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Four businesses owned by students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were awarded a total of $30,000 in seed funds in the spring 2021 Boyd Venture Challenge. The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the university’s Haslam College of Business hosts the annual grant competition.
Start-up companies Arid Delivery Products, the Sleepy Owl Company, BusiCard, and Fluffy Friends for Children with Chronic Conditions were chosen as winners in the competition, which was conducted virtually at the end of spring semester. The awards ceremony was held in person on June 3.
Clay Franklin, a junior finance major from Franklin, Tennessee, founded Arid Delivery Products because of a fundamental disconnect he observed in the food delivery industry.
“As a Grubhub delivery driver, I know that on-demand food delivery apps are technology companies, not customer service companies,” Franklin said. “Consequently, consumers are forced to sacrifice quality for convenience. I knew there was a solution, so I am creating a product that keeps food hot and moisture-free throughout transit.”
The company was awarded $10,000 in start-up capital.
“Through funding, we will be able to create, iterate, and finalize our prototype. We can then manufacture at scale and begin changing the food delivery space for the better,” Franklin said. “The release of the Arid Delivery Bag will be an upheaval of the current on-demand food delivery process. It will transform the perception of food delivery quality and enhance customer enjoyment.”
“Early-stage funding is challenging, even when the entrepreneur has identified a real market need,” said Tom Graves, competition director and operations director for the Anderson Center. “The Boyd Venture Challenge creates an opportunity for our aspiring student entrepreneurs to overcome this hurdle and achieve the next important milestones in their business success.”
The Sleepy Owl Company also was awarded $10,000. The online publishing company was founded by Mekal Smith, a master’s student in accountancy–taxation from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Sleepy Owl Company was inspired by the untimely death of Smith’s best friend. “He loved writing short stories and manuscripts,” Smith said. “His stories were so detailed that I wished I could see a visual representation of what he wrote on his pages. The idea for the Sleepy Owl Company was created to allow authors access to a platform that would grant the author the ability to write a story or upload completed stories and attach digital media to the words of that story.”
Sleepy Owl gives the author or content creator the ability to attach digital media to the words of their story or instructions through a process called D.R.E.A.M.—Digital Recordings of Enjoyable Acquired Moments. “The award money will propel the Sleepy Owl company toward acquiring a patent for the D.R.E.A.M. concept and also will allow us to acquire Amazon web services to make the platform more innovative,” Smith said.
BusiCard, a user-friendly mobile application that eliminates the need for paper business cards and allows the user to store and sort business card information on their phone, was awarded $5,000. Jonathan Henry, a senior from Williamsburg, Virginia, with a major in finance and concentration in international business, and Tiho Nikolic, a junior from La Vergne, Tennessee, with a double major in finance and marketing with a concentration in international business, co-founded the app.
“We saw the perfect opportunity to enhance business networking, and we want to leave our mark on the professional world,” Nikolic said. “The Boyd Venture Challenge competition has allowed us to further expand on our business’s plans and strategies. The award money will help us move forward with bettering our product and getting it to consumers. BusiCard takes away the pains of managing physical business cards by offering a full-service contact management solution.”
Fluffy Friends for Children with Chronic Conditions also received $5,000. Founded by Allison Campbell, who was a pediatric chronic illness patient, the company is working toward a world in which all patients living with a lifelong illness feel safe and secure. Campbell, a senior from Knoxville, is majoring in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology.
“Up to 40 percent of chronically ill children develop some form of PTSD,” Campbell said. “I wanted to comfort children with a fluffy friend with a matching diagnosis so they would never feel they were fighting their battle alone.”
“Early-stage funding is challenging, even when the entrepreneur has identified a real market need. The Boyd Venture Challenge creates an opportunity for our aspiring student entrepreneurs to overcome this hurdle and achieve the next important milestones in their business success,” said Tom Graves, competition director and operations director for the Anderson Center.
Fluffy Friends for Children with Chronic Conditions is a registered nonprofit agency that provides hospitalized children with teddy bears holding a symbol of their matching diagnosis in a hidden pocket.
“This business strives to foster healthy psychological development in children who have experienced traumatic medical episodes and to serve this patient population that is often overlooked,” Campbell said. Fluffy Friends are intended to prevent medically induced post-traumatic stress disorder, provide an age-appropriate method of introducing children to their diagnosis, and circumvent the barriers caused by related stigmas that prevent such children from being comforted.
Graves continues to be impressed by the student-owned companies to which the judges award funds. “Their products are innovative and, in a classic entrepreneurial approach, were envisioned and developed to solve a need the student personally experienced,” Graves said. “Their passion in addressing the need and bringing the business to life is rewarding to see.”
The Boyd Venture Challenge is open to UT undergraduate and graduate students from any field of study that have a legally established corporation, LLC, or partnership with a federal tax ID. Since the fund’s inception in 2011, 44 student-owned companies have been awarded a total of $472,000 in seed capital to advance their businesses. The competition is made possible by a grant from the Boyd Foundation.
Lindsey Owen (865-974-6375, email@example.com)
Laura Rust (865-974-5126, firstname.lastname@example.org)


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Windows Vista Officially RTM
Microsoft says Windows Vista is it’s most heavily tested operating system ever, but what does that really mean? As Mary Jo Foley asked With Vista, what does ‘done’ really mean?. Most software nowadays is never really done, as people discover problems and situations the programmer could never have planned for, there are always going to be updates, service packs and upgrades, it’s unavoidable. As she said, remember, the oven is still on.
PressPass: Windows Vista was released to manufacturing today — what does that mean?
Hallauer: Release to manufacturing signifies the completion of our development work and the start of the next phase for Windows Vista. Windows Vista is the highest-quality version of Windows that we?ve ever produced. We?ve had more people test more builds than previous development cycles, and the result is that we received more feedback than ever before.
That being said, Windows Vista?s journey is not yet done. PC makers, device manufacturers and software developers can finalize work on their products and applications to ensure great customer experiences when Windows Vista becomes available — to our volume license customers this month and consumers on January 30, 2007. Source: Microsoft
Microsoft is hosting a series of events around the world on November 30 to officially recognize business availability of the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Vista. So be on the lookout for an article around the end of the month announcing there where’s and how’s.
The Windows Vista Team Blog has a quick post from Jim Allchin and lots of comments here.
Here’s a quick video from allchin, Windows Vista Announcement.

domain: news


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Chamber helps judge Mayor’s Business Awards
Chris Perry, the Norfolk Chamber’s Membership Manager was part of the panel of judges assessing the Mayor’s Business Awards. The Mayor’s Business Awards are the King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council’s way of publicly acknowledging outstanding business achievement and the contribution that businesses make to the West Norfolk economy.
Established in 1989, by former mayor Cllr Les Daubney, the awards publicly recognise the achievements of local businesses and provide them with the perfect opportunity to showcase their success.
The awards are open to all sizes of companies and allow West Norfolk businesses to share their success stories, highlight new products, the conquering of new markets, training or developments in their staff. This year the three categories are:
- Manufacturing Business of the Year
- Service Business of the Year
- Young Business of the Year
Judging took place on Tuesday, 15 January and the finalists will be were over 3 days. The results will be announced on 15 March 2013 at the prestigious Mayor’s Awards Ceremony in King’s Lynn.


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ATG business director Sunder on the other hand will be developing
the consumer insight business in China and will be instrumental
in setting up ATG in China and building consumer insight. Sunder
will be working closely with the Global Analytics Center, which
is based in Bangalore.
Kumar, who was with MindShare in India, will now be involved in
developing the ATG business in Singapore. This strategic move has
been primarily made to expand the ATG profile globally. Balasubramanium
says, "Apart from replicating the Indian ATG model in these
countries, we are also aggressively focusing on the Global Analytics
Center and are looking at disseminating and channelising knowledge
from there into these countries."


