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Joined by Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Heather Johnson, Governor Janet Mills recognized three Maine businesses as recipients of the Governor’s Award for Business Excellence (GABE) in a virtual ceremony today.
“These extraordinary businesses continue to meet the challenges of the pandemic with innovation and ingenuity, adapting to meet the needs of Maine people. Every day they provide good-paying, rewarding jobs that keep people here in Maine, and attract talented people to our state,” said Governor Mills. “As we continue our work to strengthen Maine’s economy and make Maine more competitive across the world, these businesses are a critical part of our effort. I congratulate them on this well-deserved honor.”
“Nominated businesses from across the state all share a deep commitment to their community, devotion to creating a high-quality of life for their employees, and proven strategic business excellence,” said Commissioner Heather Johnson. “Today’s award recipients are models of success in meeting these standards, and I thank them for their contributions to Maine’s growth and prosperity.”
The 2021 Governor’s Award for Business Excellence were presented in three categories:
- The Heritage Industry Award recognizes and celebrates business excellence in the forest industry, manufacturing sector, or marine economy.
- The Rural Revitalization Award recognizes contributions to the revitalization and growth of Maine’s rural and distressed economic regions.
- The Innovation Award celebrates and recognizes business excellence through entrepreneurship and innovation.
The 2021 Governor’s Award for Business Excellence winners are:
Acme Monaco Corporation, Heritage Industry Award: Acme Monaco Corporation is located in Presque Isle and is owned and operated by the Karabin family. Acme Monaco is an FDA registered and ISO certified world class manufacturer of Orthodontic products and Catheter Guidewires for cardiovascular, urology and neurology procedures. The company first opened its facility in Presque Isle in 1989. In 2017, they moved into a new state-of-the-art facility in the industrial park and look forward to continuing to grow in Aroostook County for many years to come.
Ware-Butler Building Supply, Rural Revitalization Award: Since its founding in 1925, Ware-Butler Building Supply has grown to more than 13 retail locations and more than 275 employees throughout central Maine and beyond, including the flagship store in Waterville, providing building supplies and solutions for close to a century. In 2020, Ware-Butler Building Supply joined the Pleasant River Lumber Company (PRL) family.
ReVision Energy, Innovation Award: ReVision Energy started out in 2003 in Liberty, Maine, with a mission to solve the environmental problems caused by fossil fuels and to alleviate economic and social injustice. ReVision Energy has since become the #1 clean energy company in northern New England. In 2017 they became a 100% employee-owned company, and with co-founder Fortunat Mueller as company president, now have 310 co-owners located in their five 'decarbonization facilities' in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts and have placed more than 10,000 clean energy systems in service.
Since 1991, the GABE award has recognized and celebrated Maine businesses with a high level of commitment to their community and employees, as well as exemplary performance in the manufacturing or service profession. Past recipients have included Luke’s Lobster, Rwanda Coffee Bean, Bigelow Brewing Company, and CourseStorm. This year, the award seeks to celebrate Maine businesses that constantly strive for excellence, even during global challenges.


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Released on: April 28, 2011, 10:35 am
Author: Bozboz Ltd
PetsCorner.co.uk, the UK’s leading provider of pet products, dog toys, pet food and many more is pleased to be celebrating its continued commitment to green, sustainable and carbon neutral business operations. The company has been one of the first to take up an eco-friendly business model and has taken numerous steps to ensure they have a low carbon impact. In the last few years they have switched to renewable energy and low energy lighting solutions. The company is pleased to announce that in 2010 they managed to recycle 75% of their waste materials and introduced an Eco-bag to encourage their customers to do the same.
Going green has become a buzz word for many companies in the last 5 years due to increased pressure from governments, scientists and consumers. Yet surprisingly businesses have been incredibly slow to act on this increased pressure; despite the large savings that can be potentially made.
The combined energy bill for small businesses in the UK was over 3.5 billion pounds in 2010 and this figure is expected to rise rather than fall in 2011. 40% of businesses have not investigated better deals from energy suppliers despite potential cost benefits.
Taking energy alone it is estimated that the average small business could save over£7000 per year if they improved their energy efficiency. Offices can cut their annual energy bills by 20% just by turning off lights and computer screens during non-work hours. Poor maintenance of boilers and heating systems costs businesses an extra 30% a year on their energy bills.
Despite the myriad of savings opportunities the green agenda has been slow to catch on. Many companies seem to view carbon footprints not as an opportunity for better business practice but as a burden. Yet simple steps and careful monitoring of energy outputs are both affordable and incredibly cost effective. In these financially testing times perhaps it is time businesses stepped up to the green plate, not just out of duty to the world but out of a sense of financial responsibility to their company.
Petscorner.co.uk is pleased to be leading in the green initiative and if you would like to find out more about the company and its commitment to a sustainable future please see www.petscorner.co.uk.
Contact Details: Pets Corner (UK) Ltd

domain: news


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The price of sugar and vermicelli, two highly sought-after items during Eid festivity, have marked a sharp rise, causing distress among consumers.
The price hike comes amidst an already rising cost of essential goods in the market.
According to Aminul Islam, a consumer, the prices hike has hit consumers hard. Traditional long and fried vermicelli called Lachaa now costs Tk 25-60 more per kg than last year. The price of Kolson brand’s traditional long Shemai has also increased, from Tk 30-35 per 200 gm pack last year to Tk 40-45 this year.
Other popular Shemai brands like Radhuni, Dekko, Minar, Pran, Econo, Acme, and Well Food have experienced similar price hikes, as confirmed by local shopkeepers. Well Food’s Premium Lachcha now retails at Tk 320 per 400 gm pack, up from Tk 270 last year, according to Juel Rana, a grocer in Sankar, West Dhanmondi, and Roman, a grocer in Mohammadpur.
Spices used in Shemai, such as cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaf, have also become 35-50 percent costlier than last year.
Bogura’s local vermicelli prices have soared by Tk 30-40 per kg ahead of Eid. Traders cite increased production costs for many Eid essentials, including vermicelli, as the primary reason for the price hike.
Sugar prices have also surged, reaching Tk 130-140 per kg in retail, up from Tk 118-130 per kg just a week ago. This increase defies the government-fixed rate of Tk 104-109 per kg. Consumers have criticized the lack of market monitoring, accusing some businessmen of exploiting the situation and raising prices as demand grows.
Adding to the financial strain on consumers during the festive season, chicken and beef prices also experienced further hikes on Thursday. With just days to go before Eid-ul-Fitr, the rising costs of essential items have left consumers disappointed and concerned.


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The invisibility cloak worn by Harry Potter in the best-selling children’s novels is a fantasy. But in the real world, new work on light bending with nanomaterials makes the invisibility cloak look like child’s play. Consider this: you’re part of a squadron in Iraq charged with stopping roadside bombs. You stake out a location on a busy highway used in the past for IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The terrorists can’t see you as they approach. You spring the trap, and the terrorists can see you, but you are actually 20 feet to the left!
An article in the March 28th edition of Science News called “Cornering the Tetrahertz Gap”, lays outs the scientific foundation on how this “sleight of light” could conceivably happen. Physicists start with man-made composites called “metamaterials” that consist of elements from the Periodic table. Their structure gives them unusual refractive properties. According to a report from Boston College: “Constructed on the micron-scale, metamaterials are composites that use unique metallic contours in order to produce responses to light waves, giving each metamaterial its own unique properties beyond the elements of the actual materials in use.”
Professors at the University of California Berkeley also employ a property called chiralty to literally bend light backwards.
Collaborators at Boston College and Boston University are investigating the potential for a security screening device that would not have the adverse biological effect of x-rays. Invisibility cloaks developed so far can only hide objects that are very small. A computer simulation shows that a can-shaped cloaking device made of many layers of concentric film could work.
Making cloaks that could cover the entire electromagnetic spectrum at the same time is still a major challenge.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology have designed a new nanoscale material that can transmit light faster than the 186,000 miles per second it usually takes to travel through air.
It has often been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. This spring, the state's wind power is setting energy generation records and solar energy generation is expected to rise sharply during the second half of 2013.
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is


