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Perry Ellis completes Salant buy
Miami-based clothing marketer Perry Ellis International (Nasdaq: PERY) said it has completed its purchase of Salant Corp. (OTC BB: SLNT).
Perry Ellis said it converted each outstanding share of Salant common stock into nearly $9.37, comprised of nearly $5.36 in cash and nearly 0.21 of a share of Perry Ellis' common stock. With 8.79 million Salant shares outstanding according to Yahoo Finance, the deal is worth as much as nearly $82.36 million. The Miami company said it issued nearly 1.84 million new shares to former Salant shareholders.
New York-based Salant designs, produces, imports and markets brand name and private label men's clothing.
George Feldenkreis, Perry Ellis chairman and CEO, said the merger of Perry Ellis and Salant creates one of the largest men's sportswear companies in the world with 25 brands. Feldenkreis also said the company has accomplished its goal of consolidating the Perry Ellis brand.
Bal Harbour approves condo hotel
The Village of Bal Harbour has approved developer WCI Communities to build a 180 unit, five-star hotel, retail, spa and beach club with condo units starting at $1.6 million, according to WCI's attorney.
The land use and zoning lawyer, Carter McDowell of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, said the project is the first planned development ever approved in Bal Harbour.
The South Florida Business Journal first reported on WCI's plan in February. Bal Harbour receives revenue of about $2 million a year from its 4 percent bed tax, food and beverage taxes, making hotels especially important to the city budget.
Part of the agreement, McDowell added, includes a substantial group of public improvements to be made to the city, including $1.5 million in beach maintenance.
LNR: Q2 profits may reach $25M
Miami Beach-based LNR Property Corp. (NYSE: LNR) said it expects to earn between $24 million and $25 million, or 80 cents to 84 cents a diluted share, for its second quarter.
The estimates are above the real estate investment, finance and management company's previously announced earnings goal of $16 million to $19 million, or 55 cents to 65 cents a diluted share.
LNR attributed the increase primarily to gains on second-quarter real estate sales it did not expect to occur until later in the year.
The earlier-than-expected gains will not affect the company's full-year earnings goal, LNR said. However, the company added, if LNR completes its proposed $250 million senior note offering, associated changes could move the company's 2003 expectations to the lower end of its range.
The company said it is also in the process of securitizing non-investment grade commercial mortgage-backed securities with a principal amount of about $763 million. The sale of the securities, LNR said, will generate more than $300 million of proceeds to be used to pay down senior secured and unsecured debt.
Ramsay stockholders OK sale
Coral Gables-based Ramsay Youth Services (Nasdaq: RYOU) said its stockholders have agreed for the health services firm to be bought by Psychiatric Solutions (Nasdaq: PSYS).
Franklin, Tenn.-based Psychiatric Solutions said it will pay $5 a share in cash for Ramsay common stock, plus assume Ramsay's outstanding debt. When they first announced the purchase plan in April, the companies put its value at about $78 million.
Ramsay and Psychiatric Solutions said they expect the deal to be complete by the end of June.
C&W sells Miami building for $3.1M
San Francisco-based AMB Property Corp., a warehouse distribution facility owner, has purchased the industrial building formerly owned and occupied by National Electronics at 11451N.W. 36th Ave. in the Gratigny central submarket in Miami-Dade County, said brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.
The 93,499-square-foot property sold for $3.1 million, said C&W, which represented both AMB, the buyer, and Miami-based National Electronics, the seller.
Simultaneously, the company said it negotiated a five-year lease with a longtime client, Miami-based Caribmar Forwarding, which will occupy the entire building.
The lease is valued at more than $2.3 million, the brokerage added.
Pediatrix: Gov't investigating billing
Shares in Fort Lauderdale-based Pediatrix Medical Group (NYSE: PDX) close7d down nearly 24 percent June 25, as the physician staffing firm said the U.S. Attorney's Office advised the company it is conducting a civil investigation into Pediatrix's Medicaid billing practices nationwide.
Pediatrix said it understands the U.S. Attorney's Office intends to request documents and information, informally or by subpoena, within the next few weeks. Pediatrix said it intends to cooperate fully with this investigation.
Since 2000, Pediatrix's neonatal and maternal-fetal medicine physician service has similar Medicaid billing investigations with six state attorney general offices, including settlements with Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado, the 24-year-old company said.
Claire's shifts, affirms guidance
Pembroke Pines-based Claire's Stores (NYSE: CLE), citing weaker-than-expected sales in Europe, decreased its guidance for second-quarter same-store sales from 8 percent to a range of 5 percent to 6 percent.
"Public sector strikes in France have continued to cause a variety of significant disruptions, including reduced access to public transportation," the company said. "These disruptions have had an unanticipated negative effect on store traffic."
However, Claire's also said it remains comfortable with projected second-quarter earnings of 40 cents a diluted share, up 14 percent from 35 cents a share for the same period last year. The accessories retailer also projected year-end earnings of $1.95 a diluted share, up nearly 22 percent from $1.60 a share in the company's last fiscal year.
The company credited strong margins and sales in North America as well as the strength in the euro for the increases.
SportsLine sells VegasInsider.com
Fort Lauderdale-based SportsLine.com (Nasdaq: SPLN) said it has sold its VegasInsider.com subsidiary to Sports Information, a United Kingdom-based company. The Internet sports media company that publishes CBS SportsLine.com did not give terms of the sale.
Sports Information operates sports gaming information Web sites in Europe and Asia and generates sports content for use by partner Web sites. Like VegasInsider, Sports Information said its Web sites are informational only and do not accept wagers.
"It was a fantastic opportunity to acquire VegasInsider.com -- the best and strongest brand for sports gaming information in the United States," said Joe Saumarez Smith, Sports Information CEO and VegasInsider president.
Sports Information said it will retain VegasInsider management and key staff, as well as the company's offices in South Florida and Las Vegas.
SportsLine had said in February it intended to dispose of its gaming information operations. Those operations consist of VegasInsider and Las Vegas Sports Consul-tants. SportsLine had said it wanted to focus on its core business, including NFL.com, PGATour.com and NCAAsports.com.
The company said it expects to complete its sale of Las Vegas Sports Consultants during the September quarter.
FP&L names president
Juno Beach-based FPL Group (NYSE:FPL) said it has named a president for Florida Power & Light Co., its principal subsidiary.
FPL Group said Armando Olivera was previously senior vice president of power systems for the Juno Beach-based utility.
Olivera, a 30-year FPL Group veteran, has in management positions in transmission and distribution operations, fuel management and strategic planning and resource allocation. He succeeds Paul Evanson, who resigned earlier this month to become chairman, president and CEO of Allegheny Energy.
Court protects Sensormatic patent
Boca Raton-based Sensormatic Electronics Corp., which was acquired by Tyco International's (NYSE: TYC) Fire & Security business in 2001, said it has won a jury verdict in a patent infringement case against Universal Surveillance Systems.
The jury, Sensormatic said, found Universal's "UNIPRO" anti-theft tag infringed on a patent owned by Sensormatic and awarded damages based on lost profits and reasonable royalties.
The company did not give a dollar amount for the damages, but did say the court prohibited Universal from selling its UNIPRO anti-theft tag.
Sensormatic claims its anti-theft tags are the most popular tags in the market and said it produced and sold more than 143 million of the tags last year.
The verdict upholds Sensormatic's patent related to its anti-theft tags. In all, Sensormatic said it holds nearly 900 patents on its anti-theft systems, with more than 600 pending patents on file.
Five E&Y Fla. winners from S. Fla.
Of the eight winners of Florida's 2003 Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year awards presented June 19 in Orlando, five hail from South Florida.
The construction products and services entrepreneur of the year is David J. Burtt, president of Suncrest Supply in Fort Lauderdale. The company is a wholesale distributor of Formica brand products, among others.
The consumer products and services entrepreneur of the year is Stanley R. Smith, CEO of Shoes For Crews, based in West Palm Beach. The company makes slip-resistant footwear, selling to more than 15,000 corporate customers that service more than 100,000 food service, industrial, hotel, health care and supermarket businesses.
The financial services entrepreneur of the year, Alan B. Levan, is chairman and CEO of Fort Lauderdale's BankAtlantic.
The health sciences entrepreneur of the year is David Gury, who stepped down as chairman and CEO of Boca Raton-based Nabi Biopharmaceuticals June 20. The drug maker specializes in products that use the patient's own immune system to help people with serious, unmet medical needs.
The retail entrepreneur of the year award split between Keith Koenig and Kevin Koenig, presidents of City Furniture in Fort Lauderdale. The honor went to Kevin Koenig posthumously; he died in 2001.


