularly, the largest web companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon have huge treasure troves of data on every users’ likes, dislikes, interests, fears, aspirations, habits, coordinates, political leanings, and more. This has been the focus of recent news reports about a data scandal involving Facebook and data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. But Facebook isn’t alone in this fight to ensure the security and appropriate use of customer data — every company that has customer data should take heed as online data privacy and security is of first importance in today’s digitally connected world. Let’s analyze the incident involving the notorious Facebook scandal and take away lessons that we can apply to anyone building an app that handles their customers’ personal data.
In 2013, Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research created an app called “thisisyourdigitallife” that would give users a psychological profile of themselves. In the process, it ended up gathering personal data of the users who took the test, and their friends. Facebook allowed this kind of access to data in the drive to create more personalized in-app experiences. However, developers were misusing this data not just for developing better applications, but also to sell the data to third-party vendors like Cambridge Analytica, which was happy to use the data to analyze users and influence them using ads and other forms of online promotion.
A year later, in 2014, Facebook learned of this method of harvesting deep information about users and put in place restrictions to curb developer access to user data. However, the prime suspects of this data misuse had already taken backups and exports of the user data and now had it on their own servers. Stuck in this dilemma, all Facebook could do was to legally pressure Cambridge Analytica to delete all the user data they had in possession. While they replied saying they’d deleted all the user data they had, there was no way for Facebook to ensure this was true.
In mid-March 2018, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, accused the company of using data harvested from Facebook to influence the 2016 U.S. elections and the Brexit vote among other elections around the world. This set off a frenzy with political and media bigwigs crying foul over the lack of regulation around data owned by internet companies.
Along with Cambridge Analytica, other organizations that have been involved in similar activities are AggregateIQ, another political consulting firm that has worked with Cambridge Analytica, and CubeYou, which has created similar personality profiling apps aimed at collecting user data. Facebook has responded by banning these organizations from its platform.
Facebook responded by taking responsibility for the incident and took measures to communicate their stand, clarify misreporting, and stop the PR disaster at hand. With 87 million users’ data being compromised, this is no small issue, and Facebook has been right to accept its responsibility in badly managing its user data in the past. The company has felt the pressure with the #DeleteFacebook campaign gaining steam, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg having to testify before Congress.
Big questions after the Facebook scandal
The Facebook scandal has opened everyone’s eyes to the potential for use and misuse of online data. It surfaces many questions, and every organization building an app that collects user data, which is pretty much any company that builds an app today, should consider these issues carefully when planning their data privacy and security strategy.
What data does your app collect?
The most important question to ask is how much data your app collects, and how much of that data is actually essential for the app’s user experience. Facebook has always followed the route of collecting as much data about its users as it can. This is part of the broader effort to use deep learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to study user behavior at massive scale, and even influence it toward ends that benefit Facebook. This is the highest form of technical wizardry available today and every top web company is on a mission to have the most advanced AI team to get the most out of their user data. However, as seen in Facebook scandal, this can be a two-edged sword if the data is mishandled.
The best option is to gather just as much data as your app needs to perform vital tasks, and limit the amount of contextual and personal information it collects to protect both your users’ privacy and your own reputation as a company. The stakes are high — on one side there’s the lure of building the most intuitive applications that attract users, and on the other side are these privacy concerns that can bring down even the biggest company. It’s a fine balance, and you’ll be better off taking the cautious side and protecting the interests of your users and your organization in the long run.
Personalization vs. privacy
Related to the first point is the collection of data to improve the relevance of ads. With the top companies like Google and Facebook making almost all their revenue off online ads, the holy grail of online advertising is personalization. The most personally relevant ads perform best and rake in profits for the parent company. This being the case, companies stop at nothing to personalize the ads that show on their platform. Even newer companies like Snapchat use similar techniques to gather information from neighboring apps like Spotify, or even browser behavior to show more target ads to its users.
Policing third-party integrations
Third-party app integrations are essential to the functioning of any app today. This is true in the case of consumer apps like Facebook or enterprise apps like Salesforce. As the Facebook scandal clearly shows, how these integrations are set up and governed plays a huge role in the security and privacy of data. Many of the breaches that occur today can be traced to a lack of security around third-party integration. The dangers are real — the vendors can get away with mishandling of data more easily than you, the data owner. Vendors may not be equipped to enforce the same stringent security measures over the data as you can. Additionally, they may have hidden agendas that you may not predict or expect as the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal case shows in classic fashion. All these reasons considered, there’s a need to police third-party integrations to ensure that vendors are responsible for how they use and access user data. You need to have in place specific policies governing the activity of vendors down to the finest details. Additionally, you need robust monitoring to find out when a vendor steps out of line. Policies without monitoring are simply rules meant to be broken, and they will be. Handing third-party app integrations is a complex effort, but is essential if you want to enforce the highest standards of security for your applications.
Transparency or avoidance?
Finally, when incidents are reported, how you respond matters. Facebook has been a slow mover in this aspect, keeping mum about the issue over a couple of years and only taking serious action after the issue snowballed into a PR disaster that affected their core user base. Quick action and communication as soon as an issue is discovered is the minimum requirement after your app has been found lacking in data security. Further, put in place measures for users to have more control and visibility into their data’s storage and use. Your users should know which third-party apps have access to their data and be able to revoke access at any time. An added bonus would be for them to export their data and store it for their record or for their own analysis so that even if they choose to delete their account, their data is their own.
The Facebook scandal is a rather unfortunate milestone in an otherwise illustrious journey from startup to one of the most powerful companies in the world. Facebook seems to have the scale and maturity to weather this storm. Not all applications may be as lucky. This is why it pays to give careful thought to how you store, share, and govern the use of users’ data in your applications. As discussed here, whether storing just enough data, monitoring vendors, or being transparent with users — there’s a lot you can do to ensure you’re never in the spot Facebook is in, firefighting against data disasters.


