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The 12th and final episode of the isekai anime crossover, Isekai Quartet, has now aired its 12th and final episode. And as the anime ended, it announced a brand new sequel anime will be coming along soon. The episode is now available via Muse Asia here in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, over at Twitter, the anime’s official Twitter account has now also confirmed that a sequel is indeed happening. They even released a brand new key visual as well:
The anime is a crossover between the Re:Zero, Overlord, KONOSUBA, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil franchises. However, Shield Hero joined the series in the second season. And as expected, chaos ensued. Muse Asia is now streaming the second season for Southeast Asia.
Now, who is excited for this new Isekai Quartet anime? We surely are!
Don’t miss a single update from SGCafe! Follow us on Twitter: @SGCafe Read more on your favorite anime here on Sgcafe! also read more about manga here on SGCafe Also join in on the community’s discussions at http://forums.sgcafe.com
Source: Isekai Quartet Twitter Account


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According to Zacks, “BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG is a multi-brand automobile manufacturer that focuses on the premium segments of the worldwide automobile and motorcycle markets. It has three brands: BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce. The Company’s BMW automobile range includes the 1 Series, a sports hatchback; the 3 Series, including sedan, touring, coupe and convertible models; the 5 Series, available in sedan and touring models; the 6 Series, available as a coupe or convertible; the 7 Series large sedan; the Z4 roadster and coupe; the sports utility vehicles, X3, X5 and X6 and M models, such as M3, M5 and M6. A variety of motorcycles are also available under the BMW brand. “
Several other research analysts also recently commented on BAMXF. Nord/LB restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Bayerische Motoren Werke in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Continental in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Continental in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Bayerische Motoren Werke in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 1,700 ($22.21) target price on shares of in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.25.
BAMXF traded up $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $73.85. 282 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,360. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 1.17. Bayerische Motoren Werke has a 1 year low of $68.00 and a 1 year high of $102.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.15.
Bayerische Motoren Werke (OTCMKTS:BAMXF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $25.51 billion for the quarter. Bayerische Motoren Werke had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 5.56%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bayerische Motoren Werke will post 10.45 EPS for the current year.
Bayerische Motoren Werke Company Profile
Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells automobiles and motorcycles, and spare parts and accessories worldwide. The company operates through Automotive, Motorcycles, and Financial Services segments. The Automotive segment develops, manufactures, assembles, and sells automobiles and off-road vehicles under the BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce brands; and spare parts and accessories, as well as offers mobility services.
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McCain Foods Archives
McCain's new sourdough pizza is sold in Woolworths and independent supermarkets.
The Sustainable is Attainable study finds new ways to repurpose food waste.
McCain Foods has completed the $37 million upgrade of its manufacturing plant in Tasmania, which has returned to seven-d...
McCain’s Ballarat plant will use solar and co-generation technology to power operations.
McCain Foods latest campaign celebrates the diversity of Australia's modern families.


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Talk about 5G is everywhere right now, from the trade war with China to the ban on Huawei. Here's what 5G is and why it matters.Technologyread more
Officials remained firmly committed to a "patient" policy stance at their meeting earlier this month.The Fedread more
A slew of retail earnings the past two weeks makes it clear that while Americans continue to shop, they aren't ringing registers at department stores.Retailread more
A federal judge in New York City on Wednesday said Deutsche Bank and Capitol One can turn over financial documents related to President Donald Trump and his businesses in...Politicsread more
Shares of L Brands, the owner of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, rose nearly 11% in aftermarket trading Wednesday after the company reported it beat revenue and...Retailread more
Stocks that would benefit from a federal infrastructure spending program fell after President Trump ended a meeting on infrastructure spending with Democratic leaders.Market Insiderread more
Despite the president's claim that "you can't investigate and legislate simultaneously," certain must-pass pieces of legislation, including a debt ceiling hike, will...Politicsread more
CNEX, backed by Microsoft and Dell, filed new allegations in a Texas suit accusing China's Huawei and an executive of trade secrets theft.Technologyread more
Amazon shareholders demanded the company to take action on a number of different issues during its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.Technologyread more
Controversial lawyer Michael Avenatti was indicted on charges of trying to extort athletic shoe giant Nike out of tens of millions of dollars by threatening to go public with...Politicsread more
Americans in certain areas of the country have significantly higher average credit scores than others. Experian's annual State of Credit report shows the average score in each...Spendread more
A new study found that more than two-thirds of the world's millionaires are affiliated with a religion, with more than half identified as Christians.
The study, from the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth, found that of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world, 7.4 million, or 56.2 percent, identify themselves as Christian when asked about their religion. Fully 6.5 percent of millionaires identified themselves as Muslim, 3.9 percent identified themselves as Hindu and 1.7 percent identified themselves as Jewish.
Fully 31.7 percent of millionaires identified themselves as "other," which includes other religions and "no religion."
Of course, the richest countries are also Christian-dominant, so country plays a strong role in the results. According to New World Wealth, 7 of the 10 wealthiest countries—ranked by number of millionaires—are "Christian dominated," according to the report.


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Lynnwood Today welcomes new sponsor Re-Read Books, which is holding an Epic Book Sale June 18-23 at the store on 196th Street Southwest at 68th Avenue West in Lynnwood.
Tens of thousands of books are for sale, with all hardbacks $2, all paperbacks $1, all children’s hardbacks $1 and all children’s paperbacks 50 cents. Prices will drop by 50 percent June 24-25.
For more information, call 425-775-2377. Trade credit is not available during the sale.


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The President of the Regional Chamber of Commerce likes the recent retail sales figures for Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Tim Hulbert is encouraged by the available figures for the January through October period of 2013. Hulbert says the total could reach $2.3 billion when the final numbers are tallied. He expects to know those numbers by February. Hulbert discussed retail sales Friday on Charlottesville..Right Now.
The "Shake It Off" singer fought with her record label to ditch her country girl image and become a pop star.
The hit reality TV show is off the air after allegations family matriarch Mama June is dating a convicted sex offender.
The "Dark Knight" star will portray the late Apple Computer co-founder.
Sin City will celebrate Britney Spears Day on Nov. 5.
The comic gets in some good digs at the "Fury" star in this hilariously awkward interview that's crashed by Louis C.K.


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On January 10-12, 2023, the PSI fair was held in halls 9 and 10 of Messe Düsseldorf, which is Europe's leading event in the promotional products industry.
This is evidenced by the current numbers for 2023:
– presence of over 400 exhibitors at the fair, including leading players on the advertising and promotion market
– there is also great interest among visitors, and many accredited industry guests from Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Pakistan, Slovakia and Switzerland have confirmed their presence.
“After a 3-year hiatus, there are numerous new products and exciting concepts on the market waiting to finally be presented on the international stage,” explains PSI Director Petra Lassahn.
The mega trends of sustainability and digitalization will be in the spotlight, including their impact on processes, products and business models, as well as dealing with strategic changes in the market, such as disrupted supply chains, energy supply, scarcity of raw materials, lack of skilled labor , inflation, new job and diversification.


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At the Live Well Station inside the Dining Commons at Niagara University, students are the driving force behind the station’s array of plant-based and gluten-free dishes.
“About a year to three years ago, a vegan student group came to us and really started talking about having a dedicated vegan station, and so we made this station a combined vegan and gluten-free station,” says Andrew Shaner, general manager for Metz Culinary Management.
Staff at the Niagara County, N.Y., university reached out to the Humane Society to have them visit campus and instruct staff on how to prepare plant-based dishes.
“They came out and they did one just strictly classroom training—teaching about it first and talking about the trends out there,” Shaner says. “And then there was a day and a half of hands-on training with our staff and then showing it to the [students].”
Photograph courtesy of Metz Culinary Management
Many menu items introduced since have continued to be driven by student feedback, whether provided through comment cards or taste tests. Additions have included Beyond Meat tacos, crabless crab cakes and vegan chicken pot pie. One of the newest options is a vegan pumpkin milkshake that students can customize with toppings such as pomegranate seeds, chocolate sauce and more.
Shaner says the team tries to stick to the basics and replicate food served in other parts of the dining hall so those with restrictions don’t feel like they’re missing out.
“They're feeling like they're eating the same food that everyone else is eating,” he says.