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Friday, December 01, 2006
Sixty-two percent (62%) of Americans will be decorating a Christmas tree this year. A Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 22% say they’ll skip this holiday tradition while 16% are not sure. Younger adults are more like than their elders to decorate—71% of those ages 18-29 say they’ll decorate a tree, a percentage that falls to 47% for those ages 65 and older.
Of those who intend to put up a tree, more than one-third (37%) have already done so and 62% still have the task before them. But, for most it will be an enjoyable task as decorating the Christmas tree gets much higher marks than holiday shopping .Rasmussen subscribers can log in to read the rest of this article.
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We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
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ARLINGTON, USA – Amazon’s “second headquarters” is being split between New York City and the Washington suburbs, the US tech giant announced Tuesday, November 13, capping a yearlong contest that saw dozens of cities fight it out for a promised $5 billion investment and 50,000 expected jobs.
The chosen locations are Long Island City neighborhood in the New York borough of Queens, across the East River from Manhattan, and the Crystal City section of Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac from the US capital.
Both districts offered a variety of tax and infrastructure incentives to lure the huge corporate prize, but Amazon said one important element was access to a qualified workforce.
“These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come,” said Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, who last year called for proposals for an “HQ2” with equivalent status to Seattle, in the northwestern US state of Washington.
“We believe Virginia has a tremendous amount to offer to Amazon,” Virginia Governor Ralph Northam told a gathering in Arlington after the announcement.
Northam said the region has “one of the strongest pools of tech talent in the nation” and that even with the incentives, the deal will result in “net positive revenues” for the state.
Walk to airport, university
Virginia will offer $550 million in incentives over 12 years based on a similar number of job creations, contingent on adding the forecasted number of “high-paying jobs,” and Amazon will get another $23 million from Arlington, where the company intends to create an entire new neighborhood called National Landing.
Amazon said it expected its investment would boost tax revenue for Virginia by some $3.2 billion over the next 20 years.
The plan calls for Amazon to create 4 million square feet (370,000 square meters) of office space in New York, with an option to double that, in a district with a large number of office buildings with high vacancy rates.
The state will also spend some $200 million in infrastructure improvements including in mass transit, and a pedestrian bridge to the adjacent Reagan National Airport, and create a new campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute on the site, offering masters degrees in computer science and related fields, Northam said.
“Our investments are in our people and our infrastructure,” the governor said.
The US capital area — where Maryland and the city of Washington were also finalists — was long seen as a front-runner, in part because Bezos already has a residence in the city and owns The Washington Post newspaper.
Critics of ‘Hunger Games’
In New York, the company will receive “performance-based direct incentives of $1.525 billion” over the next decade based on creating 25,000 jobs in Long Island City.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called New York’s selection “a giant step” in the city’s development.
“New Yorkers will get tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs, and Amazon will get the best talent anywhere in the world,” he said.
The competition had been derided in some quarters as a “Hunger Games” contest pitting cities against each other, with rival bidders piling up offers of incentives for one of the largest and most successful global corporations.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected to Congress from a district that includes part of Queens, said it was unclear if the community would benefit from the massive corporate move.
“Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday.
Amazon’s statement said its plan would boost tax revenue by some $10 billion over 20 years.
‘Sheer size and scale’
Neil Saunders of the research firm GlobalData said the new locations make sense for Amazon as it seeks proximity to political power, fashion and technology talent.
Saunders said that “the sheer size and scale of Amazon and its interest across many areas of technology, retail, and various consumer services” suggests a need for multiple locations.
The analyst added that the split helps Amazon avoid a problem of too much growth or congestion in one location, noting that that had caused problems in Seattle.
“Being able to balance growth across numerous cities will help alleviate such issues,” he said.
Started in the 1990s, Amazon has seen spectacular growth and earlier this year saw its valuation briefly hit $1 trillion before falling back.
In addition to its online retail operations in dozens of countries, Amazon is a major cloud computing firm and offers streaming video and music, hardware using its Alexa digital assistant and owns the Whole Foods grocery chain. – Rappler.com
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Samsung’s digital assistant Bixby might finally find its voice next week after previous reports suggested it was ‘struggling to comprehend English’.
When the Samsung Galaxy S8 was released in April, users were disappointed to find that their device was missing Bixby, the firm’s highly-anticipated digital assistant.
But now that might be about to change as a Reddit user posted a screenshot of an email saying it would launch on July 18.
According to Samsung, Bixby is ‘a completely new way to use your Galaxy S8 or S8+.’
Users can use voice, text, or touch to say what they need, since it understands all three.
Alternatively, users can take pictures on their camera, and Bixby will search for objects within the picture.
But Samsung has been plagued with issues with the smart assistant, forcing the firm to delay its launch.


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Bluestone Lane, an Australian-based coffee and healthy food cafe franchise, announced it will be opening a location at Lake Woodlands Crossing in The Woodlands Town Center before the end of the year.
According to a news release from the Howard Hughes Corp., The Woodlands will be the second location for Bluestone Lane in the Greater Houston region, with the first being in the Houston Heights.
“We chose The Woodlands for our second Houston-area location for its livability and close community feel,” said Nicholas Stone, founder and chief executive officer of Bluestone Lane, in the release. “We are inspired by the independent coffee culture found in Australia and look forward to introducing our brand and connecting with the locals of The Woodlands community, where I have a number of friends and family members who live here.”
The release states Lake Woodlands Crossing is 89% leased, with Bluestone Lane at Lake Woodlands Crossing anticipated to open by the end of this year. www.bluestonelane.com


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Truffle Masters Returns for 2021 as a Multi-Day Event Series
The annual Truffle Masters fundraiser is returning in a new format tailored to the realities of a global pandemic and to help struggling restaurants. Started in 2015 by Diane Roederer, owner and founder of gourmet food purveyor DR Delicacy, the event, cosponsored by Texan Bank and Karbach Brewing, showcases winter black truffles and the creativity of restaurants in Houston — and, for the first time, restaurants in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — while raising money for a featured charity.
In a normal year, the celebration is held in a large venue with big crowds and many restaurants offering imaginative dishes highlighting black truffles. The evening usually culminates with a panel of judges crowning their favorite dishes. But this isn’t a normal year. So, instead, the seventh annual Truffle Masters is multi-day, statewide affair that takes place at participating restaurants from February 11 to 28.
To support restaurants that are struggling due to COVID-19, diners are encouraged to either order takeout or dine in (masked up and socially distanced, of course) at the participating establishments. Each of these restaurants are offering a special dish that prominently features black truffles provided by DR Delicacy. In addition, some restaurants are also offering pairings with beers from Karbach Brewing.
This year’s weeks-long extravaganza benefits the Texas Food and Wine Alliance. This nonprofit supports Texas’ culinary community through educational programs, such as the high school-focused Culinary Art Career Conference, and grants to innovative artisans and food-based organizations.
In addition to helping the Texas Food and Wine Alliance, diners can also vote on their favorite dish in two categories: savory or sweet. At the end of the 18-day event, the restaurants with the most votes will be named this year’s “Truffle Masters.” Last year, sister restaurants MAD and BCN Taste & Tradition went home with the coveted honor and the fork-and-truffle trophy.
Below are the restaurants participating in this year’s fundraiser. As more restaurants join, these will be added to the list on the Truffle Masters website.
River Oaks/Upper Kirby
Disclosure: DR Delicacy is a valued Houston Food Finder sponsor, and if you enjoy articles like this about Houston’s food and beverage scene, you probably should be, too! Email us to request a Sponsor Guide with stats and rates.


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Gamers may have had their first glimpse of FIFA 18 on the Nintendo Switch earlier in the week – but FIFA 17 still has a few surprises in store.
One keen-eyed fan spotted an image that allegedly popped up on EA’s servers, which suggested players are set to get their in-game ratings upgraded or downgraded.
Whilst the image cannot be confirmed as legitimate, it emerged after the gaming giant announced on their website that players will be going through a ‘ratings refresh’ period – set to happen between February 17 – 27.
EA has released player updates throughout FIFA 17’s lifespan as it tries to ensure in-game ratings are as accurate as possible.
Fans were quick to voice who deserved a downgrade on Reddit, with Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (below) top of most people’s lists.
Some gamers speculate the updates will affect player prices and cause instability in the market. Players who see their ratings slashed will likely fall in price, while those with increased scores will see their values soar.
It’s thought the upgrades and downgrades will replace the existing ‘gold’ cards, rather than be completely fresh ones all together.
Without doubt there are a few players who must be in line for a downgrade, given their poor form in real life.
Manchester United’s Anthony Martial is one of the players who has failed to live up to his ’82’ rating.
We reckon it’s going to be a pretty long list.


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Yahoo said Monday that former PayPal executive Sam Shrauger and current Yahoo executive Mollie Spillman will lead the new commerce unit created as part of the company’s wider reorganization plan laid out last week. The commerce group is one of three areas that falls under the newly created consumer division that also includes media and connections.
Sam Shrauger, most recently VP of global product and customer experience organization at PayPal, while Spillman previously led marketing for Yahoo's Americas region. She has also worked in media and advertising for companies including AOL, Time Warner and Meredith Corporation.
Shrauger is the first former PayPal colleague Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has tapped for a high-level management position at the struggling Web portal. Before joining Yahoo in September, Thompson served as PayPal president. In the announcement, Shrauger was described as instrumental in building the company’s merchant services business and developing products for its recent push into offline retail payments.
"Under their leadership, both consumers and advertisers will benefit from Yahoo's ability to close the loop between consumer interests and advertising spend - ultimately redefining consumer shopping, buying and payments in ways that only Yahoo can,” said Thompson, in a statement.
The new Yahoo chief executive has emphasized using data mined from the company’s 700 million-strong audience to build up its advertising and e-commerce offerings. The hiring of Shrauger to help lead that effort on the commerce side follows both the management restructuring and layoffs of 2,000 at Yahoo announced this month.
Yahoo will report first quarter earnings Tuesday.