text:
An iPhone hacking crew has released a new jailbreak resource for almost every iPhone, even the most recent models, by using the same exact vulnerability that Apple last month said was under difficile attack by hackers.
The Unc0ver personnel let go of its latest jailbreak this weekend, and as a result says it works on iOS 11 (iPhone 5s and even later) to iOS 1 4. 3, which Apple on sale since December.
Jailbreaking is a cat-and-mouse game of security researchers who want broader control and customizations older than their phones, and The iphone, which says it locks down iPhones for security measures. Hackers build jailbreak tools and equipment by finding and applying vulnerabilities that can lift many restrictions that Apple applies in place, like installing programs outside of its app store, the most Android users have probably always been used to.
Inside of a tweet, the jailbreak array said it used its certainly “own exploit” for CVE-2021-1782, a kernel vulnerability that many Apple said was one of things flaws that do “may have been actively exploited” by hackers. By looking for the kernel, the cyberpunks are able to get deep hooks onto the underlying operating system.
Apple fixed the vulnerability in iOS 12. 4, released last month, those also prevents the jailbreak from working on later products. It was a rare admission a iPhone was under well known attack by hackers, on the other hand company declined to say who exactly the hackers were and then who they were targeting. Apple computers also granted anonymity into your researcher who submitted this bug.
Your group’s last jailbreak, which probably supported iPhones running iOS 11 to iOS thirteen. 5, was fixed in a matter of a number of days last year. Apple mac works quickly to understand and improve the vulnerabilities found next to jailbreak groups, since these same vulnerabilities can be exploited maliciously.
Security health professionals generally advise iPhone fans against jailbreaking because it the actual device more vulnerable to occurences. And while keeping your mobile up to date may introduce security measures fixes that remove the jailbreak, it’s one of the best ways of keeping the best device secure.
Early Grade is the best ‘how-to’ event for login entrepreneurs and investors. You’ll hear first-hand how some of the most successful founders and VCs build their businesses, a muslim money and manage this portfolios. We’ll cover every aspect of company-building: Fundraising, recruiting, dealing, legal, PR, marketing and completely building. Each session also offers audience participation built-in – there’s ample time as a part of each for audience problématiques and discussion.


