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Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA) – Research analysts at Northcoast Research raised their Q3 2019 earnings estimates for shares of Zebra Technologies in a research note issued on Tuesday, October 15th. Northcoast Research analyst K. Housum now forecasts that the industrial products company will post earnings per share of $3.18 for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $3.14. Northcoast Research also issued estimates for Zebra Technologies’ FY2019 earnings at $12.26 EPS, Q1 2020 earnings at $3.01 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $3.10 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $3.47 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $3.84 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $13.42 EPS.
Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ:ZBRA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $3.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Zebra Technologies had a return on equity of 43.60% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS.
Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Imperial Capital reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Zebra Technologies in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Zebra Technologies from $189.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Zacks Investment Research lowered Zebra Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Atlantic Securities assumed coverage on Zebra Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $230.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BidaskClub lowered Zebra Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Zebra Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $227.00.
Shares of ZBRA opened at $202.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $201.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.82. Zebra Technologies has a 52 week low of $140.95 and a 52 week high of $237.15.
In other news, CEO Anders Gustafsson sold 19,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.36, for a total value of $4,153,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 283,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,927,534.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Colleen M. O’sullivan sold 1,549 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.00, for a total value of $303,604.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,664 shares in the company, valued at $914,144. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,177 shares of company stock worth $4,865,483 over the last 90 days. 1.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Three Peaks Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Zebra Technologies by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Three Peaks Capital Management LLC now owns 25,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,349,000 after purchasing an additional 5,488 shares during the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Zebra Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $301,000. Nwam LLC acquired a new stake in Zebra Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $346,000. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in Zebra Technologies by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 40,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,254,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, We Are One Seven LLC raised its stake in Zebra Technologies by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. We Are One Seven LLC now owns 3,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.01% of the company’s stock.
About Zebra Technologies
Zebra (NASDAQ: ZBRA) empowers the front line of business in retail/ecommerce, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare and other industries to achieve a performance edge. With more than 10,000 partners across 100 countries, they deliver industry-tailored, end-to-end solutions that intelligently connect people, assets and data to help our customers make business-critical decisions. Their market-leading solutions elevate the shopping experience, track and manage inventory as well as improve supply chain efficiency and patient care.
See Also: What is basic economics?
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August 13, 2018
WELLESLEY, Mass., Aug 13, 2018 – Despite mounting pressures to increase investments, reduce prices and source lumber from sustainable sources, the global market for unfinished wood/lumber products is expected to experience positive growth over the next five years, according to a new report from BCC Research.
The unfinished wood/lumber market reached a value of nearly $223.1 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3% to nearly $275.2 billion by 2022, according to the recently published report Unfinished Wood/Lumber Manufacturing: Global Markets to 2022.
Major players in the market are West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., Canfor Corp., Weyerhaeuser Company, Interfor Corp. and Metsä Group.
“The unfinished wood manufacturing market is benefiting from technological advances relating to wood treatment and processing,” the report notes. “Digital technologies such as big data and the internet of things (IoT) are being used to enhance manufacturing efficiency and reduce costs in the wood processing industry.”
Lumber Manufacturers Implementing Sustainable Wood Certifications
Many lumber production companies in developed economies are certifying their products though accreditation agencies to cater to environmentally conscious customers. Rise in awareness of deforestation, climate change and environmental concerns are increasing customer preference for products manufactured from wood sourced from companies having sustainable forest management accreditations. For instance, accreditations including the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) are internationally recognized certifications for sustainable forest operations.
Editors/reporters requesting analyst interviews should contact Eric Surber at email@example.com.
Unfinished Wood/Lumber Manufacturing: Global Markets to 2022( MFG059A )
Publish Date: Jul 2018
Data and analysis extracted from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying BCC Research LLC as the source and publisher. For media inquiries, email firstname.lastname@example.org or visit www.bccresearch.com/media to request access to our library of market research.

domain: news


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Nazi symbols will be publicly banned nationwide and people who display the “evil” insignia could face up to a year in jail.
The ban will include flags, armbands, T-shirts, and will extend to posting the symbols online.
But under the new legislation, to be introduced to parliament next week, Nazi salutes will not be captured under the prohibition as they fall under the jurisdiction of the states and territories.
Selling Nazi memorabilia will be made an offence, and will be banned in retail and online stores.
The proposed law will not prevent private ownership, including items taken as war souvenirs, or artefacts displayed in museums.
But anyone seeking to pass on items will not be allowed to accept payment in return.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the new laws will send a strong message to those seeking to profit from the “evil symbols” or use them to promote hatred.
“There is no place in Australia for symbols that glorify the horrors of the Holocaust,” he said.
“The Albanese government is sending the clearest possible signal to those who seek to spread hatred, violence and anti-Semitism that we find these actions repugnant and they will not be tolerated.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Peter Wertheim said while the body welcomed the move, it had expressed concern to Mr Dreyfus that neo-Nazi groups will get around the legislation by using other symbols including the death’s head and sun wheel.
“We have urged the government to review the legislation periodically so that if our concerns are borne out, the prohibitions may in due course be extended to the display of other Nazi symbols,” he said.
The legislation only outlaws the two Nazi Hakenkreuz and Schutzstaffel symbols.
Mr Wertheim said the council was also worried about the lack of any prohibitions on the performance of Nazi gestures such as the salute.
“This will leave a gap that will need to be filled by state and territory legislation,” he said.
Displaying symbols for religious, educational, or artistic purposes are among a range of exclusions from the ban.
It will not affect the use of the swastika for people observing Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Mr Dreyfus said the government had been responsible in taking the time to get the bill right, describing it as “well-targeted and effective”.


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Organizations that use Google for email, as well as thousands of personal Gmail customers, are reporting a scam that starts with an email from a known contact, which says that the person has shared a Google Doc. Recipients are asked to click the link to open, which redirects them to a legitimate Google sign-in page, where they’re prompted to select one of their Google accounts, and then to authorize a legitimate-looking app called “Google Docs” to manage emails. Once the app has permission to manage email, it secretly sends emails to all contacts, with the same phishing link. Personal and business email accounts are commonly used as the recovery email on a number of digital accounts, which means that hackers could get control of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or personal Google accounts. Anything linked to a compromised Gmail account is potentially at risk. “We have taken action to protect users against an email impersonating Google Docs, and have disabled offending accounts,” Google said in a statement.
By Byron Acohido


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Orlando, Fl. – Millennium Marine will showcase its industry-leading boat seats and accessories at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 19 through 22.
ICAST, the cornerstone of the sportfishing industry, is the ideal venue for the premier manufacturer of boat seats and accessories to showcase their top-of-the-line gear. ICAST attendees can visit Millennium Marine at booth #5420 to see their B-Series Seats, Pro-M Seats, Spyderlok Rod Holders, Spyderlok Rod Trees, and more.
Among the innovative products featured at Millennium Marine’s booth are boat seats, built and designed for all-day comfort, letting you fish all day long. Other notable products include the revolutionary R100 Spyderlok Rod Holder.
ICAST will be held in the North Building at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 19 through 23. For more information on ICAST, visit: https://icastfishing.org.


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UPDATE 1-GSK CEO says strong interest in OTC products sale
* Witty sees sale process picking up over summer
* Demand from industry rivals and private equity
* GSK looking for more small deals in China
* Emerging market deals difficult due to "sky-high" prices
(Adds details, background)
BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) has seen strong interest from both industry rivals and private equity houses in a clutch of non-prescription products it is looking to sell, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
The sale process for the over-the-counter (OTC) medicines on the block is likely to pick up over the summer, Andrew Witty told reporters during a meeting of pharmaceutical industry executives in Brussels.
British-based GSK is selling several OTC drugs marketed primarily in Europe and the United States with combined sales of around 500 million pounds ($815 million) in order to make its portfolio more focused. The sale includes the diet pill Alli.
Industry analysts believe the auction, which is being conducted by Goldman Sachs, could bring in 1.5 billion to 2 billion pounds.
GSK earlier on Tuesday announced it was buying the remaining 51 percent in a flu vaccine joint venture in China for 24 million pounds, and Witty said he was looking for further small acquisitions in the country. [ID:nLDE75D093]
Overall, however, he said he expected fewer bolt-on acquisitions in emerging markets in future because valuations had gone "sky-high" in the last 12 months. (Reporting by Ben Deighton; additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London; Editing by Will Waterman) ($1=.6131 Pound)
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LG worked hard to wrestle control of the Android smartphone market from fellow Korean tech company Samsung in 2013 when it released the G2 flagship handset.
Despite featuring a host of top-end internal components and an innovative design that placed the phone's physical home, power and volume buttons on the handset's back, Samsung remained on top in 2013 and the Galaxy S4 maintained its lead as the year's top-selling Android smartphone.
Unwilling to throw in the towel, LG has come out swinging in 2014, unveiling its latest G3 Android smartphone. Featuring the same rear button placement as the G2, but with an upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 5.5in 2560x1440, 538ppi Quad HD display and "advanced" 13MP rear camera, the G3 on paper matches, if not beats, the specs of Samsung's current Galaxy S5.
O2 has confirmed that it will stock the G3 in early July, although there is currently no word on price. Check back with V3 later for a full review of the LG G3.
For an in-depth look at the Samsung Galaxy S5 check out V3's full review.
We sacrificed our weekend to try out the new Vikendi map coming to PUBG - and rather liked it
12 of the 32 stars observed feature rings and gaps that are usually carved by planets in the process of formation
The experiment is currently underway at South Korea's Yangyang Underground Laboratory
Exoplanet HAT-P-11b is located about 124 light years from Earth


