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News - Toyota
Toyota faces track attack
Toyota will strike a frosty reception if it decides to enter V8 Supercar
17 Nov 2003
By BRUCE NEWTON
TOYOTA faces a bloody fight with Ford and Holden if it green-lights a bid to enter the V8 Supercar battlefield.
The increasingly popular championship has been limited to the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore for its 10-year history.
But now Toyota Australia is examining the prospect of making it a three-way fight, with marketing general manager Scott Grant a driving force behind the idea.
Toyota has twice previously rejected entering V8 Supercar.
But Mr Grant, with four years working for Toyota in the US under his belt, has pushed the idea to the forefront as part of a plan to energise the Toyota brand in Australia.
The fact that V8 Supercar is based on rear-wheel drive 5.0-litre V8 sedans – vehicles Toyota Australia does not sell – is not an obstacle. There is no homologation rule and many parts are standardised under technical rules called Project Blueprint. And an appropriate push-rod engine could be sourced from Toyota Racing Developments in the US.
Mitsubishi Australia would also like to be in V8 Supercar, but unlike Toyota lacks the estimated $10 million needed to kickstart a racing program.
The two candidates for a Toyota V8 Supercar program would be the domestically manufactured Camry or Avalon, both due for overhaul in 2006.
Toyota’s research shows that its international involvement in Formula One and the local rally campaign generates little general interest.
Fundamentally, it’s the V8s or nothing. And that’s something Ford and Holden are very much aware of and explains why they are determined to keep Toyota and its millions out of the category.
"Holden and Ford have built this series," Ford Australia president Geoff Polites told GoAuto at the penultimate championship round at Pukekohe in New Zealand, witnessed by more than 91,000 fans over the meeting’s three days.
"You change things when a change will improve it, but the reality is what we have got works and it doesn’t need a radical change.
"Just look at the crowd here and look at all their gear. The Holden tattoos, the Ford tattoos. Why would you change? "The only people screaming out for change are those on the outside who want to get in for their own marketing purposes and why would we help them – particularly Toyota? "Toyota don’t have a rear-wheel drive V8, they don’t sell one, they don’t market one, they don’t make one. We do. So why would we help them?" A complication in all this is the manufacturers have no control over a decision to allow other rivals into the class.
V8 Supercar is run by a company called AVESCO, which is owned 75 per cent by the teams and 25 per cent by SEL, a sports and entertainment promotions company.
Arguably, Holden and Ford control many proxy votes through the millions of dollars they pour into V8 Supercar racing teams every year. But race teams are expensive to run and may be swayed to vote for Toyota by the prospect of better budgets.
Holden director of performance products and racing Ray Borrett said Toyota entering V8 Supercar would negatively affect Holden’s attitude to the sport. If it did go to a vote, he rated Toyota’s admission as a 50:50 prospect.
"There’s been a significant investment by Ford and Holden over the years by the way of sponsorship of the teams and building up the category," Mr Borrett said.
"While AVESCO will claim all the credit for that, they could not have done it without our support.
"We would not want to see another manufacturer coming in and getting a free lunch, taking advantage of our investment."
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SEARCHED FOR: Competition Commission of India
The ambitious move by the government looks to gain the kind of influence over Big Tech that Europe and China have.
Google Play Store will begin charging a 15% commission to third-party subscription apps from Jan. 1, a 50% slash in the charges. Previously, subscription applications were charged 30% for the first year and 15% thereafter.
Karnataka High Court has disposed of a petition filed by Google India challenging an order of the Competition Commission of India, which is investigating its Play Store payment policy.
Google claimed that a confidential report submitted to CCI on an ongoing investigation into Google’s Android smartphone agreements was leaked to the media
Google’s plan to reduce fees on in-app purchases is a ploy to distract attention from its anti-competitive practices: ADIF
Google's decision to lower commissions charged to app developers on in-app sales is a tactic to "deflect and divert" attention from major concerns of developers and startups of fair competition and developer choices in-app economy, said Alliance of Digital India Foundation
The Australian competition watchdog is already looking into a claim that Facebook Inc refused to adhere to an amicable solution
Getty has signed a multi-year agreement with Google that will reform Google’s approach to copyright in image search. Now, Google will do more to highlight copyright attribution for the photos the users find, so they will know whether or not they would need to pay for a picture.
The official notification for SSC JE 2017 examination has been released. Now, all the candidates who wish to apply for Junior Engineer Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical posts under SSC JE 2017 can apply it online at ssc.nic.in

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Countless new Commander goodies and a KILLER new tool for competitive decks await inside the latest Dominaria spoiler round-up
The latest from Dominaria’s spoiler season– featuring KARN, BABY.
Hey gang, it’s time for another round of spoilers from Magic: the Gathering‘s latest expansion, Dominaria. Here’s what you’ve missed since we left off. Old legends return Over Magic‘s long history, Wizards of the Coast has printed over 15,000 cards. That’s a lot of cardboard. However, while all of these cards have seen play at one point, […]
The latest from Magic: the Gathering’s Dominaria spoiler season
Huge Monday for MAGIC fans as Richard Garfield discusses the new Saga card type and throwbacks to Counterspell and Lightning Bolt are revealed
The first day of Dominaria card spoilers have new surprises in store for us all.
In celebration of the game’s 25th anniversary, your exclusive look at the newest Magic: the Gathering saga’s first chapter.
The closed beta for Magic’s latest digital game expands!
ICv2 has a new report on the size of a market, this time the hobby game market—games like Magic, Warhammer,various card capture games, D&D and so on which he estimates as being a $700 million industry — not far below the comics industry size of $870 million. : Here’s the pr: Pop culture experts ICv2 […]


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The FCA, UK’s financial regulatory authority, released a alert related to risks of online investment rip-off.
The FCA proposed investors be aware to scammers offering opportunities in binary options, contracts for difference (CFDs) and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
The FCA informed that retails investors are approached by cons through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter, instead of by telephone, and are being attracted to make investments by promising substantial income and associating the business opportunities to luxury possessions such as luxury cars and watches. The moment someone invested, the prices distorted on their website, people are tied in with extreme pay-back demands and frequently customer accounts are closed arbitrarily as the con artists compromise the cash.
The surge in these ripoffs has affected the profile of the likely victims, too. In the past, the sector of people above 55s has been most in jeopardy to investment scams. Nonetheless, the FCA’s recent study has discovered that individuals aged under 25 were 13% more likely to rely on an investment proposition they got via social media compared with 2% for the over 55s. Total, around 20% of the respondents to the FCA’s investigation stated that online customer testimonials and testimonies increased their trust in a corporation or venture.
The FCA has started out a ScamSmart strategy that induces citizens to test out its dedicated website to estimate if a company is approved or to gather counsel about whether an offer is perhaps fraudulent.
The FCA’s main recommendation to potential clients is:
Refuse unwanted financial offers no matter whether generated online, on social media or through the telephone;
look at the FCA register before investing
visit the FCA alert list of firms to avoid;
Acquire impartial counsel prior to investing.<