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And Australia – where regulators already followed their European counterparts by forcing social media companies to pay publishers when their content appears on those platforms – officials are also considering similar changes to create tailored rules for tech giants after the country’s competition regulator admitted their current powers are not have kept up with the industry.
“Google has used its data and acquisitions to dominate the adtech market,” Rod Rims, the former head of Australia’s Competition and Consumer Protection Agency, told POLITICO. “The many acquisitions that companies like Google and Facebook have made beg the question: do you need additional hurdles when you’re so dominant?”
The tech giants have simply grown too fast over the past two decades for antitrust laws to keep up. And while the US is now retrospectively trying to keep them in check, regulators can now do so in advance.
To the world of antitrust officials, this shift — known as in advance Rule-making or efforts to stop potentially anti-competitive behavior before it gets out of control – is a realization that the current enforcement system is too slow, too complex and too cumbersome to prevent companies from taking over smaller competitors or squeezing out new markets, before policy makers can react time.
In Europe, for example, the European Commission has already fined Google around €10 billion over three separate allegations of antitrust abuse dating back a decade. However, these investigations related to the company’s respective Android mobile software, search products, and online advertising services took years to give the company time to establish overwhelming dominance.
Alphabet — Google’s parent company, which denies any wrongdoing in its global antitrust cases, including the recent Washington indictments — also appealed Brussels’ decisions, delaying those judgments for years.
That’s why European politicians have shifted gears to create a new competition rulebook aimed at containing problems before they even arise.
The goal: to create rules more akin to ongoing oversight within the financial services industry that can locate potential abuses before lengthy investigations are required. For international agencies, it’s less about dawn crackdowns and glitzy press conferences and more about day-to-day government surveillance to take the sting out of Big Tech’s dominance.
This is how it will work. Within the EU, a small number of (almost exclusively American) companies are defined as so-called gatekeepers or companies that occupy a disproportionately dominant position in markets such as search, online advertising or mobile app stores. These tech giants then have to abide by stricter rules than smaller competitors, including bans on so-called self-preference, or favoring their own products and services over those of others.
That means Apple will likely have to allow people to download apps from competing online stores. Alphabet will almost certainly be forced to open up its online advertising — and the lucrative data that underlies it — to outsiders. And Meta must allow other messaging services to connect directly to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
“Large gatekeeper platforms have prevented businesses and consumers from reaping the benefits of competitive digital markets,” said Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition czar. said when announcing the changes last year. “What we want is simple: fair markets, also digitally.”
US politicians are aware that they stand behind their international counterparts.
Stalled bipartisan legislation known as the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, backed by the likes of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), would similarly prohibit much of Big Tech’s alleged anti-competitive conduct. These include preventing these companies from favoring their own services over those of competitors, as well as banning current restrictions on how smaller competitors use the dominant services to target potential customers.
But even before Republicans regained control of the House last month, the new US antitrust proposals had met with industry-led efforts claiming they would harm innovation, limit consumer choice and undermine national security. Now, U.S. enforcers like Jonathan Kanter, head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, are expected to have to work with the powers they already have — rather than relying on enhanced rules fit for the digital world.
“We’re going to have to work with the rules that we have,” a Capitol Hill employee told POLITICO on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
Still, the new cartel powers being dreamed up in Brussels, London and Canberra are not the bull’s-eye that many officials in those countries are hoping for. And while some in the US would welcome such tailored enforcement regimes, US judges would almost certainly rule them out because current domestic law makes it illegal to treat some companies differently than others.
In the UK, for example, regulators are planning to create bespoke competition rules for certain tech giants – of so-called strategic market importance, under forthcoming UK legislation, which may be published as early as the week of February 13.
This follows repeated evidence from UK authorities that companies like Apple, Alphabet and Meta have disproportionate power in the local market in everything from advertising to app stores to social media. The companies reject any allegation that they have abused their dominant position.
British officials believe that regulating Amazon and its e-commerce empire will require different rules than overseeing Apple and its increasingly digital empire. This requires individual antitrust guardrails for each company or an individual playbook to keep a close eye on each company’s expansion.
For Brussels, whose enforcers still have a slew of old cartel cases against Silicon Valley’s biggest names (Meta, Apple and Alphabet deny any wrongdoing), the shift from lengthy investigations to more hands-on day-to-day surveillance is also still a work in progress.
European officials are currently deciding which tech giants will be named as so-called gatekeepers. EU lawyers and their corporate counterparts are haggling over whether to include a company’s entire operations or just certain services, such as an app store or social network, under the new rules, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
“It’s going to take time to dissuade people that it’s just an investigation,” said one of the EU officials, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity. “We are in a new era. We have to take care of it.”
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For those wanting more from The Maw, Twisted Pixel Games has announced that a new level called "Brute Force" will be launching this Wednesday, February 18 on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 100 Microsoft Points ($1.25 USD). Featuring new puzzles, characters, cinematics, and explosive action this level pits Frank and Maw against a new foe: the Brute Soldier, a member of the bounty hunters' elite strike force sent to stop Maw at any cost.
This is the first of three DLC levels that Twisted Pixel Games has been working on ever since The Maw development wrapped last year. "There's a period of time where we're not allowed to touch the game because it's going through certification, but there was more we wanted to do, so rather than calling it a day we threw ourselves into making all new levels," explains CEO Michael Wilford. "We've never done DLC before so it's a bit of an experiment for us, but there seems to be a lot of excitement for it so I don't think we can go wrong."
Each DLC level will expand The Maw storyline by fitting in between the original levels as "deleted scenes". "As with any production, there are always pieces left on the cutting room floor that you wished could have made it into the final cut," says CCO and Director Josh Bear. "We had a lot of half-finished story elements and gameplay mechanics, so we are picking the best ones, polishing them up and making new levels that are bigger in size and scope than the ones in the main game."


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Flomio’s bid to crowdfund the production of its FloJack NFC add-on for iOS devices is just over US$10,000 away from its $80,000 target with five days to run. The company has also revealed plans for an NFC-enabled iPhone 4 sleeve called “FloCase” and added extra reward levels, including one aimed specifically at student developers.
- SumUp and Payleven merge
- Payback to add NFC payments to mobile app
- PayPal CEO announces NFC payments expansion
- Deutsche Bank to launch NFC payments in Q3
- Gemalto named as leading mobile ticketing vendor


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With the competition of other online retailers, Amazon have announced today that they will begin delivering products on Sundays in 7 cities around the UK.
Amazon tested the service over the busy Christmas period in London found it to be a complete success. Now as a result Amazon with be delivering to homes in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Oxford. The service will be available to Amazon Prime customers only but could expand this service in other ways in the future. The roll out comes after successful Sunday delivering testing in American cities such as New York and Los Angeles last year.
Order fulfilment has been on the agenda for Amazon for a while so have been developing their own delivery service has been a priority. Although Amazon work closely with DHL and Royal Mail to get products to customers, it has been no secret that Amazon has been looking for ways to minimise their reliance on third parties as part of their business. UK director for Amazon Logistics, Jamie Stephenson, says “we’re continually innovating on behalf of our customers. We know customers really appreciated the immediacy of Sunday deliveries during the Christmas period and we were able to deliver thousands more parcels in this way in those four weeks.”
Amazon’s Sunday delivery does add extra pressure on high street retail which could use Sunday trading to give them an edge over online retailers. Sunday trading laws has long been an issue for high street shops who have to limit their opening hours to 6 hours. Traders in England and Wales have overcome this through ‘browsing’ time by opening their doors earlier. While stores in Scotland do not have this law, the rest of the UK was at least able to offer a limited shopping time which consumers cannot get online. The online retail giant also recently announced Prime Air, using drones to deliver items to customers within 30 minutes so this comes as another blow to high street retailers struggling to compete. The next few months will be an important time for retailers with physical shops as they respond to this huge change.


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Last week, we reported on how fans in the Chicago area had a chance to meet Derrick Rose at the launch of the adidas D Rose 5 at the State Street Foot Locker location, and now we’re back with a full recap of the event. The day began with Derrick hosting 20 children from the local nonprofit After School Matters at the Chicago adidas store for an intimate Q&A session where he gave advice on how to pursue your dreams and work hard to achieve them. Derrick presented each fan with their own pair of the adidas D Rose 5, signed autographs and took photos to commemorate the moment. Then D Rose moved on to Foot Locker, where hundreds of fans were ready to for a chance to meet him and get an autograph. Check out photos from each event here, and remember that the D Rose 5 is available now at adidas Basketball retailers for $140.
For a video recap of the event, visit Derrick Rose’s Facebook page.


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DiamondBack wants everyday heroes to enjoy tough, secure adventure gear
SheerID and DiamondBack, the manufacturer of the toughest, most secure truck bed covers in the world, announced that first responders are now eligible for its discount program, along with active, veteran, retired, and reserve U.S. military members and their families, who have already been enjoying this everyday hero offer.
DiamondBack, through its partnership with SheerID, offers active, veteran, retired, and reserve U.S. military members and their families a discount of 10% off, and is now, for the first time, providing the same 10% off discount to first responders, for the month of October, in recognition of National First Responders Day on October 28. To take advantage of these exclusive offers, first responders and members of the military community simply verify their eligibility through SheerID, the identity marketing platform used by hundreds of leading brands. Online verification is instant and once completed, eligible individuals can take advantage of the savings.
“We appreciate the dedication and commitment that first responders and active, veteran, retired, and reserve U.S. military members have made to bettering our communities, and as a special thank you we wanted to extend the offer that we’ve been making to military members and their families to first responders,” said Ben Eltz, Chief Executive Officer for DiamondBack. “At DiamondBack, we celebrate these individuals who are vital to improving the communities where we live and work.”
“Choosing to recognize first responders and military service members is such a valuable strategy executed by DiamondBack,” said Jake Weatherly, Chief Executive Officer at SheerID. “These communities appreciate when they are invited to be honored, and brands that offer them access to special programs earn their trust, loyalty, and repeat business.”
First responders and active, veteran, retired, and reserve U.S. military members and their families can visit these links to verify their eligibility and claim these exclusive offers:
First Responder Discount: https://diamondbackcovers.com/pages/first-responder-discount
Military Discount: https://diamondbackcovers.com/pages/military-discount
SheerID is the leader in identity marketing. With SheerID, brands identify and acquire customers from highly coveted consumer communities — such as the military, students, teachers, first responders, and more — with personalized offers, gated by instant verification from the largest set of authoritative data worldwide. SheerID verifies over 2.5 billion people via 20,000 authoritative data sources; provides global insights from hundreds of the world’s leading brands, and never shares or sells customer data. As a result, the world’s biggest brands — including Amazon, Home Depot, Spotify, and T-Mobile — rely on SheerID as their identity marketing partner. Founded in 2011, SheerID is backed by Fortson VC, Brighton Park Capital, Centana Growth Partners, Voyager Capital, and CVC Growth Partners. For more information, please visit SheerID or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Birthed in an engineering class at Penn State University and built in Philipsburg, PA, DiamondBack Covers has been proudly building the world’s toughest, most capable truck bed covers since 2003. With a lifetime warranty, world-class customer service, and thousands of five-star reviews, legions of hunters, anglers, adventurers, and vacationing families now trust DiamondBack Covers to protect their gear from theft and weather. Discover the difference at DiamondBackCovers.com or follow us on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook.