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Ikea gets cozy at Market Hall
The retailer highlights sustainability through recycled materials and lighting in its downstairs merchandise area.
Ikea Canada is shedding light on winter warmth and sustainability as it enters the next phase of its focus on its Market Hall.
The ongoing Market Hall strategy, which promotes the downstairs merchandise area of its stores, is centred on seasonality. The winter phase focuses on getting cozy but also its products’ impact on living sustainably at home, says Lauren MacDonald, country marketing manager at Ikea Canada.
Given that February is dark and cold, products being promoted through this phase of the campaign include lighting and textiles, with Ikea placing particular emphasis on attributes like its LED bulbs and recycled materials’ role in keeping energy costs down. Like the initial Market Hall campaigns last year, low price points are also key in the marketing strategy this time around, with prices featured prominently in the advertising.
The campaign is part of Ikea?s attempt to be a ?leader in understanding Canadians? life at home,? MacDonald says. Sustainability is one of the tenets of Ikea?s ?democratic design? principles, she says. At a corporate level, the retailer has made moves to sell only LED bulbs and be more energy independent by investing in wind farms.
This wave of the Market Hall campaign, led by Leo Burnett, launched Monday and runs until mid-March. It includes a 10-second TV spot, static and digital OOH and digital and mobile ads and social media support.
New for this phase is a high-impact transit shelter ad in Toronto on the King Street streetcar line (pictured above). The shelter is outfitted with an image of one of Ikea?s wool throws, which gets warmer the closer a commuter gets to it.
Ikea began its Market Hall strategy late last year with a focus on food and cooking ahead of Thanksgiving, followed up with an entertainment push around the Christmas season. The holiday phase of the Market Hall campaign led to an 8% increase in engagement across paid social channels, with engagement on Facebook in particular growing 7% between the Thanksgiving and holiday phases.
Outside of the Market Hall strategy, beginning later this month, Ikea will also be launching a virtual reality program in its Etobicoke store. Part of a global test pilot, the VR experiences, using HTC Live headsets, will allow customers interested in buying a kitchen through the retailer to experience what the room will look like in a more immersive way. The pilot program will run until May in Canada.


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The L.A. Auto Show has been over for a few days now, but here at Hassett Automotive, we’re still reeling—along with the rest of the automotive world—from the shocking reintroduction of the Subaru WRX. The WRX has always been an impressive, performance-driven sports car—it was inspired by rally-racing vehicles, after all—but it’s never been quite this awe-inspiring, according to no less an authority than Subaru itself.
The 2015 WRX comes with a 2.0L direct-injection turbo BOXER engine, which allows the WRX 268 horsepower. But the most exciting changes for this new edition of the car come in the car’s handling. A Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system and a new “torque vectoring system” give the care incredibly intricate, smooth, and responsive handling. “It wasn’t enough to simply turn your knuckles white,” Subaru brags. “We wanted to keep them that way.”
There’s simply no part of the WRX that wasn’t redesigned and optimized for this jaw-dropping new edition of the car. We can’t wait for it to hit dealers—check back with us often for updates on the 2015 WRX.


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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has confirmed a Black Adam DC Fortnite skin will be coming to the item shop in the near future.
The Fortnite metaverse continues to grow. From the first collaboration back in Fortnite chapter 1 season 4 to the several major collaborations we get each season.
Prior to chapter 2 season 4, we never had any Battle Pass cosmetics that were part of a collaboration. However, season 4 in chapter 2 changed that with a Marvel-themed season.
Not only did we get a Battle Pass full of Marvel cosmetics, we also have bosses, mythic items, and POIs that were Marvel-themed.
Each season, Epic Games add in a few collaboration cosmetics in the Battle Pass. Last season, we had Darth Vader and Indiana Jones cosmetics in the Battle Pass.
This season, we have Spider-Gwen in the Battle Pass and we’ve seen the release of X-Men’s Laura Kinney X-23 skin hit the item shop.
It looks like we know what and when our next collaboration will be; Black Adam. Here’s all the information we know regarding the latest DC x Fortnite Collaboration.
Fortnite x Black Adam Skin
Both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Epic Games have confirmed the release of a Black Adam Fortnite skin on social media.
Dwayne Johnson tweeted announced that the world premiere for Black Adam will be live-streamed tomorrow on Twitch at 6:30PM ET that will include the reveal of the Black Adam Fortnite Skin.
Here’s the tweet:
⚡THE #ManInBlack TAKES FORTNITE⚡
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 11, 2022
Epic Games revealed an image with the cosmetics on the official Fortnite Twitter account including a look at the Black Adam Fortnite skin, a back bling, a pickaxe, and an emote.
Here’s a look at the upcoming cosmetics:
Black Adam Fortnite Skin Set Release Date
The Black Adam x Fortnite DC cosmetics set will be available to purchase from the item shop on the 20th of October 2022.
As usual, there is no information regarding the price of the cosmetics. We’ll have to wait and see whether this collaboration only includes the cosmetics that were revealed today.
The post Black Adam DC Fortnite Skin Release Date Confirmed appeared first on Fortnite Insider.


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Flying to a cottage on the B.C. coast is about to get a lot quieter and more environmentally friendly thanks to a new electric-powered float plane.
Float plane operator Harbour Air is replacing the fossil-fuel-burning engine on one of its six-passenger de Havilland Beavers with a 750 hp electric motor. The move—a first in the commercial aviation industry—is the initial step towards converting the airline’s entire fleet to electric.
“We’re excited to bring commercial electric aviation to the Pacific Northwest,” says Greg McDougall, Harbour Air’s founder and CEO. The airline was also Canada’s first to go carbon neutral.
The biggest challenge with making the transition to an electric float plane is the weight of the batteries; Harbour has partnered with aviation battery leader MagniX, and together, they’re testing a prototype Beaver this December.
McDougall expects Transport Canada and U.S. certification and approval to take up to two years, and then the company will convert the rest of the fleet to electric.
Today, we made history. Launching the world’s first electric commercial aircraft retrofitted with a 750 horsepower all-electric magni500 propulsion system. Thank you to our amazing maintenance team and our partners at @MagniX for all your efforts! Together, we did it! 👏 #ePlane pic.twitter.com/Rhw35BRnqB
— Harbour Air Seaplanes (@HarbourAirLtd) December 10, 2019
Harbour Air runs the largest floatplane operations in North America, flying around the south coast of B.C. and across the border to Seattle. The ultimate goal?
For all 12 existing destinations, including Whistler, Salt Spring Island, Tofino, and the Backeddy Resort and Marina at the north end of the Sunshine Coast, to remain within range.
“I think my customers will love electric float planes,” says Kristine Bennett, Backeddy’s dock master. “I get a lot of complaints about how loud the seaplanes are, so anything that can help with that would be amazing. And around here people are in tune with the environment.”


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The S30 hybrid group training franchise lands a $2.2 million investment in a private capital raise.
Funding was secured from the newly-established investment group Collab Capital.
Collab Capital managing director John Zendler said S30 has unique selling points.
S30 funding secured off unique business model
“The team at Collab Capital are proud to be supporting S30 with the company’s expansion as it continues to grow and build its reputation as a leading fitness franchise group. We recognise the vast growth potential of S30 and are excited to be part of it all,” said Zendler.
Based in Western Australia, the S30 fitness chain recently opened its first Queensland studio in Browns Plains.
The $2.2 million injection also coincides with the opening of S30’s fifth studio in Western Australia, S30 Cockburn.
With the new outlets, S30’s footprint stands at six studios and further studios are in the pipeline for opening this year.
New S30 studios are earmarked for Sydney, Brisbane and Perth later.
Capital injection will help S30 expand nationally
S30 Studio launched its first location in Perth in 2019 and introduced the franchise model last year.
Co-founder and S30 general manager Luke Faulkner said the business has since grown at a rapid rate.
“As we officially open the doors to our sixth Australian studio, S30 is at an exciting point in its expansion journey.
“We have tripled our footprint in the last 12 months alone and are now in a position to deliver a national network rollout,” he said. “With the support of our partners at Collab Capital we are primed to continue our expansion,” he said.
“S30 has been on an ambitious growth journey since its inception. Together with our franchise partners, we plan to reinvigorate the excitement of training for everyday Australians.
“Our Cockburn franchise has opened up cash flow positive, which is a huge achievement,” said Faulkner.