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Costa Blanca’s fury over new tourist tax proposed by people who ‘hate tourism’
Hotel Benidorm: Chef discusses why Brits love the region
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Hoteliers and employers’ associations in the Costa Blanca have launched a campaign to oppose the tourist tax. British tourists would have to pay between 50 cents (42p) and two euros (£1.69) a night to visit the Costa Blanca.
The cost of the tax would vary depending on a holidaymakers’ type of accommodation.
Campsites would carry the lowest amount of tax while luxury hotels and apartments would be taxed the highest.
Despite the anger, it will be up to different regions to decide whether they want to introduce the tourist tax.
Popular resorts such as Benidorm have made it clear that they will never apply the tourist tax.
The hotel association Hosbec said the tax had been approved by those who “hate tourism”.
The group also warned that a tax would make the region less competitive in a difficult market.
Destinations such as Turkey, Portugal and Greece are also very popular with British tourists looking for beach breaks.
The group has now joined forces with the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) and launched an online campaign to beat the tax.
Under the name ‘No To Tourist Tax’ the group’s petition has already gained over 1,000 signatures.
Mayors, presidents of tourism boards and other sector representatives are among those who support the tax.
CEV said: “There is no place in the recovery of the tourism industry for an increase in the tax burden.
“Policies must be aimed at increasing quality, improving the tourist product and facilitating the arrival of tourists.
“Under no circumstances should a tax increase be imposed at a time that could reduce the competitiveness of destinations in the Valencia region.”
Hosbec has said it is counterproductive to limit tourist spending when the sector is still struggling from the pandemic.
It added: “A new tax would have the perverse effect of boosting the underground economy, with uncontrolled and unregulated accommodation.”
It asked the Government to address the existing issues in the tourism industry rather than the tax.
The Costa Blanca isn’t the first Spanish region to introduce a tourism tax for visitors.
The Balearic Islands and Catalonia already have small taxes in place which vary according to the style of accommodation.
Outside of Spain, tourists will have to pay a tax to visit the Italian city of Venice while Thailand has announced it will soon tax visitors.
Other popular holiday destinations including Vienna in Austria and Budapest in Hungary have a tourist tax.
Source: Read Full Article


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Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) reported fiscal 2018 first-quarter results after markets closed on Thursday. The big-box club store posted quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.45 on revenue of $31.12 billion. In the same period a year ago, Costco reported EPS of $1.24 on revenue of $27.47 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $1.34 and $31.48 billion in revenue.
Net income of $640 million (versus $545 million in the year-ago quarter) was positively affected by a $41 million ($0.09 per diluted share) tax benefit related to a change in accounting rules on stock-based compensation. Last year the company posted a $51 million ($0.07 per share) benefit in the same period.
The company’s profits are driven by membership fees. In the quarter, membership fees accounted for $692 million of Costco’s total revenues, up 9.8% year over year. Costco raised membership fees in June.
Consolidated same-stores sales rose 10.5% year over year in the first quarter, with gains of 10.3% domestically, 11.3% in Canada and 10.1% internationally. Excluding gasoline sales and currency exchange effects, consolidated same-store sales rose 7.9%, with a rise of 8.7% in the United States, 4.3% in Canada and 7.9% internationally.
The company said e-commerce sales rose 43.5% in the quarter, slightly higher than the 42.1% gain in the same quarter a year ago. It is worth noting that even though Costco started from a low base, this stacked growth is impressive.
Operating income rose by $102 million from $849 million to $951 million. Merchandise costs rose by 13.7% to $27.62 billion, and SG&A expenses were up by about 9.7% to $3.22 billion.
Costco noted that there was one fewer sales day in the quarter but that the pre-Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales fell into first-quarter results. The combined effect added about 1.5% to U.S. sales and “slightly less worldwide.”
The company did not publish any guidance, but consensus estimates for the company’s second fiscal quarter call for EPS of $1.40 on revenues of $32.42 billion. For the full 2018 fiscal year, EPS are expected to come in at $6.46 on revenues of $137.52 billion.
Shares closed down about 1% on Thursday at $186.53 and traded up by about 2.7% in the Friday’s premarket session at $191.50. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $150.00 to $191.22. The consensus 12-month price target was $185.81 before results were announced. The high price target is $205.00.


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Samsung launched the Galaxy A51 in India in January with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage for Rs 23,999. On Wednesday, Samsung updated the phone with an all-new 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. The 8GB/128GB Samsung Galaxy A51 has been launched in India at a price of Rs 27,999 and it will be available from across online and offline stores.
Apart from the upgraded RAM, everything else stays the same. The new variant’s USP still remains to be its Galaxy S20-like punchole display cutout. There are also quad cameras on the back, arranged in a L-shaped pattern sort of like the Galaxy S20. The phone will be available in three colour options, Prism Crush Black, Prism Crush White and Prism Crush Blue.
Let’s talk about the specs. The Samsung Galaxy A51 has a 6.5-inch 1080p+ Super AMOLED display with punchole cutout and in-display fingerprint scanner for biometrics. Under the hood, the phone has a Samsung-made Exynos 9611 processor (now) paired with up to 8GB RAM and up to 128GB storage which is expandable by up to 512GB via a micro-SD card.
The dual-SIM phone runs Android 10-based One UI 2.0 and packs a 4,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging support through USB Type-C. Samsung bundles a compliant fast charger in the box.
Moving on, the Samsung Galaxy A51 comes with four cameras on the back, a 48MP main, a 12MP ultra wide-angle, and two 5MP cameras, one for macros and another for depth sensing or portrait photography. On the front, the Galaxy A51 comes with a 32MP camera.


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The government said the two plants were in Botosani, near the Moldovian border in the north east, and the central town of Brasov in Transylvania .
But ministers and abattoir owners said that a three-day investigation had "cleared" their name and they angrily denounced France for pointing the finger at them.
They said that they had supplied the horse meat that ended up on British supermarket shelves but that it had been correctly labelled when it left their country.
In a press conference Victor Ponta, the prime minister of Romania, said that his country had been wrongly vilified as the "usual suspects".
"We have finished our investigation and as far as we know we have not broken the law," he said.
Asked what he thought about the French blaming them he said: "I am angry, to be honest.
"They have tried as far as possible to throw responsibility onto new members of the EU.
"It is unfair that they pointed the finger at our companies.
"We do not want to be the suspect for everything. There was no breaking of the law in Romania.
"Now it is up to the EU to find out who is responsible. Those who have switched the labels must be punished."
The two plants are two of the biggest abattoirs in the Eastern European country.
Botosani lies in the poorest region of Romania where horses are still used for agricultural work and local transportation.
Iulian Cazacut, the general manager of the local Doly-Com plant which is the biggest in Romania and supplies all its major supermarket chains, said he had been cleared of any wrong-doing.
"We were investigated." he said.
"We didn't export meat directly to France but yes we have partners in Netherlands.
"A hundred per cent of our exports were registered correctly. We proved that. We are clean."
Olimpiu Soneriu, the general director of the Carmolimp abatoir in Brasov, about 80 miles north of Bucharest, also denied any wrong doing.
"During 2012 we have not delivered any beef so there is no reason for it to incorrectly labelled," he said.
"We condemn any company engaging in any illegal act that brings any prejudice to our industry.
"We consider this an unprecedented attack on the Romanian meat industry.
"If the French company did not recognise the horse meat then their workers must be on their first day in the job."
The French and British governments have vowed to punish those found responsible for allowing horsemeat originating from Romania to be sold as beef.
An initial French investigation revealed that the horse meat ended up on the British market from the French owned Comigel factory Luxembourg.
It had bought supplies of meat from Spanghero in the south of France which in turn had received meat from Romania via Dutch and Cypriot traders.
Romania exports around £8 million worth of horse meat a year.
Horse meat costs on average 50 per cent less than beef and can be as much as six times cheaper.
The French estimate that the food fraud could have netted more than £300,000 to those involved.
Jose Bove, the French Green Party MP, made the shocking figures public as he exposed the "mafia system" at the centre of the UK’s horse meat scandal.


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It may be hard to believe, but the beloved gasoline engine that powers more than 200 million cars across America every day didn't get its status because it's the most efficient engine. Diesel engines can be more than twice as efficient, ...
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Smaller e-commerce firms like Yebhi and Fashionandyou plan to petition Modi for allowing FDI in B2C cos to help them compete better with Chinese firms.
Pushing for introducing FDI in B2C e-commerce, industry bodies and e-commerce firms have said such moves will help SMEs scale up their operations and aid expansion into smaller parts of the country.
Revenue from online ticketing on IRCTC rules the roost, having exceeded the combined sales of Flipkart and Amazon India in the year ended March 2014.
Co-founder of distressed fashion portal DoneByNone quit recently. Online toy store Wopshop, jewellery e-tailer 21Diamonds and electronics e-tailer Timtara also shut shop.
The venture’s existing risk capital investors, a list that includes, Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Nokia Growth Partners, have participated in the Series D round of funding.
At least a dozen startups, including Myntra, Commonfloor, Zomato and Olacabs, have lost senior leaders around a year after their joining.
E-tailers such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Shopclues and Jabong are in various stages of launching their sites in languages like Tamil, Marathi and Hindi.
There is a view that the urgency has helped portals to have more robust supply chain system and companies are devising ways to make it more efficient through innovations.