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Hino Trucks announced it intends to produce model year 2022 Classes 6-8 trucks for the United States and Canada equipped exclusively with diesel engines from Cummins Inc.
It also reported it was accelerating its timeline for producing battery-electric trucks.
It made the announcements at Work Truck Week 2021, a virtual event hosted by NTEA-The Association for the Work Truck Industry.
NTEA is the National Truck Equipment Association.
Hino will offer the Cummins B6.7 and L9 engines in its L and XL Series models by the end of 2021, according to the Novi, Mich.-based company, a brand of Toyota Group. Previously, the trucks came with Hino’s own engines: the J08E for the L series, and A09 for the XL series.
The company plans to make the Cummins B6.7 engine available in the L Series by the end of 2021, initially offering the engine in two ratings: 240 HP and 260 HP.
The B6.7 will be paired with Allison’s 2000 and 3000 Series transmissions.
Starting in 2022, the Cummins L9 engine will be available in Hino’s XL Series model, initially in three ratings: 300 HP, 330 HP and 360 HP. The L9 can be paired with Allison’s 3000 or 3500 Series transmission or an Eaton manual.
“We are thrilled to offer Cummins’ proven B6.7 and L9 engines,” Bob Petz, senior vice president of vehicle and parts sales, said in a release. “The reliability, performance and durability presented with Cummins engines coupled with the award-winning Hino conventional cab will provide our customers the ultimate ownership experience.”
In December, Hino announced that issues with U.S.-required certification of several of its engines has led its board to pause truck production in North America until the end of September 2021.
Cummins has made the B6.7 for nearly 40 years and has sold 13 million of them, according to the Columbus, Ind.-based company.
The latest B6.7 engine includes upgrades that allow for extended engine maintenance intervals, including longer oil drain intervals, more time between fuel filter changes and a completely maintenance-free crankcase ventilation filter.
Also new in 2021, the B6.7 offers advancements in connectivity to find, prevent and resolve issues faster.
Cummins reported the 2021 L9 Productivity Series engines are up to 1.5% more fuel efficient compared with the 2017 models. The 2021 L9 Performance Series engines will see up to a 3.5% fuel economy improvement.
Meanwhile, the company said it was redirecting engineering and other resources to accelerate the development of the battery-electric vehicle portion of Project Z, the company’s development path to zero-emission vehicles.
Hino is now planning to begin low-volume production of the BEV models in the fourth quarter of 2022, ramping up to full production by the end of 2023.
Hino had previously announced plans to develop and produce a full range of Class 4-8 battery electric Trucks by 2024.
Hino noted other collaborations on powertrain strategies with Cummins were under evaluation.
One financial analyst said Hino’s shift to Cummins engines when fully ramped would add 11,000 units between the B6.7 and L9 engines for Cummins.
The announcement builds on prior wins, Stephen Volkmann, an equity analyst with Jeffries Financial Group Inc., wrote in a note.
Cummins, within the past few months, announced agreements with Isuzu Motors and Daimler Trucks AG that “will add light- and medium-duty volumes to Cummins’ production starting in 2023 and will increase globally as new emission standards are adopted across regions through the end of this decade,” according to Volkmann.
“As a point of reference, in 2020’s depressed-volume year Cummins shipped 92,500 heavy-duty engines globally, 220,900 medium-duty engines and 215,800 light-duty engines to global OEMs,” Volkmann wrote.


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To help expand the electric vehicle industry in China, Shanghai-based eHi Auto Services has partnered with China car manufacturer SAIC Motor.
Under the partnership, eHi purchased a fleet of electric cars, including Roewe E50 electric vehicles and Roewe 550 plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, says the company.
Recently, the Chinese government has released policies to further develop the electric vehicle industry, including a waiver of sales tax and free license plates for electric vehicles.
“Both parties have been working together on the rental service of electric vehicles since 2013,” said Ray Zhang, eHi's founder and CEO. “We are very impressed by SAIC's leading technologies, excellent product quality and post-sale services. Our strategic partnership will cover all SAIC product lines from existing vehicle models to future models particularly in alternative energy vehicles. eHi will actively participate in SAIC's product development and market promotion.”
eHi Auto Services has over 700 service locations in more than 90 Chinese cities. eHi continues to expand its electric vehicle rental and free charging services to more cities in China, says the company.


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Monday, 01 November 2021
Researchers from the University of Nottingham and University of Adelaide have joined forces to launch a new international food flavour facility to improve the taste of sustainable, healthy, plant-based food and ingredients.
The new $2.5 million facility at the University of Adelaide’s Waite campus in South Australia, will expand the University of Nottingham’s International Flavour Research Centre (IFRC), and is supported by a major investment by v2food, a global leader in plant-based alternatives to meat.
The facility will bring together world-class scientists across flavour chemistry, food and agriculture, under the one roof, to take on the challenge of getting more sustainable, healthy, plant-based food into people’s diet.
The research team, which will include a new post-doctoral and PhD position, will use innovative technologies and flavour chemistry techniques to help food manufacturers develop new sustainable products that are tasty and consumers will enjoy. This includes alternative proteins, meat free substitutes and healthier versions of existing plant-based products.
Professor of Food Chemistry and academic lead for the International Flavour Research Centre, Ian Fisk said: “Due to the globally interconnected nature of our food supply chain, we need to work together to identify sustainable alternatives in our diet to ensure a safe, reliable supply of high-quality nutritional foods that consumers enjoy.
“Sustainable healthy diets require a rethink of food ingredients and crops, new agricultural and food production processes and novel packaging systems and new routes to market.
“Ultimately this is how we go about a step change for diets and more sustainable eating habits.”
Professor Rachel Burton, Head of Department of Food Science at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, said : “The initiative will expand the research capability at our Waite campus and enable us to work on new and interesting projects in flavour chemistry and sustainability.”
“We are excited to be part of this global approach to the challenge of producing food that is healthy, delicious and is part of the solution to a more sustainable approach to feeding future populations.”
The new laboratories will house the latest flavour chemistry tools with a range of bespoke interfaces to track flavour development and understand the role of food ingredients in flavour perception.
One of the cutting-edge analytical tools that will be used in the research is the MS-Nose, developed in the Nottingham laboratory. The MS-Nose is a high end analytical technique that acts like an artificial nose, allowing real-time measurement of aromas while you are eating.
Professor Fisk said: “Flavour is a combination of the aroma (smell), and the taste of a food. When you interchange food ingredients or materials such as reducing fat, sugar and salt or replacing meat proteins with plant proteins, there are a series of highly complex flavour questions that need to be answered.
“These include how to ensure that nutritious plant-based meat alternatives generate an equally appealing flavour during cooking, and how to ensure that when part of a complete meal, they are a viable alternative for those who regularly consume meat.
“These are some of the challenges we will be exploring within our team.”
Major industry partner Nick Hazell, CEO of v2food said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with globally recognised researchers with a wealth of expertise to develop our next generation of sustainable and healthy plant protein products.
“Our leadership and development team are looking forward to working closely with the Centre to accelerate knowledge creation, new product development, and advance the quality of delicious, nutritious v2food.”
The International Flavour Research Centre is funded by v2food, the University of Adelaide, University of Nottingham and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
More information is available from Professor Ian Fisk on Ian.Fisk@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.


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After much deliberation, negotiations Google finally sealed the deal to buy video-sharing website YouTube for a staggering1.65 billion dollars.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said in a statement Monday said, “The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google’s mission to organizes the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
“Jointly, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers,” he said.
Video-sharing site YouTube soared to online popularity after its initial launch in February 2005. YouTube claims that more than 100 million videos are viewed daily by visitors to the free video sharing website, which features user generated video content.
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. Said, “YouTube community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture.”
“By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more complete entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners.”
Google said, YouTube would carry on operating independently from its headquarters in San Bruno, California, after the acquisition is concluded. Also all of YouTube’s employees will remain with the company even after the Google buys You Tube.
The future of video sharing over the internet is still uncertain many analysts say that soon all the video sharing communities will be slapped with lawsuits for sharing copyrighted material.
Google’s acquisition of YouTube is by far the most expensive purchase Google has made till date.One has to wonder if the acquisition of YouTube which hosts many copyrighted videos was good move by Google.


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Samsung is doing its level best to scare people out of owning a smart TV with the suggestion that it's necessary to scan for viruses on your internet-connected TV every few weeks.
In a tweet by the official Samsung Support USA account, the company said any of its QLED TVs that are connected to wi-fi should be scanned regularly in the same way you should scan your computer. "Every few weeks" was the suggestion, with Samsung sharing a video showing how to do this on your TV.
The tweet has now been deleted, following a shocked and surprised reaction by many users, who were likely unaware of any such risk - or why the need to run a virus-scanner should be left with the user, rather than being taken care of automatically by the TV itself. The fact that the tweet was deleted suggests the advice is perhaps not so pressing after all.
And in reality, the evidence of any malicious software aimed at televisions is limited, and the likelihood of your TV being affected is widely-accepted to be incredibly small.
In a statement, Samsung said: "Yesterday we shared information about one of the preventative security features on our Smart TVs, in order to show consumers proactive steps they can take on their device. We understand that this may have caused some confusion and we want to clarify that this was simply a way to inform and educate consumers about one of the features included in our products."
If you do want to run a virus-scanner on your Samsung TV, head into the menu, then navigate to General > System Manager > Smart Security, and then select Scan.
All that being said, we'd suggest there's no need to panic if your have a smart TV connected to the internet – the risk of malicious software attacks on TVs remains very low.