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European Athletics and SPAR International are pleased to announce that SPAR, the world's largest organisation of independent food retailers, has extended its commitment to athletics on the continent for a further four years until the end of 2015.
SPAR International has been the principal sponsor of European Athletics since 1996. The new contract commences in January 2012 and will incorporate the following European Athletics events:
- European Athletics Championships 2012 and 2014
- European Athletics Indoor Championships 2013 and 2015
- SPAR European Cross Country Championships 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
- European Team Championships 2013, 2014, 2015
Hansjörg Wirz, President of European Athletics, said: “We are delighted that SPAR will continue as our main partner. We have had a fantastic relationship with SPAR over the past 15 years and we value the company’s continued support as we continue to address our ambitious plans for athletics in Europe.”
Christian Milz, Director General of European Athletics, also welcomed the news of the renewal: “The added value that SPAR brings to promoting athletics in Europe thanks to its thousands of shops is of huge importance to us.”
“I am sure our close relationship with SPAR over the next four years will ensure that we can continue to showcase both our main events and our initiatives in youth development and mass participation in line with SPAR’s own goals and values,” he said.
SPAR International was pleased with the brand exposure at the Barcelona 2010 European Athletics Championships. A television audience of 368 million watched last summer’s event during live broadcasts (965 million cumulative audience including news), underlining the continued popularity of European Athletics’ flagship championships.Dr. Gordon Campbell, SPAR International Managing Director, said: “European Athletics' championship events provide SPAR with a cost effective, good level of brand exposure. Through our partnership with European Athletics, the SPAR brand is closely aligned with energetic and healthy people competing at the pinnacle of sport on the continent, and this combined with our support of national and local athletics events is the right synergy for us.”


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Starbucks announced yesterday that it was making a major change to their Starbucks app rewards program. Starting in April, Starbucks rewards participants will earn points or "stars" per dollar spent, and no longer per visit like they currently do.
Starbucks claims the change is in response to their customers' #1 request: to base points on what you buy, not on how many times you visit. Now, instead of earning one star per visit, you will earn two stars per dollar spent. But while that sounds like an upgrade, it's actually not at all.
Under the current rewards program, customers receive a free food or drink item after they earn 12 points. So if you buy a $2 coffee every time you visit, you'd get a free drink after spending about $24. But under the new program, you have to earn 125 points before you receive a free drink, which means you'll have to spend about $62 before getting rewarded.
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Also, becoming a gold member (which opens up more opportunities for perks) will became waaaaay more expensive. Currently, you become a gold member after getting 30 stars (equivalent to spending about $60 if you get one $2 coffee every visit). But now you'll have to earn 300 stars to become a gold member under the new program, which is equal to spending $150.
Obviously, people aren't happy about having to spend more money to get the same rewards and many customers have taken to Twitter to express their outrage.
According to a report by Buzzfeed, Starbucks Global Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ryan told investors this change was what customers wanted and was not an attempt to "weaken the rewards proposition." He added that most customers spend about $5, and that "there are a small minority of people who would either be advantaged or disadvantaged" by the change.
When I'm not holed up in my room going on a completely unproductive Netflix binge or Tumblr stalking Timothée Chalomet, I'm searching for awesome celeb news stories that Seventeen readers will love!


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Nashua Mobile has commended Seacom for its successful launch saying consumers and businesses will benefit from reduced broadband tarrifs.
According to Tim Walter, general manager: Product and Marketing at independent telecommunications service provider, Nashua Mobile, although expectations of massive, overnight price drops are unrealistic, the new cable will introduce real competition to this part of the telecommunications market and help to gradually bring prices down while driving data usage caps up.
Says Walter: “Up until now, most of the country’s international bandwidth through the Sat-3/Safe cables has been controlled by the incumbent operator and slow satellite connectivity was the only real alternative. Now, other networks and service providers have an alternate source for international bandwidth that they can turn to.”
Walter says that the introduction of Seacom should result in some price drops for broadband Internet users, although they should bear in mind that international bandwidth accounts for only part of the expense of an Internet connection.
In addition, for reasons of redundancy and capacity, service providers will need to use Sat-3/Safe in addition to Seacom, meaning that the owners of the older cables will still have a great deal of market power. “These factors will preclude sudden and sharp drops in broadband prices,” Walter says.
However, broadband users can expect to see their data caps grow rapidly in the months and years to come as international bandwidth becomes cheaper and more abundant. That will mean that they will be able to do far more with their Internet connections – including video streaming and big media downloads – at a far more affordable cost, says Walter.
Telkom, for example, recently lifted caps on 2 Gb broadband packages to 3 Gb and 3 Gb caps to 5 Gb. Caps of 10GB, 20GB, 30GB or more could become affordable to average broadband users within a matter of two to three years.
Seacom’s arrival marks only the beginnings of a more competitive market for international bandwidth in South Africa, notes Walter. A host of additional cables, including the West Africa Cable System (WACS) and the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), will add bring even more international bandwidth to the country over the next two years.
In addition, Telkom plans to nearly treble the capacity of the Sat-3 submarine cable system that connects next month. The operator will upgrade Sat-3 from 120Gbit/s to 340Gbit/s and has said that it expects dramatic falls in the cost of international bandwidth over the next few years.


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Shares in Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) plummeted on June 4 after the company announced that it had agreed to purchase ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) for roughly $2.5 billion. Salesforce closed at $41.04 on June 3. By the end of the day on June 4, the online customer management software maker was trading at under $38.
The acquisition marks the latest for Salesforce -- and there have been a lot. Over the last five years, CEO Marc Benioff has spent at least $4 billion on more than 40 deals, including ExactTarget. "We couldn't just keep making these small acquisitions -- that strategy was taking, honestly, too long," said Benioff on a conference call discussing the acquisition. "Salesforce.com wants to be the number one CRM company in the world... We've of course have to be number one in sales, which we are. We have to number in service, which we are. But we also need to work even harder to become number one at marketing." The ExactTarget acquisition is meant to fill that gap in Salesforce's offerings and improve synergies within its existing product family.
ExactTarget was founded in 2000. The company makes software that allows users to customize emails and social media ads based on their respective preferences, as tracked through clicks. The company gets roughly 80% of its revenue from email, so the technology fills a huge gap in Salesforce's offering. But ExactTarget is still very young. The company hasn't reported a profit since 2008, and is forecasted to be in the red this year and next at a minimum. Rumor is that rival business management software maker SAP had considered buying ExactTarget, but ultimately passed on the deal.
Effect on the Bottomline
Salesforce ended up paying 7.6 times ExactTarget's revenue to acquire the company, or more than 53% the company's closing price on June 3 -- but it is a deal the company expects to pay off sooner rather than later.
Salesforce expects "about $0.05 of the $0.16 non-GAAP EPS reduction to fall into the second quarter, most of that's related to due-diligence, banking fees and other transaction related costs along with two weeks worth approximately of operating losses for ExactTarget," explained CFO Graham Smith. "As a result, we expect the acquisition to reduce full-year 2014 non-GAAP EPS by approximately $0.16, resulting in an updated FY14 non-GAAP EPS estimate range of $0.31 to $0.33... That's up slightly from our prior guidance."
Smith stopped short of providing a forecast for the full-year GAAP EPS, saying that the company will provide that guidance in tandem with its second-quarter results, after the transaction closes.
One Stop Shop
The ExactTarget acquisition was a bold move, but when it comes to expanding efforts into an area, like marketing, Salesforce only had two choices -- create or acquire -- and something was necessary in order for Salesforce to retain its crown as the top customer management software provider. Becoming a one stop shop is a smart move, as long as the company puts in the leg work to make everything work together easily -- and it looks like it will.
In the June 4 conference call, CEO Benioff was careful to say that this is the last acquisition for a while. I think this is a strong clue that the company is going to spend the next several months working on integrating everything together tightly to drive engagement from its customers. Also, there is already a lot of client overlap so uptake of an integrated product should be strong. Moreover, synergies from that integration should lower Salesforce's operating costs enough that the gains from the acquisition are felt across the board.
Salesforce may have taken a hit after announcing the ExactTarget acquisition, but this just makes it a better opportunity for the long term investor.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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Bexleyheath furniture shop gutted in 'cannabis' fire
A furniture shop has been destroyed in a fire caused by equipment being used to grow cannabis in neighbouring flats.
Six crews tackled the blaze which tore through Wise Bedding and Furnishings in Bexleyheath, south-east London.
The fire was quickly brought under control but caused severe damage to the ground-floor shop.
It is understood to have been started by a short circuit caused by lights being used to grow cannabis in the flats above.
The fire started at the shop in Upton Road on the Broadway at about 0815 GMT on Friday.


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Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has suggested that the company will wait to unveil its next-generation hardware until Microsoft has first announced the Xbox 360 successor, according to a report in The Times.
"Why go first when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better," Hirai said in response to a question about possible hardware release windows, hinting that Sony will wait until Microsoft has unveiled their own technology well before announcing their own.
Last week rumors circulated that the next PlayStation model would abandon the Dualshock controller design in favor of touchscreen controls similar to those on the PlayStation Vita. A source close to CVG also claimed Sony's new console would be announced in the coming weeks, though Sony declined comment.
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- Polygon Daily Off-Topic: 2sday (Tue 22 April)
- Polygon Feast & Fitness Vol. 3
- Darkest Polygon: Lets start a Polygon Dark Souls 2 covenant


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Fans won’t get a chance to play the new ‘Legend of Zelda’ title until next year, but they can get their first look right now.
The Legend Of Zelda
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed plans to create animated films based on the company’s original characters.
Great news Nation! The Legend of Zelda is progressing well according to series producer Eiji Aonuma…
A pretty SOLID list!
The prospective park could be a third offering at the Universal Orlando Resort, including the likes of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ and ‘World of Warcraft.’
The next installment in the iconic game series won’t see its next entry bow this year after all.
Iwata addresses last month’s rumors, and it doesn’t look good for those hoping for a ‘Zelda’ series.
“Game of Thrones” for kids? Netflix apparently likes the sound of that.
With a lot of great new games coming in 2015, we pick out 5 that look to be some of the year’s seminal releases.
The company’s most famous game designer dropped hints about their development of new hardware.
In a first for the franchise, new downloadable content is available for the latest game in the series starting today.
Nintendo was up next at E3 today, and their showing was a doozy. Get details here!
See the pitch reel for a Zelda movie Nintendo eventually turned down.