text:
RR Donnelley's LibreDigital Selected to Provide Global E-book Solutions to HarperCollins Publishers
RR Donnelley & Sons Company, Chicago, announced last week that LibreDigital of the RR Donnelley Digital Solutions group has been awarded a multi-year agreement to provide e-book services and metadata distribution solutions to HarperCollins Publishers across all global divisions including HarperCollins, Harlequin, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
As part of the agreement, all HarperCollins divisions will leverage LibreDigital's Harvest platform to seamlessly manage and track a dynamic matrix of digital asset and metadata distribution needs.
"The global nature of our publishing business demands that we have a scalable, flexible solution for managing our e-book products," said Larry Nevins, executive vice president of operations for HarperCollins Publishers. "LibreDigital's Harvest platform allows our e-book products to get to the right marketplaces at the right time."
LibreDigital has been providing services to HarperCollins Publishers since 2006, and this new contract renews and extends that relationship.
"We are very excited to continue our role as a technology platform provider to HarperCollins Publishers," said Tyler Ruse, general manager of LibreDigital. "The Harvest platform provides tools that allow publishers to scale their digital businesses globally while maintaining visibility and control of their digital assets."
For more information, visit www.rrdonnelley.com.


text:
Oppo Find X3 is going to be launched in the year, 2021. The firm at its Inno Day 2020 conference has proclaimed that the Oppo Find X3 series will deliver end-to-end ten-bit color support with its latest Full-path Colour Management System. This latest system will further bring support for High-Efficiency Image Format and full DCI-P3 wide color gamut across the smartphone to provide more accurate colors. Oppo Find X3 is advertised to be ‘the first Android’ smartphone to provide this functionality.
The company has declared the latest advances about Oppo Find X3 during the 2nd day of the Inno Day 2020 conference in China. The latest Full-path Colour Management System that will be combined into the Oppo Find X3 series in 2021 will be the 1st to be launched on any Android smartphone. The smartphone will have a local 10-bit display. Previously, smartphones have been advertised to have a 10-bit display, but they truly featured eight-bit displays, in addition to frame rate control to mimic 10-bit performance. To this date, numerous smartphones have embedded 8-bit panels, involving Oppo Find X2.
Image from Oppo
The company has said that this Full-path Colour Management System will offer a brilliant viewing experience and bring reliable and precise color reproduction. The latest system will further support HEIF for saving storage space. Oppo has said that its R&D team worked on color reproduction by refining the underlying system and hardware. It’s Full-path Colour Management System is sumptuously designed to cover every step containing image acquisition to computation, encoding, storage, and decoding. Aside from this, 10-bit color depth and DCI-P3 wide color gamut look to deliver great color management consequences on the Find X3.
Furthermore, the R&D team also endorsed algorithms in areas like distortion correction, multi-frame noise reduction, and perceptual extreme super-resolution. The latest system will support image sensors featuring Digital Overlap HDR mode. In DOL-HDR technology, it creates unlike exposure circumstances into an image. This should recover image results even when taken against bright light.
The company has further proclaimed a new color correction solution known as Colour Correction Solution 2.0. This fundamentally looks to assist those who suffer from color vision shortage with a broad range of options to suit their visual requirements. Oppo united with Zhejiang University to grow the answer. The latest color correction system will further let users create their own display, and it will go beyond the restricted set of options accessible now.


text:
The SME IPO Index has given a good return of over 80 per cent last year.
06 Jan 2018 12:01 PM
Also on the menu are measures to encourage domestic investments and provide more money for rural infrastructure and affordable housing.
24 Sep 2017 2:59 PM
GoDaddy has helped over 7,50,000 small businesses build and grow their ventures online.
02 Aug 2017 6:30 PM
Exporters, especially from the SME sector, have expressed concerns that their funds would be locked up for several months.
06 May 2017 4:54 PM