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Seoul-based mid-market buyout firm VIG Partners has bought a majority stake in parking management company HiParking for KRW 27 billion ($23 million; €20 million).
The investment came from Vogo Fund II, VIG’s second buyout fund that raised $350 million in 2013 and which has now been fully invested.
The firm is currently raising its third fund, VIG Fund III, targeting $500-600 million.
“As motor vehicles – and consequent consumer demand for parking convenience – increase along with the rise in Korean GDP per capita, the Korean parking industry will become more institutionalised and consolidated as was the case in US, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe,” said Chulmin Lee, managing partner at VIG Partners.
Jason Shin, managing partner at the firm told Private Equity International: “The consumer demand for convenience, better service, as well as Koreans’ rising affluence are some trends we are seeing now. There is an explosive growth in the markets that captures increasing disposable income.”
The firm has made investments in lens manufacturer Samyang Optics, massage chair manufacturer Bodyfriend, e-commerce portal Enuri.com, underwear company Mcorset, insurer Yang Life Insurance, and bidet manufacturer Novita.
VIG recently sold South Korea’s Burger King franchise BKR to Affinity Equity Partners for KRW 210 billion, resulting in an internal rate of return of more than 30 percent, as reported by PEI. It took control of the company in 2012 and has since nearly doubled its restaurants and established 24-hour outlets and drive-thru services, resulting in a 30 percent increase in daily average sale per outlet.
VIG has invested over $1.3 billion across 11 companies in South Korea, with shareholding control in nine of these companies, it said on its website.


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Scale of Europe’s illegal refrigerant trade revealed, but not all bad news
An audit carried out by the Norwegian Environment Agency has revealed widespread breaches of F-gas regulations, according to UK specialist outlet Cooling Post.
The agency carried out an audit of 20 heat pump distributors and discovered that more than half violated F-gas regulations. In many cases, the distributors could not verify that the equipment – which contained HFCs – had been installed by a certified person or company.
Many selling refrigerant were also not keeping proper records or checking that those buying the refrigerant were certified to do so. As a result, the agency will deliver new supervisory advice to those dealing in HFC equipment and refrigerants – and the companies are said to have already instated new procedures to comply with the regulations.
The European F-gas regulations, which were introduced in 2015, are designed to reduce the circulation and use of fluorinated greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
However, the regulations implemented by the European Commission (EC) are often not enforced by the member states of the European Union (EU).
The regulations also prompted a surge in illegal trade, due to reduced refrigerant availability and rising prices.
Earlier this year, João Ferreira – a member of the European parliament – quizzed the EC about its handling of refrigerant regulations.
In a letter published on March 30, EC executive vice-president Frans Timmermans acknowledged that the EC was aware of illegal HFC imports.
Despite evidence to the contrary, he stated that “no reliable data” existed regarding illegal quota-circumventing HFC imports and the common use of banned non-refillable containers.
“The Commission is taking measures to ensure the correct implementation of the Regulation,” said Timmermans, “and, in cooperation with the relevant competent authorities of the Member States and industry, is doing everything it can to tackle the issue of illegal import.”
Timmermans also added that businesses could assist in the issue by “not buying HFCs at suspiciously low prices.”
A new website, launched by the European Fluorocarbons Technical Committee (EFCTC) – a body that represents European fluorocarbon manufacturers – should however help the fight against illegal HFC imports and sales. The website, stopillegalcooling.eu, is dedicated to providing news, advice and updates about illegal HFCs. It also contains a link to the EFCTC’s Action Line, which can be used to report breaches of the F-gas regulations.
A new report from investigative firm Kroll, based in New York and commissioned by the EFCTC, has further detailed how the illegal material is getting into the EU. Kroll researched 228 reports of illegal imports throughout 2019 and concluded that the vast majority were entering through means such as misdirected transhipments, open smuggling and counterfeit products.
Hundreds of shipments from China were also identified by Kroll, which shared its intelligence with member states – resulting in an array of refrigerant seizures. It also requested 444 takedowns of illegal single-use refrigerant canisters that were being offered online.
In total, Kroll claims evidence of illegal HFC imports totalling 3000 tonnes in March to December 2019.
“The numerous ways HFCs are crossing European borders is truly concerning and shows this problem requires a concerted approach,” said Mark Vergnano, president and CEO of Chemours and member of the EFCTC.
“However, the new findings do show that efforts to stop illegal imports are starting to have an impact.”
This was reinforced by subsequent news from Cooling Post that Bulgarian customs officers had seized 490kg of illegal non-refillable containers of R134a and R404A.
The refrigerants, which were being brought in from Turkey, were concealed in a truck among other goods.
Elsewhere, the United Nations’ OzonAction programme has recently allowed China and Thailand to prevent the export of 72 tonnes of banned R22 refrigerant, an ozone-depleting HCFC.
OzonAction offers a tool called “informal Prior Informed Consent” (iPIC), which allows for voluntary sharing of details about ozone-depleting substances and HFCs.
In this case, it allowed for both countries to establish that a submitted export request for the R22 was fraudulent and its application was promptly rejected, preventing the illegal export of the ozone-depleting refrigerant.
A subsequent investigation revealed a third-party broker using counterfeit licences to submit export requests, but the broker could not be traced further due to falsified documentation.
Nevertheless, the respective efforts and use of the iPIC system demonstrated what is possible when resources are pooled and collaboration is encouraged.
Cooling Post Editor slams F-Gas enforcement
Neil Everitt, editor of specialist UK outlet Cooling Post, has published an incendiary opinion column that slates the lack of F-gas regulation enforcement in Europe.
“It would be argued that Europe, with its F-gas regulations and its more recent HFC phase down timetable, has led the world in dealing with high global warming potential gases,” said Everitt.
“Far from being a global template for HFC reductions, the continuing lack of any sort of concerted action to ensure compliance is making a mockery of the European F-gas regulations.”
The piece, titled ‘Let’s face it, the F-gas regs aren’t working’, was in part prompted by the measures that European states have introduced to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the viral threat, many member states have rolled out myriad controls and testing mechanisms that are being precisely and steadfastly employed.
Yet, when it comes to enforcing F-gas regulations – essential to helping protect against global warming and vital to our future – many states are seemingly doing little to meaningfully enforce them. It is evident, in some cases, that the rules are seemingly not understood.
The F-gas regulations, which are focused on high-GWP fluorinated gases such as HFCs, were introduced in 2015 to phase down their usage.
The regulations also sought to ban the use of F-gases in new applications, prevent leaks and ensure the proper recovery of old gases.
Disposable refrigerant cylinders, for example, are illegal due to the ‘heel’ of gas that may remain when the container is emptied. However, these containers are still rife in Europe and rarely questioned.
“According to the European Environment Agency, the EU’s 2018 phase down target was achieved by the colossal margin of 1 per cent,” said Everitt.
“Of course, this single statistic completely ignores the overt and blatant illegal sales of refrigerant over the past few years.”
EU refrigerant prices falling
Independent German research institute Öko-Recherche, says HFC refrigerant prices are continuing to fall in the European Union (EU).
Prices for HFCs such as R410A and R134a had peaked in the first half of 2018, due to the phase-down of refrigerants with high GWP.
This move, which is a key part of the 2015 European F-Gas regulations, aims to drive HFC users towards low-GWP technologies.
The cost of refrigerants began to fall after this point, in part due to some oversupply, and the latest report for the fourth quarter demonstrates that trend continuing – although the latest price reductions are lower than those from previous quarters.
UK specialist publication Cooling Post, reporting on the latest release from Öko-Recherche, highlighted that prices were still four to six times higher than 2017.
Demand is also stated to be lower than at the start of 2017, which is perhaps unsurprising given the high costs, and only a handful of companies noted issues with refrigerant availability.
While price reductions and adequate supply are unquestionably positive traits, the cost of HFCs is still significantly higher than three years ago.
As a result, the extensive illegal trade spurred on by the high prices and low enforcement will no doubt continue.


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Democratic senator Maggie Hassan issued an official request for the investigation during a U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation subcommittee hearing on November 27.
After detailing the potential issues with loot boxes, Senator Hassan asked FTC chairman Joe Simons to undertake an investigation. "Loot boxes are now endemic in the video game industry and are present in everything from casual smart phone games to the newest, highest budget releases", Hassan said.
In particular, the Senator was concerned about how accessible loot boxes are to children in mobile games.
Last we heard about loot box legislation, a collection of European regulators were teaming up to investigate loot boxes and other maybe-kinda-sorta gambling practices, with one American entity joining in: the Washington State Gaming Commission.
The inquiry is mostly focused on the dangers facing children, rather than the ethical side of the argument.
The list of games containing loot boxes has grown in recent months and includes popular titles, such as "Fortnite", "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and "FIFA 18". They could "represent a $50 billion industry by the year 2022".
Loot boxes have been a major subject of controversy in 2018, with numerous organizations debating the possibility of classifying them as gambling.
No timeline has been provided as of yet regarding when the FTC may kick off its investigation into loot boxes or what the investigation might amount to. But many consumers have objected to loot boxes as an exploitative monetization tool. She cites another report from the UK Gambling Commission "finding that 30% of children have used loot boxes in video games".
While loot-boxes are a trend worth investigating, basing the inspection on an untrue assumption about a link between them and a child's future gambling habits isn't the best reason.
Games that are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board now carry labels indicating to parents whether a product offers loot boxes.
A year ago, loot boxes were a persistent annoyance for gamers, but they didn't get much attention from the rest of the world. "They can enhance the experience for those who choose to use them, but have no impact on those who do not".


