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Microsoft and Sony both announced their next generation consoles months ago, but neither company plans to launch their new platform before the fourth quarter. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has been particularly forth coming in terms of a release date, but we do know that the consoles will be available in time for the all important holiday shopping period.
Does that mean October? November? Early December? Thanks to Toys R Us in the United Kingdom, we have a better idea of when these consoles will hit stores. TechRadar reports that the retailer's website currently lists a November 29 ship date for the Xbox One and a December 13 delivery date for the PlayStation 4.
Since Microsoft and Sony are keeping quiet about a release date, and Toys R Us has warned that these dates are subject to change, there's a good change that the aforementioned dates are an educated guess on the retailer's part. That said, they're awfully specific dates. We'll keep you posted on any developments on this.
Not a good look having it standing upright.., nice controller though =D
At least it will make my upgrade from a HD 7850 to the next gen HD 9970 or GTX 880 more explainable lol.
I wouldn't be surprised though if they change their release date shipping (Toys'R'Us) + or - a few weeks to match the official release date announcement.


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The amphitheater in Virginia Beach -- now known as Farm Bureau Live -- traditionally lets country music fans buy concert tickets in bulk.
Called the Country Megaticket, the deal offers admission to concerts by many of the biggest names in Nashville. This year's Megaticket will include the following six shows, all announced this week:
Jason Aldean with Luke Bryan, Friday Aug. 24
Megaticket packages range from $699 for premier seating, parking and VIP passes to $129 for lawn seating only. They will go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 from www.megaticket.com only.

domain: news


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The campaign had been intended to comprise three TV and two press ads. They use the strapline 'It's anything but cute' and are designed to be a humorous take on the car's 'bad' image.
DaimlerChrysler's marketing director, Stephen Gray, said the offending ad, which features a dog sticking its backside out of a car window, has been banned because the animal is not wearing a safety restraint.
This execution will now run digitally.
DaimlerChrysler will run the campaign in two bursts. The first stage will launch this week, with the second in late August and early September.


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O’Malley floats $3 million tax credit pool to bolster cyber security
Maryland is looking to build on the success of a biotechnology tax credit to bolster another industry here — cyber security.
Gov. Martin O’Malley proposed in his fiscal 2014 budget a new cyber security tax credit that would set aside $3 million to encourage cyber security companies to expand or set up shop in Maryland.
“The impetus for it came from the fact that we regularly talk with not only cyber security companies but also investors in that space, some who are just discovering Maryland,” said Ursula Powidzki, assistant secretary of business and enterprise at the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. “We thought it would be a useful tool for accelerating that interest.”
The tax credit would target companies that are developing cyber products — rather than services — in an effort to help diversify Maryland’s cyber industry. Many companies in the past have focused on services and worked primarily as government contractors. Cyber companies are now starting to branch out, offering services in the commercial market and developing new products, Powidzki said.
To be eligible for the tax credit companies must also be based in Maryland, have at least $100,000 in equity and have been around for fewer than five years.
The tax credit would be largely modeled after the popular and successful biotech tax credit, which was established in 2007. Through that program investors can get back up to half the value of their investment in a biotech company through a tax credit, with a maximum credit of $250,000 per investor. The credits are available on a first come, first served basis through an online registration.
Sarah covers health care, higher education, biotech and technology.
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Bill Gates, Microsoft’s newly appointed ‘technical advisor,’ has reignited the perennial debate about whether Microsoft should sell off its Xbox and Bing businesses. For years, analysts and investors have leaned on Microsoft to sell off the loss-making Xbox division. With new CEO Satya Nadella saying that the company should focus on its core markets, rumors that Stephen Elop wanted to sell off the Xbox and Bing businesses, and now Gates’ comments that he would ‘absolutely’ support the CEO if he chose to sell off Xbox, is a sell-off imminent?
Microsoft, after officially retiring Windows XP back in April, has decided in its infinite wisdom to issue a patch for the Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability that affected all versions of IE across Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. While this might seem like the right thing to do, it’s actually a huge mistake that undercuts Microsoft’s efforts to get the hundreds of millions of Windows XP holdouts to upgrade. After all, if Microsoft fixed this bug in Windows XP, who’s to say it won’t do it again? IT admins, faced with the harsh reality of finally having to upgrade to a modern operating system, will sleep well tonight knowing that Microsoft is a push over and will continue to support XP while it has a significant number of users. The status quo is preserved.
Microsoft, recognizing the disappointing truth that iOS and Android aren’t going to being chivalrous and slow down while it fixes Windows 8, is planning to speed up its release cadence yet again. The original plan was to push out a large update every 12 months, rather than releasing a whole new operating system every three years. Now, however, it seems the next major update will arrive as soon as August or September, just a few months after the release of Windows 8.1 Update 1. Yes, this means that, after a very odd 18 months in limbo, the Start menu will officially return this summer.
Microsoft’s new universal approach to app development kicked off today with two games. Buy them on Windows Phone and you’ll get the PC version with the Xbox One flavor coming later. Will this be the kick that the Windows Store needs to distinguish itself?
Fair citizens of the interwebs, I bring sad tidings: Windows XP is officially dead. As of this morning, April 8, Microsoft has officially end-of-lifed (EOL) Windows XP. If you’re still running Windows XP, no further patches or security updates are coming your way, and you should upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8 immediately. Of course, in reality, some 30% of the world’s 1.5 billion PCs still run Windows XP. If you factor in computers that are hiding behind governmental and institutional firewalls, and non-PCs, there could be billions of computers still running Windows XP today.
At its Build 2014 conference, Microsoft has revealed that a future update to Windows 8.1 will resurrect the Start menu. No, really, stop looking at your calendar — it isn’t April 1 any more. The same Windows 8.1 update will also allow you to run Metro apps in a window on the Desktop. Yes, it took Microsoft more than three years to backtrack on Windows 8’s nightmarish interface and usability changes, but it seems the company is finally coming around to the fact that it shouldn’t ignore the needs of hundreds of millions of PC users.
At the Build 2014 conference keynote in San Francisco, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore have kicked off things by giving us more details about Windows 8.1 Update 1, and officially unveiling Windows Phone 8.1.
The photo you see above — the default wallpaper for Windows XP — is probably the most recognizable image in the world. What you probably didn’t know is that it’s a real photo, called Bliss, taken by Charles ‘Chuck’ O’Rear in 1996, and then sold to Microsoft for an undisclosed sum (but it was apparently one of the highest prices ever paid for a single photo). It seems fitting that, on April 1, a week before the April 8 retirement of Windows XP, we should honor technology’s most iconic image.
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Volume 46, Issue 2 - March 2007
In the News
Builder’s Surplus Store is Transformed into a Re-Store
Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore opened its doors on January 2. Located on 501 West Broadway in Minneapolis, the store carries an inventory that includes new and gently-used building materials ranging from laminate and ceramic flooring to windows, doors, hardware and tools.
The downturn in the construction industry forced Lampert Yards Inc. to close and liquidate its Builder’s Surplus store in December. It was interesting timing for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity (TCHFH).
During the past couple of years, TCHFH has researched and developed a business plan to launch their ReStore—a building materials retail outlet. The revenue generated would go toward building more homes, and better serving existing Habitat families. More than 400 Habitat ReStores are open throughout the United States and Canada. As one of the top-five Habitat affiliates in the nation, TCHFH felt the time was right. In the fall of 2006, the board of directors approved the business plan, hired a project manager and TCHFH was researching locations, hoping to open doors by Memorial Day 2007.
And then something unexpected happened. Lampert Yards donated its entire Builder’s Surplus business to TCHFH, including use of the building rent-free, the full stock of inventory and the store’s two employees, worth in excess of a million dollars.
“The decision to donate this business to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, rather than close the store, felt like the right thing to do,” said Dan Fesler, Lampert Yards chief executive officer. “We realized that we could help their interest in providing quality products at a low cost through their ReStore initiative,”
“Through this donation our Builder’s Surplus employees have continued to be employed either by Lamperts or by Habitat for Humanity,” Fesler said.
Lamperts will cover the cost of employee wages for the first few months of the store’s operation, and TCHFH will retain their employment after the transition period.
“We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to pilot Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore venture,” said Susan Haigh, president of TCHFH. “Lamperts has been incredibly generous during this whole process, saving us hundreds of staff hours that would have been spent were we to open up the ReStore on our own.”
“It’s amazing to stand in this store and realize that it’s our Habitat ReStore,” said Kevin Campana, ReStore project manager. “I have to pinch myself from time to time to remind myself that I’m not dreaming.”
Materials sold by Habitat ReStores are usually donated from building supply stores, contractors, demolition crews or from manufacturers who wish to show their support for Habitat. www.tchabitat.org
Contact Lumber Changes Name to “Contact Industries”
Contact Lumber has changed its name to Contact Industries. The new name reflects the company’s transition from a traditional millwork manufacturing organization to what has become known throughout the industry as an innovative manufacturer of customized products, a number of which no longer utilize lumber in their composition.
“We are a different company today and need [to] be identified by the new products, services and technologies we provide to existing and potential new customers,” says Frank Pearson, president. “Our organizational focus, investment and products have changed so much over the years that the name ‘Contact Lumber’ no longer truly reflects who we are and what we produce as a company.”
McKibbin says the company recently hit a benchmark.
“Earlier [in 2006], in response to a customer request, our manufacturing facility profile wrapped a very high-end stainable vinyl film with traditional wood print character over an all aluminum core,” McKibbin said. “That represented the first time in our company’s history that our organization produced an entirely non-wood component and it signaled a significant change in how we view ourselves.”
The company is also focused on increasing its global competitiveness and exceeding the world’s standards for quality, controlled manufacture. Most recently, Contact’s manufacturing group, Clear Pine Mouldings, was recognized for its compliance to IS0 9001 quality system requirements. Contact will also envelop its manufacturing facility under the new name, Contact Industries.
Contact employs some 600 people in its manufacturing division in Prineville, Ore. and has a staff of 13 at its headquarters in Clackamas, Ore. www.contactind.com
Manufacturing Plant News
Hurd’s Medford Facility Deunionized
Medford, Wis.-based Hurd Windows and Doors Inc.’s Medford facility won’t be unionized. The company says this change became effective immediately following a notice from the National Labor Relations Board stating the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners was no longer interested in representing employees at the facility.
Hurd says the withdrawal decision came a few days before workers would vote on continued unionization. The company’s Merrill facility is still represented by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
“This deunionization now permits us to focus on previously limited or restricted business practices in a very proactive manner,” said the company’s general manager Dominic Truniger. “Furthermore, it enables the organization to diversify in areas of production and efficiencies.” www.hurd.com
Atrium Closes Shelton Facility
Atrium Companies Inc., a manufacturer of vinyl and aluminum windows and patio doors in Dallas, Texas, announced it is closing a 79,000 square-foot facility in Shelton, Conn., in January, and all customers serviced out of Shelton will be transitioned to its Welcome, N.C., facility.
“Market conditions in the Northeast and the capacity for additional volume in North Carolina convinced us that this is the right decision for our company,” said Bob Burns, the company’s chief operating officer.
Atrium says it has informed approximately 60 employees, as well as customers, affected by the realignment.
“We expect this process to be seamless for our customers,” Burns said. “Although this decision is in the best interest of our operational strategy, it is regrettable any time a closing displaces a dedicated workforce.” www.atrium.com
AWFS Adds and Relocates
The Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers® (AWFS®) relocated its headquarters to an expanded facility located at 500 Citadel Drive, Suite 200 in Commerce, Calif. The association says its new offices offer nearly three times the operational space, are only a mile from the past headquarters and will accommodate additional staff to handle its current programs and future growth.
AWFS says it continues to develop industry membership, advocacy, educational programs and the semi-annual AWFS®Fair. It says the launch of www.WoodIndustryEd.org serves as a highlight of its innovations, offers education and training information pertinent to the woodworking and related industries, and features a searchable database of wood technology courses that are available through schools, technical centers and companies, ranging from short certificate training programs to comprehensive post-secondary programs. www.awfs.org
VSI Awards CertainTeed Color-Retention Certification
CertainTeed Corp., a Saint-Gobain company headquartered in Valley Forge, Pa., announced that its vinyl siding meets the new color-retention certification of the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI), a new program based on the performance standard for color retention, ASTM D6864. The company says in order to qualify, its siding first received certification for overall quality and performance based on the industry standard ASTM D3679, which covers criteria such as weatherability, windload and impact resistance, among others.
The VSI color-retention certification process requires a two-year, outdoor weathering study conducted for each individual color. CertainTeed said each of its certified colors demonstrated the ability to resist major changes in a variety of climates and will also undergo ongoing verification and a re-certification process for color retention, including a comprehensive outdoor weathering study, every six years. www.certainteed.com
BuildDirect Named a Top 24 Exporter
BuildDirect of Vancouver has been named a winner of the British Columbia Export Awards. The company was recognized as top exporter in the Professional and Services category and one of the top 24 exporters in B.C. The winners were announced at a gala luncheon ceremony co-hosted by Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and the Ministry of Economic Development and attended by members of British Columbia’s business community.
BuildDirect says it’s able to provide building supplies to 60 countries on six continents. Their current product lines of building supplies include flooring, roofing, countertops and decking. www.builddirect.com
Dealer Mergers and Acquisitions
SBS Acquires Arctic in Alaska
Alaskan building materials supplier Spenard Builders Supply (SBS) announced the acquisition of Arctic Builders Source, a two-location chain that operates in Anchorage and Wasilla, Alaska. SBS is a member of the Pro-Build family of companies that operates 18 stores and is based in Anchorage.
SBS says the Anchorage location will continue to operate much as it has in the past. It will serve residential builders and retail customers, but will now be identified as Spenard Builders Supply, Lake Otis branch. The company says the Wasilla location will operate as a branch of Galco Building Products, a specialized SBS facility that services applicator contractors with primarily vinyl siding, roofing, gypsum and insulation products. It also says the Wasilla location will facilitate internal distribution for the Mat-Su Valley SBS branches.
SBS says Mark Habermann, who founded Arctic Builders Source in 1991 as a one-man operation that delivered materials out of a blue Ford pick-up truck, will join the company and manage its Lake Otis branch.
“The sale of Arctic Builders Source to SBS is a win-win-win situation,” Habermann said. He further explained, “it’s great for me and my family, our employees and Spenard Builders Supply.” www.sbsalaska.com
© Copyright 2007 Key Communications Inc. All rights reserved. No reproduction of any type without expressed written permission.