text:
Consumer spending is the driving force of the US economy, accounting for about 70% of GDP. So when consumers start to cut back on spending, it's a big red flag for the economy.
That's why economists worry about a potential fall consumer spending drop. There are several factors that could contribute to this, including:
High inflation: Inflation has been at a 40-year high in recent months, and it's eating into consumers' disposable incomes. This makes it harder for people to afford to buy the things they need and want.
Rising interest rates: The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to combat inflation. This is making it more expensive to borrow money, which could lead to a slowdown in consumer spending.
Student loan payments: Student loan payments are scheduled to resume in October after being paused for nearly two years. This could put a strain on household budgets and lead to a decrease in consumer spending.
Economic uncertainty: The global economy is facing several challenges, including the war in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions. This uncertainty could lead consumers to be more cautious about their spending.
Current credit pressure
Credit pressure is the difficulty that borrowers have in repaying their debts. It can be caused by several factors, including rising interest rates, job losses, and unexpected expenses. This could have the most significant impact on restaurant spending.
Recent Savor.FM Data Trends
42% of 18-34 Plan to reduce restaurant spending this Holiday season
38% of Families are looking to reduce their restaurant visits this season
Credit pressure is currently on the rise in the US. This is partly due to the factors mentioned above, such as high inflation and rising interest rates. It is also driven by the fact that consumers have accumulated more debt than ever.
Inflation pressure is the upward pressure on prices caused by an increase in the demand for goods and services. Supply chain disruptions and other factors can also cause it.
Inflation pressure is currently at a 40-year high in the US. This makes it more expensive for consumers to buy the things they need and want. It is also putting a strain on businesses, making it more difficult for them to operate.
What to do
If you are concerned about a potential consumer spending drop in the fall, there are a few things you can do to prepare:
Create budget-friendly menu products.
Focus on ways to assist the consumer in saving money in your marketing.
Enhance loyalty programs so there is more value when they do spend.
Savor.fm is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


text:
Are you building a startup and want to share your story? Do you have tips for entrepreneurs, or insights to MENA industries? Submit your article with a photo and we'll get in touch with you.
Photo format: 800 x 491 pixels.
The acquisition will support Sowt’s audience growth, increase commercial opportunities, and enhance creative content.
Sowt, a Jordanian podcast network, has acquired Finyal Media, a Dubai-based Arabic podcast production company.
Founded in 2016 by Hazem Zureiqat, Sowt Media produces a variety of Arabic content, including podcasts, audio books and audio articles. The acquisition will support Sowt’s audience growth, increase commercial opportunities, and enhance creative content.
“This acquisition marks a big step for the audio industry in MENA and for Sowt,” Ramsey G. Tesdell, CEO of Sowt Media, tells StartupScene. “We’re excited about the potential growth that joining forces with Finyal provides listeners.”
Finyal Media is known for its popular fiction and branded content, like ‘1001 Nights’, ‘Juha’, ‘Sindibad’, ‘Al Silah’, and ‘The Basement’.
"We are thrilled that Finyal Media has been acquired by Sowt and that our content will continue to grow to reach millions of listeners across the region,” Leila Hamadeh, co-founder & CEO of Finyal Media, says. “We believe this acquisition marks a major milestone in the development of the MENA podcast industry and expect to see further growth and consolidation in the future. We are very proud of all the work that has gone into creating Finyal Media’s award-winning podcasts and we see strong a fit for our shows within Sowt’s incredible portfolio of content."
The acquisition was financed by New York-registered non-profit Media Development Investment Fund, which invests in independent media around the world.
Sign up for the daily Startup Digest.