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In a new advertisement, Lithium-ion batteries are baked in an oven while the battery designer for Ather Energy sits on top of it. While the batteries bake beneath him, Shreyas Seethapathy is also savoring a cup of ice cream.
Bengaluru-based, The internal Ather team chose to use this imaginative approach to show how secure the batteries are. The one-minute commercial discusses how the battery operates effectively in all kinds of weather.
The background of the advertisement features some noticeable digital flames. India’s electric vehicle (EV) market is still in its infancy and has some growing pains. Recent reports of malfunctions and fires involving Pure EV bikes, Boom Motors bikes, Jitendra EV bikes, and Hero Electric bikes have been reported.
The Li-ion batteries used to power these vehicles are the cause of the issue. These batteries can occasionally malfunction or overheat, leading to combustion and a vehicle explosion. People have expressed concerns about the bikes‘ safety and may wait to purchase one even though gas currently costs more than Rs 100 per liter.
“We observed that consumers were beginning to grow uneasy about the category itself. We felt it was our responsibility to address these concerns since we are one of the businesses currently developing the class, says Nilay Chandra, director of marketing and charging infrastructure at Ather.
He continues by saying that the business hasn’t made a special effort in the past to discuss these benefits of owning an electric bike.
Because we believed it was the minimum standard that any severe company entering this category with a long-term intent would take care of, “We’ve never done a campaign on reliability or safety.”
EVs have been known to malfunction in other ways besides by catching fire. An Ola EV bike unexpectedly shifted into reverse last month, causing an accident involving an older man.
Ola had requested Rs 499 in July 2021 to reserve the bike, but there were also numerous delivery delays. Ola S1 Pro bikes are advertised to provide a smooth ride regardless of the weather, but the marketing does little to guarantee the bikes’ safety.
Many new players, Chandra continues, don’t fully comprehend battery technology. Therefore, the campaign needed to give the impression that EV problems are not common in this category.
“There was no competition when we first started. Instead of communicating a range under 100 km, we could have expressed a range of 117 km to attract more consumers. To ensure that they entered the category with realistic expectations,
Users of EVs do worry about range. One of the most significant marketing difficulties for the EV market, according to Vivek Srivatsa of Tata Motors, is the problem of “range anxiety.” Users who experience this phenomenon worry about getting stranded in the middle of nowhere without a car charge or access to a charging station.


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The Los Angeles Times reports that in recent years, several devices, including certain reusable medical scopes, metal-on-metal hip replacements, transvaginal meshes, and lead wires in heart defibrillators have been recalled. Most recently, Olympus Corp., the manufacturer of 85 percent of the duodenoscopes used in the United States, announced that it would recall and redesign its duodenoscope. Olympus’ recall was prompted by a Senate Report, issued by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash), which criticizes device manufacturers, hospitals, and the FDA for contributing to “superbug” outbreaks stemming from such scopes. 250 patients were infected in the United States and Europe, alone.
The LA Times reports that although the first outbreak caused by the duodenoscope occurred in late 2012, it was not until 2015 that the FDA began warning hospitals about the risks of using the device. According to the LA Times and Senator Murray’s report, that delay was caused in large part by the FDA’s “losing a key adverse event report and missing relevant international adverse event reports.” Senator Murray, and others, point to this situation as highlighting the serious shortcomings in the antiquated national database used to monitor the safety of medical devices, which even the FDA has long admitted is flawed.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the Senate Report calls for a new medical device tracking system, which would, among other things, require unique device identification numbers (e.g., bar codes) to be included on every instrument. This could allow for real-time tracking of incidents, and is intended to supplement the industry’s injury reports, which are “often cursory and filed months late.” In theory, tracking device IDs, like the VIN number on a car, may allow regulators to identify patients across the country coming into an emergency room or developing infections after a procedure.
The FDA is committed to establishing a national medical device evaluation system that leverages real-world evidence to help us more quickly identify safety signals.
The LA Times notes that, as a first step, the FDA now makes a disclaimer that data extracted from its database to evaluate medical device safety may be “incomplete, inaccurate, untimely, unverified, or biased.” Additionally, FierceMedicalDevices reports that the FDA has just signed off on two out of the five manufacturers making automated endoscope reprocessors that are labeled for use with duodenoscopes as well as a new version of Olympus’ duodenoscope.


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KATHMANDU: Agni Moto Inc, a subsidiary of Agni Group and the sole distributor of Mahindra Two Wheelers, has launched Mahindra Gusto RS, an aesthetic update to its 110-cc version, in Nepal.
An Agni Moto press release states that Gusto RS comes with sporty body graphics and in two colour variants — red and white, and blue and white. Mechanically, the scooter is powered by the 109.6-cc single-cylinder, air-cooled engine that is tuned to produce 8BHP of power and 9 Nm of peak torque.
It boasts 12-inch tyres and also has a ground clearance measuring 165-mm. Fuel storage capacity of 6-litre and a pocket-like storage facility just under the display panel are its added features.
The release reads, “It focuses directly on the key features of the scooter of having more style, more convenience, more comfort, more value and more adventure.”
A version of this article appears in print on December 05, 2017 of The Himalayan Times.


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Apparently, the future is now. According to some experts, "Cities around the world will invest a total of about $41 trillion over the next 20 years to upgrade their infrastructure and benefit from the network of connected devices known as the Internet of Things."
That astronomical figure is an estimate, but it's a telling one. Aneri Pattani writes, "Smart technology uses the Internet of Things to gather data, connect components across the city and impact multiple departments or services in order to improve people's quality of life. Spending on smart technology has grown from 0.7 percent of city IT budgets in 2005 to 4.1 percent in 2015."
Even smaller municipalities are investing in tech-oriented "solutions" created to address civic challenges. "The Center for Digital Government estimates U.S. cities will spend about $52.4 billion on technology in 2016. That is a 2.5 percent increase over their spending in 2015. The federal government will spend about $89.8 billion on technology in 2016, just a 1.5 percent increase over its spending last year."
Of course, there's no set definition for "smart cities," and no way to accurately measure the size of the market. At this early stage, it's also difficult to determine exact ROIs for new government technologies. Often, improvements to perceived quality of life can persuade cities to adopt, despite that uncertainty.
The article encourages public-private partnerships on new tech, going beyond selling a single "solution" and moving on. To bring in lasting public sector business, companies should be willing to provide guidance around implementation.