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61. International Fair of techniques and technical achievements will be open on Monday, May 15, at Belgrade Fair and will last until Friday, 19 May 2017. Under the slogan “Tempo of the future” this manifestation will bring together more than 500 domestic and foreign exhibitors from 30 countries.
Science Technology Park Belgrade will present acompanied with the member companies, startups and growing technology development companies. The companies will present the latest developments in the fields of: information technology, IoT, VR, new materials and nanotechnology, agriculture and food, environmental protection, bio medicine, energy efficiency and robotics.
Visit our booth located on the lower level of Hall 2 and take the opportunity to become familiar with a set of services that STP Belgrade offers to young entrepreneurs and growing technology development companies.
Opening hours of the Fair technique and technical achievements will be from 10 am to 18 pm and on the last day of the fair from 10 to 17.


text: In an interview with US Gamer, GameStop CEO J. Paul Raines said that Pokemon Go has led to a significant increase in sales at certain GameStop stores. Raines said that “we did some family events and our sales were up 100%. Our Pokemon merchandise is up significantly across the board. So we’re very happy to see all this excitement around Pokemon in what is traditionally a slower time of the year for video gaming”. No surprised here, as those who are new to Pokemon because of GO would probably want some merch. What do you think ?


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Stop by the Kid’s Corner at the HCE Holiday Fair on Nov. 4
Charlie Jarvis visits with Santa Claus while checking out the Kid’s Corner during the 2016 Home and Community Education Holiday Fair with his grandmother, Bonnie Starkweather. The Kid’s Corner is always a popular attraction at the annual HCE Holiday Fair, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Wild Rose Lion’s Club, Wild Rose. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus will be visiting with children, face painting will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and an area is set aside for kids to purchase items for holiday gifts. There are also games where children can win prizes and create projects to take home. The HCE Holiday Fair will include door prizes, homemade cookie sales, stone faceting and other presentations, a luncheon, raffles, craft sales and more. All proceeds support Waushara County charities and organizations. Admission is free.


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Looks like the Razer Phone is finally landing in Asia, with Singapore the first country to get it in the region.
Razer‘s first smartphone has already hit a few markets over the last couple of weeks, and it will finally be making its Asian appearance, but via Singtel in Singapore.
The telco is currently offering pre-orders for the device, but only until November 26th.
The first 200 pre-orders will snag themselves a free Razer Hammerhead Bluetooth headset, but there’s no real word on when exactly the phones will ship. Officially, the phones will begin sale in the country come December 1st onwards.
In terms of price tag, the smartphone will cost you a good SGD 1,068 (about RM 3,261) without a plan. Though if you were to hop onto Singtel’s plans for the phone, you can essentially get it free on their SGD239.90/month plan, but below are the full pricing on contract:
If you look at Singapore’s contract plans, they’re ridiculously expensive for so little data, makes you kinda grateful for the amount of data we get in our local telco plans.
No word exactly when Malaysia might get the device though, but the rest of the South-East Asian region can’t be too far behind.


text: GameSpot UK is reporting that EA Canada beat out Nintendo and Konami as the best selling game developer in the United Kingdom for the third consecutive year. EA's Maxis and Redword Shores studios took fourth and ninth places in the territory as well. EA Canada is Electronic Arts' largest development studio and currently leads development for Wing Commander, Need for Speed, James Bond, FIFA, SSX and numerous other major franchises. Their most recent NFS release, Carbon, sold more than eight million copies during the fourth quarter, and FIFA 07 has sold more than six million so far. The twenty-two acre site that they occupy in Vancouver has its own soccer field, indoor and outdoor basketball courts and a specialized motion-capture studio. Some two thousand people are currently employed there and they are continuing to expand. You can learn more here.