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NEW YORK (AP) — Spa visits and the money they generate reached record highs last year in the U.S. with $18.3 billion in revenue driven by 190 million pampering trips, according to the International Spa Association.
The leading industry group for spa professionals recently held its 25th annual event for media to show off trends and services among its 2,300 members. Garrett Mersberger, the association’s board chairman, broke down a few highlights for The Associated Press:
LESS MAY BE MORE, AFTER ALL
Some spas have been slimming back the services they offer as they focus more on customization, said Mersberger, who is also the director of sales, marketing and spa for Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
“The idea is to reduce that menu to make it all about the individual guest at that exact moment in time,” he said. “When I book, I don’t want to have to cruise through 50 different services. I want to pick one easily, and when I get there, I want it to be all about me at that moment.”
A one-size-fits-all menu of facials, massages and other treatments doesn’t lend itself as easily to different skin types and ingredient preferences, or even seasonal changes between the time of a booking 30 or 60 days out to arrival, Mersberger said.
The Mandarin Oriental group, he said, has “gone down to just one focused massage and one focused facial to really make it about customization. We’re trying to do a similar thing at Blue Harbor,” Mersberger said.
Allowing technicians and therapists on-site to help clients decide what their skin and body might need enhances the experience, said ISPA President Lynne McNees.
A MARCH OF MEN
“We’re seeing a lot more men going to spas,” Mersberger said. “It used to always be a female-driven thing. We’re now seeing 50-50, if not swinging more toward the males.”
That trend took off as long ago as 2017, when the association reported 49 percent of spa customers were men, up from 29 percent in 2005.
“They’re much more aware that it’s not just a thing I go to to get pampered. It’s an actual lifestyle choice with benefits to my body, to my wellness. It’s part of my routine now. It’s not just about going for relaxation,” Mersberger said.
McNees said the change impacts treatment areas, relaxation areas and changing stations.
“Spas are really having to evolve to accommodate that male spa goer,” she said. “Typically, your back of house for males would be smaller because historically it’s been very heavy female. Now they’re having to shift that.”
A lot of hotels and spas are designing unisex bathrooms and locker rooms, Mersberger said. Women are usually fine with it, McNees said. They’re no longer dragging reluctant spouses to spas.
“We’re seeing a lot of groups and parties and different special events in the spa with both men and women,” she said.
INDIGENOUS TREATMENTS & SERVICES
Spas are often looking to skin treatments and other services using ingredients and traditions native to their regions.
Aspira Spa at The Osthoff Resort on Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is introducing an 80-minute service, Dohi, which is a collection of Native American healing traditions. It includes percussion music amplified from under massage tables so clients can feel the vibrations, said Lola Roeh, the general manager. It also includes a cornmeal back scrub. At the end, negative energy is chased away through burning sage, sweet grass or local wood.
“Our area is steeped in Native American history and we really pay reverence to that in the spa,” Roeh said.
The Edgewater Spa at Madison’s Place in Madison, Wisconsin, pairs local craft beer and cider tastings with spa services in summer months. For instance, a strawberry rhubarb dermafoliant, mask and serum combination is coupled with a beer with the same notes.
In Hershey, Pennsylvania, MeltSpa by Hershey offers — you guessed it — an array of treatments that include cocoa and dark chocolate, from facials to body wraps. A company called Circadia by Dr. Pugliese created a chocolate-and-marshmallow-whip facial offered at MeltSpa.
“People are trying to get creative. They want to be different. They don’t want to be just another spa,” Mersberger said.
SPAS & TECHNOLOGY
“It’s gotten even smarter,” Mersberger said of tech in spas.
CellFit has brought technology called Endospheres Therapy from Italy to the U.S. to tackle lifting, toning and tightening all over the body using non-invasive hand-held devices that deliver micro-vibrations to muscles through cylinders fitted with 55 rotating spheres. The company is shopping the technology around at the moment.
Charging stations at manicure and pedicure areas are on the rise, allowing for customers to use their own playlists during treatments.
“Nothing stresses a Millennial out more than taking their phone away,” McNees said. “The whole idea is to be able to relax, so it’s really about thinking about customization. What’s going to make you comfortable?”
Kohler Waters Spas, with locations in Chicago; Kohler and Green Bay, Wisconsin; and St. Andrews, Scotland, recently launched virtual reality headsets for guided meditations. The experience offers the choice of music alone or voice and visuals during mani-pedis that include scenes of mountain lakes, beaches, waterfalls, clouds and the night sky. Kohler is looking into expanding virtual reality to massages and other treatments.
“It’s the ultimate state of relaxation,” Mersberger said.
“Typically the expectation is maybe you have to carry on a conversation, or it gets loud in there. We were trying to find something to get people deeper into those treatments,” she said.
CONNECTING TO NATURE
The Spa at the Woodstock Inn & Resort in Woodstock, Vermont, honors bees with an exfoliating whipped honey scrub, followed by a honey moisturizing wrap. Honey is incorporated into other treatments as well. Surrounded by the Green Mountains, the hotel grows produce on a small organic farm that attracts bees. A pollinator garden is used to teach guests about bees, including severe dangers they now face.
“Our legacy is sustainability, conservation,” said Michelle Adams Somerville, director of spa and wellness.
The rustic experience also includes community meals using the property’s harvests, and culinary classes.
At the luxury Carillon Miami Wellness Resort in Miami Beach, the spa warms beds of pink Himalayan salt for guests on massage tables. It also has floatation beds and incorporates global massage traditions from China, Turkey and the Mediterranean.


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- Niantic, the creator of hit mobile games Pokémon Go and the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, showed off its cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) technology at a press event this week.
- Niantic revealed the Real World Platform, a service that should make it easier for developers to integrate state-of-the-art AR into their own apps.
- It also announced the acquisition of Matrix Mill, a small augmented-reality startup.
- The key takeaway: Beyond just making smash-hit games, Niantic wants to become a key provider of software and services for AR, which Apple and others believe could be the next big thing.
Pokémon Go is having a moment — a recent report says the two-year-old game brought in $104 million in the month of May, up 174% from the same period in 2017.
The same report says Pokémon Go is hitting the highest player counts since 2016, the year of its launch.
Now, Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, is taking a victory lap of sorts, as it revealed more about its underlying technology and the next steps for the company at a press event at its San Francisco headquarters this week.
At the event, Niantic didn't offer many updates on Pokémon Go, its upcoming Ingress 2, or the much-anticipated Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. However, Niantic CEO John Hanke did say that Pokémon Go has "tens of millions" of players, and that there's plenty of appetite for more augmented-reality apps and games like it.
“We think this is an immense opportunity that’s only just getting started," Hanke said.
As such, Niantic — which spun out from Google in 2015 — is accelerating its ambitions around augmented reality, the extremely buzzy technology for projecting digital imagery over the real world. Companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook believe AR to be the next big thing in computing.
In a more practical sense, Niantic announced the acquisition of Matrix Mill, a small augmented-reality startup that spun out of University College London in the UK. Plus, it previewed the Niantic Real World Platform — a set of technologies for building augmented-reality apps that any developer can license and use in their own software.
The Matrix Mill technology is pretty neat, and centers on the idea of occlusion. With most AR apps, including Pokémon Go, it's hard to maintain the illusion that a virtual object is actually there, because when someone or something steps in front of your phone's camera, the virtual object is still there, hovering in space.
With Matrix Mill's occlusion technology, though, a virtual Pikachu can actually hide behind bushes or dart behind pedestrians, presenting a much more immersive world. It's not perfect, but it hints at big things to come. Check it out:
Niantic also gave us a taste of the Real World Platform, with the promise of more details to come later this year.
The Niantic Real World Platform represents the culmination of a lot of the company's research into augmented reality, said company officials at the presentation. While recent iPhone models support Apple's own ARkit technology, and Google's Android has ARcore, Niantic says it's layered on special sauce that makes it easier for developers to take advantage of AR, while also adding new features not offered by either major phone platform.
To that point, Niantic showed off Codename: Neon, a prototype of an augmented-reality game built on the Real World Platform that may or may not ever come out as a finished game.
Codename: Neon does a few things that are uncommon in most modern AR games: For starters, players on Android and iOS devices can play together. It also tracks your fellow players as they move around in the real world, with minimal lag — which is good, because Codename: Neon is basically laser tag, adapted for augmented reality.
Check it out:
I got to play Codename: Neon with a cohort of my fellow journalists, and came away impressed. As with the occlusion demo, it's not perfect, but it's fast, fun, and just works, even with some players on iPhones and others on Android-powered Google Pixel 2 phones. It points to a promising future for AR games.
Niantic also showed off one more prototype during the event, called Codename: Tone Henge. This is a multiplayer puzzle game, supporting similar technology as Codename: Neon. This one has an added bonus of "masking" other players in a digital avatar, which is a neat effect.
Check it out:
Whether or not these demoes ever become full-fledged games remains to be seen. However, it's clear that Niantic is investing heavily in becoming a major player in the nascent augmented-reality industry — which could help the company, which spun out of Google in 2015, have a source of income beyond the fickle market for smartphone games.
“As the field develops, the application of AR is beyond just entertainment," said Niantic AR research lead Ross Finman.
Finman hints that the same kinds of digital mapping of real-world spaces that lets you catch a Pikachu in the park could one day help a robot navigate your home without bumping into things. In other words, while the technology is best for games today, the sky's the limit for what it could do tomorrow.
On a final note, I can't stress enough that Niantic didn't reveal any new details on Harry Potter: Wizard Unite. However, playing Codename: Neon and seeing the video for Codename: Tone Henge, it's hard to fight the feeling that we secretly, stealthily got a preview of some of the technology and gameplay coming to the app.


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The near-future technology that will have the biggest impact on our lives
So what arenas of technology are going to make the most impact on the world over the next three years?
That's a question the 2014 KPMG Global Technology Innovation survey posed to some 768 technology business leaders, and according to the results, three of the top five disruptive technologies which should "change the way we work and live" are the Internet of Things, 3D printing, and biotech/healthcare.
These three were selected by more than twice as many respondents compared to last year's survey. Other important factors highlighted were the cloud and mobile (though that's old news now, really), and the rise of big data and analytics, along with artificial intelligence. All these streams of technology are expected to have a considerable impact on the world and businesses.
What do the mostly C-level execs, as in Chief of this or that, surveyed believe will be the biggest money spinner? Unsurprisingly, that's the Internet of Things, which 20 percent said would help to drive revenue via "intelligent shopping" (tying up smart fridges with supermarket discounts on products a customer buys regularly, and so forth). 14 percent cited home automation as a revenue driver through to 2017, as the smart home starts to take off.
Virtual currencies like Bitcoin are also likely to make a big impact, although how much of one depends on the region surveyed. A huge 70 percent of respondents in China felt cryptocurrencies will disrupt the traditional banking world, compared to 32 percent in Europe, and just 15 percent in the US.
The survey also asked about what factors would likely stifle tech innovation in the near future, with the most returned answer being restrictive regulations (34 percent). 29 percent of respondents felt simple consumer fatigue with tech gadgets would prove detrimental.
Tudor Aw, KPMG's UK Head of Technology, commented: "Everything from the home computer to the smartphone has shown that consumers are willing to embrace new technologies. After all, 15 years ago, no one would have thought that people would be as comfortable shopping on the move or banking over the air, as they are today".
"The businesses that are quick to realize that we are only at the start of a technological innovation revolution will be those that uncover the next 'big thing' -- and they will be the ones standing it in what is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace".
Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.