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|By RealWire News Distribution||
|April 1, 2014 06:20 AM EDT||
Maidenhead, UK - April 1st, 2014 Analyst firm Gartner has released a report entitled Emerging Technology Analysis: Software Licensing & Entitlement Management Is the Key to Monetizing the Internet of Things that validates Flexera Software's ongoing advice to the manufacturing industry with regards to benefiting from the Internet of Things (IoT). In essence, simply selling more devices will not result in the massive spike in profits manufacturers are hoping for as they make a play to compete in the Internet of Things.
A downloadable Infographic of the report results can be found here: https://vanillapr.box.com/s/qz82kdmnsldtplpk4k11
The report highlights that in addition to selling more Internet-connected devices, manufacturers will also have to figure out how to make money from the software they develop that flexibly configures their products and powers functionality. They'll also have to leverage software licencing and entitlement management (technology that grants, resolves, enforces, revokes and administers access to entitlements) as the mechanism to capture those additional revenues.
"This report confirms what Flexera Software has been advising its most successful manufacturing customers for years - the software they create to power their intelligent devices has enormous value," said Mathieu Baissac, a software licencing expert on the IoT at Flexera Software. "By unlocking the value of that software through licencing and entitlement management - manufacturers can simultaneously generate significant new value for their customers and higher revenue for the company, all while lowering manufacturing costs."
According to Gartner's report, the key to monetising the IoT is to use licencing to turn on and off product features and capacity in different combinations to create additional value in the intelligent devices themselves and in the software that runs within them. For instance, manufacturers could provide different product tiers - e.g. basic, premium and platinum - using software licencing to unlock the appropriate features - without having to manufacture separate models. They could then quickly and easily upsell customers later by leveraging software-driven control of the product and licencing to make it easy for customers to upgrade to more expensive models.
Manufacturers can also use different licencing models - like metered or pay per use - to create demand from new types of customers or in new markets. For example, a hospital previously unable to afford an expensive MRI machine might be able to acquire one using a pay-per-scan licencing model.
"Once you build software licencing into your business model, the opportunities to flexibly configure your products and offer value added services is virtually infinite. And it doesn't result in an increase in manufacturing costs because you control this all through software licencing and entitlement management," explained Baissac. "That's why Gartner's report detailing the relationship between licencing and profiting from the Internet of Things is so significant. It's the first of its kind to provide a roadmap connecting the vision of the Internet of Things with the monetisation process that manufacturers must adopt to profit from it."
By using licencing and entitlement management to monetise the IoT, manufacturers also open up new hardware- and software-related revenue by making it easier to sell new products and services to existing customers on a regular basis, and upsell them as new product features and software versions are released.
"Licencing and entitlement management is a great way to make it easy for customers to quickly and easily access and pay for the latest and greatest capabilities a manufacturer has to offer," said Baissac. "The Gartner report succinctly lays out the processes and systems manufacturers will need to adopt in order to successfully monetise the Internet of Things and reap the financial rewards that innovating in this area promise, as well as achieving competitive advantage."
# # #
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About Flexera Software
Flexera Software helps application producers and enterprises increase application usage and the value they derive from their software. Our Application Usage Management solutions are essential to ensure continuous licensing compliance, optimized software investments and to future-proof businesses against the risks and costs of constantly changing technology. Over 80,000 customers turn to Flexera Software as a trusted and neutral source for the knowledge and expertise we have gained as the marketplace leader in licensing, installation and compliance for over 20 years and for the automation and intelligence designed into our products. For more information, please go to: www.flexerasoftware.com
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Copyright © 2014 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables – activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what “IoT” means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be. We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smart...
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Bert Loomis was a visionary. This general session will highlight how Bert Loomis and people like him inspire us to build great things with small inventions. In their general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Harold Hannon, Architect at IBM Bluemix, and Michael O'Neill, Strategic Business Development at Nvidia, discussed the accelerating pace of AI development and how IBM Cloud and NVIDIA are partnering to bring AI capabilities to "every day," on-demand. They also reviewed two "free infrastructure" pr...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftLayer, an IBM Company, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York, New York. SoftLayer, an IBM Company, provides cloud infrastructure as a service from a growing number of data centers and network points of presence around the world. SoftLayer’s customers range from Web startups to global enterprises.
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20th Cloud Expo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy.
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In his General Session at 17th Cloud Expo, Bruce Swann, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Adobe Campaign, explored the key ingredients of cross-channel marketing in a digital world. Learn how the Adobe Marketing Cloud can help marketers embrace opportunities for personalized, relevant and real-time customer engagement across offline (direct mail, point of sale, call center) and digital (email, website, SMS, mobile apps, social networks, connected objects).
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Have you ever noticed how some IT people seem to lead successful, rewarding, and satisfying lives and careers, while others struggle? IT author and speaker Don Crawley uncovered the five principles that successful IT people use to build satisfying lives and careers and he shares them in this fast-paced, thought-provoking webinar. You'll learn the importance of striking a balance with technical skills and people skills, challenge your pre-existing ideas about IT customer service, and gain new in...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Tintri, Inc, a leading provider of enterprise cloud infrastructure, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Tintri offers an enterprise cloud platform built with public cloud-like web services and RESTful APIs. Organizations use Tintri all-flash storage with scale-out and automation as a foundation for their own clouds – to build agile development environments...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Outlyer, a monitoring service for DevOps and operations teams, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Outlyer is a monitoring service for DevOps and Operations teams running Cloud, SaaS, Microservices and IoT deployments. Designed for today's dynamic environments that need beyond cloud-scale monitoring, we make monitoring effortless so you...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that CA Technologies has been named “Platinum Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 21st International Cloud Expo®, which will take place October 31-November 2, 2017, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. CA Technologies helps customers succeed in a future where every business – from apparel to energy – is being rewritten by software. From ...
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Why do your mobile transformations need to happen today? Mobile is the strategy that enterprise transformation centers on to drive customer engagement. In his general session at @ThingsExpo, Roger Woods, Director, Mobile Product & Strategy – Adobe Marketing Cloud, covered key IoT and mobile trends that are forcing mobile transformation, key components of a solid mobile strategy and explored how brands are effectively driving mobile change throughout the enterprise.
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Technologic Systems Inc., an embedded systems solutions company, will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Technologic Systems is an embedded systems company with headquarters in Fountain Hills, Arizona. They have been in business for 32 years, helping more than 8,000 OEM customers and building over a hundred COTS products that have never been discontinued. Technologic Systems’ pr...
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Buzzword alert: Microservices and IoT at a DevOps conference? What could possibly go wrong? In this Power Panel at DevOps Summit, moderated by Jason Bloomberg, the leading expert on architecting agility for the enterprise and president of Intellyx, panelists peeled away the buzz and discuss the important architectural principles behind implementing IoT solutions for the enterprise. As remote IoT devices and sensors become increasingly intelligent, they become part of our distributed cloud enviro...
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"I think that everyone recognizes that for IoT to really realize its full potential and value that it is about creating ecosystems and marketplaces and that no single vendor is able to support what is required," explained Esmeralda Swartz, VP, Marketing Enterprise and Cloud at Ericsson, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
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New vid goes behind the scenes of Skyfall's bike chase
26 October 2012 07:00
This awesome new video, produced in cooperation with Honda, shows how the motorcycle chase in the brand new James Bond movie, Skyfall, was filmed.
It features stunt ace Robbie Maddison (who doubles for star Daniel Craig), interviews with the stunt team and footage from the film.
See next week's Motorcycle News for our run down of the best Bond bike sequences ever – it's out Wednesday October 31


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From the CDS team
2020 was a year like no other, and one which the nation will feel the effects of for years to come. Businesses and individuals will continue to face challenges around recession and uncertainty, and the road to economic recovery is long.
However, despite the disruption, we adapted our ways of working to continue promoting and supporting employee ownership, community co-operatives and consortium co-operatives, which play a critical role in this recovery. Our Reset and Rebuild campaign, launched in October, highlights this, championing the contribution that inclusive business models will make as the people of Scotland call for a fairer economy which distributes wealth more widely and addresses inequalities.
Throughout the year, we’ve seen 17 businesses complete their transition to employee ownership despite the unforeseen circumstances. In Glasgow, CDS supported archaeological services provider GUARD Archaeology and civil engineering firm MHB Consultants to make the move, while Edinburgh saw contemporary furniture and interior design company Tangram Furnishers Limited and Scotland’s largest product design company Shore Design sold to their employees. In the north east, IT provider ITWORX celebrated its tenth birthday by becoming employee-owned, to reward staff, enhance company culture and differentiate from competitors.
In September, we launched a series of webinars for professional advisers and business owners exploring the Employee Ownership Trust as a succession solution with unprecedented attendance. Our advisors have continued to respond to enquiries about EO throughout the year, with several more deals in the pipeline.
In terms of existing EO businesses, like all businesses, they have faced their own unique challenges. However, a recent survey found that 76% of Scottish employee-owned companies surveyed believed their ownership model helped them get through the COVID-19 crisis. Shore Design believes that being employee-owned has helped bolster staff productivity, engagement and morale while the team works from home, while Jerba Campervans shared full details of the business’s financial position with staff to reassure them about job security.
Looking ahead, with the economic uncertainty leading to a decline in merger and acquisition activity, selling to an Employee Ownership Trust could be an ideal exit solution for many business owners. With a lack of buyers for traditional trade sales, we expect to see a significantly increased interest in employee ownership.
2020 also saw CDS take further steps to increase the number of community co-operatives in Scotland, by strengthening our partnership with Community Shares Scotland and the Plunkett Foundation to work together to raise awareness of the wider community business sector and the available support in Scotland. With the pandemic highlighting the importance and effectiveness of local business, we hope that more organisations, projects and communities recognise the economic and social potential of community co-operatives and explore their options in this area.
The pandemic has also heightened and highlighted community spirit within the business world, creating the opportunity for businesses to work together to overcome challenges and address problems. Formalising these relationships with a consortium co-operative model could be an effective way for businesses to improve market presence, achieve new goals and drive innovation, while minimising risk in these uncertain times. We continue to promote the benefits of collaborative working in the wake of the pandemic and offer support to those businesses looking to form a consortium co-operative.
In October we commissioned a survey into the effects of Covid-19 to launch the Reset and Rebuild campaign and demonstrate the desire for a reset of Scotland’s economy. Half of Scots agree that we now have an opportunity to make the economy stronger and fairer, and a vast majority expressed that job protection and staff wellbeing should be a priority. With ongoing stakeholder engagement, communications and media activity, it is our priority to highlight the significant contribution that inclusive business models can make here. Going into next year, we will continue to advocate the importance of these business models as an integral part of a Scottish wellbeing economy, building on the interest we have observed from a growing section of the Scottish business community. We are already planning a full programme of events, in line with any COVID regulations of course.
Unparalleled in the challenges it has presented, 2020 has undoubtedly reawakened a sense of community and fuelled the urgency for a reset of our economy. We want to call on all champions of these models to use these unprecedented circumstances as a catalyst for change. By rallying together to promote the wider economic, social and environmental benefits that co-operative models can deliver, the community can make a real impact in aiding Scotland’s COVID recovery.