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This is the second article in a series of three where we zoom in on the Healthcare, Retail, and Transportation sector and share insights on the sectors growing the most and which companies are leading in terms of investments in AI.
You can read the first article in the series here, where we deep dive into the healthcare sector.
This article will explore the growth the Retail and CPG sector is currently going through.
Insights & Key Numbers: Retail
Retail and CPG have undergone a reckoning amidst Amazon’s ever-increasing dominance, and AI Is often cited as one of the few tools that Retail and CPG companies can use to survive the behemoth. From demand forecasting and merchandising, to customer experience and chatbots, to inventory management, it’s become imperative for retail and CPG companies to use AI and data science to (re)capture market share from Amazon.
So how are retail and CPG’s investment in AI teams reflecting their efforts to realize AI’s promise fully - and which companies are investing the most?
We have conducted first-of-its-kind research studying 515 retail and CPG companies with a turnover higher than $1B per annum, accounting for 16,500 AI professionals in the industry.
Key numbers globally in the Retail & CPG sector
- Retail & CPG companies, on average, have a team size of 32. The sector has grown from 23 team members at the beginning of the year to an average team size of 32.
- In terms of %-growth, on how the Retail & CPG sector has developed as a whole, the sector has grown by 39%. Compared to other sectors, retail & CPG AI teams are relatively small but have realized the promising value AI can deliver by increasing consistently over the past six months.
- Of the 515 companies studied, 171 have an initial AI team size of more than 20. At the beginning of the year, that number was 141.
The companies in the retail sector adding the most AI professionals
Walmart, Nike, and PepsiCo are leading the pack in staffing their AI teams, hiring an average of 221 people to their AI teams over the past three months. The companies in the top 10 have, in general, large (+250) AI teams with a few exceptions of medium-sized (50-250) teams.
Across the full Retail & CPG sector, each company is seeing an average growth of 60% over three months, indicating that retail companies see the value in AI and are investing in technology.
So, how exactly do top retail businesses utilize the benefits of AI?
Supply chain management and logistics:
With the largest team of more than 900 AI professionals, Walmart utilizes AI in its supply chain. Poor execution in this area has proven to lead to losses for retailers worldwide of about $1.1 trillion annually. Two years ago, Walmart enabled two-hour Express Delivery using AI. After a successful pilot in more than 100 stores, the company rolled out the AI system nationwide. The AI system includes resource optimization and vehicle routing and assigns delivery trips for vehicles to ensure customers receive their orders in time.
Customer Behavior Prediction:
AI-Powered Beauty Advisor - Ulta Beauty’s AI capabilities are trained to understand and continuously learn the typical customer’s buying decision process. This includes how guests navigate our vast assortment, make a purchasing decision, and consider factors; it also informs product recommendations and helps suggest order add-on products.
In our latest release of the top 100 fastest-growing AI teams, Ulta ranks #10 in fastest growth.
The Future of Retail
According to recent research, AI in the Retail Market exceeded USD 2 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at more than 30% CAGR between 2021 and 2027. Increasing investments in AI technology are used to develop innovative applications for improving retail customer experience and continue driving the industry growth.
Throwback: The Fastest-Growing AI Teams
In retrospect, since our first release of the Top 100 Fastest-Growing AI Teams, we have seen companies from diverse industries making it to the top 100 list. More than 2,500 companies are part of the study and come from a variety of industries/sectors, including:
- Finance, Insurance, Services
- Retail & CPG
- Resources, Agriculture, Utilities
You can see the companies that made it to the list in the latest version of the Top 100 Fastest-Growing AI Teams.
Our first study, released in April 2022, was featured in Forbes Magazine and Datanami. You can read the exclusive insights here:
Forbes: Top 100 Fastest-Growing AI Teams: Key Players, Exclusive Insights
Datanami: And the 100 Fastest-Growing AI Teams Are….


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No one disputes that vitamin D is good for you. The body needs a certain amount of it.
However, whether vitamin D supplements are helpful has been the subject of recent debate. In fact, there is disagreement over whether dietary supplements in general do much at all.
Now, researchers in California are wading into the debate. They say they have found that, contrary to common beliefs, relatively high doses of vitamin D may increase the risk of falls.
The findings are written up in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“There is belief that people should take vitamin D supplements to raise the levels in their blood to an ’ideal’ 30 ng/mL. But a new study shows that this common practice can cause—rather than prevent—falls,” said Dr. Steven Cummings, of the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute.
Cummings stresses that the combination of vitamin D and calcium supplements has been proven to prevent falls and fractures in older people who live in long-term care facilities or are home-bound. For other people, he says there is no consistent evidence that vitamin D supplements reduce falls or fractures.
The research studied 200 men and women, aged 70 and older, who were living at home with reasonably good cognition and mobility but who had a prior fall. More than half of the seniors had vitamin D concentrations that were below 20 ng/mL, considered by many to be “deficient.”
The study found raising the dosage seemed to have little effect, other than making falls more likely.
“Vitamin D supplementation has been claimed to have many benefits, such as prevention of cancer and heart disease, which have not been supported by clinical trials, Cummings said. “Now we know from clinical trials that relatively high doses of vitamin D supplements might carry a risk.”
The researchers say their findings may be important because doctors sometimes order tests of vitamin D concentrations and recommend supplements to reach a level of 30 ng/mL, as a prevention against falls by older people.
“That target may be too high,” Cummings said. “The Institute of Medicine suggested that a blood concentration of 20 ng/mL is sufficient. However, we need to wait for rigorous randomized trials to show what—if any—dose of a vitamin D supplement or blood concentration of vitamin D has benefits that outweigh risks, especially in older people.”
Until the evidence is clear, Cummings said it is prudent to follow recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. Those recommendations call for people 70 and older to get 800 IU vitamin D daily. Cummings says that doesn’t necessarily mean taking supplements.
“The best sources of vitamin D are sunlight, and foods rich in vitamin D including milk, fortified yogurt, and some types of fish such as salmon and tuna,” he said.


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Nissan aims to do so by 2020. That's right, folks, Nissan Executive VP Andy Palmer stated today that the plan is to sell multiple affordable models of fully autonomous cars by 2020. And, to meet that goal, the company is constructing a facility to test self-driving systems that'll be up and running in 2014. Nissan's development timetable falls right in line with some of its competitors, but talk is cheap -- time will tell if Nissan can deliver on both its autonomous and affordability promises Nissan to sell multiple affordable self-driving cars by 2020.
VIA: Wall Street Journal


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CCEP invests in recycling technology to improve access to recycled material for bottles
CCEP is accelerating its ambition to eliminate virgin oil-based plastic from its bottles through an investment in scaling technology that creates high quality rPET for food and drink packaging.
CCEP’s innovation investment engine, CCEP Ventures, is investing in recycling start-up CuRe Technology, which uses ‘polyester rejuvenation’ to target plastics that cannot be recycled by mechanical recycling methods and prevents them from being incinerated, downcycled or sent to landfill.
CuRe Technology’s recycling process creates high-quality rPET with a carbon footprint that is approximately 65% lower than virgin PET, which can be used for food and drink packaging and re-processed as many times as necessary. This will offer a new lease of life for hard-to-recycle plastics, accelerating the transition to a circular economy for PET and creating a new stream of rPET.
CCEP will have access to CuRe Technology’s rPET for use in its bottles in Europe, which will be supplied by a new plant set to start production in 2025.
Joe Franses, VP sustainability at CCEP said the development is part of its commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its packaging, and eliminating the use of oil-based virgin plastic in bottles by the end of the decade.
“Packaging challenges need big ideas to tackle them, and through CCEP Ventures we can accelerate innovative solutions to help us meet our ambitions. CuRe’s technology will give us access to recycled plastic that will accelerate our transition to a circular economy for our packaging,” Franses added.
This is CCEP’s second investment in CuRe Technology, following initial funding in 2020 to support CuRe Technology’s R&D roadmap and pilot plant. This phase will build on success to-date and take the technology to commercial readiness.
Josse Kunst, chief commercial officer at CuRe Technology said: “We are excited to further strengthen our relationship with CCEP, helping drive progress on their goal to create more sustainable packaging.
“CCEP’s renewed commitment will help us complete the engineering for our first commercial plant faster, scaling cutting-edge technology and making it possible to revitalise previously difficult to recycle plastics.”


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Lafayette's Lil Urban Naturalist neighborhood gardens popping up in the Saint Streets
Marcus Descant, owner of The Urban Naturalist, opened two Lil Urban Naturalist popup garden shops to keep people safe and sane during the coronavirus pandemic.
Descant hopes to educate people on the importance of having diversity and native plants in a yard, which encourages insect and bird activity and help build a healthy ecosystem.
"I'm doing this to keep people at home," he said. "We're trying to bring this to the neighborhoods so that we can keep people safe."
The majority of the plants available include vegetables, native flowers, and herbs. Prices range from $2 to $5.
The two locations, one at 127 Adrienne Street and one on Azalea Street, are in walker-friendly areas. The Azalea location, which opens Wednesday, is kept private to help maintain social distancing and avoid people driving to it. If you're walking, you'll see it, Descant said.
"We want one customer or household customers at a time because we definitely don't want these to become vectors," he said. "And I would happily shut them down if they did."
The little garden centers are only accepting Venmo, PayPal or online, no checks or cash.
The idea of a self-checkout payment system without contact isn't new to Descant. His main garden center hasn't had checkout employees in three years. This way, The Urban Naturalist and Lil Urban Naturalist are available for shopping anytime.
Descant recommends the Moringa tree — his "all in one" plant.
"It grows faster than any other plant I've ever grown before," he said. "It tastes like spicy spinach. It's got high iron, calcium and protein, so it's like meat without the cholesterol. You can eat almost every part of the tree. You can use the seeds to filter water. The blooms are incredibly attractive to all bees and a lot of different pollinators. So it's like the prepper's dream come true."
The Urban Naturalist location at 216 Madison is still open to drive up traffic with self-checkout.
Small neighborhood garden centers were attempted years ago but the idea never caught on. They're working this time around because more people are on foot and only have their space to focus on.
"Everyone's gardening right now," Descant said. "Normally plants have to compete, attention wise, with festivals, crawfish boils, parties, sporting events, vacations ... people are paying more attention to plants and nature, and they're making way more observations, actually spending time out in their gardens because they're spending time outside."
Contact Victoria Dodge at email@example.com or on Twitter @Victoria_Dodge


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Herzlich Willkommen in Berlin! The first week of September marks a revival in activity among electronics manufacturers, as they vie to position their new products for the back-to-school shopping season and the winter holidays beyond it. And the place where that annual contest begins is the IFA trade show in Berlin.
IFA is Europe’s biggest exhibition of new consumer electronics, and it’s previously served as the launch platform for major new devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series. But this will be the first year in a long time where Samsung won’t be taking over the show with a new Note, leaving room for others to grab the limelight — so what can we expect to be the highlights of IFA 2015?
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.