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PISCATAWAY — Two bandits, each armed with a handgun, held up workers at a Piscataway convenience store and stole $1,000, the second robbery at a township store in four days.
At 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, the bandits entered the Quick Chek store on River Road, pulled out the guns, demanded money and then fled with the cash, according to police.
Both robbers were African-American men, each about five-foot, six-inches tall. One was dressed in all black clothes and the other had a gray hooded sweatshirt and a black jacket.
On Saturday, two masked bandits, at least one wielding a gun, held up the Krauser's store on Washington Avenue, stealing more than $250 cash from a register.
Police did not say if they thought the two crimes were related.


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Sources: Reuters, Seeking Alpha
quote: This doesn't make sense.
quote: At the time of the acquisition ZDnet's, Robin Haris – who had previously spoken to Anobit's chief executive Avraham Meir – said the company has developed systems which improve the stability of flash memory.
quote: "Anobit designs controller chips that make flash behave", Harris wrote.
quote: Guess holding it wrong may be the least of future iPhone buyers' problems... Using it wrong will be the next quote from Apple
quote: Apple wants to make distinctive, faster, more reliable, cheaper flash memory that will use less power than the sort of common flash memory available to other device makers.
quote: I'm not so sure. Anobit is short on patents (currently 24) and I don't know of any of their products in any actual device (until apple starts using them, er rather themseleves). Not to say no good tech can come out of Israel as I'm sure it can, but it seems like tech leaders are in asian countries.
quote: and replacing them with OCZ, which is bottom-of-the-barrel in just about everything.
quote: It makes for a very serene life :)


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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the recommendations of the Presidential Committee on the Impact and Readiness Assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
This was revealed in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu on Wednesday.
According to Shehu, President Buhari will be signing the Phase one of the agreement at the Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union and 12th Extraordinary Summit on AfCFTA in Niamey, Niger Republic in a few days’ time.
In accepting the reports as submitted, Shehu said the President made it clear that Nigerian government will be seeking to include terms that engender the development of policies that promote African production, among other benefits.
“Africa, therefore, needs not only a trade policy but also a continental manufacturing agenda.
“Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of `made in Africa goods’. That is, goods and services made locally with dominant African content in terms of raw materials and value addition,” President Buhari said.
“If we allow unbridled imports to continue, it will dominate our trade. The implication of this is that coastal importing nations will prosper while landlocked nations will continue to suffer and depend on aid,’’ Buhari added.
A country that signs the first level will proceed to country level discussions leading to treaties after safeguards are agreed to.
When Nigeria signs the trade deal, it will bring the total number of African Union states that has signed to 53, leaving Benin Republic and Eritrea as the only countries not approving the agreement.


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Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW), a leading provider of fully integrated end-to-end solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, today introduced AirPrime® HL and WP Series cellular modules for Category-M1 (Cat-M1) and Category-NB1 (Cat-NB1) LTE networks.
CommScope is ready to support the next generation of wireless networks in Europe and the US with base station antennas upgraded for the latest spectrum.
GREENSPOT SELECTS JERSEY CITY FOR CURBSIDE ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) CHARGING STATIONS AND EV CAR SHARING PROGRAM
Greenspot, a company that develops electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in urban cities and for municipalities, has introduced curbside EV charging stations and EV car sharing in Jersey City, NJ.
u-blox (SIX:UBXN), a global leader in wireless and positioning modules and chips, today announced ARM® mbed™ OS 5 support for the ODIN-W2 (https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/odin-w2-series) wireless IoT gateway module and the NINA-B1 (https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/nina-b1) Bluetooth low energy module – a unique combination of features currently offered by no other manufacturer.
u-blox (SIX:UBXN), a global leader in wireless and positioning modules and chips, today announced plans to launch a module supporting Verizon's new Category M1 (Cat M1) LTE network, which is designed to allow a larger number of devices to connect to the Internet of Things (IoT).
biotricity inc. (OTC.QB: BTCY), a healthcare technology company dedicated to delivering innovative, medically relevant biometric remote monitoring solutions has received a 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a key component of its solution. This clearance is another watershed moment in the company’s quest to market its remote cardiac monitoring solution comprised of the bioflux software and device. By developing medical remote monitoring solutions that help diagnose and manage chronic diseases, biotricity seeks to revolutionize the health industry by bridging the gap in chronic care management.
While batteries and wires have been the basis of connectivity for years, new sources of energy are proving that the IoT (Internet of Things) will not be tied down to a chord or plug, but instead powered by the world around it.
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, announced that it is collaborating with Alibaba Group’s YunOS to provide connectivity and security for YunOS – developed by Alibaba Group, it is a cloud-based, data and services oriented Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, widely integrated into IoT devices, as well as chips and sensors across industries.
DISYS Doubles Down on Commitment to Innovative Automation with Launch of the Automation Center of Excellence (ACE)
Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC (DISYS) is reinforcing its commitment to helping clients Accelerate Productivity with its expanded, reimagined Automation Center of Excellence (ACE).
Ayla Networks, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform for manufacturers, has formed a strategic partnership with mnubo, an advanced real-time IoT data analytics company, to integrate mnubo SmartObjects technology with the Ayla IoT platform to provide manufacturers of IoT products with advanced data analytics and business intelligence services and tools.
Unification Will Combine the Best of Both Organizations under Open Connectivity Foundation Name and Bylaws.
Researchers at the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) celebrated Manufacturing Day(link is external) today by launching theSmart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) Test Bed.
Today, Intel announced the availability the Intel® Building Management Platform (Intel BMP) to help small- and medium-size buildings become smart and connected. Intel® BMP has built-in security and manageability essentials to manage data from a broad set of building systems and sensors, and to filter and transfer data to the cloud (or on-premises servers).
Zentera Systems Announces IP Portfolio Expansion for its CoIP Platform that Enables Security Across Cloud and Enterprise Datacenters
Zentera Systems, Inc., the leader in multicloud networking and security, announced today that its IP portfolio now includes a Secure Virtual Network Platform patent and two additional registered trademarks: CoIP® and Cloud Over IP®. CoIP (Cloud over IP) is the company's premier product that provides enterprise-grade security while connecting multiple datacenters and clouds.
ThreatSTOP launches next generation of DNS Firewall to Stop Outbound Communications with Threat Actors
ThreatSTOP has released the next generation of its cloud-based solution that easily turns any DNS server into a DNS firewall.


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- Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker were pictured jumping off a yacht the day after their wedding.
- The couple held a ceremony in front of their families on Sunday in Portofino, Italy.
- Instead of swimwear, the newlyweds appeared to wear coordinating black pajamas.
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker were pictured jumping off a glitzy yacht in Italy the day after they held their third wedding ceremony in front of family and friends.
On Monday, the couple were spotted onboard a yacht docked in the seaside village of Portofino, Page Six reported. According to Super Yacht Times the vessel, called "Fatima," is 33.5 meters long, or about 110 feet, and can accommodate 10 people in five separate guestrooms.
Kourtney, 43, and Barker, 46, appeared to be in good spirits as they launched themselves off of the side of the boat multiple times. At first, the Blink-182 drummer was seen wearing a long-sleeved button-up shirt, which he removed for later jumps.
He also wore what appeared to be a pair of pajama pants and a sparkly necklace. Meanwhile, the Poosh founder opted for a sheer black minidress that looked similar to a nightgown and kept her hair up in a loose bun.
The celebratory mood they looked to be in paralleled photos of the couple from their Italian wedding the day before, which took place at Villa Olivetta, a home on Dolce & Gabbana's Portofino estate, according to People.
For the Italian ceremony, Kourtney wore a white mini Dolce & Gabbana wedding dress and a cathedral-length veil that featured lace embroidery of the Virgin Mary. Vogue also reported that the veil contained references to some of Barker's tattoos.
The groom wore a classic black double-breasted tuxedo, which he paired with creeper-style shoes and a gold cross, according to Harper's Bazaar.
Both bride and groom were surrounded by family at the ceremony. Photos from the day show relatives like Kim Kardashian, North West, Kris Jenner, and Khloe Kardashian, as well as celebrity friends like Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox attending the ceremony.
Representatives for Kourtney and Barker did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.