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A shop owner in California is asking the public for help identifying a man captured on video stuffing a large chainsaw down the front of his pants, before somehow walking out of the store, allegedly without paying for it.
Owners of Fresno’s RG Equipment released security footage this week, showing a man wearing a tan jacket and matching hat, milling about in front of a couple chainsaws.
The man is then seen picking up the mechanical saw before nonchalantly jamming the blade down the front of his pants.
He then pulls his tan jacket over the motor of the saw before leaving the store.
Jeff Bennett, co-owner of the store, said two men came into the shop on Wednesday and one of the men worked to keep Bennett’s attention.
“I kind of had that intuition that they were not here to buy something in the store,” Bennett told KFSN News.
The owner said he immediately checked his security footage the moment both men walked out of the store.
The footage of the bizarre theft has made the rounds on social media.
“It was frustrating, you feel embarrassed, you feel confused,” Bennett said.
Fresno Police Lt. Mark Hudson told the Fresno Bee that a man had walked into the police station in connection to the theft of the $400 saw, but only to clear his name. The man told police “he was being blown up” on social media after being wrongly identified as a suspect.
According to KFSN News, the business is fielding calls from media in New York to Texas about the unusual video.
Here’s hoping the suspect was wearing underwear.


text: Reusable plastic containers used to transport large amounts of fruits and vegetables to grocery stores can continue to harbor potentially harmful bacteria directly on their surfaces, even after undergoing industry-standard cleaning and sanitizing, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Arkansas and WBA Analytical Laboratories. The study took a microscopically close look at the materials used to make the reusable plastic containers (RPCs) that have gained a foothold in the grocery industry in recent years as a preferred method of transporting produce. The findings suggest that a return to single-use containers for fresh produce might reduce the risk of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with those products, said Steven Ricke, co-author of the study and a professor at the University of Arkansas Center for Food Safety. The researchers allowed Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and E. coli O157:H7 bacteria to grow on the RPC surface and then subjected sample surfaces to cleaning and sanitizing practices typical in the industry. In all cases, the materials still harbored biofilms that protected the bacteria and would theoretically allow bacteria to colonize the next shipment of fruits and vegetables to be put in the containers. “Any time you start using these things over and over again, you increase the opportunities for pathogens to propagate,” Ricke told Food Safety News. “It’s really increasing the chance of bacteria getting fixed to the surface.” He said the study’s objective was to see whether or not bacterial biofilms could survive on the surface of RPC material. After cleaning, they examined RPC samples with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and found the bacteria on every sample cleaned. “One of the interesting things we saw in the SEM is that it might look fine to the naked eye, but when you look closer it has almost a lunar landscape to it,” Ricke said, suggesting the rough surfaces might be easier for bacteria to colonize. In a future study, the researchers hope to measure the exact percentage of bacteria that remains after the cleaning process, but they don’t have that information based on this study, Ricke said. For now, they were just interested in seeing if the bacteria could survive the cleaning at all. There is no hard evidence linking any foodborne illness outbreaks to lingering contamination on RPCs, and Ricke said he did not want to make any speculations about illnesses caused without evidence. However, he added, the presence of bacteria after cleaning meant that the possibility of disease transmission could not be ruled out. Ricke said that industry needs to look into doing a risk assessment and cost assessment of using RPCs for transporting produce, adding that he knew the suggestion makes him sound “like an academic.” Reusable plastic containers have been under scrutiny from certain food safety academics in recent years. Researchers from both the University of California-Davis and the University of Guelph have conducted studies finding that RPCs are often still contaminated when delivered to produce packers. In November 2014, the president of the Reusable Packaging Association responded to the criticisms, saying that there have been no cases of illness linked to RPCs and that the association had established a food safety standards committee to strengthen the safety of the containers even more.


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BINGHAMTON (WETM/WBNG) – The Contemporary York Lottery has introduced one local shop equipped a a success Mega Tens of millions label.
The 2nd-prize label for the January 8 Mega Tens of millions drawing became as soon as bought at Like’s Dawdle Stop #403, located at 2 Industrial Park Force in Binghamton.
The label is price a assured $2,000,000.
The working store supervisor says she and the staff had been furious after they heard the news.
The store supervisor talked about, “We had been fully amazed and it’s awesome brooding about our present sing within the economy and we’re, we’re correct amazed.”
She talked about the staff on the store had been furious to mediate that somebody of them would possibly perchance grasp been winners.
The drawing for Mega Tens of millions is aired on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m.


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Stora Enso to sell its recycled fiber consumer board mill in Barcelona to PE firm
Stora Enso has signed an agreement to sell its Barcelona mill to private equity firm Quantum Capital Partners as it looks to further its move towards focusing on virgin fiber products.
The mill in Barcelona, Spain produces consumer board from recycled fiber, and the transaction is in line with Stora Enso’s strategy to focus its consumer board offering on high quality virgin fiber products.
Quantum Capital Partners is a German private equity firm headquartered in Munich. It focuses on corporate spin-offs and carve-outs in which the acquisition target has a turnover between 20-500 million EUR (22-555 million USD) and can benefit from the firm’s operational experience. Quantum Capital Partners has completed a series of successful transactions with leading global corporations such as Bosch, BASF and Airbus Group. Its current portfolio consists of seven companies, with a combined turnover of some 350 million EUR (386 million USD). Quantum Capital Partners operates a newly established fund of more than 57 million EUR (63 million USD), and completed five transactions in 2014 and two in 2015.
The initial cash consideration for the divestment of the shares is approximately 10 million EUR (11 million USD). Based on the annual figures for 2014, the divestment is expected to reduce Stora Enso’s annual sales by 117 million EUR (130 million USD) and simultaneously decrease Stora Enso’s annual board production capacity by approximately 195,000 tonnes.
Jari Latvanen, head of the Consumer Board division at Stora Enso, said: ‘Stora Enso is focusing its consumer board offering on high-quality virgin fibre products. The Barcelona mill is the only recycled fiber-based mill in our Consumer Board division. Despite positive results development in recent months, the Barcelona mill requires further development effort and investment if it is to remain on a profitable path. I believe that the mill can operate more efficiently under the new ownership.’


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McGraw, who created the Boonji Project in partnership with artist Brendan Murphy, could envision pushback by the traditional power structure in the art world to reinstate dominance.
To boost sales, McGraw said she has kept some aspects of the physical art world in order to bridge the gap with the emerging digital art world.
For instance, she cited a sale of 7,444 minted, Boonji Spaceman Avatar, which included 500 limited-edition sculptures and 30 single-edition paintings in a Dutch auction sale that generated $5 million in less than three hours.
“We thought people really wanted the physical art, and what we’re learning is people really want the digital art,” McGraw said. “They would rather have a digital sculpture that they can put in their digital home than a real-life sculpture that they can put in their physical home.”
Read more here.


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Have you heard? NBA players really like fashion nowadays. Like, a lot. They’re not only tucking in their shirts, they’re showing up at fashion weeks across the globe. Leading the charge for a more stylish sportsmen is Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook, who recently announced a collaboration with world-class retailer Barneys New York. And we’ve got the first look at all of the Jordan products in the Westbrook-XO-Barneys New York collection. There’s a range of technical and eccentric pieces that display Russell’s affinity for all things big, bold, and colorful—no surprise there. The iconic Jordan elephant print is all over the place, as are fashion forward details like ombré and split hems—complementing the mix of tech style and high-fashion. When you look at it, it’s a damn near perfect reprsentation of Russell’s own personal style.
Westbrook-XO-Barneys New York will be available on July 17 at Barneys New York locations and online.