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California just passed a law — the first of its kind — that will require all cellphones sold in the state to have a "kill switch" enabling the owner to wipe and disable his or her phone remotely.
The law has been in the works for a while, passing through the California State Senate in May, and getting Gov. Jerry Brown's signature on Monday. It requires any cellphone made after July 1, 2015 that's sold in the state to have a feature — provided by the manufacturer — that enables remote wiping and disabling, conventionally known as "bricking."
Intended to discourage theft, the new law could make stealing cellphones a thing of the past. Once the law comes into effect in 2015, it would theoretically render stolen phones unusable, so there would be no material incentive for thieves to target them. The federal government thinks its a good idea, too, and is considering taking the law national.
The law dovetails with an initiative from CTIA (the Wireless Association) called the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment. All the relevant manufacturers, platform makers and wireless operators — including Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, LG, Samsung and all four major carriers — have committed to building better anti-theft tech into phones by July 2015
California's new law has the potential to be a game-changer for cellphone theft, but it's going to take time. Here's the fine print on the cellphone "kill switch:"
Don't cellphones already do this?
Some do, some don't. Apple has offered iPhone owners the ability to track their cellphones via Find My iPhone since iOS 4 in 2010, and they could even perform a remote wipe — although that resulted in just an erased phone, not an inoperative one. It wasn't until iOS 7 debuted in 2013 that Apple introduced an activation lock. Now, when the user performs a remote wipe, the iPhone requires the original owner's code before it can be used by anyone else, which means iPhones with iOS 7 are already compliant with California's new law.
Android is a different story. Since late last year, Android phone owners (version 2.3 "Gingerbread" or higher) can use Android Device Manager to locate an Android phone, and perform a remote wipe. However, Android phones don't include the app out of the box, and it can only a perform factory reset, so the phone will still be usable — meaning Android phones today don't comply with the new law.
However, the upcoming upgrade to the OS, Android L, addresses some of those issues. Android L will allow owners to remote-lock an Android phone, as well as lock the phone after a remote-wipe, which would bring Team Android into compliance with the new law.
Windows Phone currently allows users to find or remote-wipe their lost phone, but not to brick it. However, Microsoft committed to introducing those protections to Windows Phone users by the CTIA deadline of July 2015. It'll be pre-installed on new devices, and available as an update to any handsets running Windows Phone 8.0 or later.
BlackBerry, of course, has offered remote-wipe and remote-disable protections for years, although if your device isn't managed by your employer, you'll need BlackBerry Protect for your device running BlackBerry OS 7 or earlier.
Why isn't simply tracking a lost phone strong enough protection?
Because the police are busy. Generally, in the spectrum of crimes the police need to deal with, petty larceny of a person's gadgets isn't that high. There have been numerous reports of the victims of theft bringing phone-tracking evidence to police, only to have them shrug.
Once a phone has been stolen for more than a few minutes, the procedural requirements for getting it back start to compound, potentially involving serving subpoenas to ISPs and search warrants. Better to prevent the theft in the first place, which the law aims to do.
Aren't there some Android apps that will disable your phone remotely?
Various apps are available on Google Play that can remote-wipe or remote-lock your phone. Android Lost, Lookout, Avast, Prey and Where's My Droid will all let you wipe or lock your phone from afar, although some are paid apps, or include the feature as a in-app purchase.
Some of the apps will automatically take pictures of the thief with the phone's front-facing camera, although their usefulness in recovering the phone is questionable. Most will also enable you to remotely make the phone blast a siren noise — even if it's been silenced — which could be annoying enough for the thief to simply abandon it.
Where the law goes further than these solutions is that it specifies that once wiped remotely, the phone must be able to "withstand a hard reset"; this means the thief should not be able to reset the device, and return it to a usable state — no matter what action they take.
Does this law affect only manufacturers?
Not directly, but since California retailers will be fined up to $2,500 for every phone they sell that doesn't include a remote-bricking feature, there's no chance any legit wireless store is going to stock a phone without the feature — at least not one to which the law applies.
That last bit is of particular importance, and it's why the effects of the law will take some time to implement. As worded, the law only applies to devices both manufactured after July 1 and sold in California after that date. In other words, stores won't have to scrap all the Galaxy S5 phones that are still on the shelves on July 1. As long as the phone rolled out of the factory on June 30 or before, it's safe to sell even if it doesn't have the feature.
Is this something I have to enable myself?
Yes, although the law only requires that you have the option — so you're not breaking the law if you don't enable it. Of course, you'll still need to log into iCloud, Google or whatever manufacturer service you're using, to enable and use the remote-wiping and disabling feature. It's not something you can just call your carrier to execute.
What about tablets, laptops and my smartwatch?
They're not covered by the law, which applies only to phones. Guard them with your life.


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There has been a lot of uncertainty about vaping since the introduction of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) by the EU in 2014. The directive is aimed at all tobacco products and wants to achieve tighter regulations and control over how these products are sold. The big concern for vapers is Article 20 which specifically covers electronic cigarettes and e liquid. Some members of the vaping community strongly oppose this ruling and feel it’s far too heavy handed for an industry that isn’t even a ‘tobacco’ product.
Article 20 will make it much harder to sell and advertise e cigarettes and the big fear is it will change the face of vaping beyond all recognition. Some would have you believe It’s not quite as strict as the regulations for actual tobacco cigarettes, but their plans to strangle the e-cig industry in red tape can stifle a product that provides the best chance of getting people to quit smoking all together.
According to Nicholas Curry of the Department of Health in the UK, the arguments put out by the TPD are not to discourage vaping, but to reform it into an aid to quit smoking rather than a lifestyle choice. He stated this in reply to Totally Wicked’s Article20 Challenge:
“The department recognises that e-cigarettes have the potential to help smokers quit, and the evidence indicates that they are less harmful than cigarettes. However, they are not risk-free, and therefore should only be used as a means to help smokers quit. At the same time, it is essential that smoking is not encouraged and that children are protected from the dangers of nicotine. The TPD was agreed by the European Parliament and its member states, and published in April 2014. The UK is obligated to implement the TPD and its rules on e-cigarettes. In implementing the new EU rules, the department intends to work towards UK regulation that will ensure that a range of products that people want to use will remain on the market, but are positioned as alternatives to smoking and not a product that introduces children or non-smokers to vaping or smoking.” – Nicholas Curry
To me this doesn’t sound like an attack on e cigarettes, but rather a common sense approach to how they are marketed. The UK seems to be leading the way in common sense with e cigarettes, and the NHS has put their full weight behind them. But the problem lies with the EU and their heavy handed approach to bureaucracy.
The UK has always been a proud proponent of innovation and would recognise the innovations in the world of vaping as a good thing. But the EU with its endless red tape and notions such as obesity is a disability, and ‘too bendy’ bananas are illegal to sell (a rule eventually scrapped) are now targeting vaping, and some say their approach could all but kill the e cigarette industry.
So, what are these new restrictions?
E liquid bottles restricted to 10ml
Nicotine strength no greater than 20mg
Refillable tanks restricted to 2ml
This all means that we’ll have to fill our e cigs more often, and our nicotine intake will be less than it currently is. But really it shouldn’t have a major impact on our vaping. Inconvenient yes, but a reason to go back to tobacco? I don’t think so.
The biggest impact for vapers are the new quality guidelines. This means that any company importing e cigarettes or e liquid into the EU, or any EU manufacturer will have to take full legal responsibility for the quality and safety of the product. On the face of it this sounds quite reasonable, but typical of the EU they’ve taken it too far with their requirements.
New Demands for E Cigarette Companies
These requirements include notifying and submitting information on each and every product, or product variation they wish to sell. Notifications include ingredients lists, detailed emissions data, toxicological data, information on nicotine doses and absorption data, opening and refilling mechanisms and production processes for every product variation. That means every flavour of e liquid and every model of e cigarette and accessories.
Also, every year retailers will have to provide data on sales volumes, product types, consumer preferences and surveys to member EU states.
The upshot of all this is it will drive up prices and see a lot of small manufacturers and importers close shop and go out of business. This is one of the main concerns as it could stifle innovation and severely handicap the industry. Fortunately, we have British MEPs fighting our corner, but as Conservative MEP Martin Callanan stated, the EU commission officials are a sneaky bunch:
“E-cigarette’s are surely far better for you than smoking tobacco. We have fought for sensible regulation on e-cigs that recognises the role they have played in taking many thousands of people off of smoking. The parliament voted for e-cigs to be lightly regulated until we know what regulation might be required. Yet MEPs and commission officials sneaked a whole raft of red tape into back-room negotiations without discussing them with e-cig users or other MEPs. We have drafted huge parts of this law on the back of a fag packet with decisions about smoke filled rooms ironically being made in smoke filled rooms in Brussels.” – Martin Callanan, Conservative MEP
I’m a strong believer in vaping but at the same time I’m aware there are risks involved. Yes, it’s much safer than smoking tobacco, but at the same time I’m still ingesting vapour and it’s still an addiction. If I’m going to be a vaper then I want to be sure it’s as safe as possible, and strict quality controlled testing can only be a good thing. But even I can see that the EU are asking too much of a new industry and it’s likely that Big Tobacco will be at a huge advantage of monopolisation. Conspiracy theories are already rife about Big Tobacco moving in on the e cig market, and surely even the EU can see that a product designed to help people quit smoking shouldn’t be run by the tobacco industry. Just watch The Insider to see where that can lead.
For me, as a vaper I fully support the Totally Wicked campaign in getting Article 20 revised. It doesn’t look like they are going to be too successful, especially as the Advocate General has come down on the side of the EU. So for now it’s a case of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
In the worst case scenario, if these new regulations go ahead I still don’t think it would stop me vaping. To start with we’ll see a reduction in e liquid flavours, but all the most popular flavours will still be available, and as these get approved I’m sure we’ll see a steady stream of new flavours hitting the market. Hopefully I’ll still have my refillable e cig, even if it has only got a 2ml tank.
There’s a lot of scare mongering among vapers but the fact is we don’t know exactly how these rules are going to be applied.
The UK Department of Health can see the benefits of e cigarettes and I don’t think they’ll do anything to kill the market in the UK. They don’t want to promote e cigs as glamourous the way tobacco was promoted in the 1950s, and I can agree with this. I just hope all the red tape from the EU isn’t held as highly in the UK as it is in Brussels.
Regardless of what happens, Smokshop will continue trading and we’re sure that our most popular products will still be available, even if they are in a slightly restricted form.
On the plus side, with tighter controls we could see a more relaxed view of vaping in public places. This is something that is growing support in the UK and without the demonization of e cigs, they might not be seen as bad as they currently are. Only time will tell and we’re sure that 2016 is going to be a pivotal year for the vaping industry.
In the meantime, if you still haven’t added your support for the Article20 Challenge, you can do so here.