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Irvine, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/14/2014 --The California Association of Accredited Small Business has announced that Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc., a prominent certified teacher of music in the Bay area, has become an accredited CAASB Member Organization.
As of October 8, 2014, the CAASB has successfully verified that Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc., maintains prompt resolution of consumer complaints and honest advertising practices.
Dr. Kenn Gartner is a pianist, conductor, and nationally certified teacher of music, both piano and voice. Dr. Gartner has nearly 50 years of industry experience, including a PhD in Performance and an M.S. in Music Education with emphasis on Musicology. Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc. remains nationally recognized.
"We confirm all member organizations closely uphold our Membership Standards," stated Jaren Bradford, an account manager with the CAASB, "because we realize the importance of assuring consumer trust." In 2014, the CAASB continues to restrict membership to only selected companies. Each business goes through a strict verification process prior being offered membership.
Recently, it's become significantly more common for consumers to research a business' reputation and third party accreditations prior to contemplating using their services. Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc. has maintained a positive reputation among business review sites, public records, the CAASB, and consumer rights organizations.
About Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc.
Additionally, Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc. has recently been held in high regard with organizations which monitor the advancement of consumer protection and marketplace trust. Kenn Gartner Concerts Inc.'s strong reputation continues to solidify throughout the Bay Area.
For more information on the services of Dr. Kenn Gartner, please visit http://www.kenngartner.com


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Excluding one-time costs, Cabletron today earned a fourth-quarter profit of $28.1 million, or 15 cents a share, compared to income of $3.8 million, or 2 cents a share, during the same period last year. A consensus of analysts predicted earnings of 14 cents a share, according to First Call.
For the quarter ended Feb. 29, revenue increased 11 percent from $345.1 million to $381.8 million.
But Cabletron executives today said the company expects to take a loss of $25 million to $45 million next quarter as it gears up for its four spin-offs. The loss will include a restructuring charge of up to $35 million.
The company, which has 4,500 employees, plans to cut 600 to 800 jobs and sell off or discontinue the slow-growing portions of the corporate networking business that don't fit Cabletron's new strategy.
The networking firm in December announced plans to split into four companies that sell networking equipment, software and consulting services to telecommunications firms and corporations. At that time, the company announced plans to float public offerings for each firm within the next 18 months.
Cabletron is reorganizing to better compete against Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and others. Once a heavy-hitter in the network equipment market, the company has struggled in recent years as it has lost market share to its rivals. Cabletron, which historically has sold corporate networking products, has made a strong comeback this past year, as it began targeting its networking gear to the more lucrative service provider market.
Cabletron executives today said they expect two public offerings by year's end, with the first being Aprisma Management Technologies, which sells software that monitors and manages the health of networks.
The remaining companies are Riverstone Networks, which will sell high-speed equipment to service providers; Enterasys Networks, targeting corporate networks; and Global Network Technology Services, which will offer consulting services. Cabletron executives today said they have made no decisions on which firm will go public after Aprisma.
As part of the reorganization strategy, Cabletron executives today said the firm will sell off or discontinue its slow-growing products, such as hubs low-end switches, and some networking products the company acquired from Digital Equipment. Those businesses make up about $100 million to $130 million in quarterly sales, or about one-third of the company's overall revenue.
"They are old, slow-growth products, and as part of our transformation strategy, the four new companies will only inherit the high-growth businesses," said Cabletron chief executive Piyush Patel, in an interview.
Patel said Riverstone, targeted at service providers, made between $11 million to $13 million in fourth-quarter revenue and predicts sales will grow 100 percent in the new fiscal year. Patel said he expects Enterasys, aimed at corporate networks, will reach $160 million to $180 million in sales next quarter with 20 percent revenue growth in the next year.
Aprisma earned between $13 to $15 million in fourth-quarter sales and yearly revenue will jump 40 percent, while the consulting business made $8 million to $9.5 million in the fourth quarter with annual sales growing 80 percent, he said.
The restructuring has re-energized the company's workforce, Patel said.
"Employees are energized and focused. Morale is at an all-time high and start-up fever has set in," Patel said.
For the fiscal year, the company earned a profit of $464.3 million, or $2.46 a share, compared to a loss of $245.4 million, or $1.47 a share, last year. Yearly revenue bumped up slightly, to $1.46 billion from $1.41 billion.


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The world’s largest container-shipping company has a carbon footprint bigger than that of some entire countries. But Maersk is building infrastructure to transition away from shipping’s notoriously noxious “bunker fuel.” It has partnered with energy companies to ramp up production of green methanol, a biofuel, and it's awaiting delivery of 13 green-fuel-powered ships: The first will launch in 2023.
Yao Feng—VCG/Getty Images
Lists ranking Maersk
Change the World - 2022Fortune's annual list dedicated to the idea that b...READ MOREview in list
World’s Most Admired Companies - 2022Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dom...READ MOREview in list
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You see? Even the robots in the space require their advanced smartphones with latest technology. NASA announced its plan in an interview last week to Reuters where they described the use of these 3D Google smartphones in the space.
The next-generation 3D Google smartphones with 3D sensing technology are going to be the brains and eyes of the eye-balled robots on the International Space Station. You can compare it to a CPU.
Other than this advanced sensing technology, the smartphones will help Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) which definitely will be time-saving for the astronauts.
We wanted to add communication, a camera, increase the processing capability, accelerometers, and other sensors. As we were scratching our heads thinking about what to do, we realized the answer was in our hands, Smart SPHERES project manager Chris Provencher said. Let’s just use smartphones.
For the enhancement and improvement of the robots, NASA chose the 3D Google smartphones for experimental purposes. These smartphones were created by Google to encourage innovation and is known as The Project Tango.
These Google-created smartphones have infrared depth sensor, used for detecting sharp angels in the space and this depth sensor creates a 3D map which assists SPHERES in navigating from one module to another.
This type of capability is exactly what we need for a robot that’s going to do tasks anywhere inside the space station, Mr. Provencher said. It has to have a very robust navigation system.
From my personal point of view, these 3D Google smartphones will undoubtedly be very time-saving for the daily astronauts and saved-time can be utilized for the productivity of something else. Other than that, the robust navigation system will enhance the robots.
Hopefully, the experiment will be successful as Google specifically created the advanced smartphones for innovation and in accordance with the needs of NASA.
Some pictures of 3D Google smartphones:


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SolarCity's (NASDAQ:SCTY.DL) growth story has been amazing so far. For investors in the stock over the past year, it's been more of a mixed bag, with shares trading roughly the same price today as they were last November. And depending on when you bought -- the stock peaked at $88.35 in April -- you might be down as much as 35%.
With third quarter earnings set for release after the market closes on Nov. 5, what should investors expect? While we can be pretty sure the company will report a loss this quarter as it invests heavily in growth -- analysts are projecting anywhere from a loss of $1.30 to a loss of $0.90 per share -- there are a few key things that matter more than earnings at this stage. Here are the four things that I'm paying the most attention to this quarter.
1. Cash payments under contract
SolarCity's business is largely being driven by solar lease and PPA contracts, which allow customers to acquire a solar system with little or no money down, in exchange for agreeing to pay for the system over a 20-year period. The customer saves money versus their utility bill, while SolarCity collects money for two decades, and gains the ability to depreciate the solar system which it retains ownership of. As the rate of systems being deployed accelerates, this number is compounding in growth:
Last quarter alone, the company produced $800 million in future payments -- that's as much as the company produced in its entire history through Q3 of 2012. If SolarCity stopped installing systems today, the current contract base would generate $165 million per year in revenue over the next 20 years.
The catch? Interest in ownership of the system is rising as more finance options become available, and SolarCity has said that cash sales produce lower margins than PPA and lease agreements. With this in mind, the company announced that it would begin offering loans, calling the program MyPower. While SolarCity won't retain the same value as it does via PPA and leases where it owns the systems, offering an in-house financing solution will likely mean better margins, and the potential interest income for those transactions.
In short, the company's business is likely to remain largely tied to its ability to grow this metric, whether loans, PPAs, or leases.
2. Growth in megawatts deployed and booked
In the first half of 2014, SolarCity installed 189 Megawatts of capacity -- that's 20% more than it deployed in all of 2012. Furthermore, the company is on pace to nearly double the 280 MW deployed last year, and projecting nearly another double in 2015:
It's also good to look at booked MW, which measures new customers that have not yet installed. While there will be some cancellations that fall out, this metric -- essentially the company's backlog of orders -- can help us see if the growth is carrying forward from one quarter to the next. If there is a drop in the booked number, or if it falls below the projected growth rate, it could indicate that demand is slowing.
However, the booked MW metric is relatively short term, as the majority of systems are installed within a few weeks or a month of contract signing. It can also be weather affected, especially as the company expands into the Northeast and winter weather can impact installations.
3. Finding cost rationalizations
SolarCity -- and much of the industry -- has seen a lot of vertical integration over the past year. SolarCity's acquisition of Silevo this summer was a bold move to integrate panel making into its business, and probably a necessary step to both secure supply as it grows, while also remaining competitive against panel makers like SunPower and First Solar, both of which are involved in utility-scale and residential solar manufacturing, financing, and installation.
So far, the company is well ahead of its projected cost savings:
In the Q2 release, the company said that most of the cost reduction so far is related to economies of scale. In the first quarter, costs actually increased sequentially, as system deployments fell due to seasonality. However, the Silevo integration is expected to drive installation costs -- which at $2.29/watt were 75% of Q2's cost per watt -- down 20%, to $1.90/watt by 2017.
4. Funding expansion; capital position
SolarCity has been almost as innovative at finding ways to fund its growth as it has with its business model. Over the past year, we have seen the company introduce the use of its solar assets to secure $54 million in long-term debt, similar to the way that utilities use their assets to secure debt.
In January, SolarCity acquired a company whose technology it would use to offer financial products to individuals who wanted to invest in the company's clean energy initiatives. On Oct. 15, the company announced the first so-called "solar bonds" for sale, with terms from one to eight years paying a fixed interest rate, and requiring as little as $1,000 to start.
These are in addition to more traditional financing measures, such as $500 million in unsecured notes, which can be converted to shares in 2019, and the $200 million revolving line of credit opened last December. In total, SolarCity had $751 million in long-term debt at the end of last quarter, and this number is likely to grow in coming years -- especially when construction on the Silevo plant begins in earnest. It also retains a strong cash position:
Building something amazing
While these aren't the only things that matter, these are the four things that I'm paying the most attention to right now. SolarCity is growing at an enormous rate, and it looks like that growth is going to continue. However, the residential solar market is getting more competitive, so it's important that the company continue innovating in its offerings while also managing its costs. As the leader in residential solar, you can be sure SolarCIty's competition is watching closely, too.