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Colnago Bikes – Is Colnago’s New Crypto-Security Technology the Real Deal?
Just over a week ago, famous Italian bicycle brand Colnago announced its partnership with a digital security company called MyLime to equip its executives with encrypted security features to deter theft and counterfeiting.
This is either an idea that could revolutionize bicycle safety or the most exaggerated marketing pitch since Bontrager claimed that its WaveCel-equipped helmets were “the most important technology” in cycling for 30 years.
The idea is quite simple: from 2022, Colnago bikes will be equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip mounted on the frame. This chip – or tag, as MyLime calls it – is essentially a digital ID that, when scanned by an RFID scanner, is linked to a blockchain database that stores production and ownership information on each bike. Since blockchain transactions cannot be erased, this would theoretically discourage both theft and counterfeit production, both of which are huge problems in cycling, impact luxury brands more.
RFID is already being used in some industries, such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, to combat these same issues, although adoption has been sporadic. Blockchain has been slower to take hold. High-end road bikes, mountain bikes and, of course, e-bikes could potentially benefit from both.
âWe have looked at the security provided by blockchain technology to give our customers the confidence to know that the frame they are purchasing is genuine and to demonstrate chain of ownership forever,â said Manolo Bertocchi of Colnago. in the press release.
While a few outlets covered the Colnago-MyLime announcement, they generally repackaged the press release without scrutiny, and the news mostly vanished without comment. When Ride a bike digging deeper into the story, we found that there were more questions than answers. This partnership could be the start of an innovative approach to tackle bicycle theft and counterfeiting, but the Internet of Things, as it’s called, is not always well thought out. Colnago and MyLime have a number of challenges to overcome to avoid this spell.
Let’s start with the RFID tag, which is basically a digital serial number and purchase record in one. When you scan the tag with an RFID scanner, you can access the blockchain database to find out if it is a real Colnago and who is the rightful owner.
RFID itself is vulnerable; some tags can be hacked, overwritten, or even copied, a process called RFID cloning. This raises the possibility that a thief could digitally transfer ownership of the bike. But that’s where blockchain comes in, right? Even if the tag is compromised in some way, the authenticity and ownership of the bike is still encoded in the blockchain, where it cannot be overwritten. Kind of.
A blockchain, basically, is essentially a digital ledger, where computer code entries (blocks) are made in a linked time series (chain) to record information such as ownership of assets.
What sets the blockchain apart from other ledgers and provides its unique security case is that the technology is distributed: copies of the ledger are kept and updated simultaneously on a network of computers, called nodes. When a new transaction occurs, the nodes that process the data each independently verify the transaction by consensus. Essentially, this means that when a new transaction appears, the nodes ask, âThis is the transaction I am seeing; is that what you see? ‘ Once committed, if more than half of the nodes agree, the transaction is added as a time-stamped code block on the network.
This essentially makes it impossible to go back and change or erase previous blockchain transactions; Once a code block is added, you cannot change it without changing each copy of the general ledger. As this violates network rules, nodes will refuse to commit the change.
But here’s the catch: While it’s all the rage to say “the blockchain” as if it were a single entity, it’s a misunderstanding. Blockchain is not a thing; it is a technology. There is not a blockchain; there are hundreds, maybe thousands. There are public blockchains and private blockchains, which come in several flavors. So the public blockchain platform that, say, Bitcoin operates on is not the same as that of rival cryptocurrency Ether (called Ethereum), which is again different from the (presumably private) platform that will underpin the Colnago project. And this is where things get blurry.
The MyLime press release stated that the Colnago database will be part of the Automotive BlockchainÂ®. But as with other blockchains, there is not just one in the automotive industry (or even a dominant actor). MyLime registered a logo mark for Automotive Blockchain in the United States and Europe in 2020, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. But this bold ambition contradicts the fact that MyLime, an Italian tech startup, has only a handful of customers, one of which appears to be its own sister company. It is not even clear that its automotive blockchain is operational.
MyLime has been in business since 2018, explains Martina Laconca, the company’s public relations representative. But that’s about the only information I have. I sent a list of questions, which Laconca said she found “interesting and insightful” but could not answer due to a nondisclosure agreement, and suggested that information may be available in the future.
Laconca declined to respond to requests for additional information on MyLime’s blockchain services, or its automotive BlockchainÂ® in particular: what it is, who are the partners besides MyLime, and how large the network is. This matters because the blockchain, once considered impossible to hack, is not.
While you cannot erase past blockchain transactions, the technology has vulnerabilities, including private key hacking, where a thief could impersonate the owner of an asset, and something called a 51% attack: when a malicious actor takes control of more than 50% of the computing power of a blockchain, which is the threshold to validate a transaction on the network.
When this happens, a hacker can write new transactions to the blockchain: the fraudulent transaction is validated by at least 51% of the nodes in the network and accepted as legitimate. So, a 51% attack is partly a problem of scale: public blockchains with a huge network, like Bitcoin, cost too much, but a small, owner? Play.
Because MyLime didn’t answer most of my questions, it’s impossible to know the details of the blockchain technology that will underpin digital security for Colnago. If MyLime is acquired, or rotates to a different product, or ceases operations – all common outcomes for tech startups – what happens to the Colnago database?
Colnago also did not respond to two requests for comment on the details of the plan. So on topics like how owners could update the blockchain and RFID tag in case they sell their bikes; how potential buyers could access the database to verify that a bicycle is legitimately owned and genuine (eg, through a Colnago dealer); and whether law enforcement will be able to do so to verify the property – there is no firm information.
Given Colnago and MyLime’s claims about the technology’s anti-theft potential, this last question is perhaps the most difficult, as law enforcement typically treats stolen bikes as a low priority and is already somewhat contested. through technology. Dan Guido, CEO of digital security firm Trail of Bits, recently wrote a viral Twitter thread about how he recovered a stolen scooter using Apple Airtags after doing all the file work for the police, who were most suspicious of him, and physically drove them to the cutting shop that had the scooter. So it might be a bit of a stretch to expect the police to carry RFID scanners to access a proprietary blockchain with the uncertain authority that tells them who is the rightful owner of this set of 5,000 V3Rs executives. $ with Tadej PogaÄar’s âFire and Iceâ paint scheme.
A separate and major problem: For some reason, Colnago placed the RFID tag on the outside of the down tube (there’s a close-up photo in the press release), where it’s easily scratched off. Is a missing tag a sign that a bike is stolen or fake? Sure. But this is a physical product, not a digital asset like an NFT; actual possession is important. People who steal and resell bikes may not be bothered by whether there is an RFID tag on it or not, or if a digital record indicates that the bike is not legally owned by them. Proof of ownership? It’s right there in their hands, right?
Likewise, counterfeiting is not easy to resolve. When I written on counterfeit bikes A few years ago, I learned from talking to sources that many buyers know what they are buying is fake, and don’t care – hence the term “Chinarello”. A false label, or no label at all, is not very dissuasive. And if the database of genuine bikes is obscure, proprietary, and difficult to access, it is even less effective.
Both RFID and blockchain have the potential to deter both theft and counterfeiting if properly executed: anything that increases the cost of illegal behavior will decrease it to a corresponding extent. But there are just too many questions right now about Colnago’s partnership to know if this is going to be a significant step in that direction, or if these Colnago 2022s only weigh a few grams more for the weight of an RFID tag. and an adhesive.
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Consumers to Have a New Way to Plug Into Computer Services
NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Not many months from now, people will be able to plug the cable television line into the back of the family computer and get faster, cheaper access to a range of services.
Several companies are developing powerful devices that link personal computers to cable TV lines, called cable modems, to bring this about. They’re showing them off at the National Cable Television Association’s convention here.
The cable modems can move text, voice and pictures 1,000 times faster over cable TV lines than standard telephone modems, which people currently use to send and receive information from their personal computers over telephone lines, executives of companies developing the cable modems said Tuesday.
Those devices have more horsepower because cable television lines can carry more information than telephone lines do now. ″The cable pipe is fatter,″ said Avram Miller, vice president of corporate business development for Intel Corp., which is developing a cable modem with General Instrument Corp.
Digital Equipment Corp. also is developing a cable modem and Zenith Electronics Corp. has one completed.
Intel and Digital executives said they expect to have their cable modems in retail stores by next year. But Zenith executives said the company plans to sell its modems to cable systems, which would rent or sell them to consumers.
In general, the modems are expected to be priced at $500 and up, industry officials said.
The devices are attracting a lot of attention from on-line services such as CompuServe and Prodigy, retailers and cable companies, all of which see opportunities to sell more services to the public.
And, because information can be sent faster, service charges to consumers could be cheaper than they are now, said Jeff Miller, CompuServe’s director of research and development.
Intel’s and Digital’s modem should be capable of moving information at 10 megabits a second, or 10 million bits a second. ″That means a person could go into a data base, ask for a magazine-quality photo and get in on his computer screen in 10 seconds. That would take a half-hour now,″ said John Richardson, manager of Intel’s consumer software laboratory.
People who want to order a jacket from an on-line shopping service or call up stock quotes from a financial service wouldn’t have to dial into those services from their computers if they use a cable modem, executives said.
Instead, a person would go to his or her computer and call up the cable access menu, which would list a variety of options - news, shopping, Internet, Prodigy and so forth. The person would select one by clicking a mouse, Richardson said.
People developing the cable modems believe they will change the way people use their computers. About 24 million out of the 26 million U.S. households with computers also subscribe to cable television, CompuServe’s Miller said.
Digital’s Jim Albrycht said the modems are the first step to converting the PC into a device that people will use to watch television.
″The next generation of television will be the same as today’s PC except with a large screen for viewing. And, it will be in the living room as opposed to the family room,″ said Albrycht, a senior consultant for emerging network technologies.
However, several technical hurdles would have to be resolved before consumers can watch a television show on a computer, executives said.


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Google Pixel 4a release date should have happened by now if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the smartphone launch. It has already become a critical year with the tech industry mainly affected by the coronavirus outbreak, stopping production in the Chinese factories and disrupting the supply chain.
Was originally May, then got pushed to June, now pushed again.
“Just Black” & “Barely Blue”
Current plan for announcement:
BTW – just 4G.
(Sorry to kill the 5G rumors)
Seems like they’re ready to ship. The decision is mostly based on market analysis.
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) May 21, 2020
However, Google needs to hurry with the Pixel 4a release as the poor sales of the Pixel 4 series smartphones could be big trouble for the business. Here are more details on the expected Pixel 4a release date, sales prediction and how Pixel 4 figures have forced Google to hurry with the launch.
Pixel 4a Sales for Google will be Better than Pixel 4
Google Pixel series smartphones have a unique place in the market where they are mostly preferred for their camera specs and stock Android experience. It is a surprise that in the world of iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, One Plus, etc. devices, the Pixel mobiles have maintained their foothold. But the same competition has also affected the sales of the Pixel 4 series and despite selling more pieces that the One Plus counterpart, it is not even in the top-selling smartphones.
. @Google continues to expand the #Pixel portfolio and sales are growing. In 2019 shipments grew 52% YoY to reach the highest volume ever, with strong performances in the USA, Western Europe and Japan. It now ships more units than @oneplus but it is still far from reaching Top10 pic.twitter.com/qY66isF9vN
— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) June 9, 2020
The recent Pixel sales reports indicate that the mid-range Pixel 3a had better numbers than the regular Pixel 3 devices. It will be the same for Pixel 4 too as the Pixel 4 sales are quite low and the budget variant will balance the numbers soon. The camera of Pixel 4a is expected to have better quality than the iPhones and Samsung Galaxy counterpart, which makes it a perfect smartphone at a $400 price range.
Google Pixel 4a Release Date and COVID-19 Delay
Google Pixel 4a price is expected to be under $400 and with a crisp camera that clicks amazing pictures even in the low light, it will certainly make an impact in the smartphone industry. There are reports that Google is planning to launch the Pixel 4a in July and the mid-range smartphone will be available in stores from August. Google needs to move the release date of Pixel 4a as early as possible, due to the iPhone SE from Apple taking over the mid-range market.