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Back when Disney+ dropped onto an unsuspecting world back in November, people that owned Vizio SmartCast televisions were upset. Why? For some reason they believed that the Disney+ app was going to be available for them. Let’s forget the fact that no one said it would. They just assumed. When it wasn’t available, people were mad. Mad because they assumed instead of researching it for themselves. Well, their wait is over.
Vizio has been rolling out an update to its smart TV that will allow them to actually use the proper app. Until now, users were forced to use Chromecast or AirPlay 2 to cast their app onto their TV. Since it’s been three months since the launch of the service, it is curious to see how many people went out and got a proper streaming device to supplement the missing app on their television.
Now, users will be able to search for the app from their SmartCast homescreen, and sign up for the service. The app, which supports 4K and HDR playback, will be available in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico on Vizio smart TVs dating back to 2016. However, if you have a television older than that, you’re a bit out of luck.
As a personal rule, it is unwise to use a television OS for your streaming options. As we discovered at the end of 2019, many older devices were seeing “non-supportive” notices coming up on Netflix. Many older Sony Blu-Ray players saw end of support for Netflix and Hulu. A cheaper alternative is using either an Amazon Fire Stick or a Roku player.
If you are looking for a smart TV that you won’t have to worry too much about is a TCL smart TV. Generally priced more inexpensive than many name-brand electronic, their operating system is supplied by Roku, which is the best option for an all-in-one. Eventually Roku devices will become “non-supportive” but that generally happens about six years later. Spending $40 to replace a device is easier to digest than another couple hundred bucks for a new television.


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Since the game's well-timed release earlier this March during the rising concerns from the novel coronavirus, Nintendo since continues to be fueling Animal Crossing: New Horizons with monthly updates that continue to breathe life into the evergrowing title. The most recent as being a scheduled title update for this August adding island back-up saves and also the dream-structured island hopping feature.
But obviously, Nintendo is certainly not finished with adding more content for island dwellers to continue morphing their islands into leading forward. Earlier this month alongside the announcement of Mario 3D All-Stars, Nintendo shared that Mario-themed items and other goodies will be hitting Animal Crossing: New Horizons later the coming year.
But for now, Nintendo today has shared a new video revealing a few of the recreational activities that players can also enjoy in the coming fall update for that game. You can view a clip in the video below:
Gather in the bulk of a clip, the title update is posed more of like a Halloween update as opposed to a generalized fall client. For the reason that, players can purchase candy and harvest pumpkins for DUY recipes prior to October 31st. On 'Halloween Night', players can meet their villagers and greet them with candy. Jack the Czar of Halloween may also be making an appearance on all hallows eve.
For players themselves, there will obviously be a selection of decorative Halloween costumes to decorate themselves in and celebrate with friends on the nights. Additionally, players can also find new character cosmetics such as vibrant eye colors to go with you costume and even change the color of the skin for that special occasion. Nintendo also pokes at a late November update slated to be revealed within the coming weeks.
In a current financial report shared by Nintendo the 2009 summer, Nintendo disclosed that Animal Crossing: New Horizons since its arrival has tipped more than into 22 million units sold. Read the full report by heading here.
What are you currently planning to do when the new update arrives to Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Fall update ships on September 30, 2022; Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out now for Nintendo Switch.


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A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
Verizon Wireless will start selling the Samsung Galaxy S III at its U.S. stores in four separate colors, including Sapphire Black and Amber Brown.
Developing a new color scheme for the Galaxy S is the latest salvo in the heated smartphone rivalry between Samsung and Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).
Verizon, which has eight stores in San Antonio, is working to gain a competitive edge over AT&T (NYSE: T), which is selling the iPhone 5. Verizon phones are also sold at 23 San Antonio Radio Shack stores.
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James Aldridge oversees online content of the newspaper; edits and reports stories for the online edition.
Which of the current controversies will have the longest-lasting impact on the Obama administration?


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We want to keep all our customers up to date with the latest travel advice and any changes that could affect their current or future booking with us. We have gathered the most up to date information and will continue to keep this updated. You can also read our latest frequently asked questions in relation […]
Stay up to Date with the Latest Cruise News
Struggling to stay up to date with the latest cruise news? Well, you have come to the right place.
Cruise118.com News brings together all of the exciting updates coming out of the cruise industry. From stunning new ships and exciting new itineraries to upcoming celebrity guests and technological advancements, you can read about them all right here.
So, grab a cup of tea and a cosy chair and read all about it!
Find out the latest news across the cruise industry and how cruise lines are responding to the current travel climate. In this Cruise News Round-up, we look into the future of travel including what changes we can expect from airports; what customers are looking for in their future travel plans and the benefits of using […]
Cruise lines across the world have suspended operations and altered many future sailings due to the ongoing global crisis. We have compiled a complete list of cruise lines which have currently paused their operations and the dates when they plan to resume sailings. The below is subject to change and will be updated as additional […]
Find out all the latest news from the top cruise lines, as well as how the industry is responding to the current travel climate. In this Cruise News Round-up, we look into how cruise lines are helping charities during the coronavirus; when we can expect ships to resume operations and how the interest in cruising […]
See our latest customer message in full here: A Message To Our Customers For further updates about the coronavirus and helpful resources, please read our Travel Alerts.
The Fred. Olsen fleet has arranged a get-together in 2021, named ‘Four Fred.s in Lisbon’. The news comes after the cruise line’s ‘Four Fred.s in Funchal’ event which was due to depart in April 2020 but was sadly cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking about the cancellation, Fred. Olsen’s Director of Product and Customer […]
Royal Caribbean has signed a deal with the government of Antigua and Barbuda to build its first Royal Beach Club in the Caribbean. First announcing the news in October 2019, the cruise line has now ‘sealed the deal’, marking the start of planning and development for the club. The Royal Beach Club will open along […]
Ahead of the launch of their latest cruise ship, Iona, P&O Cruises have revealed that Gary Barlow will be the cruise line’s brand ambassador. Debuting on-board the ship from May this year, this pioneering partnership will fuse music with amazing travel experiences to deliver spine-tingling moments on board, with Gary’s debut role as Musical Director of […]
Fred. Olsen Cruise Line is the latest cruise line to join the gin fan club with the recent launch of their masterclasses. New for 2020, the classes are part of the cruise line’s on-board enrichment programme, offering guests the chance to create their own bespoke gin. The classes will take place on-board flagship Balmoral, with […]
The cruising queen herself, Jane McDonald, has confirmed not one, but TWO brand new series next year. The Cruising With Jane McDonald TV series has proven popular over the years, offering insight into life on-board and exploring many different cruise lines and ships. The show has been a roaring success, winning a BAFTA for Best […]