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Sun Accelerates Web 2.0 Build Out with Up to 55% Discount for Startups
By michelleparkinson on Nov 08, 2006
Sun is making startups an offer they can't refuse -- discounts of up to
55% on select Sun technologies, including its Sun Fire x64 and
CoolThreads servers. Yes, you heard right -- up to 55%.
The new program, Sun Startup Essentials is aimed to enable startups to capitalize on the power of the Solaris OS and run their businesses on Sun technologies at a price point that fits their budgets.
Attendees at last week's Sun's Startup Camp -- which I might add was sold out and standing room only -- got the first look at the program and more than 20 companies have already signed on to take advantage of the deal. Are you eligible?


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DataStax, a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup offering a commercial version of the Apache Cassandra NoSQL database, has raised a $45 million series D round led by new investor Scale Ventures. Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Crosslink Capital and Meritech Capital Partners, and new investors DFJ Growth and Next World Capital, also contributed. DataStax has now raised a total of $83.7 million in venture capital since launching in 2010 as Riptano.
You might not know it from browsing the headlines or examining the software stacks of up-and-coming web applications, but Cassandra still exists and is actually quite popular among a certain class of user. Sure, the database has had its share of bad press over the years, MongoDB still gets all the attention, and many of the cool developers — including those at Cassandra birthplace Facebook — have chosen HBase as their BigTable clone du jour (here’s a nice overview of the NoSQL landscape for the uninitiated). But Cassandra has been steadily improving thanks in part to DataStax’s efforts to lead its development.
Even if Facebook and Twitter (this time for real, I’ve heard) have stopped building applications on Cassandra, we’ve covered its continued use in companies such as eBay, (s EBAY) Netflix, Eventbrite and BloomReach. There’s also a London-based company called Acunu, whose Founder and CEO Tim Moreton will be presenting at our Structure: Europe conference in September, that has built a real-time analytics platform on top of Cassandra. For its commercial version of the database, called DataStax enterprise, DataStax claims more than 300 customers, including 20 companies in the Fortune 100 (one of which is Disney).
Making hay one Oracle customer at a time
Cassandra’s success with such large users has to do with its ability to handle large-scale online applications that demand steady levels of performance, DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth told me. Scalability and performance have never been among Cassandra’s shortcomings, and the database is capable of replicating data across data centers. Large companies used to choose Oracle for applications that needed these capabilities, but now that NoSQL options are around and relatively mature, companies are rethinking whether the relational database model was ever really correct for some applications in the first place.
And a good number of them, Bosworth said, are deciding it wasn’t and switching to Cassandra. When he joined DataStax in 2011, he thought NoSQL adoption would mirror that of client-server adoption, meaning a handful of customers moving to Cassandra from relational database by 2014 would be a sign of success. Everything actually happened much faster: “The scale I had anticipated for 2014 actually hit us in 2012,” Bosworth said.
In fact, he added, the company wasn’t even out raising money; investors came to DataStax with a lot of money at a good valuation, so it jumped on the opportunity. The new capital will help the company expand its European presence as well as generally ramp up product development and marketing.
Open source FTW!
He credits the open source nature of many NoSQL databases with helping speed the pace of adoption beyond what previous technological shifts have experienced. That makes sense. The monetary barriers are so much lower when it’s free (at least in terms of licenses) to get started and scale something that developer time and curiosity might be the biggest obstacles to trying new things that aren’t being offered as part of a commercial software product.
Of course, DataStax hasn’t exactly hurt its own cause. The company maintains a free Community Edition of its Cassandra distribution that also includes a lightweight version of the company’s management software, and then it has the full-featured Enterprise package that’s prepackaged with Hadoop and Solr for search. Both of DataStax’s products received substantial upgrades as of Tuesday, coinciding with the release of Apache Cassandra 2.0.
But even though DataStax has raised a lot of money and landed some big-name users, Bosworth isn’t so blind as to declare victory over the database market. He thinks we’re in an era of “polyglot persistence” (which is the database version of polyglot programming) in which developers choose the right database for the right job. Based on how many companies are running Cassandra, a relational database, and even other NoSQL stores such as MongoDB or maybe HBase, he’s probably right.


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BOULDER, CA (BRAIN)—Girl Bike Love’s CycloFemme, a day celebrating women in cycling, is already catching on. A week after announcing the May 13 event, Girl Bike Love has registered two rides in Australia, two in the U.K., one in Berlin, German, and several across the U.S.
“Women have had a very strong tie with the bike since its inception. In the 1890s the bicycle was a form of independence, helping lead to the emancipation of women and the opportunity to wear pants,” said Sari Snyder, Girl Bike Love’s founder.
“For many women and young girls around the world, the bicycle is vital for safety, provides the opportunity to attend school, access to health care, and the possibility of economic independence. The bicycle is a vehicle for social change and we need more women leading that charge,” she added.
CycloFemme ride locations will be posted on cyclofem.me website, though Snyder encourages cyclists to celebrate Women’s Cycling Day any way they see fit. CycloFemme temporary tattoos will be available online, to be worn as a visual representation of support on May 13th. The tattoo depicts a woman as the bike.
“Several CycloFemme images are up on the site to download, and there is an image of the tattoo. I would really love to encourage bike shops to put an event together. The tattoos are $10 for 10 including shipping, and $15 for international. Proceeds benefit Mountain2Mountain,” Snyder added.
Cyclists wanting more information on CycloFemme can contact Snyder at email@example.com.


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In a recent publication, “Innovation in financial inclusion — Revenue growth through financial inclusion”, Ernst and Young validates the $200b revenue opportunity that Pngme has identified by providing an all-inclusive banking service to financially excluded individuals as well as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) using advanced mobile blockchain technology. These individuals and enterprises have remained largely ignored by traditional banks and FinTech companies due to the high cost of delivering financial services to the customer — thus rendering them an unprofitable target customer segment. This amounts to around 2.7b-3.5b individuals globally, of which 1.6b are fully unbanked. In addition, 200m MSMEs which have no access to banking services and are not financially included suffer from financially constrained growth.
These individuals have had help from financial initiatives which have been delivered through non-profits and NGOs such as the Gates Foundation for Financial Services for the Poor, however reach and distribution is limited. As a result, the gap between high-income (top of the financial pyramid) and low-income individuals (bottom of the financial pyramid) has continued to widen, aided by large amounts of quantitative easing over the past 10 years. This quantitative easing has provided low interest liquidity to the top of the financial pyramid (banks and wealthy individuals) and not to those in low-income groups and MSMEs at the bottom of the financial pyramid.
What is financial inclusion? Financial inclusion is the provision of affordable, accessible and relevant financial products to individuals and businesses that had previously not been able to access these products.
Individuals and businesses are constrained in their financial growth and development and require an all-inclusive banking experience delivered by Pngme to:
1. Smooth income trends
2. Obtain financing to grow businesses
3. Protect against natural and man-made disasters
4. To save for life events (births, weddings, funerals, house ownership)
Individuals and businesses are financially excluded due to the following primary factors:
1. Inadequate financial education
2. Geographic challenges
3. Cost of traditional financial products are too expensive (i.e. mobile money services such as M-PESA)
4. No credit history
Pngme solves these problems with its advanced mobile blockchain technology by delivering an all-inclusive banking experience that features payments, savings, and a digital credit score — exactly the financial infrastructure needed by those at the bottom of the financial pyramid to transact, access credit to grow their business, and save for emergencies or the future. The technology developed by Pngme significantly reduces the cost of servicing these customers and opens up a significant growth opportunity by serving customers directly through our mobile application. Pngme also partners with existing technology companies to provide an enterprise white label solution to serve large existing communities of financially excluded customers.
Ernst and Young reports that driving greater financial inclusion will not only generate sizable economic benefits — boosting gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 14% in large developing economies such as India and 30% in frontier markets, such as Kenya — but could also increase FinTech and traditional banking revenues by US$200b by delivering microfinance to financially excluded individuals and MSMEs.
Institutions that act now to increase financial inclusion will be well-placed to dominate retail and MSME banking in EMs (Emerging Markets) for years to come — EY, Innovation in financial inclusion
However, improving financial inclusion will be easier in some markets than others which is why Pngme is taking a highly targeted approach in reaching its target customer segments as well as partnering with existing regional technology companies which have engaged communities and existing customer bases.
If you would like to learn more about Pngme, you can register for early access to our mobile application by clicking here.