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Audi has shown off a smartwatch that can be used to communicate with and unlock a car via NFC at the CES in Las Vegas. The watch is made by LG, says Android Central, and was introduced at a launch event as a means of unlocking the car-maker’s A7-based, ‘piloted driving’ Prologue concept car.
- From the high street to the handset: How banks can stay connected to consumers in the smartphone era
- British Airways owner IAG launches mobile pay on new airline Level
- Heat become first NBA team with mobile-only entry
- What code is running on Apple’s Secure Enclave security chip? Now we have a decryption key…
- Digital payment platforms primed to topple cash


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Kim Kardashian Posted 8th Grade Photo. Does Her Face Look Different Now Because Of Plastic?
May 11, 2018
For quite a long time, media has been talking about Kim Kardashian’s love for plastic surgeries. Reportedly, she had a boob job, fillers, and lip plumpers to make sure her famous look is top notch. It is obvious she changed a lot since rising to stardom back in 2007.


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Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and 8 other billionaires saw $50 billion wiped from their fortunes by the stock market's tumble
- 10 of the world's richest people saw $50 billion erased from their combined fortunes on Tuesday.
- The likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett were hit hard by the stock market's slump.
Ten of the world's wealthiest men saw an estimated $50 billion wiped from their combined fortunes by the stock market's slump on Tuesday.
Elon Musk's wealth took a $8 billion hit from Tesla stock falling 4%, while Jeff Bezos' net worth shrunk by almost $10 billion as his Amazon shares slid 7% in value, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Alphabet cofounders nicknamed the "Google Guys," each lost about $5 billion on paper due to the search-and-advertising giant's stock price dropping 6%.
Similarly, a 5% slump in Microsoft stock dealt a $3 billion blow to the enterprise-software titan's cofounder, Bill Gates, and a $5 billion whack to its former CEO, Steve Ballmer.
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett's net worth fell by $3 billion as Berkshire Hathaway stock retreated, Larry Ellison's fortune declined by $2 billion as his Oracle shares dipped in value, and Mark Zuckerberg's wealth shrunk by $6 billion as Meta's stock price tumbled.
Moreover, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault's riches were reduced by $4 billion, lifting his total wealth decline for the year to $43 billion. Bezos and Zuckerberg also rank among the index's biggest losers, with wealth declines of $42 billion and $68 billion respectively since the start of January.
As of Tuesday's close, the 10 men's combined wealth was down $295 billion or 20% for the year, reflecting a widespread decline in stocks amid growing fears of stubborn inflation, sharply higher interest rates, and a potential market downturn and recession. Yet their combined wealth still approached $1.2 trillion, and they continued to rank among the 20 richest people on the planet.
Eight of the top 10 names on the rich list saw their fortunes shrink on Tuesday. Only Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, two Indian billionaires, registered gains in net worth on the day. Adani's wealth has surged by about $70 billion since the start of January, while Ambani's wealth has grown by around $4 billion.
Read more: Goldman Sachs: Buy these 25 unloved stocks that will outperform whether the Federal Reserve tames inflation or goes overboard and causes a recession
- India may require 31,000 pilots in next 20 years: Boeing
- Unlike global economy, India would not slow down: RBI article
- Tier-1 cities’ home sales is 2x of what it’s in tier-2 cities: PropEquity
- Thomas Cook India, SOTC launch Green Carpet to help companies manage carbon emissions of biz travel
- Moody's downgrades outlook for UBS to negative, after Credit Suisse take over


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Increase driven by growing business verification needs in evolving U.S. regulatory landscape
Vancouver, British Columbia, June 27, 2023 — Trulioo, a leading global identity verification platform, today announced it has experienced 586% growth adoption of its Know Your Business (KYB) verification services since 2020 in the United States. Financial services companies and ecommerce marketplaces have driven the adoption increase as they adjust to new and evolving reporting requirements, such as the INFORM Consumers Act, which goes into effect today.
Trulioo provides verification capabilities for the top five global ecommerce marketplaces. Organizations turn to Trulioo – which provides integrated, comprehensive KYB and KYC (Know Your Customer) verification services in a single platform – to drive improvements in customer experience and business efficiency. The Trulioo global platform also includes AML Watchlist and ongoing sanctions screening, which checks users and businesses against politically exposed people lists, more than 6,000 global watchlists and more than 20,000 adverse media sources.
Trulioo enables organizations to optimize onboarding by automating person and business verification, which is crucial for global digital-first organizations with large volumes of sellers and customers. That’s especially critical with the start of the INFORM Consumers Act and its focus on creating more transparency around online marketplace sellers and minimizing risk on both sides of transactions. The act requires ecommerce platforms to verify “high-volume sellers” within 10 business days of reaching a transaction or financial threshold, a challenging time frame to achieve with traditional, manual KYB processes.
“Organizations are turning to Trulioo because we have the unmatched ability to provide best-in-class KYB and KYC in one platform and can create optimal workflows to support regulatory compliance anywhere in the world,” said Michael Ramsbacker, Trulioo chief product officer. “A single platform that solves for person and business verification can drive efficiency and lower overall costs. Those proven capabilities are used by customers in more than 100 countries every day. It’s not surprising we’re seeing tremendous growth in our KYB offering, and we expect to see that level of interest continue.”
To learn more about Trulioo and why KYB and KYC are better together in one platform, please visit www.trulioo.com.
Trulioo is dedicated to verifying the identity of anyone and any business around the world. The company’s identity platform drives global growth for organizations by helping them navigate the challenges of compliance and providing real-time verification of more than 5 billion people and 700 million business entities worldwide. By leveraging world-class technology designed to make identity verification faster and more efficient, Trulioo is opening the door to the digital economy for everyone on the planet.
PenVine for Trulioo


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The Trump administration had previously announced that it was banning us companies from selling ZTE components for seven years, components critical to its entire product line. The order effectively cut off the company off from receiving most USA technology, and as a result of this ban, ZTE's operations, which heavily relied on importing both hardware and software from the U.S., ground to a halt, putting the future of the company in doubt.
Speaking in a CNBC interview, Ross said the deal includes a US$1 billion penalty against ZTE and a US-selected compliance team to be embedded at the company to prevent further violations of the sort that prompted the Commerce Department to cut ZTE off from its U.S. suppliers. Moreover, the U.S. Commerce Department is expected to count the $361 million ZTE paid past year as part of a settlement agreement, which will allow the government to claim no less than $1.7 billion in penalties.
Critics like senator Marco Rubio have criticized the Trump administration's willingness to cut a deal with ZTE, saying it undercuts U.S. national security.
"At about 6:00 A.M. this morning, we executed a definitive agreement with ZTE and that brings, that brings to a conclusion this phase of the developing with them", Ross said in an interview with CNBC.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer called for Congress to reverse the decision, which is unlikely.
The terms outlined by Reuters are similar to the those Trump outlined in a May 25 tweet, saying that ZTE might reopen "with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, [and it] must purchase usa parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine".
A ZTE spokesman couldn't be reached for comment.
Fallout 76 might release in just a few weeks
Fallout games aren't known for being delivered in July, but they aren't usually online survival games either. Bethesda may hedge its bets and wait a bit before releasing Fallout 76 into such a crowded retail month.
■ ZTE must also change its board of directors and executive team within 30 days. That's in addition to the $1 billion fine paid a year ago. Post calculations of U.S. parts in the company's products would also have to be on a public website. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to bar such forgiveness for Chinese telecom companies is not retroactive and thus would not cover the ZTE deal, according to an analysis by Cowen Research Group.
Reviving ZTE has been a personal focus for President Trump, whose government is in the middle of broader trade negotiations with the Chinese government.
ZTE says it does business with telecom providers, governments and corporate network clients in more than 160 countries.
Qualcomm gains 2.5% and NXP is up 3.2%. That left a US deficit of more than $375 billion.
"It doesn't really move the ball forward on the deeper structural issues in U.S". "The ZTE case was a thorn in the side for China ..."
The company was found to have shipped its sophisticated telecommunications equipment to both nations and to have repeatedly lied to USA investigators about its actions. Oclaro got 18% of its business from ZTE past year, while 30% of Acacia's total revenue was from ZTE.