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Earlier this decade, the auto industry moved to lighten cars and trucks. It was supposed to be a competition between steel, long the dominant vehicle material, and aluminum. The latter got a boost when Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., bet big on aluminum, making aluminum bodies for its F-150 and Super Duty pickups.
Displaying 1-10 of 177 results for
It’s been almost two decades since the C5 Corvette hit the streets with its groundbreaking chassis built around hydroformed steel bumper-to-bumper frame rails. The technology gave engineers a chance to create components that were both lighter and stiffer than traditional stamped and welded assemblies.
US machine shops are potentially underutilizing the machinability of brass by as much as 85 percent in their part processing operations, reports a recent study from the Copper Development Association Inc. (McLean, VA).
The challenge of machining hip replacement implants out of cobalt chrome
Extrusion and drawing, two related, stalwart topics in material forming, are covered from top of punch to bottom of die in more than 200 papers in the SME Technical Paper library. The range of contributors is broad, from companies like Alcoa, Westinghouse, ASEA, Western Electric and General Electric to universities in Japan, Germany and the US, as well as individual entrepreneur metalworking shops.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is now using 3D printing from Stratasys to manufacture flight-ready parts for several of its military, civil and business aircraft—while producing specific ground-running equipment at a lower cost than aluminum alternatives.
Machining, the military and magnificent beaches work well together in Okaloosa County, Florida. Famous sugar-white sands are frosting on the cake when companies examine the business-friendly climate, educational opportunities and quality of life in Okaloosa County.
Florida's advanced manufacturing industries are diverse and include sectors producing intermediate and finished products ranging from plastics and micro-electronics to tortillas and motor vehicles.
Infinite Material Solutions LLC announced the launch of a water-soluble 3D printing support material called AquaSys® 180.
Desktop Metal Inc. and Uniformity Labs, today announced a breakthrough powder that enables aluminum sintering for binder jetting AM technology.


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As part of yesterday’s Apple press event – which saw the unveiling of the iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod touch and seventh-generation iPod Nano – Silicon Republic was one of the first to get to grips with the new devices.
Following Apple CEO Tim Cook’s presentation in San Francisco, which was also beamed into London, lengthy queues formed outside the showroom where members of the tech press were granted access to Apple’s latest devices. And, upon entering, all eyes – and hands – were on the highly anticipated iPhone 5.
Members of Apple’s team were standing by to demonstrate the devices to eager reporters and it was elbow-room only to get a look-in at the slim and powerful new smartphone.
So, how did the new iPhone 5 and the updated iPod range live up to their initial presentation under close scrutiny? Read on to find out.
A closer look at the iPhone 5
The shape of the new iPhone 5 gives it more screen space, fitting five rows of apps on the home screen, but maintains a narrow body
The body of the new iPhone 5 is made of anodised aluminium and diamond-cut glass inlays
To shrink the device to just 7.6mm thin and 112g in weight, the dock connector has shrunk, too
Close enough to touch the iPod touch
For the first time, colour has been introduced to the iPod touch line
The fifth-generation iPod touch comes with an elongated 4-inch Retina display and iOS 6, just like the iPhone 5
The rear of the device has a special button in the bottom left-hand corner
When pushed, the tiny chrome disc lifts up ever so slightly from the device
This allows for a wrist-strap to be attached to the device when using the camera
Nearer to the Nano
The new iPod Nano may seem minuscule in size but it still houses its largest-ever screen at 2.5 inches
The seventh-generation iPod Nano will also feature the new smaller ‘Lightning’ connector
The range comes in seven new colours, which have also been taken on by the iPod Shuffle


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It is important for charities to maintain a level of privacy in order to protect their data and sensitive information from the general public. A recent article for CTXchange highlights some key tips to help maintain your online privacy. We have summarised these below:
- If you don’t want it shared, don’t put it up! Remember the internet can do funny things – a random bug could make private posts public.
- Use high privacy settings. Depending on the social network you can normally choose who you want to be able to view your profile.
- Choose unbreakable passwords. A great password is made up of letters and numbers of varying cases, not your first pet’s name or date of birth. Change passwords regularly to keep out unwanted visitors!
GlobalGiving has announced a three-week programme of free online training on crowdfunding – but only for charities who apply before the 5 October deadline
Increased cloud adoption is being fuelled by cloud-native applications, including security and the Internet of Things (IoT) cloud-based solutions
As readers of this site will no doubt be aware, digital has a massive part to play in the future growth of ... read more
eBay has proved to be one of the more effective ways to engage donors online and raise funds. While a lot of the money raised comes from the sale of goods, successful charities have also managed to establish a donor base that allows them to raise ongoing funds.


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Four teenagers are accused of stealing more than a dozen guns from a Waxahachie store. While most of the suspects have been arrested, investigators only found a small fraction of the stolen guns.
It was a bold break-in that stunned a former Waxahachie police chief turned gun shop owner.
“I don't know their motivation for it,” said Chuck Edge, owner of Shooter’s Edge. “I don't know what drove them to commit the offense and commit the offense in the fashion that they did.”
Investigators say seven men used a stolen pickup truck to barrel through the gun shop on July 10, swiping 17 weapons, some of them high-powered, in under a minute.
Police recovered three of the guns that were stolen. The guns were found on Thursday at an undisclosed location, along with four of the suspects, thanks to help from the public.
“We did have some tips from the video we got released,” said Waxahachie PD Lt. Todd Woodruff. “There was some people that recognized one of those individuals and from there, it kind of broke wide open.”
With help from Dallas police and the ATF, Waxahachie police arrested Xavier Kirvin, 19, Virgillo Cherry, 17, Demarcus Dillard, 17, and Deontae Jennings, 17.
Detectives are releasing few details about the bust, since the investigation is still active. Several suspects and 14 weapons are still out on the streets.
“I'd just like to have them off the streets,” said Woodruff. “Because with current things going on, it’s obviously not a good situation for those guns to be out there with folks that obviously didn't get a background check.”
The suspects are each charged with engaging in organized crime and being held on a $100,000 bond. Jennings is out on bail.
The owner of the gun store isn't sure when he'll be able to reopen.


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To become a Vogue Business Member and receive the Sustainability Edit newsletter, click here.
YSL Beauty is upping the ante on supply chain sustainability.
Its new programme, Rewild Our Earth, aims to protect entire regions that produce key ingredients, raising the bar on what biodiversity conservation work can look like in the context of a corporate supply chain.
The luxury cosmetics and skincare brand is partnering with environmental nonprofit Re:wild to look beyond sourcing practices, and protect and restore 100,000 hectares of land in key ingredient-sourcing regions that are also biodiversity hotspots threatened by climate change, human activity or both. Rewild Our Earth focuses on a few of YSL Beauty’s key sourcing regions: Morocco’s Ourika Valley, where ingredients including saffron, walnut and marshmallow are cultivated; Haiti, where vetiver is sourced and where the collapse of forest cover has contributed to floods and landslides that repeatedly devastate local populations; Madagascar, the source of geranium and all of YSL’s vanilla; and Indonesia, which produces patchouli and is facing severe ecosystem threats from overdevelopment.
The programme is an important development for YSL Beauty’s sustainability strategy, and can also help safeguard its own supply chain, says the brand’s global scientific and sustainability director Caroline Negre. The health of the ecosystem has a direct impact on the quality and efficacy of ingredients they use in their products, she says
“We know there is an emergency, an urgent need to fight against the depletion of resources. That’s why we wanted to go further and accelerate our action,” says Negre. “In 2022, we decided to develop new programmes in key areas where biodiversity is a threat, but also in areas where we source some of our key ingredients.”