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It's claimed that postal deliveries in parts of Bristol are in chaos and thousands of letters and packages remain undelivered. Unions blame it on impossible workloads. But Royal Mail insists there have only been small delays - and they're down to high sickness levels.
Now strike action is being threatened, in the run up to Christmas.
More top news
Not enough beds and an agonising wait for the right help - a mother describes the anguish of trying to save her anorexic daughter.
Police believe one of the West's most infamous criminals, timeshare fraudster John Palmer, was murdered.
There's lots to enjoy when it's sunny and warm - but here's some expert advice on staying safe too.


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In the last quarter of the calendar year 2022, or in the months of October, November and December 2022, the Indian banking system saw an increase in the number of credit cards in force. Credit Card spends grew 35% YoY in OND 2022 and maintained the streak of Rs.1 trillion+ spends for the 10th consecutive month. The report also briefly covers the fee on rent payments made via credit cards that are being charged by various banks. There were 81.19 million credit cards as on December 2022.
Download the report by Hyperface to deep dive further into a few interesting metrics of credit cards in India for OND 2022.
Subscribe to our newsletter!


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If you’re an Amazon Prime member you can get big discounts on select Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets for the next week.
They have the Kindle Paperwhite marked down to just $79, its lowest sale price ever (for Black Friday and Cyber Monday it was $89). Additionally, the entry-level Kindle is on sale for $49 and the kids Kindle bundle is $69.
The full lineup of Fire tablets are being discounted as well.
The Fire 7 is $34.99, the Fire HD 8 is $54.99, and the kids’ versions are $74.99 and $94.99 respectively.
The Fire HD 10 is $109, down from the usual $149. I have one and use it everyday; it’s a great tablet for that price.
If you’re not a Prime member you can still get in on the deals by subscribing to one month of Prime for $12.99. Even considering that, the Paperwhite is still cheaper than it is with the typical $99 sale for non-Prime members.
Some folks are probably thinking this could mean a new Kindle Paperwhite is coming soon, but that’s not happening according to E Ink’s chairman, who recently told investors that sales of E Ink screens for ereaders is expected to remain weak for the next several months. Translation: there will be no new ereaders released anytime soon, at least not from major players like Amazon.
Fire TV devices and some bundles are on sale too. The full list of deals is on the linked page below.
Be careful with the prices – some have been “corrected”, e.g. the Fire HD10 was first listed at $105…
They had some problems with the promotion at first (that’s why I held off on posting about it for a couple hours) but things appear to be back to normal now.
You still can’t purchase it at the sale price. It shows the sale price but when you try to buy it it goes back to $119.
I just got off chat with Kindle support and even their elevated support and I even sent them a screen shot and they simply don’t believe me. They say yes there’s a sale and they don’t believe it’s not working. But it’s not.
It’s working for me. Maybe trying a different web browser would help?
Still unavailable for me. Same as this morning when they had to take down Paperwhite sales because some Prime members were getting the $40 discount twice.
Back up for me. Barry, on the customize screen, it does show 119 still, but once you add to cart, it drops to 79.


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WORKSHOPS ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING -- The government procurement process will be the topic of two free workshops that will
feature presentations by Volusia County Government’s director of purchasing and contracts and the assistant director and PTAC program
manager for the Florida Small Business Development Center. The workshops will be September 18 at 9 a.m. at the Volusia County Historic
Courthouse in DeLand and September 25 at Daytona Beach International Airport. For information contact Leigh Shapleigh at
email@example.com or 386-248-8048.
HURRICANE PREPARATION INCLUDES PETS -- Volusia Animal Preparedness (VAP) is a cooperative effort in Volusia County to
provide emergency assistance during disasters for people who own animals. For information go online to:
INTERMODAL EXPO SEPTEMBER 20 - 22 -- Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI), in partnership with the Florida Ports Council, Florida
Chamber, Florida Department of Transportation, and Port Everglades, is promoting Florida businesses at the Intermodal Association of
North America’s (IANA) Intermodal Expo at the Broward County Convention Center/Port Everglades September 20 - 22. The expo is the
largest conference/expo for intermodal transportation in North America and is attended by more than 2,000 company representatives. For
information, email Luis Perez-Codina firstname.lastname@example.org or Ilona Vega email@example.com.
COMMUNICATIONS, MULTIMEDIA ACADEMY FOCUSES ON VISUAL ARTS, DESIGN -- Mainland High School’s Academy of Communications and
Multimedia prepares students for careers in the arts, audio/visual communication, and technology. The curriculum is hands-on and
project based in graphic design, television production, web design, and networking support and systems. For information contact Becky
Railsback at firstname.lastname@example.org.
TOURISM SETS RECORDS -- A record number of tourists came to Florida during the first half of the year, according to
Governor Scott’s office. The number of travel-related jobs is also at a record high. During the second quarter of 2015, more than 1.2
million Florida residents were employed in tourism, up 4.9 percent over the same quarter last year.
HALF THE GLOBE HAS GONE MOBILE – According to the mobile communication industry trade group GSMA, there were 3.6 billion
mobile subscribers at the end of 2014. Half of the world’s population now has a mobile subscription, up from one in five 10 years ago.
There were 7.1 billion global SIM connections, and 243 million machine-to-machine connections. Smartphones account for 60 percent of
NUMBER OF U.S. FIRMS UP 2 PERCENT -- According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of U.S. firms increased 2 percent to
27.6 million between 2007 - 2012. The number of women-owned firms grew faster, rising 27 percent during that time, but the number of
firms with paid employees fell 5 percent to 5.4 million.
CERTIFIED BUSINESS CONSULTANTS OFFER FREE HELP -- The Florida Small Business Development Center at Daytona State College
offers free business consulting. Certified professionals at the center can provide business consulting, training and information. For
information go on line to: sbdcdaytona.com or call 386-506-4723.
EMPLOYEES BUYING BUSINESSES -- More employees are becoming owners as sales of small businesses are up 60 percent since 2012
with retiring Baby Boomers driving the momentum, according to BizBuySell.com.
FLORIDA SIMULATION SUMMIT SET FOR ORLANDO -- Simulation is a key business tool in a multitude of industries beyond defense,
including entertainment, education, healthcare, energy, transportation, manufacturing, and cyber. A simulation summit will be September
16 from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Orange County Convention Center. For more information and registration go online to:


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Last month, Xiaomi took the wraps off its latest 12S smartphone series and a new laptop series called the Book Pro 2022. Two of the laptops coming in this series had processors from Intel, however, today the company informed that another new model called Xiaomi Book Pro 14 AMD Ryzen Edition will be added to the lineup on Monday.
Xiaomi has announced that the upcoming Xiaomi Book Pro 14 AMD Ryzen Edition laptop will be officially launched in the Chinese market on August 8. Apart from revealing the launch date, the company today confirmed several key specifications of the laptop in a teaser poster. From what is known, it will be powered by Ryzen 6000H (Ryzen 6000H) processor and will come with an OLED touch-display.
According to the teaser poster posted by Xiaomi, the new Xiaomi Book 14 AMD Ryzen Edition laptop will have the same design as the Xiaomi Book Pro Intel Core Edition launched in July. It will come with an aviation-grade aluminum alloy body crafted using a high-end CNC integrated engraving process. Apart from this, the weight may be similar to the current Book Pro Laptop Intel Edition i.e. 1.5 kg.
The only difference between the existing Intel Edition and the upcoming AMD Edition models of the Xiaomi Book Pro 2022 lineup will be their processor versions. That is, the two models that arrived last month used the Intel Core i5 (i5) chipset. And the upcoming laptop will be powered by AMD Ryzen 6000H processor. Furthermore, the Xiaomi Book Pro AMD Ryzen Edition laptop is expected to have a Thunderbolt 4 interface. In addition, like the Intel Core Edition, this new laptop will also offer 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512 GB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage.
The upcoming Xiaomi Book Pro 14 AMD Ryzen Edition laptop is likely to feature a 14-inch 2.8K (2.8K) OLED screen, which will support a 90 Hz refresh rate, 600 nits peak brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. The display is also expected to be touch-enabled. Also, the notebook can be equipped with a pressure-sensitive touchpad and a built-in linear motor.
Incidentally, the laptop in question can be sold with a price tag of around $900 (roughly Rs. 71,500 at Indian prices). In this regard, Xiaomi has currently decided to launch their laptop version with this AMD chipset in the Chinese market. However, there is no confirmation about the availability of the device in the Indian market or globally yet.
First of all, follow us to get all the news and updates on cars and bikes from smartphone and technology world Google News And Twitter Page, co Download the app Click here to do so.