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Developers, with all their code libraries, components and go-to code snippets they keep at hand to use whenever they need them, are always looking for good, cheap—but reliable—cloud storage.
This is exactly where Backblaze comes to the rescue, and in a big way. The company on Sept. 22 launched a new raw cloud storage service, Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, to serve that sector—in addition to anybody else who needs massive storage capacity for next to nothing in cost. And that could be a lot of companies.
Backblaze is the storage mouse that roars. It competes directly against Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Storage.
Backblaze claims—and it can back it up—to have built the world’s lowest-cost cloud storage. AWS, Google and Microsoft can argue this point, but they will lose the debate. None of those well-known storage names can claim to charge unlimited data backup in the cloud for laptops and desktops for $5 per month, nor can they offer enterprise data storage for less than Backblaze charges.
“We’re going to charge one-half cent/GB/month,” Backblaze founder and CEO Gleb Budman told eWEEK. “The lowest cost [AWS] S3 tier is 2.2 cents/GB/month, and even [AWS] Glacier, which has a 4-hour data transfer delay and other charges, is 1 cent/GB/month.”
Now the San Mateo, Calif.-based company is opening its cloud storage directly to users through the Web, command line and an API—take your pick.
Backblaze is already well-known in developer circles for its Storage Pods—cloud storage hardware that costs about one-tenth that of other offerings.
“Most people don’t realize that consumer-type hard drives and other components generally work just as well and crash just as often as commercial drives, only they cost a great deal less,” Budman said. “We use the least-expensive hardware possible, and because the software is so good, it’s as reliable and available as much more expensive services. We just make everything very redundant.”
B2 can be used for any application, and developers can do anything they want with it: build the next hot mobile app on the platform, stash historical development files or use it for personal backup.
If you’re worried that Backblaze perhaps can’t be trusted because you’re never heard of it, well, it’s been in business for 10 years and has a long list of clients. eWEEK first reported on Backblaze in 2009. Budman said that Backblaze’s backup service already is housing more than 150 petabytes of data (150,000 TB) and adds 5 petabytes of storage every month for its existing service.
When it launches next month, B2 will provide three access choices: a RESTful API, command-line interface (CLI) and Web utility for uploading files. “We will only charge for what you use, not for X amount of capacity,” Budman said.
All users will receive versioned files, snapshots, reporting and alerts as well as mobile access—no matter how much they spend.
B2 will launch a private beta in October, so developers can start using before it becomes widely available later this year. Go here for more information.


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In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last week, the Los Angeles-based jewelry and accessories brand accused the ultra-fast-fashion juggernaut of trademark infringement and unfair competition, which it said has caused monetary and reputational harm.
The lawsuit named Zoetop Business Co., the Hong Kong-headquartered entity that owned Shein’s website and trademarks Roadget Business’s incorporation in 2021, and Shein U.S. Services, the Chinese-founded e-tailer’s Delaware-registered subsidiary, though Chrome Hearts said that it is “unaware of the names and true capacities of [the] defendants, whether individuals, corporate and/or partnership entities…and therefore sues them by their fictitious names.”
The Laurie Lynn and Richard Stark-owned company, however, is clearer about the cause of its consternation, charging Shein with the “manufacture, production, marketing, distribution, advertisement, offering for sale and/or sale” of handbags and accessories that bear marks “identical with, substantially indistinguishable from or confusingly similar” to one or more of Chrome Hearts’ federally registered marks, including its cemetery cross patch, its CH Plus cross and a dagger design.
“Registrations for the Chrome Hearts marks are valid, subsisting and incontestable,” said the label, which handcrafts most of its products, including clothing and denim, in Los Angeles. “Chrome Hearts was also able to obtain the trademark registrations for the Chrome Hearts marks without proof of secondary meaning and thus they are inherently distinctive. Through longstanding use, advertising, and registration, the Chrome Hearts marks have achieved a high degree of consumer recognition in the United States and the world over and constitute famous marks.”
With the CH Plus cross in use since 1988 and the cemetery cross patch and dagger design since 1989, the Chrome Hearts marks have been a source identifier on various goods for more than three decades, “achieving widespread acceptance and recognition amongst the consuming public and trade throughout the United States,” the complaint said.
But Chrome Hearts said that it has not granted Shein, which in 2016 began hawking branded merchandise after an eight-year run as a seller of third-party products, a license or “any form” of permission to use its intellectual property, including the Chrome Hearts marks. This resulted in products that “very likely” caused confusion for consumers, including Chrome Hearts’ own, it added.
“Chrome Hearts purchased and inspected the accused products and confirmed they did not originate from Chrome Hearts or contain authentic Chrome Hearts marks,” the lawsuit said of Shein, which manufactures most, if not all, of its products, in China. “Defendants used the Chrome Hearts marks on the accused products without Chrome Hearts’ permission.”
The new Forever 21 stakeholder’s actions, the lawsuit alleged, are “deliberate” in their intention to “confuse the public,” to “injure” Chrome Hearts and to “reap the benefit of Chrome Hearts’ goodwill associated with the Chrome Hearts marks.” In addition to injunctive relief barring Shein from the use of its marks, plus the destruction of any remaining inventory, Chrome Hearts is seeking three times the profit that the ultra-fast fashion purveyor has derived from using its marks, along with costs and attorneys’ fees to the fullest extent allowed. Alternatively, it will accept up to $2 million per trademark infringed upon per type of good.
“Defendants’ misappropriation of Chrome Hearts’ common law trademarks was intended to capitalize on Chrome Hearts’ goodwill for Defendant’s own pecuniary gain,” the complaint said. “Chrome Hearts has expended substantial time, resources and effort to obtain an excellent reputation for itself and its family of Marks. As a result of Chrome Hearts’ efforts, Defendants are now unjustly enriched and are benefiting from property rights that rightfully belong to Chrome Hearts.”
Shein said that takes all claims of infringement seriously. “It is not our intent to infringe anyone’s valid intellectual property and it is not our business model to do so,” a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. “Shein suppliers and marketplace sellers are required to comply with company policy and certify their products do not infringe third-party IP. We continue to invest in and improve our product review process.”
Still, the complaints keep coming. In July, a class-action lawsuit filed by three designers, also in California federal court, alleged the Singapore-headquartered firm’s “egregious copyright infringement” constitutes racketeering and is therefore a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a.k.a. RICO. The same month, H&M Group duked it out with Shein in Hong Kong’s High Court over “multiple cases” of copyright violation, based on a writ of summons that was first filed in July 2021. Last year, Florida artist Maggie Stephenson sued the company for $100 million, alleging that it copied her artwork without permission. Dr. Martens, Ralph Lauren, Stussy and sunglasses maker Oakley have also sued Shein for selling products that they claimed violated their intellectual property. Meanwhile, social media is replete with small designers criticizing the $64 billion company for so-called copycat behavior.
In March, Shein turned the tables on the pervading narrative by suing its rival Temu for copyright infringement. The latter hit back by pointing to its more established adversary’s legal troubles, however.
“Since inception, Temu has been named as defendant in only one lawsuit alleging intellectual property infringement, which Temu strongly and categorically rejects all allegations and is vigorously defending its rights,” a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal at the time. “Coincidentally, this [is the] only case [that has been] brought by Shein, which has been named as [a] defendant in more than 70 intellectual property infringement cases by international rights holders and independent artists since 2019.”


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Latest Update: Google’s latest project – Google ME, will be known as Google +1 (Google Plus One.) now. What the hack is this? “Google Plus One” will be a Social toolbar or may be the Chrome extension, which will be launch nearby March/April.
Digg founder Kevin Rose tweeted that Google is working on “Google Me,” a new upcoming social service from Google against Facebook. Don’t know whether its true or not but Kevin Rose tweeted on their status that this information/rumor is from “very credible source”.