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In a major setback to billionaire Jack Ma's Ant Group, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has suspended the fintech giant's $34.5 billion initial public offering (IPO) on its STAR Market, which was slated to open on November 5. Backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, Ant shares were set to list simultaneously on Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges on Thursday.
The Chinese exchange said that Ant's listing on Shanghai STAR Market has been halted due to the company's inability to meet recent changes in the financial technology regulatory environment. The exchange, however, did not disclose further details.
The action has been taken after Chinese regulators held a meeting with Ant Group's co-founder Jack Ma, one of China's most powerful businessmen, and the company's chairman Eric Jing and its president Hu Xiaoming on Monday.
"This material event may cause your company to fail to meet the issuance and listing conditions or information disclosure requirements," Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a statement issued to Ant Group.
Earlier on Monday, the People's Bank of China, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued a statement, saying that they had conducted "regulatory interviews" with Ma, Ant Group Chairman Eric Jing, and its president, Hu Xiaoming.
Though the details of the meeting were not disclosed by the authorities or Ant Group, but such move by regulators is typically seen as a warning or dressing down of sorts.
The development comes just days before the company's shares were due to start trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Thursday, following a blockbuster IPO that was expected to be the world's largest. The company was expected to raise at least $34.5 billion, surpassing Saudi Aramco's $29.4 billion listing last December.
Chinese fintech major Ant Group is 33 per cent owned by Jack Ma-led e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding. It operates Alipay, the world's largest and most valuable financial technology company and one of two dominant Chinese digital wallets in China, the other being rival Tencent's WeChat Pay.
The company has come under increased scrutiny and tighter regulation as it expanded the range of financial technology services it offers. Among the new regulations are caps on the use of asset-backed securities to fund consumer loans, new capital and licensing requirements and caps on lending rates. On Monday, the Chinese central bank raised the registered capital requirement for lenders like Ant to a minimum of 5 billion yuan ($747 million).
By Chitranjan Kumar with PTI inputs
Copyright©2021 Living Media India Limited. For reprint rights: Syndications Today


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Despite taking a charge in the fourth quarter that could approach one billion dollars, AMD is slashing prices on its mid-range and low-end Athlon XP processors. AMD's post-cut prices have the Athlon XP 2100+ at only $93, and the Athlon XP 1700+ at just $53. With prices that low, who needs Durons?
Despite price cuts for low-end and mid-range processors, prices are unchanged for Athlon XPs faster than 2400+. After all, AMD does have to make some money somewhere.
|G.Skill's Ripjaws KM570 RGB gaming keyboard reviewed||1|
|Z270 Godlike mobo can hold a home network on its shoulders||16|
|Sapphire shows off four new GPro E-series Radeons||9|
|Acer's Predator Z35P is on the hunt for a high-end gaming rig||39|
|Fractal Design finds a new Focus on entry-level cases||13|
|Intel plans to integrate Thunderbolt into future CPUs||35|
|Cooler Master polishes the Cosmos II for a 25th Anniversary edition||9|
|Huawei opens up three new Windows 10 notebooks||12|
|Corsair Commander Pro takes charge of case fans and lighting||7|
|For the record, TheSeekingOne has been banned for this string of comments. We don't welcome this kind of language on The Tech Report.||+55|


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BMC Software has released the results of surveys the company has conducte in the areas of mainframe, hadoop, big data and cloud.
The company intended for the 8th Annual Global Mainframe Survey to focus on the future of the mainframe industry, BMC said Sept. 26.
“It has been a long time since IT has offered business a competitive advantage – and big data is changing that,” the company’s Hadoop and big data survey said.
Apple iOs 7 has been adopted by 35 percent of the total Apple install base, according to the mixpanel trends survey.
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Elon Musk has vowed to give the Yelp site a star on the Yelp site if it does not withdraw the JPMorgan lawsuit. Not only that, but Elon Musk has also said that this is the latest warning for JPMorgan.
Fans of Tesla and Elon Musk who saw this not only volunteered on the yelp site, but also gave JPMorgan a 1-star rating and have been commenting on and off. It is especially in the case of Tesla and Elon Musk.
Following this, the ability to give a new comment or review to JPMorgan on the yelp site was discontinued. Therefore, the number of 1-star rating grantors has been greatly reduced. The yelp site is critical to providing and retrieving data about customer experience in the United States.
Elon Musk tweeted
And while Elon Musk didn’t say directly on his Twitter that he should give JPMorgan a 1-star rating, his fans were supportive. Elon Musk has sparked a backlash against a photo rated by JPMorgan.
Introvert. Beer guru. Communicator. Travel fanatic. Web advocate. Certified alcohol geek. Tv buff. Subtly charming internet aficionado.


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Looks like over at Tecno Mobile it’s raining phones! In the last seven or so months we’ve had the Tecno Phantom 9, Tecno Camon 12, and now it is said that Tecno Spark 4 is soon to be launched. The Spark series is a best selling budget phone that comes soon after its predecessor Spark 3 which came into our lives in March this year. It is said that the SPARK 4 which will be on sale as soon as Monday 30th will have quite an improvement from the previous phones in this series though.
Globally, TECNO portfolio consist of three series: ‘SPARK’ is with AI bright camera (great camera features especially in low light environment) for youth, ‘Phantom’ the brand’s flagship series and ‘Camon’ the popular camera-centric series with outstanding selfie camera features in Camon. The SPARK series is the voice of Tecno Youth. It is designed for photo centric people who lead the trend and enjoy life by taking and sharing photos.
The earlier versions were well received in the market with the youth being the number 1 consumers of the brand and giving positive reviews for the predecessors.
The next Tecno SPARK 4 smartphone, which may come in two versions (SPARK 4 and SPARK 4 Air) just like its predecessor, has been taunted by several sources not be only equipped with triple bright back Camera, but also to support the 4G network bandwidth and to also come packing just the enough storage that you need.
With Tecno SPARK series reputation in the Kenyan smartphone game for some years now, I totally wouldn’t count out this device to cause ripples in the market right now. TECNO SPARK series have not only been awesome, but they totally changed people’s perception about smartphones and their affordability in recent times.
Peoples acceptance in the smartphone technology has gradually been increasing over the years and this feat is deeply rooted to the existence of Tecno Mobile since the launch of its Spark, as well as other lines of Tecno devices.
We can’t say too much about the phone until we get hold of it, after which we’ll do a comprehensive review.


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This year, an annual Western-themed vintage pop-up invites you to ditch the basic Western gear for classic, fashion-forward and eco-friendly options to flaunt this Fake Homecoming.
With Us Vintage is a Toronto-based sustainable, vintage fashion brand that acts as an online store with occasional community pop-ups.
“We reuse old clothes by sewing and reinventing them so they fit todays vibe…it’s a unique way of expressing oneself. There’s individuality in it, instead of going to the bookstore,” said Suzie Blainey, co-founder and recent Western University grad in psychology.
Blainey and her partner Jess Schnabel, a Queen's University graduate, created the brand as a passion project. They hope to spread awareness about eco-friendly shopping to students and young adults like themselves.
Shopping locally gives back to the community and is usually greener. Vintage shopping is a reason to stray away from big-name brands that, often don't prioritize the environment.
“If we can make sustainability more digestible to the general public, it’ll turn our world in a better way,” said Blainey.
After the event's success last year, the two best friends are excited to return to Western with over 700 pieces of merchandise.
The event will run Thursday, Sept. 26 to Friday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, located at 235 University Crescent. However, if they run out, the pop-up will close early.
There will be three tents to shop from. One tent will host vintage Western and purple gear. Another will have normal merchandise that ranges from twenty to fifty dollars. Both tents will host 200 items each.
The third tent will have 400 pieces, with each piece being $10 — a discounted, more affordable option for students on a budget.
So, stop by the pop-up this week and find some vintage wear that screams purple pride from decades past to make your fashion statement this Fake Homecoming.


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In the first edition of YouGov’s Brand Spotlight series, a monthly deep dive into the performance of brands across sectors, we focus on auto insurer USAA’s performance over the course of October.
USAA has finally expanded its SafePilot App across 37 states in the US. The app monitors its members’ safe driving habits to help them earn discounts and data from YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks the health of brands on a daily basis, shows that this move has done well for the auto insurer among consumers in market for insurance policy.
According to the data, USAA’s Word of Mouth score, which measures if consumers have been talking about a brand with their friends and family, rose from 10.3 on September 22 to 13.7 on October 23 (+3.4).
The auto insurer has been actively taking to its social media pages to motivate consumers to adopt safer driving practices through its #SafePilot campaign – including articles on making informed decisions as a driver.
USAA’s Consideration, which measures if consumers would consider acquiring a new insurance policy from the brand, also saw a rise of 6.7 percentage points – from 11.6 on September 22 to 18.3 on October 23.
It’s also worth noting that USAA’s Purchase Intent score, which asks consumers if they are likely to purchase an insurance policy from the brand, jumped from 4.9 to 11.9 (+7) between September 22 and October 23.
At a time when auto insurance rates continue to rise, USAA’s discounts have been beneficial for the brand.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. USAA’s Consideration score is based on the question ‘When you are in the market next to acquire a new insurance policy, from which of the following would you consider acquiring a new policy?’. Figures are based on a 2-week moving average. Learn more about YouGov BrandIndex.