text:
Arkansas Economic Development Commission
The company’s expansion in Conway, AR will establish a global Center of Excellence to serve the Medicaid business.
The company has broken ground for its Long Range Fires Production Facility, the first of many expansions at the company's site in Camden that will create 326 jobs.
The Oregon-based freight railcar and marine barge manufacturer will create at least 35 jobs at its Marmaduke, AR facility.
The security and aerospace company will create 326 new jobs with the expansion of its center of excellence in Camden, AR.
The U.S. manufacturing sector finally has regained the output levels lost during the Great Recession. But an exceptionally tight labor market might put a damper on the celebration.
A new Competitive Communities Initiative in Arkansas aims to make locations across the state even more attractive for new and expanding businesses.
The company's $1.2 billion investment will double capacity of technology-based steel mill and recycling facility in Osceola, AR.
The Pro-business climate in Arkansas is yielding a bounty of new jobs. Gov. Asa Hutchinson is busy laying the foundation for robust, sustainable long-term growth.
OurPharma will invest $31.3 million in a new facility, and create 124 new jobs in Fayetteville over the next seven years.
Simmons Prepared Foods will invest $300 million and create 1,500 new jobs at its new facility in Benton County, AR.
The company has invested an estimated $30 million in the project, and expects to create 78 new jobs at the Siloam Springs facility.
The customer experience center in Morrilton, AR will be the company’s second in the state.
The China-based textile manufacturer will invest $410M, create up to 800 jobs in Forrest City, AR.
The consolidated operation of these two well-known airgun lines will add 25 jobs over the next two years.
Intimidator Inc. is expanding its manufacturing operations in Batesville, AR, investing $12 million and creating 400 new jobs.
You’ll find the best of both worlds in Arkansas: a folksy place where people still say hello to strangers on the street, while cutting-edge technology is embraced on local plant floors.
SIG SAUER will relocate its Elite Performance Ammunition manufacturing operation to an existing building in Jacksonville, AR and anticipates employing 50 people in the initial relocation phase, with additional jobs planned for the future.
A strong, centrally located transportation infrastructure, a skilled workforce and a warm business climate make Arkansas an attractive venue.
12Page 2 of 2


text:
Ford has earned the (dis)honor of making more U.S. recalls than any other automaker in 2022.
This is the second year in a row that the brand has earned the “most-recalled” title. While the label should raise anyone’s eyebrows, it fails to convey how well-earned it is. The second-runner up for 2022 was Volkswagen, which made roughly 1 million U.S. recalls. Ford left the German automaker in the dust, after recalling a staggering total of 8.6 million.
The data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s reporting. The regulator oversaw 390 U.S. recall campaigns last year, 65 of which belong to Ford. The affected vehicles included Broncos, F-150s, Mustangs and Mach-Es, which dealt with issues ranging from braking issues to fire risks.
While Ford is the two-year record holder, the title of most U.S. recalls in history goes to General Motors, who issued 671 recalls between 2000 to 2022. However, the automaker is apparently well aware of how damaging this news could be to its reputation and its hopes to compete with Tesla in the EV space. Company CEO Jim Farley acknowledged the issue, and explained the brand would be working on its quality assurance model to ensure oversights resulting in recalls happen far less.
With companies hoping to earn billions by implementing new technology as fast as possible, it seems unlikely automakers are actually incentivized to be cautious. While the NHTSA does much to keep the industry in check, consumer awareness still remains the best way to ensure brands learn from their mistakes. In the meantime, it is important for dealerships to stay on top of U.S. recalls, so they can prepare to service problematic models and direct consumers interested in certain brands.
Did you enjoy this article? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic by connecting with us at firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
Main Article Content
Corona Pandemic (Covid-19) has made a devastating impact on the global economy from the very beginning of 2020. The impact of the second wave pandemic worsens the present crisis of the tourism industry that yet struggles to overcome. Global tourism is facing a significant threat as ever in its history. However, The World Tourism Organisation has taken this crisis as an opportunity to stop the ill-effect of tourism (UNWTO, 2020). Further, UNWTO suggested adopting responsible tourism strategies to mitigate the negative impact. Kerala's model for responsible tourism has showed an excellent model for community empowerment and sustainable development. So, this study aims to analyse various strategies undertaken by responsible tourism mission Kerala.


text:
August 10, 2023
Visit to the Image Craft Photo and Video Expo at Netaji Indoor Stadium was arranged on August 10th, 2023 by iLEAD School of Creativity. More than 60 new students from B.Sc and M.Sc in Media Science attended the event.
It was the grand launch of SONY India’s first full-frame vlogging camera ZVE1. Famous personalities like Mr. Dhritiman Mukherjee (Wild Life Photographer), Mr. Aninda Chakraborty (YouTuber), Mr. Dipta Shankar Bakshi (The Lazy Bong, YouTuber), and Mr. Anirban Brahma (Wedding Photographer) were present there at the event as guests.
All the students witnessed such a great camera launch by SONY India, and they got the opportunity to try out different lenses. Also, the students enlightened themselves by interacting with industry experts of different brands.