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The ‘Beyond Riverdale with Archie Comics’ panel during NYCC’s Metaverse brought news on upcoming comics releases.
Archie Comics announced several new comics projects today in conjunction with the virtual New York Comic Con, including a new partnership with the popular webcomics site Webtoon, a South Side Serpents one-shot and more details on the upcoming Riverdale: The Ties That Bind graphic novel.
The virtual version of the New York Comic Con, a.k.a. Metaverse, kicked off today, with virtual panels, exclusive merchandise and more. You can join in on the Metaverse website or on the New York Comic Con YouTube page, where all of today’s panels are available.
You can watch their panel in full below:
Continue reading “NYCC: Archie announces Line Webtoon deal, South Side Serpents comic”
New series from the IDW imprint features an amnesiac-for-hire.
IDW’s Black Crown imprint heads undercover for their latest limited series — Eve Stranger, the story of “a formidable young woman with unnatural abilities and a repeatedly wiped memory, available to the highest bidder under the threat of exploding nanobombs in her bloodstream.” Kind of like AEon Flux meets the Suicide Squad.
“Imagine if you were the best in the world at pretty much everything. Super-spy. Assassin. International rescue. The jobs nobody else can — or is willing to — take on. Now imagine if you couldn’t even remember that you saved the world last week, and that you have to do it all again today… or you’ll die. Welcome to the world of Eve Stranger,” said co-creator and writer David Barnett.
Continue reading “Black Crown uncovers ‘Eve Stranger’ from Barnett + Bond”
Artwork for ‘Assassinistas,’ ‘Kid Lobotomy’ and more revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Yesterday in San Diego Shelly Bond announced three more titles that’ll launch in a few months from her Black Crown imprint at IDW Publishing, joining the already-announced Kid Lobotomy. If you’re curious what those titles will look like, wonder no more and check out some art below.
Continue reading “Check out a bunch of covers from upcoming Black Crown titles”
New comics by Tini Howard, Gilbert Hernadez, David Barnett and Martin Simmonds, plus an anthology, set to debut after ‘Kid Lobotomy.’
When Shelly Bond’s Black Crown comics line was announced earlier this year, we were told “Black Crown” not only referred to the line’s name, but also to a pub that would anchor this shared, creator-owned universe. In April we found out that Kid Lobotomy will be the first Black Crown title, and now we know three more that will join it at the bar:
Continue reading “Shelly Bond’s Black Crown expands with three more titles”


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Let's take a more detailed take a look at Teeka's brand-new financial investment opportunity and how much cash you could make. About the "Game Changer" That Might Increase 1,530% by the End of 2021 Teeka and his group have actually identified a publicly-traded asset they believe will skyrocket by the end of the year. Teeka thinks his recommended property will rise as high as 1,530% by the end of this year.
Here's how Teeka teases the asset and its worth for investors: "The Workplace of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the primary bank regulator in the U.S., has actually just announced a significant change to our monetary system one that's set to set off a huge money shift into this ticker sign." Teeka claims to have actually invested a significant amount of his own money in this property that's how confident he has to do with the worth of the company: "I got numerous countless dollars from my personal bank account, And put everything in the opportunity I'll expose here today, Because I'm 100% positive this will be the most popular investment of 2021. first year." Teeka Tiwari is discussing bitcoin (BTC).
About the New OCC Banking Policy The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has revealed new cryptocurrency-related changes. Based on those changes, Teeka believes a certain publicly-traded possession will increase immensely over the coming months.
The brand-new rule modification is not a secret: the OCC just recently revealed modifications connected to cryptocurrency. The OCC's new guideline allows national banks to supply cryptocurrency custody services on behalf of customers. Much like banks keep money and other possessions for consumers, banks can now store cryptocurrencies. If a significant bank like Bank of America wished to launch its own crypto custody service, Bank of America could do that.
Teeka recommends taking 3 particular steps to benefit from the upcoming boom: Teeka thinks bitcoin will increase as high as 1,530% by the end of 2021, which would put its price above $650,000 USD per BTC. Due To The Fact That the Federal Reserve is getting ready for more stimulus, Teeka believes people will use that stimulus to buy more bitcoin. marketing campaign.
If Teeka is right, then one bitcoin will be worth $688,500 by the end of 2021, based on the February 2021 rate of around $45,000. Plainly, Teeka thinks bitcoin has a lot more space to grow, and that's why he suggests purchasing more bitcoin before March.
Teeka covers numerous properties, ranging from cryptocurrencies to blockchain stocks to tech stocks and more. Teeka has actually created a cryptocurrency course for beginners.
In this guide, Teeka describes blockchain companies he thinks will lead the way, contributing to the 295,000% rise in blockchain in the coming years. By investing in these companies today, financiers can supposedly earn massive returns. It's no trick that gold is a traditional investment. However, lots of financiers do not purchase gold the proper way.
Today, Teeka desires to share his knowledge with the world through The Palm Beach Letter and other newsletters. About Palm Beach Research Study Group Palm Beach Research Study Group is an investment advisory platform found online at . teeka claims investors. The company publishes a variety of email newsletters online covering various locations of investing, crypto investing, tech stocks, safe and aggressive financial investments, and more.
The New Banking Guideline Set to Affect 234 Million Americans is for The Palm Beach Letter research study. The Workplace of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the primary bank regulator in the U.S., has actually just announced a significant modification to our financial system. The majority of people will be captured by surprise, but the few who prepare now might come out of this wealthier than they ever thought possible.
Contents What's The New Banking Rule Set to Affect 234 Million Americans? The New Banking Rule Set to Impact 234 Million Americans is Teeka Tiwari's latest video presentation.
While daily folks are in the dark, the savviest financiers are investing unknown amounts of cash in this. He already put $183 million into this type of account.
Consider that You could have already more than doubled your money this year. recommended stocks. Not surprising that a current study released by Forbes Showed most of people who opened this kind of account said their monetary situation ENHANCED during the COVID pandemic. That's why Teeka Tiwari desires to reveal you precisely how to open this account.
You don't even require to go to your local bank or even talk with anyone. You can do everything online and you can start with as low as $100. However you do require to have an open mind since this is a fairly brand-new method of protecting and growing your wealth. market news.
Teeka exemplifies the American dream - story tips. Maturing in the foster care system in the UK, Teeka came to the United States at age 16 with just $150 in his pocket and the clothes on his back. By 18, he had actually ended up being the youngest staff member at Lehman Brothers. 2 years later on, he shattered conventions by becoming the youngest vice president in the history of Shearson Lehman.
Then, he "got greedy" (in his own words) and hung on for too long. Two years after losing whatever, Teeka rebuilt his wealth in the markets and went on to release a successful hedge fund.
And after months of research, this tech specialist finally found the company that lags this brand-new task. massive returns. This is all part of a $30 trillion pattern that's set to control this decade. However rush all the big players are currently getting in. For instance, Warren Buffett has actually already invested $15 billion in this trend and said he's all set to invest $15 billion more.
Huge banks now have a green light to open crypto operations. With the Fed printing trillions of dollars and the threat of inflation increasing by the day, there's no informing how high cryptos could go.
Simply just recently, a few of these cryptos are up as much as 1,862% 5,844% and even 9,000% And that's simply in one week. upcoming webinar. Just put, if you're losing out you might be cheating yourself out of the only chance you'll EVER have to turn a little stake into a fortune in the coming months and years.
You can see the turmoil it triggered in the chart below. These are the rates at which banks provide reserves to each other overnight and a key financing rate for the whole economy.
And as he alerted readers of our new e-letter, Postcards from the Fringe, the credit crunch we saw this week in the overnight repo market implies the Fed will be required to restart its "quantitative easing" (QE) program. Tom, For the last 3 months, I've been alerting about a lack of dollars in the market for short-term (one- to three-day) loans - anomaly window.
It's a digital variation of gold. The supply of bitcoin is limited to 21 million coins. And it takes real-world inputs in the form of electrical power to "mine" each new bitcoin. These qualities make gold and bitcoin far better stores of worth than the currencies federal governments can print out of thin air.
But as Teeka showed in his live crypto training last night, that rate is set to cut in half next year. This halving happens every four years - market news. And the last time it occurred, it sent out altcoins soaring as much as 283,150% 538,733% and even 2,089,900%. Now, Teeka discovered 5 coins he says might help you turn $500 into $5 million if you get in before the next halving occurs.
It should likewise be noted that they offer financial investment recommendations and guidance pointing financiers in the best instructions when it pertains to increasing earnings and growing your money. Introducing Teeka Tiwari's New Item: D1-z Earnings Stream To add to the list of items from the Palm Beach Research Study Group now comes D1-Z Income Streams.
The first obvious credentials depend on the numerous testimonials written there from people praising the system and mentioning how impressed they were that it works. hedge fund. According the details gathered, it appears that the stocks pointed out by D1-Z Earnings Streams have the potentially to make a specific $54,000 a year or more.
Together with it comes access to the Palm Beach Letter (this can likewise be purchased individually) - life webinar. What's likewise aid is that you receive a variety of other materials. These include 43 financial reports, books and videos all to the worth of $3,400.
Originally Published On: Do you ever think back to the Bitcoin fad of a few years back and envision what your life could have been like if you had put just a couple of dollars into that cryptocurrency? Teeka Tiwari's 5 Coins to $5 Million Jetinar occasion guarantees to give you all the tricks you need to get started in cryptocurrency investing - first year.
Read on to discover more about Teeka Tiwari and why you ought to attend his Jetinar later on this month. What Is Teeka Tiwari's 5 Coins to $5 Million Jetinar? Teeka Tiwari's 5 Coins to $5 Million Jetinar is a distinctive occasion in a variety of senses. For one thing, it's the first-ever webinar that will be hung on a jumbo jet a $45 million dollar Gulfstream G5.
During this jetinar, Teeka will be revealing his recommendations for the leading 5 cryptocurrency coins to buy this year. He says that 2020 will see a spike in cryptocurrency revenues that just takes place once every 4 years. Those who know how to invest well might get in on the ground flooring of an insane like the Bitcoin craze we saw back in 2016.
Back in September 2019, Teeka released his initial 5 Coins to $5 Million publication - united states. At the time, he provided his recommendations for five coins to invest in, but this webinar will use his updated recommendations.
He will be hosting the webinar while Teeka lets you in on the newest crypto secrets. Another utilized to be the head of a bank that handled $2 trillion in assets, and another is an early shareholder in a $1.
Why Is It Special? The guest list and the jumbo jet alone would suffice to make this jetinar special enough. No event like this has actually ever taken place before, and it would be worth viewing just for the star power. However the timing will also make this event more than worth your time.