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The 19-nation Eurozone's economy grew by about 2% in the second quarter of 2021, taking the region out of recession, though the Eurozone remains about 3% down from late-2019 pre-pandemic figures. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) readings represent a 13.7% increase while Eurostat figures suggest that there was economic growth in all Eurozone nations which reported data. Chief Europe Economist of Capital Economics, Andrew Kenningham, forecasts another "strong number in Eurozone GDP" in the third quarter of 2021, bringing "the economy close to, but below, its pre-pandemic level".
Austria and Portugal reported strong economic expansion, with the latter reporting growth of 4.9% thanks to increased tourism while Italy and Spain reported growth of nearly 3%. Meanwhile, Germany and France, the Eurozone's two largest economics, reported more moderate growth of 1.5% and 0.9% respectively. Generally, household spending increased in the second quarter of 2021.
Latest Eurostat figures show that the number of unemployed people fell by over 400,000 in the month of June though annual inflation is projected to increase from 1.9% in June to roughly 2.2% in July. While the European Central Bank (ECB) targets to support an annual inflation rate of 2%, the ECB expect the inflation rate to continue rising as economies reopen, though it is expected to "calm down" again in the start of 2022.
Note: All images used in this article were retrieved from the public domain, and do not require attribution or citation for commercial purposes.


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Microsoft targets server growth
We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US & Canadian companies news every morning.
Microsoft’s server division, which has become its most significant source of growth, plans to accelerate its development cycle to avoid a repeat of the sort of delays that have characterised some of the company’s most prominent products, according to the executive who heads the division.
The comments from Bob Muglia, who took over during the broader management changes at Microsoft two months ago, came as the software company on Monday released the latest instalment of its SQL Server software for databases, a product that has taken more than five years to complete. The delay echoes the long wait for Vista, the next version of the Windows PC operating system, which is due out late next year.
Despite that, however, Microsoft’s server and tools division has continued its rapid expansion to become a key part of the group’s business as its more mature desktop software products have slowed. It has contributed more than any other part of the group to Microsoft’s overall growth during the past four years. That contribution has accelerated in recent quarters, with the division accounting for 40 per cent of growth in its last fiscal year, to the end of June, and 49 per cent in the most recent quarter.
With its revenues expected to exceed $10bn this year, the server division has become Microsoft’s first successful venture beyond its stronghold on the desktop – though that success has attracted the attention of antitrust regulators over concerns that the company used its PC dominance unfairly to boost its standing in servers.
The delay to SQL Server could weaken Microsoft’s efforts to persuade more corporate customers to buy subscription agreements to its software, a shift that is intended to make its revenues more consistent and predictable. Customers that bought three-year subscription agreements at the time the last version of SQL came out would have received nothing for their money, said Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.
Mr Muglia said that his aim was to release new versions of all of Microsoft’s server products every two years in future. He blamed the delay in SQL Server
on the need to rewrite the software to comply with Microsoft’s broader “dotnet” architecture, a framework for web-based software that has been under development for the past five years.
Mr Muglia also outlined Microsoft’s plans to fight back against the open-source software product Apache, which dominates the market for web servers used to “host” software applications – a part of the market that is expected to explode in the coming years. While conceding that Apache was “a darned good product”, Mr Muglia claimed that Microsoft would have a better product once the next version of Windows was completed.
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Behind the wheel of vehicles of all types.
Posts filtered on Category
If svelte morphs into stealth, BMW X5 be thy name. It’s another way of saying that over its 15 years of existence, BMW’s flagship SUV has carefully evolved into a sculpted wagon that eschews the showiness of flashier competitors and sticks to the job at hand. Part of that job, you might notice, is not […] [Read More]
Concours season is upon us — old cars, classic cars, cars with patina, and plenty of trailer queens.
As soon as the weather gets nice, the owners of classic cars, vintage cars, antique cars, racing cars and a sprinkling of motorcycles, gear up (so to speak) for the annual ritual of showing off all these machines at the various concours d’elegance (read: car shows) around the nation. (See the schedule of events here.) […] [Read More]
We all know the new Corvette — the C7 — has helped spill a few thousand gallons of magazine-and-newspaper ink and produced millions of bits and bytes on the Web, but there’s always room for more. As a warm-up for the upcoming (April 18-27) New York International Auto Show, on Monday night Chevrolet introduced the […] [Read More]
Let’s hear it for Chrysler, leader of the Glass-is-Full School of Auto Marketing. They’ve swept the design slate clean and have come up with a new entry for the most fiercely competitive segment of the car industry, the midsize sedan. Apparently undaunted by this prospect, Chrysler has given us a car that has to compete […] [Read More]
We tend to think of sport utility vehicles as tough wagons or maybe even tough trucks. But they are, after all, just variations on a theme of automotive engineering and, as such, are susceptible to the same kind of safety vagaries as their sedan and coupe brethren. In findings announced a few days ago, the […] [Read More]
No other way to put this (well, there are probably several other ways to put this, but here we’re saying no other way because we can), but the mid- to late-Seventies Mercedes-Benz sedans were the uber-car for the autobahn. And here’s a rare example from Bring a Trailer.com, a 1979 Benz 450SEL 6.9. We say […] [Read More]
Think of it as a penthouse suite that goes 137 miles an hour. It’s one way of looking at the 2014 Lexus LS 600hL, a smooth and silent, nearly-three-ton cruiser that, with the optional back seat arrangement (more about which later), provides few reasons for ever leaving the car. You can snuggle up in that […] [Read More]
What is it about cop cars? They always attract attention — even the unmarked ones, most of them Ford Crown Victorias with the distinctive blacked-out grilles and the small hubcaps, all of which scream Police Car. Maybe it’s our universal feelings of guilt. We think we’ve done something wrong and they will soon be upon […] [Read More]


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Newspapers recognize the importance of digital sales, and if they want to succeed, they need to focus on recruiting these reps.
"Digitally savvy reps and digitally focused reps are more important than ever for our business model," said Brad Boggs, senior director of interactive sales for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. "I think it goes without saying that upping the ante on digital sales is critically important for the future of our industry."
Read more from Editor & PublisherMORE
It seems like most managers have forgotten the mentorship part of their jobs – if you listen to the voice of the sales rep. "He doesn't seem like he wants to help me out," a respondent said about his manager in SalesFuel's 2017 Voice of the Sales Rep study.MORE
The Alliance for Audited Media recently sat down with Dr. Augustine Fou, a recognized thought leader in digital strategy, integrated marketing and ad fraud research. In part one of this two-part interview, Dr. Fou shares his experiences with ad fraud, the bots behind it and how bad actors take money away from good publishers and advertisers.MORE
What is the future of newspaper advertising departments in small, low-growth communities? Can the print sales reps at these newspapers become digital advertising experts? JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight Chair in Digital Advertising and Marketing at the University of North Carolina, explores these questions in a case study on The Whiteville News Reporter, a Pulitzer-Prize-Winning, twice-weekly paper with a print circulation of 10,000.MORE
Yeah, sure – Big Data. We get it, right?
We all know that the digital age is producing huge amounts of data about consumers and their behavior. And, sure, we know that anybody who's in the marketing and advertising business – like local media companies – needs to get good at it. Right?
Not that we've quite learned how to do it yet. But surely we know – don't we? – that we simply must master it to benefit both ourselves and our customers? And we're working on it, right?
Well, I am. I hope you are, too.
Why? Because somebody is going to bring Big Data to Main Street. If it's not us, Big Data will be the next big wave of disruption in our advertising and marketing business. It's guaranteed to whittle down our local media ad revenues still further.
I've blogged about the huge opportunity and threat of Big Data for local media companies four times in the last 13 months. If you're a regular Media Reset reader, you may be thinking, "What, again!?"
If you're not a regular MediaReset reader, I strongly recommend that you catch up on Big Data and its local media possibilities here.
But I can't stop there. I keep digging deeper to learn more about what Big Data can do and how we can master its potential for ourselves and our customers. And I keep learning.
For the last couple of months, I've been digging into predictive analytics – a narrower niche in the vast expanse of Big Data. It's the sharp cutting edge that is making Big Data even more powerful.MORE
CEO Gordon Borrell says: "Political advertising has gone from an every-other-year bonanza to a never-ending stream of media buying. Understanding what's changed and where it's headed would seem important to anyone involved in advertising."MORE
Tired of losing real estate advertising dollars year after year? So are we at Morris Publishing Group.
So a couple of us attended the recent National Association of Realtors convention to see what's hot, and how we might be able to create a new niche for ourselves in the business.
We saw plenty to make us think we can do this.MORE
Here are five things every media publisher, from newspapers to TV stations, needs to know about native advertising.MORE
NEWSCYCLE’s SalesLink CRM 2016-3 includes a Shared Activity module, new dashboards and a comprehensive calendar for sales teams.MORE
Shrinking at a rate of 6.3 percent this year, real estate advertisers are "adjusting the dials" for a more appropriate mix of media. And for the second year in a row, the amount that agents, brokers and developers are spending on digital media is declining. Download a free executive summary of this new report from Borrell Associates.MORE
If you missed the webinar that outlined how employees of SNPA member newspapers can take part in free Google certification programs, here's an overview of the different Google paths/tracks that are available. This is just one more benefit of your SNPA membership!More
Here's your chance to find out what YOUR advertisers are thinking.
Borrell Associates invites SNPA members to participate in its 2018 Local Advertiser Survey, which is now underway.More
To drive revenue, publishing companies are increasingly producing "premium editions" for their newspapers.
Many legal issues must be considered when preparing newspaper subscription promotions. What you communicate about "premium editions" – the cost and how they impact the length of a newspaper subscription can be critical, legally. These legal issues were brought into sharp focus in a recent lawsuit.More