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Apart from handing out the award for “Best eSports Team”, Shaq himself presented fans with new gameplay footage for the crowdfunded Shaq-Fu sequel.
After an extended absence, King of Fighters is coming back with some familiar faces, but an entirely different look.
After an extended time in “development hell”, and a behind-closed-doors showing, Id and Bethesda fans will finally get to see the new Doom game in-action next month.
The list of cameos continues to grow, as a series of new “countdown” trailers hint at more familiar faces in Arkham Knight.
The team behind Contrast have announced We Happy Few, a warped and twisted look at a retro-futuristic utopia.
Free-running takes to the skies, as Steam Greenlight action-platformer-shooter Cloudbuilt officially releases this March.


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NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
today hinted that the tax rate on hybrid cars
will not be reviewed, saying the industry demands were not in sync with a study conducted by tax officers.
The council had fixed 43 per cent tax (28 per cent GST
plus 15 per cent cess) on hybrid cars, a rate that industry felt was too high for the fuel efficient vehicles.
"We have done a detailed study on auto industry demand and a paper has been made which will be circulated among members. And, if necessary, it would come up for discussion. The fact that is being presented (by the industry), according to the paper, is not correct," Jaitley told reporters.
The GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister and having state counterparts as members, today lowered tax rates on 66 of the 133 items demanded by various sections of the industry.
The council in its previous two meetings had put almost all good and services in the tax brackets of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent as it prepares to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.
Jaitley said the weighted average of all the rates decided by the council is significantly lower than the present tax incidence.
Asked if there would be any further revision of rates, the minister said the fitment committee and the GST Council have gone into the depth of all the cases and whatever rates have been decided are based on "informed reasons" and "detailed discussions".
"These broadly are the final rates... just because somebody raises an issue does not mean you have to grant it," he said.
The automakers in their demand to the GST Council had asked it to reduce the tax rate on hybrid vehicles to 18 per cent, arguing that they are much more efficient and eco- friendly but require scale and volume to become economically viable.
As per the proposed rates under the GST regime, hybrid vehicles have been put in the same category as big petrol and diesel luxury cars attracting 28 per cent rate with a cess of 15 per cent.
The tax incidence on hybrid vehicles will go up to 43 per cent from the current effective tax rate of 30.3 per cent.
At present, hybrid vehicles attract excise duty of 12.5 per cent, similar to entry-level small cars such as Tata Nano or Maruti Alto.
Even though hybrid cars are exempt from infrastructure cess, there is a 1 per cent National Calamity Contingent Duty, 2 per cent Central Sales Tax and 12.5 per cent VAT, which takes the total incidence to 30.3 per cent.


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- Shira Goldman received a defaced copy of a book about Israel from Amazon
- The book had multiple pro-Palestine stickers plastered across it
- She received a new copy of the book the same day and the employee responsible was fired
A Jewish mother from Wisconsin who ordered an Israeli history book off of Amazon was left feeling ‘violated’ after the copy had ‘very disturbing’ pro-Palestine stickers plastered across it.
Shira Goldman noticed the sticker when she opened up the novel ‘Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth’ by Noa Tishby.
Multiple stickers with fake barcodes read ‘Free Palastine’- the incorrect spelling of Palestine- were stuck to pages all throughout the book.
Tishby took to X (formally known as Twitter) and said that she was in contact with Amazon Books who told her that ‘they’re making sure this doesn’t happen again’.
A spokesman for Amazon soon told Times Now that the employee that defaced the book was identified and fired for their actions.
Goldman’s copy (pictured) of ‘ Israel : A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth’ that she purchased on Amazon was defaced with pro-Palestine stickers all over
The author of the novel, Noa Tishby (pictured) posted about the incident on social media and called it ‘unacceptable’ and reached out to Amazon herself
Amazon sent Goldman a fresh copy of the book and said that they identified the employee who defaced the original copy and fired them
Goldman then went on to share the shocking experience with her friends and family before she took to Facebook, where many Jewish mom groups flocked to the comments.
Members of the Tribe Parenting and Mothers Against College Antisemitism were among those that reacted to Goldman’s terrifying discovery.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, members of these groups have come together as a community to find educational books that help make sense of the gruesome war.
Of the recommended books, Tishby’s 2021 novel quickly climbed to the top of their list and the New York Times best-seller list in the past month.
‘Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth’ was released in 2021 and has become a New York Times Bestseller over the past month
Tishby, who is also an actress, producer and former Special envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization of Israel created this book to help others understand the history of Israel.
Television host, Bill Maher commented on the book itself and said, ‘this is not your Bubbie’s history book’.
Goldman told New York Post that she felt that she was ‘targeted for her faith’ when the tampered copy of the book came in the mail that day.
In response to the conflict, Amazon ended up sending her a fresh copy of the book the same day. They also said that it was apparently the last copy available in the warehouse at the time.
Amazon and other companies like Starbucks, McDonalds and Google have been under fire recently for their public stances over the on-going war in the middle east.
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon took to X (formally known as Twitter) on October 9 and said that the attacks on Israel were ‘shocking and painful to watch’.
‘We’re also in close contact with our humanitarian relief partners on the ground and will be supporting their efforts. Hoping that peace arrives as soon as possible,’ Jassy said.
NYPD officers are seen confronting some of the protesters outside Grand Central station on Friday night
Discussing the war at a news conference from Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said Israel ‘will not stop until we complete our mission’ and that its only goal is to win (File Photo)
Protests and hate crimes across the country have carried on as Palestine and Israel continue to fight.
Six people were recently arrested after a mob of masked pro-Palestinian protestors attempted to storm Grand Central station by kicking in the doors on Friday night.
In other news, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that there will be no ceasefire in the war against Hamas until all of the hostages are returned.
Hospitals in Gaza have also been under constant attack by Israel as they lost power to one of their generators, leading to the death of baby on an incubator.


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ESI-AFRICA | The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in South Africa has had an immense impact on every business sector including the manufacturing industry, and its effect is likely to be felt long after lockdown has been lifted.
Significant disruption to the productive capacity of the economy has manifested through business closures, retrenchments and impaired balance sheets. The spending ability of consumers has dropped and is expected to fall even more, which will compound the financial blow to the manufacturing industry. As such, the Carbon Tax will further create pressure for businesses, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and cannot be ignored.
To read the full article, click here.


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KAZARIAN SPENCER SIGNS BOB TALMAGE ASSOCIATES
Top Commercial Agency Inks Deal With Leading Live Entertainment Producer
(Los Angeles, California/Aug. 31, 1999) – On the heels of producing the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Bob Talmage Associates has signed with Kazarian Spencer Agency (KSA) who will represent the production company for live entertainment and what Talmage calls “Corporate Theater.”
The pact marks the first time KSA has repped a production company. The move gives the thriving commercial agency a solid packaging vehicle and opens Bob Talmage Associates to a new client base.
“Julie McDonald and Tony Selznick’s choreography department is one of the highest grossing divisions at KSA. Both have successfully shown corporate America the importance of hiring a skilled team to produce live entertainment,” said Talmage. “And because Julie and Tony book their clients on everything from music tours to sales conferences, they have strong relationships throughout the corporate community. Bob Talmage Associates is proud to be represented by Julie and Tony at Kazarian Spencer,” continued Talmage.
“Corporate America is on a constant search for out-of-the-box thinkers who can use entertainment to sell and Bob Talmage Associates does just that. No doubt, his contributions to the 1999 Women’s World Cup helped build the largest women’s sports event in the history of this country,” said McDonald. “Arla Dietz Baim of the choreography department will spearhead the account for KSA,” continued McDonald.
Under the terms of the deal, Bob Talmage Associates will be repped by KSA for all aspects of live entertainment production but focusing on corporate events, where KSA and Bob Talmage Associates see a lucrative niche. Bob Talmage Associates produces all aspects of meeting & conventions including conceptual design, live entertainment production, site selection, video production, celebrity bookings, light & set design, permits and transportation.
About Bob Talmage Associates
Most marketing executives understand that quality entertainment can be used to sell a consumer almost any product or service. And while any skilled producer can create a spectacular show, few have the ability to infuse the entertainment seamlessly with a strong corporate marketing message. Fusing the gap between entertainment and brand identity has long been the forte of live event producer, Bob Talmage who produces exclusively through his company, Bob Talmage Associates. His accomplishments introducing events, products and services to the trade and consumers for brands like Nike, Skechers and Sun Microsystems have earned him a place as a leading producer of live entertainment and what he calls “corporate theater.”


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USA, Washington. China is removing barriers in agricultural trade with the USA. Sales opportunities for meat in particular will improve in the future.
The US Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Commerce (USTR) have reported further easing of trade with China. According to these reports, China and the USA have agreed on the regionalisation principle in the case of poultry diseases. This allows US states not affected by avian flu to resume supplying poultry to China. In addition, according to the US ministries, China has set maximum residue limits (MRLs) for three different fattening hormones. This opens up the possibility of importing "hormone-treated meat" into China, i.e. beef that has been produced using fattening hormones.
In addition, the range of authorised beef and pork products has been extended. Among other things, beef products from animals aged over 30 months will be permitted in future. In January, China had promised a significant increase in agricultural imports from the USA in the 'Phase 1 deal'. "These steps show that China is moving in the right direction to implement the agreement," stressed US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.