text:
Apple bolsters iPhone 3G productionBy Jose Vilches
Apple has hailed the launch of the iPhone 3G as a huge success, with over one million handsets sold over the first weekend in the market and demand still going strong. So strong, indeed, that the company has reportedly ramped up production beyond its original estimates to 800,000 units per week.
That translates to about 41.6 million iPhones being churned out of the Foxconn manufacturing plant each year. With original iPhone sales at just over 6 million units, the boosted 3G iPhone production is a clear indicator of Apple's rapid-growing share of the smartphone market. The build rate is said to be "above current full capacity" for the Foxconn facilities allotted to Apple's handset business, which has led to concerns that quality control may suffer.
A bump in production should not necessarily mean that Foxconn will keep up that pace for the rest of the year, but with more countries expected to carry the iPhone 3G in the next several months and the holiday season looming, one can only expect such will be the case.
In related news, Apple has released a minor yet much-anticipated update to its iPhone software, bringing the version to 2.0.1. The company has not given any specific details about this particular update except that it contains "bug fixes." As usual, the update can be downloaded on the iPhone through the Apple iTunes application itself.


text:
The challenge – drive 750 km with a load of 750 kg on R750 worth of fuel with a Suzuki Super Carry.
This challenge, dubbed the #SuperCarry750 challenge, was conceived when the team at Suzuki Auto South Africa decided to test their newest workhorse and help someone in need at the same time.
After some deliberation, the staff at Suzuki decided to help the Hospice in Port Shepstone and the call went out for anyone to contribute. Soon a large load, including a couple of dishwashers and fresh paint, stood ready to be taken to the coastal town.
“We decided that this would be a great test for our new Super Carry workhorse and challenged our team with the following: take the load, now weighing in at exactly 750 kg, to Port Shepstone using only R750 worth of fuel,” explains Charl Grobler, national marketing and product planning manager at Suzuki South Africa.
To make the challenge more fun, the team mapped a route of exactly 750 km from their head office and parts warehouse in Johannesburg to the Hospice in Port Shepstone. They then handed the keys to a Super Carry to Brendon Carpenter, the assistant manager of sales training and development and the volunteering driver, and co-driver Nicole Glover, and they were on their way.
On Wednesday, 17 August, the donation left Johannesburg and was delivered by the team that same afternoon. After the delivery Super Carry covered another 156.2 km on the fuel that the team had bought in Johannesburg for R750, before they decided to refuel.
“The Super Carry was the true hero of this challenge,” says Carpenter. “It soldiered on well beyond the 750 km target and didn’t chicken out at the very last minute like we did. The risk of running out of fuel in the dark on the N2 between Amanzimtoti and who-knows-where didn’t appeal to us. Still, even after we cut the total distance short, the Super Carry managed to achieve an average fuel consumption figure of just 6.7l/100km for the entire trip, with most of the trip completed with a full load. Legendary stuff!”
The new Suzuki Super Carry entered the market in June 2016 as the ideal workhorse for businesses and entrepreneurs looking for a cost effective delivery vehicle. The Super Carry is equipped with a 1.2 litre four-cylinder petrol engine that delivers 54 kW and 101 Nm to its rear wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.
With a very affordable price, a 1,49 m wide and 2,183 m long load bay and a load carrying capability of 750 kg, the Super Carry is an everyday sight in countries such as Japan and India. In South Africa, this cab-over workhorse is available at a suggested retail price of R129 900 until the end of August 2016.
The Super Carry is sold with a 3-year / 100 000 km mechanical warranty and roadside assistance plan and a 6-year anti-corrosion warranty.