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Samsung’s Profits Plunge for the 7th Consecutive Quarter
Yesterday, it was reported that Samsung’s investors are citing concerns that the company’s flagship phone, the Galaxy S6, isn’t hitting its sales estimates, ahead of its second-quarter earnings announcement and today, the Korean tech giant has revealed that its operating profits fell about 4% from the same quarter last year, suggesting that the sales of its new flagship smartphones were significantly worse than expected, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Samsung has today announced that it expects to earn just 6.9 trillion Korean won ($6.1 billion) in operating profit for the three months ended June 30, which is well below the 7.23 trillion won analysts were expecting, with revenue dropping to 48 trillion won, down 8.4% from the same period last year. The figures mark the Korean company’s seventh consecutive profit decline, with analysts putting the blame on poor sales, coupled with a botched launch of its flagship Galaxy S6.
According to Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt, the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer is “feeling the squeeze between Apple and Xiaomi”. On the low end, it’s getting undercut by Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, while on the high end, it lost a key marketing advantage when Apple introduced a pair of larger iPhones.
Part of the problem was logistical. Samsung released two versions of the device, one with a flat screen and one with a screen that curved on the edges. The regular S6 didn’t sell as well as expected, and the S6 Edge proved hard to manufacture. Samsung couldn’t keep up with demand.
“The failure to manage the initial shipment for the Galaxy S6 series is the primary reason” for disappointing sales, Lee Ka-keun, an analyst at KB Securities, told the AP. Samsung is bringing on a third plant to boost production.
Full results for Samsung’s second quarter are due for release later this month.


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Valentine's Day Sales to Set New Records:
People are planning to lavish attention on their loved ones this Valentine's Day, although they won't be spending much more than last year. In 2013, Valentine's Day is estimated to contribute around $18.6 billion to the economy, according to the National Retail Federation. This is still higher than the $17.6 billion they spent on Valentine's Day 2012 and the highest since the NRF began surveying shoppers ten years ago. However, this is just a 5.7% increase, lower than the 8.6% increase in spending between 2011-2012.
How Much Do People Plan to Spend on Valentine's Day?:
People surveyed said they would spend more than in 2012 -- on average, $130.97 each, compared to $126.03 last year. As usual, men planned to spend more than women: $175.61 per guy v.s. $88.78 per gal. As you might guess, those complacent married folks spend less, about $73.75 per spouse, down from the $74.12 they spent last year.
What Do Lovers Buy on Valentine's Day?:
Most people said they would spend less on big-ticket items, instead sharing the love with more people by buying smaller gifts. Only one in five (19.7%) said they would buy the traditional romantic gift of jewelry. However, this is the highest percent in history. Although not as many people buy jewelry, they will wind up spending the most -- a healthy $4.4 billion across the country, up from $4.1 billion in 2012.
The most popular purchase (51%) is the traditional candy, with lovers spending $1.6 billion in total. More than a third plan to buy flowers, spending $1.9 billion nationwide. Many preferred to buy more practical gifts -- $1.6 billion will be spent on sweaters, winter accessories and other clothing. The least popular purchase is gift cards. Only 15% will buy this least-romantic gift, up from 13.3% in 2012. Total spent will be $1.5 billion.
Where Do They Shop?:
More people are heading to discount stores this year (39.6%) than last year (37.9%). Fewer will shop at department stores, with visits falling to 33.2% vs 33.6% last year. Instead, they will go to a variety of stores, no doubt looking for bargains: specialty stores (22.9%), florists (19.6%), jewelry stores (11.2%) and specialty apparel stores (7.5%).
As they did during the Black Friday holiday weekend, a growing number of shoppers will head for their computers. More than 25% will go online, compared to 19.3% last year and a new record.
Mobile Devices on the Upswing:
Just like Cyber Monday 2012
, shoppers are increasing their use of tablets and smartphones to make sharing the love a little more convenient. Nearly half of all tablet owners (46.9%) will research products, prices, and retailer information, redeem coupons and purchase products with their device. Meanwhile, 40.7% of smartphone users will do the same while they are on-the-go. (Source: National Retail Federation, Cautious Consumers Keep Cupid at Bay This Year
, January 31, 2013)
As BIGinsight Consumer Insights Director Pam Goodfellow concludes, “The mantra ‘it’s the thought that counts,’ might be most applicable for holidays like Valentine’s Day, and there’s no question that this year’s budget-conscious gift givers will keep this in mind while out looking for the perfect gift.” Just like the sales on Black Friday
, retailers have stocked the shelves with deals in anticipation of value-conscious shoppers. (Updated February 5, 2013)


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Kid-friendly, free and open to the public, the CBD fair will take place Saturday, August 3, from noon to 5 p.m. It will feature over 30 vendors selling their wares, ranging from homemade desserts to dog treats to serums and salves.
Market organizer Kevin Prince told News4 he hopes the event will help San Antonians better understand hemp and its variety of uses.
"CBD is going to be the healing one, the one that alleviates pain, the one that helps with anxiety and depression,” Prince told News4. "What it allows is education for the customers that are coming in to know more about the CBD products available CBD-wise here in San Antonio."
With at least six bakeries slated to set up shop the fair, there will be countless options for visitors with a sweet tooth. Non-CBD treats will also be available from vendors such as the Bubble Waffle Bar ice cream shop and The Armchair Anthropologist Tea Co.
Plantyful Sweets, owned and operated by Gaby Borrego, tantalizes Instagram followers with CBD brownies, cinnamon-caramel coffee cakes and CBD lemon energy bites. What began as selling baked goods at pop-up shops has grown into a full-time job, and Borrego plans to open a brick and mortar shop downtown this summer, according to the bakery's Instagram.
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Doing things the right way takes time, good intentions, trial and error, and humility. I’ve been diving into creating CBD full-spectrum edibles. That includes tons of research on how to utilize this plant for maximum benefit and absorption. “Eat to treat” is a lovely quote I came across. My goal with this line of goodies is to aid those with health issues and pain.
Borrego's CBD-inspired business is one of many that have sprouted up in San Antonio since Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325 into law, legalizing the farming of industrial hemp in Texas. Market organizer Prince said he noticed a number of new CBD businesses open since the passing of the law.
Serums, lotions and tinctures will also be for sale by vendors such as Alamo Botanicals and Bexar Body Co.
So whether you're hunting for a serum to relieve a headache, or just want to browse and chat while munching on a brownie, be sure to stop by Brick next Saturday.


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Auto thefts in Pa. continue to decline
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett says aggressive and coordinated enforcement has helped cut auto thefts roughly in half in the last 14 years.
Since the legislature established a special authority to combat vehicle thefts in 1994, the number of thefts has fallen from 52,000 to 26,000 last year. The state's auto thefts decreased 10 percent from 2006 to 2007. Philadelphia leads the state in stolen vehicles.
Corbett says the national decrease over the same period was closer to 26 percent.
The Auto Theft Prevention Authority's work is paid for by assessments on more than 400 Pennsylvania insurance companies.


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Well, I didn’t see this coming, but a California federal jury on Friday found that Apple owes Qualcomm roughly $31 million for infringing several patents relating to smartphone processor/ This is legal battle that’s been going on for around two years.
The $31 million figure is based on estimates of iPhone sales between July 2017 and last fall, and a fee of $1.40 per infringing device. The jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California has found that Apple iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X infringe two Qualcomm patents, U.S. Patent No. 8,838,949, and U.S. Patent No. 9,535,490, and Apple iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X infringe Qualcomm’s U.S. Patent No. 8,633,936. The three infringed patents cover technologies invented by Qualcomm in San Diego.
In response to the judgement, an Apple spokesperson told AppleInsider, “Qualcomm’s ongoing campaign of patent infringement claims is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the larger issues they face with investigations into their business practices in US federal court, and around the world.”
The $31 million in damages is just pocket change for Apple, a company that briefly became a $1 trillion company last year. However, as CNET notes, it an important victory for Qualcomm because: it reinforces its reputation as a mobile components innovator, lends credibility to the notion that much of the company’s innovation is reflected in iPhones, and ets the stage for a highly anticipated trial between the two companies scheduled for next month in San Diego. The dispute, over Qualcomm’s patent royalties with Apple, involves billions of dollars.