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Exploring the joys of being black and “Pure Love”- how Pan-African womenswear designer, Ophelia Crossland is leveraging on Tech and authentic designs to celebrate black women
As Winston Mwale reports, the Pure Love Collection is available directly through the brand’s Flagship shop, its affiliate stockists and the new e-commerce website
Pan-African womenswear designer, Ophelia Crossland is well pleased to announce the launch of her ‘’Pure Love” Collection for the Spring and Summer fashion season.
Produced on the lines of an international pandemic and a lockdown that has affected the fashion industry and African enterprises , the titular womenswear brand with a luxury African aesthetic delved into her notion of unadulterated love to create the new line.
Nestled on the first floor of Sarah’s building, an iconic landmark on Ghana’s culturally-rich and retail district, Oxford Street in Osu, the brand which was founded by Ophelia Okyere-Darko, a then-graduate of the Vogue School of Style and Design where she was adjudged Best Graduating student in 2004, explores the fusion of Ghanaian folklore symbols, modern silhouettes, vibrant textiles and feminine designs to craft the pieces.
Okyere-Darko, a Swarovski West African Ambassador and a cultural Ambassador for her nation of Ghana with an abled team of artisans created building blocks with Ghanaian adinkra symbols including “Obaapa” which means ‘Good Woman or Wife’ in Akan, a popular Ghanaian dialect.
Launched at a time when discussions of women rights, Black rights and diversity have hit an all-time high , the new collection of fresh pieces celebrates the strength, resilience and joy of being a black woman in today’s world.
“Our world has changed drastically in the past few months, which has pushed us to think on the edge, questioned some of our truths and become more daring,” the award-winning Ophelia Okyere-Darko notes “Women including myself have mostly been affected by the disruptions that have occurred in the world; juggling several roles in their homes and careers which has taken a toll on their mental health.
“Our new collection is our bold way of infusing joy and love into the lives of Black women, we are sparking a never-ending affair with women and their clothes.”
Building on its renewed creative spirit, the brand shot their new lookbook at a time when the government of Ghana eased lockdown restrictions in parts of the country massively affected by the COVID-19.
Shot on the bustling streets of Osu RE, the lookbook, a creative collaboration between fashion photographers, Frozen Second and Mel Arthur brought the floaty, flattering, fresh, feminine Ophelia Crossland looks to life with some pieces inside the brand’s studio.
Models in matching face masks, the latest health and fashion accessories, swirled like swans in the new collection which introduces a wide array of antique gold prints, fine embroidery on cotton, lines and crepes on the gorgeous garments.
The selections du jour are everything from unique peach embroidered cotton tiered Midi dresses, Vintage cotton Kimonos, brocade panelled skirt and a floral crepe midi dress with a wax print collar.
As it explores a new path, the brand has also launched its e-commerce website in a continent where internet connectivity, electricity, delivery services and proper mapping system is an issue that affects business face but for an optimistic phelia Okyere-Darko, it creates the opportunity to conquer the obstacles and introduce her brand to every Modern Woman of Colour.
“As a black woman who is making clothes for my kilt and kin, I want their clothes to be an expression of their values and their ethnic identity but more than that I want everyone to have access to authentic Ophelia Crossland pieces which are inspired by the motherland and that’s why we launched a new e-commerce website like the top brands in the world to give everyone access,” she revealed
The Pure Love Collection is available directly through the brand’s Flagship shop, its affiliate stockists and the new e-commerce website.
For this African luxury womenswear brand, love is what the world needs in the era of racial injustice amidst the pandemic
“Love is radiant, charming and too beautiful to hidden in a closet just like our clothes,” she says.


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Chinese New Year (CNY) Market 2021 auctions were “less heated” than previous years, the head of Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) Vender Division Kam Chi Wai told reporters on Wednesday after the auctions for the incense and windmill booths in front of A-Ma Temple and Kun Iam Temple.
Kam made the remarks on the sidelines of Wednesday’s auctions at the Activity Centre of the Patane Municipal Market.
Kam noted that in previous years, a booth in front of A-Ma Temple cost over MOP 20,000. However, on Wednesday all the booths were auctioned off at their minimum price of MOP 5,000 and only two out of three booths in front of Kun Iam Temple were auctioned off for MOP 1,000 each. There were no bids for the third.
Kam said that this year fewer people took part in the auctions, adding that there was no competition for 10 booths outside A-Ma Temple, and therefore they were auctioned off at the minimum price.
According to a statement provided by the bureau during the auction, the upcoming CNY Market will have 24 dry goods booths, six flower booths and four cooked food booths in Praça do Tap Seac. The statement noted that the highest price last year was MOP 33,500 but the highest price on Wednesday was MOP 22,000.
Chu, a bidder who paid MOP 19,500 for a booth, said that last year she got her booth for MOP 27,000. She pointed out that last Chinese New Year, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the market was cut short and fewer people showed up. She also said that last Chinese New Year her customers were mainly locals so she was not too worried that there would be fewer people this year.
Macao’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed on 22 January, three days before Chinese New Year. The 2021 Chinese New Year falls on 12 February.
Chu said that this year she did not make a profit but she was hoping that by having a booth at the CNY market could help promote her store and convey a positive message to residents.


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On May 6 this year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standards Committee announced that GB18145-2014 “Ceramic Sheet Sealing Faucet” will replace the original standard GB 18145-2003 “Ceramic Sheet Sealing Faucet”. The standard will be released on December 2014. Officially implemented on the 1st. At present, the implementation of the new national standard has entered the countdown stage. Recently, the reporter learned that the National Building Materials Industry Construction Hardware Plumbing Product Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center and the China National Construction Union Trust Certification Center will implement the “ceramic plate sealing faucet metal “Pollutant Emission Limit Certification” work. This certification may become the “3C” certification for faucet products.
On July 14, 2013, the report on the “Lead Shadow of the Faucet” in the “One Seventh” column of Shanghai TV Station was exposed: Shanghai East China University of Science and Technology conducted a 32-hour experiment on 13 faucet samples and found that 9 of them The lead content of the faucet soaking water of this brand exceeds the national standard. The incident not only caused great concern in the industry, but also caused panic among consumers. For a time, the issue of heavy metal content in faucets became a hot spot.
After nearly a year of turmoil in the incident, the faucet standard known as “the most stringent in history”-GB18145-2014 “Ceramic Seal Faucet Standard” was announced amidst the calls. Different from the current implementation of GB18145-2003 “Ceramic Sealing Sheet Faucet Standard”, the prescribed limit for lead precipitation in faucets is only a recommended standard, which is not mandatory and is not legally binding on enterprises. 17 metal pollutants such as arsenic, manganese, mercury, etc., are precipitated with prescribed limits and are regarded as strong clauses.
“Certificate of metal pollutant precipitation limit for ceramic sheet sealing faucet” is the first certification work for the new national standard of faucet. According to industry insiders, its core value is that the certification is scientific, fair and objective through a prestigious institution or organization. An authoritative result obtained later can reduce the burden of repeated certification and testing of enterprises, promote industrial upgrading and eliminate backward production processes. “Certificate of metal pollutant precipitation limit for ceramic sheet sealing faucet” may play the role of “3C certification in sanitary ware industry” in the future and become the market access certificate for faucet products.
It is reported that the “Certificate of Limits of Metal Pollutants Precipitation in Ceramic Sheet Sealing Faucets” has been launched, and many companies have voluntarily applied for certification. According to insiders, the National Building Materials Industry Building Hardware Plumbing Products Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center and the China National Construction Union Trust Certification Center selected a number of outstanding domestic and foreign brands to carry out this certification. After strict testing and certification, it is expected that the number of the first batch of certified companies will not exceed 15, and the first batch of certified companies will be announced in December. Brands such as TOTO, Kohler, Roca, Jiumu, Zhongyu, and Huihuang have been in the first batch of certified lists.