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- COVID-19 border lockdowns disrupted existing supply chains and outsourcing arrangements.
- Locally made consumer products have been given a chance to shine as cheaper imports have not been available.
- The growth of online shopping during lockdowns has also put a focus on reducing the environmental footprint of products and supply chains.
By Ben Hurley
When lockdowns were imposed in March 2020 to curtail the spread of COVID-19, thousands of businesses saw their long-functioning supply chains for both goods and services overturned in a matter of weeks.
Business continuity plans were put through a trial by fire that, while stressful in the short term, revealed inefficiencies and pointed the way for improvements towards more streamlined, more resilient supply chains.
COVID-19 may have been ‘unprecedented’, but supply-chain experts had been warning about the problems it exposed for years, says Peter Liddell CA, partner at KPMG Australia and ASPAC head of supply chain.
Existing supply chain inefficiencies
Almost 30 years of growth had created flabby supply chains geared towards getting products and services out as fast as possible, hiding inefficiencies and excessive working capital in the network.
“To use a sporting analogy, supply chains in Australia were not playing fit,” Liddell says.
“To use a sporting analogy, supply chains in Australia were not playing fit.”
“When times are good, businesses just get on with the delivery regardless of cost, as it’s all about securing growth. But with the pandemic that nobody saw coming, as volumes came down quickly, they’ve been exposed to the supply-chain inefficiencies that were left unaddressed for years.”
Retailers have long tolerated inefficiencies in their delivery networks, particularly their last mile delivery, Liddell says, which has made their growth less profitable than it could be.
Businesses that relied on sourcing raw materials and key components from overseas have been hit by a plunge in air and sea freight. Outbound exporters of commodities and agricultural products have been equally hard hit.
“For a number of years, we have been telling clients they have got to have alternative supply-chain strategies, various sources of supply and alternative market opportunities, and stop being overly reliant on one key market segment, such as China.
“China may pay 25% above any other price you can get domestically or in other markets, but all it takes is for freight access to be diminished or export markets to shut down and you are really exposed.”
How data and predictive analysis help supply chains
Certainly, those who weren’t listening before COVID-19 are listening now, and plans are in place to make supply chains more advanced. Some are using data and predictive analysis to sense and pre-emptively respond to variations in supply and demand.
“We’ve all known for years that Amazon is using AI, strong algorithms and models to predict what you’re going to buy before you buy it,” says Liddell.
“More businesses will use big data to sense challenges to inbound supply chains or to sense demand from key markets opening and slowing down and use that information to make proactive adjustments rather than waiting for disruptions to happen. We are already seeing uptake on that type of technology.”
Dated infrastructure on domestic and regional supply chains is being refreshed to create more agile networks. Start-ups such as Instatruck in Perth are creating platforms to ‘Uberise’ freight transport by letting businesses fill empty space in freight trucks.
“You might find businesses will have 70% or 80% of their logistics needs locked in but will be more flexible on how and when to source that remaining 20% or 30%, allowing them to be more responsive to demand variability and not exposed to fixed logistics costs they won’t use,” says Liddell.
The big appeal of locally made products
One of the resounding changes to come out of the pandemic is renewed interest in reducing the miles on supply chains.
With greater responsiveness and shorter lead times, a focus on local manufacturing for critical items such as respirators, gowns and masks could be here to stay – with a strong role for automation and smart manufacturing.
Locally made consumer products have also been given a chance to shine while cheaper imports have not been available.
“As imported products stopped arriving, people started saying: ‘Hang on, this local brand is cheaper than I remember and it’s just as good, if not better’,” says Liddell.
“We are seeing a lot of Australian brands starting to take off and grow as local consumers buy more Australian-made products, which, of course, is great for our economy.”
“We are seeing a lot of Australian brands starting to take off and grow as local consumers buy more Australian-made products.”
Global manufacturers are also simplifying their supply chains, delivering large quantities but leaving final assembly such as packaging, labelling and bundling to local partners, which lets them be more responsive to local demand. This has been happening in other countries for years but has been accelerated in Australia only recently, according to Liddell.
3D printing is also an area of huge potential for supply chains, particularly in health care. Instead of having multiple sizes of knee replacements on hand for an operation, for example, surgeons are now printing them to fit the patient exactly, and the timeframes are likely to come down as the technology improves.
Shrinking the environmental footprint
The shift to online shopping, due to movement restrictions and social distancing, has also cast a light on the environmental footprint of supply chains and led to a push for less waste.
Accustomed to purchasing goods from the supermarket, already removed from freight packaging, consumers are now receiving goods at home and witnessing the enormous amount of waste involved – not to mention the increase in carbon emissions caused by frequent small deliveries.
“You are finding consumers becoming more aware of it, especially as they receive home deliveries covered in excess plastic and cardboard packaging, and corporate executives are well aware of it,” Liddell says.
“We are starting to get a lot of inquiries around how to consider ESG [environmental, social and governance] as businesses reshape their logistics requirements to support future customer demand.”
This includes companies looking at creating circular economies to fulfil a delivery and pick up the packaging waste on the same journey, delving more into recyclable packaging, and other initiatives to make supply chains more environmentally sustainable.
Changing attitudes on supply chains and outsourcing
Cormac Denton CA, former CFO at Kāpura hospitality group in Wellington (now finance director at PAE), who lost his job due to the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality sector, believes the biggest reflection to come out of COVID-19 will be how complacent businesses have become around the movement of people and goods.
Whether it’s bringing in overseas workers to harvest honey or pick fruit off trees, shipping pine to China to have it treated before it is sent back again, or outsourcing services overseas, the enormous miles on supply chains will come under greater scrutiny.
“Companies have had this race to the bottom, race to profitability, and haven’t really looked at that long term. People have been willing to poach off each other or look to outsource, whereas that outsourcing model is not available if borders close,” he says.
“Companies have had this race to the bottom, race to profitability, and haven’t really looked at that long term.”
“I suspect in the longer term we will see companies invest more in training, especially for jobs people have seen as low skilled. That’s an area, long-term, that will see systemic changes.”
Resources you need to readjust, rebuild and reembark on the road to economic recovery.Find out more
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New Delhi: The finance ministry has moved a cabinet note on facilitating electronic transactions more widely, in line with the government’s vision of moving towards a cashless economy—something that will help reduce corruption, plug leakages, better target beneficiaries of subsidies, and accelerate financial inclusion.
The upcoming Union budget will likely spell out some of these measures—from doing away with convenience fee charged by the government departments for various payments and utilities to reducing the merchant discount rate on card transactions to lowering mobile payment costs to increasing the annual reportable limit of credit-card transactions.
The measures are part of a comprehensive plan to reduce the use of cash in the economy and consequently curb the generation of black money, three government officials said.
“The finance ministry has been in talks with various government departments and stakeholders on the steps required for facilitating card transactions. A cabinet note has been moved,” said a government official who did not wish to be identified.
A second official said that the finance ministry will bring in any amendments that are required to the Income-tax Act, 1961, and other acts, if required, in the upcoming Union budget session.
Among the measures being considered is one to reduce the high merchant discount rate (MDR) on card transactions.
More than 800 million card transactions are recorded every month in India. At present, the MDR on debit card transactions is 0.75% and 1% on credit card transactions.
The government is also looking at increasing the reportable level of credit-card transactions to Rs. 5 lakh from Rs. 2 lakh annually as it looks to encourage greater utilization of cards. At present, banks have to report the aggregate of all the payments made by a credit cardholder as one transaction if the amount is Rs. 2 lakh annually.
“The argument is that since credit card transactions have a trail and are easy to track, their usage should be encouraged and the ceiling increased to Rs.5 lakh to facilitate high-value transactions,” said the third government official, who also did not wish to be identified. “Doing away with convenience fee or surcharge levied by various government departments for payments made by card by consumers is also being looked at.”
The finance ministry is in talks with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to reduce the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charge of Rs.1.50 per transaction for encouraging mobile banking, said the first official.
In the last budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the government’s intention to offer incentives for card transactions. “One way to curb the flow of black money is to discourage transactions in cash. Now that a majority of Indians has, or can have, a RuPay debit card.I, therefore, propose to introduce soon several measures that will incentivise credit or debit card transactions, and disincentivize cash transactions,” he said.
Subsequently, the government put out a draft paper seeking feedback from the public on all the proposals.
The draft paper proposed some radical measures including indirect tax breaks for all merchants conducting a majority of their transactions electronically.
It suggested tax rebates to individuals who spend a certain portion of their total expenditure through electronic means. However, two of the three government officials cited above said these subsidies are unlikely to be given.
On the proposal of making it mandatory for all transactions above a limit of Rs.1 lakh to be done electronically, the second official said it may not be possible since these measures have to be implemented in rural India too.
Moving to keep its electoral promise of curbing black money, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enacted The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, and also introduced The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015. The government is hoping that lowering the use of cash will help in curbing black money. Most electronic transactions leave an audit trail.
“As we move towards a cashless economy, surveillance will increase on all financial transactions,” said Jayant Sinha, minister of state for finance.
B.M. Singh, former chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), said the biggest advantage of encouraging card transactions will be the digital trail these leave behind.
“There will be a digital footprint to follow. At present, you can pay by cash for your purchases, and it will never be traced back to you. It will take time but gradually we could see greater usage of electronic transactions,” he said.


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