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Threadheads, a Victoria-based apparel and fashion company, has seen a 6,000% jump in online revenue in just two years. Threadheads claims to have made $6 million in revenue in 2021 alone, up from $95,000 in 2019.
So, how did they pull it off?
Threadheads is a Victoria-based e-commerce startup that began in 2017 as a custom t-shirt printing business. The company offers in-house and artist designs that are printed on-demand onto a range of premium tees and apparel that they claim are unique and cannot be found anywhere else in Australia.
Ace Reunis, the company’s founder and CEO, was 28 years old when he travelled the world and assembled a small, young team to launch Threadheads in partnership with Marcus Siegel.
However, the business did not always look this way for Ace and Marcus. Threadheads’ evolution has been notable, with various barriers overcome along the way. Threadheads began by selling printed T-shirts from dodgy printers and operated out of dilapidated buildings.
“We were initially set up as a marketplace, and out of desperation, we were selling ‘Kony2012’ t-shirts on eBay.
“Not only that, we encountered numerous issues with web developers ripping us off, to hackers virtually destroying our website leaving the business on its last legs.”
They made their first sale of $80 and did not make another for weeks. In mid-2018 the business experienced a pivotal moment when they met their first illustrator who enquired about custom t-shirt printing.
“This was a huge light bulb moment for us, which ultimately changed the direction of the business forever. We began to make the t-shirts in house by working with our incredible illustrator. This helped us transform from a marketplace into our own brand.”
During the height of the lockdown, Marcus Siegel and Ace Reunis saw an opportunity as online demand began to increase and Threadheads took off.
“When the pandemic hit Australia the business initially suffered from the harsh lockdowns, however, as online demand began to increase Threadheads took a turn for the better. From this point forward things got brighter for Threadheads.
“As the interest for graphic t-shirts increased, we began printing each day from the early hours of the morning right up until midnight. Our team of illustrators grew and we now have a team of 25 people working with us.”
The team continues to work to diversify its prints to meet the widespread appeal of graphic prints.
“Our goal is to continue to build an authentic brand that is unique, fun and memorable. We create prints that speak to our audience and at the end of the day, all we want to do is create garments that leave people with a smile.”
Threadheads’ revenue has increased by 6,055.08 per cent in the last two years. When comparing 2021 to 2020, their consumer spending for the age group 25-34 climbed by 91.33 per cent.
Moreover, the size of the workforce rose from three to over 25 employees during COVID-19. The company also formed alliances with well-known brands such as NASA and Bruce Lee.
Ace and Marcus told Dynamic Business that the key to their success was having a unique vision and assembling the right team to carry it out.
They also benefited from their online direct-to-consumer approach, which enabled them to capitalise on COVID-19-led stay-at-home orders.
“As we are a direct-to-consumer eCommerce brand, Threadheads’ sales exploded during the pandemic. Partner with the right people and build a team. Execute each day and your incremental progress will compound over time.”
They also attributed their success to using the right marketing channels, which helped them reach their potential customers.
“Facebook Ads, Google Ads, SEO and email marketing are our primary channels. We are best practice in all of these areas.”
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.


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Google, Yahoo Tied To Baidu’s Unlicensed Doctor ScandalBy: Doug Caverly - December 11, 2008
Not long ago, China’s top search engine was caught selling high search rankings to unlicensed doctors. The uproar that resulted hurt its reputation, caused earnings estimates to get lowered, and culminated in a personal apology from the CEO. Now, the Chinese arms of Google and Yahoo have been accused of doing something similar.
China Central Television is behind the claims. Since it also broke the Baidu story, the situation looks rather serious. Helping people who sell useless treatments for high prices goes way beyond any "don’t be evil" gray area.
But whether Google and Yahoo have followed precisely in Baidu’s footsteps remains to be seen. A JLM Pacific Epoch article states, "China Central Television’s morning news reported on Thursday that Google China lists links for some unlicensed medical providers at the top of search results and in its right-hand sponsored links section."
Which makes it sound more like the unlicensed docs might simply be buying normal ads. And the matter of what sort screening process should take place there is somewhat up for debate.
If anyone who can understand Chinese would like to chip in, feel free. Otherwise, we’ll direct a hat tip to Eric Savitz and just wait to see what happens.


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It’s 2014…isn’t it time you had 4G internet access on the go?
With this Cult of Mac Deals offer you’ll get up to speed with the world’s smallest 4G mobile hotspot – The Freedom Spot Photon: Platinum Edition. For a limited time you can get it for $99 – a savings of 54%!
When you set up a personal hotspot on your iOS device, the first thing you should do is delete the password Apple generates for your and enter your own. Researchers at the University of Erlangen in Germany have discovered a way to crack Apple’s hotspot passwords in under a minute, leaving your iOS device vulnerable to attack.
The iOS lock screen is a boring place. It displays the time, any notifications you’ve received since you last unlocked your device, and a shortcut to the Camera app. But that’s it. When you compare it to Android’s lock screen, which now has support for all kinds of cool widgets, it’s clear there’s room for improvement.
One way Apple could start improving it for iOS 7 is with this awesome concept from Jean-Marc Denis.
While the iPod touch is a terrific little device, it would be so much better if Apple gave it a data connection. It’s so frustrating when you quickly want to check on a sports score or load up a map and you’re in an area where there’s no Wi-Fi connection. Thanks to FreedomPop, however, you can now pick up a new case for $99 that comes with built-in WiMAX.
MyWi is widely regarded as one of the best jailbreak utilities for the iPhone, allowing users to turn their smartphone into a Wi-Fi hotspot and share its data connection with other devices without paying additional carrier charges. Its latest 5.5 update brings iOS 5 compatibility (finally!), faster speeds, Wi-Fi sharing, and more.
As with many Apple product launches, today’s release of the new iPad is mostly a consumer event. But that doesn’t mean that the launch won’t have an impact on businesses. In fact, on Monday morning a number of new iPads may be walking into workplaces around the world. And users may be lobbying their employers to purchase the new iPad – if they haven’t stared doing so already.
So, what questions should businesses or IT professionals be asking about the new iPad? More importantly, what are the answers to those questions?
The MyWi app by Intelliborn has been one of the biggest reasons to jailbreak an iOS based device. With the latest 4.0 release, creating a wireless hotspot has never been easier. For a one-time fee of $19.99 you can turn your stingy 3G iPad into a wireless hotspot capable of sharing your 3G connection with as many devices as you wish. I’ll show you how after the break.


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Valent Biosciences announces retirement of CEO, names successor
Business Record Staff Apr 24, 2023 | 3:10 pm
1 min read time229 wordsAll Latest News, Manufacturing & Logistics, Tech & Innovation
Valent BioSciences has announced that President and CEO Ted Melnik will retire in July and that Salman Mir, the company’s current executive president and chief operating officer, will be elevated to the role of CEO. The Liberty, Ill.-based company produces biological products for agriculture, public health and forestry, from natural bacteria. It operates a facility in Osage, in northern Iowa’s Mitchell County. It is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. According to a news release announcing his retirement, Melnik joined Valent Biosciences in 2013 as chief operating officer and was promoted to CEO in 2022. “I want to thank Ted for his many invaluable contributions to the organization during the past 10 years,” said Nobuaki Mito, representative director and senior managing executive officer of Sumitomo Chemical Co., in the release. “Not only has he elevated Valent BioSciences’ global industry leadership position, but he has left his imprint on the company in numerous areas.” In his new role of president and CEO, Mir, who joined Valent Biosciences in 2012, will oversee all the company’s global activities. According to the release, Mir has extensive experience in sales, marketing, operations and business development. He joined Valent BioSciences as vice president of global marketing and business management, where he was responsible for leading the company’s global marketing and commercial activities. He was promoted to his current position in 2022.


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AMP 2026 targets are realistic and can be met, say component Inc experts
According to the AMP 2026, the automotive industry is expected to grow 3.5 to 4 times of the current value of USD 74 billion to USD 260 billion to 300 billion by 2026, which is between Rs 1,616,000 crore and Rs 1,889,500 crore
NEW DELHI: In September this year, automotive industry and government together released the Automotive Mission Plan (AMP) 2026. While the targets set in the first edition of AMP, which was from 2006 to 2016, were missed in a few segments, industry experts believe that the 2026 targets can be a reality if certain measures are taken.
According to the AMP 2026, the automotive industry is expected to grow 3.5 to 4 times of the current value of USD 74 billion to USD 260 billion to 300 billion by 2026, which is between Rs 1,616,000 crore and Rs 1,889,500 crore.
While even the base figure looks optimistic , industry insiders said that all it needs is policy support from government and innovation from the industry.
“This is a plant that can happen. If you look at the number of cars per capita, there is still still huge potential for growth in the Indian automotive market,” said Sunil Arora, managing director, Abilities India Pistons & Rings. “For small and medium enterprise, innovation is the key to growth.
Arora was speaking at a panel discussion organised by ETAuto on ‘How are Indian auto component SMEs gearing up to take on Chinese Challenge’
One of the biggest hurdles that Indian component industry has faced, and could keeping facing if policies are not tinkered with, is access to capital and the cost of capital. It is also one of the reasons why many believe Indian MSMEs have not been able to match the might of Chinese auto component industry.
“To achieve this target, we need a huge influx of capital. Capital has to be made available to the automotive industry and a lot of it has to be to SMEs,” said J S Rangar, managing director, Stork Rubber. “This is because in the Indian automotive sector, tier-2s are the weakest link when it comes to capital.
Rangar also pointed out lack of skilled workers that is slowing down the speed of growth of the industry. “If industry cannot come up to the expectations, we might see global MNC coming and taking over $223 billion that we are talking about.”
Of the nearly $100 billion revenue that the auto component industry is hoping to generate, a large chunk is envisioned to come from exports. From the current $10billion revenue that auto component industry generates from exports, it is hoped that around $35 - 40 billion would come from this part of the business.
One of the challenges facing Indian auto component makers in the International markets is the Chinese dominance, who are now also making inroads into India’s domestic market. According to Nitin Bahl, Director at Radiant Industries, one way is to learn from Chinese entrepreneurs and the Government there.
“Our government has shown that they have a vision for the industry and now the onus is on the industry to have a visionary leadership, innovate and back it up strong execution.”
Under the agreement, the homegrown automaker will pay over INR 725 crore and the acquisition includes entire land & buildings, Vehicle Manufacturing Plant along with machinery and equipment situated therein; and (iii) transfer of all eligible employees of FIPL’s vehicle manufacturing operations at Sanand.
The company will stop producing Jazz after October 2022 while the crossover WR-V will not be produced beyond March 2023. The carmaker will also stop the production and sale of the 4th Generation Honda City by December 2022 in the country. However, the 5th generation of the sedan will continue to be available in the market, a source in the know of things told ETAuto.