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SAN DIEGO – Sorrento Valley fintech institution Vervent has struck a deal to receive $180 million in funding from global investment firm Castlelake L.P. to finance origination for its credit card programs. Castlelake – which manages $22 billion in real assets, specialty finance and aviation assets – will help support Vervent’s Revvi, Total Card and First Access unsecured credit card affiliates.
“This funding will allow us to offer more valuable card products to consumers who really need them,” Vervent SVP Marketing & Business Development Blythe Lawton wrote to the Business Journal. “Non-prime consumers are being bombarded with offers for various forms of credit. Personal loan companies, payday lenders, pawn shops, check cashing centers and other similar types of lenders are vying for the attention of the same consumer. Our offerings to these consumers are superior in many ways.”
Vervent, Lawton explained, reports customers’ repayment history regularly to credit reporting agencies, allowing customers to build credit and establish a pathway to securing additional credit offers in the future.
“We offer rewards programs to incentivize consumers for building good habits in repayment of their obligations. We provide credit monitoring services so that consumers can actually keep track of their credit scores and credit reports. We offer much greater utility with the advantages present in a credit card as compared to these other lending vehicles,” she added.
Minneapolis-based Castlelake has invested more than $4 billion in asset-based private credit and originated or acquired more than 17 million consumer receivable accounts since 2015.
“Castlelake is pleased to continue supporting Vervent’s efforts to provide access to high-quality non-prime credit card programs,” said John Lundquist, Partner, Specialty Finance at Castlelake. “Further, we believe this transaction enables our investors to gain interesting exposure to the sizable consumer credit opportunity set.” Lawton added, “Many consumers understand the value proposition as compared to these other types of financial products, and this funding will help us to support the demand that exists and give consumers what we feel is a much better option than some of the competing loan types referenced.”
In addition to its credit card programs and servicing, Vervent specializes in loan and lease servicing, backup/capital markets services and managed services. Roughly 600 of the company’s 1,500-person team are based locally.
“Notable partners we can disclose include KCD PR, Vista Printing, Proxim, along with many others,” shared Lawton. “We continue to expand and reinvest in our business as well as seek partnership and acquisition opportunities that will help us continue to be stronger and offer best-in-class financial services across the consumer and B2B segments.”
Last year, Vervent announced the acquisition of Smiles on Demand, a high-performance BPO organization in the Philippines. The year before, the company acquired First Equity Card Corporation. “Only time will tell, but in five years we believe Vervent will have achieved 3-10x growth, greater global expansion and will be offering more consumers and businesses quality financial services,” Lawton added.
FOUNDED: 2008 as First Associates
FOUNDER & CEO: David Johnson
HEADQUARTERS: Sorrento Valley
EMPLOYEES: 600 local, 1500 total
NOTABLE: Vervent was voted as one of the nine best workplaces in San Diego by Comparably.


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Entries in 'PlayStation Mobile' (4)
Sony is to terminate the PlayStation Mobile service on Vita in the summer.
Support for the Android portion of PlayStation Mobile is to end, Sony has confirmed.
Sony has announced that India will be among 12 countries to be included in the PlayStation Mobile Developer Program starting May.
Remember PlayStation Mobile? Sony suddenly seems to have, and has announced a brand new games offer for the platform.


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PAMEX 2023 will be led by the torch-bearers of convergence in printing industry!
PAMEX 2023 is all set to open its doors at Bombay Exhibition Centre from March 27-30, 2023. The show organized by All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP), in association with Print-Packaging.com Private Limited will feature more than 400 exhibitors from the Print, Label,Converting, Flexible Packaging and Corrugation Industry.
PAMEX has seen an unprecedented growth in terms of the number of exhibitors, net area and the footfall from all over India,over the last few years. The 2023 edition of the show is 25% bigger than the last edition, which was held immediately before the pandemic. Themed around ‘Convergence in Print’, the event will showcase several products and solutions that have been produced out of overlapping technologies and discovering new businesses based on convergence.
‘Gateway to the Gods’ – the final stop of the road show !
The PAMEX roadshows carried the theme of Convergence to six flourishing cities across the country over last five months, with the final destination being Haridwar, the industrial hub that is served by several printing and packaging companies. The promotional road show, held on March 3,2023 at Yashail Hotel, saw attendance of more than 125 delegates.
Precursor to the main event, the event at Haridwar gave a final push to the efforts PAMEX has been putting in gathering local printers and educating them about the pros and cons of adopting Convergence as a strategy in their businesses.
The event was enlivened by the presence of the very enthusiastic personality from the printing industry – Prof. Kamal Chopra who is the Past President of All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP) and also the General Secretary of Offset Printers Association (OPA). “For a printer or an association, visiting trade expo is very important. It is the best source of information on what is trending, what will the future be and where we are heading. Every printer faces a different challenge, it is not the same game for everyone. So, we all need to understand where we are lacking and work on those areas,” he said addressing the audience.
Kamal Chopra was joined by Nitin Narula, Vice President North, AIFMP; Tushar Dhote, Co-Charmain, Pamex, AIFMP; Raanu Bisht Oberoi, President, Devbhoomi Printers & Publishers Association; Rakesh Shethi, President, Saharanpur Offset Printers Association; Rajesh Rawat, Chairman, Bhagwanpur Industries Association; Ketan Bhardwaj, Chairman, Roorkee Small Scale Industrial Association and Anil Arora, President, Print-Packaging.Com (P) Ltd., for the inaugural ceremony at Haridwar.
Panel discussion…Ashutosh Tripathi, National Centre for Flexible Electronics, IIT Kanpur who had shared a technology presentation at Bangalore event, moderated the panel discussion at Haridwar. Themed around “Convergence in Print- The Way Forward!”, the discussion was joined by expert panellists including Sanjeev Sondhi, Zircon Technologies (India) Limited; Arvind Singhal, Square Vision India Private Limited; Nitin Sharma, Ekta Graphics & Printing Solutions; Amitabh Luthra, Printers Supply Co Private Limited and Ashutosh Tripathi, National Centre for Flexible Electronics, IIT Kanpur. The discussion started with a relative gist of Convergence given by Ashutosh, “Haridwar lies along the Ganga- which is formed with the Convergence of two rivers –Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi.” He further added, “In terms of technology, convergence is the merger of two or more stand-alone technologies resulting in new values, new features and even new business.”
During pandemic, many companies explored other verticals of business and that brought an upsurge in Convergence. Sharing his experience, Sanjeev Sondhi said, “I feel that keeping the trunk of the tree safe, means keeping your base business same, you can still apply convergence by adding more elements of technology to your current business. For example, keeping our basic printing business intact, we looked at multifaced converting options during pandemic. We moved from labels to metallised printing for enhancement and also explored high secured printing to avoid counterfeiting. The vision of the future is important. Today our new products are doing much better than the old ones.”
The technology presentation by Pawandeep Sahni from OMET India has been one of the highlights of all the road shows held by PAMEX. “If the convergence is applied in the process that you are already well versed with, it is easy to adopt and analyse results. However, if there is a shift of form, material or solution – the learning and understanding of new process is important before the convergence is applied,” he said.
Ashutosh Tripathi, National Centre for Flexible Electronics, IIT Kanpur then took over the dais to talk about the importance of Printed Electronics in these times. “Though the concept of printed electronics is not new, there is a lot of potential in the Indian market. They add value to your product and process with automation, enhance displays, produce decorative and smart packaging,” he stated.
Surya Lamba, FUJIFILM, shared his presentation on ‘Process Optimisation’, where he spoke about the role and expectation from plates in printing and packaging. “Consistency, accuracy, quality & quick output, less chemical wastage, higher productivity and better for environment are some of the requirements from the industry, which need to be met when it comes to the technology we adapt for plates,” he said.
PAMEX roadshow @ Bengaluru ‘converged’ with Printers’ Day to make a gala event
It was a festive atmosphere at the FKCCI Auditorium in Bengaluru for the penultimate PAMEX roadshow on 24 February that also happened to be the Printers’ Day. Nearly 200 delegates from Davangere, Hassan, Malanad, Tumkur, Udupi and Vijaypur Districts were greeted by the KSPA team over breakfast. The delegates then made a beeline for the tabletop exhibition before filling up the auditorium for the start of the inaugural session where they were also joined by the local delegates from Bengaluru making it among the most well attended event in the series of Roadshows to promote PAMEX 2023.
The Panel Discussion at the conference was moderated by Amitabh Luthra, Printers Supply Co Private Limited, who started the discussion giving a brief on how Convergence is clearly visible in all stages of printing. “Whether it is the software used in pre-press, printing machines which have inline finishing options, the possibility of printing on various substrates, convergence in label printing processes and now even in cartons,” he said. The panellists at the session, Gopi Ballarwad, iTekPackz LLP; Denver Annunciation, Janus International; Suresh Srinivasan, Kamsri Printing & Packaging Private Limited and C. N. Ashok, Autoprint Machinery Mfrs. Private Limited, then shared their success stories around – ‘Convergence in Print-The Way Forward.’


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9am Update: Renault is reviewing its media planning and buying account, including sister brand Nissan, and is planning to consolidate the business into one agency for the first time. The Renault business is currently handled by Carat, while OMD Group holds the Nissan account across the region.
The incumbent agencies are expected to repitch for the accounts but it is not known which other agencies have been approached. It is understood that the review has been called because its contracts with the existing agencies are coming to an end.
The Renault media business is worth an estimated £350m across Europe and £40m in the UK. Nissan’s UK media spend is £20m, according to Nielsen data. It is not thought that North America will be included in the process.
Renault was unable to confirm the review, although sources close to the company suggest consolidation is “more than likely”.