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This includes such as purchasing sustainable brands or doing things which will off-set the reactive impact Black Friday has, by helping us to make more environmentally informed decisions about our purchases.
The Green Friday movement is also about getting back to basics, enjoying nature, spending time with friends and family, sharing, giving and helping worthwhile causes.
It is an opportunity to reconnect with all that makes us feel uplifted.
Barclaycard customers urged to check letters for possible fee refunds of up to £760
Cheap car insurance for new drivers: expert’s tip on how under-25s can save £368 a year
Aldi delivers trend-led luxe for kids
Concerns over defences a year after Worksop’s flood misery
Nine of the best takeaways according to Worksop Guardian readers
One way in which we can contribute to sustainability and “go green” is to cut down on food waste.
Every day tons of fresh food is wasted and thrown away from shops, cafes and restaurants.
The ‘Too Good to Go’ app, which can downloaded to a mobile phone, lets people buy and collect the food for a low price, so the perfectly good produce gets eaten instead of wasted.
The ‘magic bag’ of surplus food from a supermarket, bakery, or meal from one of the participating restaurants or cafes is always a surprise. Purchasers do not know what they will be getting until they collect it.
Prices start from around £2. All people need to do it put in their postcode and see what is available locally, choose their bag or meal, pay and collect at the given time.
One of the local restaurants taking part is the Monks Bridge Farm in Dinnington.
General manager Robert Lindsley said: “We have been doing this for over one-and-a-half-years now, and sell around 40 to 50 meals a week through the Too Good to Go app.
"It’s great that the surplus food doesn’t go to waste.”
Other local participating businesses are One Stop Store, Morrisons, Greggs, Asda Worksop, and Starbucks.
Food waste puts the planet under unnecessary strain, and scientists have discovered that waste food releases harmful greenhouse gasses when it is not disposed of in the correct way. T
To date, Too Good to Go has saved 102.7 million meals from being thrown away globally.


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* Bharti, Vodafone to gain from lower spectrum fee
* Smaller carriers stand to pay more
* Telecom minister says move to boost auction results
* Government faces revenue loss with new rate
* Mobile phone spectrum auction starts Feb. 3
By Devidutta Tripathy
NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Telecommunication companies buying airwaves in an Indian auction next month will pay 5 percent of their revenue as an annual fee, a ministerial panel decided on Monday, a move that means lower payments for bigger carriers Bharti Airtel and the Indian unit of Vodafone .
The move scraps the 3-8 percent fee range the country currently levies in an effort to coax previously reluctant operators into taking part in India’s third attempt at auctioning two frequency bands for billions of dollars.
The new rate is higher than the 3 percent flat rate suggested by an independent sector regulator, which had proposed abolishing the current levy of five different rates depending on the quantum of spectrum held by a carrier.
The government may lose some revenue it collects as annual fees due to the new rate, Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal said after the meeting of the ministerial group, but expects it to help companies buy more spectrum in the auction starting Feb. 3.
“No big losers, no big winners,” Sibal said. “A successful auction means greater investment in the sector,” he said, explaining the rationale for the new rate.
After two previous attempts to pull off the sale were boycotted by major mobile phone operators that complained minimum bid prices were too high, India cut sharply the floor bid price for the February auction, helping it lure interest from eight carriers including the market leaders.
That still did not guarantee a successful sale as carriers including Bharti and Vodafone demanded a cut in the recurring annual fee they pay on the top of the winning bid price for using airwaves. India expects to raise at least $1.8 billion this year from the spectrum auction.
“I think it’s a mixed blessing. We are pleased that it’s capped at 5 percent,” said Rajan Mathews, director general at the Cellular Operators’ Association of India after the ministerial panel’s decision on Monday.
Bharti and Vodafone must buy spectrum in the February auction to renew their permits in some key cities and are expected to benefit from the 5 percent cap because they currently pay around 6 percent of their revenue in annual fees in those markets.
But smaller carriers that pay less than 5 percent currently, will tend to move towards the 5 percent rate gradually if they buy more spectrum from the auction, Mathews said.
The total spectrum fee for carriers’ existing spectrum and new spectrum from the February auction will be calculated based on a weighted average of the old and new fee, Sibal said.
Sibal said companies like Reliance Industries Ltd, which bought 4G spectrum in a 2010 auction, will continue to pay 1 percent of their revenue as annual fee for that spectrum. Reliance, which is also bidding in the February auction, had opposed any change in the fee for 4G spectrum.


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World of Studios – UK edition coming soon!
Following the huge success of last year’s UK Studios Supplement, we will be publishing a brand new version in early December, retitled World of Studios – UK edition 2023.
As post-pandemic content creation continues to boom, UK producers and inward-investment creatives are vying for studio space around the nations and regions.
Subsequently, there is an explosion in new facilities being built and existing spaces being expanded or altered to meet this surge in demand.
Now more important than ever, therefore, this essential guide provides comprehensive coverage on new, emerging and existing studio spaces around the UK, with extensive details on size, location, facilities and more.
The 3,000-copy print edition will be distributed to production companies, producers and regional film commissions, and will be available at the Media Production and Technology Show in May 2023.
The digital page-turner edition will be visible on The Knowledge, KFTV.com and ScreenDaily.com for a year after release. It will also be sent to curated lists of US heads of production and US film production companies, and will be promoted via dedicated bulletins.
The first issue was a huge hit, with 3,000 print copies distributed and 93,500 promotional emails delivered. The current digital edition has, to date, had around 43,500 page impressions.


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As a result of the pandemic, the UK’s unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in almost five years, with under 25s bearing the brunt of job losses. But some more positive news for Gen Z might be around the corner.
According to Axios, TikTok is testing a new tool for brands to recruit employees, which will effectively act as a middleman between potential candidates and businesses. The latter could then use the social media platform as a means of scouting for employees.
Currently, TikTok is reportedly testing the service with a beta group of companies, including “big brands” and sports leagues. However, it won’t be directly integrated within the app. Instead, the tool will function as a separate page, where brands can post entry-level job listings and users can post TikTok videos in lieu of a traditional CV.
The introduction of this new feature comes off the back of a Washington Post article published in March, which detailed the ways in which career advice, interview tips and CV review videos were going viral on the app. TikTok said that the #careeradvice hashtag grew to more than 80 million video views a day by mid-February, encouraging the company to harness this momentum into something tangible for users.
It seems as though this job recruiting feature has been in the works for a number of months. Last spring, TikTok announced a $50 million Creative Learning Fund to support educational content. In June 2020, the company wrote in a statement: “We want people to turn to TikTok not just for entertainment, but to learn something new, to acquire a new skill, or simply get inspired to do something they’ve never done before. People are already doing this, and it’s a trend we want to get behind and accelerate.”
As the job market continues to change and evolve at a precipitous pace, job-hunting on TikTok could spell the future of employment.


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Dubai / Emirates Business
Majid Al Futtaim, the leading shopping mall, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East and North Africa, announced on Wednesday that as part of its commitment to enhance customer experience and convenience, the City Centre Mirdif Carpark will undergo a AED 355 million redevelopment set for completion in early 2018.
The expansion will add over 1,000 car parking spaces on a new upper deck, together with additional new entry and exit points which will significantly improve convenience and accessibility to City Centre Mirdif, the premium lifestyle, shopping, leisure and entertainment destination. The initiative follows direct customer feedback and demonstrates Majid Al
Futtaim’s commitment to
enhance its existing flagship destinations.
â€œThe AED 335 million investment to increase the car parking facilities underscores Majid Al Futtaimâ€™s commitment to create great moments for everyone, everyday. The redevelopment of existing assets such as City Centre Mirdif is a key element of Majid Al Futtaimâ€™s overall UAE strategy announced in June 2016 to open 10 new City Centre destinations, 28 cinemas, 40 Carrefour supermarkets and a 740,000 sqm community by the end of 2020â€, said Mohamed Al Jasmi, Mall Manager for City Centre Mirdif.
The carpark redevelopment will also integrate the innovative parking guidance system enabling arriving guests to easily identify available parking spaces as well as to electronically locate their cars after a trip to the mall.
Mall operations will continue as normal for all tenants during the 15-month expansion construction period. Majid Al Futtaimâ€™s priority is to deliver an enhanced visitorsâ€™ experience at City Centre Mirdif and has planned for minimal disruption during this period.


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Mumbai Chopra marks an important milestone in her journey with Landing in Mumbai. In line with her mission statement to entertain, empower and enlighten, she collaborates with the Special Olympics to bring awareness to their R-word campaign.
Landing in Mumbai is taking its pledge and supporting the‘Spread the Word to End the Word’ campaign, to eliminate the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. Check out Mumbai bringing awareness!
Disney Releases Soundtrack to Million Dollar Arm! http://t.co/z3XDEzkvZQ #MillionDollarArm
'Im happy that Soha and Kunal decided to marry' says Kareena! http://t.co/GOmBwFkeIg #Bollywood
Can you caption what Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai are talking about? #Caption! http://t.co/Q1t6Rd89NR


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Windows Phone 8.1 update advances many features to match competition
April 17, 2014, 12:00 am TWN
NEW YORK--Microsoft's new Windows system for smartphones addresses many of the shortcomings in previous versions.
Before, voice search lacked the natural language interactions of Apple's Siri and Google Now. The updated Windows Phone system has Cortana, which combines Siri's personality with Google Now's knack for anticipating what you need before you even ask.
Meanwhile, Windows Phone's lack of a central hub for checking notifications from Facebook and other services has been addressed with a new Action Center.