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Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) accounted for 65.9% of market value in the UK home entertainment market in 2019, according to the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE).
The organisation says subscriptions to SVOD services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video not only provide a diversity of choice for consumers, but they also serve as a launchpad for high-quality original content that often then goes on to reach an even wider audience via transactional formats.
A deeper dive into the figures reveals 39.6% of SVOD subscribers also purchasing physical or other digital formats.
The market as a whole was worth £891 million in 2019 with 54 per cent of that value attributed to the purchase of DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD formats.
BASE says the disc is currently still the preferred choice for many fans, collectors and present buyers.
42 per cent of consumers who made a physical transaction within the past 12 months did so to add to a collection, 43 per cent bought to give as a gift, and 46 per cent so they could re-watch on multiple occasions.


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In terms of distribution reach, Dabur has nearly 70 lakh outlets across India, making it the third largest FMCG company in terms of reach. Dabur India is expected to be a major beneficiary of rising awareness and demand for ayurvedic and herbal products amid the COVID-19 outbreak and the govt. efforts to bring traditional medicines … Continue reading Latest Ayurveda Trend Helps Boost Dabur’s Health
▪Science Based Ayurvedic Products ▪Premiumisation ▪Rural Distribution ▪E-Commerce. The youngest chairman of Dabur,Amit Barman while speaking to ET, said his focus would be to enhance the above said points. Amit Burman also commented about the status of the company saying,In the Rs 1,200 crore organised honey market, Dabur Honey’s market share dropped to almost 40% … Continue reading “It (Patanjali’s) was a disruptive strategy to kill competition by price, like it happens in many industries”,says Dabur Chairman.
A new market study, titled “Global Ayurvedic Medicine Market Size, Status and Forecast 2019-2025” has been featured on WiseGuyReports. Ayurveda is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type of alternative medicine. In countries beyond India, Ayurveda therapies and practices have … Continue reading Global Ayurvedic Medicine Market Future Forecast, Opportunities and Leading Players Analysis in 2019-2025


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According To The News On The Markets Insider Site, Based On Only Technology Companies, The 5 Most Valuable Technology Companies In The World Are Located In The Usa. Us Companies Constitute 5 Of The Top 10 Technology Companies, While Their Market Value Has Exceeded $ 5 Trillion.
1. Apple: $ 1.38 trillion
Apple, whose foundations were laid in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, first announced the computer kits it produced. The company is known today as an American multinational company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.
The company’s best-known hardware products are Mac series computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablets, and Apple Watch smartphones. At the same time, the best-known software is OS X and iOS operating systems, iTunes media browser, Safari internet browser, Apple TV +, iMessage, and iCloud. Comes to the fore.
The company stands out as the most valuable technology company in the world, with a market value of $ 1.38 trillion, according to January 2020 data in Markets Insider.
2. Microsoft: $ 1.27 trillion
Founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and later Paul Paul, who will resign from the company, Microsoft made a name for the world with Microsoft Windows, one of the most used operating systems on computers today.
While the company was significant in the operating system market for personal computers with MS-DOS operating system in the 1980s, it continued its leadership with Microsoft Windows. The company’s best-known software outside of Microsoft Windows are Microsoft Office suite, Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. At the same time, hardware products stand out as Xbox video game consoles and Microsoft Surface tablet series.
The company made its most significant purchases by purchasing LinkedIn for $ 26.2 billion in December 2016 and Skype Technologies for $ 8.5 billion in May 2011. According to the company’s January 2020 data, it has a market value of $ 1.27 trillion.
3. Alphabet: $ 1 trillion
Alphabet Inc. It was founded in 2015 to gather Google and other Google-owned companies under one roof. The company’s best-known service, headquartered in California, stands out as Google, which serves more as a search engine.
Founded as a private company in 1998, Google is the world’s most visited website by Alexa. In addition to the Google search engine service, YouTube also serves its users in many areas such as the Android operating system, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Map, Google Drive, and Google Pixel smartphone.
Alphabet is also the owner of the DeepMind company, which works on artificial intelligence. The company has a market value of $ 1 trillion, according to January 2020 data.
4. Amazon: $ 931 billion
Another US-based technology company, Amazon, stands out in the fields of e-commerce, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, digital broadcasting platform. Founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, in Seattle, USA, Amazon is the world’s largest shopping site in terms of market value.
Although Amazon has been on the agenda with the dismissal of workers as a result of its investments in robotics technology in recent times, the company is one of the most employer companies in the USA, with approximately 650 thousand workers according to 2018 data.
In addition to e-commerce, which is the most used service of Amazon, the company also has other products such as Amazon Video, digital video surveillance platform, Amazon Music, Amazon Web Services providing cloud computing services, e-book reader Kindle and voice home assistant Amazon Alexa. According to Amazon’s January 2020 data, the market value is worth $ 931 billion.
5. Facebook: $ 632 billion
The social media platform Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The platform, which was only available to students at Harvard University in the early years of its establishment, later expanded its network to cover all Ivy League schools.
After 2006, the company allowed anyone over the age of 13 to become users. Facebook, which has become the largest social media platform in the world, has 2.45 billion active users monthly, according to Statista data of 2019.
The company bought Instagram for $ 1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $ 19 billion in 2014 and managed to take its place in the list of the most downloaded apps together with the Facebook application and Facebook Messenger application.
In addition to the Facebook dating site, the digital currency Libra had been busy the agenda for a long time with its project.
According to Facebook’s Markets Insider January 2020 data, the market value was $ 632 billion.
Apple Launches ‘Apple Music TV’ Service
Apple today launched Apple Music TV, a free service that offers to a stream of popular music video content. It can be accessed via the search tab of the Apple Music app and Apple TV but is currently only available to users in the US.
Apple Music TV will premiere starting today and will broadcast a number of music videos that have been selected by curators throughout the day. Apple will start it off with the 100 most played songs on Apple Music, based on playback data by users in the US.
Apple Music TV will also be the venue for the music video premiere. Apple Music TV will also broadcast specials, chart sequences, and previously created original Apple Music content, such as artist interviews and live-show films.
Apple Music TV will premiere a number of music videos every Friday, starting this week. Apple will start off by broadcasting a music video for Joji’s newest song “777” and Saint Jhn’s latest song “Gorgeous.”
Apple Music TV will also broadcast a celebration event for the launch of Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, entitled “Letter to You” on October 22nd. It also includes views of some of Springsteen’s most popular music videos, fan specials, and exclusive interviews with Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe.
Apple Music TV is interesting. It can replace MTV, the TV channel that was once a favorite place to watch music videos from favorite singers. It can also give competition to YouTube and Vevo, which currently still have a dominant role as a music video publisher.
Apple is now starting to ship its products directly from the store
As we know, buyers of Apple products who order through the official website will get the products they buy after they have been shipped from China or from local storage for Apple products. This makes the delivery process take a long time.
However, it seems that Apple wants to fix this so that buyers of Apple products can get the products they buy even faster. Now it is known that it will send its products to buyers directly from the Apple Store.
Based on a report from Bloomberg, now Apple has prepared more than 300 Apple Stores in Canada and the United States to be able to send the products they sell to buyers who are 100 miles from the store.
The implementation of new rules ahead of the launch of the latest iPhone 12 Series is certainly an effective step from Apple. Moreover, the current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) makes people reluctant to queue just to buy the latest iPhone.
Even so, it is known that buyers will not be able to choose which Apple Store will send the products they buy. But buyers must have been able to find out for themselves the nearest Apple Store from the address they use.
Currently, prospective buyers of new products from Apple can only hope that the stock provided by the Apple Store can meet the needs of buyers on the first day of its launch. Because the iPhone 12 Series is now also one of the most awaited smartphones this year.
Oppo Called to Announce its First Smart TV on October 19
Currently, many technology companies from China are not only producing smartphones, but also various other devices such as smartwatches to Smart TVs, as has been done by Oppo.
Not wanting to lose to Xiaomi, OnePlus, to Realme which is their own sub-brand, Oppo is also known to be launching their first Smart TV on 19 October 2020. Information regarding this has been announced by Oppo on its Weibo site.
Coming with the tagline ‘One More Step’, Oppo did not provide any information regarding the first Smart TV other than providing the date of its announcement. It seems that Oppo really wants to present a surprise to its fans.
But thanks to the 3C certification body, we can already know that Oppo will release two Smart TVs codenamed A65UB00 and also A55UB00 which are said to be present with sizes of 65 inches and also 55 inches.
Although it has not been confirmed directly by Oppo, it is stated that the Smart TV will come with a selfie camera that can be used for video conferencing. Many hope that this Smart TV made by Oppo also has a 4K resolution and a refresh rate of 120Hz.
In addition, the price and availability of Smart TV are still unknown. So from that, we are just waiting for direct information from Oppo at the Smart TV launch event on October 19, 2020, guys!
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If you've ever walked down Canal Street in Manhattan, you're all too familiar with the array of Louis Vuitton lookalikes and Rolex fakes to inferior versions of iPads and smartphones. While most consumers are fully aware that Canal Street wares are knockoffs, few will probably admit to knowingly buying illegal goods made in the most inhumane of conditions.
Most, if not all, knockoffs found in Chinatown, in back-alley markets and now online, originate in East Asia, particularly in China. In 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated that Chinese counterfeit products cost the global economy around $250 billion. Yet the world has been mostly silent when it comes to mitigating this black market of goods.
Historically, consumers of knockoffs understand that the items are illegitimate, but it’s widely considered a harmless transaction. However, the business of buying and selling fakes is becoming riskier in the Digital Age.
The selection of counterfeit goods found on Canal Street or online now include a vast array of wearables as devices such as the Fitbit or the Apple Watch grow in popularity. A recent search for the Apple Watch on Alibaba.com, the Chinese e-commerce website that broke records with its more than $162 billion valuation, has more than 32,000 results, with the majority of them being fakes with prices starting as low as $5. What’s most concerning is not the amount of items for sale, but rather the extremely low price point at which these watches are being sold. That suggests sellers are profiting in other ways.
Late last year, The Guardian reported on an electronic cigarette charger being preloaded with malware – infecting users' computers once plugged into the USB port. While some in the security industry dismissed the article as sensationalism, it is an entirely possible scenario. What is confirmed is that the e-cigarette in question was a knockoff manufactured in China.
In another example from just this past March, the International Business Times confirmed that fake Xiami smartphones were proven to have preinstalled malware. Really, any Internet-connected device can be targeted this way.
But counterfeit wearables also present a major problem for businesses, and even have the potential to impact national security.
According to a recent OpenDNS report, Internet-connected "devices are actively penetrating some of the world’s most regulated industries including healthcare, energy infrastructure, government, financial services, and retail." As businesses consider implementing policies for how to treat wearables, and as governments impose rules to safeguard all of its assets, they must consider the rather general availability of counterfeit devices and how to protect themselves from those gadgets.
Currently, personal and corporate information, such as Social Security Numbers, credit card information, and e-mail credentials are sold on the Dark Web for as little as 80 cents. This unprecedented affordability has increased the demand for more detailed records exponentially, as hackers race to obtain the information needed to exploit profits.
Earlier this month, the US Office of Personnel Management revealed that it was the victim of a massive targeted attack, widely thought to be initiated by China, that exposed the records of as many as 14 million current and former government employees. While we don’t yet know the source of the intrusion, it is feasible that this event, or one in the future, can be originated by a government employee’s malware infected wearable.
Putting the fear factor aside, the current arms race for information has increased the risk of identity theft, fraud, terrorist acts, and unauthorized expenditures to billions of people around the globe. The reason for this is simple: the risk/reward ratio for manufacturers of counterfeit wearables to preload each device with malware, capture valuable information, and then sell that information on the Dark Web or to rogue nations is high on reward and light on risk. It’s relatively easy to do, hard to trace, and the consumer or organization is almost always naïve until after damage is done. From a purely financial standpoint, a manufacturer that historically makes $10 net profit per device can multiply his or her earnings by anywhere from 8 percent to 100 percent, or greater, per device, depending on how valuable the Dark Web deems the information.
In perhaps the most ironic news in years, the Chinese People's Liberation Army recently announced that it has banned its soldiers from wearing smartwatches "out of security fears." In other words, the very same country that produces and sells some of the world’s most vulnerable devices is OK in doing so, as long as those same devices pose no threat to their own national security interests.
The vast economic incentives strongly suggest that we’re not going to see an end to at-risk knockoffs anytime soon. As such, perhaps it’s time for law enforcement to take a deeper look into the pervasive counterfeit culture before any widespread impact to personal, corporate, or national security is done.
Chris Rouland is a veteran cybersecurity expert and entrepreneur. He is currently the founder and chief executive of Bastille, the first company to detect and mitigate threats to the Internet of Things. Follow him on Twitter @chris_rouland.