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A recent report from the Intercept reveals that internal documents show that Amazon is aware that many of its workers have been forced to urinate in bottles despite recent public denials by the company that such events ever took place.
Breitbart News reported yesterday that e-commerce giant Amazon has begun a new tactic in its PR battle against stories of its extreme workplace conditions, now just outright denying many previously documented issues.
In a reply to a tweet from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) who complained about the firm’s union-busting tactics and that some of its workers were forced to “urinate in water bottles,” Amazon’s Twitter account responded: “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us.”
Many were quick to point out that the situation has been well documented in the past:
— Will Evans (@willCIR) March 25, 2021
Now, the Intercept reports that internal documents show that Amazon executives are well aware of the issue and have acknowledged it internally.
The Intercept writes:
One document from January, marked “Amazon Confidential,” details various infractions by Amazon employees, including “public urination” and “public defecation.” The document was provided to The Intercept by an Amazon employee in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who, like most of the employees I talked to, was granted anonymity to avoid professional reprisal
The employee also provided an email sent by an Amazon logistics area manager last May that chastised employees for defecating into bags. “This evening, an associate discovered human feces in an Amazon bag that was returned to station by a driver. This is the 3rd occasion in the last 2 months when bags have been returned to station with poop inside. We understand that DA’s [driver associates] may have emergencies while on-road, and especially during Covid, DAs have struggled to find bathrooms while delivering.”
“We’ve noticed an uptick recently of all kinds of unsanitary garbage being left inside bags: used masks, gloves, bottles of urine,” the email continues. “By scanning the QR code on the bag, we can easily identify the DA who was in possession of the bag last. These behaviors are unacceptable, and will result in Tier 1 Infractions going forward. Please communicate this message to your drivers. I know if may seem obvious, or like something you shouldn’t need to coach, but please be explicit when communicating the message that they CANNOT poop, or leave bottles of urine inside bags.”
One former Amazon delivery driver, Halie Marie Brown, told The Intercept that the practice “happens because we are literally implicitly forced to do so, otherwise we will end up losing our jobs for too many ‘undelivered packages.’”
An email that Brown previously received from her former manager in August stated: “In the morning, you must check your van thoroughly for garbage and urine bottle. If you find urine bottle (s) please report to your lead, supporting staff or me. Vans will be inspected by Amazon during debrief, if urine bottle (s) are found, you will be issue an infraction tier 1 for immediate offboarding.”
Amazon does prohibit the practice and refers to it as a “Tier 1″ infraction, which employees have stated can lead to termination but delivery drivers state that this is disingenuous as they are unable to meet their quotes otherwise. One Amazon delivery employee based in Massachusetts stated: “They give us 30 minutes of paid breaks, but you will not finish your work if you take it, no matter how fast you are.”
When asked if managed had been more lenient on quotas after discovering that employees were being forced to urinate and defecate in their delivery vans, Brown responded: “Not at all. In fact, over the course of my time there, our package and stop counts actually increased substantially.”
Read more at the Intercept here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address firstname.lastname@example.org


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Google is rolling out a new feature to enable users to connect music streaming service Spotify to the Google Clock app and wake up to their favourite playlists and songs.
“This works for both free and premium Spotify users. You can browse recently played music, choose from Spotify’s curated morning playlists or search for a specific soundtrack,” Rui Song, Product Manager, Pixel Essential Apps, Google, wrote in a blog post late on Tuesday.
To avail this feature, the latest versions of Spotify and Clock apps should be installed on user’s devices.
“This feature will be rolling out globally this week on the Play Store and will be available on all devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop and above,” Song added.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Monday proposed measures to counter the dominant market positions of Google and Facebook and strengthen monitoring on their access to information, advertising and consumers personal data.
The regulatory body, which recommended 11 preliminary measures in the report, was directed to conduct a public inquiry into the impact of digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content in 2017 by then treasurer and current Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“Acting as an intermediary between consumers and news outlets, platforms are inherently influential in shaping consumers’ choices of digital journalism,” said the report cited by Efe news.
This influential position and filtration of news items could place the consumer in a so-called filter bubble, increasing the risk of consumers being exposed to unreliable news, according to the report.
“The algorithms operated by each of Google and Facebook, as well as other policies, determine which content is surfaced and displayed to consumers in news feed and search results,” it said.
“The ACCC considers that the strong market position of digital platforms like Google and Facebook justifies a greater level of regulatory oversight,” Chair Rod Sims said.
The commission called for the creation of a regulatory authority with powers to monitor these digital platforms and recommended establishing an automatic mechanism to take down content that violates copyright.
The ACCC said consumers should be informed about the manner in which these platforms collect and use their data to create personalized advertising.
This would include a reform of privacy laws to require the user’s express consent to data collection and “enable consumers to require erasure of their personal information where they have withdrawn their consent”.


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We’ve known for months already that Microsoft’s Xbox One would require a system update at launch, yet the Day One patch now seems to be a fresh source of outrage.
As the flood of new headlines point out, the patch will not be optional, as if it ever was. That’s all thanks to Microsoft senior director of product management Albert Penello, who told Engadget that “Functionally, you will be able to do very little without taking the Day One update.”
Penello then clarified that Xbox One owners would be able to do “nothing” without the update.
It shouldn't be a surprise
Before you work yourself into a lather, please understand that Microsoft has been saying since June that the update would be required. “You have to get that downloaded, and you won’t have to connect online after that,” Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten said to Joystiq at the time.
Among other things that aren’t news but are worth knowing: The Day One patch is not the result of Microsoft’s reversal of DRM policies , and it was always planned according to Kotaku. And as IGN reported in September, the patch should take about 15 or 20 minutes for most users to download.
If you want to split hairs, you could argue Microsoft never spelled out that the Xbox One won’t function without the initial patch. At the same time, Microsoft never said that the patch would only be required for certain functions, rather than general operation. This is a pointless argument.
The one thing we really don’t know, and won’t know until the Xbox One’s November 22 launch, is whether Microsoft is prepared to handle the initial load, so that those 15 or 20 minutes don’t turn into hours. The same goes for Sony, whose PS4 requires a Day One update for some, but not all, features. We’ve certainly seen enough botched online launches to have our confidence shaken. If the Day One patch results in endless waiting and frustration, then that’ll be a story worth getting worked up about.
Try the Xbox One out right now
In a related topic, starting today, you can go to your local Microsoft retail store (if you have one) and try out the Xbox One (assuming the consoles in the stores are updated, that is.) The Xbox One officially goes on sale on Nov. 22.
This story, "Yup, the Xbox One still requires a launch day patch" was originally published by TechHive.


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There is a rickshaw garage in the city's Banglamotor. Around 22 rickshaws were found locked in the garage on Saturday. Several rickshaw pullers said many are unwilling to pull rickshaws as the number of trips has dropped drastically.
"It has become difficult to earn from Tk200-Tk250 by pulling rickshaws for the whole day. However, it was easy to earn between Tk600 and Tk700 daily in a normal situation," said rickshaw puller Md Kamrul.
Rickshaw-van pullers face a similar situation. A number of van pullers, who used to carry items from and to offices and homes, were seen spending time near Dainik Bangla water tank in conversation.
Their work has declined due to the corona outbreak.
Workers used to wait every morning at different spots in the city, including Banglamotor, Dainik Bangla, Motijheel and Rampura in expectations of being hired for various kinds of work, including construction, electric work and painting.
But the situation has changed. They have not been gathering at those places for the last few days.
Ariful Islam, a tea vendor near Rampura television centre, where workers used to gather every morning, said they had not appeared there for the last two or three days because they have no jobs. And many of them have, meanwhile, left the capital for their village homes.
Similarly, people who are dependent on daily wages in different slum areas in the capital are not getting work as employment opportunities have shrunk due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, lower income people are confronted with hard times.
The market situation is however different. Dishonest traders have been increasing the prices of such essentials as rice, lentils, onions and eggs every day. This has created pressure on the lower income people.
Shafiq Mia, a resident of Rampur Bagichartek slum, said, "I carry goods on my van. I did not get a single trip during the last one week. Four members of my family are dependent on my income. Now it has become difficult for us to manage our meals."
According to a 2014 census by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, there are 1,639 slums under Dhaka North City Corporation and 1,755 under Dhaka South City Corporation, where more than 1.5 lakh people live.
These people are facing serious difficulties as their income has deceased and cost of living has gone up significantly.
Ghulam Rahman, president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh, told The Business Standard, "More OMS programmes should be undertaken now. Prices of rice and flour should be brought down, if necessary. The government has to take such programmes which will benefit all in this time of pandemic."
In reality, open market sales (OMS) of rice and flour by the Directorate General of Food are going on half-heartedly. The dealers are selling flour but they are not collecting rice. Now a kg of coarse rice is selling for more than Tk40.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said at a recent press conference, "Dealers have been directed to sell rice." But in reality the dealers are not selling OMS rice.
The government sells rice at Tk30 per kg and flour at Tk18.
Food Secretary Dr Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum told The Business Standard, "We have directed the dealers to collect rice and they have been doing it. We have intensified the monitoring so that the rice is not sold in the black market."
She further said the authorities are taking preparations so that assistance can be extended if garment factories are closed for some reasons in this time of the corona pandemic as also for those working on a daily basis need help.
According to data from the food ministry, the government has a stock of 14.29 lakh tonnes of rice and 3.22 lakh tonnes of wheat as of March 15.
Besides, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) sells lentils for Tk50 a kg, soybean oil at Tk80, onions at Tk35 and sugar at 50 on trucks at 50 points in the capital.
TCS has been selling these essentials at 350 points across the country.