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Blog: Coca-Cola Enterprises Pulls Back
Chris Mercer | 9 September 2011
Coca-Cola Enterprises has stepped back from the eye of a political storm in France.
The bottler has reinstated its plan to invest EUR17m US$24m) in a bottling plant near Marseille, only 24 hours after suspending it. Such was the political backlash from what the company has termed a "communication error", the president of Coca-Cola Enteprises in Europe, Hubert Patricot, was forced to explain himself on French television.
Following yesterday's announcement, some French politicians accused the group of holding France to ransom, while labour minister Xavier Bertrand also expressed his dismay.
Coca-Cola moved quickly to patch up relations, even though Patricot said that the company still isn't pleased at all about the planned tax hike on added-sugar soft drinks.
All very confusing. It's a moment to forget for Coke - either it has bowed to political pressure, or it got its communications wrong. Whichever the reason, the episode shows that relations between French officials and Coke are as highly-strung as ever.
A couple of months ago, US-based Saltwater Brewery developed 'edible six-pack rings' in an effort to curb threats to wildlife....
Last month, SPI Group unveiled its latest advert for Stolichnaya in the US. Its an amusing little number that caries the instruction: Drink what you want. The “I am man” ad looks to distance Millennia...
Who do you work for? I ask, merely to draw your attention to just-drinks’ company pages....
This weekend sees yet another “International Day” for a drinks category. Lucky us. Anyway, ahead of Sunday’s International Cachaça Day, here’s a wealth of information on Brazil’s national spirit, cour...
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Good morning. Here’s what you need to know.
- Asian indices were mixed in overnight trading with the Shanghai Composite up 0.87%. Major European indices are mixed and U.S. markets have opened positive. Caterpillar earnings came in well ahead of estimates, and the company has raised its 2011 outlook.
- Economic data for Spain was out today, unemployment reached 21.3% and retail sales decreased for the ninth straight month, falling by 8.6% year-over-year. Don’t miss: Niall Ferguson’s new presentation on the decline of the West >
- Personal income was up slightly more than expected, up 0.5%. Spending was also up a little more than expected, rising 0.6%.
- The EU is investigating 16 major banks including JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs over their alleged collusion in the market for credit default swaps.
- Microsoft earnings beat expectations for the March quarter after sales rose to $16.43 billion, up from $14.5 billion last year. The company reported earnings of $0.61 a share but reported a drop in quarterly sales of its Windows operating system. Check out the 10 top executives that left Microsoft in the last decade >
- BlackBerry maker RIM cut its earnings forecast to $1.30 – $1.37 a share, down from $1.47 to $1.55. Investors had expected the company to announce a sale.
- Hui Xian real estate investment trust became the first yuan-denominated IPO outside of China last night. Shares slumped 9.4% to end at 4.75 yuan on its debut, dropping below its offer price of 5.24 yuan. Check out these incredible photos of Chinese ghost cities >
- Consumer sentiment data came in pretty much in line with expectations. Read about it here >
- Chicago PMI came in a little weaker than expected. Read about it here >
- Vale, Brazilian miner of iron ore, copper and other metals, is investing $1.4 billion in Norte Energia for a stake in the Belo Monte Dam project in the Amazon. This would be the world’s third largest hydro-electric project. Don’t miss: 10 facts about Brazil that will blow your mind >
- BONUS: Kate Middleton and Prince William are now married. Follow our coverage here >


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sustainable communities topic page
12:35 pm on Wednesday April 25, 2012
RPWB Donates to SC Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital As Part of its ‘Ten Months of Giving’ Charity Campaign
Richardson, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman, LLC (RPWB) announced today a gift of $5,000 to South Carolina Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital. This gift was made as part of RPWB’s “10 Months of Giving” campaign, an initiative to give $55,000 to area...
10:15 am on Monday December 13, 2010
Back in May I posted an article about the launch of a bicycle-only community in Lexington, SC right outside of Columbia. It’s called Bicycle City! This kind of urban planning fascinates me and I wonder how it would do in … Continue reading →
7:17 am on Wednesday December 8, 2010
For years I’ve dreamt about the City Market becoming more than just a tourist destination selling schlocky knock-off purses, jewelry and kids clothes. I’ve envisioned a market more like Seattle’s Pike Place or New York’s Grand Central Market – …...


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Today’s Cambodia Daily (offline only, see Gov’t to Stop Licensing New Mobile Carriers) reports that the Ministry of Post & Telecommunication will no longer issue mobile phone operator licenses. It’s generally recognized that the Cambodian cell phone market is oversaturated, with too many operators vying for too few customers, resulting in losses or razor-thin margins at best. Further, there’s very little spectrum, if any, that has not yet been allocated; and, in fact, there have been instances of overlapping licenses issued for the same spectrum. While there has been substantial talk recently about consolidation, no announcements have been made.
The Daily article simply quotes the Minister as saying that no further licenses will be issued. It is unclear whether there has been, or will be, a regulation or circular issued on point, nor whether the moratorium is indefinite or set to expire by a certain date.


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China’s Yuan slumped by 0.7 per cent against the dollar in offshore trade to a one-month low of 7.13 per dollar on Friday with markets reacting to US President Donald Trump’s threats that new tariffs will be imposed on Beijing as a retaliatory measure for the Coronavirus outbreak.
At the same time the global economy showed fresh signs of weakness with Japan reporting on Friday a fall in both consumer prices and factory activity, raising fears that the Asian powerhouse could slip into deflation. European Union’s statistical agency had on Thursday reported that Europe’s GDP had shrunk by 3.8 per cent during the Jan-March 2020 quarter.
On Thursday Trump had said he was confident the virus which has caused most parts of the globe to go into a lockdown, may have originated in a Chinese virology laboratory. The US is believed to be considering retaliatory measures and even removing China’s sovereign immunity from law suits.
Analysts said this caused the Yuan to fall on Friday. However, any fall in the value of the Yuan may actually be good news for China which has restarted its economic engine.
Said Prof Biswajit Dhar of the JNU a global trade expert, “China may actually be happy to see its currency devalued. It makes Chinese industry more competitive as it can then price its products in a more efficient manner compared to newbie rivals like Vietnam and Malaysia where some of the manufacturing which was earlier in China has fled.”
China has been trying to cut its dependence on the dollar for a long time but hasn’t succeeded till now. In January China had cut the weightage of dollars in the basket of currencies which determines the price of Yuan. It is also now planning to release a digital currency, which too may reduce its dependence on the dollar in trading with its partners. China’s four largest commercial banks have begun internal tests for this digital currency this month.
However, currently the American dollar reigns supreme. According to data with the International Bank of settlement, 88 per cent of all global transaction is done in US dollars. In contrast the Chinese Yuan makes up for just 4.3 per cent of global settlement, despite China incentivizing developing world nations with cheapo credit to buy goods in Yuan. Nations across the world also hold two-thirds of their foreign exchange reserves in US dollars.
China itself holds about $1.1 trillion in US treasury bonds as of February this year, accounting for 15.4 per cent of all foreign holdings, second only to Japan which holds $1.27 trillion or 17.9 per cent. The Catch 22 situation for China, forex market experts explain is that if China were to ever sell its US treasury holdings it would depreciate the US dollar but would also seriously erode China $ 3.06 trillion foreign exchange reserves.
Said Ambassador Pinak R Chakravarty, former Secretary (Economic Relations) “It will be difficult for either power (US and China) to live without the other ... They are too deeply invested in each other.
Data released on Friday also showed Consumer prices in Tokyo fell from for the first time in three years by 0.1 per cent in April.
Japan's manufacturing activity also fell to an 11-year low in April as domestic and export demand plummeted, forcing companies to cut production, according to the Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index released Friday. The headline PMI of 41.9 points in April was down from 44.8 in March.
"The government will work with the central bank to ensure Japan absolutely does not slip back into deflation," Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference on Friday. Japan has suffered for nearly two decades of deflation where prices kept falling in response to weakening demand till 2013, when a policy of stimulus dubbed `Abenomics’ after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who ordered the change helped arrest the economic decline.


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A near decade-long legal battle over the Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to boycott Israeli goods has finally been put to rest.
Opponents of Palestinian rights, working in coordination with Israel, lost.On 20 February, a Washington state appeals court upheld a 2018 ruling that dismissed a lawsuit against former board members of the Co-op.
In 2010, the Olympia Food Co-op became the first grocery store in the US to remove Israeli goods from its shelves as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.
“As a co-defendant, I am pleased, but not surprised, that the courts have once again found in our favor,” said Grace Cox, a former Co-op board member.
Board members like Cox, who supported a measure to ban Israeli products from the store’s shelves, were put through years of litigation by several former Co-op members who worked closely with the Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.
The right-wing Israel lobby group helped secretly plan the lawsuit in coordination with Israeli government officials.
The plaintiffs sought to block the store’s boycott and secure monetary damages against board members who voted in favor of the measure.
A judge initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2012, saying it violated a state law preventing abusive lawsuits aimed at suppressing lawful public participation, otherwise known as SLAPP suits.
Two years later, an appeals court upheld that judge’s ruling and the plaintiffs were ordered to pay $160,000 in statutory damages – $10,000 to each of the 16 co-op board members – as well as other legal fees.
In December 2017, co-op board members filed a motion to finally dismiss the lawsuit, which the court did in March 2018.
“When the plaintiffs first threatened to sue us, they promised a nuisance lawsuit, and they have delivered. It is well past time to end this abuse of the legal system by ending this baseless suit,” Cox stated last week.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented the defendants during the entire legal battle, says that during the process of uncovering evidence, emails were revealed between the plaintiffs “celebrating the news from StandWithUs that the lawsuit had successfully discouraged other co-ops from boycotting Israeli goods.”
The Israel advocacy group “took credit for filing the case, stating that it was a byproduct of the partnership between StandWithUs and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” CCR notes.
“The Court of Appeals properly deferred to the business judgment of the Co-op board in making their boycott decision, which is a fundamental principle of governance that applies to every nonprofit corporation,” said Bruce E.H. Johnson, an attorney who also represented co-op board members.
“In the face of widespread assault, the right to advocate for Palestinian freedom, including via the time-honored tradition of boycotts for social change, has again been vindicated,” said Maria LaHood, CCR’s deputy legal director.
“This victory demonstrates that although the fight can be long, it’s necessary in order to achieve justice,” she added.