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New ownership means new directions for Enterprise Electronics, the quiet Coffee County high-tech firm that’s helped protect the world’s population from weather disasters for more than 40 years.
A group of Australians last summer bought the Doppler radar pioneer from The Weather Channel, and they expect to inject new energy into the company comparable to the quantum leap climate change zapped into the weather.
“Governments invest in technology to detect severe weather, ” says Mark Parow, one of the new owners, and he believes that a new product, the lightweight, portable Ranger, “could double our business in three years.”
Building upon defense contracts out of Fort Rucker, in 1981, 10 years after it opened its doors, Enterprise Electronics introduced the world’s first commercial Doppler weather radar. The company created software, tested and manufactured radar in a 53, 000-square-foot facility in Enterprise. As incidents of severe weather have increased over the years, the company has expanded to meet the needs of the citizens of the entire world.
The next generation product, the Ranger, is a system that is less costly and more portable so they can bring timely warnings to even more of the world.
Enterprise Electronics was purchased in July 2012 by four Australians — Collin Cooks, Mark Parow, Andrew Israel and Andrew Tindall. Parow, Israel and Tindall were involved in similar businesses in Australia, while Cooks identified the opportunity to purchase Enterprise Electronics from The Weather Channel. According to Israel, the objective is for all partners to have a good time running the business.
According to Parow, after 40 years of ownership by The Weather Channel, Enterprise Electronics was lacking in leadership and vision. The partners say they have addressed some of the problems and provided a new strategy. Israel says that the plans for development are both tangible and achievable in a relatively short amount of time. The feedback given by their 80 employees has been encouraging, they say. “They can see that the future is very bright, ” says Parow.
Before purchasing Enterprise Electronics with their partners, Parow and Israel were most recently involved in the acquisition and sale of air conditioners for rail cars. That business developed a turnaround product that outperformed its predecessors, and Parow and Israel hope to repeat the experience with Enterprise Electronics’ Ranger system.
A lightweight, portable radar, the Ranger will cost about one-quarter as much as traditional radars. Small enough to fit in the back of a truck, the Ranger should be especially useful for the military, airports and oil rigs. It was developed in conjunction with Oklahoma University, the epicenter of meteorological research.
The first two Rangers will be installed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as part of a federally funded program. Of the more than 950 radars installed by Enterprise Electronics in the United States, the government owns 166. Enterprise Electronics hopes to fill some of the gaps in coverage with the smaller and more affordable Ranger.
Throughout its existence, the mission of Enterprise Electronics has been protecting people and assets, and the business leads the world in many different wavelength technologies. Talk of climate change has created opportunities for Enterprise Electronics, and the market continues to grow as radars are needed to predict and protect from severe weather.
Meteorologists on the nightly news are not the only people who make use of Doppler. Governments acquire most of the radars manufactured by Enterprise Electronics. More than 90 countries around the world own the company’s products.
Today, every radar developed at Enterprise Electronics uses Doppler technology, and the newest models use Dual Polarity radar. While Doppler detects movement, Dual Polarity radar, which sends radar energy horizontally and vertically, detects shape as well, providing a more definitive image that makes it easier to pinpoint relatively isolated phenomena, such as tornadoes. Software that interprets the information enables people to make decisions about how to best protect themselves.
The growth of Enterprise Electronics projected by its new owners will mean more jobs for the Enterprise area. Parow says he expects employment to increase by about 20 percent.
Part of the expansion includes a brand refreshinging for the company. One of the goals is for the market to understand that they are the technology leader for the world. The company’s largest competitor is based in Germany, but even with that competition, Enterprise Electronics recently received a contract to install 19 new radars in Germany.
“We want to resurrect a long established and technologically advanced business, ” says Chris Goode, vice president of sales and marketing. “We want to tackle new customer markets with the Ranger.”
Enterprise Electronics is well supported by the community. Parow and Israel both agree that the mayor has been helpful with developing local businesses.
“We add a great level of diversity on a week-to-week basis, ” Israel says. “On a week-to-week basis, we have customers from as far away as Indonesia and Tanzania.”
Parow is committed to keeping the business headquartered in Enterprise, and the company has even purchased a house in Enterprise for the Australians to use while they are in town.
“We feel very welcome here, ” says Parow. “We are here for the long term, and we love this place.”
Laura Stakelum is a freelance writer for Business Alabama. She lives in Dothan.


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It seems that Facebook may have paid $65-million to a company that accused Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of using its idea in the launch of the social networking site.
Apparently both parties agreed to keep quiet about the payout, but a law firm let the news leak in an advertising brochure.
Last year, two of Zuckerberg's former college roommates, founders of ConnectU, opened a suit against Facebook.
They alleged that Zuckerberg had been hired by them to write code for their social networking site while they were at Harvard.
However, the claim that Zuckerberg took the code and used it to launch Facebook the following year.
The case was settled out of court, with Facebook agreeing to buy ConnectU, but the terms were edited from court documents and both parties agreed to confidentiality on pain of multi-million dollar penalties.
The $65-million came to light in a brochure printed by ConnectU's lawyers.


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It looks like HTC hasn’t done with coming up with different variants of their latest flagship device HTC One M8. The latest reports suggest that HTC is planning to launch another variant of HTC One M8 known as “Remix” for the Verizon customers. The news comes from @evleaks and the report doesn’t disclose any other information regarding this variant. We hope this will be a music edition for the HTC One M8 considering the word “Remix” is associated with music. Now considering Sprint is launching a Harman Kardon edition of the One (M8) the Remix could be Verizon’s answer for Sprint. Anyway we will have to wait to find out what HTC has in stores for us with the Remix variant.
Last Updated on


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Study suggests link
A new study published in the journal, Ageing, has claimed that eating meat frequently could be linked with an increase in blood phosphate levels that contributes to faster ageing of body cells.
The study measured blood phosphate levels in 666 adults recruited from Glasgow. Participants estimated their own dietary intakes by filling out a 21-category food frequency questionnaire which asked whether they tended to eat certain foods daily, weekly or monthly. No portion sizes were recorded.
The researchers then correlated blood phosphate levels with markers of biological ageing including telomere length (a measure of cell ageing), inflammation, and DNA hypomethylation (a marker of DNA abnormalities). Higher phosphate levels in the blood were statistically associated with worse cell ageing.
However industry experts on the side of meat have questioned the conclusions of this study. Dr Carrie Ruxton, from the Meat Advisory Panel notes:
“The conclusion of this study – that eating red meat is somehow to blame for faster ageing – bears no relation to the evidence the researchers actually collected. I am amazed that Glasgow University should be willing to publicise this illogical piece of work.
Dietary phosphate comes from a wide variety of sources, including meats, fish, eggs, dairy products and vegetables, as noted by the authors themselves in the paper.
Therefore, using a cross-sectional ‘snapshot’ of diet and blood samples as was the case in this study, it is impossible to say which individual dietary component was responsible for people’s raised blood phosphate levels.
The dietary assessment only asked participants to record how often they ate a food – no data were collected on the amounts eaten. Again, this hampers any chance of linking diet with phosphate levels. To do this, you would need a controlled clinical trial which varied the amounts of phosphate-containing foods in the diet.
Looking at the authors’ theory that a higher meat intake in lower socio-economic groups contributed to faster ageing, national diet data actually show lower or similar intakes of red meat in less well-off groups of people. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey which has data on more than 6000 individuals reported that men in the two lowest socio-economic groups ate 84-85g of red and processed meat daily, while men in the two highest socio-economic groups ate 83-93g daily. For women the differences were 53-57g daily in the lowest two groups and 56-59g in the highest two groups. This means that the authors of the paper are wrong about differences in red meat intakes across socio-economic groupings.
Randomised controlled trials which vary lean red meat consumption have not found detrimental effects on markers of health. For example, a 4-month study in elderly women which delivered a red meat intake of 160g daily on 6 days of the week found a significant reduction in inflammation.
In conclusion, all this study can say is that higher blood phosphate levels are linked with faster cell ageing, and that red meat and blood phosphate are statistically correlated. It tells us nothing about the cause of high
phosphate levels, or the cause of faster ageing. The elementary theory that red meat is to blame is simply speculation and is not based on solid evidence.
Red meat is a valuable source of iron, selenium, B vitamins and vitamin D – all of which would be expected to support normal health."