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Barnes & Noble NOOK app for Android has been updated this week with tons of improvements. Hot off the release of their new NOOK HD and HD+ tablets their apps are now going to support multiple new languages, as well as full support for the UK. The app also works with many new iDevices but we'll talk about Android here since that's all that matters.
Kindle products will now be in less brick-and-mortar stores starting today. In a move that would oust retail competitors like Amazon from their stores, Wal-mart has stopped selling all Amazon Kindle ereaders and tablets. No longer will you be able to try out Amazon's offerings of slates at one of the largest retail stores in the US.
Kobo Arc may be your solution. The company announced the Arc tablet earlier this month and now it has announced that it will be hitting store shelves in November. The Arc will support up to 64GB of storage, which is quite a lot of storage for such a small tablet. While you could easily match that with your Nook Tablet using an SD card, the Kobo Arc is one of the few e-readers that comes packing with 64GB of built-in storage.
gift of books. Google's Play Store (Android Market) Books are now available for those in France as they continue their rollout to European markets.
Kobo is making a case for itself with the fourth version of its Android e-reader app, available today in the Google Play Store. Like its counterparts, you don't need a Kobo device to use the app - it's good to go on any Android smartphone or tablet.
reported on yesterday, and will be amazing in the dark.
Nook Simple Touch doesn't get enough love - it's a portable, long-lasting touch sensitive e-reader for a hundred bucks. Oh, and it runs Android, with an active community of ROMs and mods behind it. And according to some leaked material from manufacturer Barnes and Noble, its one weakness may soon be put to rest. The Digital Reader found a pamphlet for a new version of the Nook Simple Touch, with an integrated "Glowlight" - a front-mounted LED that lights up the black and white e-ink screen at night. These styles of screen lights used to be all the rage in the days of black and white phones and Palm Pilots.


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Bar Louie files bankruptcy, closes 1 Michigan location
Gastropub chain Bar Louie announced it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed more than 30 underperforming locations, including at least one in Michigan.
Several locations of the Texas-based chain abruptly closed last weekend, The Nation's Restaurant News reported. It appears that only one Michigan location, near Flint, is among those that closed.
The company also is putting itself up for sale, agreeing to allow its lender to purchase them.
According to Bar Louie, it has closed underperforming locations and has commitments from lenders for “debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing."
The financing, Bar Louie said in a statement, allows it to continue operating. The company expects to emerge from bankruptcy.
"Bar Louie is a profitable business focused on long-term growth with new investors. The sale through Chapter 11 will help us to focus on our profitable core locations and expand in areas that have a proven track record of success," said CEO Tom Fricke.
A search on the company's website revealed locations in Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Clinton Township, Dearborn, Livonia, Novi, Rochester Hills and Royal Oak. On the website, a location at Genesee Valley Center in Flint Township was shown as permanently closed.
Bar Louie in Royal Oak opened in March 2019 and is a franchise location that is locally owned. Managing partner Chad Apap said its location is not impacted by the bankruptcy filing. Calls to other locations were referred to corporate offices.
According to a Facebook post, the Flint Township location's last day of service was last Saturday.
While many commenters on the Facebook post said they were sorry to see the location close, plenty pounced on Bar Louie for not giving its employees notice and abruptly shutting down.
One comment from a worker's parent said they found out when they reported for work the next day and found a note on the door saying the restaurant was closed.
Bar Louie’s menu has a mix of craft burgers, salads, bar bites appetizers and main dishes. The chain was founded in 2009.
Contact Susan Selasky: 313-222-6872 or email@example.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.


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Apple-Led Patent Corp Sues Google, Samsung, Others
Rockstar, a patent consortium jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson, and Sony, has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Google, Samsung, Huawei, and HTC. Rockstar alleges that the companies are violating its patents. Google, in particular, stands accused of infringing on seven different patents that pertain to internet search terms and advertising. Specific details about Samsung, HTC, and Huawei's infringements weren't immediately specified. Rockstar is seeking damages from Google, which it says is violating the patents willfully. Rockstar is a group of companies that together purchased thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel. The firms spent a total of $4.5 billion on the patents. Google and others attempted to buy the same patents won by Rockstar. "Despite losing in its attempt to acquire the patents-in-suit at auction, Google has infringed and continues to infringe," read a portion of the lawsuit.
Google Expands Enterprise Recommendation Program to More Phones
Google today said more phone makers now part of its Android Enterprise Recommended program. The Android Enterprise Recommended program, which was launched in February of this year, "establishes best practices and common requirements for devices and services, backed by a thorough testing process conducted by Google." In order to qualify, devices have to meet a number of specifications concerning their hardware, deployment, security updates, and user help programs.
3GPP Approves Spec for Standalone 5G New Radio
The 3GPP today ratified another piece of the 5G specification, termed the Standalone 5G New Radio, or SA 5G NR. This spec is for 5G networks that are developed on their own, apart from legacy or pre-existing networks.
AT&T-Run FirstNet More Generally Available to First Responders
AT&T today said fire, medical, police, and other first responders now have more access to its FirstNet network. FirstNet has been available for purchase by agencies, but hasn't been directly sold in stores.
Google Releases Android P Beta 2 with Final APIs
Google today made Android P Beta 2 available to developers. Importantly, Google says this beta includes the final Android P APIs (level 28) and the official SDK, which means developers have what they need to customize their apps for the new features in Android P.
Pretty Serious Accusation.
I believe Google's withdrawal from the bid for Nortel, has placed Google in a position where a counter-sue is forbidden in this case. This certainly does not help Google and almost seems imminent that Google will need to pay up if found guilty.
However, if memory serves correctly, the consortium of Apple, Microsoft and the others (now known as Rockstar), felll under extreme review that this group could unfairly be used as an anti-competitive, anti-trust advantage. This leads to my next thought.
While I'm not sure what legalities will transpire, consumers most definitely have the most to lose if this lawsuit prevails. Google makes money off advertising and a high percentage of consum...
what a waste
first Google attack


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ProfitTime 2.0 Offers Superior Investment Management Power
It was a big step for the industry when vAuto officially launched ProfitTime two years ago. For the first time, dealers had the ability to know the investment value of every used vehicle in their inventories.
Regular readers will recall the stories of how ProfitTime dealers reversed a trend of net profit declines in used vehicles as they understood what it meant to own and retail a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum investment. ProfitTime dealers saw gross profits and sales volumes improve.
Today, we are on the cusp of another big step to help dealers manage their used vehicle investments. Our developers are putting the finishing touches on ProfitTime 2.0, a new system that makes it easier for dealers to implement an investment value-based management strategy. Whereas ProfitTime helped dealers know the investment value of each vehicle, ProfitTime 2.0 helps dealers apply these insights easily and efficiently to ensure every used vehicle delivers its optimal investment return.
We’ve seen how effective ProfitTime proved to be for dealers through much of 2020. Because they understood each vehicle’s investment value, ProfitTime dealers were selling cars just as fast as other dealers, but they were selling them smarter, with a clearer eye on each individual vehicle’s investment value.
ProfitTime dealers knew the cars that needed to move quickly, and the ones that could and should command a big gross profit. ProfitTime dealers weren’t trying to manufacture a gross opportunity where it didn’t exist. They weren’t giving away cars that could have grossed more.
I suspect 2021 will bring its share of ups and downs in used vehicles. I’m excited that ProfitTime 2.0 will be there to help dealers optimize their used vehicle investments, no matter which way the market moves.
If you want to be among the first to learn more about ProfitTime 2.0, you can register here.


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Over the last few months, we have heard it said again and again, “we are living in unprecedented times.” Manufacturers worried about the economy are juggling keeping employees safe and keeping essential production running. One survey from the National Association of Manufacturers showed, in early March, more than 50 percent of manufacturers anticipated a change in operations due to COVID-19 and 35.5 percent were already facing supply chain disruptions.
For manufacturers supplying critical products and equipment, supply chain disruptions are particularly worrisome. Dun and Brad Street reported that at least 51,000 companies globally have one or more direct suppliers in Wuhan, and at least 5 million companies around the world have one or more tier-two suppliers in the Wuhan region. As COVID-19 spread across the globe, more countries impacted by it are creating disruptions to the supply chains for US manufacturers.
It will likely be a while before global supply chains are back to what they once were. Working with domestic manufacturers will help you minimize supply chain disruption. KTK Thermal Technologies’ custom thermal product and technologies have always been made in America.
KTK is considered an essential manufacturer, supplying thermal solutions for the medial and defense industries, and is fully operational. If you are currently struggling with your supply of heat sinks, cold plates, heat frames and chassis, heat pipes, or other thermal solutions, let’s talk to see how we can help.