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Julia Roberts Goad
WASHINGTON — The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday it would stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to disburse packages six days a week.
The service expects the Saturday mail cutback to begin the week of Aug. 5 and to save about $2 billion annually, Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe, said.
“Our financial condition is urgent,” Donahoe told a press conference.
State officials and locals commented on the announcement, with opinions being negative from the state level and largely indifferent locally.
“It doesn’t really matter to me,” Greg Chapman, of Chattaroy, who has home delivery of his mail, said. “What I wish they would do is to keep the post office in Williamson open during the day. Today I had to come to pick up a letter, and I wasn’t sure what hours they are closed during the day. The Saturday hours could be used to keep them here during the week.”
Maxine Daniels, of Turkey Creek, Ky., also has home delivery, but likewise doesn’t mind the change.
“It’s going to hurt people’s paychecks,” she said. “The people working at the post office are probably living paycheck-to-paycheck, like everyone else. But it doesn’t really matter to me.”
Jennifer Estepp, of Varney, gets her mail at the Post Office, but was also indifferent.
“I don’t go to the Post Office to get my mail very often, so it doesn’t bother me. Most small post offices aren’t open all the time anyway.”
Shelia Varney, of Canada, Ky., who gets her mail at the post office, gave her opinion a very succinct way:
“I don’t mind.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (both D-W.Va.) both expressed disappointment at the announcement.
“I am disappointed in the Postal Service’s decision to end Saturday deliveries,” Manchin said. “In our rural areas, these postal facilities are more than just places to send and receive mail — they are truly the lifelines of their communities and can be the only way a town is able to stay connected. Although the Postal Service must cut back on spending and get its fiscal house in order, cutting the muscle instead of the fat from its budget will not benefit the agency and will harm our communities in West Virginia and across our country.”
Under the new plan, mail would be delivered to homes and businesses only from Monday through Friday, but would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays. Post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open on Saturdays.
USPS officials say the move accentuates one of the agency’s strong points — package delivery has increased by 14 percent since 2010, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other Internet services.
Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages — and it repeatedly but unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to approve the move. Though an independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control.
However, Rahall said the USPS “cannot circumvent the will of Congress which has been explicit in requiring the continuance of six-day mail delivery service for the last 30 years.”
“Whatever basis the Postal Service is claiming to discontinue Saturday mail delivery, it runs counter to the spirit and letter of the law, and I intend to press hard to ensure that the Postal Service abides by the law,” Rahall said. “The Postal Service needs to look at other ways to balance its books rather than cutting off rural customers and undermining its public service obligations.”
“I share the frustration of many West Virginians who believe that the Postal Service is intent upon achieving cost savings through service reductions at rural postal facilities.”
Congress has included a ban on five-day delivery in its appropriations bill. But because the federal government is now operating under a temporary spending measure, rather than an appropriations bill, Donahoe says it’s the agency’s interpretation that it can make the change itself.
“This is not like a ‘gotcha’ or anything like that,” he said. The agency is essentially asking Congress not to reimpose the ban when the spending measure expires on March 27 and he said he would work with Congress on the issue.
The agency clearly thinks it has a majority of the American public on its side regarding the change.
Postal Service market research and other research indicated that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs, the agency said.
“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” Donahoe said. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.”
But the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Fredric Rolando, said the end of Saturday mail delivery was “a disastrous idea that would have a profoundly negative effect on the Postal Service and on millions of customers,” particularly businesses, rural communities, the elderly, the disabled and others who depend on Saturday delivery for commerce and communication.
He said the maneuver by Donahoe to make the change “flouts the will of Congress, as expressed annually over the past 30 years in legislation that mandates six-day delivery.”
The Postal Service made the announcement more than six months before the switch, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust, officials said.
Give us your opinion on the USPS’ decision in the Daily News’ latest poll at www.williamsondailynews.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.


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A flier for a large mixed-use project planned in Florence shows a proposed medical office building, hotel and two retail anchors as well as two retail outlots.
The Business Courier obtained a copy of the promotional materials for the development, called Florence Towne Center, which is located just south of the Crossroads church in Florence, along Interstates 71/75.
And commercial real estate sources say the two anchor spots would likely be occupied by Menard’s and Costco Wholesale. Jeff Abbott, spokesman for Menard Inc., said he had no comment on the possibility of a new store opening at the site. Officials with Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the end of September, K&V Cultural Resources Management LLC presented a request to the Boone County Fiscal Court to remove the Snyder-Blankenbeker Cemetery on behalf of Mall Road KY LLC. That limited liability company plans to develop about 55 acres on a parcel known as the Berkshire farm between Mall Road and I-71/75 for commercial and retail business. The development plan would support 375,000 square feet of retail and mixed-use businesses, creating more than 500 jobs in Boone County.
The schedule calls for the graves to be relocated in spring 2014, with site work starting right after. Businesses are projected to open in phases from November 2014 through the summer of 2015.
The property is still owned by Joseph and Frances Berkshire, according to Boone County property records.
A commercial real estate broker who asked to remain anonymous said there is a lot of interest in the proposed development because of the highway exposure.
“This is the last, best site available in Florence for a multitude of users,” the broker said.
News of the development has already boosted interest in an adjacent property. Neyer Properties Inc. owns a 1.6-acre parcel just west of the Berkshire farm property. Jeff Chamot, land development manager for Neyer Properties, said the real estate company is close to a deal on one of two retail outlots.
A site plan for Neyer Properties’ Heights at Mall Road shows a proposed 7,500-square-foot building with a drive-thru and a 5,600-square-foot building.
“If everything comes together as I’m hearing, we’ll have no trouble filling the second outlot,” Chamot said.


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RIM was completely a bundle of nerves until its first fiscal quarter 2013 results came out, and as Canadian tech-giant RIM feared, it had its chips. The company that was sitting on pins and needles while awaiting fiscal results witnessed a net GAAP loss of whopping $518 million, and its revenue accounted just for $2.8 million. This wide gap between losses and revenues is indeed a major concern for such a big smartphone company that was once on a leading position in the tech-world.
RIM was established in 1984 in Waterloo, Ontario as a designer, producer, and wireless device vendor and solution provider for global mobile communications market, but it got off to a flying start with Blackberry super phones. The captivating charm of BB wooed end users, and despite of new and chic Android smartphones, and sleek sophisticated iPhones, BB charm didn’t fade due to its unique appeal and extremely user-friendly messenger app.
Anyways, after these fiscal results, RIM’s CEO, Thorstein Heins revealed that RIM has delayed the launch of much-talked upcoming BB 10 handsets, and now these devices will be out by 2013 first quarter because RIM’s development team wants to deliver the best BB smartphones. Whether be it quality or user-friendliness, be it consistent performance or be it sophisticated features, RIM doesn’t want to lag behind in any aspect than its rivals. He also added further that RIM will only roll out its new BB devices when it will be assured that every single detail regarding BB 10 models has been taken care. And once it will be out in the market, it will offer cutting-edge technology.
This news is naturally upsetting for those BB fans who were waiting to grab an advanced BB model with bated breath. Though RIM was successful in grabbing developers’ interest but surpassing end-user’s expectations is something which will decide the fate of RIM.
“ RIM didn’t forget to highlight that its subscriber base grown predominantly in Asia, Europe and Middle East. They have hit a landmark of 78 million subscribers worldwide, which is another milestone after they reached 70 million users last September. RIM has acknowledged that Blackberry Bold has been particularly popular among users. And if you thought Playbooks haven’t been well-liked, RIM is set out to ship 260,000 Playbooks really soon.
They paused trading on May 29, anticipating a huge loss in fiscal quarter results. The ruthless lay-off policy, where RIM laid off about 5000 workers to cut back its financial losses, also met with severe criticism.
It is apparent that RIM seriously needs to adopt a strategic outlook if it aspires to regain its foothold in the market. It can’t be in a world of its own, just busy in doing things according to its convenience. Time has come when it will have to keep an eye on its arch rivals’ moves. Or in a nutshell; time has come when it will have to think about some serious re-engineering and benchmarking. RIM does possess strength, hence reviving and returning back to previous leading position won’t be that difficult, provided if feasible strategies are framed.
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GREATER NOIDA: Italian automaker FiatChrysler Automobiles today said it will launch the Jeep brand in the country during the middle of the year with two products, both in diesel and petrol variants.
The company, which had initially planned to debut Jeep in India with just diesel engines, now plans to launch Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited in both the versions.
Fiat changed its plans after India came up with new regulations regarding the diesel engines due to pollution concerns.
"We will enter India with two products this year and we will also manufacturing locally next year... India market will be a big part of our growth as we move from here. We are looking to become a serious volume player," Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Director - Jeep Product Marketing Jim Morrison told PTI.
This year, however, the company will import the completely built units of the vehicles and start local manufacturing next year.
On sales network, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles APAC President and MD Kevin Flynn said: "In the first phase we will set up dealership network in seven cities and increase it to 10 just before we start local manufacturing next year. After that we will look at expanding dealership network to tier 1 cities."
The dealer network would be set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin.
In the next phase it will open dealership in Kolkata, Lucknow and Chandigarh, the company said.
The company has already announced investment of USD 280 million in the country in its manufacturing joint venture with Tata Motors to support production of Jeep model.
It will convert the Ranjangaon plant to manufacture Jeep models from next year.
When asked if the brand has been late in entering in the thriving SUV market in India, Morrison said: "We are entering at the perfect time. Indian market has been growing.. Decision to enter now was mostly about connection between volumes associated with local production."
He said the company is looking at selling two million units globally by 2018 and "India will play a big part in our growth." Jeep sold 1.2 million units globally last year.
On launching petrol engines he said: "Originally we had planned to bring in only Diesel engines but due change in regulations we have adapted and we will introduce 3.6 litre VC petrol engine."
Initially the company will sell Diesel engine vehicles only and petrol engines will be introduced soon after.
British bus maker Optare will deliver its final batches of diesel buses over the next 6-8 weeks, bringing down curtains on a 115-year journey in different forms. This development can be seen as a significant example of the transition of the automotive industry towards electrification.
Apart from Guleria, Pradeep Pandey senior vice-president (customer service), HMSI has put in his papers. In February this year Shekhar MC, formerly general manager (finished vehicles logistics), too exited the company and joined Ola Electric Mobility.