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Like Asia, European equities have gotten a lot cheaper compared to historical averages. Another simi...
The View from a China Skeptic
07/25/2015 10:00 am EST
Despite his caution that the China market is in a bubble, global investing expert Carl Delfeld, editor of The Blackthread Brief, also suggests it would be a mistake for investors to sell all their China holdings and discusses various ways for those looking to play the market in this environment.
Steven Halpern: Our special guest today is global investing expert Carl Delfeld, editor of The Blackthread Brief. How are you doing today, Carl?
Carl Delfeld: I’m fine, thank you. Nice to be with you, Steven.
Steven Halpern: Well, thank you for joining us. First, can you tell our listeners a little about The Blackthread Group?
Carl Delfeld: Sure. We’re a business and investing, research and consulting firm and we’re focused on the Asia/Pacific region and emerging markets. We also publish, as you mentioned, The Blackthread Brief, which is an investment newsletter.
Steven Halpern: Now, you’ve recently compared the China stock market to the dotcom boom in the late 1990s in the US. Can you explain that?
Carl Delfeld: Sure. Well, both the tech bubble—our tech bubble—and what’s been happening in China over the last year are both pure momentum plays, meaning people get a bit carried away in investing in the tech stocks, and also in the last year, the China stocks, which, at one point, were up over 125% before their recent fall.
One sign of this is, I’m sure we both have friends who, during the tech boom, dropped their job and became day traders, trading in and out of tech stocks. The same thing has been happening in China.
China is a new market, but there’s been a lot of anecdotal evidence about people just going a little bit nuts, losing their jobs, and trading Chinese stocks. The amount of new accounts that have opened in China has been breathtaking. They now have 200 million stock traders, which is well more than the American investors in the US stock market.
Steven Halpern: Now, you’ve suggested that the Chinese government is walking a tightrope here, in part balancing the desire to have strong markets that can help offset a weakening economy. At the same time, could you touch on what’s perceived to be a tremendous amount of market manipulation going on by the Chinese government and how that impacts the whole situation?
Carl Delfeld: Sure. Well, the bigger picture is—I have to be upfront about it—I’m a China skeptic. In fact, I just released another version of a report I put out more than two years ago called The China Skeptic. It’s seven trends that are going the wrong way in China and why I think it’s not going to end nicely.
To address your question specifically, China needs growth, economic growth. As you know, they’re overall growth has been falling from double digits to seven. I predict it’s probably around 5% now. That’s probably not enough to generate 20 million new jobs a month, which is what they need.
They’re trying to do anything they can do to generate growth. The real estate market’s in a big bubble and they want to address that. Their idea is to shift investment from the real estate market into the stock market, which has been in the doldrums for a couple of years.
The problem is you just can’t control the stock market like you can do manufacturing and direct investment. No question, they were shifting resources and attention to the stock market. That’s why it was up so sharply before the recent fall. Even in the fall, where it fell a breathtaking 30% in a little over three weeks, they were doing everything they could.
They stopped trading in half the stocks. They pumped money into the stocks of the big state-owned firms. They banned short sales. You could see...it’s fruitless. They won’t be able to manipulate the markets like they would like to.
Steven Halpern: Now, despite your caution that the China market is in a bubble, you also suggest it would be a mistake for investors to sell all their China holdings. Could you help explain this apparent contradiction?
Carl Delfeld: Sure, sure. Well, obviously, the best, a lot depends on when you bought into China. My basic strategy in all these markets is to buy them when they’re out-of-favor—in fact, hated—and then in an upturn. That’s when you can score big gains, which is why, more than a year ago, I said buy Chinese stocks, which were dirt cheap.
On the other hand, the China stock market is going to be volatile, so you should be a market timer to a degree, but you can’t be a panic seller. That’s what I meant by that comment, meaning, depending on where you’re in, whenever you double, we take half the money off the table, at least, so you should have done that.
You should have a trailing stop-loss. You have to have a system in place. Usually we recommend a 15% trailing stop-loss so when stocks go down in a market 15% from their highs, you’re automatically out.
The other thing is that China is going to be an up and down market. To sell everything and hope you can time it perfectly is probably a mistake, which is why I recommend two things right now: One is to look for high quality and one is to look at other ways to play the China market.
Steven Halpern: Now, along the lines of high quality plays within the China market, you point to the consumer conglomerate Jardine Matheson (JMHLY). Could you tell our listeners about this company and explain the attraction you see for these shares?
Carl Delfeld: Sure. Well, Jardine Matheson’s an outstanding company going back a couple hundred years. They’ve been very active in all sorts of consumer plays throughout Asia, including China.
The interesting thing is they’re sort of like the Johnson & Johnson if you will of China, in terms of their quality and tentacles throughout the economy.
I would say it’s a laggard. It’s down 12% this year, but it didn’t boom with the other high tech Chinese stocks. It’s a laggard. It’s cheap, about 10 times the earnings. I really like that company.
Steven Halpern: Now you mentioned earlier that you’re also looking for some other ways to play the market in this environment. Perhaps you’d be kind enough to mention another investment vehicle that might be of interest to our listeners who are seeking a longer-term exposure to China?
Carl Delfeld: Sure. What I would look at is Hong Kong. A lot of the Chinese companies trade on the Hong Kong Exchange through H Shares, they’re called H Shares. If we really look at Hong Kong compared to the Shanghai market, the Shenzhen market in China, Hong Kong is very cheap.
The forward price to earnings ratio is less than eight times. It’s selling for less than sales. It’s trading just a little bit over book value and at a dividend yield of 3.5%, which sounds pretty good to American investors, I’m sure.
I would nibble at it now. I would definitely—if you’re going to reenter and want Chinese exposure—I would do it through Hong Kong.
Steven Halpern: Now would it be best for the typical investor to focus on an exchange traded fund in that area or look at individual stocks?
Carl Delfeld: There are some exchange-traded funds that track that index, but I’m also tracking some specific stocks as well.
Steven Halpern: Again, our guest is Carl Delfeld of The Blackthread Group. Thank you for your time today.
Carl Delfeld: Thank you. I enjoyed it.
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Air Jordan 9 fans will be happy to know that the original white,black and red pair will retro this year. The shoe has a remastered release planned for Black Friday complete with the original Nike Air branding on the insoles. There are no images out yet of the 2016 pair. This Air Jordan 9 colorway has been one of the more prolific ones, with the original 1993 pair succeeded by releases in 2002 and 2010.
We assume that this would mean that there will be no more a Air Jordan 11 release on Black Friday. Blog’s were speculating that Air Jordan 11 Space Jam will retro this year. Perhaps we will still see the Air Jordna 11 Space Jam this year but for another time, no news about this exist yet. Although it would be an awesome thing if both Air Jordan 9 and Air Jordan 11 will release for Black Friday, then Jordan will really “shut down the internet”.
Later this year, Jordan Brand is bringing some energy around the first retirement shoe yet again. No word if this year’s Remastered variety will come with some nostalgic details or a special box.
Keep close for more updates.


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Calgon Carbon Corporation has announced that the antidumping order on steam activated carbon imported into the U.S. from China has been extended by at least another five years by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
Once the Chinese activated carbon enter the U.S. markets, the importers will have to make cash deposits of estimated anti dumping tariffs. The tariff rates will be determined by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). At the end of the fifth year, the DOC and ITC will further review if the order can be extended.
Current average tariff rate, as announced in Nov 2012, is 47 cents per pound and this will be maintained for a year till Nov 2013. Calgon Carbon’s tariff on activated carbon imported into the U.S. from China is currently nil.
Calgon Carbon released its third-quarter 2012 results in Nov 2012. The company incurred a loss of $4.5 million or 8 cents a share in the quarter compared with a profit of $14.5 million or 25 cents a share a year ago.
Excluding a restructuring charge of $8 million, the Pennsylvania-based pollution control company earned 6 cents a share in the quarter, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 12 cents.
Revenues fell 5.6% year over year to $135.5 million, and missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $143.0 million. Currency translation had a negative impact of $3.2 million on sales, stemming from a stronger dollar.
Calgon Carbon remains confident in its ability to balance the need for future investment with its responsibility to provide short-term returns.
Despite some challenges, the company expects to continue to capitalize on its growth opportunities. The company’s healthy sales gains and strategic initiatives will be beneficial in the long term.
Calgon Carbon currently retains a Zacks Rank#3 (Hold).
Other companies in the pollution control industry having a favorable Zacks rank are CECO Environmental Corp. (CECE - Free Report) , MFRI Inc. and Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. . While CECO Environmental Corp. carries Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), MFRI and Progressive Waste carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).


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A recent Op-Ed in The New York Times explained that the problem of patent trolling “stems largely from the fact that, in our judicial system, trolls have an important strategic advantage over their adversaries: they don’t make anything so, in a patent lawsuit, they have far fewer documents to produce, fewer witnesses and a much smaller legal bill than a company that does make and sell something.”
Similarly, cybersquatters have a strategic advantage over their victims: they don’t produce or provide a product or service. They simply buy up domain names containing the trademarks of companies that actually do contribute to America’s GDP, then make money when Internet users who inadvertently landed on the site open pay-per-click ads. The victimized company takes the cybersquatter to court or files a UDRP, spending money that could otherwise be spent on producing goods. Cybersquatters can often stay anonymous, return the domain name, and simply move on to the next victim.
These types of Internet abuses also share another marker: quantity. As the NYT Op-Ed explains, one indication of patent trolling is that ‘a single patent holder sues hundreds or thousands of users of a technology (who know little about the patent) rather than those who make it.”
So if patent trolls and cybersquatters enjoy strategic advantages – albeit using different scams – might the solution to the two problems be similar as well?
Radar and his co-authors point out that, while legislative action against trolls has been “meager”, judges are to patent trolls as Dorothy is to going home – they’ve had the power all along: “Section 285 of the Patent Act, as well as Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, give judges the authority they need to shift the cost burden of litigation abuse from the defendant to the troll.”
In other words, fee shifting makes patent or trademark scams less financially palatable to a serial cybersquatter by awarding larger judgments against them and making them pay for their victim’s legal fees. As FairWinds IP Attorney Steve Levy explains, “While updated legislation would have a great impact on reducing cybersquatting, fee-shifting to losing cybersquatters would be most effective to reduce the ROI from cybersquatting – making it increasingly less appealing to bad actors.”