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C.E. Info Systems is currently trading at Rs. 1167.95, up by 13.35 points or 1.16% from its previous closing of Rs. 1154.60 on the BSE.
The scrip opened at Rs. 1165.45 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1170.00 and Rs. 1165.00 respectively. So far 80 shares were traded on the counter.
The BSE group ‘A’ stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1715.00 on 12-Apr-2022 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1023.20 on 05-Jan-2023.
Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1167.80 and Rs. 1110.00 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6195.67 crore.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 53.31%, while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 9.91% and 36.78% respectively.
C.E. Info Systems (MapmyIndia) has launched its new line of Mappls Gadgets for cars and two-wheelers – including advanced Vehicle GPS trackers, Dash Cameras, In-Dash Navitainment Systems & Smart Helmet Kits. Mappls Gadgets are available direct from the company at www.mapplsgadgets.com, as well as offline through approved genuine accessory showrooms of various OEMs, and can be shipped and installed pan India, with prices ranging from Rs 4,990 to Rs 38,990. Users of Mappls Gadgets can access the various features and benefits through the Mappls App, which can be downloaded free from www.mappls.com/getApp, and works on Android, iOS, Android Auto and Carplay, and can also be accessed for free on the web from www.mappls.com.
C.E. Info Systems is India’s leading advanced digital maps and deep‐tech company, popularly known in India as MapmyIndia and globally as Mappls.


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The burgeoning legal cannabis industry can serve as a new beginning for some—at least, for those with entrepreneurial dreams. Unfortunately, however, not everyone with a simple dream can successfully run a business, especially in a brand new, heavily-regulated space like legal marijuana.
But Chicago Entrepreneur Seke Ballard’s new initiative will hopefully that reality for 100 Illinois social equity applicants hoping to win licenses to operate recreational pot shops when the plant is legalized on January 2nd.
Ballard Plans to Front Marijuana Dispensary Application Fees
The 35-year-old Ballard, who believes people of color are being “underrepresented” throughout the application process, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he will offer, at the very minimum, 100 social equity applicants no-or low-interest loans for $2,500 that will cover the application fee for receiving a dispensary license.
“We’re not going to wait on the state we’re not going to wait on the city,” Ballard said.“We are going to make sure that at least 100 social equity applicants have the support and knowledge they need to submit complete, compelling applications.”
Ballard owns the Seattle-based startup Good Tree Capital, a financial institution that lends money to small cannabis firms. The company is meant to provide prospective business owners with an alternative to traditional banking—which has, for the most part, strayed away from doing business with cannabis companies.
“Most cannabis businesses can’t obtain bank accounts or loans, leaving owners to rely on outside investors to fund their business growth, ” their website states. “Good Tree Capital offers an alternative. We provide lines of credit, term loans, commercial real estate financing and equipment financing.”
Ballard’s company will finance the first round of pot licensee applications for companies and individuals who don’t already have a stake in the industry. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, applications will be accepted between Dec. 10 and Jan. 2. The state is set to legalize recreational sales on January 1st, giving applicants an additional day to apply for the financing.
While financing isn’t limited to those deemed as “social equity applicants,” they will have a marked edge. To qualify as a social equity applicant, you must meet certain criteria, including living in an area that’s been disproportionately impacted by past drug policies for five of the last ten years or having been arrested for or convicted of a minor pot offense.
To qualify for a loan, social equity applicants are required to fill out a separate form online before November 1st.
“We’re going to provide you with the capital,” Ballard said. “We expect to be paid back, but we’re not trying to make a profit off of you. We just want to make sure you’ve got the resources you need.”
Applicants Have Options
As an alternative, social equity applicants can apply for a state waiver which would finance half of their application fees. Of course, there are always other avenues they can take, like consulting with another venture capital firm, angel investors, or traditional online lending.
Either way you slice it, Chicago’s brand new set of marijuana laws— and the opportunities that will undoubtedly come with them—can serve as a major spark for the state and its economy.
“It’s a snowball effect,” Ballard said back in September. “And this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people who come from communities that look exactly like this community that we’re in now to really use that spark to jumpstart economic development in those areas.”


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There's no such thing as a free lunch, just as there's no such thing as a free social network.
At this point, most people have accepted that we are able to access social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest free of charge because some of the information we provide these services will be used to help advertisers market to us. Collectively we seem to have bought into the reality of the digital age: If you're not paying for a product you're using, you are the product.
Quite simply, the long-term viability an ad-free social network is a fantasy. But that doesn't need to be a bad thing.
This is what makes the recent emergence of Ello so interesting. Ello, a new, invite-only social networking platform claims it will remain ad-free and will never sell personal data to companies for marketing purposes, standing in opposition to most social media platforms.
So just how will the site make money? Company founder Paul Budnitz reportedly plans to operate the site as a public benefit corporation – which enables it to act something like a non-profit while still paying taxes like any other company – and to generate revenue via a model where some users will be able to pay for account upgrades that unlock additional features.
Without advertising, it's clear that these kinds of new social services will need to get creative with revenue generating ideas. Rest assured, many companies will be watching to see if Ello can make good on its promise to avoid ads.
Last week, Snapchat became the latest social networking phenom to introduce advertising – with an ad for the new horror movie 'Ouija' – as the company begins to look for a way to generate meaningful revenue from its rapt user base.
The challenge for a company like Snapchat, which until last week was largely ad-free, will be in how the company manages to integrate marketing messages into its core offering without alienating users. Snapchat is likely to suffer some growing pains as it goes through this process.
Just ask Facebook, Twitter and YouTube about some of their early attempts at advertising and how those went over with users.
Ads on social media networks can work to the advantage of both the advertiser and the user. Marketers hoping to tap into the power of social media need to ensure that not only the content they are creating is appropriate, but also that the platforms they are working with are doing everything they can to ensure that advertising remains additive, and not a distraction to users.
Remember you're a guest in the community
People have always accepted advertising as a necessary evil in traditional media. On average, a person is exposed to anywhere between 250 to 3,000 ads on a daily basis. Consumers understand that advertising is the lifeblood of newspapers, television and radio.
In recent years, new media companies have promised to deliver new business models and revenue generating ideas that would render traditional advertising obsolete. While there are some exceptional services which have discovered new ways of making money, it turns out that to a large extent, new media needs old-fashioned ad revenue just as much as traditional media.
A social network employing advertising to fund itself instead of charging users for access isn't tangibly different from large broadcaster such as CBS or the CBC – who are largely available for free to users – seeking out advertising to support its programming.
Don't want ads? You will pay a premium
Just as there existed a divide between broadcast television networks and commercial free cable channels like HBO, there is emerging a separation between services users demand be kept free of charge and those they are willing to pay for.
In the case of HBO, people were willing to pay a premium to subscribe to this channel because of its quality programming and absence of advertising. It offered something different than what users could get from traditional broadcast outlets, and people were willing to pay for that.
The same rings true for social media. If social platforms don't want to clog the site with ads for their users, a paywall is inevitable. The internet is teeming with sites for which we pay to play, including Match.com, Hulu and Netflix.
One of the hottest free platforms right now is Tinder, a mobile dating service which exploded in popularity this year. Recently, Tinder CEO Sean Rad revealed the company would begin offering a new premium version of the service with additional features (although he hasn't said what those features will be).
It turns out you can't have your cake and eat it too. The relationship between the social media site, the user and the advertiser is admittedly a difficult one, but in the end it's necessary more often than not.
Mia Pearson is the co-founder of North Strategic. She has more than two decades of experience in creating and growing communications agencies, and her experience spans many sectors, including financial, technology, consumer and lifestyle.