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OnePlus Nord 2 explosion earlier this week brought back the memories of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 going up in flames for many smartphone users. There have been many cases of smartphones catching fire after that, however, Galaxy Note 7 has been one of the biggest with Samsung announcing a global recall of the smartphone. It’s too early to say anything in the case of the OnePlus Nord 2 5G’s explosion. The company too has issued an official statement on the explosion, terming it “isolated incident involving external factors”. The company had also responded to the user after which he had deleted his tweet.
Here is the complete statement from OnePlus -
Our top priority is the health and safety of our customers. We reached out to the concerned user immediately after hearing about this incident and initiated a thorough internal investigation. The results indicate that the damage to this device was caused by an isolated incident involving external factors and not due to any manufacturing or product issue. However, we remain in close touch with this user and have offered our support to address their concerns and ensure their wellbeing.
We would like to assure our customers that our products undergo thorough quality and safety tests, including various levels of pressure and impact tests, to ensure they are up to industry-leading standards and remain safe to use.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G explosion: Recap
In a tweet on Sunday (August 1), Ankur Sharma, a resident of Bengaluru claimed that his wife’s five-day-old OnePlus Nord 2 5G exploded inside her sling bag while she was out cycling early morning.
Sharma also shared the pictures of the burnt OnePlus Nord 2, which seemed to have been charred completely. He claimed that the explosion resulted in an accident and that his wife is in trauma.
Though he initially claimed that there was no physical interference with the device that may have caused the incident, he later deleted the tweet saying that he is fine with the company’s response to the incident.


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Netflix Loses Memberships — Will Ads Help Cash-Strapped Viewers Find Their Way Home?
After a decade of consistent growth, Netflix’s membership is shrinking. The world’s most popular streaming service lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, bringing total membership to 221.6 million. It expects to lose another 2 million in Q2. As a result of the announcement, Netflix shares recently lost 20 percent of their value.
What’s Behind Netflix’s Subscriber Loss?
Netflix’s chief executive officer Reed Hastings attributes the losses to several factors. The organization recently suspended 700,000 accounts in its booming Russian market as a show of solidarity with Ukraine, while the TV bingeing that characterized the pandemic years is also beginning to wane. Hastings also blamed password-sharing for eating into revenue but didn’t draw attention to the growing competition from the likes of traditional broadcasters and Disney. Many of these are now holding back popular intellectual properties from the streamer and monetizing their huge archives in ways that offer better value for some viewers, especially as inflation drives up the cost of living and viewers are forced to opt out of non-essential TV services.
Improving the Service
Netflix has told investors it intends to woo viewers back by improving its service. In particular, it will focus on improving program quality through better story development and by striving for “creative excellence.” Additionally, a new “double thumbs up” tool will allow viewers to fine-tune their recommendations.
Netflix attributes its 25-year focus on continuous improvement as the reason why it became the largest subscription streaming service globally in the key metrics of paid memberships, engagement, revenue, and profit.
Netflix has also said it will look for ways to monetize password sharing. While it deliberately introduced features like profiles and multiple streams to facilitate easy sharing within households, these have muddied the waters concerning sharing between households. In the future, Netflix will look to allow members to share their passwords easily and securely beyond their immediate households in exchange for a marginal fee increase.
The organization acknowledges that “sharing likely helped fuel our growth by getting more people using and enjoying Netflix.” It appreciates that monetizing it will be a “short- to mid-term opportunity,” but, with an estimated 100 million subscribers sharing passwords, it’s potentially a significant opportunity.
Hastings is well-known for preferring simple subscription models and an aversion to commercials. However, in a recent meeting with analysts, he let them know advertising could be a part of Netflix’s future. He told his audience that allowing advertising-tolerant users to choose a reduced-price subscription was a consumer choice that made “a lot of sense.” He added that his team would be looking at how best to introduce commercials over the next couple of years, potentially offering ad-supported tiers with lowered pricing.
Netflix won’t be the first subscription video service to enter the advertising video on demand (AVOD) space. There has been a steady decline in linear ad budgets, with Discovery, HBO, Hulu, and Disney joining the trend. Microsoft is reportedly considering it for its Game Pass streaming service.
The AVOD model requires operators to understand their target audiences (i.e., viewing habits, disposable income, and preferred devices), and it’s better suited to longer content because short content that only allows for a couple of ads doesn’t justify the cost. Generally, AVOD can be a good fit for publishing aggregators with content from diverse sources and for broadcasters who have old and new content. It also works well for studios and producers with significant content catalogs.
What Will Advertising at Netflix Look Like?
Brands are bound to be excited about Netflix’s data-rich inventory. From its start, the publisher has built upon cloud storage of high-quality audience insights tied to individual email addresses. Additionally, its audience includes people who typically aren’t reachable through TV advertising, and it offers one of the best user interfaces in the business.
One possibility would be for Netflix to copy the likes of Google and create a “walled garden” that prevents third-party ad platforms from participating in ad revenue. But Hastings appears to see ad-matching as a distraction from Netflix’s core publishing business, indicating he wants to focus on creating a great member experience and let others handle its monetization. Moreover, as a content publisher, building and maintaining a proprietary demand-side platform (DSP) would be very costly. For brands and agencies, separately managing ads on a Netflix DSP would be costly as well, given the same content can also be run on other streaming platforms.
Netflix’s about-turn on advertising confirms that subscription-only content models are ultimately unsustainable. Viewers want content but aren’t necessarily prepared to pay for it. Targeted advertising can play an important role in allowing publishers to continue providing content in a model that is more palatable to viewers.


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Dig, the restaurant group that sources produce straight from small-scale farms, is offering the Dig Acres Farm Box. The vegetables would ordinarily be delivered to the eateries but now they’re available to buy. Because of the pandemic crisis and restaurants closing, growers have lost business and have a surplus of crops. “Farmers that sold to restaurants are hurting,” says Taylor Lanzet, Dig’s director of supply and sustainability. “We also want to make it as easy as possible for people to get fresh produce.” Each week, the cartons include seven to nine rotating selections: a mix of broccoli and cauliflower, clamshell lettuce, red beets, and purple radishes, and more, from a network of farms, like Red Fire in Granby, Queen’s Greens from Amherst, Ward’s Berry in Sharon, and others. Pick up a carton for $24 at Dig’s Back Bay location at 557 Boylston St., or have it brought to your door through a delivery service for a fee. To order, go to digacres.com.
ANN TRIEGER KURLAND
Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at email@example.com.


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Speciality coffee harvester Mercanta has partnered with scientific traceability company Oritain to further develop a technology that can verify origins of premium coffee beans using forensic science.
Mercanta aims to de-commoditise coffee through buying and distributing global green coffee at a fixed, premium price internationally.
The company also aims to educate speciality coffee producers of the true value of the beans produced through partnerships and providing education and training programs across 20 countries.
“True sustainability requires understanding fine coffee not as a generic commodity but, rather, as a unique agricultural product with distinctive flavours, varieties, profiles, and personality — many of which it inherits from its origin,” says Stephen Hurst, Mercanata Founder and Managing Director.
Using a combination of forensic science and statistics, Oritain uses raw data to create an “Origin Fingerprint” that represents each coffee origin. Produce can then be tested against this fingerprint to ensure authenticity.
This technology creates another level of assurance for the coffee bean’s origin and authenticity that are part of many sustainable and environmental claims.
Mercanta plans to work with Oritain to use this technology to build a global coffee database to improve traceability and transparency to the industry as a whole.
The company hopes this will increasing compliance with sourcing standards and promote high-level coffee origins.
“By working together, with Oritain, we hope to bring assurances of origin to coffee and, therefore, assurances of quality, flavour, and sustainability,” says Hurst.