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DELANO, Minn.—There's a fallacy going around that anyone involved in the medical business has it made.
But that's not really the case, according to Kevin Carver, CEO of Delano-based Sil-Pro. Rubber component suppliers to the sector are facing more competition, increased requirements and a customer base looking to trim its vendor rolls.
“A lot of people have this false impression that if you're in medical that you don't have anything to worry about,” Carver said. “That's not really true. First off everybody wants to be in the medical business right now. ... From a manufacturing standpoint, it's very competitive because there are so many people wanting to do it. That doesn't really make it any easier for us. We're having to compete just like any other business for a certain amount of work that's out there.”
Things have changed in the medical landscape over the past seven years, he said. The validation protocol and quality requirements are much higher and continue to escalate, and much of that work is done upfront.
“It is a challenge but also is a nice safeguard in the long run because if a customer is going to take the time to do all of that with you, you probably stand a fair shot of keeping that product under your roof in the future,” Carver said.
And there is an ongoing stream of new competitors looking to get into the medical arena because it's seen as “recession-proof.” Sil-Pro tries to combat that by continuously improving its processes.
“We're big in lean manufacturing and reducing cost,” the company CEO said. “We continue to do so and win awards from some of our major customers. We do our best not to give them a reason to look anywhere else.”
Sil-Pro works hard to ensure its core competencies cover vertical integration from the start to finish of a product's lifespan. That ranges from design to prototype work, onto the tool making, manufacturing and molding processes. And then the medical goods supplier performs value-added services such as assemblies, sub-assemblies and packaging, Carver said.
“A lot of times, some companies might specialize in one side or the other, and end up losing some growth opportunities on either side of that,” he said.
Quality requirements continue to be more extensive, and now cover not only manufacturing the product but having the systems in place for validation protocols.
“Keeping up with the quality system and paperwork associated with that is a whole other escalating situation that you have to be on top of,” he said. “It's difficult for companies that aren't familiar with it.”
Sil-Pro specializes in long-term implantable components and devices, so that's less likely to see overseas competition than high-volume disposable medical goods. “We're able to stay competitive through automating our processes and lean manufacturing continuous improvement activities,” Carver said.
““We track the cost of everything we make here on every job, and share that with our employees, so they know how important it is for us to continuously get better at chipping away at costs and waste in the value stream so that we're able to compete against the world,”
Carver believes Sil-Pro will benefit from the customers' trend toward streamlining the supplier base.
“If you do a good job, you're in a good position to maintain and grow because they are looking to downsize their current vendor lists to the companies they think are most able to minimize the risk for the products.
“At the end of the day, our manufacturing is a mirror image of what our customers need to have on their end. They want to partner up with vendors that meet or exceed their own internal standards.”
The company is in the midst of a 6,000-sq.-ft. clean room expansion, and it employs a total of 185, up in recent years.
“I think there are a lot of opportunities for companies that are aligned properly to the medical device companies,” he said.
“I feel we are positioned to be one of those companies. We've experienced a lot of business opportunities from our customers moving things from competitors over to us because we're doing a good job.”


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Beloved musician, songwriter/producer and co-founder of The Raconteurs, Brendan Benson has already been creating quite a buzz south of the border in 2013, by releasing a new single each month. Thanks to the new partnership between Benson’s own Readymade Records and Dine Alone Records, the singles will now be digitally available in Canada on April 16th 2013. Cleverly titled, The First Four Songs, the digital release will include the four singles Brendan Benson has released to date. Full track listing is below.
Fans will be happy to know that Benson will continue to release singles over the next few months. The schedule is as follows:
05.21.13 – “Swallow You Whole”
06.18.13 – “New Words of Wisdom”
07.16.13 – “Red White and Blues”
The project will culminate later this year, when all of the singles will be released as a full-length vinyl record. More details regarding the vinyl release will be announced in the coming months.
With Record Store Day just around the corner, Readymade/Dine Alone Records have announced that Brendan Benson’s exclusive Diamond 7” will be available in Canada on April 20th. The 7” features “Diamond” with a re-mastered demo of “Good To Me” on the b-side.
Benson’s musical approach is detailed, craftsman-like and fastidious. Over the years, Benson has released five solo albums, co-founded The Raconteurs and released two albums with them, and has toured extensively around the world. Brendan has spent his recent months in the studio producing artists such as Willy Mason, UK songstress Leah Mason, and The Howlin’ Brothers new record, which is now available on iTunes Canada here through Readymade/ Dine Alone Records.
Track listing – The First Four Songs – Brendan Benson
01. Swimming | Stream
02. Oh My Love | Stream
03. Purely Automatic


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“I think people don’t realize everything we can do,” he said. “But we’re here to make maps cool again.”
Hubbs has worked at Houston Map Company for over 20 years and took over as owner in 2017. When he first started, the store served as a trusted place for people planning road trips, designating delivery routes or simply getting to know the city.
As digital GPS became more popular, Houston Map Company doubled down on its niche offerings, such as custom-made maps for first responders, government agencies and hunters tracking wild game, Hubbs said. It also prompted him to get creative.
Now, the store sells everything from framed historical maps for decor to a ping-pong table with a map of Houston printed onto its base. Hubbs makes maps to sell but also to get customers interested in what they can custom order.
“We’ll put a map up here with calendar and a whiteboard just to get people thinking,” Hubb said.
The store also offers globes, pocket maps and atlases. For custom orders, Hubbs can design color schemes, print maps onto whiteboards or corkboards with calendars or charts attached, or provide zoomed-in maps with greater detail than even some GPS can provide, he said. The shop has even made a 12-by-40-foot wall map, Hubbs said.
As someone who had his wife ask him to limit their house to one map per room, Hubbs said a changing industry will not deter his love for cartography and sharing it with others.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘keep it up,’ and we get a lot of encouragement,” he said. “It seems like the maps have kind of been making a resurgence. People are coming back to them.”
Houston Map Company
1212 Durham Drive, Houston
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Sun.


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Sysco shows how to distribute food with ruthless efficiency
WHEN John Baugh and his wife Eula Mae launched Zero Foods in 1946, to deliver frozen food to businesses in Houston, America’s distribution system consisted of countless small local firms. So Baugh set about consolidating it. In 1970 he persuaded eight similar firms to merge with his to form the Systems Services Company (Sysco), which he then expanded through a series of acquisitions. Baugh died in 2007, but on December 9th his firm announced a deal which, if antitrust regulators approve it, may be the culmination of his visionary strategy to build the type of modern and efficient food-distribution system that India lacks (see article).
In an acquisition valued at $8.2 billion, Sysco will buy US Foods, its closest rival in America. There has been speculation for years that these two firms would get together. Indeed, William DeLaney, Sysco’s boss, says he considered buying US Foods seven years ago, but decided that the price was too high.
Thanks to its strategy of acquisitions and an obsession with cost control and efficiency it got from Baugh, Sysco has long been the market leader in delivering food, frozen and otherwise, to schools, fast-food chains and even fancy Michelin-starred restaurants such as the French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley. With US Foods it will account for over a quarter of the American market. Food producers will not relish the extra clout of the combined firm. Likewise, restaurants, which will lose the chance to get lower prices by playing off Sysco and US Foods against each other. So the merger will provide a stern test for Barack Obama’s antitrust enforcers after their recent attempt to block the merger of American Airlines and US Airways fizzled out embarrassingly.
After a hard year of slow growth and a scandal over poor storage of perishable food in some depots in California, Sysco hopes to return to what it knows best, stripping out costs. The outlook may be grim for employees of US Foods, who had hoped for an easier exit from six years of ownership by Clayton Dubilier & Rice and KKR, two private-equity giants. Workers would doubtless have preferred an initial public offering or even a sale to a big retailer like Walmart.
Successfully integrating two such sprawling, decentralised firms (Sysco alone has more than 70 operating businesses in America) is likely to take several years. That will create opportunities for smaller rivals such as Performance Food Group and the innovative Gordon Food Services to poach customers disgruntled by the merger process. It will also hold back Sysco’s efforts to apply its strategy to markets outside America. Many of them are almost as fragmented as America’s when Baugh started earning his reputation as the “Sysco Kid”.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Meal deal"
From the December 14th 2013 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition


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Acer is possibly going to delay its launch of an Android based Tablet until the first quarter of 2011 so that it can take advantage of the Google Androi2 3.0 OS which is designed for Tablets and supports bigger screen resolutions.
The rumor comes from Digitimes saying that the since the 3.0 version of Android won’t come till the fourth quarter of this year, Acer will delay plans to launch its Tablet. They will, however, continue with plans to launch a Windows-based version by year’s end. And they have already launched a smart phone based on Android called the Liquid E Ferrari. It was launched in Taiwan on August 18th.
The company also has both a 6-inch grayscale and a 7-inch color e-book reader planned. They will run a form of Linux and ship by the end of this year. Acer previously showed off a prototype Android based eReader. Below is a video from Netbook News of the device shown off at Computex 2010.