text:
Fashion giants’ shame: Lacoste and Hugo Boss come under fire for selling their products in Russia
Lacoste and Hugo Boss have come under fire for selling their products in Russia.
The Moral Rating Agency (MRA), which monitors the activity of firms in Russia, accused Lacoste’s Swiss parent MF Brands of ‘double-talk’ after it claimed it had disassociated from its products made in Russia, and they were handled by an ‘independent partner’.
But the MRA said Lode LLC, a Russian corporation that operates the business in the country, is owned by French firm Devanlay – controlled by MF Brands.
Public face: Naomi Campbell fronted Hugo Boss’s spring campaign this year
Hugo Boss was blasted after German newspaper Die Zeit revealed it earned around £60m in sales from Russia in 2022.
A Hugo Boss spokesman said: ‘We are currently reviewing how we will handle our Russian business in the long term.’


text:
|Ambassador Chen Chuandong Meets Jordanian Minister of Investment|
On November 21, H.E. Chen Chuandong, Chinese Ambassador to Jordan met with the new Jordanian Minister of Investment H.E. Kholoud Saqqaf and had in-depth exchanges on strengthening investment cooperation between the two countries.
Ambassador Chen pointed out that China and Jordan have enjoyed long-standing friendship, with bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields being constantly elevated to new highs under the strategic guidance of leaders of the two countries. Jordan, as an important regional gateway, has attracted investment from many Chinese enterprises in recent years, and the newly enacted Investment Environment Law offers new opportunities for investment cooperation between the two countries. At its 20th National Congress, the Communist Party of China drew up a grand blueprint for a new journey in the Chinese path to modernization to achieve the second centenary goal, and reaffirmed its commitment to contribute to building an open global economy. Under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II, Jordan is undertaking political, economic and public sector reforms, which opens up Jordan’s second centenary journey of modernization. China is ready to work with Jordan, taking advantage of new horizons of their respective second centenary journeys and the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, to strengthen synergy of development strategies by exploring more new areas of economic, trade and investment cooperation so that the two peoples can reap more benefits from their win-win cooperation.
Minister Saqqaf applauded the achievements of bilateral investment between Jordan and China and briefed Ambassador Chen on the preferential and facilitating policies under the new Investment Environment Law. She said that Jordan is committed to creating a good investment environment, protecting the interests of investors, so as to attract investment from Chinese and other businesses in an effort to promote economic development and create more job opportunities. She added that the Ministry of Investment is willing to strengthen communication with Chinese embassy and Chinese businesses to further economic, trade and investment cooperation between Jordan and China.


text:
High prices force McDonald’s to nix lobster rolls this summer
McDonald’s will not be able to serve its McLobster lobster roll at its restaurants across Eastern Canada, thanks to record-high prices this season.
"The increased price of lobster per pound means that we are currently unable to offer this menu item at a reasonable price for our guests,” Adam Grachnik, a spokesperson for McDonald's, told CBC News.
Canadian lobster is selling for record prices this spring, while U.S. lobster prices are expected to remain strong throughout the year.
In Nova Scotia, lobstermen are seeing record ex-vessel prices of CAD 8.00 (USD 5.92, EUR 5.26) per pound on average, compared to CAD 5.25 (USD 3.89, EUR 3.45) at the height of the season last fall.
Bernie Barry, president of the Coldwater Lobster Association in Milton Highlands, Nova Scotia, expects prices to remain strong, since the United States, China and other Asian countries continue to demand more lobster.
Maine lobster suppliers also foresee strong prices throughout the year.
“All indications we are getting is that demand is very, very high,” Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association in Portland, Maine, told SeafoodSource in May. “Domestically, there is an expansion of food trucks, foodservice, and all the lobster roll businesses. And some of the markets in Asia seem to be doing well; we are seeing good numbers on export.”
“I don't see downward pressure now. Demand is very strong and inventories are low right now,” said Tom Keegan, who handles sales for Cozy Harbor Seafood in Portland, Maine. “The prices will stay steady or go higher as the season goes.”