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Alphabet is attempting to prevent a second-straight frustrating incomes contact Thursday, however another dull report might be inevitable.
That’s due to the fact that development in the business’s advertisement incomes– a section that comprises more than 80% of its overall incomes– is slowing. Last quarter, advertisement earnings increased just 15% from the exact same duration the year prior, compared to 23% year-over-year development in Q12018
Given that its last incomes call, Alphabet’s stock has actually fallen 12%. Year to date, Alphabet’s shares are up simply 9%– compared to the Nasdaq’s growing 23% increase and the S&P’s 19% boost. According to The Wall Street Journal, Alphabet is the worst-performing stock in 2019 amongst United States tech business worth more than $100 billion.
And on Thursday, when Google’s moms and dad business Alphabet reports Q2 incomes, Wall Street anticipates more of the exact same.
In a note to financiers today, Daniel Morgan, a Senior Portfolio Supervisor at Synovus Trust Business, pointed out numbers from Morgan Stanley that anticipated Alphabet’s advertisement incomes would grow 15.1% in the 2nd quarter of2019 That would be below the 23.8% year-over-year development it delighted in from the exact same duration in2018
Advertisement development for all of 2019 is anticipated to be around 15.7%, according to the Morgan Stanley approximates, compared to the 22% boost of2018
Morgan informed Company Expert in an interview that he didn’t think Alphabet’s service was losing any ground to rivals. Rather, he stated, the downturn is merely the natural impact of a developing service; The bigger a business’s incomes end up being, the harder it is to provide the exact same sturdy development rates.
“The total market characteristics are still truly strong,” Morgan stated. “I can’t state that from a competitive viewpoint that Google is losing share to Amazon, which’s why they’re just at 16%[year-over-year growth] I believe their base is so huge, it’s more difficult to keep growing it.”
However from an optics viewpoint, it’s tough to overlook that Alphabet’s advertisement development has actually ended up being slow compared to its closest rivals. On Wednesday, the world’s second biggest digital advertisements service, Facebook, reported that its earnings grew 28% year-over-year in the 2nd quarter. Amazon, which likewise reports its Q2 earnings on Thursday, is coming off a strong Q1 in which its “other” earnings– which is mainly consisted of advertisements– grew by 36%.
One expect Alphabet is that the undefined “item modifications” that CFO Ruth Porat stated were crimping development in the very first quarter might now in fact assist charge the section. However without in fact understanding what those item modifications require, it’s difficult to understand whether they will be the driver for a turn-around.
Most likely, Alphabet would require to do something extreme on Thursday to divert financiers attention far from its slowing advertisement incomes.
Breaking out more of its services
Today, in its quarterly reports, Alphabet just reveals financiers how its advertisements service is carrying out, breaking out the rest of its departments into fuzzy classifications called “Other Profits” and “Other Bets.”
“Other Profits” consists of Google residential or commercial properties like its business cloud offering, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and its hardware department, while “Other Bets” refers to the different business under the Alphabet umbrella, like its self-driving vehicle business, Waymo, and life sciences arm, Verily.
If Alphabet wished to move a few of the attention off of its advertisements service, Morgan informed Company Expert that the business need to expose more granular numbers– particularly for YouTube and its growing cloud department.
“That would provide you something to get thrilled about in regards to the stock,” Morgan stated. “Suddenly, the spotlight goes off your growing advertisement earnings development, and the spotlight goes on these brand-new, interesting services in GCP and YouTube. More clearness would truly light it up.”
Last quarter, Alphabet’s “Other Profits” grew by 25% from the exact same duration the year prior.
However despite the fact that pulling the drape back on more of its service may make tactical sense for Alphabet today, the modification is not likely. Experts have actually been getting in touch with the business to provide more openness into business for a long time now to no obtain.
Hope in the cloud
Even if the business does not alter its reporting structure, financiers are expecting some insights into other sections of business, particularly around its fast-growing cloud department.
Given that the last incomes call, Google Cloud– under the management of CEO Thomas Kurian– made a substantial, $2.6 billion acquisition of the data-analytics business, Looker. It likewise revealed that Alphabet’s cybersecurity arm, Chronicle, would be soaked up into the Cloud department.
Currently, considering that Kurian took control of in January, there are indications that Google Cloud is ending up being more effective offering to bigger clients.
According to forecasts from Morgan Stanley, Google Cloud is anticipated to generate $6 billion in incomes in 2019, up from the approximated $4 billion it performed in2018 GCP incomes fade in contrast to Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS, which are anticipated to reach sales in 2019 of $13 billion and $362 billion, respectively. However still, the development for Alphabet is significant and represents a significant service for the business, beyond ads.
Another bet financiers are depending on is Waymo. The business’s self-driving innovation is extensively thought about industry-leading and in a current note, Jefferies approximated that it might end up being an organisation worth more than $250 billion in the long run.
Today, the business’s self-driving taxi pilot, Waymo One, is running in Arizona and since May, it stated after 6 months in operation, it had reached 1,000 clients Upgraded numbers in Thursday’s incomes call might reveal consistent momentum for a department that financiers hope can one day take on the similarity Uber and Lyft.
Looming antitrust examinations
Towering above today’s call are issues that the United States federal government is moving strongly to punish huge tech business, possibly even breaking some business apart.
An antitrust probe into Alphabet’s service by the Department of Justice has actually been expected for more than a month, following reports in late Might that the firm was preparing an examination into the business for illegal monopolization methods.
On Tuesday, the DOJ revealed a broad evaluation into leading “online platforms” for search, social networks, and e-commerce– different from the private examination– to figure out whether significant tech business are suppressing competitors and development. The DOJ did not point out any particular business, however the statement left no doubt that Alphabet, in addition to significant gamers like Facebook, Amazon, and Apple were all under the firm’s analysis.
“It is a black cloud over the area today, there’s no doubt about it,” Morgan stated. Still, he does not think that splitting apart existing services, as political leaders like Senator Elizabeth Warren have actually recommended, is a service.
“What would you do? Would you trade Google Cloud as a different business and after that you would trade YouTube as sort of a media, Netflix kind of business?” Morgan stated. “Often I do not believe these individuals that are chosen authorities are truly trained enough in these services to truly comprehend what they’re stating.”
In a note to financiers on Tuesday, Dan Ives, an expert at Wedbush Securities, composed that although antitrust talks have actually warmed up, eventually he thinks it is “more sound vs. the start of wider structural modifications throughout the tech food cycle.” In a worst-case situation, Ives stated, “Huge Tech” business would deal with fines from the FTC or DOJ– comparable to the $5 billion slap on the wrist that was simply imposed versus Facebook.
“While the more analysis of service designs from these tech stalwarts will trigger some near-term unpredictability, eventually we see it as a favorable as this possibly might be a driver for more technology development and diversity down the roadway for these titans,” Ives composed.
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China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s largest integrated steelmaker, yesterday said that it would raise domestic steel prices by 9.5 percent for delivery next month, with the hike exceeding market expectations.
The adjustment is the eighth straight month of increases for the Kaohsiung-based company.
Prices are to increase by NT$2,200 per tonne for hot-rolled steel, hot-rolled plates and electro-galvanized sheets, NT$2,500 per tonne for cold-rolled steel and NT$3,000 per tonne for electrical sheets, CSC said in a statement.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
The company attributed the price hikes to increased raw material costs for steelmakers and robust demand for steel, it said.
On the supply side, iron ore prices are at “a 10-year high” of up to US$170 per tonne, the company said, citing market concern about supply constraints at Brazilian and Australian mining operations.
Along with coal prices remaining high — up to US$105 per tonne — CSC’s costs for steel production have jumped “by US$60 to US$65 per tonne,” it said.
Global demand for steel has soared as economies around the world continue to recover, it said.
“It is not unusual to see buyers chasing limited supply, and some Japanese steelmakers have put January orders on hold,” CSC said.
Japanese hot-rolled steel has traded for as much as US$800 per tonne, while in Europe it has broken US$850 and in the US reached US$1,200, closing in on a record, CSC said.
Hot-rolled steel is mainly used in the manufacturing of automobiles, home appliances and sports gear.
CSC said domestic steel prices still lag behind international prices, indicating that there remains room for increases.
“Although our prices for domestic delivery are far lower than international levels, we have to take into consideration the competitiveness of downstream companies as the New Taiwan dollar rises” against the US dollar, CSC said.
“We are keeping to our principles of smooth and stable pricing, while reflecting material costs,” it said.
Meanwhile, the company on Monday called for discipline among Taiwanese steel companies amid an overheated local market.
“There have been reports of steel firms hoarding stock and pushing prices up. We call upon the industry to maintain an orderly market,” CSC said.
Apple Inc’s iPhone 13 debut was met with a stock slump on Tuesday, keeping with a tradition of poor share price performance on the day new devices are unveiled. Shares of the technology giant sank after Apple executives, including chief executive officer Tim Cook, presented the new lineup of phones and other devices. The stock fell 1 percent to close at US$148.12 in New York trading. Prior to Tuesday, Apple’s shares fell on three-quarters of the days Apple unveiled new iPhones, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Excluding Apple’s 8.3 percent rally on the day cofounder Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone in
As Google expands its footprint in Taiwan, it plans to recruit software and hardware talent for its Google Nest smart device team, a chip development team, and teams to support its Pixel and Chromebook products, Google Taiwan said yesterday. Supply chain management talent will also be in demand, the company said at an online event. “There will always be openings for software engineers, hardware engineers and project managers,” Google Taiwan human resources head Vanessa Lu (呂亞樵) said. “The strength of the Taiwanese industry is very clear,” Lu said, adding that the company would continue to invest in Taiwan. Lu also doused some
BEATING SCHEDULE: Government plans are for nacelle assemblies to be totally local from next year, but Orsted Taiwan said that it was going ‘above and beyond’ Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA yesterday inaugurated Taiwan’s first nacelle assembly plant at the Port of Taichung, its first assembly facility for offshore nacelles outside Europe. Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), a long-time champion of Taiwan’s ambitions to become a regional hub in the offshore wind farm industry, described the plant as a “milestone” at a ceremony at the plant. “The completion of Siemens Gamesa’s nacelle assembly plant is a milestone for the development of the offshore wind farm industry in Taiwan and a step toward localizing the supply chain,” Shen said. “This is only the beginning. My great hope
ROBUST DEMAND: 5G, AI and Internet of Things technologies are driving growth and employment, as the company plans a new plant in Hsinchu County Contract electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp (緯創) plans to invest about NT$11.1 billion (US$400.58 million) in Taiwan, in line with its global deployment strategy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday. The company’s investment is also a demonstration of robust demand for 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things applications, the ministry said in a statement. Wistron, spun off from Acer Inc (宏碁) in 2001, is a notebook computer original design manufacturing partner to major PC brands. The company, which is based in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), also produces servers, data storage devices, game consoles and communications products for brand clients