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A+E Networks and Crown Media Family Networks are the latest media companies to make their linear television inventory available through Xandr Invest, the programmatic buying platform of Xandr, AT&T’s advanced advertising and analytics unit.
Xandr, AT&T’s advanced advertising and analytics unit, launched the Invest platform in March and announced that AMC Networks, Disney and WarnerMedia were participating in an open beta test.
Buyers can use Invest to access the networks’ linear private marketplaces (PMPs), which are hosted on linear supply-side platform Clypd, acquired last fall by Xandr.
Networks that make their linear, ad-supported inventory available through the platform can offer advertising buys that combine standard linear and targeted advanced audiences.
The addition of A+E Networks and Crown Media increases the number of available networks to buyers to 52, with combined reach of 90% of the U.S. population. A+E and Crown already uses Xandr’s Monetize SSP for programmatic sales of their OTT video inventory.
AT&T and other brands are now in the process of planning, buying and executing campaigns using custom audience segments across Xandr’s programmer partners, Xandr reports.
Xandr has gone through restructuring and leadership changes at AT&T, and within its own ranks, since it was formed in 2018, when AT&T bought the buy-side platform AppNexus for $1.6 billion and rebranded it.
In April, after Jason Kilar was named CEO of WarnerMedia, AT&T merged Xandr into WarnerMedia.
Xandr and Warnermedia said they would continue to offer advanced advertising solutions, including the Xandr Monetize sellers' platform, as well as the Invest addressable video marketplace.
At the time, AT&T CEO John Stankey said there was “still much more that need[ed] to be done to integrate and coordinate more closely our go-to-market functions between Xandr and WarnerMedia.”
Some reports suggested that AT&T was impatient with the speed of Xandr’s ramp-up, and that Xandr was starting to have trouble signing more third-party advertising inventory partners for the SSP media marketplace.
In August, Mike Welch, who had been executive vice president, product and business development at Xandr, was named head of the company, succeeding Kirk McDonald, who had in turn succeeded Brian Lesser.
In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T was exploring a sale of Xandr. AT&T and Xandr have not commented on whether a sale is still being considered.
An unrevealed number of Xandr employees were affected by the latest round of layoffs last week at WarnerMedia, which continues to restructure to focus on HBO Max and the video streaming business.


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ASUS is unveiling its new ZenFone 5 series next week during Mobile World Congress 2018. Serial leakster @evleaks had earlier shared a couple of renders that is alleged to be the ZenFone 5 Lite that comes with a total of four cameras. Prior to that, we’ve seen a couple of renders that feature an iPhone X-style camera bump which is alleged to be the standard ZenFone 5 model. Now here’s another device which claims to be the ZenFone 5 and it comes with another iPhone X design feature.
ASUS will be announcing its new ZenFone 5 (2018) lineup at Barcelona at the end of this month. If you want to know how it looks like, the manual for one of its models has apparently leaked and it gives a clear illustration of all sides of the device.


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Bangkok Post | 15 September 2007
India FTA likely by December
Pact would end years of talks with Thailand
India and Thailand plan to finally sign a free-trade agreement by the end of this year, which could bring an end to talks that have dragged on for years, a senior minister from the Indian government said yesterday. ’’We have had a very constructive discussion with Thailand recently and are hopeful that it would be possible to sign the FTA on goods before the end of this year,’’ Pranab Mukherjee, India’s External Affairs minister, said in Bangkok yesterday.
The move comes as the November deadline set by Bangkok gets closer. If the FTA is not concluded by then, the deal would be delayed indefinitely.
Thai Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet said late last month that the November deadline would be final as the government of Surayud Chulanont will hand over power to an elected government following a poll set for Dec 23.
’’We therefore said that we want an answer as there would be no use to push for the talks as we have been discussing this for years now,’’ Mr Kirk-krai said at the time. ’’We have been trying to find a way out and now have put the ball in the Indian court, and we have to see how the game is played.’’
Trade talks between India and Thailand started more than three years ago. An early-harvest scheme was agreed to in 2003, but the two sides have failed to agree on a full-fledged free trade agreement.
The early-harvest pact, covering 82 items, helped push trade between the two countries up by more than 125% since 2003 to $3.8 billion in 2006. A value of more than $4 billion is expected this year.
Mr Mukherjee said that the FTA negotiations with Thailand were part of the Delhi government’s ’’Look East Policy’’, which calls for closer relationships with the 10-member Asean, emerging economic giant China and the current Asian powerhouses Japan and Korea.
’’The India-Asean FTA lies at the heart of our engagement with Asean,’’ he said, adding that negotiations should conclude earlier than expected despite the difficulties.
’’I am hopeful that we will see a breakthrough in the coming months,’’ he said. ’’While all sides may not get a solution that meets all objectives, the time has come for us to be pragmatic and find an outcome that is a win-win for both sides.’’
Mr Mukherjee, who was visiting Thailand and South Korea, said that India attached great importance to dealings with Thailand and the Asean countries.
It has consistently increased its engagement with the region over the past few years, both diplomatically and economically.
Total trade between India and the 16 East Asian Summit countries climbed to $80.1 billion last year, or about 26% of India’s total trade value, up from 16% in 1991.
This is evidence that Asian countries will become global leaders in the coming century, he said. The integration of the Asian community would be the ’’arc of advantage’’ that leads to a large-scale movement of ideas and connectivity, the Indian minister said.
Thailand and other countries in the region should also look at ways to link India and Thailand via roadways that were planned a long time ago but have seen little progress, Mr Mukherjee added. A road linking the northeastern states of India via Bagan in Burma and Mae Sot in Thailand would help link India and Asean.
The 1,400-km route needs more construction and upgrades in certain segments, but once connected it would open vast opportunities for goods and services to be traded between India and the rest of Asean, he said.


text: 2 Reasons Why Cryptos Are Currently Bearish ByAzeez MustaphaPRO INVESTOR Updated: 19 September 2021 The factors responsible for the bearish position of most cryptos are fundamental, however, firstly, we will be examining BTC as flagship crypto since it has always been prone to fluctuations having effects of up to 200% appreciation and also depreciating by almost half in value later on in the year. Though there still exists the possibility of a larger appreciation in 2019-2020, especially in a bullish market. Cryptocurrency Can Cause Positive Disruptions U.S Fed Chairman, Powel had expressed his fears relevant to the recent launch of Libra coin by Facebook. This is because the social media giant is creating its digital form of money. The concerns relate majorly to Facebook’s inability to prove beyond reasonable doubt it can curtail security concerns such as privacy breach, money laundering, consumer protection, and financial stability. However, Libra is not a product from Facebook but that the C.E.O of the social media giant is also the founder of Libra crypto. And the product has the support of fin-tech service providers such as Visa, Paypal, eBay, Lyft, Uber and Spotify. While speaking on these issues, Mark Cuban had stated that in some African countries its apparent that some resistance to utilizing cryptos by the public from dictators may be seen due to fears of losing control over monetary policies if the public adopts the use of cryptocurrency as against the use of local currency in their domain. US President Donald Trump has also also declared his dislikes for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies because he feels they can’t properly replace physical money as a result of its high fluctuating tendencies, its likely use for unlawful activities and lack of governmental control over its operations, stating that if facebook wants to store money just like traditional banks, they ought to apply for a banking license and be subjected to institutional monetary regulations such as the banking charter. Essentially, it’s only up to 1-2% of transactions on BTC that ever has to do with unlawful activity while the majority of illegal transactions for unlawful activities involve the U.S dollar cash payments. This short analysis depicts the fact that the authorities are creating a false and invalid impression to disqualify the use of cryptocurrency by the public and justify any proposed ban to curtail its operations against the regular money. This scenario paints the true picture, which shows the trust and ability of cryptocurrency changing the status quo, both of power structure and financial without much fuss. Although with the introduction of Libra to the crypto space, a negative squeeze on BTC bullish trend has occurred, though shortly. The second most important factor for the bearish position of cryptocurrencies recently is the influence of regulatory authority, SEC, as a supervisory body on all money-related activities such as cryptos, as it also falls within its jurisdiction. However, more cryptocurrency is being released worldwide into the crypto space through the initial coin offering (ICO). Although with stringent limitations, by barring US residents using SEC, from dealing or participating. These limitations also prevent exchanges from dealing with US residents. This is the predominant situation of altcoins resulting in a bearish market.


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The Indian carmaker's exhibits at theAuto Expo 2016included the Nexon compact SUV in a production-ready form, the Hexa mpv, Zica Aktiv and the Sport.Scroll down to see more.
Fiat reintroduced the Punto with the'Pure' moniker at Rs 4.49 lakh. In addition, Fiat showcased the Urban Cross and the Linea 125S at the 2016 Auto Expo. The Urban Cross will be officially launched in the third quarter while the Linea 125S arrives by the second quarter of this year.
Honda previewed two most relevant cars for the Indian market, the BR-V and the Accord, at the 2016 Auto Expo. Based on the Mobilio platform, the Honda BR-V will offer thecombination of the bold styling of an SUVand the practicality of an MPV. Honda will launch the BR-V by May or June this year while the Accord will hit showrooms in the festive season. Honda also showcased a racing prototype of the Jazz.
The Carlino HND14 compact SUV concept took centre-stage at the Hyundai pavilion. The compact SUVcan be expected tomake its debut by mid 2017 or early 2018. Hyundai also showcased the Tucson that will hit showrooms between August and October, 2016 and will be priced around Rs 15-20 lakh. The Genesis too was on display primarily to gauge public reaction.
Jeep formally announced its plansof entering the Indian market with the Grand Cherokee, Wrangler and the SRT at the 2016 Auto Expo. These models will be officially launched by mid-2016. The most powerful of the lot, the SRT, is powered by a 6.4-litre motor that makes 470PS of power. In addition, the company also revealed plans of launching an all-new vehicle in 2017, that will be produced at Fiat's Ranjangaon plan.
Jaguar chose the 2016 Auto Expo as a platform to launch the all-new XE. Priced at Rs 39.90 lakh, the XE is the portfolio range starter and intends to bring volumes. The Jaguar stall also showcased the F-Pace crossover along with the Range Rover SVR.