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Has spending bounced back at the shopping centers in Milbrook’s portfolio? How about rents? There’s certainly an increase in what it was at the height of the downturn, but there’s still hesitation on most of the public’s part to spend money. Rents are still not even close to what they were at the height of the pre-downturn. But they’re starting to creep back up. Over time they will certainly come back up to a more stable rent, but in the meantime, we’re still giving a lot of concessions and we’re still starting with much lower rents with faster increases.
I believe we’re getting more phone calls for renting. We’ve done more leases in the last nine months than we did in the previous 16-month period prior to that and tenants are reporting a little stronger sales than they did a year and a half ago.
Is there too much retail real estate on Long Island? I don’t think there’s too much retail on Long Island. There’s a tremendous population here and in a stronger economy it certainly can support it. Now we have vacancies because people just don’t have the money they used to have to go out and spend it freely at restaurants and shopping.
What’s the Long Island retail real estate landscape going to look like in the future? I think it will continue to increase. It’s slow and steady, but it’s still a very strong market. There may not be much new construction, but I think that retail real estate will increase along with the economy.
More breaking news
- Ford releasing 50th anniversary Mustang
- Court tosses Smithtown’s Sonic smackdown
- Wireless industry makes anti-theft commitment
- Setauket deal-a-day site acquired by Florida company
- US factory output extended solid gains in March
- Bloomberg challenges NRA on gun control
- Tax Foundation: NY no longer worst state for business
- The legal ramifications of workplace bullying
- Evolving biometric legislation in the workplace
- Law firms assist the growth-oriented


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Posted Mar 22, 2006 in Movies.
HPANA reports that Gary Oldman will now appear in the next Harry Potter movie, buy viagra cheap based on Harry Potter and buying cialis in uk the Order of the buy cialis in canada Phoenix. The news was confirmed by Doug Urbanski, Mr. Oldman's manager:
It's a wonderful role. Gary read the script last night, and he read part of cialis generic canada pharmacy it to me on the phone this morning. The end of the story is: Gary's in it. It's a terrific script, and he's so happy to order cialis 20 mg be back.


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Exatron to Launch Laptops and Networking Products at Indian Chamber of Commerce “ICT Ecosystem & Make in India Forum 2023″
– The Indian Government has introduced various initiatives to encourage electronics production as part of its “Make in India” initiative.
– With a $30 billion investment pledge, India aims to become a leading center for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing on a global scale.
India, 6th February 2023: The government has embarked on a comprehensive “Digital India” program aimed at enhancing ICT infrastructure, software delivery platforms, IT skills and job creation. This initiative aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge-based economy.
Kalyan Muppaneni, Founder of Exatron said “In the current times there is a strategic importance in reducing India’s dependence on foreign computer hardware. India needs to foster its own homegrown ICT companies. We are proud that Exatron is India’s first greenfield Server Manufacturing Company, and listed under the GOI MSIPS scheme. Exatron today supplies servers, desktops, storage units among many other ICT products supporting mission critical operations of many GOI organisations and enterprises across India. Kudos to the Indian Chamber of Commerce for organising this event of strategic importance to India. Exatron is happy to contribute to India’s organic growth story.”
The state-of-the-art factory of Exatron, a green field ICT product manufacturing project, is located in Bangalore. Exatron produces a wide range of ICT products including Servers, Storage Systems, Work Stations, Desktops, and All-In-One Personal Computers. The company’s server offerings come with the choice of either Intel or AMD platforms and its virtualization servers are certified by VMware and Microsoft Azure.
At the event, Exatron’s management shared their vision of contributing to the Indian Government’s self-reliance initiatives, with senior leaders and management from various government establishments as well as representatives from leading technology manufacturers, solution providers, and system integrators in the Indian ICT market in attendance. The company emphasized the importance of supporting true domestic manufacturers like itself, as the Indian Government places a significant emphasis on digitalization in all aspects of life.
Tom Sebastian, Chief Executive Officer of Exatron said” Very theme of Exatron is to sensibly build a local manufacturing set up for IT hardware in India. The steps we are taking for this vision are logical, measured, and scalable . We have offerings in both class1 local content and class 2 local content. While we build and sustain the business with both these classes now, our efforts are to have all our products to contain maximum local content and became true warriors for our government’s vision for Atmanirbhar Bharat. To achieve this, we work with many committed domestic component manufacturers and promising technology start up initiatives in the Indian ICT eco system”
The ICT industry is not only driving economic growth but also contributing to social sustainability by enhancing the delivery of education, healthcare, and services to citizens. The industry is transforming social interactions, leading to positive long-term impacts in multiple areas.
During and after the pandemic, ICT played a vital role in connecting people, even when the nation was isolated for an extended period. The education sector has undergone a significant transformation due to ICT, with students now relying on digital platforms for learning. This has allowed for greater access to education globally at a more affordable cost. The telecommunication sector has also seen a significant impact from ICT with the widespread adoption of 5G technology for faster communication. E-health, the use of ICT in healthcare, has the potential to revolutionize the industry by improving information sharing and connecting patients and healthcare providers. Developing countries like India have the potential to adopt e-healthcare in the coming years.
Mr. Dheeraj Puri, Co Chair, North Region Committee (ICC) said that “The revolution in the information and communication sector is making the world united. In today’s world information and communication technology (ICT) is a key parameter for a country’s socio economic development, especially for a developing country like us. India is contributing 13% to the country’s GDP. With the concept of globalization, the cross country transfer of technology with respect to equipment and even manpower has nowadays become much easier. ICT adoption, digitalization and automation provide formidable new opportunities in terms of increased efficiency and productivity, the creation of new services and occupations and increased connectivity across the nation. Market reports shows that countries have started to invest in ICT because the sector can have a substantial positive impact on social and economic sustainability since such investment will lead to annual GDP growth by 0.6% to 0.7% on average, on an annual basis, for each increase of 10% in household penetration”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend towards digital connectivity and created a technology-driven market for the future. The rapid urbanization of the 21st century, combined with the impact of the pandemic, has significantly impacted India’s digital transformation. Indian companies are adjusting their IT strategies, reducing operational costs, automating processes, and introducing new systems to enhance efficiency, leading to a technologically advanced lifestyle for citizens. Among the emerging technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT) is especially noteworthy. IoT is transforming both industrial and consumer sectors by increasing the use of sensors, cloud technology, robotics, centralized tracking, quality inspection, and other advanced technologies, creating a smart manufacturing ecosystem. This results in lower costs, increased revenue, improved safety, security, and quality.
Exatron offers a range of HCI solutions that are developed in partnership with Nutanix. The storage servers are certified by Quantum, and the GPU servers are certified by Nvidia. Exatron also provides a range of storage solutions, including NAS, SAN, and unified storage. Some of these products are developed in collaboration with Seagate. In the personal computing segment, Exatron offers a wide range of desktops powered by both Intel and AMD processors. These products are available in both education and enterprise series. Exatron has also launched an attractive range of gaming desktops and workstations built on the AMD platform. The company recently announced the release of its All-in-One PC series, which is powered by both Intel and AMD processors. Exatron plans to launch laptops this financial year and enter the networking products manufacturing segment in the near future. The company is committed to increasing the local content of its offerings in line with the government’s Make in India initiative. Exatron has also launched an HCI solution and a unified storage solution that are classified as Make in India products.
Exatron works with both leading global technology providers and promising domestic players to offer Indian ICT customers globally-standardized products that are manufactured in India. Exatron also supports and enables other Make in India initiatives to grow and establish their products along with Exatron. The knowledge partner of the event was Quantum, a leading storage solution provider.


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Older readers will surely remember the American company MicroProse, which at the turn of the 1980s created some of the most popular simulators and strategy games in the world. We're talking about titles like Sid Meier's Civilization, Sid Meier's Pirates! or Railroad Tycoon. We have good news for the fans of these games, because it seems that MicroProse has been revived and is brewing something interesting.
Earlier this year, rights to the MicroProse name were purchased by David Lagettie, the creator of one of the largest open-world simulators - TitanIM. David was also involved in the development of simulators used in the military. In an interview for PC Pilot we can read that he wants to go back to the roots and produce high-quality strategy games and simulators, for which MicroProse was once known. Some of them will be announced later this year, and the first game – Warbirds 2020 – will appear in late 2019 or in the first quarter of 2020. It is also worth noting that Lagettie convinced Bill Stealey, the former owner of the company and co-founder of the Sid Meier's series, to work together.
The company's official Twitter account has been showing graphics promoting the games currently under development for some time, but they don't reveal much information about upcoming titles.


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Liquid Dataport, is excited to announce its partnership with VIPNET, a privately owned corporate Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Côte d’Ivoire.
Through this collaboration, Liquid Dataport will leverage VIPNET’s infrastructure to offer ISPs and Enterprise customers access to Liquid’s complete range of services, including its extensive pan-African network and innovative cloud and cybersecurity solutions. This marks a significant stride for Liquid Dataport in extending its network and service capabilities across West Africa, a pivotal growth market for the company.
With reports indicating that internet penetration in Côte d’Ivoire stands at 45.4% (https://apo-opa.co/3sLrroL)), Liquid Dataport aims to enhance businesses’ connectivity with cost-effective, reliable, and secure solutions, contributing significantly to improving internet access in the country.
David Eurin, Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Dataport, expressed, “We consider Côte d’Ivoire a very important ICT hub in the Francophone West African region. The country’s stability, substantial economic growth, and increasing demand for connectivity services make it an ideal location for Liquid to extend its presence. Through our partnership with VIPNET, Liquid will enhance regional connectivity and empower businesses and enterprises through expanded service capability.”
Ahmed CHERIF, Chief Executive Officer of VIPNET, added, “This new partnership will enable VIPNET to strengthen its position as a technological hub of excellence within the West African sub-region, with a much higher bandwidth, and access to a varied range of ICT products and services. We believe that our unique position as a strong, national, and reliable alternative player for our market, coupled with the major development with Liquid Dataport, will benefit our customers with next-generation solutions to accelerate their Digital maturity.”
VIPNET will gain substantial advantages from connecting to Liquid’s extensive global network, allowing it to reach any location in Africa and providing its regional customers access to Liquid’s Software-Defined Networking (SDN) solutions.
The addition of Côte d’Ivoire to Liquid Dataport’s network emphasizes the company’s commitment to expanding its reach and providing wholesale clients with consistent access throughout Africa.
This expansion aligns with Liquid’s goal of addressing the increasing demand for connectivity services in West Africa, aligning with its vision of creating a digitally connected continent that includes all of Africa.