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Celebrate Diwali, filmi style. Lights, cheer, colours, Diwali is among one of India’s most vibrant festivals. And its shining grandeur finds a year-round reflection in Bollywood’s eternally bright demeanour, which is known to release its biggest entertainers around this time of the year. While we gear up for 2014’s Diwali release Happy New Year headlined by Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, here’s how Bollywood likes to celebrate the festival of ... Rediff.com, 1 hour ago
Bombay Spice celebrates Diwali - Chicago Tribune, 7 hours ago
Indians in Korea kick off Diwali festivities - Korea Herald, 16 hours ago
India’s pre-Diwali shopping for electronic items creates a huge demand and so this festive season even Apple and Samsung rescheduled the launch of the iPhone 6 and Galaxy Note 4. However, there are worthy challengers to these two flagships from Apple and Samsung. We tell you why you should consider buying one of these top 5 smartphones this Diwali! LG G3 Photograph: lg.com This product has been a dark horse. LG has impressed us with G3’s stylish looks and the Korean smartphone ...Rediff.com, 3 days ago Diwali Dhamaka: Top 10 Windows gadgets under Rs 30,000 Rediff.com, 33 minutes ago
Gold purchases in India gathered pace Tuesday as consumers took advantage of a year-on-year drop in the price of the metal at the most-auspicious time to buy it. There is a lot of bottled-up demand as the price of gold this time has been running at ...Austin American Statesman, 18 hours ago Festive frenzy: Gold prices shoot on rapid sales Financial Express, 42 minutes ago Dhanteras sees jump in jewellery sales over last year Financial Express, 6 hours ago Hopes of lower price may keep buyers off gold Times of India, 1 day ago
Mumbai Film Festival Diary: On Day 2, awkward glitches continue, but 'Killa' stands out as India's very own 'Boyhood'
Until a year ago, there existed no method of seat reservation at the Mumbai Film Festival, referred to as MAMI (since it is organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images). I remember attending the festival in 2010 and standing in queue for nearly ...IBNLive India News, 4 days ago A slice of Taslima’s life captured on screen Times of India, 1 day ago MAMI Diaries: Must Watch Cinema, now playing in Mumbai! Rediff.com, 1 day ago Preity And Huma Dazzle At Mumbai Film Festival Yahoo! Malaysia, 1 day ago
Press Trust of India | October 21, 2014 22:09 PM Mumbai : Domestic carriers resorted to another round of discounted fares with cash-strapped SpiceJet making the first move with a limited-period discounted one-way domestic fare ...IBNLive India News, 12 hours ago SpiceJet, Indigo, others offer festive season discount Financial Express, 5 hours ago Airlines extend discounted fares post festive season DNA India, 4 hours ago Airlines start another round of fare war The Statesman, 8 hours ago
The time has come to celebrate the favourite festival of India and perhaps the Indian sub-continent, the festival of lights, Diwali. Happy Diwali 2014: Here is a compilation of best Diwali Quotes and wishes that can be sent in the form of ...International Business Times India, 10 hours ago 'One Must Meditate to Find the Inner Light on Diwali' New Indian Express, 4 hours ago Diwali The Festival Of Lights Link, 14 hours ago Celebrate the Delightful Flavors of the Festival of Lights with a special Diwali Menu at The Great Newswit.com, 1 day ago
More from: , Speaking Tree...and 2 other sources
Potters color earthen lamps at a workshop ahead of the Hindu festival of Diwali in the northern Indian city of Amritsar October 15, 2014. Earthen lamps are sold in large numbers during Diwali, the annual Hindu festival of lights, as people use them ...Reuters, 12 hours ago Poachers under scanner of rangers ahead of Diwali Times of India, 6 hours ago Diwali 2014: India Decks up for Festival International Business Times India, 1 day ago People prepare for Diwali festival in India People.com.cn, 2 days ago
Precious metal sales sparkled on ‘Dhanteras’ festival with MMTC-PAMP India on Tuesday saying it has sold out its entire inventory of gold and silver coins. Dhanteras, the first day of Diwali, is considered to be auspicious for buying gold, silver and ...Asian Age, 6 hours ago MMTC-PAMP gold, silver coins stock sold out on Dhanteras Business Standard, 18 hours ago
According to eBay, the percentage of transactions during the festival season declined marginally in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Interest in online shopping, however, climbed 50-100 per cent in Kochi, Surat, Jaipur and Indore from last ...Business Standard India, 10 hours ago
Crackers made in China have flooded the market and taken over their Indian counterparts in sales.Times of India, 8 hours ago ‘Made-in-China’ electric lights flood markets Times of India, 3 days ago
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AUGMENTED REALITY: New digital edition of Connecticut Magazine coming for December issue
YARDLEY, Pa. - Journal Register Company, a leading local news and information company, today previewed augmented reality technology the company will use in the December issue of Connecticut Magazine.
Using their smartphone, readers of the December edition of Connecticut Magazine will be able to download a free junaio app from JRC partner metaio GmbH and point the phone at content in the magazine and will instantly receive additional, videos, photos, audio and more.
Connecticut Magazine is the leading monthly glossy lifestyle magazine serving the Connecticut market.
"This technology leverages the power of our print brands and provides the reader with a richer, more vibrant experience that is aligned with Journal Register Company's Digital First business model," said John Paton, chief executive officer of Journal Register Company. "This initiative provides new content for our audience and opportunities for advertisers for a magazine that has led its market for more than 30 years."
Paton made the announcement during a presentation in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Pira Conference: Global Print Markets.
Connecticut Magazine's December edition will feature augmented content related to stories on University of Connecticut All-America basketball player Maya Moore; holiday entertaining and decorating; and The Famous 50 - an update and re-ranking on Connecticut's hottest celebrities.
"This technology will bring the printed page to life. Readers will be able to view video; listen to audio; and more -- all from the printed page," said Jonathan Cooper, vice president of content.
"We are very excited to be partnering with Journal Register and Connecticut Magazine to bring a richer and more interactive experience to print by connecting the digital world with the physical," said Peter Meier, CTO of metaio.
The augmented reality technology supplied by metaio will allow Connecticut Magazine to create content that is geographically specific as well.
"Imagine a story celebrating Connecticut's 50 greatest landmarks. This technology would allow users to visit those places through the magazine. Then our readers can have a new experience using this technology while visiting those places," Cooper said.


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The Fastbagger story, a convoluted tale now 25 years in the telling, may yet have the happy ending that inventor Pat Larkin envisioned so long ago. “This is the best chance it’s ever had, right now,” Larkin said Monday.
Fashion faceoff: Kate Middleton vs. Pippa Middleton
Duchess Catherine and her younger sister Pippa Middleton have stolen hearts and headlines around the globe since the famous Royal Wedding almost a year ago. Along with praise for the sisters’ athletic physiques and model good looks, the duo have been recognized for their fashion sense. Take a look as we thrust these star siblings into the fashion spotlight to see who comes out the best-dressed winner.


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Updated on Sunday October 2, 2022: We’re still working on bringing you a copy of Oriental Trading’s Black Friday 2022 ad as well confirming all the important things you’ll need to know before heading out to shop. That includes this year’s sale start and end dates, featured deals and official offer terms.
But if this year’s BF sale is anything like last year’s, then you can expect to save up to 60% off select sale and clearance items (you can scroll down the page to view last year’s ad for full offer details to get a better idea of what’s likely to come here in 2022). Be on the lookout for the sale to kickoff 4 days before Thanksgiving, probably on or around Sunday November 20th.
As always, the latest Black Friday news from Oriental Trading will be posted the moment we get it. Be sure to bookmark this page and check back regularly for more updates or join our newsletter to stay informed.
Black Friday 2022 Start & End Dates
More often than not, Oriental Trading’s Black Friday sale is usually a week-long event. We expect the sale to begin on the Sunday before Thanksgiving weekend and run until the following Sunday. If the trend continues here in 2022 then these are the sale dates that you can expect to see:
- Expected BF sale start date: Sunday November 20, 2022 (that’s 4 days before Thanksgiving).
- Expected BF sale end date: Sunday November 27, 2022 or while in-stock supplies last.
We will be posting Oriental Trading’s confirmed Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend sales schedule for 2022 as soon as we have the dates officially verified.
Last Year’s Black Friday Ad
Updated on Sunday November 21, 2021: There are still a few days separating us from the long holiday weekend and all of this year’s best Black Friday sales. However if you’re planning on visiting Oriental Trading then you’ll be able to get a head start on the deals today!
Starting now, shop orientaltrading.com to save up to 60% off on doorbuster and select sale items. That includes best selling party supplies, toys, games, apparel and Christmas decorations. Plus you’ll get free standard shipping within the contiguous U.S. on orders of $49+.
The sale is expected to last through Sunday November 28, 2021 or while in-stock supplies last. See Oriental Trading’s website for official offer terms and conditions as other exclusions may apply. Have a nice Thanksgiving weekend and happy bargain hunting!
We’re keeping an archive of Oriental Trading’s previous Black Friday ads. Follow the links below to view more.
What are you shopping for this holiday weekend at Oriental Trading? Let us know in the comments.