text:
In the year 2000, about 37% of Earth’s land was used to grow food. Although that was only a short time ago by most standards, the population expanded by almost 800 million by 2010.
The efficient use of agricultural land will continue to be a major issue for humanity’s future – and machine vision technology has huge implications for the automated factory farm model that may be the future of agriculture.
One recent success story comes from an automated factory farm in Singapore.
Panasonic is Using Specialized LEDs to Grow Veggies for Ready-to-Eat Salad
Yes, Panasonic – the brand known for TVs, microwaves, and every form of media player since the cassette and VHS tape – is a major player in Singapore’s agriculture scene. And the company is putting its electronic expertise to good use in a new field.
Panasonic entered the market in late 2015 and needed big innovation to compete. What it came up with: Hydroponic farming facilitated by unique purple LED lights. Thanks to the lighting conditions, harvest takes place in only 30 days.
That’s about half the time it takes a conventional automated factory farm to grow the same foodstuffs. Lettuce, mizuna, and red pepper have all been shown to react positively to the light.
Thanks to the remarkable success of the program, Panasonic recently refurbished its flagship farming site, boosting its production from three tons a year to an astonishing 81 tons.
With future investment, the brand is on track to produce 5% of all the vegetables in Singapore within three years – and it’s all thanks to the decision to harness an innovative LED lighting solution in a new way.


text:
NEW YORK, Sep 4, 2009 / FW/ — If your appointments for Fashion’s Night Out is getting very tight, well, you just have to make room for two more – DKNY and Donna Karan at their Madison Avenue locations.
819 Madison Avenue (at 68th Street)
Famed rock-jazz pianist Eric Lewis, a.k.a. ELEW, who played during the Fall 2009 Donna Karan runway show will be at the Donna Karan Collection boutique at Madison Avenue for a live in-store performance.
Guests will be treated to champagne & hors d’oeuvres while enjoying Eric’s incredible music; the perfect way to begin the Fashion’s Night Out experience.
655 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor (at 60th Street)
Supermodel turned G.I. Joe’s ‘Cover Girl’ and expectant mom Karolina Kurkova is hosting a celebration for the launch of The Observer Playground, a magazine for the quintessential New York City parent by The New York Observer, at DKNY’s Madison Avenue store.
And, with the baby bump already showing, don’t be surprised if you see Karolina wearing DKNY Maternity. The label launched a capsule collection of maternity clothes in honor its 20th anniversary.
655 Madison Avenue (at 60th Street)
While serving cupcakes and DKNY bubbly, the Madison Avenue DKNY store will host DJ Jesse Marco, from the late DJ AM’s Deckstar, that evening followed by a special performance by dancer and supermodel Coco Rocha. The night ends with a collaboration of violin and electro pop sounds by DJ Mia Moretti and violinist Caitlin Moe.
In honor of Fashion’s Night Out and DKNY’s 20 year anniversary, limited edition one-of-a-kind tote bags were created; 20 to be sold at the Madison Avenue store and the other 20 at the SoHo location.
The bags are made entirely of materials that covered DKNY’s Fall 2009 runway; the red, black & white NYC inspired runway covering that the world’s most famous models strutted on this past February.
Those who aren’t fortunate enough to get their hands on a tote bag will still be able to take home a limited-edition handbag scarf featuring the same runway print when they make a purchase during the event.
The bag retails for $35 and proceeds will benefit the National September 11th Memorial & Museum.


text:
Square Inc., a payments company founded and run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, was awarded a coveted license to deal in cryptocurrencies in New York.
Square was granted a so-called BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), becoming only the ninth such firm to win approval to operate in the state. It now legally operates as a money transmitter and digital currency exchange, according to a company statement.
To maintain a BitLicense license, a provider must fulfil various reporting requirements and comply with standards on anti-money laundering, cybersecurity, and consumer protection.
New York is the only state that requires firms dealing in the digital assets to obtain a license to operate. The Empire State has established strong state-based regulation, but the approach has been widely maligned by the crypto community for being one of the strictest laws governing this type of business.
The news follows other, similar stories of progress for Bitcoin companies in the US, though cryptocurrency regulation still happens largely on a state-by-state basis.
San Francisco-based Square, which more than doubled in value last year, had jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon back in January when it rolled out Bitcoin trading to its Cash App customers.
Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has repeatedly shared his enthusiasm for digital currencies, saying it provides an “opportunity to get more people access to the financial system.” He also thinks bitcoin is a transformational technology and will be the world’s single currency in 10 years.