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"They haven't told us anything," Walter said Friday. "They're going to probably drag their feet until Nov. 1."
is running for the seat.
Constitution Party candidate awaits word on ballot qualification
Shortly after Newcomb's endorsement, Dixon's campaign sent out letters of endorsement Tuesday afternoon from Bill Davis, head of the Alabama Fraternal Order of Police, and Lance Monley, president of the Baldwin County Fraternal Adidas Rose 4.5 Black Order of Police.
With about Adidas Tech Super Grey Green
Bonner, who is seeking a fifth two year term, easily overcame a primary challenge earlier this month from Orange Beach developer Peter Gounares.
"Ms. Dixon's experience and concern for victims of crime has proved that she is the right candidate for District Attorney," Davis said in his letter.
View full sizeDavid Green
two thirds of the pages counted as of Friday morning, Johnston said that his office has verified 4,282 signatures.
Baldwin County DA endorsements
To get on the ballot, Walter needs 5,014 verified signatures of registered voters in the 1st Congressional District, which covers Baldwin, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and Washington counties and part of Clarke County.
But the Secretary of State's office hopes to finish the count in the next Adidas Sl Loop Light Blue
Newcomb was ousted in the June 1 Republican primary, winning fewer votes than opponents Green and Hallie Dixon. It was Newcomb's first test at the polls since her appointment when David Whetstone retired in 2006.
Austal had better hope that the decision makers on the Littoral Combat Ship program are not big baseball fans.
2 ballot as the Constitution Party's candidate for the congressional seat held by Rep. Jo Bonner, R Mobile.
few days, Rob Johnston, an election attorney for the agency, said Friday.
Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb has endorsed her former opponent, Foley businessman David Green, to be the county's next top prosecutor.
No Democrat Adidas Rose 6 Primeknit
"I have worked with both candidates, and because of the honesty, integrity and professionalism that David demonstrates on a daily basis in both his personal and professional life, I stand behind him as Baldwin County's next District Attorney," Newcomb said in last week's announcement.
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Following the commercial success of Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality headset, companies are now competing to develop the first augmented reality (AR) glasses geared toward the consumer market.
Augmented reality has been popular in consumer technology for some time, particularly in Instagram and Snapchat filters on smartphones.
However, some companies are now aiming toward a sci-fi vision of Tony Stark’s fictional Iron Man glasses.
There are actually many products on the market that blend a computer screen with reality.
Rather than placing you inside the third dimension, like a VR headset, AR covers the real world with user interface and other graphics on transparent lenses, while also sensing and visualizing the world around you.
So far, AR headphones in the UK have been aimed at enterprise use, with relatively high price points and unfashionable designs.
Meta became the first UK company to launch a pair of eyeglasses with onboard cameras when it teamed up with Ray-Ban last year, which was targeting the consumer retail market.
The wearer can listen to music and take photos and videos with a pair of Ray-Ban stories, which are automatically shared on your smartphone.
Stories are primarily designed for content creation and do not display anything on the wearer’s lens.
EE partners with Nreal for augmented reality glasses
But this week, a company called Nreal, in conjunction with mobile phone company EE, released a pair of augmented reality glasses designed for content consumption.
The headset, which connects to your Android smartphone via a USBC cable, sends your phone’s screen to a 201-inch screen on your lens, wherever you are in the world.
Wearers can either mirror their phone screen directly onto the glasses or use an operating system that enables the user to open and resize multiple windows simultaneously, just like on a PC.
The user can choose to display the screen on a transparent lens or use a plastic blackout screen to create a more cinematic experience.
The glasses work the same way as a TV monitor or a second monitor, except that you carry your TV in an unobtrusive carrying case in your backpack.
The Nreal Air glasses also allow for iMAX-sized video games on the go.
When connected to EE’s ultra-fast 5G network, using Xbox cloud game streaming, or PlayStation’s Remote Play app, wearers can operate their console anywhere they can get a signal.
A new season for consumers
The Air headset represents a new chapter in consumer entertainment.
It costs £399 (less than half of its commercial counterparts), and EE expects there will be no manufacturing or shipping delays in its rollout.
Danny Marshall, Head of Hardware Partnerships at EE, told Sky News:[Nreal] They are actually very selective as to which markets you can buy their products from, in order to make sure they are able to focus the supply…What we need quickly is an understanding of the demand – and that is more of a challenge than the availability of ingredients.”
He noted that many people still don’t actually know that augmented reality powers their Instagram filter, and that the company doesn’t know how long it will take for the wearable technology to be widely adopted.
The next technological step, then, would be for companies to marry Ray-Ban Stories cameras with Nreal’s 1080p display.
“If you look broadly, most of the technology is there… Enhanced information offerings are already available, it’s more about customer adoption.
“Most of the technology is there, just to make it smaller, lighter and easier to wear — the battery is the big one, and the rest is there.”
META Augmented Reality Experience in London
Meta tends to agree.
Meta has announced that it has begun trialling its augmented reality glasses in London, which will capture video and audio, as well as track eye movements.
Speaking to Sky News, Jason Rubin, Vice President of Metaverse Content at Meta, explained the benefits Facebook developers see in augmented reality.
“Augmented reality is great when in real life you are doing things – so I might have augmented reality while walking down the street because I can see cars and other people and at the same time get information like I turned off my phone today but in a much more efficient way.
The perfect device will do both [AR and VR] And it will simply turn into full immersion or letting things go depending on what makes sense at any point – and Mark Zuckerberg recently showed that it happens within Cumbria.”
Although Meta says that this particular model is not a prototype and will never be released to the market, the technology is there.
It is now only a matter of time until it can be scaled down and mass-produced and at a price point, people will buy into it.
Real life is “number one”
Surprisingly, Mr. Robin went on to say that he “would rather be in a room with [his manager] In real life, that’s number one. If I can’t be in a room with him, I’d rather be with him in a virtual space in virtual reality.”
He told Sky News that Meta employees are still operating on a hybrid basis and will likely continue to do so.
“I know the whole company is going to be so happy that we’re getting back together…we’re all wondering what the long-term settling point is for all of this.”
Despite the leaps in virtual reality and augmented reality technology, Mr. Rubin says he doesn’t think immersive glasses will be the only way to access the Metaverse:
“I think that over time, augmented reality will become a bigger and bigger part of our lives…but I think there will be a lot of times when we are not in immersive reality and we will want to use a 2D screen… so screens will last for a long time. Maybe forever.”
What’s clear is that smart wear doesn’t stop at the Fitbit or the Apple Watch.
The race for our faces continues.


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Lavazza has announced it will launch three new locally roasted coffee blends at the Australian Open 2019 tennis tournament, taking place from 14 to 27 January 2019.
“We are proud to be present for the fourth year running at the Australian Open, where we will be officially launching three new products destined for the food service channel,” says Silvio Zaccareo, Asia-Pacific Business Unit Director and Australia Managing Director of Lavazza.
“These are products that have Italian-ness at the centre, highlight Lavazza’s commitment to spreading quality and authentic coffee experiences worldwide. By locally roasting beans in Melbourne, Lavazza further cements its commitment to the Australian market and adapting key products to local customer tastes.”
Kafa is a single-origin Arabica product hailing from the World Heritage-listed Kafa forest region in Ethiopia, which Lavazza calls the birthplace of coffee plants. Kafa will be served exclusively at the tournament in the Lavazza Superbox at the Rod Laver Arena, and Grand Slam Oval Level 1 Lounge.
The other two new products are part of the ¡Tierra! project, which was launched in 2002 under the guidance of the Lavazza Foundation to improve the living conditions, social development, and economic growth of coffee farming communities, while respecting the environment.
¡Tierra! Brasil is a combination of Arabica coffee and washed conillon, or Robusta, grown at a Lavazza Foundation partner plantation in Lambari, Brazil.
The second is ¡Tierra! Colombia, a 100 per cent Arabica coffee roast originating from the Meta region of Colombia. In the region, Lavazza is working with local communities and partnering in land restitution programs and other sustainability projects, including bringing internet connectivity to Meta.
The ¡Tierra! Brasil, ¡Tierra! Colombia, and Kafa beans will be transported to Australia and roasted locally in Melbourne.
Lavazza’s main site at the tournament is the Lavazza Cafélocated at Grand Slam Oval, a two-storey, custom-built structure the roaster says offers soaring views across the oval.
Lavazza says the café incorporates a refreshed design and will serve traditional hot beverages, along with refreshing summer options like Cremespresso, cold brew and iced mocha.
Additionally, a permanent Lavazza Coffee Café will also be opened at Garden Square, located in between Melbourne Park Function Centre and Show Court 3.
Lavazza has appointed Australian Chef ambassador Jock Zonfrillo of Restaurant Orana and Bistro Blackwood in Adelaide to curate a bespoke one-off menu for the Rod Laver Arena Lavazza Superbox, to be served on 16 January. Lavazza says the menu will hero the Kafa roast and incorporate Jock’s signature native ingredient cooking style.
Jock has designed five dishes, and paired each with a perfectly matched coffee-flavoured beverage. The menu includes damper with mud-crab and miso dip, pickled kohlrabi, quandong, burrata and lemon myrtle served alongside a Lavazza Espresso Martini; Mayura Station wagyu, smoked potato and wattle-seed, marron, Geraldton wax and green ants with a non-alcoholic Kafa Hot-Cold; and for dessert, set buffalo milk, strawberry and eucalyptus matched with a White Rose – Lavazza cold brew, vodka, rose water, honey, cream and dried rose petals.
Following the Australian Open 2019, coffee drinkers can experience Kafa, and the ¡Tierra! products at selected Lavazza restaurant partners throughout Australia.
- illycaffè and Lavazza release DNA sequence of Arabica coffee
- Lavazza Italian Film Festival begins national tour
- Lavazza chooses Australia for new product launch
- Lavazza acquires Blue Pod Coffee in Australia
Lavazza Group Vice Chairmen Giuseppe and Marco Lavazza will attend the tournament to celebrate the launch.Special guests of Lavazza will be announced early 2019.


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Hyper has a range of new products coming out this year, with many of the additions previewed this week at CES. The $150 HyperJuice 4-in-1 Qi2 Stand has a 15W magnetic wireless charging surface that is able to charge a MagSafe iPhone at up to 15W.
It’s also equipped with a 5W Apple Watch charger, a dedicated charging spot for the AirPods, and a fourth wireless charging spot for other accessories. The stand, which folds down when not in use, will come out in the second quarter of 2024.
Hyper is also working on a foldable Qi2 Puck Stand and Apple Watch charger. Priced at $120, it too can charge an ?iPhone? at up to 15W, with a 2.5W charger available for the Apple Watch. It is set to come out in Q2 2024 as well.
Hyper has a $130 Qi2 10,000mAh Power Bank coming in the second quarter of the year, with the power bank able to magnetically connect to an ?iPhone? for charging on the go. It includes a 20W charging port as well, with the port providing both input and output power.
Other new products coming from Hyper include a tiny 5,000mAh Capsule Power Bank with integrated cables, a compact 20,000mAh USB-C Power Bank, a 100W multi-port HyperJuice wall charger that can charge up to four devices at once, and a Thunderbolt 5 dock with triple 4K144Hz extended display support, 140W pass-through power delivery, and more.
More information on Hyper’s CES announcements can be found on the Hyper website.This article, “CES 2024: Hyper Launches 4-in-1 Qi2 Charging Stand, New Power Banks and More” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
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Author: Juli Clover