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MAS launches a CBDC challenge to attract FinTech firms into Singapore
- Through this challenge, MAS aims to find innovative solutions on CBDCs and their infrastructure.
- MAS is launching this initiative in partnership with global economic organizations, such as IMF.
- Interested financial institutions and FinTech startups should submit applications before July 23.
The Singapore Monetary Authority (MAS) has rolled out a global challenge for retail central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs). The regulator seeks to attract FinTech firms and financial institutions across the globe into the country. Through this challenge, MAS is requesting such organisations to submit innovative solutions on CBDCs, their distribution, and infrastructure.
The challenge will comprise 12 problem statements selected by partner organisations across the globe. Reportedly, the regulator is launching this initiative in partnership with multiple global economic organisations. These are the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Apart from these organisations, several UN agencies are partners in this project. These included the UN Capital Development Fund, High Commission for Refugees, and Development Program.
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MAS also pointed out some perks of CBDCs. According to the regulator, CBDCs can help streamline payments, improve financial inclusion, and help digitise the economy. While the agency believes CBDCs are beneficial, it asserts that such coins must adhere to several public policies.
MAS’ requirements of retail CBDCs
According to MAS, the CBDC solutions that the FinTech startups and companies provide need to be cost-effective for seamless implementation. Apart from this, they should be able to cater to the current and upcoming payment needs of consumers. On top of this, they should be accessible to a wide range of users, including lower-income households and people that are not well-versed with technology. MAS added that the CBDC solutions should also chip into financial system resilience and integrity while remaining consistent with monetary and financial stability regulations.
MAS said that interested firms should submit their applications for the CBDC challenge before July 23. After submitting proposals, the authority and its partners will pick a group of 15 finalists based on the quality of their presentations. The finalists will then get mentorship from industry experts. On top of this, they will get access to a CBDC development sandbox, which will enable them to develop prototypes of digital currency solutions swiftly.
Reportedly, the sandbox will feature an all-inclusive test and development platform, which includes a plethora of application programming interfaces (APIs). The selected finalist will then present their solutions to a global audience on demo day during the 2021 Singapore FinTech Festival. Out of the 15 finalists, up to three winners with the best solutions will walk away with $50,000.00 (£36,030.00) in prize money.


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Sony goes indie crazy for the Vita with Limbo, Hotline Miami and many more on the way
Sony has revealed an impressive line-up of indie titles heading to PSN for the PS3 and PS Vita.
The list includes some pretty impressive titles the have already been announced like Hotline Miami and Thomas Was Alone.
In addition to these the list also revealed a Vita version of Limbo and PS3 and Vita versions of rogue-like hit Spelunky are on their way.
VP of publisher and developer relations at SCEA Adam Boyes said, "During this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco, our team has put a strong focus on independent game developers. This evening, we collaborated with the PlayStation Network team to host a PlayStation Indie Arcade event, where we gave hands-on demos for more than 25 indie games that are coming to all PlayStation platforms. Our goal is to continue to work with the independent developer community to provide fantastic games you can't find anywhere else."
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There's a lot more wind beneath British busts these days.
As the war for the ultimate cleavage deepens, an all-new bra, which allows women to pump up their chests to more than twice their original cup size, is now available in stores across Britain.
No it's not just hot air, it's the Ultrabra Airotica, manufactured by Gossard, the British bra giant.
The new cleavage-enhancer sports a crescent-shaped airbag stitched into each cup, which can be inflated or deflated as the need arises.
And it's all in the customer's hands.
A tiny rubber pump, called the G-pump (G for Gossard) can be secured on the two-way air valves of the airbags and pumped up much like a beach ball. The effect could well be much like a beach ball except the manufacturer advises customers not to go over the top, so to speak.
"You can pump it up to the hilt, but Gossard recommends you pump it twice your original cup size, " said Christine Morgan, a company spokeswoman. This way, said Morgan, users have space "to breathe."
The bra, made from sheer net fabric and available in black, white and "lavender lust" was launched on Wednesday to a rapturous response from customers.
About 100,000 women had already ordered the Ultrabra Airotica before the launch and Spice Girl Mel B had already sampled the bra before its release, said Morgan.
It's a War, a Bra War
If the pumped-up bra is simply helping women propagating a lie, no one seems to particularly care, seasoned as most women are, to the cutthroat business that is cleavage enhancement.
The Airotica is just the latest salvo in the bra wars between Playtex' Wonderbra and the Ultrabra, Gossard's brand answer to the Wonderbra.
And as the cleavage war wages on, the customer — and her chest — has everything to gain.
The battle for the ultimate lie in breast history has had a range of arsenal from elastic, plastic and metal wires to gel sacks or simply silicon. But this one, said Morgan, was simply the best.
"It's a much healthier option than surgery," said Morgan, "and the bras are light, unlike gel-filled ones, so it's a much healthier option than the other alternatives around."
What's more, at 28 pounds a pair (approximately $40), it's also a much cheaper alternative.
Morgan also notes that the company's vigorous product testing included testing it under high pressure conditions such as airplanes. Short of taking a pair of scissors to the airbags, the Airotica is built to last.
Although the wonder cleavage-boosting bra is not as yet available on American shelves, Scott Alvery, the U.S. distributor for Gossard said limited distributions of the Ultrabran Airotica would make their way to U.S. lingerie shelves by mid-summer.
Now that's another scorcher for the summer.